π Αθανάσιος Μητροπολίτης Λεμεσού- Που οδηγεί η Ορθοδοξία

Η Σημασια της προσευχης - Μητρ.ΛΕΜΕΣΟΥκ. ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ

Ορθοδοξία και άλλες θρησκείες

Γιατί όμως ό Χριστός θέλησε να γεννηθεί από παρθένα, αφήνοντας αβλαβή την παρθενία της; ( Αγιος Ιωάννης ο Χρυσόστομος )

Να γιατί:
Κάποτε ό διάβολος εξαπάτησε την παρθένα Εύα. Τώρα ό άγγελος έφερε το λυτρωτικό μήνυμα στην Παρθένο Μαριάμ.
Κάποτε ή Εύα ξεστόμισε λόγο, πού έγινε αιτία θανάτου. Τώρα ή Μαρία γέννησε το Λόγο, πού έγινε αιτία αιώνιας ζωής.

Ο λόγος της Εύας έδειξε το δέντρο, πού έβγαλε τον Αδάμ από τον παράδεισο.
Ο Λόγος της Μαρίας έδειξε το Σταυρό, πού έβαλε τον Αδάμ πάλι στον παράδεισο.

Σ' αυτόν λοιπόν, το Λόγο του Θεού και Υιό της Παρθένου, πού άνοιξε δρόμο μέσα σε τόπο αδιάβατο, ας αναπέμψουμε δοξολογία μαζί με τον Πατέρα και το Άγιο Πνεύμα στους αιώνες των αιώνων.

Αγιος Ιωάννης ο Χρυσόστομος

Why all the Fuss about Christmas?

 

 

 

The nature of the “Christmas Season,” which has unfortunately has become known as “the Holiday Season,” is now mostly devoid of Jesus Christ for which this celebratory season was originally created.  But wait! What are all the parties and all the gifts piled up under the Christmas tree for? Be honest. In our celebrating have we not forgotten why we celebrate? This is supposed to be the time when we celebrate the Incarnation of God. Think about what we have forgotten and why is it so important to re-remember.  Ask yourself, "Why is this spiritual event so significant for our salvation? What is the 'Season' really about?"

One may say that even the incarnation of God was not sufficient for the salvation of mankind.  For today we can witness the gross neglect of Him even in this most holy period.  But this is precisely why God chose to come as fully man. We seek happiness with many parties and expectations of gifts like ignorant children. We are like blind men wandering aimlessly in the city square looking for a lost coin.  Blinded by our limitations and separation from God we are unable to see what it is that God expects of us so we can be reunited with him in Paradise. 

The Incarnation is much more than a baby in a manger, kings bringing gifts, or some supernatural star in the sky.  If we are blind and unable to see what it is that God expects of us, what can God do to help us over come this blindness?  He can become like one of us and show us and ask us to follow Him. This is what He did. This why we should celebrate and give thanks. This we are in need of re-remembering.

The gift of the Son of God is a most merciful gift that God has given us.  With it comes not only clarity about how to live, but the establishment of the Church to aid us in overcoming our blindness––even 2000 years after the historical event of His Incarnation.  The Church gives us many aids for our spiritual healing. The Sacraments of His Church bring to us the powers of the Holy Spirit. The ascetic practices help us develop the self-control with the aid of the Holy Spirit so it can work freely through us, and the Scriptures that clarify how we are to follow Him. These were all given to us through the Church to aid us in becoming one with God, for eternal life in union with Him.  

Saint Athanasius tells us the following about the nature of the Incarnation in his well know treatise On the Incarnation:

Whence, naturally, willing to profit men, He sojourns here as man, taking to Himself a body like the others, and from things of earth, that is by the works of His body [He teaches them], so that they who would not know Him from His Providence and rule over all things, may even from the works done by His actual body know the Word of God which is in the body, and through Him the Father…..

For as a kind teacher who cares for His disciples, if some of them cannot profit by higher subjects, comes down to their level, and teaches them at any rate by simpler courses; so also did the Word of God. As Paul also says: “For seeing (1 Corinthians 1:21) that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the word preached to save them that believe.” For seeing that men, having rejected the contemplation of God, and with their eyes downward, as though sunk in the deep, were seeking about for God in nature and in the world of sense, feigning gods for themselves of mortal men and demons; to this end the loving and general Savior of all, the Word of God, takes to Himself a body, and as Man walks among men and meets the senses of all men half-way , to the end, I say, that they who think that God is corporeal may from what the Lord effects by His body perceive the truth, and through Him recognize the Father.

God, the Creator of all creation, became fully human in the Incarnation, then voluntarily suffered and showed us the path to eternal life if we learn to live as he showed us. Then after He left this earth, He sent the Holy Spirit to His disciples and they established the Church for our healing. It was through God's arrival as fully human, while still remaining fully God, the Incarnation we are about to celebrate, that we are now able to know the way to eternal life.

Let's be joyful for the reason of the Incarnation and as the Christmas hymn proclaims:

"Today Christ is born in Bethlehem of the Virgin.
Today He who is without a beginning begins,
And the Word is made flesh.
The powers of Heaven rejoice,
The earth and her people are jubilant;
The Wise Men bring gifts to the Lord,
The shepherds marvel at the One who is born;
And we sing without ceasing:
"Glory to God in the Highest, And on earth peace, (God's) good will toward men".

Let’s put Christ back into Christmas.

A Life of Spirit or Words?

Are we stuck with a faith that is external, following this rule or that tradition, or have we developed one that is internal, one rooted in the heart?  Saint Paul, as well as Jesus, saw this as problem of the Jews at the time of Jesus.  This is why they could not understand His message of the Kingdom.  He was not speaking of a new earthly Kingdom but calling all to participate in an eternal Kingdom with Him in Heaven, one that was based in the heart.


Today, with so many Christians stuck on the notion of "Sola Scriptura," we see an excessive emphasis placed on the "Word".  "If its not in the Bible its not true," many of them say.  But, this too is an external form of faith, taking the limited set of words and projecting mentally new ideas, basing faith on a few words, a narrow view limited to words, not unlike that of the Jews at the time of Christ.


Saint Paul says,

He is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal. His praise is not from men but from God. Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? (Romans 2:28-29)

His example is about circumcision, but it also applies to all the Mosaic laws practiced by the Jews at that time.  What was important based on the teaching of Jesus was the "law of Spirit" (Rom 8:2) or the "law of liberty" (James 1:25; 2:12).  The life of an Orthodox Christian is one that is lived based on Spirit which comes from faith in Christ and a surrender to the teachings and practices of His Church.  We are saved by the Spirit or God's grace that works through us.


How do we nurture this Spirit we gain at our Baptism?  By first, of course, with faith. Based on faith, then through prayer, worship and ascetic disciplines.  We pray daily, morning and night, we learn to say the Jesus prayer continually throughout the day, we attend worship services and participate in the Mysteries of the Church, especially Holy Communion and Holy Confession.  These all bring us into union with God. We exercise our faith to purify our heart and receive the Holy Spirit.


Jesus says, 

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matt 5:8)

The "Word" provides a solid foundation and contains the truth as revealed to us by God, but being a Christian is much more than knowing the Word.  The Word keeps us from straying from true belief, but we must learn to go beyond the word to an inner relationship with God, one that is personal and intimate.


Saint Peter says,

Do not let your adornment be merely outward.... rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1Peter 3:15)

Jesus says,

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38)

This is the basis of the Orthodox Way of life. It is an inner way of life that is expressed outward.

Living Out of the Heart

Those who are  new to Orthodoxy often spend much time reading and studying the Fathers of the Church, its traditions and practices, reconciling doctrine to Scripture, all to help develop a new Orthodox worldview.  There is much to learn when we are making a change in our way of thinking about religion and salvation.  For some, this effort can be very intense and demanding. But, this effort is only the beginning. At some point it is necessary to make a transition––to shift one's effort towards more inner development.  Our love for Christ must move from the head to the heart.  This requires more than following the guidelines for daily prayer, following the fasting guidelines, and attending the services of the Church.  This too, can be done through mental effort, and often is in the beginning.  The move from the head to the heart requires a surrender to the Church, a giving up of filtering everything through the mind.  What we seek is the active work of the Holy Spirit that was planted in us at Baptism and sealed with our Chrismation.  The aim is a union with God, not fulfilling some external rules.
Saint Tikhon (of Zdonsk)  puts it this way

If someone should say that true faith is the correct holding and confession of correct dogmas, he would be telling the truth, for a believer absolutely needs the Orthodox holding and confession of dogmas.  But this knowledge and confession by itself does not make a man a faithful and true Christian. ... The knowledge of correct dogmas is in the mind, and it is often fruitless, arrogant, and proud....  The true faith in Christ is in the heart, and it is fruitful, humble, patient, loving, merciful, compassionate, hungering and thirsting for righteousness..

Fr Saraphim Rose says,

Do we perhaps boast that we keep fasts and the Church calendar, have good icons and congregational singing, give to the poor and maybe even tithe to the Church? Do we delight in exalted Patristic teachings and theological discussions without having in our hearts the duplicity of Christ and true compassion for the suffering?––then ours is a spirituality of comfort, and we will not have the spiritual fruits that will be exhibited by those without all these comforts who deeply suffer and struggle for Christ.

When we are able to make this transition from the head to the heart, we discover an intense heartfelt desire, a burning from within, for the love of God and to be united with Him.  We leave our earthly passions behind and have only one, to be in the loving embrace of God. We experience a sense of willingness to sacrifice all we have for Him.  When we speak we no longer search our memory for the proper thing to say based on what we have learned from out readings or studies. Instead the Holy Spirit moves us to say the proper words and do the proper deeds.  It comes naturally and in a loving way. We come alive with an inner fire of love.  We find an inner peace no matter what difficulties we face.

Elder Porphyrios says,

When you find Christ [in the heart], you are satisfied, you desire nothing else, you find peace.  You become a different person.  You live everywhere, wherever Christ is.  You live in the stars, in infinity, in heaven with the angels, with the saints, on earth with people, with plants, with animals, with everyone and everything.  When there is love for Christ, loneliness disappears.  You are peaceable, joyous, full. Neither melancholy, not illness, nor pressure, nor anxiety, nor depression nor hell.

When Christ enters your heart, your life changes.  Christ is everything.  Whoever experiences Christ within himself, experiences ineffable things––holy and sacred things.  He lives in exultation...

Fr Seraphim writes,

"When those who are rich in the Holy Spirit, really having the heavenly wealth and the fellowship of the Spirit in themselves, speak to any the word of truth...it is out of their own wealth and out of their own treasure, which they possess within themselves when they speak, and out of this that they gladden the souls of the hearers of the spiritual discourse...."

But one who is poor, and does not possess the wealth of Christ in his soul ... even if he wishes to speak a word of truth and to gladden others ... but after he has gone through it, each word goes back to the source from which is was taken, and he himself remains once more naked and poor.... 

For this reason we should seek first from God with pain of heart and in faith, that He would grant us to find this wealth, the true treasure of Christ in our hearts, in the power and effectual working of the spirit.  In this way, first finding in ourselves the Lord to be our profit and salvation and eternal life, we may then profit others also, according to our strength and opportunity, drawing upon Christ, the measure within."

It is helpful to seek out a spiritual father who can guide you.  He will be able to help you to make this transition.  He can help you avoid becoming too intense in your effort to learn doctrine and practice guidelines for this and that.  It is God's love we seek and this only comes from the heart.

Eκτρωση - Abortion