Christ Is Risen! š
Today, Christians of the Western Rite celebrate the Ascension of the
Lord, and I congratulate them. The Lord, by ascending in body and soul
(human nature) to heaven, to the place where He was before in His
Divinity, thereby exalts and glorifies this nature. This glorification
is necessary, according to His words, to send the Holy Spirit, Who will
also glorify the Son. Also closely related to the Ascension are the
words about the Second Coming in the Creed: He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead and His Kingdom will have no end.
Ascension Day is usually greeted in the same way as most of the year
- in Ukraine, it is Glory be to Jesus Christ! Forever and ever be
glory!
Acts XIV, 22 – āĪµĪ¼Ī¼ĪµĪ½ĪµĪ¹Ī½ā – āemmeneinā – to abide
in, to continue to be in, to remain in
. From āenā + āmenoā – āto be
(stand) in the same placeā.
The place where Paul is stoned by angry Jews for his faith in Christ
is omitted. Instead, we immediately read about Paulās miraculous
recovery when he was surrounded by his disciples. For every true
teacher, the support of disciples can work miracles
– more often in a
figurative (but real) sense, but here, clearly, the Lord shows His mercy
to teach everyone to support their teachers.
The story is like the middle
of Paulās difficulties in preaching,
so the words about oppression
are an encouragement on the way to the
Kingdom of God. Because of the enormous significance of the apostlesā
work, they also faced great challenges, and the mention of coming into
the Kingdom of God
is a reminder of the parallels in the Gospel, where
the Kingdom of God is won by strength (effort), and whoever makes the
effort comes into it (already in this life begins to live close to it)
(Matthew XI, 12).
John X, 4 – āĪµĪ¼ĻĻĪæĻĪøĪµĪ½ā – āemprosthenā - ābefore, in front of the faceā. From āĪµĪ½ā + āĻĻĪæĻā.
John X, 7, 9 – āĪµĪ¹Ī¼Ī¹ā – āeimiā – (I) āamā. Used only with emphasis.
John X, 8, 9 – āĪµĪ¼ĪæĻ ā – āemouā – (in front of, through) āMeā.
As for part IX of the chapter, it should be borne in mind that here
the word blind
and sighted
are used in parallel in two different
senses, which can be confusing and makes the statement a kind of paradox
or oxymoron. One meaning refers to the actual current state of things,
and the other refers to peopleās perception of this state of things,
whether it is right or wrong. So, those who are really overconfident in
their pride and arrogance, unrepentance, think they see, are spiritually
trapped by their overconfidence, are in a state of self-deception. But
those who recognise their weakness and seek deliverance and healing,
salvation, go to Christ and find Him.
There is a good description of part X of the chapter and the allegory
here:
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!