The Hieromartyr Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, was born in the year 130 in the city of Smyrna (Asia Minor). He received there the finest education, studying poetics, philosophy, rhetoric, and the rest of the classical sciences considered necessary for a young man of the world.
His guide in the truths of the Christian Faith was a disciple of the Apostle John the Theologian, Saint Polycarp of Smyrna (February 23). Saint Polycarp baptized the youth, and afterwards ordained him presbyter and sent him to a city in Gaul then named Lugdunum [the present day Lyons in France] to the dying bishop Pothinus.
A commission was soon entrusted to Saint Irenaeus. He was to deliver a letter from the confessors of Lugdunum to the holy Bishop Eleutherius of Rome (177-190). While he was away, all the known Christians were thrown into prison. After the martyric death of Bishop Pothinus, Saint Irenaeus was chosen a year later (in 178) as Bishop of Lugdunum. “During this time,” Saint Gregory of Tours (November 17) writes concerning him, “by his preaching he transformed all Lugdunum into a Christian city!”
When the persecution against Christians quieted down, the saint expounded upon the Orthodox teachings of faith in one of his fundamental works under the title: Detection and Refutation of the Pretended but False Gnosis. It is usually called Five Books against Heresy (Adversus Haereses).
At that time there appeared a series of religious-philosophical gnostic teachings. The Gnostics [from the Greek word “gnosis” meaning “knowledge”] taught that God cannot be incarnate [i.e. born in human flesh], since matter is imperfect and manifests itself as the bearer of evil. They taught also that the Son of God is only an outflowing (“emanation”) of Divinity. Together with Him from the Divinity issues forth a hierarchical series of powers (“aeons”), the unity of which comprise the “Pleroma”, i.e. “Fullness.” The world is not made by God Himself, but by the aeons or the “Demiourgos,” which is below the “Pleroma.”
In refuting this heresy, championed by Valentinus, Saint Irenaeus presents the Orthodox teaching of salvation. “The Word of God, Jesus Christ, through His inexplicable blessedness caused it to be, that we also, should be made that which He is ... ,” taught Saint Irenaeus. “Jesus Christ the Son of God, through exceedingly great love for His creation, condescended to be born of a Virgin, having united mankind with God in His own Self.” Through the Incarnation of God, creation becomes co-imaged and co-bodied to the Son of God. Salvation consists in the “Sonship” and “Theosis” (“Divinization”) of mankind.
In the refutation of another heretic, Marcian, who denied the divine origin of the Old Testament, the saint affirms the same divine inspiration of the Old and the New Testaments: “It is one and the same Spirit of God Who proclaimed through the prophets the precise manner of the Lord’s coming,” wrote the saint. “Through the apostles, He preached that the fulness of time of the filiation had arrived, and that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand.”
The successors of the Apostles have received from God the certain gift of truth, which Saint Irenaeus links to the succession of the episcopate (Adv. Haer. 4, 26, 2). “Anyone who desires to know the truth ought to turn to the Church, since through Her alone did the apostles expound the Divine Truth. She is the door to life.”
Saint Irenaeus also exerted a beneficial influence in a dispute about the celebration of Pascha. In the Church of Asia Minor, there was an old tradition of celebrating Holy Pascha on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan, regardless of what day of the week it happened to be. The Roman bishop Victor (190-202) forcefully demanded uniformity, and his harsh demands fomented a schism. In the name of the Christians of Gaul, Saint Irenaeus wrote to Bishop Victor and others, urging them to make peace.
After this incident, Saint Irenaeus drops out of sight, and we do not even know the exact year of his death. Saint Gregory of Tours, in his Historia Francorum, suggests that Saint Irenaeus was beheaded by the sword for his confession of faith in the year 202, during the reign of Severus.
The Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, and Saint Irenaeus of Lyons are three links in an unbroken chain of the grace of succession, which goes back to the Original Pastor, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” ( James 1:13-15).
As a fishing hook, the temptation is to hold deadly delusions and tricks beneath its beautiful look and facade. Jesus pointed out their destructive intent when he called the devil “the father of lies” who “comes only to steal, kill, and destroy” (John 8;44). Temptations are destructive lies wrapped in fascinating packages. Like the serpent in the Garden of Eden, they make promises that are not true. The romantic affair that promises excitement delivers regret and heartache. The satisfaction from indulging in destructive cravings is short-lived, but the pain can last a lifetime (Hebrews 11:25). Once we cross a line, it is more challenging to be away the next time we are tempted. It is a lie that we will get relieved if we only yield to our lusts, but it is nothing more than another link in the chain that sin uses to control us (John 8:34). We want to be free from sin and not under its bondage. The Gospel calls temptations “deceitful desires” (Ephesians 4:22). They masquerade as our longings. But the new nature given to every true believer wants to please God, not to grieve the Holy Spirit within us (Ephesians 4:30). Perceiving the deception of temptation can help us win our battles with it.
“From death as a condemnation of sin and, like Christ, the captain of our salvation (Heb 2:10), turned death from a weapon to destroy human nature into a weapon to destroy sin. For if sin maintains death as a weapon to destroy human nature in those who, with Adam, keep sin active, how much more will human nature boast death as a weapon to destroy sin in those who realize righteousness through faith in Christ!13”
- St. Maximus the Confessor, On the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ
What is The Meaning of Condemnation According to The New Testament?
The Ancient Egyptian Pharaonic doctrine preceded Judaism in codifying the idea of reckoning and condemnation. Judaism took this idea from the ancient Egyptians and handed it over to the rest of the Middle Eastern religions.
The Pharaonic Jewish heritage explained condemnation as holding a person accountable for his actions in his life, followed by eternal punishment. The idea of reckoning does not exist in the Gospel. But condemnation in the New Testament is the confrontation with the true Light by which it returns to the man at once everything he has done with his free will, good or evil, i.e., he reaps what he sows.
Therefore, condemnation in Christianity is the appearance and revelation of the eternal Light, the incarnated Son Jesus Christ, who exposed the darkness, but people loved the darkness more than the Light because their deeds were evil “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” (John3:19-20).
According to the Gospel, condemnation is not the product of reckoning people over their actions, but it is the automatic cause of the confrontation between the Light, i.e., Jesus Christ, and the darkness of evil that people loved and chose. Condemnation on the last day is caused by the second coming of Jesus in His glory and the fullness of the revelation of His Light eternally and infinitely. So those who loved darkness have no share in the eternal light but will remain in the darkness they loved, in the grip of death, and the hell of the king of death, I.e., Satan, and this is the cause of their eternal torment and destruction. While the splendor of Jesus’ light and glory will change those who are from light to the image of His glory and be in communion with Him in the Heavenly Father’s house “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2.).
The human being in the old world in general, and in the east specifically, suffered from intellectual oppression and religious dictatorship on the one hand and authoritarian political regimes and confiscation of freedoms on the other. Therefore, benefits, positions, and gains go to the ruling classes, religiously and politically authoritarian, at the expense of the crushed human being and the societies neglected by the authorities. That is why human regiments flocked to America as other immigrants, and they pursued the dream of freedom while others dreamed of rapid wealth in the good virgin land and domination.
Then the civil war in our country, America, was a milestone in its history and the history of humanity by abolishing slavery. We have a constitution in a new world from which the intellectual human being made a beautiful, flourishing, and fruitful country with wealth and all human needs. But did the dream we came here for come true? Or have the instruments of enslavement and oppression that we survived in our ancient world have been replaced by softer and subtler ones, and the contemporary human being became bound and enslaved, but this time not by rough oppression, but by man’s total awareness and will and with all the tools of seduction or persuasion?!
On the financial level, the capitalist system and money now own everything, and credit cards with massive advertising programs have become a big trap enslaving people. Also, the misery of debts that it is easy for them to borrow, and the possessions they were tempted to acquire. And in a way that goes beyond the idea of obtaining what we need to use, to using all forms of temptation and the love of the world, pride, and boasting about collectibles and having and wearing brands.
On the humanitarian and social level, sex was unleashed at the expense of family, its interdependence, and humanity, under the name of sexual and personal freedom, starting with cinema, then all various social media tools which are widely spread to the extent of legalizing homosexual marriages by a law constituted by the Supreme Court. The question here after this analysis of the American society is, has the dream of freedom and happiness been fulfilled for the American people, or has the majority become enslaved to sex and money? and what are the consequences of all this on the mental and physical health of the Americans, the children, and the American family as a whole. I fear that Lucifer has succeeded in robbing and stealing man’s freedom and his eternal happiness with the temptations of the love of the world and the trap of sex.
The question now that everyone of us should ask himself is, whether we have been able to achieve deep peace, comfort and happiness by running after these lustful desires and bad habits that we have learned from this world, or we are now bearing the fruits of that anxiety and depression that has clouded our heart and mind without giving us true happiness?
Let me firmly assure you that the way to salvation from Lucifer’s constraints of slavery that he has placed on man, and the only solution to restore freedom, is only through Jesus Christ, who was able to break all his chains and free man from his bondage. Jesus Christ promised and fulfilled His promise because He is the only one who defeated him on the cross and invalidated all his weapons that he fought man with, which is the bondage of sin “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36). Whoever wants to gain his freedom and be released from the bondage of sin and Lucifer, must abide by Christ and surrender himself to Him.
Finally, I want to leave you with a question that I would like you to answer and that is, was Christ's call to humanity to be isolated from the world or rather, it was His call for us to enjoy God's good creation which He created for us without being enslaved by evil lustful desires in the constant quest for emptiness and the unknown which will lead us to anxiety, depression, loneliness, and grieve?!
My Heavenly Father,
Your Word tells me in my reading today in Psalm 139 that “all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Thank you for the good plans you have for me and for guiding me through every difficult decision. Lord, forgive me for taking control of my decisions, trying to choose for myself which path to take. I’ve let so many voices drown out Your voice. I want to hear You above all else, but the weight of responsibility over my decisions consumes me. You know my anxious thoughts. I give this burden to You today and trust You to guide my path. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. I have nothing to fear because You are with me. As You help me to choose the right path today, I pray You will bless my life journey and use it for Your glory. Thank you for your promise to protect me and my family. I trust You with the outcome of all the decisions You make for my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. … And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
1- Love suffers long.
2- Love is kind.
3- love does not envy.
4- love does not parade itself.
5- Love is not puffed up.
6- Love does not behave rudely.
7- Love does not seek its own.
8- Love is not provoked.
9- Love thinks no evil.
10- Love does not rejoice in iniquity.
11- Love rejoices in the truth.
12- Love bears all things.
13- Love believes all things.
14- Love hopes all things.
15- Love endures all things.
1- The gift of prophecy,
2- Understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
3- I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,
4- I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
5- I give my body to be burned
I AM NOTHING WITHOUT LOVE
BECAUSE LOVE NEVER FAILS
BUT
1- Whether there are prophecies, they will fail.
2- Whether there are tongues, they will cease.
3- Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
4- For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
BUT
