The True Christ

ORTHODOX PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Part 18   CONCLUSION

     Having presented herein a series entitled “Orthodox Problems And Solutions,” the next to last was the seventeenth article of the series. In this Part 18 which is the conclusion, we will have  mentioned the most important problems and their solutions. We firmly established that Orthodoxy alone is the Church built by Jesus Christ on the firm  rock on which He built Orthodoxy, “You are the Christ the Son of the Living God,” We presented many aspects of the Church and its functions.  During the present time our bishops and rulers are not living up to their duties, the main thing being, feeding their flock with the teaching of Jesus Christ and His holy commandments.

     Every Orthodox Christian needs to realize that,  concerning the many Orthodox problems and their solutions, including lack of leadership by many bishops and other clergy, an important thing is our own personal responsibilities and our duties to testify to Christ by our lives.  Realistically the problems are  that each and every one of us are responsible because we are not faithfully living the true life in Christ. Bishops and priests come from families and if we in these families  are  not living a life of piety and love for Christ, the Christian life of the Church will not flourish. So each one of us must accept our own responsibility for the condition of our Church. The Lord completed His terrible suffering and great sacrifice, and then sent us the Holy Spirit as our Comforter and Guide; Also He nourishes and energizes us with His divine Body and precious Blood. We must remember that the present temporary world is not our final destination and our days are numbered. If we live only for this world we are far from Christ. But we are seeking eternal life and the heavenly kingdom, which is acquired by our personal deep faith and love for Jesus Christ and the earnest and total dedication of our lives to Him.

     Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are the basis of the Orthodox spiritual life. Studying the Holy Scriptures daily accompanied by a faithful prayer life with a rule of prayer, will develop our souls rendering them spiritually healthy and  filling them with divine life.

     This can only be accomplished by those who realize and wish to avoid the threats of eternal fire and set their goal on eternal life. Christ makes this clear and warns that he will be our Judge, judging us according to His words, a few of which are “Therefore whoever confesses me before men him will I confess before my Father in heaven.”  “I am the Light of the world; he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.”  “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life.” The words and wisdom of Jesus Christ need to nourish our minds and arouse our hearts to love Him who is the Logos and Wisdom of the Father.

     We must remember the words of Christ that He is the “Light of life”, for the world without Christ lies in deep darkness and how great is that darkness – the darkness of death! With the words of Christ before us it is obvious that strong faith in Him fills us with divine light, and eating and drinking Christ in the Eucharist brings us into the everlasting kingdom of God. But also that it is not only belief in Christ but also, being part of His holy Church, because we are His Body, Christ is our Head and it only through His Body, the Church, that salvation and life exists in the world. Not in the vain and worldly assortment of many “churches” and their invalid claims to Christ but only in the one true and holy Orthodox Church that Christ founded does salvation and eternal life exist.  And only therein is the Holy Spirit and the holy Eucharist made available to the faithful.

     All the principles of holy Orthodoxy have been designated, but in this conclusion we assure everyone that that our individual life in Christ and our love of Christ are vital. The principles that were presented herein are filled with divine truth. Orthodoxy is clearly distinguished from the fraud of the papacy and from the vague emptiness and lack of holy tradition among the Protestants,who fooliahly think that they are the church.

     The papacy has always considered those who reject the absolute authority and dogmas of the popes to be wicked and worthy of death. For they established, not Christ, but the pope of Rome as the only source of dogma and doctrine in the universe, which they make  mandatory upon all members of the papacy. The Protestants also are known as the anticatholics, and rejecting holy traditions and the Church Fathers, concentrating their doctrines against the papacy, they have divided themselves into countless jurisdictions and cults, far removed from the divine truths and holy traditions which Christ firmly established in His Church.

Christ promised His disciples that the Holy Spirit would come down upon them and this event, took placd according the Book of the Acts is known as the Sunday of Pentecost, occurring fifty days after Holy Pascha.  At Pentecost, the effects on the disciples was their being filled with divine grace, and all power and authority. No single disciple of Christ  was  elevated above the others because Christ established perfect equality among them all, He being their only ruler and Head, and the Holy Spirit became their only Guide and Comforter. Remember each of us have the same responsibility in the Church, and we would do well to continue to learn and then teach others. Thus causing the Church to advance and grow.