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Wednesday, January 17, 2024

 The illusion of freedom of choice

In Orthodox theology, salvation is the result of the synergy of divine grace and human will. Synergy does not mean that human actions are equivalent to actions of God but that salvation brings together the human and the Divine will.


But what is the nature, the properties, and the strength of the human will? It is so strong and unfettered human will to determine life and salvation?

 I do not think that somewhere in the head or heart lies a free and unfettered, leading consciousness that has the potential to overcome the need. I do not think that there is a dynamic, observant center, a powerful perceptual, volitional point freely regulates and directs thinking, action, and emotion. The studies, experiences, and reflections do not tolerate such a conclusion. I can not see autonomous and detached from Grace's freedom. I think that freedom of choice is not unconditional but rather an experiential epiphenomenon of the interaction of many factors. belief systems, experiences, emotions, needs, desires, knowledge, environmental conditions, interpersonal relations, personal struggle, and Grace interact continuously on a conscious and subconscious level, cultivating inside our existential fermentations which orient our giving the empirical illusion of freedom of choice.

Monday, January 15, 2024

Gennady Zaridze = The Holy Light is the work of God's grace.

 







 The temperature of the Holy Fire is around forty degrees Celsius for a few minutes after its defeat, so the faithful can freely take it in their hands and "wash" their faces in it during this period, because they do not burn  , Archbishop Gennady Zaridze, Orthodox Christian Scholar and Rector of the Church of the Mother of God in the Voronezh region said in an interview with RIA-Novosti.  "I used a pyrometer and recorded the temperature of the Holy Fire immediately after the descent: I immediately washed my face with this Fire (and I did not burn!) And I measured its temperature and it turned out that the average temperature of the Fire was what kept the  "The fire that my neighbors were holding was forty-two degrees Celsius. Fifteen minutes later I measured the temperature again and reached 320 ° C by that time," the high priest explored the miracles using natural science methods for many years a.  Fr.  Gennady Zaridze used a pyrometer, which with the help of a non-infrared thermometer measures the surface temperature of an object to measure the temperature of the Holy Fire.  A silver width of five millimeters wide and one millimeter thick was used as the object.  Since silver is one of the largest heat generating metals, when you place a plate on the fire, you will immediately get the temperature of the flame.  Fr.  Gennady Zarindze visited the Holy Land in April 2016 for Easter, at the invitation of the St. Joseph Foundation.  Andrew and with the blessing of Metropolitan Sergy Voronezh and Liski.  "I have no doubt that the Holy Fire is the work of God's grace, it is a kind of divine mercy to the sinful world designed to maintain and strengthen faith," the shepherd told RIA-Novosti.  that there were cases of healing miracles during the feasts of Agios Fotios.  that in 2008 Andrei Volkov, a scientist from the Russian Research Center of Russia (Kurchatov Institute), had come to Jerusalem before the conquest of the Holy Fire and brought with him an instrument that recorded various spectra of electromagnetic radiation.  That day he was the first person (even before the patriarch went to the faithful to fire) to learn that the Holy Fire had collapsed because the bodies showed very strong