Written by Greg Pantelidis BSc(Hons)
gregpantelidis@gmail.com
Can we achieve universal spirituality? Can we achieve universal love for God and universal love between persons?
Can we achieve a universal faith in God? Can we achieve universal turning to God?
Can Orthodox Christianity become the universal faith? Can all persons become members of Lord Jesus?
There are factions always in life. For each idea there are the acceptors, the rejectors, and the neutrals. We cannot expect there to be universal unity on certain ideas.
Each person has likes, dislikes, and neutralities. We are all different. Universal love is to accept this fact.
Are you one of the just or are you an unrepentant sinner?
Be just, returning good to good, forgiveness and good to bad, and good to neutrality. If you sin, repent, return, and confess.
Be ethical. Keep the ethical precepts. Repent of every unethical practice you practice. The ethical life is joy. The unethical life is guilt and sorrow.
Remember the great mystery of the Cross. The Cross is the death of unbelief, pride, lawlessness, despair, and false Gods. The Cross is the sacrifice of our reconciliation with our Creator. The Cross is the sign of our friendship with our Creator. The Cross is our power, our deliverance from sin and death, the source of our goodness, wisdom, and spiritual renewal.
Eating is not a sin. Overeating is. Having possessions is not a sin. Stealing and overpossessing is. Having glory is not a sin. Vanity is. Having romance is not a sin. Unchastity is. Being angry with sin is not a sin. Being angry with our brethren is.
Always think good and right. In every situation think good and right. From always thinking good and right you become a good and righteous person.
New Testament ethics is to show goodness to both friend and enemy. Goodness makes us kin to God. Goodness makes us free and happy.
What has value is goodness, wisdom and spiritual gifts. Not wealth, glory, or pleasure.
The good and wise person is like God. God is good and wise by nature, and a person becomes good and wise by participation in God.
We possess goodness and wisdom by grace and not by nature. Goodness and wisdom are not ours, but gifts of the grace of God.
Meditate on good things. Do not meditate on bad things. (See Phil. 4:8).
What are we doing? Have we abandoned goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts, and are seeking instead wealth, glory, and pleasure?
Are you a zealot for goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts? Or are you a zealot for wealth, glory, and pleasure?
Do you feel guilt for a wrong thought, a wrong feeling, a wrong word, a wrong sight, a wrong hearing, or a wrong practice? Then repent of it, confess it, and never again repeat it. Guard yourself, mourn, pray, be humble and contrite, reproach yourself, so that you never repeat it again.
If we recall the judgment that is prepared for rulers, no one would easily seek to be a ruler. The rulers of the Orthodox Christian Church will face a strict judgment. The rulers of the secular church await the day their love of wealth, love of glory, and love of pleasure, are accounted for. The day their tyranny is judged, and their harshness retributed.
Grace needs fuel to ignite. The fuel of prayer, meditation, good thoughts, reading, charity, service, words of consolation, altruism.
Some people choose wealth, glory, and pleasure. Some people choose goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts. What do you choose?
What is your focus? Wealth, glory, and pleasure, or goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts?
We are all sinners. The difference between the just and the unjust is that the just are repentant sinners, whereas the unjust are unrepentant sinners.
Do you want to be among the just or among the unjust?
Do you want to be just or to remain a sinner? Repent and confess and you will become just.
If you commune with God you will become good, wise, and filled with spiritual gifts. If you commune with the dragon you will become evil, foolish, and filled with dysfunction.
Do not seek wealth, glory, and pleasure. Seek goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
Let your goodness and wisdom shine, for the glory of God. (See Matt. 5:16).
Rejoice for the good and wise. Pity the evil and foolish. Pity the evil and foolish for their guilt and sorrow.
The more you give the more you receive. The more you greet the more you are greeted. The more you serve the more you are served. The more good you do the more good is done to you. The more you love the more you are loved. (See Gal. 6:7).
An abundance of giving brings an abundance of receiving. An abundance of greeting and blessing brings an abundance of greetings and blessings. An abundance of serving brings and abundance of service. An abundance of doing good brings an abundance of good doing. An abundance of caring brings an abundance of caring. An abundance of justice brings an abundance of justice. An abundance of mercy brings an abundance of mercy. An abundance of loving brings an abundance of love. An abundance of faith and humility brings an abundance of grace, goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts. (See Gal. 6:7).
The Lord gives all things. To those who seek Him, He gives an abundance of grace, goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts. Many times to those who seek Him, He also gives an abundance of wealth, glory, and comforts. Those though who only seek wealth, glory, and pleasure, lose grace, goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts. The seekers of wealth, glory, and pleasure become graceless, evil, foolish, wrathful, unmerciful, envious, hating, and dysfunctional. Seek God and you will have an abundance of all things.
When a person is tempted and begins to speak rudely reply to him always with humility and explanation, reproaching yourself and not justifying yourself. Say sorry for your error if you have erred, and explain yourself if you were not in error but were perceived to be so. Forgive the rudeness of your neighbor and seek to not repeat your error ever again.
Take responsibility for you sins. Take responsibility for your errors which tempt others. Blame yourself for your sins. Blame yourself for your errors.
The person who seeks God receives grace, goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts. The person who seeks God in a mystical way has all the wealth of the earth, all the glory of the earth, all the comforts of the earth. To the person who seeks Him God gives grace, goodness, wisdom, spiritual gifts, all earthly goods, and the goods of glory in the other life. Glory to God for all the goods we receive!
Do not cling to wealth, glory, and pleasure. Cling to goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
If you sin you must repent, confess, and make a firm decision to never repeat that sin again. (See John 8:11).
Do you have zeal for virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts? Or do you have zeal for wealth, glory, beauty, and pleasure?
Be humble, meek, merciful, and loving, and you will be like God.
Seek virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts, and wealth, glory, beauty, and comforts will be also given to you.
Have faith, humility, and obedience, and you will receive grace, virtue, wisdom, spiritual gifts, wealth, glory, beauty, and comforts.
Delays, errors, and injustice cannot sway love. Love has patience, forgiveness, mercy, goodness, logic, and understanding. Love is supported by humility, meekness, justice, and service. The loving are always joyful, peaceful, and good-thinking.
(Abba Dorotheos 13: 139, 21-30): “For we know concerning God that he loves and cares for His own creation, and He is the source of wisdom and knows how to govern our concerns, and that nothing is impossible for Him but all things obey His will. And we ought to know that everything He does, He does for our gain, and we should accept it with gratitude as we have said, as coming from a benevolent and good master, even if it is filled with suffering. All things occur with just judgment, and God the merciful does not overlook even our most minor suffering.”
Wrong thoughts make us suffer. Wrong feelings make us suffer. Wrong words make us suffer. Wrong practices make us suffer. Repent and confess all wrong thoughts, wrong feelings, wrong words, and wrong practices. Repent, confess, and vow non-repeat to be delivered from guilt, sorrow, torment, and suffering.
What you sow you will reap. (See Gal. 6:7). If you sow faith, fasting, charity, prayer, humility, obedience, chastity, you will reap blessing and salvation. If you sow unbelief, overeating, stealing and overpossessing, non-prayer, vanity, disobedience, and unchastity, you will reap non-blessing, guilt, sorrow, and loss of salvation.
Remember that Lord Jesus will judge our rights and wrongs. All our right thoughts, right feelings, right words, and right practices will be judged. All our wrong thoughts, wrong feelings, wrong words, and wrong practices will be judged.
How foolish are we people. Instead of God and His goods of grace, goods of glory, and natural goods, we prefer sin. Instead of life, joy, and blessing, we prefer death, sorrow, non-blessing and falsehood.
You may go above logic to the realm of faith, but you must not go below logic, to the realm of illogic. Practice both faith and logic.
We must seek atonement for all our sins. This atonement is the Cross of Lord Jesus. The Cross of Lord Jesus is the atonement for all our sins.
According to your level of attainment in virtue do you understand and speak at that level of virtue. For example, the initial, middle, and perfect humilities, are understood and spoken of by their practitioners. Do you understand and speak of the initial humility? Do you understand and speak of the middle humility? Do you understand and speak of the perfect humility?
Do no injustice to your neighbor concerning food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, or romance. (See Lev. 19:13).
We must pray for ourselves and each other so that God can help us. God respects our free will and helps when we ask Him. God does not help if we do not seek His help. Seek the help of God always, both for yourself and for others.
Are you a king or queen, or are you a slave?
Are you helpful? Are you loving? Helping and loving are the summary of New Testament ethics.
Love of neighbor means that we never judge or speak evil of our neighbor. We must only help, bless, and support our neighbor. Love makes us only speak good and right. Love makes us only see the good.
Let love rule your mind. Let love rule your heart. Let love rule your tongue. Let love rule your eyes. Let love rule your ears. Let love rule your body.
Is malice ruling your mind or is goodness and wisdom ruling your mind? Is malice ruling your heart or is love ruling your heart? Is goodness and truth ruling your speech or is malice ruling your speech?
When you encounter wrong words and wrong practices do not be agitated. Forgive, pray, think good, return right words and right practices, do not have rancor, do not go out of the rule of love.
Keep the Orthodox Christian Faith not only in your thoughts, feelings, and words, but also in you practices. Remember to think as an Orthodox Christian, feel as an Orthodox Christian, speak as an Orthodox Christian, and practice as an Orthodox Christian.
Are you a materialist or a spiritualist? Materialists seek wealth, glory, and pleasure. Spiritualists seek God, virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
The good tree bears the good fruit of greetings, givings, servings, and loving. The bad tree bears the bad fruit of non-greetings, non-givings, non-servings, and non-loving. (See Matt. 7:17).
If your neighbor is tempted and speaks a wrong word, expresses a wrong expression of countenance, or practices a wrong practice, forgive him and return to him right words, right expressions, and right practices.
Recall the major poisons: unbelief, overeating and overdrinking, stealing and overpossessing, vanity, lying and reviling and criticizing, disobedience, and unchastity. Recall the major virtues: Faith, fasting, charity, prayer, humility, truth- speaking and blessing and edifying, obedience, and chastity.
Are you hungry for virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts, or are you hungry for wealth, glory, and pleasure? (See Matt. 5:6).
Beware of the seven poisons: Unbelief, overeating, stealing and overpossessing, vanity, lying, disobedience, and unchastity. Practice the seven antidotes: Faith, fasting, charity, humility, truth-speaking, obedience, and chastity.
If you do good you have joy. If you do evil you have guilt and sorrow.
New Testament ethics is to practice goodness always, to speak goodness always, to think and feel goodness always. New Testament ethics is to practice goodness towards all, friend, enemy, or neutral.
We must remember that we have made a covenant with our Trinitarian God. A covenant which contains both give and take between the Trinitarian God and His people.
On Judgment Day all persons will be judged according to the covenant they have with God. Those who have the Conscience Covenant will be judged according to conscience. Those who have the Mosaic Covenant will be judged according to the Mosaic law. Those who have the New Covenant will be judged according to New Covenant law. Take note that those who willfully reject the New Covenant will be judged for this, and will be judged according to New Covenant law. For example, all Jews born in the time of the New Covenant will be judged according to New Covenant law. All Jews born in the time of the Mosaic Covenant will be judged according to Mosaic law. All those persons who have not heard of the New Covenant will be judged as of the Conscience Covenant, that is, according to conscience.
The true Orthodox Christian is detached from wealth, glory, and pleasure. The true Orthodox Christian rejoices in the success of his neighbor. The true Orthodox Christian rejoices for the wealth, glory, and comforts of his neighbor. The true Orthodox Christian rejoices in the virtue of humility, and does not seek any wealth, glory, or pleasure for himself. The true Orthodox Christian prefers the life of non-wealth, non-glory, and non-pleasure.
Be humble in mind and heart and you will receive grace, virtue, wisdom, spiritual gifts, wealth, glory, comforts, blessedness on earth, and eternal life in heaven.
Do you love humility or do you love glory? Do you love charity or do you love wealth? Do you love self-control or do you love pleasure?
On the day we depart from this world we will be judged, and if we pass the judgment, we will ascend into heaven.
Beware of wrong thoughts and wrong feelings. Remember that we incur guilt and must repent for every single wrong thought and wrong feeling we accept.
Repent and confess every single wrong thought you accept. Repent and confess every single wrong feeling you accept. Repent and confess every single wrong word you speak. Repent and confess every single wrong practice you practice.
Beginners must free themselves from the love of pleasure. Intermediates must free themselves from the love of wealth. The advanced must free themselves from the love of glory.
If you commit a transgression you incur guilt. To resolve this guilt you must repent and confess your transgression. The sacrament of repentance and confession resolves our guilt that is due to transgression.
With the help of God you can achieve all things. (See Phil. 4:13). If you seek you will find. (See Matt. 7:7). If you ask you will receive. (See Matt. 7:7).
Are you working for your salvation? Are you working for Lord Jesus, or are you working for the dragon? According to who you are working for will you be paid in this life and in the next life.
Do nothing in your religious life without the opinion and blessing of your spiritual father. (See Prov. 11:14).
The only person you need to rule is yourself. If you rule yourself you rule the whole earth.
Goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts come from obedience to God. The obedient are always joyful, always content, always useful, always helpful. Blessed are the obedient to God.
Practice obedience to God and have always good thoughts, and you will increase in grace, goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
What is your religious experience? Have you experienced the freedom in God?
Let you mind ignite with grace. Let your heart ignite with grace.
Let God sanctify your mind. Let God sanctify your heart. Let God sanctify your tongue. Let God sanctify your body.
What do you prefer? Grace, or wealth, glory, and pleasure?
Do not seek wealth, glory, or pleasure. Seek grace, virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
Seek Grace and all other things will be given to you also. (See Matt. 6:33).
The world seeks wealth, glory, and pleasure. The world is angry and sorrowful when it receives non-wealth, non-glory, and non-pleasure. The Orthodox Christian seeks grace, virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts. The Orthodox Christian is detached from wealth, glory, and pleasure.
The community of Orthodox Christians is the community of the humble. The community of the crucified to the world. The community of the believers in Lord Jesus. The community of the resurrected in soul.
The community of Orthodox Christians is the community of the sons and daughters of God. The community of the kings and queens of the earth.
The community of Orthodox Christians is the community of the sons and daughters of light. The community of the sons and daughters of the kingdom.
Seek your freedom from the love of wealth, the love of glory, and the love of pleasure.
Only Lord Jesus can free us from the love of wealth, glory, and pleasure. (See John 8:36).
Orthodox Christians rejoice always because they are betrothed to God and partake of grace, virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
The community of Orthodox Christians is a community of peace, grace, and blessedness.
The community of Orthodox Christians is a community of freedom.
The community of Orthodox Christians is the City of God, the City of the Saved, the City of Eternal Life.
