| Tweet The Tears of the Apostle Paul His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Kastoria On the Apostle Paul, " the lofty and great ... who was almost incorporeal and the prisoner of Christ's love, " the governor of the Church and the corrector of the ecumene, the educator and father, the tent-maker and landless, as he was characterized by Saint John Chrysostom, will this poor and insignificant discourse deal with. Who was the Apostle Paul? The golden-tongued John describes him: It is he who ran around the world preaching. He overcame his natural needs. He lived as if he had no body. He defeated demons. Even his clothing was able to heal. The devil trembled at his voice and shadow. Even the beasts revered him, and the rough sea feared him. He was a citizen of Paradise. He was raised to the third heaven. He was the chosen vessel. He was the bride leader of the Church. He ran over land and sea. Everywhere he set up trophies of his own bravery. He was a passionate lover of Christ, hotter than fire, stronger than iron, harder than a diamond. We are moved by such a figure. He is the Apostle of our Greek Nation, the Apostle of Europe which is constantly torn apart and its land painted in blood. At this eleventh hour it is worth pausing on a phrase of the great Apostle that captures his anguish as well as his crying and tears on the paper of his epistle: For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with weeping, many live as enemies of the Cross of Christ (Philip. 3:18). 1. " I weep for the enemies of the Cross of Christ. " It is not the first time the Apostle uses such salvific pastorship. For he advised, begged and urged, because he was indeed concerned for all the churches (2 Cor. 11:28), and his sensitive heart resorted to salvific tears which like precious daisies arrived as supplications before the Divine Majesty. We also encounter the tears of the Apostle in the book of the Acts of the Apostles: So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears (20:31). And this cry of the Apostle was for those Christians who rather than choosing the Cross of Christ, which the winged Apostle boasted in ( May I never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world . Gal. 6:14), they chose the spacious path that leads to the loss of eternal life. Not only were they not co-cyrenians of Christ, carrying on their shoulders the Cross, but they became His enemies. |
| Perciò nel matrimonio cristiano sono già eliminate quelle imperfezioni che erano proprie del matrimonio anticotestamentario e che si esprimevano, in particolare, nell’umiliazione della donna. Secondo l’apostolo Paolo, «Nel Signore, né la donna è senza l’uomo, né l’uomo è senza la donna; come infatti la donna deriva dall’uomo, così l’uomo ha vita dalia donna; tutto poi proviene da Dio» ( 1Cor. 11:11–12 ; cfr. Gal. 3:28 ). Il matrimonio del Nuovo Testamento non può più essere poligamo (cfr. 1Cor. 7:2 ); inoltre, persino il reiterare il matrimonio dopo la morte di un coniuge non concorda con l’ideale neotestamentario (cfr. 1Cor. 7:8 ; 1Tim. 3:2, 12 ; Tt. 1:6). Il concetto anticotestamentario di donna come data da Dio «come aiuto» e l’immagine propria dei profeti antichi del matrimonio come Testamento si trasformano a loro volta: in accordo con l’apostolo, il coniuge assegnato al cristiano nel matrimonio è il suo χρισμα, owero il suo «dono» о «carisma» (cfr. 1Cor. 7:7 ) 2 , dono gratuito. Da qui scaturisce il concetto ecclesiastico di matrimonio come azione particolare della grazia, ovvero come sacramento. Questo concetto trova conferma nelle celebri parole tratte dalla lettera dell’apostolo Paolo agli Efesini, che solitamente vengono lette durante la celebrazione del matrimonio e che defmiscono il matrimonio fra cristiani come immagine del «mistero» (μυστριον) dell’unita tra Cristo e la Chiesa (cfr. Ef. 5:32) 3 . Rimanendo pur sempre un matrimonio, istituzione universale che fin dalle origini è insita nella natura dell’uomo, al tempo stesso il matrimonio cristiano è innalzato al livello di una nuova dimensione, poiché esso è matrimonio «nel Signore», dono di grazia e, da ultimo, sacramento che dal suo intimo indica Cristo e la sua Chiesa. 3. L’antropologia cristiana del matrimonio nella tradizione liturgica della Chiesa ortodossa Rivolgiamoci ora alle preghiere della liturgia ortodossa di fidanzamento e matrimonio per chiarire che cosa queste rivelino a proposito delle seguenti questioni: |
| Sin makes a person exceedingly psychologically confused. And nothing makes the confusion go away—nothing except the light of Christ. Christ makes the first move: Come unto me all you who labour… (Mt. 11:28 ) Then we accept this light with our good will, which we express through our love towards Him, through prayer, through our participation in the life of the Church, and through the sacraments. 2 Love always understands the need to make sacrifices Love always understands the need to make sacrifices. Whatever is done under coercion always causes the soul to react with rejection. Love attracts the grace of God. When grace comes, then the gifts of the Holy Spirit come. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-sufferance, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control . (Gal. 5:22-23) These are the things that a healthy soul in Christ should have. With Christ a person is filled with grace and so lives above evil. Evil does not exist for him. There is only good, which is God. Evil cannot exist. While there is light there cannot be darkness. Nor can darkness encompass him because he has the light. 3 Overcoming Depression St. Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) of Kafsokalivia Nowadays people often feel sadness, despair, lethargy, laziness, apathy, and all things satanic. They are downcast, discontent and melancholy. They disregard their families, spend vast sums on psychoanalysts and take anti-depressants. People explain this as “insecurity.” Our religion believes that these states derive from satanic temptation. Pain is a psychological power that God implanted in us with a view to doing us good and leading us to love, joy, and prayer. Instead of this, the devil succeeds in taking this power from the battery of our soul and using it for evil. He transforms it into depression and brings the soul into a state of lethargy and apathy. He torments us, takes us captive and makes us psychologically ill. There is a secret. Turn the satanic energy into good energy. This is difficult and requires some preparation. The requisite preparation is humility. With humility you attract the grace of God. You surrender yourself to the love of God, to worship and to prayer. But even if you do all in the world, you achieve nothing if you haven't acquired humility. All the evil feelings, insecurity, despair and disenchantment, which come to take control of the soul, disappear with humility. The person who lacks humility, the egotist, doesn't want you to get in the way of his desires, to make any criticism of him or tell him what to do. He gets upset, irritated and reacts violently and is overcome by depression. |
| 2 Cor. 4:13/Psalm 116:10 – I believed and so I spoke (past tense). Hebrew – I believe, for I will speak (future tense). 2 Cor. 6:2/Isaiah 49:8 – I have “listened” to you. Hebrew – I have “answered” you. Gal. 3:10/Deut. 27:26 – cursed be every one who does not “abide” by all things. Hebrew – does not “confirm” the words. Gal. 3:13/Deut. 21:23 – cursed is everyone who hangs on a “tree.” Hebrew – a hanged man is accursed. The word “tree” does not follow. Gal. 4:27/Isaiah 54:1 – “rejoice” and “break forth and shout.” Hebrew – “sing” and “break forth into singing.” 2 Tim. 2:19/Num. 16:5 – The Lord “knows” those who are His. Hebrew – God will “show” who are His. Heb. 1:6/Deut. 32:43 – let all the angels of God worship Him. Hebrew – the Masoretic text omits this phrase from Deut. 32:43. Heb. 1:12/Psalm 102:25 – like a “mantle” … “roll them”… “will be changed.” Hebrew – “raiment”… “change”…”pass away.” Heb. 2:7/Psalm 8:5 – thou has made Him a little “lower than angels.” Hebrew – made Him but a little “lower than God.” Heb. 2:12/Psalm 22:22 – I will ” sing” thy praise. Hebrew – I will praise thee. The LXX and most NTs (but not the RSV) have “sing.” Heb. 2:13/Isaiah 8:17 – I will “put my trust in Him.” Hebrew – I will “look for Him.” Heb. 3:15/Psalm 95:8 – do not harden your hearts as “in the rebellion.” Hebrew – harden not your hearts “as at Meribah.” Heb. 3:15; 4:7/Psalm 95:7 – when you hear His voice do not harden not your hearts. Hebrew – oh that you would hear His voice! Heb. 8:9-10/Jer. 31:32-33 – (nothing about husband); laws into their mind. Hebrew – I was a husband; law in their inward parts. Heb. 9:28/Isaiah 10:22 – “to save those” who are eagerly awaiting for Him. Hebrew – a remnant of them “shall return.” Heb. 10:5/Psalm 40:6 – “but a body hast thou prepared for me.” Hebrew – “mine ears hast thou opened.” Heb. 10:38/Hab. 2:3-4 – if he shrinks (or draws) back, my soul shall have no pleasure. Hebrew – his soul is puffed up, not upright. Heb. 11:5/Gen. 5:24 – Enoch was not “found.” Hebrew – Enoch was “not.” |
| “Come unto me through repentance, all you that labor and are heavy laden with sin, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28), bestowing freedom, ease and eternal life upon you. Lamech, who gave Noah this name, because he saw in him Christ, who was later to come from their stock, and would be the comfort of all God-fearing people down through the ages, clearly prophesied through this name concerning Christ. “He called his name Noah”, says the Scripture, “saying, ‘This name shall bring us rest from our works, and from the toils of our hands, and from the earth, which the Lord our God has cursed’” (Gen. 5:29 LXX). These words are not about the flood which came to pass, for Lamech’s death preceded the flood, yet he says that Noah will “bring us rest”, including himself as a partaker in the comfort he foretold. In those days it had not yet come about that in each man “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5) throughout his life, which was why universal destruction of everyone on earth came upon the earth from God. So to whom do his words refer when he says, “He will bring us rest”? He also says, “He shall bring us rest from the earth except Him who opened heaven, raised our nature thither and taught us, through words and deeds, the way up to heaven, calling us towards it? But if the flood too prefigured this rest, it did so by cutting off sins and laying them to rest, not by bringing comfort and ease to sinners. In this way and for these reasons, Noah attained to God’s election. Of his children, Shem was accepted among those chosen to be the blessed family of the Mother of God. That is why, although Japheth also appears to have been well-pleasing to his father, only Shem heard from his father, “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem” (Gen. 9:26), as his progeny was to be divine. For it was from him that Abraham was descended, who was preferred according to God’s election above all Shem’s offspring and was called to be part of the lineage of the Virgin Mother. He was given a new name by God, and received that great promise that all the families of the earth would be blessed in his seed (Gen. 17:5; 12:3). According to Paul, Christ our God, who was born of the Virgin, is his seed according to the flesh (Gal. 3:16). |
| In the Church, dividing walls of our fallen world are broken down, with each person treating and honoring the other as a precious icon, created in the image and likeness of God. In the Church, we are called to love one another—regardless of race, culture, age, or gender—and confess our changeless, Trinitarian faith. In the Church, we are all equally beloved of God, because we are all equally ‘strangers in a foreign land’: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. — Gal. 3:28 Only by opposing both nationalism and racism can Orthodox Christians proclaim the one, true faith. A faith in a loving God who has trampled down death—and all forms of division—by his own death; a faith in a loving God who died and rose again ‘on behalf of all, and for all.’ Gabe Martini 12 мая 2014 г. Смотри также Комментарии Longinus 24 мая 2014, 18:00 The good writer confuses me when, " ...the fall of monarchy ... led even Orthodox Christians into the arms of the nineteenth century’s pseudo-replacement for imperial veneration and identity in Christian faith: nationalism. " Americans do not understand " imperial veneration " , and yet find it so in many churches one may attend. Or is that an error on my part? Some form of " nationalism " may be respectable when it is universal, as in America. The Age of the Empire is surly over and while ill forms of nationalism may exist from time to time, that is truly the fallen nature of our selves and the universe as one finds it. The replacement for veneration is not any person in this world, royal or not. Charles D. Smith 13 мая 2014, 17:00 So true, and a needed thought in our world today. Jesus is for all, of every nation, tribe, ethnos. etc. He is the solution, not the problem, to the evil and pain in the world today. Jesus has not failed and found wanting, as many declare; rather, he not been tried, and that is what has failed... Jesus is a radical but most effective cure for what truly ails people their own self-centeredness... |
| I know that in the past many schisms and not only schisms but also heretical movements were overcome, and their supporters reunited with the Church after repentance and renunciation of their delusions. But as far as I know, in the two-millennia-long history of the Church there are no precedents of schismatics entering the Body of the Church and ascending automatically the highest historical way of life of any Church and joining the assembly of the most glorious and prominent Churches without an interim period of maturity, asceticism, restoration of church morals and way of thinking – all this only thanks to the ‘grace and generosity’ of the first-throne Church. It should be noted that some historical Churches renowned for their spiritual level, witness and contribution, which have never fallen into the abyss of heresy and schism, have not yet received autocephaly and most probably will never receive it. In spite of this, they do not protest or complain or whimper. Therefore, the conclusion offers itself as an oxymoron: it means that as a schismatic community you sooner or later will be acquitted, restored and, moreover, elevated to the status of autocephalous Church. A schism will thus cease to be a cardinal sin and a crime not washed out even by blood but will turn into a mere light mistake easy to heal and, ultimately – O strange miracle! – To be rewarded. Whether we want it or not, but the barrier for a multitude of new schisms is thus removed and the Orthodox Church is running the risk of becoming a vineyard without a fence while causing an irretrievable damage, temptation to conscience and loss of credibility of our Church among both non-Orthodox Christians and non-Christians and non-religious people. I write all this with a great grief and spiritual pain while revering and loving the Great Martyr Church of Christ with all my heart; I speak the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart (Rom. 9:1-2, cf. 2 Cor. 11:31, Gal. 1:20, 1 Tim. 2:7), as a consequence of the recent situation, tension and differences over the healing of wounds inflicted by schisms. At present, schisms, instead of being removed from our milieu, have strangely provoked additional spiritual and mental schisms among the defenders of unity themselves, in the wellbeing and harmonious march of the holy Churches of God. It is for the sake of the assertion of these values that my concern for all the churches (2 Cor. 11:28) fills my heart of a humble Orthodox bishop, so that I as ‘less than the least of all the Lord’s people (Eph. 3:8, cf. 1 Cor. 15:9) cannot be silent in order to avoid possible mean and worthless accusations of infidelity, betrayal, defection, etc. On the contrary, love of the Church of St. Andrew and every Orthodox Church makes me speak up and not to be silent, to say the truth conscientiously and openly. |
| 2:20). The mission of the Church is to secure for her members immortality and eternity, making them partakers of the Divine nature (II Peter 1:4). The mission of the Church is furthermore to create in each member the conviction that the normal condition of the human personality is comprised of immortality and eternity and not temporality and mortality, and that man is a sojourner who through mortality and temporality journeys towards immortality and eternity. The Church is the theanthropic eternity incarnated in the boundaries of time and space. It is in this world, but it is not of this world (John 18:36). It is in this world to elevate this world to the world above, from which she herself came. The Church is ecumenical, catholic, theanthropic, eternal, and for this reason it entails a blasphemy, an unforgivable blasphemy against Christ and the Holy Spirit to make the Church a national institution (institutio), to narrow her to the small, finite, and temporal purposes and methods of a nation. Its purpose is supra-national, ecumenical, panhuman: to unite in Christ all people, completely, regardless of nationality or race or social stratum. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28), because Christ is all, and in all (Col. 3:11). The methods of this panhuman-theanthropic union of all people in Christ have been given by the Church in her holy Mysteries and in her theanthropic words (asceses, virtues). And truly, the Mystery of Divine Eucharist composes and defines and comprises the method of Christ and the means for uniting all people: through this Mystery man is organically united with Christ and with all faithful. Through the personal exercise of the theanthropic virtues-faith, prayer, fasting, love, meekness, and utter compassion and charity-man makes himself firm in this union, he preserves himself in this holiness, he himself lives Christ as the unity of his personality and as the essence of his unity with the other members of the holy Body of Christ, the Church. |
| В собственно Г. сохранялись кельт. язык (до VI в.), ономастика, топонимика, пережитки в области религии и политической организации (по крайней мере до кон. IV в.- Hieron. Ep. ad Gal. 2). Сохранялись и др. местные наречия - фригийское, писидийское, ликаонское. Греч. эпитафий в Г. найдено не много, хотя все надписи рим. эпохи делались по-гречески. Сильный эллинистический элемент в провинции стал причиной того, что римляне часто называли эту область Галлогреция ( Liv. Hist. Rom. 28. 8; Cicero. Harusp. 13. 28). Согласно практике рим. управления, в Г. за полтора века сформировались автономные города-гос-ва: при Августе в собственно Г. на месте древних поселений образовались города Пессинунт, Анкира и Тавия; на юг провинции были выведены 13 колоний рим. ветеранов, в т. ч. 3 города, к-рые посетил св. ап. Павел: Антиохия Писидийская, Иконий, Листра. Провинция управлялась рим. наместником, здесь были расквартированы гарнизоны (при Августе - близ Антиохии Писидийской, с 70 г.- вдоль вост. границы империи на верхнем Евфрате). Древняя «царская дорога», возникшая не позднее VI в. до Р. Х., пересекала Г. с северо-запада на юго-восток, обеспечивая господство Рима над беспокойными племенами гор Тавра и связь с колониями на юге провинции; в сев. части Г. рим. дороги появились в 70-80-х гг. по Р. Х., по мере укрепления границы на Евфрате. Возросла военно-стратегическая роль пути через сев. города, особенно через Анкиру. После 114 г. вост. часть М. Азии, включая Каппадокию, М. Армению и большую часть Понта, стала самостоятельной провинцией, а в Г. сохранилась администрация более низкого ранга, во главе с легатом. Политическое значение центральной Анатолии снизилось, но это не сказалось на росте экономики. Большую часть плато занимали огромные поместья, принадлежавшие имп. дому, сенатской аристократии и чинам гражданского управления; здесь процветала развитая система хозяйства, основанная на скотоводстве. В то же время архитектурный, эпиграфический и археологический материал этого периода демонстрирует расцвет городов. Они обладали всеми элементами, свойственными культуре эллинизма эпохи расцвета Римской империи, вплоть до общественных зданий в классическом стиле. Население городов поклонялось общеэллинистическим и местным божествам (фригийской Великой Матери, анатолийскому божеству Луны). Распространение христианства в Г. |
| Îns pe lâng conflictele interetnice i interreligioase mai exist conflicte de ordin social. Ca i pe timpuri, unul din conflictele din cele mai grele este contrapunerea dintre cei bogai i cei sraci, dintre cei ce stau la putere i cei care aceast putere nu o dein. Acest conflict duce la manifestri ale agresiunii din cele mai complexe – noi cunoatem c anume acest conflict, cel puin în Rusia i Europa, de cele mai dese ori a provocat revoluii i rzboaie civile. Dar actualmente exist un conflict de alt gen – este conflictul dintre so i soie, conflictul în familie, în rezultatul cruia nu doar se arunc în strad orfani nenorocii, având prini în via, dar i se distruge însi instituia familiei, care este supus btii de joc, sarcasmului ca pierzându-i, cic, actualitatea sa. Acest conflict familial trece într-un conflict i mai profund dintre brbai i femei, care încearc într-un fel s-i aranjeze relaiile, dar de cele mai dese ori se strânge i mai mult nodul problemelor i a scârbirilor, legate de ele, precum i legate de alte circumstane ale vieii. Dar ce are a face în aceste cazuri Maria Egipteanca? Este uimitor c anume astzi, de ziua pomenirii Mariei Egipteanca, se cuvine a citi un mic fragment din epistola ctre Galateni, în care apostolul Pavel vorbete despre faptul c Legea a fost cluz spre Hristos (Gal. 3:24). Apostolul a avut în vedere legea Testamentului Vechi, care îndeplinea, conform prerii sale, o anumit funcie de servire: îi pregtea pe oameni pentru Hristos, îns de una singur nu putea aduce mântuirea. Continuându-i gândul, apostolul Pavel spune c odat cu apariia credinei în Hristos totul s-a schimbat, deoarece acei, care în Hristos s-au botezat, în Hristos s-au îmbrcat (Gal. 3:27); iar apoi trage o concluzie din aceast afirmare, care are o importan colosal: ”Nu mai este iudeu, nici elin; nu mai este nici rob, nici liber; nu mai este parte brbteasc i parte femeiasc, pentru c voi toi una suntei în Hristos Iisus” (Gal. 3:28). Prin aceste cuvinte apostolul parc ne spune c nici un fel de lege nu poate regla relaiile interetnice, fie ele între elini (pgâni), iudei, caucazieni, rui sau alte triburi i popoare. Adresându-se vou, el zice c nici un fel de lege nu este în stare s regleze relaiile dintre robi i oamenii liberi, sau, referitor la viaa noastr, dintre cei bogai, care dein puterea, i cei care puterea nu o au. |
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