damir1978, I am Capt of Crunchers4Life team. Here is a pretty good guide to help do your signature
https://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Forum-Signature

I set up a free team website to host the teams pictures, Emoticons and Smilieys ect. instead of using Photo bucket or the other sites. I have post on there that make help too. You can stop by to check it out just click on Team Website in my Signature.

As the name of the team suggests, I will explain in this thread and put forward some resources for better knowledge of the Christian Orthodox Faith. However this will not be a thread for discussion-counter discussion as much as for understanding better the faith of the Orthodox people. You can ask questions and I can answer and if things start to go south we will stop arguing. It is better to have a relaxed forehead than one with heavy tension. This is the principle here. This is information that can be ignored by the people that are not interested in it. Many died for this faith in the last 2000 years and we would like to honor their sacrifice by keeping it civil.

First we start with the Nicene(-Constantinopolitan) Creed compiled for the benefit of all Christians in year 325 AD and completed in 381 AD. This is the heart of our beliefs:

I believe in one God, Father Almighty, Creator of
heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of
God, begotten of the Father before all ages;

Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten,
not created, of one essence with the Father
through Whom all things were made.

Who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven and was incarnate
of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.

He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate,
and suffered and was buried;

And He rose on the third day,
according to the Scriptures.

He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father;

And He will come again with glory to judge the living
and dead. His kingdom shall have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Creator of life,
Who proceeds from the Father, Who together with the
Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, Who
spoke through the prophets.

In one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

I look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the age to come.

Amen.

Greetings from Christians Team Damir!

I wish you the best on your new team.

The Sacraments - The Holy Eucharist

“Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me." John 6:53-57

Since 2000 years the Traditional Church eats the Body and drinks the Blood of Jesus in Holy Eucharist Sacrament. For the others that are not of Holy Spirit (who is teaching us, always) this is madness.

The Church always taught us the Truth about the Sacraments, as it was received from the Holy Spirit.

Ignatius of Antioch - DISCIPLE of John the Apostle, together with St. Polycarp (d. c. 110): “Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God. . . . They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes” (Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:2–7:1 One of St Ignatius of Antioch's letters he wrote on the way to be fed to wild animals.).

"Let no man deceive himself. Both the things which are in heaven, and the glorious angels, and rulers, both visible and invisible, if they believe not in the blood of Christ, shall, in consequence, incur condemnation. "He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." Matthew 19:12 Let not [high] place puff any one up: for that which is worth all is faith and love, to which nothing is to be preferred. But consider those who are of a different opinion with respect to the grace of Christ which has come unto us, how opposed they are to the will of God. They have no regard for love; no care for the widow, or the orphan, or the oppressed; of the bond, or of the free; of the hungry, or of the thirsty."

St. Ignatius died for his faith in the Roman Colosseum by lions. It is said he was one of the children blessed by Jesus in the Gospel.
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The Church was always under the protection and direct help from the Holy Spirit and only those who will be given to Jesus by the Father will understand Jesus words. The Church kept the Sacraments as per the commandment of Jesus and later the Apostles and their Disciples/Followers as it was shown here (please look below at the end of this post). So for 1500 years the Church protected and helped with the Sacraments and theology the members, even the ones that were not given to Jesus by the Father and in same cases they came to Jesus and in most cases they ignored the Church. The Church stayed fast and strong against pagans, then Muslims.

In 1054 the Church split because of political (and some theological) divisions in Two Churches due mostly to the division already present on the ground between West and Est of the former Roman Empire. The Catholic Church as it was known then and today started to accelerate the innovations so that the split can mature and they can be "rulers in their own house" and to make the Old Church to distance from them so it will not bother them further. However the Catholic Church kept the Sacraments as it was given to them by the Apostles and their followers in the ritual performed by the priests and theologically in many writings. The rulers of the medieval Catholic Church used the old dead Latin language to be taught and read in the churches and congregations so that they can control the population (for better or for worse). That led the believers in the West to be less aware of their theological errors for a while.

All this time (the last 2000 years) the Ancient Church (Orthodox) was still live and well, unbound by language (all languages were permitted) or innovations, keeping the clean Sacraments as they were given and taught to do in the Tradition.

In 1504 the conditions in the Catholic Church after many innovations and absolutist control and political infighting were as such that the Catholic Church authorities were considered sinful by their own people so under the guidance of a few priests in the centuries before the Reform (John Wycliffe - dead 1384, Jan Huss dead inn 1415) and with Luther as the last important figure of this revolutionary movement the Catholic Church split in two as well: Protestantism and Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church kept the Sacraments. But the newly formed Protestant churches didn’t keep the Sacraments for various reasons, some political some theological. Because of this the Protestants also renounced all 1500 years of writings and theological experience brought by the Fathers of the Church and all the Saints (the Tradition), because they were speaking about the Sacraments. This was not a Reform, but a new Spiritual movement, full of novelties in doctrine and young in debates, for all experience of the past was repeated in the many polemics they had with each other and with the Church.

The newly Protestant Churches started to split like a firework explosion so fast and so many that in a few years they were tens and a few more years they were hundreds. They all started to proceed to many innovations that were not accepted by one or the other and that created even more splits that created conditions on the ground for a general popular desire for something more stable ideologically speaking: it was answered in the form of Illuminism and SCIENCE. The newly ideology of Science created the conditions for active Atheism and in the last 3 centuries this aggressive form of dissonance with God only grew.

The Ancient Church was not affected at all by Atheism since they were protected by the Holy Spirit thought the Sacraments and free access to theology (Bible in all languages) and also had 1800 years of theological works (the Tradition) to learn, ponder and test the new innovations and arguments. So, Atheism failed in the first attack.

The Catholic Church was somehow affected since many people were ignorant in theology (the Tradition) because of the Latin language impediment and some of them dropped from Church all together and became Atheists. However because the Sacraments were kept, a good part of the members kept the link to God, and in the last 100 of years many laymen had more access than before to the works of the Ancient Church as well as the Bible. The Bible was compiled by the Ancient Church, so it is part of the Tradition, but it is not all the Tradition. The lives of the Saints and many of their theological works complete the Tradition.

The Protestant Churches were most severely attacked by Atheism and we can clearly see that besides France with the new revolutionary spirit almost all Atheism went into the Protestant world like a hot knife into yellow butter. This is because the protection from the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments was not there and also because they renounced the Tradition (the body of works that explain and enhance the theological knowledge of the members) as well as the important examples/models of the Saints that through their deeds and works explain so much to our hearts what the words fail to explain.

Today the situation is as such:
Ancient Church (Orthodox) is the least touched by the scourge of Atheism and where it is touched is mostly due to Western influences in the large society. This is because the nations where a national Orthodox Church was active were linked through God not in mind only or even in soul but in body as well.

Catholic Church is fighting to keep whatever is left of its authority but it moves towards even more innovations and even appeasement towards sin. Still, keeping the Sacraments and having access to the Tradition helps many in their relationship with God.

Because people do not even know about the Tradition or look at it with ignorant disdain they do not receive the tools to combat theological heresies (spiritual sin) and unbridled Atheism. 40000 Protestant churches cannot have a chance against total spiritual dissolution that will come for sure in medium term. Very few Protestant congregations will survive the digital age (next 50-100 years). The Tradition can help but only if accessed.

The Sacraments throughout the years are the CORNER STONE of the Church and the Tradition, of which the Bible is but one part, CERTIFIES THIS FACT. The Sacraments will protect us from the "spirit of this World" as long as we take them with reverence for what they are: our personal, physical and theological link to Jesus Christ, His Body and His Blood (as per His Word).
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The Sacraments were instituted by Christ and by Apostles so that we go only though Jesus Christ towards Salvation.

We have to understand and learn what the Sacraments are, because they are essential and they are coming directly from Christ.

From the first testimony at the beginning of the Church starting with the Apostles and continuing with their disciples and followers, men that worked and walked with the Apostles are witness to the Sacraments. It continues with the Holy Fathers of the Church, men that where closer than us to the followers of the Apostles and the knowledge of their day. The Protestant leaders cannot claim to be greater than these Holy men:

St. Paul: 1 Corinthians 10:16 (actually read all chapters 10-11):
"Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?"

The Didache (from the Apostles)
“Assemble on the Lord’s day, and break bread and offer the Eucharist; but first make confession of your faults, so that your sacrifice may be a pure one. Anyone who has a difference with his fellow is not to take part with you until he has been reconciled, so as to avoid any profanation of your sacrifice [Matt. 5:23–24]. For this is the offering of which the Lord has said, ‘Everywhere and always bring me a sacrifice that is undefiled, for I am a great king, says the Lord, and my name is the wonder of nations’ [Mal. 1:11, 14]” (Didache 14 [A.D. 70]).

Pope Clement I
“Our sin will not be small if we eject from the episcopate those who blamelessly and holily have offered its sacrifices. Blessed are those presbyters who have already finished their course, and who have obtained a fruitful and perfect release” (Letter to the Corinthians 44:4–5 [A.D. 80]).

Ignatius of Antioch
“Make certain, therefore, that you all observe one common Eucharist; for there is but one Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and but one cup of union with his Blood, and one single altar of sacrifice—even as there is also but one bishop, with his clergy and my own fellow servitors, the deacons. This will ensure that all your doings are in full accord with the will of God” (Letter to the Philadelphians 4 [A.D. 110]).

Justin Martyr
“God speaks by the mouth of Malachi, one of the twelve [minor prophets], as I said before, about the sacrifices at that time presented by you: ‘I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord, and I will not accept your sacrifices at your hands; for from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, my name has been glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering, for my name is great among the Gentiles . . . [Mal. 1:10–11]. He then speaks of those Gentiles, namely us [Christians] who in every place offer sacrifices to him, that is, the bread of the Eucharist and also the cup of the Eucharist” (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 41 [A.D. 155]).

Cyprian of Carthage
“If Christ Jesus, our Lord and God, is himself the high priest of God the Father; and if he offered himself as a sacrifice to the Father; and if he commanded that this be done in commemoration of himself, then certainly the priest, who imitates that which Christ did, truly functions in place of Christ” (Letters 63:14 [A.D. 253]).

Serapion
“Accept therewith our hallowing too, as we say, ‘Holy, holy, holy Lord Sabaoth, heaven and earth is full of your glory.’ Heaven is full, and full is the earth, with your magnificent glory, Lord of virtues. Full also is this sacrifice, with your strength and your communion; for to you we offer this living sacrifice, this unbloody oblation” (Prayer of the Eucharistic Sacrifice 13:12–16 [A.D. 350]).

Cyril of Jerusalem
“Then, having sanctified ourselves by these spiritual hymns, we beseech the merciful God to send forth his Holy Spirit upon the gifts lying before him, that he may make the bread the Body of Christ and the wine the Blood of Christ, for whatsoever the Holy Spirit has touched is surely sanctified and changed. Then, upon the completion of the spiritual sacrifice, the bloodless worship, over that propitiatory victim we call upon God for the common peace of the churches, for the welfare of the world, for kings, for soldiers and allies, for the sick, for the afflicted; and in summary, we all pray and offer this sacrifice for all who are in need” (Catechetical Lectures 23:7–8 [A.D. 350]).

Gregory Nazianzen
“Cease not to pray and plead for me when you draw down the Word by your word, when in an unbloody cutting you cut the Body and Blood of the Lord, using your voice for a sword” (Letter to Amphilochius 171 [A.D. 383]).

Ambrose of Milan
“We saw the prince of priests coming to us, we saw and heard him offering his blood for us. We follow, inasmuch as we are able, being priests, and we offer the sacrifice on behalf of the people. Even if we are of but little merit, still, in the sacrifice, we are honorable. Even if Christ is not now seen as the one who offers the sacrifice, nevertheless it is he himself that is offered in sacrifice here on Earth when the body of Christ is offered. Indeed, to offer himself he is made visible in us, he whose word makes holy the sacrifice that is offered” (Commentaries on Twelve Psalms of David 38:25 [A.D. 389]).

John Chrysostom
“When you see the Lord immolated and lying upon the altar, and the priest bent over that sacrifice praying, and all the people empurpled by that precious blood, can you think that you are still among men and on earth? Or are you not lifted up to heaven?” (The Priesthood 3:4:177 [A.D. 387]).
“Reverence, therefore, reverence this table, of which we are all communicants! Christ, slain for us, the sacrificial victim who is placed thereon!” (Homilies on Romans 8:8 [A.D. 391]).

“‘The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not communion of the blood of Christ?’ Very trustworthy and awesomely does he [Paul] say it. For what he is saying is this: What is in the cup is that which flowed from his side, and we partake of it. He called it a cup of blessing because when we hold it in our hands that is how we praise him in song, wondering and astonished at his indescribable gift, blessing him because of his having poured out this very gift so that we might not remain in error; and not only for his having poured it out, but also for his sharing it with all of us. ‘If therefore you desire blood,’ he [the Lord] says, ‘do not redden the platform of idols with the slaughter of dumb beasts, but my altar of sacrifice with my blood.’ What is more awesome than this? What, pray tell, more tenderly loving?” (Homilies on First Corinthians 24:1(3) [A.D. 392]).

“In ancient times, because men were very imperfect, God did not scorn to receive the blood which they were offering . . . to draw them away from those idols; and this very thing again was because of his indescribable, tender affection. But now he has transferred the priestly action to what is most awesome and magnificent. He has changed the sacrifice itself, and instead of the butchering of dumb beasts, he commands the offering up of himself” (ibid., 24:2).

“What then? Do we not offer daily? Yes, we offer, but making remembrance of his death; and this remembrance is one and not many. How is it one and not many? Because this sacrifice is offered once, like that in the Holy of Holies. This sacrifice is a type of that, and this remembrance a type of that. We offer always the same, not one sheep now and another tomorrow, but the same thing always. Thus there is one sacrifice. By this reasoning, since the sacrifice is offered everywhere, are there, then, a multiplicity of Christs? By no means! Christ is one everywhere. He is complete here, complete there, one body. And just as he is one body and not many though offered everywhere, so too is there one sacrifice” (Homilies on Hebrews 17:3(6) [A.D. 403]).

Augustine (354–430): “I promised you [new Christians], who have now been baptized, a sermon in which I would explain the sacrament of the Lord’s Table. . . . That bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the blood of Christ” (Sermons 227).

“In the sacrament he is immolated for the people not only on every Easter Solemnity but on every day; and a man would not be lying if, when asked, he were to reply that Christ is being immolated. For if sacraments had not a likeness to those things of which they are sacraments, they would not be sacraments at all; and they generally take the names of those same things by reason of this likeness” (Letters 98:9 [A.D. 412]).

“For when he says in another book, which is called Ecclesiastes, ‘There is no good for a man except that he should eat and drink’ [Eccles. 2:24], what can he be more credibly understood to say [prophetically] than what belongs to the participation of this table which the Mediator of the New Testament himself, the priest after the order of Melchizedek, furnishes with his own body and blood? For that sacrifice has succeeded all the sacrifices of the Old Testament, which were slain as a shadow of what was to come. . . . Because, instead of all these sacrifices and oblations, his body is offered and is served up to the partakers of it” (The City of God 17:20 [A.D. 419]).

Sechnall of Ireland
“[St. Patrick] proclaims boldly to the [Irish] tribes the name of the Lord, to whom he gives the eternal grace of the laver of salvation; for their offenses he prays daily unto God; for them also he offers up to God worthy sacrifices” (Hymn in Praise of St. Patrick 13 [A.D. 444]).

Fulgentius of Ruspe
“Hold most firmly and never doubt in the least that the only-begotten God the Word himself became flesh [and] offered himself in an odor of sweetness as a sacrifice and victim to God on our behalf; to whom . . . in the time of the Old Testament animals were sacrificed by the patriarchs and prophets and priests; and to whom now, I mean in the time of the New Testament . . . the holy Catholic Church does not cease in faith and love to offer throughout all the lands of the world a sacrifice of bread and wine. In those former sacrifices what would be given us in the future was signified figuratively, but in this sacrifice which has now been given us is shown plainly. In those former sacrifices it was fore-announced that the Son of God would be killed for the impious, but in the present sacrifice it is announced that he has been killed for the impious” (The Rule of Faith 62 [A.D. 524]).

Irenaeus (d. 202): “He took from among creation that which is bread, and gave thanks, saying, ‘This is my body.’ The cup likewise, which is from among the creation to which we belong, he confessed to be his blood” (Against Heresies, 4:17:5).

“He has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own body, from which he gives increase unto our bodies. When, therefore, the mixed cup [wine and water] and the baked bread receives the Word of God and becomes the Eucharist, the body of Christ, and from these the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they say that the flesh is not capable of receiving the gift of God, which is eternal life—flesh which is nourished by the body and blood of the Lord, and is in fact a member of him?” (Against Heresies, 5:2).

Origen (182–254): “Formerly, in an obscure way, there was manna for food; now, however, in full view, there is the true food, the flesh of the Word of God, as he himself says: ‘My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink’” (Homilies on Numbers, 7:2).

Tertullian (160–225): “The flesh feeds on the body and blood of Christ, that the soul likewise may be filled with God” (The Resurrection of the Dead).
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If Protestants remain in Jesus only in "spiritual" form, we in the Ancient Church (Orthodox) will be in "spiritual" form and Physical form as per his Word and the Sacraments that will work in us. This is a more profound unity state.

As it is with marriage/partnering between man and woman:

With no marriage there are two people that can call themselves partners with nothing to show for it but their love.

And then there is the married couples that were married in front of God and have a social contract signed by both of them in front of society and God.

Who is in a better bond between these two couples? You will be tempted to say the ones who love each other. But if both couples love each other, then who are in a better bond? And who showed deeper love and trust towards one another and to the world?

Jesus remains in us and we remain in Him, both spiritually and physically as we (humans) are both spirit and body and BOTH body and Spirit will need to be saved from the sin. This needs to happen at the same time, so that we are ready at the moment of our passing, to go and present ourselves in front of the Judge.

The Orthodox Church has a strategy for the Body as well as for the Spirit contained in one pathway: The Sacraments.

The Church received this "strategy" from Jesus as per his words (John-53-57).

1. I contribute to WCG with results.

2. You are not forced to read or accept the posts.

3. What is inflammatory is your desire to censure christian posts for no particular reason other than that Christianity seems to go against your beliefs.

4. I will not reply to any of your further questions or posts. There will be no good point to either way.