By Bishoy Marcus

Traversing the oceans in a cruseship, does no justice to the creative wonder of God. The water is an azure blue, panning from east to west, north to south, with no limit, evenly level, with ripples of waves breaking through the surface and the occasional splash of a large fish or dolphin the only glimpses of what lies beneath.

Today I had the wonderful opportunity of scuba diving, in one of Gods incredible master pieces known as the Great Barrier Reef off the Queensland coast in Australia. It was my first diving experience and my only tangible understanding of what lied beneath before this dive came from vibrant images found in marine biology textbooks.

But it didn’t take long for awe to fill my heart, and wonder to fill my eyes at the incredible intricacies and life forms that exist just under the surface. The Ocean just spelled “God”. But of more interest to me was the incredible homeostasis that existed underneath the surface. Coral of all shapes, forms and colours had grown wonderfully into vibrant communities, interlaced with various other coral formations all looking upright vying for that life sustaining sunlight. For those that don’t know, coral is not just some hard colourful rock, it is living and moving. Truly God was not wrong when he looked at the seas and what moved in them and saw that it was “good”!

However of much more visual marvel were the myriads of fish species. Fish with various colours all exhibiting various forms of camouflage, small and large each going about its daily work with effortless ease and majestic sway. Diving amongst them was truly a humbling experience; man is seriously so blind to everything other than his own ways. Little does man spend contemplating on what lies beneath the ocean surface; it seriously is more diverse, than what exists on land. Much of it has yet to be discovered and it just yells all day to humanity, saying Glorify God, but how many actually listen.

Nature truly magnifies His handiworks, but man seldom remembers that he too is not only part of nature, but in charge of it. So if nature magnifies His handiworks, what then is required of Man?

By Saint Gregory The Wonder Worker.

She wrapped in swaddling-clothes Him who is covered with light as with a garment. She wrapped in swaddling-clothes Him who made every creature. She laid in a manger Him who sits above the cherubim, and is praised by myriads of angels. In the manger set apart for dumb brutes did the Logos of God repose, in order that He might impart to men, who are really irrational by free choice, the perceptions of true reason.

In the board from which cattle eat was laid the heavenly Bread, in order that He might provide participation in spiritual nourishment for men who live like the beasts of the earth. Nor was there even room for Him in the inn. He found no place, Who by His word established heaven and earth; “for though He was rich, for our sakes He became poor,” and showed extreme humiliation on behalf of the salvation of our nature, in His inherent goodness toward us.

He Who fulfilled the whole administration of unutterable mysteries of the economy in heaven in the bosom of the Father, and in the cave in the arms of the mother, reposed in the manger. Angelic choirs encircled Him, singing of glory in heaven and of peace upon earth.

In heaven He was seated at the right hand of the Father; and in the manger He rested, as it were, upon the cherubim. Even there was in truth His cherubic throne; there was His royal seat. Holy of the holy, and alone glorious upon the earth, and holier than the holy, was that wherein Christ our god rested.

By Saint John Chrysostom.

All join to praise this holy feast, beholding the Godhead here on earth and man in heaven. He who is above now, for our salvation, dwells here below; and we, who were lowly, are exalted by divine mercy.

Today Bethlehem resembles heaven, hearing from the stars the singing of angelic voices and, in the place f the sun, witnessing the rising of the Sun of Justice!

Ask now how this was accomplished, for where God wills the order of nature is overturned. For He willed He has the power. He descended. He saved. All things move in obedience to God.

Today, He Who is born. And He Who Is becomes what He was not. For when He was God, He became man – while not relinquishing the Godhead that is His.

And so the kings have come and they have seen the heavenly King that is come upon the earth, not bring with Him angels, nor archangels, nor thrones, nor dominations, nor powers, nor principalities, but treading a new and solitary path, He has come forth from a spotless womb.

Yet He has not forsaken His angels, nor left them deprived of His care, nor because of His incarnation has He ceased being God. And behold the kings have come that they might serve the Leader of the Hosts of Heaven; women, so that they might adore Him Who was born of a woman so that He might change the pains of child birth to joy;Virgins, to the Son of the Virgin, infants that they might adore Him Who became a little child, so that out of the mouths of infants He might perfect praise; children, to the Child Who raised up martyrs through the rage Incarnation of the Logos of Herod; men to Him Who became man that He might heal the miseries of His servants; shepherds to the Good Shepherd Who has laid down His life for His sheep; priests, to Him Who has become a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek; servants to Him Who took upon Himself the form of a servant that He might bless our stewardship with the reward of freedom; fisherman to the Fisher of humanity; publicans, to Him Who from among them named a chosen evangelist; sinful women to Him Who exposed His feel to the tears of the repentant woman;

And that I may embrace them all together, all sinners have come, that they might look upon the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world!

Since, therefore, all rejoice, I too desire to rejoice! I too wish to share the choral dance, to celebrate the festival! But I take my part, not plucking the harp, nor with music of the pipes nor holding the torch, but holding in my arms the cradle of Christ!

For this is all my hope! This is my life! This is my salvation! This is my pipe, my harp!

And bearing it I come, having from its power received the gift of speech,, I too, with the angels sing: “Glory to God in the highest,” and with the shepherds: “and on earth peace to men of good will.”

He took what was ours to be His very own so that we might have all that was His. “He was rich but He became poor for our sake, so that we might be enriched by His poverty.” [2Cor.8:9]. When they say that the Logos of God did not become flesh, or rather did not undergo birth from a woman according to the flesh, they bankrupt the economy of salvation. For if He who was rich did not impoverish Himself, abasing Himself to our condition out of tender love, then we have not gained Hs riches but are still in our poverty, still enslaved by sin and death, because the Logos becoming flesh is the undoing and the abolition of all that fell upon human nature as our curse and punishment.

If the Logos has not become flesh then neither has the dominion of death been overthrown, and in no way has sin been abolished, and we are still held captive in the transgressions of the first man, Adam, deprived of any return to a better condition; a return which I would say has been gained by Christ the Saviour of us all, for God was in humanity. He who was above all creation was in our human condition.

The invisible One was made visible in the flesh. He who is from the heavens and from on high was in the likeness of earthy things. The immaterial One could be touched. He who is free in His own nature came in the form of a slave. He who blesses all creation became accursed. He who is all righteousness was numbered among the transgressors. Life itself came in the appearance of death. All this followed because the body which tasted death belonged to no other but to Him who is the Son by nature.

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The following Orthodox Christian patristic quote recently featured as a status on my Facebook wall:

‎“Set your mind on following the path of saints. Prefer a simple style of life. Wear unremarkable clothes. Eat simple food. Behave in an unaffected manner. Don’t strut around as if you were important. Speak from your heart.” (Abba Philemon)

A protestant friend of mine (whose father is a protestant minister, and whose Greek-Cypriot grandfather founded the first Greek-speaking protestant congregation in Sydney), responded to the above by stating in a typical American Southern Baptist style “That ain’t biblical.” Unfortunately, this third-generation protestant is so blinded by his “Bible-based Christianity” that he only identifies the Bible as the letter of the law. His soul is so foreign to the Holy Spirit, that he cannot even recognise the Spirit of the Law. Alas, this is the case of Protestantism, which is simply the “Christian” version of a Jewish sect that existed in the time of Christ, known as the “Saducees,” who only accepted the written law and refused to accept the oral tradition or the Spirit of the Law of God.

Below I provide for you my response to my protestant friend regarding his “protest” against the quote from Abba Philemon, as if this holy saint and elder of the early Christian Church is supposedly guilty of writing anything “unbiblical.”

Anthony, don’t be quick to judge. The above quote is entirely Biblical, and it was written by a Pastor with authority and grace of the Holy Spirit. By reading the Book of Acts one can easily see that Philip was able to baptise the Samaritans but he was unable to impart to them the Holy Spirit. Only with the arrival of the Apostles Peter and John was the Holy Spirit imparted. This is because Christ chose the Holy Apostles and their successors with authority to heal the sick, bind and release sins, and impart the gifts of the Holy Spirit to those who are baptised into Christ. Abba Philemon was one such a Christian, chosen by the Apostles through their successors, the Apostolic Fathers, who chose and ordained Philemon as a Pastor of a parish within the Church of God which resides in Egypt, in the third century. I trust the pastors of the early Church who were ordained by the Apostles themselves, more than I trust the impostors of our age who have ordained themselves.

I agree that there are failures especially among Catholics (since the 10th century), and even among Orthodox (since the 20th century), but by no means do the early Pastors of the Christian Church fail from keeping and upholding the Bible in their statements. Their sermons are inspired by the Holy Spirit, because they received the imparting of the Holy Spirit from the hands of the Apostles themselves, and their writings are based entirely on the Holy Scriptures. I will now explain to you how the above sermon by the ancient Christian pastor, Abba Philemon, is entirely Biblical in content:

ABBA PHILEMON: “Set your mind on following the path of saints.”

BIBLICAL ORIGIN: Saint Paul who was not God, nor the Messiah, nor the Holy Spirit, but a mere man, but yet a chosen Apostle of Jesus Christ, nevertheless commanded the souls that he was given to oversee, to set their minds upon imitating him (Saint Paul) and following his (Saint Paul’s) path. Thus Saint Paul writes to the Church of God at Corinth: “For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me.” (1 Corinthians 4:15-16). “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you.” (1 Corinthians 11:1-2). “Brethren, join in imitating me, and mark those who so live as you have an example in us.” (Philippians 3:17). “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Thessalonians 1:6). “For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us.” (2 Thessalonians 3:7). “Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12). “Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, my sufferings…” (2 Timothy 3:10-11). “…so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:12). “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God; consider the outcome of their life, and imitate their faith.” (Hebrews 13:7).

ABBA PHILEMON: “Prefer a simple style of life.”

BIBLICAL ORIGIN: Apostle Paul commands us to live as simple lives as possible: “To be sure, it is a means of great gain, [this] godly devotion along with self-sufficiency. For we have brought nothing into the world, and neither can we carry anything out. So, having sustenance and covering, we shall be content with these things. However, those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires, which plunge men into destruction and ruin. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.” (1 Timothy 6:6-10) . “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in SIMPLICITY and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world.” (2 Corinthians 1:12). Our Lord Jesus Christ also advised us: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where rust or moths corrupts or where thieves break in and steal but lay up treasures in heaven where moth and rust does not corrupt and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also… The lamp of the body is the eye. If, then, your eye is simple, your whole body will be bright.” (Matthew 6:19-22).

ABBA PHILEMON: “Wear unremarkable clothes.”

BIBLICAL ORIGIN: “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” (1 Peter 3:3-4). “I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes.” (1 Timothy 2:9).

ABBA PHILEMON: “Eat simple food.”

BIBLICAL ORIGIN: “But pay attention to yourselves that your hearts never become weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and anxieties of life, and suddenly that day be instantly upon you as a snare…” (Luke 21:34-35). “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.” (Proverbs 23:20-21). “He who keeps the law is a discerning son, but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father.” (Proverbs 28:7). “Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.” (Proverbs 23:2).

ABBA PHILEMON: “Behave in an unaffected manner.”

BIBLICAL ORIGIN: “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.” (Romans 13:13). “You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?” (1 Corinthians 3:3). “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do–living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.” (1 Peter 4:3). “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18).

ABBA PHILEMON: “Don’t strut around as if you were important.”

BIBLICAL ORIGIN: “But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you.” (2 Corinthians 10:13). “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.” (Proverbs 16:18-19).

ABBA PHILEMON: “Speak from your heart.”

BIBLICAL ORIGIN: “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45).

All the above sufficiently proves that Abba Philemon, a holy saint of the early Christian Church, has not in any way defied the Bible by his sermon, but that what he has written is not only compatible with the Bible, but it is even entirely based on the Bible. This is why traditional Christianity is the true “Bible-based” Christianity, because it has the charismata (gifts) of the Holy Spirit, the authority ordained by God and passed by ordination by Christ to his Apostles and their successors, to interpret the Word of Truth within the context of Holy Scriptures.

The Orthodox Church possess not only the letter of the Law but also the Spirit of the Law. We Orthodox Christians are not saved by the letter of the law, but rather by the grace of the Holy Spirit, which has printed the Law of God in our hearts. Thus Orthodox Christians read the writings of Abba Philemon and can immediately identify them as God’s Law which is written in our own hearts. But when a Protestant, who is foreign to the Law of God, but carries in his heart only the leaven of the Pharisees and Saducees, when he sees a sermon like that of Abba Philemon, the Protestant cannot recognise it, because he is foreign to God’s law, and thus he can only respond with that all-too-familiar American Southern Baptist slogan: “That ain’t biblical.” But we cannot expect anything better from a Protestant, for they have not received the imparting of the Holy Spirit by the Apostles, and thus their eyes are blinded by the folly of their own imagination. They do not possess spiritual eyes to discern things of the Holy Spirit.

The Protestants can continue to “protest” against the Ancient Apostolic Faith, but they will always fail. For of the Apostolic Faith, namely the faith of St. Peter the Apostle, the first to preach Christ in Jerusalem and the first Patriarch of Antioch, Jesus said: “Upon this rock [of faith in the Son of God] I will build MY CHURCH [i.e. not Charlemagne's Church, not Luther's Church, not Calvin's Church, but JESUS' OWN Church] and the gates of Hades [i.e. the mouths of heretics] shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18). Of this same rock of the Apostolic Faith, our Lord Jesus Christ also said: “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” (Matthew 21:44).

May God enlighten the Protestant sectarians to depart from their man-made business enterprises and return to the One, Holy, Universal and Apostolic Church that Jesus Christ founded ….. that through oneness of Faith in One God, One Lord Jesus Christ, One Holy Spirit and One Holy Church, are members of the One Body of Christ and fellow heirs of the Kingdom of God.

The least among servants of the Lord’s altar and choir,

Stavros Markou, a sinner

By Maria Sawiris

A young boy sat in his dark bare room, attempting to do his homework for the second time, hoping that for once he would get a compliment from his father. Only a few minutes ago he’d just been beaten up by his father because he had gotten a few questions wrong in his homework. The pain and swelling had not yet faded, but that was no concern for the 7-year-old boy. To him, the physical pain was nothing compared to the enormous shame and guilt that tore his insides, twisting them into knots and clumps.

His hand was shaking as he held the pen and began to write. With every motion pain shot throughout his entire being like a bullet. I don’t care if this kills me, as long as I see a smile on his face. That will make all the pain better he thought. After completing his homework for the second time, he staggered and limped across the house to the lounge where his father was watching a TV show. As he approached his father, the young boy was startled by the amount of empty beer bottles scattered on the ground. The air stank of alcohol and cigarette smoke. He almost choked with every breath he took in.

He approached his father slowly, creeping up to him like a small mouse, insignificant and weak. Fear was written all over his face as his whimpering hand stretched out with the homework sheet. His father snatched it furiously. The boy waited and watched as his father’s eyes scanned the paper very briefly. Anyone else would have known that he had not really checked the paper, but the boy was oblivious. His father stood up, towering over him. He spat out filthy swear words as he grabbed the young boy by the arm and beat him again and again.

The boy cried hysterically as his body collapsed to the floor. The severe hitting and beating had stolen away all his energy. On the floor, sprawled and crying with agony, the boy kept crying out “I love you daddy! I love you daddy, do you love me?” amongst all that pain and fear his only desire was to hear his father say that he loved him.

“If you don’t shut up this instant, I’m going to beat you up again!” his father yelled. The boy had no other choice but to keep silent, just as he did every day when the teacher at school would ask him why his arms were bruised or why he had a massive bump on his head. Obeying his father’s orders he pulled himself along the floor, as his legs could no longer hold up his weight. In his room he sat on the floor and stared at himself in the small mirror his mother had put in his almost bare room.

“Am I a naughty boy? Does daddy hate me? Why does he hate me? Am I a bad boy? Why am I a bad boy?” All these unanswered questions floated around in his small mind as he tried to understand why his father acted that way. He cried to himself, until he had fallen asleep on the floor.

Early the next morning, he got up to the familiar pain he got up every morning with. Although he was beaten up almost every day he was still not used to the guilt and shame that haunted him every time. He got up and stumbled around the room, getting out the one pair of pants and shirt that still fit him. He put them on as quickly as he could and went into the kitchen to find something he could pack for lunch because he didn’t know how to make anything. He opened the fridge and scanned it with his brown chocolate eyes. The fridge was bare. He didn’t want to wake up his father, so he left very carefully as if he were a thief leaving a house he had just robbed.

As he walked to school that morning he remembered his mother and how she left him one night without any warning. Every time he asked his father about his mother, his father would say

“She got sick of having the responsibility for caring for you and decided to leave.” He felt that it was his entire fault that his mother had to leave and so he carried around that burden wherever he went.

The young boy didn’t know any better than to accept the abuse from his father and he had no one else to blame but his own self because he loved both his parents very dearly. These events forever stained his memory and these memories never left him as he never spoke about them to any being for fear that he would ruin the reputation of his family.
20 years later…….

The boy grew to be a strong man, whose eyes always carried a haunted sadness wherever he went. Only a few years ago, this man had come to know about Christ and because of the traumatic childhood he had, even when he converted it was hard for him to accept Christ as a loving father. Every time he prayed “Our Father” he remembered his own earthly father. The haunting, frightful memories of those days where he feared his life would always interfere with his spiritual life with Christ the Heavenly Father.

However, one day at church, after he had prayed the Mass with absolutely no passion, the priest approached him.
“Son I sense a deep sadness within you. Why will you not speak? Why are you so uninvolved with the Christian life? Why in confession do you insist on being silent?” The man stared at the priest a little surprised by what he was hearing. If I have been quiet for over twenty years, why should I start speaking now? He thought to himself.

The priest stared at him waiting for a response. When nothing escaped the mouth of the man, he thought it would be best to tell him the truth straight up.

“Son, I know of your story and I know why you insist on being silent.” When he saw the man’s eyes grow wide with fear, he continued.

“Don’t worry; your secret is safe with me. But Son, this is really affecting your spiritual life. I know because I had a vision last night where Christ told me about you and your life. He told me to tell you that he isn’t like your earthly father. He does not want you to think that you must do something for him to love you. He loves you just the way you are, because if he didn’t he wouldn’t have died on the cross for you. That doesn’t mean that you don’t do anything and take his love for granted. In fact take his love as motivation for you to keep pleasing him. In the past you used to work hard to earn your father’s love. Now however, Christ promises to love you no matter what, you only work just to thank him for that love. Does that make sense?”

The man stood there in complete silence. He had never in his life dreamed of such a thing, to be loved before he has done anything. A lovely feeling washed over his entire body, as if erasing and washing away all the pain, the guilt and the shame he had felt as a young boy. Tears streamed down his face, but for the first time they were tears of happiness, comfort and relief.

That moment changed him forever. Although he never did speak about his childhood, he always knew that there was someone that loved him unconditionally, no matter how many mistakes he made. He knew that there was someone who was always watching him and was there with him when he was being tormented as a child. And because of that he loved Christ dearly and was able to have a life just like everyone else, without having to bear the burden of his past.