“As a matter of plain fact, Jesus Christ never promised to bring peace to the earth in the sense that nations would no longer fight with one another and that individuals would no longer quarrel. Such a peace is promised only at the end of the ages when the Messiah who was crucified comes in glory to establish the kingdom of God His Father, Then and only then, will the great and everlasting shalom of the Lord foretold by the prophets be established. Until then, strife and struggle remain. And Jesus Himself, as He foretold, will remain a great reason for much of it.”
“… But Christian saints also cause hostility and strife. They are sources of scandal and cause of contention. They witness to the truth of Jesus’ words that as He was hated and persecuted, so also His faithful followers will be arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and killed – not only by those who openly hate both Him and His Father, but by those who have come to the point where they commit murder and think that they are “offering service to God” (Jn 16:2).”
Fr. Thomas Hopko, The Winter Pascha
