Oleksandr Zhabenko

Christ Is Risen! 🌞

Dedicated to Emma Kok.

(Acts II, 38-43)

Peter testifies to the need for Baptism, which from now on became the Sacrament of the Church through the action of God’s grace, the grace of the Holy Spirit. There are good works about the action of grace and the Sacraments at the following links:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/uk/Blahodat.html

https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/uk/Diya_blahodati.html

https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/uk/BozhaBlahodat.html

Acts II, 40 — the word ‘παρεκαλει’ is used, which has common root with the name of the Holy Spirit -the Comforter, that is, Peter comforted people with those words, in English ‘encouraged’, that is, encouraged and inspired, strengthened in determination and courage.

Acts II, 43 — fear, that is, wonder, great surprise and for some people also a certain delight. The fathers attributed surprise and wonder to fear, without a significant distinction between wonder and proper fear itself. Thus, St. John Damascene writes that the fear of some extraordinary phenomenon is surprise. And the fear of a great phenomenon is horror. At the same time, he quotes the work of Nemesius On the nature of man, chapter 20. That is, it should be understood that way, not that everyone was really afraid or scared of the apostles, but that everyone was extremely surprised, amazed and / or fascinated by the extraordinarity and greatness of these events.

(John III, 1-15)

Nicodemus is one of my beloved saints, whose memory is on the third Sunday after Easter, as well as on August 2 (15).

John III, 4 — mother’s womb — literally mother’s belly.

The image of the wind in Jesus means that there are many phenomena or things that we know, even among the simplest and most common, but which happen in an incomprehensible way for us, have fundamental difficulties to cognize fully for us (that is, for people). People notice the wind at the point of observation (most often, where they are), but do not know all the details of its formation and movement. It must be said that, therefore, weather forecasts are indicative in nature. Suffice it to say that the most famous random number generator (the random.org site) uses as a source of entropy (uncertainty) changes in the atmosphere, air movement, and also that the equations of air movement in the atmosphere have chaotic behavior, that is, the smallest changes in parameters lead to to significant changes in solutions (a phenomenon associated with the well-known Lorentz attractor and the butterfly effect).

John III, 12 — earthly — in the original — super-earthly, and heavenly — in the original super-heavenly. Here is an important point. What is said about the wind is beyond earthly understanding (a mystery for people until now), but what is said about spiritual depths (heights or something else) is super-heavenly. If the super-earthly can be known by human reason (for example, science), then the super-heavenly can only be known through the Revelation of the One who is Higher than the heavens, God. Here again is indirect evidence that Christ is the God-human. And the second important thought: a person almost always (as intended by God) believes in what he can understand (understand in a broad sense). Christ does not say How will you understand if…?, but How will you believe if…?. In order to believe, one must begin to understand, that is, faith in these words of Christ is always the result of understanding and is itself conscious, not blind. Nevertheless, the word faith in the New Testament has multiple meanings, so it is not clear whether the word faith should always mean conscious and come from a process of meaning getting faith.

There is also a good and important essay on cognition at the link:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/uk/33.pdf
or:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v\&pid=sites\&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx0b2NocmlzdGRldm90ZWR8Z3g6M2E1M2I4MTI5MTM4OTBhMQ

The expression to enter the Kingdom of God, according to my belief, means already now, in this life, to be able to live like life in the Kingdom of God, thus getting a certain experience of such a life andtasting it” to a certain extent.” Then all the places in the Gospels where this expression is used have an accessible understanding and raise fewer additional questions. Can’t get in – can’t get that real experience in that state.

See also a beautiful essay on the topic at the link:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/uk/NarodzennyaZhory.html

Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!

Source:
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/