Tag: truth

Put Off Deceit, Put on Honesty

The New Man: Part 4

By Shery Abdelmalak

“I was just being honest, it’s not my fault you can’t handle it.”

A phrase that claims to be honest but is in fact, hurtful, is more deceit than one that doesn’t even try. It may not be, “your fault,” but there is more to being honest than meets the eye. Every spoken word has an element of subjectivity based on an individual’s perspective, understanding and experiences. You are expressing an opinion but to express it as truth can be scrutinised greatly. If love rejoices in the truth, but there is a lack of love in your words, can it be inferred that your words are more rightly iniquity, rather than truth (1 Cor. 13:6)? Technically, it is your fault that someone can’t handle your honesty, because truth is the combination of honesty in love.

This phrase probably originated from the command, “do not lie.” But honesty runs deeper than spoken words. Honesty entails love and kindness and could never coexist with deceit. In the end, truth will always be revealed by our gracious Saviour, when it is beneficial and only when we are prepared to receive it. 

There was a monk named, Abba Paphnuitus. It is written that he was, “full of grace that even the renowned and great men of that time admired his gravity and steadfast constancy, and although he was younger in age, yet put him on a level with the Elders out of regard for his virtues” (The Conferences by John Cassian, pg. 289) Jealousy grew among his brethren to the extent that they wanted to tarnish his great name through an accusation of wrongdoing. A complaint was brought to Abba Isidore of a stolen book. In a land inhabited by the Cross-bearers, theft was not a common occurrence nor were there set repercussions in place. Abba Isidore ordered the cell of each monk to be searched while they were praying in the church. The book was found in the cell of Paphnutius. When questioned, Paphnutius gave himself up so that peace would be restored and humbly requested a plan of repentance.

At this point in the story, the truth was not made known by Paphnutius. If anything, it appears to be hindered by his words. Paphnutius’ sole focus was on his surroundings. He wanted to restore peace and cover the sin of the one who had committed the crime. The request he made was beyond admirable. Which one of us is not in need of repentance? It is not wrong to defend yourself, but for the one that was focused solely on his inner life, defending himself could never measure up to repentance.

When we defend our actions, we begin to see the good within ourselves and in turn, create a niche for pride. We can toss and turn and be filled with distress trying, or we can turn to the joy of repentance and let Christ be our defence. At the very least, repentance should be our first step before every action, in that way we guarantee peace. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who live in me (Galatians 2:20). If He wants me to be seen as a liar, as a thief, as the worst of all sinners, then so be it. Let it be according to His will. I am not my own so how can I be affected by accusations brought against me? All I desire is to be a pen in the Hands of the ready writer of Christ, my Saviour(Psalm 45:1).

Paphnutius began to fast three times as often and prostrate at the doors of the church, not entering to receive Communion because of the magnitude of his unworthiness. After 14 days, the monk that had accused Paphnutius became possessed by a demon so strong that not even the prayers that guarded Scetes could stop him. No one could exorcize the demon, not even the great Abba Isidore. Our Lord would only allow young Paphnutius to exorcize the demon and thus, truth was revealed in the most astonishing way that reached the height of Paphnutius’ repentance. 

For truth, the absolute truth, we need more than words. Fr Matta El Meskeen says, “The Word is a double-edged sword, but who is holding the sword? It is God’s own Word, for which He sacrificed Himself on the Cross to give us eternal life from the midst of darkness and death.” Christ is the One that bears witness of the truth. When Pilate asked Him what the truth was, He answered nothing, for His coming death and resurrection would reveal more than words ever could (John 18:37-38).  

If the truth can only be revealed through the grace of the Holy Spirit, we are assured that its impact will be for our edification and salvation. Until then, may our words speak love, kindness and compassion, while we await the revelation of all truth from Above. “Nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light” (Luke 8:17).

Gird your Waist with Truth

The Armour of God Part 1

Gird your Waist with Truth

By David Tadros

How many times are we inclined to rest our hands on our waist due to our fatigue, as if it is our main source of support? Did you know that the girdle used in war serves the purpose of strengthening the soldier’s waist, that is, his foundation of support? So then, what does it mean when we say to gird our waists with truth? And how does this truth give strength to our spiritual foundation, that we are in need of in our daily struggle with temptation?  

To gird, or to secure one’s waist with truth, is a concept that is reflected on by St Paul in his letter to the church of Ephesus. But before we begin to understand what it means to gird our waists with truth, we must understand what the truth is that St Paul is denoting.

‘From what we read of the Lord our Savior, throughout the Scriptures, it is manifestly clear that the whole armour of Christ is the Saviour Himself. It is He whom we are asked to “put on.” It is one and the same thing to say “Put on the whole armour of God” and “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Our belt is truth and our breastplate is righteousness. The Savior is also called both “truth” and “righteousness.” So no one can doubt that He Himself is that very belt and breastplate.’ – St Jerome

In this light we are able to see that, in fact, all the different pieces of the armour of God are indeed referring to Christ! And when we put on the armour of God, we are putting on Christ Himself. We become enveloped by His power and protection and He becomes our defence. Just as the soldier’s foundation of support is strengthened by his girdle, so too is our spiritual foundation strengthened when we gird our waists with Christ, the Truth. Through this strength from Christ we can then stand, like St Paul says, to the wiles of the devil.

Who then is able to receive this truth, that is Christ?

25 At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. 26 Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. –Matthew 11:25-26

The real truth is not for the wise, nor those with high intellect, but rather it is revealed to the babes. It is for those who are simple in their ways, trusting God in all things and for all things. Even for the simple, this truth is not made up by their own understanding but rather it comes as a revelation from Christ. Therefore, we must humble ourselves to the simplicity of babes so we may accept the truth, that is Christ. For to those who are called saints, to them the mystery of truth has been revealed.  For as it says in Colossians 1:26-27,

“26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Let us then seek and gird our waist with the Truth, that is Christ, with all humility, in the hope that we may receive His strength against the temptations of the devil.

The Absolute Truth

The Absolute Truth

by Daniel Rafla

One of the most sought-after objects in the world, the most desirable form of knowledge. Truth. Humanity itself revolves around what is true – in friendship, love, success, happiness, strength, etc. You could literally qualify the highest level of attaining any one concept or virtue by referring to it as true. Pontius Pilate himself upon questioning the Lord Christ

“Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” ” John 18:37-38

Winston Churchill comments, “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.” (Churchill, 1916) Yet no one has ever quite been capable of summing up the mere impact of the truth better than the words of Christ,

“ ‘Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ ” (John 8:32)

This appears to be a fairly universally known quote, and it can be commonly found in film, music and books. We ourselves, in order to teach the importance of the truth to children, refer to this one verse constantly, that we can create a definitive link between the truth and peace. The irony is that the true impact of truth is itself difficult to measure, and difficult to quantify. That said, I wonder – if the impact of the true means of something is to an individual seeking it can be immeasurable, then what if we were to consider the absolute truth.

The word absolute is rooted from the Latin word Absolutus meaning freed and unrestricted, however the modern understanding of the word is that it is all encompassing, that something being absolute becomes the measure of the thing it contains. Consider for a moment the mathematical symbol of absolute     |X|

I want you to now begin to visualise the way in which these two bars actually not only surround that “X” but they are the literal boundary that contains and transforms whatever is inside of it to a positive number.

Now into the rabbit hole we go, as I now begin to delve into an absolute truth that I’ve meditated over during the period of the Great Lent and even into the Holy week of Pascha, rather He who is the absolute truth, Jesus. There can be found no better summary, nor better wording than what He did speak on when He said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” When Pilate asked his question, he did not know that He was speaking to the answer, though I feel that there is many complications around why He said that, especially as He was responding to Thomas asking Him about the things to come, I will however choose to focus on why He referred to Himself as the truth. As I have said above, truth is something we all seek in various aspects of life – things which we can know that Christ has perfected in His life on Earth. Furthermore, we know that in Christ we have life, and that anyone who places themselves in Christ, and allows God to surround them, transformation to their positive form is attained. No matter the value within the absolute bars, it is transformed. Likewise, when Christ envelops any one person, you can be assured that this person, no matter how great or small, will certainly find themselves in the light, no matter how dark they previously were.

Brothers and sisters, the impact of absolute truth is that it is transformative, for the absolute truth is Christ Himself.

Line in the Sand

Line in the Sand

by Mark Anton

The student tentatively stood before the microphone and in a cavalier type of manner asked,

“…and so what are you so afraid of? That everyone will suddenly start murdering and pillaging each other just because we don’t have a book to tell us what to do?”.

He pauses for a brief moment and then asks again, but this time in a more mocking tone,

“I don’t understand, what are you so afraid of?”

The Professor slowly rises from his stool chair, calmly walks to centre stage –pensive, yet poised – and politely yet humorously replies,

“Do you lock your door at night?”

The auditorium erupts in laughter, unanimously validating the Truth everybody knew, but didn’t necessarily admit.

The scene above played out at an educational institution a few years ago. Although it may have been slightly humorous at the time, it’s reflective of a bigger issue at hand – that we are increasingly rejecting the notion of an objective and revealed Truth, rather choosing to make decisions that are often based on feelings or what we can justify to silence our conscience.

Truth, in the sense of being a transcendent anchor, is exclusive by its very nature. However, when the Truth becomes subjectified, it is no longer the truth but rather an opinion, or worse yet, a lie.

The “Truth” has been all too often and tragically traded in for “truths”, or “a truth” among many “truths”, and the contrast between them has played out throughout history over and over again, but it seems to be starker than ever before in a world that continues to embrace change at the most foundational and controversial of levels, often leaving me to question why.

I was once asked how important the Truth was to me. As I pondered this question, I thought about how the answer to this has determined to what length I am willing to seek it out, defend it and live by it. I thought about how the knowledge of Truth has not only changed my life and forever imprinted the principles by which I choose to live, but also the impact it has had on my fundamental beliefs, my morality and the very essence of who I am. The exact same thing applies on a macro-societal level, and therein lies the impact of an absolute Truth – the presence and acceptance of it has a significant and profound impact on humanity that permeates all echelons of our society.

It is why we have our courts of law, the principles that preserve intrinsic human worth and the law of our lands which have been developed over time, which have been built upon a guiding set of foundational Truths. It’s why many nations are synonymous with opportunity, equality and democracy, whilst others are rife with corruption, injustice and inequality. It’s even why some cultures will love thy neighbour, whilst others will choose to murder and pillage them.

As time has gone on, we continue to witness the incremental departure from, and acceptance of, a Truth often in the name of tolerance and advancement. In fact, the denial of its very existence has taken root in the world today, and we have even gone so far as to profess the impossibility that we can even know what the Truth is, which in turn has impacted our morality, dulled our consciences and blurred the very meaning of life as God revealed and intended it to be.

As such, we lack and deny any transcendent anchor – like a ship out at sea with no compass or reference point. There is supposedly no one, or nothing to provide the Truths that should govern life and so we are naturally left to define them ourselves, ironically feeling obliged to do so. And so humanity becomes plagued with the moral ambiguity and dilemmas that prevail today – euthanasia, abortion, same sex marriage. Even a person’s very gender and identity has become a matter of preference, and we are left with an ever growing lexicon of the definition of truth, and what constitutes a truth.

The fact of the matter is that Truth is much more than a feeling. It is timeless and beyond human manufacture. The Truth illuminates for us reality. It is ultimately the Way and the Life.

Reigniting the Truth

Reigniting the Truth

by Natalie Hanna

If you ask an average person walking down the street if the sun will rise tomorrow, the most likely response would be an obvious “yes!”, with a rather peculiar facial expression attached. If you call upon child and ask what they know about truth, they will likely tell you a story surrounding spilt milk and their mother’s drastic reaction to their first lie. However, if you ask the child’s mother on an honest day whether she has spoken, or believes she has been spoken to in less than the truth during the past week, the sincere response would be a definite yes.

Now, I am not writing to tell you about the rigid selfishness that begs to haunt us as we exit our youth, but instead to utilise these scenarios to emphasise their distinctions. Though it is true that as children we are often educated about tellingthe truth, and indeed as we grow older we more- often-then-not waiver this obligation from our tortured conscious’, the point I endeavour to make is that we are seldom educated about the impactof truth- an absolute truth we know and believe to be a fact.

Going back to my analogies, one can presume with almost certainty that an average person knows and believes that the sun will rise each day as their entire life is dependent upon the absolute truth of this fact. They will wake up each day as the sun rises, go about their day, and sleep soon after the sun sets. A young child may not entirely process the concept of truth, but will no doubt expect the truth of his mother’s wrath when attempting to bend the truth, and will rely on it each day, from his mother’s smile down to the immediate response to his cries when attempting to tie his sandal strap. Further, an adult may have developed a hesitant perception of receiving and presenting the truth, but this in itself is the resultant impact of the absolute truth we have come to know within ourselves about humanities defaults.

The question I ask to reach my end is this; If you are the Christian you say you are, what is the impact of this truth to you? Is it as far entrenched in your routine as the rising of the sun, as consistent as a mother’s care and punishment, or merely a tentative lingering, similar to that of a recognised warning or threat? And beyond this, how does one practically define and apply this to a persona one cannot see, yet alone understand? The extent of these applications arguably, is a personal journey paved by the product of one’s collaborative physical and spiritual struggles in search for more, but I will strive to convey the basic effect, or impact this journey can have.

A higher power, connection to the ranks, or limitless insurance is something any person would jump at. Why not have the upper hand? If daddy owns the company, you’re guaranteed some kind of a job, and hey I’m not complaining if I have a sure guarantee my accidents are freely covered. God is the creator after all, so knowing him must have some sort of advantage. Einstein famously said, “God created the world as a perfect machine and left it to run itself”. I beg to differ. Though indeed God gives us the free willto run our own lives, why would he send down His son if He means to remain uninvolved? And what of the undying hope certain people experience amidst turmoil? Maybe He just plays favourites. Or we could have the ability to connect to Him.

If one gets two magnets dissimilar in strengths and moves the stronger towards the other, they will not meet unless the correct ends are aligned. And try as you may, but in the final stages of the moving journey, at a certain proximity, the smaller magnet will move to meet the other. We are the smaller magnet. And our job is to align ourselves, watch for the incoming, and allow the impact to move us to meet the true source.

The Designer of mountains and Ruler of seas decided to give us one thing beyond them, and that is to feel- to feel the impact of His true love and accept Him as our Father. The methods are known to those who choose to seek them, so I will not go on to explain this. I will only say that it is not a magic trick, but a slow and deliberate burn we must re-ignite each time it fades. My last question to you is; Do you want to feel it?

Holy Monday

Lead me to the Cross

Holy Monday

by Meray Shehata

Where are my fruits?

Think of the fig tree. One of God’s creations planted as a seed as all the other trees were, cared for and given water. Jesus expected great things from this plant as He gave it the perfect environment to thrive and flourish.  Now when it came time for Jesus to reap the fruits of the tree and found none, He cursed the plant.

The lesson for us is that we are not living a life that is our own. Each day, each hour and each second of our lives have been gifted to us. As with the fig tree, which has been granted so much time to bear fruit, each one of our breaths is counted.

Our God is a merciful, just and kind God. He waits at the door of your heart seeking to enter and provide you with your heart’s desire, He waits to come in and give you salvation. In return, He has one request. Repentance. If the plantation of your heart is fruitless then what good is it then to be cut down?

Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.

Isaiah 55:6

As we are living on borrowed time, it’s important to remember that everything ends except for the Lord. He is patient and gives us enough time to change and bear fruit. Even more, God is just, He knows the complexity of your character. How comforting is it to know that, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9)

Let’s look at the tree from another angle. The fig tree was a beautiful tree. “And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves” Jesus being hungry went to inspect it as this wasn’t the season for the fruit. So not only was the tree not meant to have fruit, but it was lavishly displaying its leaves when other trees had nothing to show but bare branches.

Our lives can also appear abundant. Maybe our leaves portray us as; having the perfect career, an impeccable church servant or a flawless family. Others can be deceived by the extravagant leaves we parade; we may even fall into the trap and see our self falsely. What about God? Will He be deceived by the show we flaunt? Or, will He look deeper to find fruit?

“Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified”

2 Corinthian 13:5

As with the fig tree who bears leaves and no fruit, we cannot become half-hearted Christians. The cursing of the fig tree was symbolic of the cursing of the nominal Christian. The alleged believer who is unrepentant and faithless is undeserving of the kingdom of God. Which is why our actions, thought and feeling should reflect our citizenship in Heaven.

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Matthew 7: 13-15