truefiction1
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- Dec 16, 2011
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Andrei, It requires time, Godly humility, Godly patience, and God's grace to come to know the Only True God, and Jesus Christ Whom God sent. God is patient with us. We need to be patient with ourselves until we come, by God's help, knowledgeable with regards to the truth about how God communicates His grace into our hearts through the use of the icons that we are glorifying only Him with. When you yourself have come to possess such experience of God in the manner of His holy saints, then you'll know full well that iconoclasm is a great evil. Give yourself the time you need to grow in the knowledge of God, Who is infinitely patient and Loving towards us as we struggle to draw near to Him in repentance. The reason that today is such a celebrated day in the Life of the Church, is that Iconography is of such great importance in the Life of Orthodox Christians, (who possess the liberty of the children of God which frees us to outwardly express our worship of God by any means that God has given us to do so, which includes artistic expression and bodily expression) that when the evil, ugly lie that iconoclasm is was finally crushed - the proper order and peace being restored in the Church - it is a moment worth celebrating, because by doing so we openly proclaim and confess the Truth of our new Life in Christ.
Do you want to know the truth? I'll share it with you: Iconoclasts just don't know our True God as we know Him, nor do they really know the Lord Jesus Christ in the fullness of the knowledge, through Communion by the Holy Spirit, that Orthodox Christians of True belief do. Most of them are still brimming fully with that vile passion of pride, and this allows them to be seduced by the evil one into a state of spiritual delusion in which they deem themselves more righteous and better able to form correct judgments about how God understands/feels about our use of icons. In their self-righteous delusion (which is there, yet quite imperceptible to them) they imagine themselves more fit to judge than even the holiest and most pure of truly humble (by the gift of grace by the Holy Spirit) holy people of God. And iconoclasts are generally not overflowing with Godly humility. They, when having the power to do so, become judges of God's saints, with evil thoughts and enacting evil deeds against the Church. The first time it happened was in the Byzantine Roman empire, probably due to the influence of Islamic false perceptions of God. The iconoclasts persecuted the Orthodox, painted over iconography on Church walls, destroyed icons and forbid them to exist or be used. But it happened again in the beginning of the Protestant reformation (although Luther himself encouraged the use of religious imagery in worship). Here is a description of the iconoclasts of the reformation period, by Erasmus:
"Describing the fanaticism of the time, ‘I have seen them return from hearing the sermon, as if inspired by an evil spirit’, wrote Erasmus, ‘the faces of all showing a curious wrath and ferocity.’ " (Erasmus; quoted from "The Master and His Emissary" by Ian McGilchrist)
Now, you stated that you were very angry today over the question of the Churches celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. What sort of spirit do you suppose is causing such anger as you're having? Do you suppose that you were filled with the Holy Spirit of God today, and that is why you felt so mad? Remember, God gives us such time as we need in order to grow in our knowledge of Him, and will never condemn us for anything, especially in the way that those who don't know Him do, as proud judges with evil thoughts from Satan.
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) icons to the Liturgy and today it was in the mid 70’s blue skies and sunny, lovely outside! Perfect day for a procession!!!
