PAPAL ANATHEMAS AGAINST EVERYONE

PAPAL ANATHEMAS AGAINST EVERYONE

WHY THEY WILL NOT COME TO ORTHODOXY

THEIR CLAIM: WE ALONE ARE THE CHURCH

Do not be blinded by their nice attitude!

Beneath the hypocrisy is the truth of the papacy

Papal Dogmas include not faith and morals but submission!

      “If anyone say that the Pope has only the office of over-seer or of manager,  but not the full and  supreme authority of sovereignty over the whole Church, not only in matters of faith and morals,  but also in the matters of discipline and of government of the Church throughout the world . . . let him be anathema.” (Vatican Council 1870)

      In 1964 the Latin-minded, Patriarch Athenagoras surrendered his own Orthodoxy, and  proceeding without authority,  he “lifted the anathemas”  against the papacy.  This was an empty gesture only for publicity, 1. because a Patriarch is not the Church.  No patriarch represents the whole Church.  2. Anathemas can never be lifted because they are always  permanent. They are issued against a heresy and wrong belief., which always remains a heresy and wrong belief A person under an anathema can reject his heresy and return to the Church, coming out from under the anathema which remains irrevocable. The papacy clearly shows its fraudulent intentions, for they know that they can never  lift their own permanent anathemas against the  Orthodox, for it beyond their authority.

  These anathemas issued by the Popes of Rome always remain in effect against all Christians of the world who refuse to commemorate, recognize, and submit to the authority of the Pope of Rome who fancies himself to be Christ’s infallible vicar.

   In the year 1870, (Vatican Council 1)  the Pope of Rome declared an anathema against everyone outside of the Papacy. That is, against anyone  who did not accept the Pope as the Supreme Pontiff, and infallible Head of the Church,  successor of Peter and Vicar of Christ.  They declared the Pope to be judge over everyone, but he cannot be judged by any man,  for they imagine  the Pope alone among men is being infallible.  The following dogmas of the Roman Church which remain are  unlifted anathemas against all Orthodox Christians. Assuredly they can never  revoke them, these dogmas being the entire foundation of the papacy which hold it up, and without these dogmas  the Roman papacy would collapse, and  fall into a crumbling  heap.

These are The Official Dogmas and Anathemas of 1870

They remain in force as long as the papacy exists.

   “ When the Roman Pontiff speaks ex cathedra on matters of faith and morals . . .  as pastor and teacher of all Christians . . . he possesses the divine assistance promised to him and blessed Peter, that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer redeemed His Church. If any one shall presume to contradict this our definition,  let him be anathema.”

   “If anyone say that the Apostle Peter was not appointed by Christ as the first and chief of the Apostles,  and visible head of the Church militant,  or that he received immediately and directly from Christ only honorary primacy,  but not the primacy of truth and essential jurisdiction,  let him be anathema.”

   “If anyone say that Peter does not have continual successors in accordance with the ordinance of Jesus Christ Himself with respect to primacy over the whole Church, or that the Roman Pontiff is not by divine right a successor of Peter the Apostle in the matter of primacy,  let him be anathema.”

   “If anyone say that the Pope has only the office of over-seer or of manager,  but no the full and supreme rulership of sovereignty over the whole Church,  not only in matters of faith and morals,  but also in the matters of discipline and of government of the Church throughout the world,  or that this papal authority is not canonical and immediate,  not only in regard to each and every church,  but also in regard to each and every one of the pastors and of the faithful,  let him be anathema.”

Dialogues with the Papacy are wasteful, foolish and a betrayal of Orthodox dogmas. These official Vatican dogmas clearly show the papacy's real intentions, the capitulation and elimination of the Church founded by Christ– Holy Orthodoxy. Holy Scripture forbids dialogue with heretics. Outside of Orthodoxy is desolation and wilderness.

THE BRAIN - THE IMMATERIAL SOUL -THE CONSCIENCE

 THE BRAIN - THE IMMATERIAL SOUL -THE CONSCIENCE

  The thinking of modern man has been affected  by psychologists and society in general  that the brain, which no one denies is simply matter, is the origin and only source of human ideas, cognition, memory, feelings and reason.  Most people do not realize that these very  things attributed to the material brain are actually immaterial.  But  the origin and source of ideas, etc. which are  immaterial cannot possibly be derived from the material brain. In fact anything that is not matter in man is necessarily spirit. All matter has shape and form and other attributes by which we identify them, such as wood, steel, gaseous, large, small, soft, hard, the human body,  etc.

    The  human soul is  the center of man, and it has three faculties, 1. the thinking or cognitive, 2. the feelings or affective and,  3. the deciding faulty which is the will. These three faculties are parts of the composition of man, but man is much more than these faculties. There is a breath of God in every man, and this makes each man responsible to Him who gave him that breath , for in that breath man was granted more than life. What God gave to men exalts him above all creation, but also causes man to be responsible for his thoughts and actions which is his  blessed freedom.   In Psalm 103 God speaks through David saying: “When you turn your countenance away, they shall be troubled; you shall take back their spirit, and they shall vanish, and they shall return to their clay”(verse 29) Death is nothing more that the Lord taking back His Spirit which is our life.

    The function of the brain is not well understood by scientists  and they are still trying to find out how it works. We are certain that 1. The brain is matter; 2. It cannot be the source of spiritual things. It is a control center,  directly and indirectly  controlling many functions in the body, and it is through  the brain that man communicates both to his body and to others beings To communicate spiritual things, such as ideas, the brain must be directed  by a spiritual entity, which is the human soul.

      Here is the account found in the book of Genesis describing man’s actual creation:  “And God formed man out of the clay of the earth and breathed into his person a breath of life and the man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7). After God had formed man He added spirit from His Spirit and the man cognized that he existed, the existence of the world around him and God, who visited  and communicated with him  through the spirit, and His presence rendered man to be content and  happy.  Thus, man is body, soul and spirit with these three faculties, intellectual or cognitive, feelings or affections and volition or free will. It is freedom that elevates man, making him capable to obey or disobey, to love God above everything,  or if he chooses to become disobedient and  worse than the beasts. 

     Conscience is immaterial, and the word in biblical Greek or English means “knowing with”. If a person is honest with himself and listens to his conscience, he will hear a different voice than his own, sometimes it praises and often it rebukes, usually in a soft gentle voice. This is the voice of the Creator who has always and will always speak to men. St. John the Theologian speaks of the conscience within us: “Brethren, hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.  For if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. Brethren if our heart does not condemn us, then we have confidence towards God”                      ( John (3:20-21)

     If we live in sin and love sin, we will do everything to silence our conscience, which when rebuking us becomes annoying offering little comfort.  But the pleasure of sin can be more preferred than the rebuke of the conscience until eventually a person will succumb and  remain in sins. This is a miserable way to leave this world and go to the next life.  Shutting down the conscience is attempted  by loud and continuous music communication, entertainment, cell phoning, texting, keeping as busy as possible and trying to never be alone, seeking more and more pleasures. The conscience seeks to assist and help us to give up the sinful life and seek a good end and eternal life, so it is our best friend. But we have an enemy who whispers contrary things to us: He says:  Go ahead, try it, take it, nobody will know,  you’ll like it, nothing is beyond this life, enjoy all you can before you get too old. Encouraging us in our sins he keeps us in his jail, an unfortunate  prisoner unable to escape the bonds of sin.

   But thanks be to Jesus Christ, who by His death on the Cross, destroyed the tyranny of the Devil who has held us in bitter bondage. He established His Church to cleans and purify us, to free us and forgive our sins and to rid us of vices, replacing them with divine virtues.  Through His sacrifice on the Cross, He has made available to all, the cure for sin, which is in the Holy Eucharist after confessing our sins. Through the Cross joy has come into the world!. The Body and Blood of Christ deifies man’s spirit, nourishing and filling him with joy and exultation and a  source of joy to others. The Church Christ founded , wherein He dwells, has endured for two-thousand years , just as He promised, and will endure to the end. It is known as the Eastern Orthodox Church, the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

PROTESTANTISM IS ANCIENT HERESY

PROTESTANTISM IS ANCIENT HERESY

Condemned by the Church in Fourth Century

    The doctrine that divides Protestantism also unites them in the same ancient heresy. This heresy was held by the Acephalites and was called the Severian heresy. This heresy is exactly what most 

Protestant sects practice to this day. They are without excuse for they know that they are outside the Church and instead of returning they follow the Severians.

This heresy held: 

1. that the Church does not need bishops, priests, or deacons.

2. that each man is his own bishop and priest,

3. that each have the right to interpret the Holy Scripture in his own way. 

4. that each can teach others as he himself understands and believes. 

     The Church condemned this heresy and man made doctrine in the 4th century AD. 

     Thus the Church condemned the Protestant movement a thousand years before it came into existence as a loud protest against the iniquities and tyranny of the popes of Rome..

     They also ally themselves with the arch-enemies of Christ and the Church being iconoclasts, that is, against honoring sacred images and the Cross.

     They do not honor what Christ honors, the Saints, the Apostles, the Church Fathers, the Martyrs since the beginning, the Theotokos and Virgin Mary, on whom they heap dishonor. 

     There is nothing new under the Sun and most heretical doctrines were dealt with in the first Seven Ecumenical Synods of the Church.

BEHOLD! THE POISONOUS ROOT OF ECUMENISM!

BEHOLD!  THE POISONOUS  ROOT OF ECUMENISM!

HIS EARNEST DESIRE WAS TO DESTROY ORTHODOXY 

PATRIARCH ATHENAGORAS

      Athenagoras the Ecumenical Patriarch, who died in 1972,  instead of defending the sacred dogmas and canons, as he promised to do so when ordained, he did the exact opposite, conducting intensive warfare against the sacred dogmas and canons of the Church and transformed himself into a  heretic* although in bishop’s robes. For he proclaimed things worse than any other heretic in history. With a few words: “The age of the dogma is past, he overthrows all the dogmas of the Church.  He proclaims that all religions are worthy and beneficial for mankind, which includes the worship of demons.  He stands opposed to Jesus Christ himself, saying the opposite:  “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Jesus Christ, the Logos of God is the Truth who came down from heaven. To believe and preach that all religions are worthy is poisonous to the soul and stems from the mind of one who has lost his mind!  

 Behold this man, Patriarch Athenagoras Ecumenical Patriarch, showed himself to be a betrayer who unashamedly insults Christ’s Church, but he exalts false religions.  Ecumenism was his creation, for he was not only  the founder and originator  of ecumenism and but he raised the fallen papacy to the status of the Orthodox Church, especially when he hugged and kissed Pope Paul VI as his brother.Today we see its bitter fruits, in the form of many who openly deny that Orthodoxy is the one true Church of Christ; the recognition of heretical churches as being true, having sacraments and able to save. 

THE ORTHODOX CHURCH LIKE HER HEAD IS BOTH DIVINE AND HUMAN

THE ORTHODOX CHURCH

LIKE HER HEAD IS 

BOTH DIVINE AND HUMAN

    The Holy Church is a society of men confessing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Godman, who is the Head of the Body. The Church is not organized with a power structure having blind obedience to a Bishop, Patriarch, or Pope,  but with the entire Body who have freely chose to be obedient to the commandments of  Jesus Christ, and who do His will. Christ alone has pre-eminence, and directly beneath Him, are not necessarily Patriarchs or Bishops, but those of any rank or no rank, who love Him with all their hearts and souls, and keep His commandments as proof of their love. The law of Christ guides all members throughout their lives, and they constantly rejoice in Jesus Christ crucified, risen on the third day and ascended into heaven. Truth of Christ is the rule of every  member, and is known through His words, and the words of His Evangelists, and Saints.

   The Church, like her Lord, is both divine and human, and, guided by the Holy Spirit is the continuation of Christ’s work in the world. No man, patriarch, pope, bishop, can be the head or man in charge, or guide of the Church due to its being a divine human institution.

THE MYSTERY OF DEATH

THE MYSTERY OF DEATH

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 Something unrevealed is called a mystery. Those who have knowledge of a mystery are called mystikos or initiates. In relation to Christ and the Church, there has been established seven Mysteries: Baptism, Seal of Chrismation, the Holy Eucharist, Repentance and Confession,, the Divine Priesthood, Anointing with Holy Oil, and Marriage of a man and a woman. They are called mysteries because there is something that is not visible. Among these are the divine presence of the Lord in the Eucharist, the gift and seal of Holy Spirit, The sorrow of the Repentant, and the special gifts given to those who are ordained to the clergy. These can only be seen with the eyes of the soul.

     We call death a mystery because few know or believe what death actually is and what lies beyond death. Many false opinions,  superstitions, and the unknown confuse an uninitiated person, increasing anxiety and fear of death. As a rule, we see that people  prefers death to life, which is considered  precious, There are many accounts recorded about rescues and tragedies, accidents etc.,  with consequent heroes and heroines which bear this out.

     Glory to Jesus Christ that we Orthodox Christian are initiated and taught well concerning  the mystery of death and understand it quite well, so well that we even  sing joyfully  about the death of death! Millions of martyrs have witnessed Christ. willingly undergoing torture and death, submitting without hesitation and even with delight.  Before Christ came into the world, there were few who willingly submitted to death for their faith in truth. But in the power of Christ’s death and resurrection, innumerable martyrs’ love for Christ far exceeded their impending torture and death, in fact they welcomed torture and death as friends which would remove them from this world into the waiting arms of Christ.

WHY ONE MUST OBEY THE CHURCH

 WHY ONE MUST OBEY THE CHURCH

     “Why must one obey the Church and not some man whose thinking is opposed to that of the Church, eminent or intellectually gifted though he may be?  Because the Church was founded by the Lord Jesus Christ and is guided by the Holy Spirit of God.  Also because “the Church” signified the community of saints, an orchard of choice, fruit-bearing trees.  If a man remains opposed to the community of saints, that means that he is unholy. Why, therefore, listen to him?  “The Church is an enclosure”, says the wise Chrysostom.  “If you are within, the wolf cannot enter, but if you stray outside, the wild beasts will get you . . .  Do not wander from the Church; there is nothing more impregnable than the Church.  She is your hope and your salvation.  She is higher than the heavens, firmer than a rock, wider than the world; she never grows old, but is for ever renewing her youth.                                                                                       Prologue of Ochrid Vol. 1 P17,  Homily  

      The Saint speaks the true and divine idea of the Church but we must identify what is the Church and what is not the Church.  Sadly, Orthodox Christians have adopted to a great degree the western notion of the Church that it is in the bishops. This is not true, unless it is qualified with this idea. Any Bishop or priest is worth following if he himself is following Christ, keeping His commandments and is completely faithful to Orthodoxy. But what if he is not faithful to Orthodoxy, then if we follow him we both fall into the pit. If Orthodoxy should become like the Papacy with one man ruling over all, then it is no longer Orthodoxy, for this is not what Jesus Christ established, nor did He form His Church as a democracy.  However we cannot leave the Church when wolves are infiltrating it, for the Church is like a ship and when you abandon the ship you end up in the more dangerous waters of schism. 

   The Church is meant to be a Christocracy, where in Christ rules. But how does Christ rule? Through the Holy Spirit whom He sent from the Father to guide us into all truth and to remind us of everything that Christ taught. An example is what is taking place in our own times. Many are outside the Church because of the heresy of ecumenism, and they find fault with those who do not leave and also recognize ecumenism as a heresy.  But although ecumenism is a heresy, you cannot leave the Church and begin another church due to heresy. But you do not follow the one who leads you into heresy.

     Neither can we leave the Church when wolves take over. If we leave the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church it is obvious that we cannot start another Church, so we must remain and keep the faith even if hierarchs fail to do so. When St. John Chrysostom was readying for exile, some of his ardent supporters were talking about leaving the bishops who were responsible for his exile, but he told them to stay with those bishops.  

     In the history of the Orthodox Church there have been many Judas types of leaders, and even heretics. But no one left the Church and started a second church, for “the gates of Hades,”  said Christ, “shall not prevail against it.”   Our Lord remains the Head of the Church and so long as we remain the Church which He founded, and not abandoned her, we are walking on the correct path toward everlasting life.

WE ARE DOUBLE HAVING TWO SETS OF EYES ONE IS SENSIBLE THE OTHER SPIRITUAL

 

WE ARE DOUBLE HAVING 

TWO SETS OF EYES

ONE IS SENSIBLE THE OTHER SPIRITUAL

   Having two sets of eyes means two sets of vision, the sensual one of which we are all familiar with, but the spiritual vision is active and healthy only among a small portion of people within the Church. Outside of the Church there is little spiritual vision, or a distorted vision of spiritual things. Spiritual vision’s eyes are the mind and heart and the spirit which is light derived from  from God. 

     Men and women “are double and possess two eyes, the sensible through which we can see the physical things in the world around us and the spiritual,”  through which we see spiritual things in the spiritual world within and around us. With our sensible eyes we see the sun in all its brilliance illuminating the world, enabling us to see by filling our eyes with light and lightening everything around us. Our sensible eyes reveal the beauty of the sun and moon and the stars, of the flowers, plants and trees, and the beauty of other people like ourselves. We realize that these people are important as we go to market and are served by them, or get sick and visit a doctor or dentist, and attend school learning  many things. Without our sensible eyes and the sensible sun, we would be unaware of sensible things, also all life would completely cease without the sensible sun. Through science we know that the sun not only provides light and heat, but also health giving rays and vitamins which are essential to our well being.

UNION WITH CHRIST IS GOOD OTHER UNIONS ARE WICKED

UNION WITH CHRIST IS GOOD 

OTHER UNIONS ARE WICKED

    Orthodox Christians worldwide, who faithfully attend church,  constitute the  one Church of Jesus Christ, and are united in perfect union with Christ, as a rock, on the rock which is Christ,  the main cornerstone of the Church, and against which the “gates of Hades will not prevail.”  Orthodox  are in union with Christ in the mystery of  triune Baptism wherein we joyfully  sing: “As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” They are in union with Christ’s death when immersed in baptism, and into His Resurrection when they arise from the water. Orthodox are in union with the Holy Spirit by being sealed and anointed with holy chrism with the words: “the seal of the gift of Holy Spirit.” We are in union with Christ in the  mystery of Holy Communion, through His Body and Blood which we approach “with the fear of God, faith and love.”  We are in union with Christ as a pupil to his Teacher, as a disciple to his master, and as bride to her Bridegroom. We are in union with the Father, having become through Christ, His own adopted sons and daughters, and though we are  unworthy, we delight in  union with such a gracious and merciful Father!  We lack nothing and have more than everything, we are wealthy beyond all wealth, and our joy is beyond all possible joys!

ATTENDING CHURCH CAN PLACE US IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

 ATTENDING  CHURCH CAN PLACE US IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN 

     “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto ages of ages.”

     The Divine Liturgy in Orthodox Churches wherein God reigns, and is petitioned as our King  and is worshiped and glorified by the Priest and people.  This is the Kingdom of  heaven! The Church is in the world but not part of the world, for it brings us before Almighty God to confess, pray, and to develop loving intimacy with Him.

   Attending Church means entering to the temple and worshiping with the Church which is the gathered people. Attending Church is good and beneficial if it results in the joining of the people of God in the house of God, to serve the living God, for just being there does not mean that we went to Church. If our minds and hearts are  on our homes, our children or our business, while in Church then only our bodies are present, but we are not attending Church. If our mind and heart is on Jesus Christ, having a humble spirit of repentance, fear and love  of God,  and if we have left outside all the cares of this life, then we are attending Church in truth.

   The rules of Church behavior are simple, do not talk, dress neatly and simply, be attentive. The  command that women should have their heads covered in Church, is scoffed at today due to ignorance. But nothing God says is vain, for He is Truth and He is the Author and Inspirer of the Divine Scriptures. God says through St. Paul: “Every woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head as if it were shaven. For if the woman is not covered, let her be shorn; but if it is a shame for a woman to be shaven, then let her be covered” (1 Cor. 11:5-6).The greatest human being that ever lived or ever will live is the Holy Theotokos, who always appears with her head covered!  If a women covers her head the Lord with give her understanding as to why she is required to do so.

The wonderful Saint John of Kronstadt, declares the glory of the Church as follows:

   “Truly the Church is heaven upon earth, for where the throne of God is, where the terrible Mysteries are celebrated, where angels serve together with men, where the Almighty is unceasingly glorified, there is truly heaven, and the heaven of heavens.  And thus let us enter the Church of God with the fear of God, with a pure heart, laying aside all passions and worldly care, and let us stand in it with faith and reverence, with understanding and attention, with love and peace in our hearts, so that we may come away renewed, as though made heavenly, so that we may live in holiness natural to heaven, not binding ourselves by worldly desires and pleasures”.

ORTHODOX TIDBITS 3

ORTHODOX TIDBITS 3

THE LITTLE CHILD SELECTED BY CHRIST

     On a day when the Lord was teaching His disciples, he taught them by example the need for humility. He took a child and set it among them, saying: “Whoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the Kingdom of heaven” 

   The beauty of our holy tradition is that preserved in her vault is the life and beauty of this child, touched by Jesus. He became St. Ignatios the Godbearer, Bishop of Antioch. He was named such because he always had the name of Christ on his lips and kept God deep in his heart as his greatest treasure, serving Him with joy and love.

    The end of Ignatios' time on earth, is filled with beauty, the beauty that only love can express. He was thrown to lions as food, and he urged them to eat well. They devoured him completely. Leaving only a few larger bones and his heart! When the faithless pagans cut open his heart, they found the words in gold: JESUS CHRIST!

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HOW THE TURKS PRAISED OUR FAITH

 There was a young man named James who was the guest of a Turkish ruler (Bey). The Turks were eating meat but James was keeping the Fast.The Bey said to him:Your Christian Faith is indeed great! He related that his wife had been mentally sick, and after trying all doctors and medicines, he took her to the Patriarch for prayers to be read over her. As soon as the Patriarch started the prayers to be read a heavenly light filled the Church.When the prayer was ended, his wife was made whole. 

James, hearing how the Turkish Bey was praising his faith, gave away all his possessions and went to the Holy Mountain, where he became a monk in the monastery of Iveron. He lived an ascetic life and suffered for the Faith at the hands of the Turks in Jedrene on November 1, 1520. A martyr for our holy Faith, his wonder working relics are in St. Anastasia Church near Salonika.;

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GREGORY WONDERWORKER BISHOP  OF NEOCAESAREA 

BEGAN WITH 17,  ENDED WITH 17 

     Gregory was a man of God and a glorious Wonderworker, and many called him a second Moses! He consecrated himself totally to Christ, whom he loved and served during his entire life. He spent  many years living in the desert. He fled when an attempt was made to make him a Bishop, but they found devious means to consecrate him as Bishop.  He commanded evil spirits, controlled mountains and waters and healed every sort of pain and illness and lived to a great old age. When he arrived in Caesarea there were only 17 Christians, but when he left there were only 17 pagans.

ANGER EVIL AND DEADLY

ANGER

EVIL AND DEADLY

     Anger, for the wrong reason, can be extremely damaging and lead to disaster. When wrongly angered we become our brother’s accuser and, we damage him as well as our own souls. If we could see the hideous look of anger on our face, we would shrink from the ugliness of anger. The virtue of meekness stands in opposition to the vice of anger, and a meek person is always welcome anywhere. Unreasonable anger , as is well known, appears under the form of  “road rage”. Often it proves to be deadly and inflicting damage those who are  involved.  Truthfully there is nothing in this world worth being angry about, nor does unreasonable anger or rage solve a single problem, but creates a bad atmosphere which is fouled by its presence.

     Christ, who is risen, expressed the beauty of following Him: “Come all you that are heavily laden (with sins) and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and humble in my heart. And you shall find rest in your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Mat. 11:28-30)

 St. Nicolai Velimirovic

“Be angry but do not sin” (Psalm 4:4).

   Be angry with yourselves, brethren, and sin no more.  Be angry at your sins of thought and deed, and sin no more. Be angry with Satan, the father of lies, and no longer do his will. Be angry at the sin in the world and at the fouling of God’s holy Church by godless men, but beware of healing sin by sin.  Be angry with your friends when they sin, but let your anger be directed toward turning them back and not driving them into further evil. 

   The anger of a friend towards his friend, of a parent towards his child – and dare I say it?  Of God towards men, is not a storm that uproots trees, but a wind that makes a tree stronger, making the rotten fruit fall so that the good fruit may be even better and finer.  Control your anger, that it might heal and not poison.  To have this control, keep God before you in your anger.  Anger can have no stronger damn or lock than God.  All anger that is not in the name of God and His justice is sin. Do not be angry for nothing, but be angry at that at which God is angered. If your will is set firmly in God’s law, you will always be able to be angry when anger is needed, and to the measure to which it is needed. This cannot all be spelled out with words and explained to the ignorant. Anger in its place acts as mercy does.

     O my brethren, do you see how various powers are put into our souls, that man can use freely for life or death?  Anger with oneself can never be recommended strongly enough.  It is a marvelous fact that the more man learns to be angry with himself, the less he is angry with other, for, knowing his own weaknesses, he either does not look at others or, if he sees them, judges them gently.

     O Lord God, the only Just One, sow in us the remembrance of the day of your just anger, that we may keep ourselves from sin in our souls. To you be glory and praise forever. Amen.

                                                                   (Prologue Vol.4  P20)

PASCHA IS NEVER OVER!

 PASCHA IS NEVER OVER!

    Someone recently remarked: “Well, Pascha is over until next year.”  Indeed, Pascha will certainly come next year, but Pascha can  never be over for those who are living in the unending Pascha of  Orthodoxy.  For every baptized Orthodox Christian becomes a temple of God, who dwells in them through baptism and chrismation. In baptism we all died to sin and put on Christ as a garment.  Hence we sing  with St. Paul: “As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Alleluia.” In baptism, the old man of sin is drowned in the baptismal waters, and when we came up out of the waters, we died as the old Adam and arose with the resurrected  Christ.  

  Having Christ dwelling in us, we become the temple of God, and  having been washed and made clean, we were then sealed with the gift of Holy Spirit, who abides within us forever if we remain faithful. 

     Many of us were baptized as infants and so were unaware of the wonderful events which surrounded us when we were baptized into Christ and anointed with holy chrism. The great responsibility concerning the valuable gifts we received, St. Paul mentions in his first epistle to the Corinthians:  “Do you not know that you are the temple of God; and that the Spirit of God dwells within you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are” (1 Cor. 3:16-17).  

PASCHA HAS NOT ENDED NOR WILL IT EVER END

PASCHA HAS NOT ENDED

NOR WILL IT EVER END

      Pascha is the continuous celebration by Orthodox Christians being the Feast of feasts, and the time of great joy and exultation. The Feast Day itself is considered and lived as a single day of celebration, not with parties eating and drinking  but in the holy churches, or at home, having  the triumphant hymns of Pascha on our lips. It is also the continuous enjoyment of the divine mysteries. the immortal food which descends from heaven. The Paschal season continues for forty days during which we joyously sing: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down on death by death and to those in the tomb, He has granted life.”  Even then, the celebration does not end, for in every Sunday Orthos (Matins) we continue to rejoice in the resurrection with the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection of Christ. Pascha is continuous; Pascha raises our souls; Pascha is heaven on earth!

     The objective of all this celebration is to arouse the Orthodox Christian souls to take part in  a new and resurrected life, for the true Orthodox Christian is the resurrected man. In the second Ode of the Paschal Canon we sing in the first tone:

    “Yesterday I was buried with you, today I rise with your arising. Yesterday I was crucified with you, glorify me O Savior with you in your kingdom.” The resurrected man is the man who arises in the resurrection, the man whom God conceived from the beginning, and who gradually becomes more and more His image and likeness. Christ speaks of such men:  “Be holy for I am holy. Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

     “Today I rise with your arising,” means that we rise above and out of reach of the demonic powers of this world, above the blasphemies, the cursing, the fornications, the love of money, and the love of this world. As John the disciple whom Christ loves, says: “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world; And the world passes away, with its desires, but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1John 2:15-17).

  Rising above the world and its desires, does not mean that we stop eating, drinking, marrying, having children and exercising, but it means that we walk in the brilliancy of the  resurrection, in the newness of life!  We hear in every Divine Liturgy: “Let us commend ourselves and one another, and all our lives unto Christ our God.” Also: “That we may have a good apology at the fearful judgment seat of Christ, let us ask of the Lord.”  Each day of our lives are granted to us by God, to do whatever we choose, but we need to watch and act properly for none of us know when we will be called to give an account for our choices in this life.

   

     The resurrected Orthodox Christian, will certainly arise in the general resurrection after leaving this present world. It is clear that God does not desire that we hate the world which He created and is filled with beauty, but the moral world which the Evil one controls, through sins and transgressions of men. For if everyone disobeyed the Devil, we would have peace on earth and good will among men. There would ne no crime, no tyranny, no fornication, no adulteries, no jealousy no wars or revolutions.

     Pascha is not of this world, but is a continuous state of being for the resurrected man, who is raised above this world having chosen to live in the kingdom now, and his closest friends are the Theotokos and the many saints and martyrs.

   This resurrected life is a life of frequent prayer, reading of uplifting  books primarily the Bible every day. It is attending Church services and receiving with fear, faith and love, the Holy Mysteries, the medicine which eradicates sin within us and is the source of spiritual power and immortality. Where does this resurrected life lead to? Happiness and uninterrupted joy every day of our lives regardless of circumstances. Hope that warms our hearts and causes us to always render thanks to God for everything! May we all become children of the Resurrection and find ourselves welcomed by Christ into the future eternal Pascha!  Christ is risen!

ON THIS HOLY PASCHA A WARNING TO ALL ORTHODOX

ON THIS HOLY PASCHA

A WARNING TO ALL ORTHODOX

     Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

    The brilliant sun of this great and holy day of  Pascha is a day of great joy but mixed with some dark clouds of danger, for  a papal representative,  invited into a holy Orthodox Church, therein boldly proclaimed that Orthodoxy broke away from the Papacy and he denied that Orthodoxy is the true Catholic  Church! According to an article in the Worcester Telegram Gazette,  the papist Bishop, Robert J. McManus of Worcester, MA boldy and proclaimed the papacy’s self aggrandizement. At St. Spyridon Orthodox Church when he made this statement:  “As you know the Orthodox Church is the Roman Catholic Church.”

     What is couched in these words, is that the holy  Orthodox Church was  once a part of the Papacy, that has broken away, which is nefarious papal propaganda, for they are aware that we have preserved the truth, and for this reason they seek to silence us. Contrary to prevailing opinion, the fact is that there was never a schism by Orthodoxy or the papacy. 

PASCHA IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

PASCHA

IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

Holy Pascha! 

Glorious Pascha! 

Delightful Pascha 

Pascha of the Faithful!

    Pascha with its beauty and divine majesty is not clearly visible to those who neglected to accompany Christ as He suffered in His voluntary passion and crucifixion during the days of Holy Week. However, both those who fasted and followed His passion, and those who ignored His Passion are invited to share and celebrate this day, entering into the joy of His Resurrection!  In the Resurrection  everyone is forgiven everything, and Pascha is a new beginning to avoid being shut out of the kingdom of heaven. The celebration of Pascha surpasses every other celebration, for by it every  man can return to Paradise, which was  lost by our foreparents and our own sins.

Concerning the Paschal Canon

   In the service books used in the Greek Archdiocese for Holy Week most of the Paschal Canon is missing, and so is not used in the churches,  resulting in a loss for believers who kept the fast and looked forward to the glorious celebration of Holy Pascha. The Canon of Pascha, begins with: “It is the day of Resurrection, let us be radiant O people.” This service is complete and is derived from the official Church book: the Pentecostarion.  Divided into nine odes, only the first one of each Ode is in the Holy Week books, which is a great loss of beautiful hymns for the faithful. We are publishing them here in their entirety as in the Pentecostarion. It is uplifting to the soul to use this entire Resurrection Canon during the forty days after Pascha! Each Ode is followed by:  “Christ is risen . . .”  and  “Jesus having risen . . .” 

THE RESURRECTION CANON:

ODE 1

     It is the day of Resurrection; let us be radiant O people! It is the Pascha, Pascha of the Lord. From death to life, from earth to heaven, Christ our God has brought us over, who sing the song of victory!

REFLECTIONS ON HOLY WEEK AND PASCHA

REFLECTIONS ON

HOLY WEEK AND PASCHA

LIVE HIS PASSION AND ARISE WITH HIS RESURRECTION

Having reached the age of ninety, I am grateful for every day the Lord gives me, but my single  though undeserved hope, is that I may inherit everlasting life.  I have urged many to pursue this course for over sixty years, both in person and by this present blog.  May none of us lose this precious crown, on the day of judgment!  In this present treatise I will reflect on this most sacred season of Holy Week and Pascha, with a few memories, as how I began Church life. 

   In 1931, at the age of 8, I was excited as I would go to Church, for the first time at night.  Church was part of our life as we went to Church and Holy Communion since infancy.  At that young  age, we never went out at night. This  was a big event, going to Church in the dark, for the evening service of the Epitaphios or tomb with its beautiful hymns. However, my desire remained  unfulfilled  that Friday due to an incident, for a 22 cal. bullet exploded near me causing the loss of sight in my left eye. Instead of the beautiful services I ended up in Memorial Hospital in Worcester MA., and though I was not sick, I was there four weeks. My regret was not losing half my sight, but missing Church that night. I sadly sang hymns to  myself which I had learned from my father, and which I hoped to hear that night in Church. Like, ‘E-yen-e e pa a a se, hym non ti ta fee Sou . . .” (Every generation sings praises at your tomb). I realized in later years, this was a small arousal in my soul of  faith, hope and love. I always bless my father who taught us not only the hymns, but the perfect truths of our Orthodox Faith, and the errors and heresies which fight against it. My father lived that faith, showing us by both teaching and  example that there is nothing in the entire world of greater value than Holy Orthodoxy. 

THE GENERAL RESURRECTION

THE GENERAL RESURRECTION

 “The general resurrection, you confirmed before your Passion, by raising Lazarus from the dead, O Christ God.  Therefore as did the children, carrying symbols of victory, we cry out to you, the Conqueror of death: Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.”

Apolytikion of Lazarus Saturday and Sunday of the Palms

LAZARUS SATURDAY

   The day of the general resurrection, confirmed before His Passion, is the day anticipated by the faithful with great hope for the object of their faith and love– Jesus Christ the Savior, who will come in glory to judge the living and the dead, and fulfill His promise of  everlasting life in the  joy of His Kingdom. “Come blessed of my Father, enter into the Kingdom prepared for you.”  On the day of the general resurrection the faithful will be rewarded according to  their deeds accomplished through faith in Christ and their love for Him expressed by keeping His commandments. 

     For unrepentant sinners will be filled with fear on this dreaded day, not because God is going to punish them and send them into eternal fire.  The fear that will arise in their miserable souls when their sin filled life is displayed before them, and the punishment sure to come, for they never believed and repented to wash away those sins. God is good and the lover of  mankind, nor does His love change into hatred and bitterness, causing Him to exact revenge.  No one is excluded from God’s love which extends to the just and unjust, saints and sinners, for God is love and rejoices in His created works. He loves the unrepentant sinner and He loves the holy martyrs who surrendered their lives out of love for Him, for God cannot change. 

OUR GREATEST GOAL IN LIFE ETERNAL LIFE

OUR GREATEST GOAL IN LIFE

ETERNAL LIFE

       We all enter this world through the door of birth, opened to us by our fathers and mothers, and we begin as helpless infants needing constant loving care which our fathers and mothers provide. In a short time we begin to talk and walk, are taken to Church, and eventually go to school, graduate and go to work. We may marry and bring our own children through the door of birth into this world, repeating the process or we may become a monastic if we so choose.

   However, as Orthodox Christians, we are the most blessed of all people on earth, for we have obtained the greatest gift which many do not receive, usually when we are infants. Shortly after our physical birth from our mother, we were taken to our mother the Church, where we were born from above (Christ told Nicodemus:“Unless a man is born from above,  he cannot see the kingdom of God.”). This birth takes place in the sanctified waters of the font in Baptism. We are taken to the Church and baptized by three complete immersions in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Being immersed under water typifies His death, and rising up out of the water typifies His Resurrection. After Baptism, we are anointed with holy chrism all over our bodies, and the Priest repeats:  “The seal of the gift of Holy Spirit.”  With this we are spiritually enlivened with the divine gift of Holy Spirit ,as promised by our Lord Jesus Christ, who said that“the Father will give you another Comforter, even the Spirit of  truth whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not. Neither knows Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you”  (John 14:16-17). 

ORTHODOXY THE PAPACY PROTESTANTS

ORTHODOXY   THE PAPACY

PROTESTANTS

Fundamental Differences

    The period of the Great Fast, is a ideal time to review what we Orthodox Christians have historically believed, and to put into  practice a permanent a form of fasting that does not involve food. It is more important to fast in our thoughts and speech from falsehood in any form, especially concerning our dogmas and divine canons,  avoiding detractors as we would poison. We must strive to understand and acquire the ability to distinguish between what is true and what is false concerning our Faith, for falsehoods about Christ and the Christian Faith are all around us. Christ is the Truth from heaven, and the Head of the one true Church. All sciences or philosophies that contradict or deny Christ and His Church are necessarily false. 

    The Church is the bulwark of truth on earth and the living storehouse of the unique treasures of divine truth, perpetually preserved in her – this treasure is the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter and Spirit of truth. We all confess the following truths in our services. “We have seen the true Light; we have received the heavenly Spirit; we have found the true Faith, worshiping the undivided Trinity who has saved us.” (in the Divine Liturgy). We also testify in our Creed, our belief:  “In the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who spoke through the Prophets. I believe in one, holy Catholic and Apostolic  Church,; and in one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins . . . ” There is no other God than our God, no other Church than our Church, no other baptism than our Baptism.

 Certainly we must live an upright moral life but we also must accept and defend the true dogmas, for without truth our fasting and moral life has no value, as  St. John Chrysostom says: “If we have the true dogmas and not the correct moral life it will do us no good. And if we have the correct moral life but not the true dogmas it will do us no good. We are in need of both, because they are inseparable. That is why, as members of the true Church,” each of us must  believe and accept the same truths and strive to live a pure upright moral life.