Christ, 'A Sign to be Spoken Against': On the Two Types of Divisiveness

(Originally broadcast on Dec. 1, 2018)

The enemy of man’s salvation is called, in Greek, ο διάβολος, or the one who slanders and thus divides. His “modus operandi” is to divide and conquer. Thus, a sure sign of his handiwork is division, exemplified by the separation he provoked between the First-formed and God in Paradise. But, are all kinds of division his work? What are we to make of our Lord Jesus Christ’s words, “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division” (Luke 12:51)? And, elsewhere: “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household” (Matt. 10: 34-36).

In this lecture, Fr. Peter will examine the two types of divisiveness - salvific and demonic - and explain the importance of distinguishing between them. Discerning the spirits, what is of God and what of the enemy, is characteristic of being an Orthodox Christian and a matter of spiritual life and death.

Topics referenced:

Peace and Security according to Christ and the World, spiritual life and rationalism, Church unity and catholicity, the Grace of God, roles within the Church, the confession of faith, schism, phyletism, ecclesiological heresies.

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