21- And in the one church

Waw is a conjunction. “Church” is connected to what came before it, meaning: “I believe in the one God the Father... and in the one Lord Jesus Christ... and in the Holy Spirit... and in the Church.”

Article of faith: The church is an article of faith. The Russians draw a cross when pronouncing this clause.

the church : What is the church? The Fathers of the Church repeated the words of the Apostle Paul: The Church is “the Body of Christ.” Some Orthodox contemporaries (Vladimir Lossky, Gele, Kermeris, and Dimitri Staniloi) said, like the West: “The Mystique Body of Christ.” I rejected this expression, which was not used by the Fathers, nor by Khomyakov (our great theologian of the last century), nor by our contemporary Bulgakov, in an article that appeared in “The Word.”

Body of Christ: Paul said that the church is “the body of Christ.” God is true.

These are the words of the Holy Spirit. We say with Paul that it is “the body of Christ” and Christ is its “head.”

Believers are members of this body and members of one another (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, etc.). The Holy Spirit established the Church on the day of Pentecost, the day He came upon the disciples, and they were the Church, so they were the body of Christ.

invitation : The word church appears in the Old Testament (116). It also has the meaning of “invitation”. The spiritually weak are attached to things and perspectives. As long as we touch God with our spirit in prayer and sacrifice, there is no need for the senses to see God, except when God wills. Satan uses our senses to deceive us with false apparitions and false dreams.

I am not saying that all apparitions and dreams are false.

But I only accept what the spiritually versed elders of the monks accept. I would prefer that people reject it completely, and not relate to it at all. It contains the danger of electricity, the love of appearance, and the belief that one is a saint. What is needed is a feeling that I am an abomination of abominations, not arrogance. Paul taught us that Satan takes on the image of an angel of light to deceive believers (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Beware of it requires crossing out dreams and apparitions until spiritual elders examine them.

As for dreams, science has revealed the secrets of the ordinary ones. It is no longer a mystery or a prophecy for science.

During the psychological analysis of the disease, dream analysis plays an important role in revealing the patient’s subconscious. A patient's dream included a summary of her psychological complexities. The analyst tactfully conveyed his analysis to her, so she analyzed it and was relieved of fear of its conundrums. So: Dreams are no longer secrets. However, it is not permissible to analyze it in its entirety except during treatment, when the analyst practices the best way to decipher it. Ibn Sirin was good at talking about the symbol, but his analyzes are supernatural and childish.

The Church calls upon the world and preaches to it the salvation that has come through our Lord Jesus Christ, so that it may receive salvation and joy. The news is good.

Baptism- Through baptism, a person becomes a member of the body of Christ, as will be mentioned in the chapter on baptism. The Body of Christ is a living, organic entity, not an association (117).

Ecclesiastical authorities- God has appointed apostles, prophets, teachers, bishops, priests, and deacons in the church to serve the believers. Under the powers granted to them they exercise certain functions of the service. The only justification for the existence of these positions is to sanctify the people (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4).

the sky and the earth- The Church gathers clergy and laity in its body, whether alive or dead on earth. And not only that. There is a hymn that says that the people of heaven and the people of earth are one subject: “O Christ God, through your holy cross, the angels and humans became one subject and one church, and heaven and earth rejoiced together...” (The Benedictine, Jerusalem 1888, Holy Sepulcher Press, p. 43). According to Chrysostom, we, our righteous dead, and the angels are one church.

Angels are our guardians- They guard us and join us in prayer (118). The Church teaches that the righteous who have passed away are not dead, but alive, and that they are like angels. Jesus mentioned about our angels that they intercede for us before God.

The Holy Fathers taught that the incarnation raised us above the angels. Therefore, the completely righteous and transferred (members of the church) are united with us in the body of Jesus. The Holy Spirit dwells in them, residing in the body of Jesus. Nikita Stethatos says they feel our conditions.

The Spirit prays in us - The Holy Spirit is the one who prays in us and intercedes for us (Romans 8:15, 26 and Galatians 4:6). He is the one who prays for the living and the dead and all of the angelic creation (119).

Prayer for enemies - The most powerful form of love for enemies is sincere, fervent prayer for them.

(Maximus the Confessor) coupled with complete forgiveness of my heart for them, otherwise the prayer would be an imitation.

And others. He said: “God established Christ as one common head for all: angels and humans.” (120). In the tradition of the Church, we are accustomed to mentioning nine groups (choirs) of angels (the apostate Dionysius, the heavenly Choir). Jesus said that in the afterlife we will be like the angels (Luke 20:36 and Matthew 22:30). Our angels intercede for us in heaven (Matthew 18:10) and the angels of God and heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10, 6). Angels are our partners (121). Our righteous dead are like angels, our partners. Niketas rightly said that they feel us and share with us.

Prayer is a bond - Prayer is the most complete picture of the union of the perfected believers in heaven, and the believers waiting on earth to move to them. The Apostle Paul taught us that we reside in heaven from now on. Therefore, we are strangers in this world and sojourners. There is no city left for us here, but we are all waiting for the other city. So, O Jesus, make us among its perfected inhabitants, and make us, the angels, the righteous, and all creatures (Revelation 5:8-14, 6:6-11, 7:9-17, etc.) one.

22- Oneness (Unity of the Church)

The Constitution established 4 descriptions of the Church.

One: The Father is one, Jesus is one, the Holy Spirit is one, the Trinity is one God, baptism is one. Would Jesus' body be multiple? Adam and Eve were one body in Paradise. Sin tore apart man's inner unity. Even if humans are one nature, the division is very wide. Each belongs to nature for itself. Combatant isolation, isolation, selfishness, selfishness, hostility, and self-tyranny have distorted our original mold. Man is a crystal vessel that has been shattered, scattered internally, and torn asunder.

Algebra of our brokenness - But this unity returned in Jesus. The Church is one, that is, the body of Jesus is one, that is, we, the many, are one. Jesus mends the brokenness of nature. Jesus renewed nature. When we become perfected, the holes, fissures, and defects are removed, and the members of the body (perfected in the person of Jesus) submit to God the Father (Achor 15:28).

Jesus and the Spirit - Vladimir Loski made the management of Jesus a management of nature and made the management of the Holy Spirit a management of people. Stanley disagrees with this distinction.

In Jesus we receive one nature if we become members of his one body. We become one in the one bread, that is, the offering. The one sacrifice unites us with the head, Jesus. In the Holy Spirit, our people grow and nurture in the grace of the Holy Spirit who lives in Jesus. The Holy Spirit connects the body's members to one another.

The Church and the Trinity - Through Jesus we received nature. In the spirit we took the development force. Thus our existence as nature and as persons becomes in the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We said about the Trinity: One God in three persons (persons).

We said about the incarnation: one hypostasis in two natures.

We say in the Church: human hypostases (persons) in one body, in one nature. The Holy Spirit made us members of this body and He grows us in it.

What is the church? She is in the image of the Holy Trinity, then. It is one and its members are many, just as God is one in three persons. Jesus' last prayer (John 17) is a prayer that we may become one, just as He and the Father are one. In the baptismal font, the Holy Spirit gave birth to us all from one womb, which is the baptismal font (Ephrem), so we became children of God and brothers of Jesus. But our brotherhood in Jesus is stronger than our physical brotherhood that links us to the brothers of the flesh. Through baptism, Jesus became imprinted on each one of us. We are copies of the original Jesus, while the brothers of the flesh bear the distortion of Adam's fallen nature.

The Holy Spirit who lives in Jesus dwells in us and develops us in Jesus so that we may reach the full stature of our Lord Jesus and we all end up in complete unity. Even though we are many members, we are the one body of Jesus who resides in heaven and is now mysteriously hidden within us on earth.

If we are selfish, carnal, and fallen, then the fault is our fault because we do not grow in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Trinity gave us His grace. It remains for us to grow in it through fasting, asceticism, prayer, and virtues. We are children of God through baptism. However, the perfection and completeness of sonship cannot be achieved except in the ardent faith of the martyrs and their love protected by the fire of the Holy Spirit.

Here I would like to stress that Christian ethics are not slogans, beautiful expressions, ideal theories, and theoretical principles. It is above morals and above principles. It is to re-weave our worn-out being into a new fabric - not with the threads of our worn-out burials - but with the threads of the lights of the Holy Trinity. Our morals have a divine source. We weave, but the threads are the lights of the Holy Spirit that we weave deep within us, in the deep secret that only the Lord of the Worlds knows. Verbal eloquence is not spiritual depth. He may be a man of cultured letters who is brilliant in explaining the Gospel. Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries presented anecdotes of luminaries in religious studies, but they were rationalists and atheists who were enemies of spirituality. Our teachers are Antonius, Simon the Stylite, and Simon the Modern Theologian, and their equals are Wellhausen, Harnack, Bultmann, and their equals. The proverb said: “Your origin is your action.” Do not be deceived by empty words and appearances. He who is filled with the Holy Spirit, like the Apostle Paul, exposes the devil who lives in the divination and exposes all the counterfeiters. Selfishness and selfishness are two hellish chains that hinder our path to God. Saint Theophanes the Russian Primate is the author of the largest Orthodox book on “Christian Ethics.” Morality is based on our membership in the body of Jesus. So: It is morality dictated by Jesus and His Holy Spirit. The company is the foundation there. Effort, selfishness, jealousy, envy, hatred, utilitarianism, individualism, self-absorption, self-centeredness, self-love (which feeds pride, arrogance, and arrogance), deception, deception, cover-ups, deceit, slander, and aggression against people’s honor and money are the enemies of the company. Ibn al-Muqaffa, the pagan, was a model of loyalty to a friend and sacrificing himself on his behalf. He condemns us Christians who lack loyalty, sincerity, impartiality and integrity.

The Church is the Church of those who mourn, lament, weep, lament, and repentant, not the arrogant, eloquent, lazy people.

Shame overwhelms me, as I write this boldly, without trembling. Is it true that I am standing in the body of Jesus and in the Holy Spirit? Is it true that the earth and the air are no longer my space, my environment, my surroundings, but rather the Holy Trinity has become my abode and my space? What a terrible secret, and how can I utter it without getting burned? God's kindness protected my existence. So I don't fade away.

No difference - The Church is one in heaven and on earth, wherever the believers are. Believers in all parts of the world are one body. There is no difference between white and black, yellow and brown, and red. There is no difference between big or small, between a king and a servant, between a boss and a subordinate. A pious servant is better than a heretic king and an infidel billionaire. The Christian only respects piety and great, great morals.

No favoritism - God has no favoritism among persons. The angels rejoice over one sinner who repents. Jesus cares more about the lost sheep than about the ninety-nine sheep that were not lost. Paul taught us that all members should care for the weak member. It is not surprising to hear a saint like John the Merciful calling the poor his masters. Jesus is in them.

Contempt of vice - The Christian despises vice, whatever its source. Rather, he weeps over sinners and rages in supplications on their behalf and on behalf of his enemies. He should not prostrate to carved or uncarved idols. The slave of money and desires and the like is the slave of idols. The true believer prostrates only to the Holy Trinity alone, and cares only about the truth based on the Gospel of our Lord. (122). The best death is death for the truth.

one heart - The unity of the Church means our unity in faith, love, and hope: that we have one mind, one heart, one hopes, and one longings in our one Jesus.

Many are one - Our union with Jesus is stronger than the union of our body with our head, and the union of our body with our spirit. In this way, in Jesus, we who are many are one. We are in the image of the Holy Trinity: one in three (the Holy Trinity). We are many in one body, that is, the body of Jesus. We said that in baptism, it remains for us to achieve that in our actions and our lives (123).

23- “And by the universal Church”

catholic - The word “university” is a translation of the Greek word “catholic.” What does this word mean, which Catholics and Orthodox have often written about? Catholics used to give it the meaning of global spread and presence in all parts of the world. However, Muller and others discovered that the meaning of the word in early Christianity meant a meaning different from its meaning in the Greek word that preceded Christ. The ancient meaning is “university”. The meaning among the early Church Fathers is “orthodoxy.” This last meaning is quite clear in the writings of Saint Ignatius of Antioch and the martyrdom of Saint Polycarp, a disciple of John the Evangelist. (124). The tone is clear: the Catholic Church is not the church of heretics. Ignatius said:

Jesus and the Church: “Where Christ Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church” (p. 139).

The Holy Spirit and the Church: Saint Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, said: “Where the Church is, there also is the Spirit of God (i.e. the Holy Spirit); Where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and every grace. And the spirit is the truth.” (125)The existence of the Church depends on the presence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Cyril - Saint Cyril of Jerusalem is one of the fathers of the Second Ecumenical Council (126) Who wrote this text of the Constitution of Faith. Therefore, his explanation of this clause of the Constitution deserves first consideration. I will provide his texts. It has the ancient meanings of “university,” and the modern meaning of “orthodoxy.” He said:

1- “We call the Church Catholic because of its extension to the entire inhabited earth, from one end of the earth to the other” (Sermon 18; 23). Of course, it was not like this in his days, but rather in the inhabited earth. But the aspirations of the Church include the whole earth.

2- While the rulers of the peoples of the earth exercise only limited authority, the Holy Catholic Church alone extends her authority throughout the earth, without limits, for as it is written, “God has set an end to it” (Psalm 147:14). If I wanted to tell everything about her, it would take many hours (18:27).

3- “Because it teaches, Catholicly and without fail, all the doctrines that should inform people’s knowledge, whether about things visible or invisible, about heavenly or earthly things” (18:23).

4- “Because it subjects the entire human race to piety: the rulers and the ruled, the learned and the ignorant” (18:23).

5- “Also because it treats and heals, as a Catholic, all kinds of sins committed by the soul and body, and possesses in itself all forms of what we call virtue, in deeds and words and in all kinds of spiritual gifts” (18:23).

6- Regarding this holy Catholic Church, Paul wrote to Timothy: “You must know how to conduct yourself in the house of God, I mean the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15; Sermon 18:25).

7- “And in one holy Catholic Church,” in order to avoid the infected meetings of these people, and to integrate, forever, into the holy Catholic Church in which you were born again. If you travel one day to other cities, do not just ask: Where is the house of the Lord; Other churches, too, the churches of the renegades, do everything to make their own caves called “houses of the Lord” - not only later simply asking where the church is, but where the “Catholic” church is. Because this is the name of this holy church, which is also the mother of us all (18:26).

8- Cyril speaks about the rejection of Judaism by God and adds: “And when the first was rejected, then in the second, in the Catholic Church, as Paul says: “God raised up... the apostles first, the prophets second, and the teachers third, then He bestowed the gift of miracles and the ability to heal, minister, administer well, and speak in various languages.” (Accords 12:28) And by all kinds of virtue, I mean: “wisdom and understanding, contentment and justice, mercy and goodness, and long-suffering in persecution. This church, with the weapon of righteousness, the weapon of attack and the weapon of defense, with dignity and humiliation. With bad and good remembrance” (2 Corinthians 6:6-8) I crowned the holy martyrs in persecutions and dangers with various flourishing crowns of patience...” (18:27). (127)

Catholic = Orthodox - Except for the first paragraph, the word “Catholic” is synonymous with the word “Orthodox.” Orthodox here means the church with an upright opinion that opposes the renegade churches, and is completely distinct from them. She is straight Orthodox, while they are heterodox. She has sound education because Jesus is her head and the Holy Spirit is her spirit. Jesus is the truth. Didn’t he say in the Holy Spirit: “The Spirit of truth...” (John 15:26)? Didn’t the Apostle Paul say that the church is “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15)?

The truth is: The truth exists in the Catholic Church, that is, the Orthodox Church. Paul said that all the treasures of wisdom and understanding are found hidden in Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:3). In love, we realize the breadth, length, height, and depth, and we know the love of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge (Ephesians 3:19). Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

And Jesus became for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption from God (1 Corinthians 24 and 30).

The spirit runs through it: In this Catholic = Orthodox Church, the abundant springs of God’s wisdom flow, irrigating the entire country. Didn’t Jesus say that whoever believes in Him - as the Book said - from his belly will flow rivers of living water, that is, the Holy Spirit that He poured out on the disciples on the day of Pentecost (John 7: 38-39)? This spirit nourishes it, quenches it, leads it, and guides it to the full knowledge of the truth (John 14:26 and 16:13-15). It contains the full truth through Jesus, its fullness, who fills everything in everything. He is its head (Ephesians 1:23) who gives us the spirit of wisdom... (1:18-19).

The whole truth: She holds onto the whole truth. Therefore, whoever is separated from it loses this filling and is divided. But the truth is indivisible. She is complete. So: not incomplete.

For all nations: They are spread throughout the inhabited earth, while heretical churches are churches limited in time and place. It appeared at a certain time by so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so in such-and-such a place. They are referred to as new churches, not churches extending in depth to the apostles and Jesus. As for the Catholic Church = the Orthodox Church, it is original in its ancient existence and its original extension throughout the universe. Those who depart from it are described as “Shiites.”

Its authority is ecumenical: Leaders of nations are local leaders. Each of them is confined to a patch of land in which he exercises his authority, without his authority exceeding that spot. As for the Church, it exercises its authority over all the nations of the earth. There is no nation without a nation, nor a tribe without a tribe. It has a global message. Every human being is called to accept it, come under its banner, and submit to it. The church exercises its authority over its members wherever they are under heaven. Al-Dhahabi said that the bishop is more important than the king, and the spiritual thing is more honorable than the temporal thing.

There is no racial or other discrimination in it: This church does not distinguish the ruler from the ruled. In principle, it is with the oppressed against the oppressor, whatever his position. It is the Church of God's Poor. The powerful of this age do not flatter against the weak. You rebuke the oppressor and help the oppressed. It does not distinguish nation from nation, nor master from servant. The Christian servant and his master are brothers in Christ. The Christian employer and worker are brothers in Christ. Everyone is equal.

Deviating from this is a crime for which we must repent with tears of blood. Jesus warned us not to despise others. Prairie fathers are aware of the danger of contempt. If it were not for the scavengers, epidemics would have spread.

Who respects scavengers? Our relationship with scavengers reveals the depth of our humiliation, humiliation, and stupidity. They are good to us and we despise them.

Its function is to rebuke sinners and preach to them in order to reform them. John Chrysostom clashed with the queen, the palace, his senior men, and the bishops for the sake of truth, justice, and reform. The matter cost him hardships, banishment, and death in exile resulting from exhaustion, so he was among the martyrs.

He stood against abuse of power. And there are many abusers among those in power! Those with authority are blind, except for those among them whose conscience God has enlightened. And God knows best about them.

As for everyone, they are slaves of Jesus Christ. How sweet is this slavery that frees us from the yoke of sin!

Russian Soborny: In the last century, the Russian secularist Alexei Khomyakov emerged as the greatest theologian in the Orthodox world. He excelled in his research on the church.

He paid great attention to the word “Soborny”. This word is a Russian translation of the Greek word “Catholic” in the Constitution of Faith (128). The Russian word is derived from the name “super”.

“Super” means “complex”. The adjective is “congregational.” The Catholicism of the Church means, therefore, its collegiality. Council means the participation of the public of believers in protecting, expressing and defending the faith. The matter does not depend on a patriarch or a bishop. The entire believing community is responsible and participates in the activity of the church (129).

Inhabited synagogues: Therefore, ecumenical councils are not an authoritative body above the Church, but rather they are tools for expressing the truths of faith preserved, by the Holy Spirit, in the Church. Conditions for defending the faith The church called for holding ecumenical councils to express ecumenically what the churches received from the apostles and fathers. Then the Holy Spirit spoke in the councils. Therefore, the doctrines determined by the councils are doctrines inspired by the Holy Spirit, and do not accept subtraction or change.

To prove that the church, not the councils, is the supreme authority, theologians mentioned the issues of the councils that the church denounced. There were several councils that the church rejected and considered thieves and conspirators. The church did not accept her actions and decisions, and denounced them, so they fell like autumn leaves. The church, then, is the one that says that such-and-such decision issued by such-and-such council is inspired or uninspired.

Subsequent councils supported the precedent and gave it an ecumenical character.

Therefore, we see the Seventh Ecumenical Council conferring ecumenical legitimacy on the six councils that preceded it.

Russian theologians (Khomyakov, Bulgakov, Lossky, and others) and others walked the wonderful line.

Orthodoxy: It was Androutsos (130) A professor of theology in Athens, he was the first to prove that the word “Catholic” means “Orthodox” since 1907.

In 1915 Sweet said this (131) English. The Catholics Muller, Congar, and others followed them (132).

In his above-mentioned article, Kermeris the Greek took this from the lectures of Orthodox theologians and noted in footnote 11 that Florovsky was of this opinion. (133). Loski had written a wonderful but incomplete article (134). Father Dimitri Stanioloway criticized Lossky’s theological position on the article and on his distinction between “the dispensation of the Son” and “the dispensation of the Holy Spirit.” (135). Go a little overboard with criticism. Loski is a great theologian, but he sometimes lacks completeness of expression. He is fully aware of the importance of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the church.

Many are one: The Catholic Church is the Orthodox Church that teaches sound, saving doctrine. It is the body of Christ that carries the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit makes Christians members of the Body of Christ, links them to one another, and moves them in faith, love, and hope. Even if they are many, as persons, they are one in Christ. Christ and the Holy Spirit make Christians in all parts of the world one. Jesus is the head of the church who fills it with the Holy Spirit.

Maximus: I would like to solve this chapter (which needs a book to do it justice) with the words of Saint Maximus the Confessor.

Patriarch Peter of Constantinople came and offered him in prison to belong to the Catholic Church, whose type of faith the churches of Constantinople, Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem agreed upon. What is meant is the doctrine of one will. Maximus's answer was:

Correct confession: “The God of the universe, when He declared Peter (the Apostle) blessed because he had originally acknowledged him (Matthew 16:18), made it clear that the universal (Catholic) Church is the correct and saving confession (that is, of God) (136).

Maximus the prisoner, with these words, challenged the Patriarch of the capital, the other patriarchs, their churches, and their parishes. He considered them heretics and considered himself a Catholic, as the Catholic Church is the true and saving confession of God. God in Maximus's text is Jesus who beatified Peter. Maximus put two adjectives: “righteous” and “savior”. He brought the upright tongue to the righteous life.

The Catholic Church is a true faith and good deeds of salvation.

Deflection resistance: Loski - with a sound Orthodox sense - cited this text. He wrote what we mentioned on the next page (137) From this book: The right of every secular person to resist the bishop who deviates from the path of righteousness (138).

Maximus alone is Catholic: Only Friar Maximus belongs to the Catholic Church. Catholicism is not present in all parts of the world, but rather a sound, salvific confession, even if the matter is limited to one person. (139). Until the sixteenth century, there were those in the Western Church who said this (140).

What is amazing about Maximus is this prophetic, chivalric spirit with which Peter confronted Constantinople and his allies, the patriarchs and the emperor. He publicly accused them of heresy. He considered himself - implicitly - a representative of the Catholic Church, since he had the right and saving confession of God. Thus, he made himself an authority above their authority, and ruled over them, while he was a simple monk. He is the authority of the truth that was represented by a monk, which condemned patriarchs and emperors. This is what Saints Simeon the Modern Theologian and Palamas did centuries after him (141).

Opinion for whiskey - As for Lossky, he was influenced by Khomyakov (142) He excelled in a wonderful fragment that was recomposed extensively so that the sentences were composed smoothly and easily:

Catholic truth is free to express itself. One should not imagine or think that it is subject to the approval, support, or confirmation of the majority through any method, such as universal suffrage, for example. All church history bears testimony to the contrary. If we understood democracy in this way, we made a mistake. This concept is completely foreign to the Church. It is not the majority that decides. Everyone may make mistakes, and an individual like Maximus remains the only spokesperson for the truth. Majority democracy is not Catholic, but rather a caricature of the Catholic spirit. Khomyakov says: “The church is not in the greater or less large number of its members, but in the spiritual bond that unites them.” The truth is internally obvious. How can this intuition spread abroad and declare itself so fluently if it means coercion exercised by the majority on the minority? The “concept of Catholicism” has nothing to do with public opinion.

Truth alone is the basis of truth. She derives her strength and support from herself, not from others. This truth is the manifestation of the Holy Trinity, and it is what gives the Church its Catholic character: it is an equation - beyond description - between unity and diversity in the image of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity of equal essence and indivisible. (143).

Multiple people in the unit -  Loski says that believers are people in one church, in one body of Christ, just as the three persons are one God, with one essence.

Mouth of truth - All of this means that the head of the church (i.e. Jesus) and that the Holy Spirit (resides within it as a “motor” - an electric motor that nourishes it with activity and energies). They are the ones who act in the church, in its conscience and in its life. Whoever lives the truth speaks the truth even if the whole world stands against him. The spokesman of Jesus and His Holy Spirit is the mouth of truth (144). The majority may go astray. You may conspire against God and the truth.

Quality is important - Quality is important, not quantity. Quality is the expression in Jesus and His Holy Spirit of the Church’s conscience. The majority is not the same as a majority, but rather the Holy Spirit. The majority who do not speak the Holy Spirit are negligent. A minority - even if it is an individual - who speaks with the Holy Spirit is blessed. The manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church and its sacred councils is the focus of consideration, not positions or majority.

Difficult labor - How did things turn out in the church? The answer is very difficult. But the history of the Church teaches us lessons and lessons. The founders of heresies rampaged through the Church, sweeping away crowds, emperors, patriarchs, and bishops. The shocks were very violent, shaking the entity of the church. After distress, relief. The church always triumphed and achieved doctrinal stability after a very difficult struggle.

What matters is the truth, not the majority. How did Arianism spread almost universally at the hands of Emperor Constantius, son of Constantine, so that the bishops of the world submitted to him, except for Athanasius of Alexandria and Ilarion of Poitiers, and then its leadership disbanded? How did Peter of Constantinople threaten the imprisoned monk Maximus, who recognized the five patriarchates, that is, all the churches of his time, in the year 662? But God uprooted Peter and his companions in the storm of Orthodox victory at the Sixth Ecumenical Council (680): that is, 18 years after the death of Maximus, the guardian angel and inspiration for this council. How did God destroy the emperors, patriarchs, and bishops so that Maximus alone would remain immortal? How did everyone fall down in the fifteenth century except Mark of Ephesus, so God suppressed everyone and the people became attached to Mark? Mark was alone, once again, the mouth of the truth like Maximus. This is God's secret:

Against heresies - The struggle of Orthodoxy with overt (and latent) heresies is a story whose secrets are known only to the Holy Trinity, which, with its secret wisdom, leads the Church towards the port of salvation. He chose Maximus for one stage and others for another...

Transfiguration in the church - By this I do not mean at all to turn the church into a spiritual entity without a social existence. My book of Chalcedon is a shameless call for two natures in the one person of Jesus (145). The manifestation of Jesus in the life of the church is a divine mystery. We are - as Origen quoted through Clement - a prostitute bathed in the blood of Christ. This ablution contains a wonderful divine mystery at the level of an individual’s life. At the level of community life, something of this plays a role in addition to the apostolic powers that Jesus and the Holy Spirit gave to the apostles and their allies: to protect the faith, and they stand in the midst of the church (in the midst of the congregation, in the midst of the people), not in isolation from the people, as if they were an external force from them. The patriarch and the bishop are also members of the body of Jesus. Jesus is their head, just as He is the head of every believer. The bishop is in the people and the people are in the bishop. In ecumenical and spatial councils, the bishop represents his church, speaks in its name, and bears witness to its faith preserved in its people from the beginning until that hour.

Theologian - In this atmosphere, theologians who are filled with the Holy Spirit play prominent roles as witnesses to God and the truth, as bearers of the spirit of prophecy that they received through holy chrismation (1 Corinthians 12).

Their contact with God in prayer, sacrifice, and virtues, and their contact with the Gospel and the Church Fathers, ignite in them the spark of the gift of prophecy. If they developed it, they would be God’s trustees over the deposit of faith, to deliver it to the people sincerely, and to immortalize it with faith. They have an anointing from the Most High. Their responsibility is very great because they are teachers of divinity. Woe to them if they fall short or go astray (146).

Maximus the Confessor, a simple monk, was a model for them in voting, apostolic zeal, and defending the faith to the point of blood. A true theologian is not a member of an academy (scientific academy), but rather a communist with God.

Academic science is cold and sterile. It lacks heat, and resembles chemistry analyses (147). As for the true theologian, he came into contact with God, he came into contact with the divine fire, and he became embers, he became a flame. Therefore, the Holy Fathers criticized the deep, cold study. Abstract knowledge has no weight (148).

We need the Holy Trinity to dwell in us. From them, the luminous flows of the (Holy) Spirit spread to each of the purified for His good, revealing the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven and revealing the treasures of God hidden in the soul...

In every human being who has received the gift of the Word of knowledge, there is an urgent necessity, a necessity resulting from the threat of God who says: “You wicked and slothful servant! You were to deliver my money to the money changers, and when you come I will receive my money back with my interest” (Matthew 25:26-27). This necessity is the necessity that made David also say, while he was filled with fear: “I did not hold my lips, and you know it. I have not hid your righteousness in my heart, but I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation, and I have not hidden your mercy and your truth from the great assembly.” (Psalm 40/41:10-11) (149). He means “with the gift of the word of knowledge,” gifted with speech, for teaching.

Unitary development – What is noteworthy is the development taking place in the West. From the article “Catholicism” in the Dictionary of Catholic Theology in 1932 to the article “Catholicism” in the Dictionary of Catholicisme in 1948, the gap is vast. The latter's writer, Congar, meets the Greek Kermeris in good proportion.

I ask God to ignite the enthusiasm of Catholic and Orthodox theologians to dive in with a burning heat of light, searching for points of convergence. There is great gain in our agreement on the meaning of the word “Catholicism”1. In our East, the gain is greater in the rapprochement between us and the Syriacs and their companions, in the Roman Catholics’ recognition of their origin in the year 1724, and in the Maronites’ celebration of Maximus the Confessor and John of Damascus (January 30, December 4). God achieved Christian unity for the good and peace of the world.

24- Holy (holiness of the church)

Pentecost and the Trinity - The Holy Spirit established the Church on the glorious day of Pentecost. Jesus ascended to heaven and sent to us from the Father the Holy Spirit. He came back to us again in a hidden way. The church is his body.

So: He returned to us on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit resides in the body of Jesus, this holy body. The Church - through Jesus - possesses the Holy Trinity, so it is holy.

sanctification - All its matters are sacred: it sanctifies the world, it sanctifies people, it sanctifies water, bread, and oil in the holy mysteries, it sanctifies icons, houses, and everything. She makes saints. Its members are sanctified with the water of baptism, chrism, the Holy Eucharist, and holy oil... The Apostle Paul called the believers “saints.”

25- Apostolic

On Jesus and his apostles - The Church is apostolic because it is based on Jesus, the cornerstone, and on the foundation of the apostles (Ephesians 2:20 and Revelation 21:14). Jesus and the apostles (Accords 3:10-12) are its foundations. It was built on them. The apostles baptized people and appointed bishops, priests, and deacons who baptized people and handed on to them the teachings of the apostles. Their successors continued to baptize people and impart teaching until the present day. The Holy Spirit living in the church is the one who raises up the clergy. He is the one who preserves education.

Apostolic bishops - Not only are our bishops apostolic, but our teaching is also apostolic. We learned it from the messengers, one by one. Behind us are nineteen and a half centuries of zeal for our apostolic faith.

Martyrs for the faith - For his sake, our ancestors - in all parts of the world - endured the death of martyrdom, persecution, and distress, in addition to the absurdity of the unjust, and the aggression of the infidels, heretics, atheists, renegades, and lunatics, and their strikes. We faced war from without and sabotage from within: heretics, saboteurs...

prayers - Oh our Jesus! Strengthen us with the ropes of your satisfaction to our apostolic dynasties. You said that you are the vine and your apostles are the branches. We are the branches of these branches. So make us steadfast therein and reassured on your rock, for victory is in you, O our faithful habitat!

(116) See our book “Jehovah, the Mother of Jesus”, Al-Nour Publications, Beirut 1975. The word was mentioned in the Greek original 3 times in Chapter 19 of the Acts of the Apostles, meaning “assembly” (19:34 and 40), and “assembly” (19:39), meaning a court. But the word meaning “the body of Christ” is not a group.

(117) Some have defined the church as “the community of believers.” This definition is not found in the Holy Bible: it gives the meaning of an “association” of the church, while the body of Jesus carrying the Holy Spirit is a perfect living organism that gives life to its members. The concept of “group” and “association” makes the church an organization with a large number of members. The Church is the fullness, even if there is only one Christian in the world.

(118) It was stated in an Anglican interpretation of the New Testament printed in Beirut in 1877 (and reprinted recently): “Its meaning here is the holy angels present at Christian meetings and supervising the lives of their members” (a detailed book of the New Testament with footnotes and witnesses, at the expense of the British Tract Society). Every believer has a guardian angel. The Church did well by giving those baptized the names of saints to intercede for them. The name of baptism is more important than the name of calling. The feast of the patron saints is more important than the feast of the day of birth. My mother gave birth to me in sin. Through baptism, I was born in the Holy Spirit in purity.
The Church says in the Divine Mass service that the angels participate with us in prayer. The priest is the one who blesses, so that the bread becomes flesh and the wine becomes blood. Are angels deacons for the priest? How great is God’s love for us and how insignificant is our burden? They are our partners, they pray with us, they fill the churches (Maximus the Confessor and Capacellas).
If the angels pray with us and guard us as Peter had his guardian angel (Acts 15:12), and Jesus had said that the righteous are like angels, then they also pray with us.

(119) In the West they say: “The victorious Church is in heaven and the struggling Church is on earth.” Orthodoxy does not split the Church into two churches. One Christ. And one church. Gregory the Theologian, a staunch enemy of second marriage, said: Christ is one, the Church is one, and marriage is one. One head for two bodies is not possible. The Apostle Paul permitted marriage for widows with arduous difficulty, out of leniency, so that adultery would not occur. With this greatest teacher, I say of one church in heaven and on earth. The dead in it are righteous who intercede for us. Luther before the Communion of Saints.

(120) First Sermon: 4 on Ephesians, Greek Min 62:16 bt.

(121) Footnote not found... (Network)

(122) In the church, we give consideration to virtue and piety alone. We do not revere a person for his money, position, beauty, knowledge, or cunning. Satan is adept at preying on people like him in order to tempt him with the temptations of this worldly life and throw him into Hell. May God protect them from it. Those who are exalted are like peacocks, the flamboyant ones are idols that people worship hypocritically for the sake of gain or out of heedlessness and stupidity. We only bow to Jesus. All the glory of the Son of Man is like grass. Queen Baracilla, the wife of Emperor Nebula the Great, owner of the Mediterranean and its shores, used to go to nursing homes and become a maid there. Before her death, she distributed her money to the poor. Her great granddaughter, Empress Pulkharia, followed suit before her death. Pope Saint Leo the Great acknowledges that she was responsible for convening the Fourth Ecumenical Council. It is known that Saint Cyril resorted to it against Nestorius (see our book “Women in the View of the Church”). Oh God, save our women from hypocrisy so that they may be humble like Saint Baracilla.

(123) There is a huge gap between our arrogance for a day or two after baptism (the golden one) and our later failure. Love is not sweet words, but a holy fire that filters from the heart to the nails of the hands. How easy it is to talk and how difficult to apply! Jesus, I'm a traitor. Judas handed you over once, and I will betray you every moment.

(124) Ignatius of Antioch in the Christian Springs Edition, Paris, pp. 139, 210-211, 230-231, 66-67, and 234. These texts date back to the second century. Ignatius died around 107 AD. He was the first to use the word.

(125) Against heresies 3; 24:15, Christian Springs, pp. 470-471 of issue 211.

(126) It was held in the year 381 in Constantinople (Istanbul).

(127) Cyril's texts were quoted from the translation of Father George Nassour (Homilies, Kaslik, Lebanon). However, I corrected the errors in its translation, except for clause 8. It is taken in general from the new Jesuit translation. Rather, the word “gift” was replaced with the word “gift of miracles.” The word has become artistic. There is no need to explain it. We explained it in our article about chrismation (Al-Kalima Al-Ghara Magazine, Issue 10). It is unfortunate that theological depth and artistic accuracy are lacking in Arab Christian writers. They are ignorant of the principles of theological writing and religious translation. Everyone with a fair amount of religious understanding deceives himself into writing and translating, ignorant of the humility of John of Damascus, who took up the pen after he was old, and it matured and fermented. The issue is spiritual maturity, depth, and the action of the Holy Spirit in the writer to protect him from error. The theologian is among the Church Fathers.
After finishing this book, I read a good chapter on the role of the theologian in the book “The Second Conference of Orthodox Theologians in Athens.”

(128) Some have argued that the first Slavic translation of the Constitution of Faith used the Greek word “Catholic.” Centuries later, the word “Soborni” was used (14th century) without the word “Catholic.” Pierre Baron, Alexis Khomiakov, Roma 1940, p. 227.

(129) During the ordination of the clergy, if the people say that he is worthy, his ordination will take place. If an individual exclaims that he is not worthy, the ordination stops and the investigation begins. For the Orthodox, the people are not spectators in front of the television screen. The emperor and the clergy repeatedly betrayed the church, and the people denounced them. If it were not for the people’s support of Saint Mark of Ephesus, history would have erased Mark and Orthodoxy. The scholar Cardinal Newman said that the Arian conflicts were conflicts between bishops while the people remained Orthodox. Maximus the Confessor implicitly impugned the five patriarchs while he was a monk in prison. Palamas later imitated him while he was a monk. God destroyed the patriarchs and immortalized Maximus and Palamas. The truth is the foundation, even if it is only spoken by a sexton of the church. Mass is not held unless a layman or a monk is present. The priest serves the people.

(130) Kan Androutsos, Dogmatic Theology, Athens, 1907, pp. 280-281.

(131) Swete, the Holy Catholic Church, London, 1915, P 34-36.

(132) Dict. Catholicism, art Catholicite, 722-26.

(133) Procés- Verbausx du 20 >> congrés des orthodoxes in Athens, 1976, August 1978, p. 477 m. 16.V.n. 11 p 474.

(134) A l'image et ā la ressemblance, Aubier, Paris, 1967, P 167-179.

(135) – Theology and the church, 1980, P.45-71.

I reviewed the manuscript of a brochure that I had prepared under the patronage of Father Qais Sadiq on behalf of the church. He relied on Stanioloway's book on doctrines. Then he repeated his criticism of Whisky.

Theologia dogmatic orthedoca, II, Bucarast, 1978, P.197-8.

(136) Greek Min 9:132a. See on the subject, pp. 63-64 from Patriarch Elias’ book, The Divine Image.

(137) Lossky, in the image, p. 143.

(138) Vincent de Lerain (around 450) had written a pamphlet relating to the university of the Church and its right belief: “What I believe everywhere, always, and by everyone” (p. 26). “A true Catholic...believes only in truths universally accepted by the Catholic Church since ancient times” (p. 70). “They must seek universality from the Church and public opinion” (p. 90). The French publisher comments and criticizes the text. His words do not agree one hundred percent with the deeper, more mature and correct position of Maximus the Confessor. One person, like Maximus, represented the truth, while the emperor, the patriarchs, and their followers went astray.

(139) Vincent de Lerins, Traditions et Progress
Desclée de Brouwer, 1998.

(140) Catholicism, Catholicism.

(141) See the appendix to Patriarch Elias’ book on Palamas, pp. 61-62.

(142) Nikolai Berdyaev, the Orthodox existentialist philosopher, follows these sound Orthodox steps.

(143) Lossky, in the image and in the resemblance, p. 179.

(144) “Guard the good deposits through the Holy Spirit that dwells within us” (2 Timothy 1:14).

(145) Jesus has two wills and two actions. God works through me without me being a blind, harnessed machine with a paralyzed will. His will supports my will without removing it. So my effort joins God's action. We have synergia cooperation. Those who let things happen as they wish make mistakes. Relying on God never negates our efforts, our heroism, our wisdom, our skill, our cleverness, and our cunning as honest and honorable people. Our war against Satan and his desires is the most harmful of wars. We need the most brilliant people, not the stupid, foolish, incapable, and demented fools.

(146) See treatment of the topic in a book

Congrès des orthodoxes p. 386- 412.

(147) He is the one who froze the dynamism and mysticism of theology in the East and West. Christian religious education books were, and still are, similar to the geometry books in middle and high school in the days of my youth. I did not care about modern mathematics to know the developments taking place in mathematics.

(148) Dict. De spiritualité, VI, 847-8.

(149) In the rest of the book there are many things about the church that could have been included here. I did not repeat.