Divisions
- 20 hours ago
- 5 min read
“The truth is that any of us can contribute to a breach of unity in the Church, whether intentionally or unintentionally. None of us is above fomenting division by our words and actions…For it was made a Church, not so we who come together may be divided, but so they who are divided might be joined.” (Dynamis 9/30/2024, St. John Chrysostom)
“As we live in this life, we are constantly tempted towards the divisions that threaten us. We see the world as “them and us.” These believe; these don’t. These care; these don’t. These behave; these don’t, and so on. The divisions are frequently quite insignificant. These divisions are primarily the symptoms of our failure to love. The people surrounding Christ were consistently scandalized by His persistent comfort and ease with those identified as “sinners.” No doubt, many of them were “unbelievers.” Somehow, Christ embraced all and announced this as central to His life and purpose.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“Christians are called to be saints. It is the very purpose of Christian life. What does that mean, though? To understand the possibility of sanctity, it might help to consider its opposite. What is the opposite of a saint? It’s not a question we consider very often. Typically, we juxtapose “sinners” with “saints.” Since we know we’re all sinners, which therefore seems ordinary, saints are people who are better than the rest of us. So we divide the spiritual world of humans into the ordinary and the special. But what is the opposite of an angel? This seems easier—the opposite of angels are demons. They are fallen angels, and the holiness and glory of angels is juxtaposed with the evil and darkness of the demons. Here we do not see a division between ordinary and special but rather between glorious and diabolical.” (Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick)
“If we have different ideas about God, if we insist on our own viewpoint about the things of God, if we persist in hanging on to different and even conflicting opinions about God and our salvation, then we should apply Paul’s question in Corinthians to ourselves: “Is Christ divided?” (1 Corinthians 1:13). The Greek term comes from a word whose root is “to part.” Therefore, it means to disunite, to separate into parts, or to distribute. Christ intended His Church to be one in Him. He said, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me (John 17:20-21). We are to be one just as the Father and the Son are one, one in the other. What if the Father held a different opinion than the Son? What if the Incarnate Son had a will that was not aligned with the Father’s? We would say that the divergence in the mind of God was not perfect unity. So why do many think that we can be united in spirit and yet not be one in mind, that is, the same viewpoint as “mind” was defined above? if we don’t recognize that some beliefs are wrong or, at least, incomplete, by the measure of Holy Tradition, then we are accepting the division of Christ. ” (Fr. Basil)
“When love grows cold, then ego, pride and jealousy take over and divisions result. We are very good at discerning the faults of others but that kind of discernment is not one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Words that belittle, tear down and destroy need to be replaced by words that edify, strengthen and build up. “Love comes first in our church life, and foremost love for Christ.” (Fr. John Jillions)
“For the inability of human personhood to be ekstatic towards what is outside creation and thus to unite nature in personhood leads to the fragmentation of nature and hence to an individualization of beings: each being acquires its identity not through the hypostatic differentiation which emerges from communion, but through its affirmation in contrast and opposition to the other beings. Difference becomes division and person becomes individual, that is, an entity affirmed by way of contrast to rather than of communion with other entities.” (Metropolitan John Zizioulas)
“The Holy Fathers, who were experienced in prayer, noted that the devil hates prayer the most and does everything to prevent us from praying with a pure heart. Each one of us can imagine how hard it is sometimes to stand to pray, and how easily our mind is distracted by extraneous thoughts. It happens that we feel no peace of mind and joy from prayer. The holy ascetics are aware of this and accurately describe mental struggles as demonic work in a person that confuses him all the time. The Greek word “diabolos” means “divider”—the one who destroys integrity and harmony through confusion and hatred. If the work of the enemy of mankind is division, then the Holy Spirit brings harmony and unity.” (Metropolitan Serafim Joanta)
“Remember that our Savior praised the faith of a Roman centurion, who was an officer of the Roman army that occupied Israel. By any conventional standard, that man was His enemy. (Lk 7:9) The people of Nazareth tried to throw Christ off a cliff when He reminded them that God had at times blessed Gentiles through the ministry of great Hebrew prophets and had not helped Jews. (Lk 4:29) He shocked everyone by talking with St. Photini, the Samaritan woman at the well, and then spending a few days in her village. (Jn 4:40) The list could go on, but the point is obvious that our Lord’s love for broken, suffering humanity extends literally to all who bear the divine image and likeness. He was born and baptized in order to bring all people into the Holy Trinity’s eternal communion of love. It is only “the old nature” of corruption that would keep us so enslaved to hatred, division, and vengeance that we would imagine that those we consider our enemies are any less called to become brilliant epiphanies of salvation than we are.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)
“An equally extraordinary event followed Pentecost: when God told St. Peter that He had made all wild beasts clean. Remember that most of the Old Testament associated the nations of the world with the wilderness, for they lived outside the divine structure that God brought to His people through the Torah. Because they were unclean, the Gentiles had the same spiritual status as wild beasts. The cleansing of wild beasts symbolizes the erasure of Jew-Gentile divisions and the possibility that the entire world (previously the realm of uncleanness) can become clean—fit for God’s Edenic presence.” (Robin Phillips)
“Not all of us preach sermons, but all of us teach with our lives. Your family, coworkers, and friends watch you. If they see peace, kindness, and forgiveness in you—they will believe God is real. If they see anger, pride, or division—they may turn away. Your life can be the best lesson someone ever sees! St. Paul said, If I speak in the tongues of angels, but do not have love, I am nothing but noise (1 Corinthians 13:1)….Real love goes beyond human divisions and rivalries. It defeats hatred and bias. It transcends personal bitterness and extends to the whole of humanity without contrivance or ulterior motives. This is what the Lord has taught us and which we ought to do: to look after, care for and “keep” our brothers and sisters.” (Savva Tống, Metropolitan Varnavas)
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