Holy Tradition
One of the distinctive characteristics of the Holy Orthodox Church is its
changelessness, its loyalty to the past, its sense of living continuity with the
ancient Church. This idea of living continuity may be summed up in one word:
Tradition. As St. John of Damascus says, We do not change the everlasting
boundaries which our fathers have set, but we keep the Tradition, just as we
received it [On the Holy Icons, II, 12]. To an Orthodox Christian, Tradition
means the Holy Bible; it means the Creed; it means the decrees of the Ecumenical
Councils and the writings of the Fathers; it means the Canons, the Service
Books, the Holy Icons, etc. In essence, it means the whole system of doctrine,
ecclesiastical government, worship and art which Orthodoxy has articulated over
the ages [Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church, p.204].
We take special note that for the Orthodox, the Holy Bible forms apart of Holy
Tradition, but does not lie outside of it. One would be in error to suppose that
Scripture and Tradition are two separate and distinct sources of Christian Faith, as some do,
since there is, in reality, only one source; and the Holy Bible exists and found
its formulation within Tradition.
As Orthodox, however, while giving it due respect, we realize that not
everything received from the past is of equal value. The Holy Scriptures, the
Creed and the dogmatic and doctrinal definitions of the Ecumenical Councils hold
the primary place in Holy Tradition and cannot be discarded or revised. The
other parts of Holy Tradition are not placed on an equal level, nor do they
possess the same authority as the above. The decrees of the Councils since the
Seventh Ecumenical Council (787) obviously do not stand on the same level as the
Nicene Creed, nor do the writings of, for example, the Byzantine theologians,
hold equal rank with St. John's Gospel.
Here we must also distinguish between Tradition and traditions. At the Council
of Carthage in 257, one of the Bishops remarked, The Lord said, I am Truth. He
did not say, I am custom [The Opinions of the Bishops on the Baptizing of Heretics,
30]. Many traditions that have been handed down are merely cultural variations,
theological or pious opinions, or simply plain mistakes. [One need only recall
the whole problem of the reform of the Russian liturgical books under Patriarch
Nikon and the ensuing Old Believer schism to see the truth of this.]
Orthodox loyalty to Tradition [the things of the past] is not something
mechanical or lifeless, however. Tradition is a personal encounter with Christ
in the Holy Spirit, as Bishop Kallistos affirms. Tradition is not only kept by
the Church it lives in the Church, it is the life of the Holy Spirit in the
Church [The Orthodox Church, p.206]. Thus Tradition must be seen and experienced
from within. Tradition is a living experience of the Holy Spirit in the present.
While inwardly unchanging (since God does not change), Tradition constantly
assumes new forms, supplementing the old, but not superceding it.
Our Lord tells us that when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth (John
16:13) and this promise forms the basis of Orthodox respect for Holy Tradition.
Thus, as Fr. Georges Florovsky expresses this idea: Tradition is the witness of
the Spirit; the Spirit's unceasing revelation and preaching of good things....
To accept and understand Tradition we must live within the Church, we must be
conscious of the grace-giving presence of the Lord in it; we must feel the
breath of the Holy [Spirit] in it.... Tradition is not only a protective,
conservative principle; it is, primarily, the principle of growth and
regeneration.... Tradition is the constant abiding of the Spirit and not only
the memory of words [Sobornost: the Catholicity of the Church, in The Church of
God, pp. 64-5].
The Beatitudes
1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Beatitudes can be viewed as a single system a ladder ascending in virtues.
Christ calls us first of all to acquire spiritual poverty, and meekness, and only then to rise step by step to the summit of spiritual
perfection. Man becomes aware of his poverty of spirit from the moment when the
summoning and illumining grace takes effect within him. The first thing revealed
to the spiritual infant is his helplessness the incompatibility of his present
spiritual state with that to which he is being summoned. The human spirit is the
chief motivating force of our salvation, for we are bound to God, not by the
soul, but by the spirit, and it is not through the soul, but through the spirit
that God's good will descends upon us.
It is in the spirit of man that the Image of God is most truly reflected. Our
spirit trembles before God when it establishes contact with Him in prayer,
meditation, reading the Word of God, in the Sacraments, Divine Services, good
deeds, and so on. Only when it is humbled will our spirit become aware of the
gulf which separates man from God and will know that God is all that within
ourselves is nothing worthy of the Lord or pleasing to Him, nothing that is our own except our sins and that the fullness of
spiritual life consists in renunciation of self in giving oneself entirely to
God and to others.
Only by sacrificing ourselves will we find ourselves in the fullness of life
lived for God and for others. And to find ourselves in God and in others, we
must lose our own selves. Our spirit, renewed in God, knows that human life
belongs to Him and always and in all things is dependent upon Him, and that we
must be in steadfast contact with Him, begging His help and living in the hope
that the gracious Lord in His mercy will not abandon us in our helplessness.
The righteous men of the Old Testament were aware of their insignificance before
God. As Abraham said of himself, I... am but dust and ashes (Gen. 18:27). David,
both king and prophet, cried out, I am a worm, and no man (Ps. 22:6); I am poor
and needy (Ps. 86:1). Moses said to the Lord, I am slow of speech and of tongue
(Ex. 4:10); and the Prophet Isaiah said to himself, I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips (Is. 6:5).
The saints of the New Testament Church, the nearer they drew to God, the
stronger they were aware of their smallness and unworthiness before God, and
were filled with truly profound humility. Some of them declared as they died
that they had not even begun their salvation, while others declared that there
was no place for them even in Hell, while yet others declared that even the
earth would not accept their sinful bodies.
According to St. John Chrysostom, humility is the foundation of all virtue, for
even if one distinguishes himself by fasting, prayer, alms, chastity, of any
other virtue, without humility all of these would be destroyed and would perish.
Thus there is no salvation without humility. This virtue was regarded highly in
the Old Testament, for as the Psalmist says, A broken and contrite heart, O God,
Thou wilt not despise (Ps. 51:17). Seeing the results which humility brings, he
was moved to say, When I was brought low, He saved me (Ps. 116:6).
In the New Testament, the Lord Himself gave us the greatest example of humility
(Matt. 11:39; John 13:14-16), for His entire life teaches us humility. The
Mother of God says of herself, For He has regarded the low estate of His
handmaiden (Luke 1:48). The Apostle Paul said of himself, I am the foremost
among sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). The Publican of the Gospel saw nothing within
himself except sinfulness, and simply hoped in God's mercy.
The ways in which one attains humility are different. Sometimes it is through
sickness, sorrow and misfortunes. Sometimes it is through being persecuted by
others or oppressed by disease. As St. John Chrysostom says, True humility comes
when we turn from our sins to God.
In the human soul, humility is countered by pride which struggles ceaselessly
with it trying to destroy it. We know that all the evils which bring man to
damnation are the results of pride: the Fall of Satan, of Adam, of Cain, and so
on. And to this day pride is the chief enemy of humility, and overcoming it with God's help is the first task to be undertaken for our salvation,
for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
The attainment of humility is linked with overcoming our own self and pride, and
with the victory over our passions and the temptations which face us. True
humility prevents us from passing judgment, from envying, being angry, arousing
anger in others, hurting or rebuking them, and it enables us to help others, to
pray for all, and to bear everything that happens to us calmly as coming from
God. He who has attained deep humility considers himself the unworthiest among
men and attributes all his accomplishments to God.
Christian humility is free and highly fruitful, and there is not the least
servitude, ingratiation or flattery in it. The humble Christian cannot be the
servant of other men, because then he would not be the servant of Christ, for
the servant of Christ is free in Christ as the Highest Truth. Love for Christ
and devotion to Him allow the believer to call himself the servant of Christ, and as a result of his regeneration, he
is a freeborn son, a child of God and not a slave.
Therefore, the poor in spirit, those who are humble of heart, will inherit the
Kingdom of Heaven. This kingdom, as the Lord Himself says, is within you (Luke
17:21), in the spirit and in the humble heart.
2. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Sorrow and grief enter the soul of one who has attained poverty of spirit and
who has become aware of the power of sin over his soul, and they wring an
involuntary cry of grief from its very depths. Therefore the Savior is anxious
to comfort those who weep with His second Beatitude.
When it lived in Paradise, the human soul knew neither weeping, nor tears, for
then man was with God and God was with man. The sin of our first parents
separated man from God, giving rise to godly tears and sorrow which lead to
contrition and salvation. This godly sorrow, as St. John of the Ladder tells us,
liberates the soul from all earthly loves and affections. This sadness, however, should not be confused
with worldly grief [which] produces death (2 Cor. 7:10). If we do not overcome
it, this earthly sorrow may grow into the mortal sin of depression and despair.
Godly sorrow is permeated with love for God and for others and sorrow for their
sins and for our own. Such was the sorrow of Moses when, at the foot of Mount
Sinai, the Israelites forgot their God and made themselves a golden calf to
worship. Such were the tears shed by the Prophet Jeremiah over the ruins of
Jerusalem. And such were the tears of the Savior Himself when He foresaw the
destruction of Jerusalem. Peter wept bitterly after his denial of our Lord, but
the Lord comforted him when He appeared to him on the first day after His
Resurrection, for God's mercy is infinite and He not only comforts those who
repent in this earthly life, but will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Rev.
7:17).
Mourning, as the expression of the spirit's repentance for its sins, is of spiritual value, and must be treasured so as not to be wasted on earthly
vanities. The mourning of the spirit, however, is not always accompanied by
physical tears, for deep sorrow can be expressed in sighs, constriction of the
heart, profound silence, inner concentration and withdrawal. Yet, as St. Ephraim
the Syrian notes, these tears are like precious pearls, for by God's gift the
soul is enlightened by tears, reflecting the heavenly like a mirror.
Great is the strength of pure and heartfelt tears that rise from the depths of
the heart, for these tears wash away all internal and external filth and quench
the flame of all irritability and anger. These tears are especially saving when
they are constant and, as St. John of the Ladder teaches us, he who is truly
concerned for his salvation will count each day when he has not wept for his
sins as wasted, in spite of any good deeds that may have been accomplished.
We are constantly sinning, both when we are active and when we give ourselves
over to idle dreams, and these sins must be washed away with tears of repentance. These
tears are a means of washing and purifying our soul, and a sacrifice offered up
to God by our contrite and broken spirit. If our tears arise from fear of God
for our sinfulness, they will intercede for us with God, as St. Ephraim tells
us.
The blessed receive a special gift from God tenderness and the tears of
tenderness, which show that godly tears and sorrow contain both joy and gaity,
just as the comb contains the honey. In addition, there are the tears of the
heart, which are better than the tears of the eyes, as Bishop Theophan the
Recluse wrote. The tears of the eyes fatten the worm of vanity, while the tears
of the heart are to be seen by God alone. Tears during prayer at Church and at
home are beneficial, but in Church it is better to hide one's tears, leaving
merely the tearful mood in one's heart, that is to say, a contrite spirit and a
contrite heart. Night is the best time for prayer, especially at midnight. That
is the place for your tears. Therefore, secret tears for our sins cleanse the soul and
bring it closer to God, bringing us both comfort in this life and true
consolation in the next.
3. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Meekness is directly linked with heartfelt repentance and mourning for our sins
and he who considers himself worthy of all sorrows and troubles will be filled
with the spirit of meekness and humility. He who is meek offends no one, is
angered by no one, is modest and virtuous. He is a stranger to idle curiosity
and never refuses his help to those who are suffering, doing good quietly and
without notice. This virtue is as difficult to attain as it is great, for it
demands much effort and struggle within the one who wishes to attain it. First
he must overcome his irritability, impatience, touchiness and irascibility, for
by overcoming his passions, he attains modesty and meekness. This, however, is
only the beginning of his growth in this virtue.
The Psalmist especially praises meekness, placing it on a level with truth and righteousness (Ps. 45:4),
and the Prophet Isaiah speaks of God's particularly merciful attitude to man who
is meek: This is the man to whom I will look, he that is humble and contrite in
spirit, and trembles at My word, says the Lord (Is. 66:2). St. Peter sees a meek
and quiet spirit as one of the greatest treasures of the human heart, which in
God's sight is very precious (1 Pet. 3:4). Therefore he urges the followers of
Christ to be ready to answer with meekness and fear (1 Pet. 3:15) those who ask
the reason for their hope. St. James asks us to receive with meekness the Word
of God (James 1:21), so that it will find the most direct way to the hearts of
his listeners.
St. Paul pays special attention to meekness, pointing out that meekness in the
preacher is the best way of convincing those who oppose him (2 Tim. 2:24-25) or
for correcting the sinner (Gal. 6:1). He begs the Ephesians to treat each other
with all lowliness and meekness, because these are the qualities that make a man worthy of the calling to which [he has] been
called (Eph. 4:2, 1). To the rebellious Corinthians, he would come not with a
rod, but with love, in a spirit of gentleness, (1 Cor. 4:21), for this Apostle
to the Gentiles counts meekness among the fruits of the spirit, for against such
there is no law (Gal. 5:22-23).
In the Old Testament King David (the Psalmist), the Prophet Moses, who is called
very meek (Num. 12:3), and also the righteous Job, who blessed the Name of God
when subjected to severe trials, were all distinguished by their meekness. In
the New Testament the Savior demonstrated the greatest meekness and called us to
learn from Him first and foremost this virtue: Take My yoke upon you, and learn
from Me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls (Matt. 11:29), for it is out of this virtue that all the other virtues
grow, including love itself. Through meekness and humility man overcomes his
natural self and pride, and spiritually develops towards self-denial in the Name of God and out of love of Him and one's
neighbor.
The saints offer us marvelous examples of meekness. Once during Divine Liturgy,
St. John the Almsgiver, when he was Patriarch, reading in the Gospel lesson
about making peace with your brother before coming to pray (Matt. 5:23-24),
recalled that there was a cleric whom he had punished for some misdeed and who
was angry with him. He called him immediately and, falling at his feet, begged
him to forgive him and to make peace. St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, while in a
conversation with a local landowner, was in the course of an argument struck in
the face by him, at which the saint fell down on his knees and humbly asked
forgiveness of the landowner, saying, For God's sake, forgive me for bringing
you to such a state. Only a man of meek spirit could have answered thus.
We can help pave the way to meekness in ourselves by deciding to strive for
spiritual health in all things, and for abstention in our designs, in thought,
in word and in deed. As St. John Chrysostom says, If we are opposed, we will be humble.
If anyone is arrogant with us, we will be helpful. If anyone torments or
oppresses us by making fun of us or swearing at us, we will not answer in kind,
so as not to destroy ourselves through vengeance.
The Lord promises those who attain meekness that they will inherit the earth.
One would have expected the meek, the most defenseless and oppressed of all, to
perish in the first centuries of the Christian era at the hands of the
infuriated pagans, but they have indeed inherited the earth that was formerly
ruled by those who persecuted them. The meek will receive their spiritual
inheritance in the mansions of the righteous, and will receive the goodness of
the Lord in the land of the living (Ps. 27:13), where eternal blessedness awaits
them.
4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall
be filled.
The more profoundly we become aware of our sinfulness and spiritual
imperfection, the less bearable to our reason and our conscience becomes the idea of being spiritually
extinguished the threat of losing our salvation and within our soul are born
hunger and thirst for God's righteousness. Just as in life the body periodically
hungers for food and thirsts for drink, so in the spiritual life come moments
when man yearns for spiritual food.
The good news of the gospel is the Truth that the Savior has come to earth, and
His teaching the righteousness of our salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
This good news of the Truth of Christ enlightens the soul. The Truth of Christ
leads to faith in the true righteousness of our salvation. And the stronger the
faith in this righteousness, the more fully its depths are revealed to the soul
possessing it wholly, acting from faith to faith, urging it to lead a life
compatible with this righteousness.-
If the meaning of the Truth of Christ lies in the fact that it brings spiritual
enlightenment to those who believe, then the significance of this righteousness
lies in the fact that it leads them to faith and justifies them. God's
righteousness in all its fullness is centered in God alone and from Him it is
poured forth on all who seek it. To live in righteousness means to live
according to the will of God, and to live according to the will of God means to
live in God's righteousness.
It is not those who thirst for worldly happiness that are blessed, but those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness, obeying Christ's commandments, living in
God and with God. He who fulfils the will of God will be like the Savior, Who
said: My food is to do the will of Him Who sent Me, and to accomplish His work
(John 4:34).
The will of God is revealed to us in Holy Scripture. However, it is not enough
to know the truth of our salvation, for we also need the strength to carry it
out, which we receive through the Sacraments and the prayers of the Church.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the food and drink of which Christ
said: I am the bread of life.... For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed (John 6:35, 55).
Hunger and thirst for God's righteousness, which find their highest satisfaction
in the prayers and Sacraments of the Church (especially in Holy Communion), act
together with love and the other virtues in man's heart. However, we will be
completely and entirely satisfied with God's righteousness only in the life to
come, when the righteous will neither hunger nor thirst and He Who sits upon the
throne will shelter them with His presence (Rev. 7:15).
5. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Everyone who lives in society needs a kind word, sympathy, and compassion, and
the man of warmth and sympathy has the traits of mercy. The merciful, whom the
Gospel calls charitable, are first and foremost spiritual people hearers of the
spirit. Mercy is a gift or the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). The merciful
follow Christ's commandments: they give meat to the hungry and drink to the
thirsty, they clothe the naked, they take in the stranger and comfort the sorrowing (Matt. 25:31-46).
The charitable look after orphans, do not forget the aged, return to the path of
truth those who have lost their way, strengthen those whose faith is wavering,
teach others kindness, give advice, do not answer evil with evil, and forgive
offenses. They pray for their fellow men, and especially they pray for the dead
who need nothing from the living except prayers and deeds of kindness in their
memory.
The Lord warned Cain: ...if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door;
its desire is for you, but you must master it (Gen. 4:7). Doing good constantly
is the guarantee of a successful struggle with sin. Those who are constantly
charitable and merciful will receive mercy in their turn both from God and from
good fellow men. But let the hardhearted bear in mind that judgment is without
mercy to one who has shown no mercy (James 2:13). The Savior points to His
Heavenly Father as the highest example of mercy and calls us to emulate Him
(Luke 6:36), for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on
the unjust (Matt. 5:45).
In the Sermon on the Mount, the Savior also teaches us how to perform deeds of
mercy: Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them;
for then you will have no reward from your Father Who is in heaven. Thus, when
you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do.... But when
you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing...
(Matt. 6:1-3). To do deeds of kindness with the aim of being praised by others,
will be the means of depriving oneself of the rewards of our Heavenly Father,
for God Who sees in secret will reward you (Matt. 6:4).
Around us are people who need our sympathy. They are the Lazaruses of our lives
(Luke 16:14-31 the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus), who will open or close
for us the gates of God's Kingdom, depending upon how we have treated them. And
all those who are charitable and merciful on earth in the Name of God will find mercy in the Kingdom of Heaven.
6. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
It would seem that there is nothing harder to attain than purity of heart and
nothing more impossible than to see God. For, is it possible for our heart to be
pure and spotless when out of it come evil thoughts, murder, adultery,
fornication, theft, false witness, slander (Matt. 15:19), or for us to see God
Whom no man has ever seen or can see (1 Tim. 6:16; John 1:18; 1 John 4:12)?
Nevertheless, the Savior speaks of purity of heart and of seeing God with the
heart, because the previous Beatitudes teach the Christian humility, mourning,
meekness, righteousness and mercy; for only the spirit which has acquired these
virtues will give a new fruit grace-endowed purity of heart and radiant holiness
that sees God from within.
The pure in heart are not tempted by the seductions of this world. As St. John
of the Ladder says, truly blessed is he who has attained complete dispassion for
all carnal things, for appearance and beauty; great is he who is dispassionate; he who has triumphed
over the body, has triumphed over nature, and there is no doubt that he who has
triumphed over nature stands higher than nature, and such a man differs little
from the-Angels; purity of heart brings us closer to God and, as far as
possible, makes us like unto Him.
St. Ephraim the Syrian teaches that purity of heart hates luxury, laziness,
bodily beauty, fine garments, rich food and drunkenness. It overcomes the flesh
and penetrates the heavenly with its eye. It is the fountainhead of love and the
dwelling place of Angels. It is a gift of God, filled with goodness, edification
and knowledge. It is a peaceful and fitting haven which fends off evil and
cleaves to goodness. This purity of heart is characterized by cleanliness of
body and soul, a peaceful nature, meekness, humility, love and closeness to God,
and attainment in all the virtues, including strict abstinence.
The heart attains purity, says St. Ephraim the Syrian, through numerous tribulations, privations, renunciation of all worldly things and
mortification. And if it attains purity, it is not defiled by minor offenses,
fears neither tribulations in any part of the soul, because the soul is
strengthened by God.
The struggle with impure thoughts that defile our heart and conscience helps us
to attain purity of heart. Remaining in constant prayerfulness before God
creates a living link with God, giving rise to what is called the awareness of
God in the soul, the awareness of Christ our Savior, and His cross, and it
conquers our bad thoughts, evil designs and desires of the heart. And this
awareness of God, on the highest levels of spiritual attainment, becomes the
grace-giving vision of God.
The performance of charitable deeds fills with love the heart of the ascetic.
Contemplating God, reading the Holy Scriptures, the works of the Holy Fathers
and the Lives of the saints, attending Divine Services as often as possible, and
partaking of the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion, are all spiritual and saving fare for the heart.
The ascetic whose heart has been purified and sanctified by the Holy Spirit is
filled with love for Christ and enters into such a close spiritual union with
the Lord that it is as though he sees Him in himself. Freed from the influence
of their passions, the saints also see God in Divine Revelation. Just as a
mirror reflects an image when it is clean, so can a pure and holy soul see God
and understand the Scriptures, says the Blessed Theophilact. Like the other
Beatitudes which begin on earth and are completed in Heaven, seeing God when it
begins on earth is but seeing through a glass, darkly what in the next life we
shall see face to face (1 Cor. 13:12).
7. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.
The fall of our first parents, which led to the severing of the grace-endowing
link with God and changed their souls radically, could not but affect the
relations between them as well. Disorder and conflict within men brought about their mutual alienation. But because our God is Peace and
Love, salvation was impossible without reconciliation with God. As St. Paul
says, in Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to
reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by
the blood of His cross (Col. 1:19-20). And Christ fulfilled the will of His
Father. He came, accomplished the Sacrifice of Redemption and preached peace to
you who were far off and peace to those who were near (Eph. 2:17). And to this
day He bestows peace upon us, for He said: Peace I leave with you; My peace I
give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you (John 14:27). And not only
does He bestow peace, but He Himself has become our peace (Eph. 2:14).
Christ founded upon earth the Kingdom of God, one of the most essential features
of which is its peace. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). Peace in the
Kingdom of God is the peace of God, which passes all understanding, [which] will keep your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
St. Paul summons all believers to seek peace in God (Rom. 15:33; 1 Thess. 5:23;
Heb. 13:20-21). When, with God's help, inner peace is established in the human
heart, the link between this heart and others is also established. It is
expressed in unity of word, spirit and thought. / appeal to you, brethren, by
the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no
dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same
judgment (1 Cor. 1:10). Agreement and unanimity make for lasting peace in human
relations, for where they are found, the individual is like the whole and the
whole is like the individual. Such peace must be sought and striven for (1 Pet.
3:11), and cherished with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart (2 Tim.
2:22).
The Savior Himself was particularly insistent upon the need for peace among mer.
If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
leave your gift there before the altar and go; and first be reconciled to your
brother, and then come and offer your gift. Make friends quickly with your
accuser...lest your accuser hand you over to the judge...and you be put in
prison (Matt. 5:23-25). The Savior said further: If any one would sue you and
take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go
one mile, go with him two miles (Matt. 5:40-41). The main thing here is that
there should be no quarrel on the way and that the inner link not be broken.
The Holy Fathers teach that humility is the foundation of all virtues, and helps
us to attain spiritual peace. According to St. Isaac the Syrian, it. is when
peace reigns in your life and when your soul is obedient to you, and the rest of
you along with it, that the peace of God is born in your heart. According to St.
Ephraim the Syrian, if your brother disagrees with what you say, do not be
angry, but renounce your own will for the sake of love and peace.
The Son of God came down to earth in order to reconcile to Himself all things
(Col. 1:20). He Himself, the Only-Begotten Son of God, is the great Peacemaker
The Prince of Peace, as the Prophet Isaiah calls Him. Blessed are the
peacemakers who keep their conscience at peace with God and with their fellow
men, following the example of our Savior the Peacemaker. According to the words
of the Lord, they shall be called the sons of God.
8. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is
the Kingdom of Heaven.
In His Sermon on the Mount, the Savior pointed out the two paths through life
the wide and broad one, and the strait and narrow one. The wide one leads to
perdition, and there are many who choose this path, while the narrow way leads
to life, that is, it brings salvation (Matt. 7:13-14).
The narrow way demands an effort a constant spiritual struggle with sin and with
all the obstacles which are to be met with on the way. The flesh, our bodily nature, revolts against this way, for it finds
our efforts towards purity of body and of heart hard to endure, and the enemy of
mankind, who cannot bear man's movements towards salvation, revolts along with
ill-intentioned men, who take the good life of the believer as a rebuke to
themselves.
History remembers many who have persecuted God's righteous ones. The first was
Cain, who killed his brother Abel because of the latter's piety. The wild Esau
cast forth his meek brother Jacob, and the sons of Jacob cast out their brother
Joseph and sold him into slavery in Egypt to get him out of their way. The
unfortunate King Saul oppressed the meek David. The Jews drove away the prophets
who condemned their lawless life, and persecuted and crucified our Lord Jesus
Christ. This persecution of the faithful came about, as the Savior shows us, for
righteousness' sake (Matt. 5:10).
The true believer answers enmity and opposition with goodwill. He answers lies
and slanders with patience and silence, following the rule that we should turn away from evil and do good
(Ps. 34:14; Rom. 12:9). St. Paul teaches us: Repay no one evil for evil, but
take thought for what is noble in the sight of all (Rom. 12:17), including the
ill-intentioned, in order to overcome evil with good (Rom. 12:21).
The Savior speaks even more concretely and decisively: If any one strikes you on
the right cheek., turn to him the other also (Matt. 5:39), by which means you
will morally disarm him. It is better to suffer pain and humiliation than to
subject him who has hurt you to evil in return, for evil breeds only evil. Only
good can breed good. The best defense from persecution, therefore, is patience
and prayer for those who persecute you. That is how the Savior Himself prayed
for those who crucified Him (Luke 23:34) and how St. Stephen the First Martyr
and Archdeacon prayed for those who stoned him (Acts 7:60).
We know that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be
persecuted (2 Tim. 3:12). The words of the Savior, though, are heartening and comforting: If they persecuted Me,
they will persecute you (John 15:20). The destiny of the Christian, then, is to
live in sorrow and take the narrow way. However, love of truth, constancy and
determination in virtue, courage and patience help us to bear suffering. It is
not enough to know righteousness; we must also love it. And it is this love
which gives rise to our determination, courage and patience.
All the previous Beatitudes, by producing corresponding virtues in the heart of
the Christian, prepare him for active love of Christ's righteousness, and for
spiritual life in Christ which gives us strength to bear the sorrows,
tribulations and persecutions that come our way. And the reward for
longsuffering is the Kingdom of God, which every man who loves God's
righteousness starts to bear within himself here on earth, and in full measure
in the Kingdom of Heaven.
9. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say
all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake.
10. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in Heaven.
These words are the continuation and conclusion and at the same time the crown
of all the Beatitudes that have preceded. In the eighth Beatitude, oppression
and persecution were linked with Christ's righteousness, and in the ninth, with
Christ Himself as the bearer and expression of this righteousness. The Savior
declares in no uncertain terms that men shall persecute you, and shall say all
manner of evil against you falsely for My sake. In this lies the greatest reward
for His followers, who are called to joy and happiness, when the hour of
suffering is upon them.
It is hard for the non-Christian to understand how one can rejoice and be happy
when oppressed, cursed and persecuted. It seems to him that all suffering leads
naturally only to sorrow. But let us recall the path we have trodden, up every
step of the ladder of the Beatitudes. As St. John Chrysostom says: Note after
how many Beatitudes Christ offers us this last one. In this last He wished to show that he who has
not been prepared by all the other Beatitudes cannot undertake the feat of
bearing suffering, revilement and persecution for Christ's sake. For this
reason, in laying the way from the first Beatitude to the last, Christ was
forging a golden chain for us. It starts with the fact that the poor in spirit,
the man of humility, will mourn for his sins and in this way will become meek,
righteous and merciful. And the merciful is bound to become pure in heart. The
pure in heart will be a peacemaker. And he who has attained all this will be
ready for danger, and will not be afraid of calumny and countless tribulations.
Readiness and fearlessness will be the crowning virtues that bring, according to
Jesus Christ, joy and happiness.
It is, of course, natural for man to avoid suffering, for through many
tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). Tribulations are
unavoidable as an accompaniment to this life. The Savior said: In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the
world (John 16:33). The Lord overcame the world by treading the path of
persecution by His enemies, the path of torture and suffering in Gethsemane, at
Pilate's judgment and on Golgotha. Sinless and innocent, He accomplished His
feat for our sake and for us, to free man from the stain of sin, to bring him
closer to Himself and make his path through life more like the way of the cross
which He Himself had followed. He calls him to take up his cross and follow Me
(Matt. 16:24), for he who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy
of Me (Matt. 10:38), and cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:27).
It is important to understand that tribulations are necessary because there is
no other way for us to be cleansed of our sins except that pointed out by the
Savior and followed by Him. In suffering we become aware of our own weakness and
helplessness, and, humbled in prayer and contrition before God, we receive
divine help and joy in the Lord.
Tenderness of heart and spiritual joy are characteristic of the spiritual life.
If life itself is a thing of goodness and joy, then life in God is doubly good
and doubly joyous. The very fact that Christ is preached brings joy (Phil.
1:18). When we behold God's world with a pure eye or pray sincerely, or do good
willingly, or perform the current act of obedience in the awareness that we are
fulfilling our duty, then a quiet joy in the Lord descends in our heart. As St.
James instructs us: Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness (James
1:2-3).
Joy is no less a fruit of the spirit than love, peace, meekness and the other
virtues (Gal. 5:22). Joy carries within it hope in God's continuing mercy. This
joy and hope helped those who performed spiritual deeds for Christ to bear their
sufferings, and gave them confidence that the Lord would not send them more
suffering than they could bear, but would grant them consolation in its turn. And the lives of the holy martyrs confirm this.
Amidst a severe test of affliction joy abounds, granted by God's grace (2 Cor.
8:2). It is not surprising that the Apostle calls us to rejoice always (1 Thess.
5:16). The Lord promises that no one will take your joy from you (John 16:22).
If even here in our earthly life the Lord gives us joy, how great must be the
joy that awaits us in Heaven!
The Christian who accepts the Gospel call to his neighbor is like the wise man
who built his house on the rock (Matt. 7:25), and he will fear no misfortunes.
For all believers this rock is our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 10:4), urging us to
follow Him, practice the Christian virtues and fulfill His commandment.
The Christian Ethic
The Sermon delivered by our Savior on the Mount was preceded by two significant
meetings, one with His secret disciple, Nicodemus (John 3:1-21), and the other
with the Samaritan Woman (John 4:4-42). In His conversation with Nicodemus,
Christ spoke of being born again, born of the Spirit of God, and in Samaria He taught of God as Spirit
and of the worship of the Father in spirit and truth.
Nicodemus had not known of spiritual birth before his meeting with the Lord.
What interested him was the same question that troubled many other men: was this
Teacher and Miracle-Worker an ordinary prophet, or was He the Christ, the
promised Messiah? His desire to find the answer to this question is evident in
the words with which he addressed Christ: Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher
come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him
(John 3:2).
Aware of Nicodemus' inner state and aware of his spiritual blindness and
fundamental unreadiness to receive the Truth, our Lord spoke to him of the
necessity of spiritual birth: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born
anew, he cannot see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3). Nicodemus misunderstood these
words and took them to mean a second birth from the womb. Christ, in His mercy,
was patient with Nicodemus and explained to him: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born
of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That which is born
of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit (John
3:5-6).
According to St. John Chrysostom, what is meant here is not birth in fact, but
birth in dignity and grace. Birth in dignity is the spiritual rebirth of the man
who strives constantly for the spiritual, heavenly and eternal; for man, as the
Image of God, is called to live continuously with God and in God. Birth through
grace is the part played by the Holy Spirit's grace in man's birth, in his
regeneration justification and sanctification.
All of this was difficult for Nicodemus to understand, for in the last words
spoken by the Savior, he saw a fresh mystery, and that is why he asked: How can
this be (John 3:9)? Jesus explained that He was teaching not of worldly, but of
heavenly things, that He was the Christ, the Son of God come down from Heaven, and that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life (John 3:14-15).
Our salvation contains many hidden mysteries and ineffable spiritual blessings
linked with them. The greatest and most fundamental mystery, along with the
greatest blessing, lies in the fact that God so loved the world that He gave His
only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life
(John 3:16). Man should respond to this saving love of God first and foremost
with faith in it and in Christ, as the Son of God and the Savior of mankind, Who
came, not to judge, but to save those who believed in Him, Who came as the Light
to illumine those who were in darkness and sought God's Truth, so that they
should live and find salvation through it.
St. John the Evangelist, speaking of the Logos the Word of God and of those who
did not accept Him, wrote: To all who received Him, who believed in His name, He
gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of
man, but of God (John 1:12-13). In these words the Evangelist points out two
unfathomable mysteries, that of birth from God and that of the power to become
the sons of God.
Children inherit from their parents their nature and their attributes. And what
do God's spiritual sons inherit from Him? First and foremost they inherit such
attributes of God's grace as love, holiness, goodness, light, kindness, peace,
truth, righteousness and purity. The gifts of God are received through the
Sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation and they develop and grow throughout the
Christian's life.
In our Lord's conversation with the Samaritan Woman by Jacob's Well, He revealed
to her the truth of the living water, welling up to eternal life (John 4:14).
Then, speaking of the worship of God, He said that the true worshipers will
worship the Father in spirit and truth, [because] God is spirit, and those who
worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24). Here, when He states that God is Spirit, Jesus is saying,
according to St. John Chrysostom, that God is incorporeal and that for this
reason those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
And what does worshiping in Truth mean? According to St. John Chrysostom:
Earlier rites, like circumcision, burnt offerings, sacrifices and the burning of
incense, were merely symbols, whereas new Truth has come. Now it is not flesh
that we must circumcise, but evil thoughts; now we must crucify ourselves, and
exterminate and mortify our unreasonable desires. It is this that is meant by
worshiping in truth. But only one who is born in the spirit can worship in this
way.
The Savior's conversations with Nicodemus and with the Samaritan Woman revealed
His teaching about God as Spirit and about the spiritual worship of God by those
who believe. In this way He established the concepts of spirituality, of
spiritual feeling, the spiritual man as compared with the non-spiritual, the
natural man, the man of this world, and the man of the flesh. Thus our Lord's summons to
beatitude (or blessedness) is addressed to the man who has passed through or who
is passing through the process of spiritual birth, and who already partakes in
the effects of the summoning and illumining grace of God, leading to faith in
Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the World. Therefore, in the Beatitudes
(Matt. 5:1-12), which are sung at the Divine Liturgy, are to be found the basis
for Christian Morals.
The Mother of God
The Most-Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary.
In the theology and piety of the Orthodox Church, a special place of honor is
given to the Mother of God the Most-Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, who is
reverenced by the Orthodox as being more honorable than the Cherubim and more
glorious, beyond compare, than the Seraphim. As Orthodox we style her as the
most exalted among God's creatures; but we do not regard her as some sort of
goddess, the 4th Person of the Trinity, as some accuse us; nor do we render her the worship due God alone. Just as with the Holy Icons, the
veneration due Mary is expressed in quite different words in the Greek writings
of the Fathers than that due God.
At many of the Divine Services, the Deacon exclaims: Commemorating our
Most-Holy, Most-Pure, Most-Blessed and Glorious Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin
Mary with all the Saints.... And here we can see three basic truths expressed
concerning her.
The Virgin Mary is honored because she is Theotokos the Mother of God not of His
divinity, but of His humanity, yet of God in that Jesus Christ was, in the
theology of the Church, both God and Man, at one and the same time, in the
Incarnation. Therefore, the honor given Mary is due to her relationship to
Christ. And this honor, rather than taking away from that due God, makes us more
aware of God's majesty; for it is precisely on account of the Son (Himself God)
that she is venerated. Of times, when men refuse to honor Mary, it is because
they do not believe in the cause of her veneration the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity.
We also speak of the Theotokos as being Ever-Virgin, which was officially
proclaimed at the 5th Ecumenical Council (Constantinople 553; the dogma
concerning Mary as being Theotokos was proclaimed in 431 at the 3rd Ecumenical
Council in Ephesus). This notion does not actually contradict Holy Scripture, as
some would think. And His mother and His brothers came; and standing outside
they sent to Him and called Him (Mark 3:31). Here the use of the word brothers
in the original Greek can mean half-brother, cousin, or near relative, in
addition to brothers in the strict sense. The Orthodox Church has always seen
brothers here as referring to His half-brothers.
If Mary is honored as Theotokos, so too, she is honored because she is Panagia
All-Holy. She is the supreme example of the cooperation between God and Man; for
God, Who always respects human freedom, did not become incarnate without her
free consent which, as Holy Scripture tells us, was freely given: Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to
your word (Luke 1:38). Thus Mary is seen by the Church as the New Eve (as Christ
is the New Adam) whose perfect obedience contrasted the disobedience of the
First Mother, Eve, in Paradise. As St. Irenaeus says, the knot of Eve's
disobedience was loosed through the obedience of Mary; for what Eve, a virgin,
bound by her unbelief, that Mary, a virgin, unloosed by her faith [Against the
Heresies, III, xxii, 4],
As All-Holy and Most-Pure, Mary was free from actual sin, but, in the opinion of
most Orthodox theologians, although not dogmatized by the Church, she did fall
under the curse of Original Sin as does all mankind. For this reason by virtue
of her solidarity with all humanity the Theotokos died a bodily death. Yet, in
her case, the resurrection of the body had been anticipated; and she was assumed
body and soul into Heaven; and her tomb was found empty an event celebrated in
the Feast of the Falling-Asleep (or Dormition) of the Most-Holy Theotokos (Aug. 15). Thus, as the hymns of that Feast proclaim, she
has passed from earth to heaven, beyond death and judgment, living already in
the age to come. She enjoys now the same bodily glory all of us hope to share
one day.
Whereas the Church has officially proclaimed as dogmas the doctrines concerning
the Trinity and the Incarnation, the glorification of the Mother of God belongs
to the Inner Tradition of the Church. As the noted Orthodox theologian, Vladimir
Lossky writes: It is hard to speak and not less hard to think about the
mysteries which the Church keeps in the hidden depths of her inner
consciousness.... The Mother of God was never a theme of the public preaching of
the Apostles; while Christ was preached on the housetops, and proclaimed for all
to know in an initiatory teaching addressed to the whole world, the mystery of
His Mother was revealed only to those who were within the Church.... It is not
so much an object of faith as a foundation of our hope, a fruit of faith, ripened in Tradition. Let us therefore keep silence, and let us not try to
dogmatize about the supreme glory of the Mother of God [Panagia, in The Mother
of God, ed. E.L. Mascall, p.35].
Appellations of the Theotokos.
Ark.
The Theotokos is often called an Ark, for the Glory of God settled on her, just
as the Glory of God descended on the Mercy Seat of the Old Testament Ark of the
Covenant (Ex. 25:10-22).
Aaron's Rod.
Just as Aaron's Rod sprouted miraculously in the Old Testament, so too, the
Theotokos has budded forth the Flower of Immortality, Christ our God (Num.
17:1-11).
Burning Bush.
On Mt. Sinai, Moses saw the Bush that was burning, but was not consumed. So too,
the Theotokos bore the fire of Divinity, but was not consumed (Ex. 3:1-6).
(Golden) Candlestick.
In the Old Testament Tabernacle, there were found in the Sanctuary golden
candlesticks. The Theotokos is the Candlestick which held that Light that
illumines the world (Ex. 25:31-40).
(Golden) Censer.
Just as the censer holds a burning coal, so too, the Theotokos held the Living Coal. In the Apocalypse, there
stands an Angel before the Throne of God, swinging a censer, representing the
prayers of the Saints rising up to God. This is also seen as a symbol of the
Theotokos, for it is her prayers that find special favor before her Son.
Cloud.
In the Exodus, the Israelites were led out of Egypt by a Cloud of Light,
symbolizing the presence of God in their midst. So too, the Theotokos is a
Cloud, bearing God within.
Fleece.
In the book of Judges we read the account of the dew which appeared miraculously
on Gideon's fleece (Judges 6:36-40). So too, the Dew Christ, appeared
miraculously on the Living Fleece the Theotokos.
Holy of Holies.
Into the Holy of Holies only the High Priest could enter. So too, the Theotokos
is the Holy of Holies into which only the Eternal High Priest Christ entered
(Heb. 9:1-7).
Ladder.
In a dream Jacob saw a ladder ascending to Heaven, with Angels ascending and
descending on it. The Theotokos is a Ladder, stretching from earth to Heaven, for on It God descended to man, having
become incarnate.
Mountain (from which a Stone was cut not by hand of man).
The Prophet Daniel saw a mountain, from which was cut a stone, not by the hand
of man (Dan. 2:34, 45). This is a reference to the miraculous Virgin Birth which
was accomplished without the hand of man.
Palace.
The Theotokos was the Palace within which the King Christ our God dwelt.
Pot.
[See Urn]
Stem of Jesse.
In the Nativity Service, the Lord is referred to as the Rod from the Stem of
Jesse (Is. 11:1), indicating His lineage from David, which was fulfilled through
the Theotokos, who was a scion (or stem) of the line of David, the son of Jesse.
Tabernacle.
The Tabernacle was the place where the Glory of God dwelt. So too, the Glory of
God dwelt in the Theotokos the Living Tabernacle (Ex. 40:34).
(Holy) Table.
This refers to the Holy Table (Altar Table) on which, at the Divine Liturgy, the
Divine Food is offered. So too, the Theotokos is the Holy Table which bore the Bread of Life.
Temple.
The Prophet Ezekiel speaks of the Temple whose East gate remains sealed, through
which only the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered. This clearly prophesies the
Virgin Birth of the Theotokos (Ez. 44:1-2).
Throne.
The Theotokos is the Throne upon which Christ, the King of All, rested.
(Golden) Urn.
In the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant contained within itself a golden
urn filled with the heavenly manna. The Theotokos is the Urn which contained
Christ, the Divine Manna (Heb. 9:1-7).
Vine.
The Theotokos is the Vine which bore the Ripe Cluster (of Grapes), Christ our
Lord.
The Symbol of Faith
The Creed, sung during the Divine Liturgy, is one of the most ancient prayers of
the Orthodox Church. It was composed, through the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, by the Fathers of the First and Second Ecumenical Councils (Nicea (325)
and Constantinople (381), respectively), at a time when various heretical
doctrines attempted to overthrow the true faith in the Trinity.
The main reason for the convening of the First Ecumenical Council was the
appearance and growing strength of the false teaching of the Alexandrian priest,
Arius. The basic theory of the Arians' false teaching was that the Son of God
was created that His existence had a beginning.
The Second Ecumenical Council condemned the false teaching of the Pneumatomachi
(Adversaries of the Spirit), whose chief representative was Macedonius,
Archbishop of Constantinople. The Pneumatomachi called the Holy Spirit the
servant and fulfiller of God's wishes as well as other names that were fitting
only for the angels, and they did not recognize Him as a Hypostasis (Person) of
the Holy Trinity.
The Holy Orthodox Church made a decisive stand to protect the purity of the
Orthodox teaching of the faith, setting out the basic saving truths of Christian
teaching in the Creed, which is a constant guide for all Orthodox Christians in
their spiritual life.
The Creed itself is divided into twelve parts, seven of which were formulated at the First Ecumenical Council,
the other five at the Second.
(1) I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of
all things visible and invisible.
(2) And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten, begotten of
the Father before all ages. Light of Light; True God of True God; begotten, not
made; of one essence with the Father, by Whom all things were made;
(3) Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was
incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man.
(4) And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was
buried.
(5) And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures;
(6) And ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father;
(7) And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; Whose
Kingdom shall have no end.
(8) And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the
Father; Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; Who
spoke by the prophets.
(9) In one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
(10) I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins.
(11) I look for the resurrection of the dead;
(12) And the life of the world to come. Amen.
Concerning God's Essence and the Creation of the World.
The Fathers of the Church included in the Creed the most important truths of the
faith taught in the Gospels. Here, in the first and second verses of the Creed,
they stated the dogmatic truths about God's Essence and the Creation of the
world. Through Divine Revelation, the Holy Church teaches us to believe in the
One God (Deut. 6:4; 1 Tim. 1:17) in Three Persons, Who in the Holy Scriptures
are called God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19).
God the Father is ungenerated and does not proceed from another Person. God the
Son is pre-eternally generated by the Father. God the Holy Spirit pre-eternally
proceeds from the Father. Nonetheless, all Three Persons of the Holy Trinity are equal in
Divinity. The Triune God is The One Who IS (Ex. 3:14). He is Pre-eternal (Is.
41:4; Ps. 89:2), Infinite (Luke 1:33; Ps. 102:27), Everywhere-present
(Omnipresent) (Jer. 23:24), All-Wise (Rom. 11:33), All-Knowing (Omniscient) (1
John 3:20), All-Good (Ps. 145:9), All-Righteous (Ps. 145:17), All-Holy (1 Sam.
2:2), and Almighty (Ps. 115:3).
By His Omnipotent Word He brought into being from non-being both the invisible
and the visible world (Gen. 1:1). In the first place He created the Kingdom of
His eternal glory, giving life to the most pure spirits, the angels (Job
38:6,7). At first all the angels were holy. Some of them, firmly established in
holiness, love and striving after goodness, glorify God continuously (Ps.
103:20; Is. 6:3), and carry out God's commandments. Each Christian believer is
given a Guardian Angel at Baptism. Other angels, who did not stand firm in
goodness, sinned before God (Jude 1:6) and, remaining in evil, strive to subjugate men, too, to sin (2 Thess. 2:9), in order to drag them down to the
same fate which they themselves suffer (Matt. 25:41).The leader of the fallen
angels is called the Devil or Satan (The Adversary; John 8:44).
After He had created the incorporeal beings, the Triune God with His Words Let
there be... created the whole visible world out of nothing (ex-nihilo) in six
days that is, all the host of heaven, the earth on which we live and all that
surrounds the earth and finished His work of creation by creating man (Gen.
1:3-28), from whom proceeded the whole human race (Acts 17:26). The first man,
created sinless by God's grace (Eccles. 7:29), was not only like unto the angels
of God, but he was also made in the Image and Likeness of God (Gen. 1:26) from
the moment of his creation that is to say, he possessed pure wisdom (Gen.
2:20,23), his will was directed towards doing good (Eph. 4:24) and his heart in
the righteousness and holiness of truth burned with pure love for the One God,
while his conscience was untroubled and at peace. When our first parents were like this, all the
creatures which surrounded them were submissive and served them (Gen. 1:26), and
the very place of their habitation was called Paradise (Gen. 2:8). The first man
kept God's commandment and lived in constant joy and blessedness.
Concerning the Son of God the Savior of the World.
The teaching of faith in the Son of God the Savior of the World is to be found
in the third to seventh articles of the Creed.
For the salvation of mankind was accomplished the great mystery of godliness (1
Tim. 3:16), the mystery of His [God's] will (Eph. 1:9). The Only-begotten Son
(John 1:18) of God, descended from Heaven, was made incarnate, was born of the
Virgin Mary in the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4), and was made flesh (John 1:14).
He took a human body without its sin, and a human soul, and became true Man
without ceasing to be True God (Rom. 9:5).
Two Natures the Divine and the Human are united without confusion, unchangeably,
indivisibly, and inseparably in the Person of Jesus Christ. Therefore He is called the
God-Man (definition of the Fourth Ecumenical Council), and His Most-pure Mother
is called the Theotokos (Mother of God) (Luke 1:43), who is more honorable than
the Cherubim, and more glorious, beyond compare, than the Seraphim.
Our Lord Jesus Christ manifested His divinity in His Gospel teachings and in His
many miracles which no other man did (John 15:24), in which He revealed Himself
as the Lord of the visible world (John 2:1-2, Luke 8:24; Matt. 14:26; Matt.
14:15-21); the Lord of human nature (Matt. 9:20-22; 14:35-36; Luke 4:40; Matt.
20:29-34; Matt. 9:32-35; 12:22; Luke 11:14; Matt. 8:1-3); the Lord of the
invisible world (Matt. 8:28-34; Luke 8:26-40); and the Lord of Life and Death
(Luke 7:11-16; Matt. 9:18-19; Luke 8:49; John 11:1-45). He also manifested His
divinity through other signs and miracles that occurred at various moments of
His life (Matt. 3:16-17; Mark 1:10-11; Luke 3:21-22).
Yet, as Man, the Savior was exposed to various dangers (Matt. 2:13; Luke 4:29), deprivations and tribulations (Luke
9:58), to malice, humiliation, and persecution (Matt. 12:24; John 5:18) during
His earthly life.
Having illumined men with the light of the true knowledge of God (John 1:18) and
having disclosed the will of the Heavenly Father (John 6:40), Jesus Christ, the
Savior of the World, accomplishing the Divine Truth which had condemned sin (1
Tim. 2:6; John 1:29), endured mocking, abuse, the Passion of the Cross and death
under Pontius Pilate (Matt. 26:47-75; 27:1-66). While His Body was in the
Sepulcher, Christ descended into Hell, where He freed the souls of the righteous
who had awaited His coming (1 Pet. 3:18-19; Eph. 4:8-9), and on the third day
after His entombment was resurrected by the power of His divinity. During the
forty days after His Resurrection, the Savior appeared many times to His
disciples and continued to instruct them in the mysteries of His divine Kingdom
(Acts 1:3).
Having accomplished our Redemption, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of His disciples, ascended into Heaven (Acts 1:9)
and sits at the right hand of God the Father (Mark 16:19) with honor and glory
in the same Body in which He had been resurrected from the dead. The Lord
ascended into Heaven as the God-Man, for as God He was always in Heaven and in
every place of God's dominion (Ps. 103:22). After His Ascension the Savior was
given all power in Heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18), and through His Divine
Providence He preserves His Church, in which He is present through Grace (Matt.
28:20), instructing and giving wisdom to her shepherds, through the Holy Spirit
(John 16:13), to administer rightly the word of Truth. Therefore Christ's Church
cannot sin in Truth, for she is the pillar and bulwark of the Truth (I Tim.
3:15) and the Kingdom of God on earth (Mark 1:15). This grace-bestowing Kingdom
shall endure (1 Cor. 15:25) until the Lord Jesus Christ comes in His glory with
His angels (Matt. 25:31) to judge the living and the dead (John 5:29), after
which the Kingdom of Glory and Blessedness shall come, and of His kingdom there
shall be no end (Luke 1:33).
Concerning the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Orthodox Church confesses the Holy Spirit as the True God, the Third
Person (Hypostasis) of the Holy, Consubstantial, Life-Giving and Indivisible
Trinity. The Church confirmed her hope and faith in the Holy Spirit as God in
the definition of the Second Ecumenical Council (Constantinople, 381), which was
convened to condemn, among other things, the heresy of Macedonius who denied the
divinity of the Holy Spirit. This definition entered into the Creed as the
eighth article.
Holy Scripture testifies to the Holy Spirit while speaking of the very beginning
of Creation: The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face
of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters (Gen.
1:2). Further in Holy Scripture the Holy Spirit is mentioned frequently,
disclosing His divine attributes. The Holy Spirit is the True God (Acts 5:3-4).
He is glorified equally with the Father and the Son (Matt. 28:19), He is
All-Knowing (John 14:26; 1 Cor. 2:10-11), Everywhere-Present (Rom. 8:9), Eternal
(John 14:6), and Omnipotent (1 Cor.12:7-11). Creative activity is inherent in
Him (Gen. 1:2; Ps. 32:6; Job 33:4), He regenerates souls, cleanses men of their
sins and sanctifies them (John 3:5-6; 1 Cor. 6:11), and is the world's
Providence (Ps. 104:30). The Creed calls the Holy Spirit the Giver of Life,
because through His activity man becomes a partaker in life eternal in God.
The distinctive property of the Third Person of the Trinity the Holy Spirit is
that He proceeds from God the Father, Who, according to St. Maximus the
Confessor, confers His one nature upon the Son and upon the Holy Spirit alike,
in Whom it remains one and undivided, not distributed, while being differently
conferred; for the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father is not
identical with the generation of the Son by the same Father. The procession of
the Holy Spirit from the Father is eternal and comprises the Spirit's personal property, belonging to Him
alone as the Third Person of the Trinity.
The Orthodox Church has always preserved and will continue to preserve unaltered
the Undivided Church's teaching on the Holy Spirit's personal property the
eternal procession of the Spirit from the Father the definition of the Second
Ecumenical Council and the teaching of the Church Fathers in the spirit and
power of Holy Scripture. She preserves untouched the formulation of the Creed as
set out by the first two Ecumenical Councils. The Fathers of the following
Ecumenical Councils forbade any alterations in the Creed through addition or
deduction of any new words.
As Holy Scripture teaches, the Father creates everything by the Son in the Holy
Spirit. According to St. Cyril of Alexandria, it is the Father Who acts, but by
the Son in the Spirit; the Son also acts, but as the power of the Father,
inasmuch as He is from Him and in Him according to His own Person. The Spirit
also acts, for He is the All-Powerful Spirit of the Father and of the Son.
The Holy Spirit participated with the Father and the Son in the creation of the
world, for by the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of
them by the breath of His mouth (Ps. 33:6), and of man (Gen. 1:26-27) .The Holy
Spirit bore witness of Himself through the Prophets and the chosen men of God,
proclaimed the Lord's Truth and Will to God's people, and disclosed the coming
Messiah in the prototypes: No prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men,
moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke from God (2 Pet. 1:21).
The action of the Holy Spirit never ceased in the world, but it was only with
the coming of Christ the Savior into the world that the fullness of God's saving
grace was made accessible to men. And from His fullness have we all received,
grace upon grace (John 1:16).
The Holy Spirit was revealed to the world in a special way on the day of the
founding of Christ's Church Pentecost when He descended upon the Holy Apostles in the form of tongues of fire (Acts 2). From that charismatic moment to the
present the Holy Spirit abides in the Church as Christ Himself bears witness:
And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, to be with
you forever, even the Spirit of Truth (John 14:16).
Everything in the Church is filled with the Holy Spirit. The action of His grace
abides in every sacrament of the Church and extends to all forms of divine
service. In the Holy Eucharist, the supreme sanctifying moment in the Church's
daily liturgical service, the prayers and rites are linked, above all, with the
invocation of the Holy Spirit. The Church prays that through Holy Communion we
may commune with the Holy Spirit; that we, having partaken of the Holy Gifts,
may bear the living Christ in our hearts and be temples of the Holy Spirit.
Concerning one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
The Holy Church was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:28). The purpose
of Christ's Church is the salvation of man. It is only in the Church that full union of man and God takes place, and this union is
the basic condition for salvation.
By His suffering on the Cross the Lord Jesus Christ made atonement for human sin
(John 1:29; Heb. 7:27) and by His Holy Blood He founded the Church (Acts 20:28),
so that in her we might live by Him and for Him (2 Cor. 5:14-15). Therefore
there is no guarantee of salvation outside of the Church.
We are brought to the Church by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; for the Lord
said that He would found the Church on the confession of faith (Matt. 16:18).
Members of the Church are justified by God's grace (Rom. 3:24-30) and saved by
God's power (Rom. 1:16) through faith in Christ and His Resurrection (Rom. 10:9)
and by works of faith (James 2:17-26).
The Church is One as the Lord Who founded her is One (John 10:18). The Church is
Holy, for she lives, acts, and thinks by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5; 8:15; 9:17).
The Church is Catholic, for her flock has one heart and one soul (Acts 4:32) and
her catholicity is dominant. The Church is Apostolic, for she keeps the Apostolic
Succession by the laying-on of hands upon the hierarchs (Acts 6:6; 14:23;
20:28), and sacredly holds the Apostolic Tradition (2 Thess. 2:15).
St. Paul calls the Church the mystical Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23), and this
definition of the Church as Christ's Body is not a symbol or abstraction, but an
expression of the Church's real mystical life, indicating the real union of God
and man in Christ.
On one hand, as founded by God, the Church received her being and exists outside
the usual order of human life and cannot be compared with it because she is a
phenomenon full of profound mystery. On the other hand, however, the Church is a
community of people united by their Orthodox faith, its doctrine, the hierarchy,
and the Sacraments. The human side is changeable and imperfect, but the Church
is Holy and Divine because she is sanctified by the Blood of Jesus Christ and
the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Who gives mankind true life in God.
The Church serves to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, for she was
preordained by Christ to serve as a means of transfiguring the world in the
Light of the Gospel Truth and to become the leaven for the Kingdom of God (Matt.
13:33). The Church is the pillar and bulwark of the truth, for she is the Church
of the living God, Who is Truth itself. Therefore everything in her is true the
confession of faith, sanctification by the Sacraments, the bestowal of grace,
life according to God life upheld by God in her, God's help and His promises.
The words the pillar and bulwark express the truth's firmness, immutability, and
changelessness.
The Apostles, like Christ Himself, teach only one Church; they teach the unity
of all in God: There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the
one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all (Eph. 4:4-6).
The unity of the Church is founded on the mutual love of all the members of the Church: If we love one another, God abides in us and
His love is perfected in us (1 John 4:12). For it is precisely in that we share
the bonds of love that we constitute the Church, the true Body of Christ, and
for this reason the Lord commands us to love one another (John 15:17). It is by
prayer offered in unity of spirit that the unity of the Church is achieved.
The unity of the Church exists by the power of the Divine Grace in the Holy
Spirit. The unity of all the members of the Church with Christ and between one
another exists in its highest form in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist in
partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ: The cup of blessing which we bless,
is it not a communion in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it
not a communion in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are
many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread (1 Cor. 10:16-17).
The unity of the Church is protected by the Canons of the Ecumenical Councils,
the rules of the Holy Fathers of the Church, and Holy Tradition. The existence of
Local Orthodox Churches does not contradict the unity of the Church. The fact
that they are separate in their visible organization does not prevent them from
being spiritually larger members of the one body of the Universal Church, or
from sharing the One Head, Christ, and the one spirit of faith and grace. This
unity is given visible expression by a single confession of faith and by
communion in prayer and the Sacraments. The Local Orthodox Churches continually
maintain Eucharistic Communion, honor and respect the traditions of every
Church, and always show one another their concern in mutual love.
If the Church is a unity, she is also divine and holy by her nature and essence.
She was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ and sanctified by His Passion and His
Holy Blood. The Church is sanctified by the power of Christ the Savior's prayers
(John 17:11-19). The Church is also holy by virtue of Christ's teaching. Through
the glad tidings of the Gospel the Lord reveals His will to men, calls them to salvation and
indicates the way to salvation and sanctity (Heb. 4:12).
The Holy Spirit, dwelling permanently in the Church, fills her with His
sanctifying grace (1 Cor. 12:13). The Spirit sanctifies man and awakens him to
deeds of selflessness and sanctity (1 Cor. 3:16-17; Rom. 8:1-15). Divine
service, the Sacraments, sermon, ritual, singing, fasting, prayer, icon, and
architecture everything bears the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit and is
directed towards the salvation of man.
The great assembly of Saints in the Orthodox Church is a living testimony to the
sanctity of the Church. This is a proof of the reality of the life and action of
Divine Grace in the souls of men. The Church is also holy through the lives of
those of her children who, striving for Christian perfection, have devoted
themselves entirely to the fulfillment of the will of God, of His Holy
Commandments.
The extent to which a person preserves his sanctity is the extent to which he remains a member of the Church. Our sinfulness is outside the
Church. Some individuals remain members of Christ's Church by virtue of the
rudiments of the sanctity that is in them. That is why the process of the grace
of salvation consists in our full sanctification, in the complete elimination of
sin from the community of believers and from separate individuals.
Faith in the Church is not a substitute for faith in God. To believe in the
Church is to believe that she is the mystical Body of Christ (Eph. 1 -.22-23),
that she is the concentration of grace on earth where man receives
sanctification, and the abode of the grace of God throughout all ages, world
without end (Matt. 16:18; 28:20; Eph. 3:21).
To have faith in the Church means to venerate in piety the true Church of Christ
and to obey her teaching and commandments in the conviction that she is filled
with the saving grace which guides and teaches us, and which pours forth from
her One, Eternal Head our Lord Jesus Christ.
Because she is the Body of Christ the Church is fully in possession of all that is
required for man's sanctification and salvation through grace. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, the divine Founder of the Church, Who taught men to have faith, love and
charity, bade men above all to have faith in Him as their Lord. And as no man
can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3), we must
commune in the shrine in which the Holy Spirit permanently abides, and which we
call the Church.
Faith in Christ leads us to the Church, and life in Christ is life in the
Church. Thus, he who does not believe in the Church does not believe in God
either. The Christian's life is impossible without faith in the Church, without
abiding in the Church. It is impossible to understand Christ's teaching and to
commune with Christ without the Church, for our salvation is not just the reward
for a righteous life, but also consists in the gradual merging of our life with
the life of the Church, that is, the Body of Christ. The Church regenerates and renews all those who enter her and she vitalizes and elevates
man, making him fit for a new holy life in Christ.
There is nothing accidental or arbitrary in the Church. Everything in her takes
place through God's ordination. All that has been prescribed by the Church is
and must be law for each and every one of us. The Christian also believes in the
Church because obedience to the Church is obedience to God, and by serving the
Church he serves God and earns His approval.
The Lord inspires man with faith in the Church through His grace by drawing him
into the life of the Church. The Christian feels the power of Divine Grace
acting upon him through the Holy Sacraments, the rites and the whole order of
Orthodox Church life; and as he lives this life man attains an unshakeable
conviction of the truth of his faith in the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic
Church.
Concerning one Baptism for the Remission of Sins.
Man becomes a child of the Church through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Baptism is the door to Christianity, the beginning of life in God. Baptism restores
the image of God in man and bestows the saving power of Christ's redemptive feat
on him. Through Baptism the Christian receives access to all the Holy Sacraments
and acts of grace of the Church, which lead him to deification.
Baptism is called the second birth because in it a man dies to his sinful life
and is reborn into a new, spiritual, holy life, in which he puts on the new
nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness
(Eph. 4:24). Through Baptism men are reconciled to God, cleansed from the
impurities of sinful acts by the Divine Spirit, and become fellow citizens with
the saints, and members of the household of God (Eph. 2:19), and children of God
(John 1:12).
Just as the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove upon the Lord Jesus
Christ during His Baptism in the River Jordan, so is every Christian endowed
with Divine Grace in a mystic way during his Baptism. St. Peter says: Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness
of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).
Through the action of God's sanctifying grace in the Sacrament of Baptism all
the sins of the person being baptized are forgiven. Man's sinful state is
totally eradicated by Baptism, and his sins are washed away as if they had never
existed. The newly-baptized leaves the font as a new creature.
Our Savior says: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God (John 3:5). Baptism, therefore, is necessary for every man who
enters the Church. Only through Baptism can infants be cleansed of Original Sin
and enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. They are baptized according to the Lord's
words: Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs
the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 19:14); on the basis of Apostolic Tradition, and
according to the faith of their parents and godparents.
All the saving actions of Divine Grace are indivisible in the Sacrament of Baptism. Grace, by regenerating man,
cleanses him from all sin, justifies and sanctifies him. And, by justifying and
sanctifying him before God, Divine Grace makes him a son of God, a member of the
Body of Christ the Church and an heir to Eternal Life.
Water is the substance used in the Sacrament of Baptism. Man has long associated
water with the concept of a life-giving, regenerating power that cleanses and
revives nature, a power vitally necessary for human life. Therefore water in the
Sacrament of Baptism is the best symbol of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which
cleanses man of sin and regenerates him.
Baptism is administered by triple immersion of the one being baptized, with the
intoning of the Holy Name of the Triune God the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit Who bestows the power of grace to the Sacrament. The Church always
administers Baptism, as Christ commanded (Matt. 28:20), through the invocation
of the Threefold Name. The Teachings of the Twelve Apostles, one of the oldest Christian writings (lst-2nd Centuries), says in
Chapter 7: Baptize in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit. And, as St. Athanasius the Great says, He who takes anything from the
Son, or the Father and the Son, without the Spirit receives nothing...for
attainment is only in the Trinity.
The Creed, just as St. Paul (Eph. 4:6), calls us to confess one Baptism. This is
because regeneration through grace (is born again John 3:3), that man
experiences in Baptism, is unique and unrepeatable, just as his natural birth is
unique and unrepeatable, and just as Christ's Death and Resurrection are unique.
A Christian should confess his baptism through a life pleasing to God, for
Christ our Savior says: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see
your good works and give glory to your Father Who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16).
Therefore a man's visible, external life is a reflection of his inner, spiritual
life. The Sacrament of Baptism lays the foundation for a new life of grace, and the perfection of this life with the help of Divine
Grace is the task of every member of the Church. For a Christian the path to the
confession of the grace-bestowing gifts of Baptism lies through living faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 1:15-16), a life according to faith (James 2:20),
membership in Christ's Church, and a constant sense of prayerful repentance
(Heb. 13:15; Acts 17:30).
St. Paul tells us: without faith it is impossible to please [God] (Heb. 11:6).
The basis of the Christian's spiritual life is faith in Jesus Christ, in the
Triune God, in the Divine Economy of our salvation, and in the Holy Orthodox
Church. Living faith in Christ perfects the Christian, makes him wise and firm,
and gives him joy and the life eternal (James 1:4-8, 12).
In addition to his heartfelt faith in Christ, the Christian should confess his
Baptism through his life in faith. A Christian life is a constant struggle
against sinful temptations, a feat assisted by divine grace. In translating the Savior's Gospel into life, a Christian is serving the commandments of
goodness and justice on the basis of the pure teaching of the Gospel.
A Christian can attain perfection in his spiritual life through constant prayer
in church and at home. Prayer is a means of constant communion and union with
God. It preserves a man from spiritual fall and maintains him on the path of
spiritual ascension. Prayerful communion with God rewards the person praying
with great spiritual consolations: an ineffable joy, peace and an inexplicable
feeling of blessedness, which serves as a guarantee of our future total union
with God in His Kingdom.
Prayer must be accomplished by a sense of repentance, which is the basis of a
spiritual feat. Repentance is necessary to achieve a living faith in Christ and
to maintain this faith. Without true repentance a Christian cannot attain a
single virtue. A repentant feeling saves a man from many pitfalls on the path to
salvation. Penitence is a second Baptism and renews the grace of our first Baptism; for he who truly repents and promises to turn away from
sin is not only forgiven, but his sin is erased by God, as well, and he attains
the purity and sanctity given him at Baptism.
The confession of Baptism through a deep, truly Christian spiritual life is only
possible if a man is a member of the Church, the Body of Christ. In the Church
he is made one with Christ. Christ our Savior not only revealed God to man and
drew us closer to Him, but also showed us a perfect model of sanctity, what a
man's inner, spiritual essence should be.
Concerning the Resurrection of the Dead.
Man is created by the Lord for life, and human thought cannot reconcile itself
to the thought of death. Death was a consequence of the first man's sin, for as
St. Paul says: sin came into the world through one man and death through sin
(Rom. 5:12). As a consequence of his sinful disobedience to God, man deprived
himself of paradise and knew death. The Fall deformed man's inner, spiritual
nature, as well as the entire visible world. The accord between human freedom and Divine Grace was
destroyed, an accord through which man was directly called to deification. This
break was so forceful that man could no longer return to this previous condition
by his own power.
By His Resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ conquered Death by death, and
revealed to man the path leading from death and corruption to eternal life (Acts
2:24, 27-28; 2 Tim. 1:10). Although man remains mortal as before, death has no
power over him; for it was defeated by the Risen Christ the First-fruits from
the dead and the Author and Finisher of our own resurrection. But in fact Christ
has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen
asleep... [so that] all be made alive... at His coming (1 Cor. 15:20-23). For
this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must
put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:53).
By the words of the 11th Article of the Creed, I look for the Resurrection of
the dead, the Holy Church confesses that through the action of God's omnipotence all the bodies of the
dead shall reunite with their souls, come to life, and be both spiritual and
immortal. The universal resurrection of the dead, as the Bible tells us, is
linked with Christ's second, glorious coming (1 Thess. 4:16).
Resurrection of the dead was known in Old Testament times, too. The Prophet Job
said: For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the
earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see
God, Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another (Job
19:25-27). The holy Prophet Ezekiel also prophesied the universal resurrection
of the dead (Ez. 37:12,14).
By His Resurrection, Christ the Savior affirmed the truth of the universal
resurrection of the dead. All of Christianity is founded on Christ's
Resurrection (1 Cor. 15:14). Brought into communion with Christ through the
Sacrament of Baptism, man becomes one whole with Him in the body of the Church, which is at once human and divine. As a result of this union of grace, the
Christian partakes in both Christ's Resurrection and in eternal life. While
man's spiritual link with Christ is established through Baptism, his physical
unity with Him is accomplished through the Holy Eucharist (John 6:54-57). The
Eucharist Christ's Body and Blood is a guarantee of resurrection. Christ's
Resurrection is the beginning and guarantee not only of our resurrection, but of
a universal renewal and transfiguration of all creation (Rom. 8:20-21).
The Orthodox Church's prayers for the dead are based on faith in universal
resurrection and on the unity of the Churches Militant and Triumphant. By His
Resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ showed that death is not annihilation and
non-existence, but the gate to life and immortality. The Christian looks on
death as the transition to an eternal life.
Concerning the Life of the World to Come.
The Creed ends with this confident hope on the part of the Christian: I look
for...the life of the world to come. By the life of the world to come the Holy Church
means the life that shall be after the resurrection of the dead and Christ's
last judgment.
A man is responsible to God for the life that he has been given. It is here on
earth that, of his own free will, a man lays the beginning of that life which
shall begin when his body dies. His fate after death depends on how he has lived
his life on earth. If he has always been with Christ, joined closely to Him
through the Holy Sacraments in His God-Man organism of the Church, then after
his death he shall also be with God, ceaselessly experiencing the blessed and
eternal joy of living communion with God which we who live on earth call in the
words of Holy Scripture Paradise (Luke 23:43), the Kingdom of Heaven or the
Kingdom of God (Matt. 5:3-10,8,11; Luke 13:28-29; 1 Cor. 15:50), the house or
the mansions of our Heavenly Father (John 14:2).
This ineffable joy of life in Paradise cannot be expressed in human language (2
Cor. 12:2,4); it derives from the fullness of knowing God and from the nearness of God. That
is why Christ our Savior says: And this is eternal life, that they know Thee the
only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent (John 17,:3).
This joy is immutable, but it affects the human soul in different ways. The
depth of perception of this joy by man's soul also differs. In My Father's house
are many mansions (John 14:2), says Christ the Savior. There are many mansions,
and all of these mansions, prepared for the souls of those saved and redeemed by
the Son of God's death, are illumined by a light coming from God, the Source of
Light, Life and Blessedness; and in each of these mansions the presence of our
Savior the Lord can be felt, giving life and joy to those who dwell in it.
Only those who consciously and stubbornly disdain the call to repentance, the
call to a life worthy of repentance, shall remain outside communion with God at
death, deprived of Light and Grace (Luke 16:23; Matt. 5:22,29; 8:12; 22:13;
Phil. 2:10).
We should not suppose that the attaining of eternal blessedness and the Kingdom
of Heaven are goals in themselves for the Christian, the purpose for which he
lives and towards which he strives. The blessed state in the life to come is a
result of moral perfection, the deification of man, which he attains here on
earth. The Savior says: Seek first [the kingdom of God] and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be yours as well (Matt. 6:33).
The Ten Commandments
After the Exodus from Egyptian slavery (Ex. 14), the Children of Israel encamped
at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Moses went up onto the mountain and there received
from God two tablets of stone, upon which were written by God's hand the Ten
Commandments (Ex. 20,31). The text of these commandments (The Decalogue) is as
follows:
1. I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me (Ex. 20:2-3).
2. You shall not make for yourselves a graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them
or serve them (20:4-5).
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will
not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain (20:7).
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do
all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you
shall not do any work (20:8-10).
5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land
which the LORD your God gives you (20:12).
6. You shall not kill (20:13).
7. You shall not commit adultery (20:14).
8. You shall not steal (20:15).
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (20:16).
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your
neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass,
or anything that is your neighbor's (20:17).
[NOTE: Some interpreters (especially among the Protestants) consider the First
and Second Commandments above to be one commandment, while they split the Tenth
Commandment into two.]
According to Church Tradition, the first four commandments were inscribed on the
first tablet and the last six were inscribed on the second tablet. The first
contains those commandments pertaining to our obligations towards God, while the
second contains those pertaining to our neighbor. This traditional division is
testified to by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself when He was asked by a lawyer,
Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law (Matt. 22:36)? The Lord
replied, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a
second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two
commandments depend all the law and the prophets (Matt. 22:37-40; cf. Luke
10:25-28).
1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
In a world dominated by polytheism (many gods), the Israelites received the
revelation that there was only one true God (monotheism), the Creator and Lord
of all. In this first commandment, the Lord directs all of us to acknowledge Him
and honor Him as God, directing that nothing else should be held in greater
esteem; for we must not serve anyone or anything else as god. As the Psalmist
proclaims, Come, let us worship and bow down and kneel before the LORD, our
Maker! For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of
His hand (Ps. 95:6-7). When our Lord Jesus Christ was in the wilderness for
forty days after His baptism, Satan came to Him and said, having shown Him all
the kingdoms of the world, To You I will give all this authority and their
glory.... If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours (Luke 4:6,7). But
Jesus, knowing the First Commandment, rebuked him, saying, It is written, 'You
shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve' (Luke 4:8).
2. You shall not make for yourselves a graven image...; you shall not bow down to them or
serve them.
From the earliest times man has been wont to set up and serve gods other than
the God of all. As St. Paul says, although [men] knew God they did not honor Him
as God or give thanks to Him.... Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and
exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or
birds or animals or reptiles (Rom. 1:21-23). Even after the giving of the Ten
Commandments at Sinai, the people chased after other gods the Golden Calf, Baal,
etc. worshipping objects of wood, stones, or metal, or natural elements such as
the sun, moon, stars, etc. Even now we set up idols wealth, money, power, fame,
pleasure, etc. and give them the honor and devotion that the Second Commandment
tells us is due only to God.
Despite what literalists might say, however, this commandment does not forbid
the use of Icons, pictures or representations, whether of wood, stone or
whatever. The Jews at Sinai were commanded to construct an Ark with golden cherubim at each end (Ex. 25:18-20). When
the Israelites were afflicted by poisonous snakes in the Wilderness, Moses
constructed a bronze serpent and placed it upon a pole, so that looking upon it,
anyone so bitten might live (Num. 21:8-9). When King Solomon constructed the
Temple, it was decorated with carved fruits, flowers, trees, and cherubim (1
Kings 6:18,29,32,34-35). The large bronze sea (or basin) in the courtyard was
supported by twelve bronze oxen (1 Kings 7:25) and the King's throne was
supported by carved lions and had a carved calf's head at the back (1 Kings
10:19-20).
The key point of this commandment is that these objects are not to be objects of
the devotion and worship due solely to God. The devotion that we, as Orthodox,
render the icons and other holy objects is a veneration quite apart from that
due to God and such was the teaching of the Church Fathers, especially St. John
of Damascus.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
This commandment strikes at those who would not act with reverence and respect
towards God's holy name. We are forbidden to use God's name vainly and to swear
false oaths, You shall not swear by My name falsely, and so profane the name of
your God (Lev. 19:12). As St. James tells us, My brethren, do not swear, either
by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your
no be no, that you may not fall under condemnation (James 5:12); this reflects
the words of the Lord Himself, Who said, Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or
'No'; anything more than this comes from the Evil One (Matt. 5:37). Rather, the
divine name is to be glorified, for, as the Psalmist says, O Lord, our Lord, how
majestic is Thy name in all the earth! (Ps. 8:1). Praise, O servants of the
Lord, praise the name of the Lord! (Ps. 113:1), for the Lord's name is blessed
from this time forth and for evermore! From the rising of the sun to its setting
the name of the Lord is to be praised (Ps. 113:2-3).
How often in our ordinary conversations the name of God, of Jesus (Himself God), of His Mother
and of the Saints are pronounced casually, unthinkingly or even for shock
effect. We moderns have such disrespect for the Holy especially for the name of
God and His Son when, as St. Paul tells us, God has...bestowed on Him the name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in
heaven and on earth and under the earth (Phil. 2:9,10).
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
In addition to the first three commandments, we are also commanded to render
special honor to God on His special day the Sabbath for God blessed the seventh
day and hallowed it (Gen. 2:3). The early Church the New People of God in the
New Dispensation under divine inspiration substituted the first day of the week,
Sunday, for the seventh, Saturday, as the new and superior Lord's day (Rev.
1:10). On this day we commemorate the New Creation made possible by the
Resurrection of Christ, rather than the first creation of the world, commemorated on the old Sabbath Day. On this day the Lord's Day the Holy
Orthodox Church commands us not to perform unnecessary work, but rather to honor
the Lord's Day by attendance at the Divine Liturgy and the Services preceding it
Vespers and Matins. Further, we are commanded to honor and keep the other holy
Feast Days of the Church, whether or not they fall on Sunday for all holy days
can be considered as the Lord's Days.
Whereas the first four commandments reflect the Lord's command to love God with
all one's heart, soul and mind, the last six reflect the second command of the
Lord to love one's neighbor as oneself. The first of these is the Fifth
Commandment:
5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land
which the LORD your God gives you.
Above all we are commanded to love, honor and respect our parents who brought us
into the world, continuing the original act of Creation and expanding the
universal family of love. As St. Paul tells us: Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord (Col. 3:20). Further, if we are
unable to love and honor our parents, how could we begin to love and honor our
neighbor? This commandment also contains a promise, as St. Paul points out, that
it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth (Eph. 6:3).
Applying this commandment to our earthly lives, we are to render the same
respect to anyone put in authority over us (Eph. 6:5-8), whether they be the
secular authorities, as St. Paul tells us: Let every person be subject to the
governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God.... Pay all of
them their dues...respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due
(Rom. 13:1,7), or our religious authorities our Priests and Bishops: Obey your
leaders and submit to them; for they are keeping watch over your souls, as men
who will have to give account (Heb. 13:17). Let the elders who rule well be
considered worthy of a double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and
teaching (1 Tim. 5:17).
6. You shall not kill.
From earliest times, the taking of a life has been considered to be a very
serious matter, indeed. Life is given by God and only God has the absolute right
to take it away; for every man bears the Image of God within himself. It is for
this reason that even the taking of one's own life (suicide) is so strongly
condemned. Yet, one can be killed not only by another man's hand (or his own),
but also by one's words by the actions of his tongue the ruining of one's
reputation, character or standing; for, as St. James says, the tongue is a
fire...a restless evil, full of deadly poison, with it we bless the Lord and
Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God (James
3:6,8-9). How many times has a man been killed, so to speak, not only by
malicious talk, but also by merely idle talk by gossip? Even the seemingly idle
harmless talk can kill and it is this that St. Paul refers to, as follows: Let
no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to
those who hear (Eph. 4:29).
The fact that not only physical killing kills is witnessed to by our Lord when
He says, Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it
would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to
be drowned in the depth of the sea (Matt. 18:6). Just causing one to sin is a
terrible crime! As St. John tells us, even bearing hatred in one's heart towards
another is the same as killing: Any one who hates his brother is a murderer, and
you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him (1 John 3:15).
7. You shall not commit adultery.
When we speak here of adultery, one should have in mind the following words of
St. Paul: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?....Every other
sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against
his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit
within you, which you have from God (1 Cor. 6:15, 18-20)?
When we speak of adultery, we include here not only that which is committed
between a married person and one who is not one's spouse, but also unclean
desires and thoughts. But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman
lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt. 5:28). We
are also commanded to avoid immoral stories, filthy talk, pornographic books,
magazines, movies, T.V. programs, etc., as well as evil companions. The thoughts
of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, the words of the pure are pleasing
to Him (Prov. 15:26). Our Lord blesses those who abstain from these immoral
things when He says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God
(Matt. 5:8). This is because the impure passions wage warfare against our very
spiritual being: Beloved, I beseech you as aliens and exiles [in the world] to
abstain from the passions of the flesh that wage war against your soul (1 Pet.
2:11).
8. You shall not steal.
We are here forbidden to steal (or take away) anything which belongs to another. We
must obviously respect another's possessions; but we must also guard against
such things as stealing another's happiness, or robbing him of a friendship.
This commandment warns against any dishonesty , cheating, or deception in any
form; for, as our Lord tells us, what will it profit a man, if he gains the
whole world and forfeits his life (Matt. 16:26)? As St. Paul says, Do not be
deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual
perverts, nor thieves...will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10).
Rather than taking from another, we should instead be willing to give, just as
the Lord gave everything, even His own life, for us. For He tells us to do good,
and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you
will be sons of the Most High....Give, and it will be given to you; good
measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap
(Luke 6:35,38). Rather than stealing doing harm to others we should rather practice the Golden Rule As
you wish that one would do to you, do so to them (Luke 6:31).
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Here we are forbidden to tells lies about anyone, anywhere, for lying lips are
an abomination to the Lord (Prov. 12:22). We should always remember that lies
can be told not only in words, but also by our silence, by our actions or in
many other ways. As Christians we are commanded to be straightforward in
everything to be above reproach, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil
man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil...for by your words you will be
justified, and by your words you will be condemned (Matt. 12:34-35, 37). Instead
of lies, we should only be forthright, as St. Paul says: Therefore, putting away
falsehood let everyone speak the truth with his neighbors (Eph. 4:25).
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his
maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.
Here we are commanded to accept whatever state God places us in and not to be
envious of others, or to look with hate on the well being and prosperity of
another: There is great gain in godliness with contentment; for we brought
nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.... But
those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many
senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction (1 Tim.
6:8-9). Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you
have; for He has said, I will never fail you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5).
Rather we should be content with our state and place our trust in God alone: Let
every one lead the life which the Lord has assigned to him, and in which God has
called him.... Every one should remain in the state in which he was called....
So, brethren, in whatever state each was called, there let him remain with God (1 Cor.
6:17,20,24). Envy and desire lead to spiritual death, as St. James tells us, for
each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then
desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown
brings forth death (James 1:14-15).
In addition to the Ten Commandments in which we are given standards of conduct,
our Lord gives us another, new commandment: A new commandment I give to you that
you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another
(John 13:34). This new love requires that we not only love those who love us,
but also to love those who hate us: But! say to you that hear, Love your
enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for
those who abuse you. To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also;
and from him who takes away your coat do not with hold even your shirt. Give to
every one who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again (Luke 6:27-30). It is not even necessary
that we like someone in order to love him in the Christian manner, for this love
means that we must always be ready to help, to forgive, to be just, and to live
by the Golden Rule cited earlier. By doing this, as our Lord said, all the
requirements of the law and prophets are fulfilled and as He further tells us,
do this, and you will live (Luke 10:28).
