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Metropolitan Saba (Isper)
There are certain erroneous or distorted beliefs that are widespread among the faithful.
Metropolitan Saba (Esber)
The cross leads those of little faith to disbelief and perplexity, but it brings those who believe to grasp the most perfect meaning of life. The unbeliever detests hardship, trials and suffering and so despairs and rages at life, taking vengeance out on others, and his despair may lead him to suicide since he has no hope. The true believer sees ways to transcend his stumbles and space to make his love active, to give life to his faith, and a resurrection unto the best life, which leads him to thank God in good times and bad.
"Just as the Church started in Jerusalem and spread to the rest of the world, likewise this beloved Metropolis, which began in London with only a few refugee families, has been strengthened by God to grow in an ancient land, which has gifted Christianity with its own native-born saints throughout history."
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For the fathers, the faith supposes that we do not "cherry-pick" their teachings. That is, we do not take teachings and sayings from here or there to prove an idea that we hold or to refute a position that we think is deviant. Rather, we deal with them with what the theologians of our Church call "the mind of the fathers" or "the patristic context."
In the Old Testament, when people did not know the full dimension of faith in Christ and their life was focused on the earth more than on the heavenly kingdom, they looked at wealth as a blessing from God and at poverty as a curse from God. However, in the Old Testament the Bible emphasizes the necessity of helping those in need and of taking care of strangers, especially widows, orphans, and the poor.
