ANOTHER GOD ON EARTH

Warning to Our  Hierarchs! 
Stop Honoring and Kissing the Enemy of Orthodoxy!

   Jesus Christ the Godman promised to remain with us on earth. And He never left, but there is another god on earth, and his name is the Pope of Rome. They attribute characteristics to the Pope which belong to God alone and have thus made another god. The Papacy declare that  their popes are foundations and heads of their church. Giving the Pope of Rome divine characteristics.

PAPAL CLAIMS, POPES HAVE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES

Pope is head of Church.

Jesus Christ is Head of Church.

Pope claims all Christians his subjects.

Christ, has all Christian as his subjects.

Pope is supreme judge of faithful

Christ is supreme judge of faithful

Pope is guide of Church.

Holy Spirit is guide of Church.

Pope is the Church’s teacher.

Christ is the Church’s teacher. 

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Pope is above entire Church.

Christ is above Church.

Pope is infallible.

God is infallible.

Pope’s judgments not to be reviewed.

Christ’s judgments not to be reviewed.

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Pope, not to be reviewed by council.

Christ, not to be reviewed by council.

Pope is highest authority on earth.

Christ is highest authority on earth.

Pope rules Church by divine right.

Christ rules the Church by divine right.

Pope is above Ecumenical Councils.

Christ is  above Ecumenical Councils.

FASTING IS GREAT – LOVE IS EVEN GREATER

       Fasting is a great thing, but love is greater. If it is by fasting that demons are driven out, passions tamed, the body calmed, and the spirit steadied, it is by love that God makes His abode with men.  The Lord himself emphasized fasting as necessary, but proclaimed love as the greatest commandment.

      In the first half of the last century, Jeladin Bey ruled over Ochrid.  He was a rebel against the Sultan and an independent governor. At that time the Church was governed by Metropolitan Kalinik. Jeledin was a Moslem and Kalinik an Orthodox Christian, but although they belonged to different religions they were good friends and often visited each other.  It happened that Jeledin Bey had condemned twenty-five Christians to death by hanging, and the execution was scheduled during the Great Fast on Holy Friday.  The Metropolitan, deeply distressed by this event, went to Jeladin and besought him to mitigate the sentence.  

     While they were talking, the hour of the mid-day meal arrived, and the Bey invited the Metropolitan to eat with him.  A dish of lamb had been prepared for the meal. The Metropolitan excused himself, as the fast prevented him from remaining to eat and he prepared to leave. The Bey was angered and said to him: “Choose; either you eat with me and free twenty-five people from hanging, or you refrain and they hang.  The Metropolitan crossed himself and sat down to lunch, and Jeladin freed the Christians from the death sentence. 

                                             ( From the Prologue Vol. 1 p 104).

Some facts:

 This beautiful account reminds us of the superiority of love over fasting. Fasting is a necessary way of life in Orthodoxy where we habitually fast or feast in different days and seasons. And if we receive Holy Communion we would do well when we keep the ordained fasts. Fasting also promotes better eating habits, self control and obedience. To save lives of men condemned to death by eating instead of fasting is better choice.

Orthodox Christians fast at various times:

1. From meat, dairy, oil, and wine.

2. From meat and dairy only, using oil and wine.

3. From meat only using dairy, oil and wine.

  Fasting has always been practiced by God’s people in both the old and new Covenants. Here are two examples from Holy Scripture.

Old Testament”

“But I, when they troubled me, put on sackcloth, and humbled my soul with fasting”  (Psalm 35:13).

New Testament:

“Anna was a widow of about 84 years, who departed not from the temple but served God with fasting  and prayer night and day” (Luke 2:37).

Fasting is   necessary and great, but love is far greater.

TRUTH? LAUNCH INTO THE DEPTHS

     Where can genuine truth be found other than in the living Truth who came down from heaven? Jesus is the source of all truth being the eternal Truth, Son and Logos of the Father. As God He descended and became a man like unto us, and He dwelled among us full of grace and truth. When he came into the world He became the  most important man that ever lived, the one for whom everything exists. Why is it that so many people who are baptized into Orthodoxy, and are well educated having knowledge of the Son of God, fall away from the Faith  and fall into various philosophies and alternate ways of life. 

     The biggest reason is that they never really recognized Christ, having had only a superficial knowledge of Him and the Orthodox Faith. This resulted in their remaining superficial lacking a firm attachment to truth from heaven. We cannot be superficial in our faith but should be simple and sincere also God knows our many thoughts and feelings which cannot be hidden. There is also  pernicious sin which can assault a person who is not well prepared with a defense, and sin can cause us to fall away from truth. Having fallen away makes it more difficult to return. It is difficult but not impossible, for God will guide a soul that is sincere, and  sincerity with the desire for truth will lead a soul to all truth. 

     The Lord commanded His disciples to “launch into the depths”. For that’s where the better fish will be. If we go into the depths of the Gospels they will lead us forward and upward into heaven. If we read or hear the Gospel and fail to put into action what we learned, we can find ourselves in danger of falling away. We need to arouse zeal in our souls to quickly abandon evil and put into practice all the good we can as soon as we know our responsibilities. This involves having Christ and the Gospels as the guiding light of our entire lives. We need to abandon our bad habits and acquire virtues such as faith hope and love, honesty, kindness, justice, etc.

“THE LOGOS BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US”

“And the Logos (word) became flesh . . .full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

     The divine Logos is God and it was the Logos of the Father who came down and dwelt in the womb of the Virgin Mary in order to become a man among men. This is among the greatest of events ever to occur, for He the God who thought of creating a man with full freedom to do as He wills and the first man He created was Adam, from whom He also made Eve and married them.

    He had a wonderful way of life prepared for them and everything was beautiful and there was no death. But disregarding the warning of God concerning possible death, Eve succumbed, then Adam to the deceptive words of the Devil who promised that she could disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit, even though God had warned them not to eat of the tree: “On the day you eat you shall surely die.” The Devil who appeared to her in the form of a serpent was successful in deceiving her which caused sin and death to come into the pristine world.

     Of course the Lord knew that this would take place as there is no ignorance in Him, and His eternal plan alone would be successful and would overthrow the Devil’s authority and nullify his power. He would not only overthrow the Devil’s plan but God would also fulfill His majestic plan for the sake of which He established the heavens and earth. The wisdom of God being perfect can never be overcome for it is divine.

God’s original plan is filled with His compassion and love and He will fulfill a double purpose. His original plan is found in the beginning of the Book of Genesis: “Let us make man in our own image and likeness.” This was the destination of the first man, who, instead of becoming  a perfect man, he became a prisoner of sin and death in Hades.

“And the Logos became flesh . . . “

     But God the Son and Logos following His unchanged and original plan would become flesh and become the first man among many being perfect in His image and likeness.  He would strip away the power of the deceiving Devil, who through the power of death tyrannized man, fomenting misery, evil, hatred and death to become a part of their daily lives. Also Christ would save man from death by putting death to death by His own death. “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.” Death is no longer a threat to those who follow Christ, but is the door to eternal live and the joy of our Lord.