The Triumph of Christ

 

“ As the prophets have seen, as the apostles have taught, as the Church has received, as the teachers have set forth in dogmas, as the whole world has understood, as Grace has shone forth, as the truth was demonstrated, as falsehood was banished, as wisdom was emboldened, as Christ has awarded; thus do we believe, thus we speak, thus we preach Christ our true God and His saints, honoring them in words, in writings, in thoughts, in sacrifices, in temples, and in icons, worship ping and respecting the One as God and Master, and honoring the others, and apportioning relative worship to them, because of our common Master for they are His genuine servants.  this is the Faith of the apostles, this is the Faith of the fathers, this is the Faith of the Orthodox, this Faith hath established the whole world.”

 

This was going to be an entirely different post when it was first written, but as I have said before God has a mysterious way of working in the hearts and minds of men.  God has called us to preach Christ and to honor him in our writings, thoughts, churches and in the icons of the faith. And this blog I like to think I am in some small way carrying on the tradition set by the apostles. Which leads me to our discussion today. While yes, the council was restoring Icons to their proper place in the worship of God in the Church all those many years ago, it is not without the Victory of Christ that the Victory and Triumph of Orthodoxy was achieved. Without it, there would be no Sunday of Orthodoxy, Holy Pascha, The Nativity of Our Lord, and so on. The Victory of Christ is the victory over death and the victory for all mankind.

Death is a touchy subject for many, especially those who do not grasp the reality of life, and forget the power Christ defeated with his Holy Resurrection. Death for many in the world today is scary thought, a fear that grips their minds, their hearts, their souls. Death in the minds and hearts of people is the end, the sudden fading into black. We see this in many movies, tv shows, books, and writings of people that surely once we pass from this life, there is no next. But, we know this is not the case. First let me draw you to Mark, Chapter 12, Verse 27, where it states quite clearly, “He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.”  If God is the God of the living, then those who have “died” must continue on living, this life is the next, the afterlife it is called. Jesus again in John 5:24 says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Jesus has conquered death by his resurrection. Why should I fear death? In fact Christ also answers this question when says also in John 14:1-4, when says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.  And you know the way to where I am going.” The Book of the Apocalypse, called Revelation says in 1:18, “And the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”  Jesus was of course talking about himself in Revelation, after all it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ to St. John, but it remains, that Jesus was dead, and is alive. He is the God of the living, not the dead. He has broken the power of death in our lives to fulfill it with His life, His Body, His Blood. We partake of this life every service when we have The Eucharist at the end of the Divine Liturgy. The living water that Jesus offered to St. Photini at the well is given to us freely at Divine Liturgy with open arms and a willingness to heal our bodies and souls if we only repent and ask for it. And yet, there are still some that fear death. Fear what decay and destruction might come to their mortal bodies, and yet they do not fear what could come to their immortal souls.  1 Corinthians 15:26 is a favorite verse of mine, not just because it was used in one of my favorite books, but rather because it speaks to the hearts of men, telling them with courage to embrace death, because it says, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” When we pass into life everlasting, we too defeat death, because it is Christ living in us, that has already and will forever defeat death. There is no need for fear, but joy and happiness. I think that’s what amazes me about Orthodoxy more than anything is the amount of people who when they repose in the Lord, a smile can be seen on their faces, because they are embracing Jesus in all his glory upon their repose.

We have once again come to the opening paragraph. I discussed the Triumph of Orthodoxy, which was celebrated this passed Sunday. But more than anything it isn’t about the Icons, the saints, the churches we gather in. Many in Africa, and the poorer regions of Orthodoxy may have these things, but they are not as grand as in Eastern Europe or here in America. Yet they still celebrate with full vigor and joy unending. Why? It is not because we defeated the iconoclast heresy long ago. No it is because we have a Savior, a Lord, a God who defeated death so that we do not have to fear it. We have Jesus Christ, the God-Man who united the divine with the mortal so that man could be who God meant him to be. We have forgotten that. People today either fear death, or they accept it as something that ends their existence. But to those of us Christians who remain true, death is not something to fear, rather it is something to embrace. Because Jesus has destroyed its power.

Amen.

Facing the Persecutor

 

Persecution. Not the greatest of topics, but as the past two blogs have become a running theme, it’s the logical next step in our discussion that I have taken up on my blog. We have discussed St. Sophronios who was beloved by his flock but saw that the persecution of the Christians was due to lukewarm hearts and disdain for true and righteous beliefs. We discussed St. Ephraim, who left his home in Greece to become a monk and come to America, a foreign and strange land to him where he would be looked down upon for his simple way of life and his status as a monk. But we have not gotten at the heart of the matter, rather the heart of the world. Our discussions on this blog have shown that persecution does exist, sometimes subtly, other times as it was with the Islamic Invasions of the Holy Land, very real and very straightforward. But both times it is there. It lurks in the shadows as does the devil. He doesn’t need to work in the light, for by working in the shadows does he do his greatest damage to the hearts of men. When the devil corrupts, he corrupts only to the point in which we allow him to. Just like God, he doesn’t force himself on us, but whispers and connives and plots in hearts until we are so ensnared by his thinking, we pass it off as our own and often the world sees what the devil has created as normal. And that is where we land ourselves in this article today.

You see we see it in the world around us whether we admit it to ourselves or if we are ignorant and blissful of the situation, but it is real. From political leaders who wish to tear down the fabric of society and remake it in their image, or from so called religious leaders who beg and plead with those they have been entrusted with to make evil good and good evil. But dear brothers and sisters this is simply persecution in its subtleness. Jesus spoke of those who would hate true Christians and seek to destroy them. He says in John 15:23, “He who hates Me hates My Father also.” He also says even before that in John 15:18, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.” The world is constantly working against Christians. That is why I have spoken at great length about the bastions of faith like Elder Ephraim and St. Sophronios. Father Seraphim Rose’s book was such an eye opener for me, that it has changed how I view the world and how I interact with it. The world hates what we stand for, they are willing to go into destruction of their own accord by being themselves deceived. And yet, they do not want to admit this. Sin has corrupted their hearts and minds and allowed them to persecute the Church and her members in the name of preserving peace and prosperity. In fact, Jesus even speaks of this, because he in John 16:2 in the same discourse as the two previous mentioned verses in this article says, “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.”  We have seen this time and time again. St. Paul before he was appointed as Apostle to the Gentiles was himself a great persecutor of Christians. There have been martyrs too numerous to count who have surrendered their lives, by being beheaded, burned alive, fed to wild beasts, pushed off cliffs, broken on wheels, and other such torturous devices.  

The hopes of these people who commit these acts is not as I have said to preserve peace and prosperity, but to eradicate their own conscience and to try and expunge the name of God from the Earth. They wish to not have to confront their own demons, their own sins. They wish to again as I have said place the blame on others for their own rejection of God. My dear brothers and sisters, it is just beginning. Elder Ephraim speaks of the neo-martyrs of America, others have said what began in Russia will be finished in America. Elder Paisios was known to have spoken about the war between Russia and Turkey and retaking of Constantinople and the defeat of the NATO forces. All of this in preparation for the coming of Jesus and the beginning of the age of eternity. These times may come in our lifetime, they may be years, decades away, it is not for us to decide but to wait and watch. God calls us to be protectors of our nous, our hearts and minds, our souls.  Persecution will come. It will grow stronger as the chains that bind Satan will be loosened. This however will be for a short time. Just like in the days of the early church when droves went to the arena and contested for their faith among the multitudes, we ourselves might be called once again to great contests. If that is the case, we must arm ourselves with spiritual armor, with the hope of salvation. We know that times will test us but when we are strongest is when we have our faith solely rested in the Bosom of God.

Amen.

Praying for the Dead-Is it Biblical?

 

If the Church is the New Israel, we are also the heavenly Jerusalem. As the heavenly Jerusalem, it is our duty to be the beacon of light in the world. The salt of the earth, the city set on a hill. Thus, the Orthodox Church teaches that we must pray for the dead. Many of our Protestant brothers and sisters and their respective churches deny this, but the Bible clearly says otherwise.  The Roman Catholics believe in purgatory, but the Orthodox Church rejects this as a heresy developed after the Roman church fell away and became apostate. This topic is very relevant to the current timing of the church as the church prays for the dead on the two Saturdays before Lent and the first Saturday of Lent.

The Bible commands us as Christians to pray for one another. Because of the victory of Christ over death, there is no veil between those in this life and those in the next. And James 5:16 clearly commands us to pray for one another. Furthermore, both Ephesians 5:30 and Romans 14:6 say that we are members of Christ’s body, whether we have reposed in the Lord or are currently struggling in this earthly life.  Thus, scripture clearly suggests that prayers for the dead are valid. Hebrews 12:22-24 includes the angels and those perfected in righteousness. Romans 8:38-39 says that even death cannot separate us from the love of Christ, so if death does not separate us, then we must understand that Christ loves those even in death and we must pray for them. Again, the scriptures do not talk about “death” meaning that those who die cease to exist, rather the Bible talks about our soul living on after death, both in Luke 16:19-31 and Revelation 6:9-10.  In the Orthodox Cannon of Scripture, we include the Maccabees and the Book of Sirach. In Sirach 7:33 it states, “Give graciously to all the living; do not withhold kindness even from the dead.” So once again the Scriptures confirm the prayers for the dead by their words. If we hold true that the Holy Bible is the inspired written word of God, then must take these writings as true and cannot have qualms about it. We cannot deny part of the Bible and accept other parts. We either believe the whole thing or it becomes worthless. As one can see, through these Biblical examples we understand those may not be present in the body, but they are still alive. Christ even teaches that God is not the God of dead, but the living. (Mark 12:27 and Luke 20:38).  If God is the God of the living our brothers and sisters who have reposed in their earthly bodies are not dead but much more alive than us. Thus, by being alive they too need our prayers.  

What happens to us in the next life is not very clear, as the scriptures do not give us a clear account of what the soul experiences after our earthly death. Some like Father Seraphim Rose have proposed the Tollhouse theory, which I will not discuss here, but you can find information on in other locations on the internet. Others like our protestant brothers and sisters teach Soul Sleep where the soul goes into a long rest and awaits the final judgment of Christ at his Awesome Judgement Seat. We as Orthodox are not so dogmatic about death, we just know that it occurs and that we are waiting the final judgment at the Second Coming. Plus, we also have tradition that has been passed down from even the apostles themselves to pray for the dead.

This apostolic tradition comes from the life of St. Paul himself.  Regarded as one of the greatest Christians of the early church and with many of his writings included in scripture there is no better source than St. Paul on this teaching.  In 2^nd Timothy, we learn of the repose of Onesiphorus, one of St. Paul’s most beloved friends. St. Paul says, “The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain…” Onesiphorus is clearly no longer among the earthly living and St. Paul is praying for his soul.   In this example and this belief, we ask God to keep those who are asleep in the Lord in his memory and for it to be eternal, meaning that God will grant them peace, life, and mercy, along with forgiveness for their sins.  We also pray that they will give a good account of their actions before the Awesome Judgement Seat of Christ at the Last Judgement, which an account of was read this past weekend. Finally in Revelation 1:18-19 Christ says he holds the keys to the underworld, and by that he can mercy on those he chooses. We do not know the mind of Christ. We can only believe that Christ knows what’s best for us, and we are not in the business of questioning or trying to understand the thoughts of God.

I have only scratched the surface on this topic, and I do not wish to get to theological or wordy in my writings. Usually, I would give patristic writings that would deal with the subject but in its place the source of writings of the Church Fathers the Holy Scriptures are the best place to deal with an issue this big. If one wishes to discover more on this topic, I am sure there are many websites and even books you can get to understand praying for the dead even further. I pray that you are well and that as we prepare for Forgiveness Sunday, you would forgive me as God forgives.

 

Amen.