Orthodox Reflections

Part IV of the Western Series

How Western Beliefs Changed the Original Gospel Message

… The Remedy for Sin …

Irene Polidoulis MD

with the blessing of her spiritual father

The remedy for sin begins with God, who did not abandon fallen Man.* By means of His perfect Love and Humility, Jesus Christ, the new Adam, healed, restored and redeemed the Human Being to their original state of ‘betrothal’ to God. From His miraculous conception to his adulthood and death, Jesus assumed (took on), elevated and redeemed every stage of human life and development in all men; and by being born of a woman, the Theotokos and Virgin Mary, Christ elevated and redeemed all women. Thus, the Orthodox Church recognizes His mother as the new Eve. Because of her faithful obedience to the will of God – the fruit of her profound humility and love for Him – she was deemed the worthiest of all women of all time, as the vessel of His incarnation. When the Word, the Logos, took His flesh from her flesh, He united human nature to His divine nature, making Theosis once again possible for Mankind.* The Russian Orthodox Church very eloquently describes the extent of God’s humility and love for us in this manner:

The first-created Adam was unable to fulfil the vocation laid before him: to attain deification and bring to God the visible world by means of spiritual and moral perfection. Having broken the commandment and having fallen away from the sweetness of Paradise, he had the way to deification closed to him. Yet everything that the first man left undone was accomplished for him by God Incarnate, the Word-become-flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. He [Jesus] trod that path to the human person [Adam] which the latter was meant to tread towards Him [God]. And if this would have been the way of ascent for the human person, for God it was the way of humble condescension [descent], of self-emptying [kenosis, emphasis mine]. ¹

Icon of the Resurrection of Christ

Because of our failure to ascend to Him in Theosis, with extreme love and humility, God descended to us in kenosis (self-emptying). He emptied himself of His great glory and condescended to become, as the Psalmist writes “…a worm and not a man; a reproach of man and despised by the people” (Psalm 21(22):7). He not only descended to earth with a lowly birth, but also to an utterly humiliating death on the Cross, and lower still to the depths of Hades – all this to rescue whoever wills it, through all time. His resurrection icon depicts Him breaking through the heavy doors of Hades and pulling Adam and Eve out of their tombs, not by their hands, but by their wrists. This is the strong grip of a Father, determined to raise up His fallen children, who could not get back up on their own because of sin. This is what God, in His foreknowledge of the Fall, was prepared to do and did for us. We, however, also have a role to play if we want to be rescued from sin, death and the devil.

Defining Sin

If you’re ashamed to admit it, but not to commit it, it’s probably sin.

 There are many different terms for sin, such as ‘disobedience’, ‘separation from God’, ‘apostasy’, ‘falling away’ or ‘turning away from God’, ‘immoral act’, ‘transgression of the law’ of God, and others. The Greek word for sin is αμαρτία (hamartia). This is an archery term that means to miss the mark, or bull’s eye. To achieve true joy and fulfil our true purpose, we need to make God our focus and our goal, in other words, our target. When we are not focused on Him, we miss the mark, and we sin.²

Adam and Eve’s great sin was not that they disobeyed a commandment and ate a fruit, but rather that they rejected God, seeking to discover knowledge and sustenance apart from Him.³  They betrayed God’s true love to lust after the things of the world. Man ceased desiring God. In taking a ‘my way’ approach to becoming like God by gaining knowledge without Him, Mankind also adopted Satan’s sin of pride. They tried to become gods through their own efforts and on their own terms, which is the sin of “autonomy.” Rather than living a God-centred life, Man, a creation of God (who is the origin and sustenance of Man’s Life), made with a God-given soul in His image and according to His likeness for union with God, wanted to be “emancipated” from God, to live a self-centred life apart from His Creator.  It was not the eating of the fruit itself that was sinful, but the context of what that represented. By eating of it, they sent a clear message to God that He was no longer their hearts’ desire.³ In other words, they no longer truly loved Him – or even one another for that matter. As we saw in Part III, they betrayed God and one another, to become gods out of self-love. The irony is that they tried to become like the loving and humble God they knew by means of prideful opposition.

This is why the first and greatest commandment is, “…love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind…and the second is like it: … you shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matt. 22:36-39). When we put ourselves above God or above our neighbour, instead of aiming our love towards God or our neighbour, we aim it towards ourselves, and we miss the mark. In our fallen condition, the avoidance of self-love requires tremendous vigilance, for we can still fail to make God our “target” even when we do obey His commandments. For example, if we preach or teach the word of God to gain status, popularity or to show off our rhetoric, rather than to benefit others, we sin, because the target becomes ourselves rather than God or the ones that we try to draw closer to Him. Because God is Love and Humility, sin is the absence of these virtues. In his book, Surprised by Christ, the late Reverend Bernstein describes sin most eloquently…

… for the Orthodox, sin is more than breaking a rule, and forgiveness more than God’s pardon for not keeping the Law … Orthodoxy views sin as the denial of love, as the denial of life itself. Sin is turning away from God. It is a sickness, primarily spiritual, that has spread to our flesh … sin is more than “missing the mark,” more than a moral shortcoming or the failure to live up to some external [standard or] code of behaviour. Sin is the failure to realize life as love and communion. Sin is the rejection of personal communion with God. Sin is restricting ourselves, isolating ourselves, to live autonomous, independent, and self-sufficient lives. In a sense, sin is an obsessive self-love … the absolute autonomy of the individual is sin, indeed, the “original sin.” Our offense against God is not that we have “offended His honour,” but rather that we have turned from life itself. Sin is the denial of God’s image in man and of God Himself. It is self-destructive. God hates sin, not because of what it does to Him, but because of what it does to us … In the Western understanding, sin is a stain on our record … Righteousness is inclined to be viewed as a credit which God places in our account … In contrast, Orthodoxy views sin as a state of being in which we at a core level turn [away] from and resist God’s love. Therefore, when God forgives us, this is understood as being much more than an act of forgiving transgressions or specific immoral actions. For us, to be forgiven means to be embraced by God’s love and brought into ever deeper union and communion with Him. It is to be purified, purged, illumined, and ultimately transfigured organically, within the very essence of our being. Forgiveness is therapeutic and includes the process of healing and removal of sin from our lives.  (Rev. A. James Bernstein, in his book, Surprised by Christ, My Journey from Judaism to Orthodox Christianity) ³

Because God is a Person, He is all about relationship – loving relationship. In Luke 15:11-32, we see a wonderful example of God’s healing embrace and the transfiguration of the repentant sinner in the return of the prodigal son to his Father. The loving Father fervently waits for his son’s homecoming, eager to restore and heal their broken relationship. The Orthodox Church believes that when we sin, Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd and the second Person of the Holy Trinity, has compassion on us. He “leaves the ninety-nine sheep” (Matt. 18:12-14, Luke 15:3-7) and comes looking for us the way He went looking for Adam and Eve after they ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden.

Contrary to Western thought, in Orthodoxy, God does not become annoyed, angry, disgusted or insulted when we sin. He does not seek revenge in the form of punishment or as a necessary “justice,” nor does He seek appeasement in the form of “penance.” This is because Orthodoxy does not view sin as guilt in the sense of breaking a law, but as a spiritual disease. Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32). We could say that sin saddens God, who wants our restoration, but sin is not disgusting or insulting to God, and it is not corrected by punishment or penance. Furthermore, sin is not ‘made up’ or made more acceptable if we do more good things than bad things. This is a legalistic view of sin like the ‘scales of justice’ that weigh one’s good deeds opposite one’s bad deeds to determine if one goes to Heaven or Hell in the afterlife.  Such scales are a secular, juridical and Western concept and have no place in Orthodoxy.

If left unchecked, sin becomes a self-perpetuating spiritual illness which distorts the whole human, his being and his energies. It corrupts a person’s inherent image of God and diminishes the divine likeness in us. It distorts our understanding of the world and distracts us from fulfilling our natural potential to become deified in communion with God.  Orthodoxy views the Church as the spiritual hospital where we can all go to find spiritual healing that will restore the image of God in us and bring us closer to His likeness. While people sometimes complain that the Church is full of gossips, hypocrites, and other terrible sinners, that is precisely where we all belong. 

The Remedy for Sin

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance [emphasis mine].”  (Luke 5: 31-32)

The voice of the Baptist crying out in the wilderness was preparing Israel for their Messiah by preaching repentance; and Jesus confirmed that our first step towards spiritual healing is repentance.  What is repentance? The Greek word is metanoia (μετάνοια), which means an inner turning around with a deliberate changing of the nous (mind) and the heart. When we have strayed away from our target (God), we need to turn around (repent) and face our target. Then, we can refocus, keeping our spiritual eyes on our target so that we don’t miss the mark again.

Repentance is the first step towards forgiveness and healing. To His Apostles, who later ordained the first bishops and presbyters (priests) as their representatives, Christ said,

“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained [emphasis mine].” (John 20: 21-23)

In this manner, Christ, our High Priest, communicated His own Priesthood to the bishops and presbyters of the Church.⁴ Christ also told them,

“…I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)

The keys of the kingdom refer to special authority given to the Apostles by Christ.⁴  According to St. John Chrysostom, binding and loosing is a reference primarily to the authority to absolve sins, but it also includes all the teaching, sacramental, and administrative authority of the Apostles. This authority was in turn transmitted through ordination (the laying on of hands) from the Apostles to the bishops and presbyters (priests) of the Church and like an unbroken chain, has continued in effect to this day.⁴

Because of this, the Orthodox believe that Ordination and Holy Confession are mysteries (sacraments) that were instituted by Christ. Hence, we are forgiven and saved by God’s mercy and His Grace through our genuine repentance, which must be followed by the second step – our participation in the Sacrament of Holy Confession to Christ, in the presence of an ordained priest or bishop, who visibly represents Christ.⁴ If Western Christians balk at face-to-face Confession, they should realize that the early Apostolic Church confessed their sins in public before the entire congregation! This is because the Church has always recognized that ‘personal’ sins not only harm and destroy us as individuals, they also affect others, our families and the larger community. Recall how Adam and Eve’s ‘personal’ sin at the Tree of Knowledge affected their children and all of Humanity.* Sin is never isolated or ‘personal.’ The Orthodox faithful holds himself accountable for his sins, which need to be acknowledged, admitted, and renounced for spiritual healing to occur.

While an Orthodox priest sometimes gives ‘penances’ during confession, this is not done to ‘make up for’ or to ‘cancel out’ any sin. If penance is used at all, it is given with ‘oikonomia’ (οικονομία, economy) according to the discretion of the Orthodox priest, and not punitively, but to bring the sinner closer to Christ. The penance should help him reflect and learn for the purpose of advancing his spiritual growth and maturation – not to drive him away with unbearable burdens – and it never involves money!⁸ Penance may include special prayers, alms, readings, and/or a period of abstinence from Holy Communion. Penance is not a punishment, nor a way of ‘earning’ spiritual forgiveness which is a gift from God. The only requirement for forgiveness is true repentance from the heart and a return to God. “…today you will be with Me in Paradise,” (Luke 23:43) were Christ’s words to the thief on the cross next to Him, who, in his final moments, repented and publicly confessed to and of Christ, our High Priest (Hebrews 4:15).^{4, 5, 6}

Faith and works will be covered more fully in Part V. Here, we will just mention that the Orthodox Church does not believe that we are saved by any number of penances or good works, for we are all undeserving sinners. No matter how many good works we do, our good works do not stop us from sinning, nor do they cancel out or undo the sins we have already committed. Good deeds do not replace repentance and Holy Confession and do not forgive us. That is not to say that good deeds are not necessary. Good deeds are essential to our salvation as a necessary expression of faith, but they are not a stand-alone requirement. If good deeds were enough, Christ did not need to come down from Heaven to save us; we could all just save ourselves by doing good deeds. Repentance and Holy Confession are what lead to forgiveness, which is a gift from the God who died for us.

Born Again

Christ also said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (i.e. be saved).” (John 3:3) But how are we born again? Many Protestant sects invite people to come forward and be ‘born again’ by accepting Jesus as their personal Saviour. This method of spiritual rebirth endorses a one-time “born again” experience which lacks any spiritual healing or purification by way of repentance, confession or forgiveness of sins. It also lacks communion with God. In Orthodoxy, accepting Christ as our Saviour is only the first step. The next necessary step is Baptism by water and the Holy Spirit (Chrismation) through which all previous sins are erased.

However, because of our fallen nature and our capacity to repeatedly sin and fall away from God even after Baptism, on-going repentance together with the Sacrament of Holy Confession are also necessary. The forgiveness of sins through repentance and Confession cleanses and purifies the individual again and again, so that he may worthily partake of the life-giving Holy Mysteries (communion of the Body and Blood of Christ) and be reborn, again and again.  Thus, Orthodoxy is not merely a religious or philosophical belief but a way of life, one that entails continuous spiritual vigilance, reflection, and self-examination within the context of a Sacramental and Liturgical life in the Church. This is a spiritual lifestyle, which is exemplified by this personal story:

In the early days of my medical practice, I frequently visited an elderly Greek Orthodox woman in her home after she was no longer able to come to me. Weight bearing became excruciatingly painful due to a slowly progressive and incurable disease of the vascular system that affected her heart and her legs. Despite the recurring wounds and debilitating pain, she never complained about what she had to endure and never completely gave up standing or walking to help herself and others until her body completely gave out. She lived this way for many years, forever grateful for her blessings, despite the painful progression of the illness. Her focus was always on God and how to improve her relationship with Him and with others. I will always remember this about her, but more so this:

One day, she shared with me that at the end of each day, she would sit in a chair and think back on the day’s events – what had taken place, how she had responded and what she had initiated. She would critically examine what she had done or said and how she could have done or said it better. Then she would pray before going to sleep. She kept to this daily routine, keeping a running account of her spiritual sins and weaknesses, which she regularly confessed to a priest before taking Holy Communion …

She also described how she instilled her values into her two beloved granddaughters, which made me wonder if they found her overbearing, until I finally saw them, weeping and lamenting over her frail body at her wake. Her Christian guidance had clearly been anything but burdensome to these two newly adult women, who missed her terribly. Then, when I met them face to face, I was even more surprised to see the suffering, the faith, the love and the gratitude of their beloved grandmother in their eyes … I was surprised to see Christ.

How blessed and humbled I felt at that moment, to have realized that I had served a saint; one who practiced everything she taught her granddaughters; one who wrestled with herself to work out her salvation through daily repentance and regular spiritual rebirth, continuously struggling towards the likeness of God until, I feel sure of it, she was reborn into the Kingdom of Heaven.

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Flesh and Blood

Christ said, “…unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you [emphasis mine]” (John 6:53). In other words, Life is in Christ’s flesh and blood. To be “born” means to commune with and of God, who is Life. When we enter the Life of God by eating His Body and drinking His Blood, as He commanded us, we become spiritually reborn by means of a common union (communion) with God. This was God’s plan B after the Fall, and fallen Man’s first step towards Theosis, which was once again made possible for us by the sacrificial Love of the Word who became flesh.

We are reborn because when we are united with God in Holy Communion (the Eucharist), we become a new creation in the spirit. In Orthodoxy, one is born again (renewed) as many times as one partakes of the Holy Mysteries (the Eucharist), having first sanctified himself through the Sacrament of Repentance and Holy Confession. This is why the Orthodox Church refers to the Holy Mysteries, the Body and Blood of Christ, as ‘the Medicine of Immortality.’ We receive this Medicine in the spiritual hospital known as the Church. The Holy Mysteries and our proper preparation to receive them are the process by which we become spiritually healed and progress from God’s image to His likeness, which is our Theosis or Deification.

The word ‘Eucharist’ stems from the Greek word ευχαριστία (efharistia), which means ‘gratitude’ or ‘to give thanks,’ and we have much to be thankful for to God. Many Protestants celebrate the Eucharist only in ‘remembrance’ of Christ’s sacrifice. They base this on a literal interpretation of one line of Holy Scripture, the Lord’s words, “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). Orthodoxy, however, applies a contextual interpretation of these words with other scriptural texts, which is how the Apostles and the Holy Fathers interpret scripture.

For example, Christ’s statement, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:56), is interpreted by the Orthodox to mean cohabitation with Christ (to abide in Him and Him in us) and the beginning of our journey to Theosis. In addition, remembrance is far more than thinking back about something; it is participation in it. For example, when we remember something like the first Thanksgiving (a Western observance), we do not just think back on it; we participate in it by preparing and eating a special meal with loved ones, and to that we may add special prayers, toasts, and stories of the first Thanksgiving. We essentially re-enact the first Thanksgiving.

Similarly, as Christ’s disciples participated in the Last Supper, so do we, in the Divine Liturgy, but in a more real way than when we celebrate Thanksgiving. In the Divine Liturgy, space and time collapse and we relive the events of the life of Christ – His public ministry, His passion, and so on. We participate in Christ’s human nature, because the bread and the wine become His Body and His Blood through the activity of the Holy Spirit. The Jews of the Old Testament were permitted to eat meat but not blood, for the life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11) and life belongs to God. The New Israel of God, the Church, breaks this Old Testament fast and feasts, as it were, by eating Christ’s Body and drinking His Blood. “For as often as [we] eat this bread and drink this cup, [we] proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). ^{4, 7} While some Protestant groups, like the Anglicans and the Lutherans, affirm a “real presence of Christ in the Eucharist” in their theology, the Orthodox understanding of the mystical transformation of the bread and wine to the Body and Blood of Christ is unique in its full sacramental realism.

Because of their rejection of Holy Tradition, which includes the Biblical interpretations of the divinely inspired early Church Fathers, many Protestant groups struggle to interpret Chapter 11 in St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. In these verses, he who comes to God in the Eucharist and “eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor. 11:27). If remembrance means only to think back on something, what does it mean to eat and drink in an unworthy manner and to be guilty of it?  To the Orthodox, “in an unworthy manner” means impure with hidden immorality, disunity, doctrinal heresy, or disorder, failing to see the gifts of God as holy things for holy people. Therefore, St. Paul goes on to say that before approaching the Eucharist “a man [must first] examine himself” (1 Cor. 11:28). In Orthodoxy, this self-examination includes repentance and confession before God in the presence of a priest, who visibly represents Christ. This forgives our sins and cleanses us from impurity so that we may more worthily partake of the Holy Gifts, the Eucharist, while we begin anew our struggle to progress ourselves from God’s image to His likeness.⁴

Then St. Paul says, “for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason, many are sick and weak among you and many sleep [die, emphasis mine]” (1Cor. 11:29-30). St. Paul is telling the Corinthians that there is such power in the Body and Blood of Christ communicated to us in the eating and drinking of His gifts, that to do so in willful disregard of the Lord could result in sickness and even death. In other words, St. Paul believed and taught that the holy gifts – the bread and the wine – are mystically changed into the actual Body and Blood of Christ during the Divine Liturgy, which was practised in his day. Otherwise, how could the Eucharist have such power? The Protestants who departed from this belief, greatly struggle to interpret these verses.⁴

St. Paul continues with, “for if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged [by God]” (1 Cor. 11:31). Here, God is promising that if we judge ourselves through self-examination, we will not be condemned with the secular world. This presupposes that our self-examination would lead to our repentance and Holy Confession. “But when we are judged [by God], we are chastened [humbled] by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world” (1Cor. 11:32). In other words, if we fail to properly examine ourselves, the Lord will judge us and chasten (discipline) us so that our suffering will lead us to repentance that we may avoid a worse outcome – being condemned with the world. What we sometimes view as punishment in human terms, is an expression of God’s divine Love and Mercy to protect us from spiritual harm.⁴

Around the 15^th century, the Roman Catholic church departed from Holy Tradition by offering the laity only the Body in the form of a wafer and reserving the Body and the Blood only for the clergy. An even greater departure from ancient Christian custom was taken by many Protestant sects who rejected the miraculous change that takes place from bread and wine to the mystical Body and Blood of Christ. Many Protestants do not offer the Eucharist at every Sunday service, and some occasionally offer it as a self-serve grape juice stand at the back of the church at the end of the service. This is a huge departure from ancient Christian custom and Tradition.⁷

With …Fear …Faith …Love …

At every Divine Liturgy, the Orthodox faithful are called forward to be born again by partaking of Christ’s Body and Blood with the words, “With the Fear of God, with Faith and Love, draw near [emphasis mine].”  The fear of God does not mean terror. It means awe, reverence and veneration. These words also underscore the three stages of spiritual maturity of those who obey God. In the first stage, like the slaves of old, we obey God, our Master, for fear of punishment. This is not wrong because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 9:10). However, it is the first and most ‘immature’, if you will, spiritual stage of development in our relationship with God and in our progress towards His likeness. In the second stage, we progress from slaves to workers who do not fear their master, but “with faith” expect payment for their work. We give obedience to God to receive something in return, such as blessings or special requests (Matthew 20:1-16). In the third stage, we no longer obey God because we fear Him or because we want something from Him, but because we love Him.

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear expects punishment. The person who is afraid has not been made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18)

In the Divine Liturgy, the faithful are called to receive the Eucharist with the words “…Fear…Faith…Love…” because our loving God accepts the faithful receiver at all stages of his spiritual development. As we spiritually grow and progress from “fear” to “love”, we also progress from “image” to “likeness” and our union with God. This is how the Orthodox Church ultimately remedies sin, which separates us from God.⁸ In the eloquent words of St. Gregory of Nyssa:

There are some who seek salvation out of fear. There are others who are virtuous, not because they despair of [finding] physical love, but in hope of recompense. Those who aspire to perfection must be without fear, disdain recompense and love with complete abandonment. Such is the salvation by love taught in the Song of Songs.

Are You Saved?                                      

We typically hear this question being asked by Protestants who have accepted Christ as their personal Saviour. Even Bishop Kallistos Ware of blessed memory was asked if he was saved. Many Protestants endorse an easy “once and for all Salvation.” The Orthodox do not believe in “Once Saved, Always Saved.” Recall how Judas Iscariot, who initially was one of the twelve Disciples of Christ, was on the path of salvation, until he became “the son of perdition” (John 17:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:3) by betraying Christ; and instead of repenting, as Peter had done, he hanged himself in despair. Old Testament prophecy also alludes to Judas in Psalm 40 (41):10, Psalm 108 (109):2-13 and Zechariah 11:12-13. According to the Orthodox Study Bible, “the son of perdition” is also the Antichrist, and Judas is a type for all who will fall away in the last days.⁴ Therefore, an Orthodox Christian never says, “I am saved,” for fear of falling into the sin of pride and thereby losing his salvation. He may say something like “I trust that by God’s grace, I am being saved.”

As was already mentioned in Part I, in Orthodoxy, salvation is not just the avoidance of Hell; it is union with God, which is Deification. For the Orthodox, salvation-deification is an on-going lifelong process: (i) We were saved in Baptism when we renounced Satan and accepted Christ as our personal Saviour; (ii) we are being saved as we live in communion with Christ and grow in our relationship with Him by living a repentant, Liturgical and Sacramental life in the Orthodox Church; and (iii) if we go on living this way, continuously repenting and trusting in God’s divine compassion and mercy until our death, we will be saved by God’s grace and mercy at His second coming and righteous judgment of the world. We do not say “I am saved” while we are still alive because temptation may derail our salvation at any time, even until our last breath. Some will say that even uttering the words “I am saved” is prideful enough to threaten our very salvation. It is like saying “I am humble.” The instant we say these words we are no longer humble. Hence, the only time we can safely say, “I am saved” is after we have crossed the threshold of the Kingdom of Heaven.¹⁰ No honest athlete ever says, “I won this race,” before crossing the finish line. For the Orthodox Christian, it is dangerous arrogance and a demonic temptation to say, “I am saved.” This Orthodox teaching can be found in the life of 4^th century St. Macarius the Great of Egypt:

The lamp of the [Egyptian] wilderness and the father of all monks, the great saint, Abba Macarius, departed in the year 392 A.D. … On the day of his departure, [after] he saw Sts. Antonios and Pachomius, and a company of the saints … he delivered up his soul. He was ninety-seven years old … In a manuscript in Shebeen El-Koum … St. Babnuda, his disciple, saw the soul of St. Macarius ascending to heaven, and he heard the devils crying out and calling after him, “You have conquered us O Macarius.” The Saint replied, “I have not conquered you yet.” When they came to the gates of heaven they cried again saying, “You have conquered us,” and he replies as the first time, [“I have not conquered you yet].” When he entered the gate of heaven they cried, “You have overcome us O Macarius.” [This time] he [humbly] replied, “Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ who has delivered me from your hands.” [In this manner, he credited his salvation to the Lord rather than to himself.] May his prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen [emphasis mine].¹¹

Whether living a monastic, married or celibate life, salvation and the transformation to Theosis is a lifelong struggle with on-going self-examination and repentance, while living a Liturgical and Sacramental life in the Church. The Sacramental Life requires the essential one-time Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Chrismation, followed by regular repentance and participation in the Sacrament of Holy Confession.  The Liturgical life includes regular participation in the Divine Liturgy whose purpose and climax are the Holy Eucharist. This Sacrament or mystery is our communion with God through the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ – God’s New Testament way of progressing us from His image to His likeness by uniting us with Him both physically and spiritually. It is for this very reason that Christ instituted His “One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church,” and why this Church, the Orthodox Church, calls herself, ‘the Ark of Salvation.’  While many Western traditions contain various elements of truth, the Orthodox Church faithfully preserves the fullness of Truth in Apostolic Tradition and Sacramental life.

To be continued with Part V – Does God Punish with Guilt, Suffering, Sickness & Death?…

Footnotes

• The terms Man, Humanity, Mankind are used interchangeably and in the plural sense to mean both the masculine and the feminine together. The terms he, him, his also denote the singular feminine unless otherwise stated in the text. These terms will be used in this manner throughout all Parts of this Series.

 References

1. Jesus Christ, the ‘New Adam’, Russian Orthodox Church in Great Britain and Ireland, Diocese of Surozh, Patriarchate of Moscow

http://www.sourozh.org/orthodox-faith-texts/jesus-christ-the-new-adam.html

2. “What Is Sin? – Questions & Answers – Orthodox Church in America,” accessed July 25, 2018, https://oca.org/questions/sacramentconfession/what-is-sin
3. A. James Bernstein, Surprised by Christ, My Journey from Judaism to Orthodox Christianity, 2008, Pg. 216, 258-259
4. The Orthodox Study Bible, Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today’s World, Old & New Testaments, texts & exegesis Pg. 1465, 1299-1300, 1565, 1458
5. George Nicozisin, The Orthodox Church: A Well-Kept Secret, A Journey Through Church History. 2nd ed. edition. Minneapolis, Minn: Light & Life Pub Co, 1997. Pg 94
6. “The Orthodox Faith – Volume II – Worship – The Sacraments – Penance” https://oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-sacraments/penance.
7. Mathews, Constantine. Eastern Orthodoxy Compared: Her Main Teachings and Significant Differences with Roman Catholicism and the Major Protestant Denominations. Minneapolis, Minn: Light & Life Publishing Company, 2006. Pg 32-34, 36-38, 82-85
8. Π. Βασίλειος Καλλιμάνης, Διπλωματική εργασία που υποβλήθηκε από τη μεταπτυχιακή φοιτήτρια, Μαρία Αρβανίτη, ΔΙΑΛΕΚΤΙΚΗ ΦΟΒΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΑΓΑΠΗΣ, ΒΙΒΛΙΚΕΣ ΑΠΑΡΧΕΣ ΚΑΙ ΚΟΙNΩΝΙΚΕΣ ΠΡΟΕΚΤΑΣΕΙΣ Pg. 78-87 https://ikee.lib.auth.gr/record/115204/files/GRI-2010-4539.pdf
9. Robert Payne, The Holy Fire, the Story of the Fathers of the Eastern Church, Vladimir’s Seminary Press, pg. 158
10. “The Orthodox Faith – Are You Saved?” http://theorthodoxfaith.com/video/are-you-saved/
11. Coptic Crew Synaxarium, ST. MACARIUS THE GREAT https://copticcrew.com/pages/st-macarius-the-great