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| Sometimes the pangs of conscience become so intolerable that man prefers to end his own life. We see the most vivid example of accusations of conscience in Judas Iscariot, the traitor, who hanged himself after betraying Christ to the high priests (Matt. 27:5). In general, all sinners, believers as well as unbelievers, feel responsibility for their behavior. Thus, in the prophetic words of Christ, sinners at the end of the world, seeing the approaching judgment of God, will plead for the earth to swallow them, and the mountains to cover them (Luke 23:30; Rev. 6:16). It happens sometimes that a man in turmoil, caught in the swirl of strong passion or overwhelmed by fear, appears not to hear the voice of his conscience. But later, he feels the pangs of conscience doubly strong. When the brothers of Joseph came upon trouble, they remembered their sin of selling their younger brother into slavery and understood that they were now justly punished for their cruelty ( Gen. 42:21 ). King David, delighting in the beauty of Bathsheba, understood his sin of adultery only after it was revealed to him by the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 12:13). The impulsive Apostle Peter, under the pressure of fear, denounced Christ, but when he heard the cock crow, he remembered the prophesy of Christ and wept bitterly. The sensible thief, hanging on the cross next to Christ, understood only before his death that the suffering he experienced was a just reward for his crimes. (Luke 23:40). Zaccheas the publican, touched by the love of Christ, remembered the offenses he had perpetrated towards people in his greed and decided to rectify the wrong he had committed (Luke 19:8). On the other hand, when man is aware of his innocence, his clear conscience strengthens his hope in God. For example, the righteous Job, while suffering, knew that the reason for this was not because of any sins he had committed, but that it was in God " s plan, and he hoped for God " s mercy ( Job 27:6 ). Similarly, the righteous king Hezekiah, dying from an incurable disease, became well when he pleaded to God for healing in reward of his good deeds (2 Kings 20:3). The Apostle Paul, whose life was dedicated to God and the salvation of men, not only did not fear death but, on the contrary, wished to be relieved from his earthly body to be with Christ ( Phil. 1:23 ). |
| The truth, however, does not remain, so to speak, “immovable.” Even in God it has different forms: it is identical to the essence of the Father; it is His hypostatical Logos and Wisdom; it is also the Spirit of truth and wisdom. The truth of the Father through the hypostatical truth which is the Son shines in the Holy Spirit. The light of the divine truth and the manifold wisdom of God ( Eph. 3:10 ) fill the Church and the whole cosmos. God manifests Himself and speaks to man at sundry times and in diverse manners (Heb. 1:1–2). The Incarnation brought the divine truth to earth. The apostles and the whole Church preach it throughout the world (Matt. 28:19–20; Mark 16:15–20 ; Rom. 10:13–21 ; Col. 1:3–9). Man is regenerated by the words of God (I Peter 1:23) and these divine words are the seeds of the Kingdom of God in their souls (Matt. 13). The truth is freely accepted or rejected by man. 11 The possibility of knowledge in general and the knowledge of God is given to all men ( John 1:9 ; Rom. 1:18–29 ). But inasmuch as sin and fleshliness has blinded man ( Rom. 1:29–32; II Cor. 3:6–15, 4:4), God, through Christ and the Holy Spirit, restores in us the capability of understanding and regenerates our minds ( II Cor. 3–4; I John 2, 5:20; I Cor. 2; Rom. 12:2 ; Eph. 4:23 ). Thus the divine truth is spread among mankind. Knowledge of truth must grow throughout the world and in every Christian (Matt. 13; Col. 1:1–10). But can we admit variety in truth or in our knowledge and understanding of it? We cannot doubt that truth exists in many forms because God is the Trinity and He reveals Himself in the infinite forms of His Logos and Wisdom. This variety exists in eternal and perfect unity. In some sense we can speak about the unity and catholicity of the truth in itself and in its revelation. Each divine truth (logos or idea) is necessary as such; it is necessary also for all other truths and for the whole truth in its wholeness. All truths are reciprocally necessary and are determined by each other. All of them reveal the unique truth and, as it were, are derived from its fullness. |
| That the present world is not eternal was prophesied even by the Psalmist when he cried out to God: “In the beginning, O Lord, Thou didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou abidest; and all like a garment shall grow old, and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them, and they shall be changed” ( Psalm 101:25–27 ). And the Lord Jesus Christ said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away” (Matt. 24:35). The end of the world will consist not in its total destruction and annihilation, but in a complete change and renewal of it. The Fifth Ecumenical Council, in refuting various false teachings of the Origenists, solemnly condemned also their false teaching that the material world would not merely be transformed, but would be totally annihilated. As for those men whom the coming of the Lord will find alive on earth, according to the word of the Apostle they will be instantly changed, exactly in the same way that the resurrected dead will be changed: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” ( 1Cor. 15:51–5 3). The universal judgment. There are numerous testimonies in Sacred Scripture of the actuality and indisputability of the future Universal Judgment: John 5:22, 27–29 ; Matt. 16:27; 7:21–23; 11:22, 24; 12:36, 41–42; 13:37–43; 19:28–30; 24:30; 25:31–46; Acts 17:31; Jude 14–15; 2Cor. 5:10 ; Rom. 2:5–7; 14:10 , 1Cor. 4:5 ; Eph. 6:8 ; Col. 3:24–25; 2Thes. 1:6–10 ; 2Tim. 4:1 ; Apoc. 20:11–15. Of these testimonies the most complete picture of this Last Judgment by the Saviour is given in Matthew 25:31–46 (“When the Son of Man shall come in His glory...”) In accordance with this picture we may draw conclusions regarding the characteristics of the judgment. It will be: universal, that is, extending to all men living and dead, good and evil, and according to other indications given in the word of God, even to the fallen angels themselves (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6); solemn and open , for the Judge will appear in all His glory with all His holy angels before the face of the whole world; strict and terrible, performed in all the justice of God – it will be “a day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” ( Rom. 2:5 ). |
| “The grace of God does not enslave the conscience and freedom of man – but, having revealed to him the love of God and the horror of sin, it leaves it up to man to strive towards this love and… communion with it.” 1.12 No one can ever be assured of salvation. The early Church did not believe that baptism guarantees one salvation: “…After we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized [illuminated] person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation .” (St. Justin the Martyr, First Apology, Chapter 65). Again, it is worth noting that the everlasting salvation is linked to one’s works. Even Apostle Paul himself did not feel that his salvation was guaranteed: “…Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Romans 13:11) – “nearer” but not a “done deal”. “So fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:26-27). We notice immediately that for the Apostle the possibility of his salvation was tied to his ascetic feats. “…If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended…” (Philippians 3:11-13). The Scripture does say that it is possible for someone, after he has believed, to fall away from faith and lose his salvation: “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them” (2 Peter 2:20-21). This is the reason why the Church never glorifies any living person as a Saint. |
| Of great significance as well is the fact that the fruits of the disciples’ labors on Pentecost was the addition to the Church of about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:41) Here we begin to understand what our Lord meant when He told His chosen ones that they would henceforth be fishers of men. Hearing about such a large number of individuals brought into the Church by Peter and the eleven, we recall that during Christ’s earthly ministry it was only when the disciples obeyed His will that they caught such an enormous catch of fish that their " net brake. " (Luke 5:4) " Blessed art Thou, O Christ our God, Who hast shown forth the fishermen as supremely wise by sending down upon them the Holy Spirit, and through them didst draw the world into Thy net. O Befriender of man, glory be to Thee. " (Troparion for the Feast). What happened on that fiftieth day after our Lord’s resurrection was the filling of the disciples with the Holy Spirit, their transformation into the Church. Pentecost is the day of the Church’s founding. From this point in time the disciples were empowered to do what our Lord told them: " As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. " (John 20:21) The record of what the disciples did from the day of their " empowerment " is clearly a matter of history. We know that even in St. Paul’s time the Gospel had gone as far as Spain in the West and we are told as far as India in the East. By the beginning of the fourth century the Emperor Constantine not only stopped the persecution of Christians but gave the Church an official status. Christians to some measure, by this time, occupied every city and town. And there were still those who were willing, if necessary, to give their lives for Christ. From that time as well, the Church never lost its conviction that Jesus had given it the strict mandate to " catch " the entire world, to bring all men into His net. The disciples — and those who came after them — were convinced that their message, committed to them by Christ, was vital, a matter of life or death. This is why they were able to convince so many, because they themselves were convinced. |
| Once more God has acted. «Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain; Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that He should be holden of it» (Acts 2:23–24, the words of St. Peter). Once more Life came out of the grave. Christ is risen, He came forth out of His grave, as a Bridegroom out of his chamber. And with Him the whole human race, all men indeed, was raised. He is the first fruits of them that slept, and all are to follow Him in their own order ( I Cor. 15:20, 23 ). «That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord» ( Rom. 5:21 ). The prophecy of Ezekiel is read in the Orthodox Church at Matins on Great Saturday, at that glorious office at which believers are invited to keep a watch at the grave of the Lord, at that Sacred and Holy Grave out of which Life sprung abundantly for all Creation. In the beautiful hymns and anthems, appointed for the day, the " encomia» – one of the most precious creations of devotional poetry – this tremendous mystery is depicted and adored: Life laid down in the grave, Life shining forth out of the grave. «For lo, He who dwelleth on high is numbered among the dead and is lodged in the narrow grave» (The Canon, Ode 8, Irmos). The faithful are called to contemplate and to adore this mystery of the Life-bearing and Life-bringing tomb. And yet, the old prophecy is still a prophecy, or rather both a prophecy and a witness. Life came forth from the grave, but the fulness of life is still to come. The human race, even the redeemed, even the Church itself, are still in the valley of the shadow of death. The house of the New Israel of God is again very much like dry bones. There is so little true life in all of us. The historical path of man is still tragic and insecure. All of us have been, in recent years, driven back into the valley of death. |
| Sacred Scripture. By “sacred scripture” are to be understood those books written by the holy Prophets and Apostles under the action of the Holy Spirit; therefore they are called “divinely inspired” They are divided into books of the Old Testament and the books of the New Testament. The Church recognizes 38 books of the Old Testament. After the example of the Old Testament Church (Although the Church in the strict sense was established only at the coming of Christ (see Matt.16:18), there was in a certain sense a “Church” in the Old Testament also, composed of all those who looked with hope to the coming of the Messiah. After the death of Christ on the Cross, when He descended into hell and “preached unto the spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:19), He brought up the righteous ones of the Old Testament with Him into Paradise, and to this day the Orthodox Church celebrates the feast days of the Old Testament Forefathers, Patriarchs, and prophets as equal to the saints of New Testament.), several of these books are joined to form a single book, bringing the number to twenty-two books, according to the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. (The 22 “canonical” books of the Old Testament are: 1. Genesis, 2. Exodus, 3. Leviticus, 4. Numbers, 5. Deuteronomy, 6. Joshua, 7. Judges and Ruth considered as one, 8. First and Second Kings (called First and Second Samuel in the King James Version), 9. Third and Fourth Kings (First and Second Kings in the KJV), 10. First and Second Paralipomena (First and Second Chronicles in the KJV), 11. First Esdras (Ezra) and Nehemiah, 12. Esther, 13. Job, 14. Psalms, 15. Proverbs, 16. Ecclesiastes, 17. The Song of Songs, 18. Isaiah, 19. Jeremiah, 20. Ezekiel, 21. Daniel, 22. The Twelve Prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi). This is the list given by St. John Damascene in the Exact Exposition of the Christian Faith, p. 375) These books, which were entered at some time into the Hebrew canon, are called “canonical.” (The word “canonical” here has a specialized meaning with reference to the books of Scripture, and thus must be distinguished from the more usual use of the word in the Orthodox Church, where it refers not to the “canon” of Scripture, but to “canons” or laws proclaimed at church councils. |
| For He who chose the world out of the world, effected for Himself, instead of finding, what He should choose: for there is a remnant saved according to the election of grace. And if by grace, he adds, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. Romans 11:5–6 4. But if we are asked about the love which is borne to itself by that world of perdition which hates the world of redemption; we reply, it loves itself, of course, with a false love, and not with a true. And hence, it loves itself falsely, and hates itself truly. For he that loves wickedness, hates his own soul. And yet it is said to love itself, inasmuch as it loves the wickedness that makes it wicked; and, on the other hand, it is said to hate itself, inasmuch as it loves that which causes it injury. It hates, therefore, the true nature that is in it, and loves the vice: it hates what it is, as made by the goodness of God, and loves what has been wrought in it by freewill. And hence also, if we rightly understand it, we are at once forbidden and commanded to love it: thus, we are forbidden, when it is said to us, Love not the world; 1 John 2:15 and we are commanded, when it is said to us, Love your enemies. Luke 6:27 These constitute the world that hates us. And therefore we are forbidden to love in it that which it loves in itself; and we are enjoined to love in it what it hates in itself, namely, the workmanship of God, and the various consolations of His goodness. For we are forbidden to love the vice that is in it, and enjoined to love the nature, while it loves the vice in itself, and hates the nature: so that we may both love and hate it in a right manner, whereas it loves and hates itself perversely. Tractate 88 (John 15:20–21) 1. The Lord, in exhorting His servants to endure with patience the hatred of the world, proposes to them no greater and better example than His own; seeing that, as the Apostle Peter says, Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps. |
| According to tradition, both Peter and Paul died in this persecution. Since Luke does not mentioned either the persecution or their death at the end of the book of Acts, evangelical Christian scholars think that Acts must have been written before this persecution, during the two years that Luke was with Paul in Rome. If this is true, then Acts would have been written in 62–63 AD, and Luke would have written his Gospel around 60 AD while waiting for Paul to be tried in Palestine. Lukés qualifications as a collector In Colossians 4:14 the Apostle Paul says of him that, «Luke, the physician...sends greetings». This, plus the quality of his Greek writing, shows him to have been an educated person. He accompanied Paul personally on at least two occasions, once for a short time from Troas in Turkey to Philippi in Greece (Acts 16:10 to 16:40), and again for several years when he traveled with Paul from Philippi to Jerusalem, waited with Paul through more than two years of imprisonment in Palestine, and then waited with him another two years during Paul " s imprisonment in Rome (Acts 20:6 to Acts 28:31). While in Jerusalem and Palestine, Luke had the opportunity to talk with many people who knew Jesus, including James the half-brother of Jesus . Luke describes his meeting with James in these words, «The next day Paul and the rest of US went to see James, and all the elders.» Acts 21:18 (capitals mine) James, as a full son of Mary and Joseph would have known about Jesus» miraculous birth and how he worked with Joseph in the carpenter shop. Luke is the only writer to tell of Jesus» conversation with the teachers in the Temple at the age of 12 (Luke 2:41–50), a fact which he could have easily learned from James. It is recorded in I Corinthians 15:7 that after Jesus rose from the dead he appeared to James. Obviously when Luke saw James, he would have asked James about this appearance and what Jesus said to him. In addition to asking James, if Mary was still alive Luke would have been able to ask her personally about the miraculous birth of the Messiah. For Luke is the only writer who tells how the Angel Gabriel spoke to Mary and said, |
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