Christianity in Spirit

About Bishop St. Theophane the Recluse

About "old" and "new" calendar

August 18 (31)

Rom. 15:30-33; Mt. 17:24-18-4

The Lords paid tribute to the Temple [Mt. 17:24-27] and followed all other rules, both civil and ecclesiastic, and taught His Apostles to do the same, and the Apostles handed this law down to all Christians. It was only the spirit which was new in the Christian believers, while the outward behavior remained as it was — except those elements which were plainly against God’s will, like pagan sacrifices etc.

Later Christianity took the upper hand and supplanted the old way of life with that of its own. One could expect that because of this the Christian spirit got a better opportunity to develop and strengthen among the people. That, indeed, was the case, but not at all in everyone. Quite a lot, having acquired the outward Christian appearance and behavior, never moved any further, never cared about the spirit of Christian life.

That’s how it has been up until now⁷. Of all those who call themselves Christians, how many are Christians in spirit? And the rest — “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead" [Rev. 3:1]. When the Apostles preached the Gospel, their word selected the chosen portion which belonged to God from the pagan world; and now the Lord Himself, through the same word, is selecting His portion from the Christian world. "'Whoso readeth, let him understand" [Mt. 24:15] and make sure that he is within the Lord’s portion; if there is a doubt, let him work hard to join that portion, since the salvation is there and only there.

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