691
As the saints look to the future
God in no way affects the freedom of man. Everything that had been written in the Scriptures and foretold that the saints, not determined by them – they just did. So that is one thing – pre-define, and more – before-seen. They saw the events in advance. These events will happen in the future that they foresaw, and not Vice versa.
So, human freedom is not canceled in any way. God does not want to abolish freedom of any creature has ever done this, because He has inherent dignity, and that He has given, He never takes back. The gifts of God are irrevocable. The free will that He gave us, refers to primary goods, therefore we take full responsibility for their actions. We are responsible for your actions. The prophet is not to blame, that the Holy Apostle Peter deny and Judas betray Christ, and as it happens, so far the prophet before-seen pre-said.As for how he thought and how, is the mystery of the Holy spirit. We can't understand them, at least not yet on that level where we are today. Yes can we understand how the saints could see the future?
I've seen all good men, like elder Porphyrios, elder paisios, Ephraim Catenacci and many others. So how do they see the future?
I went to the elder Philotheus (Zervakos) – you have not heard about him? I was 19-20 years old, and I stayed with him a week. He is a great and famous man, a disciple of Saint Nectarios Aegina. It was in 1980. I was still young. We went to the monastery and raised there noise.
When was the last day I came to say goodbye, the old man said to me:
I want to make you a gift!
Well, what kind of gift? And he something gave and now also searched in his cell for something to give me. Opened the Desk drawers and said,
– We are looking for and can't find!
I said to him:
No matter geronda, give me something!
There were some handkerchiefs, and I said to him:
– Give me an handkerchief!
He replied:
– No! I want to give you the icon!
– Okay, give me some kind of icon!
But he has turned the whole cell, I found the same little icon of the monk Nikon of Repentance and said to me:
– Take this icon and also preach repentance!
I laughed at hearing these words. With me was a monk and I said to him:
– Where am I to preach repentance? On The Holy Mountain?
The elder replied:
– You take the icon, and when you will be over 30, remember me! And so I took the icon, and then forgot about it, have misplaced it and never talked about it. Then from the Holy Mountain I moved to Cyprus. I arrived then with Athos with one plastic bag in hand, because I thought that a month back. And then I brought all my stuff from the Athos monastery, and when I disassembled, I found the icon Philotheus. On the back she had an inscription, which I then did, but then forgot. It read: "Take this icon and preach repentance. After 30". I wrote it down.
As the saints prosireni these things, are they predetermined? No, but the grace of the Holy spirit has this power, and it's a mystery. In the same way as past events. Elder Porphyrios saw what happened in ancient times, 5000 years before Christ. Once he returned from the island of Tinos, next to him sat a woman archaeologist. The old man by that time was almost blind. Archaeologist this was not a religious man. The old man began to tell different things, but she didn't pay him much attention until he began to describe to her what happened on the island 5000 years ago. He told her everything: what are the ancient monuments were there, what was wrong – awesome description. How did he see? How did he do it? It is through the grace of the Holy spirit. So they explained and said so.Elder paisios said that many times through prayer was outside the Holy Mountain, among other places, in other spaces, people who are in need. He said:
– With one biscuit instead of fuel you left out the entire universe.
I remember once we had problems in the monastery, and I went to the elder [Paisii]. It was 10 PM, we prayed, and then the old man went out somewhere, came back and told me:
– Are you still awake?
They say to him:
– No! I'm worried, think of our man in Cyprus.
He asked me:
– What do you want?
We have not received letters and don't know what is happening there. If anything had happened?
He told me:
– You turn on the TV and see.
But which is the TV, geronda? I have no TV!
– No TV? Neither color nor black-and-white? he said. – Let's turn on any channel and see!
He then went to his. We laughed, and I went to his cubicle, and he in his. Of course, he prayed until morning. In the morning, when we met, he described to me in minute detail the monastery, in which lived our old man. Describe also what happened in it. What do you say? He told everything to the smallest detail. For example, the man was a stand for pens, he even described her. Where the old man kept his pens, shoes, everything. It was about the elder Joseph. About themselves as elder paisios said that he has a black and white TV, and the elder Porphyry – colored.
I also remember we reported on a priest that he was in the hospital. He is sick with something, but the doctors couldn't understand what he's got. And one man from Thessalonica came and said to the old man [Paisii]:
– Geronda, you know this father in the hospital, and they can't understand that!
The old man tells me:
– Make him an x-ray!
I replied:
– You, geronda, do it! I don't do x-rays!
He said
– I have so much bread fed to you and you can't do even one x-ray?!
He was joking, because the man who comes to ask for help, was a radiologist. The elder said to him:
– And you, Costa, because the doctor, you don't give us x-ray, so we can see what this person has?
We laughed. And then, when talking, the elder began to accurately describe what this priest in the hospital, to the smallest detail. Besides, then he laughingly said to the doctor-the radiologist, who, incidentally, now a University teacher:
– Up against the wall, so I took an x-ray, now let's see what you got!
He went to the wall.
And, to not reach x-rays! – and the plaster on the wall was oblubena. – Plaster for this purpose should be intact!
Then he put the doctor to the wall and told him about a serious health problem that he had, and he did not know about it – the problem with the liver. He said to him:
– Over the liver, you have a problem.
And indeed, when he went to the hospital, and turned, and he passed then long-term treatment.
How would we explain all this? Based on some logic? Only when we learn the law of the spirit, the law of the grace of God, only then begin to understand things. The only way to understand God's Holy people. Otherwise we will make very many mistakes. When we want one reason, rationalism and logic to interpret the Holy people and their businesses, there are big problems.
You can see that in the old Testament God told me to do many ridiculous things. For example, one of the prophet He said, "Take off your clothes and go on the road!"[3] What was the logic? However, He said it. And there was a specific reason! And another old Testament prophet He said, "Go find the king and tell him so-and-so." He went, but the king only looked at him and kicked out. God told him: "Go find so-and-so cleaver, he's in the woods, tell him to hit you with an axe to the head, and so, bloody, go to the king. Then he would take you!"
I think if we examine the lives of the saints and Scripture, we will see how God was working, and realize that God does not act according to the schemes, God does not fit the schema, no matter how much we tried to cram It in there. God has Its own ways, Its measurements, Its rhythm, He acts differently. But if God does that, then who are we to judge and examine the works of God?! We can't do that. However, what we do know firmly and what no doubt is what God does not negate human freedom... posted
The Metropolitan Of Limassol Athanasius
P. S. And remember, just changing your mind - together we change the world! ©
Source: 3rm.info/publications/57529-kak-svyatye-predvidyat-buduschee.html
So, human freedom is not canceled in any way. God does not want to abolish freedom of any creature has ever done this, because He has inherent dignity, and that He has given, He never takes back. The gifts of God are irrevocable. The free will that He gave us, refers to primary goods, therefore we take full responsibility for their actions. We are responsible for your actions. The prophet is not to blame, that the Holy Apostle Peter deny and Judas betray Christ, and as it happens, so far the prophet before-seen pre-said.As for how he thought and how, is the mystery of the Holy spirit. We can't understand them, at least not yet on that level where we are today. Yes can we understand how the saints could see the future?
I've seen all good men, like elder Porphyrios, elder paisios, Ephraim Catenacci and many others. So how do they see the future?
I went to the elder Philotheus (Zervakos) – you have not heard about him? I was 19-20 years old, and I stayed with him a week. He is a great and famous man, a disciple of Saint Nectarios Aegina. It was in 1980. I was still young. We went to the monastery and raised there noise.
When was the last day I came to say goodbye, the old man said to me:
I want to make you a gift!
Well, what kind of gift? And he something gave and now also searched in his cell for something to give me. Opened the Desk drawers and said,
– We are looking for and can't find!
I said to him:
No matter geronda, give me something!
There were some handkerchiefs, and I said to him:
– Give me an handkerchief!
He replied:
– No! I want to give you the icon!
– Okay, give me some kind of icon!
But he has turned the whole cell, I found the same little icon of the monk Nikon of Repentance and said to me:
– Take this icon and also preach repentance!
I laughed at hearing these words. With me was a monk and I said to him:
– Where am I to preach repentance? On The Holy Mountain?
The elder replied:
– You take the icon, and when you will be over 30, remember me! And so I took the icon, and then forgot about it, have misplaced it and never talked about it. Then from the Holy Mountain I moved to Cyprus. I arrived then with Athos with one plastic bag in hand, because I thought that a month back. And then I brought all my stuff from the Athos monastery, and when I disassembled, I found the icon Philotheus. On the back she had an inscription, which I then did, but then forgot. It read: "Take this icon and preach repentance. After 30". I wrote it down.
As the saints prosireni these things, are they predetermined? No, but the grace of the Holy spirit has this power, and it's a mystery. In the same way as past events. Elder Porphyrios saw what happened in ancient times, 5000 years before Christ. Once he returned from the island of Tinos, next to him sat a woman archaeologist. The old man by that time was almost blind. Archaeologist this was not a religious man. The old man began to tell different things, but she didn't pay him much attention until he began to describe to her what happened on the island 5000 years ago. He told her everything: what are the ancient monuments were there, what was wrong – awesome description. How did he see? How did he do it? It is through the grace of the Holy spirit. So they explained and said so.Elder paisios said that many times through prayer was outside the Holy Mountain, among other places, in other spaces, people who are in need. He said:
– With one biscuit instead of fuel you left out the entire universe.
I remember once we had problems in the monastery, and I went to the elder [Paisii]. It was 10 PM, we prayed, and then the old man went out somewhere, came back and told me:
– Are you still awake?
They say to him:
– No! I'm worried, think of our man in Cyprus.
He asked me:
– What do you want?
We have not received letters and don't know what is happening there. If anything had happened?
He told me:
– You turn on the TV and see.
But which is the TV, geronda? I have no TV!
– No TV? Neither color nor black-and-white? he said. – Let's turn on any channel and see!
He then went to his. We laughed, and I went to his cubicle, and he in his. Of course, he prayed until morning. In the morning, when we met, he described to me in minute detail the monastery, in which lived our old man. Describe also what happened in it. What do you say? He told everything to the smallest detail. For example, the man was a stand for pens, he even described her. Where the old man kept his pens, shoes, everything. It was about the elder Joseph. About themselves as elder paisios said that he has a black and white TV, and the elder Porphyry – colored.
I also remember we reported on a priest that he was in the hospital. He is sick with something, but the doctors couldn't understand what he's got. And one man from Thessalonica came and said to the old man [Paisii]:
– Geronda, you know this father in the hospital, and they can't understand that!
The old man tells me:
– Make him an x-ray!
I replied:
– You, geronda, do it! I don't do x-rays!
He said
– I have so much bread fed to you and you can't do even one x-ray?!
He was joking, because the man who comes to ask for help, was a radiologist. The elder said to him:
– And you, Costa, because the doctor, you don't give us x-ray, so we can see what this person has?
We laughed. And then, when talking, the elder began to accurately describe what this priest in the hospital, to the smallest detail. Besides, then he laughingly said to the doctor-the radiologist, who, incidentally, now a University teacher:
– Up against the wall, so I took an x-ray, now let's see what you got!
He went to the wall.
And, to not reach x-rays! – and the plaster on the wall was oblubena. – Plaster for this purpose should be intact!
Then he put the doctor to the wall and told him about a serious health problem that he had, and he did not know about it – the problem with the liver. He said to him:
– Over the liver, you have a problem.
And indeed, when he went to the hospital, and turned, and he passed then long-term treatment.
How would we explain all this? Based on some logic? Only when we learn the law of the spirit, the law of the grace of God, only then begin to understand things. The only way to understand God's Holy people. Otherwise we will make very many mistakes. When we want one reason, rationalism and logic to interpret the Holy people and their businesses, there are big problems.
You can see that in the old Testament God told me to do many ridiculous things. For example, one of the prophet He said, "Take off your clothes and go on the road!"[3] What was the logic? However, He said it. And there was a specific reason! And another old Testament prophet He said, "Go find the king and tell him so-and-so." He went, but the king only looked at him and kicked out. God told him: "Go find so-and-so cleaver, he's in the woods, tell him to hit you with an axe to the head, and so, bloody, go to the king. Then he would take you!"
I think if we examine the lives of the saints and Scripture, we will see how God was working, and realize that God does not act according to the schemes, God does not fit the schema, no matter how much we tried to cram It in there. God has Its own ways, Its measurements, Its rhythm, He acts differently. But if God does that, then who are we to judge and examine the works of God?! We can't do that. However, what we do know firmly and what no doubt is what God does not negate human freedom... posted
The Metropolitan Of Limassol Athanasius
P. S. And remember, just changing your mind - together we change the world! ©
Source: 3rm.info/publications/57529-kak-svyatye-predvidyat-buduschee.html
