Living in unprecedented times, history will be made. Now is the time for the faithful to arise and be the Church.
Prediction #1 – The Church Will Refocus on the Health of Body and Soul
Among the many things we learn, from the Holy Mother of God, is the sacredness of the body. Singing her praise, we declare she provided the “most pure body.” But what does this mean? What does it mean for us as modern believers?
If our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, then we must take proper measures to maintain its good use in this life. You only get one. If you trash it, you cannot blame God when sickness comes or your time is cut short. God’s salvation was clearly there, but you chose to cooperate with evil.
Both healing and repentance have been part and parcel of Orthodoxy since Jesus walked the shores of Galilee and healed the sick. If you listen, you will hear a recurring theme of healing for the body that is fully interwoven into our liturgy, the prayers, and other practices of the Church. We are clearly taught to expect miracles. If we do not have miracles in our parishes today, perhaps we are missing something?
Many saints were “wonderworkers” or healers. Many utilized herbal medicines to cure. There was a wisdom we seem to have lost that brought health and healing through prayer, diet, fasting, physical anointing, and through natural medicines—things in God’s creation—to make us well. Even more modern saints, including those with medical training, have continued to believe in the power of prayer, Holy Water and anointing with oil. St. Luke the Surgeon, Archbishop of Simferopol, is a 20th Century saint famous for saying, “Drink Holy Water, the more often, the better. It is the best and most effective medicine. I’m not saying this as a priest, I’m saying it as a doctor, from my medical experience.”
Despite the extravagant promises it makes, modern medicine is now showing its dark underbelly—vaccines, mandates, genetic modifications, scorched earth chemotherapy, a disregard for diet, the pursuit of profit. We have allowed modern medicine to replace the ancient traditions, and this is extracting a terrible toll especially when it comes to “modern” chronic diseases; cancer, stroke, heart attack.
It would behoove us to return to the old ways in which we treated man holistically (mind, body, and spirit). In the ancient Hebrew practice, as well as among early Christians, salvation for the body—healing, health—went along with salvation for the soul (3 john 2). It seemed reasonable to the ancients, if you could become relatively free from the passions, you could also be reasonably free from sickness. There is much wisdom in this, because so many uncontrolled passions lead to physical harms (gluttony, substance abuse, rage) as well as spiritual harms. Disciplined life within the Church leads to dispassion which brings us closer to God and restores us in both body and spirit.
I predict the return of healing through prayer. I also predict a return to ancient healing through natural means. God has deposited wisdom in His Church to avoid the unique health hazards of our modern epoch. Now is the time to recover our humanity by putting distance between our holy bodies and modern medicine which more and more treats us, even children, as little more than profitable experiments.
Prediction #2 – Restoration of the Father
Things seem to be going badly in our society. One cause stands out above all else – the lack of true Fathers. Without them, we meander along inviting God’s wrath upon us. The hearts of the fathers must be focused on their children above all else. An ancient prophet put it like this:
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (Malachi 4:5,6 KJV).[1]
Everything about the Orthodox Faith is multi-generational. As the world has squeezed God’s people into its model of fathers (and mothers) working outside the home, among the faithful this has become a big problem because it impedes generational transfer of the faith.
God’s design is for the family to raise children for the Church, and not the other way around. But we’ve been doing it backwards. Too often, the father in the home leaves the spiritual obligations up to the parish priest and/or his wife thinking that if he brings home the bacon, he has done his job.
If the closing of parishes is a “sign of the times”, what is God trying to work out in His Church in this regard? Probably two things: on the one hand we must never take for granted what has been bequeathed through the Church, and, on the other hand, the Church is not a building, but people. People who have differing functions in the Body. The home is a church within the Church where each husband/dad is the priest.
What does a family do when their church is shut down? How about, having the father of the home lead the whole family in prayers? How is this not better than a flat-screen-priest miles away? After all, the father is the man who conceived these children, puts food on the table, and carries the largest responsibility for the spiritual welfare of his family? Why not have him lead family worship? This is how the Church will carry on if/when there is full military style shut down. In the ancient Hebrew tradition, rituals were held in the home as well as the synagogue; and originally the Church was built around this template. If we want a vital priesthood in the future, fathers in the home must take spiritual responsibility rather than shirking it.
Every heart has a father-void, a space filled initially by the primary father, then accessory fathers, then eventually Father-God. On the psychological and social levels, nothing is more impactful on any person than his relationship with his father growing up. This alone will define largely how a person views the universe, his place in it, and will be the lens through which he views Father-God. If the primary father is either not present or totally disengaged, other father-figures in the parish need to step in and fill the void for young men.
If we want to appease God’s wrath at this point in time, it would be best to heed the prophet and start turning the hearts of fathers back to their children, away from their careers and other distractions of this world. Fathers must reconnect with their children in a godly manner. As our society plunges into waves of crime and other dysfunction, we ignore this warning at our peril.
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Prediction #3 – The Return of the Church as a Covenant Community
As soon as the ancient Romans figured out that the Church was not a subset of the Jews—with which the Empire had many dubious alliances—the persecution ensued. In persecution, only those with political alliances (“we have no king but Caesar”) are safe. Historically, the Church has avoided these political entanglements like the plague; because they mean treason against Christ.
If we go back and study this infant Church, we will once again figure out how to live. Pliney (the younger) noticed this about those “Christians.”
They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day [Sunday] before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath [Latin: sacramentum], not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food—but ordinary and innocent food [agape meal]. (Pliny to Trajan, brackets added).[2]
This is a voice from the past, a snapshot of how our spiritual progenitors lived toward God and each other. These are the voices of our brothers and sisters in the infant Church. What scared the hell out of Pliney was not just their devotion to the King not-Caesar, but their commitment one to another. What he saw in those first Christians was a commitment to each other that would forge an unbeatable force. In alarm, he was seeking permission from his superior officer to persecute and eliminate the threat at hand. His accusation is one of the greatest compliments paid to the fledgling Church.
Bottom line: their covenant with God produced a covenant with each other to live upright looking out for the welfare of each other. In modern terms, “they had each other’s back!”
Not only were the Christians making oaths to Christ, but they made oaths to each other. As Pliney was trained and versed in Roman law, he knew all too well what it means when members of a sect make iron clad commitments to each other; they can never be defeated.
Prediction #4 – Jurisdictions will shuffle
Everything that can be shaken will be shaken (Hebrews 12:27 para). Obviously, many Orthodox jurisdictions are being shaken. And as things are shaking out, what is being revealed is who can be trusted and who cannot be trusted. Only the unshakable, trustworthy things will remain. As the early Christians knew (prediction 3) at the foundation of every functioning relationship is the most prized virtue: TRUST.[3]
While Jesus said to love my neighbor, He never said I had to trust my neighbor. Even if I love my bishop, that does not guarantee I can trust him. When trust is broken, it’s very difficult to put back together again. Our Lord did say, I must trust Him, and prove myself worthy of His trust in me, so that I would never deny Him or knowingly injure the innocent.
Facing persecution as we are, the sheep are moving to higher ground, to safer pasture, and under the leadership of those who can be trusted. Some jurisdictions will gather more sheep during this process. Others may practically disappear.
John Lee – an Orthodox Christian
[1] While the KJV is not as authoritative as the LXX, it does provide a good Jewish commentary or expansion on things not related to Christ.
[2] www.earlychistianwritings.com
[3] BTW: In the OSB (with notes), surnames for trust—testament/covenant—are mention over 1700 time; 500+ in the old KJV.
Please use the words “Nativity Fast” instead of Advent. We are not Roman Catholics. Thank you.
Some of us are Western Rite, and that is the phrase used. Both work.
Greg M: I would say straight up, this “Timothy” may have been an angel. At the very, very least, he was sent from God to show you, you are right where God wants you.
Obviously, this “Timothy” was not under the spell of the age–all depressed, stressed out, confused about the world. He displayed and overcoming spirit (rare among Christians). Whatever advice he gave you hang on to it.
Here is my definition of “Repent.” “Re” means to do over, and pent means “Top” as in penthouse. To repent means to get back on top and ride over life’s difficulties through prayer. Governments (and bishops) may steal our freedoms but they cannot steal our joy. If we have no joy it is because we gave it up on our own. If you have it, no body can take it from you, and it will make you to fly over difficulties and most people will just think you are full of arrogance; but its full of the Holy Ghost instead.
How do you get the Joy of the Lord for strength? “Those who sow in tears reap in joy.” There is a certain kind of prayer–prayer from the belly (groanings that cannot be uttered)that will bring this joy, but you must actively work it. This joy I now call “Riding the chariot of Elijah”. Once you learn this groaning prayer, you will experience seasons of such bliss, nothing anybody says matters, nothing that happens in the world matters; it is that you realize that you sit with Christ in heavenly places, far above all principality and might and power and dominion. and the view from up there is so grand. But you have to work this thing (the reason you are by your self).
So, to repent–in my book–means to get back on top; on top of the devil, on top of temptation, on top of discouragement, riding above the melee, not in it. God intends for us to live above our situations, not affected internally by anything; yeah, we walk around in a protective bubble–a protective bubble (a heaven [space] suit) This can only be achieved through long times of (birthing) prayer from the belly. When you learn to pray from the belling, your whole perspective will change and your lamp of oil will remain full and you will be illumined. But, you have to work it; pray until your soul ascends the mountain and achieves freedom.
Thank you John.
To answer your first sentence, I have been taking responsibility for my spiritual welfare. Did you think I have sat here for the past 4 years wallowing in self pity? My feet don’t hit the floor before I say a short prayer. Then my day begins, often at 4 a.m. I’m currently going through Christ in the Psalms by Fr. Peter Gilchrist. First I read the Psalm for the day in the Orthodox Study bible. Then in several other translations before reading the comments in the book. I’ve read and pondered numerous other books as well. I’ve read ‘The Ladder’, The Path to Salvation by St. Theophan the Recluse, Letters from Elder Joseph, Life of the Ascetics, My Life in Christ, The Way of a Pilgrim etc, etc. What shall I do now? Climb up and sit on top of a tall pole and pray and stay there 30 years hoping someone will bring me something to eat? Or, if I get covered in boils all over my body because of severe treatment of the body and lack of hygiene, I should then walk about with the same shirt on for months with the boils oozing. Our body is an enemy and must be brought to heel after all! I’m sorry for the sarcasm. Forgive me. I have read many uplifting things but I’ve also struggled with many teachings which seemed to be contradictory. There is the teaching that God as the lover of mankind (or people kind if you live in Canada)and he does not torture the wicked, unrepentant. Then there are those others who teach his burning wrath is coming where sinners will be tormented forever. I could make a list if you like. So, it hasn’t been easy but I’m in the struggle.
Yes, I found http://www.ccel.org a few years ago and have downloaded quite a few resources. What a shame we have to go to a Calvinist site for these. Likewise with the bible. The Church holds up the Gospel but does little to produce it and make it available. For that we go to the heterodox. Thankfully I have at least been blessed to partake of the Holy Eucharist 3 times in my short Christian life. Because I’ve read plenty of statements that those who haven’t cannot have eternal life. Somebody should have told the soldier who was martyred along with St. James and the many others who believed because of the faith of others and were themselves killed on the spot. No baptism and no Eucharist.
I was given the name John at baptism because of St. John the Apostle, what he wrote of Christ which helped free me from the doctrine of the Watchtower cult many years ago. Besides the bible, one of the best books I have was given to me by my priest. “The Lives of the Holy Apostles”. Their example lives in me forever.
I will check out the Church fathers as you suggest according to how far our Lord extends my time on earth. I’m not young. Some things I read cause me a great deal of confusion. There were no monks or ascetics at eh beginning who went off and seperated themselves even as at the beginning it wasn’t a rule that an overseer or Bishop must be a monk and he must be unmarried. St. Paul gave the stipulation for Bishops that they be married only once. So, things are not as they were at the start. St. John Chrysostom on the other hand? I always understand what he says. Glory to God for all things.
It sounds like you are doing a great job in applying yourself to the getting more and more into the Faith. Often when reading somebody on line, you have no idea what is behind their walk with God and I tend to worry some will wither on the vine before bearing fruit. With all you are now doing, I have no worry about you and your absorption of Church Fathers will carry you even when a spiritual guide is not available.
Admittedly, we in the English speaking world have a dearth of Orthodox translations. In other languages–like Russian–this is not the case. It is sad we have to depend upon Protestants for translations of the Bible and translations of the Church Fathers. But consider, historically speaking Orthodoxy is still relatively new to the English speaking world and we have a lot of work to do in bringing Orthodoxy into its own among the strong Protestant backdrop.
If it is any consolation, in academic works classic Protestants are sticklers for exacting in their translations. Their experience with the Reformation, and their concept of “sola Scritura” (while erroneous in itself) makes them very detailed in their examination of primary source documents, so for the most part CCEL can be trusted to be true to modern English and the originals as much as is possible. Obviously, some nuances would be lost without the Orthodox paradigms, but if you read their commentary they are not too bad as they strive for being true to the original source and context of the time written. They seem objective.
Personally, I was extremely fortunate to have studied under one of the best Orthodox minds in our modern world: BP Irenei (Steenberg). While he was an Archimandrite in San Fransisco, he sponsored and taught the Ss. Cyril and Athanasius Institute of Orthodox Studies. I learned so much under his tutelage and am ever indebted for that experience.
Bp. Irenei is now the ROCOR Archbishop over the entirety of Western Europe; see https://orthodox-europe.org/english/. At present, the institute has disappeared with only having taught about a dozen–maybe a few more–students. I was fortunate to be one of them.
Fr. Irenei started us with the New Testament Church, the Apostolic Fathers, the early Church Fathers, and then moved to the Councils and Trinitarian theology. I have been schooled by the best and have been majorly branded by that training; I only hope I can be as honorable as BP. Irenei in upholding the Faith once handed down. In my suggestion to read Justin, Athanasius, Ireneous, as well as the dedache and Letter to Diagnetus was how he taught us.
In your journey, God will bring across your path those you need to learn from. When that happens, it is important to drink from the well before you as it will sustain you for the long journey ahead.
Thankyou for this reply John. And I apologize for some of the sarcasm I expressed in my last response. It did reveal some of the frustration I have when I read things I can’t get my head around. Having said that, I’m pretty sure there isn’t another Orthodox Christian within many miles of me, out here in rural Haliburton. I would be very happy if you decided to move here! We could help each other, have some great talks and you could teach me.
I really didn’t have any misgivings with downloading resources from a protestant collection. You make a good point regarding their inclination to be precise and correct.
This Orthodox life is not a hobby for me. It involves my very life and eternal wellbeing. It is a search I have been on most of my life, since I was little more than an infant. And when I look back at that life I see that not many are worse than me. It is a wonder God put up with me. Not that I wanted to do bad. I guess I fell into conduct that was part of my nature. So, here I am. I am brought to what seems to be the pinnacle of life on earth; a baptized member of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. And what happened almost instantly? War! War against internal passions I didn’t know existed. War against demons who can whisper in my ear. War against lies and deception. War against the world.
Enter Sars-Cov2 or what has been called Covid1984. I’ve been pretty accurate in my understanding of this event almost from the beginning. I sigh when I see how most Parishes have reacted to government orders. Shocked to hear of Bishops and other priests who strongly urge and even try to shame everyone into submitting to these so called vaccines. I will never accept to be so injected and I see the western sponsored medical behemoth for the evil that it is. A system where men and women in their white lab coats literally slaughter living, awake babies so they can cut out their organs. To me, it is heart breaking and I have no tolerance for it.
So, I’ve rambled enough. I have thoughts and questions but they will all have to wait.
Halliburton? Canada? You are out in the sticks as they say. Of course, knowing what is going on in the cities, rural may be a better place to be.
Where were you baptized? Do you ever hear from the priest who baptized you?
As for the Church, Satan always co-pts where ever he can get a foothold. Regrettably, some hierarchs have given the devil access to get in and do great damage. But that is not the Church proper, what it has historically stood for, or what the Fathers would have tolerated. If St Nick were alive today, a lot of faces would be slapped.
That all hell breaks loose after becoming Orthodox is a sure sign you are in the right place. There is just something about joining the family which causes some things in our lives to spontaneously ignite; sometimes we feel like were are in hell (I feel like I could give the guided tour, I go there seemingly often; like St David I get my best naps there Ps. 139:8 kjv)). It just means its time to enter into His rest (Hebrews 4).
God’s point is all this is that we overcome (Rev. 1-3). St John the Forerunner was a curious fellow; when others were overrun with locust, he was out in the middle of the swarm having a Sunday picnic. Caleb of old had the same mentality when he said, the giants were for food. Overcoming takes a different mindset in which we see adversity as nourishment, not our destruction. In the same way that a power lifter does not see the weights as his enemy, but his friend.
Its all in the way you look at it, and if you look at it wrong, hell will be hell, but if you look at it as opportunity to grow in God, there will be seasons of refreshing where God’s presence is so real, you feel like you can reach out and touch Him. All of a sudden the spiritual realm opens and angels are real, the Holy Mother of God is real, it all is there, just beyond our perceptions. One taste of the powers of the age to come (Hebrews 6:5), and its as if no suffering has ever occurred in our life, and you think the blessing will never end.
Thank you John. I’m sure what you say is true. I now understand that this struggle had to occur but our God is everywhere present and fills all things; Treasury of blessings and giver of life.
Yes, I’m in the sticks, not totally isolated from people but certainly far from the nearest Parish. The day I was baptized I said to someone that I was afraid I was going to become isolated. I was baptized by Father Andrew at St. Gregory of Nyssa in Kingston, Ontario. I’m still in contact, of course with my priest. Not nearly as much as earlier. He is walking a tightrope between obeying the Bishop while being very well informed of what is really going on in the world. I avoid being a burden to him at all costs. He knows I won’t atend because of the restrictions. I don’t think he was very pleased about it. I attend all the Zoom meetings.
I don’t leave my property often. I got out a couple of days ago to get a few groceries in Wilberforce. Some time ago I took a stand not to wear a mask in any of these stores. If they don’t want me then I won’t enter. So I never go into Foodland with a mask. Nobody says anything. While I’m in there this younger guy comes around the corner, tall, gray hair wearing fancy sunglasses, good looking guy and as he approaches he says “hey how are you doing?” as if we were long lost buddies. I returned the greeting and friendliness. He wasn’t wearing a mask either. We got to talking. He asked if I believed in God. Absolutely. He mentioned the end times. He told me not to be afraid of anything. And before you know it, our conversation was over. We shook hands and he told me his name was Timothy. Soon after I’m thinking I needed to get his contact information. We have things to talk about. And there is some talk about creating parallel societies where we find ourselves. He needs to appear again!
God be merciful to us.
I trust that Holy water will be served in a sanitized spoon. Sorry for the sarcasm. My experience within the Orthodox Church goes something like this: I was baptized and told I am a baby Christian. Well, baby Christian was then promptly sent off to his far away, rural location to face the devil and world alone. If it isn’t difficult enough to fight against passions I was not aware of, I’m now also struggling with certain doubts about teaching and how to live. What can I say about the North American Church in the face of government restrictions? I am without a Parish because I won’t accept government liturgy. I have Zoom and I can watch the few who attend approach the Eucharist with masks, and will partake with sanitized spoons.
I’m hoping to order a hardbound Didache Bible soon, just as a change of pace. No, I’m not converting to Rome. They have to repent and return.
Your link to http://www.earlychristianwritings.com doesn’t work.
Dear Craig,
Don’t give up! Imagine how similar your experience is to Christ’s, who was compelled by the Spirit to go out into the desert. That must mean that God has important plans for your life. There is a lot that Orthodox Christians can do privately to help them grow, especially now that we have the Internet.
Surely the nearest parish’s liturgy is not a “government liturgy”, but only one that is restricted by government mandates. Although the restrictions may be cumbersome, the life-giving Gifts that are confected at the anaphora have the same powers toward salvation. I encourage you to not allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good while you wait for a return to customary parish life.
If the government dictates how many can attend, how close to each other people are permitted to be, that they must wear masks and not touch the icons, though faking a kiss is ok, that the Holy body and blood of Christ God must be served with individual sanitized spoons so nobody transmits disease to others, how is it not ‘government liturgy’? They have dictated how it is to be done and western parishes fell into line.
The restrictions are cumbersome? If it was cumbersome I could handle that. I’m used to cumbersome. What it is is faith destroying, hypocritical and teetering on blasphemy. We are supposed to be in the presence of God, his angels and all the saints hearing words of scripture of God’s love and protection, how he conquered death by death and yet we are behaving like this. I don’t know if, under such circumstances, such behaviour would see the Holy Spirit change the bread and wine into the mystery of the body and blood of the Lord. But I’m afraid if I compromise, given the pain in my conscience, it would just be the end of me.
We do have an example pointing us to the proper response to government demands found right in the bible. The circumstances and responses are the same as what we face. Unfortunately, we did not follow the example of holy Daniel the prophet, recorded in Daniel 6. Everyone should read and ponder this. Daniel didn’t face ’15 days to flatten the curve’ which has stretched into 2 years and no intention to ever end this agenda. It is permanent! The law was passed that for 30 days no petitons could be made to anyone, not even God but onto to the king. Daniel could have done a work around. He could have stood away from the window so nobody would see him praying. He could have reasoned that it was only for 30 days! He didn’t do any of that. He had his worship which he engaged in daily.
10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem; and he got down upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
He didn’t change anything about his way of worship as we have. This is not cumbersome. It is far beyond cumbersome.
Craig,
I completely feel your pain, brother…and I echo the sound advice given by others in this thread. I have struggled in virtually an identical way…got stripped of my altar service on account of speaking out against this miasma of madness in fall 2020…lots of other personal trials as well. When we are Baptized we are truly Baptized into the death of Christ, the very death which, embraced voluntarily, contains the very Resurrection we long and strive for. Just that voluntary acceptance part is the challenge…
I’m in Toronto so if you ever want to meet somewhere, any chance i can take to get out of this city is a real blessing! May God guide, protect, and bless you.
Thanks James. I grew up in Toronto and spent most of my life there. It is the last place I would choose to be now. We can always keep in touch. craigmouldey@gmail.com
Craig,
Wow, I feel for your dilemma. However, at some point you will have to take responsibility for your own spiritual welfare and growth.
Here is what I highly recommend, and if you do it, your growth will exceed what you may have gotten in a class. I am recommending a method of study, not just looking at theology.
Start with a particular Father, I recommend St. Justin Martyr. Go to CCEL.org and download all Justin’s writing and read them all and find out for what reason, and to whom he was writing in each case. He was the first recognized apologist of the Faith both against Rome as well as the Jews and so much is contained there. St Justin will ground you in many things.
Then read the Didache and the letter to Diagnetus. These are foundational key Church docs.
Then, I would suggest reading St Athanasius, “On the Incarnation.” Many fundamental Orthodox paradigms are contained in that simple work.
If you find a Church Father, saint, or Apostle that just “lights your fire”, stay with that guy until your thirst is quenched, then move to another. What I highly recommending is not studying subjects of the Faith but absorbing particular saints by reading them and learning to think like they thought; learn to work with their paradigms as your own.
If you are grounded in the early Fathers and all those through the 7 Councils, anomalies in the modern Church will stick out like a sore thumb to you, you will have discernment.
For me it is St. John the Theological because, he speaks so much about the Father/God.
Don’t waste time lamenting your situation, but get to work, get to learning and devouring one father after another, but most definitely start with the early fathers as they lay the foundation for the everything that was to follow. Know how they thought, everything else makes perfect sense.
Know this, only you can stifle your growth, everything you need is available and CCEL.org alone would keep you busy for years. Read, read, read, then pray over what you have read.