THE THIRD PART OF THE ORTHODOX CATECHISM. ON LOVE. by Longer Catechism of The Orthodox

THE THIRD PART OF THE ORTHODOX CATECHISM. ON LOVE. On the Union between Faith and Love. 481. What should be the effect and fruit of true faith in the Christian? Love, and good works conformable thereto. In Jesus Christ, says the Apostle Paul, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Gal. v. 6. 482. Is not faith alone enough for a Christian, without love and good works ? No; for faith without love and good works is inactive and dead, and so can not lead to eternal life. He that loveth not his brother, abideth in death. 1 John iii. 14. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James ii. 14, 26. 483. May not a man, on the other hand, be saved by love and good works, without faith? It is impossible that a man who has not faith in God should really love him; besides, man, being ruined by sin, can not do really good works, unless he receive through faith in Jesus Christ spiritual strength, or grace from God. Without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, Heb. xi. 6. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Gal. iii. 10. For we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Gal. v. 5. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. Eph. ii. 8, 9. 484. What is to be thought of such love as is not accompanied by good works? Such love is not real: for true love naturally shows itself by good works. Jesus Christ says: He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: if a man love me, he will keep my word. John xiv. 21, 23. The Apostle John writes: For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. 1 John v. 3. Let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 1 John iii. 18. On the Law of God and the Commandments. 485. What means have we to know good works from bad? The inward law of God, or the witness of our conscience, and the outward law of God, or God's commandments. 486. Does holy Scripture speak of the inward law of God? The Apostle Paul says of the heathen: Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another. Rom. ii. 15. 487. If there is in man's heart an inward law, why was the outward given? It was given because men obeyed not the inward law, but led carnal and sinful lives, and stifled within themselves the voice of the spiritual law, so that it was necessary to put them in mind of it outwardly through the Commandments. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions.. Gal. iii. 19. 488. When and how was God's outward law given to men? When the Hebrew people, descended from Abraham, had been miraculously delivered from bondage in Egypt, on their way to the promised land, in the desert, on Mount Sinai, God manifested his presence in fire and clouds, and gave them the law, by the hand of Moses, their leader. 489. Which are the chief and general commandments of this law? The following ten, which were written on two tables of stone: 1. I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt have none other gods beside me. 2. Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth: thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them. 3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. 4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord thy God. 5. Honor thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and that thy days may be long upon the earth. 6. Thou shalt not kill. 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 8. Thou shalt not steal. 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his land, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any of his cattle, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's. Exod. xx. 1-17; Deut. v. 6-21. 490. You said that these Commandments were given to the people of Israel: must we, then, also walk by them? We must: for they are in substance the same law which, in the words of St. Paul, has been written in the hearts of all men, that all should walk by it. 491. Did Jesus Christ teach men to walk by the Ten Commandments? He bade men, if they would attain to everlasting life, to keep the Commandments and taught us to understand and fulfill them more perfectly than had been done before he came. Matt xix. 17, and v. On the Division of the Commandments into Two Tables. 492. What means the division of the Ten Commandments into two tables? This: that they contain two kinds of love--love to God, and love to our neighbor; and prescribe two corresponding kinds of duties. 493. Has not Jesus Christ said something of this? When asked, Which is the great commandment in the law? he replied: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matt. xxii. 36-40. 494. Are all men our neighbors? Yes, all; because all are the creation of one God, and have come from one man: but our neighbors in faith are doubly neighbors to us, as being children of one heavenly Father by faith in Jesus Christ. 495. But why is there no commandment of love to ourselves? Because we love ourselves naturally, and without any commandment. No man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it. Eph. v. 29. 496. What relative order should there be in our love to God, our neighbor, and ourselves? We should love ourselves not for our own, but for God's sake, and partly also for the sake of our neighbors; we should love our neighbor for the sake of God; but we should love God for himself, and above all. Love of self should be sacrificed to the love of our neighbor; but both should be sacrificed to the love of God. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John xv. 13. He that loveth father or mother more than me, saith Jesus Christ, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. Matt. x. 37. 497. If the whole law is contained in two commandments, why are they divided into ten? In order the more clearly to set forth our duties towards God, and towards our neighbor. 498. In which of the Ten Commandments are we taught our duties towards God? In the first four. 499. What are these duties? In the first commandment we are taught to know and worship the true God. In the second, to abstain from false worship. In the third, not to sin against God's worship even by word. In the fourth, to keep a certain order in the time and acts of God's worship. 500. In which of the Ten Commandments are we taught our duties towards our neighbor? In the last six. 501. What are these duties? In the fifth commandment we are taught to love and honor those of our neighbors who are nearest to us, beginning with our parents. In the sixth, not to hurt the life of our neighbor. In the seventh, not to hurt the purity of his morals. In the eighth, not to hurt his property. In the ninth, not to hurt him by word. In the tenth, not to wish to hurt him. 502. Do not the Ten Commandments include also our duties towards ourselves? Yes; these duties are implied in the commandments of the second table relating to our neighbors; for our duty is to love our neighbor as ourselves. On the First Commandment. 503. What mean these words, I am the Lord thy God? By these words God, as it were, points himself out to man, and so commands him to know the Lord his God. 504. What particular duties may we deduce from the commandment to know God? 1. We must seek to learn the knowledge of God, as being the most essential of all knowledge. 2. We must listen attentively to instructions on God and on his works in church, and to religious conversations on the same at home. 3. We must read or hear read books of instruction in the knowledge of God; and in the first place, holy Scripture; secondly, the writings of the holy Fathers. 505. What are we taught in the words, Thou shalt have none other gods but me? We are taught to turn and cleave to the one true God, or, in other words, devoutly to worship him. 506. What duties are there which refer to the inward worship of God? 1. To believe in God. 2. To walk before God; that is, to be ever mindful of him, and in all things to walk circumspectly, because he seeth not only our actions, but even our most secret thoughts. 3. To fear God, or stand in awe of him; that is, to think the anger of our heavenly Father the greatest ill that can befall us, and therefore strive not to offend him. 4. To trust in God. 5. To love God. 6. To obey God; that is, to be ever ready to do what he commands, and not to murmur when he deals with us otherwise than we could desire. 7. To adore God, as the Supreme Being. 8. To glorify God, as being all-perfect. 9. To give thanks to God, as our Creator, Provident Sustainer, and Saviour. 10. To call upon God, as our all-good and almighty helper, in every good work which we undertake. 507. What duties are there which refer to the outward worship of God? 1. To confess God; that is, to acknowledge that he is our God, and not deny him, although for confessing him we may have to suffer, or even die. 2. To take part in the public divine service enjoined by God and appointed by the Orthodox Church. 508. In order the more exactly to understand and keep the first commandment, we must know farther what sins there may be against it. 1. Atheism; when men, whom the Psalmist justly calls fools, wishing to rid themselves of the fear of God's judgment, say in their heart, There is no God. Psalm xiv. 1. 2. Polytheism; when, instead of the one true God, men acknowledge a number of false deities. 3. Infidelity; when men, who admit the existence of God, disbelieve his providence and his revelation. 4. Heresy; when people mix with the doctrine of the faith opinions contrary to divine truth. 5. Schism; that is, willful departure from the unity of divine worship, and from the Orthodox Catholic Church of God. 6. Apostasy; when any deny the true faith from fear of man, or for worldly advantage. 7. Despair; when men give up all hope of obtaining from God grace and salvation. 8. Sorcery; when men, leaving faith in the power of God, put their trust in secret and, for the most part, evil powers of creatures, especially of evil spirits, and seek to work by their means. 9. Superstition; when men put faith in any common thing as if it had divine power, and trust in it instead of trusting in God, or fear it instead of fearing God; as, for instance, when they put faith in an old book, and think they can be saved by none other, and must not use a new one, though the new book contain the very same doctrine, and the very same form of divine service. 10. Sloth, in respect of learning religion, or in respect of prayer, and the public service of God. 11. Love of the creature more than of God. 12. Men-pleasing; when they seek to please men, so as for this to be careless of pleasing God. 13. Trusting in man; when any one trusts in his own means and strength, or in the means and strength of others, and not in the mercy and help of God, 509. Why must we think that men-pleasing and trusting in man are against the first commandment? Because the man, whom we please, or in whom we trust, so as to forget God, is in some sort to us another god, in place of the true God. 510. How does holy Scripture speak of men-pleasing? The Apostle Paul says: For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Gal. i. 10. 511. How does holy Scripture speak of trusting in man? Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. Jer. xvii. 5. 512. In order to succeed the better in fulfilling his duties to God, how must a man act by himself? He must deny himself. Whosoever will come after me, says Jesus Christ, let him deny himself. Mark viii. 34. 513. What is it to deny one's self? Basil the Great explains it thus: He denies himself who puts off the old man with his deeds, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts; who renounces also all worldly affections, which can hinder his intention of godliness. Perfect self-denial consists in this, that he cease to have any affection even for life itself, and bear the judgment of death in himself, that he may not trust in himself. (Can. Long. Resp. 8.) 514. What consolation is there for him who, by denying himself, loses many natural gratifications? The consolation of grace: a divine consolation, which even sufferings themselves can not impair. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 2 Cor. i. 5. 515. If the first commandment teaches us to worship religiously God alone, how does it agree with this commandment to honor angels and holy men? To pay them due and rightful honor is altogether agreeable to this commandment; because in them we honor the grace of God, which dwells and works in them, and through them seek help from God. On the Second Commandment. 516. What is a graven image, as spoken of in the second commandment? The commandment itself explains that a graven image, or idol, is the likeness of some creature in heaven, or earth, or in the waters, which men bow down to and serve instead of God their Maker. 517. What is forbidden, then, by the second commandment? We are forbidden to bow down to graven images or idols, as to supposed deities, or as to likenesses of false gods. 518. Are we not hereby forbidden to have any sacred representations whatever? By no means. This very plainly appears from hence, that the same Moses through whom God gave the commandment against graven images, received at the same time from God an order to place in the tabernacle, or movable temple of the Israelites, sacred representations of Cherubim in gold, and to place them, too, in that inner part of the temple to which the people turned for the worship of God. 519. Why is this example worthy of remark for the Orthodox Christian Church? Because it illustrates her use of holy icons. 520. What is an icon? The word is Greek, and means, an image or representation. In the Orthodox Church this name designates sacred representations of our Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate, his immaculate Mother, and his saints. 521. Is the use of holy icons agreeable to the second commandment? It would then, and then only, be otherwise, if any one were to make gods of them; but it is not in the least contrary to this commandment to honor icons as sacred representations, and to use them for the religious remembrance of God's works and of his saints; for when thus used icons are books, written with the forms of persons and things instead of letters. (See Greg. Magn. lib. ix. Ep. 9, ad Seren. Episc.) 522. What disposition of mind should we have when we reverence the icons? While we look on them with our eyes, we should mentally look to God and to the saints, who are represented on them. 523. What general name is there for sin against the second commandment? Idolatry. 524. Are there not also other sins against this commandment? Besides gross idolatry there is yet another sort more subtle, to which belong-- 1. Covetousness. 2. Belly-service or sensuality, gluttony, and drunkenness. 3. Pride, to which belongs likewise vanity. 525. Why is covetousness referred to idolatry? The Apostle Paul expressly says that covetousness is idolatry (Col. iii. 5); because the covetous man serves riches rather than God. 526. If the second commandment forbid the love of gain, what contrary duties does it thereby necessarily enjoin? Those of contentedness and liberality. 527. Why is belly-service referred to idolatry? Because belly-servers set sensual gratification above every thing, and therefore the Apostle Paul says that their god is their belly; or, in other words, that the belly is their idol. Phil. iii. 19. 528. If the second commandment forbid belly-service, what contrary duties does it thereby enjoin? Those of temperance and fasting. 529. Why are pride and vanity referred to idolatry? Because the proud man values above every thing his own abilities and excellences, and so they are his idol; the vain man wishes further that others also should worship the same idol. These proud and vain dispositions were exemplified even sensibly in Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who first set up for himself a golden idol, and then ordered all to worship it. Dan. iii. 530. Is there not still another vice which is near to idolatry? Such a vice is hypocrisy; when a man uses the outward acts of religion, as fasting, and the strict observance of ceremonies, in order to obtain respect from the people, without thinking of the inward amendment of his heart. Matt. vi. 5, 6, 7. 531. If the second commandment forbid pride, vanity, and hypocrisy, what contrary duties does it thereby enjoin? Those of humility, and doing good in secret. On the Third Commandment. 532. When is God's name taken in vain? It is taken or uttered in vain when it is uttered in vain and unprofitable talk, and still more so when it is uttered lyingly or irreverently. 533. What sins are forbidden by the third commandment? 1. Blasphemy, or daring words against God. 2. Murmuring, or complaining against God's providence. 3. Profaneness; when holy things are jested on, or insulted. 4. Inattention in prayer. 5. Perjury; when men affirm with an oath what is false. 6. Oath-breaking; when men keep not just and lawful oaths. 7. Breach of vows made to God. 8. Common swearing, or thoughtless oaths in common talk. 534. Are not such oaths specially forbidden in holy Scripture? The Saviour says: I say unto you, Swear not at all, but let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Matt. v. 34, 37. 535. Does not this go to forbid all oaths in civil matters? The Apostle Paul says: Men swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. Heb. vi. 16, 17. Hence we must conclude, that if God himself for an immutable assurance used an oath, much more may we on grave and necessary occasions, when required by lawful authority, take an oath or vow religiously, with the firm intention of not breaking it. On the Fourth Commandment. 536. Why is it commanded to keep the seventh, rather than any other day, holy to God? Because God in six days made the world, and on the seventh day rested from the work of creation. 537. Is the Sabbath kept in the Christian Church? It is not kept, strictly speaking, as a holy day; but still in memory of the creation of the world, and in continuation of its original observance, it is distinguished from the other days of the week by a relaxation of the rule for fasting. 538. How, then, does the Christian Church obey the fourth commandment? She still to every six days keeps a seventh, only not the last of the seven days, which is the Sabbath, but the first day in every week, which is the Day of the Resurrection, or lord's Day. 539. Since when do we keep the Day of the Resurrection? From the very time of Christ's resurrection. 540. Is there any mention in holy Scripture of keeping the day of the Resurrection? In the book of the Acts of the Apostles it is mentioned that the disciples--that is, the Christians--came together on the first day after the Sabbath, which was the first day of the week, or Day of the Resurrection, for the breaking of bread, that is to say, for the celebration of the Sacrament of the Communion. Acts xx. 7. The Apostle and Evangelist John also in the Apocalypse mentions the Lord's Day, or the Day of the Resurrection. 541. Is there not yet something more to be understood under the name of the seventh day, or Sabbath? As in the Church of the Old Testament the name Sabbath was understood to include divers other days appointed like the Sabbath for festivals or fasts, as the festival of the Passover, and the day of Atonement, so likewise are we now in the Christian Church bound to keep, besides the Lord's Day, certain others also, which have been appointed as festivals to the glory of God and the honor of the Blessed Virgin and other saints, or as days of fasting. (See Orthod. Confess. Pt. III. Q. 60; Pt. I. Q. 88.) 542. Which are the chief festivals? Those appointed in memory of the chief events relating to the Incarnation of the Son of God for our salvation, and to the Manifestation of the Godhead; after these, those appointed in honor of the Most Holy Mother of God, as the instrument of the mystery of the Incarnation. Such, in the order of the events, are the following: 1. The day of the birth of the Most Holy Mother of God. 2. The day of her being brought to the Temple to be dedicated to God.

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THE THIRD PART OF THE ORTHODOX CATECHISM. ON LOVE.

Longer Catechism of The Orthodox

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