Saint Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church

The Credo Magazine

Some selected articles will be available on this website,
but for the forseeable future, CREDO Magazine will only be
available by subscription. Subscriptions are $15.00 per year,
for (6 issues). Please contact: Editor, CREDO Magazine at
1325 E Queen Avenue, Spokane, WA 99207-3371 or by email

THE CHURCH AND SALVATION

This article will appear in two-parts and was written by the Rt. Rev. Alexander Turner, the
first Vicar General of the Western Rite in the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America. It
first appeared in “Orthodoxy” Vol. xj, No 6, autumn 1967 and again in CREDO in August and
in September 1984.

WITHIN a smoggy framework of mis-understanding and ignorance an Orthodox may possibly
depopularize himself because of his recognition of and respect for spiritual truths and
identity which are tragically unknown and even disrespected by others. And he is often
obliged to take issue at every turn with such ubiquitous and tragic generalizations as “it
doesn’t matter what church you go to if you are sincere," “deed is above creed” and so on.
For him, religion is real, factual and important. Therefore it would be as impossible to
say that man’s belief or lack of it is unimportant as to say that it didn’t matter that
one thought that two and two make five, that the law of gravity pulls things upwards, or
that the full moon makes people crazy.

There are probably two reasons for this popular indifferentism. First, because religion
inspires strong feelings, it is considered a delicate subject for polite conversation.
This ignores the fact that theologians and churchmen who make religion their business
discuss it freely without casualties.

The second reason is a serious one. Because religious dogmas cannot be proved – and of
course religion is by its nature a field of intangibles – because we cannot see, feel,
taste or prove them, they cannot be important. Many who hold this attitude would be
shocked if they were to follow their inclination to its logical end and find that it
was atheism. Such is the result of extending that indispensable tolerance of human beings
into an inadmissible tolerance of untruth, of accepting all beliefs of equal value.

What are the consequences? Can we say that it is man’s duty to love, to serve and to
worship God, and to say at the same time that it is immaterial whether he does so or not?
Can we say that Jesus was God incarnate, and that Jesus was not God incarnate? Is it
equally true to say that we should seek the body of faithful Christians which is the
Church, and also say that deliberately rejecting Christian grace is quite permissible?
These are some of the contradictions implied by divided Christendom. The answer in each
case must be either yes or no. To say that one belief is as good as another is absurd,
and is heresy because truth cannot contradict itself: truth cannot be equal to error. To
say so in religion is to infer that there can be no religious truth at all. Or to say
that there can be no correct answer because we disagree about what it is is just silly.

Furthermore, religious truth has personal implications: it is not an academic matter to
which we can remain indifferent. If we believe that God joins us to Himself in the Church
by which we are given gifts of grace, we are obliged to act accordingly.

It is therefore a teaching of Orthodoxy that all men are of one blood and should offer the
individualities given them by God the Creator in a unity of the new life secured by God
the Redeemer by virtue of the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is man’s
due as the Church teaches it. It is a conditional process taking place in the here and
now: finite, mutable, physical and mundane because the world is all these things. “Now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that,
when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” (I John III:2)

We know for the present what we must do. For the future, we do not know except that our
unity in God will no longer be dependent upon the uncertainties and qualifications of a
state from which we have been released.

The challenge then, is clear-cut and direct. It is too positive, too personal, too
unequivocal to allow neutrality. If it is untrue, it is pernicious. If it is true, it
is a moral imperative that no man may ignore or neglect.

Note that the Christian process leads back to the unity from which all life has come
through the acknowledgment of God’s fatherhood and closer ties in the ever more harmonious
family of regenerate souls. The natural world proceeds constantly toward diversity and
disintegration with endless frontiers opening at each step forward. Without a supernatural
integration in religion it becomes a professed futility.

Believing as we do, that it our duty and destiny to raise ourselves out of ourselves, out
of the slough of unregenerate materialism or miscalculated spiritualism into the new life
which God gives in the Church, we must also believe that we lose something if we fail to
do so. Or, to put it in a positive and more familiar form, we are saved by accepting God’s
aid from a lesser condition in which we do not accept it. How could it be otherwise? Our
present state is not what it should be – worse than we commonly suppose because we lack
the faculties to know just how good, in the all-embracing love of God, it can be, and by
comparison with that, how poor it now is. Hence Christianity talks about salvation. The
word has many associations which are unfortunately deluding from the distorted understand-
ing of deviants given to unworthy associations and presumptuous opinionating upon tran-
scendent realities beyond the finite mind of our transitory vehicle.

There is great confusion of religious values which badly need correction. We have come to
look upon passing things and call them eternal and the eternal things are sometimes
degraded to conform with the limitations of human thought. Moral rectitude is exalted to
a spiritual position while indifference about the things that count is regarded as quite
natural. We cannot replace our need for salvation with “self-improvement” or “education”
or “self-realization.” There is always something beyond self and that fact is the basis
of all religion. If we talk about a religion as humanism we are not making sense. No
amount of lifting ourselves by our own bootstraps will ever raise us up. As Simon Weil
said, the big mistake of the nineteenth century was to believe that by walking straight
ahead, we would go up in the air.

However, man is not doing nearly as well as he once did, and it is far easier now to
believe in the need for salvation than it was a century ago. If we begin by admitting
that we should be saved from human error, we shall not be far wrong, even from an Orthodox
standpoint.

Religion is optimistic in that this hope is always central: however good things may appear
to be, the conscious knowledge and service of God which is our goal is an ecstasy beyond
our understanding. It is pessimistic in saying that things are far worse than we can know
because we look with our eyes when we should see with our souls. Making a million dollars
a year is no gain if we spend two million doing it.

Error seems to be inextricably enmeshed with the human machine. The machine has not lost
its fine design, but it is gummed up. We have spiritual capacity which we seem chronically
disinclined to exploit. Latin Christianity would say that we must be saved from ourselves.
Orthodoxy says that we must realize ourselves by disclosure once again of the divine image
which has become encrusted by dross. Our own efforts are inadequate for the job and it is
only the grace of God which can restore man’s pristine image of it.

A DISTINCTION BETWEEN WHAT IS ORTHODOX AND WHAT IS BYZANTINE

The following article was taken from the March, 1980 issue of CREDO Magazine. This article
takes on renewed meaning with the recent influx of the new Mission Parishes in the Western
Rite Vicariate.

Catechumens and recent converts are inevitably in some doubt. The paucity of Western Rite
publications, the rapid influx of new members, and the lamentable provincialism of so may
born Orthodox are all contributing causes.

We attempt to set the balance as best we may while retaining understanding and love for all,
and without trying to force the Western Rite tail to wag the Byzantine dog! As we progress
within our faith, we may profit from placing this important concern on our prayer and study
lists. As a sort of guide we conclude with a taped quotation from a talk our Vicar General
gave to a parish seeking admission to the Church:

“You (westerners) will receive membership in the Catholic Church of the Creed it is true,
but you will also give much to it. The Western Rite is not bait in a Byzantine trap; it is
the restoration of a needed balance between east and west. Whatever the distortions of
centuries of schism, perhaps even because of some consequent isolation, the west has retained
precious elements of ancient Catholicism. These you bring with you...the vision of the
Catholic Church, not loyalty to a collection of tribal religions…Having lived through the
Renaissance and Reformation and triumphant rationalism, you have developed responses the
east needs (and is quietly adopting!). …the sense of freedom to respond with vigorous
criticism to the secular culture…a sacramental theory and practice enriched by freedoms
unknown in the east. Repent and return – with both hands out. One to receive the jewel
of the ancient Orthodox faith, battered and bloodied by many martyrdoms, but offering in
your other hand the survival of the ancient Orthodox we3st, long since lost and never more
badly needed than today…”

The metaphors may be slightly mixed, but we need the wit and courage to be more than a
minority of second-class citizens. Time, fellowship, and familiarity will change the key
problem we consider here, but we have a personal responsibility to hasten the process.

The Very Reverend Paul Schneirla,
Vicar General of the Western Rite Vicariate

THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST
A Layman's Handbook
by Bishop DMITRI

The First in a Series

The Doctrine of Christ was originally published as a series of copyrighted articles in “The
Dawn,” the official publication of the Diocese of the South, the Orthodox Church of America.
Permission was given to Fr. Paul Schneirla by his grace Bishop DIMITRI some years ago for
publication in CREDO but was never published. CREDO is now taking that opportunity to
present this work once again in a series format.

Introduction:

WHAT IS ORTHODOXY?
In order to ask this question, another must first of all be asked. It is the same question
which Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself asked His disciples. It is the most important question
that has ever been asked. “What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He?” (Matthew 22:42)
“Who do people say I the Son of man am?” (Matthew 16:13) This is the question that must be
answered in order to know what Orthodoxy is.

St. Peter answered this question rightly when he replied, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of
the Living God,” (Matthew 16:16), for then Jesus declared that this truth had been revealed
to Peter, not by men, but by the heavenly Father.

Christ’s whole life and the body of His teachings answered this question for all people and
for all times. Who Christ is, and what His mission is, was the truth that He conveyed to
His Apostles. The Apostles in turn preserved this teaching intact. Without adding or
subtracting, without emphasizing one part of it over another, they passed it on to the next
generation in the Church. Even unto the present time, the Church has preserved this truth
down through the centuries.

The reason the Church has labored from the beginning to combat errors and to give the doctrine
of Christ to every generation in all its purity is because Orthodoxy is, more than anything
else, the right doctrine about Christ. All of this effort has been made because Christ’s
teachings about Himself are necessary for the salvation of man and his world.

It was the concern of the Apostles and of the Fathers of the Councils that Christ’s teaching
about Himself be kept untarnished. Thus, the Scriptures were written, the Creed was composed,
and definitions were given in order that this might be so. The Church when referring to the
Scriptures, or to the councils and their creeds and definitions, declares: “This is the
Orthodox Faith.”

A Summary of what the Scriptures and, consequently, the councils teach about Christ is sung
at the Divine Liturgy. Called the Hymn of Orthodoxy, its every word is of vital importance
and of the essence of Orthodoxy:

“Only begotten Son and Word of God, who art immortal, and didst deign for our salvation to be
incarnate of the holy Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary, and without change dist become man.
Thou wast crucified, O Christ our God, trampling down death by death, being One of the Holy
Trinity, glorified together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Save us!”

As history and experience have shown, any-thing less than the whole truth about Christ ends
up in utter confusion and the multiplication of the denominations. Just a few years ago
there were over three hundred varieties of Christianity in America alone. Most of them have
been established or founded on some novel idea about the Lord Himself. Who know how many
more have come into existence since that number was given?

Following the teachings of the Apostles and of the Fathers, there are many other things that
need to be said and studied. All of the things that are so characteristic of our Church,
the rites, the icons, the veneration of the Mother of God and of the Saints, have as there
most important function the support of the very doctrine of Christ. Hence, those whom would
deny any one of these teachings and practices, in effect, deny one part or another of the
doctrine of Christ.

In the chapters that follow we shall try, with the Lord’s help, to explore this doctrine
that is central in the Orthodox Church of Christ, as well as explain the relationship the
“supporting” teachings and practices have to that doctrine.

CHAPTER ONE:

THE SYMBOL OF OUR FAITH

The Creed, which we recite at every Liturgy, was composed by the First and Second Ecumenical
Councils in order to present in a very precise way the important points of Christian teaching.
Its articles are all statements of faith which must be accepted by Orthodox Christians
without reservation.

The longest and most detailed part of the Creed is the second part, which summarizes the
Church’s teachings concerning Jesus Christ. I was, indeed, because almost every element of
these teachings was questioned or distorted by someone that the Councils were convoked.

The second part of the Creed is as follows:

“And [I believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his
Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not
made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for men and
our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary,
and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was
buried; and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again, with glory, to judge
both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have not end.”

Every statement is of the essence of Christian Orthodoxy and is clearly taught by the Bible,
as the following examination will show.

The Son of God -

In answer to Jesus’ question, “Who do ye say that I am?” Peter said, “Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the Living God.” This identification is accepted by Our Lord and He declares
that this truth was revealed to Peter by the heavenly Father. (Matthew 16:16-17)

Only Begotten -

St. John testifies in his account of the Gospel that the Son was the only begotten of the
Father. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of
the Father, He hath declared Him.” (John 1:18)

Begotten of the Father before all worlds

That the Son was begotten timelessly, before all creation, is reflected in the words of
Psalm 2:7, “Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” These words were understood
by the Apostles to refer precisely to Jesus.

“So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made an high priest; but He that said unto Him,
Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee.” (Hebrew 1:5; 5:5; and Acts 13:33)

Then again, in His prayer before His crucifixion, Jesus asked the Father to glorify Him
“with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” (John 17:5)

Light of Light -

“God is light.” (I John 1:5)
Speaking of John the Baptist, John the Evangelist also says, “He [John] came for a witness,
to bear witness of the Light…he was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that
Light. That [the Son of God] was the true Light, which lighteth every man…” (John 1:7-9)
In other words, what is said of the Father in this regard is said of the Son.

very God of very God -

The Son of God is God in the same sense as is God the Father. “We know that the Son of God
is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are
in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.”
(I John 5:20)

As we see in this passage, the purpose of the coming of the Son of God was to make God known
to man. This He could do because He was God Himself. As in the case of the “light,” above,
a term “very,” is applied interchangeably to both the Father and the Son.

Begotten, not made -

One of the major heresies (distortions) of the doctrine of Christ was taught by Arius, a
presbyter of Alexandria in Egypt. He taught, as so many twentieth-century Arians (i.e. The
Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mormons, and many Protestants), that the Son of God was created.
This phrase was inserted into the Creed specifically to combat the error of Arius.

Of one substance with the Father -

This is the definitive statement of the divinity of Christ, and therefore the correction of
the error mentioned immediately above.

Christ Himself said, “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30) Then too, St. Paul calls Him
“the express image of His person (i.e. The being, the essence, the hypostasis of the Father).
(Hebrew 1:3)

By whom all things were made -

The son is the expression of the Father; the Father works with the Son as His agent. Hence
the Son was the agent of Creation.

“All things were made by Him [the Son], and without Him was not anything made that was made.
(John 1:3) “By whom (i.e. by the Son) also He [God] made the worlds.” (Hebrew 1:2)

Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven -

In the Gospel according to John, we find the following. “No man hath ascended up to heaven,
but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.) (John 3:13) The
Son came “down” from heaven in this sense: although as God He is always present everywhere,
He was present on earth invisibly. When He became man, without ceasing to be God, He was
visible and lived among men on earth. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”
(John 1:14)

It was out of His love for man (John 3:16) that He took human nature upon Himself, so that
He might make God known to man (John 1:18), and thus save man from sin (Matthew 1:21) and
from the darkness and futility of a godless existence. (Luke 1:79; I Peter 2:9)

And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man -

St. John testifies to the fact that the Son, or Word, of God became man, and that He continued
to be all that He was before. “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we
beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
(John 1:14)

Mary, a holy virgin of the lineage of Abraham and David, was the human instrument by which
God chose to be born and enter into the world of man. His birth was a supernatural one,
His mother being a virgin, and His conception being caused by the Holy Spirit.

The Evangelist Luke relates that when the Virgin had asked the Angel who announced the birth
to her, “How shall this be, seeing, I know not a man?” the Angel replied to her, “The Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
(Luke 1:34-35)

And [He] was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried -

The use of the name of Pontius Pilate in the Creed establishes the exact historical time of
the crucifixion. Events in Roman times were usually described as having happened during the
reign of this or that emperor or governor. St. Paul refers to this event in a letter to
Timothy. (I Timothy 6:13)

He was crucified for us. It was again His love that made Him take on the whole miserable
human condition and its direct consequences, death. Although He Himself did not sin (I Peter
2:22), and was therefore not subject to death, He chose to undergo it in order to liberate
us from it. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (I John 1:7)
“In [Christ,] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to
the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)

He suffered as a human suffers. (I Peter 2:23) One of the early heresies held that Christ
only appeared to have suffered. This heresy is maintained in our own day by the “Christian
Scientists.”

He was buried, for He was truly dead. In his first epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul,
in speaking of the fundamental message of Christianity, says, “For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures: and that He was buried…” (I Peter 15:3-4)

And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures -

The expression “according to the Scriptures” indicates that the events of the life of Christ
were fulfillments of the prophecies of the Old Testament.

St. Paul’s’ statement quoted above goes on to say, “And that He rose again on the third day
according to the scriptures: and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that,
He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto
this present, but some are fallen asleep.” (vv,4-6)

The sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, hence, have brought salvation to us
men. They, also, are a pledge of our own resurrection: “Now is Christ risen from the dead,
and become the first fruits of them that slept, (I Corinthians 15:20) “that Christ should
suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead…” (Acts 26:23), and
“the dead in Christ shall rise first.” (I Thess. 4:16)

And He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of the Father-

“And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into
heaven.” (Luke 24:51) “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them He was received up into
heaven, and sat at the right hand of God.” (Mark 16:19)

It was again for us that He ascended into heaven, for it was in His manhood (i.e. the human
nature He had taken on) that He ascended. His ascension demonstrates that just as we shall
rise from the dead, like Christ, we also shall go, like Him, to heaven to be with Him
eternally.

And He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead -

Two angels appeared and spoke to the Apostles at the time of the Lord’s ascension, “This
same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have
seen Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)

His second coming will be a glorious one, and its purpose will be to judge all men. “For
the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then shall He
reward every man according to his works.” (Matthew 16:27) “For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, whether
it be good or bad.” (II Corinthians 5:10)

Whose kingdom shall have no end -

Christ’s kingdom will be eternal, as we understand from what the angel Gabriel said to the
Virgin Mary at the Annunciation: “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring
forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son
of the Highest: the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall
rule over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.”
(Luke 1:31-33)

Thus the Creed, the Symbol of our Faith, is literally taken from the Bible. On this basis
the doctrine of Christ can be examined in detail.

The Second Part in this Series will follow shortly.

THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST

The Second in a Series

Chapter Two:

CHRIST IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

In recent years there has been a great deal of controversy about what Jesus taught about Himself. Who did He say that
He was? Why did He say that He had come? Consequently, it is at this point that we will begin our examination in detail.

- The Son of God -

In a conversation with Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews, the Lord spoke the following concerning
man’s salvation:“No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man…
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life…He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”(John 3:13, 16, 18)

Here, the Lord attributes to Himself presence in both heaven and earth. He speaks of His having come down from
heaven; and, He calls Himself the only begotten Son of God. Finally, He declares that without faith in Him as the only
begotten Son of God, salvation is impossible for men.

On another occasion, Jesus told certain Jewish priests, scribes and elders a parable. (Mark 11:27) Jesus not only
declares Himself to be the Son of God, but also declares His reason for coming into the world. This is the parable of the
vineyard, which a man planted,“and set an hedge about it…and let it out to husbandmen [tenants].” (12:1 ff.)

He was speaking of the heavenly Father, who planted His church in the midst of the Jewish people and entrusted it
to them as the chosen people among all the people of the world.

At the season of the harvest, the Master sent to the husbandmen His servants to receive “the fruit of the vineyard.”
(12:2) Rather than do as they should have done, rather than remember that they were only tenants entrusted with the
vineyard, they became selfish, self-centered, and forgot the one to whom they owed every-thing. They beat the servants,
drove them away, and even killed some of them. (12:3-5)

Then the master decided to send his own son to them. “Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him
also last unto them, saying, they will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir;
come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, and killed him…” (12:6-8)

The Lord used this parable to declare Himself to be the only-begotten Son of God, the well-beloved and the heir of the
heavenly Father. Further, He described the reaction of His chosen people to His prophets and to His own presence among
them. For the servants were the prophets whom God sent from time to time to His people to proclaim His will and to call
them back to remembrance of Him. Many had been stoned, beaten, and killed; their message went unheeded. Finally,
the Father sent His Son, who also was rejected and put to death. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.”
(John 1:11)

Again, when the Saviour had cured the paralytic, the Jews persecuted Him “because He had done these things on the
Sabbath day.” (John 5:16) And Jesus responded to them in these terms: “My Father worketh hitherto, and
I work.” (5:17)

This response, in which Jesus attributes to Himself equality with God the Father in privilege and power, was understood
precisely in this sense by the Jews. They “sought the more to kill Him, because He had not only broken the Sabbath, but
said also the God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.” (5:18)

Jesus goes on to teach them: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but that He seeth
the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also the Son doeth likewise.” (5:19)“For as the Father
raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son Quickeneth whom He will. For the Father judgeth no
man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honor the Son, even as the honor the Father.
He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him.”
(5:21-23) “For as the Father
hath life in Himself: so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” (5:26)

Here the Saviour attributes to Himself the same will, the same power over life, the same self-existence as the Father has.
Further, He declares that He is to be worshipped just as God the Father is worshipped.

In the same chapter, He goes on to cite the testimony of John the Baptist concerning Him (vv. 32-35); He refers to His own
miraculous works (v. 36); and He recalls the witness of the heavenly Father: “This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased,” (v. 37). Finally, He declares that the Old Testament scriptures refer precisely to Him: “Search
the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and it is they which testify of Me.” (v. 39)

Another incident in which Jesus clearly identifies Himself as the Son of God and puts Himself on a level with God is
recorded in the tenth chapter of the Gospel according to John.

One day in the temple some of the Jews insisted that Jesus tell them directly whether He was the Messiah or not. “How
long dost thou makes us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.” (v. 24)

In His answer, we find these striking words: “I and my Father are one.” (v. 30) The Jews certainly
understood the intention of His declaration, for “they took up stones again to stone Him…saying, For a good work we stone
thee not; but for blasphemy: and because thou, being man, makest thyself God.” (vv. 30-33)

The Saviour did not deny their accusation. On the contrary, He restated His claim to be the Son of God, inseparable
from the Father, even more insistently. “Say ye of Him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world.,
thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I
do, though you believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in Him.” (vv. 36-38)

Finally, when Jesus had been arrested and taken bound to the tribunal of Caiaphas, and several false witnesses had spoken
against Him, the high priest stood up and asked Him publicly: “I adjure thee by thee living God, that thou tell us whether thou
be the Christ, the Son of God.” (Matthew 26:63; cf., Mark 14:61)

Jesus, without hesitating, answered him, “I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and
coming in the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:62)

“Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? Behold,
now ye have heard His blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death.” (Matthew 26:65-66) And
having led Him to Pilate, the Jews told him, “We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the
Son of God.” (John 19:7)

As is obvious in these, and the foregoing paragraphs, the Jews who heard Him certainly understood that He claimed to be
the Son of God. About this there can be no doubt.

- The Divine Attributes -

In addition to His claim to be the Son of God, Jesus attributed to Himself certain qualities that are proper to the Godhead:

Omnipotence - being always present everywhere, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20; see also, John 3:13 and Matthew 18:20); self-existence - having life in
Himself (John 5:26); eternity- having always been, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58;
see also John 17:5); equality with God - (John 10:27-30); and divine knowledge - (Matthew 11:27; and John 10:15).

It must be noted that by the use of the very expression I Am (cf., John 8:58 above), the Saviour identifies Himself with the
God of Israel, I Am being the divine given by God to Moses.

“And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers
hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses
I Am that I Am: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.” (Exodus 3:13-14)

- Christ in the Gospels -

One of the most serious errors widely taught and believed in our time is that Jesus Christ was only a man. It is asserted that He not
only did not claim to be God, but that this idea was invented by His followers, principally the Apostle Paul. Many people imagine that
His “simple” message of love and of doing good was distorted and elaborated in the generations that followed His earthly life into a
complicated doctrinal system or religion that He would not even recognize.

While some of those who hold this point of view concede that He was a great moral teacher and prophet, perhaps even divinely
inspired, they maintain that it was the disciples who made a God of Him and who also rewrote and edited the record of His teachings
in the Bible.

The fact is that the primary record that we have of all the things that He did and taught is the New Testament, specifically the holy
Gospels. In them we find the account of His moral teachings and we also find His declarations concerning Himself. Although some
biblical “scholars” question the authenticity of the latter, the Orthodox Church accepts as truth the entire record of Jesus Christ
contained in the Gospels.

The Gospel-writers, the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, made a permanent record not
only of what He said of Himself but also showed how He was the Saviour promised by God through the prophets of the Old Testament.

For example, the holy Evangelist Matthew, speaking of the miraculous conception of the Saviour, relates to Him the prophesy of
Isaiah: “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and thy shall call his name Emmanuel, which being inter-
preted is, God with us.” (Matthew 1:23; and Isaiah 7:14)

St. Mark begins his Gospel account with these words: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (1:1) Then,
telling the story of the Saviour’s baptism, he records the manifestation of the Holy Trinity: “And straightaway coming up out of
the water, He saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove, descending upon Him: and there came a voice from heaven,
saying: Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” (1:11)

St. Luke cites the prophecy of the angel to Zacharias concerning his son John, who was to be born and serve as the forerunner
of the Messiah: “And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he (John) shall go before Him in th
spirit and power of Elias.” (1:16-17)

St. John the Theologian begins his Gospel thus: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made
that was made.”

Here, he clearly calls the Word, “God.” He presents Him as existing since the beginning or from all eternity, distinct from
the Father, and as having created all that exists.

Further, He writes: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth…for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came from Jesus Christ.”
(1:14, 17) In other words, this Word is precisely the only-begotten Son of God the Father: He became flesh and is none other
than Jesus Christ.

A little further along, he says: “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son of God the Father, He hath declared
Him.” (1:18) In these words he shows that Jesus Christ is the only-begotten Son literally, as being in the very bosom of the
Father, and that He has made it possible for men to know God.

Finally, on concluding His Gospel, St. John notes that the purpose of writing it has been to prove the divinity of Jesus Christ.
“These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life
through His name.” (20:31)

- Christ in the Epistles -

The Epistles of John -

St. John, also, at the beginning of his first epistle, calls Christ our Saviour “the word of life,” (1:1); “eternal life, which was with
the Father, and was manifested unto us,” (1:20); and at the end of the same, says: “And we know that the Son of God is come,
and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and eternal life,” (5:20). Here he calls “true Son of God” and “true God” the One whom he had previously called “eternal life,”
thus affirming Christ’s divinity.

Again, in Revelation (Apocalypse), he cites several times the words of the Saviour, who had appeared to him. “I am Alpha and
Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (1:10, 12, 17, 18; 22:12, 13) He declares that Christ is “the prince of
the kings of the earth,” (1:5) and the “King of kings and the Lord of lords” (19:16).

The Epistles of Paul-

In his epistles, the holy apostle Paul calls the Saviour God: “[who] was manifest in the flesh,” (I Tim. 3:16); “the Lord of glory,” (I Corinthians 2:8);
“the great God,” (Titus 2:13);
“God blessed for ever,” (Romans 9:5);
God’s “own Son,” (Romans 8:32);
“who being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God,” (Phil. 2:6).

St. Paul gives Christ the divine attributes: eternity, (Hebrews 7:3); immutability (un-changeableness), (Hebrew 1:10-12); and omnipotence
(having all power), (Hebrew 1:3; Philippians 3:21).

He attributes to Him the whole creation: “...By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in the earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him.”
(Col.1:16) “…He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:17; cf., Hebrews 1:3)

In the Epistle of Jude-

The holy apostle Jude, furthermore, describes heretics as those who deny the divinity of Christ. “There are certain men crept
in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into Lasciviousness,
and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (v. 4)

Here, “and our Lord Jesus Christ” stand as an appositive to “the only Lord God.” Hence, St. Jude uses the terms synonymously
and affirms Christ’s divinity.

Christ in the Sub-Apostolic Epistles-

In the generation following that of the disciples of Christ, a number of bishops who had been taught directly by the Apostles
themselves wrote letters (epistles) to the churches. Some of these epistles have come down to us, and in them we find exactly
the same doctrine of Christ found in the New Testament. It is extremely important to note that there is a perfect continuity
between what the Apostles taught and what there disciples taught.

St. Ignatius of Antioch writes in his epistle to the Trallians: “Guard yourselves from these people [the heretics], and you
will have nothing to fear from them if you do not fill yourselves with pride and turn away from God, Jesus Christ, and from the
bishop and from the commandments.” (Chapter 7) [Note again that “Jesus Christ” stands in opposition to “God,” as in the Epistle
of Jude.]

Furthermore, St. Ignatius writes to the Christians at Ephesus: “Every place of injustice hath been destroyed, ignorance overcome,,br> the ancient kingdom done away by the appearance of ‘God in the form of man’, for the new life which shall have no end…You
all with the cooperation of grace, have been joined together in the one same Faith and in the same Jesus Christ, issue of David
according to the flesh, Son of Man and Son of God.” (Chapters 19 & 20)

The again, he wrote to the Church at Rome: “Ignatius, called also the God-bearer, pardoned by the goodness of the Most High
and of Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son, to the most beloved Church, enlightened by the will of Him who is pleased with all
that is done for love of Jesus Christ our God…I desire you to rejoice with an excellent and pure joy in Jesus Christ our God.” (Chapter 1)

St. Polycarp of Smyrna, writing to the Philippians, greets them in these terms: “Polycarp, and with him the priests of the
Church of God, which is in Philippi: may the grace and peace of Jesus Christ, God Almighty, our Lord and Saviour, be increased
in you.” (Chapter 1)

Finally, the Apostolic Father known as the author of the Epistle to Diognetus says: He Himself [God] has given His Son for
our redemption, the Holy One for sinners, the Innocent for the guilty, the Just for the unjust, the Incorruptible for the corruptible,
the Immortal for mortals. For, what could cover our sins, but His justice? Who else could justify us sinners and impious ones, but
the only Son of God…?” (Chapter 9)

Thus in the sub-apostolic period, the same emphasis on the divinity of Christ was held in the Church as it was during the time of
the Apostles.

Home | Our Parish | Location | Priest's Page | Calendar | Parish History | Orthodoxy | Links | Email