The Holy Apostle Paul writes to the Hebrews, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines." For truly Jesus Christ is--as the Holy Fathers teach with one accord--of one essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the Holy Fathers who came together at the Ecumenical Councils to speak with one voice the Mind of the Church were trumpets of the Holy Spirit, inspired to proclaim that eternal and unchangeable Truth once delivered by the Apostles and sealed by the blood of the martyrs.
Nevertheless, the prevailing "wisdom" nowadays is that truth is relative, that it changes over the course of time according to the spirit of the age and the whims and fancies of each individual. For this reason, innumerable "divers and strange doctrines" have made their appearance throughout the world, contradicting not only one another, but--more importantly--the divine Revelation entrusted to the Church and preserved as Holy Tradition throughout the ages. But if Truth is firmly grounded in the unchangeable God and therefore reflects the reality of things as they truly are--how could it be subject to change?
Here we should consider as well the current preoccupation with the phenomenon of "virtual reality." We need only place over our heads an electronic device and we can fashion for ourselves an alternate (but false) reality, that we might--according our own inner thoughts and desires, which have been utterly distorted by the Fall--determine what is, for us, the Truth. What madness! Yet this belief that the Truth is malleable and in continual flux, dependent upon the godlike potential of each individual to choose for himself his own destiny, is in fact a disease that infects not only the so-called
"churches," but even threatens to distort and to pervert the teachings of the one, true Church of God, the Orthodox Church--that foundation upon which the universe has been established!
Nor is this spirit of Antichrist anything new: from the earliest day, such heretic as Arius and Nestorius have sought to impose their own perverted, rationalistic understanding of God's revelation upon the faithful--deceiving, if possible, even the elect. It was for this reason that the Fathers were compelled to boldly proclaim the Truth to the whole world, to cast out of the Church those wolves in sheep's clothing, that the gates of hell shall not, unto the end of time, prevail against the Church of God. It behooves us, then--as faithful Orthodox Christians--to remain firm in our Faith unto the bitter end, lest Satan snatch our souls, and we find ourselves eternally bereft of hope in a hell of our own making, in that place of darkness, where there shall be "weeping and gnashing of teeth."
No comments:
Post a Comment