The Jewishness of Orthodoxy

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"Then Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit..." Acts 13:9

Does Paul see in himself what is in the false prophet and sorcerer, Bar-Jesus, whom is given blindness for a short while for leading people away from the teaching of the gospel (Acts 13:11)?

It is interesting to note here that St. Luke points out the Hebrew and Greek pronunciation of the Apostle's name, in a story that is similar to the way he was lead to belief in the Christ. Jewish, but also Greek.

Indeed, in Orthodoxy, I find no abandonment of the church's identity as "the Isreal of God (Galatians 6:6)." It is actually the only tradition that I have found to grow in such an organic way to encompass all men of all times and of all creeds, knowing "that circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter (Romans 2:29)."

When you read the scriptures as a whole, and when you engage in the very life of Church, not by books or study (though those are important), but by love and practice, you see the unbreakable union of both the scriptures and the church. Indeed, the Eucharistic banquet, the vestments, the chanting, the iconography, the whole life, all is a wonderful marriage.

Beloved, let us ponder this mystery, of how God did not bring forth a new church, a new "gathering," but rather from the Jews brought forth salvation and the fulfillment of both old and new.