Gleanings from Orthodox Christian Authors and the Holy Fathers

john14,6

3 Entries

By many mansions (John 14:2) the Saviour meant the different degrees of existence in the other world. The kingdom is one, but within it there are many divisions, according to the difference in knowledge and virtue of those who enter therein, and to their degree of deification. For 'there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the ; for one star differs from another star in glory', as says the divine Apostle, though all shine alike in the firmament. (1Cor 15:41) St. Gregory of Sinai (On Commandments and Dogmas no. 44)

---

Throughout his entire history, man appears as a unique type of creature who has laboriously sought the fundamental and essential truth upon which the foundation of the cosmos rests. Man has attempted to answer the quest for truth in various ways -- mythologically, philosophically, atheistically, spiritually, and materialistically. However, he has not been able to solve the problem since he has tried to solve it with the categories of pure, autonomous, and atheistic humanism. Only in the miraculous person on the God-man Christ is the entire eternal Truth revealed, without any defects. Further, the search for eternal truth is completed in the revelation of the absolute divine Truth within the boundaries of human nature. Thus, from the mouth of the God-man Christ came the most courageous declaration that a human being could possibly give: 'I am the Truth' (Jn 14:6). This means that the God-man Christ, as a person, is the truth in all His theanthropic perfection and reality. Fr. Justin Popovich, Highest Value and Last Criterion in Orthodoxy,:in Orthodox Faith and Life in Christ.

---