| El venidero juicio del mundo y de la humanidad (escatología cristiana) E l símbolo de la fe (credo) Niceo-Constantinopolitano en los párrafos 7, 11, 12 contiene la doctrina de la fe ortodoxa sobre la futura venida del Hijo de Dios a la tierra, el temible juicio universal y la futura vida eterna. Artículo 7: vendrá otra vez con gloria, a juzgar a los vivos y a los muertos, y su reino no tendrá fin. Artículo 11: Espero la resurrección de los muertos. Artículo 12: y la vida del siglo venidero. Amén. En la acción Divina están trazados los planes del futuro hasta el final de los siglos. Una parte indivisible de la doctrina cristiana consiste en que la palabra de Dios nos habla sobre los acontecimientos de los últimos tiempos: la segunda venida del Señor, la resurrección de los muertos y el fin del mundo. Y seguidamente, el comienzo del reino de la Gloria y la vida eterna. La última parte de la teología dogmática habla sobre la culminación de ese gran proceso, cuyo principio está expresado en la primera página del libro del Génesis. El destino del hombre después de la muerte La muerte es el destino común de los hombres. Pero, ella no es la aniquilación del hombre, sino solamente la separación del alma y del cuerpo. La verdad sobre la inmortalidad del alma humana es una de las verdades fundamentales del cristianismo. «Dios no es el Dios de los muertos, sino de los vivos, ya que en Él todos están vivos.» En las Sagradas Escrituras del Nuevo Testamento la muerte es llamada «la partida del alma» («que después de mi partida vosotros podáis en todo momento tener memoria de estas cosas,» 2 Ped. 1:15), liberación del alma de su prisión ( 2Cor. 5:1 ), separación del cuerpo («sabiendo que en breve debo abandonar mi cuerpo,» 2 Ped. 1:14), separación («deseo irme y estar con Cristo, lo cual es muchísimo mejor» Fil. 1:23), partida ( " el tiempo de mi partida esta cercano» 2Tim 4:6 ), Dormición («David…. durmió, y fue reunido con sus padres» Hech. 13:36). Según el claro testimonio de la Palabra de Dios, el estado del alma después de la muerte no es inconsciente, sino consciente, (por ejemplo, la parábola del rico y Lázaro). El hombre después de la muerte está sometido al juicio denominado particular, a diferencia del último juicio universal. «Es fácil al Señor, el día de la muerte pagar a cada uno según su proceder» dice la Sabiduría de Sirac (Eclesiástico 11:26). Lo mismo expresa el Santo Apóstol Pablo : «Está establecido para los hombres que mueran una sola vez, y después de esto el juicio» (Heb. 9:27). El Apóstol expresa que el juicio sigue directamente después de la muerte del hombre, comprendiendo, evidentemente, no el juicio universal, sino el particular, según lo interpretan los Santos Padres de la Iglesia. |
| 20e 1144D If then he knows how, with great attention, to be vigilant over his own gift, and cultivates the goods that are beyond nature and time through ascetic struggle and contemplation, he has become a 1145A lasting and eternal priest. Intellectually he enjoys divine communion forever, and by his unchanging inclination towards the good he imitates that which is naturally unchanging, and is not prevented, in a Jewish manner by the death of sin, from lasting forever. He gloriously speaks of God as the fashioner of all, and gratefully gives thanks to Him as the foreseeing and just Judge of all, as He offers, at the level of mind, a sacrifice of praise and confession within the divine altar, from which those who worship in the tabernacle have no authority to eat (Heb. 13:10). 58 For it is not, as it were, of the hidden loaves of divine knowledge and the mixing-bowl of living wisdom 59 that they partake who stick to the letter alone and regard as sufficient for salvation the sacrifices of irrational passions. For these are those who declare, through their ceasing from sinning, the death of Jesus, but do not confess, 1145B through their intellectual contemplation, illuminated in justice by good works, His resurrection, on behalf of which and on account of which the death took place. They are most willing to be put to death in the flesh, but have not begun to be brought to life through the Spirit. They still cling to the stability of their tabernacle, and have not yet had revealed to them by the reason and knowledge of the Saints the way, which is the Word of God who says, I am the way ( John 14:6 ). They know, from ascetical struggle, the Lord, the Word made flesh, but have no desire to come through contemplation to the glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth ( John 1:14 ). 21 Contemplation of Abraham 1145C Again Abraham became spiritual, when he went out from his land and his kindred and the house of his father, and came to the land designated by God. |
| eternal life. The last part of dogmatic theology thus speaks about the culmination of the great process whose beginning is set forth in the first page of the book of Genesis. The fate of man after death. Death is the common lot of men. But for man it is not an annihilation, but only the separation of the soul from the body. The truth of the immortality of the human soul is one of the fundamental truths of Christianity. “God is not a God of the dead but of the living; for all live unto Him” (Matt. 22:32; Luke 20:38). In the New Testament Sacred Scripture death is called “the decrease (departure) of the soul” (“I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decrease to have these things always in remembrance,” 2 Peter 1: 15). It is called the deliverance of the soul from prison ( 2Cor. 5:1–4 ); the putting off of the body, (“knowing that short1y I must put off this my tabernacle,” 2 Peter 1: 14); a dissolving (“having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better,” Phil. 1:2–3 ); a departure (“the time of my departure is at hand,” 2Tim. 4:6 ); a sleep, (David “fell asleep,” Acts 13:36). The state of the soul after death, according to the clear testimony of the word of God, is not unconscious but conscious (for example, according to the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16:19–31). After death man is subjected to a judgment which is called “particular” to distinguish it from the general last judgment. It is easy in the sight of the Lord to reward a man “on the day of death according to his conduct,” says the most wise son of Sirach (11: 26). The same thought is expressed by the Apostle Paul: “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). The Apostle presents the judgment as something which follows immediately after the death of a man, and evidently he understands this not as the general judgment, but as the particular judgment, as the Holy Fathers of the Church have interpreted this passage. “Today shall thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43), the Lord uttered to the repentant thief. |
| 5:15); b) petitions to him that he might pray for us, for the remission of our sins, and for our moral advancement, and that he might help us in our spiritual needs and in our sorrows. It is said: “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth” (Rev. 14:13) and we indeed bless them. It is said: “The glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them” ( John 17:22 ), and we indeed give to them this glory according to the Savior« " s commandment. Likewise the Savior said: “He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet»«s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man» " s reward” (Matt. 10:41). “Whosoever shall do the will of My Fa-ther which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother” (Matt. 12:50). Therefore, we also should receive a righteous man as a righteous man. If he is a brother for the Lord, then he should be such for us also. The saints are our spiritual brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers, and our love for them is expressed by communion in prayer with them. The Apostle John wrote to his fellow Christians: “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3). And in the Church this fellowship with the Apostles is not interrupted; it goes over with them into the other realm of their existence, the heavenly realm. The nearness of the saints to the Throne of the Lamb and the raising up by them of prayers for the Church on earth are depicted in the book of Revelation of St. John the Theologian: “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the Throne, and the beasts, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand,” who praised the Lord (Rev. 5:11). Communion in prayer with the saints is the realization in actual fact of the bond between Christians on earth and the Heavenly Church of which the Apostle speaks: “Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and the Church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Heb. |
| HADES A Greek word equivalent to the Hebrew Sheol — the realm of the dead. Following His burial and before His glorious Resurrection, Christ liberated the righteous dead in Hades, enabling them to enter Paradise because He had destroyed sin and death by His life-giving death (1 Pet. 3:18-20). HEART In scriptural terms, the spiritual center of one’s being. The heart is the seat of divine presence and grace and the source of moral acts. The transformation of the heart is the major work of God’s saving grace. See Matt. 5:8; 6:21; 22:37; Luke 6:45; John 7:38; Rom. 2:29; 10:9, 10; Heb. 13:9. HERESY Following one’s own choice or opinion instead of divine truth preserved by the Church, so as to cause division among Christians. Heresy is a system of thought which contradicts true doctrine. It is false teaching, which all true Christians must reject (Matt. 7:15; 2 Pet. 2:1). HOLY Literally, " set apart " or separated unto God; also, blessed, righteous, sinless. The word, therefore, refers to God as the source of holiness, to the Church and its sacraments, to worshipers of the true God, and to those of outstanding virtue. Those who are transformed by the Holy Spirit become holy as God is holy (Rom. 12:1; 1 Pet. 1:14-16; 2:9). HOPE An expectation of something desired. Christian hope is trust and confidence in the eternal goodness of God, a faith that Christ has overcome the suffering of this world. God is both the cause and goal of hope (John 16:20-24, 33; Rom. 5:2; 8:24, 25; 2 Thess. 2:16). HYPOSTASIS A technical theological term for " person " or something which has an individual existence. The word is used to describe the three Persons of the Godhead: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Hypostasis is also used to describe the one Person of Christ, who is both truly divine and truly human. ICON Image. Christ is " the image of the invisible God " (Col. 1:15). Because Christ is God who became Man, He can Himself be pictured or imaged. Thus, icons of Christ— together with those of His saints—express the reality of the Incarnation. Orthodox Chrisґtians honor or venerate icons, but never worship them, for worship is due to God alone. The honor given to icons passes on to the one represented on the icon, as a means of thanksgiving for what God has done in that person’s life. |
| Local Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, 2000 Extracts from the “Bases of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church” adopted at the 2000 Jubilee Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church 42 II. Church and nation II.1. In the contemporary world, the notion of ‘nation’ is used in two meanings, as an ethnic community and the aggregate citizens of a particular state. Relationships between Church and nation should be viewed in the context of both meanings of this word. (…) God’s chosen people of Israel are opposed to other nations throughout the Old Testament books associated in one way or another with the history of Israel. The people of Israel were chosen not because they surpassed other nations in number or anything else, but because God chose and loved them ( Deut. 7:6–8 ). 43 (…) In addition to their sharing one religion, the unity of the people of God was secured by their ethnic and linguistic community and their rootedness in a particular land, their fatherland. (…) Being universal by nature, the Church is at the same time one organism, one body ( 1Cor. 12:12 ). She is the community of the children of God, “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people… which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God” ( 1Pet. 2:9–10 ). The unity of these new people is secured not by its ethnic, cultural or linguistic community, but by their common faith in Christ and Baptism. The new people of God “have no continuing city here, but seek one to come” (Heb. 13:14). The spiritual homeland of all Christians is not earthly Jerusalem but Jerusalem “which is above” ( Gal. 4:26 ). The gospel of Christ is preached not in the sacred language understandable to one people, but in all tongues (Acts 2:3–11). The gospel is not preached for one chosen people to preserve the true faith, but so 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. 2:10–11 ). |
| 258 Иосиф Флавий говорит о «нескольких десятках тысяч людей, собиравшихся вокруг храма» на пятидесятницу («Древности», xiv, 13, 4; см. также xvii. 10. 2; «Иуд. война», II. 3, 1). Конечно, на пасху в Иерусалим приходили преимущественно палестинские евреи; гостей же из дальних стран часто останавливали опасности, подстерегавшие путешественника ранней весной. Павел дважды ходил в Иерусалим на Пятидесятницу ( Деян. 18:21; 20:16 ). Многие паломники, приходившие на пасху, оставались в городе до второго праздника. 259 Отсюда и другое название пятидесятницы: праздник радости о законе ( ). Дата провозглашения закона на горе Синай была определена путем сопоставления двух стихов: Исх. 12:2 и Исх. 19:1 (см. Schaff, Hist, of the Αρ. Ch., p. 192, прим. 5). Закон Моисеев (Вт. 16:9–12) описывает праздник пятидесятницы как день веселья, а в последнем стихе отрывка напоминает о египетском рабстве и заповедях Яхве. Как в Библии, так и в трудах Филона и Иосифа Флавия это единственный намек на историческое значение пятидесятницы. Однако Шёттген (Ног. Heb. в Деян. 2:1 ) сообщает, что евреи вплоть до самых апостольских времен соблюдали традицию вечером накануне пятидесятницы благодарить Бога за дар закона. В современном иудейском празднике значительная роль отводится воспоминаниям о провозглашении закона на Синае. Некоторые иудеи «украшают свои дома цветами, а головы – венками, чтобы выразить радость от того, что у них есть закон». 263 χος σπερ φερομνης πνος βιαας, ein Getöse wie von einem dahin fahrenden heftigen Wehen (Майер). Слово φερομνη, «несущийся», Петр также использует для описания пророческого вдохновения, 2Пет. 1:21 Синодальном переводе 265 Отсюда и слова σπερ и σε. Джон Лайтфут: «Sonus ventus vehementis, sed absque vento; sic etiam linguœ igneœ, sed absque igne». 282 Гроций (цит. соч.): «Pœna linguarum dispersa homines, donum linguarum dispersos in unum populum collegit». См. примечание о глоссолалии. 283 Первая точка зрения традиционна, второй придерживаются Стэнли, Пламптре и Фаррар. Павел заговорил с возбужденной иерусалимской толпой по–еврейски, и это заставило слушателей еще более утихнуть, Деян. 22:2 . Отсюда следует, что они не столь хорошо поняли бы апостола и не столь внимательно бы его слушали, говори он по–гречески. |
| Question 35. What Sins are caused by this inveterate Anger or Remembrance of Injuries? Answer. From this Desire of Revenge arises an Inclination to Strife, Grudging at another’s Good, Bloodshed, Raving, Mischief, and doing of Injuries, and the like. The Virtue of Patience is opposed to this Vice, as the Apostle declareth in these Words (Heb.10:36), Ye have need of Patience, that, after ye have done the Will of God, ye might receive the Promise. Question 36. What is Sloth and Listlessness? Answer. Sloth is a Coldness and Negligence in obtaining the eternal Salvation of our Souls, causing one to do good Actions with Unwillingness and Aversion, and to avoid taking Pains to do anything that is good. Against this Vice the Apostle writes (Heb.6:12), Be not slothful, but Followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises. Our Saviour, also, speaking of such idle and slothful Servants, saith (Mat.25:26), Thou wicked and slothful Servant, thou knewest that I reap where I solved not, and gather where I have not strawed. And again (Mat.25:30), Cast ye the unprofitable Servant into outer Darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth. Question 37. What Sins arise from Sloth? Answer. Voluntary Dissoluteness, Pretences for Sinning, Scandal, a Voluptuous Life, Haughtiness, and such like. The Virtue opposite to this Vice is Diligence and Wakeful Industry. To which Christ thus exhorteth us (Mat.25:13), Watch, therefore; for ye know neither the Day nor the Hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. And the Apostle saith (1Pet.5:8), Be sober, be vigilant; because your Adversary the Devil, as a roaring Lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the Faith. Question 38. What are the Sins that are committed against the Holy Ghost? Answer. An over-great and ill-grounded Confidence in the Grace of God; i.e., Presumption, and likewise Despair, which is when any one entirely distrusts the divine Mercy; for this is to contradict the manifest and established Truth, and a Denial of the orthodox Faith of Christians. |
| La santa Iglesia siempre ha mantenido la enseñanza de invocar a los Santos con la seguridad de su protección ante Dios hacia nosotros. Esto lo vemos en las antiguas Liturgias, como la de Santiago: «especialmente recordamos a la Santa y gloriosa, siempre Virgen, la bendita Madre de Dios. Recuérdala Señor Dios y por Sus purísimas y santas oraciones, compadécenos y ten piedad de nosotros.» San Cirilo, explicando la Liturgia de la Iglesia de Jerusalén, repara: «después recordamos a los que se han dormido antes que nosotros, en primer lugar patriarcas, profetas, Apóstol es, mártires, para que por sus oraciones e intercesiones reciba Dios nuestras súplicas.» Son numerosos los testimonios de los Padres y maestros de la Iglesia sobre la veneración de los Santos a comienzos del siglo IV. Pero ya en el siglo II se tienen indicaciones directas en escritos de los primeros cristianos, sobre la fe en las oraciones de los Santos en el cielo por sus hermanos en la tierra. Testigos de la muerte de San Ignacio de Antioquia (comienzo del siglo II), dicen: «Volviendo a casa con lágrimas, nosotros tuvimos vigilias…después un poco dormidos, algunos vieron de repente al venerable Ignacio levantado y estrechándonos, orando por nosotros.» Semejante memoria con menciones de oraciones e intercesiones por nosotros de mártires, se tienen también en otros relatos de las épocas de persecuciones a los cristianos. Las Manifestaciones Visibles de la Oración Exteriorizaciones en la Adoración a Dios La oración es la elevación de la mente y el corazón hacia Dios. No obstante, mientras vivimos corporalmente, sobre la tierra, nuestra oración obviamente, se expresa por medio de diferentes manifestaciones visibles, tales como: las postraciones, la señal de la cruz, la elevación de las manos, el uso de diferentes objetos en los Divinos servicios y todos los actos visibles del culto público cristiano. La adoración cristiana a Dios, por su elevación, es «adoración en espíritu y Verdad» (San Juan 4:23–24). El rito cristiano es incomparablemente más elevado que el del Antiguo Testamento. No obstante que éste último fue instituido por orden de Dios (Éxodo 25:40), sirvió sólo como «figura y sombra de lo celestial» (Heb. 8:5). Fue abolido, como «antiguo y viejo» y cerca de la «reducción» (Heb. 8:13) con la institución del Nuevo Testamento, santificado con la Sangre sagrada de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo. El servicio Divino del Nuevo Testamento no consiste en sacrificios constantes de becerros y ovejas, sino en la oración de glorificación, agradecimiento y deprecación en la ofrenda del Sacrificio Incruento del Cuerpo y Sangre de Cristo y en el otorgamiento de la gracia en los Santos misterios. |
| Dodd regards the vision of God as Greek, contending that the motif has little importance in the OT and Judaism. 2147 He is partly right: Johns language in this case reflects Greek motifs, albeit especially by way of hellenized Judaism. But on another level, the Greek motif is insufficient by itself to explain Johns usage, expecially given his biblical allusions (e.g., 12:40). John never means abstract contemplation of a metaphysical reality; 2148 if anything, the frequency with which he employs vision on the literal level suggests encounter with the incarnate Jesus of history. 2149 Although John does not draw the vision analogy explicitly, his comparison of Jesus with Moses» serpent in John 3may identify faith in the historical Jesus with God " s promise: «Whoever looks will live» ( Num 21:8–9 ). Further, the motif of spiritual sight and blindness in the Jesus tradition (e.g., Mark 4:12; 8:18 ; Matt 13:13–16; 15:14; 23:16; cf. Acts 28:27; Eph 4:18 ) was rooted in the OT images. 2150 The motifs of eschatological vision, 2151 spiritual blindness and sight representing straying from or following God " s way, 2152 and spiritual sight representing spiritual insight into God " s character and mysteries, 2153 persisted in «intertestamental» Palestinian Judaism. Most strands of Judaism continued to apply this language, 2154 often even to revelations of God himself. The rabbis had to explain biblical passages referring to Israel seeing God; 2155 they commented on the rare persons who in some sense «beheld» his presence in the present time 2156 but especially focused on the eschatological vision of God. 2157 According to some later rabbis, obedience to the Law produced nearness to, and in some sense vision of, God; 2158 Merkabah literature stressed the mystical vision of God. 2159 John may use the imagery of heavenly ascents (cf. comment on 3:3, 13; cf. Rev 1:10), but usually he uses the term more figuratively: spiritual perception of the true character of Jesus and the realm «above,» insight which enabled an intimate relationship with (not merely a mystical experience of) God. Given John " s predominantly realized eschatology, it is also possible that he implies a realization of the eschatological vision of God in Jesus (cf. 3:3, 36; 8:51, 56; 12:41; Heb 11:13; 12:14; 1 John 3:2 ; Rev 1:7). 2160 4. Vision of God in the Fourth Gospel |
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