Faith in Christ is more than simple intellectual certainty about the Divine Hypostasis of the incarnate Son and Logos of God. Intellectual certainty about the two perfect natures of the Lord Jesus Christ is only one aspect of the all-embracing reality that constitutes faith in Him.
In reality, faith in Christ is a degree of openness to the creative energies of the Triune God, which always seek the eternal life of the human being and of the World. Since God is Love, our openness to Divine Love, which has claimed us completely from the very moment that man was created, depends on the degree of our faith in Him. Therefore the greater our faith in God, the greater the Love we are aware of receiving from Him.
A characteristic of Divine Love is that it desires to reach everyone equally perfectly, if possible. Unlike a created energy, which is expended as it is made available, Divine Love remains undiminished as it is dispensed, seeming to increase instead of decreasing the more it is shared. Therefore, unlike the rich man who fears—rightly—that the poor covet his material wealth, the person who is rich in Divine Love will even give their own life so that everyone can experience the Love of God.
The relationship between Faith and Divine Love is organic, as is the relationship between love for God and love for our neighbour; indeed the latter [love of neighbour] depends on the former [love of God]. Faith in Christ makes us receptive to Divine Love, enabling us to love God and return that love to its Source. The more we allow the uncreated energies of Divine Love to return to their Source, the more intensely do they seek to make us their channel, through which they can continue to offer themselves to our neighbour and to the world, while remaining essentially undiminished in themselves. That is why we see Saints expending themselves out of love for God, for example, in the hospitality to their brothers, and their effort is rewarded with even greater love for God.
Loving one's neighbour as oneself is humanly impossible. Only when a person becomes capable of Divine Love, whether they realise it or not, do they begin to understand others as integral parts of themselves, without which they are incomplete. In Orthodox Tradition, social work that is not done out of an overflow of divine love for God is as futile as prayer performed without concentration and attention. The Apostle Paul never ceased to beg for the ‘needs’ of the brothers, but for him it is inconceivable that someone will give it, unless it proceeds from a love of others which only God can give us.
‘Good works’ (Matt. 5:14ff.) done out of mere moral duty, rather than an intense God-given love, simply increase the egoism of those who perform them and inevitably create resentment in those who receive them. On the contrary, whoever does good deeds out of Divine Love does so solely in order for the Name of God to be glorified, because in this case every praise that is offered by a brother to God is as if it is offered by oneself.
Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, 14.7.2024.
Archpriest Dr Georgios Lekkas is a cleric of the Holy Orthodox Metropolis of Belgium.
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