Sunday, July 8, 2012

From Orthodox Bishop Ignatius Hazim of Latakia -- whom, I have been told, is now to be addressed as His Beatitude, Ignatius IV, Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and the East:
Without the Holy Spirit:
God is far away,
Christ stays in the past,
the Gospel is a dead letter,
the Church is simply an organization,
authority a matter of domination,
mission a matter of propaganda,
liturgy no more than evocation,
Christian living a slave morality.
But with the Holy Spirit,
the cosmos is resurrected and groans with the birth-pangs,
of the Kingdom,
the risen Christ is there,
the Gospel is the power of life,
the Church shows forth the life of the Trinity,
authority is a liberating service,
mission is a Pentecost,
the liturgy is both memorial and anticipation,
human action is deified [sanctified may be a term more familiar to my readers].

1 comment:

Chris said...

I would ask that you credit the author differently. The author is now called His Beatitude, Ignatius IV, Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and the East.