WHO IS GOD?

 

[one_half]

The One Mediator

by Fr. Patrick Reardon

All seven of the Church’s Ecumenical Councils have been concerned with a single question: “Who is Jesus?” Indeed, according to the Gospels, Jesus Himself posed this question several times in various forms: “But who do you say that I am?” “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”

The reason this question is important has to do with certain claims of Jesus, which indicate that the answer touches on the nature of God. When Jesus declares, for instance, that He and the Father are one, when He affirms that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him, when He claims that those who see Him see the Father —in all such assertions, Jesus of Nazareth forces Himself on the conscience of every human being who has ever lived.

…read more

 

The Trinity: Scripture and the Greek Fathers

by Fr. John Behr

So there is one God and Father, one Lord Jesus Christ, and one Holy Spirit, three “persons” (hypostases) who are the same or one in essence (ousia); three persons equally God, possessing the same natural properties, yet really God, possessing the same natural properties, yet really distinct, known by their personal characteristics. Besides being one in essence, these three persons also exist in total one-ness or unity.

…read more

 

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry or a Gentle God?

by Fr. George Morelli

Jesus is never harsh and strident. He is never shown as argumentative by the gospel writers. When an argument broke out around Jesus, He “. . . perceived the thought of their hearts, he took a child and put him by his side. . .” St. Luke tells us (Luke 9:47).

Children are drawn to gentleness and it is unlikely that a child would allow himself to be next to angry man. St. Matthew records, “Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19: 13-14).

…read more

 

Safely Home to Heaven

A letter by a nun

…you are a beloved child of the living God, Who died and rose that you might also die and rise, and live forever in joy with Him. The Lord Who broke the bars of death and harrowed the pit of hell is quite capable of bringing you safe home to Heaven, if you will get out of the way and let Him in. “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

…read more

 

The Ten Commandments

by a monk of St. Tikhon’s Monastery

According to Church Tradition, the first four commandments were inscribed on the first tablet and the last six were inscribed on the second tablet. The first contains those commandments pertaining to our obligations towards God, while the second contains those pertaining to our neighbor. This traditional division is testified to by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself when He was asked by a lawyer, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law (Matt. 22:36)? The Lord replied, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets (Matt. 22:37–40; cf. Luke 10:25–28).

…read more
[/one_half]

[one_half_last]

Jesus Is Lord! Christianity’s Life-Changing Confession of Faith

by Fr. John M. Reeves

To confess that Jesus is Lord means to yield up our souls and bodies as living sacrifices to Him. It means confessing that we are no longer our own, but His. For we have been bought with a price, the price of His own blood.

To confess that Jesus is Lord, in short, means to proclaim in our lives and our lifestyles, with every breath that we breathe, this radical, revolutionary faith that God has taken flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth. Then, that is a revolution worth celebrating, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

…read more

 

Working of the Holy Spirit

by Rev. Father John Chromiak

The revelation of the mission and ministry of the Paraclete waited for Christ’s Incarnation to be fully taught, and for His Ascension to be fully explained and understood, when the Spirit was poured out in a glorious baptism of divine energy, a Pentecost of power. We find in our Lord’s teaching, regarding the Person and work of the Spirit, in the single discourse immediate preceding His crucifixion, preserved for us in the Holy Gospel according to St. John. Here the Spirit of God is first known by the “Comforter” or “Paraclete.” Jesus now speaks of the descent of the Spirit as a new and special gift.

…read more

 

St. Athanasius and the ‘Penal Substitutionary’ Atonement Doctrine

by Kevin Allen

One of the interesting discoveries I made this season (2010) reading St Athanasius’ seminal book, written in the early fourth century, is the complete absence of this notion that for many Evangelical Christians has come to be central to the Gospel message itself: namely the doctrine that Christ paid by vicarious punishment atonement for our individual sins (for which we deserve punishment). Billy Graham is perhaps the most well-known contemporary proponent of this doctrine. I recall hearing him preach many times on television that Christ suffered a horrific death as a punishment (i.e., penalty) for your and my sins. This idea never resonated with me because it raised disturbing issues about the nature of a God Who required such justice served.

…read more

 

On the Angels

by Fr. Pandeleimon Farah

Today we celebrate the holy angels and archangels. In truth, even if they are not seen they are present with us and always surrounding us. Every one of us has a guardian angel entrusted to us by the Lord from the time we were in our mother’s womb, before we even became a complete person in body and spirit to watch over us until we reach our final end, glorifying in paradise with the Lord Jesus.

…read more

 

Entering God’s Kingdom

by Fr. Peter Gillquist

Often when we think about the life of Christ, we start two thousand years ago at a manger in the Middle East, with the Baby, the Wise Men, the star. While these things concern His earthly birth, His story really begins in eternity past. Because before time began, before the world was ever made, before the beginning, Christ was there. For there never was a time when He did not exist!

…read more
[/one_half_last]