Tag: protestant

Celebrate Three as One

~ cornerstoneunites

Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash

                In the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition, there is a special service to celebrate three different Hierarchs on one day.  Each of the three are celebrated on their own separate day and they also are celebrated together on one day.  How did this happen?

Disputes and dissension erupted because people were arguing about which of the three men were the greatest.   The three men appeared together in a dream to a Bishop showing him that they three are equal.  They instructed the Bishop to write a service that would honor all three so as to quench the quarreling.  On January 30th, each year this service continues to be celebrated as it has since around 1100 A.D.

                Could it be that because God knew the Christian church would divide and split against His will for us that this feast of “The Three Hierarchs” as it has become known is also meant to guide our three major Christian experiences: Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant to be honored as three separate individual groups; that we see ourselves as equal with the other two and that we three are to be celebrated as one?

Welcome to the Family

~ cornerstoneunites

The Greek word in the image means Crowns and refers to the rite in the Greek Orthodox marriage service where the couple are crowned in oneness with God’s blessings conveyed through the priests, unworthy as they are.

Traditionally Greek : Stefana

https://openverse.org/image/3c89346c-4431-4b32-8b35-c7a1dd9d1d01?q=greek%20wedding

The movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” has a touching scene displaying the desire to marry and belong to the entire family. After the fiance has freely chosen to be baptized he lovingly says to his wife-to-be, “I’m Greek now.”

Similarly, when someone is baptized in a local church it is said that they have become Christian, Orthodox, Catholic, or one of the Protestant denominations; some even say they are a member of the Body of Christ.

Jesus is quoted as saying they become something different. He says His disciples are to go and make disciples of every nation. (Matthew 28.19-20). Some churches today use the term “catechumens” instead.

Then Jesus says to baptize those disciples in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Very literally that person becomes a disciple of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

In hoping for when all Christians embrace that we are united by the Cornerstone Christ, going forward after every baptism each Christian tradition could exclaim with great joy, “Now you are a disciple of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; welcome to the family!”

To read ideas for how Christian traditions could remain diverse in our newly expressed oneness, please read this post, https://cornerstoneunites.com/2024/02/14/a-three-in-one-solution-for-christian-unity/