It is precisely where the Church exists in an openly hostile environment that it truly lives. Yet in every environment there are still individual followers of Jesus, or sometimes small pockets of them, both in church and out of church, whom the world hates and despoils, knowing Whose they are. And these one or two, two or three, are usually associated with an extended group who do not know their struggles (yet) but who stay near them and support them in various ways. Some of these, as they wake up, get pulled into the arena with the others already there, where the witness of Christ is undefeatable, right up to their physical deaths. These are those who with John the Revelator can be called συγκοινωνοι εν τη θλιψει (synkinoní en ti thlípsei > Greek, “companions in suffering”)… “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” (Revelation 1:9 NIV) Do you see the churches full of these? How would you know them if you met them there? Are you one of them yourself?Exiled to the isle of Patmos, that’s John the Revelator and those who, like him, are “brothers and fellow partakers (συγκοινωνοι) in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus.”
Yes, and in Jesus, are these.
The exile of John to Patmos seems to be an overlooked facet of his life and work. As a writer and blogger, I often turn to St. John as an inspiration. Writers are, by the nature of the craft, solitary people when in the process of writing. Thank you for this reference to St. John so that, even now, we can be his spiritual companions and pupils.
ReplyDeleteThis post really goes along with yours, http://walkinwisdom2.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/a-christian-is-martyred-every-five-minutes/ and I really should add a hyperlink to the end of this post that goes to the Zenit page you linked to. I think I will.
ReplyDeleteJohn the evangelist, apostle, revelator, foster brother, and beloved disciple of the Lord is the New Testament writer whose words are most pertinent today. They counter-balance all the other New Testament writers, and complete them in the way of practical mysticism.
Practical mysticism? What's that? That is the practice of love, which in visible form makes everyone who practices it a mystic. How can that be? Mystic means hidden! Yes, hidden for sure, because the one who loves is hidden from the world and the world is hidden from him, so all he sees is the Beloved everywhere he looks. But there is nothing that is hidden, that will not be revealed…