Humbug!Originally Posted by Nang
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Humbug!
+'These things I command you, that you love one another.' - Jesus Christ
You have some strange notions of how Christians should act . . .
And they are not biblical.
SF is faithful to the Word of God.
Are you?
I do my best to treat other people with love and respect. I don't just constantly go around judging and condemning other people, which is all SF ever does, as demonstrated by this thread.
Humbug!
Tell me where the bible teaches a "Feast of the Entry."
It is better to stand faithful to the Word of God, than to charm people with feigned love and respect.
The former is practiced in order to save souls; the latter is practiced to deceive souls.
Duplicate post.
Yes, because you're the only one qualified to interpret the Bible, and your interpretation must be correct, and everyone else must always be wrong.
How did this thread get trolled by other "Christians?"
Calling oneself a Christian does not make it so. It's very easy to call oneself Christian-behaving as Christ, his disciples, and the saints is much harder, my friend.
Do you think it would be wrong not to celebrate Christmas or Easter?
I see something like this as morally neutral. "Let each be convinced in his own mind." My family celebrates both holidays but I somewhat dislike them because the secular is combined with the sacred in ways I'm not convinced are healthy (ie. people say the day is about Christ, yet it becomes about presents, or worse, an excuse to lie to one's children and tell them Santa exists.) I certainly don't think its "wrong" to celebrate Christmas or Easter as long as it is done to the glory of God. I see no issue with refraining either.
This post represents only the opinions of Christian Liberty and not the rest of the forum. Use discretion when reading
No. I just don't think that it's wrong to celebrate Christmas and Easter, and I've actually run across some Christians who believe that it's wrong to celebrate those holidays.
I honestly view this as kind of being like registering your marriage with the government. I don't think its "wrong" to do it. Its not a hill I'd die on if my prosepective mate felt differently than me on the issue. Its not like one option is sinful. But frankly, I'm not sure I see the point, and if it were up to me I might consider not celebrating them. I view these holidays as being somewhat secularized at this point, and there's something I'm not necessarily crazy about with these "half-holy" holidays if you know what I'm saying. I definitely don't think its sinful though.
This post represents only the opinions of Christian Liberty and not the rest of the forum. Use discretion when reading
Mass was enjoyable. It was fun seeing my kids enjoy waving the palm leaves. It reminded me of my own childhood experience with God.
The Gospel reading was the full Passion, from the Last Supper, to the agony in the garden, to the trials and tortures, to the crucifixion and death. The reaction of the soldier who said, "truly this was the son of God," still gives me goosebumps-- even more so as I get older.
TER we drove past the Orthodox Church and I said a brief prayer for the Orthodox Christians I know. My 3 year old son pointed excitedly at the Church and said, "Pizza House." They always have a lunch after Liturgy. One of the times we attended the Divine Liturgy, they had pizza afterwards. I have to admit, the Orthodox make the best homemade bread.
Last edited by RJB; 04-13-2014 at 10:02 AM.
If either of you were faithful to the word of God you'd know that it doesn't matter what day any Christian honors the Lord Jesus because God knows their hearts and whom they worship. The meaning of the day is whatever one believes it is and not the day itself that's evil. This is where your lack of spiritual understanding shows it's ugly head and also your inability to rightly divide the word of God.
Romans 14: 14 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
We have been given perfect liberty in Christ to seize any day or month of the year to honor and worship the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter what day or hour--no matter what anyone eats or doesn't eat--if what they do--they do in worship to the Lord---God honors that and is able to make them stand. Therefore--you Calvinists who have stepped upon the throne of God and judged the other brethren are condemning yourselves for doing so.
The church I grew up going to always had a potluck after services on sundays and after any other religious event. I think it is a great idea as it encourages socialization among the members --all my best friends and parents friends were members, the other adult men always liked when my dad came because he would play chess and backgammon with them during potluck -- and it also ensured that even the poorest members of the church got 1 really good meal every week and often leftovers.
Interesting. I had a Bible study with two guys who said that it was wrong to eat in church, and true Christians should never eat at church. I guess you didn't know that you committed a terrible sin by eating at church.
I want to see a Biblical quoteInteresting. I had a Bible study with two guys who said that it was wrong to eat in church, and true Christians should never eat at church. I guess you didn't know that you committed a terrible sin by eating at church.
We baptists always eat in church
This post represents only the opinions of Christian Liberty and not the rest of the forum. Use discretion when reading
If you're ever in my neck of the woods,stop by when the Antiochian ladies are having a bake sale...bestest hummus, flat bread, etc EVARR, all home-made.Mass was enjoyable. It was fun seeing my kids enjoy waving the palm leaves. It reminded me of my own childhood experience with God.
The Gospel reading was the full Passion, from the Last Supper, to the agony in the garden, to the trials and tortures, to the crucifixion and death. The reaction of the soldier who said, "truly this was the son of God," still gives me goosebumps-- even more so as I get older.
TER we drove past the Orthodox Church and I said a brief prayer for the Orthodox Christians I know. My 3 year old son pointed excitedly at the Church and said, "Pizza House." They always have a lunch after Liturgy. One of the times we attended the Divine Liturgy, they had pizza afterwards. I have to admit, the Orthodox make the best homemade bread.
I think this is one passage that they pointed to. I think they take it out of context.I want to see a Biblical quote
We baptists always eat in church
1 Corinthians 11:17-22
Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 19 For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 20 Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. 21 For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.
@TC- Yeah, that's completely out of context. The point was that some people were eating to excess while others went hungry. I've never seen that happen at a church potluck.
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In just a mundanes cursory reading of that: I don't think it would apply to a potluck where everybody brings what they can and shares it with every other member voluntarily.
Either way, I'm not too worried.
I'll have to find a reason to travel, my friend.If you're ever in my neck of the woods,stop by when the Antiochian ladies are having a bake sale...bestest hummus, flat bread, etc EVARR, all home-made.
A blessed Palm Sunday to my Christian friends who are celebrating today!
Here is a beautiful excerpt from St. Basil the Great (+ 379 AD) which I read today and wish to share with my fellow believers in Christ:
Truly You are holy and most holy, and there are no bounds to the majesty of Your holiness. You are holy in all Your works, for with righteousness and true judgment You have ordered all things for us. For having made man by taking dust from the earth, and having honored him with Your own image, O God, You placed him in a garden of delight, promising him eternal life and the enjoyment of everlasting blessings in the observance of Your commandments. But when he disobeyed You, the true God who had created him, and was led astray by the deception of the serpent becoming subject to death through his own transgressions, You, O God, in Your righteous judgment, expelled him from paradise into this world, returning him to the earth from which he was taken, yet providing for him the salvation of regeneration in Your Christ. For You did not forever reject Your creature whom You made, O Good One, nor did You forget the work of Your hands, but because of Your tender compassion, You visited him in various ways: You sent forth prophets; You performed mighty works by Your saints who in every generation have pleased You. You spoke to us by the mouth of Your servants the prophets, announcing to us the salvation which was to come; You gave us the law to help us; You appointed angels as guardians. And when the fullness of time had come, You spoke to us through Your Son Himself, through whom You created the ages. He, being the splendor of Your glory and the image of Your being, upholding all things by the word of His power, thought it not robbery to be equal with You, God and Father. But, being God before all ages, He appeared on earth and lived with humankind. Becoming incarnate from a holy Virgin, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, conforming to the body of our lowliness, that He might change us in the likeness of the image of His glory. For, since through man sin came into the world and through sin death, it pleased Your only begotten Son, who is in Your bosom, God and Father, born of a woman, the holy Theotokos and ever virgin Mary; born under the law, to condemn sin in His flesh, so that those who died in Adam may be brought to life in Him, Your Christ. He lived in this world, and gave us precepts of salvation. Releasing us from the delusions of idolatry, He guided us to the sure knowledge of You, the true God and Father. He acquired us for Himself, as His chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Having cleansed us by water and sanctified us with the Holy Spirit, He gave Himself as ransom to death in which we were held captive, sold under sin. Descending into Hades through the cross, that He might fill all things with Himself, He loosed the bonds of death. He rose on the third day, having opened a path for all flesh to the resurrection from the dead, since it was not possible that the Author of life would be dominated by corruption. So He became the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, the first born of the dead, that He might be Himself the first in all things. Ascending into heaven, He sat at the right hand of Your majesty on high and He will come to render to each according to His works.
+'These things I command you, that you love one another.' - Jesus Christ
We had awesome church this morning.
#NashvilleStrong
“I’m a doctor. That’s a baby.”~~~Dr. Manny Sethi
Blessed Palm Sunday to my my brothers and sisters celebrating today!
Hosanna! Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!
+'These things I command you, that you love one another.' - Jesus Christ
We have arrived at Holy Week and the Passion of our Lord. His life-giving Passion began at Bethany, from the village of Martha and Mary. This is where He set out with the little donkey and His disciples in order to make His entrance into Jerusalem. We witness Him Who sits upon a throne of glory simultaneously sitting upon a throne of humility. This is what our Lord wanted to teach us by mounting this humble animal: humility.
With His humility our Christ prompted everyone down here on the earth—even the small children—to sing praises: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Mt. 21:9). With His humble entrance before the multitudes of people, He moved and shook up all of Jerusalem. “Who is this person?” exclaimed everyone who was unaware [of what was taking place]. All the people raced to cut branches from palm and bay trees in order to lay them down before His path.
Yet, take a look at how the things of this world change so quickly. On Sunday the crowds were crying out, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is He who comes,” as well as many other things; four-five days later, however, they shouted, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” (Jn. 19:15). This is how things are on the earth. Nothing is stable. One moment the world exalts a person and the next moment it degrades him. Man is unstable; his works are unstable; his thoughts are unstable; everything in his life is unstable. The humility of our Christ is truly remarkable! It is awesome! We witness the God-man humbly and unpretentiously seated upon a young donkey. His holy example is such a beautiful lesson for us. As we proceed through the most sacred week of His Passion, His supreme humility becomes even more pronounced. We see Him enduring tortures, ridicule, and slaps. We watch Him suffering the hardship of imprisonment, lifting the Cross, and eventually falling to His knees from the weight of the Cross. Who can fathom that God on earth was slapped by a human hand made of clay, by the hand of the creature whom He fashioned with such beauty, perfection, and wisdom! This person whom He [initially] created as “a god by grace” upon the earth afterward raised his hand and hit God! If our child were to hit us, we would rise up and protest, “How you dare hit me? Your mother, your father…?” But what is a mother or a father when compared to God on the earth? They are just fellow human beings made of clay.
This is where the beauty of Christ lies: His humility! If He were not humble, He would not be God. He is not a dictator; He is not a ruler; He is not haughty. His glory is His humility.
An excerpt from The Art Of Salvation By Elder Ephraim of Arizona
+'These things I command you, that you love one another.' - Jesus Christ
Homily for Palm Sunday (St. Gregory Palamas)
The sermon below (Homily 15) was delivered by St. Gregory Palamas on Palm Sunday of a year between 1347 and 1359, in a church in the city of Thessaloniki.
“In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee,” said God through Isaiah (Isaiah 49.8). It is good today to speak these words of the apostle to your charity: “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6.2). “Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us work the works of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day” (Romans 13.12-13). The commemoration of Christ’s saving passion is at hand, and the new, great spiritual Passover, which is the reward for dispassion and the prelude of the world to come. Lazarus proclaims it in advance by coming back from the depths of Hades and rising from the dead on the fourth day just by the voice and command of God, who has power over life and death (John 11.1-45). By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, children and simple people sing praises in advance to the Redeemer from death, who brings souls up from Hades and gives souls and bodies eternal life.
“What man is he that desireth life and to see good days? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no guile: depart from evil and do good” (Psalm 34.12-14; compare 1 Peter 3.10-11). Evil means gluttony, drunkenness and dissolute living. Evil means love of money, being greedy for gain, and injustice. Evil means vainglory, arrogance and pride. Let everyone turn aside from such vices and do those things which are good. What are they? Self-control, fasting, chastity, righteousness, almsgiving, forbearance, love, humility. That by so doing we may worthily partake of the Lamb of God who was sacrificed for our sake, and so receive the earnest of incorruption, and keep it as an assurance of the inheritance promised to us in heaven. Is it hard to do what is good, and are the virtues more difficult than the vices? That is certainly not how I see it. The drunken, self-indulgent person subjects himself because of this to more sufferings than someone who restrains himself; the licentious person suffers more than someone chaste; someone striving to become rich more than someone who lives in contentment with what he has; the person seeking to surround himself with glory than someone who passes life in obscurity. Since, however, the virtues seem more difficult to us because of our love of comfort, let us force ourselves. “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,” it says, “and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11.12).
All of us, eminent and lowly, governors and governed, rich and poor, need diligence and attention to drive these evil passions away from our souls, and introduce the whole range of virtues in their stead. Farmers, shoemakers, builders, tailors, weavers, and in general all those who earn their living by their own effort and the work of their hands, provided they throw out of their souls the desire for riches, glory and pleasure, are truly blessed. These are the poor to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs. It was on their account that the Lord said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5.3). The poor in spirit are those whose spirits, or souls, are free from boasting, love of glory and fondness for pleasure, and therefore either choose to be poor in external things as well or else courageously bear involuntary poverty. Those who are rich and comfortable, and enjoy fleeting glory, and in general all who long to be like them, will yield to more harmful passions and fall into other worse traps of the devil, which are more difficult to deal with. When someone becomes rich, he does not lay aside his desire for riches, but increases it, grasping at more than he did before. In the same way, pleasure lovers, power seekers, the dissolute and the debauched increase their desires rather than renouncing them. Rulers and eminent men increase their power so as to commit greater injustices and sin.
That is why it is difficult for a ruler to be saved or for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. “How can you believe,” it says, “who receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (John 5.44). But if any of you are well off, or eminent or rulers, do not be dismayed. You can, if you wish, seek the glory of God and exert force on yourselves to stop the impetus towards becoming worse, to practice great virtues and to drive away great evils, not just from yourselves, but from many other people, even against their will. Not only can you act honestly and chastely yourselves, but there are many ways in which you can prevent those who want to be unjust and licentious from doing so. Not only can you show yourselves obedient to Christ’s Gospel and His teachings, but you can also bring those who are minded to disobey into subjection to Christ’s Church and its leaders according to Christ. This you are able to do, not just by means of the power and authority allotted to you by God, but by becoming an example of all that is good to those below you. For subjects become like their rulers.
Everyone needs diligence, force and attention, but not to the same extent. Those exalted in honour, wealth and power, and those who concern themselves with words and the acquisition of wisdom by means of them, even if they wish to be saved, are in need of greater force and diligence, since they are less obedient by nature. Exactly this can be clearly seen in the reading from Christ’s Gospel yesterday and today. The miracle performed on Lazarus openly proved the one who did it to be God. But whereas the people were convinced and believed, the rulers at that time, that is to say, the Scribes and Pharisees, were so far from being persuaded that they raged against Him even more, and resolved in their madness to hand Him over to death, although everything He had said and done plainly declared Him to be the Lord of life and death. No one can say that the fact that the Lord lifted up His eyes at that time and said, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me,” was an obstacle to their regarding Him as equal to the Father, since He went on to say, “I know that Thou hearest Me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they might believe that Thou hast sent Me” (John 11.41-42). So that they might know He was God and came from the Father, and also that He did not work miracles in opposition to God, but in accordance with God’s purpose, He lifted up His eyes to God in front of everybody and spoke to Him in words which make it clear that He who was speaking on earth was equal to the heavenly Father on high. In the beginning when man was to be formed, there was a Counsel beforehand. So now also, in the case of Lazarus, when a man was to be formed anew, there was a Counsel first. When man was to be created the Father said to the Son, “Let us make man” (Genesis 1.26), the Son listened to the Father, and man was brought into being. Now, by contrast, the Father listened to the Son speaking, and Lazarus was brought to life.
Notice that the Father and the Son are of equal honour and have the same will. The words are in the form of a prayer for the sake of the crowd standing by, but they are not the words of prayer but of lordship and absolute authority. “Lazarus come forth” (John 11.43). And at one the man who had been dead four days stood before Him alive. Did this come about by the command of the life-givier or His prayer? He cried with a loud voice, again on account of the bystanders, since He could have raised him not only by using His normal voice, but just by His will alone. In the same way, He could have done it from afar and with the stone in place. But instead He came to the grave and spoke to those present, who took away the stone and smelt the stench. Then He cried with a loud voice. He raised him in this manner so that by means of their sight (for they saw Him standing at the grave), their sense of smell (for they were aware of the stench of the man four days dead), their sense of touch (for they used their own hands to take away the stone beforehand from the grave, and afterwards to loose the grave-clothes from his body and the napkin from his face), and their hearing (for the Lord’s voice reached the ears of all), they all might understand and believe that it was He who called everything from non-being into being, who upheld all things by the word of His power, and who in the beginning by His word alone made everything that exists out of nothing.
The simple people believed Him in every respect, and did not keep their faith quiet, but began to preach His divinity by deeds and words. After the raising of Lazarus on the fourth day, the Lord found an ass, and, when His disciples had made it ready, as the evangelist Matthew tells us (Matthew 21.1-11), He sat upon it and entered Jerusalem, as had been foretold in Zechariah’s prophecy: “Do not fear, O daughter of Zion: behold thy king cometh unto thee: he is just and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass” (Zechariah 9.9; Matthew 21.5). The prophet shows by these words that this king in the prophecy is the only true king of Zion. “Your king,” he says, “does not arouse fear in those who see him. Nor is he an oppressor or an evildoer accompanied by shield-bearers and spearmen, trailing behind him a host of foot-soldiers and cavalry, passing his life in greed for gain, demanding taxes and tributes, and upleasant and harmful labours and services. By contrast, His banner is humility, poverty and lowliness, and He enters mounted upon an ass, without any human pretensions at all. He is the only righeous King who righteously saves. He is meek, and meekness is His distinctive work.” The Lord said of Himself, “Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11.29).
So the King who had raised Lazarus from the dead entered Jerusalem sitting upon an ass. Everyone, children, men, old people, immediately spread their garments in the way. They took palm-branches, which are symbols of victory, and went to meet Him as the life-giver and victor over death. They fell at His feet and escorted Him in procession, singing together, not just outside but also inside the precincts of the Temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David, Hosanna in the highest” (Matthew 21.9). “Hosanna” is a song of praise directed to God, which means, “Save us.” The additional words “in the highest” show that He is not only praised on earth, nor only by men, but also by the heavenly angels on high.
The people not only sang His praises and called Him God, but they subsequently opposed the Scribes and Pharisees’ evil purpose against God and their murderous allegations. For the latter were mad enough to say of Him, “This man is not of God, and since He doeth many miracles, if we let Him thus alone and do not put Him to death, all men will believe on Him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation” (compare John 9.16 and 11.47-48). But what did the people say? “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed be the kingdom of our father David that cometh” (Mark 11.9-10). By saying, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” they showed that He was from God the Father and that He came in the name of the Father. As the Lord said of Himself, “I came in the name of My Father” (compare John 5.43) and I proceeded forth and came from God” (John 8.42). On the other hand, by saying, “Blessed be the kingdom of our father David that cometh,” they showed that this was the kingdom in which, according to prophecy, the Gentiles too, and indeed the Romans, were to believe. For this king was not just Israel’s hope, but also the expectation of the Gentiles, according to Jacob’s prophecy: “Binding his foal unto the vine,” where “foal” refers to the Jewish people who were subject to Him, “and his ass’s colt unto the branch of the vine” (Genesis 49.11). The branch of the vine is the Lord’s disciples, for the Lord said to them, “I am the vine, ye are the branches” (John 15.5). By this branch, the Lord binds to Himself His “ass’s colt,” namely the New Israel of the Gentiles, who become sons of Abraham by grace. If, asked the people, this kingdom in which we have put our faith is the hope of the Gentiles too, why should we fear the Romans?
Those who were childlike in innocence but not in intelligence were inspired by the Holy Spirit to offer up to the Lord a faultlessly perfect hymn, and bore witness that, as God, He had brought Lazarus back to life after he had been dead for four days. When the Scribes and Pharisees, on the other hand, “saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the Temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were sore displeased and said unto the Lord, "Hearest thou what they say?” (Matthew 21.15-16). In fact, it would have been more appropriate for the Lord to put the same question to them, “Can you not see, or hear or understand?” To refute those who were complaining that He tolerated songs of praise that were fitting for God alone, He replied, “Yes, I hear those who, invisibly enlightened by Myself, declare such things about Me. But if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. Have you never read the prophecy that, ‘Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise’?” (Psalm 8.2; Matthew 21.16). This was another amazing fact, that simple, uneducated children should speak perfectly of the divinity of God made man for our sake, and that their voices should take up the angelic hymn. At the Lord’s birth the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth” (Luke 21.4), and now at the time of His entry into Jerusalem the children offered up the same hymn, “Hosanna to the Son of David, Hosanna in the highest” (Matthew 21.29).
Let us all, young and old, rulers and subjects, be childlike in innocence, that God may empower us to make a public show of the trophies, and carry aloft the symbols of victory, not just of victory over the evil passions, but over visible and invisible enemies, and may we find the grace of the word to help in time of need (compare Hebrews 4.16). The young colt which the Lord deigned to ride for our sake prefigured, although it was only one, the Gentiles’ obedience to Him and we, governors and governed alike, are all Gentiles come from them.
In Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female, nor Greek, nor Jew, but all, according to the holy apostle, are one (Galatians 3.28). In the same way, in Him there is neither ruler nor subject, but by His grace we are all one in faith in Him, and belong to one body, His Church, whose head He is. By the grace of the all-holy Spirit we have all drunk of the one Spirit, and have all received one baptism. We all have one hope and one God, who is above all, and through all, and in us all (Ephesians 4.6). So let us love one another. Let us bear with one another, seeing that we are members one of another. As the Lord Himself said, the sign that we are His disciples is love. When He departed from this world, the fatherly inheritance He left us was love, and the last prayer He gave us when He ascended to His Father was about love for one another (John 13.33-35).
Let us strive to attain to this fatherly prayer and let us not lose the inheritance He left us nor the sign He gave us, lest we should also lose our sonship, our blessing and our discipleship. If that happens, we shall fall away from the promised hope and be shut out of the spiritual bridal chamber. Before His saving passion, when the Lord entered the earthly Jerusalem, not just the people, but also the true rulers of the Gentiles, the Lord’s apostles, spread their garments in His way. In the same manner, let us all, rulers as well as subjects, lay down our natural garments before Him, by making our flesh and its impulses subject to the spirit, that we may be made worthy not only to see and worship Christ’s saving passion and holy resurrection, but to enjoy communion with Him. “For if,” says the apostle, “we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Romans 6.5).
To which may we all attain by the grace and love towards mankind of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom belong all glory, honour and worship, together with His Father Who is without beginning and the life-giving Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
+'These things I command you, that you love one another.' - Jesus Christ
The Triumphant Entry
By Dr. Haralambos M. Bousias,
Great Hymnographer of the Alexandrian Church
Triumph presupposes victory and victory a legitimate struggle and difficult battle. The crowned victor lauded by the crowds enters his homeland triumphantly through arches erected for his welcome.
In spiritual battles, which are much tougher than the worldly, military, local and national ones, since the opponent is relentless, tenacious and ferocious, the victor is accompanied by the eternal Victor, He Who told us "without Me you can do nothing" (Jn. 15:5), and is praised by the Holy Angels as he enters the heavenly places.
In order for Christ to enter Jerusalem triumphantly it had to be preceded by the resurrection of Lazarus. By this the God-man showed His divine hypostasis and his sovereignty over the living and the dead.
His triumph was the consequence of the recognition of His power by the people, those volatile people who at first turned up at the road and welcomed Him as the Messiah and soon after led Him to the Cross as a deceiver.
This entrance, however, was the beginning of His earthly martyrdom and death by the Cross, by which He put death to death and granted all of us eternal life.
And His martyric departure from this temporary life on the hill of Golgotha meant the final triumphant entrance into His heavenly Kingdom, the place "where he was before" (Jn. 6:62).
For Christ to enter triumphantly into our hearts it must be preceded by our resurrection from our passions and sins.
By this resurrection from the muck of our sinful life we indicate to Him our intentions to leave our earthly existence and the domination over us of the ancient deciever of the human race. The entrance of Christ into our hearts is the beginning of our salvation, which takes place through our pain, our sorrows and our personal ascent up Golgotha without complaint.
At Golgotha, we do not ascend alone, but have as our own Simon the Cyrene the Lord Himself, He Who enters our hearts always with our own consent, in order that we will not feel alone, and He assures us: "Behold I am with you always until the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20).
Then our martyric departure from this life will portend our final triumphal entry, since death is necessarily accompanied by pain and tears, to a place "where there is no pain or sadness or weeping, but interminable life."
The triumph of our Christ in Jerusalem, of He Who is "rich in mercy" (Eph. 2:4), the King of All and Word of God in the Highest, is a triumph of humility, a triumph of poverty. The Lord entered the Holy City sitting on a lowly donkey.
He did not hold a scepter or gold-trimmed staff in His hand, but with it He blessed the people. He came from a difficult to win battle, the battle against evil, falsehood, hypocrisy and avarice. He came from a battle and went into battle.
He was going into a tougher battle, not to be crowned with an everlasting or golden crown, but with a crown of thorns, and to be flogged, mocked and crucified like a criminal.
Trumpets did not sound the paean of victors ahead of Him as He entered, but He was followed by innocent children, a symbol of the simplicity of Christians, who cried out with all the strength of their souls: "Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord" (Mk. 11:9), and instead of flags they held palm and fig leaves.
The entrance of Christ in our hearts is a triumph of our own humility and simplicity and meekness. He Himself said this through the mouth of His Prophet Isaiah: "These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word" (Is. 66:2).
Christ enters our hearts with our permission not as a king, but as a loving father, as a savior. He monitors our humility, He monitors our efforts and ongoing struggles against the powers of darkness, and He enters our hearts to support them in the upcoming struggles of our lives, which when we see them approaching we flinch, despair, and our only resort is to call upon Him.
Human paeans are not heard at the entrance of Christ into our hearts.
The paean of our personal triumph is chanted by our lips, and from the fluttering of our hearts are expressed perpetual thanksgiving, "We hymn You, we bless You, we thank You, Lord!"
And instead of flags our hands hold the manuscripts of our sins, which we present to Him, that He may tear them up with the hands of His love, His philanthropy, His ineffable goodness. He Himself sought this when He said: "My son give Me your heart" (Prov. 23:26). For this tearing up He came into this world "to release all people of their debts", those who call upon Him daily: "Hosanna, blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord."
The entrance of Christ in our hearts, which makes our Guardian Angel dance with joy and heaven celebrate, alters our personal character and changes the course of our life.
Saint Epiphanius, Bishop of Constantia in Cyprus, tells us this, noting that the Lord comes to us full of light, where we are in darkness and the shadow of death, to lead us to light and life.
He comes to lift us who are fallen, to release us who are captives, to restore sight to us who are blind, to console those who mourn, to give rest to the weary, to quench the thirst of the thirsty, to vindicate the aggrieved, to encourage the desperate, to unite the divided, to healed the diseased, to bring serenity to the beleaguered.
For our personal triumph the Lord asks us to open the door of our hearts to Him and to ask Him to stoop down and dwell within us, saying:
Come, Lord, as victor, as triumphant, and "reside with us" (Lk. 24:29), that we may also come out as victors by Your power in all the battles of our lives. And as victors and triumphant through the battles You suffered, we may be found worthy to enter the dwellings of Your glory, and abide with You in Your Kingdom, which You prepared for we who are unworthy, since the beginning of the world, being good and a lover of mankind, that we may chant with Your Holy Angels the paeans of our salvific faith: One is Holy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
+'These things I command you, that you love one another.' - Jesus Christ
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