12/14/2018
Archpriest Nectarios Trevino
I fear the further secularization of our Orthodox Christian faith, once premised on Holy Tradition, today following the wiles of power, authority, and non-apostolic Protestantism.
It is not an oversimplification to say that guardian angels have limited powers. Nor would it be an overstatement to say that guardian angels are empowered by the person whom they are attending to or looking after.
We are never abandoned or alone. And this is important because man lives in a supernatural worl—in “spiritual combat between the powers of light and the powers of darkness.”
It can be the only explanation for the denigration of the Holy Eucharist—the heart and embodiment of the Church—by the Greek communion with non-apostolic heretics in Ukraine to the unholy dispensing of the precious Body and Blood to non-Orthodox Christians in America.
Apostolicity is also sacred phenomenology, “the first-hand experience of God”i and His working in our apostolic priesthood and the lives of His people. Such phenomenology is experiential and difficult to express in verbiage.
The question for me became: was I willing to sacrifice my integrity to men who were ignoring the apostolic priesthood—men telling me by their deeds that the apostolic priesthood was of no consequence?
Truth in today’s society means little. And when it creeps into Orthodox Christianity, irrespective of the level, its corroding effect is eternal lest it is expelled.
Permit me to offer a not-so-unrealistic geopolitico-religious tale based on the Second Book of Kings.
The deceivers operate with human impunity, unafraid of God, because they possess pride and confidence in their intellect and positions of power to manipulate man.
Why did the September 2001 and subsequent atrocities occur? To answer this question, we must understand the world and its reality.
Priest Nectarios Trevino
Rating: 8.6|Votes: 32
I recognize the conflict—the cosmic battle—is more significant than this life. I chose the truth, hope, and the Church.
Fr. Nectarios Trevino
Rating: 7.6|Votes: 40
The present crisis in the news did not begin today. Its roots began in the nineteenth century—if not earlier, continued into the twentieth century, and are maturing in the twenty-first century with a new fervor into an unprecedented form of authority and authenticity—perhaps trusting that God and His people are not looking.
