Who will sow good seed in the unplowed field? A wise man will not sow.

He who is prudent will do according to the word of God: he will first clear the field of weeds, and in the ploughed field he will sow good seed. The field is the human soul, the weeds are polytheism, the good seed is faith in one God.

Now faith in one God seems simple and natural to us, and polytheism seems ridiculous and insane, but this was not always the case. There was a time when only a few people in the whole world believed in Him, and then there came a time when only one people on earth believed in one God. The idolaters, who had gods for every need, looked upon believers in one God with the contempt of a rich man who looked upon the poor: they believed that such faith was defective and poor. Believers in one God looked at the pagans with wonder and pity, as they look at those who, having much, have nothing.

Faith in one God had to be drawn from the true source, received from a reliable witness, and then sown in human souls as if in a field. The most reliable Witness of monotheism is God Himself, living and true. He Himself bears witness to Himself through His elect, saying: "I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other gods besides Me" (cf. Exodus 20:2-3).

The One, the Living, and the True One revealed Himself gradually. Among the weeds of polytheism, He found small fields and sowed on them the good seed of faith. These were the souls of the righteous, souls like tall candles, which He lit with the flame of faith so that they would shine in the darkness of polytheism. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not enveloped it (John 1:5). Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, Joseph, Moses, Isaiah, Daniel – these are the candles of God, kindled by faith!

The only living and true one revealed Himself to the people of Jacob, or Israel. By His mercy He manifested Himself first in Egypt, in a foreign land (Psalm 136:4), then in the wilderness, and finally in Canaan, in the Promised Land. And once upon a time all the people of Israel confessed faith in one God.

But the people of God began to waver in the true faith, and the darkness of idolatry again began to threaten the light in the darkness (cf. John 1:5).

The Only Living, True, Merciful and Abundant Merciful, seeing this danger, sent His Only-begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to mankind, so that He would dispel the darkness of polytheism, strengthen human hearts for ascent to the things above, and sow the good seed of faith in the only living and true God.

The holy apostles, the industrious bees of Christ, spread this faith, this sowing of God, throughout the whole world. Truly, like the honey bees of God, the apostles flew from Jerusalem to all four corners of the world, to nations and tribes, in order to drink the souls of men with the gospel of the one Living and True One, as with honey. They cleansed the fields of souls from the weed of idolatry, from faith in spirits and gods. In the cultivated fields they sowed holy faith in the one Living and True One. Their work was difficult and dangerous! Believe me, missionaries of God alone: this unprecedented battle cost sweat and tears, wounds and blood.

With great difficulty, people parted with faith in their imaginary idols and accepted faith in one God. In their confusion from the multitude of natural phenomena and their opposition in the universe, it was easier for them to believe in the existence of different gods than in one God. Captivated by deception, inexperienced children, they believed that many different gods were stronger than one One, that help from many was stronger than from one One.

Two groups of people rebelled against the apostles, and at that time there were two of them: those who nourished their souls with the poison of idolatry, and those who nourished their bodies by making statues of idols. And the latter resisted no less than the former.

For example, a certain silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver temples of Artemis and brought considerable profits to artists, gathered them and other similar craftsmen, and said: "Friends! you know that our well-being depends on this trade; yet you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but almost in all Asia, this Paul by his persuasions has deceived a considerable number of people, saying that those who are made by human hands are not gods. And this threatens us that our trade will be despised (cf. Acts 19:24-27).

Some feared for their souls, others for their purse, but in one way or another, all the peoples of the earth, with rare exceptions, were in captivity of idolatry. Those who were exceptions were subjected to cruel execution, as was the case with the Greek philosopher Socrates.

The higher the culture of the peoples, the more perfect and expensive were the images of idols, and the more profound were their enslavement. When the holy Apostle Paul was in Athens, he was troubled in spirit at the sight of this city full of idols (Acts 17:16). The same indignation of spirit was experienced by the Apostles Andrew in Samaria, Matthew in Ethiopia, and Bartholomew in India. Idols in the squares, idols at the entrance to the house, idols in the houses, idols everywhere. An innumerable number of idols that people worshipped. The thorns of idols wounded and wounded the holy apostles in blood. But they courageously weeded and cultivated the fields of souls, and in a place cleared of weeds and thorns, they sowed the good seed of faith in one God, one, living, true. The apostles performed this titanic work and podvig by word, miracles, love and sacrifice. Where one did not help, they resorted to another, when neither one nor the other helped, they went to their deaths, burning idols with their martyr's blood, as if by fire.