by John Nichiporuk We were recently asked the following question: “Why is it so wrong to say that the Spirit also proceeds from the Son, if He indeed is co-eternal with the Father? Understanding the complexity of this issue, causing argument for more than a thousand years, we will try to give a short answer to it, with no pretension to providing a complete coverage of this theological problem. Testimony of the Holy Scripture First of all, indeed, both Catholics and the Orthodox confess the co-eternity of the Holy Spirit and the Son with the Father, as well as Their consubstantiality and Their complete ontological equality. However, returning to the question posed, the co-eternity of … [Read more...]
A Pagan Records the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents
Matthew says that when Herod realized the magi were not going to return, he ordered the slaughter of all male children two years old and under in Bethlehem and the neighboring towns (Matt. 2:16-18). Although Mark and Luke do not mention the Slaughter of the Innocents, John alludes to it in the Apocalypse (Rev. 12:1-4), and thus becomes a witness to the verity of the Matthew’s record. The witness of Matthew and John is also corroborated by a pagan writer named Macrobius. Macrobius wrote an encyclopedic account of Roman culture entitled the Saturnalia, in which he records the legends and lore of the holidays marking the Roman calendar. In book two, Macrobius records some of the witty … [Read more...]
The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving
“He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.” - Psalm 49:23 (LXX) Next year is the 400th anniversary of the celebrating Thanksgiving to God for the mercy, love, and bounties he pours out on us. The giving of thanks is the central act of Christian worship, and it is an integral feature of Old Testament worship, which are types of Christian worship. There are many instructions for sacrifice throughout the Pentateuch, but Leviticus chapters 1-7 is completely dedicated to the 5 Levitical offerings which were the main sacrifices used in the rituals. The 5 kinds of sacrifices described in such detail in Leviticus … [Read more...]
What Happens to Those Who Have Never Heard of Jesus?
What happens to those who have never heard of Jesus? Will God condemn people to hell for not believing in someone they have never heard of? First, people are not condemned to hell for not believing in Jesus whom they have never heard of. Rather they are already condemned because of their sin. Thus, the real question is not how can God send someone to hell, but how can God condescend to save any one of us? As Paul has so beautifully written in the book of Romans, "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God." (Romans 5:8-9). It is hard to … [Read more...]
“God’s Wrath” Was Not Part of the Theology of Israel’s Sacrificial System
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Adult converts to the Orthodox Church often remark on a sense of relief---not to say liberation---they felt when they became acquainted with Orthodoxy's teaching on Salvation. I have heard testimonies on this point times out of mind. These folks, coming mainly from Western Christian backgrounds, had previously thought about Salvation chiefly in forensic terms. They were accustomed to hearing the word "merit" a lot with respect to the Cross. Their former Soteriology might be summarized in Archbishop Cranmer's lines in The Book of Common Prayer, which declare that on the Cross Jesus Christ, "by his one oblation of himself once offered," made "a full, perfect, … [Read more...]
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