THE ORTHODOX CHURCH AND ISRAEL

Rev. Archimandrite Fr. Eusebius A. Stephanou, Th.D.
Brotherhood of St. Symeon the New Theologian
Miramar Beach, Florida

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The purpose of this teaching is to help awaken the Orthodox reader to an awareness of the prophetic significance of the restoration of Israel as a sovereign nation in May 1948. Regrettably, the Orthodox Church, following the lead of the Roman and Reformation Churches, dismisses the reconstituting of Israel as merely an accident of history. This is the result of “replacement theology” that presumes that the Gentile Church is New Israel, since supposedly it has replaced Old Israel. It presumes that God is finished with the Jews. The Two Problem Children of God Did you know, dear reader, that the Jews and the Greeks have one thing in common: both have been problem children for God? It is all the stranger when you consider that both Jews and Greeks have been divinely favored. Both were specially gifted by God. Both peoples were endowed with distinct qualities serving to fulfill God’s redemptive plan for all the nations of the earth. The Jews received God’s Law in a special covenant relationship in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. The Greeks, on the other hand, were equipped with a language and philosophy best suited for expressing ultimate, metaphysical reality. The New Testament was written in their language. Greek was the language of the Early Church. The Greek Christians in that age played a major role in establishing the Creed of the Universal Church in the Ecumenical Councils. “Philosophy was given to the Greeks directly and primarily 'til the Lord should call the Greeks,” teaches Clement of Alexandria (second century), “for this was a tutor to bring the Greek mind, as the Law, the Jews, to Christ. Philosophy, therefore, was a preparation, paving the way for him who is perfected in Christ” (Stromata 1, 5). Yet, the Greeks followed the pattern of the Jews in their national rebellion and apostasy. The Jews began with grace (in Abraham) because of God’s sovereign election of Israel, but ended up in the bondage of the Law. The Greeks, also, began with grace, with the promises of the Gospel, with a covenant relationship in the blood of the Lamb of God. But, like the Jews, they, too, ultimately fell into the bondage of religious legalism, dead forms and self-righteousness. We Greeks (and for that matter all Orthodox Greeks by spiritual heritage) are indefensible before God. We have the Jewish experience of rebellion and divine judgment to teach us about the pitfalls of barren formalism and pharisaism. But alas! It appears we have not learned anything from the lesson of Old Israel. Instead, we have followed in their footsteps. We have copied their ominous example. They were incapable of recognizing the Messiah when He came. The Greeks and most Orthodox today are incapable of recognizing the Holy Spirit, as He manifests Himself in the current end-time worldwide outpouring in preparation for the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory. The Jews resisted God’s Son. The Greeks and other Orthodox resist God’s Spirit. Very often through the forty years of the Renewal Ministry that has consumed me I have felt that a number of hardcore legalist Orthodox have wanted to stone me in the manner that St. Stephen found his crown of martyrdom. I could justly direct his words at my contemporary adversaries: “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?” (Acts 7:51f.) Has Satan Blinded the Orthodox Church? Though we Orthodox have followed the way of Old Israel, we have proved ourselves notoriously anti-Semitic down the centuries, both Greeks and Slavs. One result of this has been our failure to see the restoration of Israel in 1948 as a “sign of the times.” It is evidence generally of our lack of interest in the last things (eschata). We have become indifferent over prophetic and apocalyptic questions. The Greeks have every reason to be eternally grateful to the Jews. Were it not for that one Jew, Saul of Tarsus, they possibly would still be praying to stones. I trust that this teaching will minister to you. God has called me to sound the alarm. The time of grace and mercy is drawing to a close. The age in which Jesus rules as the Lamb is coming to an end. Jesus is about to appear as the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5). God is ready to pour out the vials of His wrath upon His rebellious house and generally upon this sinful and adulterous generation. The Hour of Judgment is at Hand “Be Zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:19) is the message that the Lord wants the world to hear in this last hour. It is urgent that we get God’s message out. All the signs of the time are converging to indicate that Jesus is coming soon, and we must warn our fellow-Orthodox Christians. I appeal to my fellow-priests and to the church hierarchy to preach what is at the core of Orthodoxy: repentance and reconversion to the Living Christ in preparation for the appearance of Christ in glory. Religious professionalism must give way to prophetic and evangelical enthusiasm. Unless we recognize the restoration of Israel as God’s “super-sign” of the end times, we Orthodox are destined for divine judgment in the hour of the predicted great tribulation. Satan is trying to blind the Orthodox Church and make it feel as if it’s just another day. The time has come when we need to understand that we are living in days of prophetic fulfillment. God is building up Zion. He is regathering His covenant people back to Jerusalem. Those who refuse to recognize God’s sovereign intervention in the reconstituting of Israel as a nation will suffer judgment. God is setting the stage for the return of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and for His universal reign when He is enthroned in Jerusalem. But the kingdom age is already here. Which Is God’s Eternal City? There might still be time to snap out of our historical illusion that the eternal city is imperial Rome or New Rome (Constantinople). Our eyes must turn to Jerusalem which now has been specifically restored. The occupation of the holy city by Israeli Jews in 1967 is a notable stage-setting sign of the times. Too long have we Orthodox trained our sights on the wrong city. The fact that the patriarchate of Jerusalem was reduced to the fourth in seniority of the four ancient patriarchates, after Constantinople, Alexandria and Antioch, dramatizes the tragic deception into which Roman imperialism (including Byzantium) plunged the Early church. Both Old Rome and New Rome replaced the true Mother Church of Jerusalem. The real city of God is not Rome (Old or New). Jerusalem is God’s favorite city on planet earth. The Psalmist David cries out: “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness”(Psalm 48:1). Both Romes have usurped the title of the “Eternal City.” “As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God. God will establish it forever” (Psalm 48:8). In addition to this blatant disregard for scriptural teaching that caused Jerusalem “the city of our God,” to be replaced by the imperial city, the holy mountain of Zion has been replaced by Mt. Athos in Greece. The monks who occupy that special peninsula in northern Greece, considered the most sacred and most highly venerated sanctuary in the entire Orthodox world, would rend their garments in holy indignation when reading my statements here. It is time to free ourselves from religious deception, however time-honored it is. Zion is God’s own holy mountain! We can find countless references in the Old Testament that speak of Zion as a select location for God’s permanent residence. But the book of Revelation in the New Testament has much to tell us about Jerusalem where Jesus, upon His return in glory, will be enthroned. Subsequently, the Jerusalem which is from above will descend from heaven and be superimposed upon Jerusalem which is below. Obviously, the New Testament declares the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy concerning the restoration of Israel, Zion and Jerusalem. Indeed, we now live in the age of fulfillment. God has a word of warning for those who refuse to accept His sovereign counsel and program for the close of the age. He will deal with those who persist in “replacement theology”: “Thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain” (Zephaniah 3:11).