CHURCH AS A THANKFUL COMMUNITY WHICH SAVES PEOPLE ON CHRIST’S NAMES

On Thursday evening, March 15, 2018 continued the meetings of the Spring Semester cycle of students and scientists, organized for the fifteenth consecutive year by the Holy Metropolis of Corfu in the Spiritual Centre (Akadimias 2).

In this meeting, there was as a speaker, the theologian, Mr. Dimitris Mavropoulos, responsible of DOMOS Publications, hosted by the Holy Metropolis of Corfu, on the occasion of the Orthodox Christian Book Exhibition of the Holy Metropolis of Corfu in collaboration with EN PLO publications.

Mr. Mavropoulos based on his books “Comments on the Gospel by John” (DOMOS Publications) talked about the sayings of eternal life given by the Gospel and their value in our lives within the Church today.

The speaker stressed that this Gospel is read after the Easter Sunday, because it is not the Gospel of the instructed ones, but the faithful ones, who are baptized on the evening of Holy Saturday. Through this Gospel, which acts as a memorial to the Divine Communion, the believer understands and experiences who the Christ is and what the Church in which he is called to participate. Mr. Mavropoulos insisted on seven points:

1. Humans are saved by the incarnation of the Son and Word of God, with the union of the uncreated and the created, so that we, the created, to carry Christ in our lives.
2. The only possibility to feel this divine energy is a new birth, the one offered by baptism in the water and Spirit, the entrance to the Church.
3. The meeting with God is palpable in God’s place with the relationship with Christ, a treaty which takes place in every divine service.
4. The connection of Christ as the Son of God and son of humans with us, accomplished with divine communion.
5. To get to this society we need to overcome the dependent love to the selfless, not to stay in the relation of blood but to experience the one of the Spirit, to become God’s children and siblings among us.
6. The success of divine intervention is assured by the testimony of the Resurrection with the appearances of the risen Christ in front of His students and the joy and peace that He gave them.
7. The Gospel of John is a testimony of our salvation, it records its signs and invites us to see the Church as a thankful Community, in order to find our love for God and theosis as the purpose of our lives.

Then, an interesting dialogue followed with several questions to the speaker.