“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”, said Jesus as he began to preach. What is meant is that the Kingdom has fallen upon with the coming of the King, i.e. Jesus. In reality, the Kingdom has come through his death on the cross, and thus, the human subject has started to love him, which is to say that the human subject has started to see the Kingdom in the torn body of the Nazarene. Is there any Kingdom without that blood? Could we be formed without the poured divinity?
Our scholars of theological discourse claim that the church has emerged since the falling of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, as they were gathered in the upper room for the fear of the Jews. Then, they came out and spoke in tongues, which God has sent them down, since their language at that time was the same Word of God. The slavery of flesh and blood, and the thought that they produce, were relegated. Thus, their mind turned into the mind of God and their hearts into the heart of God. The Kingdom of God means that there are no slaves. “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8: 34) The Kingdom might come whenever the slave is no more a slave, thus, we all might become kings. This is how the writer of the book of Revelation sees us crowned in the presence of God, the King. This is to say that the creature is no longer less majesty [greatness] than the Creator is, though in essence createdness remains less than creativeness. Majesty is what matters.
There is a single place in the world, where the human being unites fully with the Lord, and that is the Divine Liturgy. There you eat the body of the Lord and he eats you, thus you become one not in extinction but in love. Of course, there is a big difficulty between the loving and the loved one; however, the dogma claims the transcendence of God, though we transcend to God through God’s love to us and our love to God.
In which scope does the Kingdom of God extend? Does it have space or time? The first thing must be emphasized is that when the Lord has said: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”, he meant that the Kingdom has come through and in the King that is he. In Luke, the Master says, “the kingdom of God is within you”, that is we do not have a space. And in Mathew he has said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”, this signifies a spiritual state, which starts here by attaining the virtue and it persists in the dead person, whenever he/[she] keeps it. Thus, there is no such a space above, since whenever we say that God is everywhere we mean that no space delimits God, thus the argument on spatiality does not apply to God.
The sovereignty of God is God’s impeccability of spatiality. Those deceased in God are not taken to any location of God’s dominion. This is articulated in the Liturgy of John Chrysostom to indicate that divinity embraces everything to itself and nothing’s location is changed, whenever embraced by God.
You are in the Kingdom, for us that means, you are of the Kingdom, and that is to say, that God is your Lord. Further, there is no such space or time for you beyond God’s sovereignty over you.
Thus, time here does not confine God’s domination over you. Whenever we say, “Thy kingdom come”, this does not imply that it has not come, rather that it is always coming. Christ “is and … was and … is to be” [Rev.16:5]. When Paul the apostle concludes his first letter to the Corinthians with the Aramaic statement: “Maranatha”, written in adjoining Greek letters, we do not know whether he wrote it “Maran atha” i.e. the Lord has come, or he wrote “Marana tha” i.e. Lord, come [1 Cor.16: 22]. I consider the imperative verb more probable, that is he wished Christ’s return, since this is the meaning stated at the end of the book of Revelation (22: 17).
Hence, we are in the Kingdom, which brought Christ, and we also move toward Him since we ask for Him in the Lord’s prayer and we believe that He comes to us through the holy offerings, as we say in the Byzantine Liturgy that they are the “fulfillment of the Kingdom of Heaven”. How do we say that those offerings are the fulfillment and after a while, we ask that we might participate in Christ’s first presence (by faith) and second presence (by hope). Everything on this level was, is (unceasing) and will be.
This question has occupied Christian theologians. Where is the church from all this? Is it the Kingdom? Is the Kingdom in it? The answer that I venture to give is that the church, which is the body of Christ, has some kind of relationship with this Kingdom. However, the church is not only the body of Christ, that is the expansion of His existence. It is also human. It consists of human beings who receive the Spirit of God to a certain extent and sometimes they receive a little of it. Those who are called Christians, the baptized ones, are either luminous gleams or darkened people, however, they are all without exception sinners, while the Kingdom does not prevail in the darkness.
The Liturgy is celebrated in the church. Thus, it is the Kingdom to the extent that you swallow or eat up the Liturgy. The Kingdom expels darkness. The essential thing to us is that between us and Christ there is a spiritual conjugality, and this was accomplished on the cross through blood, as it is the case in all conjugality.
Further, those venerations [in our Liturgy] make saints. In those [saints], who are close to perfection, the Kingdom has intensely inhabited. Thus, they are the holders of their weak brothers, the spiritually limp, the marginalized, the deaf and the dumb spiritually, who hope for Christ’s healing. The church is the people of God, namely that which God forms through the Word. The church is existent only since God build it up, but Satan destroys it, divides it and fragmentize it.
Whenever you look at the church, you might see much ugliness in it and you might as well see beauties. In case you can see in it divine splendor you are the happiest of the people, and in case your eyes halt on the filthinesses in it, then you would feel pain if you were a believer.
There is much pain in our life in the church. Filthiness is lasting and cleansing is permanent, and this will remain forever. There are much tears and Christ alone wipes the tears. Very few do console you. The consolations of some are permanent since they are strong. Their souls dwell in blessings and you might taste those blessings if you were eligible. Then, the Kingdom penetrates into you.
However, distresses and disappointments remain your share in the land of the living. Even if your members get smashed in the church of God, you know that the one who healed the lame is able to raise you up from death, in your world. So that you might rejoice before the angels take you to heaven. Only on the Last Day, the church becomes the bride.
The second question, which concerns those literalists and they are many, is, what would happen to the non-Christians with regard to the reality of the Kingdom? We do not claim a saved faction and another perishing one. Our God is a merciful God, and two or three of the Church Fathers claimed that God extinguished hell, but one warned against spreading this teaching. What I dare to say, while waiting for the final revelation, is that I am not dealing now with the issues of heaven and hell, but addressing the Kingdom of God, which is the same as God’s sovereignty over the hearts. The eschatological matters are to be dealt with differently. I limit myself here to speak about the sovereignty of God over the hearts and God’s purifying them; this is also different from addressing baptism. The path for salvation, that God has revealed and has made it an ecclesial mystery, has not bind Godself to it. God has made it binding for those who have received the Gospel message. As for the others, they belong to God, which is to say that they are in God’s economy and freedom. That is why one of our Church Fathers said: ‘The one whom the Church has not baptized (with water), the bridegroom of the Church does baptize him/[her] (Namely Christ)’. Hence, he/[she] becomes from the saved faction, in case we prefer this term.
The main issue is, regardless whether you are a church-member or not, whether you have entered the Kingdom in love or it has penetrated into you through divine mercy. In different terms, Christ is able to make you a member in his body only if he chooses you. Some refer to this by using the term the ‘invisible Church’.
From this perspective, I see two beloved persons to me out of Christianity, in its legal sense, and they are Rabʻa al-ʻadawiyyah and al-Ḥallāj and some of their friends in Islam. I might consider similarly Gandhi, who determined to love to his last breath.
To all of them, and they are part of the world’s beauties, not only of the people’s. The great poetry is in the Kingdom or the Kingdom is in it. I cannot name all the symphonies, neither all pieces of Byzantine or Gregorian chanting, neither all the icons nor the paintings of Europe, China and the Persian miniatures. All mothers’ compassion, which has not been pigmented by the holy water, all wailing of the starving ones in Africa, this young man dying now from cancer while I write these lines, all these are manifestations of Divine Kingdom.
One, a friend of mine has asked me, as we were accompanying together a person, who has passed away, do we hear the Ninth Symphony in heaven? I answered him; there are no voices in heaven. We glean the essence of the Ninth Symphony.
The Kingdom is the people, who carry the meaning of God, God’s love and the denotations of the living words in the world of divine splendor descending on human beings and holding the images of creativity. This was and is to be until we attire together the Majesty of God.
Translated by Sylvie Avakian-Maamarbashi
Original Text: “ملكوت السماوات” –An Nahar- 14-11-2009
