The Justice of God in Stages

by Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou of Essex God delivers His servants, in whom He sees zeal and divine desire, to the same chastening unto which He delivered His Only-begotten Son. To those He foresees will reach great perfection, He allows harsher manifestations of His chastening. During the martyric affliction of the second period: the extreme trial of abandonment by God, the Christian is initiated into the mystery of the Cross; he comes to know Christ in His infinite depth. And Christ grants the grace to whomsoever is like Him in His descent to also resemble Him in His ascent. He bestows upon him the grace of enlargement to embrace both heaven and earth in his heart. God calls man to a wondrous life. The knowledge of the rough and difficult path, as well as its luminous end, imparts wisdom to the mind whilst also begetting inspiration and trust in the heart. It strengthens man to place ‘himself and all others and his whole life’ into the holy hands of Almighty Jesus. He holds him fast so that he does not deviate from his purpose, which is to sow immortality and eternity as long as he lives and moves on the earth. He helps him to become a partaker of the much-desired ‘better resurrection’ in the boundless ages to come.