Saturday, July 24, 2010

The Universal Faith


There is one religion only, the Orthodox Christian Religion. And this spirit, the orthodox one, is the true one. The other spirits, are spirits of delusion and the teachings are mixed up. -Elder Porphyrios

Only the Religion of Christ unites and all of us must pray that they come to this. Thus union will occur, not by believing that all of us are the same thing and that all religions are the same. They are not the same...our Orthodoxy is not related to other religions. -Elder Porphyrios

This is our God, Who took thought for and established His beloved inheritance, the holy Church, setting her foundation in Paradise, comforting with His true word our forefathers who fell through disobedience. This is our God, Who, directing us to His promise of salvation, left Himself not without witness, but foretold the coming salvation, first through the forefathers and prophets, and by many images gave a lively description of it. This is our God, Who by the prophets of old often spoke to the fathers, and in these latter days spoke to us by His Son, by Whom time was created; Who declared the goodwill of the Father towards us, disclosed the mysteries of heaven, confirmed the truth of the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit, sent His apostles through the whole world to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, and confirmed it by various powers and miracles. -From the Triumph of Orthodoxy

This is the faith of the apostles! This is the faith of the fathers! This is the Orthodox faith! This faith has established the universe!