In this video, Archbishop Christophoros from Jordan talks about the ultimate goal for Christians: to meet Christ, to love Christ. “The Gospel is just the medical prescription in order to be treated and healed. Why? To be able to see Christ!”
This is a sermon recorded in December 13th, 2020 by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese – Amman – Jordan. Read the full English transcript of this sermon here:
English translation by Waad Rabahie
Video source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese – Amman – Jordan
Archbishop Christophoros Attallah:
So the Gospel is not a purpose. The Gospel is the way. The teaching of God, the teaching of Jesus is not the purpose, but it’s the medical prescription in order to be treated and healed, to be cleaned and purified.
Why?
To see Christ! To see Him and meet Him! To love Him as He loved us! How important it is for us to meet Christ… And this is what the Church offers. The Church is Christ’s body. That’s why here in the Church we meet with Christ. We don’t meet Him in a theoretical dimension, nor we follow Christ for the sake of the Gospel and His teaching, nor for any moral theory that He taught. We follow Christ for Christ’s sake, because we should meet Christ.
So the purpose is not the Gospel, nor the teaching of Christ, the purpose is Christ. To meet Christ… To see Him. To touch Him… through love.
All religions talk about faith in God. What does the first commandment say? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind… That’s why Christianity is not a religion, Christianity is the revealed Truth incarnated in the Incarnated God Who revealed the eternal, universal, heavenly truth. He revealed it to us. And we live it here in the Church. While all religions call for belief in God, the Church calls for loving God, the One you see and know. That’s why we have the Church as a witness to the Truth inside the universe and the world.
The Church is not only the Church we see. The Church is eternal because God is eternal. In the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, this is the first Church from eternity that appeared in Jesus Christ, the Incarnated God. This Church that preserved the Orthodox faith for 2000 years… And each of us has a responsibility: how to meet Jesus, how to love Jesus, and how this love be incarnated in our life, in our relationship with ourselves, with the others and with God.
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