The human person is the temple of the Living God. This is an Apostolic teaching of our Church, which means that, just as the grace of God, the grace of the Holy Spirit, resides in a Church, the same is true of the human body and we are temples of the Living God. We call God living because He's not cut off somewhere in the heavens and we simply believe in Him, accept Him, but because He resides in us and we are His temple.

While the glorification of Saints in the Orthodox Church has been taking place for nearly 2000 years, few people today are certain about how this really happens. Does the Church "make" a Saint? Are there special panels which decide who can be a Saint? Are Saints "elected" by a majority vote? Does the person have to perform a certain number of miracles in order to qualify as a Saint? The answer to these questions may be surprising to some.

The fifteenth and last of the Judges of Israel, he lived eleven hundred years before Christ. He was of the tribe of Levi, born of Elkanah and Hannah in a place called Ramatha or Arimathea, where noble Joseph was later born. The barren Hannah besought Samuel of the Lord with tears and dedicated him to God when he was three years old. Living in Shiloh near the Ark of the Covenant, Samuel, at the age of twelve, had a true revelation from God of the punishment which would come upon the house of the High Priest, Eli, because of the worthlessness of his sons Hophni and Phineas.

What follows will be a brief description of the new life and power which the Incarnate Son of God, crucified, resurrected, and exalted, gives us, through the Holy Spirit, as the content of "salvation" according to the Orthodox understanding of that word.

"Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, 'He catches the wise in thief in their craftiness", and again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.'" (1 Corinthians 3:18-20).