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.

THE RIGHTEOUS CERTAINLY SHALL NOT DIE!

“I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord” 

(Ps. 117:17).

     We see that apparently everyone dies so who can say: I shall not die? There are among men those who cleave to the living God during this present life who can positively say: I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord, also some see the living Lord before them. Scriptures tells us that Enoch and Elias did not die but were taken alive up to heaven and immortal life, which confirms the truth that there is life that never ends.

     Jesus Christ’s all important work during His incarnation is in His death and resurrection, part of His perfect plan for victory. Throughout the Church for two-thousand years we joyously celebrate Pascha, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! Christ is proof of the resurrection of all mankind either  into eternal life or eternal death according to what they choose in the present life, The apostles and many Saints died but many of them appeared to men from the other world proving further that there is life after death. The whole goal of Christian life is to become worthy of everlasting life in the heavenly kingdom. Both those who were taken up and those who died are alive with Christ in the immortal kingdom.

     Each of us Christians must fully realize and proclaim to others that we possess  eternal life which we received by our faith and trust in Jesus /Christ, the Life of the world.  The Devil was the instigator who deceived man causing death to enter the world. Christ destroyed death’s power and through faith in Christ we are granted eternal life in place of eternal death and punishment.  King David with great certainty proclaimed: “I shall not die but live and proclaim the works of the Lord.”  We too, like David must be able to say with conviction: I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord.  The risen Lord is the foundation of our Faith and our eyes have seen and our ears have heard more than the eyes and ears of King David.

     The devil is the enemy of both God and man and Christ victoriously took away his authority among men whom he had previously tyrannized. The devil found that he had become similar to smoke following the resurrection of Christ, and death has became like a fog through which we pass into the beautiful sunny fields of immortality.

Death to unbelievers appears to be the end of everything but among all men there exists the concern about what happens after death, there is concern but little genuine interest. For they know in their consciences and too a degree realize that they should somehow prepare for the life which most certainly follows the present life.

     Knowing that there is life after this life, and that we have knowledge of good and evil it follows that we must realize that we are free to think and choose as we will, and will have to answer. With this freedom which God has given us there came a great responsibility, and scriptures speaks of this in many places.  For we will be judged by our works and be rewarded or punished accordingly. He sent His apostles to establish the Church and bring the many people into it. God desires the salvation of all men and all men should desire their own salvation if they desire life. 

Let us rally under this banner: “I shall not die but live . . . ”, for this is the truth which we received from the Lord, who victoriously put death to death and granted us eternal life and the great mercy.  Jesus sent His apostles in this manner:  “and when He had said this: Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you remit are remitted unto them,  whose sins you retain are retained to them” (John 20:22-23). The preaching of the Gospel and forgiveness of sins are now about two-thousand years old and are still maintained in the whole Orthodox Church, used both at the  preparation for Baptism and during the mystery of Repentance. 

     If we live the good life in the Church, dedicate our entire lives to Christ, partaking of His honorable mysteries, we may be ranked among the righteous and be enabled to joyously declare: “I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord.”  Christ is risen from the dead having destroyed death’s authority for He trampled down death by death and gave life to all that had previously died in faith and hope.

CHRIST SAYS: “SON, GIVE ME YOUR HEART!”

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;that you may be rooted and grounded in love, and that you may be able 

to comprehend \with all the Saints, what is the breadth, and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ

 which beyond knowledge.

(Eph. 3:17-19).

     Christ chooses to dwell with love in any human heart, but only if He is welcomed by the impotant virtue of faith of each individual. You cannot bring Christ into your heart just by reading His words or keeping some of His sayings  for Christ must be invited by genuine faith. 

Christ enters the heart when faith calls and with Christ love accompanies Him. Thus man is established and grounded in love.

      First faith followed by love filling the soul with inexpressibly good things. Man is not fully man without faith in Christ so what shall we do  if faith is weak? We must turn to Christ and realize that He is the Lord, the only good one and is totally worthy of the trust place in Him. This will increase our faith and by strengthening our faith we overcome more and more the estrangement between ourselves and Christ the Lord, for it is our firm belief and faith which draws us to Christ, who comes quickly to those who approach Him in faith 

     When the heart is filled with Christ it cannot be separated from Him, just as a lung cannot be separated from air. When the connection of faith is accomplished, tears begin to flow and in the soul  of such a man the prayer ascends: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner.” The change taking place in the soul is magnificent and because the heart becomes filled with light while embraced in His divine love.

 

   The words of Christ are powerful, especially when he says: “Son, give me your heart.”  It is a demand and not a plea for the most important thing we can ever do is respond and give our hearts to Jesus Christ, who will reward us with everlasting life. 

     “That you may be rooted and grounded in love . . .” The love of Christ does not isolate itself by remaining with certain individuals, but is meant for each member of the human race. Christ excludes no one for His love includes all men and His invitation to come to Him in faith addresses all those who receive the love of Christ, seek to increase that love by spreading it among as many men as possible, for love always begets more love.

     The love of Christ is described as being “beyond knowledge” for it is not possible to describe it adequately. No matter how much we attempt to describe His love it remains beyond all knowledge and is far beyond our ability. Scripture speak of its dimensions ,such as height and width but cannot  describe it adequately. 

     The beginning of man’s journey begins with his birth, then later He develops faith in Christ and His  Orthodox Church leading to perfection which his love for Christ. He continues his journey and soon  he increases his love for Christ and is peaceful, and lives a life that is beautiful, as is filled with Christ and his love.  

     Our life on earth is short and passes by very quickly and so there is a very limited time for our faith to be to be changed from faith to the love of Christ. The love of Christ is great and is filled with joy and happiness and love is the only  reason and purpose for our living this short and temporary  present life. There is so much more and much to do to be established in firm and lasting faith in Jesus Christ, and we will soon be filled with His love. This will put us on the path to life everlasting life.

 

 

DO NOT INSULT GOD!

“The fool says in his heart; there is no God. 

They are corrupt and become abominable in their doings” 

(Ps. 13:1)

    We are all aware of our own existence however we do not ignore the existence of the rest of mankind who exists together with us. It would be rude to just ignore those around us as if they didn’t exist. How much more is it an insult to God to deny that He exists! For He created everything, the earth, the sun, light and darkness, air and water and everything else, all that was needed for His most important creature – man!   He did not only casually call us into existence but formed us with His own hands and breathed into us His own wonderful spirit which gave us His eternal life, intellectual powers, our feelings, and so much more!

    However there are many who heap great insults upon God, for they recognize their own existence,  and that of all creation, but foolishly deny the existence of the Creator and God of all. Thus they consider the Creator and God of all as a non-being. How does it affect a man to deny the existence of God?  Such a man cuts himself off from everything good and the evil one who knows that God exists, convinces him to deny what is  obvious to him. After cutting himself from the spirit of God, the evil spirit becomes his mentor and so he his thoughts and actions become evil/

    Scripture refers to the denier of God as being a fool, “the fool says in his heart; there is no God.” When a man. becomes a fool, he is also mindless and cannot think properly, but as expected the fool says only foolish things, therefore what he says is to be ignored as being empty words which are worthless.   No matter what their status in life, even if men exalt them as being wise, the fools remain as fools before God and logical thinking men.

    Some men who do not believe that God exists point out that they do many good works, but he who does not believe in God is unable to distinguish between good and evil. If we look closely at the good works done by unbelievers we will see that their works of necessity are corrupt, worthless and transitory being contrary to the will of the living God.    

    Scriptures says of such unbelievers, “they are corrupt and abominable in their doings.” When they think they are doing good it can be evil but they are unable to distinguish, for God is Truth and man has need of God to distinguish good and evil.

    There are others who acknowledge God with their lips but not with their heart and so they are ranked with unbelievers for you must not only have faith in God and believe but also you must love the Lord with all your heart, and if we are right before God then our entire life is right.

Evil thoughts come from the evil spirits and evil thoughts produce evil works and deeds. Lacking faith in the true and living God causes our whole life to become filled with confusion. God formed us in His own image and bestowed upon him every good thing that he possess for everything good comes from God.   We honor the Lord our God and glorify Him, for He is good and the Lover of man.

     Concerning the existence of God, we know that he formed man from out of the earth and gave him intellect, feelings and freedom to be able to decide and act.  He formed the sun with the correct distance and brightness doing everything for the sake of  man. He formed the stars by which man could navigate and the moon  made for the lesser light of night. He put food everywhere and taught man what he should eat. God took good care of man leaving nothing undone for man is the crowning glory  of God’s wonderful creation.                                                                                                                                                                                                       

ON THE FAITHFUL AS ONE BODY AND ONE SPIRIT

“One body and one Spirit” (Eph. 4:4).

     The Holy Orthodox Church is one Body has one Spirit but one Head which is Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul calls on the faithful to be united together as one body and one spirit. The oneness and unity is found among those having pure unadulterated faith without division or heresies and who are not self-willed.

The conditions of ‘one body and one spirit’ are only possible to those who believe everything the Church taught correctly. That is why those who embrace the heresy of ecumenism cannot be one with the rest of the Church, for ecumenism does not seek to unite those outside to enter the  Church through the door of baptism by three immersions. 

     Scripture warns: “A man who is a heretic, rebuke him once or twice and then have nothing more to do with him.” We can rebuke them with love but but we must never falsely address them with names such as “churches” and Chistians, or Christian brothers. Ecumenism opens dialogues with heretics, calling them Christian churches and brothers in Christ. But this cannot be done for it is falsehood and violates Orthodoxy’s exclusiveness as the one and only true Church.

     The papacy calls itself the only true Church and many Orthodox Christians believe this falsehood,

For the Pope exalted himself and broke from the Church, then preached for these hundreds of years, that the Pope must be obeyed, that the Pope has infallibility, and that salvation of man is found in believers of these falsehoods. We could make a long list of the Papacy’s innovations, any one which would cause them to be outside the Church, which we have done before, but will publish it again.

     We will mention one thing only. One day the papal crusaders were attacking the Holy Mount Athos, and at this time an elderly monk was in a wooded area singing an akathist before the icon of the Theotokos. Suddenly She began to talk from out of her icon and said to the monk: “Mine and my Son’s enemies are coming leave from this place and go back to the monastery.” The Crusaders attacked in the name of the Pope of Rome, warming that is the Orthodox didn’t change and join up with the Pope, they would be killed. Eventually many Orthodox were killed producing many martyrs, killed by water and fire and the sword. The important ingredient in this article is that the Virgin Mary, our Theotokos, referred to the Roman Catholics as “mine and my Son’s enemies”. The Virgin’s words are honorable and are accepted by Faithful Orthodox Christians, but probably not by those who seek union instead of conversion and baptism of these heretics and then bring them into the real Church – Orthodoxy!

     The members of the Church  always constitute the one Body, but they also need to be established in one mind and one spirit The Church must be strive to always be united in love and peace, which is what one spirit accomplishes. The strength and power of genuine Orthodox spirit and love is the greatest power in the world, and brings salvation to many. The many church members become united as one man. The love and power found in our unity is the same love and power found in the Church for the last two millenia.

     So we must take a keen interest in all activity and communication in the Church striving to preserve  everything that is holy and true. It is the duty of every Orthodox Christian to take part in this preservation by rejecting innivations and heresies from creeping into the holy Church. Being one in Body, we must strive to becoming one also in spirit. 

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RIDDING OURSELVES OF THE OLD WE MUST BE ADORNED WITH THE NEW

RIDDING OURSELVES OF THE OLD

WE MUST BE ADORNED WITH THE NEW

“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking. 

and blasphemy be put away from you; be kindhearted 

to one another, be tender-hearted, forgiving one even 

as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 5:31-32).

The above-mentioned vices are poisonous when they enter the soul of a man, for they cause  him to be extremely wretched and miserable, and in such misery he infects others with the same disease, rendering them to be the same or even worse than himself. But with the virtues of “kindheartedness, tender-heartedness, forgiveness as did Christ”, these virtues could joyfully rub off onto others, thus spreading more goodness and joy everywhere.

So we must cleanse our souls of every filthy and wicked vice with which we were infected by the evil one. St. Paul in the above thoughts which he received from God advises us to abandon all evil and acquire goodness. But without serious self examination and self evaluation it is not possible for us to change our character and become truly members worthy of Christ’s kingdom. 

To accomplish good things we must first examine ourselves and then cleanse our souls from all impurity. After ridding  ourselves of vices, we must be replace them with their opposite original virtues, such as humility, meekness and holiness peace and all blessings..

Thus St. Paul’s words call upon us  to examine and correct ourselves getting rid of all vices and struggle to eliminate every form of evil from our souls.  The life of man in sin is known as the old man to which sin has become a habit and drags a man into suffering and every form of evil. The old sinful man is fallen  and needs to be done away with spiritually. This is accomplished by first by self-examination, then recognizing the evils getting rid  ourselves of the old man of sin.. St, Paul then advises to put on the new man by being kind-hearted toward one another, to be tender-hearted, forgiving each other even as God in Christ forgave you” 

After ridding ourselves of every form of evil, then we are well prepared to adopt good habits  and acquire every form of virtue, such as humility to replace the vices of arrogance and pride; also putting on the virtue of meekness, as Christ says: “Learn from me for I am meek and humble in my heart.” Meekness is the virtue with which man  rids himself of its opposing vice, unreasonable anger and wrath, and such a man enjoys peace within himself, much relieved for anger is a very heavy burden.

When examining and correcting our lives, it is not the time to examine others seeking to correct their lives as we did ours. This is not what is proper, for we must concentrate all our efforts to correct ourselves. But we must spread this knowledge among as many people as possible and this is accomplished by our example which is the best form of teaching. For good behavior is important and attracts people, especially if they who were formerly filled with anger, change and become humble and meek in their hearts.

Getting rid of all our vices frees us from their evil grip but acquiring virtues fills our souls with light and gladness. Vices describe the many defects of the soul which cause people to appear ugly and gruesome. Vices are unhealthy and cause wretchedness to those imprisoned by them. So we must rid ourselves of all vices and acquire virtues which will restore us to health and happiness.  

This will take much effort, but the Lord will always assist us and the reward is the joy of everlasting life. This is what the Orthodox Church is about, for the prayers, the services and the mysteries are for a congregation of repentant sinners, and every sinner is  invited into the saving realm of repentance which leads to eternal life and the salvation of our souls. If we fail to follow this repentant form of life, we will cut ourselves off from the kingdom, while to follow a virtuous life in Christ is our great hope of everlasting life.

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