SS Constantine and Helen

THE APPRECIATION OF GOD’S ABUNDANCE

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:19:51 +0000

In the Gospel of John 6:1-15 we read a wonderful story of how Jesus feed 5,000 hungry men with two fish and five loaves of bread that a small boy gave Him. Jesus took the loaves and the fish, gave thanks, blessed, and was not only able to feed the 5,000 men but also all those who were with them, but also, He had twelve baskets of leftovers, a marvelous sign of God’s abundance.

We need to see ourselves as the boy in the story, giving to Jesus our time, talents, and treasure, however small they may be, Jesus receives them, blesses them, and accomplishes so much more with them than you or I could ever imagine.

How wonderful is our Lord Jesus, Who takes and appreciates our gifts, multiplies them, and makes it possible for us to be His eyes, ears, mouth, mind, hands and heart, empowering us to serve Him in the world for which He sacrificed His life on the hard wood of the Cross.

URGENT PRAYER

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:18:29 +0000

A man was driving one day when they saw a tornado coming. He pulled the car off the road, got out and crouched in a ditch. The tornado was heading straight for him when suddenly it veered away and struck a small wooden house. Still shaking with fright, he got up and ran toward the house, which now was just a pile of wood. He looked into the pile and saw an old man holding on for dear life to a piece of timber, his eyes tightly closed. The man called to him to see if he was alright. The old man opened his eyes, looked around and said, “I guess so.” The man asked, “Was there anyone else with you?” The old man replied, “Just me and God, and we were having an urgent conversation.”

ORTHODOX TEACHING ON ABORTION

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:14:07 +0000

The Church bases its teaching on God’s revelation in the Sacred Tradition that comes to us from Christ and His Apostles, through the Church Fathers to present. The Orthodox faith maintains the teaching of the early Church without essential change from the past to the present for two thousand years.

The political state bases its laws on human constitutions and laws that change according to various philosophies of life. At one time, in the Roman Empire, abortion was legal and encouraged. After the rise of Christianity, abortion was made illegal, and its practice was limited. In recent years the influence of unbelief in Christianity reasserted itself, and abortion was again legalized. With the development of new medical techniques, the practice of abortion has become a business of tremendous proportions not only in ending the lives of millions of unborn babies, but of selling their body parts to companies for commercial exploitation.

From the beginning days of Christianity, abortion has been seen by the Church as the immoral murdering of an innocent life. In the “Epistle to Barnabas” a Christian writing of about the year 100 A.D., we are taught, “You shall not kill a child by obtaining an abortion. Nor, again, shall you destroy him after he is born.” The writer Athenagoras, writing in 175 A.D. says: “we say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder.” The 4^th century “Apostolic Constitutions” order, “You shall not slay your child by causing abortion, nor kill the baby that is born. For, ‘everything that is shaped and received a soul from God, if it is slain shall be avenged, as being unjustly destroyed’ (Ezekiel 21:23, Septuagint O.T.).” St. Basil the Great (330-379) teaches, “The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty of murder. The hair-splitting difference between formed and unformed makes no difference to us.” And the Sixth Ecumenical Council, one of the highest canonical authorities in the Orthodox Church orders, “As for women who furnish drugs for the purpose of procuring abortions, and those who take fetus killing poisons, they are made subject to the penalty for murderers.”

Writing to the Christians of Corinth, St. Paul said, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the truths that have been freely given to us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:12-13). As Orthodox Christians we have criteria and standards that are not “of this world.” Abortion is legal in America, but for us who are “taught by the Spirit,” it should not be a course of action.