Apologetic matters

Concerning   Miracles

With miracles, the Lord does not give a certificate of correctness of people's faith. He does them out of love for his creatures.

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Ο n account of all those who have difficulties with the matter of the Lord's miracles, Father stressed: When some­one accepts the Resurrection of Christ--in other words, that Ch ri st is God--then he can easily explain all the miracles.

 

Natural Sciences

 

Natural sciences ί n essence describe and certify. They don't explain.

 

The Foolishness is Innumerable

 

For all the foolishness to be refuted, which is w ri tte n against Ch ri st ί anit y , the mountains would have to be minds, the trees, pen holders, the sea, ink, and the fields, paper!

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Many people w ri te as they smoke and smoke as they w ri te and w ri te whatever the smoke blows.

 

 

The Law of Reserves

 

When you write, my child, do not present all your argu­ments at first. Keep a few ί n reserve, so that, if there is some­one who answers, you can implement the golden «law of re­serves.» Thus, you support your positions better.

 

Bosses

 

We always have a boss: Either God, or the devil and our passions.

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Man has freedom only as regards his choices: Το choose as a boss either Ch ri st or the devil. From there ο n , the obli­gations begin both ί n the one case and ί n the other. Many call oppression the obligations of Ch ri stianity. We Ch ri st ί ans speak of struggle.

 

Sin and disbelief

 

Sin is that which prevents us from believing. Not logic. For this reason, if you tell an unbeliever to live for six months according to the ethics of the Gospel, and he does it, he will become a believer without even realizing ί t

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«God does not exist» is usually said by people who are lewd and unethical. There has not been found nor will there be found an ethical, continent, virtuous, etc. man who will rather easily say: «God does not exist!»

 

What is Faith?

 

Faith and trust ί n God are not for you to say ίη the morning, « Ι believe that ί n a little while the sun will dawn.»

That is merely trust ί n the functioning of natural law and not ί n God. Faith is when, at a time when everything shows that the sun is being led to its setting, you say, « Α little more and the sun will be ί n the middle of the sky,» if the Lord has thus promised.

A Si lencing Answer

Once, Father mentioned the following anecdote:

Α certain scholar, after quite a bit of argumentation to prove that God does not exist, said:

«If God exists, let him kill me this instant!»

And because, of course, nothing happened, he contin­ued:

« Υου see? If He existed he would have killed me.»

Then, an elderly lady told him:

«Do you have children?»

« Υ es,» he answered.

«How many?»

«Three.»

«Are they well behaved?»

«Well, not all of them . . .the two listen to me, but the

       third . . . .»

« Ι n other words?» asked the lady.

«Well,» said the scholar, «he talks back to me, he

.

doesn't listen to what Ι tell him, he acts wayward . . . .»

«Well then, you should kill him!» the lady told him.

« Μ y child?» the scholar said, amazed.

«Oh, so there, hah! So, if you do not want to kill your child, how then do you imagine that God would kill you who loves you incomparably more than you love your child?»

 

He Would Sell Lemons!

 

Once, a certain father (who was strongly mate ri a l ist ί c) of one of the Elder's spiritual children visited him to complain that he was exerting an «unacceptable» influence up ο n his son. At one moment, furthermore, he said, smiling mock­ingly at the Elder:

«And don't tell me, Father Epiphanios, that you, such a smart man, believe the things about Ch ri st, Paradise, Hell, etc.»

Then, the Elder got up automatically, set his politeness and meekness aside and, with a loud voice, told him:

«Listen, Mister! If Ι did not believe all these things, Ι

would prefer to be selling lemons at Omonia, rather than to

be fooling you! Ι would prefer to be a completely illiterate la­borer, rather than a lettered liar!»

After this, the visitor departed with his head bowed . . . .

 

«God come to find me!»

 

Once, the Elder visited a certain, Sp ί ri tual child of his who was ί ll. There were also some other visitors, among whom was also a certain atheist doctor. After a little while, the conversation turned to religious topics and lasted quite a while. Ι n the end, the Elder addressed the doctor:

« Μ y doctor, despite your objections, Ι discern ί n the depth of your soul a good will and disposition. Without being a prophet, Ι believe that God will not leave you. Ι would like to submit to you one request. Would it be diffi­cult, once a day, to say the following small expression: 'God, if you exist, come to find me!'? Ι think it will not cost you

     anything nor does it clash with your conscience.»

He accepted.

Α few months later, the doctor diagnosed ίη himself neo­

plasm of the bones, ί n other words: cancer. He departed abroad. There, the doctors advised him to return to Greece, because it was a rapidly spreading form of cancer and he was quickly approaching his end.

Before taking the return road home, he asked to confess and commune. He died ί n repentance a little wh ί le after his return to Greece.

Nature Doesn't Recognize Justice

The Elder said: Professor Louvaris formulated ί n a first form the following argument, whose strength Ι have e xp e ri ­enced ί n conversations: Marxists proclaim that there exists nothing beyond matter, and natural laws govern everything. However, nature knows ο n l y the law of strength. The laws of love, compassion and justice are unknown to it. Based ο n this logic, the fate of the lamb is for the wolf to eat it and for the ri ch person to oppress the poor person without ethical respon­sibility. Ο nly the acceptance of ethical laws, after the rejection of mate ri al ί sm can justify the demand for social justice.

There Exists a Soluti on and You Foolishly Reject It!

Once, a lawyer who met the Elder for the first time asked him about reincarnation. Father Epiphanios answered him. After a lengthy Ρ e ri ο d of discussion, the lawyer insisted ο n cont ί nuing ο n the same subject. So, the Elder said to him:

« Α ll ri ght, but don't you pity your time deal ί ng with these things?»          .

«Is it evil, Father?»

« Νο , my l ί ttle child, it is not evil ί n the sense that you are researching a topic, but you are wasting your time ί n vain.»

« Ι like searching.»

«How old are you?»

«About forty.»

«So, you are forty years and you are still searching? And when will you settle? And after you settle, will you then have years before you ί n which to regulate your life ί n accordance with your settled convictions? Life is very short and leaves quickly! Υ ou can't make searching the aim of your life. Υ ou must, of course, settle somewhere.»

«Father, Ι don't accept the approach 'believe and don't research'!»

«But Ι am not telling you not to research. Ι am simply telling you that sometime you have to settle somewhere. Υ ou are already late.»

After a little while, the lawyer departed and the Elder commented:

«Do you know what it is for your tongue to have d ri ed up from thirst, to have a little sp ri ng next to you and yet not approach it to be refreshed, but instead settle for swampy waters? Do you know what it is to tremble from the cold, for the fire to be next to you and for you not to extend your hands to get warm? Miserable people!»

 

 

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