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Life in community Part IV / True unity in Christ (video)
Post date: 2013-03-09Autor: BCP
Life in community Part IV - True unity in Christ / + Elijah - Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
Life in community Part III / Ministries in the community (Eph 4:11) (video)
Post date: 2013-03-08Autor: BCP
Life in community Part III - Ministries in the community (Eph 4:11) / + Elijah - Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
Life in community - Part II ...walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4) (video)
Post date: 2013-03-07Autor: BCP
Life in community - Part II ...walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4) / + Elijah - Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
Life in community - Part I (video)
Post date: 2013-03-06Autor: BCP
Life in community - Part I / + Elijah - Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
Reflection on Romans 8:5-8
Post date: 2013-02-16Autor: BCP
The Scripture often speaks about the spirit, soul and flesh. The powers of the soul are intellect and will. As a result of original sin, reason can hardly know the essence of the truth and the will is weakened and hardly inclined to pure good. This infection of original sin wounded the heart of man and destroyed the inner harmony. The consequence is that the heart succumbs to disordered passions, selfishness and self-love. The Scripture refers to the heart as “deceitful above all things” (Jer 17:9) and as “the heart of stone” (Ez 36:26). God promised to give us a new heart (Ez 36:26).
PRAYER IN URGENT NEED
Post date: 2013-01-23Autor: BCP
It involves seven days of prayer. In case of a very serious problem the prayer can be said repeatedly for seven weeks. The Holy Spirit descended on the fiftieth day. The fiftieth year was the year of the Lord’s favour. “Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” (Jn 16:23)
Reflection on Romans 8:1-4
Post date: 2013-01-19Autor: BCP
What does it mean: “…what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh…”? When was the law not weak through the flesh? Before sin acquired domination over man. God’s law commanded Adam in Paradise: “You shall not eat … for you shall die!” When he disobeyed God’s law, the punishment of the law came upon him, and Adam died. From that time on, humanity has been ruled by the law of sin and death.
Seven prayer stops during the day
Post date: 2013-01-03Autor: BCP
God’s Word says: “Seven times a day...” (Psa 119:164). Both the Old- and the New-Testament Tradition present a daily prayer rhythm. This rhythm was kept by St. Paul and the Apostles. Similarly, St. Basil emphasized the need for prayer stops during the day in the life of every Christian. Unfortunately, nowadays Christians do not have the daily rhythm of contact with God. After many prayers and prayerful quests for actualization of the Church tradition at the present time we propose the following proven way of prayer. It is a prayer 7 times a day: when getting up, at 9:00 a.m., 12:00, 3:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m. and when lying down. How are we to pray and why?
Reflection on Romans 7:20-23
Post date: 2012-11-24Autor: BCP
The whole chapter seven speaks of laws: the law of God, the law of sin and the law of the Spirit. Which of these laws works depends on whose territory we are. If we are in Adam, that means in our corrupt nature, our spirit is under the rule of the law of sin.The essence of freedom is our abiding in Christ. “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (Jn 8:36) “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.” (Gal 5:1) How to abide in Him? Through earnest repentance.
Reflection on Romans 7:16-19
Post date: 2012-10-27Autor: BCP
The Apostle Paul shows by his own example the reality of the law of sin. It’s a kind of mental pressure which forces him as well as every one of us to practise evil which we will not to do. The Apostle points out that the cause is sin that dwells in me, but the good that I will to do does not dwell in me. This is, as it were, a little unfair.
Reflection on Romans 7:13-15
Post date: 2012-10-03Autor: BCP
Verses 13-19 speak of sin which took occasion by what was good to produce death in me. Through God’s commandment sin becomes exceedingly sinful. God’s commandment as such does not give the strength to overcome sin. Since our birth we have been in bondage to sin. Who sold us? The first parents did so because they were disobedient to God’s Word and believed the spirit of lies and death. Jesus delivered us from this bondage. By His death on the cross He defeated sin and the devil. Victory over sin is only in Christ.
Reflection on Romans 7:9-12
Post date: 2012-09-04Autor: BCP
Verses 9-12 speak about the law, the commandment, sin, death ... They reiterate that the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. It is said that when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Thus the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. Here the Bible points out the mystery of sin, revealing that sin even abuses God’s commandments. Sin deceived me and killed me through the commandment.
Reflection on Romans 7:7-8
Post date: 2012-08-08Autor: BCP
The law of sin can be compared to a factory for the production of deadly weapons. The manufacturers can use the most precious materials like gold, silver or platinum, but the product will always be a terrible instrument of death. Similarly, an unconverted man who has not given Jesus the first place in his life and not received His Holy Spirit may devote himself to holy things, interpret the Word of God, hold church office, but the result of his activity will always be spiritual death.
Reflection on Romans 7:5-6
Post date: 2012-07-09Autor: BCP
God’s Word says that we have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that is through Jesus crucified, and that we should walk in the newness of the Spirit. We who are united to Him in His death are the Mystical Body of Christ. Through His death we are dead to sin, but we have become dead to the law as well.
Be ready for God’s Judgment!
Post date: 2012-06-28Autor: BCP
Be ready for God’s Judgment! + Elijah Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
Reflection on Romans 7:1-4
Post date: 2012-06-11Autor: BCP
Rom 7:1-3: The first husband is the law. The second husband is Christ. The married woman is each one of us. The law convicts us of sin and thus condemns us to death. It makes requirements but does not give us the strength to fulfil them and justly convicts us saying that the wages of sin is death (6:23). Therefore, the Lord Jesus died for us to save us from death. Thus we are delivered from the yoke of the law and He, the Risen One, is the second husband. He does not dispense us from the requirements of the law; on the contrary, He requires an even more rigid adherence to the law in our hearts, but the difference is that He Himself – the Risen One, whom we now belong to, fulfils His requirements in us. “Abide in Me, and I in you ... without Me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:4-5)
Word of life – Rom 7:4
Post date: 2012-05-26Autor: BCP
“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”
Word of life – Rom 7:3
Post date: 2012-05-12Autor: BCP
“Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.”