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by Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol –\nThe Gospel doesn\u2019t contain any obscure passages or anything that would cause you to doubt its truth. The Gospel is the purest truth, the true light that comes from the Sun of Truth, Christ. <\/p>\n
by Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol –
\nThe Gospel doesn\u2019t contain any obscure passages or anything that would cause you to doubt its truth. The Gospel is the purest truth, the true light that comes from the Sun of Truth, Christ. <\/p>\n
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In our last talk, we looked at the content of the prayer of the Small Entrance and talked about the importance the Church attaches to every action in the Liturgy. And we stopped at the point when the priest makes the sign of the Precious Cross in front of the Royal Doors, saying: \u201cBlessed is the entry of Thy holy ones always, now and ever and unto the ages of ages.\u201d<\/p>\n
After that, the deacon raises the Gospel, which he carries during the Small Entrance<\/b>, and exclaims: \u201cWisdom! Aright!\u201d By raising the Gospel, he therefore points to it, drawing the gaze of the faithful to it. \u201cWisdom\u201d refers to the Gospel, since it\u2019s the word of God, true wisdom, the light of this world. <\/p>\n
The reading of the Gospel will follow soon, so the Church calls us to stand upright. We pray mostly standing up in church during Liturgy. In our private prayer at home, we can prostrate ourselves, kneel and pray for long stretches in a bowed position. But in church, during the Divine Liturgy, we should stand upright on our feet. The Church established this because we\u2019re children of God; every one of us is the image of God, and it\u2019s fitting that we gaze upon our Father standing upright.<\/p>\n
We hear the exclamation, \u201cWisdom! Aright!\u201d often during the services.<\/b> And that\u2019s no accident. Every time the Church proclaims, through the mouth of the deacon, \u201cWisdom,\u201d it\u2019s rousing us to turn our attention, our mind and heart to true wisdom. We see a lot around us that has the guise of wisdom: various philosophical trends, ideologies, theories, and the like. It\u2019s always been like that\u2014every era had its own thing. However, the true wisdom that should guide those who desire to be with God is the word of God. The word of God is every word that God speaks to us through the Prophets, Apostles, the saints of our Church, but it\u2019s especially the words of the Gospel, describing the life and preaching of our Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
Therefore, it\u2019s important for all of us to read the Gospel and know how the Church and the Holy Fathers understand it<\/b>, so it can serve as a yardstick and criterion for our lives. We often wonder if our words or actions are right, or if we should behave differently. If we would read the Gospel and know the New Testament, we\u2019d have ready-made answers. After all, the word of God through the Holy Apostles shows us the character and disposition of Christ\u2014the disposition that every man who desires to live in Christ should have. The Gospel doesn\u2019t contain any obscure passages or anything that would cause you to doubt its truth. The Gospel is the purest truth, the true light that comes from the Sun of Truth, Christ.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m often asked: \u201cHow do we know that everything Christ taught is true? And why aren\u2019t the teachings of other religions true?\u201d It\u2019s a logical question. <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s my answer: Take the Gospel, read it, study it, and everything will become clear.<\/b> Everyone can and should undertake this research. The Gospel itself urges us to \u201csearch the Scriptures\u201d (Jn. 5:39). We shouldn\u2019t be passive and indifferent. We should have the desire to find and comprehend the truth. Great riches and precious treasures are concealed within the word of God. To find these riches, you must, figuratively speaking, arm yourself with a hoe or shovel and start digging\u2014that is, studying and researching the word of God.<\/p>\n
For a man who has a good will and healthy spiritual sense, this reading will convince him of the truth of the Gospel. Because, as Christ says: The light shineth in darkness (Jn. 1:5). Light can be seen in darkness. Imagine if all the chandeliers in this hall went out and we lit one small candle. Its light will be seen in the darkness even from far away. However much darkness there is in your soul, even one ray of Gospel light will overcome the power of this darkness.<\/p>\n
When you read the Gospel, you come to understand that Christ is the \u201ctrue Light\u201d<\/b> (Jn. 1:9). Everything else is human, carnal, and simply doesn\u2019t compare to the true light of the Gospel. In saying this, I\u2019m not trying to disparage or condemn the scriptures and sacred writings of other religions. No, we come to this conclusion on the basis of our own experience, our own research. Nothing can stand before the light of Christ. It possesses a truth, inherent to it, that nothing can replace.<\/p>\n
Every twenty to thirty, forty to fifty years or so the world is seized by one or another ideology (political, philosophical, religious, whatever) promising to reveal the great secret of success to mankind. But over time, all these ideologies become obsolete. Just as the sun sinks toward the horizon, dips below it, and disappears, so it is with ideologies. Christ\u2019s true light, though, is a light that never sets; it knows no sunset.<\/p>\n
When I lived on the Holy Mountain, I had occasion, as a confessor, to speak with young people who were interested in Eastern religions. I got the desire to see what the sacred books of Hinduism were about, and I asked our Elder Joseph if he\u2019d bless me to read them. The Elder blessed it. Someone brought me the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita, and some others\u2014about a dozen books, and I started reading them. From the first pages, I had a feeling like I was sinking into a dark abyss. Darkness! Pitch black! And how much I pity those who suffer in this darkness. Meanwhile, the Gospel may seem simple at first glance, but in reality it contains an immeasurable depth of meanings that are revealed to those who study the Gospel correctly.<\/p>\n
What does it mean to study the Gospel correctly?<\/b> I definitely don\u2019t mean intellectual research. The Gospel contains a mystery that God reveals to a man at a certain point in his life or reveals it constantly throughout his life (God alone knows how He does it), thanks to which he plunges into the depths of the Gospel. Recall how the Evangelist Luke, in describing the disciples encountering the Risen Savior, notes: Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures (Lk. 24:45). <\/p>\n
Although the disciples spent three years with Christ, and being pious Jews, they read and heard the words of Scripture many times, nevertheless, until the moment they couldn\u2019t penetrate the depths of their meaning. They heard the Scriptures, understood them with their minds, but they couldn\u2019t comprehend them with their hearts. It\u2019s only possible to penetrate into the depths of grace contained in the words of the Gospel through the gift of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
The Gospel is the purest truth.<\/b> Comparing the teaching of Christ with that of other religions convinces you even more of what a pure light the Gospel is. In comparison with this light, everything else looks like darkness\u2014just as sunlight looks like darkness in comparison to the Uncreated Light.<\/p>\n
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There\u2019s a remarkable case in the life of Elder Paisios the Athonite. When the Elder was laboring in Katounakia, one night during prayer, he was vouchsafed to behold the Uncreated Light for several hours. When he finally came out of his cell and met the monk who lived next door, he asked him:<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it really not dawn yet?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFather, it\u2019s 11:00 in the morning, almost noon,\u201d the other monk answered.<\/p>\n
But Elder Paisios thought the sun hadn\u2019t even risen yet, because after contemplating the Uncreated Light of Divine grace, the created light of the sun seemed like real darkness.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the Gospel is no way comparable to human attempts to connect with God, to create some kind of religion. After all, what is religion? It\u2019s a man\u2019s attempt to explain God to himself, to draw near to Him, to propitiate Him, to make friends with Him. That is, it\u2019s the movement of man towards God. The Gospel moves the other way\u2014the movement of God towards man. God reveals Himself to man, and man labors to heal his soul, to become capable of receiving and assimilating God\u2019s revelation. <\/p>\n