Sunday of the Holy Fathers
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The human being is the centre of the world. The crown of everything created. Micro cosmos of (in) the micro cosmos. The image and resemblance of God. Potential god and god by grace.
Like never before, society is paying so much attention to the human being and human needs, at the same time like never before human have been so lonely and lost. This is because men have lost the true criteria of values and the foundation, which has been changed.
As in mathematics, when the equation is set incorrectly, then the whole process will go in the wrong direction and we will come to the wrong solution, and we will miss the target.
Therefore, for the Holy Apostle Paul there is no other foundation other than Christ. With His incarnation, the God-Man Christ becomes the foundation (essence) and criteria for all values.
According to Christian Anthropology and St. Apostle Paul, the human is a psycho-physical being of a material body and an intangible soul/spirit. The body is submissive to the soul, and the soul with its energy keeps the body alive.
The soul has its own essence and energy. The heart is the centre (essence) of the soul. In the heart, there are three forces (energies): the mind as an intellectual (rational) force, and, the will and the desire being “irrational” (they do not reason).
When the mind directs its primary energy in communication with the uncreated energies of God, then it is called a pure mind (or only a mind) and this is called contemplation. When the mind communicates with the created world, then it is called intellect (reason “razum”), which is also an experience.
God created the human as perfect with the wonderful harmoniousness and coordination of all its forces. That harmony is violated by sin, therefore the heart, through its three powers (mind, will and desire), becomes infected and is held captive by the passions.
The whole effort is to help the human to transform “the outer man” through the constant ascetic-hesychastic struggle and sacramental life in the Church. First to return to the original state, and later to rise to the likeness of God for which St. Paul testifies: “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago, whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows, such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know that this man, whether in body or without body, I do not know: God knows, he was snatched and taken away in paradise, and that he heard unspeakable words that man cannot express.”
This is the true purpose of the human being and its existence (goal), because all this God has prepared for us.
This is the life of the Holy Fathers, who accomplished this goal.
Fr. Gavril Galev
Abbot of the monastery “St. Clement of Ohrid”,
Kinglake, Melbourne, Australia
20 / 01 / 2020
