The people of the Old Testament were forbidden to make and worship idols. There are several texts that explain this, but some heretics separate the first part of those texts from the second and distort their interpretation. In the Old Testament, God appeared through actions and spoke through the mouths of the prophets. In the New Testament, the Word of God became incarnate, “and we have seen his glory,” and established a personal relationship with us. Therefore, we can depict the person of Christ in the icon.

The person who is enlightened by the uncreated divine actions “has the knowledge of the glory of God, that glory which is on the face of Christ, shining in his heart, and he becomes a “partaker of the divine glory” and a “participant in the holiness of God.” The Christian who lives in the grace of God becomes a “member of the body of Christ,” that is, a part of the body of the incarnate God, living the life of Christ himself and radiating the divine light.

Man was created in the image of God, and from the beginning he was a pair, that is, a man and a woman. Just as the triune God was not singular, neither was man. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity, expressed in unity in essence and trinity in persons, is a fundamental truth that also expresses the truth of man. Therefore, man was created from the beginning as a pair, that is, a man and a woman.

The Sacrament of Holy Unction is not only a cure for the body, but also for the soul. Through the Sacrament of Unction we receive spiritual strength, and our sins that we have forgotten and could not confess are forgiven. However, its primary importance remains in praying for the health of the body. Therefore, the Orthodox Church links these two Sacraments, and urges those for whom the Sacrament of Unction is performed to confess as well.

Baptism introduces man into a spiritual arena, calling him to struggle against the forces of evil that attack him from without through his senses that generate passions. He must therefore cast aside everything that distances him from the love of God, and everything that leads him to selfish manifestations that distort the love of God and his brothers, in order to remain victorious in his battle against passions and selfish tendencies.

The Church is formed and manifested in the celebration of the mystery of Divine Thanksgiving and our participation in it, because it is the mystery that transforms the community, that is, the parish, into a Church. In the mystery of Divine Thanksgiving, the parish is a universal Church, because Christ Himself is present in it. The faithful must know that every time they gather to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, “their Church gathers,” that is, the entire Church. Every member of the parish is a member of the universal Orthodox Church.

Before Christ's sacrifice on the cross, He offered up a fervent prayer for all who would believe in His name, asking His Father to preserve them in divine unity. These words of Christ are not a call to external unity, but to absolute internal unity, similar to the unity of the three persons in the Holy Trinity, that is, to the unity that man lost because of the fall. They are based on the three persons and are represented by them, and signify man's salvation and perfection.

في الفترة التي تلت العصر الرسولي انتقل موقع الرسل في الكنيسة، كما حدَّده الكتاب المقدّس، إلى الأساقفة. كانت سلطة الأسقف في الكنيسة الأولى سلطة المسيح والكنيسة ولم تكن سلطة شخصيّة. وكما أن الرسل كان لديهم “فكر المسيح”، والقرارات التي كانوا يتّخذونها في المسائل الكنسية تتم بإرشاد الروح القدس وليس من لدنهم.

المسيحي كاهن بجسده وكامل وجوده. هو مدعو إلى أن يقدِّم ذاته وجميع أعماله ذبيحة لله، ومعها الخليقة بأسرها. الحياة الشخصية للمسيحي تغدو شهادة لحضور الله وعمله داخل الإنسان حتى أن كل من يرى طريقة حياته يستنتج أن المسيح يحيا فيه، وأنه ليس إنساناً عادياً، بل مواطن في ملكوت الله. وبهذه الطريقة تصبح أعماله وحياته كلها خدمة إلهية دائمة، وتستعيد معناها الأول الذي كان لها في فردوس الله.

The heavenly birth that Christ speaks of is “the washing of regeneration and renewal that comes from the Holy Spirit,” that is, receiving the Holy Spirit through baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit that renews the birth of man. This presence takes place within the Church through the sacrament of baptism and the other sacraments.

The truth of salvation in Christ is not a rigid letter that can be preserved in a book. It is a treasure that the Lord gave to the apostles so that their union would be the sure guarantee of their possession of the truth of salvation. The apostles passed this treasure on to the bishops so that they might complete the mission, in their union with the Church - the Body of Christ, where the Holy Spirit works. In doing so, they do not express their own opinion, but the will of the Holy Spirit who dwells in the Church.

The Church is the link between humans themselves, and between them and God, in the image of the partnership existing between the Holy Trinity. In this sense, there was a Church in Paradise, but the fall of man from the first communion led to the transfer of the Church from Paradise to earth.