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 EROS OF REPENTANCE: THE THEOLOGICAL
WITNESS OF MOUNT ATHOS. [Part III]

The Holy Mountain of Athos in its entirety, both in its past and in its present, BEARS WITNESS TO CHRIST. Its witness is one OF FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE, A WITNESS TO LIFE EVERLASTING. This witness OF TRUE AND EVANGELICAL LIFE IS THUS ALSO A THEOLOGICAL WITNESS: "The accomplishment of purity IS THE FOUNDATION OF THEOLOGY", says Saint John of Sinai. Permit me to draw attention to some aspects of this witness.

THE WITNESS OF TRUE REPENTANCE

Our Lord, the Logos/Word made flesh, began His preaching with an invitation to repentance: "And after John had been imprisoned, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the word of God and saying: "The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand. REPENT AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL" [Mark 1:14-15]. On Mount Athos, repentance is experienced AS THE BASIS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. Someone once asked an Elder (Geronda) of the Mountain: ‘What is the Holy Mountain?’ He replied, ‘There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, and here we have many who repent.’

Athos is indeed A PLACE OF REPENTANCE. Its monks have come here in order to live true repentance, to receive in themselves the depths of their sinfulness, to suffer on account of it, to find assurance of the Lord’s forgiveness, to be cleansed of their passions. Repentance IS THE DAILY STRUGGLE OF THE MONK. His asceticism looks toward this one purpose: THAT HE REPENT THE MORE DEEPLY AND SO IS MORE PLEASING TO GOD. REPENTANCE IS THE MONK’S ‘CONSCIENCE.’ He does not repent just because he sinned at some time in the past. Rather, he feels intensely and every day that he cannot reply perfectly to God’s love. He WANTS TO OFFER HIMSELF COMPLETELY TO GOD, TO BE IN PERFECT HARMONY WITH HIS COMMANDMENTS, AND NOT TO EMBITTER HIM WITH THE SLIGHTEST OPPOSITION TO HIS WILL. Neither does the monk desire for even an instant to relax from the remembrance of God. As Saint Gregory the Theologian writes: "RATHER HE REMEMBER GOD EVEN THAN BREATH." REPENTANCE IS THUS A DYNAMIC CONDITION, A CONTINUOUS PROGRESS TOWARDS THE LORD. PROPERLY SPEAKING, IT IS THE PURSUIT OF THE LIVING GOD.

Its character is neither primarily ethical nor legalistic. Instead, IT IS THE FRUIT OF A SANCTIFIED EROTICISM WHICH STRAINS TOWARD THE BELOVED LORD, A SIGN OF PROFOUND HUMILITY AND DESIRE FOR GOD. The younger monks on Athos learn from the older fathers who, even when they have attained a high degree of virtue, STILL REPENT AND STILL MOURN, so that they fulfil the word of the Lord: "BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN, FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED. BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO WEEP NOW, FOR THEY SHALL LAUGH." [Matthew 5:4]. The holy Elders (Gerondes) instruct the younger men not by calling them to imitate their virtues, but by showing them how much they feel themselves to be sinners and unworthy. Athonites DO NOT PRETEND TO BE GOOD.

They are not hypocrites. They reveal what they are. They confess in all simplicity whatever temptation they consider sinful. If, as human beings of flesh and blood, they become the cause of any grief to a brother, they do not rest until they have bowed before him and sought his forgiveness before the day’s end.

Our whole climate on Mount Athos CALLS US TO REPENTANCE, TO SPIRITUAL STRUGGLE, AND TO VIOLENCE WITHIN OURSELVES FOR THE SAKE OF GOD’S KINGDOM. How could we rest when we meet daily, when we keep company with brethren who are holy, are prototypes of repentance; when daily at the office so many examples of Christian perfections are set before us. These demand that we struggle NOT FOR HALF-MEASURES BUT FOR THE PERFECTION WHICH THE LORD COMMANDS.

One sign of TRUE REPENTANCE IS BLESSED COMPUNCTION, THE BROKEN AND CONTRITE HEART, the constantly flowing tears of those who have progressed in repentance. Very often such fruit cannot be hidden. This kind of repentance draws down the grace of God, SECURES THE PENITENT, AND BRINGS PEACE AND JOY GREATLY IMPRESS THOSE WHO VISIT THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, AND ARE ABLE TO DISCERN THESE QUALITIES IN THE FACES OF THOSE MONKS …WHO ARE SO HOLY, AND OUTWARDLY DEPRIVED OF LIFE’S PLEASURES.

A characteristic of the monk who lives in repentance is his attribution of every good thing to God. Depending on Divine grace for everything, he has been stripped OF EVERY HUMAN SELF-SUFFICIENCY, EVERY CONFIDENCE IN SELF, AND EVERY DESIRE TO PLEASE HIMSELF. Those who possess THE SPIRIT OF REPENTANCE and HUMILITY will normally withdraw from giving advice. Even should they do so, it will be out of love and obedience, and not because they feel themselves to be worthy of it. Should you ever visit or live for a time on Mount Athos, you will find yourself in a place of repentance, where human incapacities, imperfections, and sins may not be lacking, but WHERE EVERYONE IS YET IN COMPLETE HARMONY ON THE GOAL OF LIFE; TO CLEANSE ONESELF OF DISCORD, OF WILLFULNESS AND SELF-LOVE IN ORDER TO FULFIL THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE SAVIOR. YOU WILL YOURSELF FEEL THE NEED TO REPENT, TO CONFESS, TO STRUGGLE.

It has often been observed that many of those who come to the Holy Mountain with no intention of confessing, will confess while they are there, and that while on the Mountain others who confess regularly while in the world, find themselves confessing sins of which they had either been unconscious or had not had the courage to confess before. There is indeed much joy in heaven when every day on Athos many sinners repent, both monks and pilgrims who, making their peace with God, become His friends. In this fashion the Holy Mountain makes its silent proclamation of repentance, and reminds us all that true repentance does not exhaust itself in some ethical and pharisaic self-justification. Neither can it be divided up into single moments. Instead, IT COMPRISES THE FOUNDATION OF THE WHOLE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE.

In today’s world, psychology, pedagogy, and psychiatry–all of them based on a non-Orthodox Christian anthropology — ignore and are silent about the REALITY OF SIN. Yet sin after the fall is an anthropological reality. It does not disappear because we try to persuade ourselves that it does not exist. There exists only one way for man, the creature of God, TO FIND FREEDOM FROM THE GUILT AND WEIGHT OF SIN: THROUGH FORGIVENESS BY HIS MAKER AND CREATOR. THEN, TRULY, MAN IS AT PEACE, LIBERATED FROM THE ANXIETIES, NEUROSES AND PSYCHOTHERAPY. THEN, INDEED, HE LIVES IN THE FREEDOM OF GOD. [Resources: The Eros of Repentance]

(To be continued)

_______________
"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

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.

MAN, AS AN IMAGE OF GOD: MODERN SECULARISM A FALSE
ALTERNATIVE. [Part II]

When human dynamism is not oriented in its proper direction, toward our Maker and Father, then it reveals itself negatively. The faculties of the soul are torn apart. The intellect is darkened. Fed by the passions, the mind hardens, becomes bestial and demonic. According to Saint Gregory Palamas: "A mind removed from God becomes like either a dumb beast or a demon. Once having transgressed the bounds of nature, it lusts for what is alien. Yet it finds no satisfaction for its greed and, giving itself the more fiercely to fleshly desires, it knows no bounds in its search for earthly pleasures."

WITHOUT GOD, THE SOUL TUMBLES INTO THE ABYSS OF NON-BEING — WHICH FINALLY DEVOURS IT. The human person, dissolving, falls to pieces. LIFE BECOMES HELL, FREEDOM A BURDEN, AND OTHER PEOPLE A CURSE. The state of fallen human existence is tragic. It has ‘no exit.’ The mistake OF SECULAR HUMANISM in all its shades is that it tries to make us forget our DIVINE ORIGIN AND PURPOSE, OUR ICONIC CHARACTER. In the name of progress, of civilization, of justice, it confuses us as to what IS CORRUPTIBLE, TEMPORARY, VAIN AND PASSING. It cuts off our wings. It strive to confine our divinely-instilled dynamism and erotic thirst to worldly activities–which are not so much evil in themselves as insufficient; too limited to fulfil the desires of living beings who are made by God and for God. It also tries to persuade us that humanity is itself God; its own law, self-sufficient and self-fulfilling.

Here we arrive at the very sin of Adam; self-deification, EGOISM. Here we find the essence of secularist philosophy, ethics, and politics. This same philosophy IS THE ORGANIZATION OF LIFE OUTSIDE THE CHURCH. SECULARISM IS THE PRODUCT OF WESTERN ATHEISM, an illness which is now beginning to devour our own Orthodox people.

Traditional Orthodoxy, our answer
and responsibility

We must admit, however, that sometimes there is also an error from our side. Under the influence of Western Christianity, THE ORTHODOX WAY OF DEIFICATION (THEOSIS) IS OFTEN REPLACED BY THE ‘WAY OF ETHICAL IMPROVEMENT.’
The latter, a vision of natural and ethical deification, IS MAN CENTERED. Even when it has a religious flavor, it still does NOT differ in essence from the ethical beliefs OF ATHEISTIC HUMANISM. It is neither churchly nor liturgical. It does not reveal to the world human beings who are deified. Instead it produces, (in Greece at least), ‘small-town Christians,’: people limited to the bounds of propriety as they understand it. It is based on human ethical activity, and not on the action of God’s UNCREATED GRACE. It does not lead men out of their eccentricity, nor provide them with the experience OF DIVINE GRACE, nor help them advance in true prayer and fellowship with God.

This approach made its first appearance in the Orthodox world some six hundred years ago. It was represented by the Western (Roman Catholic) theologian Barlaam the Calabrian, and it was as opposed to the latter individual that Saint Gregory Palamas made himself the defender OF THE THEOLOGY OF UNCREATE GRACE. Barlaam was defeated. However, he has since returned in the form of the strong intellectual currents of the West which have been ‘flooding’ into our Eastern European countries over the past two centuries.

Today we must become aware of the significant difference and opposition which exists between these two anthropologies and ways of life: that which is we fin din Saint Gregory and the Philokalia. When our young people wake up from the lethargy OF HEDONISM and HUMANISTIC SELF-DECEPTION, THEY BEGIN TO WANDER IN SEARCH OF A PLACE TO REST. A MERELY CONVENTIONAL CHRISTIANITY CANNOT OFFER THEM SUCH A PLACE. Their souls thirst FOR A PERSONAL ENCOUNTER AND AN EXPERIENCE OF GOD, FOR A LIFE WHICH EMBODIES A GENUINE MYSTICISM, A REDEEMED AND SANCTIFIED EROTIICISM. If they cannot find true Orthodoxy, cannot come to know our mystical theology, our real tradition and our genuine piety, then they will seek their resting places elsewhere — in the mysticisms of the Far East, for example, or in the much advertised SELF-TRANSCENDENCE PROVIDED BY THE ARTIFICIAL–AND LETHAL–PARADISE OF DRUGS … OR IN THE FOGS AND BOGS OF THE OCCULT. IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO SEE THAT THEY DO NOT DO THIS. [Resources: The Eros of Repentance]

(To be continued)

_______________
"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

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.

On the 30th of June, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates the
ASSEMBLY OF THE HOLY, GLORIOUS AND ALL-PRAISED HOLY
APOSTLES.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn of the Twelve Apostles. Third Tone

O HOLY APOSTLES, intercede with the Merciful God that He
grant unto our souls forgiveness of offences.

Kontakion Hymn. Second Tone

NOW Christ God, the Rock, doth glorify the rock of faith
illustriously, the first of the disciples’ choir, with great Paul
together with all the company of the Twelve today; as we
keep their memory with faith, we glorify Him that glorified
them all.

Although each of the Twelve Holy Apostles has his own Feast Day during the year, the Church has set aside this day (June 3Oth) for a General Feast of all of them together, including Saint Paul. The names and Feast Days of the Twelve are:

Peter — June 29th and January 16th.
Andrew – November 3Oth.
James the Son of Zebedee – April 3Oth.
John the Theologian – September 26th and May 8th.
Philip – November 14th.
Bartholomew — June 11th and August 25th.
Thomas – October 6th.
Matthew the Evangelist – November 16th.
James the Son of Alphaeus – October 9th.
Thaddeus (or Judas the brother of James) – June 19th.
Simon the Zealot – May 10th.
Matthias – August 9th.
Paul – June 29th.

Let us remember here how these Most Holy and selfless men in the history
of the world died and finished their earthly course:

Peter was crucified upside down.
Andrew was crucified.
James was beheaded.
John the Theologian died in a wondrous way.
Philip was crucified.
Bartholomew was crucified, then flayed and beheaded.
Thomas was pierced with five spears.
Matthew was burned by fire.
James the Son of Alphaeus was crucified.
Thaddeus was crucified.
Simon the Zealot was crucified.
Matthias was stoned, then beheaded with an axe when dead.
Paul was beheaded.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Concern for the good of all men. Such concern filled the exalted spirits and noble hearts of the Holy Apostles to overflowing. Saint John Chrysostom wrote about the Holy Apostle Paul, calling him ‘the father of all the world, as if he himself had given birth to all men, for he was so concerned and strove so greatly to bring all into the Kingdom.’ ‘Father of all the world’ is indeed a very high title, and if there is anyone, under God, to whom this title should be given it is the Holy Apostles of Christ. Having the concern of a parent for the whole world, they were truly ‘FATHERS OF ALL THE WORLD.’ There are many mothers in the world who care less for their own children than did the Holy Apostles for the good of their persecutors and adversaries. The Holy Apostle Peter twice saved his most bitter adversary, Simon the Magician, from death; once when the crowd wanted to set fire to him and once when a dog tried to tear him to pieces. Just think of the way that the world paid its debt to these workers of good! As if they were the greatest robbers and evil-doers! How true are Saint Cyprian’s words: “WHILE WE ARE IN THE BODY, WE CHRISTIANS LOOK THE SAME ON THE SURFACE AS PAGANS. THE DIFFERENCE LIES IN THE SPIRIT.” [Resources: The Prologue from Ochrid]

__________
“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

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.

MAN AS AN IMAGE OF GOD
By Archimandrite George Capsanis

The Orthodox theology of Christ as the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4) and of man as made: "according to the image of God" [Genesis 1:26] is fundamental to a proper understanding of what it means to be a human being. "Made according to the image of God," signifies both the origin and goal of our existence, our alpha and omega.

THE DYNAMISM OF THE IMAGE,
FREEDOM AND EROS

It has been correctly observed that ato be human is to be theological. Therefore "in order to live authentically, we must live every moment theocentrically."
If we deny God, WE DENY AND DESTROY OURSELVES. On the other hand, when we live for God, WE OPEN OURSELVES TO A PROCESS OF DEVELOPMENT AND COMPLETION WHICH IS INFINITE. Human existence owes its dynamism and its greatness to its "iconic" character. So far as we "image forth" the wise and creative God, so far do we discover in ourselves the charisms of knowledge and creativity.

The same holds true to the quality of freedom to be the image of God who is free, means THAT WE POSSESS FREEDOM: LIBERTY. According to Saint Maximos the Confessor: "If we are made according to the image of the blessed and supersubstantial divinity, and if the divine nature is by definition free, then we too, as true image of the divine nature, are by nature free" (Saint Maximus the Confessor (AD 662). By the same reasoning, if our freedom is lost then we too are lost.

Saint Nicholas Cavasilas writes: "It is the same to say that ‘freedom is destroyed’ as to say: ‘the destruction of man.’ But what — more than anything else — manifests the imprint of God on the human soul is the power of desire (eros) the soul … and the impetus which a sanctified eros lends the soul in its movement towards its divine archetype. The Saints, especially Maximos the Confessor and Dionysios the Areopagite, understand this power of eroticism as not referring simply to human sexual desire.

To put it better, the sexual urge is an expression of that natural yearning which is implanted within us by our Creator, and leads us toward Him. To quote Saint Maximos once again: "At times scripture refers to God as desire (eros), and at other times as love (agape), and still other times as the desirable, and the beloved. Being Himself desire and love, he moves toward us while, as desirable and beloved, He moves all those creatures toward himself who are capable of desiring and loving. It is thus that the great apostle, Saint Paul, having come into possession of divine desire, and becoming a participant of the ecstatic power, cries out inspired, ‘ I live,’ he says, ‘yet not I, but Christ lives in me.’ He speaks as a lover and — as he says himself–as one caught up in the ecstasy of God. No longer living his own life, but instead that of the beloved, which alone is beauty surpassing speech."

Therefore, we understand the erotic power of the soul, at its deepest level, to be our thirst for the depths of our own being. That thirst can only be slaked when we achieve the goal for which we were made: UNION WITH OUR ARCHETYPE, WITH GOD — what the Orthodox Tradition calls "THEOSIS" ("DEIFICATION"),

We can find no rest in created things which pass away. Saint Nicholas Cavasilas says: "…the thirst of human souls requires infinite waters." Blessed Augustine adds:"Our hearts can have no rest until they rest in Thee." We were created to be UNITED WITH THE UNCREATED GRACE OF GOD, TO BECOME OURSELVES gods by grace. Here, in a single view, is the mystery of how we can understand the human being as one "commanded to be God." Saint Gregory Nanzianzos, called "the Theologian", writes on the mystery of man: "The Creator Logos/Word … fashions man as a simple being from both invisible and visible nature … and places him on earth as a kind of universe in miniature, another angel, a pilgrim blended of the two world, the overseer of the visible creation and the initiate of the spiritual, a king, ruling from above all things on earth… an animals, making its home here, yet translated elsewhere and — the goal of the whole mystery–by his yearning for God, he is made God."

LOSS OF THE IMAGE,
AND ITS RECOVERY IN CHRIST

With the fall of man, the image of God in him is darkened. Human nature, according to Saint Cyril of Alexandria, has been ‘infected’ by sin. As a result of this illness, that within us which is ‘according to the image’ is incapable of fulfilling itself, of becoming the likeness of God. Jesus Christ, as the radiant and unchanged icon of God, and as the Archetype of man, RE-ESTABLISHES THE FALLEN IMAGE OF ADAM WITH HIS SAVING ECONOMY. HE REVEALS OUR ORIGINAL BEAUTY. HE IS ALSO THE GOOD TEACHER WHO RE-ORIENTS, DRAWS, AND GUIDES US TOWARD OUR DIVINE ARCHETYPE.

The Church summarizes the salvation effected in Christ in her liturgy. An example, from the Vespers (Esperinos) of the Holy Transfiguration (August 6th): "Transfigured, Thou hast made the nature darkened in Adam radiant once again, O Christ, transforming it into the glory and brilliance of the Godhead." When we thus become: "CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST" (Romans 8:29), we come into possession of our own true form, our genuine humanity.

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THEOSIS (DEIFICATION)

In the Mysteries (Sacraments), THE UNION OF GOD AND MAN THROUGH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST BECOMES A TRUE COMMUNION OF LIFE, OF RESURRECTION, OF TRANSFIGURATION, OF OUR TRANSFORMATION INTO CHRIST, AND OUR THEOSIS (DEIFICATION). In this way our likeness to the image becomes actual rather than potential. The believing, faithful, and struggling human being is deified. DEIFICATION (THEOSIS) is not some idealistic desire, BUT A REALITY.

First, to be deified was the Most Holy Mother of God. According to our theologians She alone is found at the boundary beyond created and uncreated nature. She alone is god directly after God, and has the second place after the Holy Trinity.

The Saints possessing divine eros have also been deified. All the Saints live the saying of Saint Ignatios the God-bearer: "My eros has been crucified." The relation of the Saints to God is erotic, i.e., desiring or yearning not simply ethical. The grace of deification shines in their faces, and is revealed in their bodies which SMELL SWEETLY, GIVER FORTH MYRRH, REMAIN UNCORRUPTED, AND WORK MIRACLES. The Orthodox Church is the place and fellowship OF THEOSIS (DEIFICATION).

Whatever takes place in Orthodoxy is deifying, i.e., GIVEN TO BRING US INTO COMMUNION WITH GOD. The holy icons of Christ, of the Mother of God, of the Saints, and all the decoration of our Orthodox Churches declare that, truly, "GOD HAS BECOME MAN IN ORDER TO RAISE ADAM UP A GOD." THEOSIS (DEIFICATION) is possible because GRACE IS AN UNCREATED AND DIVINE ACTIVITY, ABLE THUS TO DEIFY US. DEIFICATION is effected by God and "suffered" by man. Deified man is purified from the passions. Attending to the prayers of the heart, he receives an experience of divine grace which refreshes and comforts him. A most exalted experience of theosis (deification) is the vision of the light of Mount Tabor, the UNCREATED LIGHT. Deified people not only see this supernaturally, but indeed they are themselves beheld within it — as has been witnessed to in the lives of many Saints. [Resources:  The Eros of Repentance]

(To be continued)

______________
"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

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.

PERFECT PATIENCE
By Archimandrite Seraphim Papakostas

Through the Apostles James (Iakovos), however, we hear the Holy Spirit command: "Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." In other words He requires not simple, but PERFECT PATIENCE, which is able to present the Christian perfect and mature and fully developed in virtue. So then, what is PERFECT PATIENCE?

It is that patience which covers the breadth and depth. Let us explain:

We Christians who indeed endure one kind of affliction, like sickness, let us say, or the death of a loved one, but they can’t stand privation and are shocked by the phantom of poverty…Their kind of patience lacks the required breadth. It is not only imperfect, but inexcusable, because today’s endurance of sickness is succeeded by tomorrow’s impatience and lack of faith which push them into sin. We see other who endure not only sickness and death, but privation and poverty as well, but still they can’t stand an insult of an injustice, under any circumstances. Nor can they endure adversity or extended persecution. Once again, their patience, because it lacks the required breadth, isn’t perfect, because PERFECT PATIENCE COVERS EVERY KIND OF AFFLICTION, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, AND INCLUDES EVERY TESTING.

Next, perfect patience has the required depth. When, for example, a Christian is insulted or treated unjustly, but doesn’t seek revenge, doesn’t hold a grudge, doesn’t maintain hatred and hostility, he surely shows patience, but not perfect patience, because perfect patience is when he proceeds to the full depth. PERFECT PATIENCE IS WHEN THE WRONGED PERSON NOT ONLY DOESN’T RETURN THE SAME, BUT ALSO DOES GOOD FOR HIS WRONGDOER– WHEN HE RETURNS GOOD INSTEAD OF EVIL–WHEN HE IS READY TO INCLUDE HIS WRONGDOER IN HIS CIRCLE OF CHRISTIAN BROTHERS, as soon as the wrongdoer sincerely wants it. Our Lord Jesus Christ continues to endure the, just as He endures us. This then, is perfect patience, which possesses all the depth and breadth.

Now don’t say that such patience isn’t needed by every Christian. Because we call it perfect patience, it doesn’t mean that only a few exceptional people need to attain it. On the contrary, it is essential for every Christian, every day of his/her life. The reason is obvious. First of all, you cannot solve the great problem of pain, if you do not try to attain perfect patience. If, here on earth, we are supposed to suffer only one kind of pain, to demonstrate patience only for tha, then of course, we do not need perfect patience. But since we are likely to be tried by a variety of afflictions, A PATIENCE WHICH EXHAUSTS ALL THE BREADTH IS REQUIRED. Secondly, imperfect patience is able to destroy everything that you have done up to now, and or drown you in sin.

However, all that is well and good, but were there ever Christians who achieved perfect patience? Or is the teaching about perfect patience only theoretical?

Indeed. We do not find perfect patience only in the Person of Christ, Who endured every kind of pain, ridicule, suffering, even on the Cross, prayed for those who crucified Him: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." We will find it in the first martyrdom of one of the first Christians, Saint Stefanos (Stephen). Kneeling down as they stoned him, he prayed: "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." We will find it in the Apostle Paul, who, in describing the perfect patience of his fellow Apostles, says: "Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted we suffer it: Being defamed, we entreat."

We will also find it in the Christians of Alexandria. During the persecutions they treated the degraded pagans kindly at the risk of their lives. But what pagans? Those who persecuted them and drove them to martyrdom. The history of the Saints down through the centuries shows a multitude of examples of perfect patience. Our own experience testifies that there are also such examples all around us.

Such then, is perfect patience, Christian patience, Let us now see the value of patience. The position which patience occupies in the value chart of Christian virtues proves it to be a precious virtue of the highest worth. God Himself shows the priceless value of patience when He permits it to b used as one of His attributes. He is called "The God of patience" (Romans 15:5). The Apostle Paul knew from personal experience the bitterness of pain as well as the soothing balm of patience. Let us see what he says about patience: "We glory in tribulation s also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience." In other words, we are proud of tribulations, because we know that through faith, TRIBULATION BECOMES A WAY TO GAIN PRECIOUS PATIENCE. The Apostle James, addressing himself to the faithful, writes: "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience" (James 1:2-3). In other words, when we fall into temptations and testings, the situation must not be considered bitter and depressing; it’s a time for rejoicing. This applies to one temptation as well as to a variety of them, because you, as enlightened believer, know that faith tested by temptations and afflictions will have patience as its fruit. It is enough, he adds, to "…let patience have her perfect work, that is, for it to be perfect and complete.

But why do the Holy Apostles (or rather, the Holy Spirit through the Apostles) put such a high value on patience? The same Spirit gives the explanation. First, because PATIENCE IS THE APPLICATION OF EVERY VIRTUE. "For ye have need of patience," the Divine Paul says again, "that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise." This indicates that patience is the application and the execution (through practice) of the will of God. In other words, when I endure the pain of sickness and the bitterness of death, I demonstrate faith and confidence in the Logos/Word of God, for the Logos/Word of God assures me that through such discipline I am visited by the Love of the Father.

Secondly, because patience is the healthy philosophy which works so well in this life. It is a fact, that it is not so much the pain and testing which poisons the soul, as it is impatience. It is impatience which fills our days with strife and ruins our personal affairs, our health, even our life itself. In undermines and shortens our life. On the other hand, patience gives courage and hope; it helps us to keep calm and to think clearly in the face of trouble; it draws power from the All-Powerful God; it maintains spiritual peace and develops the precious feeling of wellbeing. [Resources: For the Hours of Pain].

___________
"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

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.

Western Christianity as Heresy
By Patrick Barnes

It is not uncommon today to hear Orthodox theologians and clerics teach that Roman Catholicism and Protestantism have never “formally declared by the Church” to be heretical. Many who teach this — undoubtedly motivated as they are by misguided ecumenical interests — wish to extend the boundaries of the Church in an illegitimate way. Their desire is to convince others that the Church views Western Christians somehow differently than, say, early heretical groups such as Arians or Nestorians. They argue that Protestants and Roman Catholics are merely “estranged brethren” who have maintained some “invisible ties” to the Orthodox Church proportional to the “degree of Christianity” remaining in their confessional body. These false teachings supposedly serve to foster Christian unity. As can be readily attested by anyone who is familiar with Orthodoxy’s internal divisions — most of which have arisen directly as a result of our participation in the Ecumenical Movement —, such teachings have only served to UNDERMINE true unity and leave the heterodox with stones instead of bread (Saint Matthew 7:9).

A few examples will suffice to give the reader an idea of what is often heard in Orthodox circles heavily influenced by ecumenism. Consider the statement by Nicolas Sernov:

[Western Christians] present…a mystery of the DIVIDED CHURCH which cannot be solved on precedents taken from the epoch of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. It is a NEW PROBLEM requiring a search for a fresh approach and confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit to guide the Church in our time as He guided her in the past.
It is necessary to state from the outset, that the attitude to the Christian West HAS NEVER BEEN DISCUSSED BY ANY REPRESENTATIVE BODY OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH. Neither Roman Catholics or Protestants HAVE EVER BEEN CONDEMNED OR EXCOMMUNICATED AS SUCH, so a common policy in regard to them has never been adopted.

Or consider this statement by Metropolitan Maximos of Aenos, the Presiding Hierarch of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Pittsburgh, in an unpublished paper on “Sacramental Recognition According to Saint Basil [the Great]” that he presented to a meeting of Church leaders in 1997:

“Protestants, who have the basic Christian faith, and thus “valid” Christian baptism, should be accepted into the Orthodox Church by chrismation. Ultra-conservative Orthodox Christians groups try to apply the name of heretic to Protestantism. However, this is an exaggeration, which is not accepted by the “mainline” Orthodox Church…

The Eastern Orthodox Church has not taken a final stand in the evaluation of its sister church, the Roman Catholic Church… In spite of the rhetoric of the Encyclical [of 1848 (addressing, in part, how Latins coming to Orthodoxy are to be received)], which speaks of “Latin heresies,” the reception of Latin faithful reflects Saint Basil’s practice of receiving the “schismatics.” (The the way, I am personally very happy that the term “schismatic” has recently been supplanted by “estranged.”)

This Bishop has a doctorate in theology. When statements such as these are made by men of weighty credentials and of Episcopal rank — and many more statements from a variety of sources could be cited —, it is no wonder that so many have an incorrect understanding of the real situation. Let us examine these astonishing claims in the light of Holy Tradition.

Roman Catholicism

The many heretical innovations introduced into the Faith by the Latin communion — especially the insertion of the FILIOQUE clause (“and the Son”) into the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, and the Papal dogmas of universal authority and infallibility “ex-cathedra” — have without any doubt led to the declaration by numerous pan-Orthodox synods and Church Fathers that Roman Catholicism is persistently and defiantly heretical…While it is true that at various times prior to the rulings the Church was hesitant to issue a formal declaration concerning the heresy of Roman Catholicism, this was often due to exigencencies in which prudent archpastoral guidance dictated silence. It was not due to any wavering of the ecclesial consciousness. Such is the explicit thought of Saint Mark of Ephesus:

But [Saint] Mark [of Ephesus], daring more than the rest, proclaimed that the Latins were not only schismatics, but heretics. “Our Church,” said Saint Mark, “has kept silence on this, because the Latins are more powerful and numerous than we are; but we, in fact, have broken all ties with them, for the very reason that they are heretics.”

Whatever reticence the Church may have had regarding the Latins in the first two centuries following the Great Schism can also be viewed as patient hope for their full return. The largely symbolic date of 1054 does not pinpoint the date of separation of West from East. Nor can one responsibly state that the Roman church ceased overnight to be a repository of ecclesial Grace. Rather, it became spiritually ill, the disease of heresy spread, and the great branch of the West was finally detached from the rest of the Body, a reality which the Saints and various Synods since that time attest. This process may have lasted for decades — or even centuries — after the Great Schism.

PROTESTANTISM

Unfortunately, classical Protestantism is cut from the same cloth as Papism, while at the same time it is often much further from Orthodox Christianity than is Roman Catholicism. We cite Father Michael’s useful summary:

“In the 16th Century, despite the Turkish yoke Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople rejected the Lutheran overtures in his Three Answers on the ground of heresy while the Council of Constantinople (1638) repudiated the Calvinist heresies; the Council of Jassy (1642) with Peter Moghila denounced “all Western innovations” and the Council of Jerusalem (1672) under the famous Patriarch Dositheos published its 18 decrees together with the pronouncements of the Patriarch, Confession Dosithei, forming thereby the “shield of truth” which opposed “the spirit of the ancient Church” to “the heresies of both the Latins and the Protestants” (See I Mesolora, Symbol of the Eastern Orthodox Church (vol. IV), Athens, 1904). Of course, the heresy of the Papists and Protestants is a clear affirmation of the Orthodox Church as the “On, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church” as declared the Council of Constantinople (1672), the Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs (1848), the Council of Constantinople (1872), the Patriarchal Encyclical of 1895, the Holy Russian Synod of 1904, and the memorable words of [the] Patriarch of Constantinople, Joachim II, “Our desire is that all heretics shall come to the bosom of the Orthodox Church of Christ which alone is able to give them salvation…” (in Chrestos Androutsos, The Basis for Union.. Constantinople, 1905, p. 36).

Proliferation of heretical doctrine is especially a characteristic of much modern Protestantism. Although most Protestants do not consciously espouse any of the early Trinitarian and christological heresies, even the most “traditional” of the “churches” to which they belong affirm (at most) on the first four Ecumenical Synods. In those cases, however, major inconsistencies can be found which betray a superficial understanding of Christian truth. “For in Protestantism, the fundamental principle of Papism is brought to life by each man individually. After the example of the infallible man in Rome, each Protestant is a cloned infallible man, because HE PRETENDS TO PERSONAL INFALLIBILITY IN MATTER OF FAITH. It can be said: Protestantism is a vulgarized Papism, only stripped of mystery (i.e., sacramentality), authority and power” (Archimandrite Justin (Popovich) of Chelije in his famous treatise, “Papism as the Oldest Protestantism”) [Resources: The Non-Orthodox. The Orthodox Teaching on Christians Outside of the Church]

About the Author

Patrick Barnes was born in Arlington, Virginia in 1964 and reared in a loving non-Christian home. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1986. He subsequently flew FA-18 Hornets for almost six years before resigning his commission in 1994.
While at the Naval Academy, Mr. Barnes converted to Christ and for the first eight years was actively involved in various non-denominational charismatic churches. In his twenties he began more carefully to examine his own beliefs. His discoveries unsettled him, and, spurred on by the question “What is the Church?” as well as by a yearning for something deeper and more firmly rooted, he embarked on an intellectual and spiritual journey that left him through Presbyterianism and Anglicanism to the Orthodox Church. Mr. Barnes was received into the Church on Pentecost in 1995.
In 1998 he earned a Licentiate in Orthodox Theological Studies from the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies in Etna, California. His thesis, under the direction of Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna, formed the basis for this book.

________
“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

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lore, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

On the 24th of June, Our Holy Orthodox Church
celebrates the Nativity of the Venerable and
Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist
JOHN.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. Fourth Tone

O PROPHET and Forerunner of Christ God’s coming tous, all we
who with longing now extol thee are at a loss to honor thee
worthily. For thy mother’s barrenness and father’s long silence,
by thine all-renowned and hallowed birth, were both ended, and
the Incarnation of the Son of God is preached unto all the world.

Kontakion Hymn. Third Tone

She that cone was barren doth "today bring forth Christ’s Forerunner,
John, hte culmination and the crown of all of the Prophets. For when
he, in River Jordan, laid his hand on Him Whom the Prophets preached
aforetime, he was revealed as God the Logo;s [Word's[ forechosen

When the Orthodox Christian offers the prayer to the Holy Spirit, "O Heavenly King…" one can see an affirmation of the Holy Spirit’s General Ministry towards all of creation in which He fills all things with the energies of God in His role as the Divine Agent of Him by Whom "all things consist" [Colossians 1:17).  The second example is the prayer which concludes the First Hour.  Based on Saint John 1:9, it is a good example of the Orthodox understanding of the Economy of God towards His creation: