Salvation

Salvation

There are three distinct stages or steps to salvation: marked by Pascha, Pentecost, and Tents.  We were saved; we are being saved; we will be saved.  At Pascha, circa 33 AD, the gift of salvation was offered to all, because of the precious body and shed precious blood of Jesus Christ, which we are free to accept or reject... those who reject this gift are lost. At Pentecost, circa 33 AD the Spirit was given to all who believe in this Christ... this is biblical Baptism... He makes the Law alive within us by joining us to Christ... not all who receive the water, receive the Spirit… those who despise this gift cannot be recovered.  After this we walk through the rest of life, living in temporary shelters (Tents), longing and waiting to go home… many decide that it’s not worth the trouble and walk away….  We can only say, we have been saved, when we enter into the heavenly rest of God.

The remembrance of Pentecost is only two days away for many of us… another week for others.  As crucial as this is to Christian salvation-life, the gift of the Holy Spirit is the least developed of all biblical topics… we have no idea why this is true.  There are very few hymns about the Holy Spirit.  We have never heard a single sermon on the Holy Spirit.  Whatever is available is colored and distorted by fads and extremism.  To teach the Spirit is to teach the Father and the Son.  To teach the Spirit is to teach the Church.  To teach the Spirit is to teach the Bible.  These are indivisible things.  Moreover, the Church and the Bible cannot be separated; they grew up together: The Spirit is Vicar over both.  To exaggerate or distort the teaching of The Spirit is blasphemy.

Whenever you decide to honor it, this Pentecost, join with us in commitment to studying and honoring the person and work of the Holy Spirit in proportion to His presence in the Bible.  There is much work to be done; we have just begun to collect the New Testament verses; the Old Testament verses still need to be collected.  All the verses need study, as well as our mutual growth in understanding; hymns must be written and sung: we have barely scratched the surface.  Only by giving The Holy Spirit His due, can the tragic fracturing of the churches and distortions of theology that surround us, hope to be healed.  Even then, we at best prepare ourselves for the Second Advent of Christ.  Today, we hope to continue in the process of being saved: we walk in The Spirit….

https://www.swrktec.org/spirit

[1]

---

[1] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations, please repost, share, or use any of them as you wish.  No rights are reserved.  They are designed and intended for your free participation.  They were freely received, and are freely given.  No other permission is required for their use.

Cyril of Jerusalem, Readers

Cyril of Jerusalem

Readers

“These Catechetical Lectures for those who are to be enlightened you may lend to candidates for Baptism, and to believers who are already baptized, to read, but give not at all, neither to Catechumens, nor to any others who are not Christians, as you shall answer to the Lord.  And if you make a copy, write this in the beginning, as in the sight of the Lord.”

St. Cyril’s Catechetical Lectures are not intended for all readers; they are specifically directed toward those ready to receive exorcism, baptism, chrismation or confirmation, and first communion.  The Procatechesis, and first eighteen lectures were delivered before baptism; the last five lectures were delivered after baptism.

In the early Church, coming out of the persecutions of the first three centuries, being recognized as a legal institution for the first time, it appears that the process of catechizing had developed into a somewhat lengthy practice, possibly lasting three years or longer.  Small, children were baptized, usually by a combination of effusion and immersion, without catechizing: based on the confession of their parents.  Older children and adults were catechized.  The yearly cycle was focused on conducting baptisms just before Pascha (Easter), so that the newly baptized might receive their first communion at Pascha.  So, by whatever process candidates were deemed ready for baptism, St. Cyril began his lectures with them specifically during Lent: the other catechumens were excluded.  However, once the lectures were reduced to published writings, it was no longer possible to prevent anybody from reading them.

St. Cyril’s stated purpose in such a delay was not to make Christianity into a secret society.  His only concern was that too early exposure to certain truths could be harmful: the rudiments had to be learned first.  So, please don’t read these lectures if you’re not ready.

https://www.swrktec.org/catechism

Cyril of Jerusalem, Introduction

Cyril of Jerusalem

Introduction

We are concerned with special prayers: for in reading the blessed words of St. Cyril (313-386), we were immediately confronted by the attacks of Satan, seeking to take away from us, that which St. Cyril had just taught us; we, thus, became intensely aware of the heat of the spiritual battle which engages us all.  In such a light, St. Cyril exhorts us to cross ourselves at every occasion and pray: for we are confronted by adversaries on every side.  This, the spiritual battle, the attacks of Satan, we believe to be the principal reason that St. Cyril is not better known, nor more widely read in churches by Christians: for if St. Cyril were read, we would immediately see our need of greater repentance, we would shamefacedly perceive how far we have fallen from our baptisms.  This has certainly been my experience.

https://www.swrktec.org/catechism