My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE. Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ.
INSPIRED ORTHODOX POSITIONS (Part II)
By Saint Nicholas of Ochrid
Just as the faithless Jews once trampled upon the Commandments of God, one after the other, and marched accordingly to the wishes of the world and their hearts, they now have done the same with the teaching of Christ, the Master of all teachings. They have undermined and abolished one dogma after the other. They have gotten rid of all the Gospel Commandments. They have rejected the Apostolic and Patristic decrees. They have ridiculed all the sayings of the Saints, and the ascetic examples they have reduced to myths.
The strongest blow the heretic theologians have imparted to the Gospel is in their questioning the Divinity of the Messiah of the world, some doubting it and others totally rejecting it. This was followed by a whole string of denials of spiritual truths such as: the existence of Angels and Demons, of Paradise and Hell, of the eternal glory of the Saints and the Just, fasting, the power of the Cross, the value of the prayer, etc.
Simply put, the heretic theologians have concerned themselves with adaptations and homogenizations (of different faiths), even since the schism of the West from the East, with greater emphasis in the last 150 years. They conformed the heavens to earth, Christ to other "founders of religions" and the Good News to other religions: the Jewish, Muslim and pagan. Everything allegedly in the name of "tolerance" and "for the benefit of peace" between people and nations. However, this is where the beginning of wars and revolutions lie, such as have never been heard of before. For the Truth can in no way tolerate joining with half-truths and lies.
The Theosophical view that the Truth is scattered among all the religions, philosophies and mysteries got the best of the heretic theologians of the Western world. Thus, they say that there must be some truth in Christianity, as well as in Islam, and Hinduism or Brahmanism, in Plato and Aristotle, in Zed-Avesta, in Tantra and Mantras of Tibet. If it were so, then the ark of humanity would keep on sailing without hope in the dark seas of life, without compass or captain.
Then, why did Christ say this strange saying: "I am the Truth" (St. John 14:6). "He did not say, I am a part of the truth but The Truth. Also, "I am the light of the world" (St. John 8:12). So, He is the whole Truth and the whole Light. Moreover, according to His word, He is the only Guide to the path to eternal life and the only One Who knows God. He said to the Jews: "and you have not come to know Him but I know Him and if I say that I do not know Him I will be a liar like you..." (St. John 8:55). Is it possible Christ was deceived? Or perhaps He deceived us?
May God forgive us for putting forth such questions. We do not pose them ourselves, but the heretics posed them from very early on. And they are constantly answering them, one so and so and another differently--the one like the Jews, that Christ was a deceiver, and the other like the theosophites, that He was deceived. For us such a case does not exist.
The Orthodox Christians believe and confess that Jesus Christ is the one and only Messiah, Savior of the World, the One Who has redeemed the human race from sin and restored it, the Son of God Who was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit, God of God, the fulfillment of Truth, the Source of Life, the Victor over death, the Cause of resurrection, the Only True path toward the proper goal, the Judge of the living and the dead.
"...For the Orthodox Church, from the time of Christ's appearance in the world, there is no old and new age but everything is exactly the same and real, independent of periods, situations and subjugations.
Dogmatics is an applied science. This is something that the heretic theologians either don't realize or neglect. From the beginning dogmatics was an applied science--something that the Apostles were aware of, as well as the Saints and the ascetics of the Eastern Church and for this reason they struggled to personally to fulfill every dogma in their life.
The dogma of the Holy Trinity, for example concerning the One Triune God, seemed to many lay people and even to heretic theologians as the most abstract of all dogmas. However, in the Menaion of the Orthodox Church, it mentions many Saints who through asceticism made themselves "the abode of the Holy Trinity." They enlightened their mind, their heart and their will, these three, like connected receptacles which they filled with the Holy Spirit according to the Lord's Parable of the leaven bread" (St. Luke 13:21).
The Holy Apostle Paul expressed it beautifully by saying: "What? Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God and you are not your own?" (I Corinthians 6:19). Of course wherever God the Holy Spirit is, there God the Father and God the Son are: the Holy Trinity, indivisible, inseparable and life giving. This is why in some stichera of the Saints we sing, "You became the abode of the Holy Trinity."
All the Mysteries (Sacraments) of the Orthodox Church, but also of many of the divine Services, begin with the prayer to the Holy Spirit, "Heavenly King, the Spirit of Truth...come and dwell in us." We pray, therefore, for the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in us. This does not happen immediately but after much asceticism with prayer, fasting, almsgiving and toil. And then after all these things, with frequent weeping and sighing, the heart is cleansed and the Holy Spirit dwells in it (the heart) to enlighten the heart and the mind and the will. Then the Most High God dwells in man and works everything through him.
Mind, heart, and will comprise the triune man. In the sinful and passionate soul, these three do not exist in union and divine harmony but all divided and ill-sorted. In such a case man looks like a house that is split, cannot stand and falls. Such a dwelling of the soul cannot then be saved, except through repentance and faith in the Gospel. (Source: "Inspired Articles of Orthodox Spirituality". Published by "Orthodox Kypseli")
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George