LIVE IN CHRIST

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God and Savior,102
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

LIVE IN CHRIST

"And we know that the Son of God has come
and has given us an understanding, that we may
know Hi Who is True; and WE ARE IN HIM
WHO IS TRUE, in His Son Jesus Christ. THIS
IS THE TRUE GOD AND ETERNAL LIFE"
[1 John 5:20].

GOD IS ETERNAL. According to Orthodox Christian Theology, "The existence of God is OUTSIDE TIME, for time is only a form of LIMITED BEING, changeable being. For God THERE IS NEITHER PAST OR FUTURE; THERE IS ONLY THE PRESENT. "Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will change them, and they will be changed. BUT YOU ARE THE SAME, AND YOUR YEARS WILL HAVE NO END" [Psalm 101(102:25-27].

A number of the Holy and Great Fathers of the Church indicate a difference between the concepts of "eternity" and "immortality." "ETERNITY" is EVER-EXISTENCE LIFE, and this concept is applied usually to the one unoriginate nature, in which everything is always one and the same. The concept of IMMORTALITY, on the other hand, can be ascribed to one who has been brought into being and does NOT DIE, as, for example, an Angel or a soul. ETERNAL IN ITS PRECISE MEANING BELONGS TO THE DIVINE ESSENCE, WHICH IS WHY IT IS APPLIED USUALLY ONLY TO THE WORSHIPFUL AND REIGNING TRINITY" (Saint Isidore of Pelusium). In this regard even more expressive is the phrase "THE PRE-ETERNAL GOD." (Kontakion for the Nativity of Christ).

Life in Christ, according to the Holy Fathers of the Church, is a dynamic, lifelong process of restoring the human soul TO THE COMMUNION OF GOD (THEOSIS OR DEIFICATION). Saint Maximus the Confessor (580-662) teaches that this path requires the active alignment OF HUMAN FREEDOM WITH DIVINE GRACE, moving from ignorance to the heights of Divine Agape.

THE ASCENT OF THE SOUL TO CHRIST is classically broken down into
three progressive stages:

1. PRACTICAL ASCETICISM (PRAXIS)

The purification of the heart from passions (i.e., GREED, ANGER, PRIDE).

2. MORTIFICATION OF THE PASSIONS: Saint Maximus teaches that we
must tame the passions of the flesh and redirect our desires toward virtue.

3. ACQUIRING STASIS (APATHEIA): This is NOT emotional deadness, but a
STATE OF PEACE AND INNER STILLNESS WHERE THE SOUL IS NO
LONGER ENSLAVED BY SELFISH DESIRES.

ii. NATURAL CONTEMPLATION (Theoria Physike)

a. Moving past surface appearances to see the INNER PRINCIPLES OR
"LOGOI" (LOGOS in Greek, the divine reasons/intentions) of all things
created by God.

b. TRUE KNOWLEDGE: Viewing all of creation as A MANIFESTATION OF
THE DIVINE LOGOS (CHRIST) and learning TO LOVE THE CREATOR
THROUGH HIS WORKS.

III. THE SUPREMACY OF AGAPE (LOVE): Saint Maximus famously emphasized
that THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE IS AGAPE (LOVE). He
wrote that "agape casts out fear" AND UNITES THE BELIEVER COMPLETELY
WITH GOD.

a. DIVINE UNKNOWING: At the highest level, the soul TRANSCENDS EVEN
INTELLECTUAL CONCEPTS OF GOD, ENTERING INTO A "CLOUD OF
UNKNOWING" WHERE IT IS EMBRACED BY GOD’S UNCREATED ENERGIES.

KEY TENETS OF LIFE IN CHRIST

a. TWO WILLS OF CHRIST: Central to Saint Maximus’s theologry is his defense
of the two wills of Christ–one DIVINE and one HUMAN. He taught that Christ’s
HUMAN WILL was PERFECTLY ALIGNED WITH HIS DIVINE WILL. Through
Christ, our own FALLEN HUMAN WILL IS HEALED AND EMPOWERED TO
CHOOSE GOD.

b. THE THREE BIRTHS: According to Saint Maximus, Christ IS BORN IN US IN
THREE WAYS: THROUGH HOLY BAPTISM, THROUGH THE PRACTICE OF
VIRTUES (SPIRITUAL GROWTH), AND THROUGH THE RESURRECTION AT
THE END OF TIME.

c. MYSTERIAKE ZOE (SACRAMENTAL LIFE): The Holy Fathers ground this journey
IN THE LITURGICAL AND SACRAMENTAL LIFE OF THE CHURCH. The reception
of the Divine Eucharist is the ULTIMATE REALIZATION OF THEOSIS (DEIFICATION),
WHERE THE BELIEVER IS PHYSICALLY AND SPIRITUALLY UNITED WITH CHRIST.

Who was Saint Maximus the Confessor? He was one of the Church’s profound theologians and instructors in practical Christian SPIRITUAL LIFE. As a theologian, he taught, against those who sought to compromise the Faith for the sake of political and religious unity, that Jesus Christ was the Incarnate Son of God, FULLY DIVINE AND FULLY HUMAN, THUS HAVING TWO COMPLETE WILLS, NATURES, AND ENERGIES. For his stubborn confession of Christ the Truth, Saint Maximus the Confessor was persecuted by compromising imperial authorities, ptu on trial three times, and finally, having had his tongue and righ hand with which he had so eloquently defended the Faith cut off, he was sent into exile to what is now Tsageri, Georgia, where he soon died on August 13, 662).

____________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
+ Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in Christ’s Glorious and Divine Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George