Arise, O Lord, and judge thine own cause ! Incline thine ears to our prayers !
For foxes have arisen, seeking to destroy the vineyard, whose winepress thou alone hast trod.
The wild boar from the forest seeketh to destroy it, and every wild beast feedeth upon it.
The Apostolic Canons
28. We command that a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who strikes the faithful that offend, or the unbelievers who do wickedly, and thinks to terrify them by such means, be deprived, for our Lord has nowhere taught us such things. On the contrary, “when Himself was stricken, He did not strike again; when He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not.”
...as if St. Peter celebrated the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and saw the Uncreated Light while chanting the Jesus Prayer. You don’t even have to go back that far in the timeline to conclude that this is nonsense.
There where it seems there is no hope, that's when the true creation and the life of the faithful begin. When all the earthly powers crumble, that's when the church is born.
Giving up this sin would be the best thing about going back to [Romania]. He felt like a hypocrite, going out to revivals with [Father] Greg and talking about Jesus, knowing that, at least once a week, he would take the wrong bus downtown to see Senora Menjivar, a young widow. She hadn’t accepted Jesus into her heart when they met a few months ago, but she had told JD that she would accept him into her apartment any day of the week. Once he got out of here, he wouldn’t be susceptible to that temptation anymore. He knew some girls in [Arad] that would be dazzled by his missionary stories. And he had his degree. It was time to think about settling down, starting a career, having kids. Maybe he would enter the ministry. Of course, he had considered staying at the mission, marrying a local girl, becoming his own Abraham, a man faithful to God in a foreign land. He had even thought of saving Claudia and marrying her, or vice versa. But that situation was just too complicated. As it neared his stop the bus passed the cathedral. A number of people on board made the sign of the cross [backwards]. JD shook his head. He was a sinner, but at least he wasn’t a [papist]. Really, I ought to look at it that way, he thought, trying to cheer up. It wasn’t so bad, what he did. It wasn’t like he was a sodomite. She was a grown, healthy woman. Besides, he always wore a condom.
