| In Islam, however, because the word becomes a book, the content of the book is writing. It is not flesh. So, that is why in order for a Moslem to unite with the content of the two-fold revelation (that God is one and that Mohammed is His prophet) one has to recite the source of revelation – because it is a book. But you cannot be united with or immersed in a book, you can only memorize the content of the book in the original form, namely in Arabic. So, Arabic scripture is the form of that revelation. The God-Man Jesus is the form of that revelation in Christianity. In order for a person to be initiated into Islamic revelation, you must confess the creed: “I confess that there is no God except Allah, and that Mohammed is the Apostle of Allah.” When you confess that, you become Moslem. There is no baptism, you are not united in the death of anyone, you are only united to the form of the revelation. To stay united to the revelation, you must keep the prayers. In prayer you recite the Koran, so five times a day you pray, five times a day you immerse yourself in the ocean of divine revelation, which is the Koran. Prayer itself is the sacrament of Islam. In order for us Christians to be immersed in the form of the revelation, which is Jesus Christ, we have to partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ continually. In that way we are united to Jesus Christ, while in Islam the recitation of the Koran is the most important thing, because it is a form of sacrament to the Moslems. So those are the basic differences. This is a way to understand the Moslem mind instead of just arguing against them. Thomas: Would you say that most Muslims are conscious of this theological aspect of God and man’s relationship to Him? Fr. Daniel: Yes, of course, through the Koran, through the prophets. Thomas: In Islam, is a person’s manner of life of secondary importance to the correct understanding of the form of revelation? Fr. Daniel: In the manner of life, Islam refers again to the form of revelation, which is a book. The content of the book is writing, the writing is law, so the law has to be obeyed. If we have the imitation of Christ and His teachings, they have the imitation of Mohammed and the Koran. That is why the life of a Moslem is dictated and governed by the law of the Koran, while our life is dictated by the law of Christ in the Holy Spirit. Thomas: What is the difference then between following these two laws? |
| The revelation of the one true God is the person of Christ given to us. Revelation is of course always personal, for God revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, the Apostles, the Fathers and so on. Consequently, we have no new revelation and no addition to the revelation of Jesus Christ given in Scripture. Though it is personal, this revelation takes a variety of forms. The epiphanies of the Old Testament, such as the event of Mount Sinai in the Book Of Exodus, reveal Christ. In the New Testament, revelation of God has taken an unrepeatable form. With Jesus Christ, we are allowed not only to see and hear God, but to actually touch and feel him and relate to him physically. It is not merely communion of the mind or the heart, but a communion of vision, hearing and touch, with him ‘whom our hands have touched’ (1 John 1.1). Nothing is superior to the revelation of Christ, for ‘whoever has seen me, has seen the Father’ ( John 14.9 ). The Fathers insisted that this communion was final and complete. The New Testament is the record of the experience of those who had this physical communion with God. It sets their experience above Old Testament appearances of God, and above whatever revelations have been given to the Church since the time of the Apostles. The incarnation has given us a fuller revelation than that represented by the Old Testament. The Church attributed this superiority to the physical and tangible relationship Christ shared with the disciples, and understands the Eucharist and sacraments as the continuation of this fully physical form of communion. Ignatius, Cyril of Jerusalem and Cyril of Alexandria insisted that those who worthily participate in the divine Eucharist see God better than Moses did. Saint Maximus summed up Saint Irenaeus’ teaching about their relationships with the phrase ‘the Old Testament is the shadow, the New Testament is the image, the things to come are the truth’ (Scholia on Dionysius’ Ecclesiastical Hierarchy 3.3.2). The entire life of the Church lives from the revelation of God in the historical event of Christ recorded for us by the Scriptures. The New Testament is the fundamental doctrine, or dogma, of which all other forms of revelation, the Old Testament and all subsequent teaching of the Church, are renditions. A further revelation could only be an entirely different revelation, and different religion, altogether. So to sum up what we have said so far, the New Testament and all subsequent Christian doctrine simply point to the person and event of Jesus Christ. The teaching of the Church, taken together with the whole canon of Scripture, enables us to experience this new relationship between God, mankind and the world. |
| That is a quite understandable precaution. But John repeats it several times – “this book”. But the Bible is not “a book”, it”s “books”. “The book of prophesies” is the book of Revelation, but not the Bible as a whole (which contains parts that are not prophetical, but only pastoral – like the Epistle to Philemon for example). At the time when John was writing these words, the New Testament (in a sense of a collection of books) simply didn”t exist. It was not until the middle of the second century that the scattered books were put together and published by Marcion. Furthermore, until the fifth century in the East the Book of Revelation was not even included in the New Testament texts (based on Luke 16:16 – “The law and the prophets were until John”). “The book of prophesies” written after the days when John was baptizing seemed to violate those words of our Saviour. So the fact that the Book of Revelation is the last one in Bible is simply due to fact that it was the last one to be included in Bible, not that it had something in it which had to be said at the end. The last words of Revelation just concern Revelation, they are not actually “the last words of the Bible” speaking about the whole of it. Orthodox tradition still holds an ambiguous attitude towards this book. Acknowledging that it is God-inspired, the Church, however, does not consider it absolutely necessary for every Christian to know it: Revelation is the only New Testament book that is not read at the liturgy, and it”s quite natural that the book with unclear prophesies became the favourite source for different sect”s speculations and fantasies. Orthodoxy has a hope that before the events described in Apocalypse come the Lord will send to the Church an interpreter who will warn: now is the time of Apocalypse, come and see, open the book and get ready (one of the stories existing in Orthodoxy – though not being an official teaching – tells that John did not die (see John 21:22-23), but was taken to heaven alive and at the end of times will come to us with Elijah and Enoch to help fighting the Antichrist). |
| Fr. Daniel: In Islam, there is no new birth, just a return to God, which means repentance. This is called submission to God. Thomas: And that is the meaning of the word Islam, “to submit?” Fr. Daniel: Yes. Islam means submission to God. That is the way we have to understand the difference between the way of life of Islam and of Orthodox Christianity. There are some parallel ways of thinking, but very different content. The main difference is that in Orthodox Christianity the Word became flesh and in Islam the word became a book. That is the main difference. Thomas: How do Moslem converts to Orthodoxy sustain their belief in the predominantly Moslem society of Indonesia? Do you have communities of Orthodox Christians who live together and support each other in the hostile religious environment, or is the parish way of life more common? Fr. Daniel: No, we don’t really have any special kind of community where we live together. We are spread out geographically like other Christians, and we come to the church for services. But as to how we withstand the environment – the way I do it is that I teach very strong Bible classes in Indonesian. Every day I have Bible study before Holy Communion. In between Orthos [Matins] and Liturgy there is always Bible study. And in my Bible study, there is always a comparison between Christianity and Islam, all the time. It reminds people that this is Christianity and this over here is Islam. For example, I ask questions like: “OK, in nature which is higher, a human being or a book?” Being formed by Moslem culture, some of them say “a book.” So then I’ll ask them, “Which is higher, then, revelation of God in the form of a human being or in the form of a book?” Of course, revelation is higher in the form of a human being. They can see that from God Himself. So, God the Word become flesh, the Word become man, is higher than the word which became a book. That’s number one. Second, if in the past God sent down His word through the prophets in the form of a book, namely the Old Testament, and the Old Testament has been fulfilled completely in the form of man, Jesus Christ, is it possible, after the Word of God has been fulfilled in man, that God would revert to the old way, sending a book again? Of course not! When the Word has become man, it is already complete. And that Man, Jesus Christ, is still alive! So, it is impossible that God would again send another revelation 9 Orthodoxy in Indonesia in the form of a book. From our point of understanding, it is not possible. For us, the most perfect prophet and the last revelation of God is Jesus Christ. There is no need for any other revelation. This is the point I emphasize again and again. They understand this quite well. So this is how we keep holding onto the path of Christ in spite of so many attacks from the Moslems. |
| Revelation 8 reveals Christ doing just this. It is a vision of Pentecost from the heavenly throne-room. In Revelation 4–5, the elders cast their crowns before God. This is because the angels are preparing to hand over the keys to mankind. Then, each angel will perform an action and walk off stage. Some will blow trumpets, others will pour bowls, others will do yet something else. And in Revelation 20, these angels are replaced by men . In Revelation 6, the martyrs cry out for God to judge the Earth. But here, God invests them with the authority to Judge: Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. —Rev. 20:4–6 “I saw thrones” is a quotation from Daniel 7. The whole of Revelation, it would seem, takes place within the vision and context of Daniel 7. Ascending and Ascending Daniel sees the “Son of Adam” ascending to the throne of God. This comes from Leviticus 16, where the High Priest—an Adam —ascends upon a cloud of incense to the throne of God twice. He ascends once for himself, and once for his people. Daniel 7, then, prophesies a double ascent . In the Gospel of John, Jesus predicted His ascension to the Father. This ascension is revealed in Revelation 4–5 and is the first ascent of the Son of Adam as High Priest. The second ascent is when Jesus brings His people up with Him, as revealed in Revelation 20. Together, this reveals the truth of our Lord’s words in John: “I go to prepare a place for you.” Over and over again, the book of Revelation fulfills texts in John’s Gospel. |
| The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ Now, let’s turn to the book of Revelation. I am a preterist, but I think most preterist readings of Revelation are insufficient. Revelation is not merely about a Jewish-Roman war, but is rather more fully about the Apostolic Age and the sufferings-unto-glory of the Church. It doesn’t prophesy battle movements. It does prophesy the fall of Jerusalem, but that because of its importance in bringing the old covenant to its fulfillment in the new. And what do we know about the old covenant? We know that it was a covenant of angels . This is what the apostle Paul writes in Galatians—the Torah was given through angels . Paul knows this because in the Old Testament, when the glory-cloud descended and a prophet entered into it, he saw God’s council of angels. That cloud descended on Sinai, swirling with angels. The leader and head of those angels was the Second Person of the Trinity acting as the “Angel of the Lord.” He was the chief of God’s angelic hosts (I am not suggesting an incarnation into angelic nature, but “head” in a symbolic sense.). Psalm 8 tells us that God made man “for a little while” lower than the angels, but that man would ultimately be “crowned with glory and honor.” Hebrews tells us that Christ is now crowned with glory and honor. In Christ, man has grown up . The Angelic End and the Raising of Man Revelation marks the end of the old covenant. It marks the end of the covenant of angels. In Revelation 4–5, we see “twenty-four elders.” We know these are angels and not men, for if you count the angels in Revelation, it comes out to exactly twenty-four. In order to do this, however, one need to subtract the character called “Another Angel.” The “Another Angel” is Jesus Christ, acting as the Angel of Yahweh, ending the covenant governed by angels. This becomes apparent when “Another Angel” takes on theophanic characteristics. In Revelation 10, He has attributes attributed to one “in the likeness of a man,” seated upon God’s throne in Ezekiel chapter 1. In Revelation 8, He takes fire from God’s altar—the same fire that constituted Isaiah as a prophet—casting it upon the Earth. This fulfills Christ’s words in the Gospel of Luke, that He came to “cast fire on the Earth.” |
| Скачать epub pdf Christian Faith and Life 1. The Purpose of Man God created us in His own likeness and image. He gave us intelligence, free will and an immortal soul, so that knowing God and becoming like Him, we would all become better, perfect ourselves, and inherit eternal blessed life with God. Therefore the existence of man on earth has deep meaning, great purpose and a high goal. In the universe created by God, there is not, nor can there be, anything unplanned. If a man lives without faith in God, not abiding by the commandments of God, not for future eternal life, then the existence of such a man on earth becomes senseless. For people living without God, life seems incomprehensible and accidental, and such people are often worse than beasts. For each man, in order to fulfill his purpose on earth and to receive eternal salvation, it is necessary, in the first place, to know the true God and to rightly believe in Him, that is, to have the true faith. Secondly, one must live according to this faith; that is, to love God and people and to do good works. The Apostle Paul says that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6), and the Apostle James adds that faith without good works means without love, and such faith is ineffective and dead faith. Thus, for our salvation, it is necessary to have the correct faith, and a life in keeping with that faith, the doing of good works. True teaching about the necessity to rightly believe in God and how to live with people, is contained in the Orthodox Christian Faith, which is founded on Divine revelation. Divine revelation is the name given to all that God Himself reveals to people about Himself and about true faith in Him. God conveys His revelation to people by two means: natural revelation and supernatural revelation. Natural Revelation. Natural revelation is called Divine revelation when God reveals Himself through normal, natural means to each person, through our visible world (nature) and through our conscience, that is, the voice of God in us. It tells us what is good and what is bad. God also reveals Himself through life, through the history of all mankind. If a nation loses faith in God, then misfortune and unhappiness overtake it. If it does not repent, then it perishes and vanishes from the earth. Let us remember the Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Hebrew nation dispersed to all corners of the earth, and so on. |
| A.E.: Your Elder, St. Silouan, wanted you to see his official canonization by the Church. E.S.: And I don’t know how the providence of Christ made it happen. He placed me at the feet of my Elder. The contemporary spiritual, theological problem concerns the person [πρσωπο]…I lived completely by revelation. Revelation reveals that “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14). If He says, “I am” it means that He is a person. This is why in one of the chapters in the book to which I referred earlier I note that the word “I” has great significance. For it expresses the person. God says, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Science cannot say this. Only revelation can say this. And we need to base ourselves on revelation, which the Lord never refuted…. So, when I sent the book that is right behind you to His All Holiness [the Ecumenical Patriarch], I didn’t want to write a theological textbook, but simply to describe the experience of an Orthodox monk. A.E.: This book will be very useful, Elder. E.S.: May God allow it to be so…may God allow it to be so… A.E.: People today are confused, I would say very confused, and a contemporary, unique Orthodox witness is necessary to wake them up. E.S.: Yes, I say that, I say it with boldness because it is a fact. This book is not an intellectual contrivance, I refer to actual facts. A.E.: It’s that fruit of divine grace. E.S.: It’s from this perspective that I was emboldened to write. Perhaps this autobiography will help someone find the solution to his or her own personal problem. A.E.: This book has also helped us on the Holy Mountain a great deal. E.S.: [Elder Sophrony speaks, in turn, of the translation of his book into Modern Greek]…but they have translated it into the simple language, which cannot express subtle meanings. A.E.: It doesn’t properly express them, Elder, but you need to translate it into Modern Greek because young people don’t know Ancient Greek. You need to make an “Economy,” and give the blessing for your book to be translated into Modern Greek as well, because unfortunately, most young people’s language skills are lacking today. |
| G4. 2:85. 2 AH. «What! Do you believe in part of the book and reject part ? Whosoever among you does this, his reward shall be none other than disgrace in the present life and in the Day of Judgement they shall be cast into a more awful torment.» G5. 2:89–90. «And when there comes to them a Book from God, attesting to (the truth of) that which IS WITH THEM (the Torah) ... they refuse to believe in it...miserable is the price for which they have sold their souls.» G6. 2:97,101. «He (Gabriel) brings it (revelation) upon thy heart, attesting to (the truth of) that which is between his (its) hands (the Torah) ... and when there came to them an apostle from God, attesting to (the truth of) that which IS WITH THEM (the Torah), a faction (fariq) of those to whom the Book came threw away the Book of God behind their back as though they didn " t know (what was in it).» G7. 2:140, 2 AH. «Or do you say that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes were Jews or Christians? Say, you know better than God?» Ah, Who is more unjust than those who conceal the witness which they HAVE from God ?» G8. 2:146. «The people of the Book know this as they know their own sons; but some of them conceal the truth which they themselves know .» G9. 2:159. «Those (of the Jews) who conceal the clear (signs) and the guidance after we made it clear to the people of the Book, on them shall be God " s curse.» G10. 2:174. «Those who conceal what God revealed in the Book and purchase with it a small profit , they shall eat naught but fire in their bellies...» G11. The Family of (Ali 3:69–71, 2–3 AH. «A section (Táifa) of the People of the Book desire to lead you astray. But they shall not lead astray any but themselves and they do not perceive. Ye People of the Book! Why do you reject the signs of God, and you yourselves are witnesses. Ye People of the Book! Why do you clothe truth with falsehood, and conceal truth, and you yourselves HAVE knowledge. » G12. 3:75. «Among the People of the Book are some who, if entrusted with a hoard of gold, will (readily) pay it back; others, who if entrusted with a single silver coin, will not repay it unless you constantly stand demanding.» |
| → «Orr, James»//S. В. Ferguson, et al., eds., New Dictionary of Theology. P. Toon, The Development of Doctrine in the Church. Особое откровение см. Откровение частное, или особое Откровение общее (REVELATION, GENERAL) Общим откровением называется откровение Бога в природе в отличие от его частного или особого откровения в Писании (см. естественное богословие). Говоря конкретнее, общее откровение проявляется в природе, в сущности человека и в истории. В каждом из этих аспектов Бог раскрывает какие-то особые истины о Себе и Своих взаимоотношениях с творением. Общее откровение важно для христианской апологетики, так как с помощью этих истин теист строит доказательства существования Бога (см. доказательство космологическое; доказательство телеологическое). Без него не было бы основы для апологетики (см. апологетика классическая). Откровение Бога в природе. «Небеса проповедуют славу Божию, и о делах рук Его вещает твердь» ( Пс. 18:2 ), говорит псалмопевец. «Небеса возвещают правду Его, и все народы видят славу Его» ( Пс. 96:6 ). Иов восклицает: «спроси у скота – и научит тебя, у птицы небесной – и возвестит тебе; или побеседуй с землёю, и наставит тебя, и скажут тебе рыбы морские. Кто во всём этом не узнает, что рука Господа сотворила сие?» ( Иов 12:7–9 ). Павел говорит об обращении «к Богу Живому, Который сотворил небо и землю, и море, и всё, что в них, Который в прошедших родах попустил всем народам ходить своими путями, хотя и не переставал свидетельствовать о Себе благодеяниями, подавая нам с неба дожди и времена плодоносные и исполняя пищей и веселием сердца наши» ( Деян. 14:15–17 ). Он объясняет греческим философам: «Бог, сотворивший мир и всё, что в нём, Он, будучи Господом неба и земли, не в рукотворенных храмах живёт и не требует служения рук человеческих, как бы имеющий в чём-либо нужду, Сам давая всему жизнь и дыхание и всё» ( Деян. 17:24–25 ). Павел наставляет римлян, что даже язычники виновны перед Богом, «ибо, что можно знать о Боге, явно для них, потому что Бог явил им. Ибо невидимое Его, вечная сила Его и Божество, от создания мира через рассматривание творений видимы, так что они безответны» ( Рим. 1:19–20 ). Поэтому и псалмопевец делает вывод: «сказал безумец в сердце своём: «нет Бога " » ( Пс. 13:1 ). |
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