🇬🇧 Glory be to Jesus Christ! 🌞
I congratulate all Christians who celebrate the Dormition of the Mother of God (according to the Roman Catholic Tradition, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) on this great holiday!
2 Corinthians II, 14 – ‘ημας’ - ‘emas’ – ‘us’. ‘ημων’ – ‘emon’ – (through) ‘us’.
2 Corinthians III:2, 3 – ‘ημων’ – ‘emon’ – (of) ‘us’ (our, ours). ‘εγγεγραμμενη’ – ‘engegrammene’ – ‘written’.
A continuation of yesterday’s reading, which I wrote about at the
link, including an explanation of the first verse in the reading:
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So, if a person smells an odour, willingly or not, at least once,
then so also is the preaching of the apostles – if people accept it,
they are saved, and if they reject it, they are moving towards the
perishing. But they cannot be indifferent or ignore it.
Verse 15 of chapter II also has a deeper meaning – the distinction of the apostles among all people through Christ. That is, they are special in Christ among all people – both those who will be saved and those who will perish, that is, among all people without exception (for every person will either be saved or perish, there is no third way, tertium non datum).
So, we can see here Paul’s testimony that, apart from the apostles (perhaps apart from faithful Christians), there will be people who will be saved – in Christ, but not in conscious obedience to Christ (for example, they may simply not know about Him). But in general, this is a difficult place to understand, one might say disputable.
Then there is one of the most beautiful and poetic metaphors in Scripture – the image of Christ’s letter of trust written on the fleshly tables of the heart not with ink, but with the Holy Spirit.
We can say that when the Holy Spirit works through Jesus Christ in humane and pure-hearted believers (at least good-hearted ones) thanks to the work of the apostles, they themselves become a confirmation of the truth of the words and preaching of the apostles through whom they received the Gospel of Christ.
There is also a meaning here for the Sacraments of Anointing and Priesthood. After all, it is through the Holy Spirit that they are mainly performed, renewing a person with His gifts from within.
Continuation of yesterday’s reading, exposing
the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and scribes.
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I wrote earlier, see the link (and others quoted there):
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To the apostle and first martyr Stephen, the first deacon:
Matthew XXI, 42 – ‘ημων’ – ‘emon’
- ‘us’ (our).
I wrote about the readings from the Apostle earlier, see here:
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For the Gospel reading, see:
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/
The quote about the cornerstone is found in Isaiah XXVIII, 16 and
Psalm CXVIII, 22. I previously wrote about the context of the prophecy
in Isaiah:
23032023.html
Since the first martyr Stephen, and many other martyrs after him, suffered, being Christ-like, remaining faithful to God, a parable is read that promises God’s deliverance of the faithful from evil.
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!