| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation Do the Man and the Woman Remain One Flesh After Their Breakup? Source: The Catalogue of Good Deeds Archpriest Nicholai Emelianov 08 October 2019 ‘We broke up because’ by Naomi Wilkinson Question: Hello. I’m curious, if I had a sexual relationship in the past, I was “one flesh” with that woman, but we had a breakup now. Are we still “one flesh” or not? Answer: Apostle Paul says with all certainty, “What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” (1Corinthians 6:16,17). Even a physical contact devoid of any attachment leaves a trace in the person’s soul forever. Sexual sins are considered mortal by the Church. That is neither an abstract remark nor a metaphor, but a statement of fact. Something dies forever, something becomes impossible after such sins are committed. It is more apparent in the case of murder, although even this issue may cause confusion in the modern age. Many people are quite comfortable with the idea that abortion is permissible and legal. In the case of fornication, the modern world often does not even see why it is such a big deal. Has anyone died? There is no “mortal sin”, is there? Even if a person feels some emotional discomfort after such sins, he often tries to convince himself that there is nothing wrong with it. After all, he will find someone else to love, marry her, she will wear a white dress and everything will be as if for the first time and for real. It won’t be. Ever. It sounds sad, very unpopular, too tough and intolerant, but it is true. The thing is, a human being is a very strange creature. He belongs to two worlds: the spiritual one and the physical one. A person’s soul is not a complete person yet. A human being is a mental and physical alliance of the soul and the body. His body is not just some tool for the soul, it is a part of himself. Therefore, true love does not boil down to feelings, emotions, sensations or shared memories or activities. True love is the level of unity in which the boundary of this mental-physical reality is undone and the other person becomes a part of it with both the soul and the body. Apostle Paul says: “The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.” (1 Corinthians 7:4-5). That’s why according to Church canons, marriage is considered as consummated not at the moment of the wedding but only after the first sexual intercourse. |
| Secondly, this Wisdom leads us to the love of God, to appreciate what God has done for us and with us. It makes us want to love Him for the life he has given us that makes us even the envy of angels. “For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor.” [Psalm 8:5]. Not only this, but God became man and dwelt among us. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth” [John 1:14]. This occurred because God wanted to express His love for us and seek our response to love Him in return. “We love Him because He first loved us” John 4:19]. This would not be possible without having Wisdom about God. But it also creates a problem for us. God is so Infinite, so all-encompassing, so full of mercy, grace and truth, we are scarcely able to understand His love or able to embrace it at all. And this leads us to our third relation of being to God, His Divine Mystery. All things from God are shrouded in this Mystery. It is why we in Orthodoxy refer to the salvific acts of Baptism, Chrismation, Confession, Communion, Marriage, Priestly Orders and Holy Unction not as Sacraments, but as Mysteries . Indeed, our ability to comprehend them and how they function on and in us is very much a mystery to us, yet our Faith allows us to accept them and repeatedly use them as needed. We may understand their usefulness for us, and why they are important for our Salvation, but we are not God and therefore cannot comprehend the depths of their functions and abilities. The words of Saint Paul are appropriate here: “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory….” Corinthians 2:7]. This “wisdom of God in a mystery” means exactly what it says—that we can talk of the wisdom of God, but only insofar as the mystery allows us to do so. We can see that these Mysteries of God were from the beginning and were specifically created for us and for our glory. This means a day will come when we will receive their meaning in glory in the mysteries of God when all things shall be revealed. Again, Saint Paul writes, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” [Romans 8:18]. |
| Диалектический подход в библеистике был признан совершенно неудовлетворительным. Ученым, который внес наибольший вклад в исправление подхода Баура к хронологии и датировке был Джозеф Лайтфут, ставший профессором Кембриджа как раз в год смерти Баура (1861). Тщательным историческим анализом ему удалось установить точную датировку послания Климента Римского (95 год) и аутентичных посланий Игнатия Антиохийского (между 100 и 115 годами), в которых просто невозможно заметить никаких следов соперничества между Петром и Павлом или каких-то особенностей, свойственных для гегельянских построений. В своих работах Лайтфут сумел великолепно продемонстрировать насколько беспочвенными были датировки, взятые за основу Бауром. После этого все исследователи согласились с принципами датировки, предложенными Лайтфутом и учитывали их в своих исследованиях. В их числе был и крупный немецкий ученый Адольф Гарнак (1851–1930) в 1897 году опубликовавший второй том своего массивного труда по истории ранней христианской литературы (A. Harnack, Geschichte der altchristlichen Litteratur bis Eusehius, Leipzig 1893–7, vol. II). Исследование Гарнака прекрасно показывает, каких позиций придерживалось критическое направление накануне 20 столетия. Вот его спектр датировки: 48–9 I and II Thessalonians 53 I and II Corinthians, Galatians (возможно) 53–4 Romans 57–9 Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians (если является аутентичным), Philippians 65–70 Mark 70–5 Matthew 79–93 Luke-Acts 81–96 I Peter, Hebrews 80–110 John, I-3 John 90–110 I and II Timothy, Titus 93–6 Revelation (Откровение) 100–30 Jude 120–40 James 160–75 II Peter Похожий спектр датировки с некоторыми изменениями представлен фон Соденом в Библейской энциклопедии (Encyclopaedia Biblica, edd. T. K. Cheyne and J. S. Black, 1899–1903, I, 799–819) 50–60 The Pauline Epistles (основные послания ап. Павла) 70 Mark 93–96 Hebrews, I Peter, Revelation –100 Ephesians, Luke, Acts, John, I-III John 100–33 Jude, Matthew, the Pastoral Epistles Фактически все исследователи как консервативного так и либерального направлений библеистики сходились к началу двадцатого столетия в том, что все книги Нового Завета были написаны в промежутке между 50 и 100 годами первого столетия, за исключением Второго Послания Петра, которое обычно датировалось 150 годом. |
| Speaking about the peace of God accomplished and brought by Jesus Christ, St Paul the Apostle says that God the Father was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself…and has committed to us the word of reconciliation ( 2 Corinthians 5:18-19). This peace is called the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, and which guards our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus ( Philippians 4:7). This peace, granted to humans in and through Christ, is the foundation of the reconciliation of men with God and of the reconciliation and brotherhood of peoples among them. That is why, the Apostle of the gentiles says about Christ that He Himself is our peace, who has made both (the Jews and the gentiles) one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity ( Ephesians 2:14-16). Thus, the new man in Christ is the man in whom dwells the peace of God, and who works for the reconciliation of all people with God and among each other. That is why blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God ( Matthew 5:9). Because God is the God of peace ( Romans 15:33; Philippians 4:9), peace is a gift of God and a fruit of the Holy Spirit ( Galatians 5:22), peace is accompanied by righteousness and joy, for the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit ( Romans 14:17). The gift of the spiritual peace, the gift of the reconciliation of man with God, with himself and with the fellow human beings is asked through prayer and is cultivated through good thoughts, kind words and good deeds, so that the spiritual peace of the soul may become a source of social peace, of family peace, of community peace and of world peace. The Holy Fathers of the Church teach us that selfish passions such as greed or obsessive love of wealth, of power and pleasure, and the like, produce turmoil in the soul, and this turmoil then reverberates over human relationships, which become tense, conflictual and even violent, especially due to the injustice and the suffering caused by greed. When human intelligence is dominated by egoistical passions of envy, vileness and lie, it produces disorder and much evil in the soul and the society, while the wisdom that is from God is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace and by those who make peace ( James 3:17-18). |
| Interestingly, St. Paul himself experienced this logic of the cross in his own experience of the trials and tribulations of being an apostle. They are a timely reminder of the necessity of embracing failure in the world’s eyes that victory might be ours in the hands of God … against whom there is no witness. Listen to St. Paul and learn of the blessing of failure:- But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you. Corinthians 4:7-12] So let’s us say with confidence “Failure is OK!” We might then begin to live again without that paralysing fear of failure and REALLY achieve something! Source: Antioch Abouna Code for blog Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. |
| Archive Пн Patriarch John X of Antioch has expressed support for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church 28 March 2023 year 10:05 His Beatitude John X, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, in his message to His Beatitude Onufry, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine, expressed compassion and support in view of the persecutions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The message is published on the official page of the Patriarchate of Antioch in a social network. ‘With joyful sorrow, we embrace you in the Lord during these days of the Great Fast, as we prepare for our Lord’s Death and Resurrection. We write to you at this difficult moment in the history of the venerable Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a moment that calls to mind the words of the Holy Apostle Paul: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9), the message reads. His Beatitude Patriarch John notes that while the Church of Antioch is geographically far from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, her faithful extends their hand to her at this difficult time. ‘You and your flock are in our constant prayers as we implore the Lord for the quick cessation of this tragic war and the end of all threats to your holy Church. May the Lord grant you wisdom and strength to endure, “for he that shall endure to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13)’, the head of the Church of Antioch stressed. DECR Communication Service /Patriarchia.ru Календарь ← 18 апреля 2024 г. (5 апреля ст.ст.) четверг 7 April 2024 year Share with friends |
| A Christian’s prayer, even when offered in solitude, in one’s house or cell, is not a solitary prayer but a solidary prayer, in communion with the whole Church in a state of prayer and enlightened by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:13). As members of the Mystical Body of Christ, believers are united by grace to one another, the suffering of one being borne by the whole ecclesial community, according to the apostolic exhortation: “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfil the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6: 2), but also according to the spiritual counsel: “Pray for one another” (James 5:16). In this regard, Professor Rev. Dumitru Stniloae says that prayer “can also be considered as people’s means of transcending from a life enclosed in selfishness and the world to a life of communication in God, as His kingdom. Prayers indicate such a transcendence, or an exit of the self-confined man, to the Triune God, or of love, even when praying for the goods necessary for earthly life, as conditions of preparation for the kingdom of God.” ( Spirituality and Communion in the Orthodox Liturgy) Fervent and persistent prayer is a testimony to the fact that the Holy Spirit is active in man, supporting and strengthening him in the good work for salvation, as the Holy Apostle Paul teaches us, saying: “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26). Thus, through prayer, man unites with God, becoming a partaker of divine love. God, by His grace, enlightens the human soul who prays so that prayer becomes man’s co-operation with God, as St. Gregory Palamas affirms. Without prayer, there is no Church and no Christian life because only Christ, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, gives saintly life to the members of the Church and helps them to remain in communion with Christ: “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15: 4-7). |
| The assertion that God is Spirit does not contradict those places in the Holy Scriptures in which bodily members are ascribed to God. These expressions are used symbolically in the spiritual writings when they speak of the nature of God. For instance, eyes or ears indicate the omniscience of God, and so forth. God is one, but not solitary. God is one in essence, but triple in Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Most-holy Trinity, consubstantial and indivisible. One in three Persons, each Person eternally loving the others. God is love (I John 4:16). The inter-relationship between the Persons of the Holy Trinity is such that God the Father is not born from and does not proceed from the other persons. The Son of God was born from God the Father before all ages, and the Holy Spirit always proceeds from God the Father. All three Persons of the Holy Trinity in being and nature are completely equal within God Himself. As God the Father is true God, so God the Son is true God, and God the Holy Spirit is true God, but all three Persons are a single Deity – One God. How one God exists in three Persons is a mystery, incomprehensible to our intelligence, but we believe this according to the testimony of Divine revelation. The mystery of the Holy Trinity was revealed to us by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when he sent the Apostles to preach. He said, Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). The Apostle and Evangelist John also clearly testifies both to the trinitarian Persons of God and to the single essence of the Persons. There are Three Witnesses in Heaven (about the Divinity of the Son of God); Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these Three are one (I John 5:7). Apostle Paul, addressing the Corinthian Christians, says, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the father and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all ( II Cor. 13:14 ). For clarification of this great mystery we point out the world which, as a revelation of the creation of God, speaks to us of the incomprehensible mystery of the trinitarian essence of the Creator. The imprint of this mystery lies deep in the nature of every created entity. The trinitarian unity, as an underlying idea, is intrinsic to all the works of the Creator, glorifying the Trinity. For example, the speech of all persons in the world has three persons: I; you; he, she, or it. Time is expressed as past, present and future. The states of matter are liquid, solid and gas. All the various colors in the world are make up of the three primary colors, red, blue and yellow. Man conducts himself by means of thought, word and deed. Deeds, in their turn, have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Even man is a trinitarian unity of body, mind and soul. The salvation of our souls is made up of three Christian virtues, faith, hope and love. |
| What praise, then, shall we give to Him, or what return shall we make for the things which we have received? 3 We were deficient 4 in understanding, worshipping stones and wood, and gold, and silver, and brass, the works of men " s hands; 5 and our whole life was nothing else than death. Involved in blindness, and with such darkness 6 before our eyes, we have received sight, and through His will have laid aside that cloud by which we were enveloped. For He had compassion on us, and mercifully saved us, observing the many errors in which we were entangled, as well as the destruction to which we were exposed, 7 and that we had no hope of salvation except it came to us from Him. For He called us when we were not, 8 and willed that out of nothing we should attain a real existence. 9 Chap. ii.–The church, formerly barren, is now fruitful. «Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for she that is desolate hath many more children than she that hath an husband.» 10 In that He said, «Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not,» He referred to us, for our church was barren before that children were given to her. But when He said, «Cry out, thou that travailest not,» He means this, that we should sincerely offer up our prayers to God, and should not, like women in travail, show signs of weakness. 11 And in that He said, «For she that is desolate hath many more children than she that hath an husband,» [He means] that our people seemed to be outcast from God, but now, through believing, have become more numerous than those who are reckoned to possess God. 12 And another Scripture saith, «I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.» 13 This means that those who are perishing must be saved. For it is indeed a great and admirable thing to establish not the things which are standing, but those that are falling. Thus also did Christ desire to save the things which were perishing, 14 and has saved many by coming and calling us when hastening to destruction. 15 Chap. iii.–The duty of confessing Christ Since, then, He has displayed so great mercy towards us, and especially in this respect, that we who are living should not offer sacrifices to gods that are dead, or pay them worship, but should attain through Him to the knowledge of the true Father, whereby shall we show that we do indeed know Him, 16 but by not denying Him through whom this knowledge has been attained? For He himself declares, «Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father.» 17 This, then, is our reward if we shall confess Him by whom we have been saved. But in what way shall we confess Him? By doing what He says, and not transgressing His commandments, and by honouring Him not with our lips only, but with all our heart and all our mind. 18 For He says in Isaiah, «This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.» 19 Chapter iv. True confession of Christ |
| 147 См. Prof. Lic. Rudolf Knopf, Die Zukunftshoffnungen des Urchristentums в Religionsgeschichtliche Volksbücher herausg. von Fr. Michael Schiele 1, 13 (Tübingen 1907), S. 11. 13. 148 G. Kunze тоже утверждает, что не видно и не следует думать, будто реализм в изображении воскресения и всего дальнейшего был у св. Павла грубо-фарисейский и будто воскрешенное тело рисуется совершенно тожественным прежнему, земному: см. Art. «Unsterblichkeit» в Realencyklopadie von Herzog-Hauck XX (Lpzg 3 1908), S. 287; Very Rev. J. H. Bernard, St. Paul’s Doctrine of the Resurrection: a Study of Corinthians XV в «The Expositor» 1908, VI, p. 503. 149 Lic. Dr. Martin Brückner, Die Entstehung der paulinischen Christologie, S. 215–216. Prof. Rudolf Knopf, Die Zukunftshoffnungen des Urchristentums, S. 11–12. 150 Так и Rev. Prof. James Denney, Adam and Christ in St. Paul в «The Expositor» 1904. II, p. 151; Nathan Söderblom, La vie future d’apres le mazdeisme, p. 400. 152 Prof. Paul Wernle, Die Reichsgotteshoffnung in den ältesten christlichen Dokumenten und bei Jesus (Tübingen und Leipzig 1903), S. 44. 46. 153 Prof. Paul Wernle, Die Reichsgotteshoffnung in den ältesten christlichen Dokumenten und bei Jesus (Tübingen und Leipzig 1903), S. 50. 154 Prof. Paul Wernle, Die Reichsgotteshoffnung in den ältesten christlichen Dokumenten und bei Jesus (Tübingen und Leipzig 1903), S. 51. 52. 56. 155 Prof. Paul Wernle, Die Reichsgotteshoffnung in den ältesten christlichen Dokumenten und bei Jesus (Tübingen und Leipzig 1903), S. 7 (об Апокалипсисе). 10. 14. 24 (о Ев. Матфея). 24. 34 (о Ев. Луки). 40 (о Ев. Марка). 41 («Логии» и др. документы). 156 Prof. Paul Wernle, Die Reichsgotteshoffnung in den ältesten christlichen Dokumenten und bei Jesus (Tübingen und Leipzig 1903), S. 2 ff. 10. 48. С этой стороны преувеличенно и суждение E. Tobac’a, будто «правда Божия» рисуется у Апостола Павла лишь эсхатологически: La δικαιοσνη θεο dans saint Paul в «Revue d’histoire ecclesiastique» IX, 1 (15 Janvier 1908), p. 5–18. |
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