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"In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." - John 16:33

Traditionally, the Orthodox Church has interpreted the world to be the flesh, to be the desires that we wish to tame within ourselves. The world also refers to the general cultural order of any given age. So, we would say that Christ is saying that within and without yourself, you will have trouble, what is inside and outside you will disappoint and fail you.

What is He saying here? That nothing in this world can really satisfy us, that everything becomes alive in its proper context. If the world and created order have fallen away from God, then his overcoming the culture from age to age and its distorted desires is a setting to proper context our existence. But that doesn't mean everyone agrees with this, not even every Christian will recognize God's call to repentance as such. Much of this had to do the improper evangelistic strategies of the past. A lot of it also has to do with the desire to be God. The serpent said to Eve in the garden of Eden, "Eat and you shall be like God, knowing both good and evil," meaning you will be the arbiter of your choice between what creates and what destroys. For this is what we mean when we say free will, for the Fathers call sin "uncreation." So the dichotomous nature of our choices are toward building up and tearing down. The church fathers teach that God forbade this because they were not ready to learn it yet, that God would have eventually presented the difference between good and evil.

We follow in the footsteps of Adam & Eve, we do wrong, we justify ourselves, we blame others. Or as Cain, we simply do not see the destruction that we do as uncreation, we don't see the proper context of our lives.

"Let us transfer our souls to heaven, and all the world is conquered... you are a stranger and a sojourner, and let nothing disturb you in this foreign land." - St. John Chrysostom (Homily LXXIX on John XVI)


Beloved, let us consider this, that even though we may be peaceable and may "aspire to live quiet lives," minding our own business and working (1 Thessalonians 4:11), we may still feel out of place. The feasts, the fasting, the remembrance of mortality, the sacrifice and care for the poor, our Christian lives and holy days, the correcting of our thoughts and moral behaviors. The seriousness with which we take our faith in practice, in word and thought and deed, correlates to our ability to be strangers in a foreign land, "a city on a hill" as Christ calls us to be. Let us strive to be such, being as Elder Cleopa, of whom it was reported that just his presence was enough to sway people and change hearts. Strive to love God in such a way.