The two criteria that Saint Paisios set for voting
During periods of national elections many pilgrims would come and ask the Elder what his opinion was and whom he considered worthy for them to vote for.
The Elder always said:
― My children, look here; all olives are the same and all have the olive fruit fly; yet some are affected 100%, others 80%, while others 60%. We, then, since we have need of olives, must look for those that have the least infestation, otherwise it cannot be done. And we must always vote by two criteria:
a) By how much the candidate loves God and is a conscious member of the Church, and
b) By how much he loves the homeland and looks to the general good of the country and not to his own interest. If someone uses any other criterion, apart from these two, then he acts selfishly and it is not something Christian; later divine justice will allow him to pay for it.
Question: Which candidate should we vote for in the elections, Elder?
Answer: Whoever is closer to the Church, whoever struggles for it and for the Homeland, and whoever has a life in accordance with what he says.
Whomever you see to be good and closer to the Church, vote for him.
We must not become partisan. We must love first our Church and then our Homeland, and vote only for those whom we see struggling for these two things. You see, Makrygiannis and all the great heroes struggled for these two things and shed their blood; first for the faith and then for the homeland. That is why we too, today, must be grateful to them, that we are free and not slaves of the Turks, and must strive for such Greeks to come to power, who will shed their blood first for the faith and then for the homeland.
Today, unfortunately, we have placed in parliament people to govern us whose record is very heavily burdened.
PUBLISHED BY «ORTHODOXOS KYPSELI»
12/5/23
