HOLY ORTHODOXY

vs 

WICKED APOSTASY

     The Orthodox Church is one and it is the original Church founded by Jesus Christ and His Holy Apostles, it is also the Church of the Seven Ecumenical Synods. Up until modern times hierarchs used to preach that Orthodoxy was the one and only Church yet few do so during our present days of coldness and apostasy, wherein the betrayal of the truths of Orthodoxy are under attack from within. If this trend continues Orthodoxy will be transformed into heresy and be called heterodoxy. The teaching and dogmatic truths held in the tradition of the Church are the essence of the Church. Many Orthodox Christians are unaware of the importance of truth but truth is its great treasure so it is easy for many to be deceived by unfaithful hierarchs which is happening in our days right before our eyes. They openly embrace heretics and shun the faithful objectors.

     Beginning in the 1920'S the descent into apostasy began with the massive betrayal by Orthodox Church  leaders who began to wage war against the Church and its dogmas. First they began to agree with heretics who claimed that the Church was not to be found in Orthodoxy alone but in the many different church groups outside. These heretical ideas which war against Orthodoxy were adopted by the ecumenical movement as a fundamental teaching. Ecumenism denies the existence of one exclusive Orthodox Church, seeing no difference in the gatherings outside. They also claim the popes and protestants as being the same as themselves although they are totally different. It is that difference which is what separates anything, and in this case Orthodoxy from all the rest of “Christianity” with its false teaching..

     Herein is the testimony of Orthodox Saints: 

No Saint of the Orthodox Church ever accepted ecumenical dealings with any group. The ecumenical movement began in 1923 by an archenemy pf Christ named Meletios Metaxakis, Patriarch of Constantinople. He caused divisions to begin between new and old calendarists. He contacted Protestants and urged them to take the idea from the League of Nations (post  WW1). He also maliciously addressed them as “churches” of God. Asserting that there was more than one church.

Statements of Saints”

St. Cosmas Aitolos (18th C.) 

Teaches us to: “Curse the pope because he is the cause of all evils.” Again: “The antichrist has already come; one is the pope and the other is over us (Mohammed)”.

St. John of Kronstadt: 

“The Latin (Roman) church erred in making the pope-king its head. They demoted Christ when they did this. A thread of blood runs through their history.”

St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite teaches: 

“The Latins (Catholics) are unbaptized and unsaved.”

St Mark of Ephesus:

He demanded on his death bed: “that no Orthodox who was friendly toward the Latins or papists come to my funeral or to the Church or the tomb.” He wanted everyone to know that the papacy is at enmity with God and His Church. He says: “I am convinced that the further away I am from them the closer I am to heaven.”

Saint John the Theologian:

The Saint demonstrates who is the antichrist and that there are many of them. “Little children it is the last time. And as you hear the antichrist will come, even now there are many antichrists; whereby we know it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they were not of us; but they went out, that they might be manifest that they are not of us. But you have an anointing from the holy one, and you know all things” (1John 2: 18-20). 

St. Paul the Apostle:

“A man that is a heretic, admonish once or twice, after that have nothing to do with him knowing that he is self-condemned.”

     We Orthodox must continue to love Christ with all our hearts, souls and bodies, and will serve Him with all our energy until He calls us into His Kingdom. With fear hope and love we will rejoice every day of our lives, always keeping Him in remembrance.

This is a new article, had trouble with the blog!

WORK OF THE CHURCH

     The Church is not just a place where the faithful gather on Sundays to worship the Lord, but it is the living Body of Christ which requires a very active life. This life consists of carrying on the work of Christ or rather it is the work of Christ who is Head and Leader of the Church. The Church is well equipped and is the dwelling of the Holy Spirit who is her mentor and guide.

     Christ built His Church after waging war against the enemy with the rights He had received after   vanquishing him. So Christ acquired His Church in order to contend with the same enemy and to build herself upon the rights of Christ. The church abolished the old and sinful manner of life, teaches and nourished the faithful with a new and sinless life feeding its members with the food of immortality. The old sinful manner of life was founded upon the evil one and its many victims spread abroad continuing the works of the devil.

     Just as Christ died and rose from the dead into life eternal and will never die again for death has lost its dominion over Him, so the members of the Church die with Christ and acquire all the rights of the resurrection. They live in eternity and reign together with Christ whose kingdom lasts forever and is indestructible.

     So all the members of the Church look forward to their own resurrection, to which they testify: “I look to the resurrection of the dead and life in the world to come.” They go through tribulations on earth always looking to Christ, and become partakers of His sufferings and consequently of His eternal glory. This dogma is most essential for it testifies to our salvation, For if we fail to believe in our own resurrection we  consequentially reject Christ’s resurrection. 

     In the Church of the Corinthians they were saying that there was no resurrection of the dead. Hearing this, St. Paul wrote to them in his first epistle: “Now if Christ preached that He had risen from the dead, how say among you that there is no resurrection from the dead? But if there is no resurrection from the dead then Christ is not risen; and if Christ is not risen, then is our preaching is vain. Yea, and we are found as false witnesses of God; because we have testified that God raised up Christ, whom He did not raise. For if the dead do not arise then Christ is not risen and your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins. Then they also which have fallen asleep are of all men the most miserable (1 Cor. 15:12-19).

     Through such words St. Paul the Apostle confirms the dogma of the resurrection and the future life and kingdom which gives strength to every member of the Church to carry on the works of God in the Church. For whoever does not have this hope casts it forth as dead and without the ability to do what the Lord commands.

The Church is at war with the prince and ruler of this world which is built upon sin and death, and they preach to those who are ignorant, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by which all believers are delivered from the condemnation of death, and receive the divine gift of the resurretion to eternal life. The Church builds herself up through preaching to new members keeping all the commandments of Christ who is her divine Head.

     The present life of the Church and her members regard the future and eternal life which the faithful struggle to achieve by the means provided by Christ. As holy Scripture says: “The hour is coming in which all who are in their tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live, and shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation.

     “Behold I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible man must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is your sting? Hades where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who give us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:36-57 partial).

Preaching arouses belief which leads to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, for by faith we are saved and not by works for it is in faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved. 

WORK OF THE NEW MAN JESUS CHRIST

     Jesus Christ came into the world and fulfilled His activity, which aimed at the devil and all evil; He overthrew his dominion stripping the devil of his ill-gotten power and authority which he had acquired by man’s fall into sin, after his disobedience to God’s commandment.

     The overthrow of the evil one and all evil could only be accomplished by Jesus Christ the new man.

Being born of the a woman without the seed of man, He was perfectly holy, and free from original sin and not under the condemnation of death. He grew in spirit being filled with wisdom and the grace of God. At thirty years He was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, then by the voice of His heavenly Father witnessed that He was His own beloved Son in whom He had well decided to save the sinful and mortal race of men. Also, under the form of a dove descending upon Him, He was anointed by the Holy Spirit to be High Priest, King and Prophet over the holy city of God. He would fight with and overcome the devil and establish the Kingdom of God on earth.

    The devil attacked Christ unsuccessfully in an attempt to defile Him with sin, but was quickly defeated, became feeble and was exposed and put to shame, and he was instantly defeated.

     Jesus Christ being victorious began to preach the Gospel of His kingdom. And he brgan to gather his disciples. He drove out demons from those possessed, healed every form of sickness among the people and restored the dead to life. This established that He is truly the Son of God who came into the world to save the world from sin and to free men from the authority of the devil.

     The Devil waged a counterattack defaming Him with slander through the mouths of the wicked Scribes and Pharisees who were his seed. They accused Him of perverting the law of Moses, and accused him of being a false prophet; despite His divine wonders, they deemed Him worthy of death and not a true representative of God to which His works strongly testified. He voluntarily delivered himself into the hands of his enemies who condemned Him to death, the shameful death of the cross. This was most unjust and many prophecies bore witness of these things. He suffered greatly and surrendered His spirit, given up to death upon the Cross, and  the wicked ones looked upon Him with self satisfaction.

     This unjust and wicked act was immediately adjudged by God. It was judged that the Son who was deprived of life should receive the life that was taken from Him, and restored four and five fold. The Devil was condemned to death and destruction, and was deprived of all his authority which he had unjustly acquired because of the sins of men.

     On the third day the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the tomb according to the Scriptures, and received all authority in heaven and on earth and the right to raise the dead to life eternal, this included all those who believe in Him. The Devil is stripped of the authority which he possessed until the time comes when he will be justly apprehended and cast into the unquenchable fire of eternal punishment together with his angels and all his followers.

     From baptism until crucifixion and death upon the cross, the work of Christ was like war; then after the resurrection the work was peaceful and constructive having become the beginning of the new order founded upon the rights of pure and sinless Christ. Christ came and by teaching and example taught men what their purpose and destination are, elevating them as to their divine and holy destination. Christ through His mighty work turned the old idolatrous world upside down.

     This article was published in October 2016, and it shows the wonderful battle that our Lord waged on our behalf and the seriousness and importance of our Orthodox Faith. Christ who is the Creator and God of all, spared nothing including His life to bring us to salvation. The big question is, what are we doing about it. This is the most important decision that we will make during our entire lifetimes.

1. THE NEW MAN JESUS CHRIST

“The old man was of the earth, earthy, the new man is the Lord from heaven.”  

     The first man (Adam) was of the earth. earthy; the new man (Christ) is the incarnate Logos from heaven. The first man dissolved into the elements of which he had been composed, and returned to the earth from which he was taken. But the new man is not from the earth but is the Lord who descended out of heaven. Man did not evolve but is created by the Lord/ Thus life and death of men are always under the Son of God’s authority, for He is the preexisting eternal God, who also became a man in time. He is the one Godman Jesus Christ, the image and glory of the Father who gives birth to Him outside of time.

     The New Man is  true God the Logos, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Fulfilling part of His eternal plan, He became a man like unto ourselves without any change in His divinity. Also He became the perfect man being the perfect image and likeness of God, and was prophetically prophesied in the Book of Genesis. 

     He assumed His humanity in the womb of the Ever-virgin Mary, and He grew and was nourished by His earthy Mother. She gave birth to Him as a babe and carried the God of all in her holy arms. What a mystery~ What a wonder!  What humility! He became strong in spirit and grew into full manhood. He came and destroyed the authority of the devil stripping him of his power over man which he had acquired by inciting him to commit sin. He renewed the old man and saved him by all that He did for him with His suffering, death and resurrection. 

     An account of the divine and human natures of Christ is confirmed in three articles of our Symbol of faith, the third, fourth and fifth, and this was also defined by the Fourth Ecumenical Synod held in Chalcedon which says: “Following, then, the divine fathers in confessing one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, with one accord, we teach that He himself is perfect in humanity, truly God, one person, truly man with soul and body. He is of two natures, uncon-fused, unchangeable, indivisible and inseparable. We speak not of two persons separated but of one person, the same Son and is the only begotten God, the Logos our Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets from the beginning taught concerning Him and the Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and as the Symbol of the fathers has delivered to us.”

     According to this definition of the dogma, the one eternal hypostasis of Christ is affirmed to be of two births, there are two natures, two wills and energies, one divine and the other human, united with no confusion, without one replacing the other, unchangeable, the one not being converted into the other; inseparable, the one not disappearing and leaving the other remaining. In the union of two natures, each retains its own properties. The unity exists in the person, the duality in the natures, and the wills and energies. Both the natures the wills and the energies exist in the one person. Christ is known as perfect God and perfect man from the properties and energies of either nature.

     In Him is contained all the power and authority of the Father and by His word alone, He raised the dead, healed every form of sickness and every disease, He changed water into wine, rebuked the waves of the sea, cast out demons, multiplied five loaves, so that many fragments were left. From doing these and similar things we know that He is truly God, for these are the works of God. He is truly man is shown by His weariness from a journey, by His hunger, thirst and pain. Also He was troubled at the approach of death and suffered as He was hanged upon the Cross. The Godman cognized and looked ahead to the work He was to accomplish in overcoming the ruler of this word, the devil, By His free will He was delivered up to death and in His own power He arose from the dead as God, saving all who believe in Him, and granting them life eternal in the heavenly kingdom. Those who disregard and reject His word He will justly condemn together with the devil and his angels when He comes in glory as Judge the living and the dead.

     Most men usually gives little or no attention to God and His commandments while God gives     complete attention to man, for He feeds and clothes him, provides shelter, provides means of communication, teaches him to wash, to speak and converse with Him. So rightly does He condemn those who refuse to believe in Him accomplished by His divine work as the Godman, which only He could do. He formed us with His own hands and yet we say there is no God?

     Man is a moral creature and has the morals senses that teach him truth and falsehood, right and wrong. Man is the only creature on this earth that rules over so many things. For God made him superior to others with intelligence and many abilities. Man is the image of God and has a destination that is vastly superior to this present life, which is eternal life where there is no sorrow, no pain, no death but life everlasting in joy which rejects all sorrow.

THE RACE OF MANKIND

     According to the Scripture, the descendants of Adam should properly be listed into two separate lines of descent. One line of descent would be that of the unbelievers, irreligious and lawless line of the Evil One, called also the Serpent. The other line of mankind would be the devout and religious children of God. Concerning these two lines of descent there always exists enmity and an implacable war,  as is written: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.”

     The first-born son of Adam and Eve was Cain who became the leader of the unbelievers and irreligious and evil line of decent. Maliciously he attacked and killed his only brother Abel. Abel was of the line of the religious, devout worshipers of God.  Then Adam fathered Seth who became head of the religious and just worshipers.

     Seth begat Enos, who hoped in the Lord. The fifth in descent from Seth was Enoch, son of Jared, and he pleased God so much that he was translated without death. It was revealed to men in those days that a redeemer and savior of the race of man who would live a righteous life before God and man.   But the wicked and corrupt men did not believed or accept a redeemer of men, they lived only for the pleasures of the flesh and delights of this quickly passing life.  They also belittled and mocked the  good counsel of the righteous.

     After two thousand years from the time of Adam, the descendants of Seth called also sons of God, were overcome with the beauty of wicked women, fell from their own moral and upright life and became depraved. Then the Lord by means of the flood destroyed them from off the earth. But He saved Noah, with his three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives by means of their preparing an ark built to preserve them.

     After the deluge of the flood the whole race of man was reckoned from the three sons of the Sethite Noah,  Shem Ham and Japheth, of whom Ham after dishonoring his father received a curse in place of a blessing and then became the leader of a new evil line of generation. But the descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth, 531 years after the flood in the year 2,715 B.C. were scattered over the face of the earth, founding many nations with different languages.  They forgot God, lived an impious life and impiously worshiped creatures instead of God, corrupting themselves with everything evil thing, indulging solely in wickedness.

     In the year 2100 B.C. the Semite Abram, who was later called Abraham became leader of the religious line of those who inherit the promises of God. God made a covenant of the coming of Christ who  through this man would  come into the world and the salvation of man through their faith in the Savior to be born. The descendants of Adam from the beginning and after the flood, snd  the descendants of Noah were distinguished into two opposing generations, one of God and the other of the Devil, being the enmity which God mentioned. Accepting these two generations one honoring God  and the other serving the Devil, we see the results in the race of men, some doing acts of evil and others doing only acts the are good and beneficial to all.

     The new man Jesus Christ will come just as promised and will bring salvation and life into the world, inviting all men to enter to choose this life and be saved. Many are called but few are chosen.

According to what men choose they can be rendered happy and blessed or render themselves cursed and wretched. May the Lord have mercy upon all of us.

MIRACLES IN ORTHODOXY

“One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, 

now I see” (John (9:25)

     The blind man in the Gospel was asked what happenned and he gave the testimony, saying: “One thing I know . . .” Orthodoxy is well known by many of its adherents for its many supernatural occurrences known as miracles, such as the blind man. Many of these miracles are not well known for they are considered by many Orthodox  faithful not as supernatural but as natural occurences. However this knowledge is of benefit to all for it strengthens and increases faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His holy Church.

     Herein is the story of such a modern miracle concerning a man with destroyed sight and the Greek Orthodox Priest of St. Paraskevi Church in Greenlawn, LI, NY. This is the narration of the miracle, which occurred in November 2013, and the narrator is Father Dimitrios Moraitios the Orthodox Priest.

   “He (the blind man) was wearing dark glasses and carried a walking stick. His wife was also by his side. He introduced himself and wanted to know if I was the Priest at the Greek Orthodox Church in Greenlawn, and I said I was.  He wanted to come by earlier that week to seek permission to walk his new guide dog in our parking lot. The high school next door had told him that he could no longer walk his dog on their property because he was an insurance liability. So of course I said that it wouldn’t be a problem.  I gave him my card and told him that when he comes to walk his dog to please be sure to come inside so that I could read a prayer over him and anoint him with holy water from the Shrine of St. Paraskevi. He said he would love to. 

     He e-mailed me that night and asked if I would be willing to hear his confession as well. I told him that I would. When he came to me and began telling me about his tragic and sad life, I cried. For those two hours I listened to him so intensely, I felt that I was with him, living through it with him. It seems that every evil conceivable that could have come upon this man came upon him from his childhood, to his parents, to his first wife.  

     After he finished his confession I wanted to read some prayer over him, and he insisted on kneeling.  As I put my hand on his head some vibration came through my head/ into my right hand and on top of his head, causing him to shutter.  I’ve heard hundreds and hundreds of confessions, and this has never happened to me.  We cried together knowing that we were both touched by something supernatural/ We got up and went down to the shrine and I read the prayer of healing over him. He began to wash his face with the holy water as if he was in a sink basin. As he got up he began to look to his left and said there is a woman here as looked at the icon of St. Paraskevi.  He then turned to my face and he looked at me in an odd way and he said: “You have light brown eyes. I have not seen a color In seven years. I can see your light brown eyes.”  

     He then proceeded to tell everything he was able to see around the grotto shrine and I started crying, he also started crying, even his wife was crying.  This man had absolutely zero vision in his right eye and could barely see shadows with his lefteye  as a result of being exposed to chemicals as a rescue diver for the fire department.  

     That afternoon he e-mailed me again saying that he was in his backyard, not only able to see the different colors of the cars that were passing, but able to make out the make of each car as well. The next morning he came back to the church and placed his glasses upon the relics of St. Paraskevi. 

     He walked down the stairs to the shrine, this time without a walking stick or his guide dog.  He didn’t even have to use the handrail, he simply walked down. He has been at church every morning even staying for every Liturgy.  I told him, that he has helped to open my spiritual eyes to a vision that I have not see in many years. And perhaps in my heart of hearts I think that I have been more healed than he has.  He’s trying to understand why this miracle happened ro him, and what should he do now. Every day we talk and every day God reveals His will to us.  This happened on November 18, and today his eyesight is better than mine. Glory be to God!”

CREATION OF MAN

     The first book of the Bible, Genesis, records the creation of man on the sixth day.  “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over all the earth, and every creeping thing that moves upon the earth.  So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.  And God blessed them. And God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply. And replenish the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea. And over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Gen 1:26-28).

     According to these words they speak singularly of a man in the image  and likeness of the triune God. Then speaking plurally it says that they will be the ruler of living creatures subsisting on the dry land, in the seas, and in the air; and it is concerns man that the entire world was created. For the sake of man God created both the spiritual world of angels and the material world of animate and inanimate objects, and man is the most perfect work of God. God created man in His own image, and the  man represents the Father, the woman represents the Son, while the Holy Spirit of God which unites them into one, represents the Holy Spirit. The first created man was imperfect and only in the image of God not also the likeness which would make him like God. The perfect man in the image and likeness of God, perfect and sinless is our Lord Jesus Christ, prevailing contrary opinions are incorrect. Jesus Christ is the only one who is both perfect man and perfect God, and the only perfect man in God’s image and likeness.

     The first man being imperfect but capable of progress toward ultimate perfection, could only progress with his divine guidance and submission to the will of God which man accepts and follows/.

However man had an adversary to whom God gave the right to antagonize man’s progress and ultimate perfection, so that man situated between God and the Devil, being drawn by two opposing influences might choose to freely follow God.

     The creation of man as recorded in Genesis: God made man male and female in His own image, Here are details on the creation of man: “And God formed man out of the clay of the earth, and breathed into his person the breath of life and the man became a living soul.” The soul of man is not man and the body is not man, but the body and soul together compose man Both the body and soul of man come from the earth. But the spirit of life came out from God and is His Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit in man that, with man’s cooperation can render Him immortal and beautiful. There is much confusion on this subject and this will help to clear it. The soul and body are two different things and together they are called man, but are lifeless. 

      But when God out of His Holy Spirit breathes into the man a breath of life the man becomes a living soul. Therefore the confusion of the soul with the spirit is clouds the text which is clear, for the soul comes from the earth and the spirit comes out of God and is the presence of divinity in man, which exalts him above all other creatures. Thus the correct definition of man is that he is body, soul and spirit, triune man in the image of the triune God.

     St. John Chrysostom says: “If the word speaks of flesh and spirit, where is the soul? Therefore does it discourse of inanimate things? By no means. For it also speaks of control over the passions and concerning the soul.” “The soul being the medium which draws the body down to pleasures, the spirit draws it up to God, commanding it to bless Him, that is, to glorify God always. Of the three constituent parts Paul also makes mention saying, God will sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole body, soul, and spirit be preserved.

OUR VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLD

      The first and second articles of our Orthodox Symbol of Faith concern the visible and invisible world composed of numerous and complicated constituent parts. These worlds were originated and created by our triune God, who is  undivided in essence, and is the Creator of all. The world was derived from nothing and was came into existence being wrought by His will, wisdom and power. This was over a long period of time and thus there were different beings and their orderly succession over periods of time.

     In the first article of the Creed the Father is identified as the Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible; and the second article clearly says that through the Son all things were made and without the Son nothing that was made existed. Besides the Father and the Son’s activity there is an inseparable activity of the Holy Spirit which is creative, and it is through the Holy Spirit that the entire existing creation is preserved and maintained in life. The world, composed of visible and invisible and complicated parts is the work of the one Triune God, and outside of this nothing exists.

     The dogma concerning creation and the world’s dependence upon God is mentioned in Holy Scripture: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth:” (Gen. 1:1).  “Whatever the Lord pleased, that He did in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deep places” (Ps.135:6).  “By the Logos of God were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the spirit of His mouth” (Ps. 33:6). “All things were made through the Logos of God, and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). “You send forth your spirit and they are created; and you renew the face of the earth” (Ps. 104: 30).  Besides these references we offer the following historical knowledge.           

     First God made the heaven, the world of immaterial spirits called angels. It is called invisible because it is not seen but is understood by the faithful. We do not see this world through our bodily eyes but through our intellects, and it is called the intellectual world. It is also referred to as the spiritual world and the angelic world, because it is made of spirits and angels. This world consist of three hierarchies, each being made of three orders of angels.  The highest and first is the Cherubim, Seraphim and Thrones. The second is the Dominions, Principalities and Powers. The third order   is the Governments, Archangels and Angels.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        God also made the earth or matter unseen and unorganized which was water and fire and terrestrial particles and this was separate from the angelic world. But when the devil who had been one of the angelic with ranks of followers revolted, after this the Lord proceeded to create the visible world.

And said: “Let there be light and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And evening and morning were one day. This day was not the 24-hour day we are familiar with, for the sun moon and stars were not yet created. The heavens above us were made on the second day and was called heaven. And God commanded: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so.  And God called the firmament heaven. And God saw that it was good, and the evening and the morning were the second day.

     On the third day God separated the dry land from the waters, and ordained that plants and trees should spring forth. And so it came to pass. God commended: Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the system of waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said: Let the earth bring forth the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind., whose seed was in itself upon the earth, and it was so. And  the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after its kind upon the earth. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.

     On the fourth day God made the sun and the moon and the stars, saying: Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth to divide the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser to rule the night; He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of heaven to light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

     And on the fifth day God made the fish of the sea and the birds of the heaven, saying thus: Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and the fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven, and it was so. And God created great monsters, and every creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after its kind. And God saw that they were good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters and the seas, and let the fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

     On the sixth day God also made living creatures on the dry land, saying, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after its kind, cattle and creeping things, and beast of the earth after its kind. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth after its kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creeps upon the earth after its kind. And God saw that it was good.; On this day, after making the living creatures on the dry land, He made also man.

     Through this historical narrative we see the time sequence of making the two worlds, visible and invisible. All things were created by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit the Maker of heaven and earth and of all things that were made. On the next installment we will deal with the creation of man.

                                                                                                                                                                                           

OUR VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLD

      The first and second articles of our Orthodox Symbol of Faith concern the visible and invisible world composed of numerous and complicated constituent parts. These worlds were originated and created by our triune God, who is  undivided in essence, and is the Creator of all. The world was derived from nothing and was came into existence being wrought by His will, wisdom and power. This was over a long period of time and thus there were different beings and their orderly succession over periods of time.

     In the first article of the Creed the Father is identified as the Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible; and the second article clearly says that through the Son all things were made and without the Son nothing that was made existed. Besides the Father and the Son’s activity there is an inseparable activity of the Holy Spirit which is creative, and it is through the Holy Spirit that the entire existing creation is preserved and maintained in life. The world, composed of visible and invisible and complicated parts is the work of the one Triune God, and outside of this nothing exists.

     The dogma concerning creation and the world’s dependence upon God is mentioned in Holy Scripture: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth:” (Gen. 1:1).  “Whatever the Lord pleased, that He did in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deep places” (Ps.135:6).  “By the Logos of God were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the spirit of His mouth” (Ps. 33:6). “All things were made through the Logos of God, and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). “You send forth your spirit and they are created; and you renew the face of the earth” (Ps. 104: 30).  Besides these references we offer the following historical knowledge.           

     First God made the heaven, the world of immaterial spirits called angels. It is called invisible because it is not seen but is understood by the faithful. We do not see this world through our bodily eyes but through our intellects, and it is called the intellectual world. It is also referred to as the spiritual world and the angelic world, because it is made of spirits and angels. This world consist of three hierarchies, each being made of three orders of angels.  The highest and first is the Cherubim, Seraphim and Thrones. The second is the Dominions, Principalities and Powers. The third order   is the Governments, Archangels and Angels.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         God also made the earth or matter unseen and unorganized which was water and fire and terrestrial particles and this was separate from the angelic world. But when the devil who had been one of the angelic with ranks of followers revolted, after this the Lord proceeded to create the visible world.

And said: “Let there be light and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And evening and morning were one day. This day was not the 24-hour day we are familiar with, for the sun moon and stars were not yet created. The heavens above us were made on the second day and was called heaven. And God commanded: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so.  And God called the firmament heaven. And God saw that it was good, and the evening and the morning were the second day.

     On the third day God separated the dry land from the waters, and ordained that plants and trees should spring forth. And so it came to pass. God commended: Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the system of waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said: Let the earth bring forth the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind., whose seed was in itself upon the earth, and it was so. And  the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after its kind upon the earth. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.

      On the fourth day God made the sun and the moon and the stars, saying: Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth to divide the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser to rule the night; He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of heaven to light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

     And on the fifth day God made the fish of the sea and the birds of the heaven, saying thus: Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and the fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven, and it was so. And God created great monsters, and every creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after its kind. And God saw that they were good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters and the seas, and let the fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

     On the sixth day God also made living creatures on the dry land, saying, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after its kind, cattle and creeping things, and beast of the earth after its kind. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth after its kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creeps upon the earth after its kind. And God saw that it was good.; On this day, after making the living creatures on the dry land, He made also man.

     Through this historical narrative we see the time sequence of making the two worlds, visible and invisible. All things were created by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit the Maker of heaven and earth and of all things that were made.

THE PERPLEXITY OF THOSE DARKENED BY SIN

“Who is this who forgives sins?” (Luke 7:49)

     “Who is this who forgives sins?”  This was asked by unrepentant sinners, for the sinners didn’t ask, instead they realized that He was good and thus confessed their sins. Who is this that forgives sins? It is the only one able to forgive sins; it is the Lord Jesus Christ for all human sins falls upon Him like a blow. Generations ago He created and rejoiced with the sinless man in Paradise, whom He had created in His own image, and now he is to about receive blows on his account due to that original  and destructive sin.     

    Jesus Christ the Son of God, is eternally sinless and came into the world to save His precious creatures. Also Jesus alone can take revenge and He alone can forgive men their sins. There is no anger in the Lord hence alone He can requite or forgive.  He is also perfectly just and can give every person what he deserves, or have mercy upon them by forgiveness. But those who fail to repent and believe in Him will get what they deserve.

     He forgives repentant sinners out of His mercy. This forgiveness opens the eyes of the blind, restore hearing to the deaf, let the  lame and crooked walk straight, and those who were plagued with flow of blood were quickly relieved. Those with a foolish spirit have become wise, those possessed with demons were relieved when they were cast out, and cold dead men are returned to warmth and life. The all powerful Lord fed the hungry, gave the thirsty to drink, and taught all men what He expected from them if they wished to be saved and enter His holy kingdom.

     Nothing darkens man more than pernicious sin which is undesirable and unnatural and was acquired through man’s disobedience to God’s command to fast from a tree, and man instead accepted the  advice of the devil and chose to his will and disobey God. God who is good and kind did not create sin but made man sinless, but he warned him of his potential greatness before all creation and that he avoid the slimy path of the sin of disobedience. He also didn’t threaten Adam the first man but firmly warned him that if he   ate of the forbidden tree he would die. God gave His eternal life to us by breathing His spirit into Adam, thus death does not belong to man but was caused by his disobedience.

     After Adam and Eve sinned they bore two children, named Cain and Abel, whom they taught to offer sacrifices to God. Abel offered his best and Cain’s offer was inferior, resulting in Cane becoming bitter in envy he slayed his brother thus introduced brotherly murder into the world.  Then as the race of man increased, sin was a choice they could choose, and while Abel chose good Cain chose evil and, even after bwing warned by God, he killed his own brother.

     From the beginning God had a plan to save and correct men so the devil’s plan will certainly be  thwarted. Many like Abel chose the good that God had offered and rejected the will of the evil one. His Logos would be incarnated from the Virgin Mary and at the Annunciation He came into her sacred womb. Nine moths later He was born and marking this we celebrate Christmas, the Birth of Christ. He grew to adulthood and there never was and never will be a most beautiful and gracious man whose divinity was masked by His humanity, but shone through in many ways. By His example and teaching He taught us what  we are and what we must become, saying for example: “Be holy for I am holy;” “Be perfect as your Father in heaven;”  “If you love me, keep my commandments.” His original plan was to form man in His image and to become perfect as God’s own image and likeness, His teaching was the way to bring this to fruition, and he prepared food and drink for this enormous task giving man all the help he needed.

     Sin is attractive to the flesh but we have been given a spirit of God within us and the spirit will strongly support us if we make war against all our sinful inclinations; we must despise and avoid all evil then do only the will of God. Life is short and goes by quickly so there is no time to waste. Today is the day of salvation, tomorrow may be too late. If the task seems to be too great, starting ,only starting, will be rewarded, for it is the decision that is most necessary. We must choose life instead of death, eternal life instead of eternal death!

VICTORY OVER THE WORLD

“ In the world you shall have tribulation, 

but be of good cheer; 

I have overcome the world” (John 26:33).

     There is one who has created all that exists and who has established victory by defeating and conquering the devil, who was the evil ruler of the world of men. He is Jesus Christ the Godman who has conquered the deceiver, who had made himself evil ruler of the world. But Jesus Christ proclaimed His victory, for He is the undefeated and almighty God who created and controls everything. There should never be any fear in the hearts of the followers of our God and Savior Jesus Christ who created, established and  dominates the entire world of men. His battle and victory was done because of His great love for man. The world appears to the most faithless ones to be stronger than themselves, but the world is relatively weak and feeble under the dominion and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ,

 

     The physical world is seen at times as being ferocious and terrible to those who choose not to recognize and worship the true God who created them amd they ignore their Master and Creator. They reject without taking into account all that He has done for us. They reject the Virgin birth, the preaching of the Gospel, the countless miracles, the passion, the Cross, and death followed by His most glorious  resurrection. With overflowing evidence of the truth the opposers still choose to accept only their own wild speculation.

     They suffer from many storms, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and frequent and destructive fires and they reject God as being the Creator and Cause. But they fabricated a god whom they called  Mother Nature, who is mindless and  incommunicative and non existent. Truth is that their god is inferior to those men who worship her for God through His spirit has given all men intellect and feelings which are not an attribute of mindless  mother nature. Yet they assert that blind mother nature is the source of all the evils which they suffer, andof the good things which they enjoy.  They refuse to accept the real and eternal Source who is the true God who created heaven and earth and all things visible and invisible. Not too many years ago. when men even a small bit of faith were less impious, a terrible earthquake would cause them to repent  confessing their sins before the God in heaven “who looks at the earth and it trembles.”

    What they cannot understand in their folly is that creation could not possibly have created itself, for without its Creator, nothing created can possibly exist without the intelligence and power of God. And God alone will decide if and when this creation is no longer needed in His plan, and if so He will decide whether to return it to non-being. 

 

     The physical world with its many insecurities may seem very powerful to many faithless ones  causing countless dangers, injuries and deaths. But we recognize the fact that it is totally under the dominion and control of its only Master and Creator. Compared to Christ the world is very weak and has no power that does not come from His decision and will. So tribulation and numerous miseries plague many unbelievers who refuse to turn to God and escape the  tribulation, but more important to escape eternal condemnation.

      When our Lord says: “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world”, He is speaking of the world of men and angels who from the beginning many of them rejected God and chose to live in sin being obedient to their malignant master the devil.  As their leader he advised them to ignore God’s command and enjoy the attractive forbidden fruit, and the result was terrible sin entered creation. Christ defeated the evil one through His Passion and death on the Cross followed by His glorious Resurrection. Christ tells us: “Be of good cheer: for the evil one has been dominating over you and is now he is left powerless before me, and he knows that his days are numbered and his power is has been transformed into weakness.

     Be of good cheer for by faith your eyes are now wide open and you clearly see me as your God and Creator and Savior, for by the same faith many will come unto me and be saved from eternal condemnation. Believing in me you shall keep all of my commandments which will place you firmly on the path to everlasting life. “Be of good cheer” for you ill have my firm support all through your life, so remain for I traveled that road which is now ready for you.  “Take up your cross daily and be crucified” to all evil thoughts, words and deeds. I will also feed you with eternal food, which is my own body and blood, which I shed for the whole world in order to save you and bring many to perfection and glory.  Come to me in fear, faith and love, with sincere repentance avoiding everything that is evil.

NEW HERESIES 

by Met. Augoustinos Kantiotes of Florina

“We will not deny you beloved Orthodoxy!”

Concerning Philo-papism

     (From the Editor) Many contemporary and influential Orthodox leaders have been traveling on a crooked path of betrayal by kissing, praising, flirting, embracing and glorifying the Pope of Rome, who has usurped the place of Christ as Head of the Church, even to bringing popes into the Orthodox churches. This article by the Metropolitan was translated from original Greek. Also the dogmas of Orthodoxy require that every one outside must enter through denouncing their heresies and must by baptized by triune baptism)

      Lately, certain theologians under the influence of contemporary world wide currents, have begin to savor the words “ecumenicity”, “ecumenical spirit”, and “ecumenical movement”, as if they were hard candy.  Ecumenicity, what a beautiful word!  And yet, behind these words lie a hidden most fearful danger to Orthodoxy.  What is this danger?  We will show you by means of an example.

     Imagine a woman, a woman faithful to her husband, a woman who will show no third party to enter into their relationship, ever mindful of the promises which she has made before God and before men. She is a woman of exceptional beauty, drawing the eyes of many a man. On account of her uprightness, however, anyone who dares to touch, or to proposition her, immediately meets with her anger.  Should such a one persist, this honorable woman will deliver a strong slap to his face in order to bring him to his senses.

     Those men who are learned in such vile business, however, will try another method. These will try too uncover what it is that this woman likes; does she love poetry, or philosophy, or art? By means of these things the secret admirer will trap her.  With great deftness he will begin having innocent conversations with her on those subjects that are beloved to her. “What a wonderful poem!”; “What a beautiful painting!”; “What a wonderful play!”; “How sweet a piece of music!’ And thus begins the dialogue.  Gradually the unsuspecting woman is lured into longer conversations with the deceiver who, while his tongue speaks of philosophy and art, his heart leaps at the hope of taking the woman for himself.  Finally after an air of great familiarity and mutual understanding has been achieved through these conversations, the door is open to the foul deed, the shameful union.  Just as the most-evil serpent succeeded in beguiling Eve by means of a simple conversation, in like manner the seed of shameful union was sown,

     Did you catch what we are trying to say, beloved? We have spoken in a parable.

     The woman concerning which we have spoken is our Orthodox Church. She is the beauty. She is the woman who, according to the book of Revelation is “clothed in the Sun”, who wears “upon her head a crown of twelve stars”, and who has “the moon under her feet”.  It is the Orthodox Church which has remained faithful to the Lord, to the eternal bridegroom. It is she who has kept our the tradition of the Lord and of the Apostles – both written and unwritten – in accordance with the God inspired call to “stand fast, and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”  It is she, the Orthodox Church, which for nineteen centuries has fought the hard and bloody battle against various deceptions, against the various heresies which have sought to pollute and corrupt her holiness.  One of the worst of these heresies is Papism which, on account of its delusions, its authoritarian spirit, and its atrocities, caused the rise of Protestantism and the fracturing of all of Christendom.  Yes, the Papists are heretics. 

     The enemies of the Orthodox Church, including Papism to be sure, know well that she has persevered in the faith of her Fathers. Yet, having been persuaded through many examples that they cannot conquer that fortress which is Orthodoxy by means of a frontal attack, these enemies have recently begun trying by other means.  They have begun a new war, a war of peace, a war worse than the Crusades. Do you not hear the voice of the serpent, seeking to corrupt the minds of Orthodoxy, leading us away from our simplicity? 

     Here is what the serpent says: I am a sweet angel bearing the message of love. I am not going to hurt you. Keep your dogmas and traditions.  Leave these things to the theologians . . . I invite you into my room to discuss other matters.  Let us make a common stand against hunger, against poverty, against atheism, against communism, against war.  Do these matters not move you? Does not this proposition not excite you?  Come then, let us begin our conversation on high, on the level of ecumenicity, on the level of mutual understanding. You will see how beautiful our coming together can be!

     O Orthodox Church!  Our suffering mother! Will you accept this proposition? Will you enter into dialogue with Papism? Can you not see the danger inherent in this proposition? That those who ineptly and unworthily represent you are creating conditions favorable to your enemies to such a fearful degree that you without even taking notice, will fall into the arms of Papism. And what will follow then? A union, a pseudo-union, spiritual adultery, a most vile act; something which should never to have occurred and which will require centuries of repentance from those Orthodox who played the role of pimp for the Orthodox Church.  The hour will come when these will sigh and say: “Let the language which we spouted concerning “ecumenicity” and “mutual understanding” cease; let these feet which ran to bring together Orthodoxy and wolves in sheep’s clothing become leprous; let these hands which signed ecumenical epistles and documents fall off!” 

     This my beloved, is the famous ‘theory of ecumenicity’ which our leaders savor!

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UNION OF FAITHFUL ORTHODOX

    

“One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one 

God and Father of all who is above all and through 

all and in you all” (Eph. 4: 5-6).

     There is an enormous reason for us Orthodox Christians to struggle to maintain our unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and thus become one body and one spirit, who is our Lord Jesus Christ, our Head, our Creator, our Redeemer and our Resurrection.

      St. Paul reminds us that we all must have the exact same faith are baptized into the same  one and only Orthodox baptism, and that we worship one God and Father of all, for bring in perfect unity is the only way to follow Christ. Just as there cannot be two Christs so there should be complete unity as one with no divisions among the faithful. Christ shed His one blood while on the Cross and with His one mouth He offered prayer for all of us in the garden of Gethsemane.

     The oneness in faith indicates that the many faithful followers of Jesus Christ follow the same course, the same teaching and keep the same commandments, and thus they become like one person.

The oneness of baptism is today not observed by many hierarchs and priests. Whether a person never went to a church or went to a false non–Orthodox church, everyone with no exceptions that has not been baptized in Orthodox triune immersion has the need to be baptized into the one baptism for remission of sins and life everlasting. Orthodox Baptism performed only in Orthodox churches, as St Paul teaches above, is most necessary for all who desire to be saved.

     The one God is also a single united Trinity, Father Son and Holy Spirit  and we are baptized into each of the persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit being immersed into each by the three immersions. The unity of the Church must be as the unity of the three persons of the Holy Trinity, as the unity of Christ who as God and man is the Godman, We know that unity is critically important.

     Everyone must be alert and be certain that the triune Baptism is always performed by the priest or bishop and that each immersion is completed properly, for this is the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He sent His apostles forth telling them to “preach the Gospel to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit.” Properly done, baptism represents our triune descent into the death of Christ and rising from beneath the water is rising into third day glorious resurrection of  Christ.

     A portion of this quote speaks of God being “above all and in you all.”  If we reflect on these all important words they ought to cause us to tremble and jump as we  rejoice! For God is the greatest and the Cause and Creator of everything that exists and yet He chooses to humble himself and dwell within each one of us. What a marvelous and delightful thing to ponder! God dwells in me and seeks to make me into a god like himself. But the marvel is that He is also helpless in that He can do nothing without our cooperation and free choice with a deep desire to return His love for man with our love. 

     With this knowledge comes a great responsibility to speak to God and delight in the fact that we are able to do this, for he will never reject anyone who comes to him in sincerity, and rejoices with those who approach Him in love.

HOW THE FAITHFUL MUST GROW

“Speaking the truth in love we may grow up into him

 in all things, which is the head, even Christ, 

from whom the whole body is fitly joined together” 

 (Eph. 4:15).

     How we must conduct our earthly journey holding to the truth as we abide in love. Truth comes from Christ and He left us His perfect example of genuine love for He is both truth and love and  originates in the Father who is the source of all, so one cannot embrace truth and love apart from Jesus Christ. He is our only true path to truth and love however there are many false paths.

    In the epistle of Paul he reminds us that we are no longer children, tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.  Only God can reveal truth, while human thoughts come like wind and were we were left only to our own thoughts we would fall into many errors for truth  is assured only in the words of God in Scripture and in the historic fathers of the Church.

     The world loves to speak if its material and scientific thought and ideas which have created great progress. None of the inventions of science could be achieved without God’s permission and cooperation. For example medicine was discovered in various plants and animals. But is this real progress in important knowledge? Men have lived the same way over the centuries, and there was a time when there were not things like autos and trucks, airplanes and parachutes, giant skyscrapers and every other type of fancy or difficult building. So they are progressive in material things, but what about becoming sick and dying, human misery and crime? For death is our inevitable destination but not the end of our existence, and men flee from both sickness and death, but fail to even look for a solution in most cases. For we are properly destined to grow in grace and love and not just living for  the temporary things of this world all of which we will leave behind when we depart from this life and enter the domains of death. “We must progress and grow as He commands in all things that are important, by following Him who came down from heaven for the specific reason of setting us on the correct path which  leads to eternal life.

     As scripture reads, Christ is the one only Head of His Body the Church, for it clearly says above: “Christ is the Head from whom the whole Body is fitly joined together.” The Church is the living Body of Christ to whom faithful Orthodox Christians are “fitly joined together”. Christ is the Head of the Church, therefore divine Orthodoxy being the one and only Body of Christ glorifies Him as their Head.  Because He is both God and man He alone can be Head of the Church, and. 

Papal claims by the popes as being heads of the church and  their being the one and only true church are in total disagreement with Holy Scripture, which firmly establishes that Christ is the only head of His only Body, the Church.

     The most important thing missing from the papacy in its false domination is that it preaches a totally different gospel than it once taught and not the gospel which was given to us. They do not fast or teach fasting as Orthodox do for 200 days of the year. They do not teach that they and the faithful must become perfect like the Father in heaven. Any one can follow their teaching with little effort.  If you Goggle “the Roman Catholic Church” and you will see.  

     The papacy changed holy communion substituting it with unleavened wafers in place of leavened bread and wine.

They changed the sacred creed of the church by adding the falsehood that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son.” In doing this they contradict Christ who in the Bible wherein He says that the “Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father” the papacy added also “and from the Son” which is a falsehood. Because they have abandoned the holy Orthodox Church  to which they had once had belonged For a thousand years, also because two churches of Christ is an total impossibility. Orthodoxy to this day remains the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church which preserves all doctrines and every dogmatic teaching. Orthodoxy always has a single divine and human Head, the Godman Jesus Christ, while the papacy Christ established many heads who are ordinary sinful men and then they invented a new teaching which they   bestowed upon their popes which is the insane doctrine of papal infallibility.

GREATLY FORBEARING JOB

“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; 

blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

     Those who faithfully keep God’s laws have nothing to fear because everything will go well with them. God will never forsake the righteous.  The above quote is from the Book of Job, who suffered after being very well to do and bore his deprivation and physical suffering well, always remembering and offering his fervent prayers to the Lord.  

     Job had seven sons and three daughters; he had riches and honor before his friends and all people. He faithfully worshiped the true God, who gave him many possessions and He treated Job well. The messengers came one after another telling him of his sudden losses. He ended up with the loss all his possessions in a day. Instead of turning to God in complaint, he fell to the ground and offered his regular worship. And he said: “I came out of my mother’s womb naked and naked shall I return there.” Then his health failed him and his entire body became covered with boils that were very sore.  After a time Job’s wife urged him to deny God but the righteous man said to her: “If we have received good things at the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil things.”

His friends spoke up and chided him, saying that he was a sinner and proud of himself and of his possessions and deeds. However Job prayed ardently to God as he patiently endured his sores and tolerated his great misfortune.

     What happened is the Lord let all these misfortunes come onto Job testing not only Job who was His servant, but also Job’s relatives and friends whom God was testing and teaching. Then God restored Job to health and he ended up with twice as much wealth as he had before, also God gave him seven further sons and three daughters. Job therefore received much more than he had lost.

Job and all the faithful give thanks to God for everything He bestows for it all comes from the Lord. Also they give thanks to God for what He does not give them or what He takes away from them. Because it is God whom they worship and not just the goods they receive from Him. The faithful receiving things from God offer Him thanks, when God takes away, they bless Him: “Blessed be the name of the Lord!”

     In this faithless world, we the faithful must never neglect giving thanks to God for all that He gives to us, and if He does take things away, we must bless Him for He alone is good and the Lover of man.

     He who has strong faith will see that God cares for him and always will, especially during his time of suffering. Gratitude should be so strong within our souls that we are continually offer Him our thanks for His infinite mercy, loving kindness and great generosity.

     God used Job as a living example to teach us to be thankful for the good which we continually received from God, and if bad times should come, we should bless Him even more for it is God whom we should love and honor.

      Loving God is not a selfish love but is real and genuine love, which give our beloved God all the good we possess. What is the highest good in our possession? It is our soul for without our soul no other possession has value. That is why we offer our souls completely to God and there is something else. When we love God our love for our brethren and other men increases proportionately and soon our whole life is about love. If men would learn and practice divine love, there would be great improvements in the human race. With love peace and warmth comes to the hearts of men causing them to return that love as they live in peace and happiness.