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.
A CHRISTIAN’S LIFE IS THAT OF GODLINESS, VIRTUES AND PURITY OF HEART
"Then the Lord God saw man’s wickedness, that it was
great in the earth, and every intent of the thoughts within
his heart was only evil continually. So God was grieved
that He has made man on the earth, and He thought this
over. Then God said, ‘I will blot out man whom I created
from the face of the earth, from man…But Noah found
grace in the presence of the Lord God" [Genesis 6:5-8).
In his disobedience and expulsion from Paradise, man lost the grace of the Holy Spirit ("My Spirit shall not remain"). Nevertheless, His grace was always available to man, but man continually refused it ("for they are flesh"). So God gave them a grace period of "one hundred and twenty years" to come to repentance. Without the grace of the Holy Spirit, man is easily overcome by the devil, for his willpower alone is incapable of resisting the devil's temptations. Furthermore, his will was weakened through his disobedience and expulsion from Paradise. But he willfully refused God's helping grace ("every intent… was only evil continually"). "So was grieved" over man's condition. Murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, and every manner of sin were rampant everywhere. The human race was in danger of disappearing from the face of the earth (Saint Athanasius the Great). God was grieved over these people He created, and swore to "blot" them "out"…from the face of the earth." Yet He gave them a grace period of 120 years to respond to the grace of the Holy Spirit. Their refusal brought judgment upon themselves, for they had no excuse for not responding to the Grace of God, Noah was different from the rest, for he discovered the grace of the Holy Spirit. Because of this discovery, God would preserve a remnant, through which God the Logos/Word would become Man. For He would become Man through Noah's "genealogy" (Luke 3:36).
The Holy Apostle Peter writes, "as His divine power has given to us things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him Who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:3-8).
Saint Cyril of Alexandria (5th century), commenting on John 1:13 writes: "We that are made worthy to participate in Hm [the Holy Spirit} through faith in Christ are brought to perfection as participants of the divine nature (1:4), and are said to be born of God, and on that account are given the title gods, not flying up to the glory above us by grace alone, but as already, having God indwelling and taking lodging in us, according t what is set forth in the Prophet, "I shall dwell among them and walk about in their midst" (Leviticus 26:12; 2 Corinthians 6:16). How do we who know Christ grow in our participation in the divine nature through grace? By the cultivation of a progression of spiritual qualities. As in v. 3, "virtue" refers to the vigor and courage behind attaining moral excellence. "Agape" (Love) (v.7) is adjoined to"brotherly kindness" (affection among Christians), for love of God cannot be perfected except through love of one's neighbor (1 John 4:20).
To love one's neighbor must visit him when he is distressed, give him water when he is thirsty, and feed him when he is hungry (Matthew 2%:35-4). As Saint John again asks, "Whoever has the world's goods and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (1 John 3:17). It is for this reason that our Holy Orthodox Church has always had an abiding concern to help the poor, the persecuted, the neglected, the suffering and those imprisoned unjustly.
This "knowledge" (Gr. epignosis) is not primarily mental but spiritual and personal. It is experienced as we have faith and bear good fruit in the "Lord Jesus Christ." The Holy Apostle Peter makes it plain that in order to be godlike the Christian must reach participation with God through the increase of spiritual virtues not the absence of them. Here, as with all eschatological warnings in the New Testament, admittance to God's Kingdom is conditional upon a faith which exhibits perseverance and holiness. Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ to be righteous, to be merciful and to be "pure in heart." He said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). To be pure is to be unmixed with anything else. The "pure in heart" are always devoted to the worship and service of God. With the help of the Holy Spirit, they (1) practice all virtue (2) are not conscious of any evil in themselves, and (3) live in temperance–a stage of spirituality attained by few in this life. When the soul is not dominated by sinful passions nor its energy dissipated by the things of this world, its only desire is God. Then the heart–holding energy fast to the new life in Christ and contemplating the glory of God (2 Corinthians 3:18)–"shall see God" through communion with His Son.
It is imperative for all Christians to understand that Christianity is not something abstract or theoretical but life itself. Christianity is living Christ daily. The Christians life is living the Beatitudes (Gr. Makarismoi). The life of the Orthodox Christian worshipping the Living God and following Christ may be summed up in the magnificent Beatitudes [Matthew 5:1-16]. In the Sermon of the Mount (Matthew 5–7), Jesus introduces the kind of life those who seek the Kingdom of God must lead. The sermon begins with the Beatitudes (the "blessings"), describing the joy of true discipleship, the blessed way of life. The people of God await the rewards of the promises Jesus makes.
The Beatitudes form the prolegomena to the Sermon on the Mount in the same way that the Ten Commandments formed the introduction to the entirety of the Law. The contrast between Law and Beatitudes is intentional: the Ten Commandments give instructions for regulating the life of the Hebrew community, but our Lord Christ bestows blessing in the coming of the Kingdom. Jesus reveals the deeper meaning of several Old Testament laws, broadening their implications.
a. "You shall not murder" is expanded beyond the command against physically killing another (Matthew 5:21-26). Murder now includes anger, calling someone a fool, and failure to be reconciled with a friend or adversary.
b. "You shall not commit adultery" no longer refers merely to the unlawful act of sex outside marriage. It now includes lust (Matthew 5:27)
c. Divorce was allowable under the Old Testament law, but under the New Covenant, divorce is only permitted because of sexual immorality, and remarriage to a divorced person is not permitted (Matthew 5:31, 32).
d. "Perform your oaths to the Lord" is the Old Testament law. Jesus instructs us to say "yes" or "no" without taking an oath, and to keep our word (Matthew 5:33-37).
e. "An eye for an eye" –a graphic way of seeing justice from a human perspective–becomes "turn the other [cheek]" and "love your enemies." Not only must we forsake vengeance, even when it is just retribution; we must treat others as God treats us, with mercy and grace" (Matthew 5:38-45).
Jesus concludes with exhortations, warning about hypocritical and deceitful professions of righteousness, and instructions to build on the rock of His teachings.
Let us as Christians remember what the Holy Apostle James (Iakovos) wrote about the faith that works. "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" [James 2:14-18]. ( Resources: Orthodox Study Bible)
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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
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 