I, like many, I would imagine, first came upon this phrase as the dedication to an incredible and eye opening book by the author, James Baldwin, called, “The Fire Next Time”.
As human beings, we have a dual nature both visible and invisible - a body and a soul.
Our bodies, in this present world, are a temporary vehicle for our soul which is immortal.
St Symeon is speaking about the culmination of God's work on earth, the end of this present, temporary world and the resurrection and refashioning of the entire created Cosmos into a new, perfected and unending form.
Not only our soul, but our bodies and all of creation will be resurrected and refashioned at that point, as St Paul writes in his first Epistle to the Corinthians:
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
The ‘sleep’ that St Paul mentions here is the ‘sleep' of our bodies in the grave if we should die before the end of the world and the resurrection of the body.
In that case, our soul will continue to exist in either, a ‘bodiless’ Paradise or a ‘bodiless' Hell, depending upon the state of our soul at the time of our death, awaiting the resurrection of the body, when both soul and body will be joined back together in an unending existence.
To a large extent though, both Heaven and Hell begin here and now in this world because, in every case, no matter where we find ourselves, in this world, in the bodiless worlds, or in the life of the world to come, OUR INNER STATE BECOMES OUR OUTER ENVIRONMENT.
This is the one Law that holds true wherever we find ourselves.
This is the real significance of our life in this world, why our present life is so important for each of us - this is the place of the work - the place we have been given to ‘work out our salvation' - to make the best use of our complete freedom of will before we enter into everlasting life.
God loves us and wants nothing more for us than that we might become like He is - a god.
Humility, repentance and prayer are the three most effective means that we have been given to ‘work out our salvation' with.
We have misused our freedom of will and have become like other lesser things than what God first intended for us. We have ‘missed the Mark' that God originally set for us.
But, ultimately, the only sins that cannot be forgiven are the ones we refuse to repent of and the only Hell that exists is the rebellious refusal to accept God's love for us.
The story of Noah bears striking similarities to Mesopotamian myths that go back almost 5000 years, and seems to be inspired by a historical flood event.
The oldest known version of the story of Noah that would eventually appear in the biblical book of Genesis is from the Sumerian King List (SKL), and was composed during the reign of king Shulgi of Ur between 2084–2037 BCE. It mentions a flood which occurred during the reign of a king Zin-Suddu (Akkadian: Ziusudra) son of Ubara-Tutu of Shuruppak. The text of the SKL records that during the reign of this Ziusudra:
Then the flood swept over. After the flood had swept over, and the kingship had descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kish.
The city of Kish flourished in the Early Dynastic period soon after a river flood archaeologically attested by sedimentary strata at Shuruppak (modern Tell Fara), Uruk, Kish, and other sites, all of which have been radiocarbon dated to ca. 2900 BCE. Field notes: https://www.penn.museum/sites/journal/9356/
This story is also told in various other early Mesopotamian documents such as the Eridu Genesis, Akkadian Epic of Atrahasis, and the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. The name of this king is given as Shurrupak (the same as the city he ruled), Atra-Hasis, and Utnapishtim in those stories, respectively.
His time is not ours
As human beings, we have a dual nature both visible and invisible - a body and a soul.
Our bodies, in this present world, are a temporary vehicle for our soul which is immortal.
St Symeon is speaking about the culmination of God's work on earth, the end of this present, temporary world and the resurrection and refashioning of the entire created Cosmos into a new, perfected and unending form.
Not only our soul, but our bodies and all of creation will be resurrected and refashioned at that point, as St Paul writes in his first Epistle to the Corinthians:
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
The ‘sleep’ that St Paul mentions here is the ‘sleep' of our bodies in the grave if we should die before the end of the world and the resurrection of the body.
In that case, our soul will continue to exist in either, a ‘bodiless’ Paradise or a ‘bodiless' Hell, depending upon the state of our soul at the time of our death, awaiting the resurrection of the body, when both soul and body will be joined back together in an unending existence.
To a large extent though, both Heaven and Hell begin here and now in this world because, in every case, no matter where we find ourselves, in this world, in the bodiless worlds, or in the life of the world to come, OUR INNER STATE BECOMES OUR OUTER ENVIRONMENT.
This is the one Law that holds true wherever we find ourselves.
This is the real significance of our life in this world, why our present life is so important for each of us - this is the place of the work - the place we have been given to ‘work out our salvation' - to make the best use of our complete freedom of will before we enter into everlasting life.
God loves us and wants nothing more for us than that we might become like He is - a god.
https://substack.com/profile/100124894-steven-berger/note/c-49952884
Humility, repentance and prayer are the three most effective means that we have been given to ‘work out our salvation' with.
We have misused our freedom of will and have become like other lesser things than what God first intended for us. We have ‘missed the Mark' that God originally set for us.
But, ultimately, the only sins that cannot be forgiven are the ones we refuse to repent of and the only Hell that exists is the rebellious refusal to accept God's love for us.
Peace be with you.
https://open.substack.com/pub/stevenberger/p/the-mystery-of-iniquity?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1nm0v2
https://open.substack.com/pub/stevenberger/p/current-events?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1nm0v2
https://progressive.org/magazine/letter-nephew/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1962/11/17/letter-from-a-region-in-my-mind
https://youtu.be/mmXgREeRf5c?feature=shared
The story of Noah bears striking similarities to Mesopotamian myths that go back almost 5000 years, and seems to be inspired by a historical flood event.
The oldest known version of the story of Noah that would eventually appear in the biblical book of Genesis is from the Sumerian King List (SKL), and was composed during the reign of king Shulgi of Ur between 2084–2037 BCE. It mentions a flood which occurred during the reign of a king Zin-Suddu (Akkadian: Ziusudra) son of Ubara-Tutu of Shuruppak. The text of the SKL records that during the reign of this Ziusudra:
Then the flood swept over. After the flood had swept over, and the kingship had descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kish.
The city of Kish flourished in the Early Dynastic period soon after a river flood archaeologically attested by sedimentary strata at Shuruppak (modern Tell Fara), Uruk, Kish, and other sites, all of which have been radiocarbon dated to ca. 2900 BCE. Field notes: https://www.penn.museum/sites/journal/9356/
This story is also told in various other early Mesopotamian documents such as the Eridu Genesis, Akkadian Epic of Atrahasis, and the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. The name of this king is given as Shurrupak (the same as the city he ruled), Atra-Hasis, and Utnapishtim in those stories, respectively.
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziusudra
Yes, there are similar stories in many indigenous cultures. It seems as if the flood was more than just an allegory - it actually happened!
And after the Tower of Babel fell, this story spread throughout the world in various forms.
Likewise are the prophecies of a coming cataclysm and the end of the world, (as we know it) and the beginning of another life which is Eternal.