The Catalog of Good Deeds: Reflections on the Holy Scripture

Showing posts with label Reflections on the Holy Scripture. Show all posts

Humor: once there was a poor young couple, and the husband served as a minister. He complained to his wife for breaking her promise not to buy a new dress. She responded, “The devil made me do it. It’s his fault for tempting me.” He replied, “You could have said, ‘Get behind me Satan!’” She said, “I did, but then he whispered over my shoulder, ‘it fits you beautifully in the back too.’”

The two men possessed by demons in today’s Gospel reading from the Fifth Sunday of Matthew (8:28 – 9:1) gives us the opportunity to talk about the first demon, the devil. Fr. Anthony Coniaris provided many thoughts about Satan in his sermon “The Truth About the Devil and His Demons” (This is My Beloved Son: Listen to Him, vol. 1, pp.145-152).

Satan is clever. He knows how to play us, both our weaknesses and our strengths. The Apostle Paul warned that he masquerades as “an angel of light” [14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. (2Corinthians 11:14)]. Satan was in the beginning the angel of light. That’s why his name was ‘Lucifer’ which means “bearer of light.”

St. Clement of Alexandria said, “God created an archangel and the archangel made himself a devil.” Jesus said, 18 And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. (Luke 10:18). [12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! (Isaiah 14:12)]

We know more details about Satan/Lucifer’s fall from the Book of Revelation:

7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him… 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time." (Revelation 12:7-9,12)

Now he has become ‘Satan’ because, as the name means, he “opposes and plots against” God. And his newly chosen darkness must be disguised so that he may tempt us give in to our weaknesses and pridefully exalt ourselves in our strengths. The word ‘demon’ comes directly from the Greek and is a fallen angel, one of Satan’s disciples.

He cannot fight God, so he tries to hurt God by harming His children. He is the one who “entered Judas” (John 13:27) to bring about the betrayal and death of Jesus. He is the one who prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

Thus, he earns his second name, the devil or ‘diabolos’ because he divides us from God and from each other.

Because of Satan’s great ability to disguise himself, many people do not believe that he even exists. And that becomes one of his great tricks. The devil is able to convince us that he does not exist. He is like the opossum, that fierce little rodent, who, when cornered by its enemies, plays dead.

Malcolm Muggeridge wrote in his book, “Jesus, the Man Who Lives”: “I have found the devil easier to believe in than God…a diabolical presence in the world pulling downwards as gravity does instead of pressing upwards as trees and plants to when they grow and reach resolutely and beautifully after the light.”

One of the other tricks of Satan is to turn things upside down. He portrays good as evil and evil as good. This is the unforgiveable sin against the Holy Spirit (Mt.12:31). Satan is the father of lies. Think about how sin is portrayed in movies, television shows and other media. Fornication and adultery are no big deal. Abortion and homosexuality are upheld as virtuous. But, speaking as a parish priest, perhaps many of you have also noticed, these sins are terribly hurtful and destructive to people’s lives, and not to just the one or two people directly involved, but to many more indirectly. In fact, demons have other names today such as pornography, addiction, alcoholism, greed, envy, lust, etc.

It is important to know our enemy. The devil always takes the good things that God has created for us to enjoy and tries to get us to distort and abuse them. For example, the demon of money is greed. The demon of sex is lust. The demon of self-respect is pride. Money is not evil but the love of money is! 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1Timothy 6:10). Sex is not sinful but using others for one’s selfish gratification outside of marriage is. Listen to what Jesus says about Satan on this matter:

44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (John 8:44)

[Story about scorpion and turtle.] The nature of the devil is incorrigibly deceitful and destructive, illogical and irrational. That’s why evil does not make sense. There is no logic to it and often a sign of devil’s presence is the confusion he causes. He promises freedom but delivers slavery. He promises life and delivers death.

Have no doubt though, Satan is for real. Jesus Himself had to struggle with him during His forty days in the wilderness. He taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “deliver us from the evil one” (Mt. 6:13).

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1Peter 5:8)

The devil has not changed in his ways with us. Master deceiver that he is, his approach is always with a lie.

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4-5)

The devil comes and tells us: “You don’t need God to tell you what to do. You are not the puppet. You can do things your own way. Be totally free. Set your own rules. You call the shots.”

“The devil made me do it.” Once Satan has convinced us to sin, then he moves on to his third trick of lies, that is to convince us that we did not commit sin. Thus, we blame others, even Satan himself. However, St. Cyril of Alexandria says, “The devil is able to suggest, but he has no power to force himself against our choosing. It is by choice that we sin.” Sin arises within us as the demons take advantage of our sinfulness. They aggravate it by introducing evil thoughts into our hearts. This is why Jesus urges us to “watch and pray” that we may not enter into temptations (Mt.26:41). Evil thoughts do not become sinful thoughts until we welcome them into our hearts and begin to take pleasure in them, mulling them over and over.

So how do we resist Satan? Knowing his three tricks is a start. Remember: 1) he does exist; 2) he is a liar, but 3) he does not have power over us. There are some other strategies we can employ to counter the devil.

St. Makarios the Great said, “The most important work in the spiritual struggle is to enter the heart and there to wage war with Satan; to hate Satan, and to fight him by opposing thoughts…by fornication in his thoughts, then there is no profit whatever in keeping his body pure.” 28But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:28)

By entering the heart, we can guard its gate to oppose the logosmoi or thoughts by joining forces with God who dwells also therein. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4). As Jesus said, 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. (John 15:4)

With God’s inner presence, we have the power and the authority to command Satan to leave us and leave us alone (Mt.16:23; Mark 8:33).

10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. (Matthew 4:10-11).

St. Gregory Nazianzen says, “If the devil tempts you to ambition by showing you in an instant and in a single glance all the kingdoms of the earth, and if he claims that they all belong to him, then do not believe him for he owns nothing at all.”

But the greatest weapon of all against Satan is prayer. That’s why he works so hard to distract us from prayer with our daily chores. That’s why he entices us to skip liturgy with weekly chores, entertainment, sleep, recreation, family time, etc. Because the devil knows he has no power against prayer, so he tries to prevent us in the first place.

In conclusion…

Someone said once that in God’s kingdom there is always an election going on. God votes for you and the devil votes against you. But you have the deciding vote. Who will you vote for: God or Satan? Truth or lies? Freedom or slavery? Life or Death? 24"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24). Amen!

By Fr. Rick's Sermons

Source: http://stgeorgegoc.org/pastors-corner/fr-ricks-sermons/who-is-satan

Many people, especially those who are far from the Church and its many-sided life often blam the Church of Christ for the fact that it does not accept and include in the Holy Scripture numerous so-called “gospels” and “letter of the apostles”, considers them false, calls them apocrypha and the works of gnostics. The fathers of the Church and ancient Christians, who denied such books as false and spiritually danger ones, are accused of dull thinking, religious fanaticism, and intolerance towards other views and disrespect towards other people’s opinion. However, is it really? We can easily check this with the example of apocryphal “Childhood Gospel of Thomas”, the book that is not accepted by the Church and falsely attributed to Apostle Thomas, whom we commemorate on October 6 (October 19).

It will be enough for us to mention just several episodes from this pseudo-Christian work. In the very beginning of the apocryphal story, it is described how little Jesus was playing with water and clay, when He decided to make some small birds figures of clay. That was happening on Sabbath. One boy, the son of the scribe, saw that. Then he took a branch of a willow and dispersed all the water. “And when Jesus saw what was done, he was wroth and said unto him: O evil, ungodly, and foolish one, what hurt did the pools and the waters do thee? behold, now also thou shalt be withered like a tree, and shalt not bear leaves, neither root, nor fruit. And straightway that lad withered up wholly, but Jesus departed and went unto Joseph's house. But the parents of him that was withered took him up, bewailing his youth, and brought him to Joseph, and accused him for that thou hast such a child which doeth such deeds” (The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, III).

As we can see, this short episode speaks for itself – its nonsense is not even worthy to be discussed. Any loving heart that confesses Jesus Christ as our Lord and God will never accept such story and will never believe in such controversial and cruel miracles that contradict the spirit of the Gospel of Christ.

There is another episode that only confirms the strangeness of the apocrypha in relation to the Christian tradition. “After that again he went through the village, and a child ran and dashed against his shoulder. And Jesus was provoked and said unto him: Thou shalt not finish thy course (lit. go all thy way). And immediately he fell down and died. But certain when they saw what was done said: Whence was this young child born, for that every word of his is an accomplished work? And the parents of him that was dead came unto Joseph, and blamed him, saying: Thou that hast such a child canst not dwell with us in the village: or do thou teach him to bless and not to curse: for he slayeth our children” (The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, IV).

Even the most cursory examination of the text of this apocryphal “gospel”, which contains no Good News at all, lets us understand at once why the Apostolic Church did not recognize that text as the one that related to the Holy Scripture of our tradition, and what is more, proclaimed it a fiction distorting the elementary understanding of good and evil. This is why Apostle Thomas just cannot be the author of this story, although his name is mentioned in its title. Christians were taught long ago by Apostle Paul that they had to recognize and differentiate the Word of God from fictive stories. Apostle Paul appealed to us then and appeals today as well: “not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come” (2 Thessalonians 2:2).

By John Nichiporuk,

a Bachelor of Theology,
specialized in Biblical Studies.

The Catalog Of Good Deeds

1) A well-known phrase was mentioned in the Gospel of Mark: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). This statement helps us to understand the Lord’s idea that a person’s need can be more important than formal religious rules and rites.

2) Only in the Gospel of Mark we can find and read the parable about a growing seed: “And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29).

3) Apostle Mark was the only evangelist who told in his Gospel about the large number of pigs, into which the demons entered – there were more then two thousands of them: “Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea” (Mark 5:13).

4) Telling about the healings performed by the Lord, only Evangelist Mark states the words of Christ in the very language He Spoke, which was Aramaic: “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (Mark 5:41) and “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened” (Mark 7:34).

5) Mark’s Gospel is the only book of the New Testament in which Jesus is called “the Son of Mary” (Mark 6:3).

6) The Gospel of Mark is the only Book of Gospel in which the Lord is called a “carpenter” (Mark 6:3), while the Gospel of Matthew states that He was “the son of a carpenter” (Matthew 13:55).

7) Mark writes that it was permitted to take a stick and a pair of simple shoes when going to preach for other peoples. “He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts — but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics” (Mark 6:8-9). At the same time, other evangelists state that sticks and sandals were not allowed (ref. Matthew 10:10, Luke 9:3).

8) The longest and the most full story about the dance of Herodias’ daughter and the beheading of John the Baptist is represented in the Gospel of Mark (ref. Mark 6:14-29).

9) In his Gospel, Apostle Mark explains some ancient Hebrew traditions since his book was addressed to the Christians who were former pagans (ref. Mark 7:3-4).

10) In the episode of the arrest of Jesus Christ, only Evangelist Mark mentions a young man, who was almost captured by the soldiers but managed to escape, leaving his tunic: “Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked” (Mark 14:51-52). According to the Tradition, that young man was Apostle and Evangelist Mark himself – a loyal disciple of Christ and tireless follower of apostles Peter and Paul.

By John Nichiporuk,

a Bachelor of Theology, a student of

the Minsk Theological Academy .

The Catalog Of Good Deeds

Question: "Often in Protestant circles and Bible studies one will reference 1 John 5:13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." This is a verse that they claim as a basis for having complete assurance of their salvation. What is the Orthodox teaching on this passage?"

The question here is what does it mean to know that you have eternal life? Do we have to know that there is nothing we could possibly do to lose our salvation in order to know that we have eternal life?

This sort of thinking is something that has emerged from a strange Protestant mix of Arminianism and Calvinism. Calvinism teaches that God has decreed before all eternity who will be saved and who will be damned, and so obviously, if you are among the elect, there is nothing you could possibly do to become unelected. But a Calvinist would say that those who are elect will show the fruits of their election at some point before they die, and begin to live like Christians. Arminians, on the other hand deny that God determines who will be saved, and that the offer of salvation is open to everyone, and that furthermore, one can fall away from God and lose their salvation. Most Baptists are partially Calvinistic and partially Arminian -- they believe that salvation is open to all, but that once who are saved, you cannot lose your salvation. You could "steal a horse and ride it into heaven." And for those who have bought into this perspective, the idea of eternal security is something they believe in very strongly. And in fact, they seem to have a hard time understanding how anyone could have any confidence in their salvation if they did not have the absolute assurance that they could not possibly lose their salvation.

I have known my wife since I was 17, and we have been married for more than 27 years. I feel very secure in our relationship, but I am quite certain that there are things I could do to destroy that relationship. I am not in fear of that happening, however, because I have no intention of doing any of those things. So I know that my wife loves me, but I also respect her, and make sure that I treat her with love and respect so as to maintain that relationship. Our relationship with God is similar. We know God loves us, but we also know that if we turn our back on Him, we will not remain in a right relationship with Him. All we need to do, however, is to not do that.

St. Nicholas Cabasilas explains how we are saved in our cooperation with God this way:

"There is an element which derives from God, and another which derives from our own zeal. The one is entirely His work, the other involves striving on our part. However, the latter is our contribution only to the extent that we submit to His grace and do not surrender the treasure nor extinguish the torch when it has been lighted. By this I mean that we contribute nothing which is either hostile to the life or produces death. It is to this that all human good and every virtue leads, that no one should draw the sword against himself, nor flee from happiness, nor toss the crowns of victory from off his head" (The Life in Christ, trans. by Carmino J. DeCatanzaro, (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1974), pp. 48-49).

Countless passages of Scripture could be cited to demonstrate that it is possible for us to lose our salvation, but the following words of the Prophet Ezekiel are a fairly clear example:

"The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die" (Ezekiel 18:20-24).

By Fr. John Whiteford

Source: http://fatherjohn.blogspot.com/2015/12/stump-priest-assurance-of-salvation.html

In the town where I live, funerals have become rather rare. I hear this is true throughout our country. People now have a “Celebration of Life” with lots of pictures of the deceased person and sometimes a cremation urn will be present. Cremation has become the norm for most Christians in our country. It has replaced the funeral and the burial of the body of the deceased.

This has occurred with almost no debate about the issue of cremation. It has become an accepted doctrine of most Protestant groups (It also is fully accepted by the Roman Catholic Church). Almost every Protestant statement of faith begins with something like this:

“The Bible is the inspired Word of God, free from error, and is therefore the final authoritative guide for faith and conduct.”

Putting this in simpler terms, most Protestants would simply say that they stand on the Word of God alone. With that as a foundation, here then is a defense of cremation taken only from the Bible.

First, since cremation is the burning up of the body, let us consider some of the verses dealing with the burning of bodies in the Bible. As you will see, the Bible is filled with great examples:

Genesis 19 – God burned up the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Leviticus 10 – God burned up Nadab and Abihu.

Leviticus 20:14 – A man who marries both a woman and her mother should be burned with fire.

Leviticus 21:9 – The daughter of a priest who becomes a prostitute should be burned fire.

Numbers 11 – God burned up some people for complaining against Him.

Numbers 16 – God burned up 250 men with Korah who rebelled against Moses.

Deuteronomy 12:29-31 – Nearby nations were burning their sons and daughters in the fire as a sacrifice to their gods. God forbid His people from doing this, but it does show that others were doing it. Haven’t you heard: “Everyone is doing it!”

Deuteronomy 18:10 – Even though God forbids His people, again we find that entire nations were sacrificing their sons and daughters in the fire.

Joshua 7:25 – Joshua had Achan and all his family stoned and then burned them up because of the sin Achan had committed.

Judges 9 – Abimelech burned up about 1,000 men and women in the tower of Shechem (Things didn’t go well for Abimelech right after that).

Judges 15:6 – The Philistines burned up Samson’s wife and her father.

1 Kings 16:18 – Zimri burned up himself after things went bad for him.

2 Kings 1 – The prophet Elijah called down fire and burned up the captains and their 50 soldiers (This happened two times).

2 Kings 16 – King Ahaz cremated his own son (It was an abomination to God, but it was done).

2 Kings 17 – The children of Israel were burning up their sons and daughters as offerings to other gods.

2 Kings 21 – King Manasseh cremated his own son (It was an abomination to God, but it was done).

This brings us to the Major and Minor Prophets of the Bible who did mention cremation quite a few times, but since it was all in a rather negative light, we will not cite each passage. So let’s move on to the New Testament:

Matthew 18:41-42 – Jesus actually mentions casting people into the furnace of fire (which sounds like a crematorium).

Matthew 25:41 – Jesus does speak of an everlasting fire which certain ones will be cast into.

Mark 9 – Several times, Jesus mentions a fire that never goes out that some could be thrown into.

Luke 12:49 – Jesus said that He came to send fire on the earth. This may not be an actual reference to cremation, but could be used out of context.

John 15:6 – Jesus talks about throwing those who do not abide in Him into the fire to be burned up.

1 Corinthians 3 – Our works will be tested by fire. Could this be a reference to cremation? Rats, that passage is about the Church, not individuals.

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 – The Lord will take vengeance with flaming fire on the disobedient.

Hebrews 12:29 – A very strong witness for cremation: “Our God is a consuming fire.”

1 Peter 1:7 – Our faith will be tested by fire (compare with 1 Corinthians 3 above for the continuing debate regarding works vs faith).

2 Peter 3:12 – In the end, looks like everything gets cremated anyway.

Jude – More thoughts on the vengeance of eternal fire.

Revelation – Almost every chapter has something in it about fire. Suffice it to say, there will be some kind of everlasting cremation going on.

“If the Bible says it, it is good enough for me!” Clearly, the Bible shows that that even God practiced cremation. Some of the Kings in the Bible practiced cremation. The nations mentioned in the Bible often practiced cremation. Furthermore, the Bible points out that there is actually some sort of eternal cremation available.

But wait, these are all rather negative references toward the practice of cremation. In fact, I honestly couldn’t find one verse in which God blessed the practice of cremation. Perhaps we should take a different approach to the Biblical concept of cremation.

WWJD – “What Would Jesus Do?” This phrase has certainly impacted the Christian world and perhaps we can use it to look at this widely accepted doctrine of cremation.

The greatest miracle in the ministry of Jesus occurred with the person of Lazarus. He had been dead for 4 days when Jesus raised him from the dead. Oops, my mistake, if Lazarus had been cremated, that wouldn’t have occurred.

Jesus Himself died. Hmmm…He wasn’t cremated either. If fact, when He rose from the dead, he did have a body, ate food, and insisted on being touched. Bummer, that won’t work either.

Instead of that, what about taking a look at what St. Paul taught. He wrote a lot of stuff in the New Testament. He talked pretty seriously about death in 1 Corinthians. Let’s take a quick look at chapter 15. In discussing the resurrection from the dead (which we are all interested in), he only talks about the body. He speaks of the body as if it were a seed planted in the ground which will eventually be raised. Earlier in chapter 6, St. Paul talks about our bodies actually being the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Hmmm, there is no mention of cremation by St. Paul. But, a fair question to ask at this point is: “Doesn’t the Holy Spirit simply leave the body of a believer after death?”

There is one passage of the Bible does come to mind regarding that question. In 2 Kings 13:20, we are told that the prophet Elisha died and was buried. Well, let’s let the Bible speak for itself here:

“Then Elisha died, and they buried him. And the raiding bands from Moab invaded the land in the spring of the year. So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.”

The bones of Elisha still contained the Holy Spirit so that a dead man was brought back to life. Wow, if he had been cremated and his ashes scattered over the Jordan River, that miracle would have never taken place.

I confess to you the reader that I have failed miserably in giving a Scriptural defense for the practice of cremation. That does raise the question about why so many Christians are practicing something that is actually condemned in the Bible if they truly believe in their statement of faith: “The Bible is the inspired Word of God, free from error, and is therefore the final authoritative guide for faith and conduct.”

What is guiding this doctrine of cremation? Please don’t tell me: “Everyone is doing it!”

By Fr. Stephen Powley

Source: https://upwordglance.com/2018/05/04/a-scriptural-defense-of-cremation/

During one of our Wednesday morning Bible studies, our group tackled the famous verse John 3:16, which reads: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Scholars have cleverly labeled this pericope the “miniature gospel” (le petit Évangile, in French), for the simple reason that it encapsulates the entire meaning of Scripture and God’s divine plan of salvation. If the entire Bible was lost and only this verse was retained, the core message would still be preserved in its fullness, with the remainder of the Bible serving as an extensive “color commentary.”

However, in this key passage an equally significant message resides among the words, but it is plainly hidden from sight, a mystery to the unsuspecting, superficial reader. What is it? John 3:16 houses the secret of true life in God, a life that is made manifest to us when we participate in three central activities of the Orthodox Christian Church: love, faith, and sacrifice. Life in God is different from biological life, which is understood in its horizontal dimensions — that is, in our relationships with other human beings. The life in God is far more intense because it boasts of a vertical dimension, defined according to man’s stance before the Lord. In this life, God’s power and wisdom are infused in man, so man’s existence becomes not only more meaningful but indicative of a presence that heals and saves. St. Paul confesses this life when he writes: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). The life in God is, quite simply, God’s healing and saving presence in man.

To have this life within us, we must imitate the life in Christ in these aforementioned three areas. First, we are commanded to have a faith that is genuine and true, one that is not based on conditions or personal expectations. It means, as the saying goes, to “let go and let God”, to trust blindly when nothing makes sense, to take the first step even when you cannot envision the whole staircase, to quote the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Second, perfect faith must be coupled though with perfect love, out of deference to Christ’s commandment to “love one another, as I have loved you” (John 13:34), a love that far surpasses the limitations of human emotion. Perfect love is not simply to want or seek the good of the other, but to be pained over their welfare, to make the other priority over oneself, to be willing to suffer in their place.

Finally, faith and love are tested and perfected when the third commandment is fulfilled; namely, sacrifice, the “giving” of oneself. For us Christians, this sacrifice is the gift of time we give to the one who needs God through our presence, our words, and our actions; but it is most especially valuable when we celebrate the Eucharistic sacrifice together on Sunday. Put simply, if we believe in God and we love Him, our place is at the sacrificial altar every Sunday during the Divine Liturgy, in addition to the altar of every human heart that we encounter daily.

All three of these expectations are commandments of our Lord in the Scriptures; they are non-negotiable and they are not optional. More of one and less of another is not a solution. All three draw us deeper into the mystery of Christ’s life, which becomes our life when we assimilate our ways with His ways. To believe in one’s heart and love all people but refuse to be with them in worship is not enough, precisely because faith and love remain deficient. When physical illness prevents us from church attendance, that is one thing; but when spiritual illness that is untreated causes us to become selective in our philanthropy, faith and love become deformed into lies, catering to our own shortsighted desires and needs.

By Fr. Stelyios Muksuris

Source: http://myocn.net/scriptures-most-valuable-secret/

Since the moment when Adam and Eve were cast out of paradise, mankind awaited for the One to come in the world, Who would redeem not only the sins of the forefathers, but also the sins of every person and Who would make all people free from the slavery of passions and death. The faith and hope of people were based on the promise the Lord made for them.

For the Jews were the only people of the ancient world who preserved the true faith in God and according to His promise the expected Messiah (in Greek – Χριστός, literally the Anointed One) should have come from them.

Throughout the Old Testament (i.e. before the coming of Christ), prophets and righteous men emerged among the chosen people, through whom God reminded the Jews about the necessity of preserving the purity of faith and being ready to accept their Savior.

The first reference on the future birth of the Savior was made by God Himself when he exiled Adam And Eve from paradise.

In His words addressed to the serpent, who had seduced them, He said:

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15).

According to the teachings of the Christian Church , the serpent in this prophecy represents the fallen angel of God, which is the devil. The woman is reference to the Virgin Who would give birth to the future Savior.

The next prophecy about the coming of Messiah into the world is considered to be the promise God made to Abraham.

After the Lord tested Abraham’s faith, He said:

“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (Genesis 22:18).

The Church teaches that these words point out that the Messiah should a decendant of Abraham.

In the end of the book of Genesis there is another mysterious prophecy about Christ’s birth. In one of the prophecies of Righteous Jacob, which he told to his sons before he died, there were following words:

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49:10).

Shiloh means the future Savior, while the general meaning of the prophecy is as follows: the chosen people will have freedom and national identity until Jesus Christ comes. Then everything will be lost for rejecting Him. The words about the obedience of people tells us that pagans will also turn to Christ.

Prophet Micah also told about the future coming of Messiah, although he lived 700 years before Christ's birth.

In his words about Messiah, the prophet foretold the place where He would be born:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting” (Micah 5:2).

Here we can see that Messiah's birthplace was to be Bethlehem.

Prophet Isaiah, who around the same time as Prophet Micah, left a number of prophecies about Christ’s birth.

“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord… And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:1-10).

In this prophecy the theme of the Savior’s origin is covered. He would have be born from a Virgin of the tribe of Jesse and David (Jesse is the father of King and Prophet David). The second part of the prophecy, mentions pagans who will turn to Christ.

Isaiah’s other prophecy tells us about Christ’s future miracles, strength, spiritual power and healings:

“Your God will come… and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing” (Isaiah 35:4-6).

However, Isaiah’s brightest prophecy about the Savior’s birth says:

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).

Based on this, it is clear that the prophet not only talks about the coming of the Messiah but he also explains the mystery of God’s incarnation. The Savior must be born by a Virgin, Who will miraculously “conceive a child”, and His name will be Immanuel, which means “God is with us”.

Aside from the numerous prophecies about the location and the fact of the Savior’s birth, there are many other prophecies in the Old Testament including His earthly path, miracles, sufferings, the death on the Cross and Resurrection.

Those who knew all those prophecies at that time and every person from the tribe of David hoped that Messiah would be born exactly in his family. This makes the fact that most people did not recognize the awaited Messiah in Lord Jesus Christ even more tragic. As a result, by rejecting Christ, the chosen nation “lost the scepter” and the Good News began to spread among others.

Source: https://foma.ru/prorochestva-ozhidanie-messii.html

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