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.
ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY:
STRIVING TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF
GOD.THE KINGDOM OF GLORY
"…the Kingdom of God has been preached,
and everyone is pressing into it" [Luke 16:16].
"Now when He was asked b the Pharisees when the
Kingdom of God would come, He answered them
and said, ‘The Kingdom of God does not come with
observation, nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or "See
there!’ For indeed, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS
WITHIN YOU.’ [Luke 17:20-21].
According to Orthodox Christian Theology with the end of this age and THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORLD INTO A NEW AND BETTER WORLD, there is revealed the Eternal Kingdom of God, THE KINGDOM OF GLORY.
Then will come to an end the Kingdom of Grace, the existence of the Church on earth, the MILITANT CHURCH; it will enter into this Kingdom of Glory and will merge with the Heavenly Church, THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT. "Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom of God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power. For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death… And when all things shall be subdued unto Him (the Father) then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be ALL IN ALL" [1 Corinthians 15:24-26, 28]. These words concerning the end of the Kingdom of Christ must be understood as THE FULFILLMENT OF THE SON’S MISSION, WHICH HE ACCEPTED FROM THE FATHER, AND WHICH CONSIST OF THE CONDUCTING OF MANKIND TO GOD THROUGH THE CHURCH. THEN THE SON WILL REIGN IN THE KINGDOM OF GLORY TOGETHER WITH THE FATHER AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, and "of His Kingdom there shall be no end," as the Archangel announced to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:33), and as we read in the Symbol of Faith (the Creed): "And His Kingdom will have no end." Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says of this; "For will not He Who reigned before overthrowing his enemies, reign all the more after He has conquered them?" (Catechetical Lectures).
DEATH WILL HAVE NO POWER IN THE KINGDOM OF GLORY. "The LAST ENEMY that shall be destroyed is death… Then shall be bought to pass the saving that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (I Corinthians 15:26, 54). "There shall be time no longer" (Revelation 10:6).
The eternal blessed life is presented vividly in the 21st chapter of the Apocalypse (Revelation): "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth wre passed away: and there was no more seas (Revelation 21:1). In the future kingdom everything will be SPIRITUALIZED, IMMORTAL, AND HOLY.
But the chief thing is that those who attain the future blessed 5:8)life and become "PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE" (2 Peter 1:4), will be participants in that most perfect life, whose source is in God alone. In particular, the future members of the Kingdom of God will be vouchsafed like the Angels, to "SEE GOD" (Matthew 5:8), to behold His glory not as through a dark glass, not by means of conjectures, but FACE TO FACE. And not only be means of glory, but they themselves wi17; 2 Till be "PARTAKERS" of it, shining like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43), being "fellow heirs" with Christ, sitting with Christ on a throne and sharing with Him the royal grandeur (Revelation 4:21; Romans 8:17, 2 Timothy 2:1-12).
As is symbolically depicted in the Revelation, "they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountain of waters; and Gdo shall wipe away al ltears from their eyes" (Revelation 7:16-17). As the Prophet Isaiah says: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him" (Isaiah 64:4; 1 Corinthians 2:9).
Blessedness in God will be all the more desirable in that it will be eternal, without end: "The righteous shall (go) into life eternal" (Matthew 25:46).
However, this glory in God, in the thought of the Holy Fathers of the Church, will have its d3:8)eggrees, corresponding to the moral dignity of each one. One may conclude this also from the words of Holy Scripture: "In My Father’s house are many mansions" (John 14:2); "He shall rewad every man according to his own works" (Matthew 16:27); "every man shall receive reward according to his own labor" (1 Corinthians 3:8); "one star differeth from another star in glory" (1 Corinthians 15:41).
Saint Ephraim the Syrian says, " Just as everyone takes enjoyment of the rays of the sensual sun according to the purity of his power of seeing and of the impressions that are given, and just as in a single lamp which illumines a house each ray has its place, while the light is not divided into many lamps; so also in the future age all the righteous will dwell inseparably in a single joy, but each in his own degree will be illuminated by the single mental sun, and to the degree of his worth he will draw in joy and rejoicing as if in a single atmosphere and place, and no one will see the degrees that are higher and lower, lest looking on the surpassing grace of another and upon his own deprivation, he will thereby have some cause in himsel for sorrow and disturbance. May this not be there, where there is neither sorrow nor sighing; but everyone according to the grace proper to him in his measure will rejoice inwardly, while outwardly, all will hae a single contemplation and a single joy" (Saint Ephraim the Syrian, On the Heavenly Mansions). [Resources: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology by Father Michael Pomazansky]
Please note: The KINGDOM OF GOD, THE KINGDOM OF GLORY is an invisible, spiritual reality present WITHIN THE CHRISTIAN BELIEVER. The Greek is very clear: "WITHIN YOU" ("Ιδού γαρ η βασιλεία του Θεού εντός υμών έστιν"). Orthodox Christian theology and the Holy Fathers of the Church writings teach entering the Kingdom of God is not merely a legal or future reward, but an ongoing, transformative process of spiritual communion with God. Saint Gregory of Nyssa taught that "The Kingdom of God is the Holy Spirit." To the measure that a believer is filled with the Spirit, they are united with Christ and dwell in the Kingdom. The Kingdom is mysterious and present within believers (Luke 17L21), experienced mystically on earth through the Holy Church and the Mysteries (Sacraments), yet it finds its ultimate and universal realization when Christ returns in glory. Also, Orthodox Holy Tradition defines the Kingdom as "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit:.
The spiritual life aims at the "AQUISITION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT," seeking first the Kingdom and His Righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Building on the saying that the Kingdom is "within you," Orthodox asceticism and the tradition of hesychasm (inner stillness) teach that entering the Kingdom is a matter of turning INWARD TO MEET GOD IN THE HEART. The Divine Eucharist is a foretaste of the Kingdom. Our Holy Church Fathers and liturgical theology emphasize that the Orthodox Christian enters the Kingdom most pefectly through the Divine Liturgy and COMMUNION IN THE EUCHARIST WHERE CHRIST IS TRULY PRESENT IN THEIR MIDST.
Following the Lord Jesus Christ into the Kingdom requires personal freedom an self-denial: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Mark 8:34). SALVATION INVOLVES ACTIVE COOPERATION (Synergia) WITH GOD’S GRACE (Theosis or deification), rather than passive assent.
___________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
+ Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in Christ’s Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
