DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
2 Corinthians
11:1-6
(11/21) Epistle
for Saturday in the Twenty-fourth Week after Pentecost
Being Corrupted: 2 Corinthians 11:1-6, especially vs. 3, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived
Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that
is in Christ.” They come over radio, television, or in mailers brought to
the door, just as they came to Corinth, commending themselves as approved by
“...the most eminent apostles” (2 Cor. 11:5). Yes, they seem to preach Christ, but
transform the Lord Jesus
into “...a different gospel which you have not
accepted...” (2 Cor. 11:4).
Sects validate their messages by accusing Orthodoxy of being outdated,
or “...inferior to the most eminent apostles”(vs.
5); but we hear only Jesus’ Apostles, in our Liturgies, declaring the
one, holy, and life-giving Gospel of Christ.
History demonstrates, by a host of examples,
how easily human “...minds may be corrupted...” (vs.
3) by cunning half-truths and distortions of the Faith. These facts alone should awaken in us
the urgency of being on guard against any so-called Christian teaching
that belittles the Church or its teaching by promoting complete or up-to-date
versions the Faith. Being Orthodox,
we are united to the one, true Jesus through Holy Baptism and Chrismation in the power of the Holy Spirit, having
accepted the true Faith once delivered to the Apostles (Jude 3).
The most dangerous heresies to assault the
faithful are those that lessen the Person of the Lord Jesus either in His
Divinity or His humanity, or otherwise impugn the reality of His taking of our
human flesh from the Virgin. In the
true Christ, God and man are joined eternally and irrevocably. How often the Church reminds us that we
worship “...a Son without father, Who before
eternity was begotten of the Father without mother, the property and essence of
each substance remaining intact!”
Attend the message of the Gospels, the icons, and the Liturgy!
Discernment is difficult for our weakened
natures making us susceptible to corrupting ideas; and the modern world little
encourages us to be spiritually critical of the assumptions upon which false
teachings are presented. Under the
banner of scientific rigor, contemporary wisdom brushes aside the idea of
invariable truth and spiritual reality.
Thus, if we are not alert, we may easily caught by reductions of
Orthodox truth in heretical gospels that aim at being palatable or user-friendly
to the so-called modern ear.
Long ago, the Apostles knew such teachings and had to cope with
Christians who would “...not endure sound doctrine...because they have
itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn
their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Tim.
4:3,4). We have received the
Heavenly Spirit Who labors to save us from all false spirits (2 Cor. 11:4) and
“...guide [us] into all truth...” (Jn. 16:13).
The Apostles and the
Establish us in Thy Sanctification, O Lord, that all the day long we may meditate upon Thy
righteousness. Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia.
Return to the November Calendar