PASSION WEEK OR THE GOD OF LOVE

From a spiritual and theological point of view passion week is a fundamental week in the past of humankind. This
week has made us think to God as to a God of love and not to a God of terror as the descriptions of God that we have
in the Old Testament. From the descriptions that we have of God on Mont Sinai at the meeting with Moses, it comes
out that God was very much “fearful” for men in the ancient times. The description of the laws of Moses are a fearing
aspect in past of the Semitic nations. God was showing Himself with fire and thunderbolt.
The Golgotha and the redeeming death of Son of God have introduced for the first time the notion of “God as love”
which was taken the most by Saint John the Theologian as we have mentioned. We all want to think of God as a God
of love and as a God that we can love and who loves us. In the case of God, we do not speak of an opposite aspect of
the love of God as “hate” but as God as fearful or indifferent for the fate of man. Great week reminds us that we can
love God and that God can love us too. The way God loves us is very much conditioned by the openness of each
human person.
We must remember that during the Holy Week Jesus Christ the son of God has accepted the cross out of love for
man. This has made Saint John the Theologian in the book of Revelation to tell us that “God is knocking to each of us
and He expects us to open the doors of our souls to Him so we can have dinner with Him.” This image of God
knocking to the hearts and souls of each of us is very much a simple memory of the past. Today, we witness the most
the “agnostic aspect” of our relation with God. Agnostics are men who are not atheists but they do not have a
“working and passionate love for God.”
Passion Week is a week that many celebrate but many do not see the profound meaning of it. We hear that while
Jesus Christ the Son of God was on the cross there was a 3 hours or so darkness in the middle of the day. The
descriptions that we have from the Bible [Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint Luke and Saint John] were confirmed by
the Athenians who lived at the times of Christ who agreed that there was a 3 hour full darkness around the year 33
AD that was seen from Greece [the most descriptions that we have of this event we have them from Saint Dionysus
Areopagitos of Athens who in one of his epistles told that he was very much contrasted to see the dark in the middle
of the day around the year 33 AD].
The crucifixion of Christ that we are going to celebrate this coming Friday, is true took place many years ago [in the
year 2010 we commemorate more than 1950 years of this event], thus there are many who would say that is no need
to attend Church services and rituals this coming week.
We must know that God gave us history. The Church history is a sacred history. There is “laic” history and sacred
history. The history that concerns the Son of God Jesus Christ is not a common history. Orthodox Church is asking us
these days to come to our senses and attend as much as we can Church. Orthodox Church cannot beg men to attend
services. Orthodox Church can make us aware that we must come to meet with out Lord Jesus Christ somehow.
Whether we are in Los Angeles, Melbourne, Athens, Tel Aviv or Berlin we all know that there was a person that
some 2000 years ago made our relation with God profound and friendly. This was our Lord Jesus Christ.
This week tradition recalls the 8 last words of our Lord Jesus Chirst on the cross:
1. Father forgive them for they do not know what they do.
2. Eli eli lama sabahtanei [My God, my God why You have forsaken Me].
3. I am thirsty.
4. Today you will be with me in paradise
5. Woman behold your son
6. John behold your mother.
7. Father into Thy hands I commit my spirit.
8. It is accomplished.
These are the main aspects that the Orthodox Church is asking us to meditate this coming week.
Theologian Radu Teodorescu
Radu Teodorescu

Sinodul Îngeresc

“Dar într-o zi îngerii lui Dumnezeu s-au înfăţişat înaintea Domnului şi Satan a venit şi el printre ei.” (Iov 1, 6).

În general între creştinii ortodocşi se ştie că forma de conducere a Bisercii este Sinodul. Ce este un sinod? „Sinodul
sau Conciliul este o întrunire bisericească ai cărei membri sunt îndeosebi episcopi, ca de exemplu Conciliul de la
Calcedon. Întunirea lor este cauzată de apariţia unor probleme, a unor situaţii tensionate – uneori – şi au drept scop
dezbaterea şi luarea deciziilor ce se impun atât în privinţa credinţei cât şi a cultului şi a moralei. Termenul „conciliu”
(în Orientul creştin „Sinod”) numea întrunirile primelor comunităţi creştine (reprezentate de păstorii lor), întruniri în
care se dezbăteau şi se decidea asupra problemelor ce interesau viaţa bisericească. În aceste întruniri – manifestări şi
actualizări ale existenţei Bisericii – erau trasate legile fundamentale ale unanimităţii, fraternităţii şi comuniunii..”
Ortodoxia are multe motive să creadă că forma sinodală de organizare a Bisericii este în special una a „ordinii
îngereşti.” Din mărtureiile scripturistice pe care le avem putem deduce că îngerii se adună în faţa lui Dumnezeu. Am
putea spune că îngerii cooperează cu Dumnezeu. Am putea vorbii la un anume nivel de o formă „sinodală” a
organizării îngereşti. Evident, despre îngeri se ştiu multe lucruri din cele mai vechi timpuri.
Textul din Iov de mai sus este un text amplu dezbătut în lumea teologiei biblice. Evident, mulţi nu mai cred în
autenticitatea lui. De fapt nici nu se crede că a mai existat cândva o adunare a îngerilor lui Dumnezeu. Oricum,
indiferent ceea ce se spune, îngerii sunt o formă de „comuniune” şi de comunitate. Am putea vorbii din punct de
vedere angeologic de comunitate îngerească.
Este interesat să studiem din ce în ce mai mult formele de organizare îngereşti. Formele de comuniune a îngerilor
sunt cât se poate de dincolo de mundanul nostru zilnic. Îngerii am putea spune că au un mod „superior” de comuniune
cu Dumnezeu. Comuniunea îngerilor cu Dumnezeu este o comuniune de grad spiritual şi una de nivel intelectual.
Rolul îngerilor este de a ne aduce la Dumnezeu dar într-un mod pe care Dumnezeu în voieşte. Cărţile de cult ortodoxe
sunt pline cu aluzii la existenţele îngereşti. Astfel, în mai toată imnografia ortodoxă se fac referinţe la existenţele
îngereşti şi la realitatea existenţei lor. Mai toată lumea ştie de existenţa îngerilor şi de modul în care subzistă îngerii.
La aceasta a fost mai multe referinţe în mediul occidental Toma Aquino în celebra sa Summa Theologică.
Evident, ortodoxia vorbeşte de o formă sinodală a manifestării şi organizării existenţelor îngereşti. În sprea ceastă
formă de fapt tindem cu toţii. Fie că suntem la un nivel mai mic sau la unul mai mare de cunoaşterea îngerească, cu
toţii dorim conştient sau inconştient existenţa şi modul de vieţuire înegrească. În spre acest mod de vieţuire
îngerească tindem cu toţii. La un anume nivel am putea spune că forma de organizare a îngerilor este una sinodală
fiindcă îngerii se adună din referatele biblice pe care le avem de fiecare dată când Dumnezeu îi cheamă.
Existenţele îngereşti sunt existenţe pe care trebuie să le studeim din ce în ce mai mult şi în studierea lor trebuie să
folosim în special ceea ce avem din tradiţie şi din resursele ortodoxe. Biblia afirmă existenţa fiinţelor îngereşti şi
manifestarea lor cât se poate de evidentă şi reală. Fie ca Dumnezeu să ne ajute să elucidăm cât se poate mai mult
sesnul existenţelor îngereşti care sunt atât de dezbătute de mai toţi teologii.
Teolog Radu Teodorescu

FEW THOUGHTS ON GREAT WENSDAY

Orthodox Church celebrates this day the great wensday. We call it „great” due to the fact that on this day our Lord
Jesus Chirst was sold by one of His disciples: as New Testament recalls it was Apostle Judas the Iscariot. There have
been written many things on Judas the Iscariot. Some condemn Judas, some try to defend him. In the terms of our
Lord Jesus Christ orthoox christinatiy considers that what Judas the Iscariot did was one of the most shameful things.
Evidently, we cannot judge Judas for what he did, but we can learn some things from him. Judas was a very
confusing person. From the descriptions that we have from the New Testament, it comes out that he was the kind of
person that was interested to gain financial benefits from practicing religion. He did not see in our Lord Jesus Chirst
the Son of God incarnate but a „source for financial gain.” His thinking was like he can use our Lord Chirst for
money. Today, we have many Judas so to say in our Orthodox Churches, men who attend worship so they can get
financial benefits.
The main sin of Judas the Iscariot was that he was blinded by his lust for money to the level that even the Son of God
was a possibility for him of gaining. Orthodoxy considers that love for money is a great sin. Money are good if we
use them for positive reasons. The exemple of Judas comes to tell us that we must not be „subjugated by the lust for
money,” to the level that we value God and religion by money. This is a great sin of our times, the love for money.
There are many today as in the case of Judas that think that „human life is worthwhile as much money it can
produce.”
Orthodox Church is against the conception that human life is reduced to money. Money is a great issue of our times.
We must know that in our relation with God, God does not need our money. If we want to make something pleasing
to God with our money we must be very careful and not adopt the Judas attitude: how much you pay me and I will
sell it to you. This is the great sin of Judas.
Evidently, our modern times need money, but we must use money with very good reasons. We must use money for
what is beneficial. We must know that all Holy Fathers of the Church tell us that God does not need our money. The
money true religions are asking are just symbolic. In our modern times as well as in the times of Judas the Iscariot the
temptation of money can lead us to spiritual dark. Love for money is a „spiritual dark” due to the fact that men value
life only by money and finances.
Judas the Iscariot is an example that we must not follow. We must not sell our religion for money sake. Evidently
Orthodox Church is opposed to any kind of shape of slavery. We all know the many examples of the ancient and
middle ages times when men were sold in slavery. What Judas the Iscariot did was very much a „selling of a slave”
meaning degrading human condiction to the lowest level possible.
Human history recalls Judas as the worst example of avarice and passion for money. Richness as opposed to poverty
are two main problems of our times. Orthodox Church is keeping the term of „balance” between richness and
poverty. Orthodox Church does not encourage by any means the „selling of human persons.” The biblical betrayal of
Judas the Iscariot was in fact a „seling into slavery.” This is why Judas the Iscariot is so much a negative aspect in
Orthodoxy.
The events concerning the life of Judas are a very much paradigms that we must use in order to improve our relation
with our Lord Jesus Chirst. During great wensday, Judas agreed that our Lord Jesus Chirst must be sold to the
Jerusalem religious authorities. We do not know for sure whether Judas was aware that the Israel Sanhedrin wanted to
execute to death our Lord Jesus. It is possible that Judas the Iscariot was subject to a „sabotage" or something of this
kind. This is so due to the fact that when he realised that he sold an innocent man to death he has hung himself.
Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church do not know exactly what were the reasons that made Judas to kill himself.
Gospel texts tell us that in the moment that he agreed to sell our Lord Jesus Christ the evil one took possesion of him.
Many holy fathers think that the way the evil one took possesion of Judas was by love of money. As we have said, the
love of money is a very sublte passion. The more money a person has, the more that person wants to the level that
existence means only money. Human life is above the lust for money.
Theologian Radu Teodorescu

ORTHODOX CHURCH ON GREAT THURSDAY

Great Thursday is a fundamental day in the religious calendars. Orthodox Church commemorates the Last Supper of
our Lord Jesus Christ and His capture in the Garden of Ghetzimani Israel. We know that Judas agreed to sell out Lord
Jesus Christ by giving to the religious authorities of Israel the identity of Jesus by a kiss. The kiss of Judas is a very
hard hermeneutical problem. The fact that Judas agreed to kiss our Lord Jesus Christ in order to sell Him, tells us that
he was not very much aware of what he was doing.
Great Thursday has in its main center still Judas the Iscariot. Great Thursday according to the Orthodox
understanding is the day when Old Testament so to say is over and begins the struggle for the New Testament. The
great religious authorities of ancient Israel were not fully aware that our lord Jesus Christ was the Son of God
incarnate. The high priest of the Jerusalem temple, Caiafas (‫ )יוסף ַּבר ַקָּיָפא‬had no matter what we think one of the most
difficult duties in the history of mankind. Caiafas the high priest was set with one of the most difficult challenges of
all times: to acknowledge publicly that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, the Son of God incarnate. There were many
who in those times though that this would be something that may lead to unexpected consequences.
Gospel text tell us that in the house and the temple of Jerusalem there was very much anxiety. Many crowds of those
times wanted to see if the truth about Jesus of Nazareth was not a lie and was He the Messiah that was expected and
was to come or He was a just a lie. As a desperate act of acknowledging that this issue was beyond his strength,
Caiafas the high priest or the Patriarch of Israel in those times, makes a last attempt to save what was left of the Old
Testament convictions.
The intention of high priest Caiafas when he has gathered the Israel Sanhedrin was to preserve the Old Testament.
Caiafas did not believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Caiafas thought that Jesus Christ was an ordinary man,
a carpenter from Nazareth who came to the capital Jerusalem for social reasons. This has made Caiafas to give to Our
Lord Jesus a “audience” so to say. The main problem with this “audience” was that Caiafas had a very clear intention
from the beginning. Jesus Christ had to agree with all the points raised for Him by the Sanhedrin. When the High
Priest Caiafas realized that our Lord Jesus Christ was a person that was not willing to agree with the main Judaic
convictions, his conclusion was that “it is better for one man to die other than a whole nation to perish.”
Evidently even today after some 2000 years of this event, we cannot condemn the high priest Caiafas for not being a
true Judaic man. High Priest Caiafas was a perfectionist, a man who valued his opinions more than other opinion.
This has made him to conclude that even the opinions of the Son of God must be one with his. We think that if the
high priest Caiafas would have been a reasonable and some how not “Judaic fundamentalist” the whole problem with
out Lord Jesus Christ could have been ended very simple. Caiafas saw “trouble” where there was no trouble. No
question the audience and the trial procedures made for our Lord Jesus Christ were very serious. We have reasons to
believe that at those times were present the most gentle and most educated men of Israel. High Priest Caiafas was one
of them.
Great Thursday commemorates the gathering of the elders of Israel to elucidate what was to be done with our Lord
Jesus Christ. Was He an impostor that came to jeopardize the Israel religious convictions? Was Jesus Christ an enemy
of the Roman rule present in Israel in those times? Was Jesus Christ just a dreamer and a man that did not know what
He was doing?
All these questions make us think that the people of the times of Christ were very much thinking that are better
probably even than God Himself. The Caiafas typology is very present today. There are many who being opinioned
do not want to let other opinions other than their own to be heard. The case of the Israel High priest Caiafas is a
historical case. The zeal of Caiafas for religion was very great but he was not an “open” person. In his conception all
religion had to be done according to his views. No other views were accepted. We actually came to suspect that high
priest Caiafas was expecting that even the Son of God had to confirm his convictions. When he realized that this was
not the case, he did not accepted and he was trying to get rid of the Son of God.
Theologian Radu Teodorescu
GREAT FRIDAY OR THE THEODARMA OF ORTHODOX CHIRSTIANITY

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2, 5/11).
Swiss theologian Hans urs von Balthazar (1905/1988) wrote some very famous theological volumes called: The
Theodrama. These volumes are very well known in Western Europe and are actually a theology made around the day
of the Passion of Christ, the Great Friday as the Orthodox Church calls it. In this day, our lord Jesus Christ has died
on a cross and as we know He has endured out of love for man the last condition of suffering. Great Friday is a Great
Paradox, a paradox of the love of God for man and in the same time of the rejection of this love of God by humans.
The Great Friday is a day of drama and a day of sorrow when we are reminded about the great stake that was the
redemption of man. Our Lord Jesus Christ has accepted the cross so He can save human nature. Cross has open for us
according to Orthodox theology the path for our salvation. By the example of the cross of Christ we are all called to
take our own cross and follow our Lord Jesus Christ in our way to God.
The cross of Christ tells us that those who lived at the times of Christ did not accept the love of God expressed
through His son incarnate. As we have mentioned this has become the cause of the Drama of the cross. Anyway, we
must address that Orthodox Church considers that is central in this day the cross of Christ. I will not write here on the
history of crucifixions, one of the most foolish things in the antiquity, but I will address that the crucifixion of Christ
is a dramatic chapter in the history of humankind.
Crucifixion was a legal punishment that was applied first by north Africans for those who committed great crimes.
First accounts of crucifixion we have them from the African city of Carthage that is somewhere in modern day
Tunisia. Thus, based on real facts, crucifixion was not a common Roman practice but mostly a African one. After
Roman empire has conquered Carthage, this death penalty was taken by Roman Empire and practiced in all its lands.
The territories of the Roman Empire at the times of Christ included Israel as we have mentioned.
At the times of our Lord Jesus Christ, Israel had a dual leadership: it was Israeli and in the same time Roman. As the
New Testament accounts tell us, Roman rule in Israel was not well seen. Israel nation wanted to gain its freedom by
all means. Orthodox Church commemorated the Great Friday when our Lord Jesus Christ was condemned and set on
the cross. About this event there are many things written. Thus, I will try to make actual here the sense of the passion
of Christ and the sufferings He has endured for out sake in this sorrowful day. Our Lord Jesus Christ was so to say
forced to carry His cross to the hill of Golgotha in order to be crucified for proclaiming Himself king of Israel.
Orthodox Church is asking us the need to commemorate the events of the cross of Christ and the suffering of the Via
Dolorosa. Our Lord Jesus Christ has accepted all the inhuman sufferings for the love of humankind. Orthodox Church
does not see the “dolorous” aspect of the crucifixion of Christ but agrees with the words of the New Testament that
the “cross was truly madness” and those who set Our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross were truly insane.
Orthodox Church has in its cult and worships a whole theology of the cross and of the crucifixion. Orthodox Church
sees crucifixion as madness and as irrational. Crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ must be a permanent memory for
us of how evil human condition can be if is not working in accordance with the will of God. I may be said that is
useless to write on the crucifixion of Christ since this event is long time gone and took place long time ago. Orthodox
Church considers that crucifixion was something that our Lord Jesus Christ has accepted it voluntarily. Our Lord
Jesus Christ went to the cross by His own will.
Orthodox Church is asking us this day to make the “lesson of the cross.” We have too see in cross of Christ the love
of God for us and for our world. Those who follow our lord Jesus Christ do not follow a easy path, they follow the
path of the cross. This path is a dramatic path, a path of suffering that leads to a superior knowledge of God. None of
us we would like to be set on a cross. No rational human person would like to die in the sufferings of the cross. This
is why across decades cross has been a controversial issue of our times. Great Friday sets in front of us the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow
Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's shall
save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son
of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:34-38
In the Great Friday our Lord Jesus Christ is asking us to assume our daily cross and follow Him in His way. This is
what our Lord Jesus Christ told us in His preaching: "And anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not
worthy of me." Mat 10:38. Great Friday is a day of deep sorrow a day when the sky was darkening some 1970 years
or so. During the times Our Lord Jesus Christ was on the cross there was no light on the sky as the Bible recalls it.
Cross was a dark aspect in the past of humankind, an aspect that not sane mind would like to see it happening again.
But in the same time cross of our Lord Jesus Christ was a victory over evil and the irrational of powers of evil. Our
human lives are gravitating around two great moral notions: evil and good. Cross was symbolically the victory of the
good over the evil. We all need the sense of the good in our lives. The Great Friday and the cross of Christ show to us
this great conflict between good and evil.
Theologian Radu TeodorescuGREAT SATURDAY A DAY OF SPIRITUAL SUSPANS

“Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and stand with fear and trembling, and take no thought for any earthly thing; for the
King of kings and Lord of Lords cometh to be slain and given as food for the faithful. [Then the Entrance] Before
Him go the choir of angels, with every principality and power, the many-eyed cherubim and the six-winged seraphim
covering their faces and crying out the hymn: alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.”
Orthodox Church, Cherubim hymn on Great Saturday

Some 2000 years ago on Great Friday [Friday before 14th Jewish Nissan, secular 14th April) our Lord Jesus Christ
was executed to death on a cross among two thieves from whom one he was repenting for the evils he has committed,
while the other no. Friday is over and it came Saturday when our Lord was set into a tomb and buried. All what our
Lord has done in His life, with His disciples and with the religious life of Israel seemed to have been failing. Apostles
of Christ were all loosing hope. Their Teacher was dead and it seems there is nothing that could be done to change
this fact.
Many theologians were asking what was happening with our Lord Jesus Christ on Great Saturday? Great Saturday
was so to say the Great Sabbath the great resting day of God, when God has stopped from all His works. Some more
information about the state of our Lord Jesus Christ on the day of the Great Saturday we find them from the liturgy of
Saint Basil the Great who tells us in one of his prayers: “The noble Joseph, taking down thy immaculate Body from
the Tree, wrapped it in clean linen with spices, and mourning, placed it in a new tomb. In the grave bodily, but in Hell
with the soul as God, in Paradise with the thief, and on the throne wast thou, 0 Christ, with the Father and the Spirit,
filling all things, thyself uncircumscribed. As life-bearing, as more beautiful than Paradise, and truly brighter than
any kingly chamber is shown forth thy grave, Christ, the fountain of our resurrection.”
Orthodox theology considers that our Lord Jesus Christ before He has risen from the dead was in hell with his soul.
The soul of Christ as any soul of all humans went to hell. Latin terminology calls this: DESCENSUS AD
INFERNOS. Inferno is the existence of the fallen angels who take all the souls that they can. Orthodox theology sees
as crucial the day of the death of Christ a day when the darkness of hell was destroyed. The soul of Christ went to hell
this is what we know for sure. But the abyss of hell could not bear the divinity of Christ. Hell is a place of the chaos
and of a endless torment. The perfection of the soul of Christ has entered into contradiction with this place of
perpetual torments and eternal evil.
Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church see in Great Saturday a day of a “unseen war” that took place when Christ went
into the abyss of nothingness. Death was the first great sorrow of Christ, but with this death came the consequences
of the existence of the soul of Christ. As human person, our Lord did have a soul. Great Saturday is the day when the
soul of Christ and His divinity has conquered the powers of hell. For Orthodox Christianity, there was an on going
struggle between the powers of the dark of hell and the powers of the good and light of heaven. For Orthodox
Christianity heaven and hell are two states that a soul takes after his departure from this world. Soul of Christ went to
the abyss. Only the Son of God could have stopped the existence of hell.
The theology of Great Saturday is a very difficult theology. This is why Orthodox Church is asking us to understand
this theology by the orthodox means and no by other means [Islamic, Buddhist, Hindus and many others]. Orthodox
Church considers that hell was founded by the devils who are fallen angels [the ones who have rebelled against God
and who were cast out from the face of God. The rebellion of the angels that made them devils is subject to a famous
French novel by Anatole France]. In Orthodox understanding hell was founded by the fallen angelic seraphim Satan.
Orthodox theology considers that before his fall Satan was a seraphim meaning one of the first angels in the angelic
hierarchy.
Fallen seraphim Satan is so too say the founder of hell. His hate for the existence of God lead him to hate humans and
to create death and hell. Our Lord Jesus Christ in his teaching said at one point that He saw Satan falling from heaven
like a thunderbolt. Causes for the fall of Satan are many. Old Testament considered that fallen seraphim Satan wanted
to make his throne above the place of God. Orthodox Theology tells us that with Satan there were some other angels
who at their fall became demons or devils.
Orthodox theology considers that in inferno or in hell there were many souls taken captive that were made to stay
there. All those from the first humans until Christ went to hell. Christ was the one that was setting the ones from hell
in heaven. As a consequence of the sin of the first humans, all humanity was sent by God in hell. Thus Orthodox
Church considers that our Lord Jesus Christ took out of hell those who were righteous but who were taken captives
into the bonds of hell.
Great Saturday is from spiritual point of view a great struggle and a great battle with the powers of hell that was made
by our Lord Jesus Christ. Great Saturday is a day of silence and a day of expectation. What we expect on Great
Saturday? We expect the coming of the Sunday of the Resurrection of Christ. In this Saturday we must pray for our
departed ones. On Great Saturday, even our Lord Jesus Christ was a departed one. Orthodox theology tells us that the
soul of our Lord Jesus Christ took the way of inferno or hell so He can set free all those from the darkness of hell.
Hell as opposed to heaven is two notions that lack very much from our contemporary language. The resurrection of
our Lord Jesus Christ is an example that these two spiritual realities are a truth and not mere mythology or fairytale.
Orthodox Church considers that there is going to be an after death punishment for those who commit evil. If men are
not punished in this world for the evils they commit they will be punished as Orthodox theology tells us in the world
to come.
Theologian Radu TeodorescuPASCAL MEDITATION

It is with great joy that I can write as much as many days God gives me on resurrection. The opposition of
resurrection is death. It is enough for us to go to cemeteries and see that death is a reality of our existence. There is
not much that we can do when we are confronted with death. Personally I have encountered some of the most
“horrific shapes of death.” Whether there is an incurable illness, a working accident, a natural or an unexpected
cardiac trouble, death tells us that our stay into this world is not eternal. Saint Paul the Apostle told us many years
ago that our life in this world is just a passing. Where we are passing? This is a very difficult question. Theologians
think that we are passing to God. For theology, death is a Passing into the existence of God. The main problem of this
PASSING OF DEATH is that death is unexpected. Whether there is a high official, a president, a writer, a sailor, we
all are going to fallow the GREAT PASSING, the passage of death. Man by itself cannot do much in front of death. It
is very much a reality that those who were assuming death by itself and not by God did not do much.
Death is a dark aspect of our existence. From a human point of view the last thing that a man does in his life is death.
No human words can express the joy of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. No question death is the greatest
enemy of man. We are all scared of death and we suffer great when we hear about out dear ones too see them taken
away by death. Death is the greatest problem of humankind. From the most ancient times men were afraid of this
passing of death. This has given us many “gloom philosophies”, “nihilistic philosophers and great thinkers.” All these
were in a way expressed into the wisdom of Solomon who in the Old Testament told us that “all is vanity and
blowing in the wind.”
If we look to our ancestors we will see this sense of “vanity and blowing in the wind.” Many makers of history, great
philosophers are nothing than bones in a grave. Orthodox resurrection comes to tell us that only God can give us a
concluding answer to the problem of death. By itself man is totally powerless in front of death. God has the key of the
problem of death. Orthodox theology tells us that God did not create man for death. Man has created death by his
disobedience of the will of God. While dearth is a great tragedy, resurrection is a great happiness. Orthodox Church
has the creed into the resurrection of the death and a world to come. How is going to be this world to come, the “new
age” of the future?
This is a very difficult question. We know for sure that from all among the many graves that we see in our
communities there is a n“empty grave” in Israel. This empty grave is the grave of our Lord Jesus Christ. This grave of
Christ is our only hope. This “empty grave of Christ” is the sense that one day humanity is going to resurrect.
Orthodox Church has the faith and the conviction in the full resurrection of all those who are reposed. Orthodox
theology tells us that God is sorry for the death of human beings. In the same time Orthodox theology deals with the
difficult issue of the final resurrection of all human beings.
From the most ancient times, men have believed in the resurrection of man. Resurrection of man is a difficult
doctrinal problem a doctrine that we must meditate and a very deep problem of our humanity. Our humanity is
subject to death and decay. This decay cannot be solved by man’s own capacities. The dogma of a universal
resurrection is a very debated issue from ancient times to modern theologians. New Testament specks of a “final
resurrection of all men.” This is the last hope of humankind.
Orthodox Church considers that our Lord Jesus Christ has opened the “doors of the universal resurrection.” We were
told by the Bible texts that there is going to be a universal resurrection. We do not know exactly all the details of this
resurrection and of the “new world” that is to come. Our Lord Jesus Christ told us that at His second coming, there is
going to be a time of “retribution” when those who have committed evil will be cast away from God while the one
who have committed good will be be existing always and forever with God.
Resurrection of Christ has separated human existence in 2 great sections: before and after Christ. By the mercy of
God we exist in the times after the resurrection of Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God incarnate is
accessible to us by the New Testament and all the saints that we know of them. Orthodox Church sees the day of the
Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ as one of the most fundamental days in the past of humankind. Full
descriptions of this great event we have them from the canonical sources of the New Testament and the Patristic
tradition of our Holy Fathers. First we know of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ by His contemporaries. We
know of the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ to two of His disciples: Luke and Cleopas on the way to the small
village of Emmaus Israel.
May the blessing and the joy of the two insignificant disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of us. May our
lives be “way to the Emaus.” The resurrection of Christ which is a fact that is attested as existed and not a SF novel
must be our main aim of our lives. Human lives without the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ are very much like a flower
who has lost its beauty or a water that is salted and we want to drink it when we are thirsty. We cannot drink water
from the sea. In the same way we cannot live a life without Jesus Christ.
Resurrection of Christ is a asking of all us to come and live with our Lord Jesus in the same way Saint Paul the
Apostle lives to the level that he as said: “I no longer live but Christ lives in me.” Resurrection day must open us to
Christ in the way Christ wants us too. Submission to the will of God must be full and not something that we can
argue. We can argue whether we would like to see a new store open, we cannot question the will and the volition of
God. Resurrection day must make us meditate to the life of God and more than this must make us contemplate the
risen Christ.
Theologian Radu TeodorescuPASCAL JOY OR THE SENSE OF THE WORLD TO COME

For those of us who are familiar with Bible doctrine and the Bible lecture, we can see that from the very pages of the
Bible, this famous book that is sold in millions of copies world-wide, there is mentioned the so called “fall of man” or
fall of humanity. The doctrines of the Bible see humankind as being in a state of “falling” or a state of “not being to
the place” where God indented humankind to be. Bible tells us that God created man in His image and likeness.
To write about the coming age or the coming world means for many to write SF novels. In the Orthodox creed we are
all told that “we expect the life of the age to come.” It is very difficult to write of the age to come. We know that
there is going to be a coming age. There are many who would like to see this coming age in very different shapes.
Orthodox theology calls these teachings of the coming age “eschatology.” From a very technical point of view the
“second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ means the new age or the new world that is to come. What we know for
sure about this “expected coming world” is that there is going to be a very profound separation between the evil and
the good. Good has many shapes. There is social, moral and economical and many other shapes of good.
As theologians we see the good of the world to come as the “good of the angelic.” New world is going to be a world
eventually that is based on the angelic way of life. This is why in Orthodoxy there is a way of the angelic way of life
that is “monasticism.” Monasticism is in a certain way a kind of foretaste of the world to come or the coming age.
World to come is very much the world of the angelic. This is why we must address here that many of our
contemporary habits are very far away of the angelic aspect of existence. In the New Testament we have a kind of
description of the world to come. At a certain point apostles of Christ asked our Lord Jesus Christ how is going to be
the world to come? The answer that our Lord Jesus Christ gave was that the world to come is going to be very much
like “the angels in heaven who never marry and are in perpetual service of God.” From a doxological point of view is
very easy to see the world to come as the world of a perpetual service given to God.
Angels of God find their sense of existence and the reason of their being in the service of God. As humans we are too
in the service of God but not to the angelic scale. We must come to experience the sense of the existence of the
angelic dimension. Angelic dimension is so to say the way we are going to exist in the world to come.
Pascal joy is not very much in deep sense the joy that a child finds when he gets his toy or the game he likes the most.
Pascal joy is very much a spiritual joy a joy that we do not experience with the earthly senses. Pascal joy is a joy of
the age to come. The resurrection of Christ is very much the sense of the joy that is to come.
Orthodox Church sees angels as being of joy, as spirits of joy. But this joy is a very deep joy, a joy of the time of God
and a joy of the future. Today we must come to experience the angelic joy as much as we can. We must come to
understand the spiritual joy of the angels not so much the “material joy of human endeavors.” The joy of human
beings is in Pascal times a joy of the angelic.
There is much need to write as much as we can on the joy of the angelic and of the angelic existences. In a certain
very high spiritual sense the joy of the angelic is the last aim of human existence from a spiritual point of view. There
is much need today to come closer to the life and the way of existence of the angels and of their way of existence.
Angels of God are some of the most profound beings. In Orthodox Church there is a discipline that studies angels that
is called: angelology. There is much need today that we must study angelology and to try to see as much as we can
the sense of the angelic in our lives. “Angelic calling” is a superior calling. To this angelic calling there were many
who gave obedience. Thus we know of the many monasteries and places of worship in the orient. There is also a
whole literature on the angelic dimension and stage of human existence.
Today we need so to say to keep up to day our angelology, our knowledge and resources on angels. We have many
canonical resources from two great saints of the Orthodox Church: this are saint John the Theologian and Saint
Dionisios Areopagitos from Athens. There is also the case with the famous western scholar Toma Aquino that is
agreed that is a Church Father but not a saint of the Orthodox Church. The angelology of Tomas Aquinas is one of
the most sounds in the Occident. But the whole teachings of Tomas Aquinas cannot be considered as being canonical
from an orthodox point of view.
The bases of orthodox angelology we have them in the Apocalypse of Saint John the Theologian. Orthodox Church is
addressing to those who want to go deeper into the angel related issues to stay with the tradition and to be aware of
the significance of the Orthodox spirituality. Angelology is something that we need to evaluate very well today.
Pascal times are in way a foretaste of the angelic way of being. Orthodox theology tells us that God created all by His
angels. Later one, since Saint John the Theologian theologians have developed a section in theology and mostly
orthodox theology of angelology. We must keep us much as we can out studies near the deep sources of angelology
and their way of seeing things. Orthodox Church has the cult of the angels. In Orthodox Church, angels are grouped
in a hierarchical way. This hierarchy has been agreed many years ago is leveled in 9 ranks.
Those who want to be Orthodox in their angelic approach must preserve this great orthodox truth that there are 9
ranks of angels. There cannot be any kind of Orthodox angelology if we do not confess this truth. Orthodox angelic
hierarchy is not so to say static: there is movement and dynamism in its existence. But from the canonical sources that
we have, we know that angels are obedient one to the other and accept each other in the communion of love. This is
very much the model for our social life. There are less sociologists today that see the angelic communion as a
communion of love and acceptance in forgiveness. If hard for us to think that angels hate one another or are are
setting themselves in mutiny one with the other. This is very much the foundation of Pascal joy.
Theologian Radu Teodorescu
WHY WE NEED SAINTS?

Those of us who are familiar with orthodox calendars will see that there is many saints in the Orthodox Church. To
holiness there are given many definitions. Thus a very simple definition to a saint is that “saints are individuals of
exceptional holiness who are important in many religions, particularly Christianity. In some usages, the word "saint"
is used more generally to refer to anyone who is a Christian.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint.
Thus, there are many saints that we know. There is thus a whole psychology of saints and their ways of being. Saints
are men of God, they are exceptional persons, persons that attain a very high level of virtue. In Orthodox Christianity
there cannot be holiness and saints outside the life in Christ and in Church. Holiness is a path that is open to many.
There is holiness in marriage, holiness in the environment and so on. From a biblical point of view the first saint of
humankind, also according the Judaic and Christian tradition is righteous Abel from the Old Testament. Abel is a
person that we forget today about him. Abel was a holy person, that we know about his existence from many Judaic
traditions.
From Abel to modern day saints such as Saint Nektarios of Aegina Island Greece, Siluan the Athonite, Justine
Popovici and many others, there is a very interesting development of the concept of holiness. Saints are men who
have experienced the communion with God to the deepest possible level. Thus our human society finds its models in
movie starts and super fashion Paris, London or Madrid models [male and female]. For many of our contemporary
brothers, the saints of the Church are something archaic and something that is not in tune with the “times.” We must
know that holiness is not a fashion that is in accordance with the times. From an orthodox point of view a saint of the
21st century is very much the same with a saint of the righteous Abel from the Old Testament. We know that Abel
was a man that was very virtuous and very God loving. This has created jealousy of his brother Cain who has killed
him.
Righteous Abel is at a very basic level a model of holiness for us. We do not read the lives of the saints too much
today as much as we read the most fancy novels that inspire us to what is the most vague and the most bizarre. There
cannot be any kind of holiness if there is not a virtuous life and a experience of the presence of God. Holiness in
orthodox terms is not up to a gender. A male can be in the same time a saint as a woman. Thus among the most recent
saints of our contemporary ages we know of Mutien-Marie Wiaux, Ursula Ledóchowska, Evelyn Underhill and many
other female saints. Holiness is transtemporal. In the time of the saints there is no so to say the difference of time
from past, present and future. Holiness is for us a glimpse of the eternity of the time of God.
From a saint point of view, righteous Abel from the Bible is very much the same in holiness with a contemporary
saint. We do not have to think to saints are eating pop corns and looking to TV serials and cinema productions as we
do today so they can be really saints. Holiness is not something that has to do with the electronic and computer
industry that we develop today and that has made our contemporary humankind so advanced from many points of
view as compared with the ancient times.
Saints are the same, whether are ancient, middle age or modern. In the experience of holiness, a saint is open to God
and only to God. This is why saints are a anticipation of the eternal time of God. Out time is limited. The time of God
is unlimited. In saints we can see this union of limited and unlimited temporal succession. Modern times see saints as
something that are not too much needed. Our times think that we do not need to have the concept of saints in out
vocabulary. Saints is a very good pedagogical enterprise, this is so due to the fact that a human social life that is
lacking saints is very much a society that does not see the difference between good and evil.
The discipline that studies saints and the life of the saints is called hagiography. Thus, a characteristic of saints is that
as different from ordinary men saints are not subject to bodily decay after are passing from out world. Thus, we know
of the case of Saint Nektarios from Aegina Israel in the Mediterranean sea who has beed subject to bodily decay only
after 30 years after his internment. Saints are person of virtues and high moral life. In the same time saints mush be
monotheist, meaning that in their life they must make the proof of the faith in a single God.
There cannot be from primary theological point of view holiness in a case of a polytheist person, meaning a person
that affirms the existence of many gods as was the case in the ancient times. Saints are not only monotheist but they
are in the same time ascetical persons, meaning person that do lot let themselves taken away by the “attraction of
sin.” Sainthood is in a certain way a “sinless life.” Also, holiness is the true sense of life. The life of the passions, and
of the lack of temperance is very much a “denial of life.”
There are many today who think that are very great men living a life that has nothing to do with the most common
notions of holiness and experience of God. Theologians think that if God has created humankind, God expects most
of humans to come to Him. We do no think that God is make us the path to holiness difficult and impossible since
God is our creator. But there are many today who love the easy path of a life that lacks God and the calling of God. A
most direct path that we must experience holiness is repentance. Those who have lived a sinful life, God tells us that
He expects our repentance.
In Orthodox Christianity repentance is a “state of existence.” By repentance we are aware of the “mistaking character
of man.” Man is not a perfect being. God is a perfect being. By repentance and a permanent state of repentance we
are aware that our life with God has the calling of the eternal. God is eternal, we are limited. The time of God is
infinity; out time is the minute, the second, and the hour. Saints are the ones that make this great distance between the
time of God and our time somehow more accessible.
Theologian Radu TeodorescuFEW THOUGHTS ON THE ASPECTS OF ANGELIC ARISTOCRACY

We all the most cultivated know about the issue of “aristocracy.” What is aristocracy? Aristocracy is a form of
government in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. The term is derived from the Greek aristokratia,
meaning "rule of the best". Thus, I will try to address here few thoughts on the issue of angelic aspect of aristocracy.
As we know and as we have written, there are many orthodox books that write on the issue of hierarchical way of
existence of the angels. This hierarchical way of existence of the angels is very much a kind of “aristocracy.” We do
not think that we are mistaking if we address that angels and the angelic realms is for us humans an “aristocracy.”
Angel, seraphim, cherubim and all the rest are for us in a way a kind of “spiritual aristocracy.” As we know there is
spiritual aristocracy and as well angelic aristocracy. It is very difficult for us to look to angels as aristocrats. Angelic
hierarchy is in a way for us a kind of “aristocracy.” We all need today to address the issue angelic aristocracy. We
understand by angelic aristocracy that angels are superior to us and we cannot but obey them. As “spiritual
aristocrats” angels are for us those who determine what is the sense of our spiritual existence.
To address the need for angels and their way of existence is for many an issue that does not have to be discussing
very much since we can determine our own spiritual paths. There is today in our religious life a very keen sense of
lacking the cult of angels. Bible affirms very strongly the existence and the role of the angels in our lives. The
problem is that from an orthodox point of view angels do not force no one to work with them. Man can fallow angels
and the angelic way of existence but in the same time, man can go on strange paths.
To follow the path of the angels means to fallow the path of “angelic aristocracy.” We know many biblical texts that
can support for us in a way this angelic aristocracy. Today we do not have to think too much to our human society as
a society of “ruling aristocrats,” but mostly as a society of ruling “angelic aristocracy.”
Angelic aristocracy is not the ruling of the money and of the lust for power but in many ways is the ruling of the ones
that are “spiritually developed and advanced.” Angelic hierarchy that is subject to many theological studies is for us
the model of social life. As much as we become aristocrats in the angelic way of life, we become for the most of our
brothers, the ones that can take us to superior some stages of existence. We all want to reach climax with our lives.
There is for us an open path of the angelic way of existence. This “angelic aristocratic” way of existence is for many
the path of the knowledge of God. Bible pages open for us a very minute aspect of the existence of the angels.
In the angelic existence there is no probability and lack of precision as is in our human lives. Angels are founders of
the universe. Their “aristocracy” consists in the millions of galaxies and planets that they have created. Angels are
creators of human matters and of human existence. They have assisted God in all the works God has done. Today we
need to refresh our awareness of the angelic realms and their “spiritual existence.”
Angels are spiritual existences. They are not subject to material obligations as we are. God has created all the cosmos
and all the perfection of the universe. Angels were existent before the earth with all his space was made. Angels and
their hierarchy know all what is going to happen with the lives of each and every one of us. Contemporary times
think to angelology as something that is no longer useful and no longer needed. We do not need no feasts to celebrate
the angelic existences since we are so much interested in our social and economical life.
Our existences were give to us by God through His angels. We all need to be thankful to the angels for the good they
have done and they continue to do for us. Human existences are subject to angelic discernment. Thus, from a strict
orthodox point of view who is really in control of our existences and who assist us are the angels and not we.
When we look to the perfection of the cosmos and of the created realm of existence we must know for sure that all
this vast creation was made by God and His angels. Angels give us life and they expect us to be grateful. Angels want
us to be very much obedient to God and to make His will and His commandments. We know for sure that angels were
present in an unseen way at the exit of the Jewish nation from the lands of Egypt. Due to the aspect of tyranny angels
have sent to death all those who have made the chosen nation of Israel to be sent to death. This is a historical
consequence of the angels who even today, gives to atheist and agnostics many thoughts.
The aristocracy of angels consists in the fact that they do not question as we do the will of God and the need to keep
the commandments of God. God gave us life. God has created universe and maintains the foundations of the universe
by His angels. To the angelic aristocracy man was called since man was created a little less than the angels. There are
many texts that we have from the cult of the Orthodox Church who agree with the angels have been supporting the
day of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Biblical texts tell us that the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ
was also assisted by angels. Our last calling and our most superior calling is the angelic calling and the angelic
existence. Only in understanding the angelic existence we will understand who we really are.
The eternal values of human beings, their birth and existence in this world cannot be understood without the aid and
the help of the angels. Angels are our spiritual guides and we must be obedient to them due to the fact that they reveal
the will of God. It is not enough for us to raise ourselves to the “awareness of the angels” we must raise ourselves to
the angelic calling and make this something permanent. Orthodox Church is setting in front of us the ‘cult of the
angels. There is thus, the cult of Archangel Michael, Gabriel, Saduchiel, Seraphiel, Sermiel, Berachiel and many
others. These seraphims, cherubims and the rest of their hierarchy have created all the cosmic space and they keep the
mysteries of the universe. There is for us open the knowledge of science but as well the knowledge of the angels. The
knowledge of the angels and of their way of existence is beyond our cosmos and our created universe. Angels know
better than each of us what is God’s aim with our created cosmos. Angels hold the key of understanding the
complexity of all that was made by God. Complexity of created existence must lead us to God and not to the rest of
existences.
Theologian Radu Teodorescu
SAINT THOMAS THE TWIN AND THE PIETY OF LAYMEN

First Sunday after the Resurrection day of our Lord Jesus Christ is very much the day of “those who have no faith.”
We are told in the Bible that our Lord Jesus Christ did rose from the dead after His passion on the hill of Golgotha.
This is something that our Lord Jesus Christ told to the disciples even before His passion. So, there it is Our Lord
Jesus Christ risen from the dead and going to His disciples to try to regain their lost faith. It is very famous in the
history of mankind the case of Saint Thomas the Apostle who has doubted that our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the
dead. At the first appearance of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Tomas the Apostle was not with the rest of the apostles of
Christ. We know that when he was told that Christ rose from the dead, he said to his fellow apostles: I will not
believe until I will set my finger into His risen body.
From of very human point of view, what Thomas the Apostle did is very usual. The truth is that in our world where
death is so present, there are not too many who like to see “uncertain evidences” of risen persons. Saint Thomas the
Apostle is actually a paradigm for all of us. We all do not have faith, we all want to have “tangible” contacts with
God so we can believe. This is the case with Thomas the Twin.
The case of Saint Thomas the twin is not an ended one. There are many Thomas in our days, men who would not do
much for the Orthodox Church if they do not have a tangible proof of the work of the Orthodox Church. Our Lord
Jesus Christ at His appearance has assured Thomas that indeed He is risen. Tomas had to realize by himself that
indeed the miracle of the resurrection took place. What our Lord told Tomas was: “Tomas do not be unfaithful but
faithful.”
Today there are many who are “faithful” to our Lord Jesus Christ but in their own way: some are Baptists, some are
Roman Catholic, some are Pentecostals, some are Anglicans, some are Lutherans, some are Calvinists, some are
Jehovah Witness and the enumeration could go on. Indeed this Sunday is a Sunday that is set in the Church Calendar
as a commemoration of Saint Thomas the Twin. Saint Thomas is a central figure in Orthodox Christianity. He has
died as martyr in India where he went to bring Christianity. Many times we forget about Saint Thomas and his
missionary work to the land of India. We must keep in mind that Thomas was a living witness to all the deeds our
Lord Jesus Christ did.
Orthodox Church celebrates this day the feast of saint Thomas the Twin. Saint Thomas was a person that is very
common today. There are many of us who we do not attend Church and orthodox rituals only if we are not going to
gain something from this. Thomas was a very skeptical apostle, a type of person who does not trust no one until his
own convictions are fully assured. Holy Fathers of the orthodox Church tell us that our Lord Jesus Christ was in a
way “condescended” with Thomas due to the fact that if the light of the resurrection would have been unlashed on
Thomas would have been carbonized Thomas in a matter of few seconds. Our Lord Jesus Christ did love Thomas.
Out of this love our Lord Jesus Christ wanted to show to Thomas that His resurrection was a reality and not a lie.
There are many today who want to see the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and do not agree with the truth of the
Bible texts that give us many accounts of this metaphysical event.
Thomas Sunday is a profound Sunday. Is a Sunday that tells us that we can use our time not only to rest but as well to
meditate and to contemplate the religious aspect of our existence. We are told that after Thomas saw that Our Lord
Jesus Christ was risen from the dead he has said: my lord and my God meaning that he started to have faith in the
resurrection. To to resurrection of Christ there are many Bible references: Acts 2:24-31, 3:15-26, 4:10, 5:30, 10:39-
40, 13:30-37, 17:31-32; Romans 1:4, 4:25, 6:4-9, 8:11-34, 10:7, 14:9; 1 Corinthians 15:4, 13 sqq.; etc.
Orthodox Church celebrates this day as a day consecrated to saint Thomas. We must all ask saint Thomas to intercede
in front of God for our salvation and for our souls.
Theologian Radu Teodorescu

SPIRITUAL CONTEMPLATION AND INTELECTUAL CONTEMPLATION

Superior stages of spiritual life take us to contemplation. Thus, Orthodox Christianity following to the words of Saint
Paul the Apostle who has asked us to “pray without ceasing” has the practice of the contemplative prayer of the heart
or the Jesus Prayer. Many religions have many types of contemplation. Thus, there is Buddhist contemplation, there
is Hindu contemplation, there is Taoist contemplation and many other types of contemplations. Orthodox Christianity
is very much against the yoga contemplations of the India origins.
Yoga and the adepts of yoga type contemplations have no “angelic” aim in their contemplation. In yoga, which is a
common practice of Buddhism and Hinduism of Asia there is no mention of angels and angelic existence. Thus, there
are many who follow the “phony attractions of the far Asian inspiration.” Contemplation is an act that is present in
many religions. There is a whole literature that is written on the issue of contemplation. Bible pages open for us a
path of contemplation. What is the Orthodox contemplation? First, there is the Orthodox liturgy and the Orthodox
cult. Orthodox contemplation and those who practice the Jesus Prayer mostly [catholic, Anglican, orthodox or
Baptist] must know that the greatest aim of human contemplation is our Lord Jesus Christ. In our Lord Jesus Christ is
open for us a very broad realm of contemplation: Jesus Christ as the Son of God, Jesus Christ as our redeemer, Jesus
Christ as our supreme teacher and many other this kind of epithets.
There is a “contemplative aspect” of our intellectual life. Thus, there is also mathematical, philosophical and
metaphysical contemplation. This is mostly an “intellectual contemplation.” In Orthodox liturgy we can reach a state
of “cherubim type contemplation.” This contemplation we are acknowledging when we sing the Cherubim hymn:
“we who mystically prefigure the cherubim.” Orthodox Church has a whole sense of the contemplation of the angelic.
A very high level in Orthodoxy is to reach angelic contemplation. What we understand by “angelic contemplation?”
Well first we must come to the conclusion of the angelic existence. “Those supernatural acts or states which no effort
or labor on our part can succeed in producing, even in the slightest degree or for a single instant, are called mystical.
The making of an act of contrition and the reciting of a of prayers are supernatural acts, but when one wishes to
produce them grace is never refused; hence they are not mystical acts. But to see one's guardian angel, which does not
in the least depend on one's own efforts, is a mystical act. To have very ardent sentiments of God's love is not, in
itself, proof that one is in a mystical state, because such love can be produced, at least feebly and for an instant, by
our own efforts.” http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04324b.htm.
Orthodox Church has many contemplative theologians. The most known case is the case of Evagrios Panticos.
Evagrios Ponticos was a Alexandrian theologian from North Africa who gave us a very famous corpus of orthodox
teachings. Evagrios Ponticos was a very well known Church Father of the ancient and Middle Ages times. Evagrios
has greatly contributed to the Orthodox aspect of angelic contemplation. This has been the best expressed in his work
The Gnostic. In this work, Evagrios has agreed that the ones that contemplates is a GNOSTICS. By Gnostic, Evagrios
means that there is a superior stage to reach to contemplation.
In our contemporary times we lack very much the sense of “spiritual fathers” meaning person that can initiate us in
the “profound universe of spiritual knowledge.” We must come today to practice prayer and to set the “spiritual
aspects of life in front of the rest aspects that are made in front of us.” Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is a good
occasion for us to contemplate. We can contemplate the Resurrection of Christ and all the events of the New
Testament. The mystic of Saint John the Theologian from the last book of the New Testament the Apocalypse has
open for us a new path of contemplation. Is about the contemplation of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ who was given
for the life of the world.
The apocalyptic stage of contemplation is a very difficult one. This state of contemplation is based in the words of the
New Testament of Saint John the Baptist who has said when the saw Christ coming to take the baptism: behold the
Lamb of God who comes to take the sins of the world. Apocalypse of the New Testament canon is a book that is
product of contemplation. It is s very high spiritual stage to contemplate Our Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God.
Evidently Christ is not a “lamb in the literal sense of the word.” Orthodox mystics have a sense of the symbol of the
lamb. Lamb in Orthodox understanding is the symbol of innocence and symbol of purity. Orthodox contemplation is
a contemplation that is taking us to the purity of the angelic realm and the angelic existence. Jesus Christ was told
that was the Lamb of God who was subject to the expiation of all the evils that we do.
Thus, Jesus Christ the Son of God incarnate is not only symbol but a subject of contemplation that was present from
the most ancient times. Saint John the Theologian has open for us the contemplative way of the contemplation of the
Lamb of God Jesus Christ. This Lamb of God type contemplation is very much Orthodox Christian contemplation. It
is still yet to be determined whether the contemplation of the angelic existences is the same in content and aim with
the contemplation of the “Lamb of God typology.” Our Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God is subject to many
iconographical representations. Orthodox Church agrees with the contemplative symbol of our lord Jesus Christ as
the Lamb of God. But we must know that this is not an animalist contemplation, our Lord Jesus Christ is associated
with the lamb of God for the innocence and the lack of sin aspect of His existence. The Lamb of God typology is a
New Testament typology. We must all come to understand the symbolism of the contemplative aspect of human life.

Theologian Radu Teodorescu

FEW POST PASCAL THOUGHTS

By the mercy of God the primary Pascal period of the year 2010 is over. Next major Orthodox feast is the Pentecost
or as the Orthodox calls is The Feast of the Holy Spirit. Bible affirms the existence of the Holy Spirit. In Orthodox
theology there is a whole section on the existence of the Holy Spirit. Orthodox Christianity affirms the existence of
the 3rd person of the Holy Trinity. This is the Holy Spirit. We would like the address here that the English term for
the Holy Spirit as the Holy Ghost is not an appropriate terminology. This term “Holy Ghost” is very much an
unorthodox one.
Thus I will enumerate here the main Orthodox Bible texts that affirm the existence of the Holy Spirit. Genesis 1:2
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters. Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon
you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of you
shall be called the Son of God. Psalms 139:7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? or where shall I flee from your
presence? 1 Corinthians 2:10 But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea,
the deep things of God. Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Acts 5:3-4 But
Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the
land? While it remained, was it not your own? and after it was sold, was it not in your own power? why have you
conceived this thing in your heart? you have not lied unto men, but unto God. Luke 3:22 And the Holy Ghost
descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved
Son; in thee I am well pleased. Matthew 3:16-17 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the
water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting
upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
In Orthodox Theology the one who was the most proficient in Orthodox PNEVMATOLOGY was Saint Basil the
Great who wrote a book on the Holy Spirit that can be consulted. From the very beginning Bible affirms the existence
of the Holy Spirit. There are many theologians that are very occupied with issue of the existence of the Holy Spirit. In
fact, Holy Spirit is the author of all that is holy in our world. Our world or we can be spiritual only by the Holy Spirit.

Apparently, in Orthodox understating there is no connection between the Holy Spirit and spirituality. Holy Spirit is
the author of all Orthodox spirituality. Spirituality is the practice aspect of dogmatic doctrines of the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit is a very difficult doctrine of Orthodox theology. Most Orthodox Holy Fathers affirm the existence of the
Holy Spirit. The exact role of the Holy Spirit inside God is something that we cannot know for sure. There are many
orthodox texts that speck of the existence of the Holy Spirit.
We know very well that when we make sign of the cross we address the existence of the Holy Spirit: we say In the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in all the Orthodox Christian prayers. In fact, there is no
Orthodoxy without the existence of the Holy Spirit. In Orthodox Christianity Holy Spirit is symbolized by a dove.
Thus most Orthodox icons have the Holy Spirit represented as a dove. Evidently, Orthodox Christianity affirms the
existence of the Holy Spirit as a person in God. The source for any spirituality is the Holy Spirit. Thus, there are 2
terms that we know as far as the theological discipline that studies the Holy Spirit: PENVMATOLOGY [the Hellenic
term] and SPIRITUALITY [the Latin word].
True spiritualities are the spiritualities that come from the Holy Spirit. There are “lying” spiritualities that do not
come from God. In Orthodox Christian understanding there cannot be any spirituality if there is no mention of the
Holy Spirit. Bible tells us that from the very beginning Holy Spirit was the one that after the creation of earth was
passing over the seas of the earth.
In most recent times, a big heresy concerning the existence of the Holy Spirit is the Pentecostal Church. Pentecostal
Church does not do but to repeat the heresy that was condemned by the Second Ecumenical Synod in the year 381
AD from Constantinople [present day Istambul]. At this Synod it was a big gathering of Holy Fathers who have
decided that the teachings of Macedonios and Apollinarios are erroneous. Thus we can see that in Orthodox Church
there are interests of penevmatology and spirituality from late times.
Pnevmatology is something very strange today when we think to something pneumatic as to something that has to do
with air or even bad with filling air. Today, there is very much present in our environment the Pentecostal Church
which is taking again the same mistaking doctrines of around the year 381 AD and makes them a source of religion
for many. God a spirit is something common to many religions and philosophies. Orthodox Church agrees that God is
a spirit and that in Himself God is not something material. God transcends human matter. As creator of matter God is
spirit. The doctrine on God as spirit is named in Orthodox Christianity not Pentecostal theology but mostly
SPIRITUALITY. What the Pentecostal Church is making inside Christianity is very much the replacement of the
spiritual aspect of the existence of God on non/foundations. Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church affirm the
existence of God as spirit, but in the same time we are aware of the risks of such o notion. God is not only spirit. We
do not know whether in His essence God is spirit. As Holy Fathers tell us the essence of God is beyond human
comprehension. In this sense the dogmatic doctrines of the Pentecostal Church as setting God not as open to an
orthodox understanding but a “deformed spiritual understanding.” Modern day Pentecostals are nothing but a
recapitulation of the old heresies of the Ecumenical Synods of the Orthodox Church. The doctrines of the Pentecostal
Church are very much setting the foundation of the Church of Christ on some very strange and unsubstantiated
dogmatic aspects of doctrine.
Theologian Radu Teodorescu