ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
The
stages of purification and illumination are being offered by God free
of charge
to all of
those who
want. He does not discriminate
against anybody.
If we really want, we can pass through the first and reach the second
stage. All what's needed is our honest repentance and our
will to start trying
to purify our soul, our nous, our heart, cooperating with the Grace
of the Holy Spirit. As soon as we do that, we are definitely going to
get to the state of illumination.
Illumination
is nothing else but what we call "pre-tasting of Paradise";
a person in this state feels he/she is already in Paradise, right
now, because the Church is actually "the Paradise on earth".
Once illumined, we can feel already being in Paradise, because the
Church is truly
the "Paradise on earth". A real member of the Church is the
one who lives already in Paradise now, at the present; it is the
person who has reached the state of illumination and hence became a
temple of the Holy Spirit!
Concluding,
who is after all to be considered a "normal" Orthodox
believer?
Is
it necessarily anyone who is baptized, but has not yet been purified?
Obviously not.
Is
it maybe
the one who is already purified and illumined? Yes, indeed!
f. Savvas Agioreitis
To be continued...
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