Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Orthodoxy is God-manhood

“God is born on earth, and moreover He is born as a man: perfect God and perfect man – the unique God-man.”

“…another name for Orthodoxy is God-manhood.”

“Why is the God-man the fundamental truth of Orthodoxy? Because He answered all the questions that torture the human spirit: the question of life and death, the question of good and evil, the question of earth and heaven, the question of truth and falsehood, the question of love and hate, the question of justice and injustice. In brief: the question of man and God.”

“Only in Him, in the all-merciful Lord Jesus, does man, tormented by earthly tragedies find the God who can truly give comfort in every misfortune and sorrow, the Defender who can truly defend from every evil, the Savior who can truly save from death and sin, the Teacher Who can truly teach eternal Truth and Justice.”

“In order to acquire spiritual knowledge, a man must first be freed from natural knowledge.”

“The more a man devotes himself to natural knowledge, the more he is seized on by fear and the less he can free himself from it. But if he follows faith, he is immediately freed and “as a Son of God, has the power to make free use of all things….Faith can often ‘bring forth all things out of nothing,’ while knowledge can do nothing, ‘without the help of matter.’ Knowledge has no power over nature, but faith has such power. Armed with faith, men have entered into the fire and quenched the flames being untouched by them. Others have walked on the waters as on dry land. All these things are ‘beyond nature’….He who has faith will ‘lack nothing’….”

Quotations from Man and the God-Man, by Fr Justin Popovich

I am going to get a copy of this book! You can too, by clicking on the title above, which is linked to a webpage where you can buy a copy. As many of you know, I do not promote any book besides the Bible, and a very, very few other books and authors. Fr Justin Popovich is one of them. Great reading with a purpose and effect.

A big thank you to Fr Milovan for bringing this book to my attention at his blog, Again and Again.

1 comment:

George Patsourakos said...

Man must have faith in God in order to be happy. Man can turn to God and ask Him for His help when he is facing a crisis. God's help will allow man to overcome his crisis, and to become much happier.