| The other was unable to see his entire life from birth, but obeyed Jesus Christ as the Son of God (Jn. 9:1-38). Let us consider now the example of the Samaritan Woman. A crossing over from the worse to the better occurs several times with her. First the physical crossing: She goes for water outside the town, leaves it and comes to a well. It is a holy place. This ancient well was already around 2,000 years old when the Gospel event happened, having been dug by Abraham’s grandson Jacob for his son Joseph (Jn. 4:5-6). The Samaritan Woman probably went to this well every day. Such a walk after water detaches a person from life’s commotion, from daily labors, and disposes him to receive Divine wisdom. And one day, when she met our Lord Jesus Christ at the well, she was spiritually reborn, making a great transition from spiritual darkness to the light of faith. Christ says to her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water (Jn. 4:10), and then, But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life (Jn. 4:14). The Samaritan Woman received the living water of Christ: She came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. She herself became a fountain of living water, according to the word of Christ, because she preached the Lord to her fellow citizens, and they came to Christ and believed in Him (Jn. 4:29-30, 39-42). Within this, the main transition in the life of the Samaritan Woman, we can see two others. The first is the moral change and purification of her personal life. When the Samaritan Woman asked Christ, Sir, give me this [living] water , the Savior answered her, Go , call thy husband, and come hither ; but the Samaritan Woman replied, I have no husband. As is clear from what happens subsequently, the Samaritan Woman was dodging. She wanted to hide the shortcomings of her personal life from the Savior. |
| 2. Recovering the place of betrothal in New Testament theology Betrothal is the assumed means of entry into marriage in the Bible, and in Greek and Roman custom. It is also assumed in the marital imagery of the New Testament. St Paul compares the Corinthian church to a bride betrothed but not yet presented to Christ her ‘true and only husband’. (2 Cor.11.2-3) It is likely that the lengthy story of Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman (Jn.4.1-42) is to be understood as a betrothal story because it relies on the literary conventions found in the betrothals of Rebecca, Rachel and Zipporah. John the Baptist explains he is the ‘forerunner’ of Jesus and compares his relationship to Jesus as one of ‘best man’ to bridegroom. But who is the bride? The betrothal conventions include 1. The hero travels to a foreign land far away. 2. The hero stops at a well. 3. A maiden comes to the well. 4. Hero does something for the maiden, showing superhuman strength or ability. 5. The maiden hurries home and reports what has occurred. 6. The stranger is invited into the household of the maiden. 7. Hero marries maiden-at-the-well. (He will eventually take her back to his native land.)’ Jesus too, travels to a foreign land, Samaria. He too stops at a well, Jacob’s well. A woman comes to the well. Unlike Rebecca and Rachel whose striking physical and virginal attributes are remarked on by male gazers and authors, the Samaritan woman has had 5 husbands and a live-in lover. Jesus, like Abraham’s servant, asks her for a drink. Abraham’s servant gives gifts to Rebecca (Gen.24.22) and her family (24.53). Jesus has ‘living water’ to offer the woman (Jn.4.10). Just as Rebecca ‘ran to her mother’s house’ (Gen.24.28), Rachel ‘ran and told her father (Gen.29.12), and the 7 daughters of Reuel returned to him (Ex.2.18), so the Samaritan woman ‘left her water-jar and went off to the town, where she said to the people, “Come and see a man who has told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”’ (Jn.4.29) |
| 6 v. 17) ‘we do not look simply on Christ’s face, but on His glory, hidden beneath the veil of His human flesh; we do not look with no profit for ourselves, as is often the case with those who visit the theatre, but we present our souls to his light-giving face, as to a mirror, in order to receive the light of His salvation; receiving the light of His grace we ourselves are transformed by the Spirit of the Lord, into the same image from glory to glory, that is we translate into reality in our souls and in all of our life His saving teaching and the life-giving example of His virtues, ceaselessly trying with the help of God’s spirit of power, love and self-discipline (2 Tim 1 v. 7) grow up into His likeness ‘until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.’ (Eph 4 v.13) As would be expected in sermons on the icon and their role in the Christian life, Vishnevskii dwells very much on the theme of the incarnation. We have seen above how he refers to Christ’s ‘saving incarnation’ and he ends the above sermon with the summons, ‘And so, venerating the most holy image of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, let us ask him for help and ‘do as he has done for us’ (Jn. 13 v. 15 – a reference to Christ washing his disciples’ feet) ‘taking the nature of a servant, being made in human likeness’ (Phil 2 v.7). In another sermon on the same feast day of the ‘Ubrus’ in 1873 Vishnevskii begins by asking ‘Why does the most bountiful God want, through icons to leave indelibly printed in our memories that “He was sent in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering and condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom 8 v.3), or rather, to force us to confess that “He has come in the flesh” (I Jn. 4 v. 2)? So that we would know without a shadow of a doubt that ‘we have fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ’ (I Jn. 2 v. 3) …’ venerating icons we draw near in our minds and hearts to the one who came down from heaven “for man and for our salvation” and was incarnate of the most holy Virgin Mary, to the Son of God one in essence, and to His most pure Mother from whose pure blood he took our flesh and blood.’ Linked very much to Vishnevskii’s emphasis on ‘Christlikeness’ is his constant challenge to a ‘faith expressed through deeds’, especially through giving to the poor and hungry and supporting the needs of the church and its missionary work. This is especially the theme of a sermon preached at Christmas 1874 during several years when there was famine and extreme hardship in the Samara province, so much so that in their desperation many committed suicide and killed their children. Vishnevskii constantly quotes James 2 vv.15, 17 with its reminder that ‘faith without works is dead’ and the First Epistle of John with its call for love for God expressed through love for our neighbour. |
| This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith, says St. John the Theologian (1 Jn. 5:4). Faith is our weapon of victory over the world; it is also our weapon of victory over the fallen angels. Who has looked with the eye of faith to the eternity proclaimed by God’s Word and not cooled to the world’s quickly-passing beauty? What true disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ will want to trample upon His all-holy commandments for the sake of sinful pleasure, which seems alluring before it is tasted, but is vile and murderous after tasting? What power over the disciple of Christ has the enchanting picture of earthly benefits and pleasures, or even the horrifying picture of earthly calamities, which the evil spirits draw in order to bring the viewer to depression and despair, when magnificent pictures of eternity are impressed upon his soul through the power of God’s Word, before which all earthly scenes are pale and insignificant? When St. John the Theologian proclaims that the victory that overcometh the world is our faith, he salutes the true children of Christ who have overcome the world on their victory over the fallen angel and his minions: I write unto you, young men, he says, because ye have overcome the wicked one (1 Jn. 2:13). Here “young men” is what he calls Christians who are renewed by Divine grace. When a servant of Christ shows courage and constancy in his struggle against the evil spirits as he should, then Divine grace descends into his soul and grants him victory, and his youth shall be renewed as the eagle’s (Ps. 102:5)—youth which never ages, with which he was adorned by the Creator when he was created, and which he exchanged for incurable agedness at his voluntary fall. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (1 Jn. 2:15–17). |
| 72(!), 74, 81; (01), А (02), В (03), С (04), Р (025), Ψ (044), 048, 0206, 0247, 0285; 33, 1739. Второе послание Петра (2 Pet): 72(!), 74; (01), А (02), В (03), С (04), Р (025), Ψ (044), 048, 0156, 0209, 0247; 33, 1739. Первое послание Иоанна (1 Jn): 9(!), 74; (01), А (02), В (03), С (04), Р (025), Ψ (044), 048, 0245, 0296; 33, 1739. Второе послание Иоанна (2 Jn) 74; (01), А (02), В (03), Р (025), Ψ (044), 048, 0232; 33, 1739. Третье послание Иоанна (3 Jn): 74; (01), А (02), В (03), С (04), Р (025), Ψ (044), 048, 0251; 33, 1739. Послание Иуды (Jud): 72(!), 78(!); (01), А (02), В (03), С (04), Р (025), Ψ (044), 0251; 33, 1739. Последовательно цитируемые источники второго порядка. (018), L (020), 81 (1044 г.), 323 (XII в.), 614 (XIII в.), 630 (XIV в.), 1241 (XII в.), 1505 (XII в.). Часто цитируемые источники. 69 (XV в.), 322 (XV в.), 623 (1037 г.), 945 (XI в.), 1243 (XI в.), 1846 (X в.), 1852 (XIII в.), 1881 (XIV в.), 2298 (XII в.), 2464 (IX в.), 2495 (XV в.). Последовательно цитируемые источники текста Откровения Иоанна Богослова (Apok). Рукописная традиция Апокалипсиса сильно отличается от традиции других книг Нового Завета. 125 Ее особенностью является разделение византийского текста большинства на две четкие текстологические традиции: мА – многочисленные рукописи с толкованиями на Апокалипсис Андрея Кесарийского (V), мк – рукописи с собственно византийским текстом, м – контаминация традиций ША и Шк. Минускулы 2344 и 2377 часто невозможно цитировать из-за плохой сохранности текста, делать суждения о характере несохранившегося текста невозможно. Последовательно цитируемые источники первого порядка. 18(!), 24, 43, 47(!), 85, 98(!); (1), А (02), С (04), 051, 0163, 0169, 0207, 0229. Последовательно цитируемые источники второго порядка. Р (025) приводится отдельно только в случаях отличия от мА; 046 приводится отдельно только в случаях отличия от мк; 1006 (XI в.), 1611 (X в.), 1841 (IХ/Х вв.), 1854 (XI в.), 2030 (XII в.), 2050 (1107 г.), 2053 (XIII в.), 2062 (XIII в.), 2329 (X в.), 2344 (XI в.), 2351 (X в.), 2377 (XIV в.). |
| Archive Metropolitan Hilarion celebrates Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris 21 May 2018 year 11:20 On 20 May 2018, 7 th Sunday after Pascha, commemoration day of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris. Concelebrating with him were Bishop Nestor of Korsun and clerics of the church. After the Liturgy Bishop Nestor warmly greeted Metropolitan Hilarion, wishing him God’s help in his important ministry as the DECR chairman. Metropolitan Hilarion conveyed to all those present blessings from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and delivered a homily, saying in particular: “Today in the reading from the Gospel of John (the reading of this Gospel began at the Paschal night and will finish on the Feast of Pentecost) we have heard that the Lord Jesus Christ, after talking to His disciples at the Mystical Supper for the last time, addressed His Heavenly Father with a prayer. The prayer began with these words, “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him” (Jn 17:1-2). “What hour does the Lord Jesus Christ mean? The hour, for which He came to earth. In the Cana of Galilee, when performing His first miracle at the request of His Mother, Jesus addressed the following mysterious words to her, which those around him could hardly understand, “Mine hour is not yet come” (Jn 2:4). However, speaking to His disciples not long before His death, the Saviour said, “Now is my soul troubled,” and added, “For this cause came I unto this hour” (Jn 12:27). Here He is now, talking about the hour of His suffering and death as the hour when the glory of God would be revealed – not in thunders and lightnings as it had been revealed to Moses, but in humiliation and suffering of Him Whom God sent to earth to save this world and to open the path to life eternal for each man. |
| Tweet Нравится Homily on the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord Holy Hierach Innocent (Borisov) The Lord " s Ascension. Fresco, Mirozh Transfiguration Monastery, Pskov. Mid 11th c. And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy (Lk. 24:50–52). Thus ended our Lord and Savior’s time of earthly labor! He suffered much, and was greatly glorified. There have never been such sorrows as His sorrows, and there has never been such glory as His glory. He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:8-11). Shall we ever behold this glory of our Lord? We shall behold it, for in His last, great prayer, the Lord prayed about this to His Father: I will, He prayed, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me (Jn. 17:24). The angels appeared to the Apostles after the Lord’s Ascension, witnessing that the Lord will come to all of us on the last day in the same appearance as the Apostles beheld Him ascending into Heaven (cf. Act. 1:2). We shall even participate in the glory of the Ascended Lord, if only we do not make ourselves unworthy, for He ascended into Heaven in order to prepare it to receive all His true followers. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also (Jn. 14:2–3). The Apostle Paul testifies that this merciful accommodation on our behalf has not changed at all even after the Ascension, when he says that on the last Day of the Lord’s Coming, the faithful shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:17). This means something will happen to the faithful which is similar even in appearance to what happened to the Lord Himself on the Mount of Olives. |
| In my opinion, the most important passage in the Tome is number IV . This passage of the Tome summarises the meaning of the scriptures and echoes Paul’s two famous poetic passages in Philippians 2: 6 and Galatians 4:4-6, which describe how God became man and gathered weakness with almightiness in His very own Person. St. Leo ends with the conclusion " …Therefore in consequence of this unity of person which is to be understood in both natures , we read of the Son of Man also descending from heaven, when the Son of God took flesh from the Virgin who bore Him. And again the Son of God is said to have been crucified and buried, although it was not actually in His Divinity whereby the Only-begotten is co-eternal and con-substantial with the Father, but in His weak human nature that He suffered these things. And so it is that in the Creed also we all confess that the Only-begotten Son of God was crucified and buried, according to that saying of the Apostle: " for if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glor.” (1 Corinthians 2:8). The Chalcedonian creed grew meaningfully in this spirit. Despite the use of classic patristic terms like " Theotokos " and " hypostasis " , it was not limited by terminology. It managed to be, as Karl Rahner says, “both; a point of end and beginning. As much as it managed to explain a doctrine and put an end to nearly two hundred years of controversy, it managed to be the base for a deeper Christian anthropology in the light of Divine love.” 4th Ecumenical Council held in Chalcedon The " Theanthropic” Essence Having answered my initial question of who is Christ and grounded my understanding of what that practically means through studying the Council of Chalcedon, I began to take steps in deepening my concept of faith and spirituality. I found that there are two kinds of spirituality; a real and a fake one. Real spirituality is based on Christ as the reality and the cornerstone of the Church. He is Truth (Jn 14:6) and real spirituality is abiding in Him (1 Jn 2: 28). In contrast, fake spirituality often emanates from shifting emotional needs. Some people enact a superficial spirituality out of fear of hell or judgment, while others seek good deeds to satisfy something inside them or wear a mask like the Pharisees (Mark 12:40). This appearance of spirituality cannot carry on permanently and can never be as beautiful or solid as a spirituality based on the image of the God Man i.e. Theanthropos. When spirituality is deeply rooted in the knowledge of Christology, we are better equipped to recognize the beauty and meaningfulness of Christian life. |
| 12. Aaron offered to God the fire pure and undefiled; but Hophni and Phinehas, like thee, my soul, offered to God a foul and rebellious life. ( Lev.9:21-24 ; 1Sam.2:12-34 ) 13. . How heavy in character I have become, in soul and body, like Jannes and Jambres in Pharaoh’s bitter service, and my mind has sunk low. But help me, O Lord. ( Ex.7:11 ; 2Tim.3:8 ) 14. I, wretch that I am, have rolled my mind in mud. But wash me, O Lord, in the bath of my tears, I pray Thee, and make the robe of my flesh as white as snow. 15. When I examine my actions, O Savior, I see that I have gone beyond all men in sins; for I have sinned with knowledge consciously, and not in ignorance. 16. Spare, spare, O Lord, Thy works. I have sinned; forgive me, for Thou alone art pure by nature, and apart from Thee there is none without defilement. ( 1Pet.3:21 ) 17. Being God, for my sake Thou didst take my form, and didst work miracles, healing lepers and bracing paralytics; and Thou didst stop the flow of blood of the woman with hemorrhage, O Savior, through the touch of Thy hem. ( Phlm.2:6; Mt.4:24 ; Lk.8:43-48 ) 18. Imitate, wretched soul, the woman with hemorrhage. Run to Christ and hold His hem, that thou mayest be healed of thy maladies and hear from Him, “thy faith has saved thee.” ( Mt.9:22 ) 19. Imitate, my soul, the woman bent earthward; come and fall down at the feet of Jesus, that He may straighten thee to walk upright in the footsteps of the Lord. ( Lk.13:11 ) 20. Though Thou art a deep well, O Lord, pour on me streams from Thy immaculate wounds, that like the Samaritan woman I may drink and thirst no more; for from Thee gush rivers of life. ( Jn.4:13-15 ) 21. May my tears be for me a Siloam, O Sovereign Lord, that I may wash the eyes of my soul and mentally see Thee Who art that light which was before creation. ( Jn.9:7 ; Gen.1:2-19 ) Refrain: Holy mother Mary, pray for us. To St. Mary of Egypt: Thou , all-blessed one, didst yearn with matchless love and longing to worship the Tree of Life, and thy desire was granted; make us also worthy to attain to the glory on high. |
| What does it mean to take up our cross? The cross was an instrument of shameful execution of commoners and captives deprived of a citizen’s rights. The proud world, a world at enmity with Christ, deprives Christ’s disciples of the rights enjoyed by the sons of this world. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me (Jn. 15:19; 16:2–3). Taking up our cross means magnanimously enduring the mocking and derision that the world pours out upon followers of Christ—those sorrows and persecutions with which the sin-loving and blind world persecutes those who follow Christ. For this is thankworthy, says the Apostle Peter, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For even hereunto were ye called (1 Pet. 2:19, 21). We were called by the Lord, Who said to his beloved ones, In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (Jn. 16:33). Taking up our cross means courageously enduring difficult unseen labor, agony, and torment for the sake of the Gospels as we war with our own passions, with the sin that lives in us, with the spirits of evil who vehemently make war against us and franticly attack us when we resolve to cast off the yoke of sin, and submit ourselves to the yoke of Christ. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, says the holy Apostle Paul, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12). (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:4–5). After gaining victory in this unseen but laborious warfare, the Apostle exclaimed, But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world (Gal. 6:14). |
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