“In the Orthodox ecclesial experience and tradition a sacrament is understood primarily as a revelation of the genuine nature of creation, of the world, which, however much it has fallen as "this world," will remain God's world, awaiting salvation, redemption, healing and transfiguration in a new earth and a new heaven. In other words, in the Orthodox experience a sacrament is primarily a revelation of the sacramentality of creation itself, for the world was created and given to man for conversion of creaturely life into participation in divine life. If in baptism water can become a "laver of regeneration," if our earthy food - bread and wine - can be transformed into partaking of the body and blood of Christ, if with oil we are granted the anointment of the Holy Spirit, if, to put it briefly, everything in the world can be identified, manifested and understood as a gift of God and participation in the new life, it is because all of creation was originally summoned and destined for the fulfillment of the divine economy - "then God will be all in all.” CreationGoodnessOrthodoxSacrament Book:The Eucharist: Sacrament of the Kingdom Source: The Eucharist: Sacrament of the Kingdom
“It is not a gathering of 'escapees' from the world, bitterly enjoying their escape, feeding their hate for the world. Listen to their psalms and hymns; contemplate the transparent beauty of their icons, their movements, of the entire *celebration. It is truly cosmical joy that permeates all this; it is the entire creation - its matter and its time, its sounds and colors, its words and silence - that praises and worships God and in this praise becomes again itself: the Eucharist, the sacrament of unity, the sacrament of the new creation.” ChristianJoyOrthodoxBaptismEucharistLiturgy Book:Of Water and the Spirit: A Liturgical Study of Baptism Source: Of Water and the Spirit: A Liturgical Study of Baptism
“Every evil screams only one message: 'I am good.'” ChristianEvilGoodnessMessagesDeceptionOrthodoxScreamOrthodox ChristianTreacheryDuplicityFalseness Author:Alexander Schmemann
