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 CELEBRATION OF THE HOLY NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IS
AT THE SAME TIME THE INAUGURAL APPEARANCE OF DIVINE AGAPE ON
EARTH.
"He who does not love does not know God,
FOR GOD IS AGAPE (LOVE). In
this THE LOVE OF GOD WAS MANIFESTED
TOWARD US, that God has sent His Only-begotten
Son into the world, that we might live through
Him" [1 John 4:8-9].
The Only-begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, IS AGAPE and with His birth on earth He reveals to all of mankind His Divine AGAPE. "In this is agape, not that we loved Bod, but that HE LOVED US AND SENT HIS Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved if God so loved us, we also ought TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER" [1 John 4:10-11]. "We love Him BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US" [1 John 4:19].
"If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, HE IS A LIAR; for he who DOES NOT LOVE his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God WHOM HE HAS NOT SEEN? And this commandment we have from Him, THAT HE WHO LOVES GOD MUST LOVE HIS BROTHER ALSO. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and EVERYONE WHO LOVES HIM WHO HE BEGOT ALSO LOVES HIM WHO IS BEGOTTEN OF HIM. By this we know that WE LOVE THE CHILDREN OF GOD, WHEN WE LOVE GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. And His commandments are not burdensome" [1 John 4:20-21; 5:1-3].
Every Christian soul understands that God is agape but His Divine agape (love) for humanity is not anything like ours. He created all of His creation, including man, out of Divine Love. Life in Christ is a life of unconditional love for Him and our fellow brothers and sisters. Divine Agape is the purest form of love. The Christian’s good works of salvation are works of love which touch the very depths of the human soul. It is true Christian love that transforms one and all those around him. The Divine Love that our Lord and Savior brought into a hostile and wicked world intended to change or transform it to a world of unending and everlasting love.
When mankind rejects Christ, it rejects agape. It rejects God, it rejects salvation, it rejects the true Light, it rejects the authentic Truth and it rejects His Kingdom of agape and everlasting life. If our world continues to be a world of hatred, of division, of death, of wars, a world of materialism, of hedonism, of sin and evil it is because it has rejected the Christ, the Son of God, God Himself, THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD, and along with it, the world HAS REJECTED AGAPE (LOVE). The only antidote to evil and darkness is AGAPE! The holy Apostle John writes, "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, THAT WE MAY KNOW Him Who is true; in His Son Jesus Christ. This IS THE TRUE GOD and ETERNAL LIFE" [1 John 5:20].
"There is no fear IN LOVE, but PERFECT LOVE CASTS OUT FEAR, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has NOT BEEN MADE PERFECT IN LOVE. WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US" [1 John 4:18-19]. How can we know God lives in us? Saint John gives a fourfold answer: (1) "if we love one another" (2) if we have been given "His Spirit" (3) if we can confess "Jesus is the Son of God" and (4) if we abide in THE LOVE OF GOD". But who is it that truly "believes that Jesus is the Christ?" Those who live in the way Christ commanded, WHO LOVE OTHERS. And how is it that God’s "commandments are NOT burdensome?" By living these commandments by FAITH and in God’s LOVE, which makes them light on our fallen nature. They are hard and rough only to those who are living a sinful life. That the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who suffer makes even suffering sweet as in the case of the holy Martyrs of our Church.
World troubles as well as personal troubles indicate an absence of agape. Without genuine agape the world becomes a cold and dark place. Without true agape the life of the human is reduced to simply existence and nothing more. Life without agape, without God, has no purpose, no meaning, no future, no hope, no salvation. God planned and founded everything on LOVE! If anyone wishes to witness or to see TRUE LOVE, one has to look at CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION. His GREAT SACRIFICE ON THE CROSS TO SAVE HUMANITY SHOULD TEACH MANKIND ALL IT NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT PERFECT, TRUE, UNCONDITIONAL, AND DIVINE AGAPE IS. There is no greater example of True Agape than Jesus’ Sacrifice on the Cross. Why has not the human race learned it yet?
When we, as Christians, look at His Great Sacrifice on the Cross, we must immediately kneel in awe and in penitence and seek His mercy. In our Holy Orthodox Christian Tradition we utter the words, Kyrie eleison (Lord, have mercy) out of knowing that we are not worthy of His love and even forgiveness. Just as in Jesus’ Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican according to Saint Luke 18:9-14. "And the tax collector, standing afar off, WOULD NOT SO MUCH AS RAISE HIS EYES TO HEAVEN, BUT BEAT HIS BREAST, SAYING, ‘GOD BE MERCIFUL TO ME A SINNER’." (v.13). In the eyes of God, my dear friends, it is the tax collector who is justified BECAUSE OF HIS HUMILITY. The Pharisee IS CONDEMNED because of HIS SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, HIS PRIDE AND SELF-EXALTATION.
Tragically, however, true brotherly agape does NOT even exist among today’s Christians. Christians have been torn apart and fragmented to thousands of pieces. Just among the Protestants, world wide, are 45,000 denominations or fragments. Why? because there is NO TRUE LOVE OF GOD AND AMONG US. YOU SEE TRUE LOVE UNITES, IT DOES NOT DIVIDE. The lack of love for Christ’s Commandments is very evident because His TRUTH AND HIS GOSPEL have been attacked by those who profess to be Christians. Jesus Christ’s Divine Teachings have been distorted and instead what is taught by them is OUTRIGHT HERESY! If this was not true there would ONLY BE ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH
INSTEAD OF THOUSANDS OF BRANCHES AND FALSE TRUTHS. HERETICS ARE THE ENEMY OF TRUTH AND OF OUR SAVIOR GOD JESUS CHRIST AND HIS HOLY GOSPEL.
What is needed by Christians is TO TRULY REPENT and CONFESS THEIR FIDELITY TO JESUS’ HOLY GOSPEL, THE GOSPEL OF TRUTH AND AGAPE. And then TOGETHER AS THE BODY OF CHRIST TO SPREAD GOD’S LOVE TO ALL OF MANKIND. IT IS THROUGH GOD’S LOVE THAT HUMANITY MAY BE SAVED!
________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 