| 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? |
| 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 |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Wherefore Paul says, Whom no man has seen, nor can see. 1 Timothy 6:16 Does then this special attribute belong to the Father only, not to the Son? Away with the thought. It belongs also to the Son; and to show that it does so, hear Paul declaring this point, and saying, that He is the Image of the invisible God. Colossians 1:15 Now if He be the Image of the Invisible, He must be invisible Himself, for otherwise He would not be an image. And wonder not that Paul says in another place, God was manifested in the Flesh 1 Timothy 3:16; because the manifestation took place by means of the flesh, not according to (His) Essence. Besides, Paul shows that He is invisible, not only to men, but also to the powers above, for after saying, was manifested in the Flesh, he adds, was seen of angels. 2. So that even to angels He then became visible, when He put on the Flesh; but before that time they did not so behold Him, because even to them His Essence was invisible. How then, asks some one, did Christ say, " Despise not one of these little ones, for I tell you, that their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven»? Matthew 18:10 Hath then God a face, and is He bounded by the heavens? Who so mad as to assert this? What then is the meaning of the words? As when He says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God Matthew 5:8, He means that intellectual vision which is possible to us, and the having God in the thoughts; so in the case of angels, we must understand that by reason of their pure and sleepless nature they do nothing else, but always image to themselves God. And therefore Christ says, that No man knows the Father, save the Son. Matthew 10:27 What then, are we all in ignorance? God forbid; but none knows Him as the Son knows Him. As then many have seen Him in the mode of vision permitted to them, but no one has beheld His Essence, so many of us know God, but what His substance can be none knows, save only He that was begotten of Him. For by knowledge He here means an exact idea and comprehension, such as the Father has of the Son. |
| 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). |
| However, methodologically speaking it may represent a kind of lack in Justin’s approach of Western Christianity, as Bishop Maxim (Vasiljevic) noted. Justin’s methodology was based on the communion with the incarnated historical God-man as he noted: 33 “‘Gospel not according to man ’ (Galatians 1:11). There is nothing ‘ according to man ’: neither content, nor method; since nothing can be measured by man nor ‘according to man’. Everything (should be) in accordance with the God-man: therefore—(it is) irreducible to humanism or its methods, but everything (should be measured) according to the God-man and man through the God-man.” 34 This does not mean that Fr. Justin was against a thorough work on contemporary theological or any other scholarship, on the contrary, but for this it was essential first to be formed at the school of the Church of Christ in order to obtain the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). 35 But to “obtain the mind of Christ” and to come to the Truth the first thing that has to be done is repentance, “Repentance leading to knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 2:25) . 36 Only then will the Truth, which is Christ God-man Himself, be given for the faith, as Saint Paul stated: first faith, then truth, and at the end love, which is the bond of perfection (Colossians 3:14). From this it becomes apparent that ecumenical dialogue cannot be only a dialogue of love. 37 “Faith is the bearer of truth and Love loves because of the Truth; what was delivered from a lie—deception, love? ‘Love speaking the truth’ (Ephesians 6:15) ‘new’ love: Christ—the God-man: delivers from sins, death, from every evil, from every devil: And it is capable of being eternal because it loves what is eternal in man, above all: The Eternal Truth.” 38 After this first important remark, we may proceed by saying that Justin Popovic in his Notes elaborates his concept of ecumenism on a central difference between any humanistic ecumenism on the one side, and the “Orthodox ecumenism” on the other. |
| 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. |
| We believe in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in the Resurrection of bodies, and in Life everlasting. If now any heathen say, What is this Father, what this Son, what this Holy Ghost? How do you who say that there are three Gods, charge us with having many Gods? What will you say? What will you answer? How will you repel the attack of these arguments? But what if when you are silent, the unbeliever should again propose this other question, and ask, What in a word is resurrection? Shall we rise again in this body? Or in another, different from this? If in this, what need that it be dissolved? What will you answer? And what, if he say, Why did Christ come now and not in old time? Has it seemed good to Him now to care for men, and did He despise us during all the years that are past? Or if he ask other questions besides, more than these? For I must not propose many questions, and be silent as to the answers to them, lest, in so doing, I harm the simpler among you. What has been already said is sufficient to shake off your slumbers. Well then, if they ask these questions, and you absolutely cannot even listen to the words, shall we, tell me, suffer trifling punishment only, when we have been the cause of such error to those who sit in darkness? I wished, if you had sufficient leisure, to bring before you all the book of a certain impure heathen philosopher written against us, and that of another of earlier date, that so at least I might have roused you, and led you away from your exceeding slothfulness. For if they were wakeful that they might say these things against us, what pardon can we deserve, if we do not even know how to repel the attacks made upon us? For what purpose have we been brought forward? Do you not hear the Apostle say, Be ready to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you? 1 Peter 3:15 And Paul exhorts in like manner, saying, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Colossians 3:16 What do they who are more slothful than drones reply to this? Blessed is every simple soul, and, he that walks simply walks surely. |
| Независимо от того, использовалось ли записывание в качестве средства контроля над устной передачей до написания известных нам Евангелий, нет сомнения, что после составления этих Евангелий письменность стала самостоятельным средством сохранения преданий об Иисусе. К данному вопросу мы вернемся в следующей главе. 683 Это почти готов признать M.Dibelius, From Tradition to Gospel (tr. B.L.Woolf; London: Nicholson and Watson, 1934) 15–16, 684 Об этой терминологии см.: M.S.Jaffee, Torah in the Mouth: Wnting and Oral Tradition in Palestinian Judaism 200 bce-400 ce (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001) 73–75, 80. 685 Об этих категориях см., например: В. Gerhardsson, Memory and Manuscript: Oral Transmission and Written Transmission in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity (Lund: Gleerup, 1961) 288–306; P. T. ÓBrien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC 44; Wacö Word, 1982) 105–106; J.D.G.Dunn, The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996) 139–141; он же, TheTheology of Paul the Apostle (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998) 185–195. 686 B. Gerhardsson, «Illuminating the Kingdom: Narrative Meshalim in the Synoptic Gospels,» in H. Wansbrough, ed., Jesus and the Oral Gospel Tradition (JSNTSup 64; Sheffield: Sheffield University Press, 1991) 306. 688 Не будем поднимать здесь вопрос, в какой степени эти несколько строк – точное воспроизведение полученной Павлом традиции. Нет причин отрицать, что традицию представляют собой все стихи 3–7, за исключением, возможно, добавленного Павлом примечания в стихе 6 («из которых многие живы, а некоторые умерли») и сообщения о явлении Воскресшего самому Павлу в стихе 8. 689 Например, J.Héring, The First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (tr. A. W. Heathcote and P.J.Alcock; London: Epworth, 1962) 158. Согласно A. Eriksson, Traditions as Rhetorical Proof [CB(NT) 29; Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1998] 91: «В результате все сходятся на том, что традиция пришла из Иерусалима, однако известную нам форму приняла среди христиан из грекоязычных иудеев». Однако греческая версия может принадлежать и самому Павлу. |
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