Who is Christ Now ?

Comments

• voltaire

  May 2017

  KMariam, I love ethiopian food! Welcome.
  
  The same divide exists in the Coptic Orthodox Church. Where are you? Many people are questioning because Orthodoxy is not a major form of Christianity in the west. In my experience, sharing what the Orthodox Church believes with westerners is often shocking to them. They cannot believe how literal we take the bible and basically everything in addition to the bible. Generally, protestants don't pray to saints for intercession, in fact it would surprise them that we do.
  
• minasoliman

  May 2017

  It's probably semantics KMariam. We prefer to say Christ is the mediator between God and man, because Christ is both, and that's the means of salvation. However, if you use the word "intercession", it would be synonymous with "mediator", but not the same as the "intercessions of the saints", who are righteous people who pray for us.
  
  Fr. Peter Farrington has a good video online about this:
  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5fNKXrBOr0M
• KMariam

  November 2017

  Voltaire, MinaSoliman,

  
  

  Thank you all brothers. How do I get a notification so I know when someone responded? I am just seeing your reply.

  
  

  I will listen Fr. peter video. I do understand the difference regarding intercession of Saints that Protestants do not accept and we do. I
• AntoniousNIkolas

  November 2017

  Hi KMariam,

  
  

  Please remember that the Orthodox Church is not a "denomination" or part of *the* Church, along with the Protestant denominations, etc.  The Orthodox Church is *the* Church.  The Protestant denominations are not part of the Church in any way, shape, or form.

  Also, as others have explained, Our Lord Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.  As Mina said, He healed the divide between God and man, but He is not an "intercessor" in the same way that a saint is.  We ask the saints "intercede on our behalf" in the Hymns of the Intercessions (Hiten Ni-Epresvia).  This is not the same as Christ's "intercession" with the Father.  Here is an article on that from the LA Diocese: http://lacopts.org/story/the-concept-of-intercession/

  Please do not poison yourself by consuming Protestant teachings or watching Protestant preachers on this or any subject.  God be with you.
• Daniel_Kyrillos

  November 2017

  Jesus is not necessarily our intercessor in the same way the martyrs or church fathers or St. Mary are- they intercede to Jesus! All the above comments are saying the same thing, and in more detail.

  Now as for the Protestant/Orthodox line, we consider them as more than flawed in their teachings- we say they are not a church. Take, for example, the EO church. We still consider them a church, even though we are out of communion with them over "theological" disputes (it's really a political and linguistic issue). The same can be said for the Roman Catholic church, although they're a bit farther off. The Protestants, however, have denied many things that are essential to the church, namely the hierarchy of priesthood. They believe that there is no such thing as a pope or bishop or priest or deacon, only a member of the "church." But we know for a fact that Jesus instituted the bishopric (I think that's the right word), the priesthood, and the service of the deacons! The Bible explicitly tells us about the first 7 deacons in the Acts- Nicholas, Timon, Nicanor, Prochorus, Philip, and St. Stephen the 1st Martyr.

  There are a ton of other reasons why we say these people are not a church, but one of the most simple (and general) explanation is that one.
• Onefaith33

  March 2020 edited March 2020

  KMariam

  
  

  I also am an Ethiopian orthodox and i know this is a big issue but as our brothers the Copts puts it when we are talking about the intercession of Christ we've think as meaditorship and the sacrifice that he paid on the cross for the whole human kind and for infinite times.

  
  

  but my real concern with EO church is this belief(hoping the Copts doesn't believe in such thing). for example if you go to Debre libanos(mount Lebanon) you will be saved no matter what if you give a drop of water in the name saint Mary or some other saints and Arc angles you will be saved no matter what ever you do. and according to legends of kirstos samra everyone is hell is saved and same with saint George. and if kirstos samra and saint george can do this and even there are people in hell what about the mother of God how much will she do more than them so is our faith and life in christ basically useless if we have another way to be saved. and we have to make a distinction b/n intercession and saving millions even billions of souls out of hell every single day.

  but i think that we should be all like the saints have strong faith in Christ and live the life of the saints that is the only way to be saved. and of course we can ask(i do ask)

  for the intercession of the saints but could that be the building block of our life. 

  
  

  But i think in the orthodox church everyone is saved if you call up on any saint or angles and in the 3rd of pagume if you say the lords prayer 500 times all your sins are forgiven because in that day the heavens are open for the sake of the angle Raphael.

  is any of this teachings orthodox or just what the rabbis of EO church make to make people interested in the church

  
  

  i never heard the Copts speaking about this things and i really like the coptic church and i admire their faith so much. 
  

   
• CanadianCopt

  April 2020

  We dont have that

  
  

  
  
• Onefaith33

  April 2020

  sorry when i say the EO i meant the Ethiopian church.