Joe Versus the Volcano: Anastasius the Sinaite - what is the mark of a true Christian?

Monday, 29 November 2010

Anastasius the Sinaite - what is the mark of a true Christian?

Anastasius the Sinaite (d. 686) was a priest and abbot of Mount Sinai.

He was one of the great exponents of the theology of guardian angels. According to the short biography on the Orthodox Church in America website

St Anastasius taught that God gives each Christian an angel to care for him throughout his life.

However, we can drive our Guardian Angel away by our sins, just as bees are driven away by smoke.

While the demons work to deprive us of the heavenly Kingdom, the holy angels guide us to do good.

Therefore, only the most foolish individuals would drive away their Guardian Angel from themselves.

In his Answers to Questions St Anastasius addressed the question "what is the mark of a true Christian?":

A Christian is a veritable dwelling place of Christ, held together by good works and pious beliefs.
True faith, without works is dead, as are works without faith...wherefore the Lord says:
If a man loves Me, he will keep My words, and My Father will love Him, and We will come unto him and make Our home with him (John 14:23).

Correct belief and good works may not Do we not learn from this that the house of the soul is built through correct belief and good works, and thus God dwells within us. I will dwell in them, He says, and walk in them (II Cor. 6:16)....
Will not the devil then know whether or not the Master of the house, Christ, is inside your mind?

Fuller extract here at OCIC.

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Cyril of Alexandria

"After Christ had completed his mission on earth, it still remained necessary for us to become sharers in the divine nature of the Word. We had to give up our own life and be so transformed that we would begin to live an entirely new kind of life that would be pleasing to God. This was something we could do only by sharing in the Holy Spirit....When the time came for Christ to ascend to his heavenly Father, it was necessary for him to be united through his Spirit to those who worshipped him, and to dwell in our hearts through faith."

Basil of Caesarea

"Just as when a sunbeam falls on bright and transparent bodies, they themselves become brilliant too, and shed forth a fresh brightness from themselves, so souls wherein the Spirit dwells, illuminated by the Spirit, themselves become spiritual, and send forth their grace to others. Hence comes foreknowledge of the future, understanding of mysteries, apprehension of what is hidden, distribution of good gifts, the heavenly citizenship, a place in the chorus of angels, joy without end, abiding in God, the being made like to God, and, highest of all, the being made God."

Benedict of Nursia

"We believe that the divine presence is everywhere and that ‘the eyes of the Lord are looking on the good and the evil in every place’. But we should believe this especially without any doubt when we are assisting at the Work of God. To that end let us be mindful always of the Prophet's words ‘Serve the Lord in fear’, and again, ‘Sing praises wisely’, and ‘In the sight of the Angels I will sing praise to Thee’. Let us therefore consider how we ought to conduct ourselves in the sight of the Godhead and of His Angels, and let us take part in the psalmody in such a way that our mind may be in harmony with our voice."