The Nativity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: "Judge not..."

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 NATIVITY OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST: "JUDGE NOT, THAT YE BE NOT JUDGED" (Matthew 7:1).

Saint Anthony the Great writes, "If you see your brother sin, do not disparage him, do not reject him and do not condemn him. Otherwise you will end up in your enemies' (Satan's) hands. Do not judge any mortal being lest the Lord should dismiss your prayers."

Abba (Father) Dorotheos writes: "Who troubles, judges and does harm than demons? So, it turns out, we help demons to ruin both our lives and the lives of our neighbors. Why does this happen? It happens because we have no charity. "For charity shall cover the multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8). Saints do not condemn one who sins, nor do they reject him, but rather sympathize with him, they are sorry for him, they instruct and comfort him, they heal him as if he were an ailing man, and do everything to save him."

Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian

"Lord, grant me to see my own failings, and not to judge my brother (or sister).

Do not mock or judge someone who has fallen into sin, but rather pray lest you fall into sin. Do not pamper anyone while he is alive and do not lose hope in him before he dies. Do not laugh at one who has sinned, rather set him on his feet."

As we, as Orthodox Christian believers, continue on our spiritual journey to meet our Lord and Savior, as the shepherds and magi did on that Holy Day of His Birth, we must first examine our heart and free it from any impurity that has been collected there perhaps from previous years. One of the most serious sins which we may have committed, as a "self-righteous" individual, is to pass judgment on another person.

Our Lord Christ is very clear in his famous Sermon n the Mount: "Do not judge others so that you yourself will not be judged. For with judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you" (Matthew 7:1-2).

Jesus admonishes us and says, "Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not see the plank in your own eye...you hypocrite. First remove the plank from your eye!" (Matthew 7:3-5).

We all need to have discernment and discernment is acquired, above all, by examination of oneself and one's own sins rather than those of others. And preoccupation with the sins of others may lead to blindness to one's own sins.  We should not, however, confuse judging with condoning. We absolutely not judge our fellow man but we must not condone and approve sinful or evil conduct or actions. In other words "love the sinner but hate the sin."

We, as followers of Christ God, live in a world which condones all evil and condemns that which is good and holy. The world, as always, disagrees with the commandments of God and makes every effort to overturn and discourage anyone from following them or living by them. The secular world is a Godless world. A world without Divine Commandments, without faith, without Christian values, without ethics, without morality, without love, without self-control, without justice, without human dignity, without true peace, without harmony, without self-respect, without any accountability for evil actions, without God.

The Christian, the true Christian, is one who is obedient only to God, his Creator. He or she is one who follows His Teachings faithfully. He dedicates his life to following God's law in a very sincere and respectful manner.  

Agape (love) and humility are the wings that lead to Paradise, Saint Kosmas Aitolos declared. We must love one another, even for those who have made wrong choices and fallen away from God. A humble and kind spirit reminds us that we are the ones who need to repent and turn back toward our Lord. We must never judge others, but we must judge ourselves and our actions. All good is from God, not us. And therefore all glory and praise goes to His Name!

Although everyone is distracted with the pandemic and even the political unrest within our country, we must not neglect our spiritual preparation for the Coming of the Savior of the world, and the celebration of His Holy Birth on earth. His Birth is the birth of Love, of Hope, of Peace, of reconciliation, of forgiveness, of regeneration, of restoration, of healing, of justice, of righteousness, of salvation and of the inheritance of His Eternal Kingdom.

"Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, good will toward men!" (Luke 2:14).

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

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With sincere agape in His Holy Incarnation,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

With My Own Eyes

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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WITH MY OWN EYES
By Pastor Richard Wurmbrand

[Pastor Richard Wurmbrand is an evangelical minister who spent fourteen years in Communist imprisonment and torture in his homeland of Romania. In 1945, when the Communists seized Romania and attempted to control the churches for their purpose, Richard Wurmbrand immediately began an effective "underground" ministry to his enslaved people and the invading Russian soldiers. He was eventually arrested in 1948. Richard spent three years in solitary confinement, seeing no one but his Communist torturers. Pastor Wurmbrand was released in a general amnesty in 1964. What follows is a small part of the many experiences he had with Orthodox clergy while he was imprisoned.]

My former fellow-prisoner the Romanian Orthodox Deacon John Stanescu, suffered in jail for his faith. Colonel Albon, director of the slave labor camp, was informed that someone had dared to preach in a cell. He entered the cell carrying a cane and demanded to know the culprit. When no one responded he said, "Well, then all will be flogged."

He commenced at one end of the cell, and there was the usual yelling and rising in tears. When he came to Stanescu, he said, "Not ready yet? Strip this minute!"

Stanescu replied, "There is a God in heaven, and He will judge you."

With this, his fate was sealed. He would surely be beaten to death. But just at that moment, a guard entered the cell and said, "Colonel, you are called urgently to the office. Some generals have come from the Ministry."

Albon left, saying to Stanescu, "We will see each other again soon." However, the generals arrested the colonel (Communists hate and jail each other for no reason), and after an hour Albon was back in the cell, this time as a prisoner.

Many inmates jumped to lynch him. Now Stanescu defended the defeated enemy with his own body, receiving many blows himself as he protected the torturer from the flogged prisoners. Stanescu was a real priest.

Later I asked him, "Where did you get the power to do this?" And he replied, "I live Jesus ardently. I always have Him before my eyes. I also see Him in my enemy. It is Jesus who keeps him from doing even worse things." Beware of a faith without a cross!

When I was in jail I fell very, very sick. I had tuberculosis of the whole surface of both lungs and four vertebra were attacked by tuberculosis, diabetes, heart failure, jaundice, and other sicknesses I can't even remember. I was near to death.  

At my right hand was an Orthodox priest by the name of Iscu. He was Abbot of a monastery. This man, perhaps in his 40's, had been so tortured he was near to death. But his face was serene. He spoke about his hope of heaven, about his love of Christ, about his faith. He radiated joy.

On my left side was the Communist torturer who has tortured this priest almost to death. He had been arrested by his own comrades.

And so it happened that the Communist torturer who had tortured this priest nearly to death had been tortured nearly to death by his comrades. And he was dying near me. His soul was in agony.

During the night he would awaken me saying, "Father please pray for me. I can't die, I have committed such terrible crimes."

The I saw a miracle. I saw the agonized priest calling two other prisoners. And leaning on their shoulders, slowly, slowly, he walked past my bed, sat on the bedside of his murderer, and caressed his head--I will never forget this gesture. I watched a murdered man caressing his murderer! That is love - he found a caress for him.

The priest said to the man, "You are young; you did not know what you were doing. I love you with all my heart." But he did not just say the words. You can say "love," and it's just a word of four letters. But he really loved. "I love you with all my heart."

Then he went on, "If I who am a sinner can love you so much, imagine Christ, Who is Love Incarnate, how much He loves you! And all the Christians whom you have tortured, know that they forgive you, they love you, and Christ loves you. He wishes you to be saved much more than you wish to be saved. You wonder if your sins can be forgiven. He wishes to forgive your sins more than you wish your sins to be forgiven. He desires for you to be with Him in heaven. He is love. You only need to turn to him and repent."

In this prison cell in which there was no possibility of privacy, I overheard the confession of the murderer to the murdered. Life is more thrilling than a novel - no novelist has ever written such a thing. The murdered - near to death - received the confession of the murderer. The murdered gave absolution to his murderer.

They prayed together, embraced each other, and the priest went back to his bed. Both men died that same night. It was Christmas Eve. But it was not a Christmas Eve in which we simply remembered that 2000 years ago Jesus was born in Bethlehem. It was a Christmas Eve during which Jesus was born in the heart of a Communist murderer.

These are the things I have seen with my own eyes...

Christ is born; glorify Him! Christ comes from Heaven; go to meet Him! Christ is on earth; be exalted! Sing to the Lord, all the earth! And praise Him in gladness, O people; for He has been glorified! (Source: Orthodox Heritage)

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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

On Proper Fasting...

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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ON PROPER FASTING...

Bodily purity is primarily attained through fasting, and through bodily purity comes spiritual purity. Abstinence from food, according to the words of the son of grace, Saint Ephraim the Syrian, means: "Not to desire or demand much food, either sweet or costly; to eat nothing outside the stated times; not to give oneself over to gratification of the appetite; not to stir up hunger in oneself by looking at good food; and not to desire one or another sort of food." There is a great fallacy that abstinence from food and the eating of fasting foods are harmful to physical health. It is a known fact that those who fast are the longest-lived and the least prone to sickness. The holy Prophet Daniel and the Three Holy Children offer us an example of this. When the King commanded his eunuch to feed the young men on meat from the royal table, and give them good wine to drink, Daniel told the eunuch that they were not willing to take the meat and wine form the king's table, but wanted only herbs (for Daniel did not want to eat meat sprinkled with blood from the idolatrous sacrifices). But the eunuch was afraid that the young men would be weakened by the fasting food, and spoke of his fear to Daniel. Then the Prophet suggested that he make a test, to see whether the fasting food would weaken them or not: to give food from the king's table to the other young men at court, but to feed these four only on herbs for ten days, and then compare them. The eunuch did what Daniel advised. After ten days, the faces of the four young fasters were fairer and their bodies stronger than those of the Babylonian youth, who had eaten and drunk from the king's table. (The Prologue from Ochrid)

Thanks be to God!

+Father George

Are We Christians Without Christ?

Christ the Lifegiver

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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ARE WE CHRISTIANS WITHOUT CHRIST?
By Photios Kontoglou

When one holds a discussion with pseudo-Christians about hard asceticism of the body and spirit for the love of Christ, they become angered, calling you a hoaxer, a pagan or a barbarian.

If you want to test the faith of a Christian, talk to them about asceticism. The faithful will feel compunction, while the lukewarm, those who are fake and faithless, will protest.

What is then one to make of the following proclamations by Christ? "Blessed are they who have left all and followed Me, or the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force, or In the world you will have sorrow, or Tight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life."

We want to be Christians without Christ, without spiritual sorrow, without lifting the difficult cross, and would rather walk along the wide road. Such false Christians, when you speak to them about a hard and impoverished life, about sacrifice, about asceticism, reply that Christ does not want such things, and that such things are antics.

But, O foolish man, in Christianity nothing can be overdone. For all human things one could say they are antics, but it is only within Christianity that antics do not exist. What antic is there in loving the one who killed your father? What antic is there in turning the other cheek? What antic is there in hungering and thirsting contempt, in doing what God asks of you, such as loving your neighbor, talking sweetly to one swearing at you, not judging the one who judges you, to be humble before the most destitute people, and while doing all these things you say that you are a worthless slave?

What antic is there in believing that our bodies will be raised as immortal at the blink of an eye, and how the whole world will change at once, and that a new world without corruption will come about? So is there anything in Christianity that is an antic?

Christianity is the most implausible of all that is outrageous, the most unbelievable of all things unbelievable.

This is why the door by which one enters the exotic country of Christ is only one--Faith. And in Faith there are no antics; unbelief, on the other hand, has sly prudence, moderation and compromise. This is why such pseudo-Christians cannot withstand the fire of Faith and have turned Christianity into a moral system, beneficial for worldly life, which is why it does not entirely need Christ  Because the unbeliever is scared, but whoever believes is "bold as a lion," according to the Prophet.

Whoever loves God, is ablaze without showing it, rejoices without laughing, is crushed in the depths of their selves. The love taught to us by Christ is something else besides so-called philanthropy. This is why philanthropists do not taste of the love of Christ, which is "water that wells with eternal life."  The philanthropy people make today is a social debt. These philanthropists, and whoever is a practical person, are not Christians.

Whoever loves Christ and His Gospel, loves that which is worth loving above everything else. In Christ they can find all worthwhile things: love (agape), humility, pain, gentleness, spiritual sorrow and spiritual joy--which are both sweet when done in the name of Christ.

"Come unto Me all of you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Give us rest? We do not want to even hear it. We want to be saddled with our passions, with our enemies, with our wars, with our cares for ambition, for the flesh, with contaminated blood, with pistols, with cannons, with bombs. What will we do without these things, Mr. Peacemaker? How can we live in rest? With what will we fill our emptiness, since for us life is only these things?

You give us peace, but peace is our death, because it is the death of our beloved passions! If You said "I will load you with other such burdens, that you do not recognize; I will enrich your souls with other such riches, that you may have no peace."

People nowadays want gods that will load us, vindictive ones, like Aries, Zeus, Cronos and deceivers like Hermes, and others. They want to live in wickedness, for it is alive and strong.

Yes, "come Lord!" cries out John with joy to Him who comes on the clouds at the Second Coming. You musts be a saint, righteous and perhaps like John in order to rejoice at the coming of Christ and wait for Him. We, on the other hand, cry out "do not come Lord." Because we are sinners, and the wrath of the Lord is coming upon us.

"...All of us fear that You will come "as a thief in the night." If you curse or slander people, or if you write something bad to them, there will come a time when they will forgive you. (Will they? Unlikely, brother, forget it!). One who does not forgive you for such a deed will hate you, and they live in such a way that they are embarrassed about their own life; may the voyage of your life be a rebuke of their own. Whoever has wholeheartedly tasted Christ's peace does not torture himself for being poor, since they willfully desire and accept poverty; such a person loses his joy when he acquires something beyond what is needed, even if it is the most worthless thing. And whatever is humble and poor and prudent, they love it secretly within their heart without saying anything to anyone, because "the humble people always love silence and obscurity. (Source: Orthodox Heritage)

(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

December 17 - Holy Prophet Daniel and the Three Children: Ananias, Azarius and Misael

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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ON DECEMBER 17th OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE HOLY PROPHET DANIEL AND THE THREE CHILDREN: ANANIAS, AZARIAS AND MISAEL

All four of them were of the Royal Tribe of Judah. When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed and plundered Jerusalem, Daniel, as a boy, was taken off into slavery together with Jehoiachin, King of Judah, and many other Israelites. The account of his life, sufferings and prophecies can be found in detail in his book. Utterly given to God, Daniel from his early youth received from God the gift of great discernment. His fame among the Jews in Babylon began when he denounced two lecherous and unrighteous elders, and saved the Babylonians stemmed from the day when he solved and interpreted the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. For this, the king made him a prince at his court. When the king made a golden idol in the Plain of Dura, the Three Children refused to worship it, for which they were cast into the burning fiery furnace. But an Angel of God appeared in the furnace and soothed the flames, so that the Children walked in the furnace untouched by the fire, and sang: "Blessed art Thou, Lord God of our fathers!" The king saw this wonder (miracle), and was amazed. He then brought the Children out of the furnace and did them great honor.

In the time of King Belshazzar, when the king was eating and drinking with his guests at a feast out of consecrated vessels taken from the Temple in Jerusalem, an invisible hand wrote these three words on the wall: "Mene, Tekel, Upharsin". No-one could interpret these words but Daniel. That night, King Belshazzar was killed. Daniel was twice thrown into a den of lions for his faith in the One, Living God, and both times God preserved him alive. Daniel saw God on His Throne with the Angelic Powers, often saw Angels, had insight into the future of certain people, of kingdoms and of the whole human race, and prophesied the time of the Coming of the Savior on earth. According to Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Daniel and the Three Children lived to great old age in Babylon, and were beheaded with the sword for the True Faith. When Ananias was beheaded, Azarias held out his robe and caught his head, then Misael caught Azarias's head and Daniel Misael's. An Angel of God carried their bodies to Judea, to Mount Gebal, and placed them under a rock. According to tradition, these four men arose at the time of the death of the Lord Jesus and appeared to many, then fell asleep again. Daniel is counted as one of the four great prophets (with Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel). He lived and prophesied half-way through the thousand years before Christ.  (Source: The Prologue from Ochrid)

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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 

The Nativity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: The Mystery of Repentance/Confession

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 NATIVITY OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST: THE MYSTERY (SACRAMENT) OF REPENTANCE/CONFESSION

The Holy Sacrament of Repentance and Confession can rightly be called "the Forgotten Medicine." The whole world is lying in evil. Every one of us is infected with the deadly disease (virus) of sin, and one can be cured from the disease! The medicine is provided, and it is miraculous at that. You are healed the moment you take it. But we do not reach for it, to be healed and to lighten our conscience. Why? Because we have forgotten and neglect it.

There are earthly medicines for earthly diseases. And there is an Omnipotent Heavenly Doctor and heavenly medicines for the most terrible disease called sin. This Doctor is Jesus Christ, "the Physician of our souls and bodies". Because every sin is a transgression of God's Holy Law, only God can forgive sins with His wondrous Omnipotence. He can blot out sins as if they had never existed. "Though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow; though they be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool" (Isaiah 1:18 [Old Testament]), He promises. But for this to happen, there is one requirement for us--to repent truly.

"Nobody is as gracious and merciful," says Saint Mark the Ascetic, "as the Lord is, but even He does not forgive the sins of the man who doest not repent;...we are being condemned not because of the multitude of our evils, but because we do not want to repent."

How does the forgiving of sins occur?--through the Sacrament of Repentance/Confession. The Christian burdened with his sins goes to the priest with deep repentance in his soul and with a sincere desire to change and reveals to him in a detailed, frank, and full confession the secrets of his heart and conscience. The priest, convinced of the sincere repentance of the Christian and after the suitable introductory prayers, reads to him the sacramental prayer: "May our Lord and God Jesus Christ, according to the grace and kindness of His love for man, forgive you, child (name), all your transgressions; and I, the unworthy priest, through the power given to me by Him, forgive you and free you of all your sins, in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen."

In that moment, whatever the priest is forgiving on earth is also being forgiven in heaven! Is there a greater mercy than this? We could not have believed that this is possible, if it had not been told us by the One Who never spoke an empty word or a life (cf. 1 Peter 2:22).

Sin is a great evil with immeasurably heavy consequences---eternal torments in hell! But its cure, established by Jesus Christ, turns out to be so easy! This is simply incredible--just as Jesus Christ told the ten lepers: "Go shew yourselves unto the priests" (Luke 17:14), and they, when they went, were healed, so it is as if He were speaking to us, sinners: "you are sick with spiritual leprosy? Do not be afraid! You will be healed. Just do this: go show yourselves to the priests."

If we ignore such a mercy of God, how many more punishments we will deserve, because we have no done for our salvation even that small thing which is given to us to do and which is so easy.

What should we do when we are with the confessor?

We have to do the following: 1) Remember that we have come to Christ's infirmary. Here, the visible doctor is the priest, and the invisible--Christ Himself; 2) Confess our sins without false shame; 3) Not seek excuses for our sins; 4) Consciously conceal absolutely nothing: 5) Do not confess with general phrases which have no meaning; 6) Confess briefly, but precisely, the character of each of our sins; 7) Not reveal other people's sins, and conceal, whenever possible, the names of the persons who have tempted us or who have sinned with us through our fault; 8) Not to boast before the priest of any virtues of ours; 9) Not to transfer the blame on others, but only on ourselves; and 10) have a sincere desire not to sin again.

Do not disrespect the sacrament or abuse it for any other personal reason or to accuse your Father Confessor of anything. That in itself is a serious and grave sin.

What Should Do When We Leave the Confessor?

After we have confessed well, we must carry out the penance which has been given to us: bows (metanoies), intensified prayer, fasting, diligent readings of God's Word, almsgiving (charity), visiting the sick, caring for orphans and widows, etc. We must pay attention to the following three points:

1) If you have an enmity against someone, "forgive with all your heart"; so that God will also forgive you (cf. Matthew 6:14-15). Otherwise, your confession will be in vain.

2) Others who have admitted in Confession that they have violated their celibacy or family honor must "give up the bad road forever." They cannot love both the sin and God.

3) Finally, if you have misappropriated another's possession, if you have fobbed someone, "return that which does not belong to you." Otherwise, there is no forgiveness for you.

We see then what the rules are for a saving confession: first, before we go to the confessor, we must examine well our conscience; second, when we are with the priest, we must confess sincerely, with a broken heart, and without shame and excuses; third, when we leave the priest, we must carry out our penance, put an end to the hostility, give up our impure life, thoughts, and return that which is not ours.

He who does not correct his behavior through Confession does not confess but talks idly, according to the words of Saint Basil the Great. (Source: The Forgotten Medicine. The Mystery of Repentance by Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev)

It is through the Sacrament of Repentance and Confession that the Orthodox Christian believer prepares himself or herself to receive the Divine Eucharist or Holy Communion. Some have reduced the preparation to practically nothing. There is no fasting, no forgiveness for our enemies, there no reconciliation, there is cleansing or purification, there is no repentance, there is no prayer, there is no alms and yet one dares to approach Christ and receive him  with arrogance, defiance and unclean. What does one expect to be given by our Lord under these circumstances? Forgiveness? absolution? Rather it is condemnation!

Use the Nativity fast to truly unite yourself with Christ, our Lord, God, and Savior. What the believer seeks from Him is sanctification and salvation.

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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