God’s presence is everywhere
According to Saint Gregory of Nyssa, heaven and hell are not about location, but about relationship. God is everywhere, and He did not create a heaven for some, and a hell for others. If we love God, His fire will be a comforting warmth, but if we choose not to have a relationship with Him, His fire will be as hell fire. We choose how we will experience the presence of God in the afterlife, and since God can not be absent from anywhere, those who have chosen to ignore Him, will, nevertheless, be in His presence for all of eternity.
Saint Gregory said that Paradise and Hell do not exist from God’s point of view, but from man’s point of view. It is all about man’s choice and condition. According to him, heaven and hell are not two different locations. They are simply two different experiences of the same place.
Everyone will spend eternity in God’s presence, but how we experience the Divine Presence will depend upon the condition of our soul. Those who have been transformed by the action and work of the Holy Spirit, will experience God as light and bliss. Those who have rejected God’s love will experience it as pain and suffering. For the unbeliever and the unrepentant, their sins will not allow them to enjoy the Presence of God.
Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Thursday August 25, 2016 / August 12, 2016
10th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.
Dormition (Theotokos) Fast. By Monastic Charter: Food without Oil
Afterfeast of the Transfiguration.
Martyrs Anicetus and Photius (Photinus) of Nicomedia (305).
New Hieromartyrs Barlaam abbot of Belogor St. Nicholas monastery and brotherhood: hieromonks Sergius, Ilia, Viacheslav, Iosaph, John, Anoty, hierodeacons Mikhey, Bessarion, Mathew, Euphemia, monks Barnabas, Demetrius, Sabbas, Hermogenus, Arcadius, Euphemia, btothers John, Jacob, Peter, another Jacob, Alexander, Theodore, another Peter, Sergius, Alexis (1918).
New Hieromartyr Basil priest (1918).
New Hieromartyrs Leonidas, John and Nicholas priests (1937).
Hieromartyr Alexander, bishop of Comana (3rd c.).
Martyrs Pamphilus and Capito.
Venerable Pallamon of Egypt, instructor of St. Pachomius the Great.
St. Muredach (Murtagh), first bishop of Killala and founder of Innismurray (Ireland) (6th c.) (Celtic & British).
St. Molaise of Devenish (563) (Celtic & British).
St. Seigine, abbot of Iona (652) (Celtic & British).
Sts. Sergius and Stephen, monks (Greek).
Soldier-martyrs of Crete (Greek).
Monk-martyrs Gerontius, Serapion, Germanus, Bessarion, Michael, and Simeon of Garesja, slain by the Lekians (1851) (Georgia).
Translation of relicts of St. Edwold, hermit of Cerne.
St. Jambert, archbishop of Canterbury (Celtic & British).
Scripture Readings
2 Corinthians 1:1-7
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Comfort in Suffering
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. 6 Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.
Matthew 21:43-46
43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”
45 Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. 46 But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.