Ecclesiasticus I: Introducing Eastern Orthodoxy
Ecclesiasticus II: Orthodox Icons, Saints, Feasts and Prayer
|
In
the beginnings of the 2nd century, a Church debate emerged
concerning the day of the feast. Was it fit to celebrate Pascha on Sunday
— as Rome and Alexandria wanted — or was it to be celebrated on Great
and Holy Friday as Asia Minor (who was devoted to the theology of St John)
wished, because the glory of the Son of Man was fulfilled after He was
hung on a Tree?
The debate
was settled in favour of Rome. Still, the Divine inspiration teaches that
the Master, in the fullness of His love, crossed directly to the Father
from the Cross. With Him, all the tormented of the earth, cross this journey
until "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
[Rev 7:17]
The major
question remains — if Christianity is not "romantic" as, for
long, accused by the Jews — what did the coming of Jesus of Nazareth really
change? Did wars cease or did sinners repent? — And consequently, why
don't we adhere to the Law of Moses: saying the truth and fulfilling the
Torah as much as we could afford, until the coming of the awaited Messiah
at the end of times to establish mercy and justice? For the Jews, Christ
is postponed, because they don't see peace on earth.
No doubt,
numberless books and countless articles were published and thousands of
sermons were given in an attempt to describe the grandness of Christ and
what He introduced to this world. It is not my intention to preach you
an apology about the mission of the Nazarene, the beauty of what He preached
and what He was. Certainly, I don't believe that righteousness is strictly
limited to those who followed this faith only, but that God has His chosen
ones everywhere. Also, I don't mean to raise a supposing question about
the fate of humanity if Jesus did not appear. I guess that every truthful
scholar has the necessary elements for an answer to such a question. Everyone
knows the incredible power of martyrdom and the density of sainthood that
Christianity brought and continues to give forth. Our debate with the
Jews starts with the fact that this Man, having fulfilled all the old
prophecies, and attaining the fullness of truth and purity — which were
never combined in a human being before Him — He declared Himself the Christ.
If we believe in Him, then we can understand what Paul said about Him:
"when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son,
born of a woman." [Gal 4:4] In my interpretation of this verse
I read: When Jesus of Nazareth arrived, the fullness of time had come.
Jesus attracted to Himself all the times [ages] and healed all the horrid
actions that were committed in it — in an equivalent magnitude, to that
of the humanity's response, to the message of the Gospel.
From
this perspective, the Messiah is a power that we activate in our times,
because he doesn't invade by force. A power or a hope, an assured hope
in that the Master did conquer death and sin — in such a manner that if
you are His own — then you too, are a conqueror of both death and sin
in yourself. The misery of evil will remain, but you will overcome it
if you tried to become a Christ after His image — to become a Christ through
Him and a Christ in Him.
To become
the witness of a specific period in the history of humanity where sin
will vanish — is a longing, and longing is hardly possible without freedom.
The real
question is: Will the Kingdom of God be manifested in the limits of this
time, in a way that all humans will be purified and live, not only in
a political peace, but in the peace of the hearts — or as "the
kingdom of God is within you", according to St Luke, and that
the Kingdom is strictly a movement that manifests itself, whereas some
of us will be on-time for the meeting and others will not make it?
If we
knew that heaven is not a location, for God cannot be contained. And if
heaven is never a constant state of final purity but a moving state —
then we can confirm that Christ did come only once and became your heaven
— or that He established His heaven in you. Therefor, the Judgement did
come to the world and is happening in you, according to the theology of
St John. This is not a reflection about the temporality of the General
Resurrection and Last Judgement. But this is a confirmation that, the
most important and the completeness of what past to come, is in Christ
and that the last-times were all fulfilled in Him. This also means that
all what is about to come, in time and space, surpasses all imagination.
The uppermost important beyond any imagination is that Christ — in His
Second Coming — will not be any different from what He was, He will not
give you more than what He already did. The greatest is that everything
was revealed in Him and that salvation was fulfilled in Him. Talking about
the Second Coming of the Master, and what will follow as to our resuscitation,
for me is neither any further, nor deeper, and no better of what came
to pass when "the Word became flesh and set up His adobe among
us" (and dwelt among us) according to the current translations.
The Divine
incarnation is the beginning of the salvation plan. In the past, God used
to send His words through the prophets. The structure of the prophecy
is similar to the structure of the incarnation, because the words of God
are a part of Him and consequently, His words are Himself — but clothed
in a human cultural-language. This time God is talking through His Son.
In other words, God Himself comes to us without a process, without a tool,
and without a mediator. What really changed is that God used to be "with"
the people. But now He became "in" the people. "I will
take you as My people, and I will be your God."[Exo 6:7] — such
was the relationship: the association of God with the people was through
recognition and visitation. The relationship was the unanimity — in a
way that we believe that God is with the people. In Christianity the association
"with", which pointed to the divine accompanying of the man
is no longer sufficient. God now becomes "in" the man, without
a "where", limitless in time and space, starting from His incarnation
in Jesus of Nazareth.
Why is
it this way? Simply God saw it fit to be so. As expressed in the epistle
to the Hebrews: "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh
and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death
He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and
release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage." (2:14-15). The Word's incarnation in order to become
a Christ — is a phenomenon of divine love that brings salvation in itself
— and reveals that the nature of God is Love. Death was the result of
love. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting
life." (John 3:16)
There
is no way left for a "theology of blood" as a necessity for
the remission of sins or as a contentment for the divine justice. Of course,
there are many expressions used in the New Testament, which were borrowed
from the Old Testament and which compare the Christ to a sacrifice, but
this has nothing to do with the animal sacrifices that the Jews and Gentiles
use to offer. In the death of Christ there is no "sweet aroma"
offered for a god. Christ volunteered His death as an offering of love,
in order that His Divine Life may descend to the context of death and
destroy it. His blood remits the sins — or His complete love eliminates
the existence of evil in us and enables us to receive the life of God
Himself within us. Death was essential for Christ to manifest and reveal
His fullness of love.
What
really happened is that Christ — in His death — trampled down death and
consequently trampled down our fear of death, that same fear which made
us sin. Life is poured in us and we live because we inherited the fullness
of life in Christ; in Him we are able to cross to God, to His Father —
or in other terms — we are able to celebrate the Passover.
All
this was fulfilled on a hill in the countryside of Jerusalem once and
forever.
He, who
lovingly died, who is absolutely pure and free from any trace of sin,
was impossible for Him to be held in corruption and He Resurrected. The
Resurrection, which set Christ free from death, did reveal Him a redeemer
— a liberator. The matter of redemption is, in no way, similar to the
understanding according to the penal law. Love has no law. The newness
in this matter is that we have received our freedom and entered in the
son-hood of God. We entered in the heart of God after that God became
our heart. The heart crosses to God and God to the heart.
This
is what Christianity is about.
Published Saturday April 10,
1999in the © An-Nahar, Lebanese news paper (http://www.annahar.com.lb/htd/pdfed2.html)—Translated from Arabic.
|
