The Virgin Mary – The Mother of God (Theotokos)

Introduction

After creating men and everything for them, God set a discipline, and hence a Law to testify that He is their Creator, that Adam and Eve should not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil [Gen 2:15]. The first men, Adam and Eve, lived the life of holiness under the grace of the Lord, in the garden of Eden for seven years [Jubilees 4:14]. But this very spiritual life, aroused anger and spite, against mankind, in another evil territory, the fallen angels.  Embodied in the flesh of a serpent, the devil defiled our foreparents’ holiness – the first men were cheated to seek godhood by eating that tree, yet they broke the ’first law’ and disconnected from light of the Lord.

After leaving the Garden of Eden, Adam sought repentance and was given a hope that the Lord will save him, and his children, His way. But to expound that God created this universe, the first men established worshiping God through burning offerings and sacrificial rites[Gen 4:3,Gen 8:20]. Even when the children of men went astray and no one, but Noah, was keeping the oath God  made with Adam,  the Lord rescued the righteous family of Noah to carry on filling the earth with men[Gen 6].

God promised Abraham that in his seed shall all the children of men be blessed [Gen 22:18]. When a virgin by the name of Mary was born from the saintly parents Joachim and Anna, the hope of Abraham, Noah, Adam and the hope of mankind was fulfilled. 

For She is the virgin, whom God of Abraham (Jesus Christ) loved to be Son of Man–  Son of God, Son of Mary [Matthew 16:13-18].

When God’s time reached, He sent the archangel named Gabriel to this blessed Virgin. Upon meeting Her, the archangel praised Her with strange salutation – ”Hail you that are highly favored”[Luke 1:28]. This same angel made Zacharias dumb for questioning him[Luke 1:20], but for St. Mary, the angel even praised Her and answered all Her questions with respect [Luke 1:26-38]. Elisabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, filled with the Holy Spirit saluted the Virgin,” Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  And what is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ” [Luke 1:42]. And this reverence for the mother of God shall be done for angels and generations of men[Luke 1:48].

St. Virgin Mary in Old Testament

God’s revelation in Christ was prefigured in most of the Old Testament. For instance Christ is prefigured with the ram Abraham sacrificed in place of his son, Isaac[Gen 22:9]. The event prefigured God’s plan to have His own Son, die on the cross as a ransom for all humans, much like the ram God provided for Abraham substituted Isaac.  In a like manner, St. Virgin Mary is prefigured in so many accounts.

1.           Noah’s Ark: St. Virgin Mary is likened to Noah’s Ark, for both were bold reasons to save the children of Adam from vanishing in death, the Virgin was found pure and alluring for God’s Incarnation in Christ that we be saved from eternal damnation in hell, while the latter saved Noah’s family that now filled the whole world [Gen 8].
2.          The Bush in Horeb: The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses while he was keeping the flocks of Jethro, his father in law in Midian [Exodus 3:2]. While the angel of God appeared in fire in the middle of the bush, the bush was neither consumed nor lost its greenness. Even  more than this, when the Creator of the universe is incarnated in Virgin Mary’s womb, Mary was neither burnt nor feared to carry God on Her back in the deserts of Egypt [Matthew 2:13]. Another prophet, Ezekiel, saw the same God on the back of Seraphim, but these angles are known to cover their faces, eyes and bodies with their wings, fearing the intensity of light from God[Ezekiel 1].
3.          The Second Eve:  We lost paradise by the mistakes of the first men Adam and Eve [Gen 3]. Due to God’s ineffable mercy, we are rose to childhood in Christ. We are given to become sons of God [John 1:12]. The first Eve, ate the fruit of death and brought eternal death to us. However, the second Eve, the Virgin Mary, conceived the fruit of life and resurrection, and we are given to eat the eternal bread of life, Jesus Christ.
4.          The Tabernacle of Moses: God used to appear to the Israelites in the tabernacle in clouds [Deuteronomy 31:15]. The same God appeared and talked to us in the flesh of Mary [John 8:58].

St. Virgin Mary in New Testament

When God saw the faith of Abraham, He swore by His Holy name to Abraham that the whole nations of earth shall be blessed by Abraham’s seed [Gen 22]. Through time God let the children of Jacob to establish a nation, ancient Israel, in which no foreign and hand-made gods were worshipped but God Himself. The apparent significance of this pre-Christ nation was to protect the lineage of St. Virgin Mary, and hence Christ, from defiling into foreign gods. The people of Israel were ordered not to mix with any of their neighbors, in any matter, even with eating habits. Apart from keeping the Ten Commandments of Moses, they were required to circumcise, to keep Sabbath, to be selective at eating. But when the very goal of the Old Testament is fulfilled, i.e. St. Virgin Mary is born, and hence Christ, most of these Jewish cultures lost significance. After Christ was born, Paul taught, ”  there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.”[Romans10:12]. In another epistle, [Galatians 3:24], ”Why the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” All these showed us that the Old Testament era is culminated by (and for) the Virgin Mary, and She gave birth to a new age of hope in God, the Christ.

The Virgin Mary was given as a mother of all Christians, while the Lord was on the cross. His beloved disciple, John received Her, on behalf of us all. This story is narrated in John 19:26”When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son! Then said he to the disciple, Behold your mother! And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.”

Marian Intercession

In the Holy Bible the Virgin Mary is called”the gate”. Its written in the Book of Ezekiel that she is a gate that faces towards the East, and the Lord God entered by it and went out the same way (Ez. 44:2).

Concerning the involvement of St. Mary in our salvation, it’s worthwhile to refer to the early fathers teachings specially Ephrem the Syrian -

”He took a rib from the side of ADAM, and fashioned from it a woman, and the whole creation of the children of men was given to God, the Word of the Father, Who was incarnate of the Holy Virgin, and is called EMMANUEL.  And because of this we beseech her at all times to strive on our behalf with her beloved Son for the forgiveness of our sins.  She was beneficent towards all the saints and the high priests, for she brought to them that for which they waited, and she brought to the Prophets Him concerning Whom they had prophesied, and she brought forth to the Apostles Him in Whose Name they were to preach in all the ends of the world, and from her went forth for the martyrs and believers Him for Whom they were to fight, JESUS CHRIST.” – Hymn of Mary,5th day of the Week (Thursday)

The Church entreats the Virgin Mary to intercede the people to the Lord in all prayers and liturgy services. The priest prays, on behalf of the people, ”O Virgin, remind Him/the Lord/ of His flight with you when you fled from one country to another during the time of King Herod….remind Him of mercy and compassion…remind Him of the sinners and not of the righteous. ”  - Anaphora of St. Mary

The Dormition (Assumption) of Mary, reckons on the 22th of August(16^th in Ethiopian Calendar) is the climax of the two weeks fasting time. In that day is remembered, the Lord gave the flesh of the Virgin Mary to His apostles to bury it. The disciples of Christ, buried her pure and holy body – but for only a while – she was resurrected like unto Her Son. For God of Elijah and Enoch Who took them up to heaven for their obedience [2 Kings 2, Genesis 5:24], was zealous also for His Mother whom He chose to be embodied as Christ in Jesus. The Virgin Mary /called as the Holiest Living Ark/, in whose flesh we saw God as Jesus, was not left to decay and wait for the final day of Judgment like us, but risen to stand on the right side of Her Son. Her resurrection was not accidental but foretold by prophets of God.

King David wrote about the resurrection of the Lord and His mother, in [Psalms 132:8] –”Arise, O LORD, into your rest; you, and the ark of your strength.”

The King also sang ” on your right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir” [Psalm 45:9] for the Virgin Mary. Indeed the Virgin Mary stands on the right side of God to turn His anger into mercy, to help us, the weak, to stand steadfast in embracing Christ until our last breath. Above all, the Virgin Mary is witnessed by the faithful to address most of their day to day problems. Orthodox Christians follow the examples set by St. Elizabeth, Gabriel the archangel and St. John the apostle of Christ and always praise her, “O Virgin Mary, you are blessed among all women”.

May the Lord, God of Abraham, keep us in perfect understanding. And may the blessings of the Virgin Mary be with us. Amen.

Originally prepared by Saint Teklehaymanot Ethiopian 

Orthodox Tewahido Church, Finland 

The Lord's Second Coming

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewhido Church remembers the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ on this Sunday/mid-Lent/. In this day every Christian is advised to research his/her spiritual life, to start living a repentant life. The Church teaches the events to happen at the Lord's day/The day of Judgement/. The Ressurection of all children of men for judgment is narrated in details.

With God's plethoric and ineffable mercy, the fallen  race of mankind was elevated to childhood through Christ 2003 years ago. No one expected God in a manger /Luke 2: 1-14/. The world was running unnoticing  the birth of her Creator in flesh, everyone including the authorities, the emperors, the rich, the poor, the lay... etc, were unaware of God's coming in humbleness. Nobody noticed the child Christ in a manger in Bethlehem except the wise kings, led by the angel of God - not even the chief priests in Jerusalem. But God forgets not promises, He sworn for Abraham, in whose seed was the world to be blessed. God wastes not a minute from His plan to save the world. He came with His time, unnoticed.

The world is now running to nowhere but God's time. Our socio-economy and global politics has extended so much to bring all races of men into a table.The global convergence seems that it is leading us back to the Genesis era, children of men in Shinar building the tower, with one accord./Genesis 11:1-8/. All races are flowing to the new Babylon in the name of DV. Every nation is striving to speak a single international language. The global leaders are pushing for a single currency[1]. The UN, IMF...etc are pushing to become more powerful than the sovereign states, which is an indication for a one world government. The leaders are pushing to form a New World Order[2].  

The technology is whirling to make information flow fast and instant, for the Gospel of God should be preached to every soul, for judgement. For God in Christ promised it  " 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come.", Matthew 24:14.  Shall we need a prophet that the Internet is one of the tools God used to reach out souls? Is there anytime on earth, the gospel has been preached like this via Facebook, youtube, google, msn, yahoo, messengers, paltalk, ...etc?

Doesn't it seem that God is reshuffling the world to an order for something, frankly talking we are going to the end of the world, but no one knows how far we are from it?

Still the world is running without noticing its path. As a Christian, we fear not all these. We knew it to happen at God's time. We tremble not for losing the world, but for not bearing fruit to show in front of  the Lord, our God. Lets wake up and walk a walk of just reason! Lets use our time to love others, for we are created to love. Lets stretch out our hands to the poor, for demonstrating our faith in Christ. Lets live our time wisely, to not regret later!!!!

May the Lord keep us from snares of Satan. Amen.

Forget me not in your prayers.

[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/5096524/The-G20-moves-the-world-a-step-closer-to-a-global-currency.html
[2] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/g20-summit/5097195/G20-summit-Gordon-Brown-announces-new-world-order.html

Prayer in Tewahido

Source : Riitta Känkänen's Facebook Album 

Among all the Creation, only men and angels will live for eternity. These two races will praise God and enjoy His love forever, in fact, they drive satisfaction from /feed on/ prayers in Heaven.
The Lord Himself spoke of the life of men in heaven
as "For in the resurrection they[men] neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven."Matthew 22:30
Praising the Lord is the very fulfillment of our joy in eternity and the very reason of our Creation. We hope to join the perfect mass of angels in heaven to praise our Creator. However, when we talk about praying [here on Earth], it comes to our mind the associated physical stresses and the hardships against our material interests. We labor to train ourselves for prayer, at a cost. Then it may seem, this 'stress' will follow us in heaven too. But in heaven its not like that. Being a spiritually enlightened, our soul feels the presence of the Lord, and starve to call His lovely name, the very Authority who created her.


Prayer was recognizably powerful in the old times, but its magnificence seems to be neglected by contemporary theologians. The value of prayer is beyond measure. The fruits of a pure prayer will prevail not only in this material world, but for eternity too. Because once God visits a wo/man who humbly prayed, He never rejects for eternity. In John 6:37, the Lord Himself promised it, "him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out".


Besides the eternal hope, however, prayer brings  earthly peace. Even some Christians, hesitate to believe, the power of prayers to change the social, natural, political and medical problems. Whatsoever problem is happening in the current social, political, environmental or any discipline on global/local/ scale is a reflection of God's judgement for our deeds. If we live according to the Biblical morality, we will eat the fruits of our righteousness. If we pervert our deeds, then we will suffer from the judgement of our lusts. Think that when each of us are doing good deeds/according to the Biblical laws/, then we are contributing towards the betterment of living conditions. At whatever scale and for any reason, when we are found violating against the Biblical morality, we are adding a fuel on the fire to the already chaos world. The same rule applies to prayers. When we pray, we are inviting calmness into Earth - for God pours His peace via prayer communications. The global events like WWI, WWII, the Economic Crisis 2009 are all results of our cumulative sins. Let alone those global events, even very local crises like the tsunamis, famines, wars and conflicts, outbreak of epidemic diseases etc are all related to our sinful life. If we repent not, we do perish with such disasters too. Our Lord Himself taught the following "4 ...those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think you that they were sinners above all men that dwelled in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, No: but, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish." Luke 13. Prayer has the power to divert these disasters which came forth as a result of our sinful lives.


The concept of repentance is mostly misused to justify our sins. Whatever sin is done, there will follow judgement, which may extend into eternal rejection, unless we repent. Even if we may repent, however, we will suffer on earth, as a result of our sins. The two Biblical righteous patriarchs Jacob, son of Isaac, and king David are both clear examples. Jacob deceived his father /of course for good/ to receive his blessing - Genesis 27. He then, was deceived by his uncle Laban - Genesis 29:21-30. While king David helped to the death of Uriah, 2 Samuel 11. King David was later suffered for his mistakes - his daughter, Tamar, defiled by his son, Amnon. Even his another son Absalom conspired to dethrone him, 2 Samuel 15, had it not God visited him with mercy. God judges every sin, even these two saintly fathers, whose faith was witnessed by God Himself.


The Tewahido Church has its tradition of praying, collection of prayer books and prayer hours. In principle, there is no greater prayer than continuously meditating (staying tuned with) about God (ተዘክሮተ-እግዚአብሔር), thinking His salvation for the children of men, the life of His Saints, and the coming life God has prepared for mankind. We can stay tuned with Godly messages in every possible reasons. There are many technologies to help us, like mp3 players, mobile phones, iPods, iPhones, computers, youtube, printed materials etc  for listening audio Bible, spiritual songs, even sermons etc, even as many as there are  so much commercial 'theaters' to attract our attention. Let the fool use the technologies for listening metal music, but we can use them for nourishing our soul with the word of God.


Prayer is divided into two: private prayers- which we do privately and mass prayers - like liturgy, seatat, mahlets, singing prayers - done in masses. A typical and devout Christian is advised to pray privately seven times a day like king David, "Seven times a day do I praise you because of your righteous judgments." Psalm 119:164,i.e. every three hour in the 24hr cycle.  However the length and level of meditation may vary according to our capabilities. It may feel uncomfortable and burdensome,  at least for us beginners. In this instance its nice to remember an Ethiopian proverb, "In steps, an egg walks with legs". Because the way to perfectness is long, we have to train ourselves to keep meditating with the Lord, as much as we can. Specially, in times of fasting like the Great Lent, its good to heighten our prayers to receive more blessing with respect to the season. We do fast with the Lord in desert - by praying we recall the Lord's temptation in the desert, we do strive to win against the evil powers who are trying to detach us from Him.


The Tewahido Church has prepared prayers for every event, before/after meal, before bedtime, morning prayers, each day of the Great Lent, repentance, prayers using prayer beads ...etc. Its advisable to remember some of the prayers by heart. Psalms is the most common and most advisable prayer book. Most priests do remember the Psalms book by heart. The advantage of attending Tewahido mass prayers like Liturgies is that, most of them are compiled from many items like Hymn of Mary, Psalms, Gospels, OT and NT prayers, Creeds, Faith of Fathers, Homilies etc.


The Ethiopian saintly patriarches and matriarchs Saint Teklehaimanot, Saint Gebre Menfes Kidus and St. Kristos Semira are known for their inspiring prayers.The lovely father Kyrillos VI, pope of Coptic Church before pope Shenouda, is the modern figure of prayer, who demonstrated the real power of prayer in this century.


May God send His mercy to the people of Japan. Amen.
Melkam Tsom and forget me not in your prayers!

Marian Intercession in Tewahido

   

I pray to God and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ do so, for God is the Creator and the ONLY receiver of prayers. But God  could grant what He wishes! And He granted godhood to Moses in front of  Pharaoh/Exodus 7:1/

” And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy 

brother   shall be thy prophet.”

  

   The same God also made

 1.        Abraham a prophet to 
        intercede  Abimelech to
        Himself/Gen 20:1-7/.

        While Abimelech was ABLE 
        (pure enough) to see God in dreams – 
        and  thereby DIRECT PRAYERS, he was  
        ordered by God to beseech Him indirectly via Abraham. Why did that happen?
        I speak of Abimelech's purity, because Pharoah (who vanished in Eritrean Sea) was not 
        pure enough to see God. For God needs pure heart to declare Himself even in dreams or 
        visions, and Abimelech had that heart! In fact He was innocent.

2.       Job an intercessor for his friends Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and 

       Zophar the Naamathite/Job 42:7-9/. Why God needed this INDIRECT prayer? Was 

        these men’s deed worthy enough to take their prayers to God? Why God need Job to

        be magnified, as compared to his friends?

*         *        * many more like this

When we come to St. Virgin Mary the story will be similar but a more vivid version. God was pleased to be named ”God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, God of Job...”. But for This Virgin, God is pleased  even to be called ”Son of Mary”. Isn’t that the prophecy ’God’ to be called ’Son of Adam, Son of Abraham, Son of David…’ fulfilled with our Lady? Aren’t you eating the Flesh and drinking the Blood of The Lord, to be saved? Where did He get that? She is a pure vessel, ineffable, and a tree with a fruit to nourish the hunger of all children of Adam! Isn’t the Lord called ’Son of Man’, [not ’son of Angel’], embodied in Her pure flesh? BTW the ’face of the Lord’ is exactly similar to Hers – this could be biologically justifiable claim/by face like ’ደም ግባት, ዉበት, …’/. For The Lord was born of Her without the need of a man, He is exactly like Her skin color and beauty. 

I wonder the beauty of the prophecy about Her in Isaiah 1:9

”Except the LORD of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we[all men] should have been like to Gomorrah.”

All men Adam, Abraham, Jacob, Isaiah, David,…saw God in dreams/visions because they loved Him better than other men. But The Virgin CONCEIVED HIM, TOUCHED HIM, raised Him and is called The Mother of God. Is there any wo/man claiming to love The Lord more than His Mother, a Mother with ONLY ONE SON? Who is closer to Him than Her? Who washed the Lord, God of Abraham? Who heard His childhood whispering closer to by ear?For whom God showed obedience, as a child while growing up? Who kissed the face of God? But St. Virgin Mary is His Mother and no other is closer to the Lord than Her!

 Then who is worthier to be heard more?

 Abraham(His prophet) or St. Mary(His Mother)? Who is worthier to intercede men, Job or St. Virgin Mary? Whom did God glorify more, Job’s truth or the flesh of Mary?


As Her Son, Who is the Savior of the world, is Her FRUIT of purity and greater than Her, even so is She the FRUIT of righteousnesses of Enoch, Noah,Abraham, David,.....Joachim and Anne, and She is greater than them, indeed.

 Is it not all this because that our Lady Virgin Mary is really deserving to be the mother of God? Amaze yourself by Her comments, in line with God/The Father person in Trinity/!!!

The Father spoke in clouds,

“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; HEAR YOU HIM.” Matthew 17:5

“His mother said to the servants, Whatever he said to you, do it” John 2:5

Mind you She was not in Mount Tabor hearing the voice of God in clouds, neither was She in Jordan to be baptized in the hands of John the Baptist. But She knew it, for She is The Holiest Treasury who kept many holy secrets in Her heart. Luke 2:19 “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart”.

She is PURE enough in heart to be a perfect VINE TREE on whom the FRUIT CHRIST did ripe.

A better spiritual understanding, would not crash The BIG PICTURE with incomplete fragments of Biblical sentences!

For me, I know myself, I am not worthy and neither do my prayers climb up to the Throne of God, The Most High! I need an intercessor, St. Virgin Mary – The Mother of God, and my  beloved Mother offered to me via John the Appostle at the last minutes in Golgotha /John 19:27/.

I haven’t seen any dreams or visions of God like Abimelech, who was INNOCENT enough to see God in dreams. That means I need Her better than Abimelech needs Abraham! If I were like St. TekleHaymanot, St. Arsema or St. George, whose spiritual victory pleased God, I could have prayed DIRECTLY to Him. I am not sure, if my DIRECT prayers are effective enough to help my case.

Fear if in case we may be found standing by the dragon in Revelation 12:13, when we comment against Her participation in Salvation.

13 And when the DRAGON saw that he was cast to the earth, he persecuted the WOMAN which brought forth the man child. 14 And to the WOMAN were given two wings of a great eagle, that SHE might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where SHE is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the WOMAN, that he might cause HER to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the WOMAN, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with THE  REMNANT OF HER SEED , which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”


I don’t know about you. JUDGE yourself! But I underline, let not insolence eat our hearts, even if we may see visions and dreams like Abimelech!
It would be an ETERNAL DISASTER, if we enthroned up ourselves in undeserving status and if finally the Lord rejects us.
11 And when the king came in to see the guests{of weeding}, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12 And he said to him, Friend, how came you in here not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called, but few are chosen. Matthew 22:12

I conclude with a Tewahido proverb – ”Biblical words are golden beads, chew them wisely”. Another similar proverb ”Words {of Bible} are killers, interpretations are medicines”


May the Lord, God of Abraham, and Son of Virgin Mary send to us His Holy Spirit to discern scriptures. Amen.

The Sixth Sense Organ

The American Heritage Dictionary defines 'Language' as "Communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols. [1]
According to The Bible the first men were able to communicate even with animals.
 Eve was able to communicate with the serpent. [Genesis 3:1-5]
"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, Yes, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. 4 And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die: 5 For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
For a modern linguist, this may sound a bit weired - how can men speak with a serpent in a manner that can be  lexically interpreted? Is there any sense organ we missed to communicate with animals? Or did the serpent lose its humane intellect and physical structure, degradation to a mere animal snake?
But the same Bible gave no trace of the second option. So what was the 'sixth' sense organ amputated from Adam and Eve, after their eviction from The Garden of Eden? Why don't we communicate with animals now? ......Question ONE!

As we ponder on to the same Bible, [Genesis 11:1]
"1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelled there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly.....[].....Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from there did the LORD scatter them abroad on the face of all the earth.
"
The children of men faced another limitation, even they themselves faced misunderstandings among each other. At this time it became clear that we might not have lost a sixth physical sense organ - rather the same incident might have happened with "the serpent-men" dialect. What might have caused this miscommunication?........Question TWO!
Today there are more than 6,809 languages spoken around the world [2], that means more than 6800 differences and misunderstandings.

Is MODERN language advanced enough to make communication possible without any bottlenecks?
Let us do a simple experiment. How many of us could speak the following video to a friend who didn't see it?

I wonder if we could pass 10% the information encoded in this video even without the audio tracks!!! We are terribly less communicating among ourselves.
We depend on words to do our daily business - to interact with our environment. That means we are living dictionaries. The more active in selecting convincing 'words' a person is the more successful his/her life, no matter what is in his/mind!!! Among the contemporary politicians, the US president Barack Obama used this skill to win his career.
Why are we dependent on discrete number of words to communicate with our fellows?.....Question THREE!

Language in Spiritual Domain

The Lord taught the apostles many things, but they were not able to comprehend His messages. At the end of His ministry, most of them were still confused about the new doctrine, Christianity world view. In the end He told them "12 I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come." [John 16:12]

After the descent of The Holy Spirit on the apostles, they begin to speak other languages. [Acts 2:1]

This broke the language barrier and facilitated their Global Ministry. But is the language we are speaking dependent on another unseen dimension - beyond the vibration of our vocal cords?......Question FOUR!

The word human is ሰዉ in Amharic /ሰብእ in Geez/. ሰብእ literally means SEVEN. It came directly from the natures of HUMAN. According to Tewahido teachings, we are created from seven substances/elements. Air, Fire, Water, Earth are the FOUR natures of our physical body. Life, Intellect and Utterance are the THREE natures of our Spirit.(*). So accordingly our language skill is hidden in our spiritual dimension - the nature of Utterance. Similarly our physical dimension is just a hardware to interface us[our soul] with our environment. This doesn't mean that our soul is less interactive. Our Spirit is even over conscious, omnipotent and omnipresent(independent of time-space dimension). But for the time being its docked[locked in] within our physical body.
Another fascinating fact is that our Life is in the spiritual dimension too. Once our spirit[our Intellect, our Life and our Utterance natures] leave our physical [our Air, our Fire, our Water and our Earth natures], we are declared as dead. The Near Death Experiences[NDEs] , confirming this Tewahido teaching, can help to understand this concept. Then DEATH means the release of our spirit from our physical natures!!!

Inter-Being [angel-soul,soul-soul] communication

The same Tewahido teaching explains that the communication between spirits is not through discrete words. Rather its a kind of paranormal/telepathic/ communication. Whats in ones mind is fully passed into another's mind just at the moment of thinking the message, without any miscommunication. This is similar to assuming as if both are sharing the speaker's mind regarding to the message. 

Now all the above questions are mystified here! The children of men lost this ability for their disobedience. 

At first they were able to communicate with animals telepathically. The more they sinned the more they became less conscious of the spiritual way of living.

The Significance of LISTENING to the guidance of The Holy Spirit.

The Word of God[The Bible] is, as often said by Tewahido scholars, "a Golden bead". Unless we ascend into a better spiritual level, to listen to God speaking to us, it is dangerous to chew it randomly. Then we have two options to correctly understand the Biblical messages - either praying for our purity or asking those who understood it. Reading the Bible is highly encouraged, but interpreting it needs hearing to the Holy Spirit.

Prayer[+ meditation with the Lord] is a better strategy to receive guidance from the Holy Spirit. By listening to God, we can discern, we can outperform the language barriers we discussed so far. The Holy Spirit speaks in silence and from inside our hearts. He removes the dense fog from our hearts. Don't expect Him in noisy displays. Neither within artistic lures. Just ponder and listen Him from within silence. Unless you calm down yourself, you may not listen to His sounds......just whispering within your calmness.

After receiving the Holy Spirit, the Apostles' world view was changed dramatically into perfection. The involvement of The Spirit of God in understanding God Himself made Christianity ineffable and inexpressible in words only. Christians receive the Holy Spirit at the time of Chrismation. From that time on, the Spirit of God dwells within us for guidance to righteousness, unless we deliberately sinned against Him. The Spirit of God pours into our mind the perfect knowledge without any limitation. Be careful not to mistake The Spirit of God with the spirit of Evil. The Spirit of God remembers us righteousness and calmness, while the Evil spirit requests us to take less care of that path and go on according to emotional desires.
The Spirit of God curves our world views, when we learn Biblical messages. A Christian being guided by the Spirit of God will end up being founded on unshakable rock.

May the Lord, God of Abraham give us a blessed Feast of Theophany [ Ethiopian Timkat]. Amen.

* - I translated them myself, Life[ሕይወት - የሕያዊት ነፍስ ባሕርይ], Intellect[ልብ- የለባዊት ነፍስ ባሕርይ] and Utterance[ልሳን- የነባቢት ነፍስ ባሕርይ]. Anyone with better translation is highly welcome.

  - Life = the nature of being a living Being

  - Intellect =the ability to reasoning

   - Utterance = the ability to communicate with other Beings
[1]-http://www.answers.com/topic/language#ixzz1Aa6K2hOK
[2] https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/howmany.pdf&pli=1

The Church History ---- PART ONE

Knowing the history of Christianity helps knowing the sensitive nature of Salvation. For a Christian knowing the past understands how to react to the future. A Christian not knowing that even a neck was paid for Salvation, may compromise the very concept of following the Lord with temporal peace. The Lord taught us that, "Whoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it ; and
 whoever shall lose his life [for the sake of the Kingdom of God] shall preserve it." Luke 17:33


However, these days following these principles and adhering to the very righteous path may trigger to be labeled as a 'fundamentalist'. To the scale of being casted out from friends, families, etc. These are the modern 'martyrdom' costs to whom we have to react cautiously, lest we may be drowned with the deeds of the world. Last time a preacher was arrested for speaking that homosexuality is sin [1]. What is the meaning of spirituality, if a sin more wicked like homosexuality that was the reason for the extinction of Sodom and Gomorrah [Genesis 19:1] by the Lord, is not a sin even two millennia  after the Gospel was preached? A corrupted social philosophy driving men to be degraded below the instinct morale of animals!!!
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Enjoy reading Church History Presentation
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Happy New 2011. May the Lord send His peace to all men around the world. Amen.




[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7668448/Christian-preacher-arrested-for-saying-homosexuality-is-a-sin.html

The Orthodox Tewahido Church in brief

In the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit One God Amen.

The word Orthodox/ኦርቶዶክስ/  came from two Greek words, ORTHOS – direct, right and  DOXA –  belief, religion. It is used to signify the teachings on the nature of Our Lord, Our God and Our Saviour Jesus Christ based on the expressions used by St. Athanasius and St. Cyril, pillars of our faith. Their orthodox expression is “The One Nature of God the Incarnate Logos” to describe Christ’s nature.

 Tewahido /ተዋህዶ/  is a Geez /the ancient language of Ethiopia/ name used to signify the unity of God’s / the Son/ Divinity with His humanity in the body of Jesus Christ.  It holds the idea that our Lady St. Virgin Mary is “Mother of God”/ Theotokos/, She gave birth to the Incarnate Logos, where the divine nature of Christ

was united hypostatically with His human nature in Her womb without confusion, without mingling, without separation, without alteration or without transmutation. Tewahido/Miaphysis/ is quite different from monophytism[1], which was taught by Eutyches claiming that the human nature of Christ was fully absorbed by His divine nature.The Tewahido teaching rejects both  Apollinarius[2] and Eutyches.

           

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church, Tewahido or EOTC afterwards,  is an apostolic /archaic/ Christianity unchanged nearly two millenia due to historical and geopolitical isolation. The region was cut off from the rest of the Christian world since the rise of Islam in the 7th century.

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church is not Coptic– unlike what most western Christians consider, although historically it was put under The Coptic Orthodox Church jurisdiction – a form of spiritual injustice. The differences in Liturgy, Architecture, Iconography and other material and spiritual values between them are solid testimonies for this.  The EOTC believe in the same pre Chalcedon , three Ecumenical Councils, as do the other Oriental Orthodox Churches. 

Due to this historical relationships, the two sister Churches (Coptic and Tewahido) adhere to almost similar concept of Spirituality and Biblical Christianity. Coptic monastic patriarchs St. Antony, St. Makarius, St. Moses the black (attributed to be Ethiopian origin), St. Pauli (the first hermit) and others are well known and highly revered in Ethiopian monastic communities. 

Even though many kings /St. Harbai, Emperor Johannes IV…/ tried the complete autocephally  from Coptic Church, it wasn’t achieved until Emperor Haile Silasse and during  St. Cyril VI as  Coptic church patriarch, in 1959.

The incoming of the Nine monastic Christians from Byzantine, who arrived to Axum from Byzantine Empire in the 5th Century fleeing persecution from pro Chalcedon Christians, followed by indigenous Saints like St. Yared, St. Tekle Hymanot, St. Gebre Menfes Kidus, Abuna Ewostatius, Abuna Zena Markos, Aba Giorgis (The Ethiopian- Cyril)…etc  help Tewahido to be well sustained and  flourished in most parts of Ethiopia through  ages.  

Generally, EOTC culture is influenced by these main factors;

-          Judaism, which came with the Ark of the Covenant.

-          The monastic life of the Nine Saints.

-          St. Yared, the great hymnist who started using 'hymn notations' - symbols analogous to 'musical notes'

-          Indigenous and unique spiritual values /the underground Lalibela architectures, the seatat of Aba Georgis,’ Quine[3]’, ‘Melka Melk’[4] , ‘Andimpta’[5]. . . etc/

Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity is the most conservative in culture, and the most ornamented by colorful spiritual traditions and history. EOTC is the only Church with Judaic roots transformed into Christianity by its own children without any blood spill. The Ethiopian Eunuch is among the first non-Jewish converts  to embrace Christianity in 34 A.D. (Acts 8:26-40). Tewahido was accepted first in the royalty, then to the ordinary  people, unlike the other Churches. Furthermore, EOTC has uniquely preserved its alphabets, its own annual calendar, Holy Land heritages, post and antediluvian scriptures, and monastic traditions. 

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[1] The pro-Chalcedonian  Churches misunderstood the Oriental Orthodox Churches’ belief in Tewahido/Miaphysis/ as monophysites during the Church Schism at the controversial Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD.

-          Miaphysis = unity of humanity and divinity into one nature.

-          Monophysis = claims the two natures of Christ were united at the Incarnation in such a way that one Christ was essentially divine although He assumed from the Virgin Theotokos the flesh and attributes of man.

[2]  Apollinarius preached the Divine Nature of Christ, but did not believe in His complete human nature; he considered that the human nature of Christ was not in need of a soul and thus He was without soul because God the Logos provided the needed life. As this implied that the human nature of Christ was incomplete, the Holy Ecumenical Council of Constantinople held in 381 A.D. condemned Apollinarius and rejected his idea declaring it a heresy.

[3] Quine is a gold and wax poem of Biblical theme, where the golden message is used for praising God and His saints. It can also be used to express joy/sorrow or any feelings, for Kings, patriarchs etc.

[4] Melka Melks are praises in poem /to our Lord, our Lady, and Saints/ which start with ‘body parts’.

[5] Andimpta  is a way of searching the multiple messages conveyed by Biblical teachings.