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.
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THE PROSELYTE (Part V)
Question: Is your conversion to Orthodoxy a total conversion or partial? Is it conditional? Is it selective? What kind of conversion is it? These are important and serious questions that should be answered by the one who is considering converting to Orthodox Christianity.
If one desires to be a member of the Body of Christ, the Orthodox Church, he or she must make a total commitment without conditions or to believe that he/she has an option to be selective and to approve or disapprove, accept or reject, like or dislike certain beliefs and traditions of Orthodoxy and to do it before they enter the Church. Otherwise it is not a true conversion but a false one.
How can a Christian of another tradition or a non-Christian become a member of the Body of Christ through deception? One enters the Holy Orthodox Church through either Baptism or Chrismation or both. Nevertheless it is through of the Mysteries (Sacraments) of the Church and not a handshake. If one is not sincere and truthful it means that he/she is willing to violate the Sacrament, Christ Himself, the Holy Spirit Himself, just to say 'I am now an Orthodox Christian'. Is this not a dishonest way for someone to enter the Holy Church of Christ? Is this not a sin?
For a convert to feel as a genuine member of the Church he/she must be obedient to her, to trust her, to believe her, and not to constantly question her integrity, or to analyze the faith, her dogmas and her traditions. If one has a doubt about her authenticity of Orthodoxy then, simply do not join. No one will compel you to join the Orthodox Church.
There are some important beliefs in Orthodox Christianity which Christians that come out of Protestantism find it very difficult to adhere to i.e., Theotokos (Mother of God), Saints, holy veneration of holy icons and holy relics, and is some cases the real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. If one cannot believe what the Orthodox Church teaches then one must never attempt it. Otherwise that person is not an Orthodox Christian but an imposter.
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The Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary
Among all the Saints, Our Holy Orthodox Church reserves a special position of honor for the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is venerated as the most exalted among God's creatures, "more honorable than the Cherubim and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim." (The Axion Esti which is chanted in the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and other divine services). Orthodox Christians venerate or honor the Mother of God, but in no sense do the members of the Church regard her as a fourth person of the Trinity, nor do they assign to her worship due to God alone.
The titles given to the Ever-Mary by the Orthodox Church: Theotokos (Mother of God), Aeiparthenos (Ever-virgin) and Panagia (All-Holy) serve a theological purpose. Far from elevating her to a position as a fourth person of the Trinity, such titles seek to protect and proclaim the correct doctrine of Christ's Person. The Mother is venerated because of the Son and never apart from Him. Too often a refusal to honor the Theotokos goes hand in hand with an incomplete faith in the Incarnation, i.e., the mystery of God becoming man in the Person of Jesus Christ. Nicholas Cavasilas has written: "The Incarnation was not only the work of the Father, of His Power and His Spirit...but it was also work of the will, faith and consent of the Virgin...Just as God became incarnate voluntarily, so He wished that His Mother should bear Him freely and with her consent." Mary stands as the greatest example of man's free response to God's offer of salvation. She stands as an example of synergy, or cooperation between God and man. God does not force His will on Mary but waits for her free response which she grants with those beautiful words: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word" (St. Luke 1:38). Thus, Eve's disobedience is counterbalanced by Mary's obedience. She becomes the New Eve as Christ is the New Adam, lifting by her obedience the curse that the first Eve brought upon the human race by her disobedience.
In the words of the Greek Orthodox theologian, Dr. N.A. Nissiotis:
"As shown in the icon, Mary is never alone but always with Christ. Thus prayer to her is the prayer of the Church with her to the Incarnate Son. One should rather see in Mary, the 'Most Holy' (Panagia), the first and fullest of the Saints, leading them in a continuous intercessions to her Son. The worshiping Church is not praying to the Theotokos but praying with her to God. She is the animating power, the Leader of this continuous intercession of the Community of saints to the Trinitarian God."
The Holy Orthodox Church calls Mary "All=Holy"; it calls her "immaculate" or "spotless" in Greek, achrantos); and all Orthodox Christians are agreed in believing that our Lady was free from actual sin.
Orthodox Christians do not worship the Theotokos and the Saints; rather they venerate them. God alone is worshiped. The Saints are reverenced as reflections of the Christ image. It is God Who is glorified through His Saints. They are praised for what our Lord has done in and through them.
For the first time she appears in the story of the Annunciation and naturally figures very prominently in the Birth stories of Saint Matthew's Gospel (Chapters 1 and 2), but especially in Saint Luke's Gospel (Chapters 1 and 2). But though she is mentioned several times during the years of Christ's Public Ministry, she remains in the background. She appears prominently at the foot of the Cross (Saint John's Gospel 19:25) to sorrowfully witness the Passion of her Son and be entrusted by the suffering Christ to His beloved Disciple John, later to become the Evangelist and Theologian. She witnessed the inception and growth of the infant Church in the Upper Room at Jerusalem under the action and guidance of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14). Her Divine Maternity and her virginity are clearly stated in the Gospels: she has really conceived and given birth to Jesus, the Son of God, without losing her virginity. Her perpetual virginity ("ever-virgin") was first asserted by Didymos the Blind (about 313-98 A.D.), the teacher of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, and Jerome, who gave her the well-known name Ever-Virgin. Her supreme dignity as the Mother of God was praised by many famous Eastern and Western Holy Fathers. In the 8th century, Saint John of Damascus calls her 'mediator" and Saint Andrew of Crete calls her "mediator of grace."
The veneration of Mary received considerable impetus by her name 'Theotokos' being officially adopted by the Third Ecumenical Council in 431 A.D.
According to Metropolitan of Diokleia Kallistos Ware in his book "The Orthodox Church" states the following: "Orthodoxy...firmly believes in her Bodily Assumption. Like the rest of mankind Our Lady underwent physical death, but in her case the Resurrection (Translation) of the body occurred and her tomb was found empty. She has been passed beyond death and judgment, and lives already in the Age to Come. Yet she is not thereby utterly separated from the rest of humanity, for that same bodily glory which Mary enjoys now, all of us hope one day to share. However, the bodily Assumption (Translation) of Mary to heaven is not a dogma in the Orthodox Church."
Reverence for Saints is enhanced through the use and veneration of holy icons which are ever-present in Orthodox Christian churches and homes. The holy icon becomes a meeting place, an existential encounter, a window through which we look on the Saints not as shadowy figures from a remote past but as members of the same household of God. We feel free to call on them through prayer from family support as they intercede to God in our behalf. Saint Basil the Great writes, "I accept the saintly Apostles, Prophets, and Martyrs, and in my prayer to God I call upon them and through their prayer I receive mercy from our God Who loves all humanity" (Epistle to Amphilochios).
(To be continued)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" - Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George