What Christ Accomplished on the Cross

 by Hieromonk Damascene

A talk delivered at the Annual Lenten Clergy Confession of the New Gracanica Metropolitanate and the Western American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Jackson, California, March 4/17, 2004.

The topic of today’s talk—what Christ accomplished on the Cross—is of course a prime subject of contemplation during the Lenten season, as we prepare to prayerfully commemorate Christ’s passion, death, and the inevitable consequence of His death: His holy Resurrection. As we call to mind and repent of our sins during the Holy Fast, we also call to mind that which has saved us from the eternal consequences of sin. We call to mind Christ’s life-creating death on the Cross, which He underwent for the salvation of each one of us.

The Orthodox dogma of our redemption—which includes the doctrines concerning Christ’s incarnation, death and Resurrection—is the chief dogma of our Faith, together with the dogma of the Holy Trinity. I have been especially contemplating and reading Patristic writings on this subject for a few years now. It is a vast subject. In this lecture I will try to outline its main points in a linear and chronological fashion. I will speak about the state of man before the Fall and after the Fall, and then speak about how Christ saved us from the consequences of the Fall through His incarnation, death and Resurrection. Finally, I will summarize all the present and future accomplishments of Christ’s redemptive work.

On Matthew 15:21-28: The Canaanite woman

In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Gospel of today is the story of a miracle. Like all miracle stories, it is there to remind us that Christ is not only the Judge but also the Physician of our souls and bodies. It is there also to increase our faith, both by giving us warranties of the Glory to come and by helping us to trust in God.

No man has understanding if he is not humble

No man has understanding if he is not humble, and he who lacks humility is devoid of understanding. No man is humble if he is not peaceful, and he who is not peaceful is not humble.

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village

A tourist complimented the local fishermen on the quality of their fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

«Not very long.» they answered in unison.

«Why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?»

The fishermen explained that their small catches were sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.

«But what do you do with the rest of your time?»

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Απολυτίκιο και Κοντάκιο του Αγίου Νικολάου (με εξήγηση) – Apolytikion and Kontakion of St Nicholas

Απολυτίκιον. Ήχος δ’.

Κανόνα πίστεως, και εικόνα πραότητος, εγκρατείας διδάσκαλον, ανέδειξε σε τη ποίμνη σου, η των πραγμάτων αλήθεια δια τούτο εκτήσω τη ταπεινώσει τα υψηλά, τη πτωχεία τα πλούσια. Πάτερ Ιεράρχα Νικόλαε, πρέσβευε Χριστώ τω Θεώ, σωθήναι τας ψυχάς ημών.

Ερμηνεία

Message of the day

Abba Anthony said: I saw all the snares of the enemy spread out upon the world. And I sighed, and said: Who can pass through them without being caught? And I heard a voice saying to me: He that is humble.

«The Sayings of the Desert Fathers» (Gerontikon)

What Constitutes Gossip?

The Gossip. Painting of Nikolaos Gyzis

Strangely enough, the word ‘gossip’ originally meant ‘godparent’ and it is connected with the word ‘sibling’. It is useful to recall, because it means that gossip comes about when people are too familiar, too close to each other. I think that in the hothouse of certain tiny convert groups, where relations are too close for comfort, this can be a problem. I have not particularly come across the problem of gossip in more ‘normal’, larger parishes.

The essence of gossip is pride, the wish to feel superior to others, it is smugness, pretentiousness, self-importance. Gossip always condemns others. Here we must distinguish between ‘judging’ and ‘condemning’. We constantly have to judge – judges have to do it, parents have to do it, priests have to do it.

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Message of the day

«Allow little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.»

Gospel according to St. Luke 18:16-17

ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN MONASTICISM

With the development of monasticism in the Church there appeared a peculiar way of life, which however did not proclaim a new morality. The Church does not have one set of moral rules for the laity and another for monks, nor does it divide the faithful into classes according to their obligations towards God. The Christian life is the same for everyone. All Christians have in common that «their being and name is from Christ»[1]. This means that the true Christian must ground his life and conduct in Christ, something which is hard to achieve in the world.

What is difficult in the world is approached with dedication in the monastic life. In his spiritual life the monk simply tries to do what every Christian should try to do: to live according to God’s commandments. The fundamental principles of monasticism are not different from those of the lives of all the faithful. This is especially apparent in the history of the early Church, before monasticism appeared.

Message of the day

Wherever you may be, put yourself below everyone, and you shall find peace.

Abba Isaac the Syrian

Muslim Christians?

What does it mean to be a Christian? What are we called to do? Very broadly speaking, we are called to be muslims, no, not in the definition of the word as “an adherent of Islam” but in the literal translation of the word which means “one who submits.” St. Nikon of Optina says:

Without humility, one cannot be a disciple of Christ. Without humility, the heart of a man does not receive–does not assimilate–the teachings of Christ. Humilty inspires the heart of a man: to be submissive to the will of God; to humbly accept everything that the Lord is pleased to send on his path of life; to submit his mind, his understanding, and his desires to the obedience of Christ.

Every minute of every day we are called to submit to the will of God. This is a difficult thing! But just because it is difficult does not mean that it impossible, or that we should not try. As Orthodox Christians we are called to take up our cross and struggle to theosis, struggle to become ‘partakers of Christ” as the apostle Paul put it.

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When Scandals Occur

St Eprhaim the Syrian’s Eighth Discourse of Exhortation to the Monks of Egypt:

About the scandals which occur, we know one who said, Judge not, and you will not be judged; by the judgement with which you judge, you will be judged; and by the measure with which you measure, it will be measured out to you in turn. That you may have help in this thought, consider that the just Lot dwelt in Sodom, but was not led away with their pride and licentiousness; and so he was saved, as it is written, For that just man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his just soul by their lawless deeds. But he adds something when he says, The Lord knows how to deliver the godly from trials, and to keep the unjust under punishment until the day of judgement and so forth. So it is not a question of self-mastery and meekness to-day, and dissoluteness and pride to-morrow. Of stillness, vigil and humility to-day, and temptations, immoderate sleep and disobedience and suchlike things to-morrow. Of renunciation of the world, renunciation of earthly affairs, renunciation of fatherland and friends and parents according to the flesh to-day because of hope in the Lord, and tomorrow let us seek country and fatherland and inheritance, to sink ourselves in many evils.

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Humility and Glory in the Liturgy

A photograph of an Orthodox bishop I posted on Monday prompted a faithful and respected reader to leave the following comment:

Is it just me, or do these Bishops present the literal image Greco-Roman Emperors or high-level potentates (despota) more than Christ? I mean that my imagination has acrobatic gymnastic to see the kenotic Christ here.

I was initially at some loss of how to reply. Viewed solely in terms of outward insignia and vestiture, he certainly had a point. My subsequent observation that Christian liturgy has been imbued with imperial court ritual since at least the fourth century, even if there had been a particular appropriation of imperial regalia by bishops since the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire, also did not amount to a properly theological response.

Isaac of Syria on Humility

St. Isaac the Syrian. Etching by Photios Kontoglou. Ο Άγιος Ισαάκ ο Σύρος. Χαρακτικό του Φώτη Κόντογλου.

From Met. Hilarion Alfeyev”s The Spiritual World of Isaac the Syrian:

To speak of humility meant to Isaac to speak of God, for God in his vision is primarily the One who is ‘meek and lowly in heart’. God’s humility was revealed to the world in the Incarnation of the Word. In the Old Testament, God remained invisible to and unattainable by everyone approaching him. But when he clothed himself in humility and hid his glory under human flesh, he became both visible and attainable:

Humility is the raiment of the Divinity. The Word who became human clothed himself in it, and he spoke to us in our body. Everyone who has been clothed with humility has truly been made like unto Him who came down from his own exaltedness and hid the splendor of his majesty and concealed his glory with humility, lest creation be utterly consumed by the contemplation of him.

Every Christian is called to imitate Christ in humility. In acquiring humility, a person becomes like the Lord and clothes himself in Christ:

Wherefore every man has put on Christ when he is clothed with the raiment wherein the Creator was seen through the body that he put on. For the likeness in which he was seen by his own creation and in which he kept company with it, he willed to put on in his inner man, and to be seen therein by his fellow servants.

Source : Glory to God for All Things

Selected Passages From The Teachings of Saint Kosmas

St Kosmas the Aetolian

GOD

It is proper to begin our teaching with God, and when we finish it to thank God – not that I am worthy to mention and utter the name of God, but I am sure that God suffers me to do so through His great and infinite compassion.

God, the all-good and most merciful, my brethren, is one, and whoever says that there are many Gods is a devil. He is triune: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; yet one nature, one glory, one kingdom, one God. He is all light, all joy, all compassion, all love.

This All-holy Trinity we pious Orthodox Christians glorify and worship. He is the true God, and all other so-called gods are demons. And it is not we along that believe, glorify, and worship the Holy Trinity, but angels, archangels, and all the heavenly hosts, as numerous as the stars of the heavens and the grains of the sand of the sea unceasingly praise in hymns and worship and glorify this All-holy Trinity. Again, out of their love for the Holy Trinity men and women as numerous as the stars of the heavens and the grains of the sand of the sea spilt their blood, and as many renounced the world and went to the deserts and led a life of spiritual endeavor, and still as many lived in the world with temperance and virginity, fasting, prayer, almsgiving and other practices; and all went to Paradise and rejoice forever.