THE WICKED AND UNBELIEVERS

       “The wicked flee when no man is pursuing him; but the righteous are as bold as a lion”          

                                                                         (Prov. 28:1)                                                                                                                               The wicked man is afraid of his own shadow; the shadow of a tree seems to him like an army.  Whenever something rustles the wicked man thinks: “My enemy is coming!” He hears the murmuring of leaves as if it were the clashing of chains. He takes the voice of the birds for the cries of a hunter after a savage; he thinks the very grass is spying on his crime; water itself is a witness against him;  the sun is his judge; the stars are taunting him. My brethren, how many lies are born of fear!  Because fear comes from sin, sin from the devil, and the devil is the father of lies.

     Fear is the first fruit of sin.  When Adam sinned he hid from the face of God. Whn God called to him, he said: “I heard your voice and I was afraid” (Gen. 3:10). Adam did not know fear before he sinned, nor did he hide from the face of God but, on the contrary, always hastened to meet Him. But, as soon as he sinned he was afraid.

     But the righteous are as bold as a lion, for they are without sin and without fear; without sin and without weakness. The sinless are mighty in their power and bold in their courage. The righteous are filled with vigour and fortitude. But it is only the righteous who are like this, for they obey and love the Lord.

     O Lord, You who are without the blemish of sin, preserve us from empty fears, but firstly preserve us from sin, which is the father of fear. To you be glory and praise for ever. Amen.

                                                        (From Prologue #2 P-363. 364).    

     I took the foregoing, just as it was from the Prologue, for it is an important observation and is written perfectly explaining the reason for fear in men’s lives and how to rid ourselves of fears and replace them with happiness and joy.  Jesus Christ as our Lord and Master is good and filled with kindness and deep compassion, and is quick to forgive the sins of man. T\However the Devil is a vicious tyrant who entices us with sugar-coated sins so as to trap the unwary and take them as his prisoner. Man is situated between good and evil and must choose between them throughout his life, for at the end of this life victories are awarded and defeats separate the unfaithful sinners from God and His goodness, leaving us as to be tormented with the evil one.

     If we are faithful to the Lord and love Him with all our hearts and souls, fear will be non-existent in us. The stronger our faith in God the more our souls are filled with happiness and joy, but without God we become victims and prisoners, even though we may think that we are free. So  we must be aware of fears, for they come from our sins, concerning which we must sincerely repent and confess them and then partake holy communion in a worthy manner but with fear of God, faith and love.

     The author of Prologue uses the perfect example of fears in man in the person of Adam who hid from God. Why? Because he sinned and had broken his law. God merely called to him, and he said: “I heard your voice and was afraid.” Since the time of Adam all who sin and without God suffer from many fears, of enemies, of fearful of darkness, of fearful of sickness and especially fearful of death!

Sin is the cause of fear and if we rid ourselves of sin and in faith embrace and love Jesus Christ, every day of our lives will be void of fear, filled with joy and happiness will reign in our souls. Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, however, and is a great virtue which helps us to wage war against all sins and with them confessed all fears are gone while fear of God remains.

     In our times, many people receive the holy Mysteries which can place them in jeopardy if they    unworthily. Because there may be some who to not understand the threat of sin within themselves, but if they cannot see their sins, they certainaly can recgonize their fears, and therefore get help if necessary to confess any sins for where there is fear there is also sin which requires our attention. 

THIS LIFE

THIS LIFE

     A young man and woman marry and later a new baby is born, a new life has come into the world. Life requires life for life cannot be manufactured. From the lives of the father and mother comes a living child. And all humans share a common life which  ends with death. This life is not an accident but is very serious and important, but the godless and unbelievers of this world claim life to be for family caring and entertaining of the body and its delights. They claim that life is short so enjoy it while you can. Bring on the good times, work to make money in order to eat, drink, party, have barbecues, vacations, etc.

     We are living in a basically godless environment where God is not only ignored or put to death, but they deny that He even exists and He is not the creator of the universe. They surmise that  though it lacks intellect it created itself! If there is no God, there is no law, if there is no law neither is their a judge or reward or punishment. If there is no God then when you die you just vanish out of existence. Satan’ deception has done his dirty work very well, for modern man believes only in himself and is become his own judge. Those who do evil all their lives are not punished and those who choose to do only good are not rewarded! What an unjust world to live in and then you die. Modern society slaughters infant babies, not like Herod the baby-killer, for today they kill their own infants. One man fornicates with another man and they call it marriage insulting God and degrading marriage and they offer them marital benefits which were formerly for the married only.

     Those who desire to learn truth must see the folly of getting rid of God by denial. If there were no God they could not deny Him, nor could the idea of God exist. If there is no God, then who created this world? If there is no God why is everything in nature so perfect and orderly? There is air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, weather systems, lakes and streams, woods and plains, trees and flowers. All these things are for man’s enjoyment and use. Who thought of  making man with his high super intellect and with emotions of love for his fellow man and for what is good?

     The godless ones teach that everything just happens. (plenty of effects but no causes at all) and came into being  of themselves, which ideas any intelligent person would dismiss as foolishness or insanity. For everything that exists is an effect with a cause and has a purpose. There is food and drink for birds and elephants as well as for men. Birds need little food and it is there for them. Elephants need large amounts of food and it is there for them. Whose idea was it for elephants and birds? Who thought of forming godlike men? Who thought of donkeys and horses and later automobiles and then airplanes?  How did the fuel for all the millions of vehicles get put in place for future use? If they say man is the cause, they are still foolish, because they reject the real God who created man and declare man to be a god and the cause!

     There can be no effect without a relative cause a very good scientific principle. The question to be answered is who is God? God is not at all like creation for He is uncreated; He is without cause for He is the eternal and original Cause. God is outside of time being eternal. He created time when He established the universe. God cannot die because He is the origin of all life.

     God created man because of love to have creatures share in His good life, a life that is  endless. Creation is a thing of magnificent beauty and was made for the sake of man, Man is God’s most noble and highest creature, destined to become like God. God made man in His own image. He gave man every good gift including the sun and moon and the stars for night live and navigation. 

     What is His reason for creation? If we look carefully we will see that there are numberless creatures, but only one who was above all the rest – that creature is man. He formed man in His image to struggle to become also His likeness. “He will come to judge the living and the dead.” says our Orthodox Creed of Faith. He sent His Son into the world. Jesus Christ is both the Son of God the Father and the Son of man from the Virgin. He came to save sinful man and bring him into His kingdom. Everything needed to know is in the New Testament and available to everyone. The Gospels narrate mostly about Christ and His works. The word Gospel in the original Greek means “the good news.”  Truly this is the only good news man needs to know for it tells him clearly about his future. Those who are disinterested will remain far from all hope in eternal life, but can look forward to eternal death. For there is no excuse, because every man has a conscience to which He should give attention.

     The unbelievers and godless ones commit man to being reduced to nothingness, while the truth is the opposite, for Christ raises man to become like God.

THE TRINITY IN MAN

THE TRINITY IN MAN

     Man is triune being composed of a body and soul and spirit. The body and soul are from the earth and the spirit breathed into him from God. The soul of man has also has three faculties, the intellect, the heart oir feelings and the will. The intellect or mind processes information, while the heart being  the affective faculty is the seat of many affections and feelings. The will being informed by the other two powers makes decisions,  based on what the intellect accepts or rejects and what the  heart  feels as being good. Usually if the intellect agrees and the heart likes something, the will acts on this information with an affirmative decision. If the intellect agrees but the heart disagrees, the soul may or may not take action.  An example of the latter is when you think or know that something is a good idea but you don’t like it, in many cases you will decide against it, but sometimes, we know through our intellect that something is good but is not to our liking, so we may decide to do what we know to be good, even if our hearts disagree and don’t like it.

     These three, the intellect, the heart and the will are also an image of the Divine Trinity. No man has seen the Father says our Lord, and no man has seen the mind of another man. The Son declares the Father and what’s in His mind, and the body and speech of a man declares what’s in the man’s mind

     The heart is the seat of our desires and needs to be carefully guarded, for sin is sugar-coated and offered to the heart. If we are offered evil and the heart accepts it, then evil will enter into our souls corrupting them and striving to lead to many sins. For this reason spiritual advisors urge us to carefully guard the heart, that it will not desire what is evil. 

BLESSINGS ARE NECESSARY

     What do we do before we sit down to eat? As Orthodox Christians, we pray in thanksgiving for our meal. We make the sign of the Cross and say a short prayer asking Jesus Christ to bless the food and drink.  Asking for blessings is a sign of spiritual life in a person or family. But blessing food and drink are but one of countless blessings. We make the sign of the Cross when we go to bed and again when we awaken from sleep. We sign the Cross and offer our morning prayer and when we depart the house we again sign  the Cross. If we drive, we should sign the Cross, remembering the many accidents and deaths on roads and highways, let us always ask the Lord for His blessing and our protection by our angel. We make the sign of the Cross when we start our cars, when we arrive at our destination and upon our return back home make the sign again. In the evening we say our evening prayers, starting with the sign of the Cross. These blessings become excellent habits, bringing us closer to God who supplies the substance of our blessings. and we will be doing them enthusiastically after a period of time.

     What if we fail to seek blessings at these various times and places? The sky will not fall down but we will lose a precious portion of our faith and hope, turning to God frequently with the ability to bless ourselves, our food and drink, our homes and cars, our going to sleep and arising etc., We can offer these blessings though we are not ordained priests. Why miss out in obtaining help from the only source of all our blessings who is God himself? His blessings are meant for us to use if we have accepted to believe in Him and to serve and obey Him. 

     Among men, if some person had a special beloved father, he would not hesitate to ask his blessing if he was to go on a long journey. But God is our much  greater Father and the Creator of everything. We should seek His  blessings for our dear departed ones, for our father and mother our wives or husbands, our children, our brothers and sisters, and our priests and bishops. We can incorporate these blessings into our regular morning and evening prayers. 

IGNORANCE, WEAKNESS AND DEATH

IGNORANCE, WEAKNESS AND DEATH

vs 

KNOWLEDGE, STRENGTH AND LIFE

      The human race of our time is not the human race as it was established by God. Sin and disobedience became the cause of many differences. Jesus Christ the Son of God came into the world and did away with universal ignorance, and performed wonders. He came to save us through His victory on the Cross; He made it possible for us to pass through the door of death which Christ had changed by His life giving death, into the door of eternal life. 

     Man, who is born in absolute ignorance, gradually learns but seeks to know much more until if possible, he will know everything there is to know. This appears to many to be an almost infinite desire. Man’s desire is not limited to knowing everything but also to have the ability to do everything also to not die but to live for ever without any fear of death. This desire in men appears in the lives of nations as well, for no nation is content under the conditions they live in. Nations of men detest ignorance, weakness and shortness of lives. They desire to be able to strengthen themselves and change things, hopefully for the better.  Men generally are not content in the state in which they find themselves so they must struggle to move from ignorance to knowledge, from weakness to strength and from mortality to immortality. The desire for immortality is strongly felt in those who are sober and who reflect on themselves, as they examine their desires.

     These innermost desire are naturally present in the souls of men and nations causing them to constantly seek knowledge in order to overcome ignorance and weakness, striving to improve health in order to extend live spans even to acqure eternal life.  An uneducated person is powerless and unable to do much of anything. At times such a person becomes dissatisfied with his weakness and seeks to rid himself of his ignorance, so he struggles to acquire knowledge and with it accompanying strength, the desire to  live for ever and becomes even stronger.  

    God formed man capable of acquiring and accumulating knowledge and wisdom, repelled by ignorance and he is strongly attracted to the acquisition of knowledge. But man is not satisfied with any kind of this or that knowledge, but he seeks to know and understand what is true and authentic which alone can satisfy his desire.  Man lives but the life he lives is far removed from his desires. Also man would not be satisfied if he reached 100 and his life span was doubled to 200 years, because the desire within him is to live for ever and never die, for men consider death as extremely undesirable. 

      Man longs for life and desires to not die but to stay alive, even to eternity. His ignorance and desire for knowledge is the first phenomenon that is his inability to know everything, and the desire for all power and freedom of action is the second phenomenon, and the desire for eternal life is the third phenomenon. These are the three desires found in men: the desire to know everything, to do everything, and to live forever. 

     Man is afflicted with unhappiness as a result of the three, ignorance, lack of power, and a painful life that ends with death. A limited accumulation of much knowledge will not satisfy the infinite desire to know and understand everything, nor would anyone be satisfied with a great amount of particular field of knowledge, for his desires are so much greater.

FAITH HOPE AND LOVE

FAITH HOPE AND LOVE

     The smallest amount of faith begets some hope and love, so that when we increase our faith and trust in the Lord, great hope and love will follow which enlightens, delights and sanctifies the soul. When we initially believe in God faith gradually increases, and from this faith in God who is good and the Lover of man, hope and love is constantly aroused. 

     The realizing of what the goal of our life is and the realization of the extreme mercy and compassion of God causes our love for  Him to increase even more. Faith, hope and love, these three virtues have the true God as their main objective, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Hope in God arouses thanksgiving for hope is filled with God’s promise for that which we desire most of all, which is to live a beautiful life and never die but to pass from this life to everlasting life! This is the reality of everything that Christ accomplished for our sake. For He fulfilled all of our desires and hopes. 

     “And we testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God enters the soul and dwells within him and he dwells in God. And we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God and God in him”                                                                           (1 John 4:15-16).

     Faith has a beginning and an ultimate objective or goal, which is the salvation of our souls. Jesus Christ came into the world to work for the salvation of our souls. The fruit of faith is also the salvation of our souls. We must keep our attention on our objective throughout our lives in this world for we are in a constant state of danger, which is in front and behind us, to the left and to the right, everywhere temptation are established to trap us. The evil one never gives up and is well experienced in his work/ That is why we cannot give up working toward our goal which is the salvation of our souls. Increasing our faith and dedication to the truths of God will provide a good defense. But humility is a wonderful shield which not only protects us but also brings us closer to God who will protect us. 

MYSTERY OF MARRIAGE

MYSTERY OF MARRIAGE

     Marriage is one of seven mysteries of the Church and it is notable that only in the holy Orthodox Church are marriage ceremonies truly holy and heavenly, for they are especially blessed by God.     The Lord originally instituted holy marriage when He blessed Adam and Eve, not only did He bless the first marriage, He blesses each individual marriage in His holy Church, where the man an woman are sealed by the Priest in the name of our Lord.  Marriage is a mystery where a man or woman leave their beloved father and mother, and unite with someone outside of their immediate family, then having their own children form a completely new family.  Some choose to follow the path of virginity, which can also be a blessed state and remaining unmarried but they must serve God alone, and these choices are some of the many wonderful blessings with which grants to those who so desire. 

     Those who encourage or take part in same sex intercourse mis-naming it as being “marriage,” have placed themselves under a curse by calling fornication marriage for they insult God’s divinely formed institution of marriage which joins  one man and one woman. Marriage is a mystery of love and life wherein a man and woman are blessed by God in the Church to live a happy life, and to give birth to children who are provided as fulfillment of marital blessings by God. 

     Christ calls himself the Bridegroom and the Church who is His Bride. Marriage to a spouse is a type of marriage and though it is delightful, marriage to Christ is a much more important and higher bond and fulfillment of love. The Lord our God who formed us and blessed us with free will, made it so that we could love and be loved, not only with and by our parents but also with a special bond of love for our chosen spouse with whom God has blessed us that we may live our lives together forever.  However God loved us first and we learned about love out of His love for us, which also  trains us to love good and hate evil. 

     In His wisdom He created us male and female with the ability to unite and become one flesh in love and marriage and consequently to bring new infantile life into the world. Loving their children and receiving their love in return instills much happiness in family lives for many years. With the grace given by God to the father and mother, who love God first and above all, then by living a good life keeping His commandments, they teach their children to behave the same way and together they all live pious lives, being loved by God and loving Him in return. Children are taught and reminded about death, both its beautiful and ugly aspects, the latter being for the wicked which is the coming fearful judgment. 

HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR GUIDE 

“But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father

 will send in my name, He shall teach you all things

 and bring all things to your remembrance, 

whatever I have said to you” (John 14:26)

     The Orthodox Church cannot be destroyed for it is in truth the Body of Christ, and it is headed by Jesus Christ, the Truth and Logos of God, and is guided by the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth. There will always be defenders of the truth guided by the Holy Spirit and there will be enemies from within and without, but the divine human Church will vanquish enemies and will last to the end of time. We pray at all times that the Holy Spirit will abide in us, cleanse our souls, and guide us into all truth, reminding us of all that Jesus has said and done.

     We pray to the Holy Spirit who abides in us or leaves us according to our faith, good works and patience. Without the Holy Spirit we are unable to do anything not even celebrate the Divine Liturgy or a Baptism. Christ said that He will bring all things to our remembrance so that all of us who are members of the Church will think and decide together and always be one with Christ in the Holy Spirit. The first prayer of our Church is to the Holy Spirit: “Heavenly King Comforter and Spirit of truth, who are everywhere present and fills all things; Treasury of blessings and bountiful Giver of life; Come and abide in us; cleanse us from every impurity and save our souls Good One.”                                                                

     The Protestants reject oral tradition which the Holy Spirit speaks through Synods, Saints, Martyrs and Holy Fathers, foolishly claiming that the Bible has everything that they need. Having broken away, not from the true church, but from the infernal Papacy they foolishly developed false Christian, showing no reverence toward the Holy Virgin Theotokos, the holy icons and all the Saints. 

     The formed their own idea of churches, then arrogantly went into Orthodox Christian countries, preaching their false ideas and robbed many of their true Orthodox Faith. They distort Christ’s teaching claiming that only Protestants hold firmly to the truth of Scripture, but Holy Scripture opposes the Protestants by proclaiming that we “Hold fast to the traditions you have received orally or written.” They reject all oral tradition claiming the Bible is all that is needed. They ignore their own Bibles and Christ’s words which  says much more than what is recorded in Holy Bible. They ignore the teaching of Jesus Christ whom they claim to worship. For example Christ says that it is the Holy Spirit who reminds of what He said verbally and is not recorded in the Bible.

EDUCATION

     Education is most important to people of the present world and many parents generously struggle to have their children acquire the best education possible in order to “be successful”, an important goal in this life. Many parents realize the importance of a higher education they want their children to do well in their careers during life. However if parents sincerely love their children they would first search into something more important that would be of immense benefit to first themselves and their children, not only until death but for ever and ever into all eternity.  In order to really “be successful” in this present life we must acquire as our most important educational project knowledge of and love for the living God and Creator of all.

     God is very far away or even non-existent and unimportant in the minds of many people, but as we cannot deny that the universe and mankind really exist, so we cannot deny that God really exists and that it is an absolute impossibility that there be no God, for if there were no God, neither would there be creatures like ourselves having knowledge and intellect, able to build houses and roads, highways and cities, buildings and airports, and He who made us endowed us with so much more! But because God is real, what He as our Creator has to said is vital to our well being and happiness. If we are scoffers and unbelievers this knowledge will be of no concern or benefit to us.  On the contrary we would do well to be seekers of what is good and permanently beneficial in this sinful and temporary world. Sin and rejection of God is a choice, which many select, but will necessarily end up in sorrow and wretchedness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Of course education is not evil in itself and of course it is proven to be useful. But education is not the road to happiness as there is something much more important than any education. For education can fill a man with knowledge but not with wisdom. Education can fill a man with knowledge but  cannot extend his life. It is better to have no education than to be ignorant or inimical toward God. God is so important to our happiness and benefit that knowledge of Him without any other knowledge would cause a person to be filled with divine love and wisdom. Having an education or no education are equally of no value without knowledge of God. For we cannot go to Him on judgment day and expect anything good when we have never known or honored Him, or denied His existence. The worst thing is to become an enemy of God insulting and mocking Him whom you do not even know or believe!

THAT WHICH UNITES US

THAT WHICH UNITES US

“One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 

one God and Father of all.” (Ephesians 4:5-6

      Baptized Orthodox Christians collectively constitute the whole Body of Christ – the Church!. One of the characteristics of the Body is that it is single, one and united. Just as there are not two Christs, and there cannot be any divisions among us for there are not two churches, and Christ is the Head of one Body. When we confess our faith, we say, “I believe in one God,”   “ in one Lord Jesus Christ,” “in one holy catholic and apostolic Church,” “in one baptism for the remission of sins.”  Before Jesus Christ came into the world when the idea of many gods was prevalent among most men. Christ revealed to us the one God in  three persons, Trinity in unity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and He founded one Church to unite all men into unity with one God.

     Our existence as the Church which Christ founded, shows all men that we have one faith and one Lord, united together as one in the one holy Church. We understand and proclaim the one God, in three persons, one in nature, one in essence, Trinity in unity, Father Son and Holy Spirit. We glorify God the Logos, who is one of the Trinity, born of the Virgin as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Christ came into the world, to save the world by His sacrifice on the Cross. He died and rose from the dead in His glorious resurrection and we go through a death and resurrection in holy Baptism. Plunged into the water, we put to death sin and the devil and we die with Christ, and coming up out of the water we rise into His glorious resurrection.  

     Our old sinful nature has been destroyed in the waters of baptism from which we emerged as new men, and with Christ as our teacher and example we enter the arena to struggle as members of the Church to become glorious with our Head, and we will spread His glory to all the world. Our lives then change into being filled with gladness we rejoice when going to sleep and awakening and in both work and relaxation.  We rejoice in both fasts and feasts and we attend services as frequently as possible, struggling to live a godly life filled with faith, hope and happiness, living our lives as the Lord intended. 

LONGINUS THE CENTURION

LONGINUS THE CENTURION

The centurion exclaimed: “Truly this is the Son of God”

     Longinus was a centurion who served under Pontius Pilate. He was standing with his soldiers  as  they were gathered beneath the Cross of Christ; Longinus confessed before everyone seeing all that was happening and that he had taken part in it, he cried out: “Truly this is the Son God.” According to some accounts he was the soldier who pierced the side of Christ, and blood and water poured forth. He also witnessed the signs at the Crucifixion, the rending of the rocks, opening of sepulchers, the failure of the sun which caused darkness over all. Longinus became a strong believer and later was baptized by the apostles, then he preached Christ all around and later was martyred being put to death because of his faith in Christ and he is commemorated on October 16.

     A widowed woman who lived in Cappadocia was suffering from blindness and had a son, her only child, who gave her assistance leading her about, but he died leaving her in a serious situation.` The helpless woman fell asleep and there she met with Longinus in a dream who told her: “I am Longinus the centurion who had his head severed for the sake of Christ. My head was brought here and cast upon a dung heap outside the city.  Go, therefore, to that place and dig deep into the dung, and you shall find my head. Having found my head touch your eyes and you shall recover your sight. The woman got up and called for someone to help her and take her to the biggest dunghill and leave her there.  She continued to grieve for her recently deceased son whom she depended on. She began to dig with great hope of finding the head of Longinus.

     Having strong faith she enthusiastically dug and eventually felt his head with her fingers and though blind gazed at the head of Longinus in her hands.  She saw the head as her sight had returned. Filled with joy and with great thanks to God, she took the head and washed it then placed it in her home as being more valuable than anything else in the world.

KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

KNOWLEDGE OF GOD         

“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through

 the knowledge of Jesus our Lord”  (2  Peter 1:2)

“Let us create man in our own image and likeness”

     Knowledge of God is the most important knowledge that we can ever acquire, while ignorance of God is the worse condition of every man and the reason why is the consequences. Knowledge of man is also extremely important as it deals with our ultimate and eternal destiny. The Scriptural quotation above promises that “grace and peace will be multiplied” in   the souls of those who know Him and Jesus Christ, the Godman whom He has sent into the world.

     Constant and ever increasing “grace and peace” is acquired through knowledge and keeping the commandments of Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus Christ being the Logos of God incarnate is the Head of the Holy Orthodox Church wherein is preserved all the knowledge of God and man and man’s true destination through the door of death. This is the final trip that all men will certainly  take but it is not the door to heaven where everyone goes as so many think. It is the door to either everlasting life or to the dread judgment and eternal death.

God is so much more than just “the Creator”. For He is the one and only source of everything we could ever desire.  St. Paul says that God is love!  None of us would be able to express or experience love if God did not implant love into our souls. God’s love is a perfect and lasting love which desires to keep us happy and blessed.

     We cannot describe God in words but we have learned much through the words and deeds of Jesus Christ, who is both God and man who dwelled among us. We learned that he requires that we have faith in Him, recognizing Him as truly God wand truly man also.  He is compassionate and kind, loving and patient, the source of all knowledge and the bountiful giver of life.  We become closer to God when we struggle to keep all His commandments and seek to do His will instead of our own will. To gain everlasting life we must seek to become like God, and this struggle will enable us to acquire a better knowledge about Him. Nestled deep in human hearts is a desire for what is good and beneficial but few there be who act upon this and acquire eternal life which is promised to the faithful.

     It is God’s will that we rid ourselves of every vice and He is without any vice being the source of all virtue and perfection of life. God is a healer and heals every infirmity, gives eyes to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and raises the paralytics. God is just and he will condemn the faithless who reject Him out of the hardness of their hearts. Such were the Scribes and Pharisees whom Christ chastised for their hardness and resultant wickedness. But He embraces with great joy all who come to Him in sincere faith.

God is truth and the source of all truth; God is peace and the source of all peace. He is kind and the source of all kindness.

MOTHER NATURE or 

PROVIDENCE OF GOD

     The powers that be have personified nature by what surrounds us as mother nature, and this does much to hide truth of God’s eternal providence. Nature is not a person so they are calling mother nature what in reality is God’s total control over all creation, for everything that exists depends on the Creator. Our Lord with His disciples during a sea storm told the wind and sea to be quiet and they obeyed becoming calm. What is wrong with personification?  The main thing is that it denies God’s control over everything, and this will be of interest to those who accept  the truth that God undeniably exists. God created everything heavenly and earthly. 

     Every material thing that God created, microscopic or gigantic. has a substance and nature which describes them, making it possible for us to understand and able to distinguish.  All substances and  natures are under the Lord’s control and are not from mindless mother nature. Only God the Creator controls everything that has existence being the Creator of all. The population of the present world is over 7 billion which exists due to the extremely wonderful and glorious  providence of God. How is it possible for those who deny Him to walk on His ground, eat His food, drink His water and breathe His air. travel in His sky, sail on His water, cut down His trees, and so much more but in their denial they prove to be ingrates, for instead of marveling and glorifying Him, they deny His existence.

     We use the term “God undeniably exists” because it is critical to proceed from one truth to another. The truth of God’s existence is undeniable except in the minds of fools, for “the fool says in his heart, there is no God.” Man, who is the image of God, testifies to the truth of the reality of God for the simple fact that man is a real creature which has existence but is not his own maker. To deny the Creator, one would need to deny creation and creatures. 

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. 

.

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.

.

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.

CHRIST IN OUR HEARTS

     Many may say that they have Jesus Christ, but this could mean that they have Him on their tongue. Others may have him on a paper icon and say that he has Christ and honors Him. Another may have a framed image of the Lord hanging on the wall telling others that he honors Him as his Lord. But Christ does not need honor from us nor does He accept this as true worship. Christ seeks much more for He seeks the hearts of men as His dwelling place. And those who have Christ feel His presence in their hearts   where they love and magnify Him.  Thus, it is only when Christ dwells in our hearts that He becomes our Master and God.  If we are not aware of His presence within our souls, all we must do is ask and ask again, and if we are sincere, He will come and dwell in us and make us aware of His presence.. 

     What is man composed of  and where is his heart?  Man is the image of God, who was created body and soul from the clay of the earth, and then a breath or spirit of life was breathed by God into the first man’s body and soul, and he received life from the spirit of life and became a living soul. The Bible does not say that God breathed a soul into man for the soul was not breathed into Him, rather the soul comes from the earth.  Thus, God did breathe a spirit of life and not a soul out of himself into man. 

     Man is formed of body, soul and spirit. The soul of man has three faculties which are intellect, affection or feelings and a free will. Man’s intellectual faculty is located in his head, which is also called the mind through which he cognizes, responds and remembers. He has a heart with which he feels love and hate, joy and sorrow, his heart being located in his breast. Man has a will also located in his breast, which decides what to accept or reject, or whether something is true or false. So we must know God through our minds and love Him with all our hearts, and firmly decide with our will to obey and worship Him in spirit and truth. 

     If Christ is not in our heart, but on paper or on a wall, then He is a plaything, for God must be worshiped as the first commandment says “with all our hearts, in spirit and in truth.” Our hearts are small organs but God can does choose to dwell in our hearts and He will fill them abundantly to overflowing if we approach Him in deep and abiding faith and if we open widely the doors of our hearts to Him. God is life and is the source of all life and by His dwelling in us, He causes our hearts to be filled with His life and delightfully enjoy the love He offers to all. We in turn, upon being aware that our life comes from God, will gladly return our deepest and sincere love to Him, and this mutual love will cause our hearts to jump for joy as we thrive on His sweetest love.

For these things to take place, we must  read the Bible every day, giving our attention to the many important things which God clearly tells us; we must with all our strength strive to do all that He commands. We must not have the Lord only on paper icon or in a frame on the wall, but must have Christ living within our hearts and there He will quench our thirst; such consequent delight and joy cannot be found elsewhere. But we cannot we cannot welcome and invite the Lord if we have any contrary or corrupt ideas or thoughts in our hearts for they are poisonous. We must say with David the Psalmist: “Create in me a clean heart O God and renew an upright spirit within me.”

OUR RELATIONS WITH GOD

   OUR RELATIONS WITH GOD

     “God is the Lord and has revealed himself to us, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” The Jewish people were once the people of God or the people who knew the true God and worshiped Him in spirit and truth. But when He came down as the Son and Logos and was born as a male child from the Ever-virgin Mary, the Jews ended up by rejecting Him completely and worked against Him.  They supported the wicked rulers when they decided to kill Him by nailing Him to the Cross, and enthusiastically agreed., crting: Let Him be cricified! They lost the greatest treasure that can ever be known to man and in doing this they condemned themselves to eternal perdition.

     Jesus Christ is the Son and divine Logos of God and therefore He is God and man. When Jesus opens His mouth and speaks, every word is directly from God the Father for He is one with the Father. Jesus said: “I am the light of the world, he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life (John 8:12).

     When the Jews committed Christ to the Cross, although some did accept Him, the majority did not want him, crying for his death. No man spoke like this man, declared many. Indeed!  Jesus had said: “I am the bread that came down from heaven! He spoke as our Creator and God to us humans, and He spoke with complete authority and extreme love for man. We must remember that Love of the Creator for His humble creatures cannot be neglected without consideration.

     But are not we Orthodox Christians treating Christ with similar disrespect as the Jews who thereby committed their bodies and souls to eternal suffering? Christ did not just speak a few words, He taught a complete change in our way of life. “Depart from evil and do good.” He taught is that the kingdom of God was more important than all food and drink, more important than wife and children, than life or death! We need to train ourselves to completely love God who is good even more than we love anyone or anything else. Our present life may end sooner than we think and we will be judged for what we have believed and what we have done. Today is the day of repentance and prayer to God for tomorrow may be too late!

     In this world we get so used to catering to our body and its desires that we can think of nothing else, and for people who have no faith or hope in the future life, this is their way of live.  We however, if we desire eternal life need to prepare for the future while we are still in this world, for there is no way to change after death removes us from this life bringing us to the terrible judgment. The most important thing is that Jesus Christ teaches us all through the Scripture what we should do, but if we do not habitually read the Bible every day, how can we become informed. Scriptures are filled with life and without them we are dead to spiritual life and to God, who speaks to us through Scripture.

ORTHODOX TEACHING ABOUT GOD 

     There is only one God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, the Trinity one in nature and essence. We Orthodox repeatedly confess in our Creed that there is only one God, the Creator of all that exists. The foolish idea replacing God with “Mother Nature” is a modern hoax conceived by unbelievers who in their imaginations invented a fictional character in the attempt to justify their denial of the true God, and Creator of heaven and earth. We also realize that God does everything with a perfect purpose,  most especially His wonderful formation of mankind in His own image, and the freedom for us  to attain to the perfection of His likeness. These thoughts should arouse in our minds the purpose for which God created us, and this in turn should arouse in our hearts extreme love and respect for our God and admiration for all His works, further  it will inspire us to greatly honor and care for all of the Lord’s creation. In turn, we will observe more of the beauty that surrounds us, but we will especially observe  the extreme beauty of our Creator which His creation slightly proclaims and which reveals  some of His eternal beauty. 

     Because God never ceases to be one in three, God is a monad which is important for if the monad did not exist, there could be no numbers nor anything else, for the monad is necessary for additional  numbers to exist; and without numbers there would be no God or creation, in addition everything God made is necessary and  there is nothing superfluous. The firm belief in the oneness of God we Orthodox proclaim in saying the Creed of ourHoly Church: “I believe in one God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten . . . ” All creation by its countless visible wonders, repeatedly proclaims God’s innermost divine beauty.