Elder Aimilianos: How does the Holy Trinity create a person?

The Holy Trinity creating Adam (Source)

  
Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra: How does the Holy Trinity create a person?
‘At one exceptional and unique moment in history, the heavenly Father wished to create the material world. Once this had been done, He then went on to make the human body, in collaboration with the other two Persons of the Holy Trinity, and breathed the ‘breath of life’ into it. So God’s creation became ‘a living being’ [2]. God then ceased merely to hover above the waters [3] and entered into the created and material elements and living things. He dwelt in a unique, supreme being who became the king and the reason for the creation. Now the reason for the creation is God Himself. From that moment, the conjunction, the path towards identification and union with God became inevitable, and it’s now impossible to conceive of the human person, the image of the invisible God, without the Holy Spirit.
  
 So the Holy Spirit, as one of the Persons of the Holy Trinity, collaborates in the birth of every person. Together with the Father and the Son, He gives to the maternal womb the material which is taken from the father and mother, and the embryo thus conceived is flesh, dust. We people give birth to dust: we’re dust and return to dust [4]. To this dust, the parents give all the capacities and characteristics of their personalities, they give themselves, the image of their flesh.
  

What the heavenly Father did to the first human person, He also does at the birth of every one of us, the difference being that then He first created the dust and afterwards breathed into it the Holy Spirit, whereas now the Holy Spirit enters the person as soon as conception occurs. So from the very first moment, the embryo is alive and is a person, because it’s received the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It has rational control, is a complete image of the divinity and, until its last moments, bears the features of divine and human nature, unfailingly and unabatedly. There is also internal communication within the person between the human and divine nature, as there is in Christ.

  

It follows, then, that at everyone’s birth there are, on the one hand, divine actions and, on the other, a human contribution, in accordance with the ancient saying and will of the Godhead: ‘increase and multiply’[5]. The husband and wife, one flesh- ‘you shall be one flesh’ [6]- communicate with the Holy Spirit, and the all-powerful Son brings everything together, puts everything into the womb of the woman and in this way we have a complete person, both God and human. The new persons, created by God and created for God, are endowed, at baptism, with divinity, with the charismatic life, at which point the Holy Spirit becomes the inheritance of their existence. From then on, they’re constantly being challenged internally by the Holy Spirit and also project from themselves the sparks, the light of the divinity. In this way, the dust of the earth becomes a radiant life, through vigilance’.

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The Creation of Adam (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

St. Iakovos of Evia who planted a forest

Photograph of St. Iakovos of Evia before his Monastery of St. David, with the vibrant surrounding forest that he helped plant clearly visible (source)

  
St. Iakovos of Evia said: "When I went to the Monastery, because of the former fires, the mountain around the Monastery was naked and only a few pine trees and olive trees remained from the dires and it was very dry. As I would go on my various errands, I had in my pocket seeds from the cones of pine trees, that I would cast around the whole surrounding area." Thus, slowly, with this prototype care and especially with his prayer, the forest came to life again, little pine trees sprouted and the area around the mountain is covered in green from these fragrant pine trees. "I made a special prayer," St. Iakovos said, "That the forest especially might be protected from fires that occur as a cause of the wrath of the devil, who brings out his weapons in order to destroy the forests."
-from the book, The Monastery of the Venerable David, "A Holy Elder, Blessed Father Iakovos"


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St. Iakovos of Evia (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

"The Lord spoke to Job through the whirlwind and clouds..."

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" The Lord spoke to Job through the whirlwind and clouds..." (Job 38:1)

  

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"When the stars were made, all my angels praised me with a loud voice." (Job 38:7)

  

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"And who prepared a course for the violent rain, and a way for the thunders;  to rain upon the land where no man, the wilderness, where there is not a man in it; so as to feed the untrodden and uninhabited , and cause it to send forth a crop of green herbs? Who is the rain's father? and who has generated the drops of dew? And out of whose womb comes the ice? and who has produced the frost in the sky, which descends like flowing water? who has terrified the face of the ungodly?" (Job 38:25-30)

  

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"And who is he that numbers the clouds in wisdom, and has bowed the heaven to the earth?" (Job 38:37)

    

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   "And do the gates of death open to thee for fear; and did the porters of hell quake when they saw thee?"

(Job 38: 17)

  

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"I have heard the report of thee by the ear before; but now mine eye has seen thee. Wherefore I have counted myself vile, and have fainted: and I esteem myself dust and ashes." (Job 42:5)

  

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"They that saw me abhorred me: the very persons whom I had loved, rose up against me." (Job 19:19)

  

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"And they stood aloof and abhorred me, and spared not to spit in my face...They have risen up against on the right hand of offspring; they have stretched out their foot, and directed against me the ways of their destruction. My paths are ruined; for they have stripped off my raiment..." (Job 30:10-13)

  

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"Who will tell him his way to his face, whereas he has done ? who shall recompense him? And he has been led away to the tombs..." (Job 21:28-32)

  

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"Where then is yet my hope? or shall I see my good? Will they go down with me to Hades, or shall we go down together to the tomb?" (Job 17:15-16)

  

"For I know that he is eternal who is about to deliver me, to raise up upon the earth my skin that which I am conscious of in myself, which mine eye has seen, and not another, but all have been fulfilled to me in bosom." (Job 19:25-27)

  

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"And the Lord blessed the latter end of Job, than the beginning...And Job died, an old man and full of days: and it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up." (Job 42: 12, 17)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

St. Athanasius the Great: "Everything about is marvelous..."

Christ creating the birds and fish (source)

  
For, indeed, everything about is marvelous, and wherever a man turns his gaze he sees the Godhead of the Word and is smitten with awe.
-St. Athanasios the Great
  
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Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Metropolitan Avgoustinos Kantiotes on the Most-holy Theotokos

The Most-holy Theotokos and Christ (source)

  

Dear friends, humanity is the summit of earthly creation, and if God created nothing else, mankind would be enough to testify that there is a God, an all-wise God, omnipotent and benevolent. What an excellent creation man is! We see a beautiful statue and admire it, and no one dares to say the statue created itself without the sculptor. But, when compared to a human, what is a statue, even the most perfect one kept in a museum and considered a treasure of infinitive value? The statue is dead, inanimate, idle. It has eyes but does not see, ears but does not hear, feet but cannot walk. Man, however, is alive, with soul, and active and creative statue, which when studied more and more gains more and more admiration. Common sense says that, just as every statue was made by an artist, man was created by God.

  

Man is a marvelous creation of God, a little bit less than the angels, and is divided into man and woman. Man and woman are equal. They have the basic characteristics of human personality, reason, conscience, will and the rest. They do possess differences, but the differences between man and woman does not reduce, but rather enhance the admiration due to humanity. They add beauty and charm, making human life a pleasant thing. Since the first man until now, billions of people have been born. Of these billions of people, men and women, there have been some who have tried to destroy the grandeur of humanity by their criminal acts, they tried to degrade the human personality and put the human race to shame. Mankind fell from the lofty height of honor and dignity into the slime of dishonorable passions, and became like the wild beasts. Reading history and seeing contemporary reality, one shudders and is ashamed of mankind’s horrible crimes and shameful acts. Among billions of people, however, there are still some who, by their acts and virtues, have honored and continue to honor humanity, demonstrating that we were created for a higher purpose, making us aspire for heaven, for the blessed life which man lived in Paradise before the Fall.

  
 If someone should ask which human being of all the billions of human beings who have lived on earth reached the highest point of moral grandeur, in other words, who is the greatest of all Saints, we would answer not on our own authority, but would give the answer to the Church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth (II Tim.3:15). Our Church, having the Holy Scriptures as a foundation, answers that, after Christ, who is not a mere man, but the God-Man and a Saint in the absolute sense, comes a woman. She is the All-Holy Virgin Mary.

  
 The Virgin Mary, by God’s grace and through her virtues, came to such a high state of holiness that she surpassed not only every human being, but even the angels and the archangels. The spiritual height and depth of the Virgin, to use the word of the Akathist Hymn, are unattainable: “Hail Height insurmountable for the human mind; Hail Depth inexplorable to angelic eye.”

  
The Virgin, as our Church praises her, is ‘more honorable than the Cherubim and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim’. If mankind is a miracle of divine creation then the Virgin Mary is the most exceptional miracle of divine grace.

  
 From the moment when the first woman, Eve, sinned and carried mankind along with her into the abyss of calamity, centuries and millennia had passed. In the midst of this terrible darkness, one hope warmed souls, namely, that the situation would one day be radically different. The ancient prophecy, the first prophecy after the Fall of the First Man and First Woman, the First Gospel as it was called, spoke about a woman, a woman whose son would fight and defeat satan, and would give the world new life. From careful study of this prophecy, it is apparent that this woman would not give birth in the usual way women give birth. This woman would give birth without knowing man. She would bear as a virgin. This prophecy about the virgin is repeated more precisely and with different symbols in the Old Testament. The Book of Isaiah gives the clearest prophecy: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Eight hundred years before the star of Bethlehem shone, Isaiah saw the Virgin and her son Emmanuel.

  
 The Virgin gave birth to her only-begotten son, our Lord Jesus Christ. But how did the Virgin give birth? Unbelievers of every century have argued against this and will continue to do so. What do we answer? We say: “which is a greater miracle – a Virgin to give birth or the world to be created from nothing?” Certainly, the greater is the creation of the universe from nothing, and if this greater one took place, why not a lesser miracle, the Virgin Birth?

  
 The all-holy Mother of God was a virgin before giving birth, during birth, and remained a virgin after giving birth. Our holy Lady is ever-virgin. Our Church preaches this as a revealed truth, and we proclaim this truth each time we recite the Symbol of Faith, saying: “and was incarnated by the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary, and became man.”

  
 We Orthodox do not deify the Virgin, as some heretics like Protestants and Jehovah’s Witnesses accuse us. We do not believe that the Virgin is a Goddess, but we say that the Virgin is superior to the angels, and that is why we call her Most Holy – that God selected the Most holy Mother in order to take flesh and be born. For this reason we call her Theotokos, God-birthgiver. Because of her exceptional virtues she is the perfect example of Woman.

  
 But while the Holy Scripture and the Church in its teaching elevate the Virgin to ineffable heights, and angels and archangels bow before her, we have in our own country many nominal Christians who open their foul mouths and blaspheme her worse than heretics and unbelievers!
Dear Christians, let us all fight to stop this blasphemy and save ourselves from God’s wrath.

 

This chapter was taken from the book “ON THE DEVINE LITURGY – VOL.2” by Bishop Augoustinos N. Kantiotes.

Translation by Rev. Fr. Asterios Gerostergios 

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The Most-holy Theotokos and Christ (source)

Most-holy Theotokos, save us!

St. Porphyrios: "Take delight in all things that surround us..."

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

Icon of the Resurrection of Christ decorated with flowers (source)

   

“Take delight in all things that surround us. All things teach us and lead us to God. All things around us are droplets of the love of God — both things animate and inanimate, the plants and the animals, the birds and the mountains, the sea and the sunset and the starry sky. They are little loves through which we attain to the great Love that is Christ. Flowers, for example, have their own grace; they teach us with their fragrance and with their magnificence. They speak to us of the love of God. They scatter their fragrance and their beauty on sinners and on the righteous.”
-St Porphyrios
   
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St. Porphtrios of Kavsokalyvia (source)

Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, He has granted life!

Truly the Lord is risen!

Elder Ephraim of Arizona on Pascha, Paradise and Springtime

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

The Resurrection of Christ (source)

   

"Now in the springtime, when nature is wearing its most beautiful apparel, one feels inexpressible joy when this natural beauty is accompanied by a sublime spiritual state. Truly, our holy God has made all things in wisdom (Ps. 103:26)! The soul cannot get enough of beholding the beauty of nature. Oh, if man would only lift his mind above this earthly realm to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the inconceivable beauty of paradise where the finite, earthly mind ceases to operate! If here in exile, in this accursed land of weeping, our holy God has given us so much beauty to enjoy, I wonder how much there will be in the place where God Himself dwells! Truly, “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory and bliss (Rom. 8:18).” Theosis* in the heavens, my child! There the Lord our God will remove every tear from our eyes, and do away with all sorrow and pain and sighing, for there the angelic way of life reigns, and the only work is to chant hymns and spiritual odes! An eternal Sabbath is prepared for us where we shall live in joy with our Father, God, Who is waiting for us to be ready so that He may call us to Him forever! There every saved soul will live in an ocean of love, sweetness, joy, amazement, and wonder!" 

*Theosis: Connected with the theoria of uncreated Light, theosis, or divinization, is a participation in the uncreated grace of God. At this stage of perfection, one has reached dispassion. Through the cooperation of God with man, theosis is attained through the action of the transfigurative grace of God.

   

The Resurrection of Christ (source)

   

"Ah, if you could only see a little bit of paradise, if you could only hear for a few seconds the chanting of the sweet angels who shine with heavenly light and emit paradisiacal fragrance! Oh, what beauty! Unfortunately, we are in the dark about all these things.

There everything shines with limitless bliss. And what does the throne of Christ tell you? Christ the Master sits upon a throne, and due to His light no one can discern His sacred and most sweet face. Oh, what sweetness and beauty! What is more beautiful than this? This is truly paradise: to behold the face of our Jesus! Glory to Thy Cross, O Lord, and to Thy Resurrection!

O depth of the wisdom of God! O mysteries of the three sun Deity! Blessed is he who humbles himself like a child, obeying all commands with a guileless soul for the love of God! And woe to him who will hold on to his egotism, like me; how many divine gifts does he deprive himself of!

My children, run with humility to reach the Lord Who humbled Himself for our sake—our sweetest, beloved Christ, the light of our poor souls.

See what beauty awaits us! If you could only see how beautiful it is! You would disregard everything; you would even become like trash to be stepped on, just as long as you would not be deprived of everything that the sweet love of Jesus has prepared! These are the kinds of things my Elder used to tell me, and I am conveying them to you so that you may be sweetened. I am done—forgive me!

   

Christ, the Good Shepherd, Who came to find the lost sheep (source)

   

From Counsels from the Holy Mountain: Selected from the Letters and Homilies of Elder Ephraim of Arizona (sources 1 and 2)

Christ the Creator blessing creation (source)  
Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, He has granted life!

Truly the Lord is risen!

" Let all the trees of the forest rejoice..."

Christ planting the trees in the Creation of the world (source)

   

Let all the trees of the forest rejoice, for Christ, Who planted them in the beginning, has sanctified their nature by being stretched out upon the tree, which we now see exalted, we worship Him and you we magnify.

-From the 9th Ode of the Canon for the Exaltation of the Precious Cross

   

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Christ the Tree of Life (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

St. Kosmas Aitolos on Man as God's Creation

St. Kosmas Aitolos, the New Hieromartyr and Equal-to-the-Apostles (source)

  
"The Most Gracious God made us, my brethren, human beings, and not animals. He made us more honorable than the whole world. The most gracious God gave us, my brethren, eyes to look at the sky, the sun, the moon, and the stars so we can say: "O my God, if the sun which is your creation is so bright, how much brighter are you, O Holy Name, you who are the creator of heaven and earth, the author and fashioner? O my God, find me worthy to enjoy you."
  
God, my brethren, put the mind in our heads. Our mind is like a dish in which we should put all the teachings of the Gospel and not myths and idle talk, which are the art of the devil. He gave us ears to hear the Divine Liturgy which is celebrated by the priest in the church. He gave us a mouth to glorify our Lord, for us to say: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son and Word of the living God, through the Theotokos and all the angels, have mercy on us and forgive us who are sinners and your unworthy servants." We should confess with pure faith and receive the holy Sacraments with pure faith and fear and awe. That is how God wants us, brethren, and not to swear, not for one to betray another, not to take oaths and lie, not to steal from one another, not to take something belonging to another, not to take the name of God in vain for the smallest reason. Do you want to say, my brother: "By God"? Why don't you say: 'By the truth" ? Instead of swearing so your brother will believe you, tell him the straight truth, and if he doesn't believe you, go on your way. We should refrain, my brother, from swearing in the name of God or from taking oaths, and citing our saints. Some insignificant people even swear by the name of the Holy Trinity. Woe to them; a flaming tire will burn them and enflame them.
  
Do you know, brother, how God wants you to be? Just as you don't want your wife to have anything to do with another man, so God doesn't want you to have anything to do with the devil. Do you enjoy having your wife fornicate with another? Of course not. For someone else to kiss her? Neither do you want this. That is what God wants of you too, not to have anything to do with the devil."
-St. Kosmas Aitolos, the New Hieromartyr and Equal-to-the-Apostles

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Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!