THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD When we recite the Creed of the Church we proclaim that Jesus Christ, will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. At the Second Coming, Our Lord will fulfill the Scriptures and will raise the dead to be judged according to their deeds. The righteous will be with God forever, since they loved Him while in their earthly bodies, and those who rejected Him will proceed to an existence without His loving presence. We will all be judged by our capacity to love, since we are commanded in this life to accept and spread Gods infinite mercy and compassion to others. God is love itself. It is His very essence. If we want to live in intimate union with God, then we must communicate this Divine life by loving him above all things and sharing the fruits of this love with all people. We will be judged , therefore, on how faithful we were to this command of Our Lord, Love one another as I have loved you (John 13:34). The blessed who lived in Gods love will be granted eternal fulfillment and joy, while the wicked will suffer the pain of being in the presence of Divine love which they cannot accept. This is the immense pain of hell as St. Cyprian of Carthage, in his treatise on the Second Coming, describes so well: The Second Coming by St. Cyprian of Carthage: Oh what a day that will be when the Lord presents us with the reward of faith and devotion. What will be that glory, and how great will be the joy of being admitted to the sight of God! To be so honored as to receive the joy of eternal life and salvation in the presence of Christ the Lord, your God. To greet Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the patriarchs, apostles, prophets and martyrs... in the delight of the immortality that will be given! To receive there what eye has not seen nor ear heard, what has not entered into the heart of man. Scriptural references: Titus 2-12-14, St. Matthew 24: 3-8, 36-50, St. Like 21: 7-36, 2 Peter 3:8-10. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. - John 14:11-12 THE TRINITY Orthodox Christians believe that there are three persons (i.e. hypostases) - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - in ONE GOD. They are separate and distinct persons yet: 1 - Each is God 2 - Each is equally perfect, knowing all things, having all power and existing eternally. The three persons of the Trinity are full united, existing in All-perfect love. Think of love encompassing everything, and you describe the life of the Trinity. The Father is the source of all things, who, because of perfect love, sent us His Son Jesus Christ to live and die for us. Christ became man while remaining God and through His life, death and resurrection, an act of perfect love, He offers us the possibility of eternal Salvation. God, as Holy Spirit, keeps us in His love. The Holy Spirit is the Sanctifier and Comforter who inspires us to remain in Gods All-embracing, eternal care. We know this because the Church has always taught that each of us is infinitely precious in the sight of Almighty God, and the Spirit leads us to this infinite, intimate, and eternal love. Scriptural references: Ephesians 2:18-22, and 2 Corinthians 13:14 HOW DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT WORK AMONG US TODAY? The Holy Spirit brings to perfect completion the work of salvation through Jesus Christ. The Spirit, according to the Creed, proceeds from the Father, was promised by the Son, and comes to us to open our eyes and minds, in order to receive salvation. It has been said that Christ is the door to the Father and the Holy Spirit is the key which opens this door. There is one Spirit, who is God and who is revealed to man through the Son. He is the image of the Son, the Perfect of the Perfect; He is Life the cause of the living, the Holy Fountain; He is sanctity; the dispenser of sanctification in whom is revealed God the Father, who is above all and in all; and God the Son who is through all. - St. Gregory Thaumaturge THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN DEIFIED BELONG TO THE LORD You are like stones for a temple of the Father, prepared for the edifice of God, hoisted to the heights by the crane of Jesus Christ, which is the Cross, using for a rope the Holy Spirit. Your faith is what pulls you up, and love is the read which leads you to God. - St. Ignatius of Antioch But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed this Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. - Romans 8:9
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 04:01:34 +0000
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