A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT TIME IS

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 PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT TIME IS

"who has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace which was given to us IN CHRIST
JESUS BEFORE TIME BEGAN" (2 Timothy 1:9).

In Orthodox theology, God CREATED TIME WITH THE COSMOS to allow finite, human beings to grow in love, mature, and feely choose communion with the Eternal God. Time acts as an interval of this development, with God existing outside of it (Eternity) while simultaneously working within it to redeem creation through Christ. His eminence Kallistos Ware, of blessed memory, in his work, "The Inner Kingdom" asks questions and offers insights and writes: "Our experience of time…is deeply ambivalent," says. "How are we to regard time: an enemy or friend, as our prison or our path to freedom? Which aspect do we find predominant in its double-edged impact upon us: anguish or healing, terror or hope, decay or growth, separation or relationship?"

"In other words, in time simply "eating away" at the successive and finite number of moments that comprise our lives, sweeping us along toward death and and oblivion, or is there purpose and a transcendent "destination" in this movement? Anguish or hope do seem to be very honest responses to such polarizing possibilities. And as Metropolitan Kallistos Ware suggests, we should use the "time" to think hard on just which direction we are inclined toward with these two poles.

His eminence Ware fills us with a sense of hope as he affirms our faith that Christ is the "Alpha and Omega" of time, as well as the midpoint. In addition to this fundamental assertion, he has a wonderful section in this essay under the heading "Time as the Freedom of Love." Furthermore, he writes "It is in the context of freedom and love that the meaning of time can best be appreciated. Time is part of the "distancing" or "contraction" on God’s side which makes it possible for us humans freely to love. It is, as it were, the interspace which enables us to move towards God unconstrained and by our voluntary choice. "Behold I stand at the door and knock," says Christ; "if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20)…Time is the interval between God’s appeal and our answer. We humans need this interval of time so as feely to love God and one another: without the interval of time we cannot engage in the dialogue of love… Time is thus an all-important dimension of our created personhood, the setting that makes it possible forus to choose love. It is time that allows us to respond to God by our own free content that enables our love to mature, that permits us to grow in love."

In the fallen world that we occupy, time has become inextricably linked to mortality and death, but it still remains a gift, as do all aspects of God’s creative will, now redeemed by the advent of Christ. Often, we hear– and may even use– the dreadful phrase "to kill time," either out of boredom or in waiting for something "important" to happen. Yet our Christian vocation is to "sanctify time" as our movement toward the Kingdom which has no end. Every moment counts, because every moment is a gift from God." [Orthodox Church of America]

God is Eternal (non-temporal), existing before the creation of the cosmos. Time is a created, and therefore, non-divine, aspect of the universe with Saint Basil the Great noting that time was created first to give the cosmos a beginning. Tie is designed for the maturation of human love, allowing humans to respond to God through free will. It is the space in which humanity can "meet" the Divine and through communion, move toward deification (theosis). Time acts as the "interval" between God’s call and humanity’s response. It is a "Mysterion or Sacrament of the present moment" that allows for the sanctification of life. Time is seen as a "contraction" that allows for human freedom. It is not merely a linear progression but a space for Divine-human interaction, with the ultimate goal being the union of all things in Christ, fulfilling the "FULLNESS OF TIME." Time has a beginning and an end, and it will be replaced by ETERNITY in the "New heaven and a New earth."

In Orthodox theology views Adam and Eve in Paradise as living in a state of direct communion with God, existing in a "TIMELESS" or "ETERNAL" present rather than managing linear time. The Fall introduced mortality, turning time into a measure of distance from God and a journey back toward Him through theosis (deification). Life was characterized by union with God, where the distinction between time and eternity ws blurred. Adam and Eve were meant to grow in that union, with time serving as a , yet unfulfilled, journey towards greater communion, not a fleeting resource. The Fall brought mortality, and TIME BECAME "BROKEN" OR "FALLEN." IT BECAME A MARKER OF SEPARATION, DECAY, AND THE NEED FOR REDEMPTION. Life became linear and mortal. According to tradition (e.g. The Life of Adam and Eve), they experienced mourning and the need for physical labor, with time now measured by toil, hunger, and anticipation of death, yet still within God’s care. Orthodox theology interprets the story of Adam and Eve through Christ, the "New Adam" who redeems the brokenness of time. Christ’s Resurrection enables humanity to move from the "old" time of morality to the "new time of Eternity, where the Kingdom of God is already present yet still to come.

Some Orthodox thinkers, such as David Bentley Hart and Sergei Bulgakov, view the Fall as occurring outside of, or at the very boundary of, empirical time, making the consequences of the Fall fundamentally shape all human history. In summary, Adam and Eve’s journey is seen as a move from an, initially, harmonious existence, into a fallen state, with time serving, primarily, as a, temporary, context for, ultimate, salvation.

As it has been said, time is inextricably linked to mortality and death. According to Orthodox theology, God allows death not as a punishment, but AS A MERCIFUL, THERAPEUTIC ACT TO PREVENT HUMAN EVIL AND SIN FRO BECOMING ETERNAL. By breaking the union of body and soul, death stops the corruption caused by sin, preventing humanity from becoming fixed in a demonic, immortal state of evil. Because humans are not biologically designed to exist in a state of eternal sin, God introduced death to prevent the "sickness" of sin from becoming permanent. Death provides a necessary, finite boundary that forces a reassessment of life, allowing the opportunity for repentance (metanoia) and ultimate transformation, rather than allowing sin to propagate. Death acts like a "fire" that consumes the decaying body to prevent the spread of spiritual corruption, allowing the person to be "recast" or refined for resurrection. Through Christ’s own death and Resurrection, this ultimate punishment was transformed into A PASSAGE TO ETERNITY, TURNING AN END INTO A NEW BEGINNING. Essentially, death IS THE MECHANISM BY WHICH GOD ENSURES THAT EVIL, WHICH IS UNNATURAL TO HUMANITY, HAS A LIMIT, ALLOWING FOR A NEW CREATION THROUGH THE RESURRECTION.

________
"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