"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1).

Then the Apostle Paul speaks about the sorrows that the Corinthians had to endure. This is very useful for us to hear today, because thereby we see that the first Christians also faced life's hardships, temptations, and sins, that their life was not angelic. However, it is important that they perceived them through a spiritual prism: through repentance, through the labor of self-correction.

The holy Apostle Philip was born in Caesarea of Palestine. He was married and had four daughters who prophesied. Later, he was chosen to be a Deacon by the holy Apostles and was ordained together with the holy Protomartyr (First Christian Martyr), the Archdeacon Stefanos (Stephen). He served the saints (Christian believers) with much fervor and cared for the poor and the widows. After the slaying of Saint Stefanos, there was a persecution against the Church at Jerusalem, and all were scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the Twelve Holy Apostles. Then Saint Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ, and the people with one accord gave heed to those things which he spoke (Acts, Ch. 8).

The Orthodox Christian approach to salvation is in stark contrast to the Western (Roman Catholic and Protestant) approach. While there is some guilt associated with sins, guilt is not the problem; nor is punishment the solution. Christ did not come to save us from guilt but from sin and death.

In the biblical account, an Angel appears to Cornelius and proclaims exactly how he has found favor with God: "Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God" (Acts 10:4). It was his faithful prayer and love for the poor that placed Cornelius in a position to receive the visitation of God's grace. But this grace had still not come to dwell within him, for he was not yet regenerated in baptism.

"For the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18)

The fruit of the acquisition of divine grace is not only good works and virtue but an actual union with God. First, grace works to purify the heart from all sinful passions and inclinations. Those who reach this spiritual state are called dispassionate. This does not mean that one is uncaring or disconnected, but that the energies of the soul have been directed away from anything evil and redirected toward God. The dispassionate person is not compelled by any sinful impulse. Rather, he is free to love and to choose to love God and others without concern for self or for what other may think.