The Church is a Holy Place of Healing and Also a Miltary Base

My beloved 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 CHURCH IS A HOLY PLACE OF HEALING AND ALSO A MILITARY BASE

The Church is a holy place of healing for those Christian believers who are spiritually and physically ill. The Physician of our souls and bodies is none other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself, O Megas Iatros. According to the holy Fathers of the Church and Sacred Scripture humanity fell from the state of grace through the ancestral sin which Adam and Eve committed. By the fall into sin, men destroyed their internal harmony -- the unity of the spirit, soul and body - they upset their nature. There was no more unity of purpose, direction and will.

The disrupting of human nature also includes the fact that sin turned or tore the soul from the spirit, and the soul, as a result, began to be attracted to the body, to the flesh, and to depend on it. The result of sin (amartia) is illness, destruction and death.

Mankind has been proceeding on this path of passions, confusion, and sin since the Fall. Our Almighty God and Creator has been sending His Prophets and Righteous men and women, however, to guide and help the human race. The Son of God came to save humanity from evil and death. Christ is the New Adam Who came as the True Physician to restore humanity to health and to its original state. In other words to save mankind. Saint Athanasius said, "God became man so that man may become God."

The Church is Christ. Throughout His earthly Ministry Our Lord not only taught but healed those ill both spiritually and physically. Therefore, the Church was created by Him for purely therapeutic purposes, for healing the split between us and God. The Holy Church takes fallen, ill, and those 'lost' human beings, who suffer from all sorts of destructive passions and sins, and with its very tangible therapeutic methods helps them attain true health-spiritual health. That is the ultimate form of healing. Saint Paul in his letter to the Galatians, like the good doctor of the soul that he was, he identifies what the symptoms of sin and spiritual illness are: hostility, jealousy, anger, idolatry, murder, drunkenness, debauchery, adultery, and so on.

He then points out that the therapy from such illness and spiritual healing are: love, joy, peace, forbearance, goodness, gentleness, faith, and the like (Galatians 2:22). In other words Saint Paul shows that the Church's therapeutic interventions have real and tangible results.

How is the Church a Military Base?

A military base is a facility directly operated by or for the military. A military base is used as a command center and training ground. Before a soldier is deployed he must go through boot camp where he is trained how to use his weapons to fight the enemy. The Christian is also a soldier, a soldier of Christ. He also prepares for combat against the enemy, Satan. He also needs military training to fight the good fight and to be engaged in the unseen spiritual warfare. The Christian's military base and boot camp is the Church. It is in the Church where he is trained and given the appropriate weaponry. Saint Paul in his letter to the Ephesians writes, "Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:13-17).

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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,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

Just as important as spiritual armor is a Christian's readiness and alertness, diligent prayer and watchfulness in submission to the Holy Spirit. Those on the "front lines," holy Apostles and Evangelists in this case, require the back up power of a praying Church.

Fifth Sunday of Holy and Great Lent: Our Holy Mother Mary of Egypt

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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FIFTH SUNDAY OF HOLY AND GREAT LENT: ON WHICH WE CELEBRATE THE MEMORY OF OUR HOLY MOTHER MARY OF EGYPT

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From Vespers on Saturday Evening

"The pollution of past sins prevented you from entering the church to see the elevation of the Holy Cross, but then your conscience and the awareness of your actions turned you, O wise in God, to a better way of life. And, having looked upon the icon of the blessed Maid of God, you have condemned all you previous transgressions, O Mother worthy of all praise, and so have gone with boldness to venerate the precious Cross."

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"Having worshipped at the holy place with great joy, you have received saving grace for the journey of virtue, and with all haste, you have set out upon the good path you have chosen. Crossing the stream of Jordan, with eagerness, you have gone to live in the dwelling-place of the Baptist. You have tamed the savagery of the passions through you ascetic way of life, and boldly you have broken the rebelliousness of the flesh, O Mother ever-glorious."

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"Having gone to dwell in the wilderness, you have blotted out from your soul the images of your sensual passions, and have marked upon it the God-given imprint of holiness. You have attained such glory, blessed Mother, as to walk upon the surface of the waters, and in your prayers to God, you were raised up from the earth. And now, all-glorious Mary, standing before Christ with boldness, entreat Him for our souls."

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The Fifth Sunday. This corresponds closely to the preceding Sunday: just as the Fourth Sunday is dedicated to Saint John Climacus (author of the Ladder of Divine Ascent), the Model of Ascetics, so the Fifth Sunday celebrates Saint Mary of Egypt, the Model of penitents. Like that of Saint John Climacus, her feast has been transferred from the fixed calendar, where she is commemorated on 1 April. Her life, recounted by Saint Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem -- it is read, as we have mentioned, on Thursday in the Fifth Week - sets before us a true verbal icon of the essence of repentance  In her youth, Saint Mary lived in a dissolute and sinful way at Alexandria. Drawn by curiosity, she journeyed with some pilgrims to Jerusalem, arriving in time for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. But when she tried to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with the others, an invisible force thrust her back at the threshold. This happened three or four times. In great fear, she turned to an icon of the Mother of God that was in the entrance and begged her to let her go in and venerate the Cross, confessing her sin and impurity and promising that she would then go wherever the Most pure led her. Brought to sudden contrition by this strange experience, she prayed all night with tears to the Mother of God, and the next morning she found to her joy that she could enter the church without difficulty. After venerating the Cross, she went out again to the entrance and, standing in front of the holy icon, thanked the Theotokos. Then she heard a voice: 'If you cross the Jordan, you will find true peace.' She immediately bought three loaves of bread and left Jerusalem on that same day, made her way over the river Jordan, and settled as a solitary in a remote region of the desert. Here for forty-seven years, she remained, hidden from the world, until she was eventually found by the ascetic Saint Zosimas, who was able to give her Holy Communion shortly before her death. In the year 1890 the Greek priest, Joachim Spetsieris found a woman hermit in the desert beyond the river Jordan, living almost exactly as Saint Mary must have done.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Why is so much said and written about the suffering of holy men and women? Because these Saints are counted as victors--and how can there be victory without a struggle, pain, and suffering? In ordinary, earthly warfare no man is reckoned as victorious and heroic who has never been in battle, who has not endured and suffered to a very considerable extent. All the more is this so in spiritual warfare, where the Truth is clear and where self-assertion is not only of no use but is a real hindrance. He who knows no struggle for the sake of Christ, either with the world or with the devil or with his own self -- how can he be counted among Christ's soldiers? How, indeed, among Christ's fellow-victors? Saint Mary of Egypt spoke of this gigantic struggle to the elder (geronda) Zosima: 'For the first seventeen years in this wilderness, I struggled with my mindless passions as with fierce beasts. I wanted to eat meat and fish, which I had eaten abundantly in Egypt. I wanted to drink wine and did not even have water here. I wanted to hear the lustful songs. And I wept and smote my breast. I prayed to the most pure Mother of God to remove these thoughts from me. When I had wept enough and done enough smiting of my breast, I then saw a light that flooded over me from all sides, and was filled with a wonderful peace." (Reference: 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

How the Date of Pascha (Easter) is Determined in the Orthodox Church

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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HOW THE DATE OF PASCHA (EASTER) IS DETERMINED IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH

The Paschalion of the Orthodox Church is a set of rules of determining the date of Pascha (Easter) that traditionally has been implemented by calendrical tables combining Metonic lunar cycles with the Julian solar year. The rules are attributed to the First Ecumenical Council (held at Nicea in 325 A.D.).

The First Ecumenical Council (Synod) of Nicea in Bithynia (in present-day Turkey), convoked by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325 A.D., was the first ecumenical council of bishops of the Christian Church, and most significantly resulted in the first uniform Christian doctrine. With the creation of the Nicene Creed, a precedent was established for subsequent 'ecumenical councils of Bishops' (Synods) to form statements of belief and canons of doctrinal orthodoxy--the intent being to define unity of faith for the whole of Christendom, a momentous event in the history of the Church.

Pascha (Easter) was computed according to a lunar calendar. This suggests the possibility that the annual Pascha celebration entered Christianity earlier than Martyrs' festivals, and that it may have been part of Christianity's initial Jewish inheritance.

The question as to when Pascha should be celebrated began with the early Church and still remains unresolved. Broadly divided, there were two practices in the early Church: by an ancient tradition in Asia Minor, Pascha was celebrated on a fixed day of the lunar month (14 Nisan) or always on the following Sunday. Thus, by this method, the day of Pascha was connected with the Jewish reckoning of the Paschal moon; in Alexandria, on the other hand, and in the Western part of the Church an independent calculation was made; Pascha was always placed after the vernal equinox (equal length of spring day-night). Thus, the Eastern and Western segments of the early Church began to differ in the most important liturgical event of the year, the day of the Resurrection of Christ. Controversies and enmities began to develop to the point that one of the more important items on the agenda of the First Ecumenical Synod at Nicaea (325 A.D.) was the discussion and deciding on the date when all Christians should celebrate the day of the Resurrection.  

The objection of people to celebrating Pascha with or before the Jewish Passover culminated in its being canonically tabulated by the famous Byzantine jurist Ioannes Zonaras as follows: Pascha is to be celebrated on the Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox, provided that the Jewish Passover has already been celebrated. It is mostly because of this proviso that the Eastern and Western Churches celebrate Pascha on different dates, in some years more than a month apart.  

Although the decision was not recorded as a canon, its synodical letter to the Church of Alexandria conveys "...the good news of the agreement concerning the holy Pascha, ...that all our brethren in the East who formerly followed the custom of the Jews are henceforth to celebrate the said most sacred feast of Pascha at the same time with the Romans and yourselves." Emperor Constantine confirmed this agreement in a letter to bishops that had not attended the Synod, announcing two things:

(1)...the most holy festival of Pascha should be everywhere celebrated on one and the same day...(So) cheerfully accept what is observed with such general unanimity of sentiment in the city of Rome, throughout Italy, Africa, all Egypt, Spain, France, Britain, Libya, the whole of Greece, and the dioceses of Asia, Pontus, and Cilicia; and SS(2) We have cast aside (the Jewish) way of calculating the date of the festival (because)...we should never allow Pascha to be kept twice in one and the same (solar) year!"

One early text that gives an explicit outline of the Nicene formula for dating Pascha is found in a homily from 387 A.D. that is widely attributed to Saint John Chrysostom:

"Since we keep the first of times (spring), and the equinox ("isimera"), and after this the fourteenth of the moon, and together with these the three days Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; lacking any of these at one time it is impossible to fulfill the Pascha."

A traditional Paschalion of three elements is set forth in this homily attributed to Saint John Chrysostom. Its actual operation is clarified by the following passage from a letter traditionally attributed to Saint Ambrose, most probably dating from the year 386 A.D. when Alexandrian and Roman dates of Pascha did not match, and Saint Ambrose chose to follow the Alexandrian date.

"We must keep the law regarding Pascha in such a way that we do not observe the 14th as the day of the Resurrection; that day or one very close to it is the day of the Passion...(and) it is evident that the day of the Resurrection should be kept after the day of the Passion, (so) the former should not be on the fourteenth of the (lunar) month, but later."

Despite evident divergences in dating Pascha, the basic intention of the Nicene Holy Fathers is conveyed by these late four century texts. In summary, the intention was to establish a simple set of rules that would allow Pascha to be dated independently of the Jewish calendar and to ensure that the basic chronological sequence of Passion and Resurrection as recorded in the Gospels was imitated every year. Insisting on Sunday as the only day suited to commemorating the Resurrection reveals their intention to imitate the chronology of the original event; and their preference for an astronomically determined vernal equinox is evident from the Eastern Church's early adoption of the Alexandrian Paschal computations based on March 21st rather than March 25th, the conventional date of the vernal equinox on the official Julian and Alexandrian calendars.

The 14th century Canon lawyer Matthew Blastares also enumerated the Paschalion's principles in a way that can be taken to require dependence on the Jewish calendar.

"First, that it is necessary to celebrate the Pascha after the spring equinox; second, that it is not the same day as the Jewish festival; third, that it is not merely after the equinox, but after the first full moon following the equinox; and fourth, that (it is) the Sunday immediately after the full moon."

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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 Orthodox Vocabulary in Worship

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 ORTHODOX VOCABULARY OF WORSHIP

Orthodox Christianity uses three words to describe the process of worship: latreia, hyperdouleia, and douleia. We can render them as worship/adoration, high reverence, and reverence. Worship and adoration are to be given to God alone. To do otherwise would be idolatry. But Christ Himself is to be afforded worship and adoration, just as the Father and the Spirit are in the unity of the Trinity; for Christ is God in the fullest sense of all that that means. The divine worship of latreia cannot be given to an icon, considered as an icon. What the believer does before the icon is make an act of proskynesis (the word means a bowing down in reverence): but this physical act (bending down in the presence of the icon of the Lord) is the material form of a worship which flowers into latreia (adoration) of the Divine Christ. English uses the word 'worship' very loosely in this regard. Orthodox Christianity has actually thought about the matter far more deeply and elaborated a much clearer theology of prayer and reverence in ancient times. In the English marriage service, for example, the bride and groom are called upon to 'worship one another' with their bodies. Here the term clearly means 'hold in respectful veneration.' At other times English intends to reserve the word worship for the adoration due to God alone: as in the phrase from the Old Testament: "You shall worship no other God, for the Lord is a jealous God".

The English translation of the Old Testament, used so heavily by the Reformers (Protestants), had made worship in this sense the sole translation of 'adoration due to God alone'. The ancient Christian Church, on the other hand, only read the Septuagint Greek Scripture (not the Hebrew), where the range of vocabulary for worship, adoration, reverence, veneration, respectful greeting was much more extensive, and graded according to the different contexts of what was being spoken of. If adoration and worship were due to God alone, it was fitting that reverence and respectful behavior would be attributed to God's Prophets, the anointed kings and judges of Israel, and, in the New Testament dispensation, clearly to the Apostles and great Saints. None of these heroes was given worship or adoration; such a thing would be offensive. When the pagans tried to do this to the Apostles Paul and Barnabas they were horrified. But the Orthodox Christians know that basic distinction between adoration and reverence (latreia and douleia). To Christ, and the Divine Trinity of course, that is to God alone, is given adoration and worship (latreia).

To the Ever-Virgin Mary the Theotokos and Saints is given profound reverence (douleia) because of their closeness to God, and because of the way they have been assimilated so closely with Christ's glory. To venerate the Virgin and the Saints is, the Orthodox Christians believe, another form of giving glory to Christ. But even so, there is a very big difference between veneration and worship/adoration. If Christians of the Reformed (Protestant) tradition could trust that Orthodox Christians know what they mean, and know what they are doing when they venerate icons, much suspicion could be ecumenically avoided. Idolatry is as detested by the Orthodox Christians as it is by the most zealous Evangelical. On the other hand, the Orthodox Christians are very puzzled why some Protestant believers think that they honor Christ by refusing to respect His Mother and His Saints; puzzled, too, by the way that many people who hate icons and would cast them out of the churches seem to have their own homes filled with pictures (photographs and suchlike) of those whom they love, often gazing upon them reverently and devotedly as things that evoke the presence of their loved ones. The first thing an Orthodox Christian does before a holy icon is to bow; the second thing is to kiss the hand of the holy person depicted in the icon (it is regarded as somewhat sacrilegious and presumptuous to kiss the face). Orthodox Christians love the holy icons of Christ and the Ever-Virgin Mary and the Saints, and fill their churches and homes with them.

There is not a single home of an Orthodox Christian which does not have holy icons in it. The east-facing corner (if geography allows) is usually the place where a corner shelf is made and the family icons are set up, known as the 'beautiful corner', and near the corner will be kept the family Holy Bible and Orthodox Prayer Books. At every wedding the Orthodox guests make sure that the new couple has a gift of an icon of Christ and the Ever-Virgin Mary, so as to 'start off' a new home properly. This corner is the place where the family will meet for prayers. Often an incense burner (thimiato) is to be found here. In church Priests and Deacons will incense the holy icons and then incense the Orthodox people of God liturgically as a sign of the blessing of God conveyed upon them. In their homes, the Orthodox laity will also light a charcoal and place incense upon it so that it rises in the sight of God, in front of the holy icon of Christ, to accompany their prayer. The priestly prayer at the offering of incense explains the significance of this: "Incense we offer to Thee O Christ our God. Receive it upon Thy heavenly Throne, and send down upon us in return, the grace of Thy All-Holy Spirit." After offering the incense to God the faithful will then take the censer and cense the holy icon of the Theotokos and the Saints, and then any of the family who has gathered there in prayer, and lastly the house itself: to call down the blessing of God over all. (Source: The Orthodox Church.  An Introduction to its History, Doctrine and Spiritual Culture by Father John Anthony McGuckin)

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I find it most troubling when I observe so-called Orthodox Christians entering the Narthex of the church but never either venerating the holy icons found there or even lighting a candle. I also find it very sad and disappointing when I visit an Orthodox Christian home and I hardly see an icon or any religious symbol anywhere. What is that all about!

If one considers himself/herself as an Orthodox Christian then be one! Act like one! Don't be selective what you like or don't like in the Orthodox Christian Tradition. One is either an Orthodox Christian or is not. One cannot pick and choose in the Orthodox Church.

I personally find this attitude offensive, disrespectful, and unorthodox. I strongly suggest that you ask your priest if you have any question about our Holy Tradition and what everything means or read at least a book or two on Orthodox Christianity.

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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 Jesus Prayer

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 JESUS PRAYER

The Jesus Prayer is a precise summarized form of the Prayer of the Heart. It was the culmination of a long monastic tradition that advocated using repeated scriptural phrases (recited over thousands of times in the course of a day) by which means the early monks in the desert tried to contain the tendency of thoughts (logismoi) and distractions to 'run away' with them. The monastic Higoumenos would set his monks a biblical text to meditate on, in the hope that by the constant repetition it would, as it were, 'enter into the heart' and flower there in understanding and grace. Over the course of time, the Byzantine holy Fathers preferred, above all others, the scriptural invocation taken from Jesus' parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee, to which they added the invocation of the Holy Name. In the Old Testament and the early Church alike, the uttering of the Holy Name of God was believed to contain an abundance of blessing and power of Light within it. So the Orthodox Christians still believe. As the Apostle said, merely to acclaim the name of the Lord is to achieve a high spiritual inspiration from God. The Orthodox Christians understand that the power of the Name, working within the inner most ear of the disciple, brings about a majestic purification and assistance, simply by its enunciation, so sacred is its character and so awesome is the holiness evoked by its enunciation. The Jesus Prayer, then, is a matter of setting the heart in quietness and stillness, and quietly and slowly reciting the words (perhaps aloud at first, then maybe silently as time goes on) of the prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of [the Living] God, have mercy on me (a sinner).

If several people are saying the prayer together, it is recited aloud, by one person only, and the optional words 'a sinner' are not used, since one can only identify oneself as a sinner, but must never presume that anyone else is. The phrase 'have mercy on us' is then substituted. Some newer monasteries have introduced this practice of the recitation of the Jesus Prayer as one of the central acts of common monastic prayer, and it is now expanding as a communal Orthodox prayer service in many parts of the world, though formerly it was exclusively used as a method of private prayer. Orthodox often use the prayer rope (komboskini, chotki), to help them focus, a rope of a hundred large knots or more (a century). It is used to count off each invocation in centuries. Some pray the Jesus Prayer for a century or two, others pray through long hours of the night using the komboskini. The chief thing is that the invocation is filled with hope and gladness; it is not the point to impress on oneself one's hopeless status as a sinner, but to focus on the beauty of the name of Jesus as Savior and Son of God, who liberates us from the darkness of despair.

The endless waves of the Holy Name that break over the soul like waves of an ocean bring light and joy to the heart: they lift and scatter despondency and bring about the very salvation we are praying for. Many Orthodox Christians will, at some stage, envisage loved ones in their prayers, and other people in need, and then add in the variations: 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on him (her).' Always the prayer needs to be recited quietly, slowly (without hurry or anxiety), and if one's attention begins to wander one is able to make a metania (prostration), and begin again with a focus on the content of the words. Usually, however, after a few minutes of prayer, the attention of the body is captured by the komboskini and the regular rhythm of the words (like a child that has been given some lovely toys to play with), and the mind and heart are left free to sink into the Holy Name itself. It is something that the Jesus Prayer aims for continually, and it has long proven itself to be a wonderful method of prayer for advanced souls and beginners alike.

Some writers have advocated that the best posture for the Jesus Prayer is a kneeling position with the head low down on the knees. Some find this useful; others find it impossible. Some writers have also advocated that the first half of the phrase should be recited with the intake of breath, and the second half with the exhalation. It also works best if the prayer is said in Greek since the English translation does not have the same euphonic balance. The point of this was to emphasize the body's attentiveness even more so, by trying the recitation of the words into the pattern of taking breaths, and so (in a sense) physically 'pulling' the name down into the chest and making it enter the heart. The methods can be of use to some, but they ought not distract the believer from the fundamental concern which is that the Name of the Lord enters the soul and brings light to it, ultimately liberating it from the tyranny of thoughts (Logismoi) and reflections, so that it can sit for an eternal moment of stillness in the presence of its Master. The Jesus Prayer is now commonly practiced by the laity (as well as the monks and nuns) in most Orthodox countries and has been spread to the West by such spiritual literature as The Way of the Pilgrim and other translations of Russian devotional writing as well as the Greek Philokalia. (Source: The Orthodox Church. An Introduction to its History, Doctrine, and Spiritual Culture by Father John Anthony McGuckin)

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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

Faith in Christ

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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FAITH IN CHRIST

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:2).

According to the Orthodox Church "salvation comes through faith in Christ, Who fulfills, the law. We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in us, leading us to the knowledge of God the Father. Rather than justification as a legal acquittal before God, Orthodox believers see justification by faith as a covenant relationship with Him, centered in union with Christ" (Romans 6:1-6).

Orthodox Christianity emphasizes it is first God' mercy--not our faith--that saves us. "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:1,2). It is God Who initiates or makes the new covenant with us.

For Orthodox Christians, faith is living, dynamic, continuous--never static or merely a point-in-time. Faith is not something a Christian exercises only at one critical moment, expecting it to cover all the rest of his life. True faith is not a decision, it's a way of life. Thus, the Orthodox Christian sees salvation in at least three aspects: (a) I have been saved, being joined to Christ in Holy Baptism; (b) I am being saved, growing in Christ through the Sacramental life of the Church; and (c) I will be saved, by the mercy of God at the Last Judgment.

Through God's mercy, we are justified by faith and empowered by God for good works (works of mercy) or deeds of righteousness that bring glory to Him.

Faith in Christ ensures eternal life, following the bodily death of man. "Jesus said to her 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (St. John 11:25-26).

Saint Paul wrote, "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). "This is not so much a definition of faith as it is a description of how faith works, especially during hard times."

"By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain...By faith, Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death...But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He Is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him...By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen moved with godly fear prepared an ark for the saving of his household...By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance...By faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child..." (Hebrews 11:4-11).

As an example, "he who comes to God must believe that He Is..." There are those unbelievers who ridicule the belief that there is a God. "Why do you believe in God who you cannot see?" they say. Our faith in God is not simply something which is believable nor blind faith. Saint Paul writes, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened" (Romans 1:20-21).

Therefore, our faith must always progress and should never remain a 'simple faith' in God if we wish to be of benefit to us. The true faith that saves is a complete faith, not just the mind and the tongue but the whole man trusting in the Living God. Our faith grows and affects our actions, or it dies. "Faith alone" static faith, does not save. We must nurture our faith in God and love for Him through our works. "Do not say you are the temple of the Lord, writes Prophet Jeremiah (Jer 7:3) nor should you say that faith alone in our Lord Jesus Christ can save you, for this is impossible unless you acquire love for Him through your works. As for faith by itself, "the devils also believe, and tremble" (Saint Maximus the Confessor).

The holy Apostle James writes: "What does it profit, my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith, and I have works.' Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works" (St. James 2:14-18).

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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