Questions and Answers 128 - 133

The Epistle of Jesus Christ

Question 128: On a recent trip to Greece I noticed many times a little pamphlet being sold alleging to be an Epistle of Jesus Christ, as it is called. I was wondering if it was Orthodox. Can you offer any information about this?

Answer: The pamphlet known as the Epistle of our Lord Jesus Christ has unfortunately been circulated throughout Greece for may decades, in fact, since at least 1896 (when it was published in its modern form). I remember back in 1991 when I was in Greece, I would see it everywhere, and when I went over people's houses, they kept it with their icons and Bibles. I read it back then, and dismissed it as an obvious hoax, but many people naively do not see it as being such an obvious hoax.

Questions and Answers 123 - 127

Priests and Over Political Priests

Question 123: I find it disturbing that an Orthodox priest told me on social media that you can't be a Christian and support President Trump. How would you respond to this?

Answer: I would find something like that disturbing as well. Priests like that should not be priests. They should not be dividing their flocks over political matters, nor should they even make public who they vote for or not and favor or disfavor. Hatred for the President is without any foundation unless you mindlessly believe a lot of propaganda, and there is no justification for it at all for a Christian, making his sins the only ones that he should worry about. It's something I can't even come close to comprehending. I've never come close to hating any President; frustrated, yes; disappointed, yes; disagreed with, yes; voted against, yes; but hate, never. If I were you, I would attend another parish if you belong to his parish. If this isn't possible, and the cleric who said this to you won't commune you for supporting your president and your country, then you should either confront them about this or report them to your bishop or archbishop. But if he is just a friend on social media, excommunicate him from your life and stop following him.

Questions and Answers 118 - 122

An Orthodox Christmas Greeting

Question 118: What is the proper Orthodox way to greet each other on Christmas and after? I heard "Christ is Born" is the proper Orthodox greeting?

Answer: I'm not sure when the greeting of "Christ is Born" with the response of "Glorify Him" on Christmas and after (according to some, till Theophany on January 6th, or according to others until the Meeting of the Lord on February 2nd) began, though we know it comes from the Christmas sermon of Saint Gregory the Theologian, but as a greeting it seems to be certainly of Slavic origin. I've been Greek Orthodox since I was born and never encountered this greeting until I went to seminary. Greeks usually just give a greeting equivalent to "Merry Christmas" or "Many Years." Personally, I don't think there is such a thing as an exclusively "proper Orthodox" greeting for Christmas. I usually just simply say "Merry Christmas" to everyone, though sometimes I may say "Christ is Born".

Questions and Answers 113 - 117

Psychic Abilities

Question 113: Do you believe psychics have real abilities?

Answers: It depends what you mean by "real abilities." I think a better way to ask the question, and what I think your implying, is whether or not psychics can predict the future. Let's be clear on one thing: many psychics are frauds. However, there are psychics out there who truly believe they have the ability to predict the future. It seems to me that what they do is follow their intuition, but they believe they have more accurate and sensitive intuitions than an average person, which is an ability they believe can be harnessed by anyone with some training, sort of like what they call a sixth sense. When they are wrong about something, they simply shrug it off as a misinterpretation of their intuition. Most psychics would not call this intuition, as they like to speak of it in spiritual terms, but I believe what they are speaking about is intuition. There could possibly be a demonic element as well, where a demon may suggest to them something they know will be true, and in this way deceiving both the psychic and the one getting their reading. This is true for mediums as well. I once knew a former professional psychic who converted to Christianity who explained to me that she now believed that when she was a psychic that it was a mixture of both intuition and demonic. When I was younger I myself was tempted with something that could be described as psychic ability when I was able to predict things that were virtually impossible to predict, but I quickly dispelled it and interpreted it as a demonic temptation.

Questions and Answers 108 - 112

Contradictions in the Gospels

Question 108: In the Gospels we have eye-witness accounts, yet there are contradictions in the accounts, such as in the accounts of the Resurrection of Christ. How do you explain this and does not this prove the Gospel accounts are untrustworthy?

Answer: In 1912 the Titanic sank. According to eye-witness accounts of the time, some said the Titanic sank in one piece, while others said the ship broke in half before it sank. We know now that the Titanic broke in half, then sank. Does this contradiction from the eye-witnesses mean that the Titanic never existed? Or that the Titanic never sank? Or that the eye-witnesses were lying and were untrustworthy? To all these questions, the answer is no, of course not. The reason this is so is because the eye-witnesses saw the sinking of the Titanic from different perspectives and vantage points. If you saw the Titanic sink from the front or back, or perhaps from a far distance, then you probably saw the Titanic sink as one piece from your perspective and vantage point, but if you saw it sink from the side, then you saw it break in half. Similarly in the Gospels, you have different eye-witness accounts written from different perspectives and vantage points, with apparent contradictions. For example, in one Gospel it says the Myrrhbearing women encountered two angels at the empty tomb of Christ, while another Gospel says there was one angel. This is an apparent contradiction, but it is in fact not a contradiction but a difference. In one Gospel account it says there are two angels, but only one angel is recorded to speak, but in the other Gospel account it only records the one angel speaking. The account which speaks of the one angel never says that there was only one angel, but it just stresses the fact that one angel spoke, and there could very well have been two angels, but it was not necessary to record there were two angels, whereas the other account wanted to be clear that there were in fact two angels. Yet we must also remember, none of the Myrrhbearers wrote a Gospel, so the Gospel writers were not recording something they saw or witnessed, but they are interpreting the oral account they heard, and so one emphasized one thing while the other emphasized something else about the same thing. Similar things can be explained with all the other apparent contradictions in the Gospels. What I would be more worried about is if all the accounts were in total agreement from perspective and vantage point, cause then they would be accused of conspiring and colluding.