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Glory be to Jesus Christ!
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There are two readings today, one of which is in honour of Saint John Chrysostom.
The conclusion of the teaching about the end of the world and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ was read from the daily Gospel. I wrote earlier (October 2, 2022), I quote:
only the Father knows
– apparently, the Son also knows, but does not want to reveal this date. Imagine if you knew it, for example 3893459435723475023745872349054238572835703475237534705730 December 23 17:23:45 Kyiv time, what would you think? Or another option; today at 23:43:12, wouldn't the date itself attract more attention than the Gospel itself? Not wanting excessive interest in the time, the Lord does not reveal it. Suddenly
– even if you wait every day, it's still , it is not possible to say in advance exactly when, so it is unexpected. There is a logical paradox on this topic, which can be found in English in Martin Gardner's book Mathematical Leisure
in the first chapter ('The Unexpected Hanging').
See the book: https://books.google.com.ua/books?id=WE0FEAAAQBAJ
The readings from the letters of the Apostle John the Theologian, the apostle of love, as the Church calls him, is read as the daily Apostle. The beginning is about repentance, God's forgiveness, God's justice. An important place for understanding the meaning of the Sacrament of Confession. Just a few comments. For John, grammar is important.
1 John I, 9-10 – it is more appropriate to translate the verses according to the content, changing the order of the words to emphasize the idea: He is faithful and true (just) (and therefore …), if we confess our sins, then He is (ready) to forgive and cleanse (the words in brackets are not in the original, but they correspond to the content). God's forgiveness is often
opposed to God's justice —
God, do not show justice, but show mercy!. But in John it is not like that – God is just, faithful, true and therefore, if we repent, confess our faults and sins, want purification and seek forgiveness, then in His eyes it is right, just, appropriate to what God Himself is to give us strength in the fight against sin, to strengthen our searches and aspirations, and to be merciful, to forgive us. On the contrary, if someone, having sins (even if they are
insignificant as it were), does not confess them, does not repent, then he / she remains with them, and it is as if he / she says to God:
You came to save me in vain, you died for me on the cross in vain,… I don't need that, and – really exposes God as
unreasonable as well as
false. And then will the righteous God close His eyes to such a thing? Would it be right to disregard this attitude of creation towards Him?
God's forgiveness, thus, in John is a manifestation of God's righteousness (which is closely related to love), God is strong in mercy and merciful in power, as the prayer says.
About being in. In the Holy Trinity there is
perichoresis – the presence of one Hypostasis in Two Others – the Father in the Son and the Spirit, the Son in the Father and the Spirit, the Spirit in the Father and the Son. This is the pinnacle of love — to share the personal without losing it, without giving it away, but making the personal available for the Other. In fact, it means
literally go beyond oneself.
And we can also imitate this stay to a certain extent – first of all with love. Thanks to deep love, we can go beyond the limits of our existence already in this life — to live not only our own life, but also the life of the person(s) we love. For me, this is a sincere, deep personal desire, actually a need.
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!