Atheist buses, God's Chocolates, but .... atheist Christians?

We are living in a demanding world. Demands for better education, demands for political rights, for the abolition of all forms of discrimination, for a superior quality of life; we even demand to be loved. Our entire contemporary civilization is based on demands. And we may protest, so we can have our demands met. And yet, something is missing. We can feel it every day, when we go to work, or when we try to sleep at night. Something is missing. We don't feel as though we are actually living. We sense there is a void - an existential void. And yet! We are Orthodox! We may go to Church, attend services, receive Holy Communion, go to confession... but something is always missing and we don't know what it is. To some, this void can draw them away from the Church, because they believe Orthodoxy is inadequate. Others simply pay no attention to this feeling and they repress it. In both cases, the reaction is exactly the same as that of atheists or of fellow-citizens who are indifferent to Ecclesiastic matters and who simply blot out pieces of their soul in order to conceal the existential void that they occasionally feel.

Recently, "atheist buses" made their appearance in London, through a campaign that was initiated by a young woman - a twenty year old atheist - a British woman called Ariane Sherine. Along with their human load, about 800 buses were also laden with an advertisement that said: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life". However, that slogan happened to be a response to a previous slogan by Protestants, which advertised....Hell! It was not advertising God; it was advertising the Hell that awaits those who do not believe in God. In Orthodox theology, "Hell" and "Paradise" are God Himself, and not some "boiling cauldrons of sulphur". That very same Grace of God is felt by some as a burning flame (love burns those who hate...), while others feel that it deifies them - refreshes them. The same thing is observed with chocolate: when one who is not allergic eats chocolate, it gives him a sensation of pleasure. But when one is allergic to chocolate, it will cause him pain and discomfort. According to Saint Isaac the Syrian, "the damned are 'chastised' by the whip of God's love... It is absurd for one to believe that sinners 'in Hell' are deprived of God's love, for God's love - which is sequential to one's knowledge of Him - is given to all, indiscriminately, but it acts in two different ways: it chastises sinners, and delights the righteous" [Homily 84]. The chocolate is not to blame; the problem lies in the organism's reaction to it. We choose to be allergic to God. The Orthodox Church provides psychotherapeutic means for curing the allergies of our soul against the "chocolates" of God's Grace... In Protestant theology however, Hell is nothing more than a place where God will be depositing the wicked, in order to punish them for their wickedness. That is the reason they especially like to stress Hell and threaten the unfaithful with it - i.e., we ,the "good guys". are warning you ,the "bad guys", that if you don't do what you must, then a hand will reach down and grab you, and take you away to a place of punishment. Be good, whether you want to or not, otherwise you will be tortured..

The fear of Hell is real in Orthodoxy too of course; if we do not want to be cured, we can choose to remain "allergic" to God. But this "fear" has nothing to do with God or His Chocolates, but rather with our own will to be cured. This type of fear is a creative one and it helps us in our struggle towards therapy, but it is also accompanied by the anticipated "reward" of enjoying chocolate in the future. After all, that is the reason we struggle to be cured. When "fear" is perceived with its Western inference, it becomes a fear of punishment; it is the ominous fear that "if you don't do what I want, you'll see what will happen to you", or, "if you're not good, I will torture you". Fortunately, our God is not a judicial God. Just like every parent who loves his child isn't even-handed. God's "punishments" are educative, but He does not desire to punish anyone - not even the worst pedophile or murderer. In the words of Saint Isaac the Syrian: "Do not refer to God as 'just', for God's justice is not made apparent in your works... He is benevolent, both towards the wicked and the impious." [Homily 60] He allows punishments to befall us, but not because He desires it. Thus, when the time comes, He will distribute His "Chocolates" to everyone, regardless whether they deserve them or not. He will hand out His chocolates to our common, human nature. He will not mete out His Judgment in the manner that we imagine, but as the Elder Paisios had said: ".... I mean, Christ will not say, 'hey you, come here! what have you done?' or 'you are going to Hell and you are going to Heaven'; but rather, each one of us will compare himself to the others and will proceed to where he knows is his place" [Elder Paisios the Hagiorite, Homilies, Vol.4]. Saint Simeon the New Theologian says exactly the same thing, when writing: "....and quite simply, when faced with that terrible Day of Judgment unto eternal life and in that ineffable Light, each sinful person shall see the one who is the same as him, and shall be judged by him." [On Repentance, Homily V, Sources Chretiennes 96, 434.]

Given the above clarifications, we can perhaps comprehend why the the atheists' exasperation is justified, to a certain degree. They object to the "religiose" Protestants' insistence on depriving them of their freedom! Because it is one thing to be afraid and to urge yourself to be cured of your deadly allergy against a sweet loving God, and another thing to be forced to do what you are told, or else "The Master" will submit you to torture. The former involves a freely-chosen struggle, and the latter involves enslavement to an oppressor. Since God is such a dynast according to that kind of theology, certain atheists were under the impression that with means such as this slogan, they would be signalling liberation as well as a path towards the joy of life.

That both Protestantism and contemporary Atheism have their roots in the 16th century may perhaps be a coincidence. But it also may not. Protestantism implies "protesting". It began as a protest against the arbitrariness of the Latin "Church", which demanded to have an infallible human - a Big Boss - in the place of Christ. That boss had taken it to himself to impose and to mete out - according to his judgment - both Hell and Heaven. The Protestants protested, and, instead of correcting the wrongs and returning to the Orthodox Tradition, they decided to protest against almost the entire tradition of the Saints and to hold on to only certain parts of it, selectively (for example the Holy Bible). Interpretation would again have meant human involvement, except that now, there wasn't just one "Big Boss", but many, smaller bosses. Each one of them protested against whatever didn't suit him personally, and would thereafter begin his own "church", demanding his own "truth".

In this sense, the contemporary atheist movement is likewise a "protest" - but of an extreme nature. They are no longer protesting against the Holy Traditions of God, whose aim was (and is) the healing of our soul's allergies; they are protesting against God generally, and against (whichever) Religion. This phenomenon began with the unweaving of the theological "Carpet" of the Latin "Church" by people inside her who sought worldly wages and knowledge, and ended in the rug being thrown out of the window altogether, since it was gradually ruined by the Protestants who had undone the biggest part of the fabric and left behind large gaping holes... The atheists of the West in turn regarded the shredded old rug a useless thing and threw it away altogether, demanding total freedom. They brought protesting to its natural end.

So, we now return to the "void" that we often feel inside us. I wonder, are we truly Christians? When someone once said to the Elder Sophrony "Elder, I have become a Christian!" he replied "I have been trying to for years, and I don't know if I have managed to." The Elder Porphyry spoke in the same way. Are we Christians? Do we look at Christ? Do we have any experience of His Uncreated Light? Do we at least see Christ in the person of our fellow-man? If not, then what kind of Christians are we? Is it really enough for us to be baptized? "No", says Saint Simeon the New Theologian.: "...Here I am again, addressing those who claim that they have the Holy Spirit without being sure of this, and who think that they acquired it inside them, through Holy Baptism. They, who think they possess the treasure (2 Cor. 4:7) but are aware that their self is entirely vacant of it; (...) those who admit that they felt absolutely nothing during Holy Baptism, but who nevertheless believe that from that moment, the gift of God has resided inside them and continues to remain inside their soul, without them perceiving it and feeling it; (...) and not only those , but also those who claim that they never had any awareness of the Grace of the Holy Spirit through theory ('sighting') and revelation, except through their faith and their contemplations alone, and who have not received Grace through experience but have held it inside them, by just listening to divine words. (...) If baptized ones “don Christ” (Gal.3:27), then what are they donning? God. So, doesn’t one who has “donned God” mentally understand and “see” what he has donned? (...) If the one who dons God doesn’t feel anything, then what has he donned? Therefore, to you, God is a…. “nothing”! (…) Because only the dead do not feel anything when they are being clothed and I am afraid that perhaps those who assert these things are indeed dead and naked.". [Saint Simeon, Ethical Homily 5, 'Orthodox Kypseli', Thessaloniki 1999].

It is like having a house - the house of our soul - in which, through Baptism and Chrismation, we have cleaned and installed Light inside! A huge lightbulb. We also have the lightbulb switched on. The house is flooded with Light. But sadly, we keep our eyes - the eyes of our soul - tightly shut! That Light does not exist for us! We move about in the house and we trip over things and injure ourselves. We are not actually blind; we just refuse to open our eyes and see. We don't want to. We don't try. The result is the same. Whether we have the Light (which we do), or we don't have it, nothing changes. The difference between us and someone who has no Light whatsoever (e.g. an atheist or unbaptized person) is that even if the the latter wanted to open his eyes, he would still not be able to see. He has not acquired electricity or Light. We (the baptized) can open our eyes whenever we want, and be able to see. If the unbaptized opens his eyes , he might just notice the Light in neighboring houses and wish to likewise install electricity and a lightbulb (=be baptized). But what about us? Where is our God? Where is our Light? Why don't we see it? God must indeed be a "nothing" to us, as Saint Simeon wrote. Aren't we in fact "atheist Christians" in that sense? We need only to open our eyes and see Him. God calls to us every day, every hour, every moment, to do just that. (See the chapter titled "Experience of God" from the book "The Gurus, the Young Man and the Elder Paisios", by D.Farasiotis).

We might say "But the Saints were special cases! Spiritual champions! What can we, the plain and ordinary athletes of Christ achieve?" Well, the Saints were also ordinary people like all of us. By idealizing them to such a degree might not imply respect at times, but also weakness and truancy from labours on our part. There are not only the "official" Saints; there are thousands of "next-door" saints who could well be even greater than many familiar saints. The Elder Paisios had spoken of a man working as a porter, carrying luggage, a lay person, who had actually resurrected someone from the dead or of a Greek-American family man , who, out of ignorance did not even observe the formal fasts, and yet, because of his love, patience and selflessness, was blessed with a vision of the Uncreated Light, without even realizing what he had seen! Finally, the learned and extremely educated fr.Nicholas Loudovikos had met simple folk in tiny villages talking about the Uncreated Light with unprecedented simplicity, as though it were an ordinary, everyday occurrence for them! All of the above incidents tell us that the sighting of God is neither that distant, nor is it only for the few and chosen. There may be a Saint, filled with the holy spirit, hidden inside the little old lady who is working, sweeping the stairs, next door to us, while we go searching for God in the mountains and the deserts.

Recently, while walking through the streets of London, I noticed that certain "Christian religious organizations" had likewise mounted their own responses on buses, in their passionate desire to answer the atheists' message. It would have given me great joy, if I had seen a bus with an Orthodox response, such as:

THE GRACE OF GOD IS PARADISE TO THOSE WHO LOVE AND HELL TO THOSE WHO HATE.

IT IS HIS UNCREATED LOVE. GET TO KNOW AND LIVE PARADISE, IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE

-The Orthodox Church-

or maybe even:

HELL IS A HATEFUL 'ALLERGIC' REACTION AGAINST THE UNCREATED LOVE.

IF YOU WANT FREE THERAPY AGAINST HATE POISONING, PLEASE CONTACT US.

-The Orthodox Church-

Source: www.oodegr.com   Article by:Thomas F. Dritsas

My brother/ My self

Understanding Who I Am

The man made his way into the psychiatrist’s office for his first visit, taking a seat in the big easy chair. Balanced on top of his head was a fried egg, and two strips of bacon crisscrossed over his ears and hanging down between his eyes. He said nothing, seemingly impervious to his strange headpiece. The psychiatrist, totally nonplussed, began, “Just what is it that seems to be your problem?” “Oh,” he said, “I’m not here about myself—l need to talk to you about my brother!” We all have difficulty seeing ourselves for who we are. The problem, it would seem, is with the other fellow. Jesus recognized this when He said, “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (Matthew 7:4).

Who Am I?

What is man? A dozen different answers could be given to that question, depending on one’s viewpoint. The divine answer is that man has been made by God and is made in God-like fashion (Genesis 1:26-28). Man is the crowning act of God’s creation. What does it mean when the Bible says that man was ”made in the image of God?” Well, it does not mean physical likeness, because God is a spiritual being (John 4:24), No, it means that God reproduced in man His own nature, and gave to man, singularly among all creatures, the ingredients of personality—will, intelligence, emotion.

The primary principle that motivates God is love-for “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Love is the driving force of the Deity. It splays over into all His activities and attributes. It is the mainspring that moves the heart of God, and is the deep underlying force that governs God’s actions in the universe.

And this is precisely how man was made. He was given a personality (will, intelligence, and emotion) just like God’s and made to operate in the same way—being motivated by love. Gods image can therefore be seen in man in the sense that God made man like Himself to be ruled, governed and fulfilled by the pure quality of love.

How God Designed Man

lt is important that we understand this. Man can never understand why he behaves the way he does until he understands who and what he is. And our needs as human beings can never be fully realized until we are rightly related to God. We have a design deep within us that revolves around a center that is love-related—and that love is not a selfish, human love but a love that comes from God Himself.

Life was made to orbit around the central force of God’s meaning for our lives, and anyone who tries to order his life around any other pivotal point will become bored, restless, frustrated and unfulfilled. He is not functioning as God designed. No man can know a meaningful existence on this earth until God rules at the center of his life.

How did Satan attack the first human pair in the garden? He came to the woman and made an appeal based on her self-interest. He posed the question, “Has God really forbidden you to do that?” She began to wonder whether she was really missing out on something. The more she thought about it the more it created doubt in her own mind that God was really good, and it encouraged her to seek after that which God forbade.

Man’s Real Problem

This is exactly what sin is all about. It is choosing our own way rather than God’s way. People often think of sin as the performance of specific acts: murder,adultery, lying. Actually these are only symptoms of an inner disharmony. Man’s basic problem is that he has dethroned God from the center of his being and has in turn enthroned self-interest, egocentricity and self-worship in place of the Almighty.

We must see this at the root of all of our problems with our brother or our self. Man is designed by God with a personality that only operates smoothly when fed by His love. When he separates himself from that stream of eternal love and seeks to run his life on another motivation which is basically egocentric—he has denied the nature of the man whom God created.

Sin must be seen as refusing God a rightful place in the center of my being. It is saying to God, “I want to run my own life. I don’t want you telling me what to do.” It is only as we deal with this deep problem of egocentricity that we can solve the related problems with brother or self, and move forward to live our lives according to God’s design. There is nothing more vital in life than for me to deal honestly, fairly and righteously with my brother / my self.

Brett Lewis, CHRISTIANITY MAGAZINE JANUARY 1984

WHO IS KNOCKING AT MY DOOR?

In times of despair we need someone, to hold our hand and give us a good word. A hopeful word. We turn to our family, or to a very close friend. Sometimes, no one is really there, or no one is really able to understand what we go through. But still there is  thunders and storms in our soul. Sometimes we feel that our heart is like a volcano ready to explode.

We sometimes, most of the times or all the times forget that we have a Father. A Presence that is Present! Always.. Like the sky above, like the sea in front of our feet. We feel a complete loneliness and even if we know that He exists, we still turn our back and believe that there is nobody around. Jesus Christ, the Living God, is always there.. Looking into our eyes, touching our hands with his gentle and warm hand. All we have to do is "open the door" of our hearts and the Light we'll merge!

When we are inside a room with all windows shut, when outside is daylight, we feel night inside. And the night is keeping everything in its dark veil. One move.. that's all we have to do.. One step.. open the window, and then .. the Light of the Day, the Light of the World will dress the place.. and our mood!

I felt the need to write these words, because as an Orthodox Christian, my first thought allways, since I was a kid, was this: He is the Way, the Truth and the Life! What more to say or think. We walk on His Way to find Truth and to Live! He let's us walk on this path to find the Highway.

How can you describe a color? You just look at it and feel how it makes you feel.

We don't have to think and torture our minds.. All we have to do is what we do as humans FEEL!

Exorcism in the Orthodox Church

Rev. George C. Papademetriou, Ph.D.

THE DOCTRINE OF EVIL

To understand the Orthodox view and practice of exorcism, one must know the Orthodox presuppositions of evil and its doctrine of Satan. The patristic evidence points to the fact that the cause of evil in the world is the devil. The devil was created by God as an angel, who was free, and as a free agent chose to oppose the plan of God. That is, the devil is a fallen angel. Satan is not evil by nature, but by will and action. In Satan there is no truth whatsoever; he is absolute falsehood and deception. Satan is not just a negation or deprivation of good, but a positive force with free will that always chooses evil. The devil has the ability to recognize divine power, as in the incident of recognizing Christ as the Son of God (Matt. 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-3). Satan has under his leadership legions and invisible powers, with their own "satanic teachings." The devil and evil spirits know that God exists and recognize true and devoted Christians, but pious Christians discern the plans of the devil. The devil, however, constantly employs every method of deception to enslave man to satanic forces and causes rebellion against God. He is the cause of corruption and disorder, a parasitic power in the world that will ultimately be destroyed by the power of God in the "last days." Because there is no compromise between God and the devil, the struggle will continue until the end.
The Orthodox doctrine of God is that He is eternal, uncreated and incorporeal. All other creatures, both visible and invisible, were created by God as free. The power of the devil will ultimately be destroyed by the resurrection of the dead and the renewal of creation. Salvation from all evil will be attained by obedience to God and His plan. This world is a battleground between the acceptance of good and evil. It must be pointed out that the world as the creation of God is not evil. What is evil is the satanic power, destroyed by the power of the cross and the resurrection of Christ.

THE ORTHODOX TRADITION OF EXORCISING

After examining the doctrine of Satan in the Orthodox Church, it is imperative to proceed to the method of repelling and exorcising the evil powers. In the New Testament, Christ sent out His apostles to heal and to "cast out devils" (Matt. 10:8, Luke 10:17-20). Christ Himself often expels demons from the possessed (Mark 1:23-27; Luke 4:33-35, 9:43; Matt. 10:1; Mark 16:17; Matt. 7:22). The New Testament, however, rejected popular uses of magic incantations and rites to expel the satanic powers from people, because they took advantage of superstitious religiosity (Acts 19:13).
In the name of Christ, one is able to cast out demons and to destroy the evil powers (Matt. 10:8). The Fathers of the Church accepted this doctrine and expanded on it. Justin Martyr (Apology 85, 2) says that in the name of Christ, the Son of God who was crucified and rose again, every demon that is exorcised is defeated and submits (Library of the Greek Fathers and Church Writers, Athens: Apostolike Diakonia 1955, Vol. 3, pp. 288-89). The satanic powers are destroyed through the power of the cross and the name of Christ. Objects possessed by demons, when exorcised in the name of the living God, are freed from the possession of evil. The patristic evidence is abundant in the belief in possession and expulsion of the devil by the power of the word of God (Ignatios, Epistles to Philippians 3 and 12; Library of the Greek Fathers and Church Writers, Vol. 2, pp. 333 and 336; Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 4:14; Library, Vol 8, p. 82; Origen, Against Celsus, 6:44; Library, Vol. 10, p. 93).
The demonic possession of individuals and even of objects, has been accepted by the Orthodox Church today in the Sacrament of Baptism, in exorcising satanic powers in the case of the evil eye (vaskania), and in exorcising the devil in the case of a possessed person. In the early Church exorcisms were performed by a person especially trained and appointed to pray to drive out evil from those about to be baptized. Since the fourth century the place of the exorcist, as well as other functions and ministries, have been taken over by the priest. The exorcisms are prayers that invoke God to expel evil spirits. The priest prays to expel all evil, the spirit of error, of idolatry, of covetousness, of Iying and every impure act that arises from the teachings of the devil. The renunciation of the devil in baptism is used in every baptism that is performed in the Orthodox Church.

VASKANIA

The exorcism of satanic powers is also performed by the Orthodox Church in other rites, such as that of the evil eye (vaskania).
Vaskania is simply a phenomenon that was accepted by primitive people as fact. They believed that certain people have such powerful feelings of jealousy and envy, that when they looked on some beautiful object or individual it brought destruction. Vaskania is recognized by the Church as the jealousy and envy of some people for things they do not possess, such as beauty, youth, courage or any other blessing. The Church essentially rejected Vaskania as contradicting the concept of divine providence. The prayers of the Church to avert the evil eye are, however, a silent recognition of this phenomenon as a morbid feeling of envy. The Church forbids people to go to "readers" or other individuals for use of magical rituals to overcome the evil eye. These readers take advantage of the weakness of superstitious people and destroy them spiritually and financially by playing upon their imagination.
There is also a secret rite performed by superstitious people to avert the evil eye, which verges on magic. Though the Church encourages even the laity to pray and exorcise evil, it rejects magical practices and rites. This secret rite is described as follows: "The exorcist (not a priest but an old woman) prepares a vial of olive oil and a small glass of water. She dips a finger in the oil, rubs it in a sign of the Cross on the victim's forehead and lets one drop fall onto the water; she repeats the process, making a cross on the forehead, on the chin and both cheeks. If the devil is indeed present, the four drops of oil in the water join to form the ellipsoid shape of an eye. The ritual then calls for the reading of prayers and repeating the four signs of the Cross; the drops of oil will not join in the water, but will disperse."
The possession of individuals by the devil and demonic powers and the cure in the name of Christ is evidenced in the New Testament (Acts 3:2-8, 9:32-42; 20:7-12; Matt. 10:8; Mark 16:17-18). The Church continues in its liturgical rites what Christ enacted in His ministry. The Church recognizes the influence of evil and renounces it in the name of Christ in prayers and fasting. The prayers of exorcism in the early Church were offered by special ministry through the exorcist. This is evidenced from the early prayers that have survived. From the fourth century onwards, the ministry of the exorcist has been fulfilled by the priest.

ORTHODOX PRAYERS OF EXORCISM

All the Orthodox prayer books include prayers of exorcism used by priests to fight the power of evil. The Orthodox Book of Prayers (Euchologion To Mega) includes three prayers of exorcism by Saint Basil and four by Saint John Chrysostom. They are read "for those who suffer from demonic possessions and every other malady." Through these prayers, the devil is exorcised (renounced) "in the name of God Almighty and the Lord Jesus Christ, and commanded to come out of the victim, who is liberated and redeemed by the eternal God from the energies (powers) of the impure spirits. The great ills that humanity suffers are attributed to the devil and demonic power."

From the Orthodox theological point of view, the following can be considered exorcists:
1. Christ is the exorcist par excellence for it is He who won the victory over the power of the devil.
2. Priests in the performance of the holy sacraments and in preaching the word of God follow Christ's example.
3. All Orthodox Christians are exorcists as they struggle against personal sin and social evil. In fact, "the whole Church, past, present and future, has the task of an exorcist to banish sin, evil, injustice, spiritual death, the devil from the life of humanity." Archbishop Iakovos, in a sermon at the Sage Chapel, Cornell University, spoke on exorcism in the following manner: "Both healing and exorcising are ministered through prayers, which spring from faith in God and from love for man.... All the prayers of healing and exorcism, composed by the Fathers of the Church and in use since the third century, begin with the solemn declaration: In Thy Name, O Lord.' " (Exorcism and Exorcists in the Greek Orthodox Tradition, March 10, 1974.)
In summary, the four prayers of exorcism by Saint John Chrysostom and the three of Saint Basil ask in the name of God to deliver the possessed from the captivity of the devil. Some can be healed by faith accompanied by fasting and purification. The use of exorcism must be made with discretion and great care. (For details, see G. Papademetriou, "Exorcism and the Greek Orthodox Church," in Exorcism Through the Ages, New York: Philosophical Library, 1974.)

Copyright: © 1990-1996 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America