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The beautiful church of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ is
made up of both married and celibate people; they can be celibate as
monks and nuns, or as consecrated deacons and deaconesses. In this
topic I wish to concentrate on Salvation in both marriage and in
celibacy. The love of our Lord Jesus Christ was explicit in saving us: |
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"...You taught us the way of salvation..."
(Liturgy of St. Basil) |
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SALVATION : In our Orthodox concept, we
are saved through three important pillars - |
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? baptism and Myron
? repentance and good deeds
? 12 \h transfiguration of the
body |
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Without these three, salvation cannot occur, because in
salvation we are freed from the penalty of eternal death, and from our
spoiled nature which occurred as a result of our sinning. Our
responsibility now in this process is to continue practicing
repentance and good deeds.
The bride of Christ, which is the church, is composed of both married
and celibate people, and both are holy. The Lord blessed the wedding
at Cana of Galilee, and blessed celibacy by being celibate. And He
taught us that all people who believe in the Lord, and are baptised,
and are repenting and have good deeds, and are awaiting the day of
transfiguration and resurrection, will be saved. |
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MARRIAGE |
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In our church, marriage differs from any other
kind of marriage, whether civil or otherwise, because we believe it is
a very holy sacrament. Never think that because we hear so much of
saints like St. Bishoy and St. Mina, and so many other celibate saints
that marriage is secondary. God created both as gifts, and gave some
people the gift to remain celibate, and most people the gift to be
married, and both are holy. |
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"It was once revealed to St. Anthony the Great in his
desert that there was one who was his equal in the city. He was a
doctor by profession and whatever he had beyond his needs he gave to
the poor and everyday he sang the Sanctus with the angels" (Sayings of
the Desert Fathers). |
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Marriage in our church has five important
goals : |
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Love - In a Christian marriage you are going to
experience love; not sensual love (EROS), which is lust, or natural
human love (PHILIA), but holy, spiritual love which is baptised by the
Holy Spirit. This love is called 'AGAPE'. It is a sacrificial love
which unites the two partners through the Holy Spirit. This union is
very different to the body to body relationship of adultery. Marriage
is a person to person relationship where not only the bodies meet, but
also the psyches, the emotions, the minds and the spirits. The Lord is
blessing this union and is in the midst of the two partners. Christian
marriage is a union in the Spirit and not out of the Spirit. It is a
union through God and not outside of God.
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Co-operation - God created us to lead social lives and
for this reason, in marriage, couples must co-operate with each other
in all aspects of life. Life has many hardships, and also many joys,
so when you share your joy with your partner, your joy is multiplied,
and when you share your sorrow with your partner, your suffering is
divided.
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Salvation - Marriage enables the partners to
satisfy their sexual instincts and their instincts of motherhood and
fatherhood in a holy, pure way, and for this reason marriage helps
them in the process of salvation.
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Children - Children are the fruit of marriage and are essential for
the continuance of the human race. |
Increasing the number of saints - When these children are brought up
in the fear and love of God, they will be saints, not only in the
church on earth, but also in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Marriages fail when they are the result of lust, for eventually the
partners begin to feel monotonous towards one another, and so leave
each other.
They do not feel there is any need for children because they are
selfish and greedy, living only for themselves and their egos. They
are not ready to give, they only want to take. This is not
Christianity and this anti-human, for if there are no children, there
will be no future generations, and no saints created for the Kingdom
of Heaven.
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CELIBACY
Celibacy is a spiritual gift, just like marriage. Those that are
inclined towards celibacy feel that this type of life is their need
and their satisfaction - to be totally belonging to the Lord; in mind,
body, psyche and spirit. Your all is for the Lord and therefore you do
not want to commit yourself to the responsibilities of the world.
However, this gift is only for a minority, "...each one has his own
gift from God, one in this manner and another in that" (1 Corinthians
7:7).
Many people imagine that those living in a holy place such as a
monastery are secure and safe from all temptation, which come to those
living in the world. However, this is not the case. The temptations
and spiritual wars are much greater for those living a monastic life,
for Satan always wants to tempt them and struggle with them, because
they are living a life of prayer, desiring to be totally consecrated
and devoted to the Lord.
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"St. Anthony the Great once said, 'He who wishes
to live in solitude in the desert is delivered from three conflicts:
hearing, speech and sight; there is only one conflict for him, and
that is fornication'" (Sayings of the Desert Fathers).
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? The monastics are the
fence of the church; always praying for the church and for the world
at large. An example of this is when St. Anthony went to visit St.
Paula the hermit who had been living in complete solitude for eighty
years in constant praying and fasting. St. Paula asked him, "How is
Pope Athanasius and his dealing with Arius...and how is the Nile? Is
it flooding regularly and providing for all its people?" St. Paula
felt what was happening in the church because he is a member in the
body of Christ and each member knows what happens to the other members
through the Holy Spirit, and he was concerned with what was happening
in the world because he cared for everyone and prayed for everyone.
? Even though the celibate person
has devoted his life totally to God, he is still giving himself for
everyone inside the church and outside the church. He is united to all
of them through the holy body of the church, "...for we are all
members of one another" (Ephesians 4:25).
? Not only do the monastics pray,
but they also study, research, write theological papers, and so on.
Our greatest example of this is how His Holiness Pope Shenouda,
despite his tremendous responsibility, still writes many spiritual
books for us. Every monastery has libraries containing books on church
dogma, biblical interpretations, and theology. Therefore the
monasteries can be considered the research centres of the church.
Finally, monasticism gives the church servants, for some of the monks
are chosen to be monk-priests, others are chosen to be bishops and one
is chosen to be the Pope.
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Therefore the three goals of monasticism are :
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? Prayer
? Study
? Service |
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