Dear Ones:

IN THE JOY OF THE FEAST OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL!

Some thoughts from today's beautiful, prayerful Divine Liturgy.  In the Gospel, Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say I am?"  Apostle Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." And Jesus said that on that statement of TRUTH, "I will build My Church."

The Church, belonging to Christ, is founded on TRUTH.  There is no other foundation that will endure.  This TRUTH is the fullness of what Jesus Christ revealed to the Church as being the Will of God the Father.  The Church's primary responsibility is to protect this TRUTH from change, to proclaim it to all the world, and to make this TRUTH the source of human thought and action.

The Apostles Peter and Paul, the rest of the Twelve and the other seventy who were added, were severely persecuted, and most were killed, simply for proclaiming this TRUTH.

This was because the world has always preferred the Lie to the TRUTH.  This fatally flawed reasoning began in Paradise where Adam and Eve walked and talked with God.  Then came the intruder—the snake—with an opposite story.  God said:  "If you eat of this tree, you will die."  Satan (the snake) said:  You will not die!

And what did Adam and Eve do?  They chose the Lie and rejected the TRUTH.  They dethroned their Creator and enthroned the flattering snake—that apple really looked good.  And so from that moment to this day, mankind acquired an insatiable desire for the Lie.

This is important for Orthodox Christians to remember, because for us, the Church is an extension of Paradise into this world.  In the Church, we struggle to live by the TRUTH of God, once again in His presence.  But just as in the Paradise of old, with our first ancestors, the most subtle snake slithers in with the Lie... many Lies about God and man.

It is bone-chilling to realize how mankind has continued to repeat the tragedy of the Fall by inviting Satan in to poison our earthly taste of Paradise and to take us down again.  It is more than bone-chilling how he subtly manipulates the minds of the faithful to increasingly accept the Lie about God and man.  It is absolutely frightening to see how, under the influence of the hissing snake, deluded humanity attempts to revise the TRUTH and deconstruct the Church for its own purposes and according to its own, low standards.

This is why the Apostles and the Lord Himself shed their blood and lost their lives.  It happened at the hands of those who, having been given the TRUTH from the Throne of Almighty God, chose to follow a slimy snake crawling on its belly in the dust.

Through the centuries, mankind has wasted its time perfecting two major hobbies:  creating and worshiping its own gods, and trading the TRUTH for a Lie.  The Lie is swallowed whole, while the TRUTH is regarded with trendy skepticism.  What a putrid, albeit ancient, state of affairs, in the face of which, the modern Church is expected to smile and "adjust."

Instead of learning and turning back from this, the human race continues down this wide road until, at the end, there will be a handful of believers and a huge crowd of shocked but well-fed pagans (even some who thought they were Christians) to greet the Lord's return and receive the Judgment.

Let us know and love the TRUTH of Christ, and therefore identify and destroy the Lie!

HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL—WHO FOUGHT THE LIE TO THE DEATH—PRAY TO GOD FOR US!

in Christ the Truth, the Way and the Life,
Fr. Jason Kappanadze, Pastor