God is Holy Therefore Be Holy

 

The characteristic of God as being Holy; is absolute, natural and infinite.

 

He is all Holy; as we say that He is omnipotent … He is omniscient.

 

Isaiah the Prophet recorded to us the praise of

the Seraphim as they sing and say: "Holy, holy, holy

is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His

glory" (Is 6:3).

And every day, we praise the Lord in the Agpeya

hours saying: "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy

Immortal". The book of Revelation had put down for

us the Praise of the Heavenly livings with their harps,

singing "Just and true are Your ways, O King of the

saints! Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify

Your name? For You alone are holy" (Rev 15:3, 4).

The spirit of God in His Holiness is the Holy Spirit.

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And as God is Holy, so are all what

surrounds Him.

God's sky is holy, God's Angels are Holy and

God's Book is the Holy Book. Prayers which are

addressed to God are also Holy Prayers. We pray the

sacrament of the Holy Eucharist during the Divine

Liturgy. We also read the holy Praise, the Holy

Psalmody and the Holy Kholagy (book of the Divine

liturgies)…

The house of God is a Holy house. We say about

this in the Psalm "Holiness adorns Your house, O

LORD, forever." (Ps 93). God's day is a Holy day. And

so are all God's feasts, and His Holy Festivals during

which holy convocations are proclaimed at their

appointed times (Lv 23: 2-4).

The place in which we pray is called Holy, and so

is called the day as a holy day. We say this in the

Prayer of Thanksgiving "Let us also ask Him, the Lord

our God, the Almighty, to guard us in all peace this

holy day and all the days of our life". We also say "All

envy, all temptation, all the work of Satan, the

counsel of wicked men…take them away from us, and

from all Your people, and from this holy place that is

Yours".

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At this point, we come forth to the meanings

of: to be holy, sanctify, make holy…

At the beginning of the Lord's Prayer we say

"Hallowed be thy name". God's name is holy in its

nature. We mean, by this prayer, that people might

utter God's name with holiness, honor and veneration

and not in vain concerning trivial matters. And so it is

said in the commandment "You shall not take the

name of the LORD your God in vain" (Ex 20:7).

The word sanctify comes also means

consecrating to the Lord.

In that meaning the commandment says:

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Ex

20:8). This means to dedicate this day only to God.

You don't make anything in that day except what is

dedicated only to God, as worshipping and

contemplating in the Lord's words and its

implications…

And so is God's commandment to Moses

"Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens

the womb…it is Mine." (Ex 13:2) those of a human

who were devoted to serving the lord and that was

before assigning the tribe of Levite and the children of

Aaron for this mission…the firstborn of the beasts

were offered as sacrifices to the Lord. On the other

hand, Jesus Christ's saying to His Disciples: "for their

sakes I sanctify Myself" (Jn 17:19) means also to

devote Himself to care for them granting them

strength and purity.

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It is known that Holiness means purity and

innocence.

It was said: without holiness no one can see God.

God said about holiness "Be holy, for I am holy"

(1 P 1:16)

And also said "but as He who called you is holy,

you also be holy in all your conduct" (1 P 1:15). And

also the verse with the same meaning that says

"Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see

God" (Mt 5:8).

Uncleanness is the opposite of holiness; its

punishment is severe.

During the time of the Old Testament, they used

to describe as unclean those who have illness as

leprosy, the sick was carried outside the camp. Some

animals were also called unclean as pigs…

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It was said about heavenly Jerusalem that "there

shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or

causes an abomination" (Rev 21:27).

One of the clearest examples of uncleanness

is: sexual immortality.

God destroyed Sodom as a result of its depravity

(Gn 19). God drowned the earth into the waters of

the great flood. The first indication of the wickedness

of man on earth was "that the sons of God saw the

daughters of men that they were beautiful; and they

took wives for themselves of all whom they chose."

(Gn 6:2).

It was said about the dangerous significance of

fornication that our bodies are temples of God that is

why "If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will

destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which

temple you are." (1 Co 3:16, 17).

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Uncleanness is not limited only to

fornication; it goes as well for sins of the

tongue.

As to this point, God said "Not what goes into the

mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the

mouth, this defiles a man" (Mt 15:11). And

accordingly our master James the Prophet said about

the tongue "it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire

the course of nature" (Jas 3:6).

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The Bible teaches us that the baptized

believers are themselves saints.

The Prophet says "Greet every saint in Christ

Jesus… All the saints greet you" (Phil 4:21, 22).

A believer is called a saint, because he has been

made holy by the precious blood of Jesus Christ which

cleanses us from all sin (1 Jn 1:7). The believer has

been cleaned from his sins during the holy baptism

out of which he was newly born as a pious man, and

also because he became sanctified by the holy chrism

anointing during which 36 of his body's openings and

joints were anointed with the holy chrism…

At the time being, we call certain degree of

believers as 'saint', at a certain level he is witnessed

to be living a holy life, or a saint who was of the

heroes of faith or those who have worked miracles.

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We ask that we are granted to be sanctified

in our prayers, and in the Divine Liturgy…

In the prayer of the third hour, we say "send forth

upon us the grace of Your Holy Spirit, and purify us

from all defilement of body and spirit. Change us into

a spiritual manner of life, that we may walk in the

Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh".

And in the Divine Liturgy we say "purify our souls,

our bodies, our spirits", with this sanctification we

partake of the Holy communion memorizing the

saying of Samuel the Prophet

"Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to

the sacrifice" (1 S 16:5).

About partaking of the Holy Communion, we say

"the Holies for the holy "which means for the saintly

who are spiritually prepared to partake of the holy

sacraments.