The birth of Jesus Christ from a virgin « BellesHeures's Weblog

Link: The birth of Jesus Christ from a virgin « BellesHeures's Weblog

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The birth of Jesus Christ from a virgin

In the following three sections, relying on St. Irenaeus (180 A.D.) alone, the major doctrines concerning the blessed virgin Mary are exposited. These are bound to the Christological doctrines of the incarnation and redemption and the doctrine of creation, as St. Irenaeus also shows.

See: 

The birth of Jesus Christ from a virgin

Also see:

Traditional Catholic Prayers: Prayer to the True God « BellesHeures's Weblog

Prayer to the True God « BellesHeures's Weblog

This is the feast of the Epiphany which is the twelfth day of Christmas wherein we celebrate the Magi coming to worship the new born King of Israel, Jesus Christ Our Lord. Also, we celebrate today the baptism of Christ in the Jordan by St. John the Baptist. For Christ's Baptism see below at: Concerning the Truth - Who is God and the witness to His Son, Jesus Christ, baptized in the Jordan by St. John the Baptist.

Link: Prayer to the True God « BellesHeures's Weblog

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Prayer to the True God

Prayer to the True God

GRANT US TO BE FAITHFUL TO YOU
O LORD JESUS CHRIST OUR ONLY LORD
AND SAVIOUR LIVING AND REIGNING
AND RULING WITH GOD OUR FATHER IN
THE UNITY AND POWER OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT OUR PARACLETE,
WITH AND BY THE PRAYER AND
COMPANY OF ALL YOUR ELECT ANGELS
AND SAINTS FOR AND WITH US
UNCEASINGLY, ESPECIALLY SAINT
MICHAEL AND SAINT GABRIEL, SAINT
ENOCH IN THE FLESH AND SAINT ELIJAH
IN THE FLESH, YOUR HOLY PROPHETS
YET TO COME, WITH ALL THANKSGIVING,
WE LOVE YOU FOR YOU FIRST LOVED US, WITH ALL THANKSGIVING FOR ALL YOUR
GIFTS AND MERCIES TO US
UNCEASINGLY: ESPECIALLY YOUR ALL
HOLY ALMIGHTY GIFTS OF OUR
CREATION,
REDEMPTION,
YOUR GIFTS OF YOUR CREATION TO US
CHRIST JESUS OUR ONLY LORD AND
SAVIOUR,
YOUR LIFE AND TEACHING,
YOUR INCARNATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE ONLY IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, AND BIRTH TRULY BORN IN THE FLESH FROM MARY,
YOUR EPIPHANY,
YOUR TRANSFIGURATION,
YOUR MOST HOLY CROSS, HOLY BLOOD,
HOLY SPIRIT OF YOU OUR ONLY LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF THE FATHER,
YOUR RESURRECTION, THE ONLY FIRST
BORN FROM THE DEAD IN THE FLESH,
YOUR ASCENSION ASSUMPTION IN THE
SAME FLESH BACK TO THE FATHER’S
BOSOM IN THE THIRD HEAVEN AT HIS
RIGHT HAND IN THE UNITY AND POWER
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OUR PARACLETE,
THE GIFT OF YOUR HOLY SPIRIT OUR
PARACLETE AT PENTECOST AND
THROUGHOUT ALL TIME AND CREATION INDWELLING US FROM THE FIRST ADAM TO THE LAST SAINT, BRINGING WITH HIM YOU GOD OUR FATHER AND THE SON JESUS CHRIST OUR ONLY LORD AND SAVIOUR UNCEASINGLY AND NOW AND ALWAYS AND UNTO THE ENDLESS AGES OF AGES TO COME, YOUR MOST HOLY EUCHARIST WHICH YOU ALONE GOD OUR FATHER AND THE SON JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR AND THE HOLY SPIRIT OUR PARACLETE GIVE TO US, JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR INFINITELY PURE AND UNDEFILED TRULY MADE MANIFEST AGAIN IN THE BREAD THE WINE AND THE WATER WHOM WE RECEIVE IN FAITH WITH ALL THANKSGIVING, YOUR PAROUSIA, CHRIST JESUS, IN THE FLESH IN THE FUTURE AT THE END OF THIS AGE AT THE TIME KNOWN TO YOU ALONE O HOLY HOLY HOLY
LORD GOD ALMIGHTY BLESSED TRINITY HOLY UNITY, WITH ALL YOUR ELECT ANGELS, OUR RESURRECTION IN THE FLESH AT THE FIRST RESURRECTION OF THE JUST, OUR SAME SPIRITS SOULS AND BODIES REUNITED, WE WITH ALL YOUR ELECT ANGELS AND SAINTS WORSHIPPING YOU JCOLS IN THE GLORY OF GOD OUR FATHER IN THE UNITY AND POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OUR PARACLETE FACE TO FACE UNCEASINGLY UNTO THE ENDLESS AGES OF AGES TO COME,
FOR YOUR SIMPLE GIFTS OF FOOD AND DRINK,
FOR ALL YOUR GIFTS AND MERCIES AND THIS NEW DAY, WITH ALL THANKSGIVING WE LOVE YOU FOR YOU FIRST LOVED US WITH ALL THANKSGIVING UNCEASINGLY AND NOW
AND ALWAYS AND UNTO THE ENDLESS AGES OF AGES TO COME,
BIND AND CAST FROM US FOREVERMORE ALL SPIRITS VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE OF: THE DRAGON, THE DEVIL, THE SERPENT OF OLD, THE SON OF PERDITION, THE FALSE PROPHET, CALLING YOUR
CREATION EVIL, CLAIMING THAT MEN ARE CREATED EVIL,
EVOLUTION, THEURGY, CLAIMING TO HAVE CONTROL OVER YOU, BABYLON, THE GREAT APOSTASY, THE UNHOLY ROMAN APOSTASY, THE PROTESTANT/EVANGELICAL APOSTASY, ALL APOSTASY, ALL THOSE WHO CLAIM
YOUR COMMANDMENTS ARE OF NO
REGARD,
UNCEASINGLY AND NOW AND ALWAYS AND UNTO THE ENDLESS AGES
OF AGES TO COME.

At the end of Vespers every day is sung the famous Phos Hilaron, as the evening light disappears, and the lamps are lit: –
Hail, gladdening Light, of his pure glory poured
Who is the immortal Father, heavenly, blest,
Holiest of Holies, Jesus Christ, Our Lord.
Now we are come to the sun’s hour of rest,
The lights of evening round us shine,
We hymn the Father, Son and Holy Spirit divine,
Worthiest art Thou at all times to be sung
With undefiled tongue,
Son of our God, giver of life alone.
Therefore in all the world, thy glories, Lord, they own.

Concerning the Truth - Who is God and the witness to His Son, Jesus Christ, baptized in the Jordan by St. John the Baptist.

Jesus Christ is the Truth « BellesHeures's Weblog

Jesus Christ is the Truth

GOD is the Truth. The Most Holy Trinity is God and none other is God. The Most Holy Trinity is Three Persons Who are One God. These Three Persons are The Father and the Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Father is the fountainhead of the Trinity, the Son proceeds from His engendering in the Father’s bosom, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father in the unity of the engendering of the Son from the Father. This procession of the Son and the Holy Spirit from the Father is immortal from before all time and creation and unto eternity never-ending. This Triune God alone has Aseity, that He is immortal without beginning and without end, self sustained in His existence which preceded all time and creation and, His existence, continues forever; God’s existence is infinite. This God is above all that He has created and transcendent in all that He has created. There is nothing apart from nor outside of God that He has not created. He created all that has been created ex nihilo, that is from nothing by His infinite power. Nothing that is created has aseity. Time is only an aspect of that which has been created by God. Time is therefore part of God’s creation. God is not limited by His creation, this includes that God is not limited by time. God is Omnipotent and Omniscient and Ubiquitos and with eternal complete foresight: Almighty and All seeing and knowing and equally present everywhere and knowing all things before their creation and all events before they come to pass unto eternity. There is no way to God but through the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity Who is the Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom alone there is salvation by His Most Holy Cross and Resurrection. Creation had a beginning but will continue unto the eternal ages to come. At the return of Jesus Christ from God the Father’s right hand in the third heaven and the just judgement of Christ of His creatures, creation will be cleansed by fire (the damned, both angels and men consigned to hell forever) and renewed with paradise restored, with the presence around God of all His elect angels and saints, and continue in this way forever.

Jesus Christ said to count the cost,

Lk:14:
27 And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you, having a mind to build a tower, doth not first sit down and count the cost that is necessary, whether he have wherewithal to finish it:
33 So likewise every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth cannot be my disciple.
34 Salt is good. But if the salt shall lose its savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
35 It is neither profitable for the land nor for the dunghill: but shall be cast out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is saying that if we do not put Him ahead of everything that we possess – even our lives, then He is not our Saviour. Only if we put Him ahead of everything, including our lives, and only then He is our Saviour.

In none of the below where I have cited condemnation of false priests or conversely cited the priesthood of the faithful should it be thought that I am condemning good presbyters from among the priesthood of the faithful (St. Irenaeus was one such and a bishop without pretense) who are called priests today. That is those who hold to and teach the truth of Christ.
God bless them.

This site is humbly offered to Jesus Christ and dedicated to all the faithful of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches and all traditional Trinitarian believing faithful Christians and especially all of Christ’s sheep that He, the Good Shepherd seeks to bring unto Him in His salvation; He Who is the Only Saviour. Who warned us not to have anything to do with the wolves in sheep’s clothing. To confirm the utter importance of not having anything to do with the wolves in sheep’s clothing the Lord especially had St. John the Apostle and Evangelist remain until the Lord had especially appeared to him and had him record that appearance and the visions Our Lord showed St. John at that time, in the last book of the bible, the Apocalypse. The message throughout it is absolutely clear, we are to have nothing to do with paganism or man made conventions that try to change what Our Lord taught us. Such as men forgiving the sins of other men. Only God forgives sin. Note that in the book of the Apocalypse that the keys (the Davidic key) that Christ promised Peter are still with Christ, that He, Jesus Christ alone locks and unlocks. This is extremely important. It means that every believing individual receives the keys that Christ gave to the Apostles, including Peter.
Only two times in history have the synchretist hypocrites reached the current level of complete misrepresentation of the truth, once 2000 years ago and now today.
Any Christian who knows the witness and preaching of St. John The Forerunner and Baptist of The Christ and any Christian who knows Christ’s denunciation of the hypocrites (see below from the Gospel of St. Matthew) knows that it is the hypocrites who are going to hell.
Most professing Christians do not understand the importance of St. John The Baptist and Forerunner of Christ. He was the last of the Old Testament prophets and the first of the New Testament prophets. He was the last of the Old Testament martyrs and the first of the New Testament martyrs. He is the only Old Testament and New Testament Apostle (one who saw Christ in the flesh and was commissioned by God to preach Christ!). In short, as St. Irenaeus reminds us constantly and rightly so (against Marcion and the rest of the apostate Gnostics), there is NO difference between Old Testament and New Testament faith. It is in the same God, period. It was Our Lord Jesus Christ Who taught us that there is no communion of light with dark; that either our eye is full of light or it is full of darkness, that a tree bears good fruit or bad fruit but not both.
There is a new version of Catholic, nowadays, one who believes that God is too maudlin to not save all men; there is a new version of Orthodox Church believer who believes that light and dark can indeed be combined, in fact, he believes God commands it; there is a new version of Protestant who doesn’t protest any heresy but only a lack of tolerance, especially if it gets in the way of his making money; there is a new version of what Our Lord meant by “born again”, now supposedly according to those calling themselves evangelical, you can’t lose your salvation no matter what you do (obviously they never had what their free will can’t forfeit so their comments, as utterly self serving as they are, mean absolutely nothing). It was the unswerving uncompromising Baptist that God the Holy Trinity, yes all three Persons, chose to baptize Jesus Christ in the Jordan. Christ commanded (not suggested) our baptism to show forth our unswerving uncompromising faith we are commanded to have. St. John The Forerunner is our model of following Christ, we decrease and He increases; NOT blessed are the puffed up. The whining self congratulating pseudochristians mentioned above, the false Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and Evangelical of unbelief, who have the diabolic audacity to accuse those who take Our Lord’s commandments and Our Lord’s denunciation of sin as well as St. John’s, and the Apostles commandments, to separate from the unbeliever and the disorderly seriously, of hypocrisy and an unrighteous judgmentalism are the Pharisee from hell that both Our Lord and St. John condemned as a brood of vipers (nasty little backbiting serpents) who cannot escape being sent to hell for eternity. As Jesus said, they compass heaven and earth to make one convert and only make him twice as much a son of hell as themselves! This is Our Lord speaking! take ye heed lest you make a dog in the manger the tyrant of the universe, take ye heed, Jesus said He came not to bring peace but a sword to divide, take ye heed lest you betray the Lord as did Judas Iscariot — even if the price has changed from thirty pieces of silver, take ye heed if you think like the Gnostics of old that morals are for sissies, Christ gave us morals and He is NO sissy. Nowadays things have gone so far downhill that the murder of babies is accepted by people as a right. Something that hasn’t plagued society since Moloch was a demon goddess worshipped in the middle east.

For instance.

Alan Guttmacher Institute Mission: “The Institute’s mission is to protect the reproductive choices of all women and men in the United States and throughout the world. It is to support their ability to obtain the information and services needed to achieve their full human rights, safeguard their health and exercise their individual responsibilities in regard to sexual behavior and relationships, reproduction and family formation.”

From Mary Meehan’s “The Road to Abortion” Copyright © 1998, 1999 & 2002 by Mary Meehan. In 1966 Dr. Alan Guttmacher, apparently trying to be witty, wrote from Africa to a U.S. colleague: “My trip has been great. I believe I converted the Jews in Israel and now I am working on the pigmented savages.” This private comment from Guttmacher (who was Jewish, but not observant) came soon after his Planned Parenthood group gave an award to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.(32)
32. William H. Draper, Jr., to P. A. Gorman, [8 or 11] Sept. 1967, Guttmacher Papers; Alan F. Guttmacher to Frank Notestein, 13 June 1966, PPFA (II), box 125; and Congressional Record (10 May 1966), vol. 112, part 8, 10164-10165. In his statement accepting the Margaret Sanger Award, Dr. King praised Sanger and family planning and spoke of “the modern plague of overpopulation.” Unfortunately, he seemed unaware of the eugenics connections of Sanger and of population control in general. Ibid.

NO WONDER SWASTIKAS ARE SO POPULAR IN JERUSALEM (CITY OF PEACE?)

We could ask: ‘Do you think the demon goddess Lilith will have any appreciable following in Israel amongst Israeli women?’ Answer: ‘Most assuredly. Obviously the demon goddess Moloch has returned to the center of Israeli worship and that for export to Africa and the U.S.’

From the Gospel of St. Matthew chapter 23:
24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel.
25 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness.
26 Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean.
27 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and of all filthiness.
28 So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just; but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites that build the sepulchres of the prophets, and adorn the monuments of the just,
30 And say: If we had been in the days of our Fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets
31 Wherefore you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are the sons of them that killed the prophets.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33 You serpents, generation of vipers how will you flee from the judgment of hell?
34 Therefore behold I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city:
35 That upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth
from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.
36 Amen I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.
37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not?
38 Behold; your house shall be left to you, desolate.
39 For I say to you, you shall not see me henceforth till you say: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Also see:

AGAINST ECUMENISM WHICH IS THE OECUMENICAL RULE OF CAESAR AND THE APOSTATES

• Jesus Christ is the Truth
• Prayer to the True God
• The Study Bible - Book of the Revelation - verse by verse
• True to the Faith
• The Creed of the Whole and Undivided Church as Given by the Apostles stands unalterably OPPOSED to ecumenism
• The Mark, the Name, the Number of the beast and the Tower of Babel = Ecumenism: FOURTH BOWL - Rv:16 -- energian planes - four elements
• THE LAW OF NOAH: ONE WORLD RELIGION?
• Photius
• THE VARIATIONS OF POPERY. BY REV, SAIUEL EDGAR, D, D,
• ECUMENIZM

January 1 is the Feast of the Circumcision - Eternal Faith & Beliefs « BellesHeures's Weblog

January 1 is the Feast of the Circumcision, the first shedding of blood by Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ – the Octave Day of Christmas. This year (2012) it is also the Sunday of the Octave of Christmas.

The Circumcision eight days after His birth is the first time Christ shed His blood for us under the old law. After forty days from His birth He was taken to the Temple and there the Presentation of Jesus Christ the Son of God was made by the blessed virgin Mary and St. Joseph and St. Simeon. These were both types of the Sacrifice that Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was going to make upon Mt. Calvary (the hill called Golgotha in Hebrew [the place of the skull]) one time for eternity for the salvation of the people who would confess Him. St. Paul teaches us in his letter to the Hebrews (written by St. Paul in Hebrew and translated into the Greek by St. Luke, St. Paul's companion), that only by the sacrifice of the Cross of Christ is Redemption accomplished, this is the Sacrifice of the New and Eternal Testament of Christ – and that one time for all eternity for all the redeemed.

Hebrews Chapter 9

The sacrifices of the law were far inferior to that of Christ.

9:1 The former indeed had also justifications of divine service and a sanctuary.
9:2 For there was a tabernacle made the first, wherein were the candlesticks and the table and the setting forth of loaves, which is called the Holy.
9:3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies:
9:4 Having a golden censer and the ark of the testament covered about on every part with gold, in which was a golden pot that had manna and the rod of Aaron that had blossomed and the tables of the testament.
9:5 And over it were the cherubims of glory overshadowing the propitiatory: of which it is not needful to speak now particularly.
9:6 Now these things being thus ordered, into the first tabernacle, the priests indeed always entered, accomplishing the offices of sacrifices.
9:7 But into the second, the high priest alone, once a year: not without blood, which he offereth for his own and the people's ignorance:
9:8 The Holy Ghost signifying this: That the way into the Holies was not yet made manifest, whilst the former tabernacle was yet standing.
9:9 Which is a parable of the time present: according to which gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot, as to the conscience, make him perfect that serveth, only in meats and in drinks,
9:10 And divers washings and justices of the flesh laid on them until the time of correction.

Of correction. . .Viz., when Christ should correct and settle all things.

9:11 But Christ, being come an high Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hand, that is, not of this creation:
9:12 Neither by the blood of goats or of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption.

Eternal redemption. . . By that one sacrifice of his blood, once offered on the cross, Christ our Lord paid and exhibited, once for all, the general price and ransom of all mankind: which no other priest could do.

9:13 For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer, being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh:
9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?
9:15 And therefore he is the mediator of the new testament: that by means of his death for the redemption of those transgressions which were under the former testament, they that are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
9:16 For where there is a testament the death of the testator must of necessity come in.
9:17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is as yet of no strength, whilst the testator liveth.
9:18 Whereupon neither was the first indeed dedicated without blood.
9:19 For when every commandment of the law had been read by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people.
9:20 Saying: This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
9:21 The tabernacle also and all the vessels of the ministry, in like manner, he sprinkled with blood.
9:22 And almost all things, according to the law, are cleansed with blood: and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
9:23 It is necessary therefore that the patterns of heavenly things should be cleansed with these: but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
9:24 For Jesus is not entered into the Holies made with hands, the patterns of the true: but into Heaven itself, that he may appear now in the presence of God for us.
9:25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the Holies every year with the blood of others:

Offer himself often. . . Christ shall never more offer himself in sacrifice, in that violent, painful, and bloody manner, nor can there be any occasion for it: since by that one sacrifice upon His Cross, he has furnished the full ransom, redemption, and remedy for all the sins of the world. But this hinders not that He, by the Holy Spirit, makes Himself daily present in the sacred Eucharist in the bread and cup given us by God and His power alone and not by any pretended power of men, that sacred Presence whom we receive in faith with all thanksgiving.

9:26 For then he ought to have suffered often from the beginning of the world. But now once, at the end of ages, he hath appeared for the destruction of sin by the sacrifice of himself.
9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment:
9:28 So also Christ was offered once to exhaust the sins of many. The second time he shall appear without sin to them that expect him unto salvation.

Muslims are encouraged to come to Christ, who they already confess as the Messiah, as Islam in the Holy Qur'an teaches, just as the Holy Bible teaches, and receive baptism in Christ and come to the Lord's table and receive the Eucharist. (See: The Final Trial)

To exhaust. . .That is, to empty, or draw out to the very bottom, by a plentiful and perfect redemption.

Second time. . .The Parousia, Nuzul i Isa in Arabic, the Second Coming of Christ from heaven with all the elect angels of God.

Jesus Christ said:

John 6:55
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.

Matthew 26:28
For this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins.

The unrepentant and perfidious Jews made their acclamation of their own sin of Deicide and Perfidy when they said:

Matthew 27:25
And the whole people answering, said: His blood be upon us and our children.

His blood. . . in this case they are calling down upon themselves and their children a curse unto damnation that will never be lifted. Individual Jews can and are encouraged to come to Christ and repent of this and confess their sins to Him and be forgiven, cleansed and healed and set upon the road of salvation. The nation, as a nation, of the Jews will never be offered salvation again. The Satanic fake in the Holy Land right now calling itself "Israel" is only and can be nothing other than the false Diabolic short lived kingdom of the Antichrist, which Jesus Christ will utterly destroy at His Second Coming. Concerning the two witnesses who will return to earth, St. Enoch and St. Elijah, holy prophets of God who never died and will be the final witnesses of God and His Christ to the world, we are assured of both their death in Jerusalem and their victory over God's enemies in their resurrection and ascension to heaven just immediately prior to the Second Coming of Our Only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.(Especially see the Apocalypse, the Book of the Revelation, Chapter 11.)

See link: Eternal Faith & Beliefs « BellesHeures's Weblog

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Christian Belief

Passion Sunday

Epistle:

Heb:9:

11 But Christ, being come an high Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hand, that is, not of this creation:
15 ¶ And therefore he is the mediator of the new testament: that by means of his death for the redemption of those transgressions which were under the former testament, they that are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

Gospel:

Jn:8:

46 ¶ Which of you shall convince me of sin? If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me:
59 They took up stones therefore to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
(DRV)

Palm Sunday (this week, today 4/9/06)

Epistle:

Phil:2:

5 For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
11 And that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.

Gospel:

Mt:21:

1 ¶ And when they drew nigh to Jerusalem and were come to Bethphage, unto mount Olivet, then Jesus sent two disciples,
10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying: Who is this?

Mt:26:

27 And taking the chalice, he gave thanks and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this.

Palm Sunday Little Chapter at Vespers

Phil:2:5:

5 For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But emptied [His kenosis] himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. (DRV)

But do Thou O Lord have mercy on us.
Thanks be to God.

Magnificat at Vespers

Ant.: For it is written; I will strike the shepherd, and the flock shall be dispersed; but after I shall be risen again I will go before you into Galilee: there ye shall see me, saith the Lord.

Lk:1:

46 My soul doth magnify the Lord.
47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
48 Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
49 Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me: and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.
51 He hath shewed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
52 He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble.
53 He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent empty away.
54 He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy.
55 As he spoke to our fathers: to Abraham and to his seed for ever.
(DRV)

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning and now and ever shall be world without end. Amen.

Ant.: For it is written; I will strike the shepherd, and the flock shall be dispersed; but after I shall be risen again I will go before you into Galilee: there ye shall see me, saith the Lord.

The Lord be with you.
And with thy spirit.

Let us pray

O Almighty and everlasting God, who, setting up an example of humility for all mankind to follow, didst will that our Saviour should take upon Him our nature, and should suffer the death of the cross: enable us, we beseech thee, ever to bear in mind the teachings of His patience, and in fine to deserve to have part in His resurrection. Through Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Who Lives and Reigns with Thee in the Unity and Power of the Holy Spirit unto the endless ages. Amen.

The Lord be with you.
And with thy spirit.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.

The feast of Corpus Christi, Thursday after Trinity Sunday, from the Office of the Hours:
A priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedech, Christ the Lord offered bread and wine.

YOU CAN NOT SPEAK OF THE CRUCIFIXION OF OUR LORD WITHOUT SPEAKING OF HIS RESURRECTION. HE ALWAYS DID THAT. HE IS OUR MODEL. SO WE MUST ALWAYS BEAR THAT LINK BETWEEN THE TWO. IN THE FUTURE HE WILL RETURN AND RAISE ALL MEN IN THE FLESH TO JUDGEMENT! THE EUCHARIST IS OUR PLEDGE OF FIDELITY TO HIM IN OUR RECEPTION OF HIS BODY AND BLOOD. NOT A PLEDGE OF FIDELITY TO EVEN A RIGHTEOUS POPE, LIKE PIUS X. AND CERTAINLY NOT TO ANTIPOPES LIKE JOHN PAUL II AND BENEDICT XVI
Of course the chief priests and Pharisees can’t stand that.

Mt. 21

44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone (Christ) shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder.
45 And when the ecumenists and legalists had heard his parables, they knew that he spoke of them.
46 And they sought to lay hands on him (while gnashing their teeth), but feared the multitudes, because they held him as a prophet.

Confession of Faith in the True God « BellesHeures's Weblog

See link: Confession of Faith in the True God « BellesHeures's Weblog

[excerpt]

Confession of Faith in the True God

GOD is the Truth. The Most Holy Trinity is God and none other is God. The Most Holy Trinity is Three Persons Who are One God. These Three Persons are The Father and the Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Father is the fountainhead of the Trinity, the Son proceeds from His engendering in the Father’s bosom, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father in the unity of the engendering of the Son from the Father. This procession of the Son and the Holy Spirit from the Father is immortal from before all time and creation and unto eternity never-ending. This Triune God alone has Aseity, that He is immortal without beginning and without end, self sustained in His existence which preceded all time and creation and, His existence, continues forever; God’s existence is infinite. This God is above all that He has created and transcendent in all that He has created. There is nothing apart from nor outside of God that He has not created. He created all that has been created ex nihilo, that is from nothing by His infinite power. Nothing that is created has aseity. Time is only an aspect of that which has been created by God. Time is therefore part of God’s creation. God is not limited by His creation, this includes that God is not limited by time. God is Omnipotent and Omniscient and Ubiquitos and with eternal complete foresight: Almighty and All seeing and knowing and equally present everywhere and knowing all things before their creation and all events before they come to pass unto eternity. There is no way to God but through the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity Who is the Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom alone there is salvation by His Most Holy Cross and Resurrection. Creation had a beginning but will continue unto the eternal ages to come. At the return of Jesus Christ from God the Father’s right hand in the third heaven and the just judgement of Christ of His creatures, creation will be cleansed by fire (the damned, both angels and men consigned to hell forever) and renewed with paradise restored, with the presence around God of all His elect angels and saints, and continue in this way forever.

Salvation by Christ is by His Kenosis (the elect angels do not stand in need of salvation for they never sinned and are God’s servants forever).

Holy Holy Holy Lord God of hosts who will return in glory and in flaming fire taking vengeance upon those who know not God and who obey not the Lord Jesus Christ

Heb:5:
1 ¶ For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins:
2 Who can have compassion on them that are ignorant and that err: because he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
3 And therefore he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
4 Neither doth any man take the honour to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was.
5 So Christ also did not glorify himself, that he might be made a high priest: but he that said unto him: Thou art my Son: this day have I begotten thee.
6 As he saith also in another place: Thou art a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech.
7 Who in the days of his flesh, with a strong cry and tears, offering up prayers and supplications to him that was able to save him from death, was heard for his reverence.
8 And whereas indeed he was the Son of God, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
9 And being consummated, he became, to all that obey him, the cause of eternal salvation:
10 ¶ Called by God a high priest, according to the order of Melchisedech.
11 Of whom we have much to say and hard to be intelligibly uttered: because you are become weak to hear.
12 For whereas for the time you ought to be masters, you have need to be taught again what are the first elements of the words of God: and you are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat.
13 For every one that is a partaker of milk is unskilful in the word of justice: for he is a little child.
14 But strong meat is for the perfect: for them who by custom have their senses exercised to the discerning of good and evil.
(DRV)

St. Paul explains this same thing with different wording in Philippians.

Phil:2:
5 For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man.
8 He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.
9 For which cause, God also hath exalted him and hath given him a name which is above all names:
10 That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth:
11 And that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.
(DRV)

This is crucial to our understanding of Christ’s mission to save us. In the above “emptied” is kenosis in the Greek. Christ’s kenosis (He Who is the Immortal Son of God and has always existed from before He created anything, His emptying out of Himself for us and to us) consists of “taking the form of a servant” at His incarnation of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit, “being made in the likeness of men” extremely important — His incarnation in the flesh, “in habit found as a man” this part explains phrases like “learned obedience”. Jesus never had to learn anything for Himself since He is God and Omniscient – All Knowing. But He willed to be born and grow up and be taught by Joseph and Mary. Think about it, it was the Blessed Virgin who taught Him the Psalms that He was the Mediator for David to receive by inspiration of the Holy Spirit and record for us. In simple terms He taught David the Psalms and willed that Mary would teach Him on earth the same psalms, though, of course He knew them already. So all references to His learning and growing and being perfected are only those things that He willed to go through for two basic reasons for our sakes. Number two first: to show us what our attitude and efforts should be on His behalf as His ambassadors to the rest of mankind. He “learned” but is actually teaching us. Number one in importance: “being made in the likeness of men” extremely important — His incarnation in the flesh. St. Athanasius Contra Mundum (against the world [opposing heresy]) addresses this when he explains that had Christ the Immortal Son of the Father in the Unity and Power of the Holy Spirit simply have erased Adam’s sin then the natural debt we all inherited to die from that sin would have meant that all men would die forever and be lost since God doesn’t lie and He pronounced that the separation of man from God due to sin would by the natural property of human nature make anything else impossible. In other words if God simply erased the sin He would have erased men as well thereby. Worst yet, St. Athanasius tells us, the devil would thereby have won that round. But what God did, the Son, Who because of His Divine substance/essence – nature cannot die, is to take upon himself the real human nature of all men subsumed from Mary — and therefore of Adam (see the genealogies in St. Matthew’s, Chapter 1, and St. Luke’s, Chapter 3, Gospels; in St. Luke’s Gospel all the way back to Adam). Since of Adam, then, of all men. Since He had and has that nature in total union with His divine nature, when he suffered and died (it is in this sense that St. Paul says “learned obedience”) in our place as the ransom from death then we become sons and daughters by adoption unto real eternal life at the future Return of Christ and the General Resurrection of the flesh, each of us, our bodies reunited with our same soul and same spirit. Therefore death, which insured that God’s law would be obeyed, was originally God’s way to insure that man would not become a diabolic creature totally in bondage to the devil, incapable of being in union with the Holy God, Himself. Christ took death, merited by all men, upon Himself preserving what God had said to Adam and Eve “upon that day (of disobedience) you will die”. Therefore, Christ’s death, then becomes the ransom to bring us out of thralldom to the devil and into union with God in Christ. Christ’s Resurrection then becomes the guarantor of our resurrection — which will absolutely happen. This is a brief description of Christ’s kenosis. Christ’s kenosis is the weightiest subject in the whole Bible. Christ’s obedience loosed the debt of Adam’s disobedience as Mary’s obedience undid the knot of Eve’s disobedience (that last is from St. Irenaeus). A note of warning: those who retie the knot of Eve’s disobedience and who bind themselves again in the debt of Adam’s disobedience by becoming part of pagan religions, who profess atheism or agnosticism, who follow after the Antichrist or who walk not in God’s commandments though they pretend to be Christ’s, will certainly be resurrected, but to eternal undying destruction in the lake of fire with the devil and all the fallen angels and all of the demons. Only the saints will inherit paradise with the elect angels in this universe recreated by God at the second coming of Jesus Christ at the end of this age of grace.

Christmas Lesson Four

SEVEN COVENANTS OF GOD GIVEN BY HIM THROUGH THE WORD WHO IS JESUS CHRIST THE IMMORTAL SON OF GOD.

GOD is the Truth

GOD is the Truth. The Most Holy Trinity is God and none other is God. The Most Holy Trinity is Three Persons Who are One God. These Three Persons are The Father and the Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. This God alone has Aseity, that He is immortal without beginning and without end, self sustained in existence, which is infinite. This God is above all that He has created and transcendent in all that He has created. There is nothing apart from nor outside of God that He has not created. He created all that has been created ex nihilo, that is from nothing by His infinite power. Nothing that is created has aseity. Time is only an aspect of that which has been created by God. Time is therefore part of God's creation. God is not limited by His creation, this includes that God is not limited by time. God is Omnipotent and Omniscient and Ubiquitos: Almighty and All seeing and knowing and equally present everywhere. There is no way to God but through the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity Who is the Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom alone there is salvation by His Most Holy Cross and Resurrection.

Just as there are 7 days of creation, so are there 7 days of covenant of salvation with God in Jesus Christ Our Only Lord and Saviour Holy God in His true Gospel alone, the Only Author of Covenant of Salvation; there are 6 days (ages) of covenant of salvation and then the 7th, the last which is the first encompassing all of them for it is Jesus Christ come in the flesh as He promised Adam in the garden ( the first 6 are Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Daniel. The 7th is the Incarnation and Kenosis-Sacrifice and Transfiguration and Cross (the ultimate Kenosis) and Resurrection and Ascension of Christ Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the Parousia of Christ Jesus in the future (the Parousia is the 7th day which heralds in the eighth day of the eternal reign of Jesus Christ visibly in His recreated universe). The seven are:

Jesus Christ Our Only Lord and Saviour in Your true Gospel alone Holy God, the Only Author of Covenant of Salvation, of:

Adam’s covenant shown forth by the face seen by Ezechiel of a lion prefiguring the Gospel of John showing forth the royal power and authority of Christ the Immortal Son Word Wisdom and Power of God through whom God the Father by the Holy Spirit created all of creation Who became Incarnate for our redemption in the flesh as Adam had sinned in the flesh

Noah’s covenant shown forth by the face seen by Ezechiel of a calf prefiguring the Gospel of Luke showing forth the sacrifice of Christ who is our Holy Only Priest Victim Sacrifice Altar Temple Tabernacle Redeemer Salvation Immortal Immaculate Golden Ark of the covenant showing himself forth as the only begotten Redeemer in his Epiphany of fiery glory at his baptism in the Jordan

Abraham’s covenant shown forth by an Epiphany of the Lord and two angels prefiguring the Transfiguration of Christ with: Moses, a type of the faithful departed at the future resurrection, and Elijah, a type of the faithful living at the future resurrection, Christ condemning for all time the darkness of idolatry which has no communion with light - the grace of the Gospel of Christ

Moses’ covenant shown forth by the face seen by Ezechiel of a man prefiguring the Gospel of Matthew showing forth the God - man prophet, the Christ, who Moses and David and Isaiah and Habakkuk and Ezra foretold Israel would either heed or be destroyed by rejecting, he who is our only Lord and Saviour by his most Holy Cross by which he tread down Satan and cast him out of creation

David’s covenant shown forth by the gift of prophecy, especially of the resurrection of Christ

Daniel’s covenant shown forth by his vision of the ancient of days prefiguring the Gospel of Christ especially his Ascension

Christ Jesus Immortal Son most Holy Angel of Almighty Counsel, Captain of the hosts of the Lord, the giver of all covenants with God shown forth by his promise of the keys of Himself the Messiah to Peter and to all who believe in Him - Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour, the final covenant shown forth by the face seen by Ezechiel of an eagle and through him to the Father does all glory redound in the unity and power of the Holy Spirit, he given at Pentecost, especially proclaimed by the Gospel of Mark of the preaching of the salvation of Christ Jesus throughout the world, Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour who descended from the third heaven from the Father's right hand and became flesh by the Holy Spirit, the immaculate conception and was truly born of the blessed virgin Mary on earth, 70 generations from Adam and your creation of all of creation, thus subsuming flesh of Adam and of all men to yourself to restore your Image and Likeness to all the saints from the first Adam to the last saint, by you Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour, the only Immaculate Lamb of God who alone takes away the sin of the whole world of those who are saved, by your most Holy Cross and Holy Blood, Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour and Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour, covering the whole earth and cleansing the whole universe, Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour, the only first born from the dead in the flesh, the only one resurrected, ascended, assumed bodily in the flesh, seated at the right hand of God, Baruch Adonai Yahweh El Olam eth Abba Our Father in the third heaven in the unity and power of the Holy Spirit our Paraclete

Holy Holy Holy Lord God Pantocrator

and Who, Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour, shall return from the Father’s right hand in the same flesh with all the elect angels and raise, first, the saints in the flesh, our same spirits souls and bodies reunited and then all other men in the flesh, their same souls and bodies reunited, from throughout the whole world and all of time from the beginning of your creation until that time - known to you alone Holy Immortal undivided trinity, in the future at your Parousia Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour, your saints to inherit paradise recreated then with all the elect angels worshipping you face to face in the glory of the Father and the union of the Holy Spirit unto the endless ages of ages - and the rest to be cast into the lake of fire forevermore unto the same endless ages of ages to come.

But do Thou O Lord have mercy upon us,

Thanks be to God.

Our Help is in the Name of the Lord,

Who made the heavens and the earth.

Christmas Lesson Three

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.

But do Thou O Lord have mercy upon us,

Thanks be to God.

Our Help is in the Name of the Lord,

Who made the heavens and the earth.

Christmas Lesson Two

Christmas Lesson One

Ez:1:

1 ¶ Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was in the midst of the captives by the river Chobar, the heavens were opened, and I saw the visions of God.

2 On the fifth day of the month, the same was the fifth year of the captivity of king Joachin,

3 The word of the Lord came to Ezechiel the priest the son of Buzi in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chobar: and the hand of the Lord was there upon him.

4 ¶ And I saw, and behold a whirlwind came out of the north: and a great cloud, and a fire infolding it, and brightness was about it: and out of the midst thereof, that is, out of the midst of the fire, as it were the resemblance of amber:

5 And in the midst thereof the likeness of four living creatures: and this was their appearance: there was the likeness of a man Who is Jesus Christ (The Resurrection – David) in them.

6 Every one had four faces, and every one four wings.

7 Their feet were straight feet, and the sole of their foot was like the sole of a calf's foot, and they sparkled like the appearance of glowing brass.

8 And they had the hands of a man Who is Jesus Christ (The Ascension - Daniel) under their wings on their four sides: and they had faces, and wings on the four sides,

9 And the wings of one were joined to the wings of another. They turned not when they went: but every one went straight forward.

10 And as for the likeness of their faces: there was the face of a man Who is the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Immortal Son (The Gospel of Christ – Abraham), and the face of a lion Which is the royal authority, might, power of Jesus Christ through Whom all creation has been created (John – Adam) on the right side of all the four: and the face of an ox Which is the Kenosis (His emptying out of Himself) of Jesus Christ for our recreation and salvation in Him (Luke – Noah), on the left side of all the four: and the face of an eagle Which is the divine spark of conscience of Jesus Christ the Word of God in us (Mark – Everlasting Gospel) over all the four.

11 And their faces, and their wings were stretched upward: two wings of every one were joined, and two covered their bodies:

12 And every one of them went straight forward: whither the impulse of the spirit was to go, thither they went: and they turned not when they went.

13 And as for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like that of burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps. This was the vision running to and fro in the midst of the living creatures, a bright fire, and lightning going forth from the fire.

14 And the living creatures ran and returned like flashes of lightning.

15 ¶ Now as I beheld the livingcreatures, there appeared upon the earth by the living creatures one wheel with four faces.

16 And the appearance of the wheels, and the work of them was like the appearance of the sea: and the four had all one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the midst of a wheel.

17 When they went, they went by their four parts: and they turned not when they went.

18 The wheels had also a size, and a height, and a dreadful appearance: and the whole body was full of eyes round about all the four.

19 And, when the living creatures went, the wheels also went together by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels also were lifted up with them.

20 Whithersoever the spirit went, thither as the spirit went the wheels also were lifted up withal, and followed it: for the spirit of life was in the wheels.

21 When those went these went, and when those stood these stood, and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up together, and followed them: for the spirit of life was in the wheels.

22 And over the heads of the living creatures was the likeness of the firmament, the appearance of crystal terrible to behold, and stretched out over their heads above.

23 And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other, every one with two wings covered his body, and the other was covered in like manner.

24 And I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, as it were the voice of the most high God: when they walked, it was like the voice of a multitude, like the noise of an army, and when they stood, their wings were let down.

25 For when a voice came from above the firmament, that was over their heads, they stood, and let down their wings.

26 ¶ And above the firmament that was over their heads, was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of the sapphire stone, and upon the likeness of the throne, was the likeness of the appearance of a man Who is Jesus Christ God the Son Incarnate the only Mediator between God and man (Matthew – Moses) above upon it.

27 And I saw as it were the resemblance of amber as the appearance of fire within it round about: from his loins and upward, and from his loins downward, I saw as it were the resemblance of fire shining round about.

28 As the appearance of the rainbow when it is in a cloud on a rainy day: this was the appearance of the brightness round about.

(DRV)

No other feast, not even Easter, was more solemnly proclaimed by the Holy Catholic Church than that of Christ's birth. The dates given in this entry, composed in the 16th century, are historically correct and verifiable. The announcement proclaims the Truth. (The small difference between the Eastern and Western dates is not important.)

"In the 5199th 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 2957th year after the flood; the 2015th year from the birth of Abraham; the 1510th year from Moses and the going-out of the people of Israel from Egypt; the 1032nd 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 Ghost and nine months having passed since His conception, was born in Bethlehem of Juda of the Virgin Mary, being made man.

THE BIRTHDAY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO THE FLESH."

Commenting on this wonderful feastday, Butler's Lives of the Saints continues with the following reflections.

"Christ's life is the gospel reduced to practice. He instructs us at His very birth, beginning first to practice, then to preach. The manger was His first pulpit, and from it He teaches us the cure of our spiritual maladies. He came among us to seek our miseries, our poverty, our humiliation, to repair the dishonor our pride had offered to the Godhead, and to apply a remedy to our souls. And He chose a poor mother, a little town, a stable. He who adorns the world and clothes the lilies of the field beyond the majesty of Solomon is wrapped in clouts and laid in a manger. This He chose to be the very sign of His identity. `This shall be a sign to you', said the angel to the shepherds. `You shall find the child wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.' It is a powerful instruction.

'The grace of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men, instructing us', says the Apostle,`all men, the rich and the poor, the great and the small, all who desire to share His grace and His kingdom, instructing us in the first place in humility.' What is the whole mystery of the Incarnation but the most astonishing humbling of the Deity? To expiate our pride the eternal Son of God divests Himself of His glory and takesthe form of man in his every circumstance save sin. Who would not think that the wholecreation would be overwhelmed with the glory of His presence and tremble before Him? But nothing of this was seen. `He came not', says St. John Chrysostom, `so as to shake the world at the presence of majesty; not in thunder and lightning as on Sinai; but He came quietly, no man knowing it. "`

But do Thou O Lord have mercy upon us,

Thanks be to God.

Our Help is in the Name of the Lord,

Who made the heavens and the earth.

Christmas Lesson One

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


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.
In the East the time is reckoned thusly.

The 532-year cycle is calculated from the creation of Adam, which, as we know, took place on Friday, March 1, 5508 B.C. - the base date on which the entire calendar system of the Orthodox Church is based.


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.


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. 

But do Thou O Lord have mercy upon us,

Thanks be to God.

Our Help is in the Name of the Lord,

Who made the heavens and the earth.