Nativity of Christ and the Teaching about Redemption

[mari29h]

Indeed that is God's decision! ;) Amen

[allsaintsmonastery]

@mari29h Truly; as all things ultimately are.

[mari29h]

@allsaintsmonastery You are interesting to say the least and I have learned a few things from you. ty

Also, I enjoy the way you almost fall asleep (or close your eyes) when you talk. lol

Have a great day. mari :)

[ioannismiami]

Part of the Reading from Isaiah chapter 49, which we read just prior to the Theophany, came to mind as I watched this broadcast:

But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me."

"Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name; your walls are ever before me."

[ioannismiami]

A dogma that we can identify in this promise is that the Lord's creation is always on His mind. "I will never forget you," says the Lord. The Lord reflects upon "your name," which He has written on palms of His hands.

[michalchik]

So what do you believe happens to non-Christians after death.

[allsaintsmonastery]

Fortunately, that is God's decision, not mine. One thing is certain, there is no "fiery pit of eternal torture" for anyone. Orthodox Christianity holds a radically different understanding of paradise and hell than the neo-Pagan western notion of Hell.

[macpduff]

Once again I wish to thank you for your gentle sharing of Orthodox belief with we Christians who only know the Western traditions.

[allsaintsmonastery]

@macpduff I hope we are being gentle. There is no intention of being offensive.

[cuttlefisch]

Vladika, what is the Orthodox view of the atonement that Protestants speak of so often?

[allsaintsmonastery]

@cuttlefisch I think we did a video on that sometime ago, but we will touch on it again later.

[bandaidmafia]

allsaintsmonastery, can someone live ascetically in a monastery without being baptized Orthodox?

[allsaintsmonastery]

@bandaidmafia I suppose that would be up to the particular monastery and what its own unique mission is.

[ioannismiami]

Vladyka, would you identify the name(s) for such monasteries where non-Orthodox Christians live in ascetic struggle along with Orthodox fathers/mothers?

[ioannismiami]

TO:-->bandaidmafia

Your question delighted me, because I had seldom thought about it. The only example of such a monastery is the Eastern-Western church monastery of Chevetogne in Belgium, which Archimandrite Lev [Gillet] co-founded, at least in spirit. Trappist monks [Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance] and other Benedictines in the Latin Church have welcomed Orthodox and "uniate" monks to live with them, too. But these monasteries consecrate separate chapels for the Orthodox.