In Genesis we read "Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.  And this is how you shall make it..." (Genesis 6:14-15) The ark is a symbol of the Church.  Everyone outside the ark perished, whereas everyone inside the ark was saved.  Similarly the Orthodox Church teaches us that the Church is essential for our salvation, through which we receive the Mysteries which God gave us.  Many church buildings are designed to be shaped like Noah's ark for this reason. God instructed Noah to cover the ark with pitch from the inside and the outside.  The pitch here is used to protect the ark from the water so that it wouldn't leak through inside the ark.  Notice here that the pitch is to be on the inside and the outside, not just the outside.  Similarly the Church should be protected from attacks on the inside and the outside.  Also note that God instructed Noah to cover the ark with pitch from the inside first.  The attacks that target the Church from the inside are usually more detrimental than the attacks from the outside. Protecting the Church from the inside: Attacks on the Church from the inside could come in many forms.  One form would be attacks of heresies.  For example a heresy that says that Christ is not fully divine, or Christ is not fully human.  S...

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Quite often we hear arguments that sound like the following: "I can do whatever I want even if it's wrong as long as I'm not bothering anybody", or "It's my body, I can smoke or do drugs as long as I'm not affecting anyone", or "Me and her are in agreement, if we sleep together, what's it to you?!", or "Why do you care if I pray or not, go to church or not, etc...  I'm only impacting my spiritual life"... etc. Basically an argument that follows a pattern like "I can do ______ (a negative action) as long as I'm not bothering anybody or affecting anybody".  Sound familiar?  The answer to this argument comes in Genesis in the following verses: "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.  So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth."  (Genesis 6:11-12) At a first glance the second sentence might seem redundant.  However, after carefully reading it we see that it adds a new concept.  The first verse simply says that the earth was corrupt and filled with violence.  This could be understood as "the people on the earth" were corrupt and filled with violence.  Then comes the second verse to clarify and make the point that "the earth" was corrupt because "all flesh" corrupted their way.  As in, the earth and the nature were...

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In Genesis chapter 6 we read about Noah building the ark according to God's commandment.  We can estimate the length of time it took Noah to build the ark from a few verses.  Genesis 5:32 and Genesis 6:10 mention that Noah was 500 years old.  Genesis 7:6 reads "Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth."  This tell us that the ark took about 100 years to build. A question that comes to mind is why did it take that long?  Obviously it's a very large vessel built by a 500 year old man, but why did God allow this to take 100 years to build?  Remember at that time the earth was filled with corruption and unrighteousness but God didn't destroy it yet.  The Bible reads "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth." (Genesis 6:11-12)  Yet God tolerated man's atrocities for over 100 years while the ark was being built!  How can God let evil flourish for that long?  Even today we might find ourselves asking the same question.  We're living in a time where innocent people are being murdered, Churches being burnt, Christians' homes and shops being destroyed, and yet God is letting it all happen.  It might seem to us that God is looking the other way w...

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I recently received the following question in email:  Did Mary the mother of Jesus Christ have other children?  Since the answer to this question might be useful to others, I decided to post it on the website. To answer the question:  Of course St. Mary had other children.  She's the mother of all saints, and the mother of us all.  She will also become the mother of many other children. But of course the question is asking if she physically gave birth to other children than the Word of God.  The short answer is no.  We believe in her perpetual virginity.  She was a virgin before giving birth to God and she remained a virgin after the fact. The long answer is through prophecies, her life, tradition and through logic as well.  Let me explain… Old Testament Prophecies There are many prophecies in the Old Testament about the Theotokos (Mother of God) St. Mary.  Some of them address her perpetual virginity.  A couple of them jump to mind.  The first one is in the book of Ezekiel where he saw the outer gate of the sanctuary which was shut.  "And the Lord said to me, ‘This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.'" (Ezekiel 44:2)  Here we see that the Gate is a symbol of Saint Mary through...

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 "... Noah was a righteous man, who was perfect in his generation and well-pleasing to God." (Genesis 6:9) Continuing on with the Story of Noah, this verse raised many questions.  In a previous article we talked about The Righteousness of Noah.  In describing his righteousness, the above verse adds "in his generation".  Why did the bible need to say "perfect in his generation"?  Does this mean that perfection is relative?  Is perfection in Noah's generation different than todays? Certainly not!  Perfection is from God, and perfection is God.  Our Lord Jesus Christ in His sermon on the Mount teaches us saying "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48).  Also, from St. Paul we know that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Hebrews 13:8).  If God is Perfect, and we know that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then it must be the case that perfection is the same as well.  So now the question still remains, why did the verse add "perfect in his generation".  Also why did the verse need to add "well-pleasing to God" since it already said that he was a righteous and perfect man? The verse starts by saying that "Noah was a righteous man", then it goes on to explain this righteousness in two parts:  The first ...

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Last Article, we talked about Names and what their significance is as well as the significance of knowing someone's name.  In this article we would like to meditate on the Name of God. In the Old Testament the people didn't know God's name.  They addressed Him with various terms such as "Elohim" (Hebrew: אלהים) which means "God", or "El Shaddai" (Hebrew: אל שדי‎) which means "God Almighty", or "Adonai" (Hebrew: אֲדֹנָי) which means "The Lord", etc... It is worthy to note that the term "Elohim" (God) was used when God was dealing with the whole creation, and the term "Adonai Elohim" (Lord God) was used when God was dealing with someone on a personal level.  For example Genesis Chapter 1 talks about the relationship of God with the world and the creation of the heavens and the earth.  Thus in this chapter the term "Elohim" is used to signify that God is the Almighty and All Powerful creator "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1).  Genesis Chapter 2 however talks about the relationship of God with man which is why the term "Lord God" was repeatedly used to signify God's love for mankind "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7) Since mankind didn't know God's name, they were...

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There's a special connection between a person and his name.  It's a connection that is very personal.  Not only does it identify a person, but it also carries a part of the person's personality.  In any training for a customer service type jobs, they advice the employees to use the customer's name often just for that very reason.  Also, how many times have you been embarrassed by not remembering your friend's name on the spot?  It's ok for not remembering their age, their profession, etc... but there's something special about a person's name. When someone works hard they say that they're trying to make a name for themselves.  When another person departs leaving nothing behind it is said that their name is wiped out from the earth.  When someone loves another person dearly, they call them with a special name, a term of endearment, or a nickname that nobody else uses.  When another person wants to insult someone they call them names.  When you label a student as a "lazy student", that label/name somehow turns out to be true.  On the other hand, when you label the same student as a "clever student", even if that student didn't do so good on a test it would be considered an exception and the student will continue to live up to his/her "name". Thus, there's a special connection, and special power to names.  The Bible tells us ...

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Genesis is the book of beginnings.  In Chapter 6 is the first mention of the word "Grace" in the following verse: "But Noah found grace in the presence of the Lord God." (Genesis 6:8) This leads us to a series of more questions.  For example, What is grace?  What does it do for us?  How do we obtain it?  Once obtained, can we lose it?  etc...  To attempt to answer these questions we did a Topical Bible Study on "Grace" to attempt to gain more understanding and insight.  In doing so, we believe all the above questions are answered and more.  Having said that, we do not believe that this is an exhaustive study about grace.  This study does not include many sayings of the fathers about Grace, and it does not include any personal experiences about the topic either.  These will be left as an exercise to the readers to research and experience the Grace of God. First we start with 'What is Grace?'  Grace is a divine gift from God that is freely given.  "...much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many." (Romans 15:5) So it's a free gift, but why would we want the Grace of God? In other words, what does His Grace do for us?  From Our topical study, we find the following: The Grace of God cleanses us: "Moreover the law entered that the offense ...

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In the first article we talked about God's Toil With His Creation and how virtues take time to blossom.  We would also like to note that sometimes God calls someone for a certain task or gives another a certain promise, only to be followed by a long period of waiting. For example, God promised Abraham that his seed shall be as many as "the dust of the earth" (Genesis 13:16) and as the "stars of the sky" (Genesis 15:5).  However it wasn't until years later when Isaac was born to Abraham from Sarah.  Abraham has waited so long that Sarah laughed at the idea that she can still have children since Abraham and Sarah were now "old and well advanced in years" (Genesis 18:11). Another example we see is Joseph.  He waited many years for his dreams to be fulfilled.  However, it wasn't until after he was betrayed by his brothers, thrown into a well, imprisoned in Egypt, remained faithful to God and rose to glory again. Moses waited many years as well before God would use him to deliver his people from the hands of Pharaoh.  It wasn't until he fled to the desert and lived many years there that God appeared to him in the burning bush and told him how he was to deliver his people. Even when he delivered Israel from Egypt, Israel waited 40 years wandering in the desert before they entered into the promised land.  It wasn't until they saw G...

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It is often said that it is impossible to live according to God's commandments in this Generation.  It is also said that God's laws may apply to the earlier days, but now however it would be impractical what with all the sin that is all around us.  Sometimes sin presents itself and is almost forced upon us.  People in the old days must not have had it this hard...  Or have they? In Genesis chapter 6 we read about Noah.  The Holy Scripture attests to him by saying that "Noah was a righteous man, who was perfect in his generation and well-pleasing to God." (Genesis 6:9).  So far nothing special since there were many good people a long time ago.  However, Noah did not live in any ordinary times.  Just a couple of verses later, the Bible tells us why Noah was special by describing the circumstances as follows: "Now the earth was corrupt before God and filled with unrighteousness.  Thus the Lord God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh corrupted their way on the earth." (Genesis 6:11,12) Noah wasn't just righteous.  He was "perfect".  Not only that, he was perfect while everybody else were extremely wicked.  The environment that surrounded Noah was much worse than anything we're seeing today. We can only imagine what Noah must have gone through.  How much pressure to do evil Noah must hav...

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