High School Greek Orthodox Lesson:

“Love Thy Neighbour”

by Presbytera Dimitra Georganas

(Saint Demetrios, IL)

Read each bulleted saying and answer the questions as best as you can individually.  Stop after each “bullet”.  We will discuss your responses as a class and continue on to the next saying.

 

§         What can be sweeter and more beautiful than the love of a neighbour? Love is bliss, and hatred - torment. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbour as yourself (Mt 22:40). Love for one's neighbour is the road that leads to God, for Christ, in His mercy, mysteriously came in the flesh of every one of our neighbours, and in Christ, God (1 Jn). Do not think, beloved brother, that the commandment of love is as close to our fallen heart as it should be, for the commandment is of the Spirit, while our heart is of flesh and blood; the commandment is new, while our heart is old. Our fall harmed our inborn love. Christ tells us to kill it and find a sacred love for our neighbour - the love in Christ.

 

Explain in your own words how the “heart is of flesh and blood” and “love… is of the Spirit”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• New man ought to have all his qualities new. No old qualities become him. The love that comes of blood and carnal sensations has no value before the Gospel. Can it have any value if, when our blood is hot, we swear to give our soul for the Lord, and several hours later, in cool blood, we swear that we know Him not (Mt 26:33, 35, 74)?  

Look up the verses of Mt 26:33, 35, & 74.  What does it mean for our blood to be hot?  Explain the last sentence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Open the Gospel, my beloved brother, and look in it as in a mirror. Look and take off the tattered garments which the fall has put on you. Put on the new attire prepared for you by the Lord! Christ is this new attire. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Gal 3:27).  Let the Gospel guide you and put off hostility, wrath, evil judgment and everything else hostile to love. The Gospel tells us to pray for our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good unto those who hate us, and forgive whatever is done against us. If to imitate Christ is your goal, try to follow these commandments in deed. The Lord said to His disciples: If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself (Mt 16:24). When God is with you, hope for victory: the Lord can never be vanquished.

 

Where have you heard or read the 5^th sentence:  “.. as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ”?

 

 

 

Do you have any enemies?  Have you prayed for them?

 

 

 

 

Have you done any good to a person  who hates you?  Explain.

 

 

 

 

 

Have you been in a situation where you could have forgiven someone who did something to hurt you, but you didn’t?

 

 

 

 

• Pray God for victory with prayers constant and tearful - and grace will descend unto your heart all of a sudden. You will feel the inimitable sweetness of spiritual love for your enemies. Another combat awaits you. You will need all your courage for it. Look at the things you love - do you like and admire them? Is your heart attached to them? Then, renounce them!

 

During which part of the Divine Liturgy do we hear a similar message as the last 3 sentences/questions?

 

 

 

 

 

• Humility and devotion to God kill carnal love - which means that it lives on disbelief and pride. Do to your loved ones whatever good deeds you can and what the law allows you, but always entrust them to God. Revere your neighbour as the image of God. This reverence of your soul will be invisible to others, and known to your conscience alone. 

 

How often when we forgive others or are angry with others, do we let others know about it?  Name a situation during which this has happened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Treat your neighbour with respect, age, sex and estate notwithstanding - and holy love will dawn on your heart. Not flesh and blood and feeling but God is the source of this love.  My duty is to preserve my reverence of His image and so preserve myself from hell. Be full of reverence whomever you see - a blind man, a leper, a madman, a baby, a criminal, a pagan. They all are images of God.

 

Do you treat every person the same?  If not, what is the reason?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extra sayings from the Church Fathers

 

 

• In a Christian, revere Christ, Who said:  Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me (Mt 25:40). Remember these words when you communicate with your neighbour, and you will have the love of your neighbour.

 

 

If a man says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar. ...  My beloved brother, seek spiritual love for your neighbour within yourself. When you enter it, you will enter the love of God, the gates of the Resurrection, the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.