Why are the mysteries important?
Get the full talk – click here
1. Introduction
A. What are the mysteries?
• Mysteries are not simply the sacraments of the Church.
• The seven mysteries?
B. The Church as Mystery
• Definition of Mystery:
• A mystery is something that takes us from our own fallen created state to the uncreated reality of God. The sacraments are outward signs of inward realities.
C. The Life in Christ
• The Church can be defined as the new life in Christ.
• All these mysteries lead us to the Life in Christ in a practical way, in the here and now, not in some future reality.
2. Man’s natural state: Image and Likeness
• The book of Genesis tells us about our natural relationship with God.
• We are made according to the Image and Likeness of God
• We were given freewill.
• Our ultimate purpose is to be united mind in heart with God.
3. The Fall and Fragmentation
• The story of Adam and Eve is our own story of brokenness and estrangement.
• The consequence of the separation of mind and heart: logismoi
• The sickness caused by ancestral sin.
4.Salvation, sanctification and the Church as a place of healing
• Christ came to heal and mend a broken world
• Salvation means healing: wholeness.
• The Church is the Body of Christ, a living organism, not a charitable organisation.
• The Church is a place of healing.
• The mysteries of the Church are the ways in which we begin to heal our brokenness.
• We are called to holiness, we are called to salvation, we are called to be whole again.
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” Genesis 1:26
“God became man that we might become God” Saint Athanasius
“We are not bad people needing to be made good – we are sick people needing to be made whole.” Fr. Raphael Armour
Get the full talk – click here
See the group tasks for this week:
Entering Orthodox Mystery 
