Saint Anne Orthodox Church

 One of the important statements from the last article was that the spiritual law can be viewed as the expression of God’s comprehensive providence, through which the misfortunes that befell us, are to be regarded as appropriate instruments for our correction, arranged for the benefit of our souls. Today we will develop this statement in the light of the teachings of St Nektarios of Aegina.  The satisfaction of the Divine Righteousness which has been offended by the creation of sin, is demanded by the Divine Law, since sin is an adversary of this law and an enemy of the peace and the Kingdom of God upon the earth,  which sin seeks to disturb and bring to confusion and disorder. Sin receives substance when it is created by unnatural human desire. Since the entire creation is full of the Lord’s works while His Law has been poured upon the entire face of the earth, this unnatural human desire and creation, that we call sin, also receives some type of place and displaces the good that has been created by God. If then God created everything very well, it follows that this new creation that entered into the world also disturbed and harmed the reigning good and plotted against the Law of God. Therefore sin is a great evil against God because it threatens to destroy the work of God. And since its creator is man, when man sins, he sins against God; this is why he is obligated to satisfy the Divine Righteousness, while destroying the evil he has created, working in behalf of the everlastingness of God’s Law. At this point it is important for us to understand that every sin is referred to God. The Prophet David while confessing his sins to God says: “Against Thee only have I sinned and done which is evil in Thy sight”(Ps 50:6). In this light it is important for us to hasten to propitiate God in order to be reconciled. In both the Old and the New Testaments, the examples mentioned about God’s punishment for the people are numerous, this demonstrating that justice is demanded for each sin committed. Both the Holy Synods as well as the Holy Fathers- Saint Athanasios of Alexandria, St Dionysios, St Basil and others- precisely designate the satisfaction to be required of sinners according to the quantity and the degree of sin.