| 2. Was God Once a Man Like Us? The Bible teaches and orthodox Christians through the ages have believed that God is Spirit (John 4:24; 1 Timothy 6:15,16), He is not a man (Numbers 23:19; Hosea 11:9; Romans 1:22, 23), and has always (eternally) existed as God — all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere present (Psalm 90:2; 139:7-10; Isaiah 40:28; Luke 1:37). By contrast, the Mormon Church teaches that God the Father was once a man like us who progressed to become a God and has a body of flesh and bone (Doctrine and Covenants 130:22; " God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! " from Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 345-347; Gospel Principles, p. 9; Articles of Faith, p. 430; Mormon Doctrine, p. 321). Indeed, the Mormon Church teaches that God himself has a father, and a grandfather, ad infinitum (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 373; Mormon Doctrine, p. 577). 3. Are Jesus and Satan Spirit Brothers? The Bible teaches and orthodox Christians through the ages have believed that Jesus is the unique Son of God; he has always existed as God, and is co-eternal and co-equal with the Father (John 1:1, 14; 10:30; 14:9; Colossians 2:9). While never less than God, at the appointed time He laid aside the glory He shared with the Father (John 17:4, 5; Philippians 2:6-11) and was made flesh for our salvation; His incarnation was accomplished through being conceived supernaturally by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin (Matthew 1:18-23; Luke 1:34-35). By contrast, the Mormon Church teaches that Jesus Christ is our elder brother who progressed to godhood, having first been procreated as a spirit child by Heavenly Father and a heavenly mother; He was later conceived physically through intercourse between Heavenly Father and the virgin Mary (D&C 93:21; Journal of Discourses, 1:50-51; Gospel Principles, p. 11-13; Achieving a Celestial Marriage, p. 129; Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pp. 546-547; 742; Ezra Taft Benson, Come unto Christ, p. 4; Robert L. Millet, The Mormon Faith: Understanding Restored Christianity, p. 31). Mormon doctrine affirms that Jesus, all angels, Lucifer, all demons, and all human beings are originally spirit brothers and sisters (Abraham 3:22-27; Moses 4:1-2; Gospel Principles, pp. 17-18; Mormon Doctrine, p. 192). |
| 2. For neither do we hold a Son-Father, as do the Sabellians, calling Him of one but not of the same essence, and thus destroying the existence of the Son. Neither do we ascribe the passible body which He bore for the salvation of the whole world to the Father. Neither can we imagine three Subsistences separated from each other, as results from their bodily nature in the case of men, lest we hold a plurality of gods like the heathen. But just as a river, produced from a well, is not separate, and yet there are in fact two visible objects and two names. For neither is the Father the Son, nor the Son the Father. For the Father is Father of the Son, and the Son, Son of the Father. For like as the well is not a river, nor the river a well, but both are one and the same water which is conveyed in a channel from the well to the river, so the Father " s deity passes into the Son without flow and without division. For the Lord says, «I came out from the Father and have come» ( John 16:28 ). But He is ever with the Father, for He is in the bosom of the Father, nor was ever the bosom of the Father void of the deity of the Son. For He says, »I was by Him as one setting in order» ( Proverbs 8:30 ). But we do not regard God the Creator of all, the Son of God, as a creature, or thing made, or as made out of nothing, for He is truly existent from Him who exists, alone existing from Him who alone exists, in as much as the like glory and power was eternally and conjointly begotten of the Father. For «He that has seen» the Son »has seen the Father ( John 14:9 ). All things to wit were made through the Son; but He Himself is not a creature, as Paul says of the Lord: «In Him were all things created, and He is before all» (Colossians 1:16). Now He says not, »was created» before all things, but «is» before all things. To be created, namely, is applicable to all things, but »is before all» applies to the Son only. 3. He is then by nature an Offspring, perfect from the Perfect, begotten before all the hills ( Proverbs 8:25 ), that is before every rational and intelligent essence, as Paul also in another place calls Him «first-born of all creation» (Colossians 1:15). |
| There are three characteristics ways in which this unity is described by the Greek Fathers. The first is in terms of communion: “The unity [of the three] lies in the communion of the Godhead” as St. Basil the Great puts it (On the Holy Spirit 45). The emphasis here on communion acts as a safeguard against any tendency to see the three persons as simply different manifestations of the one nature; if they were simply different modes in which the one God appears, then such an act of communion would not be possible. The similar way of expressing the divine unity is in terms of “coinherence” (perichoresis): the Father, Son and Holy Spirit indwell in one another, totally transparent and interpenetrated by the other two. This idea clearly stems from Christ’s words in the Gospel of John: I am in the Father and the Father in Me (14:11). Having the Father dwelling in HIm in this way, Christ reveals to us the Father, He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). The third way in which the total unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is manifest is in their unity of work or activity. Unlike three human beings who, at best, can only cooperate, the activity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one. God works, according to the image of St. Irenaeus, with His two Hands, the Son and the Spirit. More importantly, “the work of God,” according to St. Irenaeus, “is the fashioning of man” into the image and likeness of God (Against the Heretics 5.15.2), a work which embraces, inseparably, both creation and salvation, for it is only realized in and by the crucified and risen One: the will of the Father is effected by the Son in the Spirit. Such, then, is how the Greek Fathers, following Scripture, maintained that there is but one God, whose Son and Spirit are equally God, in a unity of essence and of existence, without compromising the uniqueness of the one true God. The question remains, of course, concerning the point of such reflection. There are two directions for answering the question. There are two directions for answering the question. Theological reflection is, to begin with, an attempt to answer the central question posed by Christ Himself: Who do you say that I am? (Matthew 16:15). Yet at the same time, it also indicates the destiny to which we are also called, the glorious destiny of those who suffer with Christ, who have been conformed to the image of His Son, the first-born, of many brethren (Romans 8:29). What Christ is as first-born, we too may enjoy, in Him, when we also enter into the communion of love: The glory which though hast given me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one (John 17:22). Source: Ora et Labora |
| As with all questions of this kind, the apostolic Tradition and the practice of the apostles provide the answers we need. St. Paul, for example, was not shy about denouncing error when he encountered it as he did his work. But his work was not battling the errors that filled the world, but glorifying Christ and building up His Church. Denunciation was something of a side-line—he would swat mosquitoes when they landed on him prepared to bite, but he did not go about chasing the world’s mosquitoes. Or, to vary the metaphor, he would confront the demonic when he met it in his ministry (see Acts 16:16-18), but he did not charge about in every direction like Don Quixote tilting at windmills trying to exorcise every demon in the world. Such a task would be too great for any man—and would result in the loss of one’s peace, and possibly of one’s mind. It is this peace that we must maintain at all costs, and we must let this peace act as arbiter in our hearts (Colossians 3:15). There is a time for everything, including for measured denunciation. But after we have spoken the truth with serenity of heart, we must return to our place, rooted in the peace of Christ. When faced with grievous error and staggering stupidity, I am often reminded of a line in Woody Allen’s film Annie Hall . In this film, Woody’s character was talking with Annie’s younger brother Duane (played by a young Christopher Walken), who was sharing with him in detail his surreal and pathological fantasy of suicide by car crash. After a moment of silent reflection Woody’s character responded, “Well, I have to go now, Duane, because I’m due back on the planet earth.” I sometimes feel like this when dealing with the insanities of the world. After speaking my piece, I have to go, and happily leave the insanity behind. Like Woody’s character in Annie Hall , I am due back on the planet earth. Or, to quote the more stately words of St. Paul, “What have I to do with judging outsiders?” (1 Corinthians 5:12) Like the apostle, I will speak the truth about error and sin. But I will not let self-righteous rage eat me up, or devote my whole life to dealing with them or to anything other than glorifying the Lord and helping to build up His Church. I cannot spend all my energies going toe to toe with craziness. I am due back on a saner place—perhaps not the planet earth, but the Kingdom of God, for that Kingdom is the source of all the world’s sanity and the world’s peace. |
| For it was fitting that while «through Him» all things came into being at the beginning, »in Him» (note the change of phrase) all things should be set right cf. John 1:3 , Ephesians 1:10. For at the beginning they came into being «through» Him; but afterwards, all having fallen, the Word has been made Flesh, and put it on, in order that »in Him» all should be set right. Suffering Himself, He gave us rest, hungering Himself, He nourished us, and going down into Hades He brought us back thence. For example, at the time of the creation of all things, their creation consisted in a fiat, such as «let [the earth] bring forth,» »let there be» Genesis 1:3, 11 , but at the restoration it was fitting that all things should be «delivered» to Him, in order that He might be made man, and all things be renewed in Him. For man, being in Him, was quickened: for this was why the Word was united to man, namely, that against man the curse might no longer prevail. This is the reason why they record the request made on behalf of mankind in the seventy-first Psalm: »Give the King Your judgment, O God?» Psalm 72:1 : asking that both the judgment of death which hung over us may be delivered to the Son, and that He may then, by dying for us, abolish it for us in Himself. This was what He signified, saying Himself, in the eighty-seventh Psalm: «Your indignation lies hard upon me» Psalm 88:7 . For He bore the indignation which lay upon us, as also He says in the hundred and thirty-seventh: »Lord, You shall do vengeance for me» Psalm 137:8 . Thus, then, we may understand all things to have been delivered to the Saviour, and, if it be necessary to follow up understanding by explanation, that has been delivered unto Him which He did not previously possess. For He was not man previously, but became man for the sake of saving man. And the Word was not in the beginning flesh, but has been made flesh subsequently cf. John 1:1 sqq., in which Flesh, as the Apostle says, He reconciled the enmity which was against us Colossians 1:20, 2:14, Ephesians 2:15–16 and destroyed the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might make the two into one new man, making peace, and reconcile both in one body to the Father. |
| Then we must set out the significance of a doctrine for the period in which it emerged. What problems were met by those who first gave expression to the new doctrine and what conceptual means were available to them to meet these new challenges? Christian theology must always set out a plausible account of the development of each doctrine, so we need a set of principles by which we can interpret doctrine as a whole. We have to ask how Christ was worshipped and encountered within the Church. Then we have to relate the teaching of the Church to the problems faced by each historical period, and by making explicit the relationships between each Christian doctrine and the human search for love, freedom, and the hope of overcoming death, we have to relate our doctrine to the deepest problems of our own contemporaries. Though this is the job of theological ethics, theologians must at least offer the principles by which ethicists can tackle this task. Finally we must establish the relationship of doctrine to the wider contemporary issue of knowledge, particularly as it is posed by philosophy and the natural sciences. 2. The Purpose of Doctrine Christian doctrine is the teaching of the Church. ‘Doctrine’ simply means ‘what is taught’, from the Latin doceo, to teach. Dogma, the word used by the Greek Fathers, comes from dokein, ‘seeming’ or ‘believing’, derived originally from that which was good or right. So dogma is related to belief, consensus, faith, principles and a wide range of similar meanings. So Plato refers to ‘making use of the many dogmas and words’ (Sophist 256C). From this original sense of ‘personal opinion’ the term was used of various views of the philosophical schools, so when Plutarch talked of ‘the dogmas about the soul’ (Ethica 14B) he meant the wide range of teachings offered by ancient philosophy on this subject. This term was also employed to signify the decisions or decrees that bore the authority of the state, and so it meant something authoritative. In Plato’s Laws for example we read of ‘the city dogma’ (Laws 644D), and in the Gospel of Luke ‘a decree (dogma) was issued by Caesar Augustus to conduct a census of the population’ (Luke 2.1). In the Old Testament and Judaism, it had a legal or mandatory sense. The Apostle Paul says that Christ has ‘cancelled the written dogmas that were against you’ (Colossians 2.14) and that Christ has abolished the enmity in his Body, by ‘abolishing the dogma of the law of the commandments’ (Ephesians 2.15). For Luke, dogma has a positive sense: ‘As they passed through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees (dogmas) approved by the apostles and the elders’ (Acts 16.4). So ‘dogma’ came to refer to authoritative decisions about the faith, received by the Church and linked to the presence and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For example, in a conciliar letter quoted in Acts, the Apostles wrote, ‘It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us’ (Acts 15.28). |
| Each theophany in the Old Testament was thus really an encounter with the pre-incarnate Word of God, but each encounter also revealed the Father to all. For Christ is the image of the Father. “He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:15-16). Fr. St. Irenaeus, Christ is now obvious in the Old Testament texts. He reads the Torah (Pentateuch) as a typology and preparation for the coming of Jesus the Christ. Joshua, the protégé of Moses, shares the same name as Jesus in the Old Testament. Thus everything Joshua does prefigures Christ and is thus prophecy. “Take unto you Joshua (Ιησον) the son of Nun.” (Numbers 27:18) For it was proper that Moses should lead the people out of Egypt, but that Jesus (Joshua) should lead them into the inheritance. Also that Moses, as was the case with the law, should cease to be, but that Joshua (Ιησον), as the word, and no untrue type of the Word made flesh (νυποσττου), should be a preacher to the people. Then again, [it was fit] that Moses should give manna as food to the fathers, but Joshua wheat; as the first-fruits of life, a type of the body of Christ, as also the Scripture declares that the manna of the Lord ceased when the people had eaten wheat from the land.(Joshua 5:12)” (St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies and Fragments, Kindle Loc. 9079-89) The books of the Old Testament clearly witness to Christ, but do so by hiding Christ in the very text which records the events of the Old Testament as well as in the events and people of the Tanahk. Jesus Christ has fully revealed the meaning of the Old Testament. His image, found on every page of the Scriptures, is now obvious to all of those who are in Christ. “For every prophecy, before its fulfilment, is to men [full of] enigmas and ambiguities. But when the time has arrived, and the prediction has come to pass, then the prophecies have a clear and certain exposition. And for this reason, indeed, when at this present time the law is read to the Jews, it is like a fable; for they do not possess the explanation of all things pertaining to the advent of the Son of God, which took place in human nature; but when it is read by the Christians, it is a treasure, hid indeed in a field, but brought to light by the cross of Christ, and explained, both enriching the understanding of men, and showing forth the wisdom of God and declaring His dispensations with regard to man, and forming the kingdom of Christ beforehand… ” (St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies and Fragments, Kindle Loc. 6354-59) Fr. Ted's Blog Fr. Ted Bobosh 3 ноября 2016 г. Подпишитесь на рассылку Православие.Ru Рассылка выходит два раза в неделю: Смотри также Комментарии Мы в соцсетях Подпишитесь на нашу рассылку |
| When was the last time you heard a sermon or read an article or blog post on Romans chapter 16? Apart from Rom. 16:1, which describes Phoebe as “a diakonos of the church which is at Cenchrea” (the darling verse of those advocating the restoration of an order of deaconesses), most people pretty much ignore the whole chapter, which consists largely of a list of names of people in the Roman church to whom Paul sends greetings. Greet Prisca and Aquila, greet Epaenetus, greet Mary, greet Andronicus and Junia, greet Ampliatus. The list goes on and on, and most people give it no more attention than they do names in a phone book. As far as most people are concerned, the Epistle to the Romans pretty much ends at the end of chapter 15. That is unfortunate, for there is a hidden significance in all those names—namely that Paul knew of all those people and had enough of a relationship with them that he wanted to pass along his greetings. We see this concern for personal relationships throughout the New Testament. In his epistles to the Corinthians, Paul sends greetings, and bids them “greet one another with a holy kiss” (1 Cor. 16:20). In his epistle to the Philippians, he urges Euodia and Syntyche to live harmoniously (i.e. to stop fighting), and enlists the help of another person in the community there to make sure this happens (Phil. 4:2-3). In his epistle to the Colossians, Paul sends greetings to a number of people, and bids the Colossians greet the Christians in the neighbouring city of Laodicea (Col. 4:15). We see the same concern for personal relationships in the local Christian communities in the writings of John, for when he asks Gaius to greet the people in his community on John’s behalf, he says, “greet the friends by name ” (3 Jn. 14). It is clear that these Christian churches were places where everyone knew everyone else, and had a relationship with them. We see this personalism continuing in the church during those early centuries prior to the Peace of the Church. |
| Saint Peter instructs Christians to be ready at all times to bear witness of their hope in Christ (1 Peter 3:15). Do our lives draw others to salvation? Or perhaps push them away from God? Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (6th Century) “A Spring of Water Welling up to Eternal Life” The expansion of Christianity, the salvation of mankind, has been carried out, from the time of Christ and St. Photini until now, by the one-on-one contact of individual Christians with non-Christian populations. The lay people, as well as clergy and monastics, young and old, by their daily contacts with those outside the Church are in a position to bear witness to the present reality of the Gospel of salvation. They are the ones who themselves, transformed by the Gospel, have done all manner of good works and contributed positively to the stability and moral fiber of society. The expansion of the Church has most often been a grassroots movement of spreading the faith from person to person by means of practical works and verbal witness. St. Photini, following Jesus’ example, brings together the two aspects of being a living witness—proclamation and good works—the illuminating light and preserving salt of which Christ speaks (Matthew 5:12–16). The light of their life, their proclamation and good works, shines into the darkness of a broken world and causes others to glorify God. Saint Paul confirms this by teaching all believers that their lives should be characterized by moral excellence and good works, and that their speech should be a proclamation of the truth marked by “grace and seasoned with salt”—as a witness to those seeking the truth (Colossians 4:5–6). Saint Peter speaks of the same two themes, insisting that a Christian’s conduct be such that the non-Christians see the good works done by the believers and glorify God because of it (1 Peter 2:11–22). He also instructs Christians to be ready at all times to bear witness of their hope in Christ (1 Peter 3:15). Do our lives draw others to salvation? Or perhaps push them away from God? |
| The Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Humble Comments and Suggestions The feast of the Circumcision of the Lord. Above: St. Basil the Great, commemorated the same day (January 1/14) On January 1, eight days after the Holy Nativity of our Lord, we celebrate His Circumcision, one of the Feasts of the Lord, on which—in accordance with Hebrew tradition—He received the name " Jesus " : " And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the Child, His name was called Jesus, which was so named of the Angel before He was conceived in the womb " (St. Luke 2:21). The true descendants of the Patriarch Abraham were separated from the other nations by the sign of circumcision (a prefigurement of Baptism: " the circumcision made without hands " [Colossians 2:11ff]) and thereby became members of the God-ruled community of the Old Testament; that is, through circumcision, they entered among the chosen People of God. Christ was now " made under the law, " being conformed to the prescriptions of the Mosaic Law (Galatians 4:4) and " fulfilling " the Law (St. Matthew 3:15), in order to elevate the Church of the Law into a Church of Grace, into a new " Israel of God " ( cf. Galatians 6:16), into a Theanthropic organism—into His Body. The Circumcision of our Lord inspired our Holy Church to institute a beautiful and deeply symbolic custom for the newborn children of Christians: at eight days, the Priest reads the " Prayer for the Signing of a Child Who is Receiving a Name on the Eighth Day After His Birth " (see the Small Evchologion ); in such a way the first " Seal " of Grace is given to the infant: " Let the light of Thy countenance be signed upon Thy servant (name), and let the Cross of Thine Only-begotten Son be signed in his heart and his thoughts.... " 1) A worthy thing it would be were parents not to neglect this most blessed tradition of our most Holy Orthodox Church, so that newborn children might immediately be " sealed " in Christ through the blessing of a Priest. |
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