The meaning of salvation in the Ancient Church
According to Protopresbyter George Metallinos, Dean of the Athens University School of Theology, “For we Orthodox the unique and absolute goal of life in Christ is theosis, our union with God, so that man – through his participation in God’s uncreated energy – may become “by the Grace of God” that which God is by nature (without beginning and without end). This is what “salvation” means, in Christianity.”
As Christians we know that salvation is an ongoing process that, as believers, we are called to cooperate in. We are instructed to “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). The Apostle Paul made clear the necessity of human cooperation when he told us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:1–13)”.
Our salvation is a process by which we become more and more like Christ. Our faith is a free gift from God, not dependent upon anything we can do, but this life long process of salvation requires that we cooperate with God’s grace, that we might be transformed by the Holy Spirit, and made holy. If we are to spend eternity with God, transformation must take place.
The sole purpose of the Church is the salvation of every human person, whereby we are united to Christ, and transformed by Him in all holiness, and prepared for eternal life. Through the Church we hear the Good News, that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, and that he rose from the dead, and because of this we have eternal life. This work of salvation is a gradual, life-long process by which Christians become more and more like Christ. Our salvation begins the moment we commit ourselves to Christ, and within the abounding grace of the Holy Spirit, we are ever drawn closer in communion with God.
Theosis goes far beyond the simple restoration of people to their state before the Fall. Because Christ united the human and divine natures in his person, it is now possible for us to experience closer fellowship with God than Adam and Eve initially experienced in the Garden of Eden. Some Orthodox theologians go so far as to say that Jesus would have become incarnate for this reason alone, even if Adam and Eve had never sinned.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Tuesday September 29, 2015 / September 16, 2015
18th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.
Afterfeast of the Exaltation of the Cross.
Great-martyr Euphemia the All-praised, of Chalcedon (304).
New Hieromartyr Gregory Raevsky priest (1937).
New Hieromartyr Sergius priest (1942).
Translation of the relics of St. Alexis of Moscow (2001).
Repose of St. Cyprian, metropolitan of Kiev (1406).
St. Kushka of Odessa confessor (1964).
St. Sebastiana, disciple of St. Paul the Apostle, martyred at Heraclea (86).
Martyr Melitina of Marcianopolis (2nd c.).
Martyrs Victor and Sosthenes at Chalcedon (304).
Venerable Dorotheus, hermit of Egypt (4th c.).
Martyr Ludmilla (927), grandmother of St. Wenceslaus, prince of the Czechs.
New Martyrs Isaac and Joseph, who suffered at Karnu, Georgia (808) (Georgia).
The Icon of the Mother of God, named “Support of the Humble” (1420).
Venerable Procopius, abbot, of Sazava in Bohemia (1053).
St. Ninian, bishop of Whithorn (Candida Casa) ( 432) (Celtic & British).
Venerable Edith, nun, of Wilton, England (984) (Celtic & British).
Venerable Cyprian of Serbia (Serbia).
Scripture Readings
Ephesians 5:20-26
20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.[a]
Marriage—Christ and the Church
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
Matthew 23:23-28
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.