19.

 Write out the quote of St. Theophan the Recluse. Explain this quote.

            St. Theophan the Recluse (+1894), a Russian bishop and an ascetic of the Orthodox Church, wrote: “Behind the veil of Christ's flesh, Christians behold the Triune God.” In these words the bishop is emphasizing the divine glory of Christ, that in addition to His being born in the human flesh, Christ is eternally-born of the Un-Originate Father. The Orthodox doctrine of Christ, as defined in Holy Scriptures and in the Ecumenical Councils, is that He is true God and true man, one Person in two natures, without separation and confusion, a single Person, but endowed with two wills and two energies. Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15). “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col 2:9). Thus the person who sees Christ sees God the Father. Christ is “true God from true God,” the Nicene Creed states, “of one essence with the Father.” He is the “reflection of the glory of God and the express image of His Person” (Heb 1:13). As Christ's beloved disciple wrote: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1).