🇬🇧 Glory be to Jesus Christ! 🌞
Today, the Local Council of the OCU also voted to switch to the New Julian calendar. It will take place from September 1, 2023. Communities wishing to remain on the Julian calendar have this option.
Since tomorrow is a big holiday, the readings are moved to today, and therefore there are two readings today, combined into one.
1 Corinthians X, 33 -
‘εμαυτου’ – ‘emautou’ – myself
.
In general, the two combined readings have as their topic the care of conscience, as well as the various personal differences among Christians and how these characteristics should be understood. Very saturated texts, and not very clear.
About idolatry. Continuation of the previous readings on this matter, explaining that it is necessary to avoid idolatry not because of its peculiarity, not because it is some particularly bad spiritual food, a source of evil, etc., but because of people’s conscience, so that there are no temptations to paganism, idolatry, denial of Christ and the like.
About men and women. Paul writes about spiritual things that we (our contemporaries) do not fully understand. For example, it remains a mystery why Paul mentions angels and what this is supposed to mean in this context. However, if something in Scripture is not clear, this is no reason to reject it.
Paul says that the differences between the sexes are ordained by God, and that their existence is good, just like what God created. Paul emphasizes that one sex cannot exist without the other, that they are mutually important. He also talks about differences. Earlier I wrote a little about this topic, I will write here again.
Why God created man first, and woman after, is God’s mystery. However, Paul says that it is relevant to all people, that it is not an accident and not just an event. That is, this was God’s intention. With this in mind, Paul thinks about all the questions mentioned in the reading.
It should be noted that due to lack of clarity, many mistakes in understanding can be made in general.
I will stop at one, and from that it will also be seen how to
understand many others. Created through (for, for the sake of)
does
not mean that there is a comparison of the importance, significance of a
woman and a man. For example, the similar phrase God created humans for
eternal happiness together with Him in love
, i.e. that according to
God’s design people should obtain this eternal bliss, does not mean that
people and eternal bliss are compared in terms of their significance,
importance, and that eternal happiness is more important than the person
themselves. Not at all. Therefore, the words that a woman was created
through (for, for the sake of) a man
do not mean that she is less
important, less significant or inferior. But it is about God’s original
design of what people should be. It can be said that the world of people
and their relationships should not turn into a completely dualistic,
polar-balanced world, where the feminine opposes the masculine and
completely balances
it. No, but God designed the world with
differences that affect its architecture, its construction, its
multi-level and multi-perspective existence which despite all their
potential complexity or simplicity can and should form harmony. I think
that all these considerations should be understood in this way.
(This paragraph here is added on the 28th of July, 2023.)
I'll give you another analogy of building (theology has a term called "God's house-building", of which the creation of a human being is a part). If you are planning a house and you want the kitchen to have south-facing windows (in the Southern Hemisphere - north-facing) so that there is a lot of light during the day, and then you arrange the other rooms with this in mind, it does not mean that the kitchen is more important than all the other rooms. And if the kitchen is more important when it comes to cooking, then, for example, when it comes to resting and sleeping, other rooms, such as bedrooms, will be more important.
In view of these considerations, you can also look at all those
mentioned on the occasion. If it is more natural
for a man (more
characteristic; in modern language – short hair corresponds more easily
to the male style of thinking
than to female
) to have shorter hair,
and for a woman to have longer hair, then there is nothing strange about
this; nor would it be surprising if it were the other way around.
Matthew XVI, 25 – ‘εμου’ -
‘emou’ – Me
.
The first reading of the pursuit of Christ, about His Second Coming, as well as about the glory of the Kingdom, which can appear thanks to the faithful in this life (soon after that, these words in a special way came true for Peter, James and John of Zebedee, because Christ was transfigured on Mount Tabor ).
The cross is well written about the reading of the parallel passage
in Mark:
19032023.html
The second reading is about John the Baptist as promised by the prophets Elijah, the announcement about Christ’s sufferings as well as about the healing of the obsessed. John the Baptist was not Elijah personally (that is, Elijah the Tishbite at the time when John the Baptist preached on earth was bodily in heaven), but John the Baptist received spiritual gifts similar to Elijah and had the same zeal and direction as Elijah, why so it is named by the prophecy concerning the First Coming. At the same time, there is a widespread opinion, which is partially confirmed by the Scriptures, that Elijah Tishbite will really personally come before the Second Coming with a sermon of repentance. The fact that John the Baptist was not Elijah in person is also evident from the description of the Transfiguration, when not John appeared to Jesus (from Abraham’s bosom, like Moses), but Elijah (from heaven).
Regarding the healing of the obsessed, it is believed that the man did not have the necessary faith, but he did not despair, he turned to Jesus Himself. The reaction of Jesus shows the state of the father, it is also necessary to understand that the apostles could have healed the son, but they themselves did not have enough faith at that time. Jesus’ emotional words show that He does not want unbelief to spread, while faith must spread. Accordingly, for the sake of spreading and strengthening the faith, He heals the young man out of mercy.
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!