Sin as Illness
 | ||||
| Graduate Students from Seattle Pacific Univerity |
Church as Hospital of the Soul
Our Orthodox Faith defines sin as an illness that is in need of healing, not as a crime that requires punishment. The Church is a hospital for the soul whose therapists (priests) first sought therapy and then became the therapists. As a healing institution the Church is a place for broken souls. We come before Christ as tarnished images, far from that which God intended. Yet this very Creator God is patient and loving, quick to forgive. Our God invites us to holiness, to be made whole. His grace is sufficient to lift us up out of our mire and into the heights of a joy and gladness that is meant to be eternal. We need only to humble ourselves and ask for help and the Kingdom is ours.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
St. Matrona the Confessor of Diveyevo (1963).
Venerable Martyrius the Deacon (13th c.) and Venerable Martyrius the Recluse of the Kiev Caves.
Martyr Anastasius the Fuller at Salona in Dalmatia (3rd c.).
St. Tabitha, the widow raised from the dead by the Apostle Peter (1st c.).
St. Front, bishop of Perigueux (2nd c.) (Celtic & British).
St. George of Amastris, bishop and writer of canons (Greek).
Two Martyrs of Thrace (Greek).
St. Macarius, bishop of Paphos in Cyprus (Greek).
Sts. Philadephus and Polycarp (Greek).
Sts. Crispinus and Crispinianus, Romans, martyrd under Diocletian at Soissons (286).
Martyr Miniatus of Florence (251).
16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not[a] seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.
20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—
Our Orthodox Faith defines sin as an illness that is in need of healing, not as a crime that requires punishment. The Church is a hospital for the soul whose therapists (priests) first sought therapy and then became the therapists. As a healing institution the Church is a place for broken souls. We come before Christ as tarnished images, far from that which God intended. Yet this very Creator God is patient and loving, quick to forgive. Our God invites us to holiness, to be made whole. His grace is sufficient to lift us up out of our mire and into the heights of a joy and gladness that is meant to be eternal. We need only to humble ourselves and ask for help and the Kingdom is ours.
Heaven and hell are not about location but about relationship. All that is needed is our responsive word, followed by action. We say yes to God's invitation while seeking out the therapy that is ours within the life of the Church. Wholeness (holiness) is ours through this relationship with Christ, Who's redemptive act upon the Cross, together with His having conquered death by death, delivers us from the depths of estrangement. We are lifted up to God, having been made whole, and eternal communion with God is our destiny.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
 |
| Enjoying a moment of laughter following trapeza |
click on photos to enlarge
Monday November 7, 2011 / October 25, 2011
22nd Week after Pentecost. Tone four.
Martyrs Marcian and Martyrius the Notaries of Constantinople (355).St. Matrona the Confessor of Diveyevo (1963).
Venerable Martyrius the Deacon (13th c.) and Venerable Martyrius the Recluse of the Kiev Caves.
Martyr Anastasius the Fuller at Salona in Dalmatia (3rd c.).
St. Tabitha, the widow raised from the dead by the Apostle Peter (1st c.).
St. Front, bishop of Perigueux (2nd c.) (Celtic & British).
St. George of Amastris, bishop and writer of canons (Greek).
Two Martyrs of Thrace (Greek).
St. Macarius, bishop of Paphos in Cyprus (Greek).
Sts. Philadephus and Polycarp (Greek).
Sts. Crispinus and Crispinianus, Romans, martyrd under Diocletian at Soissons (286).
Martyr Miniatus of Florence (251).
Colossians 2:13-20
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not[a] seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.
20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—
Luke 10:22-24
22 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
23 Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; 24 for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.”
 |
http://ancientfaith.com/ |
Beautiful, Father. Thank you for reminding us of this most important truth.
ReplyDelete