By Fr. Andrew Lemeshonok
We live
in an Orthodox country, a land which is covered with the blood of martyrs, the
saints who formed Holy Rus, the saints whom we glorify, and those who are
known only to the Lord. To have such a
name, the people must be holy, blessed by the grace of God. These people lived
on this earth as pagans, who bowed down
to idols and did not know the light, but when they saw and found God, they
loved Him to the very end.
Christ
founded our Church on this earth. It is the place where a person leaves the
temporal world and enters eternity. The Church is the Last Supper, which the
Lord prepared before His sufferings on the cross and which He performs every
day, calling the faithful to His bridegroom feast.
People
come to Church crippled and damaged by sin. Yet, the Lord cleanses, sanctifies
and purifies their souls, and they begin to see, hear and love God within
themselves. Holiness which is given by God, gives a person strength to stand
against the whole world, against the devil, against sin which is a terrible disease
of humanity that has caused us to distance ourselves from God. We are all sick,
but we have a great Doctor, and He has the power to heal us. His treatment is
holiness, which He gives us in abundance. He trusts us with His Body and Blood,
with Himself. He helps us to come to Him in this life while trying to lead us
away from sin, from everything that is temporary, in an attempt to lead us to
Heaven. For the sake of our salvation, the Lord humbles himself before our
sinful, proud and ungrateful nature. He does not argue with us, does not
condemn us, but patiently waits for us to see. When a person finally responds
to God’s love and patience with his own love, a person comes closer to God.
What is
Orthodoxy? “Come and see” (John 1: 46) - we read in the New Testament. In
Orthodoxy, God is so close that He connects with people. The main goals of an
Orthodox person include theosis, holiness and the sanctification of one's life;
not certain temporary conveniences and worldly pleasures, but
eternity. In eternity there will be only love because “whether there are
prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether
there is knowledge, it will vanish away” (1 Corinthians 13: 8). Therefore
Orthodoxy is the knowledge of love, it is love itself, which inhabits mankind.
As Apostle John the Theologian says: “By this all will know that you are My
disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13: 35). It is impossible to
love in this world without God. A person hiding in heaven from God must come to
Him and sanctify himself with the light of love which Christ brought to earth.
The Lord gives love abundantly in the Orthodox Church. Everything that we see
in church is a revelation about our future life but it difficult for us to
comprehend because we are deafened by the world, our minds are clouded and our
hearts are not calm.
The Lord
carries us on His shoulders, brings us to church, cleanses and feeds from a
spoon with His Body and Blood as if we are unreasonable and disobedient
children. Accepting the Holy Mysteries, we begin to see (even if for a short
time) our neighbor, ourselves, our life and begin to understand God's Holy
Divine Providence in everything.
It's hard
to maintain such love. Many sinful diseases are within us, but we believe that
God defeats sin. If we are part of a Church that is constantly waging war
against sin in this world and against the the devil and we come out victorious
then we'll move on to the triumphant Church.
Sometimes
it is very difficult for us to talk to a person about Orthodoxy. Protestants
may find thousands of words of persuasion, but we do not have such eloquence.
Why is it so? Because Orthodoxy needs to be seen. We understand that if God
lives within us, if we have the Grace of the Holy Spirit within us, then words
are no longer necessary. Life itself, the very image of man who has gained the love of Christ, will
bear witness to the victory of God and His triumph. We do not yet know our
future path in this world, but, having entered the church, we must preserve the
Grace that we received from God in His Holy Church.
We must
thank God for His love and ask for Him to reveal the simple truths to us which
we must remember: God is always near, He loves us, He forgives and He waits for
us.
July 19, 2018
St.
Elisabeth Convent
CONVERSATION