My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
The Future Kingdom: Inexpressible and Inconceivable Beauty
Let us see the Holy Fathers of the Church express themselves about the Eternal Blessedness of the "Righteous," particularly since, as Saint Gregory the Theologian says, the Fathers do not examine the things of the Spirit in an "earthly" manner, not "the exalted humbly," but rather speak about the mysteries of the Divine Kingdom with amazing precision and sacred awe!
Saint John Chrysostom writes:
"Try to understand the condition of that life as much as it is possible to understand it. We receive some idea from what has been written symbolically and enigmatically about it. From that life "pain and sorrow and sighing have fled away" (Isaiah 35:10). To this blessed edn will come all those who walked steadily and heroically the way of the sacred virtues of Christ. There, the "golden tongue" (St. John Chrysostom), continues, no one has to fear sickness or poverty; there are no exploiters and exploited. You will not see there anyone "being wrathful or envious," nor anyone else who is buring with "inappropriate desire" or another "concerned about authority and mastery (over others)." There all the passions will be extinguished; everything will be filled with peace, gladness, and joy. Everything will be "clear and serene, all day, brightness and light." But not light such as existed now but another, different kind. That Light will be so much brighter as the sun is brighter than the lamp. There, there is no "old age nor the evils of old age." There, all the conditions of our corrupt nature will disappear, and everywhere incorruptible glory will prevail. The greatest of all the blessings will be the abiding delight "OF COMMUNION WITH CHRIST," "with the Angels, the Archangels, with the Higher Powers." Moreover, "there will be no more rebellion and war; for there will be abundant harmony in the Choir of the Saints and everyone will always be of the same opinion."
There is the REAL LIFE that is relieved from the bondage of death, and shat has its blessings pure. There "all is joy, all is peace, all is agape (love). all is happiness, all is gladness, all is truthful and sincere" and steadfast. There, there is no "wrath, no sorrow, no love of money, no desire of bodies, no poverty, no wealthiness, no dishonor, and no other such similar things."
Saint Basil the Great writes:
"That LAND IS OF THE LIVING where night does not exist and where there is no sleep, the imitation of death. There, there is no material eating and drinking — the supports of our weakness; there are no sicknesses, no pains, no medicines, no courts of law, no businesses, no crafts, and no money — the beginning of evils, the subject of wars and the root of enmity. It is the land of the living, not the dying because of win, but of the living the True Life in Christ Jesus."
- Moreover, the Kingdom of Heaven is NOT a life of idleness, inactivity and sleepiness. It is not the addition of ages upon ages; it is not something colorless and a state of sleepiness, of repose and sinecure. It is life and activity that exceeds human dimensions and human comprehension. This was revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit was giving instructions to Saint John the Evangelist to write to the bishop of the Church of Sardis, He added: "You have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white" (Revelation 3:4). Therefore, the future Blessed Life is presented by the Holy Spirit as Life and Movement ("they shall walk"), as a dynamic, and not a static Life. Life there of course will be creative, and of an entirely different form than life here. In that place, THERE WILL BE MORE LIFE AND MORE MOVEMENT, than what is here. All this will not take place in time and space, in the passage of day and night, amidst noise, hurried and nervous movements. Whatever takes place there will NOT be "an unhappy business" and "vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:13; 2), filled with trouble, pain and tears. Life there will NOT be disturbance, anxiety or tragedy. It will be A CREATIVE FLIGHT INTO AN ETERNAL PRESENCE; A TRUE LIFE IN THE BOSOM OF THE LIFE-CREATING, SOURCE OF LIGHT, AND BLESSED TRINITY! We will be journeying in worlds that are always new, unimaginably beautiful! We will be LIVING IN A WORLD ETERNALLY NEW, ETERNALLY LIT AND SPLENDID, ETERNALLY HOLY, A WORLD WHERE "THE GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND THE LOVE OF GOD AND THE COMMUNION OR FELLOWSHIP OF (or the Participation) the Holy Spirit" (2 Corinthians 13:14) will be A PERMANENT AND INALIENABLE POSSESSION OF THE ELECT AND BELOVED CHILDREN OF GOD, "the spirits" of JUST MEN made perfect" (Hebrews 12:23). And all these things will take place in "the peace of God which passes all understanding" (Philippians 4:7).
- Saint Photios the Great summarizes all of these in one very beautiful letter, which he wrote to his brother Tarasius, when he sought to console him at the death of his daughter. The holy Father presents the daughter, who had fallen asleep, as appearing to her father, describing to him the things of heaven and saying:
"We are here in Paradise full of awareness and knowledge. We possess "the Divine and Heavenly Wisdom" and enjoy ineffable blessings. Our entire life here is
a celebration; living in bright, incorruptible and purest bodies we look upon God," as much as it is possible for man to see. And while we enjoy inexpressible and unimaginable beauty, we "are always in gladness" without ever feeling satiety. On the contrary, the abundance of this enjoyment becomes a cause of greater
and more profound love for God. While we are satisfied by this divine knowledge, this satisfaction increases the holy desire for knowledge, which never ceases
and never fails."
Our Lord Jesus Christ became man NOT ONLY TO SAVE US FROM SIN, BUT ALSO TO RESTORE COMPLETELY THAT COMMUNION WITH GOD, WHICH WE HAD LOST. The Lord became man, SO THAT "WE MAY BECOME gods," writes Saint Athanasios the Great. Elsewhere he observes: He made us men, sons for the Father and deified us by becoming man. Saint Gregory the Theologian, who opens the Holy Scripture for us in a Divine manner, proclaims: "Christ received the lesser," that is HUMAN NATURE, in order to GIVE US "THE GREATER," THAT IS, DEIFICATION (THEOSIS). This is why we ought to become gods for Him, since He also became man for our sake.
These are not pious desires. For the DEIFICATION (THEOSIS) of man was the purpose of the whole of Divine Creation, and THE ULTIMATE TRUTH OF MAN. This is witnessed by the tragic even of the Fall of Adam and Eve. What did the most devious enemy say to Eve? He said to her: "You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL" (Genesis 3:4-5).
But while we were deceived by the Deceiver and hurried to achieve our deification WITHOUT God, God in His Loving kindness NEVER ABANDONED US. The Son and Logos/Word of God was INCARNATE, CRUCIFIED, RESURRECTED, AND ASCENDED TO HEAVEN, AND EVEN NOW INTERCEDES FOR OUR SALVATION, says Saint Gregory the Theologian, for He, too, has a body, the one He received when He became man, until He makes me god BY THE POWER OF THE INCARNATION… By virtue of THE GARMENT OF SPIRITUAL INCORRUPTIBILITY, which we will receive in the future age from our Lord Who DEFEATED DEATH, Who was RESURRECTED and ASCENDED "BODILY" TO HEAVEN, WE, TOO, HENCEFORTH BY GRACE BECOME INCORRUPTIBLE AND ETERNAL. Of course incorruptibility "constitutes an attribute of the spiritual and immutable essence of God" (cf. 1 Timothy 1:17). "But as the creature enters (by grace) into incorruptibility IT IS DEIFIED (THEOSIS). Therefore, "the Theosis of human nature in Christ is always understood as its incorruptibility, as its resplendent and blessed entrance into the incorruptible bosom of heaven was accomplished by the Savior through His entire REDEMPTIVE WORK UPON EARTH AND PARTICULARLY THROUGH HIS LIFE-GIVING RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD. [Source: The Mystery of Death by Nikolaos P. Vassiliadis)
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 