The Holy Fathers on Orthodoxy скачать в хорошем качестве

The Holy Fathers on Orthodoxy

The Holy Fathers on Orthodoxy “We, following the Faith delivered by the Apostles and Fathers, confess and believe the Son of God, unchanging and true, the same always and before all ages.” “What we received from the Apostles, we also deliver, and those who believe it confess (it).” “If the world is against the truth, then I’m against the world.” (St. Athanasios the Great) “It is better to choose a commendable war than peace which separates from God. The Faith which I was taught by the Holy Fathers which I taught at all times without adjusting according to the times, this Faith I will never stop teaching; I was born with it and I live by it.” (St. Gregory the Theologian) “Orthodoxy is not a human philosophy, but the revelation of God to people.” “There is nothing more precious than the correct Faith. Whoever alters it, is separated from God.” (St. Maximos the Confessor) “The truth of Faith is one and unchanging, like the sun, which never ceases to shine." (St. Cyril of Jerusalem) ~What sort of union is this then… How can they come together, each retaining his own? “Behold, they read two Creeds as they did before. They perform two different liturgies – one on leavened and the other on unleavened bread. They perform two baptisms – one by triple immersion and the other by aspersion (sprinkling of water); one with Holy Chrism and the other without it. All our Orthodox customs are different from those of the Latins (Roman Catholics) including our fasts, Church rites, icons, and many other things. What sort of union is this then, when it has no external sign? How could they come together, each retaining his own?” “There is nothing more precious than the Orthodox (Christian) Faith.” “It's better to lose everything than to betray the truth.” “Orthodoxy cannot be subordinated to human decisions, because it is the very truth of God.” (St. Mark of Ephesus) “Let us flee from those who reject patristic interpretations and attempt by themselves to deduce the complete opposite. While pretending to concern themselves with the literal sense of the passage, they reject its godly meaning. We should run away from them more than we would from a snake, for when a snake bites it kills the body temporarily, separating it from the immortal soul, but when these evil men get their teeth into a soul, they separate it from God, which is eternal death for that soul. Let us escape as far as we can from such people, and take refuge with those who teach piety and salvation in accordance with the traditions of the Fathers.” “Only Orthodoxy saves, because only it preserves intact the divine revelation.” (St. Gregory Palamas) “They (the Westerners; Roman Catholics) attempted by their false opinions and distorted words to ruin the holy and sacred Nicene Symbol of Faith — which by both synodal and universal decisions possesses invincible power — by adding to it that the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from the Father, as the Symbol declares, but from the Son also. Until now, no one has ever heard even a heretic pronounce such a teaching. What Christian can accept the introduction of two sources into the Holy Trinity; that is, that the Father is one source of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and that the Son is another source of the Holy Spirit, thereby transforming the monarchy of the Holy Trinity into a dual divinity?” (St. Photios the Great) “If you reject the image of Christ, you deny His incarnation, because if He cannot be depicted, He did not become a man.” “After the Invisible One became visible in the flesh, you can visualize the image of God that became visible.” “Because Christ, God, became man, it is possible to be depicted, because He assumed human nature.” “I do not worship matter, but I worship the Creator of matter, whom matter made visible for my sake, and through whom my salvation came.” “We do not change the boundaries marked out by our Fathers. We keep the Tradition we have received. If we begin to lay down the Law of the Church even in the smallest things, the whole edifice will fall to the ground in no short time.” “Wherefore, brethren, let us plant ourselves upon the rock of faith and the Tradition of the Church, removing not the landmarks set by our Holy Fathers, nor giving room to those who are anxious to introduce novelties and to undermine the structure of God’s holy ecumenical and apostolic Church. For if everyone were allowed a free hand, little by little the entire Body of the Church would be destroyed.” Reached capacity: