Below is a translation of a short word given by Met. Luke of Zaporozhye.

What could be more terrible than the Coronavirus?

The Coronavirus, about which so many are talking and writing, may have had help appearing thanks to evil human genius. However, what is bigger than even that, is how people have been killing each other in mass. The virus, which has in itself elements of living matter, is fearful to people because is kills our body. Yet, sooner or later this body will die. The earth which we carry in ourselves will inevitably return to the earth from which it was made.

More terrible than the Coronavirus is another mutation, which does not take place on a cellular, biological, level but on the level of the spirit. In the prayer of St. Ephraim of Syria, which we pray during services in the Great Fast, we ask God to take from us the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk. We ask the Lord that He would give to us the spirit of chastity, humility of wisdom, patience, and love. A person’s spirit is capable of containing different states.

It is possible that a person can unite himself with a demonic spirit. A most terrible thing takes place when in the soul of a person begins to live a demon, which comes as a result of long persistence in a godless state. This union is like a neglected disease because with time it may become incurable. However terrible the Coronavirus or some other virus may be, they are but temporary states which will pass away with the body.

A demonic-virus remains in the soul forever! What could be more terrible than never-ceasing torment of the soul? This is the eternal torment from which our Lord desires to save us. The person who contracts a demonic-virus will become like the demons … That this virus has already soak deeply into every pore of our society is evident from what is taking place today in Ukraine (trans. note, one may possibly add here the country wherever the reader lives).

So it is with the Coronavirus, this dark virus also betrays artificial origins, not only from people but also the demons who seek one thing – our eternal destruction. Satan is ultimately interested only in our souls. He is hunting for this priceless treasure.

Sadly, in society, there are many more people who have contracted the demonic-virus than the Coronavirus.