Mystical Liturgical Worshiping
Part Four
Priest Habtamu Teshome
February 10, 2023
1.1 Holy Spirit of God
Each one of the three Persons (hypostases) of the Holy Trinity is the entire divinity. On this basis, the three divine persons dwell in one another (perichoresis) inter-dwelling, co-inherence. Each one of the three acts together with the other two; however, each of them relates to the creation in a personal way: The Father conceives the plan of creation (and of restoration of Creation in His Christ); the Son of God makes the Father’s plan of creation (and the salvation of creation) a reality; the Holy Spirit Leads God’s (the Father’s) plan of creation (and restoration of creation in Christ, the incarnate Logos of God) to its perfection. (John 16:12-15)
1.2 The Divine Plan of Salvation
Man failed God and failed himself through his revolt against God. However, He did not abandon him. He kept following man with His loving care and providence. God prepared man’s salvation in the same eternal Logos of God, through whom we are created, so that even after our fall we may return to immortality (Saint Athanasios).
The plan of God for man’s salvation is called the plan of “divine economy,” i.e. divine dispensation. God the Father conceives the plan, the Son executes it, and the Holy Spirit fulfills it and leads it to perfection and finalization. God the Father acts out of love for man, in sending His own Son for the salvation of the world (John 3:16). When the time was ripe, after a series of purifications throughout the Old Testament that led to the Virgin Mary who could respond to God, accepting man’s salvation on behalf of humankind, God sent forth His only-begotten Son, “born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption to son ship” (Galatians 4: 4-5).
1.3 Christ’s Incarnation and the Mystery of Salvation
Incarnation can be defined as the act of closing with flesh; the act of taking human body and nature. More clearly, Incarnation is defined as the union of God and man in the person of Lord Jesus Christ. The incarnation refers literally to the in-fleshing of the eternal Son of God; Jesus “putting on our flesh and soul” and becoming fully human. The doctrine of the incarnation claims that the eternal second person of the Trinity took on humanity in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. A helpful way to remember the key aspects of the incarnation is the summary statement of John 1:14: “The Word became flesh.”
1.3.1 The mystical interpretation of “the Word became flesh.”
The Word refers to the eternal divine Son who was “in the beginning with God” and who himself is God (John 1:1). From eternity past until He took on humanity, the Son of God existed in perfect love, joy, and harmony in the fellowship of the Trinity. Like the Father and the Spirit, He was spirit and had no material substance. But at the incarnation, the eternal Word entered into creation as human. He became a first-century man.
1.3.1.1 Became:
“Became” does not mean that He ceased to be God. In becoming man, He did not forsake His divine nature, as if that were even an option. Rather, He became man by taking on human nature in addition to His divine nature. It is essential to the incarnation and very helpful throughout all theology to recognize that divinity and humanity are not mutually exclusive.
1.3.1.2 Flesh:
Flesh isn’t merely a reference to the human body but the entirety of what makes up humanity body, mind, emotions, and will. Hebrew 2:17 and 4:15 teach that to save human beings Lord Jesus had to be made like us “in every respect”, except our sin. In the incarnation, everything proper to humanity was united to the Son of God. The Son of God did not only become like man; He actually became truly and fully human.
So that The Word Became Flesh: So the eternal Son of God, without ceasing to be God, took on a fully human nature. This is what Christians have long called “The Incarnation.” And what a magnificent truth and fuel for worship this is. Lord Jesus didn’t just become man because He could. This was no circus stunt, just for show. He became man, in the world of the ancient creed, “for us and for our salvation.” The eternal Word became frail human flesh and soul to save us from our sin and to free us to marvel at and enjoy the unique union of divinity and humanity in His one spectacular person.
The incarnation is not only the way in which Lord Jesus became Immanuel God with us but it’s an eternal testimony that He and His Father are unswervingly for us. The Immediate God’s Preparation for Incarnation at the Time of Annunciation. What Kind of Flesh did Lord Jesus take? As we can understand from different Scriptural expressions, God made a full man conception (i.e. having soul and flesh or human genotype), which made Incarnation of Word of God appropriate and perfect, in the womb of St. Marry at the time of Annunciation immediately before Incarnation. Therefore, Jesus took existing human genotype, which was made by the life giving work of the Holy Spirit immediately before Incarnation of word of God at the time of Annunciation in the womb of Saint Marry. This point of view is theologically crucial to prove that Lord Jesus Christ is one incarnate God-Man person having one body from two bodies and one nature from two natures. There are many Scriptural evidences for this reality. Some of these Scriptural evidences are the following.
2.The Mission of the Holy Spirit
The last part of the plan of salvation (divine economy) is fulfilled by the Holy Spirit of God (economy of the Holy Spirit). The Spirit of God prepares for the coming of Christ in the Old Testament period, becomes the ointment of Christ’s flesh the day of the Annunciation, accompanies Christ throughout His mission on earth, and applies Christ’s work, both saving and deifying, to each Christian individually, through the sacramental life of the Church. Lord Jesus Christ has achieved our salvation and deification in an objective way, in our nature. The Spirit applies salvation and deification in a subjective way, to our persons. Divine grace, the Church, and the sacraments are the working of the Holy Spirit.
2.1 Divine Grace
By divine grace we understand the saving and deifying energy of God, made available through Christ’s work, and distributed by the Holy Spirit, the source of grace and sanctification.
Divine grace, the work of the Holy Spirit, is a free gift, necessary for our salvation, non-coercive, which requires our cooperation (synergy). Our response to the grace of God is our works of love, which are the fruits of God’s grace working in us. We are justified by God’s grace. However, this justification is not real, unless it produces the “works of righteousness.”
2.2. The Church of Christ
The place where the saving and deifying grace of the Holy Spirit is at work is the Church of Christ. The Church is at the same time the image of the Holy Trinity, the people of God, the Body of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. All these aspects are necessary for a complete image of the Church. The Church is the great sacrament of salvation that Christ has instituted in the world. It is the Ark of salvation, and the inaugurated Kingdom of God. Its unity is not affected by schism and heresy; its holiness is not affected by sin; its catholicity and truth is not affected by partiality and falsehood. Founded upon the Apostles, she continues the apostolic mission and ministry in the world, being the “pillar of truth,” never failing in accomplishing her mission.
2.3. The Communion of Saints
The Church thus conceived is not just another human organization; it is a gathering of people who profoundly share the life of faith, the new life in Christ, the life in the Holy Spirit, the life of God. The Church can best be characterized as a “communion of saints.” For all its members are called to holiness, through their rite of incorporation into the Holy Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the People of God. Militant on earth and triumphant in heaven, the Church is only one family, sharing in the same means of grace, the holy sacraments.
2.4 Orthodox Eschatology
The Holy Spirit of God, working through the Church and its sacramental life, leads the plan of salvation in Christ to completion and final fulfillment. The final battle with evil that operates in the world will occur just before the coming again of the Lord. In the meantime, the struggle against evil and dark forces in the world continues, with some victories on behalf of the Church, and with some failures on behalf of some of its members. This is the normal condition of the life of the Church, which is the inaugurated Kingdom of God, and which, however, has not yet come fully. Two distinct stages are to be recognized, in terms of Christian Orthodox eschatology: that of a “partial judgment,” of a “partial” or “realized” eschatology, and that of a “final judgment,” at the coming again of the Lord, which will come at the end of time.
2.4.1 Partial judgment – the hour of our death
Our physical death, a consequence of the first man’s sin that we still suffer, can be seen in two ways: Negatively, as a kind of catastrophe, especially for those who do not believe in Christ and life everlasting in Him; and Positively, as the end of a maturation process, which leads us to the encounter with our Maker “Christ has destroyed the power of the “last enemy,” death (1 Corinthians. 15:26). A Christian worthy of the name is not afraid of this physical death insofar as it is not accompanied by a spiritual or eternal (eschatological) death. A partial judgment is instituted immediately after our physical death, which places us in an intermediate condition of partial blessedness (for the righteous), or partial suffering (for the unrighteous).
Disavowing a belief in the Western “Purgatory,” our Church believes that a change is possible during this intermediate state and stage. The Church, militant and triumphant, is still one, which means that we can still influence one another with our prayers and our saintly (or ungodly) life. This is the reason why we pray for our death. Also, almsgiving on behalf of the dead may be of some help to them, without implying, of course, that those who provide the alms are in some fashion “buying” anybody’s salvation.
2.4.2 General Judgment – the Coming Again of Christ
The early Church lived in expectation of the “day of the Lord,” the day of His coming again. The Church later realized that its time is known but to God; still, some signs of Christ’s second coming were expected:
All these signs are expected to be given in due time; without them, the end-time will not come. The resurrection of the dead is a miracle that will happen at the second coming of the Lord. According to the Creed, “I await the resurrection of the dead.” This resurrection will be a new creation. However, our physical bodies as we know them now will be restored, in a spiritualized existence like that of the Lord after His Resurrection.
The final judgment will follow the resurrection of all. Some will rise to the resurrection of life, and some to the resurrection of judgment and condemnation. Lord Jesus Christ will be our Judge on the basis of our deeds, our works of love or our acts of wickedness.
The end-time will follow, with a permanent separation between good and evil, between those who will be awarded eternal life of happiness and bliss in heaven, and those who will be condemned to the fire of eternal damnation, to the eternal remorse of their conscience for having rejected God and authentic life in Him and having joined the inauthentic life invented by the devil and His servants. A new heaven and new earth will be established, inhabited by righteousness (2 Peter 3:13). The Kingdom of God will be fully established; the Church will cease to exist. Finally, the Son of God will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, “that God may be everything to everyone” (1 Corinthians 15:28)
Source: Tinsae Publication Company, Geez and Amharic Holy Bible, Commentaries of Book of Divine Liturgy and Book of “Getsawe”