| The use of Ezekiel " s new temple image is probably more significant for the Fourth Gospel than has been hitherto realized. John speaks three times of the Father " s house, in 2:16,8:35, and 14:2. The first text refers to the temple and then goes on to define it in terms of Christ " s resurrection body. The second text refers to the father " s household, noting that only descendants, not slaves, held a permanent inheritance therein. The third text is pointedly obscure until explained by its following context and the preceding references to the house, as the place where believers may dwell forever in Jesus» presence through the Spirit. Ezek 46:16–17 indicates that the princés inheritance of land is permanent only for his descendants, not for his servants; further, only the undefiled ministers would really have a place in God " s house, the temple (44:9–16; cf. 48:11), where God would dwell with his people forever (43:7, 9; 48:35). 6522 The square configurations of a holy allotment in the eschatological city ( Ezek 48:16, 20 ) may reflect the old holy of holies, the place of God " s presence, which is probably also implied by the shape of the new Jerusalem in Rev 21:16. Jesus is the new temple, where believers and God experience one another " s presence, in John " s realized eschatology ( John 14 , below; cf. Rev 21:3, 22), and some of Johns conception of that new temple is apparently derived from Ezekie1. This is why the waters flow, not from the Jerusalem temple, but from the glorified Jesus (19:34; cf. Rev 22:1). It is possible that John " s reference to the last day of the feast as «the last day, the great one,» is one of his typical double entendres with an implied eschatological significance. 6523 The «last day» is also significant in the context of the Feast of Tabernacles, however, especially if the common proposal about Scripture readings on that day (see comment above) has any merit (the tradition " s date is uncertain). Some propose that on the literal level, directly applicable to the narrative world, the feast " s «final» day might refer to the seventh day of the festival, because John says the «great» (i.e., greatest) 6524 day, and the eighth day lacked the water libation and dancing. 6525 This proposal is, however, unlikely. The eighth day was different from the first seven; 6526 but it was also a Sabbath (cf. 9:14; Lev 23:36 ; Num 29:35 ), and the festival was by this period seen as eight days long (2Macc 10:6). 6527 Moreover, John may mention the «last» day in part to point out that by the end of the festival, no one had apprehended Jesus. The «great» (μεγλη) day (7:37) refers to its religious significance (cf. 19:31). 6528 |
| Why quote the Coptic church leadership and not identify the church itself? However, this was not the case over at CNN, which gave readers both detailed references to the church and a few words about its history. Coptic Christians are part of the Orthodox Christian tradition, one of three main traditions under the Christian umbrella, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Copts split from other Christians in the fifth century over the definition of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Copts trace their history to the Apostle Mark, the New Testament figure who they say introduced Christianity to Egypt in A.D. 43. Egypt holds a special place for Coptic Christians because, according to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus " family fled there shortly after his birth to escape King Herod, who was calling for the execution of all Jewish boys younger than 2. The largest group of Copts in the world is still in Egypt, where they make up between 8% and 11% of the nation " s 80 million citizens, most of whom are Sunni Muslims. In the United States, there are approximately 90,000 Copts organized under 170 parishes, according to the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the United States. Thank you. It " s not all that hard to get these kinds of details right. Orthodox readers: I have not seen this problem in previous mainstream-media news coverage of Coptic persecution in recent years. If you have a theory as to why this happened in this case, in so many news stories, please leave us a comment on that topic. Question: Will this event lead to better treatment of Coptic believers IN EGYPT? And another question: Will Orthodox leaders in Egypt hail these men as martyrs? 16 марта 2015 г. Смотри также Комментарии Michaela 16 июля 2015, 00:00 Yes, my theory is that when we say Orthodox, in the West, that also connects us to Orthodox in Russia. Because there is an agenda to reinvent a Cold War, the less in common with Russia, the better. If Christians in the U.S. start to (finally) see that there is a global phenomena going on, and that certain special interests connected to America, are involved in discrediting Christianity, Christian values, etc...then U.S. citizens might question America " s foreign policy, and align themselves more with the teachings of Christ, instead of assuming their country is right without question. And I am an American citizen, and I am Orthodox. |
| I told her that I did not believe in God the Bureaucrat. It " s the true belief and faith in Jesus Christ Resurrected as our saviour that allows his grace into our lives, not the form of worship nor certainly someone else getting the words exactly right that brings us our salvation. Joe M 12 апреля 2017, 06:03 Shades of Frank Schaeffer. Hope this ends better. There is no perfect church. Rudy Carrera 12 апреля 2017, 01:48 It " s a beautiful thing to read when a lost sheep has returned home. It " s a shame to see the ugly comments his former fellow Baptists are making against him, which border on slander. Thankfully, God provides for His beloved flock, and Hank is where he belongs. Amen. alex 11 апреля 2017, 21:12 May God have mercy on him and grant him repentance Joseph 11 апреля 2017, 21:01 This is great news! I used to listen to his show years ago, and I am so happy to hear that he came to the Church. I hope and pray he was catechized properly, and has a very stable and firm Orthodox foundation. God give you grace, strength and wisdom. Olga Sivinski 11 апреля 2017, 17:33 AWESOME. It " s sad that so many people have no clue about Orthodoxy. All the Orhtodox Metropolitans and Bishops in the world need to get together and support each other and get the Orthodox religion out there. I have said this for years, but we seem to get further apart. Can " t take communion in a ROCAR church if you are not part of the ROCAR church. ROCAR parishioners don " t even recognize the OCA church. When my aunt died, who attended a ROCAR church, just a very few close friends of hers came to her funeral - as she lived 40 miles from my house and I brought her here to care for her. They refused to enter my OCA church where my aunt was laid out. That is just so pathetic. So no wonder people don " t know what an Orthodox church is. Tom Gosse 11 апреля 2017, 13:43 God grant him many years. I pray that his witness will bring others to the Orthodox Church. I pray that he will be strong when the inevitable attacks start against him. |
| This “classical idea of the Atonement,” as Gustaf Aulén calls it, stresses the indissoluble bond between the Incarnation and the Redemption. “God in Christ overcomes the hostile powers which hold man in bondage. At the same time, these hostile powers are also the executants of God’s will. Patristic theology Is dualistic, but it is not an absolute dualism. The deliverance of man from the power of death and the devil is at the same time his deliverance from God " s Judgment. God is reconciled by His own act in reconciling the world to Himself” (Christus Victor. London, 1931, p. 75). In other words, on the Cross Christ was not punished in the place of mankind. He died not to assuage the wrath of an angry God, but to overcome the devil and death by His death and, consequently, cleansed the creation of sin. Purged of sin and death, it became worthy once more of fellowship with God. The “new creation” offered to the Father in Christ Who presented Himself as its first-fruits, as the type of the new humanity (Cf. In Bapt. Christ. II PG 46 504B). 155 Hanson’s comments are important here. “Origen certainly displays interest in every minute, movement and gesture of Jesus recorded in the Gospels, but not because he is Interested in the Jesus Who lived as an individual in history, but because he is interested in the theological or philosophical truths or the features of religious development of the contemporary Christian of which he imagined these movements and gestures to be symbols. In history as event, in history as the field of God " s self-revelation par excellence, Origen is not in the least Interested” (Allegory and Event, p. 276). Hanson brings to our attention Origen’s question, τ oν πρς μ ατη στoρα; (Hom. in Jer. I, 2 PG 13 256C). 156 Intent upon an Origenist interpretation of St Gregory’s philosophia, Schaff and Wace translate the phrase (Cat. mag., 8 PG 45 33B), “under the disguise of an historical manner” (NPNF [vol. 5]. New York, 1893, p. 482. See also pp. 14–23). Similarly, Hardy and Richardson render the phrase, “a story in a veiled manner” (LCC [vol. 3]: Christology of the Later Fathers. Philadelphia, 1954, p. 283). J.H. Srawley, more careful about the Greek grammar, provides, “after the manner of history and in a veiled manner.” This editor alludes to Num. 12:8 and I Cor. 13:12 as the explanation for his translation (Catech. Ora., p. 43 n. 14). St Gregory hoped to distinguish “history” from the ανγμα (“dark saying”) related to it. He showed a relation between the literal and spiritual senses by the use of kai, with the comparative of the adjective (-τερον) and μν. |
| «He is deluded who endeavors to divest himself mentally of all that is transitory and relative in order to cross some invisible threshold, to realize his eternal origin, his identity with the Source of all that exists; in order to return and merge with Him, the nameless, trans-personal Absolute. Such exercises have enabled many to rise to supra-rational contemplation of being; to experience a certain mystical trepidation; to know the state of silence of the mind, when the mind goes beyond the boundaries of time and space. In suchlike states man may feel the peacefulness of being withdrawn from continually changing phenomena of the visible world; may even have a certain experience of eternity. But the God of Truth, the Living God, is not in all this. It is man’s own beauty, created in the image of God, that is being contemplated and seen as Divinity, whereas he himself still continues within the confines of his creatureliness. This is a vastly important concern. The tragedy of the matter lies in the fact that man sees a mirage which, in his longing for eternal life, he mistakes for a genuine oasis.... This movement into the depths of his own being is nothing else but attraction towards the non-being from which we were called by the will of the Creator». 810 The error of taking this as a true experience of God is seen in the fact that the same experience can be had through hallucinogenic drugs. For further teachings of Archimandrite Sophrony on mistaking the «darkness of divestiture» or the light of onés spirit for God or the Tao, see Part II, pp. 327– 29. Line 43: «Is the Way a Child of something else?» the Sage asked... (Tao Teh Ching, ch. 4) It is interesting that Lao Tzu should ask this question, since the Way is indeed the Child of the Father-Mind. Certain teachers of Christian antiquity have used the following formula when speaking of the Father, Son and Spirit: The Spirit is God within us, the Son is God with us, and the Father is God above and beyond us. In order for us to know the Father/Mind beyond us, we must first be shown Him by the Son/Word with us – for, as Christ said, «No one comes to the Father but by Me» ( John 14:6 ). Lao Tzu had glimpsed the Word as the principle of order and purpose which permeates all things: but the Word, not having taken flesh, had not yet revealed Himself as a Personal Absolute, nor had He «shown us the Father» (cf. John 14:9 ) as a Personal Absolute. Even the ancient Hebrews had not dared to call God by the intimate, personal name of Father; but this was precisely the name that Christ told His disciples to use when addressing God. |
| In some early Jewish circles, the present Sabbath prefigured an eschatological Sabbath era; 5876 if John intends such a connection between the Sabbath (5:9) and Jesus» eschatological works (5:25–29), however, it is not clear. What is clear is that the Father who delegated Jesus his authority to act in the future 5877 has also given him authority to interpret and adapt the Sabbath in the present. Most Jewish people affirmed the resurrection of the righteous (5:25). 5878 The future expectation indicated in 5:28–29 likewise speaks of a future resurrection. 5879 That God " s voice brings life would not surprise Jesus» hearers, though such a claim for a human voice would sound jarring. 5880 (His claim shortly thereafter that they did not know God " s voice would also disturb them; see comment in 5:37.) But the «now is» in 5is significant (cf. 4:23): the believer enters new life (3:3,5) and has in the present the life of the future age (3:15–16). Those who believe «hear» or «heed» Jesus» voice (cf. 18:37), which for John " s audience can allude to the Spirit " s life-giving power in creating and leading disciples (3:8; 10:3–4). Thus when Jesus cries «with a great voice» and Lazarus comes forth alive (11:43–44), this act prefigures Jesus» eschatological role but also symbolizes his present role as giver of life (11:26). 5881 Jesus» claim that he has life in himself as the Father does (5:26) would be confusing to most ancient Jewish hearers. 5882 Early Jewish works called God «self-begotten» (ατολχευτος; αυτοφυς), 5883 as did some pagan sources. 5884 Jewish people also called God «uncreated» (ποητος) 5885 and " unbegotten»; 5886 pagans also called the supreme god and high gods «unbegotten.» 5887 Others applied similar language about God " s self-sufficiency, lack of contingency, and difference from all creation. 5888 Following their Scriptures, Jewish people also recognized God as the «living one» 5889 and therefore spoke of his true immortality. 5890 Jewish people could relate such conceptions to the popular interpretation of «Yahweh» as the one who is (Exod 3:14), existing in both past and future in the same way he exists in the present (Rev 1:4, 8; 4:8J. 5891 |
| Chaplain runs Athens classic marathon in cassock Athens, November 15, 2013 " I wanted to show that the Church always lived with its people and was present at all events: from public events to sports. That " s why I took part in this marathon. I could see that the people liked it: whenever I was running, I was applauded more energetically than other participants. Some people asked for prayers. And I was praying while running! " Father Athanasios, 43, was probably the most unique runner and very different from other participants of the Athens classic marathon, reports Romphea. Although he did not break any records, he managed to make a tremendous impression, appearing at the competition in his cassock. Fr. Athanasios has the rank of captain; he lives and serves as a military chaplain in Ptolemais, Greece in the first army corps. A father of five children and an amateur runner, the priest decided to run 42 kilometres of the marathon to draw the people’s attention to the Church. " It was interesting to me to take part in the competition. The people welcomed me very warmly. I heard no negative comments—quite to the contrary. Only one person told me that he wished I would run next year marathon without a cassock. ‘But then you would have not understood that I was a priest’, I replied to him, " says Fr. Athanasios. The priest received a blessing to participate in the competition from Metropolitan of Florina, Prespon and Eordeas, who encouraged his decision to run the distance in the cassock, though it was not compulsory. " I ran in the cassock because that is precisely how I could convey my message, " explained the priest. Fr. Athanasios Vlahodimos finished in 4 hours 16 minutes, although as he says he had run the same distance in 3 hours 40 minutes during the practice race. " I came in with a delay because I got a cramp in my leg. Fortunately, there was nothing serious, only worse time results. But I am pleased merely to have participated. Besides, all participants are awarded with a medal if they reach the finish, and that is the meaning of the marathon, " said the priest. Pravoslavie.ru 17 ноября 2013 г. ... Смотри также Комментарии Мы в соцсетях Подпишитесь на нашу рассылку |
| Our Faith : In the Church Last Updated: Feb 8th, 2011 - 05:50:02 What Does the Church Expect of You? By Fr. Paul Lazor Dec 8, 2010, 10:00 Discuss this article Printer friendly page Source: The Orthodox Christian Education Commission Answer: Money. Comment: The sacrificial giving of money is certainly something which the Church regularly expects from Her members, both young and old. Money is needed to provide a church building where Christians can regularly gather to celebrate the Liturgy; money is needed to support pastors and teachers and the whole missionary and educational work of the Church; money is needed to help the poor and needy. But in no place in the Gospel is the giving of money isolated from the rest of the Christian message. For example, in Matthew 6:2-4, Christ says: “When you give alms, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do…that they might be praised by men.,..But when you give alms do not let your left hand now what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” And in another place, when Jesus saw a poor widow put two copper coins in the treasury he called his disciples together and said: “Truly I say unto you, this widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For they all contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put everything she had, her whole living.” (Mark 12:43-44) We see that the giving of money to the Church is a basic Christian duty, but the Christian message does not stop at that. The Gospel says that the giving of money becomes an act meaningful for one’s salvation especially when it is done in secret—to please God and not men—and when it is a true sacrifice—like the widow who gave all that she had. Finally, our Lord has said: “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Matt. 19:21) Photo by Alexander Zimin, http://forum.pravmir.ru/foto/ |
| It is reported, indeed, that there was an agreement in their words so wonderful, stupendous, and plainly divine, that when they had sat at this work, each one apart (for so it pleased Ptolemy to test their fidelity), they differed from each other in no word which had the same meaning and force, or, in the order of the words; but, as if the translators had been one, so what all had translated was one, because in very deed the one Spirit had been in them all. And they received so wonderful a gift of God, in order that the authority of these Scriptures might be commended not as human but divine, as indeed it was, for the benefit of the nations who should at some time believe, as we now see them doing. Chapter 43.– Of the Authority of the Septuagint Translation, Which, Saving the Honor of the Hebrew Original, is to Be Preferred to All Translations. For while there were other interpreters who translated these sacred oracles out of the Hebrew tongue into Greek, as Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, and also that translation which, as the name of the author is unknown, is quoted as the fifth edition, yet the Church has received this Septuagint translation just as if it were the only one; and it has been used by the Greek Christian people, most of whom are not aware that there is any other. From this translation there has also been made a translation in the Latin tongue, which the Latin churches use. Our times, however, have enjoyed the advantage of the presbyter Jerome, a man most learned, and skilled in all three languages, who translated these same Scriptures into the Latin speech, not from the Greek, but from the Hebrew. But although the Jews acknowledge this very learned labor of his to be faithful, while they contend that the Septuagint translators have erred in many places, still the churches of Christ judge that no one should be preferred to the authority of so many men, chosen for this very great work by Eleazar, who was then high priest; for even if there had not appeared in them one spirit, without doubt divine, and the seventy learned men had, after the manner of men, compared together the words of their translation, that what pleased them all might stand, no single translator ought to be preferred to them; but since so great a sign of divinity has appeared in them, certainly, if any other translator of their Scriptures from the Hebrew into any other tongue is faithful, in that case he agrees with these seventy translators, and if he is not found to agree with them, then we ought to believe that the prophetic gift is with them. |
| 40 . Two things, therefore, love and confidence, are the most efficacious in commending us to others; also this third quality if thou hast it, namely, what many consider to be worthy of admiration in thee, and think to be rightly worthy of honour 450 [the power, in fact, of giving good advice]. 41 . Since the giving of good advice is a great means of gaining men’s affections, prudence and justice are much needed in every case. These are looked for by most, so that confidence at once is placed in him in whom they exist, because he can give useful and trustworthy advice to whoever wants it. Who will put himself into the hands of a man whom he does not think to be more wise than himself who asks for advice? It is necessary therefore that he of whom advice is asked should be superior to him who asks it. For why should we consult a man when we do not think that he can make anything more plain than we ourselves see it? 42 . But if we have found a man that by the vigour of his character, by his strength of mind and influence, stands forth above all others, and further, is better fitted by example and experience than others; that can put an end to immediate dangers, foresee future ones, point out those close at hand, can explain a subject, bring relief in time, is ready not only to give advice but also to give help,–in such a man confidence is placed, so that he who seeks advice can say: “Though evil should happen to me through him, I will bear it.” 451 43 . To a man of this sort then we entrust our safety and our reputation, for he is, as we said before, just and prudent. Justice causes us to have no fear of deceit, and prudence frees us from having any suspicions of error. However, we trust ourselves more readily to a just than to a prudent man, to put it in the way people generally do. But, according to the definition of the philosophers, where there is one virtue, others exist too, 452 whilst prudence cannot exist without justice. We find this stated also in our writers, for David says: “The just showeth mercy and lendeth.” 453 What the just lends, he says elsewhere: “A good man is he that showeth mercy and lendeth, he will guide his words with discretion.” 454 |
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