Gleanings from Orthodox Christian Authors and the Holy Fathers

the_next_life

3 Entries

...the perfect man will certainly become the equal of the angels, as the Lord affirms; but he will do so in the resurrection of the dead, and not in this present world. Even then the perfect will not be angels, but 'equal to the angels' (Luke 20:36). This means that men cannot forsake their own nature, though like angels they can become changeless through grace and released from all necessity, free in everything they do, possessing ceaseless joy, love of God, and all that 'the eye has not seen, and the ear has not heard' (I Cor. 2:9). St. Simeon the New Theologian (Practical and Theological Precepts no.123, Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart; Faber and Faber pg.127)

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...the world will not lapse entirely into non-being but, like our bodies and in a manner analogous to what will happen to us, it will be changed by the power of the Holy Spirit, being dissolved and transformed into something more divine. St. Peter of Damaskos (Book 1: A Treasury of Divine Knowledge, The Philokalia Vol. 3 pg.177)

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171. He who fights against others out of fear of hardship or reproach will either suffer more harshly through what befalls him in this life, or will be punished mercilessly in the life to come. REF:Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779

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