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FIRST, THE NEWS: |
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FIRST THREE PRESIDENTS OF UKRAINE SUPPORT IDEA OF INDEPENDENT ORTHODOX CHURCH
from: UNIAN Information Agency
(8 May) The first three Presidents of independent Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma, and Viktor Yushchenko have supported an initiative of incumbent president Petro Poroshenko to create an independent local Orthodox church in Ukraine. They signed a joint appeal in favor of asking the Ecumenical Patriarch to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the presidents announced at a joint press conference on May 8, the news outlet Ukrainska Pravda said.
"We believe that the granting of autocephaly by the Constantinople mother church would play an important role in strengthening Ukraine's independence, the spiritual and national unity of our people, and the development of religious freedom in Ukraine, and would promote fruitful interfaith dialogue in our country," Kravchuk read from the appeal. "We are convinced that the Ukrainian people's unity, which an autocephalous local Orthodox church would greatly strengthen, would be an unconquerable spiritual fortress in fighting Russian aggression against Ukraine," it said. "Therefore, we support Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's efforts in this matter, which is extremely important for Ukraine, and appeal to all citizens, responsible politicians, and public figures to unite around this great goal and work together actively to create an autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine."
As UNIAN reported earlier, Poroshenko announced on April 17 that the heads of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church had decided to officially appeal to Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I for autocephaly. Autocephaly is the status of a hierarchical Christian Church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop (used especially in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Independent Catholic churches). Autocephaly opens the way for the creation of a United Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which will not be subordinate to Moscow. [read more...]
TEACHING MISSIONARIES TO SPREAD THE WORD IN CLOSED COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD
from: The Daily Item
(28 Apr.) With the fall of the Soviet Union came abundant opportunities for missionaries to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ into countries that had been closed to it for nearly 70 years. Keys Ministries, a nonprofit organization based in Liverpool, saw the open door and moved to action in the mid-1990s. "The founders and early partners of Keys Ministries caught the vision for training nationals to become missionaries in newly-formed post-Soviet countries," said Don Casteline, the current executive director of the organization. When they learned of a small college that had formed in Moldova, supporters quickly stepped in and have "played a vital role in helping the school to grow into the university that it is today," he said.
Today, University Divitia Gratiae (University of Divine Grace or UDG) is Keys Ministries' largest international partner for practical Bible training and education. Casteline joined Keys Ministries in 2014 as its part-time executive director and board member, but said he and his wife Lora were first introduced to the university in 2012 when they traveled there and "saw first-hand the tremendous impact being made throughout Eurasia."
The fact that many of the countries in which its students are serving are on the Open Doors USA "Watch List," known for the most intense persecution of Christians, makes that impact even more powerful. The dean at the university understands the risks of being a Christian in the region. Having grown up during Soviet times, Michael — whose real name is not being used for his own safety — was 15 when he made a decision to accept Christ and dedicated his life to him. At 18, when he refused to reject Christianity, the Soviet government sent him to Siberia, where he lived for two years in frigid 47-below-zero weather. While in the Soviet Army, he said he was chased by the KGB, who "confiscated my New Testament." [read more...]
(3 May) The Moscow Patriarchate is busy both in Ukraine and the outside world agitating against such a grant of autocephaly to the UOC-KP and the UAOC, which it regards as schismatic. But its ability to influence world Orthodoxy is limited.
Last April 17, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called on Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He was joined in this request by the heads of the two independent Orthodox churches in his country: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC). The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, however, opposed the request. On April 19, Parliament voted to support the President’s initiative.
What is autocephaly? Literally, it is “self-headedness.” That is, an autocephalous church has its own head, who does not report to any higher earthly authority – although it does recognize the spiritual authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Furthermore, this hierarch is elected by the church itself, not by some outside authority. The head of an autocephalous church may be a patriarch, a metropolitan, or an archbishop.
How does autocephaly arise? Historically, autocephaly was granted by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Thus, the Patriarch recognized the autocephaly of the Bulgarian church in 870, and that of the Serbian Church in 1219. But some churches have simply declared themselves autocephalous, or begun to act as such. Thus, the Muscovite Church became de facto autocephalous in 1448; the Georgian Church declared its own autocephaly in 1917. Those autocephalies were formally recognized later.
Often, the initiative for autocephaly comes from the secular power. In the middle ages, this could be a monarch or emperor. In the modern era, this was sometimes the government of a nation-state newly liberated from an empire. Thus Romania, formed in 1859 from formerly Ottoman-ruled Moldavia and Wallachia, passed a law on autocephaly in 1872; the Patriarch of Constantinople recognized this church’s independence in 1885. The Directorate of the Ukrainian People’s Republic issued a law on autocephaly in January 1919. [read more...]
METROPOLITAN HILARION FORESEES SCHISM IN ORTHODOXY COMPARED TO THE GREAT SCHISM IF UKRAINIAN SCHISMATICS OBTAIN AUTOCEPHALY
from: Interfax-Religion
(4 May) The head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion believes that if Ukrainian schismatics obtain desired autocephaly schism in global Orthodoxy will be compared to the Great Schism of 1054.
"It is terrific even to imagine what can happen if the scenario of granting autocephaly to Ukrainian schismatics will be realized in practice. (...) Schism in global Orthodoxy that will be inevitable consequence of this wrong step, can be compared only to the split between East and West in 1054. If it happens, Orthodox unity will be buried," the metropolitan said answering the questions of Greek Romfea church news agency.
The hierarch prays and hopes that "unilateral position of Local Orthodox Churches that was more than once expressed in the past will save Ecumenical Orthodoxy from the schism," and "this unilateral position will sooner or later bring schismatics back to the Church." The metropolitan noted that the project of the so-called one local church in Ukraine is initiated by acting authorities, schismatic groups and Greek Catholics.
"Politicians see in it a happy opportunity to start an electoral campaign at the backstage of deteriorating economic situation in the country. Schismatics supported by authorities continue seizing churches of the canonical Church in Ukraine, and they need legalization and support of any canonical Church of the Orthodox world," he said. [read more...]
U.S. REPORT FINDS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM CONDITIONS 'CONTINUED TO DETERIORATE' WORLDWIDE IN 2017
from: CHRISTIAN NEWS
(3 May) An annual government report outlining the state of affairs for religious freedom across the globe has found that "conditions continued to deteriorate" and remained on a "downward trend" in 2017. "Religious freedom conditions continued to deteriorate in countries across the globe in 2017. This ongoing downward trend often intersected with authoritarian practices characterized by hostility toward dissent, pluralism, independent media, and active civil society, or took place under the guise of protecting national security or countering terrorism," wrote the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in its 2018 report.
The document focused on 28 countries that have most egregiously persecuted residents for their faith. "The most severe abuses included genocide and other mass atrocities, killings, enslavement, rape, imprisonment, forced displacement, forced conversions, intimidation, harassment, property destruction, the marginalization of women, and bans on children participating in religious activities or education," it outlined. Countries cited in the report include Burma, the Central African Republic, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey and Kazakhstan. While it reflects persecution of a number of religious minority groups, the report does mention Christianity over 200 times.
In China, the document explained, the government continued in 2017 to crack down on churches that operated outside of the official Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM). "As a result, unregistered churches were pressured to register with the state, labeled as 'evil cults,' and faced ongoing destruction of purportedly 'illegal' church properties," the report noted. "Churches experienced increased restrictions and surveillance, including a campaign to install security cameras on church premises, primarily in Zhejiang Province." [read more...]
RUSSIA PROVOKES RELIGIOUS CONFLICT IN BELARUS?
from: BelarusDigest
(25 Apr.) On 20 March 2018, Metropolitan Pavel (also known as Georgy Ponomarev) – the Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslauje, and Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus – stated his wish to organize the visit of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow to Minsk. He scheduled the visit to follow on the heels of Pope Francis’s visit to Vilnius. Some see this as the latest in a series of efforts by Russia to provoke religious conflict in Belarus. Russia’s actions earlier this year can be seen in the same light.
A resonant interview given by Metropolitan Pavel on 29 January 2018 attracted the attention of society and the media. Pavel asserted that the Orthodox and the Uniates have "different gods: The task of the Uniates is to say that we have one God. Sorry, we do not have one God, my friends. You have your own God because you believe in God in another way."
He then likened the Uniates to "a sectarian organization: The Pagans also have an idol – a god. But for us, the Orthodox, this is a bauble. The Uniates are like that." The Uniates, members of the Eastern church that are in union with the Roman Catholic Church, acknowledge the Roman pope as supreme in matters of faith but maintain their own liturgy, discipline and rite. The Russian Empire violently dissolved the Uniate church, which had been established in 1596 and became the most popular religion in Belarus, after it occupied the territories of Belarus. Then, in 1839, the Russian Orthodox Church incorporated the Uniates into its ranks by force, causing social unrest and uprisings. At the moment, around 10,000 Uniates live in Belarus.
In Belarus, society knows Metropolitan Pavel for his harsh rhetoric. The Metropolitan has no Belarusian passport or roots, does not speak Belarusian and visited Belarus only twice in his life before his appointment. On 3 November 2017, he compared the idea of creating a national Belarusian Orthodox church (separate from the Moscow Patriarchate) with the temptation of the devil. More notoriously, Pavel stated that Russia "can open the Chernobyl plug" in response to "Western aggression." This earned the Metropolitan the nickname "Plug" among even the deeply believing Orthodox and parishioners of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). [read more...]
OTHER NEWS HEADLINES:
PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW REBUKES CHURCH OF BULGARIA OVER 'MACEDONIA'
from ekathimerini.com
METROPOLITAN ONUFRIY EXPLAINED TO U.S. AMBASSADOR HOW THE UNITY OF UKRAINIAN ORTHODOXY SHOULD BE RESTORED
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine
FOLLOWING INTER-KOREAN PEACE TALKS, MINISTRY FACES PRESSURE
from Mission Network News
METROPOLITAN HILARION DOES NOT SHARE PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW'S OPINION ABOUT INEVITABLE UNIFICATION OF CHURCHES
from Interfax-Religion
RUSSIAN DOCTORS EXAMINE PATIENTS IN AL-HOSN HOSPITAL OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF ANTIOCH
from Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate
CREATIVELY EQUIPPING THE NEXT GENERATION TO TRANSFORM THE WORLD
from Mission Eurasia
2,300 CANDLES LIT IN MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF ABORTION IN RUSSIAN HEARTLAND
from Orthodox Christianity
ESTONIA: CHURCH SUPPORTS DEFINING TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE IN CONSTITUTION
from The Baltic Times
NOW, OUR VIEWS:
Facebook's PCP (Political Correctness Police) flagged my post on April 7 - An Endocrinologist's Evaluation of I am Jazz - as "might go against community standards" - so nobody was allowed to see it. Since when are the scientific findings of an esteemed pediatric endocrinologist subject to the opinions of Facebook's PCP? If we don't get off the crazy transgender bandwagon soon, there won't be any human community left to have standards for in a generation or two. A man and a woman marrying and raising 2.1 children on average is vitally necessary to avoid a complete demographic implosion (population collapse).
"For it is a rebellious nation, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord; who tell the seers, 'Don't see;' and to the prophets, 'Don't prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits, get out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.' Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, 'Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely thereon; therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant." (Isaiah 30:9-13).
This isn't the only example of such anti-Christian censorship: see YouTube suspends abortion pill reversal videos, silencing women who chose life, also Alliance Defending Freedom Booted From Amazon Smile Program Over 'Hate Group' Label and Facebook and Google are rigging the Irish abortion referendum. The article Social media uses #fakenews and Stalinist efforts to help repeal Ireland's pro-life 8th amendment really "nails it" -
"Social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, and Google want to mine and control information. Like their news media predecessors, they are some of the largest culprits of disseminating #fakenews.
"This is particularly heartbreaking because the internet was the average person’s means of circumventing a monolithic Leftist mainstream media. It was a powerful and cost-effective way for small nonprofits like ours (The Radiance Foundation) to get out a factual narrative that challenged the singular one regurgitated by an entire establishment.
"But now, the Titans of 'Tolerance' are showing their true (homogeneous) color. It’s Stalinist Red. Silicon Valley's overt and transparent effort to thwart free speech is scary. Forget Russia's alleged U.S. election meddling. The whole Leftist regime is meddling."
Again, several of our news articles and headlines deal with the issue of autocephaly for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate) and the Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church (UAOC): these two would have to join together if autocephaly were to be granted. Their daughter churches abroad are already recognized as canonical by the Ecumanical Patriarchate and other Orthodox jurisdictions. So it looks like autocephaly might well be granted!
In our fourth news article "METROPOLITAN HILARION FORESEES SCHISM IN ORTHODOXY COMPARED TO THE GREAT SCHISM IF UKRAINIAN SCHISMATICS OBTAIN AUTOCEPHALY" the translator either made a slip of the pen, or slipped in his/her private opinion, by writing: "It is terrific even to imagine what can happen if the scenario of granting autocephaly to Ukrainian schismatics..." - really? Would it be terrific, splendid, or wonderful? Or perheps he/she meant "terrible." Several other places in this piece had definite and indefinite articles missing, because the Russian doesn't have them. Alas, as a translator myself, I know how easy it is to make a real blooper!
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On The Holy Trinity
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!
Vo imia Otsa i Syna i Sviatovo Dukha! Khristos voskrese! Voistinu voskrese!
We greet one another throughout the Pascal season with these words, and they always remind me of my first Pascha in Russia in 1991. Just before the USSR fell, "Khristos voskrese! Voistinu voskrese!" was emblazoned on banners strung over the streets of Moscow. Christ is risen as victor over death and despair!
"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God" (1 John 3:1). "Beloved, let us love one another … for God is love" (1 John 3:7-8). The Holy Trinity is the image in which we were created, the manifestation of divine love, and the example for us to follow. "For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one" (1 John 5:7). A monad god that is a single entity would be incapable of love; a dyad or dual god is still lacking in community; only the Trinity, the Three-in-One, can express the fullness of agape-love.
I mention this at the outset because as we study, discuss and debate over terms such as homoousios vs. homoiousios and Sabellianism vs. Arianism vs. Nicene Christianity, that it's easy to miss the forest for the trees; it's all for naught if we don't love one another: "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. … By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (1 John 3:14, 16-17).
St. Basil the Great took these words to heart as he not only helped to hammer out the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, together with the other Cappadocian Fathers: his brother St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Gregory of Nazianzus ("the Theologian"), Basil also gave his riches to the poor, building hospitals, hospices, homes for the poor and orphanages. As we should know, the original Nicene Creed of A.D. 325 described God the Father as the Almighty, creator of heaven and earth and all things visible and invisible. It described the Son as the Only-begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of Light, very God of very God, of one essence or "ousia" with the Father. But the original Creed simply stated: "And I believe in the Holy Spirit" – full stop, no explanation. It wasn't until after the Cappadocian Fathers wrestled with the ideas homoousios vs. homoiousios and Sabellianism vs. Arianism that the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381 could add to the Holy Spirit phrase: "the Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, Who spoke by the Prophets." Here we see that the Holy Spirit is fully God, co-equal with the Father and the Son in essence and glory.
He is not merely an emanation of the Father, nor the spirit of the Son, as the Sabellian heresy taught: one "monad" in three different forms. This age-old heresy has popped up again these days in modalism – that the Father morphed into the Son and the Son morphed into the Holy Spirit, as a large segment of modern Pentecostalism teaches: I ran into some of these in Russia and Ukraine. On the other hand, the Arian heresy taught that only the Father is God pre-eternal, before all time; Jesus Christ for Arius and his followers was a created being of lower stuff than the Father, and the Holy Spirit was similarly a created being. This smacks of Gnosticism with its various levels of supernatural beings, and also of Islam, modern humanism and Moralistic Therapeutic Deism that put Christ on the level of a prophet or a really good man, an example, or a therapist, that's all, not God incarnate.
The Cappadocian Fathers also struggled with the terms homoousios vs. homoiousios, that is, "of one essence" vs. "of like essence." The former seemed too close to Sabellianism, that God is a monad, just one Being or Essence that takes different forms. But the latter term, homoiousios, just one iota different, was too close for comfort to some forms of Arianism. They finally came up with the formula of three Persons (hypostases) in one Essence (ousia). This explanation has held for all historical Christianity: Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Protestants until the eras of Modernism and Post-Modernism.
But there are always some would-be internet theologians who will say, "The word 'Trinity' isn't in the Bible, so I don't have to believe in the Trinity!" The Bible itself, however, doesn't use the words "sola Scriptura" either; in fact, it states, "But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15). The Church, not the Bible, is the foundation of the truth. The Church was established in A.D. 33, but the New Testament canon was only agreed upon almost 400 years after the Church was born. The printing press was invented 1000 years later, in the 1400s; thus the Reformation and sola Scriptura would have been impossible without readily available, relatively inexpensive printed Bibles.
Further, oral tradition handed down (or "traditioned") from the Apostles was of equal authority in a semi-literate society where hand-copied books were rare and expensive. St. Paul wrote, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle." Also, "But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us" (2 Thes. 2:15 & 3:6). But the ultimate source of authority is Christ Himself: "All authority [exousia] has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe [tereo – "fulfill" or "hold fast," not just sit back and spectate] all things that I have commanded you (the Great Commission, Mat. 28:19b-20). What was the number one thing Christ commanded? Love God, and your neighbor as yourself! Here we have Christ, the final authority, sharing His authority with the Apostles, the leaders of the Church, and affirming the concept of the Holy Trinity. So let's take a look at what else the Bible says about the Holy Trinity, as interpreted by Holy Tradition, not by some wet-behind-the-ears, would-be internet theologians:
"In the beginning God made heaven and earth. … The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water. Then God said [the Word] 'Let there be light', and there was light" (Gen. 1:1 & 3). Here, in the very first verses of the Bible, it tells us of God (the Father), the Spirit, and the Word. The Apostle John echoes these verses in his prologue to the Gospel of John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:1-2 & 14). From this, the Church Fathers taught that Jesus Christ, the Word become flesh, is pre-eternal with God the Father and is of the same essence as the Father. When God spoke the Word, the whole cosmos came into existence.
We learned in the Great Commission that Christ shared His authority with the Apostles, but He also shares it with all believers: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right [exousia – the authority] to become children of God, to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12). We, the laos theou, the laypeople of God, have the authority to become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4)!
When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, he confessed, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him" (John 3:2). He recognized that Jesus was from God. Then Jesus uttered the verse we so often see at football games, John 3:16 – "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." From this and from the above quote in ch.1, the Church Fathers taught that Jesus is pre-eternally begotten of God the Father. They also taught that the reason God gave His only begotten Son is because God so loved the world – the whole cosmos including mankind – He loves us so much, that whoever believes in Him can have eternal life: God invites us into His family!
The Apostle and Theologian John has more to say about the Trinity: "But the Helper [parakletos], the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you" (John 14:26). The Helper is sometimes translated as the Comforter or the Advocate, and here it says that the Father will send Him to teach and remind us of what Christ taught. And the most central text on the Holy Spirit is this: "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me" (John 15:26). From this verse the Church Fathers at the Nicene and Constantinopolitan Councils defined the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father. Only much later, in A.D. 589, did a local council in Toledo (now part of Spain) add the filioque, that is, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father "and from the Son" that subordinated the Spirit to the Son, thus leading eventually to the Great Schism in A.D. 1054.
Another important Bible text on the Holy Spirit is – "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. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:13-14). So from these texts we learn that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father for the purpose of teaching and reminding us of the Truth (Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life), and the Spirit will glorify and testify of Christ, not bringing attention to Himself. Perhaps this is why some early Christians had difficulty defining the Holy Spirit, because He didn't want to draw attention to Himself! In the very next chapter, John 17, the words glory, glorify and glorified are used seven times to describe the action of the Holy Spirit in the relationship between the Father and the Son, "that they [we, Christ's followers] may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. … that the love with which You loved me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:24b & 26b).
So the Trinity's glory and love go together: when Judas the betrayer had left the Last Supper, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. … A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:31b-32 & 34-35). Did you get the message?
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit: the Holy Trinity, one in essence and undivided! Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!
______________
Sources:
KJV+ = King James Version with Strong's Dictionaries and Concordance (e-Sword)
OSB = Orthodox Study Bible (used throughout except where otherwise noted)
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p.s. How will we ever know how good we have it, if all we ever know is having it good?
, 13 May 2018
