What is it to be a Hero?

26th March, 2021

This is a sermon given by His Grace Bishop Emilianos of Meloa at All Saints Grammar School in Sydney, for the 200 years celebrations of Freedom since the Greek War of Independence. His Grace goes on to say: "...It is documented that they asked one of the heroes that was involved in the revolution, 'Were you afraid? Did you have anxiety when you were about to go to battle or when you were dealing with people’s lives?' And because he was a hero they were expecting a certain answer, but he said: 'Of course I was afraid', and then the conversation went down to one thing, what is it to be a hero, if it’s not being free from fear? And the answer was: being heroes is not because they did great things, but because they were faithful to small things. So it all comes down to being faithful to our conscience. And if we follow our conscience, we truly become heroes regardless if people see it or not. There are battles inside us, there are battles outside of us, there are battles everywhere. How do we overcome these battles? It doesn’t matter if we overcome the battles; what matters is if we are truthful to our conscience. And this is what it is to be a hero. Heroes back then did everything for their freedom; and a hero in our days is a hero inside us. So with these thoughts I wish everyone of us to be truthful to our conscience because this is what it is to be a hero."

English