Creation was not a necessary or spontaneous effect of God’s nature as many scientific or philosophical studies may indicate. In accordance to Orthodox Church’s understanding, it is a free act of divine will that brought into existence beings radically different from God. Created beings are radically different because they are created and contingent (dependent) creatures made by uncreated and absolute Triune God. God freely chose to create out of love, for He “brought creatures into being not because He had need of anything” writes St. Maximus the Confessor (590 – 662 AD), “but so that they might participate in Him in proportion to their capacity and that He Himself might rejoice in His works [cf. Ps. 104:31], through seeing them joyful and ever filled to overflowing with His inexhaustible gifts.”
Author: indianorthodoxchurch
COMFORTABLE CHRISTIANITY! – IS IT THE NARROW WAY?
oday’s society is showing signs of deterioration of traditional culture; of noble values being replaced by materialistic ones. In such a decay, we are generally getting to observe many of our contemporaries speaking of “progress”, and of overcoming evil and war, and of future societies of peace and brotherhood. Many in today’s society seek to satisfy themselves in this subtle deception. The deception being; to try to realize in this world, through powers of human reason, the ancient longing for heavenly perfection.
I WILL GET UP AND GO TO MY FATHER….LUKE 15:18
“I will get up and go to my father” are the words of the Prodigal son; this is the experience of the resurrected life. The impact of repentance begins with man’s return to himself by means of the Holy Spirit, to discover he is in a state of hunger. He realizes the ego, the ‘I’, has knocked him down to the ground due to the void situation in himself. He realizes he has absolutely fallen to the ground, and has come to be under the judgment of eternal death. But the Holy Spirit uncovers his vision so that he sees in his Savior Jesus Christ, the risen from the dead “the, mystery of the resurrection”. Christ grants the dead ‘resurrection, so they live in the experience of His resurrected life’. Repentance is not a passive work. It is the means by which man discovers his drawbacks and even his absolute devastation; it is a positive job in which the Christian believer accepts his Christ as the mystery of his resurrection and his life, so that he lives all his estranged days experiencing the new life. He goes on from strength to strength, enjoying one glory after the next, and one grace in addition to the other. He is eager to reach the full measure of Christ (Eph.4: 13). Repentance is the practical blessing of the permanent resurrection.
MYSTERY OF FAITH
The Church is without beginning, without end and eternal, just as the Triune God, her founder, is without beginning, without end and eternal. She is uncreated just as God is uncreated. She existed before the ages, before the angels, before the creation of the world—before the foundation of the world as the Apostle Paul says. She is a divine institution refer Eph 1:4and in her dwells the whole fullness of divinity refer Col 2:9 . She is an expression of the richly varied wisdom of God. She is the mystery of mysteries. She was concealed and was revealed in the last of times. The Church refer 1 Pet 1:20 remains unshaken because she is rooted in the love and wise providence of God. The three persons of the Holy Trinity constitute the eternal Church. The angels and human beings existed in the thought and love of the Triune God from the beginning. We human beings were not born now, we existed before the ages in God’s omniscience.
Orthodox Study Journal~~Youth Issue 1/May 2018
Seeing the Unseen The Maze Runner A teenage boy wakes up in an ascending elevator with no recollection of his name, where he comes from, or where he is. When the elevator reaches the top, a door above him opens and he finds himself in a community of boys. Once a month the elevator (or … Continue reading Orthodox Study Journal~~Youth Issue 1/May 2018
Maintaining an Undefiled Conscience in the World of Distraction–Part 4
The article continues from....Maintaining an Undefiled Conscience in the World of Distraction -----Part 3 Conclusion: Each of us should examine our life to measure whether our values, desires and actions are in conformity to the world or in conformity to Christ. Through a regular discipline of self-examination or preparation for the Holy Mystery of Confession … Continue reading Maintaining an Undefiled Conscience in the World of Distraction–Part 4
Eternal life only to the ‘Elect’?
Question: Hi! This has been a nagging question for me and my friends. Is eternal life promised only to those who have received and known Christ? If yes, then does orthodox faith imply that God denies this gift of eternal life to mortal men just because they are born and brought up in a family … Continue reading Eternal life only to the ‘Elect’?
What will become of him (Heterodox / Non-Christians)? Is there Salvation for all?
Question: Hi! This has been a nagging question for me and my friends. Is eternal life promised only to those who have received and known Christ? If yes, then does orthodox faith imply that God denies this gift of eternal life to mortal men just because they are born and brought up in a family … Continue reading What will become of him (Heterodox / Non-Christians)? Is there Salvation for all?
Maintaining an Undefiled Conscience in the World of Distraction —–Part 3
......article continues from Maintaining an Undefiled Conscience in the World of Distraction---Part 2 Secularization and Secularism Within Orthodox Christianity, the faith is generally “encultured.” It does not exist apart from the culture, but within the culture – transforming, shaping and making the faith of Christ incarnate in the world. Christianity first expressed this model in … Continue reading Maintaining an Undefiled Conscience in the World of Distraction —–Part 3
Maintaining an Undefiled Conscience in the World of Distraction —–Part 2
Continuing from Maintaining an Undefiled Conscience in the World of Distraction -----Part 1…. Heresies We are living in an age enslaved in many kinds of deification of modern rationality, its twin product science and technology and in the midst of false teachings or doctrines. Before we start with our discussion on heresies let us remember … Continue reading Maintaining an Undefiled Conscience in the World of Distraction —–Part 2
The Orthodox Christian Life 