January 6, 2025 • 42 mins
In the Orthodox Faith, holiness is a state of being, set apart, separated unto God. We do not say a simple prayer led by a pastor and walk away feeling that I am saved. In the Church we do not have "easy believism" that states "once saved, always saved". It requires daily maintenance to walk in holiness with the Lord God, or God forbid, we walk away from God like Judas Iscariot did. Please listen and find our what is required to walk in holiness.
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O Gladsome Light is broadcast live Mondays at 11AM ET Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com O Gladsome Light is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
O Gladsome Light Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to the Old Gladsome Light podcast. This program contains
preaching and teaching from an Orthodox Christian perspective to help
you when your walk with Jesus Christ and to be
victorious in Him.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well, welcome to the show. It's eleven o'clock.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
It's Monday, eleven am Eastern Standard Time.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I'm your show host, Doctor al Manns.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
With a degree in Divinity, Doctor the Green and in Divinity.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I'm also known.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
As Father Cuts of the Orthodox Church of Oupyrus. Broadcasting
on W FOURCY radio internet radio around the world twenty
four to seven. Also got a podcast on iHeartRadio call
Oh Gladsome Light.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Please visit my websites.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Go to my main page, Oh glabsom Light, and then
when you get to the YouTube links, please like and subscribe.
Now there are two YouTube channels. One's called al Man's
and the other one.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Is called arch Petro's pet Ros.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
In addition, I'm also posting all my Sunday sermons on
Rummel under the name of Man's A.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
The show is blessed.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
By Metropolitan Mchiseldeko, the Orthodox Church of Bopyrus, and our
slogan for the show is preparing souls for Heaven, preparing
souls for Heaven. Also, I'm broadcasting from Saint Peter and
Paul Orthodox Chapel in Sunny West Palm Beach, Florida. Topic
today is called walking in Holiness, and walking in holiness
(01:48):
with God is the show topic today.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Now, this is what Adam and Eve did in the
garden until the fall.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
The scripture tell us that God walk with Adam in
the cool of the day. But after the fall that
didn't happen. They became incompatible.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
With God and were cast out.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
And you know, the angel with a flaming sword guarded
the entrance, and so they had to work the dust
of the earth.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
The all of creation fell, and it was as.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Horrible, and maybe Adam and Eve they thought about their oops,
their big mistake, and he had many, many years to
ponder their bad decision and their violation of the commandment
of God, and hopefully there was repentance. In the Orthodox
Christian Church, holiness is a state of being set apart
(02:45):
or separated under God.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
It means to be.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Blessed, righteous, and obedient to the Lord's commandments. And there
are commandments in the New Testament. Jesus gave us many commandments.
Orthodox Christians believed that God created humors to be holy
and that holiness is a part of God's plan.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
For our salvation.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Now, what are some of the ways the Orthodox Christians
work towards holiness? And it is a work. Some say, oh,
faith only, Well, excuse me. There has to be faith
in work, because Saint James tells us in his epistle.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
You say you have faith, show me your works.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
If you don't have work, then your faith as a
dead faith. Here are some steps or some ways the
Orthodox Christians work towards holiness. First of all, living a
holy life. Orthodox Christians are called to live holy lives
and to present their body is as a living sacrifice
on the God. Also, being transformed, Orthodox Christians are called
(03:46):
to be transformed by the renewing of their minds and
to know God's will for them, being an example the
sanctity of the Orthodox Christians. Lives, words, actions, worship, and
faith can guide others into holiness. In other words, we
need to be a good witness so we can draw
(04:07):
people under the church. Now, recognizing also that holiness is
not moral.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Perfection, Orthodox Christians believe.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
That authentic holiness is not the same as moral perfection.
Moral perfection means trying to be good. I'm trying to
be good.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Well, you're going to fall.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
We're all sinful, and we all sinned against the Lord.
And there's only one without sin, and that's our Lord,
Jesus Christ, the sinless one. But we're trying to be good,
and that's not going to work unless we have the
Holy Spirit working in us.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
It's easy to be good, as I would say evil.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
And you see it in the news all day long,
how much evil there is in the world.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
And they're not even trying to be good.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
So I guess Satan has God has captured them and
making them do evil things. The same that we're trying
to become are those who are honestly broken and genuinely imperfect.
And also requires humility. And a church father quote about humility,
I think it's beautiful says humility is a tree of life,
(05:15):
and those.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Who eat from it do not die.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
And that's the quickest way to attract God into your life,
as being humble. Holy things for the Holy Just before
receiving of the holy mysteries of the body and Blood
of Christ, the priest standing in the sanctuary facing the
altar table, he raises up the holy Lamb, which has
become the body of Christ, and says these words, holy
(05:40):
things are full of the holy. These words have the
sound of a mystery which is indeed contained therein. But
no mystery should be deprived.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Of your inner meaning, which.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
With these words these words mean, are also in view.
These are said at every divine liturgy. The Apostle Peter,
in his first epistles speak to the still young Christian Church,
and he says, but ye are a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
The people of God.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
This is how the Apostle Peter describes the members of
the early Church, and of all.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Of us together with them.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
There is no doubt that the early Christians consisted of
sinners as well as saints. There are quite a few
sinners in our churches today, starting with ourselves, And yet
the Apostle called all of them and all of us
the chosen nation, the royal priesthood, the holy people, the
(06:43):
people of God. This sets the standard for the attitude
of God and the Church towards us, the people of
the Church. Through the mystery of baptism, every person receives
a pathway towards holiness from the baptismal font. The baptized
individual arises holy washed, cleaned.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Of all sin, on truth, all defilement.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
This holiness is sealed with the chrismation by using the
Holy chrism.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Or the Holy Neuron.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Thus, all newly baptized or given the fullest potential holiness
which the Church recognizes in them.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Through their entire life.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
We now have the responsibility for the preservation of this gift,
which lies no longer on the Church, but on the
conscience of the individual.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Holiness is lost, It is.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Dissipated on the roads and crossroads of life or his
or her treatment of the gift of free will, freedom
of choice.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Between good and evil.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
But it is also restored through the mystery of confession
and repentance.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Receiving of the holy mystery of the body and Blood
of Christ.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
And the Church continue to stand by her original estimation.
She continues to believe in us the chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people of God. According
to the Orthodox teaching, the great mystery of the Eucharist
is performed not by the priest alone, but by the
entire Church, the entire royal priesthood, the entire people of God. Therefore,
(08:31):
as he raises this holy lamb, the body of Christ,
presenting it to the entire church, the priest says, the
holy things are full the holy The holy things are
what he holds in his hands at that moment. For
the holy means that the sacraments are intended for all
of us, all members of the Church. In whose eyes
(08:53):
we are holy. We are the people of God. And we,
in full and humble recognition, are of our sinfulness and
our worthiness. Respond one is holy, One is the Lord
Jesus Christ. To the glory of God, Amen, unveiled Holiness.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
There exists a.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Tendency in our American culture to think ourselves as being
on the familiar terms with God. I'm a friend of God,
proclaims the chorus of one popular Protestant praise song. Jesus
is My Homeboy, states a trendy shirt design. Our Lord
is much more comfortable if he is our friend, homeboy
(09:38):
or buddy Christ, and God the Father if he is
little more than a senile grandpa upstairs who blindly loves
all of his little grandchildren. A God that demands nothing
from us and only exists to make us feel good
is wildly popular, but it is a false God reidd
(10:00):
in our own image, which equates to idolatry, the worship
of self and God says, I'm a jobles God, I will.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Share my glory with no one.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Many Christian groups have created a false sense of familiarity
with God by removing the awe and the reverence from
the Christian worship experience. They have banished the priesthood. After all,
we're all priests, right. They stripped the walls of the
sacred art, the icons, replaced the service focus on the
(10:33):
presence of Christ with one focused on a sermon, and
replace the architectural beauty with either four walls and a
pulpit or something that looks like a nightclub.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Or even a large hall.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
All of this removes from us the proper sense of reverence.
I'm reminded of a story of Saint Paul.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
If he could come back today and go into a
megachurch or an Evangelical church and see what I have
just described, he would be confused.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
But if he went into an Orthodox church or even
a Catholic church, he.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Would be totally at home, because that's the way it
was in the very beginning.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
When we fail to approach God, with fear and reverence.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
The end result is a christ figure that wants to
be our friend once to save us from hell, and
hopes will be nice people come. Sounds like pie in
the sky. To me, a relationship with God becomes little
more than a means to secure the most comfortable life,
both here and in the age to come. When asked
(11:45):
if people were becoming more pagan, CEUs Lewis once responded
with that it were true. Why because pagans at least
have some sense of their sinfulness and their lowliness before divinity.
Lewis emphasized that we must know God as Lord and
(12:06):
King before we can know him on a more intimate,
familiar term like Abbah father. After all, in Proverbs chapter nine,
verse ten, the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Even when the priest invites the faithful to
come forward to receive of the volume blood of Christ,
(12:26):
he makes his statement in the.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Fear of God, with love and faith draw near.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
In the fear of God, with love and faith drawn
hear today, I think there is little such fear. And
the fear that I have witness is usually a distorted.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
One in which people viewed God as an angry tyrant.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Remember that Jesus came in the flesh to teach us
about the love of God the Father and to call
us to repentance, because he stated, the Kingdom of God
is at hand. Now during the divine Liturgy, we pray
the tsagan.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Him, and that I want to read it to you.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
The priest would say, A Holy God, who rest among
the holy ones, praised by the Seraphim with a thrice
holy cry, glorified by the Cherubim, and worship by every
heavenly power. You have brought all things into being out
of nothing. You have created man according to Thy image
(13:28):
and likeness, and adorn him with all the gifts of
thy grace. You give wisdom and understanding to him who asks.
And you've overlooked not the sinner, But you have made
repentance the means of salvation. You have granted us, your
humble and onworthy servants, to stand even at this hour
(13:50):
before the glory of Thy holy alter of sacrifice, and
to offer to you the.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Worship and praise which are your due.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Accept that trushunking him also from the lips of us.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Sinners, and visit us in thy goodness.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Forgive all of our voluntary and involuntary transgressions, sanctify our
souls and bodies, and grant that we may worship you
in holiness all the days of our life, through the
intercessions of the Holy Theatrocus and of all the saints
who have been well pleasing unto you throughout the ages.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
And then he finishes that prayer by saying for.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
You, our God or Holy and to you we offer
of glory to the Father and to the Son and to.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
The Holy Spirit, now and forever until age of all ages. Men.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Then the congregation sings the trishinan to the Lord, and
it goes like this, Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Mercy on us. And we sing that three times now
the unveiling.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
The Orthodox concept of salvation presents a radically different concept
that is incompatible with the way people currently think of God.
We believe that God made man in his own image,
and man fell from that image through sin, and the
separation from God through sin results in death. Now we're
(15:17):
talking spiritual and physical death. To resolve this problem of
the tarnished image and the power of sin and death
over mankind, God became men in the united divine nature
with human nature. Jesus Christ, the God Man, all God,
all Man, a mystery the incarnation. Rather than simply wanting
(15:42):
to wipe the slave clean and return to us and
eden like state, God wants to go well beyond that.
He desires to transform each and every one of us.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Into a holy creature that is.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Forever united to His divinity through his son Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
And that is the plan.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
All of us will be resurrected to unite to this
holy God of all of the cosmos. However, the union
will not be bliss for all, because there was a
judgmentcy coming the judgant Sea of Christ, and we call
it the sheep Go Judgment. When Christ came the first time,
(16:25):
his divinity and holiness were kind of veiled in his humanity,
but he will not be so the second time, during
his incarnation birth in Bethlehem, he opened the veil a
crack for only three disciples, Peter, James and John a
Mount Tabor during the event we call the transfiguration, and
(16:47):
that's when the Lord started to glow and got so bright,
and they fell on their face in all of the
Lord Jesus Christ revealing to them that he was the
God man, he looked like a man, that he was
God incarnate. The three fell to the ground at this
sight and the sound of the Father's voice, unable to
(17:11):
endure even a hint of this unveiling. When he comes
a second time, there will be no vail, only en
mass holiness. It will be terror in burning fire for some,
and it will be delight and the illumination for others,
which I call the dragon seed of Christ. How we
(17:31):
respond depends upon our efforts to right now to.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Be transformed by us grace. We are to be like
the Lord.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
He demonstrated what manner during his short time on the
earth in the flesh to reveal the love of God
the Father, as the apostle.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
John wrote, But we know that when.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
He shall appear, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
First John, Chapter three, Verse two.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
God is not interested in merely wiping away sins so
we can be buddies, but transforming us into divine creatures
that eternally partake of His divinity. But will we be
ready for this unveiling when it comes? Called the time
of preparation. Fulliness means being set apart. In Hebrews chapter eleven,
(18:26):
verse thirty three through forty. All the saints who through
faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises stop the mouths
of lions, quenched, raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword.
One strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put
foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection.
(18:49):
Some were tortured, refusing to accept release that they might
rise again into a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging,
and even change and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were
sawn in two they were killed with a sword. They
went about in skins of sheep and goats, destute, afflicted ill,
(19:11):
treated of whom the world was not worthy, wandering over
deserts and mountains, and in dens and.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Caves of the earth, and all of these the will.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Attested by their faith did not receive what was promised,
since God had preceived something better for us, that apart
from us.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
They should not be made perfect.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Hebrews in Chapter eleven, verses thirty three through forty. Now
also in Hebrews Chapter twelve, verses one and two. Therefore,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight and sin which
clings to us so closely, and let us run with
perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus,
(19:56):
the Author and the prefector of our faith. Hebrews, Chapter twelve,
Verses one and two. The Sunday after Pentecost in the
Orthodox Church is called the Feasts of All Saints. The
word we use in the Greek language for saint is
a eos for male saints and a eea for female saints.
(20:18):
Aeos means holy, and holy means set apart. The saints
or the holy ones are those who strived in their
lives to put God.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
First in all things.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
They set apart the relationship with the Lord and put
it ahead of everything else. The decision to strive for
holiness isn't easy, and it often doesn't come with a
lot of rewards.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Or accolades in this life.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
The epistle Liston talks about many bad things that happened
to the holy people who set themselves apart for Christ.
Some were tortured, others were suffered mocking inscouraging change in prison, stoning, martyrdom, exile,
and poor treatment. The decision to be set apart, however,
(21:07):
he has done two things for the people.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
It has allowed them to do some.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Pretty incredible things in life, like conquering kingdoms, escaping fire
and wild animals, winning on occasions when they were vastly outnumbered,
escaped the sword and conquered born armies. And I'm reminded
of the three Holy Use and a fire that they
(21:31):
did not bow down to the King of Babylon, but
they chose to go in the fire.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
And what a witness that was.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
When they went into the fire, which was heated several
times hotter than normal, the king looked in and guess
what he saw. He saw four people, not just free
in the fire, and we believe that was the Lord
walking with them. And when they came out of the fire,
their clothes were not burned, the hair is not singed,
they didn't even have the smell of smoke upon them.
(22:02):
And it made the king repent, for he realized that
the true God.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Is who with the Holy use worship.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Now, that devout faith of Christians has enabled them to accomplish,
like I say, some pretty incredible things. Remember back in
the Lent, when we celebrated the salutations of the Blessed Mother,
we call it the Akathist hymn. It was a prayer
of prayed all night for our city to be delivered
from foreign invasion. The tide of the sea turned against
(22:30):
the invaders and spare the city. A miracle of God
granted because of faith and of prayer. Again, that doesn't
mean that faith in prayer take care of every problem.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Look at the saints.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Certainly they have the faith, and they prayed often, and
yet a lot of bad things happened to them, But
lots of good things happened to them in this life
as well.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
The most important.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Thing that striving to be set apart is that it
will enable us to one day enter into the Kingdom
of heaven.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
God foresees something better.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
For us, for each of us, for those who live
today and for those who lived.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
A long time ago.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
The promise of God is for us to inherit eternal
life is something that those who have strived to be
set apart will receive in part, at least as soon
as they pass away from this life. However, there is
something even greater that all the Holy people throughout all
(23:35):
the ages will receive together, something even greater than what
the saints have already received. Our journey to holiness starts
off with small decisions we.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Will make today.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
What our eyes will see, what our ears will hear,
and what our mouths will say, and the kinds of
things we will do.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Remember when you were christmated.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
After baptism, the priest anointed several parts.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Of your body.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
The forehead to guard your thoughts, the eyes to guard
what you look at, the mouth the guard which you speak.
The heart hopefully belongs to God one hundred percent, the
hands to use them to bless the people around you,
and the feet to travel where God wants you to go.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I remember Jezebel.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
She was so wicked that when she did die, the
dogs would not even eat her hands or feet because
she was so wicked.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
And that's in the Old Testament. We go check out Jezebel.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
We have a choice to look at beauty or filth,
to hear positive things or negative ones, to speak words
of praise and encouragement or words of consternation to others,
and to do acts of love or to do acts
of hate.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
We have that possibility in us.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
That's its choice, that's our free will choice to do
good or to do evil.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
We can do that.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Saint fi Issios of a holy mountain wrote a story
about the bee.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
He told us to be like, to be the honeybee
and not the fly.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Some people tell me that they are scandalized because they
see many things wrong with the church. I tell them
that if you ask a fly, are there any flowers
in this area, they will say, I don't know about
the flowers. But over there is a heap of rubbish,
and you can find all the filth you want, and
it will go on to list all the unclean things
(25:42):
it has been to. But now, if you ask a honeybee,
have you seen any unclean things in this area?
Speaker 2 (25:50):
It will reply unclean things, No, I have not seen any.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
The place here is full of the most fragrant flowers,
and it will will go on to name the flowers
of the garden or the meadow.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
You see.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
The fly only knows where the unclean things are, while
the honeybee knows where all the beautiful irises are, the hyacinths,
and the flowers. As I come to understand, some people
resemble the honeybee and some resemble the fly. Those who
resemble the fly will seek to find evil in every circumstance.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
And they are preoccupied with it.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
They see no good anywhere, but those who resemble the
honey bee only see the good in.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Everything they see.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
And that was by saying Biasios of the Holy Mountain,
he wrote the story Good and Evil thoughts, the spiritual consuls,
the spiritual struggle. Today we are confronted with choices to
follow after the Lord or after the crowd. We have
free will to make the right choices. All of our
decisions lead to our destiny of heaven or health. You
(27:02):
choose to stay who you will serve, and you realize
it's one step of the triumph. You step, and you
make another step. As you step, it makes a pathway,
a journey, and as you add up all these steps
of your life, it becomes the legacy. Where will you go?
All your steps of life? Where will it lead you?
(27:24):
And that's free will. Every fork in the road, we
have to make a choice left or right. That's why
we must seek the wisdom of God to make the
right choices.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Holiness means to.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Seek after the things of God, and it starts with
small choices that will set us apart, perhaps earning us
criticism from our peers, our family, our brothers, our sisters,
but earning us praise.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
From the Lord.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
So what would you rather have? Praise from the Lord
or praise from the humankind. It's like attending the divine
Liturgy with no excuses. Christ, the Lord has made wondrous
all the saints that were on the earth, as the
Apostle declared, they bore His marks, and in their flesh
(28:13):
shared His sufferings, adorning themselves therewith and distinguishing themselves.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
In the beauty that is divine.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Therefore, let us praise and acclaim them as never fading flowers,
as a voluntary victim, and as the Church's on erring stars.
And this is from the praises of the Matins on
Sunday of all saints, now our entrants into holiness. If
you are a lover of holy scripture, specifically of the
(28:42):
Old Testament stories surrounding the ark of the Covenant and
of the Jewish Temple, you celebrate a feast day today
that changes your entire perception of what the arc is,
where the true temple is, and most importantly, for us,
what true holiness looks like. The peace of the entrance
(29:04):
of the Holy theotokis. We remember how Mary's parents, Yuikim
and Honor, were childless throughout all of their lives, but
made a promise to God that if they were granted
a child, they would dedicate them in complete service to God.
He said, well, where is that in holy scripture? Well,
(29:24):
I would recommend you go look at the proto Evngelium
of Saint James. It is like the first Gospel. It
is not canonical, but is very historical, so it's a
worth read the proto Evangelium of Saint James.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Kenueing of the stories.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
A short time later, Mary was born after living out
her first three years, being guided by her parents that
they had finally come for Yuikima and Honor to fulfill
their vow to God, they brought the.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Three year old girl to the temple where she was
to live out the remainder of her childhood in service
to the Lord.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
And So Yoi Kim and Ana dedicated Mary to the
temple at three years old. Because Yoi Kim and Honor
were aged, they were old parents, and they were blessed
by God because they both prayed. Yoi Kimnana both prayed
and would be blessed with a child and a miracle
(30:24):
of God. She bore Mary and then and promised to God.
She gave Mary to the Temple and three years old.
Because shortly after that both Yoi Kimnana passed away. She
was greeted by the High Priest Zacharias, who led her
into the nave of the temple. But it was there
(30:45):
that something unthinkable happened. So instead of going to where
she was supposed to go, Mary was led by the
Holy script and began climbing the steps that led to
a sacred place that absolutely no one, not even the
high priest could enter. Acceptable one day a year called
the day of Atonement the Holy of Holies, the place
where the ark of the Covenant was kept. No one
(31:07):
dared to go back there. We see stories in the
Old Testament of what happened to people who tried to
defy God's law in regards to the holy things in
the holy places. One of the favorite stories is one
that we read in the scriptures just a few hundred
years before Christ came to this earth about a king
betold me, after he had made peace with the Jews,
(31:30):
he wanted to visit the temple of their God. When
he walked into the sacred space, like most people when
they walked into an Orthodox church for the first time.
He was astonished by the beauty and the king's arrogance.
He wanted to go see the Holy of Holies, but
the Jewish priests begged him not to, telling him that
(31:53):
not even their.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Own people were permitted to go in there.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
The king ignored the cries of the priests and continued
to walk towards the Holy Place. Before he could even
get there to the Holy of Holies, he got severe
seizures and being shaken so.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Much he couldn't even cry out.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
His servants had to come and drag him out of
the temple. We saw and learned for centuries in the
Old Testament of what happened to our worthy people who try.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
To approach the presence of God.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
And here Zacharias is watching as a holy spirit is
leading this little girl into the Holy of Holies, taking
the place of the Ark of the Covenant as the
new arc that would soon bear the word of God
within herself. What was in the Old Testament arc during
Moses' time was the Ten Commandments, the pot of Mana
(32:46):
and Aaron's Rod had budded. Eventually, the pot of Manna
and Aaron's Rod was lost, but the Ten Commandments remained
forever the word of God, the true character of God.
If you want to know what gahaa God thinks, to
read those ten Commandments. When Mary became pregnant by the
Holy Spirit, she had the logos, the actual word of
(33:08):
God in dwelling her.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
She became the new art.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
What made Mary unique, what made her stand out from
all of the people in history who had disregarded.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
The power of God in their lives. And that word
is holiness.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
She lived the life of complete holiness, and her choices
were always holy. She could have sin, but she chose
God instead of herself. If we look at the magnificat,
it's also called the song of the Theotokus, a him
taken from the words.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Of the Theotoka.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Shortly after the annunciation of Archangel Gabriel to the Holy Theotokis,
she visited the wife of Zachariah, her cousin Elizabeth, who
was herself pregnant with John the Baptist. In response to
Elizabeth's salutation, Mary spoke the words of the Magnificant accordingly
(34:01):
appeared in the Gospel of Luke chapter one, verses forty
six through fifty five, and it goes like this.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
My soul magnifies.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
The Lord in my spirit has rejoicing God my Savior,
for he has regarded the lowly estate of his maid servant.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
For behold, henceforth all generation.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Book called me blessed, for he who has mighty have
done great things for me. And holy is his name,
and his mercy is on those who fear him. From
generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm.
He has stadded the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones and
exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things,
(34:42):
and the rich he has sent away empty. He has
helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as
he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Forever Now Mary living a holy life.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
It didn't happen by accident, although this was made possible
by the two wonderful models that she had in her
parents' yoikimin Ama, who taught their daughter by their own
example of what it meant to live a life of holiness.
This is perhaps the most important lesson that we can
pass on to our children.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
And even if you do not have children.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
We are reminded today that it takes a community to
raise this new generation. We are always one generation from apostasy.
It isn't done by books, lectures, or finger pointing.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
It is done by example.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
We show our children how to become holy by putting
God first in all things.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Our children learn from us by watching what we do
and not what we say.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
If we devour our food before offering thanks to God,
the fact that the food came from.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Him is lost.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
We teach our children that thanksgiving is meaningless.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
If we put other things in.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Life before church, either staying in bed on Sunday morning
because you're tired, or attending a rock concert or a
sporting event. Anything where we put the church second, we
teach our children that our faith is not important.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
We teach and pass on holiness not by.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
The word that comes out of our mouth, but by
the way we live our life. All of us will
be approaching God himself and the Childice, in a real sense,
approaching the Holy of holies. Do we exude the holiness
like the theophocus every time we approach the Holy Chalice?
(36:40):
When we make those steps towards the altar, can we
truly say we are drawing near without staying or blemish
the pre communion prayer of Saint John Chrysostom, saying, Oh Lord,
my God, I know, oh how I know that I
am not worthy or vision that you should enter under
(37:03):
my roof into the habitation of my soul, who is
deserted and in ruins.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
And you have no fitting place in me to lay
your head? Or are we coming in holiness?
Speaker 3 (37:15):
So there is we can come with confidence and know
that by taking the body and blood of Christ, there
is no judgment. Because Saint Paul warns us in his
epistles that if we take the body and blood of
Christ on worthily, we can eat damnation under ourselves.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Some are sick and some even die. And that's the
power of the Holy.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Euchrist, holiness, purity, and in awe of God. The feast
I've talked about shows us by all the things are
important and offers us a pathway which we are called
to follow, so that our Lord to descend down from
heaven above and to find a place to lay his
head in our hearts, lifting us all up into his presence.
(38:03):
Because I Saint Isaiah, in his book Isaiah the Prophet,
he wrote a specific phrase.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
About a highway of holiness.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
He has found only when one time in the scripture
Isaiah chapter thirty five, verse age, and a highway shall
be there, and a way.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
It shall be called the Way of holiness.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall
be for those the wayfaring men. Those fools shall not
err therein that is first will walk the Holy Way,
the highway of holiness, carrying the light of Christ to
the world. Some couple closing thoughts here before I wrapped
(38:47):
the show up on holiness today, Saint Justin Popovic church
Father says, only the mind which had been cleansed from
the passions and the darkness of sin, and has been
sanctified by the grace of the Holy Spirit, is in
the position to feel and to love that which is holy,
(39:08):
and to live from it.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
And for it.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
So you see, there is a pathway or a formula
that I'm releasing to you now that you be cleanse
from the passions, the darkness of sin, and being sanctified
by the grace of the Holy Spirit, are in a
position to feel and to love that which is holy,
and to live.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
From it and for it.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
People wonder and debate the grounding of morality and sin.
Sin is anything that distracts us from our path and
transformation into theosis or deification. Sin separates us from God,
even though we've been baptized, received chrismation, and are in
(39:55):
receiving the holy mysteries. If we make a choice for
our that he is not God blessed and we have
a problem, we've become incompatible with Him. But the good
news is God, knowing our weakness and but flesh, bestowed
these three ads YopE to aid us in our transformation process.
(40:18):
Number One, God has given us our conscience. Listen to it.
The conscience is telling you something. Now you can not
listen to it and go your own path. But God
is talking to you through your conscience. Number two, the
fact that when we detour from what God has revealed
(40:38):
to us and our conscience visibly reduces our physical and
psychological flourishing. It stunts our growth, our spiritual growth. And
by his mercy, He has given us statutes and laws
and commandments that acts as guardrails to keep us on
this royal path onto salvation.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Here in Florida, we have many roads with deep ditches
on both.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Sides to floor when it rains heavy here in Floyda,
that the runoff goes into these canals. But if you're
driving your car and you're staying on the road, you're
safe and there's no problem.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
But as soon as you start to veer into a canal,
it's a.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
Wreck and then you've got to get a record to
pull you out of the canal and hope you don't
drown in the canal. But as long as you stay
on the Lord's high way up holiness, keeping his statutes,
his laws, his commandments, which are guard rails, you will
stay on that royal path that leads on the salvation.
(41:40):
And that's my teaching this morning on holiness, the holiness.
We must walk to the holiness, the pathway that leads
to God. Walking in holiness onto God is what we
need to do, all of us. And we need help
and we've got that help the Holy Trinity, the Father,
(42:02):
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Thank you for listening to the O Glassome Light podcast.
We hope this program is encouraged you to fight the
good fight of faith and walk in the accordance with
the commandments of our Lord. May God bless you on
your journey to salvation,
Welcome to the Old Gladsome Light podcast. This program contains
preaching and teaching from an Orthodox Christian perspective to help
you when your walk with Jesus Christ and to be
victorious in Him.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well, welcome to the show. It's eleven o'clock.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
It's Monday, eleven am Eastern Standard Time.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I'm your show host, Doctor al Manns.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
With a degree in Divinity, Doctor the Green and in Divinity.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I'm also known.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
As Father Cuts of the Orthodox Church of Oupyrus. Broadcasting
on W FOURCY radio internet radio around the world twenty
four to seven. Also got a podcast on iHeartRadio call
Oh Gladsome Light.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Please visit my websites.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Go to my main page, Oh glabsom Light, and then
when you get to the YouTube links, please like and subscribe.
Now there are two YouTube channels. One's called al Man's
and the other one.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Is called arch Petro's pet Ros.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
In addition, I'm also posting all my Sunday sermons on
Rummel under the name of Man's A.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
The show is blessed.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
By Metropolitan Mchiseldeko, the Orthodox Church of Bopyrus, and our
slogan for the show is preparing souls for Heaven, preparing
souls for Heaven. Also, I'm broadcasting from Saint Peter and
Paul Orthodox Chapel in Sunny West Palm Beach, Florida. Topic
today is called walking in Holiness, and walking in holiness
(01:48):
with God is the show topic today.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Now, this is what Adam and Eve did in the
garden until the fall.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
The scripture tell us that God walk with Adam in
the cool of the day. But after the fall that
didn't happen. They became incompatible.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
With God and were cast out.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
And you know, the angel with a flaming sword guarded
the entrance, and so they had to work the dust
of the earth.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
The all of creation fell, and it was as.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Horrible, and maybe Adam and Eve they thought about their oops,
their big mistake, and he had many, many years to
ponder their bad decision and their violation of the commandment
of God, and hopefully there was repentance. In the Orthodox
Christian Church, holiness is a state of being set apart
(02:45):
or separated under God.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
It means to be.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Blessed, righteous, and obedient to the Lord's commandments. And there
are commandments in the New Testament. Jesus gave us many commandments.
Orthodox Christians believed that God created humors to be holy
and that holiness is a part of God's plan.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
For our salvation.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Now, what are some of the ways the Orthodox Christians
work towards holiness? And it is a work. Some say, oh,
faith only, Well, excuse me. There has to be faith
in work, because Saint James tells us in his epistle.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
You say you have faith, show me your works.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
If you don't have work, then your faith as a
dead faith. Here are some steps or some ways the
Orthodox Christians work towards holiness. First of all, living a
holy life. Orthodox Christians are called to live holy lives
and to present their body is as a living sacrifice
on the God. Also, being transformed, Orthodox Christians are called
(03:46):
to be transformed by the renewing of their minds and
to know God's will for them, being an example the
sanctity of the Orthodox Christians. Lives, words, actions, worship, and
faith can guide others into holiness. In other words, we
need to be a good witness so we can draw
(04:07):
people under the church. Now, recognizing also that holiness is
not moral.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Perfection, Orthodox Christians believe.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
That authentic holiness is not the same as moral perfection.
Moral perfection means trying to be good. I'm trying to
be good.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Well, you're going to fall.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
We're all sinful, and we all sinned against the Lord.
And there's only one without sin, and that's our Lord,
Jesus Christ, the sinless one. But we're trying to be good,
and that's not going to work unless we have the
Holy Spirit working in us.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
It's easy to be good, as I would say evil.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
And you see it in the news all day long,
how much evil there is in the world.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
And they're not even trying to be good.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
So I guess Satan has God has captured them and
making them do evil things. The same that we're trying
to become are those who are honestly broken and genuinely imperfect.
And also requires humility. And a church father quote about humility,
I think it's beautiful says humility is a tree of life,
(05:15):
and those.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Who eat from it do not die.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
And that's the quickest way to attract God into your life,
as being humble. Holy things for the Holy Just before
receiving of the holy mysteries of the body and Blood
of Christ, the priest standing in the sanctuary facing the
altar table, he raises up the holy Lamb, which has
become the body of Christ, and says these words, holy
(05:40):
things are full of the holy. These words have the
sound of a mystery which is indeed contained therein. But
no mystery should be deprived.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Of your inner meaning, which.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
With these words these words mean, are also in view.
These are said at every divine liturgy. The Apostle Peter,
in his first epistles speak to the still young Christian Church,
and he says, but ye are a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
The people of God.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
This is how the Apostle Peter describes the members of
the early Church, and of all.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Of us together with them.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
There is no doubt that the early Christians consisted of
sinners as well as saints. There are quite a few
sinners in our churches today, starting with ourselves, And yet
the Apostle called all of them and all of us
the chosen nation, the royal priesthood, the holy people, the
(06:43):
people of God. This sets the standard for the attitude
of God and the Church towards us, the people of
the Church. Through the mystery of baptism, every person receives
a pathway towards holiness from the baptismal font. The baptized
individual arises holy washed, cleaned.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Of all sin, on truth, all defilement.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
This holiness is sealed with the chrismation by using the
Holy chrism.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Or the Holy Neuron.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Thus, all newly baptized or given the fullest potential holiness
which the Church recognizes in them.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Through their entire life.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
We now have the responsibility for the preservation of this gift,
which lies no longer on the Church, but on the
conscience of the individual.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Holiness is lost, It is.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Dissipated on the roads and crossroads of life or his
or her treatment of the gift of free will, freedom
of choice.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Between good and evil.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
But it is also restored through the mystery of confession
and repentance.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Receiving of the holy mystery of the body and Blood
of Christ.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
And the Church continue to stand by her original estimation.
She continues to believe in us the chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people of God. According
to the Orthodox teaching, the great mystery of the Eucharist
is performed not by the priest alone, but by the
entire Church, the entire royal priesthood, the entire people of God. Therefore,
(08:31):
as he raises this holy lamb, the body of Christ,
presenting it to the entire church, the priest says, the
holy things are full the holy The holy things are
what he holds in his hands at that moment. For
the holy means that the sacraments are intended for all
of us, all members of the Church. In whose eyes
(08:53):
we are holy. We are the people of God. And we,
in full and humble recognition, are of our sinfulness and
our worthiness. Respond one is holy, One is the Lord
Jesus Christ. To the glory of God, Amen, unveiled Holiness.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
There exists a.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Tendency in our American culture to think ourselves as being
on the familiar terms with God. I'm a friend of God,
proclaims the chorus of one popular Protestant praise song. Jesus
is My Homeboy, states a trendy shirt design. Our Lord
is much more comfortable if he is our friend, homeboy
(09:38):
or buddy Christ, and God the Father if he is
little more than a senile grandpa upstairs who blindly loves
all of his little grandchildren. A God that demands nothing
from us and only exists to make us feel good
is wildly popular, but it is a false God reidd
(10:00):
in our own image, which equates to idolatry, the worship
of self and God says, I'm a jobles God, I will.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Share my glory with no one.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Many Christian groups have created a false sense of familiarity
with God by removing the awe and the reverence from
the Christian worship experience. They have banished the priesthood. After all,
we're all priests, right. They stripped the walls of the
sacred art, the icons, replaced the service focus on the
(10:33):
presence of Christ with one focused on a sermon, and
replace the architectural beauty with either four walls and a
pulpit or something that looks like a nightclub.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Or even a large hall.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
All of this removes from us the proper sense of reverence.
I'm reminded of a story of Saint Paul.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
If he could come back today and go into a
megachurch or an Evangelical church and see what I have
just described, he would be confused.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
But if he went into an Orthodox church or even
a Catholic church, he.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Would be totally at home, because that's the way it
was in the very beginning.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
When we fail to approach God, with fear and reverence.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
The end result is a christ figure that wants to
be our friend once to save us from hell, and
hopes will be nice people come. Sounds like pie in
the sky. To me, a relationship with God becomes little
more than a means to secure the most comfortable life,
both here and in the age to come. When asked
(11:45):
if people were becoming more pagan, CEUs Lewis once responded
with that it were true. Why because pagans at least
have some sense of their sinfulness and their lowliness before divinity.
Lewis emphasized that we must know God as Lord and
(12:06):
King before we can know him on a more intimate,
familiar term like Abbah father. After all, in Proverbs chapter nine,
verse ten, the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Even when the priest invites the faithful to
come forward to receive of the volume blood of Christ,
(12:26):
he makes his statement in the.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Fear of God, with love and faith draw near.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
In the fear of God, with love and faith drawn
hear today, I think there is little such fear. And
the fear that I have witness is usually a distorted.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
One in which people viewed God as an angry tyrant.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Remember that Jesus came in the flesh to teach us
about the love of God the Father and to call
us to repentance, because he stated, the Kingdom of God
is at hand. Now during the divine Liturgy, we pray
the tsagan.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Him, and that I want to read it to you.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
The priest would say, A Holy God, who rest among
the holy ones, praised by the Seraphim with a thrice
holy cry, glorified by the Cherubim, and worship by every
heavenly power. You have brought all things into being out
of nothing. You have created man according to Thy image
(13:28):
and likeness, and adorn him with all the gifts of
thy grace. You give wisdom and understanding to him who asks.
And you've overlooked not the sinner, But you have made
repentance the means of salvation. You have granted us, your
humble and onworthy servants, to stand even at this hour
(13:50):
before the glory of Thy holy alter of sacrifice, and
to offer to you the.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Worship and praise which are your due.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Accept that trushunking him also from the lips of us.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Sinners, and visit us in thy goodness.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Forgive all of our voluntary and involuntary transgressions, sanctify our
souls and bodies, and grant that we may worship you
in holiness all the days of our life, through the
intercessions of the Holy Theatrocus and of all the saints
who have been well pleasing unto you throughout the ages.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
And then he finishes that prayer by saying for.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
You, our God or Holy and to you we offer
of glory to the Father and to the Son and to.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
The Holy Spirit, now and forever until age of all ages. Men.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Then the congregation sings the trishinan to the Lord, and
it goes like this, Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Mercy on us. And we sing that three times now
the unveiling.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
The Orthodox concept of salvation presents a radically different concept
that is incompatible with the way people currently think of God.
We believe that God made man in his own image,
and man fell from that image through sin, and the
separation from God through sin results in death. Now we're
(15:17):
talking spiritual and physical death. To resolve this problem of
the tarnished image and the power of sin and death
over mankind, God became men in the united divine nature
with human nature. Jesus Christ, the God Man, all God,
all Man, a mystery the incarnation. Rather than simply wanting
(15:42):
to wipe the slave clean and return to us and
eden like state, God wants to go well beyond that.
He desires to transform each and every one of us.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Into a holy creature that is.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Forever united to His divinity through his son Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
And that is the plan.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
All of us will be resurrected to unite to this
holy God of all of the cosmos. However, the union
will not be bliss for all, because there was a
judgmentcy coming the judgant Sea of Christ, and we call
it the sheep Go Judgment. When Christ came the first time,
(16:25):
his divinity and holiness were kind of veiled in his humanity,
but he will not be so the second time, during
his incarnation birth in Bethlehem, he opened the veil a
crack for only three disciples, Peter, James and John a
Mount Tabor during the event we call the transfiguration, and
(16:47):
that's when the Lord started to glow and got so bright,
and they fell on their face in all of the
Lord Jesus Christ revealing to them that he was the
God man, he looked like a man, that he was
God incarnate. The three fell to the ground at this
sight and the sound of the Father's voice, unable to
(17:11):
endure even a hint of this unveiling. When he comes
a second time, there will be no vail, only en
mass holiness. It will be terror in burning fire for some,
and it will be delight and the illumination for others,
which I call the dragon seed of Christ. How we
(17:31):
respond depends upon our efforts to right now to.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Be transformed by us grace. We are to be like
the Lord.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
He demonstrated what manner during his short time on the
earth in the flesh to reveal the love of God
the Father, as the apostle.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
John wrote, But we know that when.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
He shall appear, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
First John, Chapter three, Verse two.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
God is not interested in merely wiping away sins so
we can be buddies, but transforming us into divine creatures
that eternally partake of His divinity. But will we be
ready for this unveiling when it comes? Called the time
of preparation. Fulliness means being set apart. In Hebrews chapter eleven,
(18:26):
verse thirty three through forty. All the saints who through
faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises stop the mouths
of lions, quenched, raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword.
One strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put
foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection.
(18:49):
Some were tortured, refusing to accept release that they might
rise again into a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging,
and even change and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were
sawn in two they were killed with a sword. They
went about in skins of sheep and goats, destute, afflicted ill,
(19:11):
treated of whom the world was not worthy, wandering over
deserts and mountains, and in dens and.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Caves of the earth, and all of these the will.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Attested by their faith did not receive what was promised,
since God had preceived something better for us, that apart
from us.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
They should not be made perfect.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Hebrews in Chapter eleven, verses thirty three through forty. Now
also in Hebrews Chapter twelve, verses one and two. Therefore,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight and sin which
clings to us so closely, and let us run with
perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus,
(19:56):
the Author and the prefector of our faith. Hebrews, Chapter twelve,
Verses one and two. The Sunday after Pentecost in the
Orthodox Church is called the Feasts of All Saints. The
word we use in the Greek language for saint is
a eos for male saints and a eea for female saints.
(20:18):
Aeos means holy, and holy means set apart. The saints
or the holy ones are those who strived in their
lives to put God.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
First in all things.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
They set apart the relationship with the Lord and put
it ahead of everything else. The decision to strive for
holiness isn't easy, and it often doesn't come with a
lot of rewards.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Or accolades in this life.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
The epistle Liston talks about many bad things that happened
to the holy people who set themselves apart for Christ.
Some were tortured, others were suffered mocking inscouraging change in prison, stoning, martyrdom, exile,
and poor treatment. The decision to be set apart, however,
(21:07):
he has done two things for the people.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
It has allowed them to do some.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Pretty incredible things in life, like conquering kingdoms, escaping fire
and wild animals, winning on occasions when they were vastly outnumbered,
escaped the sword and conquered born armies. And I'm reminded
of the three Holy Use and a fire that they
(21:31):
did not bow down to the King of Babylon, but
they chose to go in the fire.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
And what a witness that was.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
When they went into the fire, which was heated several
times hotter than normal, the king looked in and guess
what he saw. He saw four people, not just free
in the fire, and we believe that was the Lord
walking with them. And when they came out of the fire,
their clothes were not burned, the hair is not singed,
they didn't even have the smell of smoke upon them.
(22:02):
And it made the king repent, for he realized that
the true God.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Is who with the Holy use worship.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Now, that devout faith of Christians has enabled them to accomplish,
like I say, some pretty incredible things. Remember back in
the Lent, when we celebrated the salutations of the Blessed Mother,
we call it the Akathist hymn. It was a prayer
of prayed all night for our city to be delivered
from foreign invasion. The tide of the sea turned against
(22:30):
the invaders and spare the city. A miracle of God
granted because of faith and of prayer. Again, that doesn't
mean that faith in prayer take care of every problem.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Look at the saints.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Certainly they have the faith, and they prayed often, and
yet a lot of bad things happened to them, But
lots of good things happened to them in this life
as well.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
The most important.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Thing that striving to be set apart is that it
will enable us to one day enter into the Kingdom
of heaven.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
God foresees something better.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
For us, for each of us, for those who live
today and for those who lived.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
A long time ago.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
The promise of God is for us to inherit eternal
life is something that those who have strived to be
set apart will receive in part, at least as soon
as they pass away from this life. However, there is
something even greater that all the Holy people throughout all
(23:35):
the ages will receive together, something even greater than what
the saints have already received. Our journey to holiness starts
off with small decisions we.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Will make today.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
What our eyes will see, what our ears will hear,
and what our mouths will say, and the kinds of
things we will do.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Remember when you were christmated.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
After baptism, the priest anointed several parts.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Of your body.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
The forehead to guard your thoughts, the eyes to guard
what you look at, the mouth the guard which you speak.
The heart hopefully belongs to God one hundred percent, the
hands to use them to bless the people around you,
and the feet to travel where God wants you to go.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I remember Jezebel.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
She was so wicked that when she did die, the
dogs would not even eat her hands or feet because
she was so wicked.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
And that's in the Old Testament. We go check out Jezebel.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
We have a choice to look at beauty or filth,
to hear positive things or negative ones, to speak words
of praise and encouragement or words of consternation to others,
and to do acts of love or to do acts
of hate.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
We have that possibility in us.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
That's its choice, that's our free will choice to do
good or to do evil.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
We can do that.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Saint fi Issios of a holy mountain wrote a story
about the bee.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
He told us to be like, to be the honeybee
and not the fly.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Some people tell me that they are scandalized because they
see many things wrong with the church. I tell them
that if you ask a fly, are there any flowers
in this area, they will say, I don't know about
the flowers. But over there is a heap of rubbish,
and you can find all the filth you want, and
it will go on to list all the unclean things
(25:42):
it has been to. But now, if you ask a honeybee,
have you seen any unclean things in this area?
Speaker 2 (25:50):
It will reply unclean things, No, I have not seen any.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
The place here is full of the most fragrant flowers,
and it will will go on to name the flowers
of the garden or the meadow.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
You see.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
The fly only knows where the unclean things are, while
the honeybee knows where all the beautiful irises are, the hyacinths,
and the flowers. As I come to understand, some people
resemble the honeybee and some resemble the fly. Those who
resemble the fly will seek to find evil in every circumstance.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
And they are preoccupied with it.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
They see no good anywhere, but those who resemble the
honey bee only see the good in.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Everything they see.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
And that was by saying Biasios of the Holy Mountain,
he wrote the story Good and Evil thoughts, the spiritual consuls,
the spiritual struggle. Today we are confronted with choices to
follow after the Lord or after the crowd. We have
free will to make the right choices. All of our
decisions lead to our destiny of heaven or health. You
(27:02):
choose to stay who you will serve, and you realize
it's one step of the triumph. You step, and you
make another step. As you step, it makes a pathway,
a journey, and as you add up all these steps
of your life, it becomes the legacy. Where will you go?
All your steps of life? Where will it lead you?
(27:24):
And that's free will. Every fork in the road, we
have to make a choice left or right. That's why
we must seek the wisdom of God to make the
right choices.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Holiness means to.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Seek after the things of God, and it starts with
small choices that will set us apart, perhaps earning us
criticism from our peers, our family, our brothers, our sisters,
but earning us praise.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
From the Lord.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
So what would you rather have? Praise from the Lord
or praise from the humankind. It's like attending the divine
Liturgy with no excuses. Christ, the Lord has made wondrous
all the saints that were on the earth, as the
Apostle declared, they bore His marks, and in their flesh
(28:13):
shared His sufferings, adorning themselves therewith and distinguishing themselves.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
In the beauty that is divine.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Therefore, let us praise and acclaim them as never fading flowers,
as a voluntary victim, and as the Church's on erring stars.
And this is from the praises of the Matins on
Sunday of all saints, now our entrants into holiness. If
you are a lover of holy scripture, specifically of the
(28:42):
Old Testament stories surrounding the ark of the Covenant and
of the Jewish Temple, you celebrate a feast day today
that changes your entire perception of what the arc is,
where the true temple is, and most importantly, for us,
what true holiness looks like. The peace of the entrance
(29:04):
of the Holy theotokis. We remember how Mary's parents, Yuikim
and Honor, were childless throughout all of their lives, but
made a promise to God that if they were granted
a child, they would dedicate them in complete service to God.
He said, well, where is that in holy scripture? Well,
(29:24):
I would recommend you go look at the proto Evngelium
of Saint James. It is like the first Gospel. It
is not canonical, but is very historical, so it's a
worth read the proto Evangelium of Saint James.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Kenueing of the stories.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
A short time later, Mary was born after living out
her first three years, being guided by her parents that
they had finally come for Yuikima and Honor to fulfill
their vow to God, they brought the.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Three year old girl to the temple where she was
to live out the remainder of her childhood in service
to the Lord.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
And So Yoi Kim and Ana dedicated Mary to the
temple at three years old. Because Yoi Kim and Honor
were aged, they were old parents, and they were blessed
by God because they both prayed. Yoi Kimnana both prayed
and would be blessed with a child and a miracle
(30:24):
of God. She bore Mary and then and promised to God.
She gave Mary to the Temple and three years old.
Because shortly after that both Yoi Kimnana passed away. She
was greeted by the High Priest Zacharias, who led her
into the nave of the temple. But it was there
(30:45):
that something unthinkable happened. So instead of going to where
she was supposed to go, Mary was led by the
Holy script and began climbing the steps that led to
a sacred place that absolutely no one, not even the
high priest could enter. Acceptable one day a year called
the day of Atonement the Holy of Holies, the place
where the ark of the Covenant was kept. No one
(31:07):
dared to go back there. We see stories in the
Old Testament of what happened to people who tried to
defy God's law in regards to the holy things in
the holy places. One of the favorite stories is one
that we read in the scriptures just a few hundred
years before Christ came to this earth about a king
betold me, after he had made peace with the Jews,
(31:30):
he wanted to visit the temple of their God. When
he walked into the sacred space, like most people when
they walked into an Orthodox church for the first time.
He was astonished by the beauty and the king's arrogance.
He wanted to go see the Holy of Holies, but
the Jewish priests begged him not to, telling him that
(31:53):
not even their.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Own people were permitted to go in there.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
The king ignored the cries of the priests and continued
to walk towards the Holy Place. Before he could even
get there to the Holy of Holies, he got severe
seizures and being shaken so.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Much he couldn't even cry out.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
His servants had to come and drag him out of
the temple. We saw and learned for centuries in the
Old Testament of what happened to our worthy people who try.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
To approach the presence of God.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
And here Zacharias is watching as a holy spirit is
leading this little girl into the Holy of Holies, taking
the place of the Ark of the Covenant as the
new arc that would soon bear the word of God
within herself. What was in the Old Testament arc during
Moses' time was the Ten Commandments, the pot of Mana
(32:46):
and Aaron's Rod had budded. Eventually, the pot of Manna
and Aaron's Rod was lost, but the Ten Commandments remained
forever the word of God, the true character of God.
If you want to know what gahaa God thinks, to
read those ten Commandments. When Mary became pregnant by the
Holy Spirit, she had the logos, the actual word of
(33:08):
God in dwelling her.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
She became the new art.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
What made Mary unique, what made her stand out from
all of the people in history who had disregarded.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
The power of God in their lives. And that word
is holiness.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
She lived the life of complete holiness, and her choices
were always holy. She could have sin, but she chose
God instead of herself. If we look at the magnificat,
it's also called the song of the Theotokus, a him
taken from the words.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Of the Theotoka.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Shortly after the annunciation of Archangel Gabriel to the Holy Theotokis,
she visited the wife of Zachariah, her cousin Elizabeth, who
was herself pregnant with John the Baptist. In response to
Elizabeth's salutation, Mary spoke the words of the Magnificant accordingly
(34:01):
appeared in the Gospel of Luke chapter one, verses forty
six through fifty five, and it goes like this.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
My soul magnifies.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
The Lord in my spirit has rejoicing God my Savior,
for he has regarded the lowly estate of his maid servant.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
For behold, henceforth all generation.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Book called me blessed, for he who has mighty have
done great things for me. And holy is his name,
and his mercy is on those who fear him. From
generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm.
He has stadded the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones and
exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things,
(34:42):
and the rich he has sent away empty. He has
helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as
he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Forever Now Mary living a holy life.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
It didn't happen by accident, although this was made possible
by the two wonderful models that she had in her
parents' yoikimin Ama, who taught their daughter by their own
example of what it meant to live a life of holiness.
This is perhaps the most important lesson that we can
pass on to our children.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
And even if you do not have children.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
We are reminded today that it takes a community to
raise this new generation. We are always one generation from apostasy.
It isn't done by books, lectures, or finger pointing.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
It is done by example.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
We show our children how to become holy by putting
God first in all things.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Our children learn from us by watching what we do
and not what we say.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
If we devour our food before offering thanks to God,
the fact that the food came from.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Him is lost.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
We teach our children that thanksgiving is meaningless.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
If we put other things in.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Life before church, either staying in bed on Sunday morning
because you're tired, or attending a rock concert or a
sporting event. Anything where we put the church second, we
teach our children that our faith is not important.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
We teach and pass on holiness not by.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
The word that comes out of our mouth, but by
the way we live our life. All of us will
be approaching God himself and the Childice, in a real sense,
approaching the Holy of holies. Do we exude the holiness
like the theophocus every time we approach the Holy Chalice?
(36:40):
When we make those steps towards the altar, can we
truly say we are drawing near without staying or blemish
the pre communion prayer of Saint John Chrysostom, saying, Oh Lord,
my God, I know, oh how I know that I
am not worthy or vision that you should enter under
(37:03):
my roof into the habitation of my soul, who is
deserted and in ruins.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
And you have no fitting place in me to lay
your head? Or are we coming in holiness?
Speaker 3 (37:15):
So there is we can come with confidence and know
that by taking the body and blood of Christ, there
is no judgment. Because Saint Paul warns us in his
epistles that if we take the body and blood of
Christ on worthily, we can eat damnation under ourselves.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Some are sick and some even die. And that's the
power of the Holy.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Euchrist, holiness, purity, and in awe of God. The feast
I've talked about shows us by all the things are
important and offers us a pathway which we are called
to follow, so that our Lord to descend down from
heaven above and to find a place to lay his
head in our hearts, lifting us all up into his presence.
(38:03):
Because I Saint Isaiah, in his book Isaiah the Prophet,
he wrote a specific phrase.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
About a highway of holiness.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
He has found only when one time in the scripture
Isaiah chapter thirty five, verse age, and a highway shall
be there, and a way.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
It shall be called the Way of holiness.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall
be for those the wayfaring men. Those fools shall not
err therein that is first will walk the Holy Way,
the highway of holiness, carrying the light of Christ to
the world. Some couple closing thoughts here before I wrapped
(38:47):
the show up on holiness today, Saint Justin Popovic church
Father says, only the mind which had been cleansed from
the passions and the darkness of sin, and has been
sanctified by the grace of the Holy Spirit, is in
the position to feel and to love that which is holy,
(39:08):
and to live from it.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
And for it.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
So you see, there is a pathway or a formula
that I'm releasing to you now that you be cleanse
from the passions, the darkness of sin, and being sanctified
by the grace of the Holy Spirit, are in a
position to feel and to love that which is holy,
and to live.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
From it and for it.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
People wonder and debate the grounding of morality and sin.
Sin is anything that distracts us from our path and
transformation into theosis or deification. Sin separates us from God,
even though we've been baptized, received chrismation, and are in
(39:55):
receiving the holy mysteries. If we make a choice for
our that he is not God blessed and we have
a problem, we've become incompatible with Him. But the good
news is God, knowing our weakness and but flesh, bestowed
these three ads YopE to aid us in our transformation process.
(40:18):
Number One, God has given us our conscience. Listen to it.
The conscience is telling you something. Now you can not
listen to it and go your own path. But God
is talking to you through your conscience. Number two, the
fact that when we detour from what God has revealed
(40:38):
to us and our conscience visibly reduces our physical and
psychological flourishing. It stunts our growth, our spiritual growth. And
by his mercy, He has given us statutes and laws
and commandments that acts as guardrails to keep us on
this royal path onto salvation.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Here in Florida, we have many roads with deep ditches
on both.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Sides to floor when it rains heavy here in Floyda,
that the runoff goes into these canals. But if you're
driving your car and you're staying on the road, you're
safe and there's no problem.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
But as soon as you start to veer into a canal,
it's a.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
Wreck and then you've got to get a record to
pull you out of the canal and hope you don't
drown in the canal. But as long as you stay
on the Lord's high way up holiness, keeping his statutes,
his laws, his commandments, which are guard rails, you will
stay on that royal path that leads on the salvation.
(41:40):
And that's my teaching this morning on holiness, the holiness.
We must walk to the holiness, the pathway that leads
to God. Walking in holiness onto God is what we
need to do, all of us. And we need help
and we've got that help the Holy Trinity, the Father,
(42:02):
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Thank you for listening to the O Glassome Light podcast.
We hope this program is encouraged you to fight the
good fight of faith and walk in the accordance with
the commandments of our Lord. May God bless you on
your journey to salvation,
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