LOVE – THE GREATEST OF ALL VIRTUES AND THE WAY TO ETERNAL LIFE

LOVE – THE GREATEST OF ALL VIRTUES AND THE WAY TO ETERNAL  LIFE

      If our life on earth was only an hour long, and we had nothing but Christ, the joy, sweetness and  love we would experience, would fill our souls with delight, and  be more desirable than an entire lifetime enjoying all the  material things, for matter can never replace the God who created us. Further,  without Christ, we are dead before we die.  To be without Christ is to be placed  among the poorest on earth, and to have Christ enrolls us among the most wealthy, far above kings and billionaires.  Christ is the life of all men; Christ is everything  good, the priceless pearl, who desires that no one perish but that all come to knowledge of truth.  It is only in Jesus Christ that we will find the wonders of love, peace and joy,  not only experiencing them but sharing them  as though  our own.  Love is the most important thing  in heaven and on earth, and Paul says that love is the lasting virtue, “love never ends”.

     All the servants of God in the heavenly world, know that God is love and that love prevails among them all.  Here on earth, magazines  that write about love are tainted with erroneous ideas, for love is not found in  the passions of the flesh.

BAPTISM ENTRANCE INTO THE ORTHODOX FAITH

BAPTISM ENTRANCE INTO THE ORTHODOX FAITH

When you were baptized in the Jordan Lord, The adoration of the Trinity was manifest 
The voice of the Begetter bore witness to you, Calling you His own beloved Son.
The Spirit appeared in the form of a dove, Confirming  the certainty of the word.
You have appeared, Christ our God,
And illumined the whole world.
Glory to you!

We refer to ourselves as Orthodox Christians because we were either born into the faith, or we chose  Orthodoxy as the True Church, wherein is found the True Christ.  Herein are important  things worth considering about and discussing.  The Jews identified themselves as being Jews by the particular mark which the Lord instituted as their identification, showing them to be different than the Gentiles, that mark being circumcision. This means that the Jews, as a nation, were marked and cut out, (circumcised) chosen apart from the rest of mankind,  which helped to keep them away  from worshiping their idols and false gods, or from  marrying their women, or following their diet.  The law of circumcision was also a mark of their covenant with God which dated back to Abraham. The Jews did not intermix with the gentiles and usually referred to them as the uncircumcised.