Meeting The Orthodox (Page 13 of 25)

By: Fr. Thomas HopkoRead time: 40 mins11817 Hits

 

13. The Experience of God

You also keep speaking about the experience of God and communion with God. Do you really believe that these things are possible for men?

If communion with God is not possible, then there is no Christian Faith and certainly no Orthodoxy.

The entire faith of the Church is built on the fact that “God is the Lord and has revealed Himself unto us.” This biblical line is solemnly sung at every Morning Service in the Orthodox Church.

God has revealed Himself! He has not merely told some things about Himself, or communicated some data about His divine existence and purposes. He has shown forth Himself and has given Himself to men for divine communion.

According to Orthodoxy, there is no other meaning to the life of man except in communion with God. God is the end of all longing, the fulfillment of all desires, the source and the goal of man’s very humanity made in God’s divine image and likeness.

Through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit, man comes to living communion with God the Father Himself. There is no other meaning and purpose to the Church and to life itself.

Man and all creation with him must come to be divine by sharing the being and life and action of God Himself. All of the attributes of divinity — as one saint put it — must become ours; eternal life, truth, goodness, holiness, purity, joy … all perfections summed up in the greatest which is Love. For God is Love! This is the meaning of life, and it is certainly possible for men to attain it. At least, once more, according to the Orthodox Faith.

 

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