Holy and Inspiring Writings From the Holy Fathers of the Church

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.

+

HOLY AND INSPIRING WRITINGS FROM THE HOLY FATHERS OF THE CHURCH ON THE DIVINE IMAGES
By Saint John of Damascus

"Therefore, holding firm in thought to the preservation of the ordinances of the Church, through which salvation has come to us as a kind of keel or foundation...it seems to me a calamity that the Church should...the decline in the smallest degree from perfection, thus bearing a disfiguring mark in the midst of a face so exceeding fair, thus harming the whole by the slightest injury to its beauty. For what is small is not small, if it produces something big, so the slightest disturbance of the tradition of the Church that has held sway from the beginning is no small matter, that tradition made known to us by our forefathers, whose conduct we should look to and whose faith we should imitate...

Therefore I entreat the people of God, the holy nation, to cling to the tradition of the Church. For just as the removal of one of the stones of a building will quickly bring ruin to that building, so the removal, ever so little, of what has been handed down."

+

"On The Departure of the Soul According to the Teaching of the Orthodox Church"
By Saint John of Damascus

Death is indeed a mystery, but it is also dreadful as an event because it fills the soul with deep pain and bewilderment, numerous unanswered questions, distress, and uncontrollable fear. Death defeats common sense, breaks down our sentimental world, and exceeds human measures. One cannot comprehend it, bear it, or even deal with it. Only one thing can defeat faith, or even more so, faith in the resurrected Lord. When we chant the Paschal hymn, we say: "Christ is risen from the dead, by death hath He trampled down death, and upon those in the graves hath He bestowed life." The Resurrection of Christ marks the defeat of death and transforms it from a definite end and merciless threat into a passage to the true life. "O Death, where is thy sting?" exclaims Saint John Chrysostom. Man is made for life, not for death. That is why we so greatly honor the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord.

Death, apart from being a terrible mystery, is also beyond reach. Therefore, the only way to approach it is by the revelation and grace of God, not through intellectual theological contemplation. What happens to the body during the moment of death is of medical concern, yet, what happens to the soul, its state and course, is purely a matter of the Church, namely, of its theology and life, of the divine teaching and the experience of its Saints...

"...Within the Church, we experience death as the translation to eternity, the passage from this empheral world to the truth of the real life, to the eternal kingdom of God. That is why in the funeral service we chant to the departed: "Blessed is the way in which thou shalt walk today, O soul; for a place of rest is prepared for thee."

According to Orthodox Christian Theology, our life is the greatest gift from God; its beginning and end are entirely in His hands. In this life, the grace of God encounters the free will of man, and in this way, his salvation is effected. Time constitutes the guarantee of the bond between soul and body.

The moment of death is the par excellence moment during which the value of a human being is defined, and for this reason, we ought to deal with it with humility, awe, respect, and an awareness of our limits. In no way should we degrade the mystery to a mere event occurring in time. It is terrible to remove from the body the magnificent vestment of its dignity when at the same time it is being denuded of the protection of the soul. According to Orthodox Theology, death can be described in general terms, but it cannot be accurately defined, because it is more of an unknown mystery than any biological event. And when it comes, we welcome death, as it introduces us to a higher state of life.

In this sense, we are entitled neither to break the sacred bond between soul and body nor to shorten the lifespan of the psychosomatic union. Although life is a great gift, yet death may become a greater blessing. Therefore, we do no examine the event of death with boldness or excessive curiosity, based on our knowledge, but we stand before this unknown mystery with reservation, respect, and holy fear. (Source: The Departure of the Soul According to the Teachings of the Orthodox Church by Saint Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery, Phoenix, Arizona)

___________________

"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostom

+++

With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

May 27, 2020 - The Feast of the Apodosis (Leavetaking) of Pascha

My beloved spiritual children in Our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN

+

ON MAY 27th OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH CELEBRATES THE APODOSIS (LEAVETAKING) OF ALL-HOLY PASCHA

On Wednesday of the Sixth Week of the All-Holy Pascha, we celebrate the Apodosis (Leavetaking) of the Feast. While most holy Feasts have their Leavetaking (Apodosis) on the 8th day, Pascha, the Feast of Feasts, has its Leavetaking (Apodosis) on the Thirty-Ninth day. The Fortieth Day is the Great Feast of the Divine Ascension of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, which marks the end of the Lord's physical presence on earth. He does not abandon us, however. He has promised to be with us always, even until the end of the age.

"...and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (St. Matthew 28:20). By saying He is "with you always," Jesus means His Resurrection is neither of the past, nor of the future. It is always present in our lives through the Holy Spirit our God. We know Him directly, here and now, in the present, as our Savior and our Friend. "To the end of the age" does not by any means imply that we are far to be separated from Him after the consummation. He is with us now, and forever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. As we sing in the Kontakion hymn for Holy Ascension, "Thou didst ascend in glory, O Christ Our God, not being parted from those who love Thee, but remaining with them and crying: I am with You and no one will be against you."

The divine services today are celebrated just as on the Glorious Day of Pascha itself. Following the Dismissal at the Divine Liturgy, the Paschal Hymn is no longer chanted. The prayer "O Heavenly King" ("Vasilef Ouraniae...") is not said or chanted until the Great Feast of Pentecost.  Even though today is a Wednesday fasting is not observed strictly.

On this day we also commemorate the finding of the Holy Icon of the Mother of God "Of the Meeting" in Kalamata in the Peloponnesos, Greece.

Apolytikion of Apodosis (Leavetaking) of the All-Holy Pascha

Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling upon death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing Life.

Kontakion Hymn of the Apodosis (Leavetaking) of the All-Holy Pascha

Though Thou went down into the tomb, Thou destroyed Hades' power, and Thou arose Victor, Christ God, saying to the myrrh-bearing women, "Hail" and granted peace to Thy disciples, Thou who raise up the fallen.

CHRISTOS ANESTI! ALETHOS ANESTI!  CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!

KAI TOY CHRONOU!  

___________________

With sincere agape in our Risen Lord and God Jesus Christ,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

The Divine Ascension of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into Heaven Part II)

My beloved spiritual children in Our Risen Lord Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!

+

THE DIVINE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST INTO HEAVEN (Part II)

"As they thus spoke, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of the disciples, and saith unto them: "Peace be unto you." But they were terrified and affrighted and supposed that they had seen a spirit...And He led them out as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And it came to pass while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and were continually in the Temple, praising and blessing God. Amen." (St. Luke 24:36-53; Acts 1:3-14)

When swallows run short of food and the cold weather is coming, they set off to warm climes, where there is plenty of sun and food. One swallow flies ahead, testing the air showing the way, and the rest of the flock follows after.

When our souls run short of food in the material world, and when the cold of death draws near - oh, is there a swallow like that one, to take us to a warm place, where there is plenty of spiritual warmth and food? Is there such a place? Is there, oh, is there such a swallow?

Outside the Christian Church, there is no-one who could give any sort of reliable answer to this. The Church alone knows, and knows with certainty. It has seen that part of Paradise for which our souls yearn in the frozen twilight of this earthly existence. It has also seen this blessed swallow, the first to fly to that yearned-for place, dispersing the darkness and cutting through the heavy atmosphere between earth and heaven with its powerful wings, opening the way to the flock behind it. Apart from this, the Church on earth can tell you of innumerable flocks of swallows that have followed the first Swallow and flown off with it to the blessed land, the land abounding will all good things - the land of eternal spring.

You will see from this that, by this saving Swallow, I am thinking of the Ascended Lord Jesus Christ. Has He not said of Himself that He is the Way? Did He not Himself say to His Apostles: "I go to prepare a place for you...and will...receive you unto Myself" (St. John 14:2-3)? And did He not say to them before this: "And I, if I be lifted up the earth, will draw all men unto Me" (St. John 12:32)? This that He Himself said began to be fulfilled a few weeks later, and has continued to be fulfilled right down to our own day, and shall be to the end of time. That is: being the beginning of the first creation of the world. He became also the beginning of the second creation or the blessed renewing of the old. Sin clipped Adam's wings and those of all his descendants, and they all fell away from God, went off, and were blinded with the dust from which their bodies were created. Christ, as the New Adam, the First Man, the Firstborn among men, was the first to rise up to heaven on spiritual wings, to the Throne of eternal glory and power, thus cleaving the way to heaven and opening all heaven's gates to His followers with their spiritual wings - as an eagle cleaves the way for its eaglets; as a swallow that goes ahead, showing the flock the way and breaking the air's heavy resistance...

"...The Lord's Ascension from earth to heaven is as unexpected to men as His coming down from heaven to earth and His birth in the flesh was to the Angels. What event in His life does not represent something unique and uniquely unexpected to the world?...each of us must look with wonder at the events of the Savior's life, beginning with the wondrous Annunciation to the Most Holy Ever-Virgin Mary by the Archangel Gabriel in Nazareth, and then through in order to His mighty Ascension on the Mount of Olives. It is all, at first sight unexpected, but, when they are made aware of the plan for the dispensation of our salvation, all rational men must shout for joy and glorify God's power. His Wisdom and his Love for mankind. You can take no single Great Event out of Christ's life and not disfigure the whole, as you cannot cut off a living man's arm or leg and not disfigure him, or remove the moon from the heavenly vault or blot out a part of the starry myriads, and not disfigure the order and beauty of the heavens. So do not think of saying: "It was unnecessary for the Lord to ascend!"

"And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven." What a magnificent and touching parting from the earth! There on the edge of the Mount of Olives, in sight of the mound beneath which dead Lazarus had been raised again to this transient life, the Risen Lord Ascended to the infinite heights of eternal life. He Ascended up, not to the stars but above them: He Ascended up, not to the Angels, but above them; and not to the heavenly powers, but above them; above all the immortal, heavenly hosts, above all the paradisiacal abodes of the Angels and the righteous; far, far above the Cherubim's eyes, to the very throne of the heavenly father, to the mysterious altar of the Holy and Life-giving Trinity. The measure of these heights does not exist in the created world; perhaps the only thing comparable, to the opposite direction, is the depths to which pride plunged Lucifer (Satan), the apostate from God; the depths into which Lucifer wanted the whole human race to be plunged. The Lord Jesus saved us from this endless ruin and, in place of the depths of the abyss, raised up to the divine heights of heaven. He raised us up, we say, for two reasons: firstly, because He rose as a man in the flesh, as we are; and secondly, because He rose not for His own sake but for ours, to open for us the path to peace with God. Ascending in his Risen Body, that men had killed and buried in the earth. He blessed with hands that bore the scars of the nails. O Most Blessed Lord, how Great is Thy mercy! The history of Thy coming into the world began with blessing, and it ends with blessing. Revealing Thy coming into the world, the Archangel Gabriel greeted the Most Holy Mother of God with the words: "Hail, thou that art highly favored...blessed art thou among women!" (St. Luke 1:28). And now, when Thou biddest farewell to those who received Thee, Thou openest wide Thy hands and pourest blessing on them. O Most Blessed among men! O Gracious Source of blessings! Bless us also, as Thou didst bless Thine Apostles!

We praise and bless the Lord who, by His Ascension, opened our understanding to see the path and goal of our life. We praise and bless the Father, Who responds to our love for the Son with His love, and makes His abode, together with the Son, in all who hold and confess the Lord's commandments. And we keep the Father and the Son constantly in mind, praising and blessing them - like the Holy Apostles in the city of Jerusalem waiting for the power from on high: the Spirit, the Comforter - to come upon us: He who comes upon us all at our baptism, but Who leaves us because of our sins. May the whole primal, heavenly man be renewed in us; may we, like the Apostles, be made worthy to receive the blessing of our glorified and ascended Lord Jesus Christ, to whom, be glory and praise, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit - the Holy Trinity consubstantial and undivided, now and forever, through all time and all eternity. Amen. (Source: Homilies by Saint Nikolai Velimirovic)

_______________________

"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostom

+++

With sincere agape in our Risen Lord,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

The Mystery (Sacrament) of the Holy Eucharist According to the Orthodox Church

My beloved spiritual children in Our Risen Lord, Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior Jesus Christ,
CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!

+

THE MYSTERY (SACRAMENT) OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST ACCORDING TO THE HOLY ORTHODOX CHURCH

"The Holy Eucharist (literally "thanksgiving") is the Mystery (Sacrament) in which the bread and wine of offering are changed by the Holy Spirit into the True Body and True Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then the believers receive communion of them for a most intimate union with Christ and eternal life. This Mystery (Sacrament) is composed, thus of two separate moments: 1) the changing or transformation of the bread and wine into the very Body and Blood of the Lord, and (2) the Communion of these Holy Gifts. It is called "the Eucharist," "the Lord's Supper," the Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ." The Body and Blood of Christ in this Mystery are called the "Bread of heaven and the Cup of Life" or the "Cup of salvation"; they are called the "Holy Mysteries," "the Bloodless Sacrifice." The Eucharist Is the greatest Christian Mystery (Sacrament)..."

"...The words of the Savior at the Mystical Supper, "This is My Body, which is broken for you; this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Quoting from 1 Cor. 11:24 and Matthew 26:28) are completely clear and definite, and do not allow any other interpretation apart from the most direct one, namely, that to the Disciples were given the true Body and the True Blood of Christ. And this is completely in accordance with the promise given by the Savior in the 6th chapter of the Gospel of Saint John concerning His Body and Blood..."

The Changing of the Bread and Wine in the Mystery (Sacrament) of the Eucharist

"In the Mystery (Sacrament) of the Eucharist, at the time when the priest, invoking the Holy Spirit upon the offered Gifts, blesses them with the prayer to God the Father: "Make this bread the Precious Body of Thy Christ; and that which is in this cup, the Precious Blood of Thy Christ; changing them by Thy Holy Spirit"--the bread and wine actually are changed into the Body and Blood by the coming down of the Holy Spirit (the consecration of the Holy Gifts). After this moment, although our eyes see bread and wine on the Holy Table, in their very essence, invisibly for sensual eyes, this is the true Body and true Blood of the Lord Jesus, only under the "forms" of bread and wine..."

"...This Truth is expressed in the "Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs" in the following words: "We believe that in this Sacred rite our Lord Jesus Christ is present not symbolically (typikos), not figuratively (eikonikos), not by an abundance of Grace, as in the other Mysteries (Sacraments), not by a simple descent, as certain Fathers say about Baptism--but truly and actually, so that after the sanctification of the bread and wine, the bread is changed, transubstantiated, converted, transformed, into the actual true Body of the Lord, which was born in Bethlehem of the Ever-Virgin, was baptized in the Jordan , suffered, and was buried, resurrected, ascended, sits at the right hand of God the Father, and is to appear in the clouds of heaven; and the wine is changed and transubstantiated into the actual true Blood of the Lord, which at the time of His suffering on the Cross was shed for the life of the world. Yet again, we believe that after the sanctification of the bread and wine there remains no longer the bread and wine themselves, but the very Body and Blood of the Lord, under the appearance and form of bread and wine." (par. 17)"

Some Observations on the Manner in Which the Lord Jesus Christ Remains in the Holy Gifts

1. Although the bread and wine are transformed in the Mystery (Sacrament) into the Body and Blood of the Lord, He is present in this Mystery 'with all His being,' that is, with his soul and with His very Divinity, which is inseparably united to His humanity.

2. Although, further, the Body and Blood of the Lord are broken in the Mystery of Communion and distributed, still we believe that 'in every part'--even in the smallest particle--of the Holy Mysteries, those who receive Communion receive the entire Christ in His being, that is, in His soul and Divinity, as perfect God and perfect man. This faith the Holy Church expresses in the words of the priest at the breaking of the Holy Lamb: "Broken and divided is the Lamb of God, which is broken though not disunited, which is ever eaten, though never consumed, but sanctifieth those that partake thereof."

3. Although at one and the same time there are many Holy Liturgies in the universe, still there are not many Bodies of Christ, but one and the same Christ is present and is given in His body 'in all the churches of the faith.'

4. The bread of offering, which is prepared separately in all churches, after its sanctification and offering becomes "one and the same with the Body which is in the heavens."

5. After the transformation of the bread and wine in the Mystery of the Eucharist into the Body and Blood, they no longer return to their former nature, but remain 'the Body and Blood of the Lord forever," whether or not they are consumed by the faithful. Therefore the Orthodox Church from antiquity has had the custom of performing on certain days the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, believing that those Gifts, sanctified at a preceding Liturgy, remain the true Body and Blood of Christ...

6. Since to the God-Man Christ it is fitting to offer a single inseparable Divine worship, both according to His Divinity and His humanity, as a consequence of their inseparable union, therefore also to the Holy Mysteries of the Eucharist there should be given "the same honor and worship" which we are obliged to give to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. (Source: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology by Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky)

________________

Please note: Absolutely no one has the authority to marginalize or to dilute the Orthodox Faith and the Orthodox Christian understanding of the Holy Eucharist. Any deliberate attack on the Holy Eucharist commits the unforgivable blasphemy against God the Holy Spirit. Anyone who attempts to do so should be excommunicated from the Orthodox Church.

__________________

"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostom

+++

With sincere agape in His Divine Resurrection,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

The Divine Ascension of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Into Heaven

My beloved spiritual children in Our Risen Lord and Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!

+

ON MAY 28th OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH CELEBRATES THE DIVINE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST INTO HEAVEN
By Metropolitan of Nafpaktos HIEROTHEOS

Forty days after His Resurrection Christ ascended into heaven, where He had been previously, according to His own words to the Disciples before His Passion: "Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? (St. John 6:61-62). Of course, this does not mean that Christ, as God, was not in heaven during the time of His incarnation, but that He would go up even with his human flesh. Moreover, His coming down from heaven is meant as Divine condescension and not as a change of place.

In the time between His Resurrection and Ascension, He appeared many times to His Disciples, to whom He revealed the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, according to the words of Saint Luke: "to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3).

The feast of the Lord's Ascension has great meaning and importance for the Christian and spiritual life because it is connected with the theosis (deification) of every person. In what follows, presenting the central Christological points of this great feast of the Lord, we shall also establish its great value.

First, we must exactly what Holy Scripture says about this Divine Ascension. The Old Testament makes prophecies about this great event, and the New Testament presents it.

Just as we have prophecies about all the happening of the Lord in the Old Testament, this is true for the Divine Ascension as well. The Prophet Ezekiel saw a vision, which certainly refers to Christ's Ascension: "Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight" (Ezekiel 10:18-19).

In the teaching of Christ Himself and in His speech to the Disciples before His Passion He said the following: "I came forth from the Father and have come into the world, Again, I leave the world and go to the Father" (St. John 16:28). And in another situation Christ gave assurance: "No one has ascended to heaven but the one who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven" (St. John 3:13).

We see the Ascension in the stories of the Evangelists, who refer to this event. Concretely, it is told by the Evangelist Mark (St. Mark 16:19) and by Saint Luke, both in his Gospel (St. Luke 24:50-53) and in the Acts of the Apostles, which he himself wrote: (Acts 1:3 and 9-11). The details of the event of the Ascension and of the way in which it happened are described in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles...

"...The Apostle Paul, referring to the central points in Christ's work of absolution, the work of the Divine Economy, also includes the Ascension: "God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by the Angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory" (I Timothy 3:16). Referring to the power of the Father, he says that it "worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:20). Elsewhere we have said that the power of the Father is also the Son's power. After Christ cleansed us from sins "He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Hebrews 1:3), and indeed Christ gave the promise to all who united with Him that they too would sit on the throne of His Father: "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His Throne" (Revelation 3:21).  

From these passages which have been cited it is very clear that the Church attaches great meaning to the event of the Divine Ascension, because Christ's Ascension expresses the deepest meaning of the spiritual life.

The icon of Christ's Ascension is splendid. The Disciples were astonished and watched with joy and wonder as He ascended into heaven. Saint Luke reports: "Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up... and while they looked steadfastly towards heaven as He went up..." (Acts 1:9-10).

According to Saint Athanasios the Great, the Holy Disciples did not see Him when He ascended to Heaven but were gazing steadfastly, which means that "the intent eye was fixed in the direction of the All-Seeing eye". It is essentially a matter of a continuous gaze. Their gaze was riveted, we would say, on Christ, Who had been received into heaven.  

This posture, apart from the sense of the grandeur of the image of the ascended Christ also has the meaning that the Christians have the eye of the soul, the nous, fixed on heaven. It is in this light that we should view the liturgical exhortation of the priest "let us lift up our hearts" or in the Divine Liturgy of the brother of God James, "let us lift up our nous and hearts". And this is important because our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20). And in another place the Apostle Paul sends word: "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3:2). This fixed attention on Christ and lifting up of the nous to Christ is not unrelated to noetic hesychia, the hesychastic life, when the nous detaches itself from every earthly desire and is lifted up only to Christ..."

"...Since we are members of the Church in which the whole work of the Divine Dispensation is experienced, we have obligations. As citizens of the incorporeal we must be far removed from desires of the flesh. As members of holy humanity and temples of God we must live in holiness. Since God has granted us the royal house, the Church, instead of hell, we must make our peace with God (Proklos, Archbishop of Constantinople).

It is necessary to practice purity of the body and soul. A person must keep the eye of his soul as a watchful guard so that when the robber devil comes to pollute him with bodily sins, he will be ready to say: "I am not going to turn traitor to the Lord's possession" (Saint Epiphanios). That is to say, I will not betray the property which belongs to the Lord Christ.

After Christ's Disciples had passed through all the trials, the purification, the experience of the Cross, then they remained in the upper room and in this way received the Holy Spirit. And we, when we worship Christ, must return to Jerusalem, which means peace. We must make peace with ourselves and others. And not only should we return to Jerusalem, but we should wait in the Upper Room, which is our nous, where we should be in constant prayer and take care to purify ourselves from passions and base thoughts. In this way, we shall attain the visitation of the Comforter (Parakletos) and worship in truth the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Saint Gregory Palamas)..."

Christ's Ascension is the jewel of all the feasts of the Lord, the completion of all that Christ did for us, through the work of the Divine Dispensation. This consummate feast invites us to spiritual perfection and fullness, to participate in Christ's Ascension and the experience our own ascension. (Source: The Feasts of the Lord.  An Introduction to the Twelve Feasts and Orthodox Christology)

___________________________

"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"-- Saint John Chrysostom

+++

With sincere agape in His Divine Resurrection,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

Memorial Day - A Day of Love, Courage, and the Ultimate Sacrifice

My good friends in Our Risen Lord,

Chris is Risen! Truly He is Risen!

On this Memorial Day celebrated in the United States, our beloved country, we honor the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom, justice, and love of country. It is also a day of remembering the great courage with which they performed their duty to God and country. What a splendid example for young and old to emulate and to cherish. We are indeed inspired by their selflessness, devotion, and patriotism.

All of us need to learn from their example of courage and the willingness to sacrifice everything which they held dear and precious to defend the vulnerable and innocent from barbarism, totalitarianism, atheism, malevolent dictators, tyranny, enslavement, and executions. God created man to be free. Free to enjoy his/her inalienable rights, to worship Him without hindrance, to move freely, to be able to govern his/her life without fear of penalty, to determine his/her future according to one's ambition and ability, free to express one's political opposition and without the fear of retribution and imprisonment.

Even now, at this time, we need to have courage in the face of the threat the coronavirus brings. It takes courage to fight against the evil forces in the world and to shine a light on their evil agenda and dark plans. As Orthodox Christians, we have countless examples of true courage and sacrifice in the lives of the great martyrs of the Church. Christians that went to their martyrdom singing psalms and praising Our Almighty God. Orthodox Christians that have died in the hands of heretics which were determined to impose their heretical beliefs on our devout brothers and sisters in Christ as well as those of unbelievers and enemies of Christ and His Holy Church.

Our Church Ecumenical Councils were convened in order to defend and protect the Church from those who assaulted the authentic teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Since then the Orthodox Church has anathematized those who sought, over the centuries, to distort or corrupt Our Orthodox Christian Faith.

As long as we have God with us we should never fear anyone or anything. Above all, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, we must never fear the Precious Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ as we approach the Holy Chalice. A believer is not afraid of any kind of virus but as the priest invites the faithful to partake of Holy Communion he says, "With the fear of God, with faith and with love draw near." Fear of God is not the same as the "fear" of a virus.

If there are any who truly fear Holy Communion then they must refrain from receiving.  Receiving Holy Communion is a free and voluntary decision based on faith.  

May you all have a safe and blessed Memorial Day.

With agape in Our Risen Lord Jesus Christ,

+Father George