Notes on Arab Orthodoxy: Fr. Touma Bitar on Marriage in the Church

Notes on Arab Orthodoxy: Fr. Touma Bitar on Marriage in the Church

The man who does not love his enemies

The Holy Spirit teaches us to love our enemies, so that the soul pities them as if they were her own children. There are people who desire the destruction, the torment in hell-fire of their enemies, or the enemies of the Church. They think like this because they have not learned divine love from the Holy Spirit, for he who has learned the love of God will shed tears for the whole world.

You say that So-and-so is an evil-doer and may he burn in hell fire. But I ask you — supposing God were to give you a fair place in paradise, and you saw burning in the fire the man on whom you had wished the tortures of hell, even then would you really not feel pity for him, whoever he might be, an enemy of the Church even? Or is it that you have a heart of steel? But there is no place for steel in paradise. Paradise has need of humility and the love of Christ, which pities all men. The grace of God is not in the man who does not love his enemies.

O merciful Lord, by Thy Holy Spirit teach us to love our enemies, and to pray for them with tears.
O Lord, send down Thy Holy Spirit on earth that all nations may know Thee, and learn Thy love.

O Lord, as Thou Thyself didst pray for Thine enemies, so teach us, too by Thy Holy Spirit, to love our enemies.
O Lord, all peoples are the work of Thy hands; turn them from enmity and malice to repentance, that all my know Thy love.

O Lord, Thou didst command us to love our enemies, but it is hard for us sinners, if Thy grace be not with us.
O Lord, pour down Thy grace upon the earth. Let all the nations of the earth come to know Thy love; to know that Thou lovest us with a mother’s love,
and more than a mother’s love for even a mother may be forgetful of her children,
but Thou forgettest never, because Thy love for Thy creation is boundless, and love cannot forget.

O merciful Lord, by the riches of Thy mercy
save all peoples.

St. Silouan the Athonite

Still a Valid Admonition for Today?

Wherefore it is incumbent to obey the presbyters who are in the Church—those who, as I have shown, possess the succession from the apostles; those who, together with the succession of the episcopate, have received the certain gift of truth, according to the good pleasure of the Father. But [it is also incumbent] to hold in suspicion others who depart from the primitive succession, and assemble themselves together in any place whatsoever, [looking upon them] either as heretics of perverse minds, or as schismatics puffed up and self-pleasing, or again as hypocrites, acting thus for the sake of lucre and vainglory. For all these have fallen from the truth. - St Irenaeus, Against Heresies, IV 26:2

Craftily Decked Out

Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outwardform, to make it appear to the inexperienced (ridiculous as the expression may seem) more true than the truth itself. - St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Preface

Mormonism comes to mind. Cleverly disguised reinterpretation.

Of Guessing at Things Above.

"It is very shameful, and not only shameful, but very foolish, to take from things below a guess at things above, and from a fluctuating nature at the things that are unchanging, and as Isaiah says, to seek the Living among the dead." - St. Gregrory Nazianzen, Fifth Theological Oration, X

The discontinuity of being. It serves as a reminder to be very careful in looking around about (and at myself) and by analogy or deduction arrive at an understanding of God.

Providence and Freewill

Milton in the combox at Notes from a Common Place Book made a comment in passing in regards to God's decree and God's allowance of all that comes to pass. Without clarification such a statement could easily lead to misunderstanding and result in quite serious negative consequences. Let me make clear, my intent is not to put words in Milton's mouth, for I do not fully know his position. I do wish to briefly reflect on this subject here and for those interested we can have a conversation about this topic, and so as not interfere with conversation at Common Place Book (rule #1: never mess with ZZ Top!).

So let me just start by noting that it is important to make clear that by providence we are not to understand that everything that happens is a direct expression of God's will. To put in other words, an important distinction needs to be made between what God wills and what He permits. If this distinction is not made one falls into a dark theological fatalism, a theology of raw and arbitrary Power. We can see this in Reformation theology, in constructs such as limited atonement and predestination. A failure to understand real liberty within creation, without at the same time denying or diminishing God's freedom to will and sovereignty, leads to fatalism. As an aside, this is where a mere reliance on “physics and logic” and "theology by analogy" can easily mislead.

If one does not make this distinction every event is seen as a positive act of God's will and purpose, as if without such events God's plan would somehow be incomplete or not come to pass. There is no room for mere accident. We frequently see such unfortunate pronouncements made during the aftermaths of disasters and human suffering.

Note to Self

"We should therefore pay no attention to such as are deceived by sensory things, and should not uncritically follow those who remain attached to what is worldly because they have never given thought to spiritual realities. To rely upon such men, and to consider that they have made a wise choice in pursuing transitory pleasures, is to put our trust in those who lack any criterion for making a sound judgment; it is like using the blind as judges of color or the deaf as music critics" - St. Neilos the Ascetic