Preamble

A short reading of the Words of Jesus Christ from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John:

(5:23b-24) "The one who honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father Who sent Him.
Verily, verily, I say to you, that the one who heareth My word and believeth the One Who
sent Me hath everlasting life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed over out of
death into life. (6:45-47) It hath been written in the prophets, ‘And they shall be all taught of
God.’ Everyone then who hath heard and hath learned from the Father, cometh to Me. …
Verily, verily, I say to you, the one who believeth in Me hath everlasting life. (12:48) The
one who rejecteth Me and receiveth not My words, hath that which judgeth him—the word
which I spoke, that shall judge him in the last day. (14:6-7) … I am the way, and the truth,
and the life; no one cometh to the Father, except by Me. If ye had known Me, ye would have
known My Father also. … (14:23-24) … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word; and My
Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him. The one who
loveth Me not keepeth not My words; and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but of the
Father Who sent Me. (15:20, 23) Keep on remembering the word which I said to you, ‘A
slave is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they
kept My word, they will keep yours also. …The one who hateth Me hateth My Father also.
(17:3) And this is the eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ Whom Thou didst send forth. (17:6-9, 11, 14, 17-20) I manifested Thy name to the
men whom Thou hast given Me out of the world. …, and they have kept Thy word. Now
they have come to know that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are from Thee. For
the words which Thou hast given Me, I have given them; and they received them, and know
truly that I came forth from Thee; and they believed that Thou didst send Me forth. I make
request concerning them. … Holy Father, keep in Thy name those whom Thou hast given
Me, …. I have given them Thy word, …. Sanctify them in Thy truth; the word which is
Thine is truth. Even as Thou didst send Me forth into the world, I also sent them forth into
the world. And on behalf of them I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
And I do not make request for these only, but also for those who shall believe on Me through
their word; "

Two points should be clear on the basis of this reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John:

(1) Contrary to current popular opinion, Moslem and Jewish religions do NOT worship the Christian God,
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and any and all who make such a claim have been greatly deceived. Or,
as Saint John wrote in one of his letters: "Who is the liar, except the one denying, saying that “Jesus is not
the Christ”? This is the antichrist, the one denying the Father and the Son. Everyone who denieth the Son,
neither doth he have the Father." (1 John 2:22-23)

(2) Many (most? God is the Righteous Judge (2 Tim. 4:8) who alone knows our hearts (cf. Jer. 17:9-10))
who call themselves Christians are, in fact, not—they do not love Christ—because they do not even try to
keep all of Christ's words AND those of His Apostles (including those who believe through them) as set
forth in the Gospel above; rather, they protest against what we have received from the Apostles, and make
excuse with excuses in sins (Ps. 140:4). This is not to say that the Orthodox claim to be perfect—in fact,
they tend to be far more cognizant of their sins and how far short they are of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23)
—but that they (those truly Orthodox) are trying to keep the words referred to here by Saint John. As Saint
Paul put it: "So then, brethren, be standing firm and holding fast the traditions which ye were taught,
whether by word or by our epistle." (2 Thessalonians 2:15)