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Traditional Catholic Prayers: Hymn for the Nativity
Monday, November 03, 2008
Hymn for the Nativity
Sons of men, do you truly speak of justice? Dwellers on the earth,
do you truly judge with fairness?
We confess with unshakable faith
that God, who was made man
and who was given birth by a Virgin.
Before all time he was begotten.
of an infinite Father;
now we adore him who became incarnate
in a Virgin's womb.
He is the creator of all,
himself remaining invisible and distinct from creation.
So we are able to say:
in you, Lord, is clemency; glory be to you.
O holy God,
you have deigned to be born, a tiny child, from a Virgin. I
O God, holy and strong,
you have willed to rest in the arms of Mary.
O God, holy and immortal,
you have come to rescue Adam from hell.
O immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, full of grace,
Emmanuel, whom you have carried,
is the fruit of your womb.
In your maternal bosom you have nourished all men.
You are above all praise and all glory.
Hail, Mother of God, joy of the angels.
The fullness of your grace
goes beyond what the prophets foretold.
The Lord is with you,
you have given birth
to the Saviour of the world.
Fragment from an ancient eucharistic liturgy
Monday, November 04, 2008
Christmas prayer
We praise you, Lord Jesus Christ,
God-Saviour of men,
stupendously powerful with the Father;
we praise you, we invoke you, we pray to you; assist us with your pardon, with clemency give us your grace.
Awaken in our hearts desires deserving of fulfillment; suggest to us words that are worthy to be heard; grant that our actions may be worthy of blessing.
We beg you to renew your birth in human nature, penetrating us with your invisible Godhead
as you did in a unique way in Mary
and do now spiritually in the Church.
May you be conceived by our faith,
that a mind untouched by corruption may bring you forth, that the soul, ever confirmed by the power of the Most High, may offer you a dwelling place.
Be not born in us, but reveal yourself in us. Be truly for us the Emmanuel, God with us.
Deign to remain with us, to fight for us. Only so can we conquer.
Mozarabic liturgy
Monday, November 05, 2008
THE GREAT DOXOLOGY
Glory to Thee Father of Lights Who through Thy Son Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, hast shown forth Thy Light.
GLORY to God in the highest, and on earth peace, towards men of good will.
We praise Thee; we bless Thee; we worship Thee; we glorify Thee; we
give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory:
O Lord, Heavenly King, God the Father Almighty, O Lord the Only¬
begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. .
O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sin of the world: have mercy on us, Thou that takest away the sins of the world.
Receive our prayer, Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father;
and have mercy on us.
For Thou only art holy; Thou only art Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory
of God the Father. Amen.
Every day will I bless Thee, and I will praise Thy Name for ever, yea,
for ever and ever.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
Blessed art Thou, O Lord, the God of our Fathers, and praised and
glorified is Thy Name unto the ages. Amen.
Let Thy mercy, Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in
Thee.
Blessed art Thou, O Lord, teach me Thy statutes. (Thrice)
Lord, Thou hast been our refuge from generation to generation. I said:
O Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee.
Lord, unto Thee have I fled for refuge; teach me to do Thy will, for
Thou art my God. .
For in Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light shall we see light.
O continue Thy mercy unto them that know Thee.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (Thrice)
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.
Then we chant with stronger voice:
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.
Great Horologion – Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Monday, November 06, 2008
GOD is with us; know, ye nations, and be vanquished.
For God is with us.
Give ear, even unto the utmost part of the earth.
For God is with us.
Ye that have prevailed, even ye be vanquished.
For God is with us.
For though ye should prevail again, yet again shall ye be vanquished.
For God is with us.
And whatsoever counsel ye shall take, the Lord shall bring it to nought.
For God is with us.
And whatsoever word ye speak., it shall not abide in you.
For God is with us.
And the fear of you we shall not fear, neither shall we be troubled.
For God is with us.
But we will sanctify the Lord our God, and He shall be our fear.
For God is with us.
And I put my trust in Him, He shall be my sanctification.
For God is with us.
Yea, I will put my trust in Him, and I shall be saved through Him.
For God is with us.
Behold, I and the children which God hath given me.
For God is with us.
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.
For God is with us.
We that dwell in the land and shadow of death a light shall shine upon us.
For God is with us.
For unto us a Child is born; and unto us a Son is given.
For God is with us.
Whose government is come upon His shoulder.
For God is with us.
And of His peace there is no end.
For God is with us.
And His Name shall be called the Angel of Great Counsel.
For God is with us.
Wonderful Counselor.
For God is with us.
The mighty God, He that hath authority, the Prince of Peace.
For God is with us.
The Father of the age to come.
For God is with us.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
For God is with us.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
For God is with us.
God is with us; know, ye nations, and be vanquished; for God is with us.
Monday, November 07, 2008
Jesu, the Ransomer of man,
Who, ere created light began,
Didst from the sovereign Father spring,
His power and glory equaling.
The Father's Light and Splendour thou,
Their endless Hope to thee that bow:
Accept the prayers and praise today
That through the world thy servants pay.
Salvation's Author, call to mind
How, taking form of humankind,
Born of a Virgin undefiled
Thou in man's flesh becam'st a Child.
Thus testifies the present day
Through every year in long array,
That thou, salvation's source alone,
Proceedest from the Father's Throne.
Whence sky, and stars, and sea's abyss,
And earth, and all that therein is,
Shall still, with laud and carol meet,
The Author of thine Advent greet.
And we who, by thy precious Blood
From sin redeemed, are marked for God,
On this, the day that saw thy Birth,
Sing the new song of ransomed earth.
All honour, laud, and glory be,
O Jesu, Virgin-Born, to thee;
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Spirit, for evermore. Amen.
Monday, November 08, 2008
Eternal King of Saints, whose Word
Called forth creation from its rest,
Before the ages thou art Lord,
In thine eternal Father's breast.
Thou, when earth's dawning sun began
To chase the chaos shades away,
In thine own Image madest man,
And didst inspire the senseless clay.
But Satan's craft and Satan's wile
Could mar that work so very good:
And Eden's wood must man beguile,
That God may reign from off the Wood.
O born of Mary's virgin womb,
First-fruits of Death's dark womb to be,
Thou bidst us waken from the tomb,
And rise to light and life with thee.
Eternal Shepherd of the sheep,
The stones lie heavy on the well;
The clear baptismal spring lies deep,
Come thou and feed thine Israel!
Redeemer of the sons of men
Thou hungest dying on the Rood,
That thou mightst pay the price again
Of our salvation in thy Blood.
Grant, Lord, in thee each faithful mind
Unceasing Paschal joy may find;
And from the death of sin set free
Souls newly born to life by thee.
All praise be thine, O risen Lord,
From death to endless life restored;
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Spirit, for evermore. Amen.
Monday, November 09, 2008
Eternal Monarch, King most high,
Whose blood hath brought redemption nigh,
By whom the death of Death was wrought,
And conquering grace to man was brought:
Ascending to the throne of might,
And seated at the Father's right,
All power, O Jesu, is thine own
That here thy Manhood had not known.
To thee the whole creation now
Doth in its three-fold order bow,
Of things on earth, and things on high,
And things that underneath do lie.
With awe the Angels contemplate
The wondrous change of man's estate;
Though flesh hath sinned, Flesh purged the stain,
And in that Flesh our God doth reign.
Be thou our joy, O mighty Lord,
As thou wilt be our great reward;
Earth's joys to thee are nothing worth,
Thou joy and crown of heaven and earth.
We therefore beg, dear Lord, of thee
To pardon our iniquity;
Yea, of thine own supernal grace
Uplift our hearts to seek thy face:
That when in clouds, O Judge of doom,
Thy glory shall this earth illume,
Thou mayst remit our debt of pain,
And grant our long-lost crowns again.
All praise from every heart and tongue
To thee, ascended Lord, be sung;
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Spirit, for evermore. Amen.
Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest,
Vouchsafe within our souls to rest;
Come with thy grace and heavenly aid,
And fill the hearts which thou hast made.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest,
Vouchsafe within our souls to rest;
Come with thy grace and heavenly aid,
And fill the hearts which thou hast made.
To thee, the Paraclete, we cry,
To thee, the Gift of God most high,
The Fount of life, the Fire of love,
The soul's Anointing from above.
The sevenfold gifts of grace are thine,
O Finger of the Hand Divine;
True Promise of the Father thou,
Who dost the tongue with speech endow.
Thy light to every sense impart,
And shed thy love in every heart;
Thine own unfailing might supply
To strengthen our infirmity.
Drive far away our preternatural foe,
And thine abiding peace bestow;
If thou be our preventing Guide,
No evil can our steps betide.
Make thou to us the Father known,
Teach us the eternal Son to own,
Be this our neverchanging creed,
That thou dost from the Father through the Son proceed.
Monday, November 11, 2008
All praise be thine, O risen Lord,
From death to endless life restored;
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Spirit, for evermore. Amen.
O God of mercy passing thought,
Who hast the world contrived and wrought;
In might, essential Unity,
In Persons, blessed Trinity:
Uplift us with thine arm of might,
And let our hearts rise pure and bright,
And, ardent in God's praises, pay
The thanks we owe him every day.
Glory to thee, O Father, Lord,
And to thy Sole-begotten Word,
Both with the Holy Spirit One
While everlasting ages run. Amen.
Monday, November 12, 2008
The little child Jesus is already here
The Kings and the shepherds adore without fear
There is much to behold for the wise and the fool:
Saint Joseph, the Virgin; the ox and the mule.
Let us adore the little child
With pleasure and happy cheer;
Let us adore as the Magi do
As the Magi adore Him here.
A child is born in Bethlehem;
Rejoice, therefore, Jerusalem.
Low in the manger lieth He,
Whose kingdom without end shall be...
All glory, Lord, to Thee be done,
Now seen in flesh, the Virgin's Son.[35]
Thou camest down, O heaven's King,
From starry sky,
And in a cave so poor and cold
I see Thee lie.
I see Thee tremble, blessed God;
Why should this be?
Thy sacrifice, O love Divine,
Is all for me.
About the field they piped full right,
Even about the midst of the night;
They saw come down from heaven a light:
Tirle, tirle--so merrily
The shepherds began to blow.[37]
Noel, Noel, Noel,
Tidings good I think to tell.
The boar's head that we bring here,
Betokeneth a prince without peer
Is born today to buy us dear.
Noel, Noel, Noel.
In dulci jubilo
Sing ye, and gladness show!
See our bliss reclining
In praesepio,
The very sun outshining
Matris in gremio.
Alpha es et O,
Alpha es et O.
Thy shining eyes, so blue and light,
Thy tender cheeks, so soft and bright;
I will remain forever Thine,
O dearest Son, O child Divine....
Hajej, nynej, Jesus dear,
Sleep in peace, and do not fear.
We shall bundle you to rest,
Keep you close to our breast.
Hajej, nynej, darling Child,
Son of Mary, Saviour mild.
As Joseph was a-walking,
He heard an angel sing:
This night shall be born
Our heavenly king.
He neither shall be born
In housen or in hall,
Nor in the place of Paradise,
But in an ox's stall.
He neither shall be clothed
In purple nor in pall,
But all in fair linen,
As were babies all..
The gates of Heaven's glory did spring open suddenly
So came we running to the crib,
I and also you,
A beeline into Bethlehem, Hopsa, trala loo:
"O, baby dear, take anything
Of all the little gifts we bring:
Have apples or have butter,
Maybe pears or yellow cheese;
Or would you rather have some nuts,
Or plums, or what you please.
Alleluja, alleluja;
Alle-, alle-, Alleluja."[44]
Now Christmas is here again,
And Christmas is here again,
And Christmas we'll have till Easter.
Then Easter is here again,
And Easter is here again,
And Easter we'll have till Christmas.
Now He is with us forever,
And He is with us forever,
For He is here now and comes again.
Joseph, dearest Joseph mine,
Help me rock my baby fine!
What Gabriel foretold
Is now fulfilled,
Eia, Eia,
The Virgin bore a child
As the Father's wisdom willed.
Eia, Eia.
Joseph, dearest Joseph mine,
Help me rock my baby fine!
Monday, November 13, 2008
The blessed light of Saints above,
Sweet hope of mortals here below,
Art thou, O Jesu, who the love
Of human home and hearth didst know.
O Mary, thou art full of grace,
Who careth for Jesus with tender love,
And kissed his blessed, smiling face
Whilst in thine arms he took his rest.
O Joseph, thou of all our race
Elected wast to guard the fame
Of Mary, Virgin full of grace,
And give her Son a father's name.
O Mary! Joseph! holy twain
From Jesse's root and David's seed,
Who ushered in salvation's reign,
Help all who at Christ's altars plead.
The sun declineth towards the west,
And dusk of night is drawing near,
O take to God the heart's behest
Of each and all who linger here.
Sweet home of Nazareth, in thee
All grace and virtue can we see;
Lord, grant each Christian home to be,
Like thine, a holy family.
Praise God, who served, whilst here on earth,
Joseph, and her who gave him birth;
Whom with the Father, we adore,
And Holy Spirit, for evermore. Amen.
The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ
by Steve in Vista on Mon 3 November 2008 7:59 am
November 3, 2008 entry on Christmas
It is getting closer to Christmas!
The fast prior to the feast of our Lord Jesus Christ’s Nativity in the ancient Church was six weeks in the East and six weeks in St. Ambrose’s liturgical tradition in the West as well. The importance of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ cannot be overstated. As is apparent below absolutely linked to that is the Church’s confession of literal creation. God literally did just what He said and in that is alone the true revelation of God and His Christ and the only salvation which is in the true Christ Jesus and not some evolutionary cosmic Gnostic pseudo-Christ which is actually the Antichrist and damnation.
From:
http://euphrosynoscafe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8673
The 532-year cycle is calculated from the creation of Adam, which, as we know, took place on Friday, March 1, 5508 B.C. (Yes, that is the base date on which the entire calendar system of the Orthodox Church is based-pretty neat, huh?)
Which was taken from: http://ecclesiagoc.org/html/page.cfm?ID=6
And from the traditional liturgy going back centuries in the West, on the feast of the Nativity.
"In the 5,199th year of the creation of the world, from the time when God in the beginning made out of nothing the heavens and the earth; the 2,957th year after the flood; the 2,015th year from the birth of Abraham; the 1,510th year from Moses and the going-out of the people of Israel from Egypt; the 1,032nd year from the anointing of David king; in the 65th week according to the prophecy of Daniel; in the 194th olympiad; the 752nd year from the foundation of the city of Rome; the 42nd year of the rule of Octavian Augustus, all the earth being at peace, in the sixth age of the world: Jesus Christ, the eternal God and Son of the eternal Father, willing to consecrate the world by His most merciful coming, being conceived by the Holy Spirit and nine months having passed since His conception, was born in Bethlehem of Juda of the Virgin Mary, being made man.
Mt:2:
1 ¶ When Jesus therefore was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of king Herod, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem,
2 Saying: Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to adore him.
3 And king Herod hearing this, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 And assembling together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ should be born.
5 But they said to him: In Bethlehem of Juda. For so it is written by the prophet:
6 And thou Bethlehem the land of Juda art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come forth the captain that shall rule my people Israel.
7 Then Herod, privately calling the wise men learned diligently of them the time of the star which appeared to them;
8 And sending them into Bethlehem, said: Go and diligently inquire after the child, and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come and adore him.
9 ¶ Who having heard the king, went their way; and behold the star which they had seen in the East, went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was.
10 And seeing the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
11 And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, andfalling down they adored him: and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 And having received an answer in sleep that they should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their country.
13 ¶ And after they were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him.
14 Who arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod:
15 That it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called my son.
16 ¶ Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry: and sending killed all the menchildren that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying:
18 A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
19 ¶ But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph in Egypt,
20 Saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead that sought the life of the child.
21 Who arose, and took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
22 But hearing that Archelaus reigned in Judea in the room of Herod his father, he was afraid to go thither: and being warned in sleep retired into the quarters of Galilee.
23 And coming he dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was said by the prophets: That he shall be called a Nazarene.
St. Ignatius (Apostolic Father) to the Ephesians
Now the virginity of Mary was hidden from the prince of this world, as was also her offspring, and the death of the Lord; three mysteries of renown,(5) which were wrought in silence by(6) God. How, then, was He manifested to the world?(7) A star shone forth in heaven above all the other stars, the light of Which was inexpressible, while its novelty struck men with astonishment. And all the rest of the stars, with the sun and moon, formed a chorus to this star, and its light was exceedingly great above them all. And there was agitation felt as to whence this new spectacle came, so unlike to everything else [in the heavens]. Hence every kind of magic was destroyed, and every bond of wickedness disappeared; ignorance was removed, and the old kingdom abolished, God Himself being manifested in human form for the renewal of eternal life. And now that took a beginning which had been prepared by God. Henceforth all things were in a state of tumult, because He mediated the abolition of death.
– From CCEL
Lk:2:
1 ¶ And it came to pass that in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled.
2 This enrolling was first made by Cyrinus, the governor of Syria.
3 And all went to be enrolled, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem: because he was of the house and family of David.
5 To be enrolled with Mary his espoused wife, who was with child.
6 And it came to pass that when they were there, her days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her first born son and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger: because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 ¶ And there were in the same country shepherds watching and keeping the night watches over their flock.
9 And behold an angel of the Lord stood by them and the brightness of God shone round about them: and they feared with a great fear.
10 And the angel said to them: Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people:
11 For, this day is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying:
14 Glory to God in the highest: and on earth peace to men of good will.
15 And it came to pass, after the angels departed from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another: Let us go over to Bethlehem and let us see this word that is come to pass, which the Lord hath shewed to us.
16 And they came with haste: and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.
17 And seeing, they understood of the word that had been spoken to them concerning this child.
18 And all that heard wondered: and at those things that were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
21 ¶ And after eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised, his name was called JESUS, which was called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
22 And after the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord:
23 As it is written in the law of the Lord: Every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord:
24 And to offer a sacrifice, according as it is written in the lawof the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons:
25 ¶ And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon: and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.And the Holy Ghost was in him.
26 And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law,
28 He also took him into his arms and blessed God and said
29 Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace:
30 Because my eyes have seen thy salvation,
31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples:
32 A light to the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.
33 And his father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him.
34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be contradicted.
35 And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed.
36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser. She was far advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity.
37 And she was a widow until fourscore and four years: who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day.
38 Now she, at the same hour, coming in, confessed to the Lord: and spoke of him to all that looked for the redemption of Israel.
39 And after they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their city Nazareth.
40 And the child grew and waxed strong, full of wisdom: and the grace of God was in him.
41 ¶ And his parents went every year to Jerusalem, at the solemn day of the pasch.
42 And when he was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast,
43 And having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem. And his parents knew it not.
44 And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day's journey and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance.
45 And not finding him,they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him.
46 And it came to pass, that, after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them and askingthem questions.
47 And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers.
48 And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
49 And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business?
50 And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them.
51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart.
52 And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and grace with God and men.
Sermon On the Nativity
by St. Augustine
(1) Hear, O sons of light, who have been received by adoption into the kingdom of God; hear, my very dear brethren; hear and be glad in the Lord, ye just ones, so that praise may become the upright.[1] Hear what you already know; reflect upon what you have heard; love what you believe; proclaim what you love. Since we are celebrating a great anniversary on this day, you may expect a sermon in keeping with the feast. Christ as God was born of His Father, as Man of His Mother; of the immortality of His Father, of the virginity of His Mother; of His Father without a mother, of His Mother without a father; of His Father without limits of time, of His Mother without seed; of His Father as the source of life, of His Mother as the end of death; of His Father ordering all days, of His Mother consecrating this particular day.[2]
(2) God sent John to earth as His human Precursor so that he was born when the days were becoming shorter while the Lord Himself was born when the days were growing longer, that in this minute detail the subsequent words of this same John might be prefigured: 'He must increase, but I must decrease.'[3] For human life ought to grow weaker in itself and stronger in Christ, that 'they who are alive may live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for all and rose again,' and that each one of us may say in the words of the Apostle: 'It is now no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me.'[4] For 'he must increase, but I must decrease.'
All His angels worthily praise Him, for He is their everlasting food, nourishing them with an incorruptible feast. He is the Word of God, by whose life they live, by whose eternity they live forever, by whose goodness they live happily forever. They praise Him worthily, as God with God, and they render glory to God on high. May we, 'his people and the sheep of his hand,'[5] reconciled to Him by our good will, merit peace in consideration of the limited measure of our weakness. For these words to which the angels themselves gave utterance in jubilation at the birth of our Saviour are their daily tribute: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will.'[6] Therefore, they praise Him duly: let us praise Him in obedience. They are His messengers; we, His sheep. He filled their table in heaven; He filled our manger on earth. He is the fullness of their table because 'in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God.' He is the fullness of our manger because 'the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.'[7] so that man might eat the Bread of angels the Creator of the angels became man. The angels praise Him by living; we, by believing; they by enjoying, we by seeking; they by obtaining, we by striving to obtain; they by entering, we by knocking.
(3) What human being could know all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ and concealed under the poverty of His humanity? For, 'being rich, he became poor for our sake that by his poverty we might become rich.'[8] When He assumed our mortality and overcame death, He manifested Himself in poverty, but He promised riches though they might be deferred; He did not lose them as if they were taken from Him. How great is the multitude of His sweetness which He hides from those who fear Him but which He reveals to those that hope in Him![9] For we understand only in part until that which is perfect comes to us. To make us worthy of this perfect gift, He, equal to the Father in the form of God, became like to us in the form of a servant, and refashions us into the likeness of God. The only Son of God, having become the Son of Man, makes many sons of men the sons of God; and on these men, reared as servants, with the visible form of servants, He bestows the freedom of beholding the form of God. For 'we are the children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that, when he appears, we shall be like to him, for we shall see him just as he is.'[l0] What, then, are those treasures of wisdom and knowledge? What are those divine riches unless they be that which satisfies our longing? And what is that multitude of sweetness unless it be what fills us? 'Show us the Father and it is enough for us.'[11] Furthermore, in one of the psalms, one of our race, either in our name or for our sake, said to Him: 'I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear.'[l2] But He and the Father are one, and the person who sees Him sees the Father also;[l3] therefore, 'the Lord of hosts, he is the King of Glory.'[l4] Turning to us, He will show us His face and 'we shall be saved';[15] we shall be satisfied, and He will be sufficient for us.
(4) Therefore, let our heart speak thus to Him; 'I have sought thy countenance; thy face, O Lord, will I still seek. Turn not away thy face from me.'[l6] And let Him reply to the plea of our hearts: 'He who loves me keeps my commandments; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.'[17] Indeed, those to whom He addressed these words did see Him with their eyes; they heard the sound of His voice with their ears; they regarded Him as a man in their human heart. But, what eye has not seen, what ear has not heard, and what has not entered into the heart of man He promised to show to those who love Him.[l8] Until this favor is granted to us, until He shows us what will completely satisfy us, until we drink to satiety of that fountain of life, while we wander about, apart from Him but strong in faith, while we hunger and thirst for justice, longing with an unspeakable desire for the beautiful vision of God, let us celebrate with fervent devotion His birthday in the form of a servant. Since we cannot, as yet, understand that He was begotten (monogenes – engendered) by the Father before the day- star, let us celebrate His birth of the Virgin in the nocturnal hours. Since we do not comprehend how His name existed before the light of the sun, let us recognize His tabernacle placed in the sun. Since we do not, as yet, gaze upon the Son inseparably united with His Father, let us remember Him as the 'bridegroom coming out of his bride-chamber.' Since we are not yet ready for the banquet of our Father, let us grow familiar with the manger of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jn:1:
1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God: and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made.
4 In him was life: and the life was the light of men.
5 ¶ And the light shineth in darkness: and the darkness did not comprehend it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might believe through him.
8 He was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light.
9 That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world.
10 He was in the world: and the world was made by him: and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own: and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name.
13 Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten ofthe Father), full of grace and truth.
15 ¶ John beareth witness of him and crieth out, saying: This was he of whom I spoke: He that shall come after me is preferred before me: because he was before me.
16 And of his fulness we all have received: and grace for grace.
17 For the law was given by Moses: grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
18 No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son who is in the Bosomof the Father, he hath declared him.
19 ¶ And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites to him, to ask him: Who art thou?
20 And he confessed and did not deny: and he confessed: I am not the Christ.
21 And they asked him: What then? Art thou Elias? And he said: I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered: No.
22 They said therefore unto him: Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself?
23 He said: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaias.
24 And they that were sent were of the Pharisees.
25 And they asked him and said to him: Why then dost thou baptize, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet?
26 John answered them, saying: I baptize with water: but there hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not.
27 The same is he that shall come after me, who is preferred before me: the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.
28 These things were done in Bethania, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29 ¶ The next day, John saw Jesus coming to him; and he saith: Behold the Lamb of God. Behold him who taketh away the sin of the world.
30 This is he of whom I said: After me there cometh a man, who is preferred before me: because he was before me.
31 And I knew him not: but that he may be made manifest in Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
32 And John gave testimony, saying: I saw the Spirit coming down, as a dove from heaven; and he remained upon him.
33 And I knew him not: but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me: He upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, he it is that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
34 And I saw: and I gave testimony that this is the Son of God.
35 The next day again John stood and two of his disciples.
36 And beholding Jesus walking, he saith: Behold the Lamb of God.
37 ¶ And the two disciples heard him speak: and they followed Jesus.
38 And Jesus turning and seeing them following him, saith to them: What seek you? Who said to him: Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where dwellest thou?
39 He saith to them:Come and see. They came and saw where he abode: and they stayed with him that day. Now itwas about the tenth hour.
40 And Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who had heard of John and followed him.
41 He findeth first his brother Simon and saith to him: We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
42 And he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looking upon him, said: Thou art Simon the son of Jona. Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter.
43 ¶ On the following day, he would go forth into Galilee: and he findeth Philip, And Jesus saith to him: follow me.
44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip findeth Nathanael and saith to him: We have found him of whom Moses, in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth.
46 And Nathanael said to him: Can any thing of good come from Nazareth? Philip saith to him: Come and see.
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and he saith of him: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.
48 Nathanael saith to him: Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said to him: Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
49 Nathanael answered him and said: Rabbi: Thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel.
50 Jesus answered and said to him: Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, thou believest: greater things than these shalt thou see.
51 And he saith to him: Amen, amen, I say to you, you shall see the heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
Mk:1:
1 ¶ The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in Isaias the prophet: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare the way before thee.
3 A voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight his paths.
4 John was in the desert, baptizing and preaching the baptism of penance, unto remission of sins.
5 And there went out to him all the country of Judea and all they of Jerusalem and were baptized by him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
6 And John was clothed camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins: and he ate locusts and wild honey.
7 And he preached, saying: There cometh after me one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.
8 I have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
9 ¶ And it came to pass, in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in Jordan.
10 And forthwith coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens open and the Spirit as a dove descending and remaining on him.
11 And there came a voice from heaven: Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
12 And immediately the Spirit drove him out into the desert.
13 And he was in the desert forty days and forty nights, and was tempted by Satan. And he was with beasts: and the angels ministered to him.
14 ¶ And after that John was delivered up, Jesus came in Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15 And saying: The time is accomplished and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel:
16 And passing by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother, casting nets into the sea for they were fishermen.
17 And Jesus said to them: Come after me; and I will make you to become fishers of men.
18 And immediately leaving their nets, they followed him.
19 And going on from thence a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who also were mending their nets in the ship:
20 And forthwith he called them. And leaving their father Zebedee in the ship with his hired men, they followed him.
21 And they entered into Capharnaum: and forthwith upon the sabbath days going into the synagogue, he taught them.
22 And they were astonished at his doctrine. For he was teaching them as one having power, and not as the scribes.
23 ¶ And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,
24 Saying: What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know who thou art, the Holy One of God.
25 And Jesus threatened him, saying: Speak no more, and go out of the man.
26 And the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying out with a loud voice, went out of him.
27 And they were all amazed insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying: What thing is this? What is this new doctrine? For with power he commandeth even the unclean spirits: and they obey him.
28 And the fame of him was spread forthwith into all the country of Galilee.
29 ¶ And immediately going out of the synagogue they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
30 And Simon's wife's mother lay in a fit of a fever: and forthwith they tell him of her.
31 And coming to her, he lifted her up, taking her by the hand; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.
32 And when it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all that were ill and that were possessed with devils.
33 And all the city was gathered together at the door.
34 And he healed many that were troubled with divers diseases. And he cast out many devils: and he suffered them not to speak, because they knew him.
35 And rising very early, going out, he went into a desert place: and there he prayed.
36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him.
37 And when they had found him, they said to him: All seek for thee.
38 And he saith to them: Let us go into the neighbouring towns and cities, that I may preach there also; for to this purpose am I come.
39 And he was preaching in their synagogues and in all Galilee and casting out devils.
40 ¶ And there came a leper to him, beseeching him and kneeling down, said to him: If thou wilt thou canst make me clean.
41 And Jesus, having compassion on him, stretched forth his hand and touching him saith to him: I will. Be thou made clean.
42 And when he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him: and he was made clean.
43 And he strictly charged him and forthwith sent him away.
44 And he saith to him: See thou tell no one; but go, shew thyself to the high priest and offer for thy cleansing the things that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.
45 But he being gone out, began to publish and to blaze abroad the word: so that he could not openly go into the city. but was without in desert places. And they flocked to him from all sides.
ON AWAKENING
Hymn to Christ the light and life
Christ come among men
as source of light,
your holy birth (engendered timelessly immortal in the Father’s bosom)
is before the beginning of all time and creation. You are the radiant light shining with the Father. You irradiate lustreless matter
and illumine the souls of the faithful.
You have created the world
and fixed the orbit of the stars;
you sustain the axis of the earth, you save all mankind.
You guide the sun in its course
to light up all our days
and the crescent moon
which dispels the darkness of night. You make the seed to sprout preparing food for the flocks.
From your inexhaustible fount
you pour out the splendour of life making fruitful the whole world. . .
Synesius of Cyrene
Ode 9, Part 1 The Magnificat Luke 1, 46-55
MY soul doth magnify the Lord:
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior,
Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed,
Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is his name.
And his mercy is from generation unto generation to those that fear him.
He hath showed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.
He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent away empty.
He hath received Israel, his servant, being mindful of his mercy,
As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Ant. All generations shall call me blessed, for God hath regarded his lowly handmaid.
Ode 9, Part 2 Canticle of Zachary Luke 1 :68-79
BLESSED be the Lord God of Israel, because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people: And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant:
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been since the world began.
Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us:
To perform mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy testament,
The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us,
That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear.
In holiness and justice before him, all our days.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:
To give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins:
Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us:
To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Canticle of Simeon Luke 2.29-32.34
+ NOW Thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord according to thy word in peace:
Because my eyes have seen thy salvation.
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples:
A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Ant. Save us, O Lord, while we are awake, and guard us when we sleep: that we may watch with Christ, and rest in peace.
Ant. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against.
Prayer for the Nativity
Jesus Christ, radiant centre of glory,
image of our God, the invisible Father,
revealer of his eternal designs,
prince of peace;
father of the world to come. . .
For our sake he took the likeness of a slave,
becoming flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
without intervention of man;
for our sake, wrapped in swaddling bands
and laid in a manger
adored by the shepherds
and hymned by the angelic powers, who sang:
Glory to God in the heavens
and on earth peace and good to men.
Make us worthy, Lord, to celebrate and to conclude in peace the feast which magnifies the rising of your light,
by avoiding empty words, working with justice, fleeing from the passions and raising up the spirit above earthly goods.
Bless your Church, formed long ago
to be united with yourself through your life giving blood.
Come to the aid of your faithful shepherds,
of the priests and the teachers of your Gospel.
Bless your faithful whose only hope is in your mercy; Christian souls, the sick, those who are tormented in spirit and those who have asked us to pray for them.
Have pity, in your infinite clemency, and preserve us in fitness to receive the future, endless good things.
We celebrate your glorious nativity
with the Father who sent you for our redemption,
with the life-giving Spirit,
now and for ever and through all ages. Amen.
Syriac liturgy
Last edited by Steve in Vista on Mon 3 November 2008 2:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Steve in Vista
Member
Posts: 133
Joined: Tue 16 September 2008 10:29 pm
Location: USA
Faith: Catholic
by Steve in Vista on Mon 3 November 2008 2:25 pm
Hymn for the Nativity
Sons of men, do you truly speak of justice? Dwellers on the earth,
do you truly judge with fairness?
We confess with unshakable faith
that God, who was made man
and who was given birth by a Virgin.
Before all time he was begotten.
of an infinite Father;
now we adore him who became incarnate
in a Virgin's womb.
He is the creator of all,
himself remaining invisible and distinct from creation.
So we are able to say:
in you, Lord, is clemency; glory be to you.
O holy God,
you have deigned to be born, a tiny child, from a Virgin.
O God, holy and strong,
you have willed to rest in the arms of Mary.
O God, holy and immortal,
you have come to rescue Adam from hell.
O immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, full of grace,
Emmanuel, whom you have carried,
is the fruit of your womb.
In your maternal bosom you have nourished all men.
You are above all praise and all glory.
Hail, Mother of God, joy of the angels.
The fullness of your grace
goes beyond what the prophets foretold.
The Lord is with you,
you have given birth
to the Saviour of the world.
Fragment from an ancient eucharistic liturgy
Steve in Vista
Member
by Pravoslavnik on Tue 4 November 2008 3:59 am
Steve,
Thank you for posting this, and the Orthodox material on Halloween. I have a few sincere questions regarding this cosmogony.
First, who were "the daughters of men" who married the sons of Adam, as described in the Holy Scriptures, and who were the "men" who fathered them? Is it possible that the Adamah was a special spiritual creation of God, whose progeny then married the evolved adamah (men) of the earth?
Secondly, why must some Orthodox Christians insist that the Triune God did not bring the cosmos and the life on earth into existence partly through evolutionary biological processes like natural selection?
If time is a function of velocity in our expanding universe--as per Einstein's theory of relativity-- is it not conceivable that the six 24 hour "days" of God's creation measured at the center of the universe-- the hexamera-- might have lasted fully 15 billion years in earth time, which is the approximate astrophysical age of the cosmos? (In fact, some modern physicist have noted that there is a fairly precise fit between the scriptures and modern astrophysics when the relative rate of time is factored into the equation.) Certainly, blessed Augustine of Hippo disagreed somewhat with both Sts. Basil and Ambrose on this issue of the duration of the hexamera.
Must Orthodox Christians necessarily accept the flawed paleontology of Henry Morris and the Protestant Evangelical "Young Earth Creationists?"
Pravoslavnik
Member
No evolution
by Steve in Vista on Tue 4 November 2008 7:11 am
The “sons of God” (not Adam) that came into the daughters of Adam and had sexual relations with them are the fallen angels; see below concerning the Devil’s lie about evolving into gods – this is what is referred to. (All the angels are refered to as sons of God since God created all of them. The evil ones chose to do evil and fell.) According to the Church Fathers, especially St. Hippolytus amongst others, the pre-flood “nephilim” (giants) which were the product of those relations were totally demonic. The flood in Noah’s time was to destroy them. Their souls are demons and not human and are the demons that Christ cast out of people.
Gen:6:
4 ¶ Now giants were upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of God went in to the daughters of Adam, and they brought forth children, these are the mighty men of old, men of renown.
5 And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times,
6 ¶ It repented him that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart,
7 He said: I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8 ¶ But Noe found grace before the Lord.
This directly below refers to the same fallen angels and the very thing they did by going in to the daughters of Adam.
2Pt:2:4:
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower hell, unto torments, to be reserved unto judgment:
Warning from the early Church
APOSTATES -- ACCORDING TO St. Irenaeus of Lugdunum, Gaul (Lyons, France) - 180 A.D.
Against Heresies.
Those nations however, who did not of themselves raise up their eyes unto heaven, nor returned thanks to their Maker, nor wished to behold the light of truth, but who were like blind mice concealed in the depths of ignorance, the word justly reckons “as waste water from a sink, and as the turning-weight of a balance—in fact, as nothing;”
That before the Lord’s appearance Satan never dared to blaspheme God, inasmuch as he did not yet know his own sentence, because it was contained in parables and allegories; but that after the Lord’s appearance, when he had clearly ascertained from the words of Christ and His apostles that eternal fire has been prepared for him as he apostatized from God of his own free-will, and likewise for all who unrepentant continue in the apostasy, he now blasphemes, by means of such men, the Lord who brings judgment [upon him] as being already condemned, and imputes the guilt of his apostasy to his Maker, not to his own voluntary disposition. Just as it is with those who break the laws, when punishment overtakes them: they throw the blame upon those who frame the laws, but not upon themselves. In like manner do those men, filled with a satanic spirit, bring innumerable accusations against our Creator, who has both given to us the spirit of life, and established a law adapted for all; and they will not admit that the judgment of God is just. Wherefore also they set about imagining some other Father who neither cares about nor exercises a providence; and there is therefore in this beast (the Antichrist), when he comes, a recapitulation made of all sorts of iniquity and of every deceit, in order that all apostate power, flowing into and being shut up in him, may be sent into the furnace of fire. Fittingly, therefore, shall his name possess the number six hundred and sixty-six, since he sums up in his own person all the commixture of wickedness which took place previous to the deluge, due to the apostasy of the angels. For Noah was six hundred years old when the deluge came upon the earth, sweeping away the rebellious world, for the sake of that most infamous generation which lived in the times of Noah. And [Antichrist] also sums up every error of devised idols since the flood, together with the slaying of the prophets and the cutting off of the just. For that image which was set up by Nebuchadnezzar had indeed a height of sixty cubits, while the breadth was six cubits; on account of which Ananias, Azarias, and Misaël, when they did not worship it, were cast into a furnace of fire, pointing out prophetically, by what happened to them, the wrath against the righteous which shall arise towards the [time of the] end. For that image, taken as a whole, was a prefiguring of this man’s coming, decreeing that he should undoubtedly himself alone be worshipped by all men. Thus, then, the six hundred years of Noah, in whose time the deluge occurred because of the apostasy, and the number of the cubits of the image for which these just men were sent into the fiery furnace, do indicate the number of the name of that man in whom is concentrated the whole apostasy of six thousand years, and unrighteousness, and wickedness, and false prophecy, and deception; for which things’ sake a cataclysm of fire shall also come [upon the earth].
St. Irenaeus says concerning the Antichrist: "in whom is concentrated the whole apostasy of six thousand years, and unrighteousness, and wickedness, and false prophecy, and deception". The reference to six thousand years is to the ages from Adam leading up to Christ and the sixth "day" beginning with Christ. By St. Irenaeus' Septuagint Bible, Christ came at about five thousand five hundred years from Adam. St. Irenaeus is telling us that all the evil apostasy of those ages where the devil had free reign to subvert all on the earth that listened to him will be concentrated in the Antichrist (by power of the devil - which God will permit) only when in this sixth day men apostasize from God by rejecting His Christ in a massive apostasy, which will include belief in evolution instead of belief is the true literal creation of God. In an evolutionary universe you could evolve into your own god. That is exactly what the Devil tempted Adam and Eve with (see below from Genesis).
St. Augustine and all the rest of the Church Fathers and the whole early Church believed in the literal creation of God and the literal ages from Adam to Christ equaling about six thousand years (about 5,500). St. Augustine traces them in exact detail in the City of God and in another place in the City of God gives us a direct quote of his (see below) telling us that less than six thousand years passed from creation to the Advent of Christ. If you believe Christ rose from the dead in the flesh (which is true) and will raise us in the flesh (which is true) then believing in literal creation is not hard at all. After all, it is the truth.
Gn:2:
1 ¶ So the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the furniture of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.
3 And he blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
4 ¶ These are the generations of the heaven and the earth, when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the heaven and the earth:
5 And every plant of the field before it sprung up in the earth, and every herb of the ground before it grew: for the Lord God had not rained upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the earth.
6 But a spring rose out of the earth, watering all the surface of the earth.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
8 ¶ And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed.
9 And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10 And a river went out of the place of pleasure to water paradise, which from thence is divided into four heads.
11 The name of the one is Phison: that is it which compasseth all the land of Hevilath, where gold groweth.
12 And the gold of that land is very good: there is found bdellium, and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gehon: the same is it that compasseth all the land of Ethiopia.
14 And the name of the third river is Tigris: the same passeth along by the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
15 And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it.
16 ¶ And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat:
17 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death.
18 ¶ And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself.
19 And the Lord God having formed out of the ground all the beasts of the earth, and all the fowls of the air, brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: for whatsoever Adam called any living creature the same is its name.
20 And Adam called all the beasts by their names, and all the fowls of the air, and all the cattle of the field: but for Adam there was not found a helper like himself.
21 ¶ Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it.
22 And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam.
23 And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.
24 Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh.
25 And they were both naked: to wit, Adam and his wife: and were not ashamed.
Gn:3:
1 ¶ Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?
2 And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die.
4 And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death.
5 For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.
6 ¶ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband, who did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons.
8 And when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God, amidst the trees of paradise.
9 ¶ And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where art thou?
10 And he said: I heard thy voice in paradise; and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.
11 ¶ And he said to him: And who hath told thee that thou wast naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?
12 And Adam said: The woman, whom thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the Lord God said to the woman: Why hast thou done this? And she answered: The serpent deceived me, and I did eat.
14 ¶ And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
15 I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.
16 ¶ To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee.
17 ¶ And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee, that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work: with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life.
18 Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth.
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.
20 ¶ And Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the mother of all the living.
21 ¶ And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins, and clothed them.
22 ¶ And he said: Behold Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil: now therefore lest perhaps he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.
23 And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken.
24 And he cast out Adam: and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Notice in the above that the very first promise of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ is made here. We dare not think that this is a myth. Evolution does in fact teach that it is a myth. In fact it was believing in the evolutionary promise of becoming one’s own God that caused Adam and Eve to die, separated from God, until Christ came and redeemed us.
ALL OF THE CHURCH FATHERS TAUGHT LITERAL CREATION. FROM ONE OF THE MOST WELL KNOWN OF THE CHURCH FATHERS, ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO, IN HIS "THE CITY OF GOD" (written from 412 A.D. to 426A.D.):
BOOK XVIII.
CHAP. 40.—SINCE IT IS ONLY LESS THAN SIX THOUSAND YEARS FROM CREATION BY GOD IT IS ONLY DUE TO THE MOST MENDACIOUS VANITY OF THE EGYPTIANS, THAT THEY ASCRIBE TO THEIR SCIENCE AN ANTIQUITY OF A HUNDRED THOUSAND YEARS.
In vain, then, do some babble with most empty presumption, who say that Egyptian astronomy has a history of more than a hundred thousand years! For in what books have they collected that number who learned letters from Isis their mistress, not much more than two thousand years ago? Varro, who has declared this, is no small authority in history, and it does not disagree with the truth of the divine books. For since six thousand years have not yet elapsed from the days of Adam, the first man, are not those to be ridiculed rather than refuted who try to persuade us of anything regarding a space of time so different from, and contrary to, the ascertained truth?
As for Einstein, who was a Talmudic Jew, he was the worst fake trying to pass as a mathematician there ever was. His theory of relativity is false and has been shown as false, but the politically correct insist on it because they think it lets them live in an evolutionary universe where they can disregard God’s laws on morality with impugnity. Also, the politically correct do in fact like their “St. Einstein” because he gives them an excuse to believe in the “Jewish Holocaust” and ignore the real holocaust that the Jews under Lenin and Stalin and that Hitler – perpetrated against the Christian Slavic peoples in order to murder them BECAUSE they were Christian, into the tens of millions!
The so-called gassing with no bodies because of little backyard crematoria is a total fabrication and out and out lies. Physically, it could not have happened. Also, gassing without seals is a total bad joke. It is impossible. You would kill those administering the gas. The Jews who claimed to have witnessed the gassing and burning in ovens always insisted that there were no seals for the gassing and the guards sat there just feet away with no breathing protection. The Zyklon B was in fact used elsewhere for fumigating insects. Those Jews also insisted that millions of people were incinerated in ovens (which ovens were actually planted there after the war by Stalin and not there during the war). Those ovens could not have handled even a tiny fraction of the people the Jews lie and say were incinerated. The fake incineration is very convenient as it gives them an excuse to ignore all the Jews that Hitler helped get out of Germany and to Palestine during the war. The reason for the fake Jewish Holocaust was part of the Jews plan to invade Palestine and set up the kingdom of their false god, the Antichrist. So far they are successful. The German cover up about statements in Mein Kampf to supposedly prove the holocaust by Germany against the Jews are actually ghost written by a Jesuit to help the Jewish Antichrist movement in order to gain power for the Jesuit interests.
The actual physics that works is Newtonian (actually the product of the Bernoullis, but the English had the political power so Isaac Newton, an early freemason, got the credit).
All the pagan and especially the Talmudic (which is total diabolic blaspheming of God) systems are evolutionary. The system that you are quoting, Pravo, is as you know, Talmudic. You know better than to put any credence in that as it blasphemes God.
Steve in Vista
by Steve in Vista on Tue 4 November 2008 7:30 am
Christmas prayer
We praise you, Lord Jesus Christ,
God-Saviour of men,
stupendously powerful with the Father;
we praise you, we invoke you, we pray to you; assist us with your pardon, with clemency give us your grace.
Awaken in our hearts desires deserving of fulfillment; suggest to us words that are worthy to be heard; grant that our actions may be worthy of blessing.
We beg you to renew your birth in human nature, penetrating us with your invisible Godhead
as you did in a unique way in Mary
and do now spiritually in the Church.
May you be conceived by our faith,
that a mind untouched by corruption may bring you forth, that the soul, ever confirmed by the power of the Most High, may offer you a dwelling place.
Be not born in us, but reveal yourself in us. Be truly for us the Emmanuel, God with us.
Deign to remain with us, to fight for us. Only so can we conquer.
Mozarabic liturgy
Steve in Vista
Member
Re: The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ
by Steve in Vista on Wed 19 November 2008 6:28 am
THE GREAT DOXOLOGY
Glory to Thee Father of Lights Who through Thy Son Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, hast shown forth Thy Light.
GLORY to God in the highest, and on earth peace, towards men of good will.
We praise Thee; we bless Thee; we worship Thee; we glorify Thee; we
give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory:
O Lord, Heavenly King, God the Father Almighty, O Lord the Only¬
begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. .
O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sin of
the world: have mercy on us, Thou that takest away the sins of the world.
Receive our prayer, Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father;
and have mercy on us.
For Thou only art holy; Thou only art Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory
of God the Father. Amen.
Every day will I bless Thee, and I will praise Thy Name for ever, yea,
for ever and ever.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
Blessed art Thou, O Lord, the God of our Fathers, and praised and
glorified is Thy Name unto the ages. Amen.
Let Thy mercy, Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in
Thee.
Blessed art Thou, O Lord, teach me Thy statutes. (Thrice)
Lord, Thou hast been our refuge from generation to generation. I said:
O Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee.
Lord, unto Thee have I fled for refuge; teach me to do Thy will, for
Thou art my God. .
For in Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light shall we see light.
O continue Thy mercy unto them that know Thee.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (Thrice)
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.
Then we chant with stronger voice:
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.
GOD is with us; know, ye nations, and be vanquished.
For God is with us.
Give ear, even unto the utmost part of the earth.
For God is with us.
Ye that have prevailed, even ye be vanquished.
For God is with us.
For though ye should prevail again, yet again shall ye be vanquished.
For God is with us.
And whatsoever counsel ye shall take, the Lord shall bring it to nought.
For God is with us.
And whatsoever word ye speak., it shall not abide in you.
For God is with us.
And the fear of you we shall not fear, neither shall we be troubled.
For God is with us.
But we will sanctify the Lord our God, and He shall be our fear.
For God is with us.
And I put my trust in Him, He shall be my sanctification.
For God is with us.
Yea, I will put my trust in Him, and I shall be saved through Him.
For God is with us.
Behold, I and the children which God hath given me.
For God is with us.
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.
For God is with us.
We that dwell in the land and shadow of death a light shall shine upon us.
For God is with us.
For unto us a Child is born; and unto us a Son is given.
For God is with us.
Whose government is come upon His shoulder.
For God is with us.
And of His peace there is no end.
For God is with us.
And His Name shall be called the Angel of Great Counsel.
For God is with us.
Wonderful Counselor.
For God is with us.
The mighty God, He that hath authority, the Prince of Peace.
For God is with us.
The Father of the age to come.
For God is with us.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
For God is with us.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
For God is with us.
God is with us; know, ye nations, and be vanquished; for God is with us.
Steve in Vista
Member
Re: The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ
by Steve in Vista on Wed 19 November 2008 7:50 pm
The birth of Jesus Christ from a virgin
http://steveinvista.wordpress.com/the-b ... -a-virgin/
Steve in Vista
Member
Re: The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ
by Cyprian on Thu 20 November 2008 2:47 am
ST. PHOTIOS THE GREAT
MYSTAGOGY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
It is possible to find many other examples in our holy and blessed fathers. I have in mind Clement, one of the bishops of [Old] Rome. Consider the books which are known from him as Clementine (I do not say write because, according to ancient report, Peter the Coryphaeus commanded they be written). Consider also Dionysius of Alexandria, who in stretching out his hand against Sabellius nearly joins with Arius. Consider also the splendour of the sacred-martyr, Methodius the Great of Patara, who did not reject the idea that angels fell into mortal desire and bodily intercourse, even though they are incorporeal and without passions. I shall pass over Pantaenos, Clement, Pierios, Pamphilos and Theognostos, all holy men and teachers of holy disciples whom we hymn with great honour and affection, especially Pamphilos and Pierios, distinguished by the trials of martyrdom. Although we do not accept all of their statements, we grant them honour for their patient disposition and goodness of life and for their other doctrines. In addition to those previously mentioned, there is Irenaeus, the bishop of God, who received the supervision of sacred things in Lyons and also Hippolytus, his disciple, the Episcopal martyr: all of these were admirable in many ways, though at times some of their writings do not avoid departing from orthodoxy.
Concerning all of the above and Photius in particular and all and any denial first and foremost of absolute literal truth of Holy Scripture and the truth of that shown in the consensus of the Church Fathers, see below:
Traditional Catholic Prayers: Prayer against the Devil Mother Goddess and all of Satan's minions
The virgin goddess of black magic : The ancient image of the beast was in fact the Harlot's representation in Rome Alexandria , Egypt (later on in the early third century, home of the neo-gnostic/christian school the Didascalia) in the early 2nd century A.D. that Valentinus brought the pseudo-christian gnostic gospel of Mary to Rome
Tyche was the goddess which was the summation, in the Graeco-Egyptian religion of the Graeco-Roman world, of all goddesses and therefore the beginning and end of all the poytheistic gods and goddesses of the ancient mediterranean world. The Cumaean, Tiburtine and Delphic sibyls were the principal fortune tellers of the Roman empire which would convince the citizens of the empire of the will ofRome Egypt , of Tyche as mother goddess summation of all the gods/goddesses, is the triple goddess Isis represented and invocated as Selene-Mene-Hecate. This is the absolute worst of the virgin goddess of black magic/sorcery in the history of the world. The representation is Isis as sorceress in her lunar and chthonic form united to the sky above and ruler of earth in between standing on the globe of the world around which a serpent is coiled. One statue still extant today of Isis as this sorceress is the Farnese Isis (Naples Museum
In the fifth/sixth century A.D. the Syrian writings of Pseudo-Dionysios first appeared and were later added to. In this the ancient pagan idea of synthesizing, that is combining all the ancient gods/goddesses, an idea going back to the Graeco-Egyptian Hermes Trimegistus (Apollyon appearing as Hermes thrice blessed - a pagan false trinity), was put forth in gnostic psuedo christian dress. Included was Mary as the summation of all that is divine, i. e. the mother triple goddess. Sergei Bulgakov was condemned by his own church, the Russian Orthodox Church, as a heretic, in the first part of the 20th century for this same thing, in which Bulgakov attempted to make Mary the Hupostasis of God and the divinity by which each of the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity of the True God is approached and in no other way. In short, it is a sophism to make her the triple goddess and replace the worship of the True Trinity with polytheistic/pantheism. This worship of Satan in place of the True God, the Most Holy Trinity will only bring utter destruction upon the earth.
In the summation of all Heresies and Apostasies and Blaspheming of the Holy Spirit known as Vatican II, Bulgakov's blasphemous system was inculcated by name and in this same false teaching of Bulgakov to make the Antitheotokos the virgin goddess of black magic to support all of the false apparitions (heretofor condemned), supposedly of Mary, and make these apparitions accepted and thereby bring in KNOWINGLY the Gnostic evolutionary Monism - Pantheism of this "ecumenical council of thieves".
For instance the Gnostics, according to the Church Fathers, basing themselves on the Naasseni (the apostate Jewish serpent worshipping Satanist priesthood cult which is the base for all Kabalah and the Zohar) copied much of their doctrine from Platonism, Graeco-Egyptian paganism and far eastern religiosity and claimed, totally falsely, that this is what Jesus taught. It is not at all what Jesus taught nor at all what Moses taught. The Gnostic doctrines are obvious in this plagiarizing of paganism and denial of the true Jesus Christ. In the East the Buddhist teaching of how Sakyamuni (Gotama), the Buddha, obtained his “enlightenment” is obviously diabolic and has a great deal in common with Graeco-Egyptian mysticism in the west; especially this is extremely similar to Simon Magus’ portrayal of himself entwined with snakes in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as a man-god to be sought after as the ultimate teacher of true knowledge. The prime example: The Dragon Flower Tree (the banyan or pipal [fig] tree) from which the great white serpent from the abyss (the devil) granted Gotama (the Buddha) his “enlightenment” which consisted of his denying the I AM and being his own saviour. Otherwise known as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which in classical and traditional Catholic teaching is the first type of the devil. Gn:2:17: 17 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death. (DRV)
BEWARE. BENEDICT WOULD HAVE US RECEIVE THE MARK AND HAVE THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST STAMPED UPON US.
Practices forbidden by God:
See these links:
The Mark, the Name, the Number of the beast and the Tower of Babel = Ecumenism: Talmudism and Cabala are the basis for the Mark of the Beast
Saudia Arabia
click on picture.
Look up, your redemption is at hand: The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ - 'Isa al-Maseeh, Sayyidah - Parousia of Jesus Christ the Messiah and Lord
Monday, November 03, 2008
Hymn for the Nativity
Sons of men, do you truly speak of justice? Dwellers on the earth,
do you truly judge with fairness?
We confess with unshakable faith
that God, who was made man
and who was given birth by a Virgin.
Before all time he was begotten.
of an infinite Father;
now we adore him who became incarnate
in a Virgin's womb.
He is the creator of all,
himself remaining invisible and distinct from creation.
So we are able to say:
in you, Lord, is clemency; glory be to you.
O holy God,
you have deigned to be born, a tiny child, from a Virgin. I
O God, holy and strong,
you have willed to rest in the arms of Mary.
O God, holy and immortal,
you have come to rescue Adam from hell.
O immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, full of grace,
Emmanuel, whom you have carried,
is the fruit of your womb.
In your maternal bosom you have nourished all men.
You are above all praise and all glory.
Hail, Mother of God, joy of the angels.
The fullness of your grace
goes beyond what the prophets foretold.
The Lord is with you,
you have given birth
to the Saviour of the world.
Fragment from an ancient eucharistic liturgy
Monday, November 04, 2008
Christmas prayer
We praise you, Lord Jesus Christ,
God-Saviour of men,
stupendously powerful with the Father;
we praise you, we invoke you, we pray to you; assist us with your pardon, with clemency give us your grace.
Awaken in our hearts desires deserving of fulfillment; suggest to us words that are worthy to be heard; grant that our actions may be worthy of blessing.
We beg you to renew your birth in human nature, penetrating us with your invisible Godhead
as you did in a unique way in Mary
and do now spiritually in the Church.
May you be conceived by our faith,
that a mind untouched by corruption may bring you forth, that the soul, ever confirmed by the power of the Most High, may offer you a dwelling place.
Be not born in us, but reveal yourself in us. Be truly for us the Emmanuel, God with us.
Deign to remain with us, to fight for us. Only so can we conquer.
Mozarabic liturgy
Monday, November 05, 2008
THE GREAT DOXOLOGY
Glory to Thee Father of Lights Who through Thy Son Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, hast shown forth Thy Light.
GLORY to God in the highest, and on earth peace, towards men of good will.
We praise Thee; we bless Thee; we worship Thee; we glorify Thee; we
give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory:
O Lord, Heavenly King, God the Father Almighty, O Lord the Only¬
begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. .
O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sin of the world: have mercy on us, Thou that takest away the sins of the world.
Receive our prayer, Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father;
and have mercy on us.
For Thou only art holy; Thou only art Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory
of God the Father. Amen.
Every day will I bless Thee, and I will praise Thy Name for ever, yea,
for ever and ever.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
Blessed art Thou, O Lord, the God of our Fathers, and praised and
glorified is Thy Name unto the ages. Amen.
Let Thy mercy, Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in
Thee.
Blessed art Thou, O Lord, teach me Thy statutes. (Thrice)
Lord, Thou hast been our refuge from generation to generation. I said:
O Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee.
Lord, unto Thee have I fled for refuge; teach me to do Thy will, for
Thou art my God. .
For in Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light shall we see light.
O continue Thy mercy unto them that know Thee.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (Thrice)
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.
Then we chant with stronger voice:
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.
Great Horologion – Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Monday, November 06, 2008
GOD is with us; know, ye nations, and be vanquished.
For God is with us.
Give ear, even unto the utmost part of the earth.
For God is with us.
Ye that have prevailed, even ye be vanquished.
For God is with us.
For though ye should prevail again, yet again shall ye be vanquished.
For God is with us.
And whatsoever counsel ye shall take, the Lord shall bring it to nought.
For God is with us.
And whatsoever word ye speak., it shall not abide in you.
For God is with us.
And the fear of you we shall not fear, neither shall we be troubled.
For God is with us.
But we will sanctify the Lord our God, and He shall be our fear.
For God is with us.
And I put my trust in Him, He shall be my sanctification.
For God is with us.
Yea, I will put my trust in Him, and I shall be saved through Him.
For God is with us.
Behold, I and the children which God hath given me.
For God is with us.
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.
For God is with us.
We that dwell in the land and shadow of death a light shall shine upon us.
For God is with us.
For unto us a Child is born; and unto us a Son is given.
For God is with us.
Whose government is come upon His shoulder.
For God is with us.
And of His peace there is no end.
For God is with us.
And His Name shall be called the Angel of Great Counsel.
For God is with us.
Wonderful Counselor.
For God is with us.
The mighty God, He that hath authority, the Prince of Peace.
For God is with us.
The Father of the age to come.
For God is with us.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
For God is with us.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
For God is with us.
God is with us; know, ye nations, and be vanquished; for God is with us.
Monday, November 07, 2008
Jesu, the Ransomer of man,
Who, ere created light began,
Didst from the sovereign Father spring,
His power and glory equaling.
The Father's Light and Splendour thou,
Their endless Hope to thee that bow:
Accept the prayers and praise today
That through the world thy servants pay.
Salvation's Author, call to mind
How, taking form of humankind,
Born of a Virgin undefiled
Thou in man's flesh becam'st a Child.
Thus testifies the present day
Through every year in long array,
That thou, salvation's source alone,
Proceedest from the Father's Throne.
Whence sky, and stars, and sea's abyss,
And earth, and all that therein is,
Shall still, with laud and carol meet,
The Author of thine Advent greet.
And we who, by thy precious Blood
From sin redeemed, are marked for God,
On this, the day that saw thy Birth,
Sing the new song of ransomed earth.
All honour, laud, and glory be,
O Jesu, Virgin-Born, to thee;
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Spirit, for evermore. Amen.
Monday, November 08, 2008
Eternal King of Saints, whose Word
Called forth creation from its rest,
Before the ages thou art Lord,
In thine eternal Father's breast.
Thou, when earth's dawning sun began
To chase the chaos shades away,
In thine own Image madest man,
And didst inspire the senseless clay.
But Satan's craft and Satan's wile
Could mar that work so very good:
And Eden's wood must man beguile,
That God may reign from off the Wood.
O born of Mary's virgin womb,
First-fruits of Death's dark womb to be,
Thou bidst us waken from the tomb,
And rise to light and life with thee.
Eternal Shepherd of the sheep,
The stones lie heavy on the well;
The clear baptismal spring lies deep,
Come thou and feed thine Israel!
Redeemer of the sons of men
Thou hungest dying on the Rood,
That thou mightst pay the price again
Of our salvation in thy Blood.
Grant, Lord, in thee each faithful mind
Unceasing Paschal joy may find;
And from the death of sin set free
Souls newly born to life by thee.
All praise be thine, O risen Lord,
From death to endless life restored;
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Spirit, for evermore. Amen.
Monday, November 09, 2008
Eternal Monarch, King most high,
Whose blood hath brought redemption nigh,
By whom the death of Death was wrought,
And conquering grace to man was brought:
Ascending to the throne of might,
And seated at the Father's right,
All power, O Jesu, is thine own
That here thy Manhood had not known.
To thee the whole creation now
Doth in its three-fold order bow,
Of things on earth, and things on high,
And things that underneath do lie.
With awe the Angels contemplate
The wondrous change of man's estate;
Though flesh hath sinned, Flesh purged the stain,
And in that Flesh our God doth reign.
Be thou our joy, O mighty Lord,
As thou wilt be our great reward;
Earth's joys to thee are nothing worth,
Thou joy and crown of heaven and earth.
We therefore beg, dear Lord, of thee
To pardon our iniquity;
Yea, of thine own supernal grace
Uplift our hearts to seek thy face:
That when in clouds, O Judge of doom,
Thy glory shall this earth illume,
Thou mayst remit our debt of pain,
And grant our long-lost crowns again.
All praise from every heart and tongue
To thee, ascended Lord, be sung;
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Spirit, for evermore. Amen.
Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest,
Vouchsafe within our souls to rest;
Come with thy grace and heavenly aid,
And fill the hearts which thou hast made.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest,
Vouchsafe within our souls to rest;
Come with thy grace and heavenly aid,
And fill the hearts which thou hast made.
To thee, the Paraclete, we cry,
To thee, the Gift of God most high,
The Fount of life, the Fire of love,
The soul's Anointing from above.
The sevenfold gifts of grace are thine,
O Finger of the Hand Divine;
True Promise of the Father thou,
Who dost the tongue with speech endow.
Thy light to every sense impart,
And shed thy love in every heart;
Thine own unfailing might supply
To strengthen our infirmity.
Drive far away our preternatural foe,
And thine abiding peace bestow;
If thou be our preventing Guide,
No evil can our steps betide.
Make thou to us the Father known,
Teach us the eternal Son to own,
Be this our neverchanging creed,
That thou dost from the Father through the Son proceed.
Monday, November 11, 2008
All praise be thine, O risen Lord,
From death to endless life restored;
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Spirit, for evermore. Amen.
O God of mercy passing thought,
Who hast the world contrived and wrought;
In might, essential Unity,
In Persons, blessed Trinity:
Uplift us with thine arm of might,
And let our hearts rise pure and bright,
And, ardent in God's praises, pay
The thanks we owe him every day.
Glory to thee, O Father, Lord,
And to thy Sole-begotten Word,
Both with the Holy Spirit One
While everlasting ages run. Amen.
Monday, November 12, 2008
The little child Jesus is already here
The Kings and the shepherds adore without fear
There is much to behold for the wise and the fool:
Saint Joseph, the Virgin; the ox and the mule.
Let us adore the little child
With pleasure and happy cheer;
Let us adore as the Magi do
As the Magi adore Him here.
A child is born in Bethlehem;
Rejoice, therefore, Jerusalem.
Low in the manger lieth He,
Whose kingdom without end shall be...
All glory, Lord, to Thee be done,
Now seen in flesh, the Virgin's Son.[35]
Thou camest down, O heaven's King,
From starry sky,
And in a cave so poor and cold
I see Thee lie.
I see Thee tremble, blessed God;
Why should this be?
Thy sacrifice, O love Divine,
Is all for me.
About the field they piped full right,
Even about the midst of the night;
They saw come down from heaven a light:
Tirle, tirle--so merrily
The shepherds began to blow.[37]
Noel, Noel, Noel,
Tidings good I think to tell.
The boar's head that we bring here,
Betokeneth a prince without peer
Is born today to buy us dear.
Noel, Noel, Noel.
In dulci jubilo
Sing ye, and gladness show!
See our bliss reclining
In praesepio,
The very sun outshining
Matris in gremio.
Alpha es et O,
Alpha es et O.
Thy shining eyes, so blue and light,
Thy tender cheeks, so soft and bright;
I will remain forever Thine,
O dearest Son, O child Divine....
Hajej, nynej, Jesus dear,
Sleep in peace, and do not fear.
We shall bundle you to rest,
Keep you close to our breast.
Hajej, nynej, darling Child,
Son of Mary, Saviour mild.
As Joseph was a-walking,
He heard an angel sing:
This night shall be born
Our heavenly king.
He neither shall be born
In housen or in hall,
Nor in the place of Paradise,
But in an ox's stall.
He neither shall be clothed
In purple nor in pall,
But all in fair linen,
As were babies all..
The gates of Heaven's glory did spring open suddenly
So came we running to the crib,
I and also you,
A beeline into Bethlehem, Hopsa, trala loo:
"O, baby dear, take anything
Of all the little gifts we bring:
Have apples or have butter,
Maybe pears or yellow cheese;
Or would you rather have some nuts,
Or plums, or what you please.
Alleluja, alleluja;
Alle-, alle-, Alleluja."[44]
Now Christmas is here again,
And Christmas is here again,
And Christmas we'll have till Easter.
Then Easter is here again,
And Easter is here again,
And Easter we'll have till Christmas.
Now He is with us forever,
And He is with us forever,
For He is here now and comes again.
Joseph, dearest Joseph mine,
Help me rock my baby fine!
What Gabriel foretold
Is now fulfilled,
Eia, Eia,
The Virgin bore a child
As the Father's wisdom willed.
Eia, Eia.
Joseph, dearest Joseph mine,
Help me rock my baby fine!
Monday, November 13, 2008
The blessed light of Saints above,
Sweet hope of mortals here below,
Art thou, O Jesu, who the love
Of human home and hearth didst know.
O Mary, thou art full of grace,
Who careth for Jesus with tender love,
And kissed his blessed, smiling face
Whilst in thine arms he took his rest.
O Joseph, thou of all our race
Elected wast to guard the fame
Of Mary, Virgin full of grace,
And give her Son a father's name.
O Mary! Joseph! holy twain
From Jesse's root and David's seed,
Who ushered in salvation's reign,
Help all who at Christ's altars plead.
The sun declineth towards the west,
And dusk of night is drawing near,
O take to God the heart's behest
Of each and all who linger here.
Sweet home of Nazareth, in thee
All grace and virtue can we see;
Lord, grant each Christian home to be,
Like thine, a holy family.
Praise God, who served, whilst here on earth,
Joseph, and her who gave him birth;
Whom with the Father, we adore,
And Holy Spirit, for evermore. Amen.
The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ
by Steve in Vista on Mon 3 November 2008 7:59 am
November 3, 2008 entry on Christmas
It is getting closer to Christmas!
The fast prior to the feast of our Lord Jesus Christ’s Nativity in the ancient Church was six weeks in the East and six weeks in St. Ambrose’s liturgical tradition in the West as well. The importance of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ cannot be overstated. As is apparent below absolutely linked to that is the Church’s confession of literal creation. God literally did just what He said and in that is alone the true revelation of God and His Christ and the only salvation which is in the true Christ Jesus and not some evolutionary cosmic Gnostic pseudo-Christ which is actually the Antichrist and damnation.
From:
http://euphrosynoscafe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8673
The 532-year cycle is calculated from the creation of Adam, which, as we know, took place on Friday, March 1, 5508 B.C. (Yes, that is the base date on which the entire calendar system of the Orthodox Church is based-pretty neat, huh?)
Which was taken from: http://ecclesiagoc.org/html/page.cfm?ID=6
And from the traditional liturgy going back centuries in the West, on the feast of the Nativity.
"In the 5,199th year of the creation of the world, from the time when God in the beginning made out of nothing the heavens and the earth; the 2,957th year after the flood; the 2,015th year from the birth of Abraham; the 1,510th year from Moses and the going-out of the people of Israel from Egypt; the 1,032nd year from the anointing of David king; in the 65th week according to the prophecy of Daniel; in the 194th olympiad; the 752nd year from the foundation of the city of Rome; the 42nd year of the rule of Octavian Augustus, all the earth being at peace, in the sixth age of the world: Jesus Christ, the eternal God and Son of the eternal Father, willing to consecrate the world by His most merciful coming, being conceived by the Holy Spirit and nine months having passed since His conception, was born in Bethlehem of Juda of the Virgin Mary, being made man.
Mt:2:
1 ¶ When Jesus therefore was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of king Herod, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem,
2 Saying: Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to adore him.
3 And king Herod hearing this, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 And assembling together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ should be born.
5 But they said to him: In Bethlehem of Juda. For so it is written by the prophet:
6 And thou Bethlehem the land of Juda art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come forth the captain that shall rule my people Israel.
7 Then Herod, privately calling the wise men learned diligently of them the time of the star which appeared to them;
8 And sending them into Bethlehem, said: Go and diligently inquire after the child, and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come and adore him.
9 ¶ Who having heard the king, went their way; and behold the star which they had seen in the East, went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was.
10 And seeing the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
11 And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, andfalling down they adored him: and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 And having received an answer in sleep that they should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their country.
13 ¶ And after they were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him.
14 Who arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod:
15 That it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called my son.
16 ¶ Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry: and sending killed all the menchildren that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying:
18 A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
19 ¶ But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph in Egypt,
20 Saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead that sought the life of the child.
21 Who arose, and took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
22 But hearing that Archelaus reigned in Judea in the room of Herod his father, he was afraid to go thither: and being warned in sleep retired into the quarters of Galilee.
23 And coming he dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was said by the prophets: That he shall be called a Nazarene.
St. Ignatius (Apostolic Father) to the Ephesians
Now the virginity of Mary was hidden from the prince of this world, as was also her offspring, and the death of the Lord; three mysteries of renown,(5) which were wrought in silence by(6) God. How, then, was He manifested to the world?(7) A star shone forth in heaven above all the other stars, the light of Which was inexpressible, while its novelty struck men with astonishment. And all the rest of the stars, with the sun and moon, formed a chorus to this star, and its light was exceedingly great above them all. And there was agitation felt as to whence this new spectacle came, so unlike to everything else [in the heavens]. Hence every kind of magic was destroyed, and every bond of wickedness disappeared; ignorance was removed, and the old kingdom abolished, God Himself being manifested in human form for the renewal of eternal life. And now that took a beginning which had been prepared by God. Henceforth all things were in a state of tumult, because He mediated the abolition of death.
– From CCEL
Lk:2:
1 ¶ And it came to pass that in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled.
2 This enrolling was first made by Cyrinus, the governor of Syria.
3 And all went to be enrolled, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem: because he was of the house and family of David.
5 To be enrolled with Mary his espoused wife, who was with child.
6 And it came to pass that when they were there, her days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her first born son and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger: because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 ¶ And there were in the same country shepherds watching and keeping the night watches over their flock.
9 And behold an angel of the Lord stood by them and the brightness of God shone round about them: and they feared with a great fear.
10 And the angel said to them: Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people:
11 For, this day is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying:
14 Glory to God in the highest: and on earth peace to men of good will.
15 And it came to pass, after the angels departed from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another: Let us go over to Bethlehem and let us see this word that is come to pass, which the Lord hath shewed to us.
16 And they came with haste: and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.
17 And seeing, they understood of the word that had been spoken to them concerning this child.
18 And all that heard wondered: and at those things that were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
21 ¶ And after eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised, his name was called JESUS, which was called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
22 And after the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord:
23 As it is written in the law of the Lord: Every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord:
24 And to offer a sacrifice, according as it is written in the lawof the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons:
25 ¶ And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon: and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.And the Holy Ghost was in him.
26 And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law,
28 He also took him into his arms and blessed God and said
29 Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace:
30 Because my eyes have seen thy salvation,
31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples:
32 A light to the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.
33 And his father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him.
34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be contradicted.
35 And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed.
36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser. She was far advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity.
37 And she was a widow until fourscore and four years: who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day.
38 Now she, at the same hour, coming in, confessed to the Lord: and spoke of him to all that looked for the redemption of Israel.
39 And after they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their city Nazareth.
40 And the child grew and waxed strong, full of wisdom: and the grace of God was in him.
41 ¶ And his parents went every year to Jerusalem, at the solemn day of the pasch.
42 And when he was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast,
43 And having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem. And his parents knew it not.
44 And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day's journey and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance.
45 And not finding him,they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him.
46 And it came to pass, that, after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them and askingthem questions.
47 And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers.
48 And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
49 And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business?
50 And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them.
51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart.
52 And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and grace with God and men.
Sermon On the Nativity
by St. Augustine
(1) Hear, O sons of light, who have been received by adoption into the kingdom of God; hear, my very dear brethren; hear and be glad in the Lord, ye just ones, so that praise may become the upright.[1] Hear what you already know; reflect upon what you have heard; love what you believe; proclaim what you love. Since we are celebrating a great anniversary on this day, you may expect a sermon in keeping with the feast. Christ as God was born of His Father, as Man of His Mother; of the immortality of His Father, of the virginity of His Mother; of His Father without a mother, of His Mother without a father; of His Father without limits of time, of His Mother without seed; of His Father as the source of life, of His Mother as the end of death; of His Father ordering all days, of His Mother consecrating this particular day.[2]
(2) God sent John to earth as His human Precursor so that he was born when the days were becoming shorter while the Lord Himself was born when the days were growing longer, that in this minute detail the subsequent words of this same John might be prefigured: 'He must increase, but I must decrease.'[3] For human life ought to grow weaker in itself and stronger in Christ, that 'they who are alive may live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for all and rose again,' and that each one of us may say in the words of the Apostle: 'It is now no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me.'[4] For 'he must increase, but I must decrease.'
All His angels worthily praise Him, for He is their everlasting food, nourishing them with an incorruptible feast. He is the Word of God, by whose life they live, by whose eternity they live forever, by whose goodness they live happily forever. They praise Him worthily, as God with God, and they render glory to God on high. May we, 'his people and the sheep of his hand,'[5] reconciled to Him by our good will, merit peace in consideration of the limited measure of our weakness. For these words to which the angels themselves gave utterance in jubilation at the birth of our Saviour are their daily tribute: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will.'[6] Therefore, they praise Him duly: let us praise Him in obedience. They are His messengers; we, His sheep. He filled their table in heaven; He filled our manger on earth. He is the fullness of their table because 'in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God.' He is the fullness of our manger because 'the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.'[7] so that man might eat the Bread of angels the Creator of the angels became man. The angels praise Him by living; we, by believing; they by enjoying, we by seeking; they by obtaining, we by striving to obtain; they by entering, we by knocking.
(3) What human being could know all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ and concealed under the poverty of His humanity? For, 'being rich, he became poor for our sake that by his poverty we might become rich.'[8] When He assumed our mortality and overcame death, He manifested Himself in poverty, but He promised riches though they might be deferred; He did not lose them as if they were taken from Him. How great is the multitude of His sweetness which He hides from those who fear Him but which He reveals to those that hope in Him![9] For we understand only in part until that which is perfect comes to us. To make us worthy of this perfect gift, He, equal to the Father in the form of God, became like to us in the form of a servant, and refashions us into the likeness of God. The only Son of God, having become the Son of Man, makes many sons of men the sons of God; and on these men, reared as servants, with the visible form of servants, He bestows the freedom of beholding the form of God. For 'we are the children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that, when he appears, we shall be like to him, for we shall see him just as he is.'[l0] What, then, are those treasures of wisdom and knowledge? What are those divine riches unless they be that which satisfies our longing? And what is that multitude of sweetness unless it be what fills us? 'Show us the Father and it is enough for us.'[11] Furthermore, in one of the psalms, one of our race, either in our name or for our sake, said to Him: 'I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear.'[l2] But He and the Father are one, and the person who sees Him sees the Father also;[l3] therefore, 'the Lord of hosts, he is the King of Glory.'[l4] Turning to us, He will show us His face and 'we shall be saved';[15] we shall be satisfied, and He will be sufficient for us.
(4) Therefore, let our heart speak thus to Him; 'I have sought thy countenance; thy face, O Lord, will I still seek. Turn not away thy face from me.'[l6] And let Him reply to the plea of our hearts: 'He who loves me keeps my commandments; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.'[17] Indeed, those to whom He addressed these words did see Him with their eyes; they heard the sound of His voice with their ears; they regarded Him as a man in their human heart. But, what eye has not seen, what ear has not heard, and what has not entered into the heart of man He promised to show to those who love Him.[l8] Until this favor is granted to us, until He shows us what will completely satisfy us, until we drink to satiety of that fountain of life, while we wander about, apart from Him but strong in faith, while we hunger and thirst for justice, longing with an unspeakable desire for the beautiful vision of God, let us celebrate with fervent devotion His birthday in the form of a servant. Since we cannot, as yet, understand that He was begotten (monogenes – engendered) by the Father before the day- star, let us celebrate His birth of the Virgin in the nocturnal hours. Since we do not comprehend how His name existed before the light of the sun, let us recognize His tabernacle placed in the sun. Since we do not, as yet, gaze upon the Son inseparably united with His Father, let us remember Him as the 'bridegroom coming out of his bride-chamber.' Since we are not yet ready for the banquet of our Father, let us grow familiar with the manger of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jn:1:
1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God: and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made.
4 In him was life: and the life was the light of men.
5 ¶ And the light shineth in darkness: and the darkness did not comprehend it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might believe through him.
8 He was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light.
9 That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world.
10 He was in the world: and the world was made by him: and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own: and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name.
13 Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten ofthe Father), full of grace and truth.
15 ¶ John beareth witness of him and crieth out, saying: This was he of whom I spoke: He that shall come after me is preferred before me: because he was before me.
16 And of his fulness we all have received: and grace for grace.
17 For the law was given by Moses: grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
18 No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son who is in the Bosomof the Father, he hath declared him.
19 ¶ And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites to him, to ask him: Who art thou?
20 And he confessed and did not deny: and he confessed: I am not the Christ.
21 And they asked him: What then? Art thou Elias? And he said: I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered: No.
22 They said therefore unto him: Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself?
23 He said: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaias.
24 And they that were sent were of the Pharisees.
25 And they asked him and said to him: Why then dost thou baptize, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet?
26 John answered them, saying: I baptize with water: but there hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not.
27 The same is he that shall come after me, who is preferred before me: the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.
28 These things were done in Bethania, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29 ¶ The next day, John saw Jesus coming to him; and he saith: Behold the Lamb of God. Behold him who taketh away the sin of the world.
30 This is he of whom I said: After me there cometh a man, who is preferred before me: because he was before me.
31 And I knew him not: but that he may be made manifest in Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
32 And John gave testimony, saying: I saw the Spirit coming down, as a dove from heaven; and he remained upon him.
33 And I knew him not: but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me: He upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, he it is that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
34 And I saw: and I gave testimony that this is the Son of God.
35 The next day again John stood and two of his disciples.
36 And beholding Jesus walking, he saith: Behold the Lamb of God.
37 ¶ And the two disciples heard him speak: and they followed Jesus.
38 And Jesus turning and seeing them following him, saith to them: What seek you? Who said to him: Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where dwellest thou?
39 He saith to them:Come and see. They came and saw where he abode: and they stayed with him that day. Now itwas about the tenth hour.
40 And Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who had heard of John and followed him.
41 He findeth first his brother Simon and saith to him: We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
42 And he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looking upon him, said: Thou art Simon the son of Jona. Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter.
43 ¶ On the following day, he would go forth into Galilee: and he findeth Philip, And Jesus saith to him: follow me.
44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip findeth Nathanael and saith to him: We have found him of whom Moses, in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth.
46 And Nathanael said to him: Can any thing of good come from Nazareth? Philip saith to him: Come and see.
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and he saith of him: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.
48 Nathanael saith to him: Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said to him: Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
49 Nathanael answered him and said: Rabbi: Thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel.
50 Jesus answered and said to him: Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, thou believest: greater things than these shalt thou see.
51 And he saith to him: Amen, amen, I say to you, you shall see the heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
Mk:1:
1 ¶ The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in Isaias the prophet: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare the way before thee.
3 A voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight his paths.
4 John was in the desert, baptizing and preaching the baptism of penance, unto remission of sins.
5 And there went out to him all the country of Judea and all they of Jerusalem and were baptized by him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
6 And John was clothed camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins: and he ate locusts and wild honey.
7 And he preached, saying: There cometh after me one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.
8 I have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
9 ¶ And it came to pass, in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in Jordan.
10 And forthwith coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens open and the Spirit as a dove descending and remaining on him.
11 And there came a voice from heaven: Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
12 And immediately the Spirit drove him out into the desert.
13 And he was in the desert forty days and forty nights, and was tempted by Satan. And he was with beasts: and the angels ministered to him.
14 ¶ And after that John was delivered up, Jesus came in Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15 And saying: The time is accomplished and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel:
16 And passing by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother, casting nets into the sea for they were fishermen.
17 And Jesus said to them: Come after me; and I will make you to become fishers of men.
18 And immediately leaving their nets, they followed him.
19 And going on from thence a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who also were mending their nets in the ship:
20 And forthwith he called them. And leaving their father Zebedee in the ship with his hired men, they followed him.
21 And they entered into Capharnaum: and forthwith upon the sabbath days going into the synagogue, he taught them.
22 And they were astonished at his doctrine. For he was teaching them as one having power, and not as the scribes.
23 ¶ And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,
24 Saying: What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know who thou art, the Holy One of God.
25 And Jesus threatened him, saying: Speak no more, and go out of the man.
26 And the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying out with a loud voice, went out of him.
27 And they were all amazed insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying: What thing is this? What is this new doctrine? For with power he commandeth even the unclean spirits: and they obey him.
28 And the fame of him was spread forthwith into all the country of Galilee.
29 ¶ And immediately going out of the synagogue they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
30 And Simon's wife's mother lay in a fit of a fever: and forthwith they tell him of her.
31 And coming to her, he lifted her up, taking her by the hand; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.
32 And when it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all that were ill and that were possessed with devils.
33 And all the city was gathered together at the door.
34 And he healed many that were troubled with divers diseases. And he cast out many devils: and he suffered them not to speak, because they knew him.
35 And rising very early, going out, he went into a desert place: and there he prayed.
36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him.
37 And when they had found him, they said to him: All seek for thee.
38 And he saith to them: Let us go into the neighbouring towns and cities, that I may preach there also; for to this purpose am I come.
39 And he was preaching in their synagogues and in all Galilee and casting out devils.
40 ¶ And there came a leper to him, beseeching him and kneeling down, said to him: If thou wilt thou canst make me clean.
41 And Jesus, having compassion on him, stretched forth his hand and touching him saith to him: I will. Be thou made clean.
42 And when he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him: and he was made clean.
43 And he strictly charged him and forthwith sent him away.
44 And he saith to him: See thou tell no one; but go, shew thyself to the high priest and offer for thy cleansing the things that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.
45 But he being gone out, began to publish and to blaze abroad the word: so that he could not openly go into the city. but was without in desert places. And they flocked to him from all sides.
ON AWAKENING
Hymn to Christ the light and life
Christ come among men
as source of light,
your holy birth (engendered timelessly immortal in the Father’s bosom)
is before the beginning of all time and creation. You are the radiant light shining with the Father. You irradiate lustreless matter
and illumine the souls of the faithful.
You have created the world
and fixed the orbit of the stars;
you sustain the axis of the earth, you save all mankind.
You guide the sun in its course
to light up all our days
and the crescent moon
which dispels the darkness of night. You make the seed to sprout preparing food for the flocks.
From your inexhaustible fount
you pour out the splendour of life making fruitful the whole world. . .
Synesius of Cyrene
Ode 9, Part 1 The Magnificat Luke 1, 46-55
MY soul doth magnify the Lord:
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior,
Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed,
Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is his name.
And his mercy is from generation unto generation to those that fear him.
He hath showed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.
He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent away empty.
He hath received Israel, his servant, being mindful of his mercy,
As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Ant. All generations shall call me blessed, for God hath regarded his lowly handmaid.
Ode 9, Part 2 Canticle of Zachary Luke 1 :68-79
BLESSED be the Lord God of Israel, because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people: And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant:
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been since the world began.
Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us:
To perform mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy testament,
The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us,
That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear.
In holiness and justice before him, all our days.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:
To give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins:
Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us:
To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Canticle of Simeon Luke 2.29-32.34
+ NOW Thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord according to thy word in peace:
Because my eyes have seen thy salvation.
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples:
A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Ant. Save us, O Lord, while we are awake, and guard us when we sleep: that we may watch with Christ, and rest in peace.
Ant. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against.
Prayer for the Nativity
Jesus Christ, radiant centre of glory,
image of our God, the invisible Father,
revealer of his eternal designs,
prince of peace;
father of the world to come. . .
For our sake he took the likeness of a slave,
becoming flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
without intervention of man;
for our sake, wrapped in swaddling bands
and laid in a manger
adored by the shepherds
and hymned by the angelic powers, who sang:
Glory to God in the heavens
and on earth peace and good to men.
Make us worthy, Lord, to celebrate and to conclude in peace the feast which magnifies the rising of your light,
by avoiding empty words, working with justice, fleeing from the passions and raising up the spirit above earthly goods.
Bless your Church, formed long ago
to be united with yourself through your life giving blood.
Come to the aid of your faithful shepherds,
of the priests and the teachers of your Gospel.
Bless your faithful whose only hope is in your mercy; Christian souls, the sick, those who are tormented in spirit and those who have asked us to pray for them.
Have pity, in your infinite clemency, and preserve us in fitness to receive the future, endless good things.
We celebrate your glorious nativity
with the Father who sent you for our redemption,
with the life-giving Spirit,
now and for ever and through all ages. Amen.
Syriac liturgy
Last edited by Steve in Vista on Mon 3 November 2008 2:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Steve in Vista
Member
Posts: 133
Joined: Tue 16 September 2008 10:29 pm
Location: USA
Faith: Catholic
by Steve in Vista on Mon 3 November 2008 2:25 pm
Hymn for the Nativity
Sons of men, do you truly speak of justice? Dwellers on the earth,
do you truly judge with fairness?
We confess with unshakable faith
that God, who was made man
and who was given birth by a Virgin.
Before all time he was begotten.
of an infinite Father;
now we adore him who became incarnate
in a Virgin's womb.
He is the creator of all,
himself remaining invisible and distinct from creation.
So we are able to say:
in you, Lord, is clemency; glory be to you.
O holy God,
you have deigned to be born, a tiny child, from a Virgin.
O God, holy and strong,
you have willed to rest in the arms of Mary.
O God, holy and immortal,
you have come to rescue Adam from hell.
O immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, full of grace,
Emmanuel, whom you have carried,
is the fruit of your womb.
In your maternal bosom you have nourished all men.
You are above all praise and all glory.
Hail, Mother of God, joy of the angels.
The fullness of your grace
goes beyond what the prophets foretold.
The Lord is with you,
you have given birth
to the Saviour of the world.
Fragment from an ancient eucharistic liturgy
Steve in Vista
Member
by Pravoslavnik on Tue 4 November 2008 3:59 am
Steve,
Thank you for posting this, and the Orthodox material on Halloween. I have a few sincere questions regarding this cosmogony.
First, who were "the daughters of men" who married the sons of Adam, as described in the Holy Scriptures, and who were the "men" who fathered them? Is it possible that the Adamah was a special spiritual creation of God, whose progeny then married the evolved adamah (men) of the earth?
Secondly, why must some Orthodox Christians insist that the Triune God did not bring the cosmos and the life on earth into existence partly through evolutionary biological processes like natural selection?
If time is a function of velocity in our expanding universe--as per Einstein's theory of relativity-- is it not conceivable that the six 24 hour "days" of God's creation measured at the center of the universe-- the hexamera-- might have lasted fully 15 billion years in earth time, which is the approximate astrophysical age of the cosmos? (In fact, some modern physicist have noted that there is a fairly precise fit between the scriptures and modern astrophysics when the relative rate of time is factored into the equation.) Certainly, blessed Augustine of Hippo disagreed somewhat with both Sts. Basil and Ambrose on this issue of the duration of the hexamera.
Must Orthodox Christians necessarily accept the flawed paleontology of Henry Morris and the Protestant Evangelical "Young Earth Creationists?"
Pravoslavnik
Member
No evolution
by Steve in Vista on Tue 4 November 2008 7:11 am
The “sons of God” (not Adam) that came into the daughters of Adam and had sexual relations with them are the fallen angels; see below concerning the Devil’s lie about evolving into gods – this is what is referred to. (All the angels are refered to as sons of God since God created all of them. The evil ones chose to do evil and fell.) According to the Church Fathers, especially St. Hippolytus amongst others, the pre-flood “nephilim” (giants) which were the product of those relations were totally demonic. The flood in Noah’s time was to destroy them. Their souls are demons and not human and are the demons that Christ cast out of people.
Gen:6:
4 ¶ Now giants were upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of God went in to the daughters of Adam, and they brought forth children, these are the mighty men of old, men of renown.
5 And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times,
6 ¶ It repented him that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart,
7 He said: I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8 ¶ But Noe found grace before the Lord.
This directly below refers to the same fallen angels and the very thing they did by going in to the daughters of Adam.
2Pt:2:4:
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower hell, unto torments, to be reserved unto judgment:
Warning from the early Church
APOSTATES -- ACCORDING TO St. Irenaeus of Lugdunum, Gaul (Lyons, France) - 180 A.D.
Against Heresies.
Those nations however, who did not of themselves raise up their eyes unto heaven, nor returned thanks to their Maker, nor wished to behold the light of truth, but who were like blind mice concealed in the depths of ignorance, the word justly reckons “as waste water from a sink, and as the turning-weight of a balance—in fact, as nothing;”
That before the Lord’s appearance Satan never dared to blaspheme God, inasmuch as he did not yet know his own sentence, because it was contained in parables and allegories; but that after the Lord’s appearance, when he had clearly ascertained from the words of Christ and His apostles that eternal fire has been prepared for him as he apostatized from God of his own free-will, and likewise for all who unrepentant continue in the apostasy, he now blasphemes, by means of such men, the Lord who brings judgment [upon him] as being already condemned, and imputes the guilt of his apostasy to his Maker, not to his own voluntary disposition. Just as it is with those who break the laws, when punishment overtakes them: they throw the blame upon those who frame the laws, but not upon themselves. In like manner do those men, filled with a satanic spirit, bring innumerable accusations against our Creator, who has both given to us the spirit of life, and established a law adapted for all; and they will not admit that the judgment of God is just. Wherefore also they set about imagining some other Father who neither cares about nor exercises a providence; and there is therefore in this beast (the Antichrist), when he comes, a recapitulation made of all sorts of iniquity and of every deceit, in order that all apostate power, flowing into and being shut up in him, may be sent into the furnace of fire. Fittingly, therefore, shall his name possess the number six hundred and sixty-six, since he sums up in his own person all the commixture of wickedness which took place previous to the deluge, due to the apostasy of the angels. For Noah was six hundred years old when the deluge came upon the earth, sweeping away the rebellious world, for the sake of that most infamous generation which lived in the times of Noah. And [Antichrist] also sums up every error of devised idols since the flood, together with the slaying of the prophets and the cutting off of the just. For that image which was set up by Nebuchadnezzar had indeed a height of sixty cubits, while the breadth was six cubits; on account of which Ananias, Azarias, and Misaël, when they did not worship it, were cast into a furnace of fire, pointing out prophetically, by what happened to them, the wrath against the righteous which shall arise towards the [time of the] end. For that image, taken as a whole, was a prefiguring of this man’s coming, decreeing that he should undoubtedly himself alone be worshipped by all men. Thus, then, the six hundred years of Noah, in whose time the deluge occurred because of the apostasy, and the number of the cubits of the image for which these just men were sent into the fiery furnace, do indicate the number of the name of that man in whom is concentrated the whole apostasy of six thousand years, and unrighteousness, and wickedness, and false prophecy, and deception; for which things’ sake a cataclysm of fire shall also come [upon the earth].
St. Irenaeus says concerning the Antichrist: "in whom is concentrated the whole apostasy of six thousand years, and unrighteousness, and wickedness, and false prophecy, and deception". The reference to six thousand years is to the ages from Adam leading up to Christ and the sixth "day" beginning with Christ. By St. Irenaeus' Septuagint Bible, Christ came at about five thousand five hundred years from Adam. St. Irenaeus is telling us that all the evil apostasy of those ages where the devil had free reign to subvert all on the earth that listened to him will be concentrated in the Antichrist (by power of the devil - which God will permit) only when in this sixth day men apostasize from God by rejecting His Christ in a massive apostasy, which will include belief in evolution instead of belief is the true literal creation of God. In an evolutionary universe you could evolve into your own god. That is exactly what the Devil tempted Adam and Eve with (see below from Genesis).
St. Augustine and all the rest of the Church Fathers and the whole early Church believed in the literal creation of God and the literal ages from Adam to Christ equaling about six thousand years (about 5,500). St. Augustine traces them in exact detail in the City of God and in another place in the City of God gives us a direct quote of his (see below) telling us that less than six thousand years passed from creation to the Advent of Christ. If you believe Christ rose from the dead in the flesh (which is true) and will raise us in the flesh (which is true) then believing in literal creation is not hard at all. After all, it is the truth.
Gn:2:
1 ¶ So the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the furniture of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.
3 And he blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
4 ¶ These are the generations of the heaven and the earth, when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the heaven and the earth:
5 And every plant of the field before it sprung up in the earth, and every herb of the ground before it grew: for the Lord God had not rained upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the earth.
6 But a spring rose out of the earth, watering all the surface of the earth.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
8 ¶ And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed.
9 And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10 And a river went out of the place of pleasure to water paradise, which from thence is divided into four heads.
11 The name of the one is Phison: that is it which compasseth all the land of Hevilath, where gold groweth.
12 And the gold of that land is very good: there is found bdellium, and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gehon: the same is it that compasseth all the land of Ethiopia.
14 And the name of the third river is Tigris: the same passeth along by the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
15 And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it.
16 ¶ And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat:
17 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death.
18 ¶ And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself.
19 And the Lord God having formed out of the ground all the beasts of the earth, and all the fowls of the air, brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: for whatsoever Adam called any living creature the same is its name.
20 And Adam called all the beasts by their names, and all the fowls of the air, and all the cattle of the field: but for Adam there was not found a helper like himself.
21 ¶ Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it.
22 And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam.
23 And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.
24 Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh.
25 And they were both naked: to wit, Adam and his wife: and were not ashamed.
Gn:3:
1 ¶ Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?
2 And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die.
4 And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death.
5 For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.
6 ¶ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband, who did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons.
8 And when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God, amidst the trees of paradise.
9 ¶ And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where art thou?
10 And he said: I heard thy voice in paradise; and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.
11 ¶ And he said to him: And who hath told thee that thou wast naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?
12 And Adam said: The woman, whom thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the Lord God said to the woman: Why hast thou done this? And she answered: The serpent deceived me, and I did eat.
14 ¶ And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
15 I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.
16 ¶ To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee.
17 ¶ And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee, that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work: with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life.
18 Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth.
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.
20 ¶ And Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the mother of all the living.
21 ¶ And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins, and clothed them.
22 ¶ And he said: Behold Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil: now therefore lest perhaps he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.
23 And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken.
24 And he cast out Adam: and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Notice in the above that the very first promise of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ is made here. We dare not think that this is a myth. Evolution does in fact teach that it is a myth. In fact it was believing in the evolutionary promise of becoming one’s own God that caused Adam and Eve to die, separated from God, until Christ came and redeemed us.
ALL OF THE CHURCH FATHERS TAUGHT LITERAL CREATION. FROM ONE OF THE MOST WELL KNOWN OF THE CHURCH FATHERS, ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO, IN HIS "THE CITY OF GOD" (written from 412 A.D. to 426A.D.):
BOOK XVIII.
CHAP. 40.—SINCE IT IS ONLY LESS THAN SIX THOUSAND YEARS FROM CREATION BY GOD IT IS ONLY DUE TO THE MOST MENDACIOUS VANITY OF THE EGYPTIANS, THAT THEY ASCRIBE TO THEIR SCIENCE AN ANTIQUITY OF A HUNDRED THOUSAND YEARS.
In vain, then, do some babble with most empty presumption, who say that Egyptian astronomy has a history of more than a hundred thousand years! For in what books have they collected that number who learned letters from Isis their mistress, not much more than two thousand years ago? Varro, who has declared this, is no small authority in history, and it does not disagree with the truth of the divine books. For since six thousand years have not yet elapsed from the days of Adam, the first man, are not those to be ridiculed rather than refuted who try to persuade us of anything regarding a space of time so different from, and contrary to, the ascertained truth?
As for Einstein, who was a Talmudic Jew, he was the worst fake trying to pass as a mathematician there ever was. His theory of relativity is false and has been shown as false, but the politically correct insist on it because they think it lets them live in an evolutionary universe where they can disregard God’s laws on morality with impugnity. Also, the politically correct do in fact like their “St. Einstein” because he gives them an excuse to believe in the “Jewish Holocaust” and ignore the real holocaust that the Jews under Lenin and Stalin and that Hitler – perpetrated against the Christian Slavic peoples in order to murder them BECAUSE they were Christian, into the tens of millions!
The so-called gassing with no bodies because of little backyard crematoria is a total fabrication and out and out lies. Physically, it could not have happened. Also, gassing without seals is a total bad joke. It is impossible. You would kill those administering the gas. The Jews who claimed to have witnessed the gassing and burning in ovens always insisted that there were no seals for the gassing and the guards sat there just feet away with no breathing protection. The Zyklon B was in fact used elsewhere for fumigating insects. Those Jews also insisted that millions of people were incinerated in ovens (which ovens were actually planted there after the war by Stalin and not there during the war). Those ovens could not have handled even a tiny fraction of the people the Jews lie and say were incinerated. The fake incineration is very convenient as it gives them an excuse to ignore all the Jews that Hitler helped get out of Germany and to Palestine during the war. The reason for the fake Jewish Holocaust was part of the Jews plan to invade Palestine and set up the kingdom of their false god, the Antichrist. So far they are successful. The German cover up about statements in Mein Kampf to supposedly prove the holocaust by Germany against the Jews are actually ghost written by a Jesuit to help the Jewish Antichrist movement in order to gain power for the Jesuit interests.
The actual physics that works is Newtonian (actually the product of the Bernoullis, but the English had the political power so Isaac Newton, an early freemason, got the credit).
All the pagan and especially the Talmudic (which is total diabolic blaspheming of God) systems are evolutionary. The system that you are quoting, Pravo, is as you know, Talmudic. You know better than to put any credence in that as it blasphemes God.
Steve in Vista
by Steve in Vista on Tue 4 November 2008 7:30 am
Christmas prayer
We praise you, Lord Jesus Christ,
God-Saviour of men,
stupendously powerful with the Father;
we praise you, we invoke you, we pray to you; assist us with your pardon, with clemency give us your grace.
Awaken in our hearts desires deserving of fulfillment; suggest to us words that are worthy to be heard; grant that our actions may be worthy of blessing.
We beg you to renew your birth in human nature, penetrating us with your invisible Godhead
as you did in a unique way in Mary
and do now spiritually in the Church.
May you be conceived by our faith,
that a mind untouched by corruption may bring you forth, that the soul, ever confirmed by the power of the Most High, may offer you a dwelling place.
Be not born in us, but reveal yourself in us. Be truly for us the Emmanuel, God with us.
Deign to remain with us, to fight for us. Only so can we conquer.
Mozarabic liturgy
Steve in Vista
Member
Re: The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ
by Steve in Vista on Wed 19 November 2008 6:28 am
THE GREAT DOXOLOGY
Glory to Thee Father of Lights Who through Thy Son Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, hast shown forth Thy Light.
GLORY to God in the highest, and on earth peace, towards men of good will.
We praise Thee; we bless Thee; we worship Thee; we glorify Thee; we
give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory:
O Lord, Heavenly King, God the Father Almighty, O Lord the Only¬
begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. .
O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sin of
the world: have mercy on us, Thou that takest away the sins of the world.
Receive our prayer, Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father;
and have mercy on us.
For Thou only art holy; Thou only art Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory
of God the Father. Amen.
Every day will I bless Thee, and I will praise Thy Name for ever, yea,
for ever and ever.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
Blessed art Thou, O Lord, the God of our Fathers, and praised and
glorified is Thy Name unto the ages. Amen.
Let Thy mercy, Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in
Thee.
Blessed art Thou, O Lord, teach me Thy statutes. (Thrice)
Lord, Thou hast been our refuge from generation to generation. I said:
O Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee.
Lord, unto Thee have I fled for refuge; teach me to do Thy will, for
Thou art my God. .
For in Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light shall we see light.
O continue Thy mercy unto them that know Thee.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (Thrice)
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.
Then we chant with stronger voice:
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.
GOD is with us; know, ye nations, and be vanquished.
For God is with us.
Give ear, even unto the utmost part of the earth.
For God is with us.
Ye that have prevailed, even ye be vanquished.
For God is with us.
For though ye should prevail again, yet again shall ye be vanquished.
For God is with us.
And whatsoever counsel ye shall take, the Lord shall bring it to nought.
For God is with us.
And whatsoever word ye speak., it shall not abide in you.
For God is with us.
And the fear of you we shall not fear, neither shall we be troubled.
For God is with us.
But we will sanctify the Lord our God, and He shall be our fear.
For God is with us.
And I put my trust in Him, He shall be my sanctification.
For God is with us.
Yea, I will put my trust in Him, and I shall be saved through Him.
For God is with us.
Behold, I and the children which God hath given me.
For God is with us.
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.
For God is with us.
We that dwell in the land and shadow of death a light shall shine upon us.
For God is with us.
For unto us a Child is born; and unto us a Son is given.
For God is with us.
Whose government is come upon His shoulder.
For God is with us.
And of His peace there is no end.
For God is with us.
And His Name shall be called the Angel of Great Counsel.
For God is with us.
Wonderful Counselor.
For God is with us.
The mighty God, He that hath authority, the Prince of Peace.
For God is with us.
The Father of the age to come.
For God is with us.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
For God is with us.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
For God is with us.
God is with us; know, ye nations, and be vanquished; for God is with us.
Steve in Vista
Member
Re: The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ
by Steve in Vista on Wed 19 November 2008 7:50 pm
The birth of Jesus Christ from a virgin
http://steveinvista.wordpress.com/the-b ... -a-virgin/
Steve in Vista
Member
Re: The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ
by Cyprian on Thu 20 November 2008 2:47 am
ST. PHOTIOS THE GREAT
MYSTAGOGY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
It is possible to find many other examples in our holy and blessed fathers. I have in mind Clement, one of the bishops of [Old] Rome. Consider the books which are known from him as Clementine (I do not say write because, according to ancient report, Peter the Coryphaeus commanded they be written). Consider also Dionysius of Alexandria, who in stretching out his hand against Sabellius nearly joins with Arius. Consider also the splendour of the sacred-martyr, Methodius the Great of Patara, who did not reject the idea that angels fell into mortal desire and bodily intercourse, even though they are incorporeal and without passions. I shall pass over Pantaenos, Clement, Pierios, Pamphilos and Theognostos, all holy men and teachers of holy disciples whom we hymn with great honour and affection, especially Pamphilos and Pierios, distinguished by the trials of martyrdom. Although we do not accept all of their statements, we grant them honour for their patient disposition and goodness of life and for their other doctrines. In addition to those previously mentioned, there is Irenaeus, the bishop of God, who received the supervision of sacred things in Lyons and also Hippolytus, his disciple, the Episcopal martyr: all of these were admirable in many ways, though at times some of their writings do not avoid departing from orthodoxy.
Concerning all of the above and Photius in particular and all and any denial first and foremost of absolute literal truth of Holy Scripture and the truth of that shown in the consensus of the Church Fathers, see below:
Traditional Catholic Prayers: Prayer against the Devil Mother Goddess and all of Satan's minions
Go to:
FALSE GODDESS APPARITIONS which is the spirit of Apostasy (and the Satanic patroness of Ecumenism and the New World Order) bringing back the false gods of the ancient world
See these links also:
Msgr. Ottaviani BAN
What most people don't know about all the Marian and other connected apparitions is that up to and including the time of Cardinal Msgr. Ottaviani's holding the reigns of the Holy Office is that there was a ban on all of them. That ban was removed (illicitly and without any doctrinal basis) by the Antipope Paul VI in 1969. In 1952 Cardinal Msgr. Ottaviani (same as in the Ottaviani Intervention against Antipope Paul VI's Novus Ordo, which Antipope Paul VI made the final promulgation of in 1969, same year as he lifted the ban) as prelate in charge of the Holy Office even issued another warning about them. The original beginning of the modern apparitions was in Rue du Bac in Paris , France
Have you noticed that in the apparitions Mary is always telling girls secrets? Girls like to tell one another secrets. There is just no doctrinal basis for any of it. St. Anthony of the desert (St. Athanasius' teacher in the Catholic faith) said that demonic apparitions are never to be heeded because, although there may be some or appear to be some factual truth in them, because of their origin they will always be false and heeding them or turning aside after them in any way will only help the Devil to carry out whatever scheme that the evil one is attempting.
Also, St. Anthony said that true apparitions given by the true God will always bring peace and joy and never terror. He said terror in an apparition means the apparition is always from the evil one. Also, he said that God brings healing and not disease and death. Remember Portugal
MARIAN AND CHARISMATIC CONGRESSES and The Pagan-Gnostic tree of ecumenism
Also, in 1975 the Marian and the Charismatic Congresses were held in Rome Isis , lunar Artemis, Bastet-Artemis or Selene, Mene, Hecate. The pagan triple as Isis was a virgin and the one the Valentinian gnostics tried to pattern Mary after and then make Jesus into Horus.
No ukase by any Caesar including and especially the current pretenders to the papacy can change this doctrine of the faith: 'that to be a Christian one will and must and shall at all times reject all other gods and worship and serve the True God alone - The Father and the Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.' The first major transgression of this in Rome Fatima of the Sun being turned around was prophesied by St. Hippolytus (martyred 236 A.D.) as Diabolic and of the Antichrist. When those two false doctrines of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the Assumption of Mary were combined, at Vatican II and after, with the arch heretic and Communist Sergei Bulgakov’s heresies concerning Mary being a fourth hypostasis of God - then this false Mary was transformed into the Antitheotokos which is the consort of the Antichrist, who will come to oppose the Church. The faithful of the Church must not and will not accept any of this. Christ alone is the Immaculate Conception by the Holy Spirit and the blessed virgin Mary and Christ alone is the first born from the dead in the flesh. Any early resurrection of Mary would make her a goddess which God will never do and she is not nor would she ever agree with or want such an abomination in her name. In Divine response to Pius XII’s immense and unacceptable blunder in eight years he was dead and the conclave in that year, 1958, saw the election of the first of several Antipopes, John XXIII, which ushered in the Great Apostasy of Vatican II; Cardinal Siri was rightfully elected at the 1958 conclave and was Pope Gregory XVII, but reigned in exile in silence due to the death threat against his family by the partisans of Antipope John XXIII and those Antipopes after John XXIII. Now that Siri has died in 1988, truly the throne is vacant. The Antipopes were and are John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
The Church Fathers, especially as referred to here, are by definition an exact group ending with and not later than St. John Damascene in the East in the eighth century A.D. and in the West in the seventh century A.D. St. Isadore of Seville and Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome (who said that any bishop who declared himself in charge of the whole Church, instead of all bishops, including the Pope of Rome, having no more than equal authority, with Rome among other Patriarchal sees and none of them coercing others, was in fact, the precursor of the Antichrist).
The Arch Evil Council of Vatican II proposed a meaningless cosmic Adam and non-literal creation by a nonexistent pantheistic non-God ruled over by a cosmic Jesus Christ (Gnostic false Christ - actually Satan) and the Antitheotokos (Mary as premature resurrected and ascended goddess - Christ alone is resurrected and ascended until His return - John 3:13 And no one [nemo in Latin, oudeis in Greek - literally 'no one'] hath ascended into heaven, but He that descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.). All of this was based on their ultimate Antichrist Judeo Mason document of Nostra Aetate which put the eternal enemies of Christ, the apostate perfidious nation of Jews guilty of Deicide, as gods above all infidel pagan religions. They put that abomination in place of the Gospel of Christ and all of this as the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place of Our Lord Jesus Christ's Church, His Body, which He died for.
The Antipopes, in addition to pretending to authority over the entire Church - which they could never have, spew forth the Satanic nonsense of Nostra Aetate. They and all who follow them will go into hell at the return of Christ.
The Church Fathers, especially as referred to here, are by definition an exact group ending with and not later than St. John Damascene in the East in the eighth century A.D. and in the West in the seventh century A.D. St. Isadore of Seville and Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome (who said that any bishop who declared himself in charge of the whole Church, instead of all bishops, including the Pope of Rome, having no more than equal authority, with Rome among other Patriarchal sees and none of them coercing others, was in fact, the precursor of the Antichrist).
The Arch Evil Council of Vatican II proposed a meaningless cosmic Adam and non-literal creation by a nonexistent pantheistic non-God ruled over by a cosmic Jesus Christ (Gnostic false Christ - actually Satan) and the Antitheotokos (Mary as premature resurrected and ascended goddess - Christ alone is resurrected and ascended until His return - John 3:13 And no one [nemo in Latin, oudeis in Greek - literally 'no one'] hath ascended into heaven, but He that descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.). All of this was based on their ultimate Antichrist Judeo Mason document of Nostra Aetate which put the eternal enemies of Christ, the apostate perfidious nation of Jews guilty of Deicide, as gods above all infidel pagan religions. They put that abomination in place of the Gospel of Christ and all of this as the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place of Our Lord Jesus Christ's Church, His Body, which He died for.
The Antipopes, in addition to pretending to authority over the entire Church - which they could never have, spew forth the Satanic nonsense of Nostra Aetate. They and all who follow them will go into hell at the return of Christ.
The Mother Devil Goddess
This is Isis (above left) who in the ancient world was the head goddess of the most evil of the developed forms of the triple goddess. The triple goddess was the absolute center and power of sorcery and black magic in the ancient world. That looped object in her hand is the intaglio. The Romans subsumed Isis along with many other goddesses into Tyche.
The Mother Goddess, who is the patroness of the Ecumenical Movement, is also the patroness of the World Order. The Ecumenical movement endeavors to form the blessed virgin Mary into the Mother Goddess. The blessed virgin Mary, herself, of course has absolutely nothing to do with the Mother Goddess.
Tyche was the goddess which was the summation, in the Graeco-Egyptian religion of the Graeco-Roman world, of all goddesses and therefore the beginning and end of all the poytheistic gods and goddesses of the ancient mediterranean world. The Cumaean, Tiburtine and Delphic sibyls were the principal fortune tellers of the Roman empire which would convince the citizens of the empire of the will of
In the fifth/sixth century A.D. the Syrian writings of Pseudo-Dionysios first appeared and were later added to. In this the ancient pagan idea of synthesizing, that is combining all the ancient gods/goddesses, an idea going back to the Graeco-Egyptian Hermes Trimegistus (Apollyon appearing as Hermes thrice blessed - a pagan false trinity), was put forth in gnostic psuedo christian dress. Included was Mary as the summation of all that is divine, i. e. the mother triple goddess. Sergei Bulgakov was condemned by his own church, the Russian Orthodox Church, as a heretic, in the first part of the 20th century for this same thing, in which Bulgakov attempted to make Mary the Hupostasis of God and the divinity by which each of the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity of the True God is approached and in no other way. In short, it is a sophism to make her the triple goddess and replace the worship of the True Trinity with polytheistic/pantheism. This worship of Satan in place of the True God, the Most Holy Trinity will only bring utter destruction upon the earth.
In the summation of all Heresies and Apostasies and Blaspheming of the Holy Spirit known as Vatican II, Bulgakov's blasphemous system was inculcated by name and in this same false teaching of Bulgakov to make the Antitheotokos the virgin goddess of black magic to support all of the false apparitions (heretofor condemned), supposedly of Mary, and make these apparitions accepted and thereby bring in KNOWINGLY the Gnostic evolutionary Monism - Pantheism of this "ecumenical council of thieves".
For instance the Gnostics, according to the Church Fathers, basing themselves on the Naasseni (the apostate Jewish serpent worshipping Satanist priesthood cult which is the base for all Kabalah and the Zohar) copied much of their doctrine from Platonism, Graeco-Egyptian paganism and far eastern religiosity and claimed, totally falsely, that this is what Jesus taught. It is not at all what Jesus taught nor at all what Moses taught. The Gnostic doctrines are obvious in this plagiarizing of paganism and denial of the true Jesus Christ. In the East the Buddhist teaching of how Sakyamuni (Gotama), the Buddha, obtained his “enlightenment” is obviously diabolic and has a great deal in common with Graeco-Egyptian mysticism in the west; especially this is extremely similar to Simon Magus’ portrayal of himself entwined with snakes in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as a man-god to be sought after as the ultimate teacher of true knowledge. The prime example: The Dragon Flower Tree (the banyan or pipal [fig] tree) from which the great white serpent from the abyss (the devil) granted Gotama (the Buddha) his “enlightenment” which consisted of his denying the I AM and being his own saviour. Otherwise known as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which in classical and traditional Catholic teaching is the first type of the devil. Gn:2:17: 17 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death. (DRV)
During the time of Photius (a Khazar) and the dating of all subsequent Ecumenical Orthodox Church theology, at about the same time as Photius, from the 'victory' of the "theology of the icon", the actual theology of that so-called church has disintegrated into complete paganism. Photius' teaching on Christ is simply an old heresy trying to divide Christ into two persons. The teaching on the hypostasis of the icon as the real presence of Christ the same as in the Eucharist is nothing other than sophist idolatry. The teaching on created energy divinising men is nothing other than polytheism. The idea, present in the Orthodox and the Oriental Churches , that the gods and goddesses of Egypt and Greece island of Patmos of all places, provoking the Antipope John Paul II to the kind of nonsense that later with Bartholomew I, John Paul II perpetrated at Assisi Assisi
It is the Ecumenical Orthodox 'Church' that is the self willed source of the energy of diabolic delusion that is marking men with the image of the beast.
It is the Ecumenical Orthodox 'Church' that is the self willed source of the energy of diabolic delusion that is marking men with the image of the beast.
In opposition to the traditional Catholic and Orthodox Churches
Jesus WARNED us of false prophets like Benedict XVI who promise peace but mean apostasy.BEWARE. BENEDICT WOULD HAVE US RECEIVE THE MARK AND HAVE THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST STAMPED UPON US.
The virgin goddess of black magic
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Traditional Catholic and Orthodox Churches
Meet the virgin goddess of black magic -- she is the “immaculate one” (A LIE) who is Satan and false god and temptress and the rehashed pagan mother goddess that the early Gnostics (who claimed they were the knowers of the unknown god) worshipped.See this short excerpt, to illustrate, from:
"Thunder, Perfect Mind" from the Nag Hammadi Library
I am ... within.I am ...of the natures.
I am the creation of the spirits.
I am control and the uncontrollable.
I am the union and the dissolution.
I am the abiding and I am the dissolving.
I am the one below, and they come up to me.
I am the judgement and the acquittal.
I, I am sinless, and the root of sin derives from me.
I am the hearing which is attainable to everyone and the speech which cannot be grasped.
I am a mute who does not speak, and great is my multitude of words. ( this is Sarasvati)
The Mother Goddess was the beginning (the mother) of all the gods and goddesses and all sorcery /magic in connection with them.
In India
The yogis, ajivika or sramana or sadhu, of India, worshipped the fire god Agni (the god called “The Knower” whose tongue is the goddess Kali the goddess of destruction, a hermaphrodite god-goddess) imported from ancient Assyria/Persia, and engaged in the practice of the magical incantations of the kashshaph (sorcery) and nachash (serpent black magic) practices, amongst others, of ancient Mesopotamia, which made their way there through ancient Assyria/Persia as well. This strange fire (Hebrew: esh) with the sorcery and magic and rest of the occult practices listed together therein are condemned by God in Deuteronomy 18:10, 11. The final abomination of this is listed first in Dt:18:10: Neither let there be found among you any one that shall expiate his son or daughter, making them to pass through the fire…. (DRV) That final abomination is human sacrifice by fire sacrifice (as in Agni) to false gods/goddesses in the hope of gaining preternatural power from fallen spirits; the apostate angel, Satan - the devil, is the chief fallen spirit of the rest and who Jesus Christ said was a murderer and a liar from the beginning. Jn:8:44: You are of your father the devil: and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning: and he stood not in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, andthe father thereof. (DRV)
Sorcery/magic and astrology began, in the post flood world, in Chaldaea Sumeria Assyro-Babylonian Mesopotamia.
For the Astral (known as Omina) connection to sorcery/magic (Hebrew Ashshaph/Kashshaph) see this excerpt from:
Astrology and Judaism in Late Antiquity
The doctoral dissertation of Lester Ness, Accepted by MiamiUniversity, 1990
Chapter One
Astrology InMesopotamia …
Astrology In
The Cult Of The Planet-Gods
Having introduced the chief gods, we shall now examine literary evidence demonstrating the cult of the planet-gods. We shall look at the Creation Epic (Enuma Elish) and at a variety of prayers and magical texts. I shall use simple and common definitions for prayer and magic here. In prayer, one makes a request of a god. The magician tries to coerce or even command a god. In practice, however, the distinction may break down. For example, knowing the habits of a god, his likes and dislikes, one might make a request in such a way that it would be unlikely, even impossible to reject. Certainly, there was no clear distinction between prayer and magic in Mesopotamia./35/ It is the modern scholars who have drawn it, and in many cases they have been force to "fudge," coining the term "Gebetsbeschwrungen," or"Prayer-spells"….
Magical ceremonies in Mesopotamia were private, small-scale,versions of the rituals performed publicly in the temples. Magical practitioners of different sorts were usually priests. References to the astral aspects of the various gods are common, although they do not crowd out other aspects./38/
[end of excerpt]
This commanding of gods even extended to making them speak (the statues and other images) by occult means. The magicians who engaged in such things generally did it for money. In Jesus Christ's time on earth before His Ascension into heaven (from whence He will come again to judge the quick and the dead), He warned about these fakirs.
From Jesus Christ:
Mk:13:22:
22 For there will rise upfalse Christs and false prophets: and they shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce (if it were possible) even the elect. (DRV)
Mt:7:15:
15 ¶ Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (DRV)
From St. Paul
Gal:1:8:
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. (DRV)
From St. Peter:
2Pt:1:20
20 Understanding this first: That no prophecy of scripture is made by private interpretation. (DRV)
From St. John
Rv:13:15, 16:
15 And it was given him (the Antichrist) to give life to the image of the beast: and that the image of the beast should speak: and should cause that whosoever will not adore the image of the beast should be slain.
16 And he shall make all, both little and great, rich and poor, freemen and bondmen, to have a character in their right hand or on their foreheads: (DRV)
Rather than take the Mark then, the early saints were martyred for their faith. Something that we must not hesitate to do when confronted with that choice. One of the early martyrs was St. Irenaeus of Lyons
For the true Christian confession of faith see:
Eternal Faith and Beliefs Page 3
ALL PLACES OF IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS/GODDESSES AND ALL OF THE FALSE WORSHIP INVOLVED BLACK MAGIC AND SORCERY WHICH IS THE HALLMARK OF ALL PAGAN WORSHIP AND DIRECTLY VIOLATES DEUTERONOMY 18:10,11 AND IS DAMNED. FOR INSTANCE, ROME HAD ZEUS AND THE VIRGIN GODDESS OF BLACK MAGIC, FORTUNA OR TYCHE INCLUDING BY SYNCHRETISM HECATE, ISIS, MENE ETC., WORSHIPPED BY SORCERY, MAGICAL ENGRAVING, ENCHANTING TYING MAGIC SPELLS/KNOTS/CHARMS JOINED TO IDOLS OFFERING UNLAWFUL HUMAN AND ANIMAL SACRIFICES TO IDOLS AND THE FALSE GODS BEHIND THEM, ESPECIALLY FALSE PROPHECY: THE SIX ELEMENT DRAGON OUT OF THE MOUTH OF IT AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT, ‘O DIABOLOS HERMAPHRODITE BEAST OUT OF THE MOUTH OF IT AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT, THE FALSE PROPHET OF THE SATA-NAS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF IT AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT
Sata apostate in Hebrew
Nas serpent in Hebrew
Sata+Nas = Satan, the Devil, Known in Rome, for instance, as the Dragon
Sata apostate in Hebrew
Nas serpent in Hebrew
Sata+Nas = Satan, the Devil, Known in Rome, for instance, as the Dragon
ALL OF THIS IS, IN THE UNIVERSAL RECAPITULATION OF INIQUITY, SUMMED UP THE ANTICHRIST WHO SEEKS TO IMPRESS HIS MARK AND NAME AND NUMBER ON ALL MEN. THOSE MEN WHO TAKE THE MARK, NAME, NUMBER OF THE ANTICHRIST ARE DAMNED FOREVER. ECUMENISM IS THE MEANS BY WHICH THIS IS BROUGHT IN TO MEN. REJECT THE HERESY OF HERESIES WHICH IS ECUMENISM FOR IT IS ONLY THE ROAD TO ETERNAL DAMNATION.
Practices forbidden by God:
DT. 18:10,11 STRONGS BDB
VERSE 10
ESH 784 77b, 1083b
QECEM 7081 890c
ANAN 6049778a, 1107c
NACHASH 5172 638c
KASHAPH 3784 506c
(CHARTOM FROM EXODUS 7:22) 2748 355a
VERSE 11
CHABAR CHEBER 2266; 2267 251c, 287d, 1092a; 288c
SHA’AL 7592 981b, 1114a; (SHA’AL, DARASH) OWB 178 15a
(SHA’AL, DARASH) YIDDE’ONIY 3049 396b
DARASH; MUWTH 1875; 4191 201d, 205a; 559b, 607a,
1099d
BDB = BROWN DRIVER BRIGGS HEBREW ENGLISH LEXICON PAGE NUMBER REFERENCES
VERSE 10
ESH 784 77b, 1083b
QECEM 7081 890c
ANAN 6049778a, 1107c
NACHASH 5172 638c
KASHAPH 3784 506c
(CHARTOM FROM EXODUS 7:22) 2748 355a
VERSE 11
CHABAR CHEBER 2266; 2267 251c, 287d, 1092a; 288c
SHA’AL 7592 981b, 1114a; (SHA’AL, DARASH) OWB 178 15a
(SHA’AL, DARASH) YIDDE’ONIY 3049 396b
DARASH; MUWTH 1875; 4191 201d, 205a; 559b, 607a,
1099d
BDB = BROWN DRIVER BRIGGS HEBREW ENGLISH LEXICON PAGE NUMBER REFERENCES
See these links:
The coming of the Antichrist, ad-Dajjal
- ages of the world (1)
- al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah of the Druze (1)
- al-Massih ad-Dajjal (1)
- Antichrist (1)
- Beast (1)
- Bektasiyya (1)
- Catholic (1)
- Christmas (1)
- Damavand (1)
- False Goddess Apparitions (1)
- Gnostic (1)
- Harlot (1)
- Hurufi (1)
- Illuminati (1)
- Image And Likeness Of God (1)
- Iran (1)
- Ismaeli (1)
- Kabbalah (1)
- Mahdi (1)
- Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (1)
- Right to Life (1)
- Sabbateanism (1)
- Shia (1)
- St. Isadore (1)
- Synagogue (1)
- The Good Shepherd (1)
- watching (1)
- Wisdom (1)
Look up, your redemption is at hand: THE TRINITY
- "Jesus Christ in the Dura-Europos" (1)
- 'Isa al Maseeh (2)
- 'Isa al-Maseeh (3)
- 1958 conclave (1)
- Abomination of Desolation (3)
- Abortion (1)
- Abortion is Murder (2)
- Al Qiyamah (1)
- Allah (SWT) (2)
- anti-Christ (1)
- anti-Semitism (1)
- Antichrist (19)
- antichrists (1)
- Antipopes (1)
- Antitheotokos (1)
- Apostle (1)
- Ashkenazim (1)
- Babel (1)
- Babylon (1)
- Balkans (1)
- beast (1)
- Bible (1)
- Black Mass (1)
- Buddha (1)
- Chaste bride (1)
- Christian God (2)
- Christian Zionism (2)
- Christmas (1)
- Church Fathers (1)
- Communism (6)
- conscience (1)
- Cretan double eagles (1)
- Dajjal (1)
- Day of Resurrection (1)
- Dilling (1)
- diplomacy (1)
- Druze (1)
- Early Church Fathers (1)
- early resurrection of Mary goddess (1)
- Easter (1)
- Eastern Europe (1)
- Esau (1)
- Eucharist (1)
- Europe (1)
- Evolution (1)
- exhortations to faith (2)
- false Christs (1)
- false prophets (1)
- false religion (1)
- Gaza (1)
- Glory (1)
- Gnostic (1)
- gnosticism (1)
- God (1)
- Gog and Magog (1)
- Good Shepherd (1)
- Gospel (1)
- Great Apostasy (2)
- Great Tribulation (1)
- harlot (2)
- high level international diplomacy (1)
- Holy Qur'an (1)
- Holy Spirit (1)
- Holy Trinity (1)
- Illuminati (8)
- international diplomatic relations (2)
- international relations (1)
- Islam (1)
- Israel (1)
- Jesus Christ (6)
- Jews (1)
- John Chrysostom (1)
- Judaism (1)
- Judeo Mason (2)
- Judeo-Christians (1)
- Kabbala (1)
- Lord Jesus Christ (2)
- Lubavitcher Rebbe (1)
- mammon (1)
- Mary (3)
- Mary goddess (1)
- Mason (1)
- Messias (1)
- modern popes (1)
- modernist (1)
- Moses Hess (1)
- Mother Teresa (1)
- Noah (3)
- Noahide (2)
- Nuh (1)
- Nuzul-i-Isa (1)
- One God (2)
- Our Father (1)
- Parousia (1)
- peace (2)
- pharmakeia (1)
- popes (1)
- Prior to Christ's Return (1)
- Psalms (1)
- Qur'an (3)
- Resurrection (2)
- Resurrection of Christ (2)
- Return of Jesus Christ (2)
- Right to Life (6)
- Rumi (1)
- Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus (1)
- Sayyidah (1)
- Second Coming of Jesus Christ (1)
- Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (1)
- Siri (1)
- Socialism (1)
- Socialist International (1)
- Spirit (1)
- St. Aphrahat (1)
- synagogue of Satan (1)
- Syriac Church (1)
- Talmud (1)
- The Sermon on the Mount (1)
- Trinity (1)
- Vatican (3)
- Vatican Ecumenism (2)
- Vladimir Moss (1)
- Word (1)
- Zabin (1)
- Zionism (2)
- Zionist (1)
The plot of ad Dajjal to take over the two holy shrines.
The Mark, the Name, the Number of the beast and the Tower of Babel = Ecumenism: Talmudism and Cabala are the basis for the Mark of the Beast
Saudia Arabia
Part of the plan is to use THE RIGHT HAND ON THE STONE AT THE KAABA AS A PRECURSOR TO TAKING THE MARK OF THE BEAST IN JERUSALEM WITH THE CUBE OF THE KAABA AGAIN BECOMING THE CENTER OF ARAB PLANETARY IDOLATRY. Muhammad (pbuh) had cleaned the Kaaba of the 360 planetary idols and shown people to worship the only true God, Allah (swt). Engraving the ground with idols {as the inside of the Kaaba had become before Muhammad (pbuh) had cleaned them out} as a sorcery to invoke powers from Satan is called in Hebrew - Chartom - it is absolutely forbidden by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Prayer Against Evil: PRAYER AGAINST EVIL - 'HAWK WHICH IS NOT ISLAM' - NACHASH - KASHAPH - ALL INFIDELITY TO ALLAH (SWT) GOD AND 'ISA AL-MASEEH - ALL OF THAT IS DAMNED
CHARTOM [MAGICAL ENGRAVING OF WHICH THE ANCIENT FORM WAS A VERY FORMAL IDOLATRY, I. E. WORSHIPPING THE BLACK STONE OF THE KAABA FOR INSTANCE NOW AND WHEN IT WAS STILL PART OF 360 STONE IDOLS] GODLESS BEARING ILL WILL APOSTASY OF JERUSALEM - APOSTATE JUDAISM AND 'HAWK WHICH IS NOT ISLAM' WHICH IS INFIDEL HEATHEN PAGANISM.
Persian applicant for false Mahdi, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, and his fellow Zionist serpents, the Saudi Royals - the fault is certainly not Mecca's nor the Kaaba's.
BEWARE THE REBUILT TEMPLE. IT IS DAMNATION FOR ALL WHO ALIGN THEMSELVES WITH IT.
click on picture.
BEWARE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE COMING OF ANTICHRIST AND THE FALSE PROPHET WHO GOES BEFORE HIM
Look up, your redemption is at hand: The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ - 'Isa al-Maseeh, Sayyidah - Parousia of Jesus Christ the Messiah and Lord
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