THE GENERAL ECONOMY OF SALVATION ACCORDING TO THE HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH

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 General Economy of Salvation According to the
Holy Orthodox Christian Church.

A. The Condition of the World before the Coming of the Savior

In the Prophetic Books of the Old Testament, and in particular in the Psalms of David, the chosen Hebrew people, as the representative OF ALL MANKIND, is presented as “THE PLANTING OF GOD,” as the VINEYARD OF GOD (see Isaiah 5:7, 61:3). The image of garden, having the same meaning, is given also in the Gospel. A vineyard or garden MUST BEAR FRUITS. Preserving and guarding His planting, the Lord expects FRUITS FROM IT. But what should be done with a fruit garden when it bears NO FRUITS, and what is more, IS INFECTED WITH A DISEASE? Should it be looked after if it does NOT justify its purpose?

“The ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which DOES NOT BEAR GOOD FRUIT IS CUT DOWN AND THROWN INTO THE FIRE” [Matthew 3:10]. Thus did Saint John the Baptist and Forerunner warn and accuse the Hebrew people before the Coming of the Messiah [Lord]. The Lord speaks of the same thing, and gives to His Disciples the Parable of the fig tree. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down, why does it use up the ground?’ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But IF NOT, AFTER THAT YOU CAN CUT IT DOWN” [Luke 13:6-9].

Like this fig tree, THE HUMAN RACE WAS FRUITLESS. Once already it has been exterminated by the flood. Now it would have been doomed–it would have doomed itself–to the loss of Eternal Life, to the general loss of the Kingdom of God, because it had lost all value as not having fulfilled its purpose and as drowning in evil.

“Does not the potter have power over the day, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, ENDURED WITH MUCH LONG-SUFFERING THE VESSELS OF WRATH PREPARED FOR DESTRUCTION, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the VESSELS OF MERCY, WHICH HE HAD PREPARED BEFOREHAND FOR GLORY” [Romans 9:21-23].

Mankind, in the person of its best representatives, acknowledged ITS UNFULFILLED DEBT, the heavy debt of numerous preceding generations and of its own age. IT WAS A DEBT UNABLE TO PAY. This feeling of guilt in its purest form was present in the Jewish people. Mankind tried to erase its sins by means of sacrifices, which expressed the giving over to God of the best part of what was in man’s possessions, in the possession of his family, as a gift to God. But these sacrifices WERE NOT CAPABLE OF REGENERATING MEN.

Let us quote here the words of the holy righteous Saint John of Kronstadt, from his sermon on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord: “Let us enter into the meaning of the mystery of the Cross… The world, that is, THE HUMAN RACE, would have been given over to Eternal Death, to Eternal torments, according to the UNCHANGING, MOST STRICT JUSTICE OF GOD, IF THE Son of God had NOT BECOME, OUT OF HIS LIMITLESS GOODNESS, A VOLUNTARY INTERMEDIARY AND REDEEMER OF MANKIND, WHICH WAS CRIMINAL, DEFILED AND CORRUPTED BY SIN. For, by the deception of the serpent, THE MURDERER OF MEN, it was cast down into a frightful abyss of lawlessness and perdition… However, so that men might be capable of this reconciliation and redemption from above, IT WAS NECESSARY FOR THE SON OF GOD TO DESCEND INTO THE WORLD, TO TAKE UPON HIMSELF A HUMAN SOUL AND BODY, AND BECOME THE GOD-MAN, IN ORDER THAT IN HIS OWN PERSON, IN HIS HUMAN NATURE, HE MIGHT FULFILL ALL THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD WHICH HAS BEEN BRAZENLY VIOLATED BY ALL MANNER OF HUMAN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS; IN ORDER THAT HE MIGHT FULFILL THE WHOLE LAW OF GOD, EVEN TO THE LEAST IOTA, AND BECOME THE GREATEST OF RIGHTEOUS MEN FOR THE WHOLE OF UNRIGHTEOUS MANKIND, AND TEACH MANKIND RIGHTEOUSNESS WITH REPENTANCE FOR ALL ITS UNRIGHTEOUSNESS AND SHOW FORTH THE FRUIT OF REPENTANCE. This He fulfilled, NOT being guilty of a single sin, and was THE ONLY PERFECT MAN, IN HYPOSTATICAL UNION WITH THE DIVINITY” (Sermon of the Feast of the Exaltation: “The Meaning of the Mystery of the Cross”).

Saint Gregory Palamas writes: “Before Christ we all shared the same ancestral curse and condemnation poured out on all of us from our single Forefather as if it had sprung from the root of the human race and was the common lot of our nature. Each person’s individual action attracted either reproof or praise from God, but NO ONE COULD DO ANYTHING ABOUT THE SHARED CURSE AND CONDEMNATION, OR THE EVIL INHERITANCE THAT HAD BEEN PASSED DOWN TO HIM AND THROUGH HIM WOULD PASS TO HIS DESCENDANTS.” As we have seen, this inheritance entailed A CORRUPTED HUMAN RACE, BRINGING ABOUT THE DEATH OF BOTH THE SOUL AND THE BODY. “But Christ came,” says Saint Gregory, “SETTING HUMAN NATURE FREE AND CHANGING THE COMMON CURSE INTO A SHARED BLESSING” [Homilies, vol 1, p. 52]. [Resource: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology]

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“Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!”
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George