Insane Ramblings & Orthodox Ecclesiology

American Football is the most watched sport in America and growing!

2012-01-31T12:26:00.006-06:00

According to Wikipedia:

...The Super Bowl has frequently been the most watched American television broadcast of the year. Super Bowl XLV played in 2011 became the most watched American television program in history, drawing an average audience of 111 million viewers and taking over the spot held by the previous year's Super Bowl, which itself had taken over the #1 spot held for twenty-eight years by the final episode of M*A*S*H. The Super Bowl is also among the most watched sporting events in the world, mostly due to North American audiences ... 2011's Super Bowl XLV holds the record for total number of U.S. viewers, attracting an average audience of 111 million viewers, making the game the most viewed television broadcast of any kind in U.S. history.

From The Nielson Company:

Prime-time television viewership numbers compiled by The Nielsen Co. for Dec. 26-Jan. 1. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership for the week. The Top 5 programs were:
"Sunday Night Football," NBC, 27.62 million viewers
"Sunday Night Football Kickoff Show," NBC, 21.23 million viewers
"Monday Night Football," ESPN, 15.64 million viewers
"60 Minutes," CBS, 14.45 million viewers
"Football Night in America", NBC, 14.44 million viewers

From Orange County News:

Prime-time NFL football draws its biggest audience in 15 years ... "Sunday Night Football" drew the largest audience in its six seasons on NBC.

From NFL Communications:

49ers-Ravens on Thursday Night Football most-watched game ever on NFL Network ... Ranks as Thanksgiving’s all-time No. 1 show on cable & tops 2010 NFLN Thanksgiving game by 50 percent.

Clearly not a game in decline, no matter what some Soccer elitists would like to claim (And I love soccer too!)

I LOVE The NFL PRO BOWL!

2012-01-28T10:28:00.003-06:00

I love it! The best of the AFC vs. the best of the NFC. A forced 4-3 Defense (which I prefer to the 3-4 even though Green Bay runs it exclusively).

In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League (NFL). Since the merger with the rival American Football League (AFL) in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference (AFC) against those in the National Football Conference (NFC).

Unlike most other sports leagues, which hold their all-star games during (roughly) the halfway point of their respective regular seasons, the Pro Bowl is played at the end of the NFL season. The NFL's all-star game has a tattered image. It is the only major all-star game that draws lower ratings than its regular-season games. However, the biggest concern of teams is to avoid injuries to the star players.

The first "Pro All-Star Game," featuring the all-stars of the 1938 season (as well as three players from the Hollywood Stars and Los Angeles Bulldogs, who were not members of the league), was played on January 15, 1939 at Los Angeles's Wrigley Field. The NFL All-Star Game was played again in Los Angeles in 1940 and then in New York and Philadelphia in 1941 and 1942 respectively, after which the game was suspended due to World War II. The concept of an all-star game would not be revived until 1951, when the newly rechristened Pro Bowl played at various venues before being held at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii for 30 consecutive seasons from 1980 to 2009. The 2010 Pro Bowl was played at Sun Life Stadium, the home stadium of the Miami Dolphins and host site of Super Bowl XLIV, on January 31, the first time ever that the Pro Bowl was held before the championship game, with the conference teams not including players from the teams that will be playing in the Super Bowl. The 2011 Pro Bowl was played again in Hawaii, but again held during the week before the Super Bowl. The 2012 game is also scheduled for Hawaii.

Currently, players are voted into the Pro Bowl by the coaches, the players themselves, and the fans. Each group's ballots count for one third of the votes. The fans vote online at the NFL's official website. There are also replacements that go to the game should any selected player be unable to play due to injuries. Prior to 1995, only the coaches and the players made Pro Bowl selections.

In order to be considered a Pro Bowler for a given year, a player must either have been one of the initial players selected to the team, or a player who accepts an invitation to the Pro Bowl as an alternate; invited alternates who decline to attend are not considered Pro Bowlers. Being a Pro Bowler is considered to be a mark of honor, and players who are accepted into the Pro Bowl are considered to be elite.

The Pro Bowl head coaches are traditionally the head coaches of the teams that lost in the AFC and NFC championship games for the same season of the Pro Bowl in question (not the case for the 1980 and 81 seasons played in 1981 and 1982). However, for the 2010 and 2011 Pro Bowls, a new rule was presented: The teams that lose in the divisional playoff game with the best regular-season record will have their coaching staffs lead their respective conference Pro Bowl team. If the losing teams of each conference had the same regular season record the coaches from the higher-seeded team will get the Pro Bowl honor. This was, presumably, to allow the coaches more time with the players while the Pro Bowl is held during the week before the Super Bowl, since the conference championship losers would only have one week to prepare as opposed to three weeks when the Pro Bowl was held the week after the Super Bowl.

The Pro Bowl has different rules from other NFL games to make the game safer.

No motion or shifting by the offense
Offense must have a tight end in all formations
Offense can’t have 3 receivers on a side
Intentional grounding is legal
Defense must run a 4-3 at all times
No press-type coverage except inside the 5 yard line
No blitz
Not allowed to rush a Punt, PAT or FG attempt
No calls can be challenged
Players can tweet to Twitter on the sidelines and locker room

The teams are made of players from different NFL teams, so using their own uniforms would be too confusing. The players each wear the helmet of their team, but the home jerseys and pants are either a solid blue for the NFC or solid red for the AFC, while white jerseys with blue or red accents, respectively, for the away team. While it has been speculated that the color of Pro Bowl jerseys is determined by the winner of the Super Bowl, this is untrue. The design of Pro Bowl uniforms is changed every two years, and the color and white jerseys are rotated along with the design change. This has been Pro Bowl tradition since the switch to team specific helmets, which started with the January 1979 game. The two-year switch was originally created as a marketing ploy by Nike, and has been continued by Reebok, who won the merchandising contract in 2002.

The early Pro Bowl, contested by the National Football League's Eastern and Western Division stars and played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, featured the same uniforms from the 1950s to mid-1960s; the Eastern team wore scarlet jerseys with white numerals and a white crescent shoulder stripe, white pants with red stripe, red socks, and a plain red helmet. The Western team wore white jerseys with royal-blue numerals and a Northwestern University-style triple stripe on the sleeves, white pants with blue stripe and socks and a plain blue helmet. Perhaps oddly, the Eastern team, wore home dark jerseys, although the host-city team, the Los Angeles Rams, were members of the Western Conference. From January 1967 to January 1970 both teams wore gold helmets with the NFL logo on the sides; the Eastern helmets featured a red-white-red tri-stripe and the Western a similar blue-white-blue tri-stripe. In fact the players brought their own game helmets to Los Angeles, which were then spray-painted and decorated for the contest. (For the 1970 game the helmets featured the 50 NFL logo, commemorating the league's half-century anniversary.)

In the earliest years of the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, the players did not wear their unique helmets, as they do now. The AFC All-Stars wore a solid red helmet with a white A on it, while the NFC players wore a solid white helmet with a blue N on it. The AFC's red helmets were paired with white jerseys and red pants, while the NFC's white helmets were paired with blue jerseys and white pants.

Two players with the same number who are elected to the Pro Bowl can now wear the same number for that game. This was not always the case in the past.

The 2008 Pro Bowl included a unique example of several players from the same team wearing the same number in a Pro Bowl. For the game, Washington Redskins players T Chris Samuels, TE Chris Cooley, and LS Ethan Albright all wore the number 21 (a number normally inappropriate for their positions) in memory of their teammate Sean Taylor who had been murdered during the 2007 season.

The Pro Bowl even has the best of the best cheerleaders cheering on the sides of the fields!

My AFC Team for 2012: The Miami Dolphins

2012-01-27T22:27:00.000-06:00

I love the placement of the uniform stripe on the Miami Dolphins' uniforms. I think the future of the uniform stripe is right there at the end of the sleeve with the trend of sleeves getting shorter and shorter every year.

The Miami Dolphins just took the Green Bay Packers' Offensive Coordinator and made him their head coach. Matt Flynn will either be franchised by the NFC's Green Bay Packers and traded or become the hottest free agent in the NFL. Either way, logic says he goes to the AFC's Miami Dolphins.

The Dolphins already have a number 10, so the question is, will Matt Flynn take over #10 as a 'Fin, or will he change numbers?

Either way, Matt Flynn will join the ranks of my favorite non-Packers players in the NFL: Troy Polamalu and Rob Gronkowski. I just will have more love for the Miami Dolphins than either the Pittsburgh Steelers or the New England Patriots! Hey, we could maybe even have a Green Bay Packer vs. Miami Dolphins Super Bowl next year! I'd love it!

PIPA & SOPA: Response From Senator John Cornyn

2012-01-26T21:42:00.000-06:00

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Stanosheck:

Thank you for contacting me about the PROTECT IP Act of 2011 (S. 968). I share your concerns regarding this legislation, and I appreciate having the benefit of your comments on this important issue.

The PROTECT IP Act of 2011 was introduced in the Senate on May 26, 2011, in an effort to counter the increasing number of websites, often foreign, dedicated to selling counterfeit pharmaceuticals, pirated copies of movies, music and other stolen property. While I appreciate the intent of this legislation, and believe that Congress should exercise its constitutional authority to protect Americans' property rights online, I have concerns that certain provisions of the PROTECT IP Act could lead to unintended consequences, including breaches in cybersecurity, damage to the integrity of the Internet, burdensome litigation, and dilution of First Amendment rights.

In response, on January 13, 2012, I along with several of my colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote to Majority Leader Harry Reid expressing our concern that the PROTECT IP Act was moving too quickly. We argued that it was necessary to hear from experts and build consensus before moving forward with this legislation. On January 20, 2012, Majority Leader Reid complied with our request and announced the indefinite postponement of scheduled votes on the PROTECT IP Act.

I appreciate having the opportunity to represent Texans in the United States Senate and you may be certain that I will oppose any legislation that will censor the Internet or otherwise infringe upon an individual’s First Amendment rights. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.

Sincerely,
JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator
517 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-2934
Fax: (202) 228-2856
http://www.cornyn.senate.gov

PIPA & SOPA: Constituent Response From Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison

2012-01-24T21:58:00.000-06:00

Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting me regarding S. 968, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (the PROTECT IP Act, or PIPA). The parallel, but not identical, legislation in the House of Representatives is H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). I welcome your thoughts and comments.

I did not cosponsor this legislation. By letter, e-mail, and telephone call, thousands of constituents like you have highlighted the potential pitfalls in the bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who was a strong supporter of PIPA, has withdrawn the bill from Senate floor consideration. I agree with this decision. Although there are legitimate issues to be addressed regarding so-called internet piracy, I believe that several provisions of the current legislation need to be clarified or revised.

Protecting intellectual property is more challenging than ever before. For example, high speed broadband enables access to the entire catalog of movies, music, books, television, and technology. These protections should not censor free speech, nor should they hinder innovation.
Online promotion of counterfeit goods by foreign entities is also a growing concern. Assessing how to protect copyright, patent, and intellectual property rights — and doing so without infringing on consumers’ legitimate interests — requires dealing with a complex series of problems.

Please be assured that I will keep your views in mind should this bill or related legislation be reported to the floor for action by the full Senate. I appreciate hearing from you, and I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me on any issue that is important to you.

Sincerely,
Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senator
284 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5922 (tel)
202-224-0776 (fax)
http://hutchison.senate.gov

If you would like more information about issues pending before the Senate, please visit the Senator's website at http://hutchison.senate.gov. You will find articles, floor statements, press releases, and weekly columns on current events.

Thank you.

If you could add any 2 players from the Packers' lineup who would they be?

2012-01-16T22:54:00.000-06:00

Even though it is our defense that is bleeding, for me, there is no question, my 2 favorite professional American Football players that are not currently Green Bay Packers:

Troy Polamalu
Rob Gronkowski

Who would you choose and why?

My 2012 NFL Playoffs & Super Bowl Brackets

2012-01-06T14:55:00.000-06:00

ROUND ONE

NFC

New York Giants vs. Atlanta Falcons: Falcons Win
New Orleans Saints vs. Detroit Lions: Lions Win

AFC

Denver Broncos vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: Broncos Win
Houston Texans vs. Cincinnati Bengals: Texans Win

ROUND TWO

NFC

Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions: Packers Win
San Francisco 49ers vs. Atlanta Falcons: Falcons Win

AFC

New England Patriots vs. Denver Broncos: Patriots Win
Baltimore Ravens vs. Houston Texans: Texans Win

ROUND THREE

NFC

Green Bay Packers vs. Atlanta Falcons: Packers Win

AFC

New England Patriots vs. Houston Texans: Texans Win

FINAL ROUND: SUPER BOWL

Green Bay Packers vs. Houston Texans: Packers Win

Too Lazy to Research a Candidate? (I'm so lazy that I just re-blogged this same post 4 years later!)

2012-01-02T22:28:00.000-06:00

Just tell the computer what's important to you. This is a really simple way to find out which candidates share your views....

My Results:

Score	Candidate	Disagreements, Unknowns, Other
45	Paul	Disagreements: (7) Unknowns/Other: (1)
27	Kucinich	Disagreements: (9) Unknowns/Other: (0)
22	Biden	Disagreements: (9) Unknowns/Other: (4)
20	Gravel	Disagreements: (7) Unknowns/Other: (6)
17	Obama	Disagreements: (9) Unknowns/Other: (4)
17	Clinton	Disagreements: (11) Unknowns/Other: (0)
16	Brownback	Disagreements: (9) Unknowns/Other: (3)
14	Edwards	Disagreements: (11) Unknowns/Other: (2)
13	Dodd	Disagreements: (10) Unknowns/Other: (3)
10	Richardson	Disagreements: (10) Unknowns/Other: (3)
2	Cox	Disagreements: (9) Unknowns/Other: (9)
-4	Huckabee	9/5
-14	Tancredo	13/2
-20	T. Thompson	9/14
-23	McCain	17/1
-25	Romney	14/3
-26	Hunter	14/3
-52	Giuliani	19/3

Try it yourself at http://www.dehp.net/candidate/index.php

BCS Bowl Madness (and an easy fix)!

2011-12-31T22:00:00.021-06:00

The system is beyond broken. Some teams in the top 10 are not even in a bowl game this year (like #5 Southern Cal)! Everyone, including the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama agrees, it is time for a playoff system in NCAA College 1-A American Football.

Here is an easy solution using the classic bowls in their historical ranks without letting the Fiesta Bowl trump the Cotton Bowl which was a stupid decision based on money, just like all college football decisions these days.

There are currently 12 Division 1-A conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big 10, Conference USA, IA Independents, Mid-American, Mountain West, Pac-10, SEC, Sun Belt, WAC), so I would recommend allowing for 4 wild cards to make a Super 16 for a proper playoff system. Here is how I would do it (without naming which conference plays where, because that does not really even matter. Let the conferences decide a rival conference for the system just like teams have conferences (i.e. Big 10 is the rival conference of the Big 12).

First the Western Bowls:
2 play (1 is a wildcard) in the Holiday Bowl (San Francisco, CA)
2 play in the Fiesta Bowl (Scottsdale, AZ)
The winners of these 2 Bowl Games play in the Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA)

2 play in the Sun Bowl (El Paso, TX)
2 play (1 is a wildcard) in the Alamo Bowl (San Antonio, TX)
The winners of these 2 Bowl Games play in the Cotton Bowl (Dallas, TX)
The winners of these two Western Bowl Games (Rose Bowl and Cotton Bowl) meet in the BCS West Bowl Game. (Maybe play it in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, NE and call it the Corn Bowl or the Cereal Bowl).

Now for the Eastern Bowls:
2 play in the Peach Bowl (Atlanta, GA)
2 play (1 is a wildcard) in the Gator Bowl (Jacksonville, FL)
The winners of these 2 Bowl Games play in the Orange Bowl (Miami, FL)

2 play in the Liberty Bowl (Memphis, TN)
2 play (1 is a wildcard) in the Independence Bowl (Shreveport, LA)
The winners of these 2 Bowl Games play in the Sugar Bowl (New Orleans, LA)
The winners of these two Eastern Bowl Games (Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl) meet in the BCS East Bowl Game (Maybe play it in Lambeau Field/City Stadium in Green Bay, WI and call it the Cheese Bowl or the Chili Bowl).

The winners of the BCS West Bowl and the BCS East Bowl meet in the National Bowl Game/BCS Championship Bowl Game in a fitting location such as either New York, New York or Washington, D.C..

All the games before the semi-finals and the Championship game are in more temperate southern states with San Francisco being the northernmost bowl, so it makes sense to have the semi-finals and Championship game in the colder, windier north in non-domed stadiums in major football cities for a different feel.You could still have all those other minor corporate bowl games for the teams ranked #17 to #120 with the opponents based solely on how much money they will get by inviting certain teams, just like now. There, this is the BCS fixed. How hard was that?

One last thing... Happy New Year 2012 A.D.!

The Green Bay Packers and their history as a Christian Faith-based Team

2011-12-27T22:22:00.001-06:00

If anyone knows the history of the Green Bay Packers, they will know that there has been a religious history with it. Recently, Coach McCarthy showed it continues today.

When asked in a recent Tuesdays with McCarthy, "What’s something you always tell your team before they go out on the field?"

He responded, "...The last thing I say to the team is a prayer that highlights scripture from the Bible that’s representative of our theme for the week. After the Bible verse, we say the Lord’s Prayer..."

Some more prominent interesting Christian team history includes the following:

The team’s founder, Earl “Curly” Lambeau, came from a devout Catholic family, whose life centered upon the Norbertine St. Willebrord Church in downtown Green Bay.

In Super Bowl I and II, it was quarterback Bart Starr and coach Vince Lombardi who provided spiritual leadership for the team. “God first, family second, and then football,” was Lombardi’s self-proclaimed priority list. Named MVP in both Super Bowl I and II, Bart Starr acknowledged that, “Regardless of the success that I have experienced, if my life does not exhibit God’s love, it becomes less meaningful.”

Each day on his way to work for the Green Bay Packers, Lombardi would stop at St. Willebrord for daily mass and "offer a prayer in case of unexpected death: 'My God, if I am to die today, or suddenly at any time, I wish to receive this Communion as my viaticum...'". On the morning of the dedication of Lombardi Avenue, Lombardi remarked, to his 37 member entourage, he was pleased to have gotten them all up to attend morning mass.

Things began to change under Mike Sherman’s tenure as head coach. Sherman saw the value of having one permanent chaplain with whom players could build a trusting relationship, because he saw that their spiritual needs required more than Sunday Mass.

For years the team had offered Catholic Mass and a non-denominational chapel service at the same time—4 ½ hours before kickoff—in separate rooms. Coach McCarthy has changed that, with Mass still before the game but chapel the night before. McCarthy did this so he can attend both services every week. The coach wants to hear everything that is presented to his players, so he can incorporate all of these spiritual messages in directing the team. It is just another indicator of the Packers’ spiritual legacy and dedication to their players’ overall well-being.

Famous Green Bay Packer, Reggie White, was known for his Christian ministry as an ordained Evangelical minister, leading to his nickname, "The Minister of Defense."

Shortly after the conclusion of this year’s Super Bowl game, FOX TV newscaster, Pam Oliver asked Packer wide receiver, Greg Jennings, to describe his feelings at winning the Super Bowl. Jennings immediately exclaimed: “To God be the glory,” sentiments echoed by Packer teammate, James Jones as well. Other Packers, including Aaron Rodgers, Donald Driver, Charles Woodson, Ryan Pickett, Brandon Jackson, James Starks and kicker Mason Crosby, joined in the Godly tribute, freely acknowledging their faith in Jesus Christ.

As the newly ordained, “Leader of the Pack,” Aaron Rodgers not only recognizes the opportunity he has to be an influence in the lives of others, he wholeheartedly welcomes the opportunity. “I try to follow what Jesus did, lead by example,” said Rodgers. “If people see Christ’s influence in my life, hopefully it will have an influence in theirs.”

The 5 Points of Calvinism: The Reformed Doctrines of Doom & Gloom (TULIP)

2011-12-18T21:09:00.007-06:00

Continued from http://nstanosheck.blogspot.com/2011/10/solemn-caution-against-ten-horns-of.html

The First Point [U]

The first side (the positive spin) of the first point of Calvinism is that if God has chosen you for salvation He did so unconditionally. You do not have to believe to become chosen for salvation but you were chosen and created for salvation and so you believe as a result of being elected and created for salvation.

The second side (the negative or doom and gloom side) of the first point is that if God has not chosen you for salvation, – meaning He has chosen you for damnation – He did so unconditionally. You were chosen, decreed, and created for damnation. You cannot believe and are therefore damned for your unbelief because this is according to god’s sovereign will and for His glory and good pleasure.

The Second Point [T]

The first side (the positive spin) of the second point of Calvinism is that if you, before the foundation of the earth, are one of those unconditionally elected for salvation you will one day (in this life) inevitably be born again before the final judgment. When you are born again you will be given a new nature. As your old nature was an unbelieving nature so your new nature will be a believing nature. Here is how it unfolds. As a new born child of God you will (as a result of your new birth) believe in Jesus Christ. Because (and when) you believe in Jesus Christ you will be declared righteous and be guaranteed a place of the other chosen few among the resurrection of the just-and at that time glorified for all eternity.

The second side (the negative or doom and gloom side) of the second point is that if you are not one of the unconditionally elect, you will not and cannot born again. Here is how it unfolds. Because you are not elect, you will never be born again but will forever be stuck with your predestined unbelieving nature – you will not and cannot believe in Jesus Christ. Because you cannot believe in Jesus Christ in your unregenerate condition, you will not be justified. If you are not justified you will eventually be raised with the other unconditionally predestined unjust, and finally be sentenced to everlasting shame and torment. This to is according to god’s sovereign will and good pleasure.

The Third Point [L]

The first side (the positive spin) of the third point of Calvinism is that if you were unconditionally chosen and created for salvation, Christ died for your sins so that the eternal decree for salvation would have an historical provision for salvation.

The second side (the negative or doom and gloom side) of the third point of Calvinism is that if you were not chosen and created for salvation-meaning you were chosen and created for damnation- Christ did not die for your sins because an eternal decree for damnation needs no historical provision for salvation.

[But it is okay in one way, because you can go to Church and hear Calvinists preach and say that the Gospel is a “well meant offer” to you, even though it will never change your un-elect status, but it will sound nice to you. In fact, it even deceives some of the reprobate into falsely thinking they are elect !]

The Fourth Point [I]

The first side (the positive spin) of the fourth doctrine is that if you were chosen and created for salvation, God will irresistibly draw or efficaciously call you (applying saving grace to your life and circumstance) to Himself, first giving you a new life, which in turn brings with it a new nature, which is a believing nature, resulting in your certain and immediate justification and eventual and everlasting glorification.

The second side (the negative or doom and gloom side) of the fourth doctrine is that if you were not chosen and created for salvation-meaning that you were chosen and created for damnation-you will not be irresistibly drawn, efficaciously called, and no saving grace will be extended to you, which means you will not and cannot be born again, which in turn means you cannot have faith in Christ and thereby be justified in this life or ultimately glorified in the next life. Instead you will suffer the torments of the everlasting lake of fire in accordance with the sovereign will of god because this is according to His good pleasure.

The Fifth Point [P]

The first side (the positive spin) of the fifth point of Calvinism is that if you were chosen and created for salvation, the new nature you receive when you are born again, and the saving faith that comes with that new nature, and the justification that immediately follows faith insures that you will live (however imperfectly) a sanctified, holy, or righteous life in faith (practically speaking) for the most part, from the time of your regeneration until the time of your glorification. This perseverance in sanctification, holiness, or righteousness in faith, while not perfect is inevitable for the truly born again and will be to the end of this life for the elect. It is not as though the elect should not fail to persevere (for the most part) but they cannot do so. If therefore a person appeared to be a saint earlier in life, but failed to persevere in faith and righteousness until the end of life, it proves he was never a saint or never born again, never had faith in Christ, and never had a holy and righteous life in faith to persevere in.

The second side (the negative or doom and gloom side) of the third point is that if you are not elect and created for salvation-meaning you are elect and chosen for damnation-you cannot be born again, have faith in Christ, live a holy or righteous life in faith for even one day, much less to the end of your life. Because God is sovereign and can do as He pleases with His creatures, God is free to mislead a person into thinking they are one of the elect, help them live much like the elect, but at the judgment reveal that they were convinced by God that they were one of the elect even though they were not. No matter how convinced someone is in thinking he is one of the elect, assurance of salvation and eternal life is impossible to secure. How could anyone know for certain that they will persevere to the end proving they were elect without actually having persevered to the end.

After many years (actually decades) of studying the Calvinist doctrines of grace, I am convinced that the best refutation of the five points of Calvinism is an accurate and honest explanation of the five points of Calvinism.

Unfortunately most new converts to Calvinism are not aware of the flip side to the five points of Calvinism early on. Those who introduce Calvinism to the non-Calvinist believe that the new believer is not ready for the meatier stuff of Reformed theology. That, they say, should come only later when they can handle it. They reason that the positive spin of each point is like simple arithmetic. The negative side is more like algebra or some other more complicated, difficult and higher form of math.

The truth is this; the negative side is not more difficult to understand for the new convert to Calvinism, it is more difficult to accept. The positive spin seems more palatable whereas the negative side is difficult to swallow and some even choke on it. Full disclosure, early on and sometimes even later on, is a major hindrance to those committed to winning the non-Calvinist over to Calvinism. Admittedly, sometimes proponents of Calvinism do not lay it all out on the table because they themselves have not turned the coin over to see what is on the other side. Sometimes they ignore it. Sometimes they deny it. They are on the Reformed road and are trying to get others to join them. However, they have not gone very far and sometimes do not choose to go but a few blocks down the Reformed road.

Some would like to believe that each of the five points of Calvinism are only five points of grace. It is too much (for them) to think that these five points also represent a very hard and harsh message of doom and gloom.

Be Not of This World: Love of the World is Hatred of God

2011-11-25T21:26:00.000-06:00

Continued from http://nstanosheck.blogspot.com/2010/11/blessing-from-god-are-not-of-this-world.html

(1 John 2:15-17)Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 不要爱世界和世界上的事。人若爱世界，爱父的心就不在他里面了。
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 因为凡世界上的事，就像肉体的情欲，眼目的情欲，并今生的骄傲，都不是从父来的，乃是从世界来的。
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 这世界和其上的情欲都要过去，惟独遵行神旨意的，是永远常存。

(James 4:4)Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 你们这些淫乱的人（原文作淫妇）哪，岂不知与世俗为友就是与神为敌吗？所以凡想要与世俗为友的，就是与神为敌了。

(Romans 12:1-2)I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 所以弟兄们，我以神的慈悲劝你们，将身体献上，当作活祭，是圣洁的，是神所喜悦的；你们如此事奉乃是理所当然的。
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 不要效法这个世界，只要心意更新而变化，叫你们察验何为神的善良、纯全、可喜悦的旨意。

(John 5:18-19)If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.「世人若恨你们，你们知道（或作：该知道），恨你们以先已经恨我了。
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 你们若属世界，世界必爱属自己的；只因你们不属世界，乃是我从世界中拣选了你们，所以世界就恨你们。

Ancient Jewish Icons

2011-11-12T22:29:00.000-06:00

Ancient Jewish synagogues were filled with icons. While Scripture required the inside of the Jerusalem Temple to display icons of angels, the icons in Jewish synagogues depicted numerous scenes from Scripture, including:

Dura Europos Synagogue ~ 244 A.D.

The Early Church emerged from Israel, and we inherited the Israelite’s ancient love for icons. Like the early Jewish synagogues, the catacombs and the most ancient Christian Churches were filled with holy icons.

"The Antichrist" by The Very Reverend Archpriest Boris Molchanoff

2011-11-08T11:19:00.010-06:00

The Lord Jesus Christ said, "....I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (St. Matthew 16:18). What do the gates of hell signify?

The Jews had the custom of gathering under the leadership of their elders, by the city gates, for the discussion of political, legal and social questions. These meetings were the last appeal of all litigation, and here all divine commandments were announced. They were vested with a definite authority among the people. This Jewish custom of meeting at the city gates is mentioned in the Book of Ruth (IV:1,11). A description of an active wife in the Book of Proverbs (31: 23) says that, "Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land." He is invested with the trust of society and takes an active part in important meetings. (Prof. V.V. Bolotoff).

The "gates" of hell" signifies not only the forces of hell, but in general staff of Hell's power. Their most important meeting is dedicated to developing a plan for a general battle with the Church. The Church and Hell are represented as two warring powers. And in this war with Hell, according to Christ's words, the Church will remain invincible.

Hell's war plan with the Church is called the "Mystery of Iniquity" in the Holy Scriptures (2 Thessalonians 2:8). The iniquity has been working for centuries and will have its culmination in the appearance of the Antichrist ( 2 Thessalonians 2:8). The Antichrist can come only as a result of universal Apostasy, that is, the abjuration of the people from God and His paths, when God's grace will withdraw from the people.

"And in the latter times of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up." (Daniel 8:23)

"Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders...." (2 Thessalonians 2:9)

All of the evil in its fullest strength which human nature can accept and endure will be concentrated in the person of the Antichrist. Thousands of years were required to develop and perfect the kind of human seed that was required to receive the purest most perfect Fruit of the human tree in the person of the Most Blessed Virgin. Comparably, for the appearance of the most depraved fruit, capable of containing within itself all Satanic malice, an entire line of human generations will be demanded in the direction of greatest corruption and defilement of human nature, based upon mad hatred towards Christ and war against His Church. "It can be admitted," says Pro. Belyaeff, "that innate and acquired evil, gradually accumulating in a long line of ancestors of the Antichrist, transmitted with each new generation, will reach such a degree of force in the Antichrist himself, which human nature is capable of containing, revealing and enduring. The evil which lives in mankind, will reach the highest limit of its development in him." (Godlessness And The Antichrist, Vol. 1. p. 193).

Of course, to the degree that evil strengthens in man's will, diabolic activity within man will increase also, as the devil thus receives greater access to man's soul. Inasmuch as the Antichrist's personal evil will and its corruption will reach the limit of its greatest growth, the relationship of the devil to him will reach the limit of maximum nearness, which will be expressed in the devil himself continuously acting in the person of the Antichrist, "God", says St. John of Damascus, "Foreseeing future depravity of his will (the Antichrist's) will allow the devil to inhabit him." ("The Exact Exposition Of The Orthodox Faith", Book IV, Chapter 26) St. Cyril of Jerusalem teaches the same. (Teaching, V. 14). St. Andrew of Kessary says that the Antichrist "will come out of the gloomiest and remotest lands of the earth to which the devil is banished." (Interpretation of the 11th chapter of the Apocalypse, 30th chapter.) Blessed Theodore writes, "Man's enemy, clothed in human nature, God's adversary, the demon, usurping God's Name, will appear in the world before Christ's coming." ("An Exact Exposition Of Divine Dogma", chapter 23, printed in "Christian Readings", 1844, Chapter IV, page 355.) Laktancy, Gezihy of Jerusalem and Blessed Heronim, call the Antichrist the son of Satan.

In agreement with such teachings of the Holy Fathers, the life of the Antichrist cannot admit one moment free from satanic action. It must already appear in the very birth and even in his conception, peculiar and exceptional in its depravity. "From a defiled virgin will actually be born his (the devil's) weapon." says St. Ephrem the Syrian. This is also confirmed by St. John of Damascus. "A man (the Antichrist) will be born from fornication."

The Holy Fathers Iriney ("Against Heresy", Book V, chapter 30), Ippolit (Legends about Christ and the Antichrist), and also Ilariy, Ambrose, Ieronim and Augustus, remark that the Antichrist will be of Jewish ancestry, from the tribe of Dan.

In the Synaksare, stated in the Week of Lent without meat, we read that, "The Antichrist will come and be born, as St. Ippolit of Rome declares, from a depraved wife and self-styled virgin, which is from the Jews, from the tribe of Dan." (Lenten Triod) Such indications in God's Word have several foundations:

In the prophecies of Patriarch Jacob about each of his sons becoming the progenitors of the tribes of Israel, the fate of Dan's ancestors is depicted in such a way that can only be ascribed to the Antichrist. "Dan shall be a serpent on the way, an adder in the path..." (Genesis 49, 17)
In the prophecies of Ierenim: "From Dan himself...(Ierenim VIII,16)
In the prophecies of the Apocalypse, enumerating the remainder of all the tribes of Israel, marked by the Angel for salvation, the tribe of Dan is absolutely excluded. (Revelations VII, 4-8).
According to the teachings of the Holy Fathers, the devil, exalting the Antichrist, will try to vest his coming with all the signs of the coming of the Son of God to earth. (See St. Cyril of Jerusalem, the 150th catechistic word; St. Ephrem the Syrian, the 39th word, in the Russian translation Blessed Theodore, "A Short Exposition of Divine Dogma", Chapter 23, St. Ippolit, "The Legends of Christ and the Antichrist")

Of course, some resemblance of the Antichrist to Christ will only be external and in essence deceitful, for the whole life and all the deeds of the Antichrist will be an incensed and blasphemous revolt against Christ and His Church. This false external resemblance to Christ will appear in the very birth of the Antichrist. Keeping in mind that Christ was born a Virgin, the devil will produce his weapon from a virgin, not from a pure virgin, however, but from one filled with every vice and satanic filth. Then, as the Lord until he was thirty years old remained in obscurity, so the Antichrist, we assume, will, until the age of 30, remain in clandestine solitude and obscurity. As Christ began His saving service with sermons of His Divine teaching and miracles, so will the Antichrist begin his completely destructive service with the delusion of the people with his false teaching and incredibly shameful, deceitful miracles. As it was pleasing for the Lord to reveal Himself to all the people as the Messiah by solemnly entering Jerusalem and into its Temple, so the Antichrist will reveal himself as the false Jewish Messiah, the international monarch, in him solemn ceremonial entrance into Jerusalem and his enthronement in the temple of Jerusalem, which will by that time be restored.

The Lord's entry into Jerusalem, says Archbishop Innokenty of Herson, was "for all Jews a national declaration that Jesus Christ was veritably the Messiah. Indisputable proof of this are His own words, proclaimed before the gates of Jerusalem, saying: "If thou hadst known, even now, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace: But now they are hid from thine eyes." (Luke XIX, 42.) "With this day, with the rejection of the Messiah, the fate of the Israelite nation was decided for eternity." (The Last Days on Earth of Jesus Christ")

On the day when the Antichrist shall enter into Jerusalem as the false Messiah, forever and irrevocably the fate of his contemporaries will be decided. Blessed are those who, on the last day given by God for the conclusive self-determination of the people, will see the Antichrist as Satan's servant and the inescapable peril of all mankind which recognized him. Finally, as the Lord revealed Himself to the world and fulfilled His service as a Prophet, as King and as High Priest, so will the Antichrist concentrate all this triple power in his hands and complete his destructive service as the teacher of all mankind, as the monarch of an international monarchy and as the highest primate of all religions, demanding reverence for himself as God.

The entire life and activity of the Antichrist may be examined in three periods:

The FIRST PERIOD of the Antichrist from the day of birth to the moment of his social appearance will pass in clandestine obscurity. St. John of Damascus says that, "Antichrist will be raised secretly." (The Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith", Book IV, Chapter 26.)

The SECOND PERIOD of the Antichrist's life will be opened by his thunderous entry on the world stage in the role of a universal teacher or "prophet". It is very possible that he will begin his activity during a world war, when people, enduring all its horrors, will not see any way out of the calamitous dead end. All the concealed levers for the solution will be in the hands of a secret society assisting the Antichrist.

The Antichrist will offer the most successful project for solving the world crisis from the perspective of political and social wisdom, which would establish a uniform political and social order in the whole world. Exhausted from the shock of war, spiritually blinded humanity will not only by unaware that this project is a cowardly trap, enticing it into the most degrading and merciless slavery, but on the contrary, will recognize it as a manifestation of scholarship and genius.

Universal advertisement about the Antichrist as a brilliant thinker, new leader, and savior of mankind, will thunder over all nations in the shortest possible period of time. "Evil spirits dispersed in the universe, will awaken a general, inflated opinion about the Antichrist in man, a general enthusiasm and an irresistible attraction for him." (St. Ephraim the Syrian, 16th word.)

In this period of his activity, the Antichrist will not use any force and will try to win men's trust and affection with his deceitful and hypocritical public mask of virtue. He, according to the expression of Vladimir Soloviev, "will throw a gleaming veil of kindness and truth over the mystery of iniquity." "He will come," said St. Ephrem the Syrian, "in an image which will seduce everyone. He will come as a humble, kind, hater of falsehood (as he will say about himself), rejecting idols, preferring piety and kindness, loving the poor, bearing extremely handsome features, constant, sweet to everyone, respecting especially the Jewish nation because they will be awaiting his coming...He will take sly measures to please everyone, will not accept gifts nor speak in anger, will not show an overcast countenance, but will entice the world with a decorous exterior until he is enthroned." (See previous citation.)

From the great wealth of ascetical experience from our great men of podvig, it is known that when the black devil cannot overcome an ascetic, encountering unswerving opposition from him, a stronger devil comes as an "angel of light" (II Corinthians, XI, 14), attempting to awaken sympathy and trust towards himself in the ascetic, and easily charming him away to destruction. Thus, we can imagine how easily and quickly the bright image of the Antichrist will attract general sympathy towards itself after the filthy devil of Bolshevism.

As a result of such deceit, "the need to invite the Antichrist will arise" within the very temperament of man's spirit. "A beckoning voice will resound in man's society, expressing urgent need for a genius of geniuses, who would raise material development and prosperity to the highest degree and establish affluence on earth". (Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninoff. Vol IV, page 313.)

The hypocrisy of the Antichrist in this period will reach the point that he, even in his relationship to Christians, will not oppose them, but will appear ready to be their benefactor. He will try to imitate Christ in the external, showy side of his life. The majority of Christians, not guided by the spiritual wisdom of the Church, but by worldly wisdom, will not see this deceit, recognizing the Antichrist as Christ who has come to earth a second time. The monks of the Solovetsky monastery pass on the answer given by Righteous Zosima to his disciples when he was asked how the Antichrist could be recognized. Righteous Zosima said, "When you will hear that Christ has appeared on earth, know then that this is the Antichrist." This answer is most precise. "The world or mankind will not recognize the Antichrist, it will recognize him as Christ, it will proclaim him Christ.....

Holy Scriptural References to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed

2011-11-07T07:22:00.019-06:00

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is used in the Eastern Orthodox Church, or simply known as the Nicene Creed. This Creed the “symbol of faith” and confessed in many of the services of the church, is also known as the ‘Pistevo’ (I Believe). The Pistevo contains all of the dogmatic truths of our Church that are necessary for our salvation.

The Nicene Creed was formulated at the First Ecumenical Council or Synod in the city of Nicea, Asia Minor, in 325 A.D. The decisions of the First Ecumenical Synod gave us the largest part of our Creed of Faith, its first seven articles. In later years the Second Ecumenical Council – Synod took place in Constantinople, in 381, with its decisions, completed the Creed, adding the last five articles, and has been recognized since then as the authoritative expression of the unchanged fundamental beliefs of the Orthodox Church.

The Orthodox Church gave us the Sacred Creed of Faith. This Creed which was prepared with great wisdom and prudence, as well as with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, contains our Orthodox beliefs in a few, concise words. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches” (Revelation 2:7).

There are 12 articles included in the Nicene Creed which define the most important doctrines (dogmas) of our faith in the following order:

Article 1 - God the Father.
Articles 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 - The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ
Article 8 – The Church
Article 10 – Holy Baptism
Article 11 – The Resurrection of the dead.
Article 12 – The Second Coming, or Judgment Day.

I would like to present to you references from Holy Scripture to the Nicene-Creed:

I believe in (Romans 10: 8-10; 1 John 4: 15)
One God (Deuteronomy 6: 4, Ephesians 4: 6)
Father (Matthew 6: 9)
Almighty, (Exodus 6: 3)
Creator of heaven and earth, (Genesis 1: 1)
and of all things visible and invisible; (Colossians 1: 15-16) and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, (Acts 11: 17)
Son of God (Matthew 14: 33; 16: 16)
begotten (John 1: 18; 3: 16)
begotten of the Father before all ages; (John 1: 2)
Light of Light (Psalm 27: I; John 8: 12; Matthew 17: 2,5)
true God of true God, (John 17: 1-5)
of one essence with the Father, (John 10: 30)
through Whom all things were made; (Hebrews 1: 1-2)
Who for us and for our salvation (I Timothy 2: 4-5)
came down from the heavens ((John 6: 33,35)
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, (Luke 1: 35)
and became man. (John 1: 14)
Crucified for us (Mark 15: 25; I Corinthians 15: 3)
under Pontius Pilate, (John 1: 14)
He suffered, (Mark 8: 31)
and was buried; (Luke 23: 53; I Corinthians 15: 4)
Rising on the third day according to the Scriptures, (Luke 24: 1; 1 Cor. 15: 4)
And ascending into the heavens, (Luke 24: 51; Acts 1: 10)
He is seated at the right hand of the Father; (Mark 16: 19; Acts 7: 55)
And coming again in glory (Matthew 24: 27)
to judge the living and dead, (Acts 10: 42; 2 I Timothy 4: 1)
His kingodom shall have no end; (2 Peter 1: 11)
And in the holy Spirit, (John 14: 26)
Lord (Acts 5: 3-4)
the Giver of life, (Genesis 1: 2)
Who proceeds from the Father, (John 15: 26)
Who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, (Matthew 3: 16-17)
Who spoke through the prophets; (I Samuel 19: 20; Ezekiel 11: 5, 13)
In one, (Matthew 16: 18)
holy, (I Peter 2: 5, 9)
catholic (Mark 16: 15)
and apostolic Church; (Acts 2: 42; Ephesians 2: 19-22)
I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; (Ephesians 4: 5)
I expect the resurrection of the dead; (John 11: 24; I Cor. 15: 12-49)
And the life of the age to come. (Mark 10: 29-30)
Amen. (Psalm 106:48)

For more studies about the Eastern Orthodox Faith, please visit :

What is the Orthodox Church and What Does It Believe?
http://www.serfes.org/orthodox/whatistheorthodoxchurch.htm

The Antichrist: The Ancient Orthodox Perspective
http://www.serfes.org/orthodox/theantichrist.htm

Excerpt from the Biblical Homily of St. John Chrysostom on the Synaxis of the Archangels

2011-11-06T23:17:00.001-06:00

There is need to praise the Angels, for they hymn the Creator, and entreat Him to impart goodness to men. The Angels are honored, for they are our allies against the opposing foes that war against us.

For it was the archangel Michael who fought back [ἀντιταττόμενος] the devil for the body of Moses (Jude 1:9), and the leader of the Persians that freedom might blossom for the people (Daniel 10:13). It was he himself who held back [καταστρέφων] the donkey, and stopped the inappropriate madness of Balaam, for the sorcerer did not reflect on his speaking, where the mute [animal] was made wise to speak (Numbers 22). It was he himself who bore the sword, and urged Jesus of Navi to fight [συμπλέκεσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις προτρεπόμενος] (Joshua 5-6). It was he who slaughtered the 185,000 Assyrians in one night, and put the barbarians to death during sleep (Isaiah 37:36). It was he who moved the prophet Habakkuk swiftly through the air, that the prophet Daniel might eat amidst the non-feeding lions, for they in reality were not fighting enemies, but ruled over the passions (Daniel 14:32-42).

There also is the wondrous and awesome [Archangel] Raphael (Tobit 12:15), who through a fish healed the possessed girl, and gave light to the blind old man.

But this silence is not worthy of the New Testement, in which a great portion is for the Archangel Gabriel, who ministered to Zacharias, and censured his doubt by making him silent, for he did not believe the dispensation that the barren womb would bear a child (Luke 1:19). It was he who gave good tidings to the pure and unwedded Mariam (Luke 1:26-38). It was he who lead the shepherds to the cave, where they beheld the Uncontainable One in the manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and together with them they offered odes in doxology: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men.” (Luke 2:8-18) He also urged the Magi to flee the tyrant [Herod], who persecuted the Creator upon the earth (Matthew 2:12). He also told the betrothed of the Virgin not to disdain the spotless one as soiled (Matthew 1:20). He also told them to flee the child-killing of Herod (Matthew 2:13). Even those in the flesh perceived the uncreated, and served as servants. They therefore were amazed by His strength, through which he troubled [the idols] which fell, according to the voice of David: “He will lift them up with his hands, and break them to pieces by throwing stones” [Ἐπὶ χειρῶν ἄραντες αὐτὸν, ἔξω τῆς βολῆς τῶν λίθων ἐκόμιζον.] Therefore, the Judeans looked for stones to throw upon him. He also hastened to [His] Passion, and also after the Resurrection, gathered at the empty tomb, saying to the faithful women: “Why do you seek the Living One among the dead?” (Luke 24:5) After the Ascension, he escorted the disciples, dissolving the bonds of Peter [when he was in prison] (Acts 12), accompanying Paul through his dangers on land and sea (2 Corinthians 11:26), interceding for the faith of Cornelius [the Centurion] (Acts 10), trampling upon Herod, the killer of the righteous (Acts 12:23).

But besides being worthy these great honors, don't [the Angels] also help our lives? For not only are angels placed to protect each nation, as the word cries: “When the Most-high divided the nations, he placed among the nations a number of Angels of God” (Deuteronomy 32:8). But also each man was granted an angel. This is not our word, but that of the Divine Scripture. The child Rhoda, who recognized the apostle Peter before the gates as he was fleeing from Herod's prison, was disbelieved, and they thought that it was his Angel (Acts 12:15). And the Savior Himself bears witness to this, as he says of the life of the small ones of this life: “Do not look down on one of these little ones. I tell you that their angels always behold the face of my Father in the heavens.” (Matthew 18:10) In each Church also, Christ has placed a guardian Angel, as John reveals: “Say to the angel of the Church of Smyrna: I see your poverty and your sorrow, but you are rich...” (Revelation 2:8).

How much Scripture is read in your Church on Sunday?

2011-11-05T23:25:00.000-05:00

So the local Chinese (Baptist) Church is moving to it's new location tomorrow. So I am looking at their bulletin, wondering what the Scripture Reading(s) will be. It is this:

Luke 2:13-14: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

That seems pretty standard for them, no more than 5 verses of scripture each Sunday followed by a 5-point sermon, possibly about those few verses.

So, I compared this to what the Orthodox Churches around the world will all have as their Scripture Readings for the same time, the 21st Sunday after Pentecost:

John 21:1-14: After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias: and in this manner did he show [himself]. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the [sons] of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter saith to them, I go a fishing. They say to him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a boat immediately; and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith to them, Children, have ye any victuals? They answered him, No. And he said to them, Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith to Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt [on] his fisher's coat, (for he was naked) and cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little boat (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits) dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid upon them, and bread. Jesus saith to them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, a hundred and fifty and three: and notwithstanding there were so many, yet the net was not broken. Jesus saith to them, Come [and] dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after he had risen from the dead. (Orthos/Matins Gospel)

Galatians 2:16-2: Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, [is] therefore Christ the minister of sin? By no means. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I may live to God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Liturgy Epistle)

Luke 8:41-56: And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at the feet of Jesus, and besought him that he would come into his house: For he had one daughter only, about twelve years of age, and she lay dying. (But as he was going, the people thronged him. And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed by any, Came behind [him], and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter, and they that were with him, said, Master, the multitude throng thee, and press [thee], and sayest thou, Who touched me? And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue hath gone out of me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared to him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. And he said to her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace. While he was yet speaking, there cometh one from the house of the ruler of the synagogue, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead: trouble not the Master. But when Jesus heard [it], he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be healed. And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. And all wept and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not: she is not dead, but sleepeth. And they derided him, knowing that she was dead. And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose immediately: and he commanded to give her food. And her parents were astonished: but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done. (Liturgy Gospel)

Oh, and during Orthos/Matins, the following Psalms are read:

Psalm 19: The Lord hear thee in the day of affliction; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee. Let Him send forth unto thee help from His sanctuary, and out of Sion let Him help thee. Let Him remember every sacrifice of thine, and thy whole-burnt offering let Him fatten. The Lord grant thee according to thy heart, and fulfil all thy purposes. We will rejoice in Thy salvation, and in the name of the Lord our God shall we be magnified. The Lord fulfil all thy requests. Now have I known that the Lord hath saved His anointed one; He will hearken unto him out of His holy heaven; in mighty deeds is the salvation of His right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God. They have been fettered and have fallen, but we are risen and are set upright. O Lord, save the king, and hearken unto us in the day when we call upon Thee.

Psalm 20: O Lord, in Thy strength the king shall be glad, and in Thy salvation shall he rejoice exceedingly. The desire of his heart hast Thou granted unto him, and hast not denied him the requests of his lips. Thou wentest before him with the blessings of goodness, Thou hast set upon his head a crown of precious stone. He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest him length of days unto ages of ages. Great is his glory in Thy salvation; glory and majesty shalt Thou lay upon him. For Thou shalt give him blessing for ever and ever, Thou shalt gladden him in joy with Thy countenance. For the king hopeth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the Most High shall he not be shaken. Let Thy hand be found on all Thine enemies; let Thy right hand find all that hate Thee. For Thou wilt make them as an oven of fire in the time of Thy presence; the Lord in His wrath will trouble them sorely and fire shall devour them. Their fruit wilt Thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from the sons of men. For they have intended evil against Thee, they have devised counsels which they shall not be able to establish. For Thou shalt make them turn their backs; among those that are Thy remnant, Thou shalt make ready their countenance. Be Thou exalted, O Lord, in Thy strength; we will sing and chant of Thy mighty acts.

Psalm 50: Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy; and according to the multitude of Thy compassions blot out my transgression. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know mine iniquity, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee only have I sinned and done this evil before Thee, that Thou mightest be justified in Thy words, and prevail when Thou art judged. For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother bear me. For behold, Thou hast loved truth; the hidden and secret things of Thy wisdom hast Thou made manifest unto me. Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be made clean; Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. Thou shalt make me to hear joy and gladness; the bones that be humbled, they shall rejoice. Turn Thy face away from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and with Thy governing Spirit establish me. I shall teach transgressors Thy ways, and the ungodly shall turn back unto Thee. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation; my tongue shall rejoice in Thy righteousness. O Lord, Thou shalt open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Thy praise. For if Thou hadst desired sacrifice, I had given it; with whole-burnt offerings Thou shalt not be pleased. A sacrifice unto God is a broken spirit; a heart that is broken and humbled God will not despise. Do good, O Lord, in Thy good pleasure unto Sion, and let the walls of Jerusalem be builded. Then shalt Thou be pleased with a sacrifice of righteousness, with oblation and whole-burnt offerings. Then shall they offer bullocks upon Thine altar.

Where are you going to find more Bible reading and which one seems more like a Bible-based Church?

Russian Orthodox Church revival "colossal" over 20 years

2011-11-01T19:19:00.000-05:00

The Russian Orthodox Church has made colossal achievements in its revival over the past 20 years, the Moscow Patriarchate said.

"In 1991, the Russian Orthodox Church had 12,000 parishes, 117 monasteries and convents, two theologian academies, seven theologian seminaries, 16 theologian colleges and four schools. In 2011, we have 30,675 parishes, 29,324 priests, 3,850 deacons and 805 monasteries and convents. The number of theologian educational establishments has increased, too," Vladimir Legoida, the head of the Synodal Information Department, said at a news conference at Interfax on Monday.

"Twenty years is not much in the history of a Church on the one hand, but on the other, the achievements made since 1991 are colossal," he said.Spiritual revival is only at its start, he also said.The spiritual revival of present-day Russia will be in the center of an exhibition and forum, Orthodox Rus, to be held in Moscow on November 4-7, he said.

The Didache, or Teaching of the Apostles, and Sola Scriptura, with Commentary

2011-10-31T00:00:00.009-05:00

The Didache is the earliest Christian writing we have that is not contained in the New Testament. It was written around AD 60 (though, admittedly, this date is debated by some scholars), which means it actually predates much, if not most, of the writings contained in the New Testament.

Because it predates so much of the New Testament, what we have here is a writing produced by a community by whom Sola Scriptura was not only not believed in, but for whom Sola Scriptura would have been impossible! (no Scriptura = no Sola Scriptura)

Also because of its very early date, the Didache is a powerful witness to the early Church -- the earliest Church in fact; the Church of the Apostolic Age -- and is a powerful piece of evidence that the Faith of the Orthodox Church today is the exact same as that of Christians of those times.

The Didache has been known in an extended Ethiopic version, called the Didascalia for a very long time -- it's actually part of the extended New Testament canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It was discovered in its Greek original, though, in 1873, in the library of an Orthodox monastery by the Orthodox Metropolitan of Nicomedia Philotheos Bryennios.

The Didache (Greek, meaning "teaching") is a church order manual. Some of the early Fathers considered it Scriptural, but it was eventually excluded from the New Testament largely because it was unnecessary to include a manual of church order in Sacred Writ.

So let's look at the Faith as it was believed and lived by the early Christians who lived even before Scripture, and compare it on a few points with the Faith of the Orthodox Church today.

On Baptism:

"But concerning baptism, thus shall ye baptize. Having first recited all these things, baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in living [running] water. But if thou hast not living water, then baptize in other water; and if thou art not able in cold, then in warm. But if thou hast neither, then pour water on the head thrice in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. But before the baptism let him that baptizeth and him that is baptized fast, and any others also who are able; and thou shalt order him that is baptized to fast a day or two before." - Didache, 7:1-7

The early Christian practices of Baptism via triple immersion and fasting before Baptism are still preserved in the Orthodox Church today.

On fasting:

"And let not your fastings be with the hypocrites [Jews], for they fast on the second [Monday] and the fifth [Thursday] day of the week; but do ye keep your fast on the fourth [Wednesday] and on the preparation [the sixth -- Friday] day." - Didache, 8:1-2

The early Christian practice of fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays is still preserved in the Orthodox Church today.

On the Eucharist:

"But let no one eat or drink of this eucharistic thanksgiving, but they that have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord hath said: Give not that which is holy to the dogs." - Didache, 9:10-12

The early Christian practice of closed Communion (that is, Communion only for Baptized members of the Church) is still preserved in the Orthodox Church today.

As you can see, the Didache preserves for us a record of how the earliest Christians lived, Christians who lived even before the writings of the New Testament were put to pen and paper. Sola Scriptura would have been completely impossible for them -- and yet they were a thriving Christian community and one whose Faith is still preserved and observed in the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church today, even in small details like triple immersion Baptism and fasting on Fridays. The community which produced the Didache was Apostolic in the most literal sense of the word and this document is a demonstration of the Apostolic nature of the Orthodox Church's Holy Traditions -- Traditions which may not be explicitly laid out in Scripture, in some cases, but which in many instances pre-date Scripture!

If you'd like to read the Didache for yourself and make your own comparisons with the various Christian groups today, you can check it out online here or buy a hardbound version of The Didache here.

My 15 Favorite Spiritual Books That I Own and Read

2011-10-29T00:01:00.009-05:00

Tonight I was rearranging my books, putting my favorites and most reread books together in a special place. They numbered 15 and I thought this list would make for a great blog post with links to buy them for yourselves. If you do not have these books, I highly recommend you get them all and read them then reread them as quickly as possible!

The Septuagint with Apocrypha (Greek and English) by Sir Lancelot Brenton: This edition of The Septuagint with Apocrypha (the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament and the apocryphal books of the same linguistic origin) gives the complete Greek text along with a parallel English translation by Brenton.
The Orthodox Psalter (The Psalterion According to the Seventy) by Holy Apostles Convent: With so many Psalters available to the English reader, why select this one? The ecclesiastical English is most faithful to the original Greek, and diligently compared with the Psalterion of the Church of Greece, published by Apostolike Diakonia. This brand-new translation echoes the rhythms of the original Greek, which was faithful to the Hebrew idiom. The full-sized version with Commentary, reflecting the Orthodox perspective and interpretation of the spiritual insights of the holy Fathers from the East and West, promises to be an enriched reading experience that resonates with understanding of God’s word through the Psalmist David and others. Now you can read the Psalter and find answers to commonly asked textual and theological queries. This volume can help bring about a deeper relationship with God and reinforced faith in the Christ. This is a one-of-a-kind Psalter which borrows from the whole spectrum of patristic authority for a dependable and valuable resource, not only for Church readings, but also for devotional reading, Bible study, sermon preparation, and teaching. Therefore, come and explore the sacred writings with the champion holy Fathers of Orthodoxy so as to attain a better understanding of the wide range of prophetical, allegorical, mystical, and moralizing explanations of the verses. Even for those who do not know Greek or Hebrew, exegetical material found within this book gives critical analysis of key words, that is not overly technical, for both beginners and scholars alike.
The Orthodox New Testament Volume 1: The Holy Gospels (Evangelistarion) by Holy Apostles Convent: With so many English New Testaments on the market, which version is most faithful to the original Greek? How do you choose one that reflects Orthodox perspective and theological content? Our Orthodox monasteries, Holy Apostles Convent and Dormition Skete, labored seven years, with a committee of contributors, to present this fully illustrated Orthodox translation, which has been diligently compared against the original Greek text, the authorized version (1912) of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the King James Version. There was no compromise of accuracy and reliability in this brand-new translation which echoes the rhythms and idioms of the original Greek. This promises to be an enriched reading experience that gives you an in-depth understanding of God’s word, answering commonly asked textual and theological queries for vital and penetrating insights into God’s word.
The Orthodox New Testament Volume 2: Acts, Epistles, and Revelation (Praxapostolos) by Holy Apostles Convent: We have brought together a trustworthy and one-of-a-kind patristic commentary which draws from the whole spectrum of the authority of the Church Fathers for a rich, dependable, invaluable resource for devotional reading, Bible study, sermon preparation, and teaching. Explore the Scriptures with the champions of Orthodoxy with hundreds of succinct, reliable, and inspiring commentaries that elaborate on difficult passages, thereby providing a clearer understanding. Gain a greater understanding of the shades of meaning in the original language with word studies stressing meaningful nuances in the Greek, but often lost in other translations. Even for those who do not know Greek, exegetical material gives critical analysis of key words, that is not overly technical, for both beginners and scholars alike.
Christ the Eternal TAO by Hieromonk Damascene of Platina & Lao Tzu: Not until now has the ancient wisdom of Lao Tzu been presented alongside the otherworldly revelation of Jesus Christ in a way that encompasses the full significance of both. Christ the Eternal Tao presents the Tao Teh Ching as a foreshadowing of what would be revealed by Christ, and Lao Tzu himself as a Far-Eastern prophet of Christ the incarnate God. Through heretofore unpublished translations and teachings of Gi-ming Shien -- perhaps the greatest Chinese philosopher to have ever come to the West -- this book uncovers the esoteric core of the Tao Teh Ching. Then, through the transmission of mystics of the ancient Christian East, Lao Tzu's teaching is brought into a new dimension, exploding with new meanings. Christ, in turn, is seen in a unique light, His pure image shining in the clarity of Lao Tzu's intuitive vision.With its practical, time-tested advice on how to unite oneself with the incarnate Tao and acquire uncreated Teh, this is both a philosophical source-book and a spiritual manual, touching the heart and leading one to profound inward transformation. It is a long-awaited Answer to those who, having turned away from modern Western "churchianity," are drawn to the freshness, directness and simplicity of Lao Tzu, and at the same time are strangely, inexplicably drawn back to the all-compelling reality of Jesus Christ.
Orthodox Dogmatic Theology: A Concise Exposition by Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky: A systematic exposition of the Faith, long a standard in Russian-speaking seminary classes. Fr. Seraphim Rose's translation (and introduction) make the work both accessible and appealing to English-speaking Orthodox. The work is neither technical nor pedantic, and is addressed not to "professional theologians", but rather to pastors, and indeed to all Orthodox Christians. Extensive additional substantive footnotes by the current editors enhance the value of the work.
Genesis, Creation and Early Man by Hieromonk Seraphim of Platina: Amidst the creation/evolution debate that is now raging, with evidence being offered for both sides, few have made use of what Fr. Seraphim Rose called "the missing evidence": the teaching of the ancient Orthodox Holy Fathers on the events of creation, the first-created world, the natures of created things, and the original nature of man. Now for the first time in the English language, this teaching has been gathered together and set forth in a thorough, detailed, and above all honest manner. Perhaps more than anyone else in our times, Fr. Seraphim Rose searched, studied, prayed and suffered to understand how the ancients noetically apprehended the creation in the light of the God-inspired book of Genesis. Having acquired their mind, he has presented to the modern world the harmonious Patristic vision of the cosmos. A vital answer to the contemporary "crisis of meaning," this book sheds startling new light on the mysteries of our origin. The Divine vision of the ancient Fathers opens up unforeseen dimensions of the creation: deeper levels of reality that cannot be reached through rational or scientific means.
The Soul After Death by Hieromonk Seraphim of Platina: Fr. Seraphim presents one of the basic traditions of Orthodox teaching on the "afterlife" (concerning which Holy Scripture is remarkably silent, and Orthodoxy maintains an open tradition), and in its light examines many of the contemporary and occult accounts of after-death experiences, popularized by so many writers of such varying degrees of responsibility -- or lack thereof.
Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future by Hieromonk Serpahim of Platina: Having passed already through six printings and two editions, this volume has established itself as a classic primer of the Orthodox viewpoint concerning the cults and occult of the "New Age". Much as these things change from year to year, in essence they change scarcely at all -- the occultists of our century are guided by the same demonic forces known to the Fathers of the desert nearly two millennia ago. Fr. Seraphim's astute analysis is a valuable weapon in our spiritual armory.
The Apocalypse: In the Teachings of Ancient Christianity by Archbishop Averky Taushev: Translated and with an introduction by Fr. Seraphim of Platina of blessed memory, this detailed commentary on the Book of Revelation (more accurately, the Apocalypse) by one of the spiritual giants of our age is perhaps the only reliable guide readily available in English to an Orthodox understanding of its complexities. In reading both the commentary and the book, it is wise to remember that it required seven centuries for the Church to reach oneness of mind that this book was indeed to be regarded as part of Holy Scripture.
The Path to Salvation: A Manual of Spiritual Transformation by Saint Theophan the Recluse: A classic textbook of the spiritual life, from a true Church Father of not so far past Russia. The translation was one of the last works of Fr. Seraphim (Rose), of blessed memory, here offered in its entirety for the first time in English.
The Spiritual Life: And How to Be Attuned to It by Saint Theophan the Recluse: This series of eighty letters to a young woman, touching upon an endless variety of matters of concern in the spiritual life, is eminently practical and down to earth. Bishop Theophan, withdrawn from the world as he was, nevertheless was capable of communicating effectively with those who remain very much in the world.
A Spiritual Psalter (Reflections on God in the Manner of the Psalms of David) by Saint Ephraim the Syrian: A collection of hymns, compiled from the writings of St. Ephraim by Bishop Theophan the Recluse. This book, which long constituted one of the favorite sources of reading for monastics in prerevolutianary Russia, has become a best-seller. Second edition, printed in red & black on high quality paper, gilded edges, ribbon, gold-stamped flexible case-binding. A beautiful book.
The Ladder of Divine Ascent by Saint John Climacus: How do we get from here (the world) to there (the Kingdom)? Not by magic, but rather by hard work (possible only through the grace given by God!). St. John addresses the path, the ladder by which we may climb. The only problem is that most of us fall off at about the first or second rung... and must get back on and try again. Traditionally read in monasteries during Lent, and equally well-suited for all of us.
My Life in Christ by Saint John of Kronstadt: Certainly one of the great spiritual classics. The fruit of years of spiritual struggle and pastoral ministry amongst the poor and downtrodden of a harbor town, St. John's diary speaks eloquently of every dimension of the spiritual life.

A wide array of authors in this mix with Greeks, Arabs, Russians, Serbians, British, Asians, and Americans; including both still-living and recently deceased clergymen of blessed memory, to modern and ancient saints. Obviously there are no books in my library by those of the Parisian School of Modernism and Ecumenism such as Protopresbyter John Meyendorff, Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko, Metropolitan Bishop Anthony Bloom of Sourozh, Protopresbyer Alexander Schmemann, or deposed deacon Lev Puhalo, who tend to water down the faith with questioning and Western scholasticism rather than understanding and believing then explaining the foundations of the Church Fathers built on the Rock of Christ.

A Timeline of Church History: Tracing the birth and continuity of the Christian Church from Pentecost to the present.

2011-10-28T15:55:00.005-05:00

A word about Church History...

Scholars estimate there are over 33,000 groups today who lay claim to be the Church, or at least descendants of the Church described in the New Testament. Repeat: 33,000!

But for the first thousand years of her history the Church was essentially one. Five historic patriarchal centers—Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Alexandria, and Constantinople — formed a cohesive whole and were in full communion with one another. There were occasional heretical or schismatic groups going their own way, to be sure, but the Church was unified until after the eleventh century. Then, in events culminating in A.D. 1054, the Roman Patriarch pulled away from the other four, pursuing his long-developing claim of universal headship of the Church.

Today, nearly a thousand years later, the other four Patriarchate remain intact, in full communion, maintaining that Orthodox Apostolic Faith of the inspired New Testament record. The history of the New Testament Church, The Orthodox Church, is described herein, from Pentecost to the present day.

New Testament Era

33 - Pentecost
49 - Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15) establishes precedent for addressing Church disputes in Council. Iakovos/James presides as bishop of Jerusalem.
69 - Bishop Ignatius consecrated in Antioch in heart of New Testament era—St. Peter had been the first bishop there. Other early bishops include Iakavos/James, Polycarp, and Clement.
95 - Book of Revelation written, probably the last of the New Testament books.
150 - St. Justin Martyr describes the liturgical worship of the Church, centered in the Eucharist. Liturgical worship is rooted in both the Old and New Testaments.
313 - The Edict of Milan marks an end to the period of Roman persecution of Christianity.

Seven Ecumenical Councils

325 - The Council of Nicea settles the major heretical challenge to the Christian Faith posed when the heretic Arius asserts Christ was created by the Father. St. Athanasius defends the eternality of the Son of God. Nicea is the first of Seven Ecumenical (Church-wide) Councils.
397 - Synod of Carthage ratifies biblical canon.
451 - The Council of Chalcedon affirms apostolic doctrine of two natures in Christ.
589 - A synod in Toledo, Spain, adds the filioque to the Nicene Creed (asserting that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son). This error is later adopted by Rome.
787 - The era of Ecumenical Councils ends at Nicea; the Seventh Council restores the centuries-old use of icons to the Church.

The Western Schism

880 - The Photian Schism further complicates the debate over Roman heresies.
988 - Conversion of Rus' (Russian) begins.
1054 - The Great Schism occurs. Two major issues include Rome's claim to a universal papal supremacy and her addition of the filioque clause to the Nicene Creed.

Attacks on Orthodoxy and Byzantium

1066 - Norman conquest of Britain. Orthodox hierarchs are replaced with those loyal to Rome.
1095 - The Crusades begun by the Roman Church.
1204 - The Sack of Constantinople adds to the estrangement between East and West.
1333 - St. Gregory Palamas defends the Orthodox practice of hesychast spirituality and the use of the Jesus Prayer.
1453 - Turks overrun Constantinople; Byzantine Empire ends. Christianity's greatest church turned into a mosque.

The Western Schism Multiplies While the Orthodox Church Strengthens

1517 - A Roman monk, Martin Luther, nails his 95 Theses to the door of the Roman Church in Wittenberg, starting the Protestant Reformation.
1529 - The Church of England begins pulling away from Rome.
1589 - Russian Church made a Patriarchate as Moscow is named the Third Rome.
1782 - First publishing of the The Philokalia, a classic of spirituality.
1794 - Missionaries arrive on Kodiak Island in Alaska; Orthodoxy introduced to North America.
1854 - The Immaculate Conception becomes Roman dogma.
1870 - Papal infaliability becomes Roman dogma.
1871 - St. Nicholas establishes the Japanese Mission.
1988 - One thousand years of Orthodoxy in Russia, as Orthodox Church worldwide maintains fullness of the Apostolic Faith. (Not even the Roman Church has been independent that long, not to mention that the oldest Protestant churches are not even 500 years old!)
1995 - Orthodoxy is the fastest growing Church in America as Americans start to study Church history.

Click on the images above to enlarge and uncover the truth about the true Church timeline.

Encyclical of Archbishop Demetrios for OXI Day - October 28, 2011

2011-10-27T00:01:00.003-05:00

Protocol Number 194/11
October 28, 2011
OXI Day

To the Most Reverend Hierarchs, the Reverend Priests and Deacons, the Monks and Nuns, the Presidents and Members of the Parish Councils of the Greek Orthodox Communities, the Distinguished Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Day, Afternoon, and Church Schools, the Philoptochos Sisterhoods, the Youth, the Hellenic Organizations, and the entire Greek Orthodox Family in America

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The remembrance of October 28, 1940 through our annual observance of OXI Day is our excellent opportunity to honor the courage of those who stood firm in the face of tyranny and to cherish the freedom that we have inherited due to their great sacrifice. This is a day of memorial for the people of Greece who were unwilling to defile the liberty gained by earlier generations by cowering under the threats of totalitarian regimes. The response of “NO” to the demands of tyrants and their destructive agendas was a true and exemplary act of courage for all humanity. This is also a day of gratitude and thanksgiving. In calling to mind the great sacrifices of that era, our hearts are grateful for what has been offered for the sake of freedom, self-determination, and truth. Our response continues to be an annual offering of memorial and praise to our fathers and mothers and of thanksgiving for the blessings of our heritage which brings joy and peace to our lives.

In this spirit of remembrance and gratitude we must also recognize that OXI Day presents a great challenge. Certainly, this is a challenge to greater levels of civic engagement and awareness so that we are able to offer what is good and just in our communities and nation. It is also a challenge to protect and nurture a responsible and mature understanding of freedom which does not use liberty as an opportunity for engaging in carnal activities, but as an opportunity for serving one another in love (Galatians 5:13).

The challenge of OXI Day calls every person to stand firm for truth in the face of tyranny, to identify evil even when we are powerless, to be courageous in the midst of oppression, and to champion justice and confront violence with hearts and minds of peace. The response of “NO” on October 28, 1940 revealed an unwillingness to sacrifice ideals for the sake of convenience and deny a heritage of freedom and democracy to avoid hardship. It was a firm denouncement of evil agendas which were fueling machines of power with the destruction of human life and communities. Further, the Greeks of OXI gave an example of courage and hope that inspires us to know what makes us free and to offer these assurances to all of humanity.

We do this when we remember OXI day and accept its challenge. When we stand firm on the witness of our heritage, grounded in the truth of our faith in God, we will be able to confront evil with a boldness that reveals the One who has defeated sin and death and offers assurance of life. As people of faith, who do not have a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (II Timothy 1:7) in the service of God and humankind, we will be able to annunciate a resounding “NO” to any person or force seeking to destroy life and well-being or to abolish liberty for the sake of domination. In accepting this challenge, we will continue to champion the needs of those who do not have the freedom or are not allowed the rights that foster a quality of life and security befitting all human beings.

On this OXI Day, I encourage all of the faithful throughout America, all who are the beneficiaries of this heritage of freedom and courage and of great faith and sacrifice, to remember the courageous deeds of our past and to accept the challenge of this day for our future. In faith and truth and in the strength of God, may we stand firm as witnesses of the love that overcomes evil, the justice that affirms what is good, and the peace that gives us hope in any condition of life from now to eternity.

With paternal love in Christ,
†DEMETRIOS
Archbishop of America

My (Continuing) Journey Through Orthodoxy

2011-10-26T21:53:00.001-05:00

At the beginning of this year I blogged about my 15 year through and to Orthodox Christianity. I ended that blog post with this paragraph:

"When I moved to Texas, after long considering my options with fervent prayer, I eventually started visiting local Orthodox Churches. Saint John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church was one I went to, and my wife loved Vespers there, so we attended there for Vespers. The Divine Liturgy there was not to my liking, and thankfully we also had Saint Barbara Orthodox Church a little further away. While eventually I started to confess at Saint John's, it was a long time until we decided to join Saint Barbara's. We had our marriage blessed there and only after my son was Baptized there on his 100th day, I started to commune. The marriage blessing was something that was required before I could commune at either of the Texas parishes."

I wanted to dig in to the life of my new parishes in more depth as we get to the end of the Gregorian Calendar year.

I started the year going to Vespers alone every Saturday night, eventually taking Daniel with me. In time, my wife did not need to rest during that time and started coming too. As I stated once before, my wife likes the Byzantine style chant better than Russian 4-part harmony. She also likes that it is closer to our home. In time, I have gotten more accustomed to the chanting and can chant along to some of it. After Vespers, Confession is available with the Presbyter from Romania, Father Vasile.

During this time, I also found out that Saint John's has 6:00am Divine Liturgy on every major and many minor feast days, so I am able to attend Divine Liturgy before work and do not have to contemplate using vacation to go to Church! Saint Barbara's does like most parishes and hold Feast Day Divine Liturgies at the usual time of 10:00am. Sometimes it is only the yia-yias (older pious ladies), the readers, servers, chanters, and myself, but I love it all the same.

Because of that, many weeks I am at Saint John's much more than I am at Saint Barbara's. Especially when you figure in that on the rare occasion I go to Saint Barbara's for a Wednesday night Vespers, it is only 30 minutes long, while Saint John's is a full hour. My wife thinks we should probably split our tithes between the churches, not giving our full 10% to Saint Barbara's since we I am at Saint John's as much.

The reason that I am rarely able to go to Wednesday night services is that I work until 7:30pm most nights and then have a group Men's Group/Bible Study from 7:30-9:00pm. However, once a month, I get to work 8:00am-5:00pm and go to General Confession at Saint Barbara's from 6:00-7:00pm and if our Men's Group gets cancelled, I will stay for Vespers from 7:00-7:30pm.

However it all works out, in truth, both parishes are equally spiritual homes for my family and I that we love very much.

Menalogion 3.0 Review and Recommended LXX Tweaks/Hacks

2011-10-25T00:00:00.000-05:00

MENOLOGION 3.0 is a free computer program which provides an easy way to access the Troparia and Kontakia, Bible Readings and Lives of Saints of the day. This might be useful for a variety of reasons. If you would like to put the Troparia and Kontakia, Bible Readings or Lives of Saints in a Sunday bulletin, for instance, you will be able to find the items you want easily, and copy them to the Windows clipboard, so that you can paste them directly into your word processor or publishing program.

You can access the Troparia and Kontakia, Bible Readings and Lives of Saints for every day of the year. When MENOLOGION starts, it reads the date set in your computer's clock and displays the selected readings for the current date. You can set the program to display dates according to the Old Calendar or the New Calendar. You can select any date and display the Troparia and Kontakia or Bible Readings for that date. It is also possible to browse through the Troparia and Kontakia, Bible Readings and Lives of Saints either forward or backward day by day. And you can search for and find saints by name.

MENOLOGION can also display an Icon next to the text of Troparia and Kontakia or Bible Readings. There are 53 Icons included in the main program, with another 380 Icons available in an optional Supplemental Icon Library, containing at least one saint for every day of the year. MENOLOGION can be downloaded either with or without the Supplemental Icon Library, and the Supplemental Icon Library itself can be downloaded separately.

MENOLOGION 3.0 IS IN ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT

Unlike MENOLOGION 2.0, which was not updated since it was released in 2001, MENOLOGION 3.0 is in active development. While it is a well developed, mature and stable program, it is also a work in progress, and there will be periodic updates released fixing reported bugs and adding new features. The latest release of MENOLOGION 3.0 can always be found on this page. Bugs and feature requests should be sent to Michael Purcell. For information on how to correctly report a bug or problem, see the "Reporting Bugs" topic in the MENOLOGION 3.0 help file. You can find the topic under "Other Information" on the Contents tab in the left hand pane of the help system window.

ABOUT INSTALLED BIBLE FILES

MENOLOGION 3.0 adds the ability to use different translations (versions) of the bible. Bible versions that can be installed in MENOLOGION are plain text files provided by The Unbound Bible. These plain text files can be downloaded from the MENOLOGION home page (see below), but are no longer available for download from The Unbound Bible website. The unicode text bible files that can be downloaded from the Unbound Bible website can not be used. MENOLOGION 3.0 is an English only program, and the bible files avilable for download include nine different English language translations. There are also some ancient translations and some translations in Western European languages. These additional versions seem to work acceptably well in MENOLOGION, providing additional flexibility. However, MENOLOGION is not designed to read unicode text files, and can not display languages that require other language versions of Windows. This means that MENOLOGION can not correctly display Greek, Cyrilic, Asian and other such languages that use different alphabets.

I am interested in receiving as much feedback as possible on the use of these bibles files, the ancient translations and foreign language translations in particular, so that I can provide this information to potential users. If you are using one or more of these bibles, please Contact Me. Also write if you want to experiment with a bible in a language that is not available for download.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.0?

Added functionality and readings of Lives of Saints for every day of the year from a translation of the Mesyatseslov of Saints Lives from the 1978-1979 Volumes 2-3 of the Moscow Patriarchate texts, as translated into English by Father Stephen Janos. Includes search capability.
Added the ability to use different translations (versions) of the Bible. Added a function to allow the user to install and uninstall up to eleven different Bible versions in addition to the default King James version, for a total of twelve versions. The Bible Versions page of the Preferences dialog displays which version is currently active for each of New Testament, Old Testament and Apocrypha, for both Bible Readings and Bible Search and allows the user to choose from among the installed versions. The Bible Files page of the Preferences dialog displays the names of the installed files, and allows the user to install or uninstall Bible versons, as well as to edit the installed file's names.
Corrected lookup of Gospel and Epistle verses for the latter part of the liturgical year. Specifically, when selected, the readings from the book of Luke begin on the Monday following the Sunday after the Elevation of the Cross in September, regardless of the place in the movable cycle. Also, the readings that are displayed beginning on the 32nd Sunday after Pentecost (or the 14th Sunday of Luke), and up until the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee (or the Samaritan Woman), are handled more correctly. Added a check box in the preferences dialog where use of the "Lukan Jump" can be selected or deselected.
Changed the filename convention used for saving customized Bible readings, so that customized readings are no longer displayed incorrectly between Old Calendar and New Calendar dates, or in years previous to or following the year the changes were made. Now when a Bible reading is customized, it will only be displayed in the year the custom reading was created, and will only be displayed in Old Calendar if it was created in Old Calendar, or New Calendar if it was created in New Calendar.
Added a Preferences dialog which is opened on the Options menu. Some of the program preferences have been moved from the Options menu to the Preferences page of the Preferences dialog.
The "Find the Date of Easter" command on the Help menu now displays the date of Easter and the date of Pascha for both this year and next year. In Old Calendar, it displays both the civil date and Julian calendar date for Pascha.
Added the ability to select whether MENOLOGION displays saved personalized files or original texts when the program first opens or when the date is changed. This is set on the Preferences page of the Preferences dialog.
Added "Search to End of Chapter" and "Search to end of Book" check boxes on the Find Bible Verses dialog. Also, an added panel at the bottom of the Find Bible Verses dialog displays the verse number range for all the chapters of the currently selected book. The Find Bible Verses dialog is now reinitialized each time it is opened, unless the program is in Bible Search mode, in which case the dialog remembers its settings.
Added a "Return to Today" button on the Main Toolbar between the "Previous Day" and "Next Day" buttons, and a corresponding "Return to Today" command on the File menu. Added "Previous Year" and "Next Year" buttons on the Main Toolbar, and corresponding commands on the File menu.
Added "print page __ to __" and "print selection" ability to the Print dialog.
The "Delete File" command on the File menu is now invisible unless there is a personalized file to delete.
The Save As dialog, and the Open dialog used to install Bible files, remember their last used directory from one session to the next. The default directory for both dialogs is My Documents.
Changed the directory where application data is stored to conform with the current Windows convention of data use. Added a Browse Application Data Directory button on the Preferences page of the Preferences dialog that opens Windows Explorer to the data directory. The directory where Bible data files and personalized files are now stored is the application data directory, which is usually something like C:\Documents and Settings\ [User Name]\Application Data\Menologion\.
Added a Query dialog that appears only the first time Menologion is run as a new installation, which asks users if they prefer to use the Julian Calendar (Old Calendar) or the Revised Julian Calendar (New Calendar), and sets the program preferences accordingly.
MENOLOGION will now run only one instance at a time. If the user tries to open the program when an instance is already running, the existing instance will be restored and brought to the front.

DOWNLOAD USER CONTRIBUTED FILES

These are user contributed supplemental files for the MENOLOGION program. They are direct replacements for the default Gutenberg bible files OldTstmt.dat, NewTstmt.dat and Apoc.dat that are installed in the program directory. It is the user's responsibility to maintain these files. MENOLOGION will not function correctly if one or more of the files is missing from the program directory.

OldTstmt.zip 1.0 MB This is an updated public domain Old Testament module to conform to the LXX. This is a work in progress by Nelson Mitrophan Chin. This Old Testament is being restored to the LXX order according to H.B. Swete using the English translation of Brenton (1851). All Hebrew Masoretic additions and variations are bracketted and noted as such. KJV chapter and verse numbering are preserved in parenthesis for easy referencing.

All instances of the name Eliu is replaced with the more familiar Greek 'Elias' also known as Elijah. Suffer is replaced by give in Ps 15(16):10 to preserve the Greek verb dwseiv. For the Greek term 'sitw', corn is used instead of oil in Hosea 7:14.

The Song of the Three Holy Children and the Prayer of Azariah has been restored back to the LXX order of Daniel 3:24-90, inserted between verses 23 and 24 of the King James Version. Dn 3:24-30; 4:1-3 KJV are renumbered to 3:91-101. Daniel 4:4-37 KJV to Dn 4:1-33. The History of Susanna and the History of the Destruction of Bel and the Dragon, cut off from the end of Daniel in the KJV, has been restored back to the LXX order of Daniel as chapters 13 and 14.

The Greek Additions to Esther is restored to the LXX order with additions from Brenton's:

Es 11:2-12:6 KJV (Add. A) is prepended to Es 1, as Es 1:1-17.
Es 1:1-22 KJV as Es 1:18-39.
Es 13:1-7 KJV (Add. B) is inserted between Es 3:13 and 3:14 KJV, and renumbered as Es 3:14-20.
Es 3:14-15 KJV is renumbered as Es 3:21-22.
Es 13:8-14:19 KJV (Add. C, D) is appended to Es 4 as Es 4:18-47.
Es 15:1-16 KJV (Add. E) is prepended to Es 5 as Es 5:1-10 using Brenton's text and verse division, and replaces Es 5:1-2 KJV.
Es 5:3-14 KJV is renumbered as Es 5:11-22.
Es 16:1-24 KJV (Add. E) is inserted between Es 8:12 and Es 8:13 KJV, as Es 8:13-36.
Es 8:13-17 KJV as Es 8:37-41.
Es 10:4-11:1 KJV (Add. F) is appended to Es 10 as Es 10:4-14.

Jeremiah is rearranged according to the LXX. Any vesperal readings taken from Jeremiah or Proverbs may be off-aligned in the Menologion, as it is hard-coded to the KJV chapter and verse ordering.

Apoc.zip 318 KB This is an updated Anaginoskomena (Apocrypha) module by Nelson Mitrophan Chin using the King James Version with updates from Brenton's English translation of the LXX including the Prayer of Manasses, Psalm 151, 3 Maccabees and 4 Maccabees.

NewTstmt.zip 374 KB This is an updated New Testament module to conform to the Byzantine text by Nelson Mitrophan Chin using the King James Version with amendments to the language in 1833 by Noah Webster, America's first grammarian and founding father of American education, who in 1828 published the "American Dictionary of the English Language".

The Greek term 'Hades' is kept instead of translating it to 'hell' in Mt 11:23; Mt 16:18; Lk 10:15; Lk 16:23; Ac 2:27,31; 1Co 15:55; Re 1:18; Re 6:8; Re 20:13-14.

The Greek term 'Pascha' is kept instead of translating it to 'Passover' or 'Easter' in Mt 26:2,17-19; Mk 14:1,12,14,16; Lk 2:41; Lk 22:1,7,8,11,13,15; Jn 2:13,23; Jn 6:4; Jn 11:55; Jn 12:1; Jn 13:1; Jn 18:28,39; Jn 19:14; Ac 12:4; 1Co 5:7; Heb 11:28.

Since the Greek term 'nous' can also refer to the eye of the heart or soul or center of attention, 'nous' is kept instead of translating it to 'mind' or 'understanding' which refers only to intellectual reasoning, in Lk 24:45; Ro 1:28; Ro 7:23,25; Ro 11:34; Ro 12:2; Ro 14:5; 1Co 1:10; 1Co 2:16; 1Co 14:14,15,19; Ep 4:17,23; Phil 4:7; Col 2:18; 2Th 2:2; 1Ti 6:5; 2Ti 3:8; Ti 1:15; Re 13:18; Re 17:9

To convey the Greek term 'Hierourgeo' in Ro 15:16, 'ministering' is annotated with the clause [in priestly service]. For the Greek term 'Leitourgeo', 'minister' is annotated with the clause [the liturgy] in Act 13:2. For the Greek term 'Leitourgikos', ministering is replaced by the term 'liturgical' in Heb 1:14. To convey the Greek term 'Sunergeo', the clause [in synergy] is annotated in Mk 16:20; Ro 8:28; 1Co 16:16; 2Co 6:1; Jas 2:22. To convey the Greek term 'En' in Lk 23:42, 'into thy kingdom' is replaced with 'in thy kingdom'. To convey the Greek term 'Chrisma', the clause [of chrism] is annotated in 1Jn 2:20,27. For the Greek term 'Chrio' in Lk 4:18; Ac 4:27; Ac 10:38; 2Co 1:21; Heb 1:9, 'anointed' is replaced with 'chrismated'. For the Greek term 'presbuteros' and 'presbuterion', 'presbyter(s)' and 'presbytery' is used instead of 'elder(s)'. For the Greek term 'Eikon', 'icon' is used instead of 'image'. For the Greek term 'dwseiv', 'give' is used instead of 'suffer' in Acts 13:35.

Taking the original KJV New Testament one step further and to be consistent with the Greek Old and New Testament, Greek names are used, such as Jeremias for Jeremiah or Jeremy, Elias for Elijah, Osee for Hosea, Jonas for Jonah, Eliseus for Elisha, Timotheus for Timothy, Noe for Noah, Judas for Judah, Urias for Uriah, reversing Webster's update, whose intentions was to help correlate with the KJV Old Testament names.

Metropolitan Hilarion celebrates at Moscow representation of Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church

2011-10-24T11:16:00.004-05:00

On September 21, 2011, the Nativity of Our Lady, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate's department for external church relations, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in St. Nicholas's church of the Nativity of Our Lady at Golutvin, which is the Moscow representation of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church, called Chinese Patriarchal Metochion.

Among the worshippers were benefactors of the St. Nicholas church. Some prayers were said in Chinese. After the liturgy there was a procession with the cross.

Greeting the DECR chairman on behalf of the church's clergy and parishioners, its rector, Archpriest Igor Zuev pointed to an essential progress made in the efforts to normalize the situation of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church. "We as workers at the Chinese Metochion have still much to do and we are bitterly aware of our weakness. But we know that God's power is made perfect in weakness", he said.

In his archpastoral homily on the Nativity of Our Lady, Metropolitan Hilarion spoke about childbirth as a blessing of God. He stated with regret that childbirth ceased to be a priority for married couples in our country today as they give priority now to material welfare. "With this attitude it is difficult to expect our people to prosper and our population to grow. It happens because the scale of values upheld by people today does not correspond to God's commandments", he said.

Addressing the rector of the church, Metropolitan Hilarion expressed the wish that the number of parishioners of not only Russian but also Chinese background grew "because it is the only church in Moscow to celebrate partly in Chinese", he said.

He also pointed to a certain progress made in the Russian Church's cooperation with the Chinese authorities in the efforts to normalize the life of Orthodox believers in China. "We do not advance with seven-league strides of course but with small steps. Recently we have been promised that two students will come from China for training in our theological schools, so that they may become priests and service in China", he said.

"May this church of St. Nicholas serve as a bridge between the Russian Orthodox Church and its daughter, the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church", he said in conclusion.

* * *

Established by the Holy Synod, the Russian Church Mission had worked in China since 1713. In the early 20th century it considerably extended its activity to open representations in Harbin, in Dalny urban settlement in Chukotka, at the Manchuria station of the Chinese Eastern Railway, and finally in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

The Moscow Representation of the Russian Church Mission in China was established in 1908. In 1922 the Representation's church was sealed up. In 1978 a part of the building was demolished and in 1990 the church's area became a waste ground.

In 2007, the Holy Synod in its action on the 50th anniversary of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church decided to continue the DECR's efforts to normalise the situation of this Church in dialogue with the Chinese side and to open a representation of this Church in Moscow.

In 2011, Patriarch Kirill decreed that a Chinese Patriarchal Methochion be established at the St. Nicholas church at Golutvin.

The Ascetic Ideal and the New Testament: Reflections on the Critique of the Theology of the Reformation by Protopresbyter George Florovsky

2011-10-18T17:32:00.007-05:00

If the monastic ideal is union with God through prayer, through humility, through obedience, through constant recognition of one’s sins, voluntary or involuntary, through a renunciation of the values of this world, through poverty, through chastity, through love for mankind and love for God, then is such an ideal Christian? For some the very raising of such a question may appear strange and foreign. But the history of Christianity, especially the new theological attitude that obtained as a result of the Reformation, forces such a question and demands a serious answer. If the monastic ideal is to attain a creative spiritual freedom, if the monastic ideal realizes that freedom is attainable only in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and if the monastic ideal asserts that to become a slave to God is ontologically and existentially the path to becoming free, the path in which humanity fully becomes human precisely because the created existence of humanity is contingent upon God, is by itself bordered on both sides by non-existence, then is such an ideal Christian? Is such an ideal Biblical—New Testamental? Or is this monastic ideal, as its opponents have claimed, a distortion of authentic Christianity, a slavery to mechanical "monkish" "works righteousness"?

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DESERT
When our Lord was about to begin his ministry, he went into the desert. Our Lord had options but he selected—or rather, "was lead by the Spirit," into the desert. It is obviously not a meaningless action, not a selection of type of place without significance. And there—in the desert—our Lord engages in spiritual combat, for he "fasted forty days and forty nights." The Gospel of St. Mark adds that our Lord "was with the wild beasts." Our Lord, the God-Man, was truly God and truly man. Exclusive of our Lord’s redemptive work, unique to our Lord alone, he calls us to follow him. "Following" our Lord is not exclusionary; it is not selecting certain psychologically pleasing aspects of our Lord’s life and teachings to follow. Rather it is all-embracing. We are to follow our Lord in every way possible. "To go into the desert" is "to follow" our Lord. It is interesting that our Lord returns to the desert after the death of St. John the Baptist. There is an obvious reason for this. "And hearing [of John the Baptist’s death] Jesus departed from there in a ship to a desert place privately" When St. Antony goes to the desert, he is "following" the example of our Lord—indeed, he is "following" our Lord. This in no way diminishes the unique, salvific work of our Lord, this in no way makes of our Lord God, the God-Man, a mere example. But in addition to his redemptive work, which could be accomplished only by our Lord, our Lord taught and set examples. And by "following" our Lord into the desert, St. Antony was entering a terrain already targeted and stamped by our Lord as a specific place for spiritual warfare. There is both specificity and "type" in the "desert." In those geographical regions where there a no deserts, there are places which are similar to or approach that type of place symbolized by the "desert." It is that type of place which allows the human heart solace, isolation. It is the type of place which puts the human heart in a state of aloneness, a state in which to meditate, to pray, to fast, to reflect upon one’s inner existence and one’s relationship to ultimate reality—God. And more. It is a place where spiritual reality is intensified, a place where spiritual life can intensify and simultaneously where the opposing forces to spiritual life can become more dominant. It is the terrain of a battlefield but a spiritual one. And it is our Lord, not St. Antony, who as set precedent. Our Lord says that "as for what is sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceit of riches choke(s) the word, and it becomes unfruitful." The desert, or a place similar, precisely cuts off the cares or anxieties of the world and the deception, the deceit of earthly riches. It cuts one off precisely from "this worldliness" and precisely as such it contains within itself a powerful spiritual reason for existing within the spiritual paths of the Church. Not as the only path, not as the path for everyone, but as one, fully authentic path of Christian life.

THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW
In the Gospel of St. Matthew (5:16) it is our Lord who uses the terminology of "good works." " Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and may glorify your Father who is in heaven" Contextually these "good works" are defined in the preceding text of the Beatitudes. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." "Blessed are they who are hungering and are thirsting for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Is it not an integral part of the monastic goal to become meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, and to become pure in heart? This, of course, must be the goal of all Christians but monasticism, which makes it an integral part of its ascetical life, can in no way be excluded. Are not the Beatitudes more than just rhetorical expressions? Are not the Beatitudes a part of the commandments of our Lord? In the Gospel of St. Matthew (5:19) our Lord expresses a deeply meaningful thought—rather a warning. "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. And it is in this context that our Lord continues to deepen the meaning of the old law with a new, spiritual significance, a penetrating interiorization of the "law." He does not nullify or abrogate the law but rather extends it to its most logical and ontological limit, for he drives the spiritual meaning of the law into the very depth of the inner existence of mankind.

"You heard that it was said to those of old ... but I say to you." Now, with the deepening of the spiritual dimension of the law, the old remains, it is the base, but its spiritual reality is pointed to its source. "You shall not kill" becomes inextricably connected to "anger." "But I say to you that everyone being angry with his brother shall be liable to the judgment." No longer is the external act the only focal point. Rather the source, the intent, the motive is now to be considered as the soil from which the external act springs forth. Mankind must now guard, protect, control, and purify the inner emotion or attitude of "anger" and, in so doing, consider it in the same light as the external act of killing or murder. Our Lord has reached into the innermost depth of the human heart and has targeted the source of the external act. "You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who is seeing a woman lustfully, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. From a spiritual perspective the person who does not act externally but lusts within is equally liable to the reality of "adultery." "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and you shall hate your enemy’. But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those persecuting you so that you may become sons of your Father in heaven."

THE INADEQUACY OF THE CRITIQUE BY ANDERS NYGREN
The Christian idea of love is indeed something new. But it is not something so radically odd that the human soul cannot understand it. It is not such a "transvaluation of all ancient values," as Anders Nygren has claimed in his lengthy study Agape and Eros. Although there are certain aspects of truth in some of Nygren’s statements, his very premise is incorrect. Nygren reads back into the New Testament and the early Church the basic position of Luther rather than dealing with early Christian thought from within its own milieu. Such an approach bears little ultimate fruit and often, as in the case of his position in Agape and Eros, distorts the original sources with presuppositions that entered the history of Christian thought 1500 years after our Lord altered the very nature of humanity by entering human existence as God and Man. There is much in Luther that is interesting, perceptive, and true. However, there is also much that does not speak the same language as early Christianity. And herein lies the great divide in the ecumenical dialogue. For the ecumenical dialogue to bear fruit, the very controversies that separate the churches must not be hushed up. Rather they must be brought into the open and discussed frankly, respectfully, and thoroughly. There is much in Luther with which Eastern Orthodox theologians especially can relate. Monasticism, however, is one area in which there is profound disagreement. Even Luther at first did not reject monasticism. Luther’s Reformation was the result of his understanding of the New Testament, an understanding which Luther himself calls "new." His theological position had already been formed before the issue of indulgences and his posting of his Ninety-Five Theses. Nygren, loyal to Luther’s theological vision, has a theological reason for his position in Agape and Eros Nygren identifies his interpretation of Agape with the monoenergistic concept of God, a concept of God that would be correct in and of itself, for God is the source of everything. But once we confront the mystery of creation, the mystery of that "other" existence, that created existence which includes mankind, we face a totally different situation. The existential and ontological meaning of man’s created existence is precisely that God did not have to create, that it was a free act of Divine freedom. But—and here is the great difficulty created by an unbalanced Christianity on the doctrine of grace and freedom—in freely creating man God willed to give man an inner spiritual freedom. In no sense is this a Pelagian or Semi-Pelagian position. The balanced synergistic doctrine of the early and Eastern Church, a doctrine misunderstood and undermined by Latin Christianity in general from St. Augustine on—although there was always opposition to this in the Latin Church—always understood that God initiates, accompanies, and completes everything in the process of salvation. What it always rejected—both spontaneously and intellectually—is the idea of irresistible grace, the idea that man has no participating role in his salvation. Nygren identifies any participation of man in his salvation, any movement of human will and soul toward God, as a pagan distortion of Agape, as "Eros." And this attitude, this theological perspective will in essence be the determining point for the rejection of monasticism and other forms of asceticism and spirituality so familiar to the Christian Church from its inception.

If Nygren’s position on Agape is correct, then the words of our Lord, quoted above, would have had no basis in the hearts of the listeners for understanding. Moreover, our Lord, in using the verbal form of Agape—agapate—uses the "old" commandment as the basis for the giving of the new, inner dimension of the spiritual extension of that commandment of agape, of love. If Nygren is correct, the "old" context of agape would have been meaningless, especially as the foundation upon which our Lord builds the new spiritual and ontological character of agape. Nygren’s point is that "the Commandment of Love" occurs in the Old Testament and that it is "introduced in the Gospels, not as something new, but as quotations from the Old Testament." He is both correct and wrong. Correct in that it is a reference taken from the Old Testament. Where else was our Lord to turn in addressing "his people"? He is wrong in claiming that it is nothing but a quotation from the Old Testament, precisely because our Lord uses the Old Testament reference as a basis upon which to build. Hence, the foundation had to be secure else the building would have been flawed and the teaching erroneous. Indeed, Nygren himself claims that "Agape can never be ‘self-evident’." In making such a claim, Nygren has undercut any possibility for the hearers of our Lord to understand any discourse in which our Lord uses the term "Agape." And yet Nygren writes that "it can be shown that the Agape motif forms the principal theme of a whole series of Parables." What is meant by this statement is that Nygren’s specific interpretation of Agape forms the principal theme of a whole series of Parables. If this is the case, then those hearing the parables could not have understood them, for they certainly did not comprehend Agape in the specificity defined by Nygren, and hence the parables—according to the inner logic of Nygren’s position—were meaningless to the contemporaries of our Lord, to his hearers.

To be filled by the love of and for God is the monastic ideal. In the Gospel of St. Matthew (22:34-40) our Lord is asked which is the greatest commandment. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind [understanding]. This the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. In these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." The monastic and ascetic ideal is to cultivate the love of the heart, the soul, and the mind for God. Anders Nygren's commentary on this text in his Agape and Eros is characteristic of his general position. "It has long been recognized that the idea of Agape represents a distinctive and original feature of Christianity. But in what precisely does its originality and distinctiveness consist? This question has often been answered by reference to the Commandment of Love. The double commandment, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all they heart’ and Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, has been taken as the natural starting-point for the exposition of the meaning of Christian love. Yet the fact is that if we start with the commandment, with Agape as something demanded, we bar our own way to the understanding of the idea of Agape. If the Commandment of Love can be said to be specifically Christian, as undoubtedly it can, the reason is to be found, not in the commandment as such, but in the quite new meaning that Christianity has given it ... To reach an understanding of the Christian idea of love simply by reference to the Commandment of Love is therefore impossible; to attempt it is to move in a circle. We could never discover the nature of Agape, love in the Christian sense, if we had nothing to guide us but the double command ... It is not the commandment that explains the idea of Agape, but insight into the Christian conception of Agape that enables us to grasp the Christian meaning of the commandment, We must therefore seek another starting-point" (pp. 61-63). This is indeed an odd position for one who comes from the tradition of sola Scriptura, for the essence of his position is not sola Scriptura but precisely that Scripture must be interpreted—and here the interpretation comes not from within the matrix of early Christianity but from afar, from an interpretation that to a great extent depends on an interpretation of Christianity that came into the history of Christian thought approximately 1500 years after the beginning of Christian teaching, and that is with the assumption that Nygren is following the general position of Luther. In his analysis of certain interpretations of what constitutes the uniqueness of Christian love and in his rejection of these interpretations as that which determines the uniqueness of Christian love Nygren is in part correct. "This, in fact, is the root-fault of all the interpretations we have so far considered; they fail to recognize that Christian love rests on a quite definite, positive basis of its own. What, then, is this basis?" Nygren approaches the essence of the issue but neglects the important aspect of human ontology, a human ontology created by God. "The answer to this question may be found in the text. ‘Love your enemies’. It is true that love for one’s enemies is at variance with our immediate natural feelings, and may therefore seem to display the negative character suggested above; but if we consider the motive underlying it we shall see that it is entirely positive. The Christian is commanded to love his enemies, not because the other side teaches hatred of them, but because there is a basis and motive for such love in the concrete, positive fact of God’s own love for evil men. ‘He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good’. That is why we are told: ‘Love your enemies ... that ye may be children of your Father which is in heaven’." What Nygren writes here is accurate. But it neglects the significance of human ontology; that is, that we are commanded to love our enemies because there is a spiritual value within the very fabric of human nature created by God, even fallen nature, and that that spiritual value is to be found in each and every man, however dimly we may perceive it. If we begin to love our enemy, we will begin to perceive in that enemy characteristics, aspects that were veiled, that were dimmed by the blindness of our hatred. We are commanded to love our enemy not only because God loves mankind, not only because God "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good" but God loves mankind because there is a value in mankind. Nygren writes (p.79) that "the suggestion that man is by nature possessed of such an inalienable value easily gives rise to the thought that it is this matchless value on which God’s love is set." It is perhaps inaccurate to assert that Nygren misses the central issue that that which is of value in man is God-created, God-given. It is more accurate to assert that Nygren rejects completely the issue, and he does so because of his theological doctrine of God and man. This again is part of that great divide which separates certain churches within the ecumenical dialogue. There is a basic and fundamental difference of vision on the nature of God and man. One view claims its position is consistent with apostolic Christianity, consistent with the apostolic deposit, and consistent with the teaching and life of the early Church and of the Church in all ages. Another view begins with the Reformation. Both views claim the support of the New Testament. Luther’s writings on the Divine nature of love are not only interesting but valuable, not only penetrating but in one emphasis accurate. Indeed, if one considers Luther’s doctrine of Divine love by itself, exclusive of his other doctrines, especially those on the nature of man, the nature of salvation, the nature of justification, the doctrine of predestination and grace, one encounters a view not dissimilar from that of ancient Orthodox Christianity. At times Luther can even appear to be somewhat mystically inclined. Luther’s well known description of Christian love as "eine quellende Liebe" [a welling or ever-flowing love] is by itself an Orthodox view. For Luther, as for the Fathers of the Church, this love has no need of anything, it is not caused, it does not come into existence because of a desired object, it is not aroused by desirable qualities of an object. It is the nature of God. But, at the same time, it is God who created mankind and hence the love of God for mankind, though in need of nothing and attracted by nothing, loves mankind not because of a value in man but because there is value in man because man is created by God. Herein lies the difference and it is indeed a great divide when one considers the differing views on the other subjects closely related to the nature of Divine love.

PERFECTION, ALMSGIVING, PRAYER, FASTING, AND CHASTITY
In monastic and ascetical literature from the earliest Christian times the word and idea of "perfect" are often confronted. The monk seeks perfection, the monk wants to begin to become established on the path that may lead to perfection. But is this the result of monasticism? Is it the monastic and ascetical tendencies in early Christianity which bring forth the idea of perfection, which bring forth the idea of spiritual struggle and striving? It is our Lord, not the monks, who injects the goal of perfection into the very fabric of early Christian thought. In the Gospel of St. Matthew (5:48) our Lord commands: "Be ye therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect"

Traditional monastic and ascetical life has included among its activities almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. Were these practices imposed upon an authentic Christianity by monasticism or were they incorporated into monastic and ascetical life from original Christianity? In the Gospel of St. Matthew it is once again our Lord and Redeemer who has initiated almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. Our Lord could very easily have abolished such practices. But rather than abolish them, our Lord purifies them, gives them their correct status within the spiritual life which is to do them but to attach no show, no hypocrisy, no glory to the doing of them. It is proper spiritual perspective that our Lord commands. "Take heed that you do not your righteousness before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward with your Father in heaven" (6:1). Therefore, when you do alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be glorified by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you are doing alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who is seeing in secret will reward you" (6:2-4). And prayer is commanded to be done in a similar manner to ensure its spiritual nature. At this juncture our Lord instructs his followers to use the "Lord’s Prayer," a prayer that is so simple yet so profound, a prayer that contains within it the glorification of the name of God, a prayer that contains within it the invoking of the coming of the kingdom of God, a prayer that acknowledges that the will of God initiates everything and that without the will of God man is lost. It is a prayer of humility in that it asks for nothing beyond daily sustenance. It is a prayer of human solidarity in forgiveness, for it asks God to forgive us only as we forgive others, and in this a profound reality of spiritual life is portrayed, a life that unites man with God only as man is also united with other persons, with mankind, in forgiveness. And then there is the prayer to be protected from temptation and, if one falls into temptation, the prayer to be delivered from it. So short, so simple, yet so profound both personally and cosmically. Is monasticism a distortion of authentic Christianity because the monks recite the Lord’s Prayer at the instruction of and command of our Lord? If monasticism used free, spontaneous prayer, then it could be faulted for not having "followed" our Lord’s command. But that is not the case. Is monasticism a deviation because of the frequent use of the Lord’s Prayer? Our Lord was specific: when praying, pray this. It does not preclude other prayers but prominence and priority is to be given to the Lord’s Prayer. Indeed, it is certainly foreign to our Lord to restrict the frequency of prayer. The "vain repetitions," or more accurately in the Greek, the prohibition of "do not utter empty words as the gentiles, for they think that in their much speaking they will be heard." This is in essence different than our Lord’s intention. And our Lord says more on this subject, a subject considered of importance to him. In the Gospel of St. Matthew (9:15) our Lord makes the point that when he is taken way, then his disciples will fast. In the Gospel of St. Matthew (17:21) our Lord explains to his disciples that they were unable to cast out the devil because" this kind goes out only by prayer and fasting." This verse, it is true, is not in all the ancient manuscripts. It is, however, in sufficient ancient manuscripts and, moreover, it is contained in the Gospel of St. Mark (9:29). It is obvious that our Lord assigns a special spiritual efficacy to prayer and fasting.

Chastity is a monastic and ascetic goal. Not only an external celibacy but an inner chastity of thought. Is this too something imposed upon authentic, original Christianity by a Hellenistic type of thinking or is it contained within the original deposit of apostolic and Biblical Christianity? Again it is our Lord who lays down the path of celibacy and chastity. In the Gospel of St. Matthew (19:10-12) the disciples ask our Lord whether it is expedient to marry. "Not all men can receive this saying but those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to grasp it, let him grasp it." The monastic and ascetical goal merely "follows" the teaching of our Lord. Original Christianity never imposed celibacy. It was, precisely as our Lord has stated, only for those to whom it was given, only to those who might be able to accept such a path. But the path was an authentically Christian path of spirituality laid down by our Lord. In early Christianity not even priests and bishops were required to be celibate. It was a matter of choice. Later the Church thought it wise to require celibacy of the bishops. But in Eastern Christianity celibacy has never been required of one becoming a priest. The choice to marry or to remain celibate had to be made before ordination. If one married before ordination, then one was required to remain married, albeit the ancient Church witnessed exceptions to this. If one was not married when one was ordained, then one was required to remain celibate. The Roman Church, not the Eastern Orthodox Church, extended the requirement of celibacy to priests and had a very difficult time attempting to enforce it throughout the ages. One can never force forms of spirituality upon a person and expect a spiritually fruitful result. The words of our Lord resound with wisdom—to those to whom it is given, to those who can live in this form of spirituality.

POVERTY AND HUMILITY
Poverty is not the goal but the beginning point of monastic and ascetical life in early Christianity. Was this a precedent established by St. Antony, a new notion and movement never before contained within Christian thought? Again it is our Lord who establishes the spiritual value of poverty. In the Gospel of St. Matthew (19:21) our Lord commands the rich man who has claimed he has kept all the commandments: "If you will to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor ... and come follow me." It was not St. Antony who established the precedent. Rather it was St. Antony who heard the word of our Lord and put it into action, who "did the word of the Lord." It is Christ, the God-Man who has put forth the ideal of perfection, who has commanded us to be perfect (see also 5:48), who has put forth the ideal of poverty as a starting-point for a certain form of spiritual life. Elsewhere in the Gospel of St. Matthew (13:44) Christ makes a similar point, asserting that one sells everything in exchange for the kingdom of heaven. "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

All Christianity exalts humility. It should therefore not be a surprise if monastic and ascetical spirituality focus on humility. In the Gospel of St. Matthew (18:4) our Lord proclaims that "he who therefore will humble himself as this little child, he is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Elsewhere (23:12) our Lord says that "whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." The emphasis on humility may appear self-evident. Behind it, however, lies a reality of the nature of God to which few pay much attention. In the Incarnation two very core elements of any spirituality are clearly evidenced—the love and humility of God. The idea that humility is rooted in God may appear astonishing. The humility of God cannot, of course, be considered in the same light as ascetical humility, or any human form of humility. However, the human forms of humility are derived from the very nature of God, just as the commandment to love is rooted in God’s love for mankind God’s humility is precisely that being God he desires, he wills to be in communion with everything and everything is inferior to God. This has great theological significance, for it reveals the value of all created things, a value willed by God. There is even a parallel here with the saints who loved animals and flowers. And from this idea, an idea intrinsically derived from the Incarnation and kenosis of God the Son, one can clearly see the real Divine origin in action of Christ’s teaching about "others." In the very notion of a vertical spirituality a concern for others is presupposed. And while one is ascending to God—an abomination for Nygren—his fellow man must be included in the dimensions of spirituality. Through the Incarnation all forms of human existence are sanctified. Through the Incarnation both the love and the humility of God are made known. And man is to love God and fellow mankind because love contains absolute, positive value, a value derived because love is the very nature of God. And man is to experience humility, to become inflamed by humility precisely because humility belongs also to God and hence its value is derived from God. But to become filled innerly with love and humility is not easy. It demands not a mere acknowledgement of the fact that God is love and humility is Divine. Rather, it demands the complete purification of our inner nature by God. And this is the struggle, the spiritual warfare that must be waged to enter and maintain the reality of love and humility. The path of monasticism and asceticism is an authentic path, a path also ordained by our Lord.

THE WRITINGS BY ST. PAUL AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE REFORMATION
The writings by or attributed to St. Paul form a critical point in the entire great divide between the churches of the Reformation and the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church. The Epistle to the Romans is one of the most important references of this controversy. This epistle and the Epistle to the Galatians formed the base from which Luther developed his doctrine faith and justification, a doctrine that he himself characterized in his preface to his Latin writings as a totally new understanding of Scripture. These two works continue to be the main reference points for contemporary theologians from the tradition of the Reformation. It was this new understanding of the Scriptures that the rejection of monasticism obtained in the Reformation In general it is not an exaggeration to claim that this thought considers St. Paul as the only one who understood the Christian message. Moreover, it is not St. Paul by himself nor St. Paul from the entire corpus of his works, but rather Luther’s understanding of St. Paul. From this perspective the authentic interpreters of our Lord’s teaching and redemptive work are St. Paul, as understood by Luther, then Marcion, then St. Augustine, and then Luther. Marcion was condemned by the entire early Church. St. Augustine indeed does anticipate Luther in certain views but not at all on the doctrine of justification and Luther’s specific understanding of faith. It is more St. Augustine’s doctrine of predestination, irresistible grace, and his doctrine of the total depravity of man contained in his "novel" to quote St. Vincent of Lérins—doctrine of original sin that influenced Luther, who himself was an Augustinian monk.

The rejection of monasticism ultimately followed from the emphasis placed upon salvation as a free gift of God. Such a position is completely accurate but its specific understanding was entirely contrary to that of the early Church. That salvation was the free gift of God and that man was justified by faith was never a problem for early Christianity. But from Luther’s perspective and emphasis any type of "works," especially that of the monks in their ascetical struggle, was considered to contradict the free nature of grace and the free gift of salvation. If one was indeed justified by faith, then—so went the line of Luther’s thought—man is not justified by "works." For Luther "justification by faith" meant an extrinsic justification, a justification totally independent from any inner change within the depths of the spiritual life of a person. For Luther "to justify"—dikaion—meant to declare one righteous or just, not "to make" righteous or just*—it is an appeal to an extrinsic justice which in reality is a spiritual fiction. Luther has created a legalism far more serious than the legalism he detected in the Roman Catholic thought and practice of his time. Morever, Luther’s legalistic doctrine of extrinsic justification is spiritually serious, for it is a legal transaction which in reality does not and can not exist. Nowhere was the emphasis on "works" so strong, thought Luther, as in monasticism. Hence, monasticism had to be rejected and rejected it was. But Luther read too much into St. Paul’s emphasis on faith, on justification by faith, and on the free gift of the grace of salvation. St. Paul is directly in controversy with Judaism, especially in his Epistle to the Romans. It is the "works of the law," the law as defined by and interpreted by and practiced by Judaism in the time of St. Paul. Our Lord has the same reaction to the externalization and mechanical understanding of the "law." Indeed, the very text of the Epistle to the Romans revels in every passage that St. Paul is comparing the external law of Judaism with the newness of the spiritual understanding of law, with the newness of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ through the Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord. God has become Man. God has entered human history and indeed the newness is radical. But to misunderstand St. Paul’s critique of "works," to think that St. Paul is speaking of the "works" commanded by our Lord rather than the Judaic understanding of the works of the "law" is a misreading of a fundamental nature. It is true, however, that Luther had a point in considering the specific direction in which the Roman Catholic merit-system had gone as a reference point similar to the Judaic legal system. As a result of Luther’s background, as a result of his theological milieu, whenever he read anything in St. Paul about "works," he immediately thought of his own experience as a monk and the system of merit and indulgences in which he had been raised.

It must be strongly emphasized that Luther does indeed protect one aspect of salvation, the very cause and source of redemption and grace. But he neglects the other side, the aspect of man’s participation in this free gift of Divine initiative and grace. Luther fears any resurgence of the Roman Catholic system of merit and indulgences, he fears any tendency which will constitute a truly Pelagian attitude, any tendency that will allow man to believe that man is the cause, the source, or the main spring of salvation. And here Luther is correct. Nygren’s Agape-Eros distinction is correct in this context, for any spirituality that omits Agape and concentrates only on Eros, on man’s striving to win God’s influence, is fundamentally non-Christian. But the issue is not that simple. Both extremes are false. God has freely willed a synergistic path-of-redemption in which man must spiritually participate. God is the actor, the cause, the initiator, the one who completes all redemptive activity. But man is the one who must spiritually respond to the free gift of grace. And in this response there is an authentic place for the spiritually of monasticism and asceticism, one which has absolutely nothing to do his the "works of the law," or with the system of merit and indulgences.

ROMANS
In his Epistle to the Romans St. Paul writes in the very introduction (1:4-5) that through Jesus Christ "we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name." The notion of "obedience of faith" has a meaning for St. Paul. It is much more than a simple acknowledgement or recognition of a faith placed within one by God. Rather, it is a richly spiritual notion, one that contains within it a full spirituality of activity on the part of man—not that the activity will win the grace of God but precisely that the spiritual activity is the response to the grace of God, performed with the grace of God, in order to be filled by the grace of God. And it will be an on-going spiritual "work," one which can never be slackened, and one totally foreign from the works" of the Judaic law.

St. Paul writes (2:6) that God "will render to each according to his works." If St. Paul was so concerned about the word "works," if he feared that the Christian readers of his letter might interpret "works" in some totally different way from what he intended, he certainly could have been more cautious. But St. Paul clearly distinguishes between the "works" of the Judaic law and the "works" of the Holy Spirit required of all Christians. Hence, it is difficult to confuse these two perspectives and it is significant that the early Church never confused them, for they understood what St. Paul wrote. If anything—despite the lucidity of St. Paul’s thought—there were tendencies at times to fall not into Luther’s one-sided interpretation but rather to fall somewhat spontaneously into an Eros-type of striving.

It is the "doers of the law" who will be justified" (2:13). The notion of "doers" implies action, activity. Elsewhere in the same epistle (5:2) St. Paul writes that through our Lord Jesus Christ "we have had access [by faith] into this grace in which we stand." The very idea of "access into grace" is dynamic and implies spiritual activity on the part of mankind.

After the lengthy proclamation of the grace of God, the impotence of the "works of the law" in comparison with the "works" of the new reality of the Spirit, St. Paul resorts to the traditional spiritual exhortation (6:12f). "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body in order to obey its lusts. Nor yield your members to sin as weapons of unrighteousness." The exhortation presupposes that man has some type of spiritual activity and control over his inner existence. The very use of the word "weapon" invokes the idea of battle, of spiritual warfare, the very nature of the monastic "ordeal."

In the same chapter (6:17) St. Paul writes: "But grace to God that you who were slaves of sin obeyed out of the heart a form of teaching which was delivered to you." In the second chapter of the Epistle to the Romans (2:15) St. Paul writes about the universal aspect of the "law" that is "written in the hearts" of mankind, a thought with profound theological implications. In using the image of the heart St. Paul is emphasizing the deepest aspect of the interior life of mankind, for such was the use of the image of the "heart" among Hebrews. When he writes that they obeyed "out of the heart," St. Paul is attributing some type of spiritual activity to the "obedience" which springs from the "heart." And to what have they become obedient? To a form or standard of teaching or doctrine delivered to them—this is precisely the apostolic deposit, the body of early Christian teaching to which they have responded and have become obedient. And in so doing, they have become "enslaved to righteousness," the righteousness of the new law, of the life of the Spirit (6:18). And the "fruit" of becoming enslaved to God" is precisely sanctification which leads to life eternal (6:22). Throughout is a process, throughout is a dynamic spiritual activity on the part of man. St. Paul becomes more explicit about the distinction between the old and the new law (7:6). "But now we are discharged from the law, having died in that which held us captive, so as to serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter."

St. Paul writes that we "are children of God, and if children, also heirs, heirs on the one hand of God, co-heirs on the other hand, of Christ" (8:17). But all this has a condition, has a proviso, for there is the all important "if indeed." "If we co-suffer in order that we may be glorified." Our glorification, according to St. Paul, is contingent upon a mighty "if" and that "if" leads us to the spiritual reality, the spiritual reality ‘of "co- suffering." The very use of the word "co-suffer" presupposes the reality of the idea of "cosuffering" and both presuppose an active, dynamic spiritual action or activity on the part of the one who co-suffers, else there is no meaning to the "co."

In the Epistle to the Romans (12:1) St. Paul uses language that would be meaningless if man were merely a passive object in the redemptive process, if justification by faith was an action that took place only on the Divine level. "I appeal to you therefore, brethren, through the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service." St. Paul is asking the Christian to present, a reality which presupposes and requires human activity. But not only "to present" but "to present" the body as a living sacrifice, as holy, and as acceptable or well-pleasing to God. And this St. Paul considers our "reasonable service" or our "spiritual worship." The language and the idea speak for themselves. Using the imperative, St. Paul commands us: "Be not conformed to this age but be transformed by the renewing of the mind in order to prove [that you may prove] what [is] that good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God." Taken by itself and out of context this language could be misinterpreted as Pelagian, for here it is man who is transforming the mind, man who is commanded to activate the spiritual life. Such an interpretation is, of course, incorrect but it reveals what one can do to the totality of the theological thought of St. Paul if one does not understand the balance, if one does not understand that his view is profoundly synergistic. Synergism does not mean that two energies are equal. Rather it means that there are two wills—one, the will of God which precedes, accompanies, and completes all that is good, positive, spiritual and redemptive, one that has willed that man have a spiritual will, a spiritual participation in the redemptive process; the other is the will of man which must respond, cooperate, "co-suffer." In 12:9 St. Paul exhorts us to "cleave to the good." And in 12:12 he exhorts us "to be steadfastly continuing in prayer." Such a position certainly does not exclude monastic and ascetical spirituality but rather presupposes it.

I AND II CORINTHIANS
Celibacy is a part of the monastic life and it too has its source in the teachings of the New Testament. In I Corinthians 7: 1-11 St. Paul encourages both marriage and celibacy—both are forms of Christian spirituality, and St. Paul has much to say about marriage in his other epistles. But his point is that celibacy is a form of spirituality for some, and it therefore cannot be excluded from the forms of spirituality within the Church. In verse 7 St. Paul writes that he would like all to be like him. But he realizes that each person has his own gift from God. "I say therefore to the unmarried men and to the widows, it is good for them if they remain as I. But if they do not exercise self-control, let them marry" (verses 37-38). St. Paul summarizes: "the one who has decided in his own heart to keep himself virgin, he will do well. So, therefore, both the one marrying his betrothed [virgin], does well, and the one not marrying will do better." The monastic practice of celibacy is precisely not excluded by the New Testament. Rather, it is even encouraged both by our Lord and by St Paul—and without jeopardy to the married state. The decision cannot be forced. Rather, it must come from the heart. And, indeed, it is not for everyone.

The comparison of the spiritual life to that of running a race and to that of warfare is throughout the New Testament. Without diminishing his basis of theological vision—that it is God who initiates everything—St. Paul writes in I Corinthians 9:24-27 in a manner, which, if taken by itself, would indeed appear Pelagian, would indeed appear as though all the essence of salvation depends upon man. But in the total context of his theology there is no contradiction, for there are always two wills in redemption—the Divine, which initiates; and the human, which responds and is, in the very response has received. "Do you not know that the ones running in a race all run indeed. But one receives the prize? So run in order that you may obtain. And everyone struggling exercises self-control in all things. Indeed, those do so therefore in order that they may receives a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one. I, therefore, so run as not unclearly. Thus I box not as one beating the air. But I treat severely my body and lead it as a slave, lest having proclaimed to others, I myself may become disqualified." In this text we encounter the race—the spiritual race—and the prize; we encounter the grammatical and the thought structure of "in order that you may obtain," a structure which implies contingency and not certainty. We encounter the race as a spiritual struggle in which "self-control in everything" must be exercised. And then St. Paul describes his own spiritual battle—he treats his body severely, leads it as though it were a slave, and to what end? So that he will not become disapproved. The entire passage is very monastic and ascetic in its content. Despite St. Paul’s certainty of the objective reality of redemption which has come through Christ as a Divine gift, he does not consider his own spiritual destiny to be included in that objective redemption which is now here unless he participates in it—and until the end of the race. In 10:12 he warns us: "Let the one who thinks he stands, let him look lest he falls." In 11: 28 he writes: "Let a man prove or examine himself. " In the latter context the proving" or "examining" is in the most serious of contexts, for it is spoken in connection with the Holy Eucharist, which is spoken of so objectively that if one "eats this bread" or "drinks this cup of the Lord" "unworthily," that person "shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord" and shall "bring damnation to himself"—for that reason, continues St. Paul, some are weak, sickly, and some have died. But our focus here is on self-examination, on those who think they stand. This again is an integral aspect of the monastic and ascetical life; that is, a constant examination of one’s spiritual life In II Corinthians 13:5 St. Paul again stresses self-examination: "Examine yourselves, if you are in the faith. Prove yourselves."

In 15:1-2 St. Paul introduces a significant "if’ and "also." "I make known to you, brothers, the Gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, in which you also stand, through which you also are saved, if you hold fast to that which I preached to you."

In I Corinthians 14:15 St. Paul speaks of praying with both spirit and mind, a thought that weaves its way through monastic and ascetical literature. The use of the mind in prayer finds its fullest expression in the controversial use of the "mind" in the thought of Evagrius Ponticus. The text, even within its general context in the chapter, is clear. "I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray also with the mind; I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the mind."

St. Paul’s hymn to love, to Agape, fills the entirety of I Corinthians 13. Despite later interpretations of the use of the word "faith" in this chapter, specifically the interpretations that entered Christian thought with the Reformation, there was no misunderstanding of this "hymn to love" in the early Church indeed, in the history of Christian thought until the Reformation it was understand quite directly. It is only through a convoluted exegetical method imposed by a specific—and new—theological understanding that this great "hymn to love" had to be understood by distinguishing different meanings attached to the word "faith." Though one speaks with the tongues of men and of angels, though one has the gift of prophecy, though one understands all mysteries, though one understands all knowledge, though one has all faith "to remove mountains," though one bestows all one’s goods to feed the poor, though one gives one’s body to be burned—though one has all this, but not love, one is "nothing," one "becomes as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal," one "profits" not at all. St. Paul is quite explicit on what love is. "Love suffers long, love is kind, love is not jealous, does not vaunt itself, is not puffed up, does not act unseemly, does not seek its own things, is not provoked, does not reckon evil, does not rejoice over wrong, but rejoices with the truth. Love covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never falls. But prophecies—they will be abolished; tongues—they will cease; knowledge—it will be abolished... And now remains faith, hope, love, these three. But the greatest of these is love." The goal of monastic and ascetical struggle, of the "ordeal," is love—to love God, to love mankind, to love all created things, to be penetrated by God’s love, to participate in love, which is God and flows from God, and to enter a union with God, with love. Often monastic literature will speak of "achieving" this love, as though it is the work of man. But that it not the total context of love in monastic literature, not even in those texts which appear as though everything were nothing but a striving on the part of man in the "ordeal." This language is spoken because it is spontaneous with spiritual nature. This language is spoken because it runs parallel with that assumed knowledge—that God is the source of everything. And yet St. Paul himself often uses language which could come directly from monastic statements. True, both would be taken out of their total context, but it is true that the two languages are spoken—the language referring to God as the source, as the initiator, to the grace of God, to the gift of all spirituality; and the language which concentrates on man’s activity, on man’s response to the love and redemptive work of God in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit. When one line of thought is being used, it in no way denies the other line of thought. Rather, it is precisely the opposite, for monastic and ascetical literature can only speak about man’s activity if it is presupposed that God has accomplished the redemptive activity in and through our Lord, that God is working in man through the Holy Spirit. Else, all that is written is without meaning, temporarily and ultimately. St. Paul’s command in I Corinthians 14:1 to "pursue love and eagerly desire the spiritual things" is responded to directly by monastic and ascetical spirituality.

In II Corinthians 2:9 St. Paul writes in the very same spirit that an abbot might employ with his novices: "For to this end indeed I wrote—in order that I might know your proof, if you are obedient in all things." Obedience is an important theme and reality in the monastic and ascetic "ordeal" and that very theme of obedience is mentioned often throughout the New Testament.

Monastic and ascetical literature will often use the terms "fragrance" and "aroma" and again the source is the New Testament. In II Corinthians 2:14-15 St. Paul writes: "manifesting among us the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those perishing, to the latter an aroma from death unto death, to the former an aroma from life unto life."

In II Corinthians 3:18 St. Paul uses an expression which is often found in ascetical literature— "from glory to glory." "But we all, with face having been unveiled, beholding in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being changed into the same icon from glory to glory, even as from the Spirit of the Lord." The Greek verbal structure throughout the New Testament cannot be stressed enough, for it conveys a dynamic activity that is seldom found in other languages and in translations. In this text the emphasis is on the process of "we are being changed." Elsewhere emphasis is often on "we are being saved"—rather than "we are changed" and "we are saved." When the objective nature of redemption is the focus, then the Greek verbal structure uses "we are saved." But mainly, when the process is the focus, the dynamism is expressed by the verbal structure of "we are being saved." In this text it is significant that the objective nature is expressed by "having been unveiled," while the on-going process of our participation in the spiritual process of salvation is expressed by "we are being changed." Here is expressed the dynamism of synergy.

In II Corinthians 4:16 St. Paul again emphasizes the dynamism and process of the spiritual reality in man. "Our inner [life] is being renewed day by day." The monastic life attempts to respond to such a text by the daily regulation of prayer, meditation, self-examination, and worship—precisely to attempt to "renew" daily "our inner" spiritual life. In 10:15 the dynamic aspect of growth is stressed and precisely in reference to "faith" and "rule." "But having hope as your faith is growing to be magnified unto abundance among you according to our rule." In 4:12 St. Paul again places the inner depth of man’s spiritual life in the "heart," something which Eastern monasticism will develop even in its life of prayer.

The entire fifth chapter of II Corinthians is an exceptionally important text. Here, as elsewhere, St. Paul uses language which, when used by others, distresses sorely many scholars working from the Reformation perspective—he uses the notion of "pleasing God," something which some scholars find indicative of man’s solicitation to "win" God’s favor. But when St. Paul uses such language it passes in silence, it passes without objection—precisely because St. Paul has established his position that God is the source of everything. But monastic and ascetical literature also presuppose that God initiates and is the source of everything. But it is in the very nature of daily spiritual life in monasticism and in ascetical spirituality to focus on man’s activity. It is precisely focus, not a theological position. "We therefore are ambitious [to make it our goal], whether being at home or being away from home, to be well-pleasing to him. For it is necessary for all of us to be manifested before the tribunal of Christ in order that each one may receive something good or something worthless, according to what one has practiced through the body. Knowing, therefore, the fear of the Lord, we persuade men." In II Corinthians 11: 15 St. Paul writes that one’s "end will be according to [one’s] works." Also this is not the only time that the New Testament uses the word "practice," a word which becomes systematized in monasticism. After a profound exposition on the initiative of God in the redemptive work of Christ (5:14-20), in which St. Paul writes that "all things are of God, who, having reconciled us to himself through Christ." St. Paul writes in verse 21: "Be reconciled to God." Moreover, he not only uses the imperative form but also precedes this with "we beg on behalf of Christ." His language here becomes meaningless unless there is spiritual activity on the part of man. And what is more, St. Paul uses a very interesting structure in relationship to the "righteousness of God," for he writes that the redemptive work of Christ was accomplished "in order that we might become the righteousness of God in him." Here the significance is on "we might become" rather than "we are" or "we have become." Implicit is a synergistic dynamism. This is further stressed in 6:1: "And working together [with him] we entreat you not to receive the grace of God to no purpose." And St. Paul then quotes from Isaiah 49:8 in which it is said that God "hears" and "helps."

In II Corinthians 6:4-10 St. Paul writes what could be a guide to monastic spiritual life. "In everything commending ourselves as ministers of God—in much endurance, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in prisons, in tumults, in labors, in vigils, in fasting, in purity, in knowledge, in longsuffering, in kindness, in a holy spirit, in unfeigned love, in a word of truth, in power of God—through the weapons of righteousness on the right and left hand, through glory and dishonor, through evil report and good report ... as dying, and behold, we live ... as being grieved but always rejoicing, as poor but enrichening [sic] many, as having nothing yet possessing all things." The vigils, the fasting, the purity, the gnosis or knowledge—these are to be reflected in monastic and ascetical life. Moreover, St. Paul again uses the image of warfare and refers to the "weapons of righteousness." The language used by St. Paul in this passage can only have significance if man participates synergistically in the redemptive process. If the doctrine of "righteousness" in the thought of St. Paul has only a one-sided meaning—that is, the "righteousness of God," which is, of course, the source of all righteousness—then why the talk of "weapons of righteousness" placed in the very hands, both right and left, of man? If man is solely "reckoned righteous" by the "vicarious sacrifice" of our Lord Jesus Christ, why the need to speak of "weapons of righteousness," unless there is a second aspect of the redemptive process which ontologically includes man’s spiritual participation? In II Corinthians 10:3-6 St. Paul continues with the reference to it warfare" and again stresses "obedience." "For though walking in the flesh, we wage war not according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but [have] the power of God to overthrow strongholds, overthrowing reasonings and every high thing rising up against the knowledge of God and taking captive every design unto the obedience of Christ."

St. Paul writes in II Corinthians 7:1 about cleansing, about it perfecting holiness," and about the "fear of God." After referring to our having "these promises," he exhorts: "Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and of spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." This exhortation is precisely what monastic and ascetical life attempts to implement. In 13:9 St. Paul writes: "We pray also for you restoration." In order for one to be "restored," one would have to have been at a certain level previously. The text bears witness to the dynamic nature of faith, of spiritual life in Christ, of the rising and falling away, and then the restoration.

In II Corinthians 7:10 St. Paul speaks in terms quite similar to those found in monastic and ascetical literature, for he speaks of "grief" which works "repentance" which leads to "salvation." "For grief, in accordance with God, works repentance unto unregrettable salvation." St. Paul contrasts this "Godly grief" with the "grief of the world which works out death." The theme "sorrow" and "grief" over one’s sin—precisely "grief in accordance with God" or "Godly grief"—is a constant in monastic spiritual life.

St. Paul ends the text proper of II Corinthians with a final exhortation. "Restore yourselves, admonish yourselves, think the same, become at peace, and the God of love and of peace will be with you." Here the emphasis is again on "restoration." St. Paul’s sequence of language—if taken by itself and out of context—could be easily misinterpreted as man causing God’s action, for he writes "become at peace and." It is precisely that "and" that introduces the activity of God. God "will be with you," if you achieve peace—this is how this text could well be interpreted if we did not the possess the body of St. Paul’s works. What could have happened to the thought of St. Paul is what usually happens to the thought expressed in monastic and ascetical literature.

GALATIANS
Along with the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians is the other work from the corpus of St. Paul most often quoted by the theologians of the Lutheran and Calvinistic Reformation and those theologians who have followed in those theological traditions. They were also the two works most quoted by St. Augustine to support his doctrine of irresistible grace and predestination. But one encounters the same problem in Galatians that is, that there is a second line of thought which, by itself, could be interpreted in a Pelagian sense. The point here is, of course, that both views are one-sided, that the thought of St. Paul is far richer than any one-sided interpretation allows for, far more realistic both with the glory of God and with the tragedy of man’s experience in evil, corruption, and death. But St. Paul not only extols the glory of God, the power and initiative of grace but also the joyfulness of an objective redemption in which each person must participate in order for the redemption of man to be completed.

In the first chapter of Galatians St. Paul in verse 10 uses language which implies the seeking of favor with God. "For now do I persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men?". At one point, in Galatians 4:9, St. Paul catches himself falling into the very understandable usage of human language: "But now knowing God, or rather, being known by God." Imprecision of language occurs even with St. Paul.

The second chapter of Galatians provides an illumination of the central controversial issue in the theology of St. Paul. In context St. Paul is addressing the hypocrisy of St. Peter in Antioch, for St. Peter ate with the Gentiles until those from the "circumcision" party arrived from Jerusalem. At that time St. Peter withdrew from the Gentiles, "fearing those of the circumcision." St. Paul challenges St. Peter face to face. Again the whole controversy is between the "works of the law" and the "works of the Spirit," between the laws of Judaism and the spiritual laws of Christ as a direct result of his Divine redemptive work. It is, therefore, in this context that St. Paul brings the doctrine of justification into discussion. In verse 16 St. Paul writes: "And knowing that a man is not justified out of works of the law but through faith of Christ Jesus, even we believed in Christ Jesus in order that we might be justified out of faith of Christ and not out of the works of the law because out of works of the law all flesh will not be justified." In the Greek construction used by St. Paul a dynamism still exists, for we believed "in order that we might be justified" and "out of faith." This latter expression contains breadth, expansion of spiritual life generating from faith. It is a rich expression and its fulness and dynamism must not be diminished by a reductionist interpretation. And the very use of "in order" has implications theologically, as does the construction "that we might be justified." St. Paul could very well have written that we have believed and are hence justified. But that is not what he has written. The objective reality of redemption, the objective reality of mankind being justified by Christ is one thing. The subjective reality of each person participating in this already accomplished redemptive work of justification, of being really "right" with God is another dimension, a dimension which requires and addresses the entire spiritual composition of man. In the very next text St. Paul writes "if seeking to be justified in Christ." In 5:5 he can write "for we in the Spirit eagerly expect the hope of righteousness." What is the ontological meaning of "the hope of righteousness" if "righteousness" is "imputed" to us as though a legal transaction, and if it is the "passive righteousness" of God which "justifies" us? No, St. Paul’s vision is far deeper. The "hope of righteousness" is precisely our hope to share in that objective "righteousness of God" which is now freely given by God in and through Christ. But we "hope" because there is "work" for us to do in order to take hold of and participate in that righteousness eternally. God creates in his freedom. God created man with this image of freedom. Christ accepts the Cross in freedom. Freedom is the foundation of creation and redemption. And man’s freedom, however weakened, can still be inspired by the free gift of Grace. And in this freedom man must, as St. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Philippians 2:12, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." it cannot be denied that monastic and ascetical spirituality took this seriously. In Galatians 5:1 St. Paul writes that "Christ freed us for freedom. Therefore stand firm."

The total theological significance of all that took place in the coming of Christ, in the Incarnation of the God-Man, in his life, his teachings, his death, his resurrection, his establishment of the Church and the mystical sacramental life in the Church, his Ascension, his sending of the Holy Spirit, and his Second Coming and Judgment—all this has radically altered the old law of works, and the meaning was clear to the early Church. It is true that what St. Paul says about the "works of the law" can be applied to any form of Christianity that deviates from the precision of the balance, that deviates from the authentic "works of the Spirit," replacing them by a mechanical and mechanistic attitude. And in Galatians 3:27 St. Paul immediately connects "justification by faith" with the mystical sacrament of baptism. "For you are all sons of God through the faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." Within this context what is the distinction between the "justification by faith" and "by faith" being "baptized into Christ," and, hence, having "put on Christ"?

St. Paul is addressing Christians, those who have been baptized, those who have accepted the faith. Despite all his language about "justification by faith," about "putting on Christ" through baptism, about the objective aspect of redemption having been accomplished, St. Paul still can write in Galatians 4:19 that he "travails in birth until Christ is formed" in them. What can this mean except that the redemptive process for man is one of struggle, one of rising and falling, one of continual spiritual dynamism? In 5:7 he writes that they "were running well" and asks "who hindered you?"—invoking again the image of a race.

In Galatians 5:14 St. Paul repeats Christ’s commandment of love, a thought not foreign to St. Paul, especially when one considers his "Hymn to Love" [Agape] in I Corinthians 13. "For the whole law has been summed up in one expression: you shall love your neighbor as yourself." He then distinguishes the "works of the Spirit" from the "works of the flesh," explicitly linking the latter with the old law. And then he again exhorts and commands from the realism of spiritual life (5:25). "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. What is the meaning of such an exhortation? It has a meaning based on realism only if the "living in the Spirit" refers to the entirety of the objective work of the redemptive work of Christ now accomplished and available to mankind, a redemption which surrounds them by the life of the Church in which they live but a redemption in which they must actively participate, in which they must "walk" if they are to obtain and receive the final work of redemption, the union of man and God in love, in goodness, in truth. The "walk" is an obvious expression of activity, of movement toward a goal. In Galatians 6:2 St. Paul links the commandment of love and the "walking in the Spirit" with "the law of Christ." "And thus you will fulfill the law of Christ." The very language of "the law of Christ" and the "fulfilling" of that law" is theologically significant, for "the law of Christ" refers to everything communicated to the Church through Christ. The monastic and ascetical life is precisely such an attempt to fulfill this "law of Christ." His concluding thought in Galatians is: "Peace and mercy upon those many who will walk by this rule." The "new creation" about which St. Paul speaks is both an already accomplished redemptive reality and, for us as individuals with spiritual freedom, the "new creation" is a reality which must be "formed," a reality which can come about only through process, when the subjective reality of each person is "formed" into the objective reality of the "new creation" wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ.

EPHESIANS
In Ephesians 1:14 St. Paul uses extremely interesting language in relationship to our "salvation" in Christ "in whom we believed and thereafter were sealed with the Holy Spirit "who is an earnest of our inheritance unto redemption of the possession." The meaning here is clear: the seal of the Holy Spirit is the "deposit" toward an inheritance of which we take possession when we acquire it. It is a dynamic text. That possession of such an inheritance requires that we walk in "good works" in clear in Ephesians 2:10: "For we are a product of him, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God previously prepared in order that we might walk in them." In Ephesians 6:11 St. Paul again uses the image of warfare and of putting on the "whole armor of God." The "walk" is evoked again in 5:8 and 5:15. "Walk as children of the light." "See, therefore, that you walk carefully." In 5:9 he writes that "the fruit of the light [is] in all goodness and righteousness and truth." It is the "walking in the light" that produces "the fruit which is [in] all goodness, righteousness and truth" and this is described as "proving what is well-pleasing to the Lord."

In Ephesians 5:14 St. Paul quotes from what was probably a hymn of the early Church, a text which has the ring of a monastic motif to it. "Rise, sleeping one." And to what purpose ought one to rise? In 5:1 he commands to "be therefore imitators of God." In 4:23 St. Paul writes that we are "to be renewed in the spirit of your mind" and "to put on the new man." He begs us in 4:1 "to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called." In 4:15 he exhorts that "we may grow into him [Christ] in all respects." In 6:18 St. Paul stresses the importance of prayer. "By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time." All these are aspects of the monastic and ascetical life.

PHILIPPIANS
The Epistle to the Philippians contains many expressions that directly relate to an active spiritual life. In 1:25 he speaks of "advance and joy of the faith." In 1:27 he speaks of "conducting" oneself "worthily of the Gospel." "Stand in one spirit, with one soul striving together in the faith of the Gospel." Here is the "striving" so disliked by Nygren.

For St. Paul we are required not only to believe but also to suffer. In Philippians 1:29 he writes: "ou monon to eis auton pisteuein alla kai to hyper autou paschein." And he refers to this as a "struggle," an "ordeal." In 2:16 he speaks of the possibility of "running and laboring in vain." In 3:8 St. Paul speaks of "gaining Christ," and this within the context of the "righteousness of the law" as opposed to the "righteousness based on faith." Philippians 3:11-16 is one of the more interesting texts. "If somehow I may attain to the resurrection out of the dead. Not that I received already or already have been perfected, but I follow if indeed I may lay hold, in as much as I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, not yet do I reckon myself to have laid hold. But one thing [I do], forgetting on one hand the things behind, and stretching forward on the other hand to the things which are ahead, I follow the mark for the prize of the heavenly calling of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, as many as [are] perfect, let us think this. Nevertheless, to what we arrived, let us walk by the same." Here St. Paul speaks both of laying hold of Christ and being "laid hold of by Christ." The synergistic activity is obvious and realistic. All the language in the passage indicates and underscores the activity of God and the activity of man, of the objective reality of an achieved redemption and man’s process of "laying hold," of "stretching forward" to the ultimate goal, a goal unachievable if man does not become spiritually active. The Greek verbal structures of "I may attain" and "I may lay hold of" are not without meaning.

In Philippians 4:8-9 St. Paul speaks universally as he does in Romans 1. "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovable, whatsoever things are well-spoken of, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, consider these things." These qualities—the true, the just, the pure, the lovable—are not qualities which have been revolutionized by the new creation wrought by the Incarnation of the God-Man, they have not come into existence nor been revolutionized by Christian thought. Rather, they are within the very texture of human nature and existence, things that every conscience knows spontaneously. What Christianity has done, however, is to break forth a new path for mankind to participate in the true, the just, the pure in a new way and with a new power through Christ. They now no longer exist as ideals, as the absolute, but are existentially and ontologically accessible to human nature through redemption. St. Paul speaks almost a Platonic language here, and yet it is thoroughly Christian.

COLOSSIANS
In St. Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians 1:22-23 and 29 the realism of synergy is depicted. "But now he reconciled in the body of his flesh through his death to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him, if indeed you continue in the faith having been founded and steadfast and not being moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you heard."

The objective reconciliation now exists but in order to participate in it one must be found holy, blameless, and irreproachable, and this is all contingent upon the significant "if"—"if indeed you continue in the faith." In verse 29 we encounter the ideas of "maturity," "labor," and "struggle" or "ordeal." "In order that we may present every man mature in Christ, for which also I labor struggling according to his energy energizing in me in power." Colossians 1:10 expresses the same idea of "worth," of "pleasing" God, of "bearing fruit in every good work," and of "increasing in the knowledge of God." But the very power comes from the might of the glory of God. "With all power dynamized according to the might of his glory." Colossians 2:6-7 expresses also the two spiritual wills and activities in the process of redemption. "As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, and being confirmed in the faith as you were taught."

The depth of the idea of synergy is found not only in co-dying and co-suffering with Christ but also in co-resurrection with him. In Colossians 3:1 St. Paul writes: "If therefore you were co-raised with Christ, seek the things above." St. Paul continues the use of many imperative exhortations in chapter 3. "Put to death therefore your members on earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry" (5). "Put away now all things . . ." (8). And then the command (4:2) to continue in prayer and vigil.

I AND II THESSALONIANS
In I Thessalonians St. Paul continues this second aspect of the redemptive process by referring to the "work of faith" (1:3), by expressing concern that "labor may be in vain" (3:5), by exhorting "if you stand in the Lord" (3:8), by exhorting that the "breastplate of faith and love" be put on (5:8), and by commanding to test everything, to hold fast to what is good, to abstain from every form of evil (5:21-22). In 3:10 St. Paul writes: "Praying exceedingly night and day ... to adjust the shortcomings of your faith." Why the need to adjust the shortcomings of faith, if faith "alone" is the sole criterion of salvation, as is held by certain schools of theology rooted in the tradition of the Reformation? In 4:4-5 St. Paul writes interestingly. "For this is the will of God: your sanctification. . . that each one of you know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor." The goal here of the spiritual life in Christ is sanctification and the significant text is to "know how to possess" this "vessel." Such language expresses the dynamism of a synergistic process of redemption. In 5:9 St. Paul uses the expression "unto the obtaining of salvation." In II Thessalonians 2:14 St. Paul uses the expression unto obtaining of the glory of our Lord." In II Thessalonians 1: 11 St Paul prays that they may be deemed worthy of the calling and that they may fulfill every "good pleasure of goodness and work of faith in power."

I AND II TIMOTHY
In I Timothy 1:5-6 we read: "Now the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and unpretended faith, from which things some, missing aim, turned aside." In 1:18-19 the image of warfare is again used. "This charge I commit to you, child Timothy ... in order that you might war by them the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some, thrusting away, have made shipwreck concerning the faith."

I Timothy 2:1-3 has the same intensity of spiritual activity found in monastic and ascetical literature: "I exhort, therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and eucharists be made on behalf of all men, on behalf of kings and all those in high positions, in order that we may lead a peaceable and quiet life in all piety and seriousness. This is good and acceptable before God our Savior, who wishes all men to be saved and to come to a full knowledge of truth." The same emphasis continues in 4:7-10, especially the expressions "exercise yourself" and "for unto this we labor and struggle." I Timothy 6:11-12 again stresses the "struggle," that "laying hold" of that which has been objectively accomplished in redemption. "Struggle the good struggle of the faith, lay hold on eternal life." And in the verse preceding this one is commanded "to pursue righteousness, piety, faith, love, endurance, meekness." What spiritual meaning can the "pursuit of righteousness" have unless it in fact indicates that, although the "righteousness of God" is established in Christ Jesus, we still must actively struggle in spiritual warfare in order to "lay hold on" this "righteousness"? Already in I Timothy 5:9 it is clear that "widows" of a certain age had a special place within the spiritual life of the Church. "Let a widow be enrolled." Enrolled into what? It is obviously a special activity within the spiritual life of the Church to which widows were enrolled, already a special form of spiritual activity in the earliest life of the Church.

In II Timothy 1:6 both the objective reality of the gift of redemption and the subjective, individual work necessary to "lay hold on" this redemptive work are clearly apparent. "I remind you to fan the flame of the gift of God, which is in you." The synergy of redemption is spoken of in 2:11-12 with the all significant "if." "For if we co-died with him, we shall also co-live with him; if we endure, we shall also co-reign with him." In 2:21 sanctification is contingent upon self-purification. "If, therefore, anyone purifies himself ... he will be a vessel unto honor, having been sanctified." In 2:22 again we are exhorted to "flee youthful lusts" and "to pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace" and the "calling on the Lord" must be done "out of a pure heart." In 4:7 the path of salvation is presented again as a struggle. "I have struggled the good struggle, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith."

HEBREWS
The Epistle to the Hebrews is rich in its thought on both aspects of redemption—on the work of God, and on the spiritual struggle on the part of man. In 3:14 the language is striking. "For we have become sharers of Christ, if indeed we hold fast the beginning of the foundation until the end." In 4:1 the idea is similar. "Let us fear, therefore, lest a promise being left to enter into his rest, any of you seems to have come short." The idea of "entering this rest" is continued in 4:11. "Let us be eager, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest anyone falls in the same example of disobedience." In 6:1 "the beginning" of the process is spoken of, accompanied by the exhortation: "let us be borne on to in maturity." In 6:11 one must show eagerness to the "full assurance of the hope unto the end!". The same exhortations of "let us" are found throughout Hebrews. In 10:22-23 it is: "Let us approach with a true heart" and "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope unyieldingly."

In 11:1 a definition of faith is proferred. "Now faith is the foundation of things being hoped, the proof of things not being seen." This definition of faith is often dismissed too readily. It is a deep idea, especially when considered in its original Greek structure. Faith is the "foundation," the "reality" upon which the "hope" of the Christian faith is built. And in its reality it contains the very proof, the evidence of the heavenly kingdom. The entire eleventh chapter reveals that "faith" was active under the "old law," although the faith of and in Christ is of deeper ontological significance precisely because it is the foundation into a new reality not available under the "old law." After a lengthy exposition of examples of " faith" under the "old law," the Epistle to the Hebrews in 12:1 engages in an exhortation that concerns the very spiritual activity of the new faith. "Putting away every hindrance and the most besetting sin, let us run through endurance the struggle set before us." The reality of "discipline" is stressed in Hebrews, especially in 12:7: "Endure unto disciple." And that one can "fail from the grace of God" is clear from 12:15.

I AND II PETER
In I Peter 1:9 it is not the beginning of faith or faith in general which results in salvation but it is precisely the "end of faith" which "obtains" salvation. Purification and obedience are dominant themes in I Peter. "Having purified your souls in the obedience of truth unto an unpretended brotherly love, love one another earnestly from the heart (1:22). The process of growth in the spiritual life is stressed in 2:2: "in order that . . . you may grow into salvation." The "war" between lust and the soul is spoken of in 2:11: "I exhort you as sojourners and aliens to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." In II Peter 1:4 a profound theological thought is expressed. The promises which God has given are great and precious; corruption is in the world because of lust; and man can not only escape this corruption but also become partakers or participators in the Divine nature, an idea which is developed in early Christian and in Eastern Orthodox theological thought, an idea which lays the foundation for the doctrine of theosis, of divinization. "He has given to us precious and very great promises in order that through these you become partakers of the Divine nature, escaping from the corruption that is in the world by lust." Precisely because of this we are instructed in the following verses to supplement our faith, and then the dynamic spiritual process of growth is presented. "And for this very reason bringing in all diligence, supply in your faith virtue, and in virtue [supply] knowledge, and in knowledge [supply] self-control, and in self-control [supply] endurance, and in endurance [supply] piety, and in piety [supply] brotherly love, and in brotherly love [supply] love."

In II Peter 1:10 there is mention of one’s "calling" and election." And yet in the very same text one is exhorted to be "diligence" precisely to make this "calling and election" firm. "Be diligent to make your calling and election firm." And in 2:20-22 the falling away from the "way of righteousness" is not only possible, but it actually takes place, and it is worse than had one not known the "way of righteousness" at all. And the texts speaks about those who had a "full knowledge of the Lord." "For if, having escaped the defilements of the world by a full knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, these persons again have been defeated, having been entangled, the last things have become to them worse than the first. For it was better for them not to have fully known the way of righteousness than, fully knowing, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. It has happened to them."

THE EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN
In the three Epistles of St. John we encounter the same language, the same reality of the two aspects of redemption. The same "ifs" are there, the same emphasis of purification (see I John 3:3), the same language about "pleasing God," and the same emphasis on "keeping the commandment" and "not sinning." There is an organic link between loving God and keeping his commandments—the full range of the commandments of Christ.

THE EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES AND LUTHER’S EVALUATION
Luther’s attitude toward the Epistle of St. James is well known. In fact, Luther positioned not only James at the end of the German Bible but also Hebrews, Jude, and Revelation. And his criterion was that they lacked evangelical "purity." He was not the first to do so. His colleague at Wittenberg, upon whom Luther later turned, Carlstadt, had distinguished among the books of the New Testament—and the Old Testament—before Luther took his own action. As early as 1520 Carlstadt divided the entirety of Scripture into three categories: libri summae dignitatis, in which Carstadt included the Pentateuch as well as the Gospels; libri secundae dignitatis, in which he included the Prophets and fifteen epistles; and libri tertiae dignitatis.

Luther rejected the Epistle of St. James theologically but of necessity retained it in the German Bible, even if as a kind of appendix. The ending of Luther’s Preface to his edition of the German Bible, which was omitted in later editions, reads in the German of his time: "... for that reason St. James’ Epistle is a thoroughly straw epistle, for it has indeed no evangelical merit to it." Luther rejected it theologically "because it gives righteousness to works in outright contradiction to Paul and all other Scriptures ... because, while undertaking to teach Christian people, it does not once mention the passion, the resurrection, the Spirit of Christ; it names Christ twice, but teaches nothing about him; it calls the law a law of liberty, while Paul calls it a law of bondage, of wrath, of death and of sin."

Luther even added the word "alone"—allein—in Romans 3:28 before "through faith" precisely to counter the words in James 2:24: "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith only." What is more is that Luther became very aggressive and arrogant in his response to the criticism that he had added "alone" to the Biblical text. "If your papist makes much useless fuss about the word sola, allein, tell him at once: Doctor Martin Luther will have it so and says: Papist and donkey are one thing; sic volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas. For we do not want to be pupils and followers of the Papists, but their masters and judges." Luther continues in a bantering manner in an attempt to imitate St. Paul in the latter’s response to his opponents. "Are they doctors? So am I. Are they learned? So am I. Are they preachers? So am I. Are they theologians? So am I. Are they philosophers? So am I. Are they writers of books? So am I. And I shall further boast: I can expound Psalms and Prophets; which they cannot. I can translate; which they cannot . . . Therefore the word allein shall remain in my New Testament, and though all pope-donkeys should get furious and foolish, they shall not get the word out." In some German editions the word "allein" was printed in larger type! Some critics of Luther’s translation have accused him of deliberately translating inaccurately to support his theological view. As early as 1523 Dr. Emser, an opponent of Luther, claimed that Luther’s translation contained "a thousand grammatical and fourteen hundred heretical errors." This is exaggerated but the fact does remain that there are numerous errors in Luther’s translation.

Indeed, the entire Reformation in its attitude towards the New Testament is directly in opposition to the thought on this subject of St. Augustine, who was highly esteemed in many respects by the Reformation theologians and from whom they took the basis for some of the theological visions, especially predestination, original sin, and irresistible grace for Luther and Calvin. On this subject, as on some many others, there is no common ground between Luther and Calvin on the one hand and St. Augustine on the other. St. Augustine wrote: "I should not believe the Gospel except as moved by the authority of the Church." It should be pointed out that Calvin did not take objection to the Epistle of St. James.

Luther was so caught up in the abstraction of a passive righteousness, so infuriated by his experience as a monk in practicing what he would refer to as "righteousness of works," so caught up in attempting to create a specific meaning to one line of the thought of St. Paul that he misses the very foundation from which the theological thought of St. James comes forth—and that is the initiative and will of God. Luther’s criticism that St. James does not mention the passion, the resurrection, and the Spirit of Christ is inane, for his readers knew the apostolic deposit—there was no need to mention the very basis and essence of the living faith which was known to those reading the epistle. Such a criticism by Luther reveals the enormous lack of a sense for the historical life of the early Church, for the Church was in existence and it is from the Church and to the Church that the epistles are written. Historically, the Church existed before any texts of the "new covenant" were written. The Church existed on the oral tradition received from the apostles, as is clearly revealed from the pages of the New Testament itself.

The very foundation of the theological vision of St. James is the will of God. In 1:17-18 St. James writes: "Every good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom change has no place, no turning, no shadow. Having willed, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures." In 4:15 St. James writes: "You are instead to say: if the Lord wills, we will both live and will do this or that." One theologically weak text in the Epistle of St. James is in 4:8: "Draw near to God and he will draw near to you." Taken by itself it has a Pelagian ring to it. And in monastic and ascetical literature one often encounters such expressions. But the meaning in both this epistle and in monastic and ascetical literature must be understood within their total context. Once the synergism of the redemptive process takes place in the human heart, then the existential reciprocity of grace and response is so dynamic that one can, as it were, use such expressions, precisely because it is assumed that God has initiated and that grace is always at work in the human heart, in all the depths of the interior of man as well as in external life. The text in the Epistle of St. James must be understood within the context of 1:18 and 4:15. Moreover, it is to be noted that this text is preceded by "Be subject, therefore, to God." In being "subject to God," a relationship is already in place, a relationship which presupposes the initiative of God and the response of man.

The Epistle of St. James contains many expressions that will be used in monastic and ascetical life. Temptation (1:14), the passions (4:1), purifying, cleansing, humbling oneself (4), and "be distressed and mourn and weep" (4:9). The excoriating words against the rich (5:1-6) underguird the monastic vow of poverty.

THE LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH

The life of the early Church as described in the Acts of the Apostles is so clear that no analysis or presentation of texts is necessary to demonstrate that the essentials exist for a form of spirituality similar to that of monastic and ascetical Christianity. Mention should also be made of the life of St. John the Baptist: "It is on solid grounds that a student of monastic origins like Dom Germain Morin upheld his apparent paradox: it is not so much the monastic life which was a novelty at the end of the third century and the beginning of the fourth, but rather the life of adaptation to the world led by the mass of Christians at the time when the persecutions ceased. The monks actually did nothing but preserve intact, in the midst of altered circumstances, the ideal of the Christian life of early days ... And there is another continuous chain from the apostles to the solitaries and then to the cenobites, whose ideal, less novel than it seems, spread so quickly from the Egyptian deserts at the end of the third century. This chain is constituted by the men and women who lived in continence, ascetics and virgins, who never ceased to be held in honor in the ancient Church."

Why Use Incense During Prayer?

2011-10-17T13:18:00.000-05:00

Because God said to...

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution. This is the contribution which you are to raise from them: gold, silver and bronze, blue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair, rams’ skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood, oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece. Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it. (Ex 25:1-9)

“Moreover, you shall make an altar as a place for burning incense; you shall make it of acacia wood… Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps. When Aaron trims the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.” (Ex 30:1, 7-8)

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take for yourself spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, spices with pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part of each. With it you shall make incense, a perfume, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. You shall beat some of it very fine, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you; it shall be most holy to you.” (Ex 30:34-36)

Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods that they might provoke Me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore My wrath burns against this place, and it shall not be quenched. (2Ki 22:17)

My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense. (2Ch 29:11)

May my prayer be counted as incense before Thee; the lifting up of my hands as the evening offering. (Ps 140:2)

“For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of hosts. (Mi 1:11)

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. (Ma 2:9-12)

When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. (Rv 5:8 )

“A Solemn Caution Against the Ten Horns of Calvinism (Neo-Nesorianism)” by Thomas Taylor

2011-10-14T16:28:00.002-05:00

The sum of Calvinism is contained in that article in (Westminster) "the Assembly’s Catechism," viz.,

"that God, from all eternity, hath ordained whatsoever comes to pass in time."

From hence naturally follow the ensuing ten blasphemous absurdities:–

I. If it is so, that, God has from all eternity ordained whatsoever comes to pass in time; then it is certain, nothing can come to pass but what he hath ordained or appointed.

But, we are sensible, the most shocking things have come to pass; such is the rebellion and fall of the angels, who kept not their stations, but are become the enemies of God and man, and seeking to do all the mischief they can in the world. But if God has, by an express decree, ordained whatsoever shall come to pass, he has ordained that these angels should sin, and fall, and become devils; they could not help it; and all the mischief they do in the world is but fulfilling the divine decree.

Likewise it was ordained, that they should seduce man, and that he should fall, and propagate a race of sinful creatures like himself, and that all the shocking consequences should follow; that Cain should murder his brother; that the old world should be immersed in sin and sensuality, and then be drowned; and, though Noah was a preacher of righteousness a hundred and twenty years, that none should believe and be saved; likewise the arriving of the Sodomites to such an enormous pitch of wickedness, was ordained; and that they should burn in lust, working that which was unseemly, and perish by fire; also that the Israelites should murmur, tempt God, commit fornication in the wilderness, and their carcasses should then fall; in like manner, after they were settled in the promised land, that they should fall in with the various abominations, such as burning their children to Moloch, use enchantments, witchcrafts, and every other abomination which we find them charged with.

Then was not the cruelty exercised by Pagans, or Papists, or Mahometans all ordained?–also all the massacres, treacheries, plundering, burning of towns and cities, dashing poor infants to pieces, or starving them to death, ripping up their mothers, together with all the rapes, murders, and sacrileges which have ever come or shall come to pass? I say, this doctrine charges the blessed, the merciful God with it all, by ordaining from all eternity whatsoever shall come to pass in time. Here is no overstraining, no forcing things; it is the unavoidable consequence, as much as a man charging, pointing, and firing a cannon at any one or number of men is the cause of their death. The powder, cannon, and ball only do what the men appoint them to do. Reader, is not this shocking? Does not thy blood chill at reading all this blasphemy? I am sure mine does at writing. I know, great care is taken to hide their monstrous visage; but as it is there, I am determined to drag it out to light.

II. This doctrine makes the day of judgment past;

A heresy which very early found its way into the church of God, and thereby overthrew the faith of some. If God from all eternity ordained whatsoever shall come to pass in time, then he ordained who should, and who should not, be damned. Now if there be anything in the day of judgment analogous to what is transacted in courts of justice here, then causes are to be tried by the law or word, and such as have voluntarily committed crimes are to be punished accordingly, and every cause is to have a fair hearing, (Rev. 20:12) But, according to the scheme of absolute predestination, all is settled and fixed already; then there is no judging of every man "according to his works," but according to what is before ordained concerning him. So that the clay of judgment is a solemn farce, or rather we may call it the day of execution, seeing it is only to execute what was long ago determined. What a ridiculous idea does this give us of the proceedings of that great and awful day! Should the king summon a number of cannons to take their trial in Westminster-Hall for blowing down some city, which cannon had been fired by his secret orders, would not every one who knew the affair both despise, and in their judgment condemn, such a foolery? But how does judging men for doing that which He has before determined they should do, reflect upon the wisdom and goodness of the Almighty? It is said of Nero, that he secretly ordered Rome to be set on fire, and then laid the blame upon the Christians, and ordered them to be persecuted for the same. But is it not horrid beyond conception to represent the God of wisdom, mercy, and goodness, even worse and more ridiculous than Nero? Such is the consequence of absolute predestination.

III. It contradicts the plain word of God.

To quote all the texts of Scripture which it contradicts, would quite swell this little performance too large. A few, however, shall be selected. "The Lord is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works," (Psalm 145:9) "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: For why will ye die, O house of Israel?" (Ezek. 32:11) These two testimonies from the Old Testament cut off all absolute predestination at a stroke. If God is good to all, or if he is loving to every man, how can this consist with his "Consigning their unborn souls to hell, Or damning them from their mother’s womb?" If his tender mercies are over all his works, how can this consist with fore-ordaining that the greatest part of mankind should sin and be damned for ever? Now, what loving tender heart can take any satisfaction in any such broad blasphemies?

Again: if God takes no pleasure in the death of a sinner, certainly he affords him proper means of living; but that he takes no pleasure in the death of such, we have not only his word, but his oath for it; and, as he could swear by no greater, he has sworn by himself. "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked," Now, must he not have a large stock of impudence who can give the God of truth here the lie? What kind of brass must his brow be cased with? For me to see a poor creature hanging over a dreadful fiery furnace, and have it in my power to help him with a word, and will not help him, nay, order him secretly to be pushed in, and yet stand, and in the most solemn manner cry, "As I live, I have no pleasure in your death;" yea, passionately cry out, "Why will ye die? turn ye, turn ye;"–now I say, where would be my sincerity all the time? When I have pushed the contenders for reprobation in this manner, the cry has been, "O, that is your carnal, human reason!" Indeed I think the other is devilish, inhuman reason. I shall now select a few witnesses from the New Testament. Hear the lip of truth expostulating with the unhappy Jerusalem, a little before it suffered: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets, and stones them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" (Luke 13:34) "Of a truth I perceive, that God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation, he that fears him, and works righteousness, is accepted with him," (Acts 10:34-35) "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all," (Rom.11:32) "Who will have all men to be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth," (1 Tim. 2:4) "Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time," (1 Tim. 2:6) "For the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, bath appeared to all men," Titus 2:11. "He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man," (Heb. 2:9). I shall multiply no more quotations; these are sufficient. Only I would ask, Is there any meaning in language? Or are words intended to convey any fixed and determined meaning? If that is the case, then absolute predestination manifestly contradicts the plain testimony of Scripture, and therefore must spring from the father of lies; and, as such, is to be abhorred.

IV. It has a tendency to render all means useless.

I know it is asserted, that He who has ordained the end, has appointed the means thereunto: And this observation, understood rightly, is a great truth. But has God so ordained, that there is no liberty left for free agency? Has he appointed that one must be a preacher, and another a curser and swearer? that one must give his goods to feed the poor, and another must steal and plunder, and so live upon spoil and rapine? Or has the Lord given a power to every man either to choose or refuse?

This is what the Bible maintains, or otherwise the many exhortations, reproofs, expostulations, and threatenings are in vain. Now we are exhorted to pray: "To pray! for what?" Such things as we are sensible we stand in need of. Yea, and it is said, "Ye have not:" "And why had they not? Was it because God had decreed to give them nothing?" No such thing; they have not, because they did not ask. For if God had decreed to give them nothing, then they had not been to blame; but they are charged with neglect in not asking, and that is assigned as the reason of their not receiving. This is perfectly consistent with what our Lord has said, "Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened." Well, but all this asking, knocking, seeking, is all lost labor, if there be any such decree as is mentioned above. For can all this praying, and asking, and seeking, alter what is irreversibly decreed to be done? Indeed this borders upon deism; for the deists argue, "Do you think that praying will make God change his mind?" Now if we believe the Bible, we must ask God to give us the blessings we stand in need of, and cannot warrantably expect to receive without asking. The same holds good with regard to family prayer. I ask eternal life for my wife, children, or friends. How vain is all my labor!

For if God has decreed to give them eternal life, they shall have it in the way, time, place, and manner it is decreed for them, whether I pray or not. And if God has not decreed to give it unto them, all my praying can never change the decree. I find a love to poor perishing sinners in some town or village, and I go to persuade them to be reconciled to God: Many of them use me ill, not only with reviling language, but even with sticks, or stones, or clods, or rotten eggs. Why, what a fool was I to expose myself on any such account! If they are decreed to be saved, they shall be saved; or lost, they shall be lost: So that my suffering and preaching are entirely in vain.–See that pert young man, he has just left his loom or his plough, and he is going to hammer at a bit of Latin; and by, he becomes a mighty smatterer: With his little sense, little grace, and next to no learning, he harangues famously about a decree and a covenant, and puffs and parades, and shouts out again, "O the sweetness of God’s electing love!" Having by this time acquired a pretty good stock of assurance, he looks out for a shop, that is, in the quaint phrase, "he waits for a call;" by and by the desired object appears, the bargain is struck, and the stipend is settled, and now we have our pert youngster a Reverend Sir!–"Well, but what is he to do?" Why, we should think, call sinners to repentance, and comfort mourners, and establish believers, and help their faith. But, alas! this is all in vain. This Reverend Sir might as well have stayed at his loom or plough, as take the poor people’s money for watching over their souls, when all from first to last was settled by an unalterable decree. Such is the consistency of predestinarian teachers. Poor simple souls, who are thus led, do not you see that if such a decree is gone forth, you are supporting an idle man in vain?–What end is preaching to answer? Let him lecture with ever such state and assurance, if the time, the place, the manner be all fixed: I say he is an ignorant, lazy drone, who is picking his poor people’s pockets; but, perhaps, it was decreed that it should be so.

V. It makes promises and threatenings useless

I apprehend promises are intended to encourage the fainthearted, and such as are ready to be discouraged in their way; and the Lord who has made them, no doubt, designs to fulfill the same. They are not mere baubles, but the firm and never-failing words of God. Yet they are conditional. I know no promise made to us, in the way of experience, but there is a condition either expressed or implied. The only promises which can in any measure be said to be unconditional, are such as respect Christ’s coming into the world, the pouring out of the Spirit, or the preaching of the Gospel. But as for such as respect the forgiveness of sins, consolation, sanctification, or glorification, they are all conditional, and, as such, are intended to encourage all who are travelling to Mount Zion.

So with regard to the threatenings; they are intended to warn the unruly, and put a check upon the disobedient; so that no sinner may rush upon his own damnation, without being duly apprised of the same. "And why is he apprised? Barely to torment him before the time?" No, verily; but, like the citizen’s hearing the sound of the trumpet, that he may take the warning, and escape the danger. But if there is an irrevocable decree, if all things are so ordered and fixed from eternity, then are the threatenings mere scare-crows; they can answer no valuable end at all, and might as well be given to stocks and stones as to human beings, if they have no power to take the awful warning. And does not this make the word of God of none effect? Certainly; if promises have no power to allure and encourage, that is, if the human race are not to be moved by them, and if their power of obeying is wholly taken from them, it is in vain for God to call out, "How long, ye simple ones, will you love simplicity? Turn ye at my reproof. Unto you, O men, I call! and my voice is unto the sons of men." It is in vain for him to say, "Come, let us reason together; though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be white as wool: And though they be red like crimson, they shall be as snow. Come, let us reason together!" "Reason! with what?" Brutes, nay stocks and stones!

How absurd! Would a wise man make such a proposal? How does this inconsistent scheme reflect upon the infinitely wise and gracious God? Shall vain man throw such an odium upon his Maker? God forbid! But such an odium does this decree throw upon unerring wisdom; and all the quibbles in the world cannot clear it of the same. Again: let God speak like thunder, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God!" yet if the sinner is incapable of taking the warning, what empty bombast does it make of the awful threatening! But let God be true, and every man a liar who can cast such vile reflections upon his righteous proceedings.

VI. It is contrary to every attribute in the Deity.

Now his justice is the severest attribute of the blessed God; that is manifest when its sword awaked against the Man who was his fellow, when the great Mediator bled for human crimes. Yet even this attribute must be consistent with mercy and goodness; nay, the very term itself implies there is no wrong in it. But how can we clear the justice of God, if he has ordained that man shall sin; nay, is made for that very end, and then to be damned for it? There is nothing equal to this in the whole compass of history. That which bears the nearest resemblance is the well-known instance of Tiberius; when determined to destroy a noble family root and branch, finding a young virgin who could not, by the Roman laws, be put to death, he ordered the hangman to ravish the poor innocent, young and helpless creature, and then to strangle her. Such a horrid picture do these low advocates draw of the justice of the Supreme Being!–And what shall we say of his love? Nay, hear what David said of it, namely, that "He is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works." Hear what the lip of truth himself hath said, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "God so loved the world;" "that is," say they, the "elect world."

And what proof do they bring for such an interpretation? None; nay, that is a circumstance which is often forgotten. But we need go no farther than the text itself, to confute that rugged interpretation; only let the grammatical sense of the words be attended unto,–"God so loved the elect world, that whosoever of the elect world believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." Then what is become of the elect world which do not believe in him? According to this scheme, there are some of the elect world which will not believe in him, and so perish. See what consequences follow such absurdities! St. John says, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." But the poor reprobates may argue, "Behold what manner of hate and destruction the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should thus by his decree be called reprobates, children of darkness, enemies to God, strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, and enemies to the cross of Christ."

And what can we say, upon such principles, for the pity of Him whose bowels melt with tenderness? Who are the objects of his pity? Are not poor miserable objects, who are plunged into a hopeless, helpless situation through the fall, and become offenders through the original transgression? The doctrine under consideration is so far from representing any pity to such unavoidable objects, that it really represents God, of his own sovereign good-will and pleasure, bringing them into that deplorable situation, and then leaving them to perish without remedy, and taking a horrid pleasure in their everlasting destruction. O thou pitiful anti compassionate Lord God, what a picture of vindictive cruelty does this sad doctrine exhibit of thy tenderness and pity to poor sinners!

And what plea is there for the goodness of God, upon the same gloomy doctrine? I can see none. Now goodness does not seem to be so much any one attribute, as a blessed assemblage of them all put together. It seems a collection of all the glorious and blessed qualities in the adorable Deity, shining out in countless rays on every side; an image of which is the sun which shines on the evil and good, and the innumerable drops of rain which fall on the just and the unjust. Some have asked me, "Do you not think that God might have justly passed you by, and left you without his grace or help at all?" I answered, No; I think he could not have done any such thing. That I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin conceived, I allow; its woeful effects I feel to this day. But then that was not my fault. I could not help it; and certain I am, that God never demands the taking up of that which he never laid down, or reaping where he has not sown.

That I have, times without number, rejected that grace which brings salvation to all, and abused it again and again, I do with shame and confusion acknowledge; and that he might have taken away the abused talents, and, from my so frequently turning a deaf ear to his loving voice, have sworn I should not enter into his rest, is a truth which I feelingly confess. But that he could or would leave me a slave to everlasting misery on account of my original depravity, I utterly deny. Where shall we find the mercy of God, according to this merciless doctrine? It is said that "mercy is his darling attribute, and that judgment is his strange work." But according to this scheme, we must reverse this sentence, and say that "judgment, or rather everlasting destruction, is his darling attribute; and that mercy is his strange work." It is said, that "his tender mercies are over all his works." This must mean over such as have sinned; for such as have not sinned, do not stand in need of mercy. But this narrow limited doctrine does not make his mercy extend to a tenth part of his works. If I see a multitude of poor wretches hanging over a dreadful fiery furnace, and can extend my help to them all as easily as to one, but will not, this speaks but little for my mercy; and as little does this doctrine speak for the unbounded mercy of God.

VII. It contradicts common sense.

There is something of a light in the breast of every one, which the Author of our being has planted, and which we call "the understanding." By this we are enabled to see things in common life which are consistent or inconsistent; so even in religious matters there may be asserted some things so shockingly inconsistent as may affront even what we call common sense, and perhaps may be a stumbling-block in the way of many.

Should the legislative power of England give out laws or acts of parliament to be obeyed, and rewards promised to the obedient, and punishments denounced to the disobedient; but at the same time, by some secret springs of management, should so order it, that a certain number should be constrained to obey, in some particular time, called a day of power; and the remaining part should be under an unavoidable necessity of disobeying, either by being constrained to disobedience, or for want of that ability to obey which the government could only give, but it was denied them: now must it not shock all common sense, and all degrees of truth and justice, to find these poor impotent wretches brought to the stake to be burnt alive, because they could not do impossibilities? And does not every one see the case is parallel, when the great Judge shalt pass the sentence of condemnation at the last day, "Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire?"–"Why, what for? Because I have decreed it shall be so?" No: "I was hungry, but ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, but ye gave me no drink." We do not find them objecting any such decree being made against them; if there had, how could they have been furnished with a better plea? They might have said, "Lord, thou knowest we could not reverse thy decree, nor avoid our impending doom. Didst thou not ordain that we should just do as we have done, seeing thou hast fore-ordained from eternity whatsoever should come to pass in time? So that we have just fulfilled thy counsel, and done all thy pleasure." Here it seems pretty plain that such a scheme must fill the prisoner’s mouth with undeniable arguments, while the judge has his mouth stopped. How horrid the bare thought appeared, in so much as it shocks me to make the supposition! And yet it is no more than what this uncouth system inevitably holds forth; it is the plain undeniable consequence. Let them shift it off that can; and if they cannot, let them renounce so unscriptural, so absurd a scheme, which fathers such broad blasphemies upon the Father of mercies, and the God of truth.

VIII. It has a tendency to licentiousness.

It is well known that the human heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; that it is prone to every vice, and is glad to catch at anything to keep itself in countenance. But can anything be better calculated to cause a poor fallen creature to sing to his lusts, and sound a requiem to his sensual soul, than a doctrine which informs him, that "all things are ordained from eternity," and he must sit still, and, if he is a chosen vessel, he will some time or another be called upon; and, if otherwise, all his striving or seeking will avail nothing at all. Besides, if he feels propensities to any sensual appetites, like a true free-thinker, he may say, "What are these passions or appetites for, but that I may gratify them? Or, why should I endeavor to deny myself, seeing I cannot alter what God has decreed? I may eat, drink, dance, sing, swear, live in uncleanness, just as my inclinations lead me. To stem the torrent is in vain, seeing it is fixed, unalterably fixed, nor is it in my power to reverse the same."

Nor do there want instances in history of such as have died under the grossest delusions, affirming, if they were deceived, it was God who had deceived them. All the calls to repentance, all the invitations to Christ, all the exhortations to holiness, self-denial, and mortification, plainly imply a capacity to prevent them in the parties addressed, or their labor is absurd; but absolute predestination supposes no such thing, any more than if the stones in the street were exhorted to arise and run, or the sign-posts were exhorted to take up arms and defend the city.

IX. It makes the God of all grace and goodness worse than the devil.

One of the names given to satan is Apollyon, that is, "a destroyer;" but then he is not destroying his own work, he is seeking to destroy the works of God, whose daring enemy he is, and thereby acts consistently with himself. But this gloomy scheme represents God bringing innumerable beings into existence, not barely to destroy them, but to torment them forever. Can anything be greater blasphemy? But be it what it will, it is the natural consequence of all things being ordained from eternity, which are to come to pass in time. What a dismal picture of the blessed God! When I have read of some of the Popish massacres, I have been much shocked, and my very blood has run chill; much more so, when I have read of some religious rites of the heathens; such as their offering the captives, who were taken in war, sacrifices to their devil-gods, nay, even their own children that have been offered up in the flames; I have found it raise an unspeakable indignation against both them and their religion. And what idea must a person have of that God who has made on purpose millions of rationals to fulfill his decree here, censuring and frowning forever over them, while they are tormented with endless flames, for just doing what he has ordained them to do? Lord, how is thy name blasphemed by doctrines so contrary to thy goodness, pity, and love?

X. Lastly. If the unconditional decree be a true doctrine, then there is no such thing as sin in the world.

Everything is just going on as he would have it to be; all are acting in the department of life which is appointed. Therefore go on, ye jolly drunkards, and jovial song-singers; proceed, ye numerous tribes of profane swearers and sabbath-breakers; curse on, ye horrid blasphemers and swarms of liars; ye murderers, plunderers, unclean profligates,–ye are all doing the will of God, answering the great ends for which you were made.

What avails all the noise the preacher makes about the wicked being turned into hell, and all the nations which forget God? Let him cry out, till his face is black, "Turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways." If ye be ordained to turn, ye shall turn; if not, all his zeal will avail no more than a tinkling cymbal. Therefore, he that is praying, and he that is preaching; he that is speaking the truth, and he that is lying; he that is laboring honestly, and he that is stealing; he that is chaste, and he that is impure; he that is over-reaching, and he that deals honestly; he that sings the songs of Zion, and he that sings the songs of satan; in a word, he that is converted, and he that is unconverted; he that is a believer, and he that is an unbeliever; are all doing the will of God, which none can acid to, and none can take from; but all things are just in the state and condition which God has appointed, and all are just doing what his will is, and then there is no such thing as sin in the world.

I should now have finished this small affair, only two or three objections, which have sometimes been made against Universal Redemption, may justly and with very great propriety be retorted upon the objectors.

First. "To assert that Christ died for every man, or, what is the very same thing, that all men may be saved if they will, is mere heathenism." Answer. Whether it be heathenism or not, I am certain that absolute predestination is. For it is well known that the stoics were a very extensive sect among the heathens, and it is equally known that they held an absolute fatality, that is, absolute predestination. They even made Jupiter, their supreme deity, subject to the fates; and even that "father of gods and men," as they termed him, could not reverse what the fates had decreed to be done. Their fates determined what kingdoms should rise, and what should fall; what heroes should conquer, and what should be conquered. This doctrine runs throughout the poem of Homer called the Iliad; so that he makes the fates determine the ends of his two chief heroes, Hector and Achilles. And though the former was knocked down several times in the different engagements and dangerously wounded, yet as the fates had decreed that he should fall by the hand of Achilles, he is rescued from destruction by a deity, because the time of his death was not yet arrived. So that whether our asserting that "all may be saved, if it is not their own fault," be heathenism, it is certain that unconditional predestination is; and if that proves the untruth of it, then are their absolute decrees untrue.

Secondly. They say that "our doctrine is Popery." This has as frightful an aspect as the other, and perhaps more so; as many think there is less danger of their turning Heathens, than their turning Papists. But be not frightened at nothing; perhaps the tables again may be turned upon the objectors. Whether Christ’s tasting death for every man be Popery or not, I am sure absolute predestination is; and it argues, that they who start that objection are ignorant of the tenets of the Papists. It is well known, that that large fraternity among the Papists called Dominicans, were all rigid predestinarians, as well as those called Jansenists. And I very much question if Calvin himself did not spring from the former stock; and, when he came from the church of Rome, brought that branch of Popery along with him, by which means the leaven spread among many of the Protestants. It would shock any mind which is not quite intoxicated with the absolute decrees, to read what some writers of the above-mentioned classes have said concerning God fore-ordaining sin and misery, and how much he is pleased with the same, nay, how he is glorified thereby, far more than by holiness. From hence it is very evident, that absolute predestination is downright Popery.

Again: the Mahometans are rigid predestinarians;–a doctrine which suits that cruel disposition for which they are so remarkable; the same leaven which spreads among the predestinarians among those which are called Christians. The same vindictive, sour spirit we find in Calvin; witness his conduct towards Servetus, who was by his means burned to death. The same savage turn we see in Knox. Let any one read the proceedings of the infamous Synod of Dort. Could any Popish tribunal be more boisterous or arbitrary? How were the poor Remonstrants dragooned from place to place! It seemed as if that time was come, when no man should buy or sell who had not the mark of the beast of predestination either in his forehead or in his right hand; that is, either public or private. Let any one read the book called the "Cloud of Witnesses." Did they die like true martyrs, calling for mercy upon their persecutors? No; the book is full of very dreadful execrations and horrible anathemas, pronounced with their dying breath. Does the spirit of Jesus breathe out threatening and slaughter in such a manner, so as to bind eternal vengeance upon any one? Let any one consult the spirit of the Seceders and Sandemonians, and they will see the same genuine Mahometan spirit, which is as contrary to that doctrine which says, "Let all bitterness, and malice, and anger be put away from you," as darkness is to light. Certain it is, that love worketh no ill to any one; nay, it thinketh no evil; it is the end of the commandment out of a pure heart. Reader, weigh these things attentively; consult the Scriptures, comparing Scripture with Scripture; and consider the nature of that Deity whose essential character is Love.

Continued at http://nstanosheck.blogspot.com/2011/12/5-points-of-calvinism-reformed.html

Metropolitan Isaiah: Which English Translation of the Bible Should I Use?

2011-09-29T09:04:00.000-05:00

Christianity in America is often characterized as a faith of the "Bible-thumpers." Our cities are indeed filled with "Bible churches" and the Holy Scriptures are widely assumed to be the basis of Christianity itself.

In response to this, either out of sense of "catching up" or to confront the more outlandish claims (sometimes against Orthodoxy) of fundamentalist, Bible based "Christianity" most of our Orthodox parishes hold regular "Bible study" classes.

Faithful Orthodox believers who come to these classes, and even their pastors, are quickly confronted with a vast array of Bible translations, and Bibles themselves come in all colors, sizes, shapes, and with without "study helps".

To some, the very Bible itself seems wrapped in veritable "tower of Babel" with every one we meet seeming to quote Scripture passages just a little bit differently -- and some who denounce one translation while extolling another.

To answer the question posed as the title of this article, however, we must first examine what the Bible is, and then examine its various sources and translations.

Strictly Speaking, there never was a "Bible" in the Orthodox Church. At least not as we commonly think of the Bible as az single volume book we can hold in our hand. Since the beginning of the Church, from the start of our liturgical tradition, there has never been a single book in an Orthodox church we could point to as "the Bible".

Instead the various "Books" of the Bible are found scattered throughout several service books located either on the Holy Altar itself, or at the chanter"s stand. The Gospels (or their pericopes) are complied into a single volume -- usually bound in precious metal and richly decorated -- placed on the Holy Altar.

The Epistles (or, again, their pericopes) are bound together in another book, called the Apostolos, which is normally found at the chanter's stand. Usually located next to the Apostolos on the chanter's shelf are the twelve volumes of the Menaion, as well as the books called the Triodion and Pentekostarion, containing various segments of the Old and the New Testaments.

The fact that there is no "Bible" in the church should not surprise us, since our liturgical tradition is a continuation of the practices of the early Church, when the Gospels and the letters from the Apostles (the Epistles) had been freshly written and copied for distribution to the Christian communities.

The "Hebrew Scriptures" (what we now call the "Old Testament", comprising the Law (the first five books) and the Prophets, were likewise written on various scrolls, just as they were found in the Jewish synagogues.

The Church is NOT Based on the Bible. Rather, the Bible is a product of the Church. For the first few centuries of the Christian era, no one could have put his hands on a single volume called "The Bible." In fact, there was no one put his hands on a single volume called "The Bible." In fact, there was no agreement regarding which "books" of Scripture were to be considered accurate and correct, or canonical.

Looking back over history, there were various "lists" of the canonical "books" comprising the Bible:

The Muratorian Canon (130 AD) cities all the books we considered as parts of the Bible today, except for Hebrews, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, and Revelation/Apocalypse
Canon 60 of the local Council of Laodicea (364 AD) cited Revelation/Apocalypse
A festal Epistle by Saint Athanasius (369 AD) lists all of them.

Even so, there was no official, authoritative "canon" listing all the books until the Sixth Ecumenical Council, at Constantinople in 680 AD. Canon II of that Council ratifies the First through the Fifth Ecumenical Councils, as well as the local councils at Carthage (255 AD), Ancyra (315 AD), Neocaesaria (315 AD), Gangra (340 AD), Antioch (341 AD), Laodicea (364 A), Sardica (347 AD), Constantinople (394 AD), and Carthage (419 AD).

When the Council at Laodicea specified the content of the bible as we know it - 39 years after the First Ecumenical Council (325 AD) and 17 years before the second Ecumenical Council (381 AD) - the Liturgy was pretty much well-defined and established and had been "canonized" by common usage the reading from these books.

It was not until the invention of the printing press in Western Europe, coinciding with the period of the Protestant Reformation of Western Christianity that "The Bible" was widely disseminated as a single volume.

The "Protestant" Old Testament in Antithetical to Christian Truth. When Protestant Western Christians reviewed the canonical books of Scripture, they adopted the "Hebrew Canon" accepted by the Jews since 100 AD.

The so-called Apocrypha, or Deuterocanonical, books (found in "Catholic" and "Orthodox" versions of the Bible) were a problem for Jews living after the time of Christ, since they often very clearly prophesy concerning Our Lord, and indicate His divinity.

Some of the books were also problematic for both the Jews and the Protestants because they make prophetically evident the special role of the Theotokos in the oikonomia of salvation. In fact, the Orthodox Fathers cite passages quite effectively to discuss the Church"s understanding of the role of the Theotokos.

Also, they only scriptural reference to praying for the dead is found in a Deuterocanonical Book: viz., Maccabees.

Not surprisingly, these Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books were rejected from the "canon" of books indicated in the Jewish Scriptures. This canon was formally pronounced by a rabbinical council at Jamnia (c. 100 AD), which stated that all canonical Scripture had to have been written: in Palestine, in Hebrew (not Greek), and more then 400 years prior (300 BC) to that time.

In addition, the authorized Hebrew "translation" was at variance with the accepted Septuagint Greek version, which had been prepared by 72 translators working in Alexandria Egypt.

This is significant, because the Apostles, who were the authors of the New Testament, as well as the early Church Fathers, frequently cite passages only found in the Septuagint (Greek) Old Testament that have significant differences in meaning from the Hebrew. Moreover, they frequently cite passages from the "Apocryphal" books of the Old Testament.

The Holy Scriptures Were Produced by the Orthodox Church.
The Church's holy prophets and Apostles wrote the books contained in the Bible. The Church determined which books were authoritative and belonged in Holy Scripture. The Church preserved and passed on the texts of these Scriptural books.

The seventy-two Jewish rabbis and scholars who gave us the Septuagint Greek Old Testament, produced seventy-two identical Greek translations working independently and in insolation from one another. Writing in Greek, the Holy Apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter, and Jude produced the books of the New Testament.

The Holy Scriptures Were Preserved by the Orthodox Church.
These books and letters were studied, copied, collected, recopied, passed from group of early Christians to another, and read in the services of the Church.

Testimony to the fidelity of reproduction in this milieu is the consistent agreement among the Church Fathers when they cite Scripture, and their common understanding of Scripture in their deliberations at the local and Ecumenical councils.

Over the centuries, alterations crept into some manuscripts. Sometimes the texts were altered by accident (e.g.., mistakes made in copying these books by hand). At other times intentional alterations were made, either by misguided but innocent copyists who thought they were correcting errors in the manuscripts they were working from, or by heretics who full intended to change the words of Scripture to suit their purposes.

The Church, however, guided by the Holy Spirit, distinguished between authentic and inauthentic manuscripts, discarding or ignoring the latter, copying and handing on the former.

Even today we see the authentic words of Scripture preserved. When a young priest or a chanter mispronounces a word in its original Greek, there will be a Bishop, an older priest -- or even a venerable Orthodox "grandmother" -- who will be quick to point out the aberration from the way the text "has always been sung or read"!

The Authentic Greek Text of the Bible is Preserved by the Orthodox Church.
When translating the New Testament into English, there are many Greek manuscripts to choose from. To ask, "What does the original Greek say?" is to beg the question, which Greek text?

For Orthodox Christians this is a very easy question to answer. We simply use the Greek text handed down within the Orthodox Church which has been proven consistent by 2000 years of liturgical use and which the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, has given us.

To Scripture scholars there is a huge body of ancient Greek manuscripts, known as the Byzantine text-type, which embodies the Orthodox textual tradition. These old manuscripts and lectionaries differ very little from each other, and are indeed in overwhelming agreement with each other throughout the whole New Testament. Furthermore, they are great in number and comprise the vast majority of existing Greek manuscripts.

There is Another, Bogus, Greek Text of the Bible. Beside the Byzantine text-type family of manusciprts, there is a minor collection of Greek Scripture texts which are very old, and sometimes predate the Byzantine texts by hundreds of years.

In the middle of the last century, "modern" Scripture scholars, or critics, determined that newly-"discovered" ancient texts -- such as the Codex Sinaiticus, the Alexandrian Codex, the Codex Ephraemi rescriptus -- dating from the fourth through the sixth centuries, had determining authority in establishing the original text of the Gospels and the words of the Lord.

Criticism was leveled against these critics by other scholars who maintained that the older manuscripts had been preserved through the ages precisely because they were set aside and unused since they were inferior copies -- obvious from the ineptitude of the hands that wrote them and the many misspellings.

They argued that it was hardly logical to prefer inferior texts from one text family over the received Byzantine texts were in agreement. Furthermore, they noted that the received text has even more ancient parallels -- in second century Syriac and Latin versions -- and is widely quoted in the Fathers.

Even papyrus fragments from the first century bear out the veracity of the Byzantine text, and refute the validity of the older texts.

Amazingly - indeed, even unbelievably - most modern translators work from an "eclectic" or "critical text, which draws very heavily from the older Codices. This eclectic text is a patchwork of readings from the various manuscripts which differ from each other and from the Byzantine text.

Any Greek Orthodox Christian can take a copy of the Nestle-Aland critical (eclectic) text into church, and compare the Epistles with those in the Apostolos - they differ, often, radically, in hundreds of places, not only in words and word order, but also in tenses and meanings!

The same comparison can be made between an English translation of the Psalms and the Greek version found in the (H)Orologion - they differ in thousands of places. The English has often been translated from the Hebrew Masoretic text which was compiled by Jewish scholars during the first ten centuries after Christ. These scholars used inferior texts or edited them to delete or minimize the messianic prophecies or types which refer to Christ.

Surprisingly, this Hebrew version of the Psalms is used even though the Greek Septuagint is often used to decipher the Masoretic text which is often unintelligible since the vowels are not indicated.

Most Modern English Bible Translations are Based on Bogus Versions of the Scriptures.
Unfortunately, no English translation of the Bible has been made using the Byzantine text-type manuscripts of the New Testament since the King James Version (KJV) in 1611. The others are all based on the eclectic Greek New Testament manuscripts and various Hebrew Old Testament texts.

The bottom line is that manuscripts which the Orthodox Church did not use or copy have been elevated above those texts which the Church has preserved by modern and contemporary Scripture scholars and translators.

Sadly - but perhaps significantly indicative - is the fact that the scholars who put together those eclectic critical texts decisively reject the Byzantine (that is to say, Orthodox) text-type, claiming that the Byzantine text was corrupted by Orthodox copyists eager to conform the text of Scripture to Orthodox theology as it developed over the first several centuries of the Church"s life.

The Orthodox Stand on the Critical Eclectic Texts.
As Orthodox, we cannot believe that the text of Scripture is arbitrary and governed only by human considerations - especially those of modern scholars who decide what is and what is not "authentic." We see the presence of God and His providence in our daily lives; how can they be denied to exist in the Church and in the canon and text of the Holy Scriptures? Otherwise everything in our liturgical worship is suspect and unreliable.

The human element cannot be ignored or denied, but neither can the divine. Yet most biblical scholars and textual critics wish to disregard any form of divine intervention or revelation in order to make their study "scientific." In fact, present-day biblical scholarship hides its fundamental unbelief from believers and even from itself. It ultimately results in such ludicrous claims that Jesus Christ never spoke any of the words recorded in the Bible - claims that make the front page of national news magazines and mislead millions of people.

Perhaps the best example of the modern "scholars" bias is found in the first chapter, first verse of the Gospel of Mark: "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" The modernists drop the words "the Son of God" because they are absent from the Codex Sinaiticus and papyrus miniscules 28 and 255. Yet they appear in all other copies and versions and in many quotations of the fathers!

Modern Translations Obscure the Divinity of Christ. In what can only be a return to the ancient heresy of Arius, even the much touted 1952 Revised Standard Version (RSV) translation of Scripture tends to minimize Christ's divine nature.

Forty years ago the King James translation was widely impugned for being based on the Greek Byzantine texts which were called corrupt - an amazing accusation considering the pedigree of the eclectic critical texts.

In the liberal theological milieu of that time, many Protestant theologians denied not only the virgin birth, but also the divinity of Christ and His resurrection.

One curious feature of the RSV translation is its apparent mixture of old and new English; the older traditional second person singular pronoun, thou/thee/thy, is intermixed with the nondescript modern ye/you/you. While at first glance this seems chaotic, it actually serves as a hidden code.

The traditional "thou" usage is employed when God is addressed, but "you" whenever anyone else is addressed. Note, for example, that the Our Father in the RSV retains the word "thy" in referring to God"s name, kingdom, and will.

But note that in the RSV translation a leper addresses Jesus in Mark 1:40, Saying "If you will, you can make me clean," and Peter says in Matthew 16:16, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

The only time in the RSV that Christ is addressed as "Thou" is after He is no longer on earth, but even this is found mainly in Hebrews when Paul quotes from the Old Testament.

The clearly Protestant bias against the Theotokos, and her Orthodox definition as critical to preserving the divinity of Christ is also very evident in the RSV. Consider Matthew 1:25:

KJV: "(Joseph) knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son; and he called his name Jesus."

RSV: "(Joseph) knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus."

From the Byzantine, Orthodox, texts, the KJV tells us that Mary brought forth not a son, but her firstborn - precluding her having had previous children.

Moreover, He is clearly her son; but not Joseph"s. Note how the RSV is distinguished from the KJV in Luke 2:33; after Simeon returned Jesus to His mother, the narrative tells us:

KJV: "Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him."

RSV: "And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him."

The RSV infers that Joseph is Jesus" father, presumably his biological father - a clear refutation of the dogma of virgin birth.

Or again, consider the following notable omission in John 3:13 according to the RSV:

KJV: "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."

RSV: "No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man."

The Byzantine text is clearly reflected in the KJV; the eclectic text by the RSV. Yet only a tiny handful of manuscripts omit the expression "which is in heaven." while the vast majority of manuscripts include it, as do the quotations of Church fathers such as Saint Basil the Great, Saint Hilary, Saint John Chrysostom, and Saint Cyril.

This particular Scripture text is the clearest witness to the Orthodox teaching that Christ is fully man while not being circumscribed in any way as God, since it indicates that Christ was simultaneously on earth in the body and in heaven with the Father. It also indicates, contrary to modern liberal theology, that our Lord knew very well just Who He was, where He came from, and what business He was about.

There are many more examples, but let us simply note one more, I Corinthians 15:47, which needs no further comment:

KJV: "The first man is of the earth, earthly: the second man is the Lord from heaven."

RSV: "The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven."

The Corruption of "Paraphrased" Bibles.
There is no need in this article to provide such critical analysis of the various other translations which followed the RSV (e.g, NIV, NAB); all are even more flawed. A comment should be made, however, of several very dangerous paraphrased "versions" of the Bible, such as "Today"s English Version" and the volume sold as "The Book."

If the Scripture scholars can criticize the Byzantine copyists for corrupting the text to conform to Orthodox theology, what are we to say about the non Orthodox paraphrases who have radically altered not only text, but the whole meaning of various passages?

These "Bibles" are to be totally and completely avoided by the Orthodox; they have no good purpose whatsoever because they are gross distortions of the truth, and serve only to infiltrate a completely corrupted theology into the minds of the faithful.

The Orthodox Witness.
One very interesting question, never asked, is this: "If scholars are willing to assemble an eclectic text out of Scripture fragments from various sources - often of unknown doctrinal origin or authority - why haven"t they ever considered the living archeological evidence of Scripture segments that have been repeated faithfully for ages in the Orthodox Liturgy?"

Why haven't serious modern scholars considered the incredible coincidence that 72 Hebrew scholars could all translate the Old Testament in exactly the same manner into the Septuagint Greek?

Why haven't they examined the translation of the Scriptures done a thousand years ago from Greek into Slavonic, which has preserved exactly, accurately, and precisely the meaning of the Greek original? And, more to the point, if errors have crept in and accumulated as texts were copied over the years, why aren"t the existing copies of these Greek and Slavonic Scriptures divergent?

Non-Orthodox scholars cannot answer these questions because, to do so honestly and truthfully, they would have to admit that in fact the Orthodox Church, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, has preserved intact and correctly the Holy Scriptures. And, moreover, this preservation is in part assured by the dogma and doctrine of the Church which both draw from the Scripture and provide evidence and support of its truth.

What Translation Should I Use?
The answer is this: the The Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible (KJV) is the most reliable and faithful English translation, Unfortunately, it is written in an archaic, 500 year old style of English. Although not as incomprehensible as the 2000 year old Greek of the New Testament and Liturgy is to modern Greek speakers, it is still awkward and difficult for many to understand.

The real question that begs - indeed pleads - for an answer, is this: "Why hasn"t the Greek Orthodox Church sponsored an accurate translation into modern English from the Byzantine texts and extant fragments of Scripture found in the liturgy of the Church?"

Where Can I Obtain an Orthodox Bible
"The Orthodox New Testament" in two fully illustrated volumes: Vol. I: The Holy Gospels, and Vol. 2: Acts, Epistles, and Revelation. Follow the above links or write to Dormition Apostles Convent, P.O. Box 3118, Buena Vista, Colorado USA 81211 (Email: apostles@amigo.net).

Also the Holy Apostles Convent has available: "The Life of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos", "The Lives of the Three Hierarchs", and "The Lives of the Holy Apostles".

Also the best book in understanding the book of Revelation is called: "The Apocalypse: In the Teachings of Ancient Christianity", by Archbishop Averky. Write to: Holy Trinity Monastery Bookstore, Jordanville, N.Y. 13361.

Where Can I Get The Old Testament Septuagint In Greek And English?
HERE or write to Holy Cross Seminary Bookstore, 50 Goddard Ave. Brookline, Massachusetts 01246

Where Can I Obtain A Full Set Of The Early Church Fathers?
The Early Church Fathers books contain from the period of the Apostolic Fathers to the Seven Ecumenical Councils, from the apocryphal gospels to the Arian controversy, this work is one of the most complete collections existing today of the thirty-eight volume Early Church Fathers. Order HERE and get free shipping or or write to Light and Life Publishing Company, 4818 Park Glen Road, Minneapolis, MN. 55416.

600th Post: Remembering 9-11-01 on 9-11-11

2011-09-10T21:11:00.004-05:00

This is this blog's 600th post. I have been thinking how I wanted to make a great 600th post, but I cannot think of one. I have a few things I want to blog, but nothing groundbreaking. So I will talk about what I was dong 10 years ago on 9-11-01. I was taking my daughter to Saint Joseph Catholic School in Ansonia, CT. I had thought about going in to New York City to talk to one of the Legion of Christ's Apostolates to design a web site for them. However, I decided to wait. On the way in, I was listening to, I believe, WABC in NYC and the traffic helicopter guy was giving updates just as the first plane hit. He thought it was a Cessna or some other small plane, and it was assumed to be an accident. After I dropped off my daughter,on my way home, they reported live as the second plane hit the second World Trade enter tower. We all knew America was under attack. I went home to the hotel I was staying in between the end of our apartment lease in Hamden and the duplex we would rent in Ansonia. I decided to work from home and watched it all unfold. I remember many false rumors or bombs going off in NYC and Washington D.C. that made it all the scarier. I watched in my room for a while and then went to the lobby, where one of the other guests said the people like the management of the hotel would feel the heat from this. They were Indian or Pakistani. I hoped he was wrong, that rampant acts of racism and religionism would not be prevalent in America after this attack. My current wife, then in China, did not realize how huge this was until she got here. She thought making the emergency number, "911" into something that was related to our nation's largest terrorist attack was horrible mental terrorism. While it was a horrible attack, the conspiracy film, Loose Change does give a lot of food for thought. I think everyone should view it.

Why Were the Jews the Chosen People?

2011-09-02T14:24:00.001-05:00

There seems to be a lot of confusion about why the Jews/Hebrews were once the chosen people of God. So much so, that some confused people think that they are still the chosen people of God. Why? I have even heard pastors say they do not know why the Jews were the chosen people of God. How is that possible?

God kept sending prophets and patriarchs to lead the Jews, to correct them when they fell, many times over and over and over again.The Hebrews/Jews were the chosen people for one obvious reason. Because God the Son, the Messiah, Jesus the Christ would be born of them. Once God the Son came, he stopped sending them prophets and patriarchs, as the Faith was opened up to them. It became universal (catholic) and the previously-"Chosen People" rejected God, in the form of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.You cannot reject God and continue to be God's chosen people.

Now, almost 2,000 years after that rejection, there are all these new so-called "Christian" Faiths saying the Jews are God's Chosen People still and support the WORLDLY heresy of Zionism.This is what happens when you water down and remove portions of God's Word and reject the new Israel, The Church, and instead worship a worldly institution of the secular state of "Israel" which persecutes the Christians living in this Holy Land. It's time to wake up and take a drink of the Truth!

That being said, Revelation makes it clear that modern Judaism, although being called the Synagogue of Satan, will have Jews that realize the truth when Enoch and Elijah return before the return of Christ Our God. My hat has always been thrown in with those that say it will be the Orthodox Jews, who have done the least watering down and secularizing of their original Faith.

Mark 10:1-26 The Gospel of Family and What is Important

2011-08-09T22:23:00.000-05:00

1 And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judaea by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again.耶稣从那里起身，来到犹太的境界并约但河外。众人又聚集到他那里，他又照常教训他们。
2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting himz有法利赛人来问他说：「人休妻可以不可以？」意思要试探他。
3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?耶稣回答说：「摩西吩咐你们的是什麽？」
4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.他们说：「摩西许人写了休书便可以休妻。」
5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.耶稣说：「摩西因为你们的心硬，所以写这条例给你们；
6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.但从起初创造的时候，神造人是造男造女。
7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;因此，人要离开父母，与妻子连合，二人成为一体。
8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.既然如此，夫妻不再是两个人，乃是一体的了。
9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.所以神配合的，人不可分开。」
10 And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.到了屋里，门徒就问他这事。
11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.耶稣对他们说：「凡休妻另娶的，就是犯奸淫，辜负他的妻子；
12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.妻子若离弃丈夫另嫁，也是犯奸淫了。」
13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.有人带著小孩子来见耶稣，要耶稣摸他们，门徒便责备那些人。
14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.耶稣看见就恼怒，对门徒说：「让小孩子到我这里来，不要禁止他们；因为在神国的，正是这样的人。
15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.我实在告诉你们，凡要承受神国的，若不像小孩子，断不能进去。」
16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.於是抱著小孩子，给他们按手，为他们祝福。
17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?耶稣出来行路的时候，有一个人跑来，跪在他面前，问他说：「良善的夫子，我当做什麽事才可以承受永生？」
18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. 18 耶稣对他说：「你为什麽称我是良善的？除了神一位之外，再没有良善的。
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.诫命你是晓得的：不可杀人；不可奸淫；不可偷盗；不可作假见证；不可亏负人；当孝敬父母。」
20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.他对耶稣说：「夫子，这一切我从小都遵守了。」
21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.耶稣看著他，就爱他，对他说：「你还缺少一件：去变卖你所有的，分给穷人，就必有财宝在天上；你还要来跟从我。」
22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.他听见这话，脸上就变了色，忧忧愁愁的走了，因为他的产业很多。
23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!耶稣周围一看，对门徒说：「有钱财的人进神的国是何等的难哪！」
24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!门徒希奇他的话。耶稣又对他们说：「小子，倚靠钱财的人进神的国是何等的难哪！
25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.骆驼穿过针的眼，比财主进神的国还容易呢。

The Transfiguration of Christ by Metropolitan Kallistos

2011-08-05T23:42:00.000-05:00

This is a feast that enjoys far greater prominence in Orthodoxy than in western Christendom. In the Roman rite, the Transfiguration is merely a “double of the second class,” while the Anglican Prayer Book of 1662 does not even provide a special Collect, Epistle, or Gospel for this day. (This omission has been rectified in the 1928 Book, as also in the revisions of the Book of Common Prayer used in many parts of the Anglican Communion overseas).

In the Orthodox Church tradition August 6 is reckoned as one of the Twelve Great Feasts, of such importance that it supplants the Sunday office entirely (when the feast is observed on the Lord’s Day).

The Transfiguration is par excellence the feast of Christ’s divine glory. Like Theophany (January 6), it is a feast of light. During Matins the exapostilarion for the day states: “Today on Tabor in the manifestation of Thy Light, O Word, Thou unaltered Light from the Light of the unbegotten Father, we have seen the Father as Light and the Spirit as Light, guiding with light the whole creation.”

Nor is this the only parallel between the two feasts. Like Theophany, although less explicitly, the Transfiguration is a revelation of the Holy Trinity. On Tabor, as at the baptism in Jordan, the Father speaks from heaven, testifying to the divine Sonship of Christ; and the Spirit is also present, on this occasion not in the likeness of a dove, but under the form of dazzling light, surrounding Christ’s person and overshadowing the whole mountain. This dazzling light is the light of the Spirit.

The Transfiguration then, is a feast of divine glory; more specifically of the glory of the Resurrection. The ascent of Mount Tabor came at a critical point in Our Lord’s ministry, just as He was setting out upon His last journey to Jerusalem, which He knew was to end in humiliation and death. To strengthen His disciples for the trials that lay ahead He chose this particular moment to reveal to them something of His eternal splendor, “as far as they were able to bear it“ (Troparion of the Feast). He encouraged them — and all of us — to look beyond the suffering of the Cross to the glory of the Resurrection.

The light of the Transfiguration, however, foreshadows not only Christ’s own Resurrection on the third day, but equally the Resurrection glory of the righteous (ones) at His Second Coming. The glory which shone from Jesus on Tabor is a glory in which all mankind is called to share. On Mount Tabor we see Christ’s human nature — the human substance which He took from us — filled with splendor, “made godlike” or “deified.” What has happened to human nature in Christ can happen also to the humanity of Christ’s followers. The Transfiguration then, reveals to us the full potentiality of our human nature: it shows us the glory which our manhood once possessed and the glory which, by God’s grace, it will again recover at the Last Day.

This is a cardinal aspect of the present feast, to which the liturgical texts frequently revert. For example, it is said at Great Vespers that at His Transfiguration the Lord, “in His own person showed them the nature of man, arrayed in the original beauty of the Image.” Similarly at Matins one hears, “Thou wast transfigured upon Mount Tabor, showing the exchange mortal men will make with Thy glory at Thy second and fearful coming, O Savior.”

The feast of the Transfiguration, therefore, is not simply the commemoration of a past event in the life of Christ. Possessing also an “eschatological” dimension, it is turned towards the future, towards the “splendor of the Resurrection” at the Last Day, towards the “beauty of the divine Kingdom” which all Christians hope eventually to enjoy. (From the Festal Menaion)

Jude 1:17-25: Beware of those who cause divisions because of worldly desires

2011-07-29T23:16:00.000-05:00

17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 亲爱的弟兄啊，你们要记念我们主耶稣基督之使徒从前所说的话。
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 他们曾对你们说过，末世必有好讥诮的人随从自己不敬虔的私欲而行。
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. 这就是那些引人结党、属乎血气、没有圣灵的人。
20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy Faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 亲爱的弟兄啊，你们却要在至圣的真道上造就自己，在圣灵里祷告，
21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 保守自己常在神的爱中，仰望我们主耶稣基督的怜悯，直到永生。
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference: 有些人存疑心，你们要怜悯他们；
23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. 有些人你们要从火中抢出来，搭救他们；有些人你们要存惧怕的心怜悯他们，连那被情欲沾染的衣服也当厌恶。
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 那能保守你们不失脚、叫你们无瑕无疵、欢欢喜喜站在他荣耀之前的我们的救主独一的神，
25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. 愿荣耀、威严、能力、权柄，因我们的主耶稣基督归与他，从万古以前并现今，直到永永远远。阿们。

I am a Paul Heyman Guy Too!

2011-07-17T23:17:00.004-05:00

“And during the few moments that we have left, we want to talk, right down to

earth, in a language that everybody here can easily understand.” (Malcolm X)

Look in my eyes, what do you see?

The Cult of Personality.

I know your anger, I know your dreams,

I've been everything you wanna be, ohhh…

I'm the Cult of Personality.

Like Mussolini and Kennedy,

I'm the Cult of Personality,

the Cult of Personality,

the Cult of Personality.

Neon lights, Nobel Prize,

When a leader speaks, the reflection lies.

You won't have to follow me,

Only you can set me free.

I sell the things you need to be,

I'm the smiling face of your T.V., ohh…

I'm the Cult of Personality.

I exploit you; still you love me,

I tell you one and one makes three, ohh…

I'm the Cult of Personality.

Like Joseph Stalin and Gandhi, ohh…

I'm the Cult of Personality,

the Cult of Personality,

the Cult of Personality.

Neon lights, Nobel Prize,

When a leader speaks, that leader dies.

You won't have to follow me,

Only you can set you free.

You gave me fortune, you gave me fame,

You gave me power in your God's name.

I'm every person you need to be, ohh…

I'm, the, Cult, of, Per, Son, Al, Ity

I am the Cult of,

Personality!

“Ask not what your country can do for you…” (John F. Kennedy)

“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

Prosperity Theology is another Modern Lie of New Religions Created by Man and for Man

2011-07-10T23:42:00.000-05:00

According to Wikipedia, "Prosperity theology (also known as prosperity doctrine, the health and wealth gospel, or the prosperity gospel) is a Christian religious belief whose proponents claim has tens of millions of adherents, primarily in the United States, centered on the notion that God provides material prosperity for those he favors. It has been defined by the belief that "Jesus blesses believers with riches" or more specifically as the teaching that "believers have a right to the blessings of health and wealth and that they can obtain these blessings through positive confessions of faith and the 'sowing of seeds' through the faithful payments of tithes and offerings." In the words of journalist Hanna Rosin, the prosperity gospel "is not a clearly defined denomination, but a strain of belief that runs through the Pentecostal Church and a surprising number of mainstream evangelical churches, with varying degrees of intensity." It arose in the United States after World War II championed by Oral Roberts and became particularly popular in the decade of the 1990s. More recently, the theology has been exported to less prosperous areas of the world, with mixed results."

The only way one can believe in this new teaching is to reject God's Church and God's Word, thereby rejecting God. Here are some clear examples from the Bible showing the lie of this materialistic, worldly lie of Satan. Again from the KJV:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
(Mat 6:19-34)

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
(Mat 16:24-27)

Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
(Mat 19:21-24)

If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
(1Ti 6:3-12)

If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
(Tit 1:6-16)

Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
(Jas 5:1-6)

Some serve God, some serve money and the world. Some follow God, some follow the money and the world. Some do all for God, some do all for money and the world. Some have only God in their heart, some have only money and the world in their heart. Some claim they know God, but only know money and the world! Who or what will you serve, value, love, and know? As for me and my house, like Jesus (Joshua in the KJV) of Nun, we will serve the Lord.

(Men and) Women and their place in the Church according to the Bible

2011-07-09T23:23:00.000-05:00

This post is inspired by my wife, who of her own volition, from her constant Bible reading, has decided to cover her head when praying and started pointing out things she sees in heterodox churches that do not match up to what the Bible teaches.

I quote from the King James Version, as I am too lazy to type all of this from the superior Orthodox New Testament.

Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
(1Co 11:1-15)

Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
(1Co 14:34-37)

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not; a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But which becometh women professing godliness with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
(1Ti 2:1-15)

(A quick side note on the above quote from 1st Timothy. He is saying how the Divine Services should begin. In the Orthodox Church we begin with the Great Litany, that goes like this:)

Presbyter: In peace let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon: For the peace from above and the salvation of our souls, let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon: For the peace of the whole world, the stability of the holy churches of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon: For this holy house, and for those who enter it with faith, reverence and the fear of God, let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon: For our Patriarch/Metropolitan _______, our Archbishop/Bishop _______, the honorable presbyters, the deacons in the service of Christ, and all the clergy and laity, let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon: For our country, the president, and all those in public service, let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon: For this city, for every city and country, and for the faithful who live in them, let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon: For favorable weather, an abundance of the fruits of the earth, and temperate seasons, let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon: For travelers by sea, land and air, for the sick, the suffering, the captives and for their safety and salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon: For our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, danger and necessity, let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon: Help us, save us, have mercy on us, and keep us, O God, by Your grace.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon: Remembering our most holy, pure, blessed, and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commit ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.
People: To You, O Lord.

(End side note.)

But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
(Tit 2:1-15)

So why do the new modern churches of men under the banner of Sola Scriptura (Bible alone) have uncovered women, women leading their services, women teaching the men, and women preachers? For the same reason that they no longer have Bishops, Presbyters (Priests), and Deacons. Because they have not only protested against and rejected God and His Church, but they have also protested against and rejected His Word, the Holy Bible as well and remade all of them in their own image. They are truly of the world.

Psalm 61/62: Much is missing if your Bible translation is less than perfect!

2011-07-08T23:53:00.000-05:00

In the King James (Authorized) Version, you will never catch this, but in Psalm 61 (Psalm 62 by KJV and most modern renumbering schemes) there is definite Trinity allusions. Remember after the Resurrection in the New Testament, Christ Jesus told the Apostles that He would ask the Father to send down the Helper, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. Check this out from The Orthodox Psalter (Bold emphasis is mine, italics are from the Psalter to show added words to make the literal translation from the pre-Christian original Greek Septuagint make sense in English):

PSALM 61(62)

For the end, for Idithoum; a psalm by David.

My soul shall be subjected to God, shall it not? For from Him is my salvation.
For indeed He is my God and my savior and my helper; I will in no wise be shaken any longer.
How long do ye attack a man? Ye murder, all of you, as ye might set upon a wall having been inclined to give way and a fence having been pushed back.
In addition, they took counsel with themselves to push aside mine honor; they ran with a thirst; with their mouth they were blessing, but with their heart they were calling down curses.
However, O my soul, be subject to God, for from Him is my patient endurance.
For He is my God, my savior and my helper; I will in no wise remove from one place to another.
In God is my salvation and my glory; He is the God of my help, and my hope is upon God.
Hope upon Him, all ye congregation of peoples; pour out your hearts before Him, for God is our helper.
Besides, vain are the sons of men, false are the sons of men with balance scales in order to do wrong—they, out of vanity, join together.
Do not place hope upon wrongdoing, and do not set your desire upon booty; if haply wealth flow, cease putting forth your heart upon it.
Once God did speak—these two things did I hear: that soverign power belongeth to God; and mercy is Thine, O Lord. For Thou wilt render to each according to his works.