What is the Church’s role towards the powers of evil?

In his second homily on Eutropius after he fled the church and refused to take refuge in it, St. John Chrysostom began to explain to his congregation the concept of the Church’s love for her children. The Church is a refuge for her children, as she seeks first the salvation of the soul and guides her to the kingdom of heaven. “When you take refuge in a Church, do not seek shelter merely in the place but in the spirit of the place. For the Church is not wall and roof but faith and life … Do not tell me that the man having been surrendered was surrendered by the Church; if he had not abandoned the Church he would not have been surrendered. Do not say that he fled here for refuge and then was given up; the Church did not abandon him but he abandoned the Church. He was not surrendered from within the Church but outside its walls … Do you desire to save yourself? Hold fast to the altar. There are no walls here, but there is the guarding providence of God. Are you a sinner? God will not reject you, “for He came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Matt. 9:13). The harlot was saved when she clung to His feet …

“Talk not to me of walls and arms: for walls wax old with time, but the Church has no old age. Walls are shattered by barbarians, but over the Church even demons do not

1024 Origen, “On Prayer” in Origen, An Exhortation to Martyrdom: Prayer, First Principles: Book IV, Prologue to the Commentary on the Song of Songs , Homily XXVII on Numbers, trans. Rowan A. Greer (NY: Paulist Press, 1979) 11.2: p.102.

1025 Origen, Against Celsus 8.75 (ANF 4:669). 1026

Origen, “On Prayer” in Origen, An Exhortation to Martyrdom: Prayer, First Principles: Book IV, Prologue to the Commentary on the Song of Songs , Homily XXVII on Numbers, trans. Rowan A. Greer (NY: Paulist Press, 1979) 31.5: p. 166.

prevail. My words are no mere vaunt for there is evidence of these facts. How many have assailed the Church, and yet the assailants have perished while the Church herself has soared beyond the sky? ”¹⁰²⁷