“The Kingdom of God is within you.”

“The Kingdom of God is within you.”

For the THEOPHANY of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

… *When Christ arises from the waters of the Jordan, God shines forth the knowledge of Himself in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thus “The Lights” as the Feast of Theophany (the “Shining forth of God”) is still called in Greece.

But how was a society long darkened by the worship of multiple gods to understand one God in three Persons?

Even the Patristic saints had no way to distinguish the Persons of the Trinity beyond the manner of their origin: The Son is born of the Father, from whom the Holy Spirit proceeds. Both have their origin in the Father, but no one understands the difference between “generation” and “procession.” What the Fathers do understand is that God is One because there is one Source of Being in the Holy Trinity.

This could not have greater significance in our own lives, because it means that gifts of the Spirit reach us through the Son, originating not in ourselves, but in the “Father of Lights” – the Source of “every good and perfect gift.”

Throughout the Sinai literature, one finds recurring emphasis on the image of this triune unity engraved upon human nature, accounting for its strengths, creativity, and potential … If human desire generates struggle for good or for evil, then, does the soul’s fate hinge on struggle – or the desire that inspires it?

Clearly, inborn desire must be purified before its intentions can be trusted … It must die to sin in water, and be born to God in the Spirit …

Did Christ not say “the kingdom of God is within you”?

Immediately following His baptism and reception of the Spirit in the Jordan, the Word of God goes into the desert where He conquers temptation with His Truth for forty days, at the conclusion of which, angels minister to Him.

Similarly, our own baptism gives birth to struggle to live His Truth, through which our guardian angel ministers to our every need. Clearly, struggle and salvation have their origin in baptism – but how? Archbishop Damianos solved this mystery: God restores the powers of our weakened self-determination when we seek His forgiveness.

If baptism grants the forgiveness of God for our apostasy from His love, what proves this more dramatically than the descent of the Spirit on the humanity of Christ in the Jordan – the Holy Spirit who had fled that humanity at its apostasy from grace?

Attributes of the divine image – freedom to love, choose, reason – were not lost, however. With baptism’s purification of all three, they give birth to struggle, through which gifts of the Spirit – virtues of the divine likeness – proceed.

The theology of Orthodox worship is so simple: The Father gives birth to the Son, through whom the Holy Spirit proceeds to sanctify souls. Likewise, following Orthodox baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity, our native faculties generate the struggle through which virtue proceeds to bless creation.

“Orthodox worship is communal,” said His Eminence, Archbishop Damianos of Sinai – “but also theological,” taking place not only during the liturgical services, but, through struggle toward theosis, during every moment of this life – which is thereby rendered liturgy. …

*From the Article “The Festival of Lights” in the FMSM News Blog: http://www.mountsinaimonastery.org/news-blog/the-festival-of-lights-theophany-2021

“When You, O Lord were baptized in the Jordan, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest, for the voice of the Father bore witness to You and called You His beloved Son. And the Spirit, in the form of a dove, confirmed the truthfulness of His word. O Christ, our God, You have revealed Yourself and have enlightened the world, glory to You!” (Troparion of the Feast)