Why are we called Christians by Saint Cyril of Jerusalem

1. Having been baptized into Christ, and put on Christ, you have been given the same form as the Son of God; for God, having foreordained us to adoption as His children, gave us the same features as the body of Christ’s glory. Having therefore become partakers of Christ, you are properly called Christs (anointed ones), and of you God said: “Do not touch my Christs, (or anointed ones)”. Now you have been made Christs, by receiving the stamp of the Holy Spirit [Holy Chrism]; and everything’s been done to you in imitation, because you’re images of Christ. He washed in the River Jordan, and having imparted the fragrance of His Godhead to the waters, He emerged from them; and the Holy Spirit in the fulness of His being lighted on Him, like resting upon like. And, in a similar way, after you emerged from the pool of the sacred streams, you were given the Chrism, a copy of that with which Christ was anointed. This is the Holy Spirit of whom also the blessed Isaiah, in his prophecy about Him, said : “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me: He has sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor”.

2. For Christ was not anointed by men with oil or material ointment, but by the Father, Who had previously appointed Him to be the Saviour of the whole world, Who anointed Him with the Holy Spirit, as Peter says: “Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit”. David the Prophet also cried, saying, “Your throne, God, is for ever and ever; the sceptre of your kingdom is the sceptre of righteousness. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God,Your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows”. And as Christ was, in actual fact, crucified, buried and raised, you, too, in Baptism are deemed worthy of being crucified, buried, and raised together with Him, in His likeness. So is it with anointing also. As He was anointed with the notional oil of gladness, that is, with the Holy Spirit, Who is called oil of gladness because He is the author of spiritual gladness, so you, too, were anointed with Chrism, having become partakers and fellows of Christ.

3. But beware of supposing this to be plain oil. Just as the Bread of the Eucharist, after the invocation of the Holy Spirit, is no longer mere bread but the Body of Christ, so also this holy Chrism is no more simple oil, nor (so to say) common, after the invocation, but it’s a gift of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, through the presence of His divinity, and is made active. This Chrism is symbolically applied to your forehead and your other sense organs. And while your body is anointed with the perceptible Chrism, your soul is sanctified by the Holy and life-giving Spirit.

4. You were first anointed on the forehead, so that you might be delivered from the shame which the first transgressor carried everywhere with him; and so that, with unveiled face, you might reflect, as a mirror, the glory of the Lord. Then on your ears, so that you might receive the ears which are able to hear the Divine Mysteries, of which Isaiah said: “The Lord also gave me an ear to hear”. And the Lord Jesus, in the Gospel, says: “He that has ears to hear let him hear”. Then, on the nostrils, so that receiving the sacred Chrism you may say, “We are to God a sweet savour of Christ, among the saved”. Afterwards, on your breast, so that, having put on the breast-plate of righteousness, you may stand against the wiles of the devil. For as Christ after His Baptism, and the visitation of the Holy Spirit, went out and vanquished the adversary, in the same way you, who after Holy Baptism and the Mystical Anointing, have put on the whole armour of the Holy Spirit, are to stand against the power of the adversary, and vanquish it, saying: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.

5. Now that you’ve been deemed worthy of this Holy Chrism, you are called Christians, confirming the name also by your new birth. Because, before you were found worthy of receiving this grace, you actually had no right to this title, but were advancing on your way towards being Christians.

6. Besides, you should know that the symbol of this Chrism lies in the Old Scripture. For when Moses gave his brother the command of God, he made him High-priest. After he had bathed in water, Moses anointed him; and Aaron was called “Anointed”, evidently from the rite of Chrismation. So also the High-priest, in advancing Solomon to the throne, anointed him after he had bathed in Gihon. To them, however, these things happened as a formal procedure, but to you  they occurred in truth, because you were truly anointed by the Holy Spirit. Christ is the beginning of your salvation; for He is truly the First-Fruit, and you the leaven; but if the First-Fruit is holy, then clearly His holiness will pass to the leaven also.

7. Keep this unblemished, for it will teach you all things, if it abides in you, as you have just heard declared by the blessed John, talking in depth about this Anointing. For this holy thing is a spiritual safeguard of the body, and salvation of the soul. The blessed Isaiah, prophesying of old, said: “And on this mountain” (he also calls the Church a mountain elsewhere, as when he says, “In the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest”) “the Lord will make a feast for all the nations ; they shall drink wine, they shall drink gladness, they shall anoint themselves”. And to confirm his words, listen to  what he says about this myrrh being mystical: “Impart all these things to the nations, for this counsel is for all nations”. Having been anointed, therefore, with this holy Chrism, keep it unspotted and unblemished in you, prospering in good works, and becoming well-pleasing to the Captain of your salvation, Christ Jesus, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

 Source-omhksea.org

Preparing for Antichrist in the Church

“The essence of Orthodox pastoral care, which is bound up with the Hesychastic Tradition of the Church”

The Antichrist and Chrismation*

“Hence, the Shepherds of the Church must not speak only about the Antichrist and his forerunners, but first and foremost they must help Christians to live in such a way that the Grace of Baptism and Chrismation is activated, by the keeping of Christ’s commandments and doctrines, by experiencing these in one’s life in an Orthodox manner, by repentance, and by inner noetic prayer of the heart; for in this way they will be able to distinguish between the energies of Christ and the energies of the Antichrist.” 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

From time to time, we hear talk about the coming of the Antichrist and what he will bring about among people and in the world. Indeed, there are those who would even determine the specific time period in which he would appear.

Many people ask us about this subject, but the answers are to be found in Holy Scriptures, and especially in the Epistles of St. John the Evangelist, the Apostle Paul, and the Revelation of St. John, and in all of the pastoral practice of the Church.

In what follows, I would simply like to make some suggestions, primarily on how one is to deal with this situation.

* * *

1. In his First Catholic Epistle, St. John the Evangelist speaks about the coming of the Antichrist, and also about the activity of antichrists; indeed, he writes to the Christians that the hour is at hand.

In particular, he writes:

“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that the antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (I St. John 2:18).

According to the interpretation of St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite, who uses texts by ecclesiastical writers, apart from the Antichrist, who will appear towards the end of the world and near the Second Coming of Christ, there are also many antichrists, who are already implementing the work of the Antichrist, both in his age and in every age, and who

“are forerunners and heralds of the one who is intrinsically, primarily, and truly called the Antichrist.”

Just as there were Prophets before the coming of Christ, so, also, before the coming of the Antichrist, his own forerunners, the false prophets, will appear.

Thus, according to the interpretation of many, antichrists are called “the impious heresiarchs,” who uphold and defend “the profane doctrines of the Antichrist.”

This is the reason why St. John the Evangelist, in the following verse, writes:

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us” (1 St. John 2:19).

These were those Christians who had learned revealed truth and the Angelic way of life, but, since they were enslaved to sensual pleasures, were unable to comprehend

“the majesty of the heavenly good things, the beauty of the noetic world, and the bliss and truly ineffable joy of the ages to come,” according to St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite.

They therefore returned to the life of apostasy,

“and did not desire to become true devotees of the pure life in Christ.”

• Consequently, before the coming of the Antichrist, the forerunners of the Antichrist manifest themselves: that is, the various heretics, but also those Christians who, instead of living the life in Christ with purity of heart and true faith of mind, live with passions and weaknesses, without inner prayer or true faith in God.

2. St. John the Evangelist, however, does not confine himself to speaking about the Antichrist and his forerunners, but also speaks about how we must deal with the Antichrist and his forerunners. This is why, immediately following the previous lines, he writes:

“But ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 St. John 2:20).

In other words, Christians have received anointing from God and know how to distinguish between the energies of the Antichrist and antichrists and the energies of Christ. This does not come about by the reading of books, but by the anointing that exists in the heart and that teaches.

St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite, once again explaining what this anointing is, writes:

“that is, you have received the Grace and energy of the Holy Spirit in your hearts from the Master Christ, the Holy of Holies.”

And further on, referring to how one receives the anointing of the Holy Spirit, he writes:

“Christians receive the Grace and energy of the Holy Spirit through Holy Baptism, and indeed through the anointing of the Holy Myron, and perhaps this is why the Grace of the Holy Spirit is called anointing and sealing, having the same name as the anointing and sealing of the Holy Myron; wherefore when the Priest anoints Christians with it, he concludes with these words: ‘the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”

The anointing of the Holy Spirit is the seal of the Holy Spirit that takes place during the Mystery of Chrismation through the Holy Myron, on the day of our Baptism.

In what follows, in the same chapter, St. John the Evangelist once again states that the holy anointing received by the Christian at Holy Baptism teaches him to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

He writes:

“But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him” (1 St. John 2:27).

According to the interpretation of St. Nikodemos, who uses texts by the Fathers and writers of the Church, the anointing that man has received is the Grace of the Holy Spirit, which abides in the hearts of Christians, and according to the words of St. John the Evangelist, Christians are exhorted

“to abide unchanging and unalterable forever in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love and faith.”

And, as is his wont, St. Nikodemos writes: “how and in what manner” does man remain unchanging with regard to the gift of the Holy Spirit? This happens when man abides steadfastly in the doctrines of Theology and of the Incarnate OEconomy, not just rationally, but also existentially.

• Thus, whoever speaks about the Antichrist and his forerunners should make reference to all of the passages in St. John the Evangelist, and should specify primarily what St. John says about the manner in which we must confront the Antichrist and his forerunners.

Christians distinguish true prophets from false prophets and Christ from the Antichrist only by the activation of Chrismation, which they have received from God and which works in their hearts.

3. The Apostle Paul, also, speaks about the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which is also called a seal.

To be precise, in his [Second] Epistle to the Corinthians, he writes:

“Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

It is most clearly apparent, here, that God is the One Who gives confirmation to Christians. He is the One that anoints us. Anointing is identified with sealing, and this is done by God, Who gives us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

If one examines other similar passages from the Apostle Paul to discover the meaning of the earnest of the Spirit and what it means for one to sing hymns and spiritual songs in his heart, then he will understand that this anointing and seal is noetic prayer of the heart, which is an expression of the love that man feels for God.

The Name of Christ has been written on the person that has received the seal of the Holy Spirit.

St. John the Evangelist mentions this subject in his Revelation.

“And I saw another Angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four Angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, ‘Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.’ And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed a hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel” (Revelation 7:2-4).

It is unambiguous, here, that the Angel who had “the seal of the living God” sealed the servants of God on their foreheads.

A similar passage is found in another chapter of Revelation:

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on Mount Sion, and with Him a hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1).

In other words, the saved, who stood with the Lamb–Christ, had the Name of Christ and His Father written on their foreheads. And as the text then says, they sang a “new song” before the throne of God, the content of which they alone knew.

• Thus, the sealing of Christians with the Name of Christ and His Father is bound up with the “new song”; that is, noetic prayer, which is unknown to people who have no experience of this condition.

4. All of this means that, with the Mystery of Holy Chrismation, which is bound up with the Mystery of Holy Baptism, we received the gift of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, through the sealing of the parts of our body, when the Priest said: “the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

This anointing in the heart acts as illumination of the mind: as inspiration, as love for God, as prayer, as hope in eternal life, and as the earnest of the Spirit.

The confession of the Martyrs and the martyrdom that follows is the activation of Holy Chrismation, by means of which the Martyr beholds God; this is why the martyrdom of the Saints is not a simple matter of a rational process, sentimental excitement, or an impetuous action, but it is the fruit of the vision of God and deification.

When we commit some sin, however, then the anointing in the depths of our hearts is activated through repentance. In other words, repentance that is expressed as an inclination to change one’s life, as love for God, and as prayer, is the activation of the Grace of Holy Chrismation. This anointing, moreover, is activated by noetic prayer of the heart, which is the“new song” that is sung by those who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

When a person, however, denies Christ, departs from the Orthodox Church, and adopts heretical confessions and religions, he then loses this gift. And when he returns to the Orthodox Church, he must once again receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit through the Mystery of Chrismation.

• Hence, the Shepherds of the Church must not speak only about the Antichrist and his forerunners, but first and foremost they must help Christians to live in such a way that the Grace of Baptism and Chrismation is activated, by the keeping of Christ’s commandments and doctrines, by experiencing these in one’s life in an Orthodox manner, by repentance, and by inner noetic prayer of the heart, for in this way they will be able to distinguish between the energies of Christ and the energies of the Antichrist.

Otherwise, they will confuse uncreated with created energies and, what is worse, they will regard the energies of the Antichrist as the energies of Christ, and vice versa.

This discretion constitutes Orthodox pastoral care. And its essence is what is called the Hesychastic Tradition.

* * *

All of those who are vouchsafed the anointing of their hearts by the Holy Spirit—that is, the writing of the Name of the Lamb of the Revelation and of His Father in their hearts—will escape from being sealed by the Beast of the Apocalypse and his father, just as they will escape his forerunners.

This is the essence of Orthodox pastoral care, which is bound up with the Hesychastic Tradition of the Church.

This is why the preservation of Orthodox monasticism is of great importance. Every alteration to the Hesychastic spirit of Orthodox monasticism helps the forerunners of the Antichrist to do their job well and deceive the people.

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* Source: Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ Παρέμβαση, Navpaktos, No. 122 (June 2006), pp. 1 and 8; Ὀρθόδοξος Τ΄ύπος, No. 1654 (4 August 2006), pp. 3 and 4.