A short reflection on the power of the cross and what it means for us as we face our struggles.
A short reflection on the power of the cross and what it means for us as we face our struggles.
A short reflection on the power of the cross and what it means for us as we face our struggles.
Just watched this on Exaltation of the Holy Cross Day 14th September
Again, Father, you show us the way. Thank you and God bless you.
Its and IDOL.
0:04, I'm sorry to hear that you don't venerate the crucifixion, brother, but a piece of wood symbolizing it!
2:23, quotations from saints.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner
True. The cross is a symbol of the victory over sin. But it's the resurrection that displays the victory over not just sin, but also hell, death, and the grave.
Yes the cross play a role in our redemption, but the resurrection plays the most important role in it all. Because without the resurrection, all the preaching would be null and void and completely in vain. It would make Christ seem like another important historical being who was there for a while, then gone the next. But the resurrection is what displays his Almighty Lordship as the Son of the Living God.
That is what christianity and other religions differ at. It's the resurrection.
I testify, there is no god only allah, I testify, Muhammad is the messenger of Allah
Follow the truth of religion, it's Islam
Please please preach about the inner voices and how to know which is God's voice? Please
I think that hand gesture is not ok
So, the cross isn't idolatry?
The cross was the method of our salvation.
Lord Jesus Christ , Son of God , have mercy on me a sinner.
Thank you for your words Father.
Where can I get one of those hats
Jesus is prophet of god Allah ☝️
deNta kirstaN Hasata 20 malayaN
kirstaN katiNoti Hasata 5maLayaN
Amen ….. Urgent prayer needed redgs our Apt Complex (India) ….. I'm loosing faith.
Pls pray for the mighty holy living One of Israel and King Jesus to completely break the unquestioned & unchallenged evil power & control of the pagan President & family over :
1. The terrace.
2. The community hall.
3. The premises in general.
4. And over Some of the assoc members & other residents, workers etc., who have been blindly supporting them since 2005 in every evil plot, plan & scheme of theirs .. esp against us .. as most of them are very anti-christian & anti us .. esp the President & family and the Asst Secy & family …. for with God NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE.
All the evil plots & schemes of the President & the Asst Secy are always to harass & afflict us, specifically, in every way they can, whenever they can.
I've been praying much for the salvation of them all since 2005 .. Please do so too.
Pls pray for our faith & peace.
Pls share this with others too, if possible.
Thank you so much for your prayers .. I'm praying for you & your family too .. God bless ! 🙏
✝️✝️✝️✝️✝️🇲🇴🇲🇴🇲🇴🇲🇴🇲🇴🇲🇴🇲🇴
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
Thank you for your words Father.
I want to know where I can get this clangey music.
Numbers 21
Brilliant and beautiful:
Found the video from the title as a protestant who's curious about other cultures so I'll ask here:
What is the significance of what I would call the "Orthodox Cross", with the straight bar on top and slanted bar on the bottom?
Cheers!
"The cross transforms sinful hearts into something worthy of heaven."
Numbers 21:4-9
New International Version
The Bronze Snake
4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
John 3:14-16
New International Version
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Galatians 3:1
New International Version
3 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.
1 Corinthians 2:1-2
New International Version
2 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
1 Corinthians 1:18
New International Version
Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God
Matthew 16:24
New International Version
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
Lovely!
Thank you!
"Transfiguration" personified!
Praise and Glory to You Lord!
Please pray for world Peace especially in Myanmar and N Ireland.
Thank you!
Happy Easter to all of you!
Thank you so much.
Praise the Lord.
"He is risen" "Alleluia. Alleluia."
Amen
Mary , does anyone know if shes here?
CROSS REVERENCE IS IDOLATRY
(Please open the Holy Bible and read the undermentioned Biblical verses 'real time' to understand this write up better).
1. God's commandment about idolatry.
It's The second commandment
(Exo:20:4-5)
2. About idolatry.
Make no man made structure for worship.
(Lev 26:1)
Worthless waste of time to worship these idols.
(Jer 10:2-5)
3. Result of idolatry.
Those who rever cross are as cursed as idol worshippers
(Du 27:15)
God abandons them in need.
(Jer 2:27-28)
4. Cross and Christian history
Cross had been an object of detest and fear, for it being a device for death sentense.
Then emperor Constantine adapted Christianity in 313 C E.
Crucifixion was abolished in 325 CE
Cross was adopted as symbol of Christianity. In 432 CE
Cross adorns church letter heads, enters church compounds, spires etc by 586 CE
5. Prophecy about cross in Israelite history.
The bronze snake parable
(Nu 21:4-9)
Worshipped bronze snake fir 800 years, until King Hezekiah put an end to it.
(2Ki 18:3-4)
Fulfilment of prophecy contained in the bronze snake parsble
(Jn 3:14-15)
Let's stay well away from any man made structure for Worship.
Amen !
Where can i get a cross? Orthodox crucifixes are rare in where im from.
Father Spyridon, you speak very kind words that touch the heart. All you said is true, yes. But it must be added that also our sins are redeemed on the Cross. This has always been part of the Orthodox theology.
The teaching of the penal subsitutionary atonement in the aspect of Christ taking the penalty of the Cross for our sins, thus substituting with the penalty of the Cross the eternal punishment for the sinners in hell and that way saving us from God's wrath, have always been Orthodox teachings. It started being rejected as being supposedly non-Orthodox in the 20th century by some Orthodox modernists.
If we look at the history of the Orthodox polemics with the West regarding the Western deviations of the ancient faith we will see nowhere a rejection by the Orthodox theologians of the penal subsitutionary atonement (in the above-mentioned aspect) as supposedly a Western error. If the penal substitutionary atonement in the mentioned aspect, was a Western heresy, it would have been condemned as such exactly in the polemics of the Orthodox with the West, for example during the attempts for a union between Rome and the Eastern Orthodox Church because during those attempts there clearly arose the dogmatic differences between the East and the West.
Yet before the 1054 schism but when Rome had already embraced certain non-apostolic teachings and pracices, in the Encyclical letter of St.Photius (867) to the Eastern patriarchs, St.Photious delves into them into detail (https://churchmotherofgod.org/salvation-history/new-life-church-history/6257-encyclical-letter-of-saint-photius-867.html). He mentions the heresies of Rome – the celibacy of the priesthood, the rejection of the validity of the chrismation made by priests, the fasting on Saturdays, the heretical Filioque addition in the Creed. But he does not mention the teaching of the penal subsitutionary atonement.
The Definition of faith of the Local Council of Blachernae, in Constantinople ( 1157 CE) says that God was offended when His commandment was violated by the first man: ,,…The God-man Word during the Lord's Sufferings, brought the Salvific Sacrifice to the Father, to Himself and to the Spirit, from Whom (plural – the Three Persons) man was summoned from nothingness to being, Whom (pl.) he offended, violating the commandment, and with Whom (pl.) the reconciliation was made through the sufferings of Christ. …‘‘
After the acceptance by emperor Michael VIII Paleologos of an union with Rome which was, however, short-lived, the Athonite monks of the Bulgarian Zographou monastery sent a letter to the emperor in which they pointed out the major heretical teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and the penal subsitutionry atonement in the aspect of Christ taking the penalty of the Cross as a replacement of the everlasting punishement of the hell fire that we would otherwise undergo, thus saving us from that everlasting punishment, was not among them:
''26 Monkmartyrs of the Zographou Monastery on Mount Athos In the year 1274 at the Council of Lyons (in France), the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Paleologos decided to buttress his waning power by forming a union with Catholic Rome. This step evoked universal discontent. In 1278, the emperor issued a decree to introduce the Union at Constantinople by forceful measures, if necessary. Mt. Athos stood in firm opposition to the Union. The Athonite monks sent a letter to Michael pointing out that the primacy of the Pope, his commemoration in the churches, celebrating the Eucharist with unleavened bread, the insertion of the “filioque” [“and from the Son”] into the Creed, could not be accepted by Orthodox, and they asked the emperor to change his mind. “We clearly see,” the letter said, “that you are becoming a heretic, but we implore you to forsake all this and abide in the teachings that were handed down to you…. Reject the unholy and novel teachings of a false knowledge, speculations, and additions to the Faith.
(https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2016/10/10/108024-26-martyrs-of-the-zographou-monastery-on-mount-athos-at-the-hand).
They mention celebrating the claim for the primacy of the pope, celebrating the Eucharist with unleavened bread, the Filioque. But they do not mention the penal substitutionary atonement and the satisfaction of God’s wrath as a Roman heresy. But they do not mention the penal substitutionary atonement as a Roman Catholic heresiy.
The differences between the East and West were discussed also during the negotiations at the Councils of Ferrara 1438-1439) and Florence (1439-1449) that led to the setting of the Ferraro-Florentine union of Rome and the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1452.
In his 1444 Encyclical letter (https://orthodoxethos.com/post/the-encyclical-letter-of-saint-mark-of-ephesus) St.Mark of Ephesus who opposed the establishing of the union, mentions among the fundamental heresies of the Roman Church the Filoque, the addition to the Creed, the claim for the supremacy of the pope, the celebrating of the Eucharist with an unleavened bread, the purgatory, the moment of the consecration of the Blessed Sacrament. But he does not mention among the fundamental heresies of the Roman Church the penal substitutionary atonement.
In his 1570s' letters to the Lutheran theologians of Tubingen, Patriarch Jeremias of Constantinople (1572-1595) does not mention, especially in his commentaries on the Augsburg confession of faith, the penal substitutionary atonement as a false teaching of the Lutherans.
The Pan-Orthodox Council of Constantinople of 1672 which condemned Calvinism and the total depravity of the unregenerate man, and affirmed the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father alone, also does not mention as a heresy of Western Christianity the penal subsitutionary atonement in the aspect that was referred to above.
The Local Council in Constantinople of 1722 condemned the teaching of the Purgatory but dod not condemn the penal substitutionary atonement.
The Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs of 1848 to Pope Pius IX summarizes the main heretical deviations of the Papacy – the Filioque, the papal claim of supremacy over the Church by jurisdiction but does not mention the penal subsitutionary atonement among the biggest heretical deviations of Rome.
The Patriarchal encyclical from 1895 by the Constantinopolitan Patriarch Anthimus VII (1895-1896) from 1895 which is a reply to the Papal encyclical of Pope Leo XIII (1853-1903) Praeclara Gratulationis publicae (On the Reunion of Christendom) summarizes the heretical deviations of the Papacy but does not mention the penal subsitutionary atonement:
,,VI. And indeed for the holy purpose of union, the Eastern orthodox and catholic Church of Christ is ready heartily to accept all that which both the Eastern and Western Churches unanimously professed before the ninth century, if she has perchance perverted or does not hold it. And if the Westerns prove from the teaching of the holy Fathers and the divinely assembled Ecumenical Councils that the then orthodox Roman Church, which was throughout the West, even before the ninth century read the Creed with the addition, or used unleavened bread, or accepted the doctrine of a purgatorial fire, or sprinkling instead of baptism, or the immaculate conception of the ever-Virgin, or the temporal power, or the infallibility and absolutism of the Bishop of Rome, we have no more to say. But if, on the contrary, it is plainly demonstrated, as those of the Latins themselves, who love the truth, also acknowledge, that the Eastern and orthodox catholic Church of Christ holds fast the anciently transmitted doctrines which were at that time professed in common both in the East and the West, and that the Western Church perverted them by divers innovations, then it is clear, even to children, that the more natural way to union is the return of the Western Church to the ancient doctrinal and administrative condition of things; for the faith does not change in any way with time or circumstances, but remains the same always and everywhere, for 'there is one body and one Spirit,' it is said, 'even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." (http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/encyc_1895.aspx).
The Patriarch mentions the biggest heretical deviations of Rome – the Filioque addition to the Creed, the use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist, the purgatory, the practice of sprinkling instead of immersion in baptism, immaculate conception of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, the teaching of the created grace, the infallibility and the claim for supremacy of the Pope. But he does not mention among them the penal subsitutionary atonement. It is evident that throughout the whole history of the Orthodox Church, the penal subsitutionary atonment was never refuted and so was not considered a non-Orthodox teaching and a Western influence.
So the theory that it is a Western influence on Orthodox theology is a 20th century modernistic myth. There must be noted that modernists recognize the term PSA only in the sense of Christ saving us from death by subsitututing it with His Death on the Cross but reject the term in the sense of Christ saving us from God's wrath and the eternal punishment by substituting with the penalty of the Cross the eternal penalty awaiting the sinners.