Microcosm

We are all a microcosm of the universe

It has been said that humans are a microcosm of the whole universe because we have within ourselves the entire material world and with it all the noetic powers of the cosmos. Created as we were for immortality, it is our fallen nature that has separated us from that which God had intended for us. When we reach out for the healing that comes with living our lives in repentance, and growing in the transformational power of love, we see the order of creation in all its integrity and positive reality.

As we go deeper into this understand of creation, we see that God has blessed the very existence of humanity, whereby the world is a revelation of God (Rom. 1:19-20). The world as cosmos has its own integrity, and is a mystery. The world as cosmos is a positive reality, and is the good work of the good God (Gen. 1), made by God for the existence of humanity.

This world is a revelation of God (Rom. 1:19-20), and its intelligent inhabitants (we humans) see it as cosmos, and come to learn about the Divine wisdom and the Divine energies. This cosmos is a coherent whole because all its elements are united and interrelated in time and space.

The creation of the cosmos is found not only in the fact that it was appointed by God to be the home for living beings. It was made by God to be the context for God’s Incarnation and humankind’s deification, and to be the beginning of the actualization of the Kingdom of God. The cosmos provides the stage upon which humankind moves from creation to deification, and ultimately, the whole of the creation is destined to become a transfigured world, since the salvation of humankind necessarily involves the salvation of its natural home, the cosmos.

According to the Church Fathers, “…Let us make man …(Genesis 1:26)”,  shows that the creation of the human being was the result of a Trinitarian act, and that “man was made according to the image and the likeness of God”. This is to be understood in terms of Jesus Christ, since he is explicitly identified with it (2 Cor.4:4; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3 ff). It is therefore clear that for mankind to be in the image of God means we are assimilated to Christ. It is by God’s grace, and not a matter of nature, because only Christ is by nature God’s image as God’s eternal and natural offspring, his only begotten Son.

Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Tuesday May 30, 2017 / May 17, 2017
Afterfeast of the Ascension. Tone six.

Apostle Andronicus of the Seventy and his fellow laborer Junia (1st c.).
Venerable Euphrosyne (Princess Eudocia) of Moscow (1407).
Martyrs Solochon, Pamphamer, and Pamphalon at Chalcedon (298).
St. Stephen, archbishop of Constantinople (893).
Translation of the relics (1551) of Venerable Adrian, abbot of Ondrusov (Valaam) (1549).
St. Melangell, virgin hermitess of Wales (6th c.) (Celtic & British).
Venerables Nectarius (1550) and Theophanes (1544) of Meteora (Greek).
Venerable Athanasius the New, wonderworker of Christianopolis (18th c.) (Greek).
Great-martyr Nicholas of Sophia (1555).
St. Jonah Atamansk, priest of Odessa (1924).

The Scripture Readings

Acts 21:26-32

Arrested in the Temple

26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.

27 Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, 28 crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” 29 (For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)

30 And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut. 31 Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

John 16:2-13

2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the[b]time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.

And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

5 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.