St. Basil Greek Orthodox Church

Monday

1 Thess. 1:1-5; Luke 10:22-24

No man knoweth Who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him (Luke 10:22). The Son was on earth and revealed everything necessary for us Himself and through the Holy Spirit, Who acted in the Apostles. Consequently, what you find in the Gospels and the apostolic writings is all your will and can know about the Father and Divine things. Do not seek more than this, and do not think to find the truth about God and God's plans anywhere else aside from this. What a great treasure we possess! Everything has already been said. Do not rack your brains, just accept with faith what has been revealed. It has been revealed that God is One in Essence and Truine in Persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Accept this with faith and uphold it. It has been revealed that the Tri-hypostatic God created all through the Word and preserves all in His right hand, in His providence is over all things. Accept this with faith and uphold it. It has been revealed that we were in a blessed state and fell, and that for our restoration and redemption the Son of God, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, was incarnate, suffered, died on the Cross, resurrected and ascended into heaven. Accept this with faith and uphold it. It has been revealed that he who desires to be saved must believe in the Lord and, receiving Divine grace in the Holy Mysteries, must live, with its help, according to grace in the Holy Mysteries, must live, with its help, according to the Lord's commandments, struggling against the passions and lusts by means of spiritual endeavors that correspond to them. Accept this faith and do it. It has been revealed that whoever lives according to God's direction will enter after his death into radiant dwelling places, the foretaste of eternal bliss. But whoever does not live this way will, upon death, begin to experience the torments of hell. Accept this with faith and keep it faithfully. There is no need to rack your brains over your own invented things. Do not listen to those who show off their intelligence, for they do not know where they are going.

-From St. Theophan the Recluse