And the corporate nature of salvation
There is a certain emptiness in trying to live the Christian life outside the life of the Church. This is because it is impossible to truly live as a Christian without the Church. The reading of the scriptures, and our commitment to prayer, are important foundations in the life of a Christian, but they are incomplete without the mystical and sacramental life that is found within the Church.
If we hope to grow spiritually, we will take advantage of the Mysteries that are found only within the Church. Without the Mystery of Penance, and the absolution of the Church, we have no hope of transformation and holiness, for without the corporate life of the Church, our sins keep us captive. Without the Mystery of Christ’s Body and Blood, received during the celebration of the Church’s Divine Liturgy, the healing of the soul remains undone, and salvation is next to impossible.
The center of the Church’s Eucharistic liturgy is to be found in the descent, the appearance, the divine presence of the resurrected Christ, and is central to every moment of the liturgy. As believers, the partaking of Communion is actually that moment when we are encountering the living person of the Lord who enters the congregation as “King of the universe borne invisibly over their spears by the angelic hosts.” This act is so central to the life of a Christian, as to make it the necessary component to being a Christian.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Monday September 24, 2018 / September 11, 2018
18th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.
Translation of the relics of Venerables Sergius and Hermanof Valaam.
Venerable Theodora of Alexandria (490).
Hieromartyrs Nicholas and Victor priests (1918).
Hieromartyr Carp priest (1937).
Venerable Silouan, elder of Mt. Athos (1938).
Hieromartyr Nicholas diacon (1942).
Martyrs Demetrius, his wife Euanthia, and their son Demetrian at Skepsis on the Hellespont (1st c.).
Martyrs Diodorus, Didymus, and Diomedes of Laodicea (4th c.).
Martyr Ia of Persia and 9,000 Martyrs with her (363).
Venerable Euphrosynus the Cook of Alexandria (9th c.).
Weeping Kazan Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, of “Kaplunovka” (1689).
Martyrs Serapion, Cronides (Hieronides), and Leontius of Alexandria (237).
Venerable Paphnutius the Confessor, bishop in the Egyptian Thebaid (4th c.).
Holy Martyr Theodora of Vasta in the Peloponnesus.
Venerable Elias the Cave-dweller, of Calabria (960).
Canonization (1978) of St. Xenia of St. Petersburg (18th c.).
Venerable Deiniol, abbot of Bangor, bishop in Wales (584) (Celtic & British).
The Scripture Readings
Matthew 11:27-30
27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. 28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Ephesians 4:25-32
Do Not Grieve the Spirit
25 Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. 26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil. 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Matthew 23:13-22
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ 19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.
We have to be wary of new age religion ,for it may be appealing and easy to consume in the mind it is more of value if mortal humans are helped to interpret The Holy Bible and for each and every one of us to be a servant to almighty God who without his benevolent rays of sunshine we would not be here Amen .
Protestants can’t see this because of Original Sin. Their loose ends are tied up once they have been converted. I’ve always been frustrated and grieved how many of my family call themselves Christian but never attend church. But I realized they have “been saved”, the Eucharist is a memorial they could celebrate at home with Coke and chips if nothing else was available. Once a person is convinced of theosis, none of this will work and the necessity of the Mysteries will inevitably lead them to the Church where we can work out our salvation.
The best Protestant quote that is still a very long way off to capturing some of what you’re saying was, “Eternal security is a community project.”
Thank you Abbot