Author: orthodoxaustralia

It may appear Obama administration has hit heavy turbulence – Benghazi-gate has exploded being revealed the stand-down order came straight from the White House, the Associated Press phone spying scandal has also broken out, and IRS has been exposed for targeting of patriot groups to help Obama get elected and his policies enacted.

We are now only days away from May 19 when the debt ceiling suspension ends and the issue comes to the forefront again. The crisis-like conditions are never ending and getting worse – the scent of the anarchy/revolution spirit is getting stronger …

Something is happening. The entire liberal media, that all these years looked like the most docile lap-dogs, and attacked anyone who ever questioned Obama or his administration, are now turning against Obama. WHY? Is this a signal for the marxist revolutionaries that their man has done his job and is now time for the chaos to begin?

http://www.infowars.com/stunner-who-is-suddenly-telling-liberal-jackals-to-attack-obama/

There is all this talk lately that the Federal Reserve is considering winding down asset purchases (known as QE), but few are telling you the real reason – trillions of unused and unwanted dollars are starting to hit the American shores!

In the face of such a colossal problem, printing a few billion each month will seem minuscule compared to the inflow of US dollars coming from all over the world in response to the dollar being discarded from international trade – we wrote on this subject before.

Lindsey Williams raised this alarm in Oct 2012 saying that it would take 6-8 months until we start seeing it happen, and surely the rumor is now coming to surface …

http://investmentwatchblog.com/red-alert-frontside-intel-coming-in-trillions-of-dollars-coming-back-to-the-us/

Buried deeply inside the 800 page long immigration bill is “hidden” language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named “photo tool”, a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.

“It starts to change the relationship between the citizen and state, you do have to get permission to do things,” said Chris Calabrese, a congressional lobbyist with the American Civil Liberties Union. “More fundamentally, it could be the start of keeping a record of all things.”

The tactic has not changed – they are again trying to jam through hundreds and thousands of pages long bills in haste so nobody can fully read or analyze them, and include broad language to avoid raising too much suspicion. This tactic was best described by Nancy Pelosi when she said “we have to pass the bill to find out what is in it”, referring to Obamacare !

Various parts of the totalitarian police state framework being created in America have been hidden in various bills in the last few years of which Obamacare is the centerpiece (please read !).

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/05/immigration-reform-dossiers/

“It is later that you think, hasten therefore to do the work of God” – Fr Seraphim Rose

Many Orthodox Christians look to the times of the “Church of the Catacombs” as something yet to come, not understanding that that time is in fact now. This statement may be surprising to many Orthodox Christians lacking the historical understanding on which this statement is based. Most Orthodox Christians know that the Church in the end times will only exist in the catacombs, but few understand that we are indeed living through those times right now.

Fundamental to understanding where things are at today is knowing that the Church of the Catacombs had already been established at beginning of the 20th century by Patriarch Tikhon’s decree #362. Soon after the seal holding Satan bound had been taken away through the death of the last Orthodox Emperor (Tsar Nikolai), having foreseen the falling away of the official church by submitting to the communist regime (the red beast of the apocalypse) through Metropolitan Sergius, Patriarch Tikhon ruled that “dioceses of the Church of Russia that were cut off from the governance of the highest Church authority (i.e. the Holy Synod and the Patriarch) should be managed independently until such time as normal relations with the highest Church authority could be resumed”.

Apocalypse 12:14 – “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent”

Quote: “This form of church governance is stipulated by St. Patriarch Tikhon’s Decree #362 November 20, 1920, on whose principals the Catacomb True Orthodox Church was founded in the homeland, and in exile, the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad”

Contrary to many in the official Orthodox Churches considering that the the words of Patriarch Tikhon “until such time as normal relations with the highest Church authority could be resumed” had been fulfilled with the falling of the communist regime in Russia in 1989 and assimilation of most of the ROCOR by the Moscow Patriarchate, the fact that the official Church of Russia, the Moscow Patriarchate, have never officially denounced Metropolitan Sergius’s decision (that he made in the name of the institution he represented) means that Patriarch Tikhon’s decree is still in effect. The principles that apply to individuals in regards to repentance as a condition of salvation are equally valid in the case of the institution represented by the Moscow Patriarchate, and since no official denunciation for the mistakes of the past have been expressed by its synod we cannot conclude that Patriarch Tikhon’s words have already been fulfilled. On the contrary, Moscow Patriarchate maintains a close relationship with the Vatican and is an active participant in the ecumenical movement (also see this and this).

The time when normal relations could be re-established with the official Church of Russia as indicated by Patriarch Tikhon, will rather occur around the time when lawfulness will be reinstated in Russia by the anointment of an Orthodox Tsar through a miracle of God as foretold by many Holy Russian Saints.

For this reason, through its one bishop that did not sell to the Moscow Patriarchate, ROCA still caries forward the mission as established by Patriarch Tikhon, even though having been severely reduced to a very small flock and hiding due to the constant persecution of its members.

After all, this was indeed prophecised by St John Maximovich:

“On the day of his departure [being transferred from France to America] Blessed John was in our Church for his last farewell….he closed the holy gates, came out from the altar and, standing in the middle of the church, kept looking all around saying, ‘No, nothing should be changed in the church.”. “Your Eminence,” I then said, “I love our church very much, but unfortunately it is so small.”. “And soon even this will seem big,” Blessed John answered. “And in general soon our Church will remain such a tiny one”, and he pointed to the very tip of his middle finger. And again he looked in all directions, saying, “No, nothing should be changed in the Church.” (Letter of Zinaida V. Julem, from Paris to Father Herman, Summer, 1978; Fr. Seraphim Rose and Fr. Herman P., “Blessed John the Wonderworker”, Platina, CA (1987): Brotherhood of St. Herman of Alaska, pp.135-137.)

Fr Seraphim Rose himself wrote in his book “Orthodoxy and the religion of the future” (found in the 1983 edition on page 220; in later editions some parts of the following paragraph have “mysteriously” disappeared):

Unknown to the fevered Orthodox “revivalists,” the Lord has reserved in the world, even as in the days of Elijah the Prophet, seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal [Rom. 11:4] — an unknown number of true 0rthodox Christians who are neither spiritually dead, as the 0rthodox “charismatics” complain that their flocks have been, nor the pompously “spirit-filled,” as these same flocks become under “charismatic” suggestion. They are not carried away by the movement of apostasy nor by any false “awakening,” but continue rooted in the holy and saving Faith of Holy Orthodoxy in the tradition the Holy Fathers have handed down to them, watching the signs of the times and traveling the narrow path to salvation. Many of them follow the bishops of the few Orthodox jurisdicitions that have strong stands against the apostasy of our times: the Catacomb Church of Russia, the Russian Church 0utside of Russia, the True Orthodox Christians [Old Calendarists] of Greece. But there are some left in other jurisdictions also, grieving over the ever more evident apostasy of their hierarchs and striving somehow to keep their own Orthodoxy intact; and there are still others outside of the Orthodox Church who by God’s grace, their hearts being open to His call, will undoubtedly yet be joined to genuine Holy Orthodoxy. These “seven thousand “are the foundation of the future and only 0rthodoxy of the latter times.

“Do not be deceived !”

“In the end, when critical times come, I think it will be seen how useful it was that there were some [jurisdictions] which stayed behind, and some bishops and priests who stayed in a sort of backward point of view in order to be of help when a crisis comes. Because it is true that many of the Orthodox hierarchs are going much too far in following Rome which is following the Western confessions. It will come to a disaster before very long.” (Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) at a gathering of an Orthodox student fellowship at UC Santa Cruz, 1981 http://www.roca.org/OA/132/132k.htm)

It is later than you think !

Sign of the times part 1
Sign of the times part 2

• The patriotic movements against this new world order took different shapes and forms, in different lands, between ww1 and ww2; each of these movements was built according to own rules, given by the local traditions (of the apostate West, fallen from the True Church); they were dealing mainly with worldly matter which were reigned by ideals of correctness, justice, equality, a common wealth, the rejection of the unfair, etc ; the most enduring ones were shaped in the Orthodox Tradition, like the movement of the Legion of Archangel Michael from Romania; this Legion produced a huge number of Martyrs, Saints and Blessed ones, who suffered for many years in extermination camps, built across all Eastern Europe;
• This following comparison is necessary: there is a huge difference between the Napoleonic invasion of Russia (the largest Orthodox country), and the Hitlerist invasion of USSR, a land which had been taken over by the bolsheviks / communists / satanists, more than twenty year before that incursion! ; it is not to “praise” Hitler for this attack, but many saw that event as a liberation; numerous witnesses declared that the ordinary Russian peasants were so happy to unearth the Holy Icons, hidden underground for more than twenty years…
• Some history: for one third of the ww2, Soviet Union was in “different” quarters, that is on the side of the Axis and opposed to the Allies; during this period (between 1939 and 1941), Soviet Union attacked six nations: the three Baltic states, Finland, Poland and Romania; all through these years, the bloodied nations were so obviously visible in this condition to everybody; what did the “free” democracies do? Nothing; did they declare war against the aggressor? Of course, not; when the Germans AND the Soviets were in Poland, did they declare war against both “aggressors”? In our “History” books, war was declared against Germany on 1st of September 1939; until mid-1941, Soviet Union enjoyed all kind of freedoms given by the “international community”, so to speak; after June 1941 (when Germany attacked Soviet Union), this particular Atheist “Empire” enjoyed even more “recognition” from the “international community”;
• Some more history: countries like Spain, Portugal, Ireland and France suffered tremendous attacks from the international atheist / demonic / Jewish ruled organisations (already well established in USSR, at that time); all these countries (minus France, for the last half-a-year of ww2) abstained from siding with the Allies; those atheist revolutions which started in these lands were defeated, fortunately, by the strong patriotic oppositions led by strong men;
• Extra more history: in mid-February 1945, when W. Churchill ordered the bombardment of Dresden (municipality with 1.2 million, including the war refugees living there), a place with no strategic importance and declared an open-city, more than 500,000 people were killed in one day; a number of 700,000 phosphorus bombed were dropped producing this disaster; it is interesting to know how the international propaganda used this event; a documentary from the 1950’s, about the destruction of Jews during the WW2, showed piles of corpses from this atrocious offensive against Dresden in 13-14 February 1945, as of their own; when this documentary was in Dresden theatres, the inhabitants of this city could recognise themselves on the screen as Dresden residents helping to remove the decomposed cadavers of their neighbours; this catastrophic event (worse than the atomic bombardment of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, considering the number of deaths) was a beginning of the long years of devastation for millions of people suffering, under communism; the Orthodox Church, in a hidden way, was always and the only support that one has for fighting this pestilence of communism; what will happen with THIS type of communism that we are dealing with, today (and also trying to prevail over in a spiritual sense), nobody of this world knows… Only our God knows, for sure!!! What God? Christ God, our Redeemer!!!
• Fascism was the enemy of communism, but this fascism was shaped in a way that could be defeated, because communism has the most powerful evil backup in the spiritual realm; those patriots fighting communism lived mainly in non-Orthodox lands, therefore they could not develop a better weapon against the evil one, but material tools (tanks, planes, guns, etc.);
• Fascism was defeated by the alliance between communists and democrats (capitalism “representatives”, so to speak), by the end of WW2; is spite of this crush, the present capitalists are still having this rage against fascists, as if nothing “good” happened in 1945 (when the sovietisation of the whole world became apparent;
• On the other hand, the hatred towards “fascism” occupies every aspect of studying history; the nations who understood that they were facing a horrible enemy, some seventy years ago, tried to mobilise as fast and hard as possible; once again, these countries were NOT Orthodox, therefore they fought primarily, in the material world; in Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Romania, Bulgaria, etc, there was a natural and growing opposition to Bolshevism, in a LOCAL manner, one can say; fascism was NOT the common ideology of these nations (per se, the only country with this particular doctrine, was Italy); all kind of different influences acted upon these nations, although the common determination found, almost forgotten today, was in patriotism;
• One must remember that “fascism” lasted about one decade, only, and was defeated by the “victorious alliance” of democratic and communist countries; on the other hand, communism triumphantly occupied half on this world with the “blessing” of the capitalists! The number of people with communist membership living in Germany (after WW1) was six million, and they could easily take over that land;
• The number of people who died under this oppression of communism, in the whole world, is more than 100 million; while communist parties are officially allowed to exist and to govern, in all lands!
• And this is the definition of communism, by any official dictionary (online or as a hard copy): “A theory or system of social organisation based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state“; how was this communism attained? Never ever through voting…
• Fascism? “A governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism”; obviously one has to choose communism as this “fascism” is too scary… If one wants to destroy any public figure, is enough to name that individual as a … fascist; in a democracy one can be anything but a “totalitarian, despot, dictator, oppressor or tyrant”…
• From an Orthodox perspective, one conclusion given by Blessed Martyr Cornelius: “we are not Christians enough, we are far from being Christians, how far we are… As Christians we form externally, but we de-Christianize in content (…) (A) characteristic of our time: we are busy with the struggle between us and others, not with the fight between the commandments of the Holy Spirit and the passions of our flesh; we deal with and we like victories over other people, not the victory over the devil and the sin. All the great men of the world of yesterday and today: Napoleon, Mussolini, Hitler, and so on, are more concerned about these victories” (over matter)…

A new law proposed by the European Commission would make it illegal to “grow, reproduce or trade” any vegetable seeds that have not been “tested, approved and accepted” by a new EU bureaucracy named the “EU Plant Variety Agency.”

It’s called the Plant Reproductive Material Law, and it attempts to put the government in charge of virtually all plants and seeds. Home gardeners who grow their own plants from non-regulated seeds would be considered criminals under this law.

Is this what you would call freedom or communism?

http://www.naturalnews.com/040214_seeds_European_Commission_registration.html

Weep over your sin: it is a spiritual ailment; it is death to your immortal soul; it deserves ceaseless, unending weeping and crying; let all tears flow for it, and sighing come forth without ceasing from the depths of your heart.

In profound humility I weep for all my sins, voluntary and involuntary, conscious and unconscious, covert and overt, great and little, committed by word and deed, in thought and intention, day and night, at every hour and minute of my life.

I weep over my pride and my ambition, my self love and my boastfulness; I weep over my fits of anger, irritation, excessive shouting, swearing, quarreling and cursing;

I weep for having criticized, censured, gossiped, slandered, and defamed, for my wrath, enmity, hatred, envy, jealousy, vengeance and rancor;

I weep over my indulgences in lust, impure thoughts and evil inclinations; covetousness, gluttony, drunkenness, and sloth;

I weep for having talked idly, used foul language, blasphemed, derided, joked, ridiculed, mocked, enjoyed empty gaiety, singing, dancing and every pleasure to excess;

I weep over my self indulgence, cupidity, love of money and miserliness, unmercifulness and cruelty;

I weep over my laziness, indolence, negligence, love of comfort, weakness, idleness, absent-mindedness, irresponsibility, inattention, love of sleep, for hours spent in idle pursuits, and for my lack of concentration in prayer and in Church, for not observing fasts and not doing charitable works.

I weep over my lack of faith, my doubting, my perplexity, my coldness, my indifference, my weakness and unfeelingness in what concerns the Holy Orthodox Faith, and over all my foul, cunning and reviling thoughts;

I weep over my exaggerated sorrow and grief, depression and despair, and over sins committed willingly.

I weep, but what tears can I find for a worthy and fitting way to weep for all the actions of my ill fated life; for my immeasurable and profound worthlessness? How can I reveal and expose in all its nakedness each one of my sins, great and small, voluntary and involuntary, conscious and unconscious, overt and covert, every hour and minute of sin? When and where shall I begin my penitential lament that will bear fitting fruit? Perhaps soon I may have to face the last hour of my life; my soul will be painfully sundered from my sinful and vile body; I shall have to stand before terrible demons and radiant angels, who will reveal and torment me with my sins; and I, in fear and trembling, will be unprepared and unable to give them an answer; the sight and sound of wailing demons, their violent and bold desire to drag me into the bottomless pit of Hell will fill my soul with confusion and terror. And then the angels of God will lead my poor soul to stand before God ‘s fearful seat of judgment. How will I answer the Immortal King, or how will I dare, sinner that I am, to look upon My Judge? Woe is me! have no good answer to make, for I have spent all my life in indolence and sin, all my hours and minutes in vain thoughts, desires and yearnings!

And how many times have I taken the Name of God in vain!

How often, lightly and freely, at times even boldly, insolently and shamelessly have I slandered others in anger; offended, irritated, mocked them!

How often have I been proud and vainglorious and boasted of good qualities that I do not possess and of deeds that I have not done!

How many times have I lied, deceived, been cunning or flattered, or been insincere and deceptive; how often have I been angry, intolerant and mean!

How many times have I ridiculed the sins of my brother, caused him grief overtly and covertly, mocked or gloated over his misdeeds, his faults or his misfortunes; how many times have I been hostile to him, in anger, hatred or envy!

How often have I laughed stupidly, mocked and derided, spoke without weighing my words, ignorantly and senselessly, and uttered a numberless quantity of cutting, poisonous, insolent, frivolous, vulgar, coarse, brazen words!

How often, affected by beauty, have I fed my mind, my imagination and my heart with voluptuous sensations, and unnaturally satisfied the lusts of the flesh in fantasy! How often has my tongue uttered shameful, vulgar and blasphemous things about the desires of the flesh!

How often have I yearned for power and been gluttonous, satiating myself on delicacies, on tasty, varied and diverse foods and wines; because of intemperance and lack of self-control how often have I been filled past the point of satiety, lacked sobriety and been drunken, intemperate in food and drink, and broken the Holy Fasts!

How often, through selfishness, pride or false modesty, have I refused help and attention to those in need, been uncharitable, miserly, unsympathetic, mercenary and grasped at attention!

How often have I entered the House of God without fear and trembling, stood there in prayer, frivolous and absent-minded, and left it in the same spirit and disposition! And in prayer at home I have been just as cold and indifferent, praying little, lazily, and indolently, inattentively and impiously, and even completely omitting the appointed prayers!

And in general, how slothful I have been, weakened by indolence and inaction; how many hours of each day have I spent in sleep, how often have I enjoyed voluptuous thoughts in bed and defiled my flesh! How many hours have I spent in empty and futile pastimes and pleasures, in frivolous talk and speech, jokes and laughter, games and fun, and how much time have I wasted conclusively in chatter, and gossip, in criticizing others and reproaching them; how many hours have I spent in time-wasting and emptiness! What shall I answer to the Lord God for every hour and every minute of lost time? In truth, I have wasted my entire life in laziness.

How many times have I lost heart and despaired of my salvation and of God’s mercy or through stupid habit, insensitivity, ignorance, insolence, shamelessness, and hardness sinned deliberately, willingly, in my right mind, in full awareness, in all goodwill, in both thought and intention, and in deed, and in this fashion trampled the blood of God ‘s covenant and crucified anew within myself the Son of God and cursed Him!

O how terrible the punishment that I have drawn upon myself!

How is it that my eyes are not streaming with constant tears?.. If only my tears flowed from the cradle to the grave, at every hour and every minute of my tortured life! Who will now cool my head with water and fill the well of my tears and help me weep over my soul that I have cast into perdition?

My God, my God! Why hast Thou forsaken me? Be it unto me according to Thy will, 0 Lord! If Thou wouldst grant me light, be Thou blessed; if Thou wouldst grant me darkness, be Thou equally blessed. If Thou wouldst destroy me together with my lawlessness, glory to Thy righteous judgment; and if Thou wouldst not destroy me together with my lawlessness, glory to Thy boundless mercy!

This article was reproduced from the following source: http://www.orthodox.net/confess/lament.html

The more fearful Sunday attacks follow a previous attack done on Good Friday!

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-04/powerful-explosions-shake-damascus-israel-attacks-syria-second-time-past-week

Citizens in Syria’s capital woke up early on Sunday to a series of powerful explosions shaking the outskirts of Damascus, sending massive fireballs into the night sky. Preliminary reports that this was an Israeli attack were subsequently confirmed by NBC citing a senior US official who said Israeli jets had bombed a military research center near of Damascus. This would be the second Israeli attack on Syrian territory in the past week, following US media reports that Israel targeted a weapons shipment to the militant group Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon overnight Thursday to Friday, although the Jewish state has refused to confirm or deny the bombing. As RT further reports, during the attack, one Israeli jet was reportedly shot down by Syria’s Air Force, according to Hezbollah’s Manar TV channel, citing security sources in Damascus. This has yet to be confirmed through official channels although if accurate one expects Syrian media to promptly confirm with video evidence.

The following article on RealJewNews has a comment regarding a certain monk from Mount Athos about a prophecy done on his death bed seven years ago. Let us pray that this may not be confirmed !

“Many Orthodox saints from Cosmas the Aetolian to Neilos to Anotonios and Arsenios, and those soon to be named saints by acclaim — Paisios and Joseph — all have described the current scenario and the role of Russia, as defender of true Christianity.

In fact, one monk, on his death bed seven years ago, when asked about the predicted war, had said it would begin with war in Syria. He said it would happen “the next time Great and Holy Pascha (what the west calls “Easter”), would be May 5th.”

This would be the second account of terrible things to come linked to unfolding events in Syria – see our previous post on this subject: “When the evil begins from Syria, start praying and asking for God’s forgiveness”

Let us pray !

The powers that be have been trying to suppress information about any alternative medical treatments for many years, and rather trying to tell people that they are not scientific and therefore officially not to be trusted. The pharmaceutical industry is too big and too important to their agenda of total control to allow any information regarding alternative medicine ever surface – and when it does, they become like a pack of wolves attacking it in order to suppress it. They need to make everyone dependent to chemicals so one can never escape their system – they need people to be dependent on them form cradle to grave. Water is fluoridated, food without chemical ingredients is virtually impossible to find, for any sickness the response is always a pill (take some chemicals and it will all go away), chemtrails pollute the air we breath — all in the name of “science” … our Holy Fathers warned us that everything would be poisoned in the end times.

When information like this does come out, the elite immediately hides it through their totally controlled media and keep the secrets to themselves, but they themselves use it. For example nobody would tell you that Ronald Reagan was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005 and got fully cured using Carnivora – a natural extract from a specific plant that grows in various parts of the world.

Could this be a gift from God as an alternative to the coming “scientific dictatorship” so people are not left hopeless in the face of the choices we are all going to have to make? Are we going to trust the wisdom of man or that of God?

Anyway, given that Lindsey Williams (a person which we have been following for years and, although not Orthodox, we consider a moral and honest individual) is now recommending it as he himself recently used it with great success, we are also recommending it to our readers.

We encourage you to do a little research on the internet and find out as much information as possible. Here are a couple of links:

http://www.emergingworlds.com/pro_article.cfm?link=POSTCarnivora_Pharmacology_and_Clinical_Efficacy.htm

http://www.carnivora.com/faq.html

ENCYCLICAL for the All-Glorious Resurrection of Christ Our Savior
The Mind of the Risen Christ,Purification of the Heart, and the Vision of God

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Let us keep feast yet again with the whole of creation, which, renewed, endows its fragrance upon all that surrounds us. Let this Feast be unceasing and perpetual, for our Lord Jesus Christ is risen, and death and Hades have not only been vanquished and trampled, but have also ceased any longer to tyrannize and dominate man, the Image and Creation of God.

“Today spring gives forth fragrance and the new creation danceth. . . .”.
“Today all creation exulteth and rejoiceth, for Christ is risen and Hades is depoiled. . . .”.
“Today, the Master hath harrowed Hades, lifting up those whom it held captive in grievous bondage from ages past. . . .”.
“Let the things of Heaven make glad and let the things of the earth rejoice. . .”!

On this radiant and all-gladsome day, we sense that our being is permeated by the all-joyful tidings of the Holy Apostle Paul: Brethren, “God,Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. . .and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”(1)

Since God is rich in compassion, “He stooped down to earth and retrieved His Image.”(2) He vivified it, resurrected it, and exalted it; He made it sit upon the Throne of the Lamb that was slain. Glory to Thy compassion, O Lord! Glory to Thine OEconomy, O Thou Who alone lovest mankind! Glory to Thee, O God, O Holy Trinity, glory to Thee!

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The words “A great thing is man,” resound from the depths of the ages from the wise author of the Old Testament Book of Proverbs.(3) A great thing is this creature of God which is called man. The most beautiful creature, the apogee of creation, the Image of God. It is precisely because of this greatness that it behooves man—now revivified, liberated, and renewed—to recover his ancient glory, his primordial beauty amid the glory of the Holy Trinity, and to behold God.

The Resurrection of our Lord inaugurates the era in which the vision of God becomes possible. This charism of beholding God will assuredly be given to us in its fullness at the End of the Age, in the newness of creation, when “we shall see Him as He is.”(4) Then the servants of God “shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.”(5) Yet our Incarnate, Crucified, and Risen Lord and God regards as fortunate—and these, indeed, are the truly fortunate ones—those men and women who have purity and chastity of soul in this life, for they shall see God: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”(6)

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The vision of God requires, as we all know, a change of outlook: from self-interest and concern for ourselves to adopting and embracing the Mind of the Risen Christ; that is, the mindset of magnanimity and selflessness, the mindset of humility and obedience to the point of sacrifice.

Brothers and sisters, the Holy Apostle Paul exhorts us: “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”(7) God became man in order to instil His Mind in us. This Mind will lead us to love and compassion and will give us purity of heart. And then we will be granted the great charism of the vision of God. “Purity of heart,” says St. Isaac the Syrian, “is love for the weak who fall.” And he continues: “If you see your brother sinning, throw the garment of your love over his shoulders.”(8)

A love of such radiance flows only from the Mind of the Risen Christ. This love is truly purifying, creative, and efficacious, since “it alters the nature of things,”(9) as the Divine Chrysostomos assures us, and leads us unerringly to the vision of God within the Light of the Resurrection and the glory of the Holy Trinity. “A great thing is man,” therefore, but a merciful man is greatly valued: “And precious is a merciful man.”(10)

My brothers and sisters,may the inestimable prayers of our much-revered Elder,Metropolitan Cyprian, and the intercessions of the Theotokos, with the Grace of the Resurrection of our Savior Christ, strengthen us in the struggle for a change in mind, in order that we might become truly compassionate, so that our hearts might be purified and we might be vouchsafed the vision of God, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen!

Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen!

† The Holy Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, 2013
Your humble supplicant before our Risen Lord,
† Bishop Cyprian of Oreoi
Acting President of the Holy Synod in Resistance

Notes
1. Ephesians 2:4-6.
2. St. Nicholas Cabasilas, Concerning the Life in Christ, Discourse I, §18, Patrologia Græca, Vol. CL, col. 504B.
3. Proverbs 20:6.
4. I St. John 3:2.
5. Revelation 22:4.
6. St. Matthew 5:8.
7. Philippians 2:4-5.
8. Cf. St. Isaac the Syrian, “Discourse LVIII,” in Ἅπαντα τὰ εὑρεθέντα Ἀσκητικά [The complete extant ascetical discourses] (Thessalonike: Ekdoseis Bas. Regopoulou, 1997), p. 239.
9. St. John Chrysostomos, “Homily XXXII on I Corinthians,” §6, Patrologia Græca, Vol. LXI, col. 273.
10. Proverbs 20:6.
N.B.: The Reverend Parish Priests are asked to read the present Encyclical immediately after the Holy Gospel at the Divine Liturgy of Pascha.