Christians are those Happy people who have actualized the given Happiness – have become (are becoming) what everyone already is in Christ. Therefore, it becomes clear why Christians are so Joyful, Happy (they already remember the second coming of Jesus Christ, ‘the exams’ have already been passed, that is, they do not come to judgment, all uncertainty is already behind, remains – ‘Rejoice always!’,
‘Your joy shall be, and already is, complete!’). Maybe Christians are mocking everyone (mocking): they imitate joy, behind which there is no reality, except perhaps self-deception?! But Christians humbly in the simplicity of heart say that ‘they know why they worship’ and Who they rely on, and that their Eucharistic life confirms their teaching, and the teaching agrees with the experience of resurrection, which is actualized anew in each Eucharist. And to confirm the Truthfulness of Orthodoxy, they show the fruits that the Church of Christ has given: Saint Anthony of Sourozh, presbyter Alexander Schmemann, hieromonk Amphilochius of Pochayiv, St. Silouan the Athonite, St. John of Kronstadt, St. Seraphim of Sarov, St. Gregory Palamas, St. Simeon the New Theologian, St. Maximus the Confessor, St. Macarius the Great, St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory the Theologian, St. Athanasius the Great, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Apostle Paul, the Most Holy Theotokos… For two thousand years, the Church has been abundant in fruits of resurrection, holiness in every kind and order; hosts and hosts of men and women, children and elders testify by word (teaching), Life and their dormition about the fact that God is Love! Come and see, and if you see that the word does not diverge from the deed, and the fruits of such Life – love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness…, then why not trust those people and not check what they Announce: whether it is really so?!
You say: it is so, but how can you say ‘God is Love’, when in the world, which He wanted to exist (wanted the world to be), there is so much evil, suffering, tears: wars, catastrophes, suffering of innocent children, sadistic killings of children in the womb (abortions), terrorism, banditism, abuse, diseases, injustice, unspeakable pain, etc.?! To answer this question-reproach, we need to recall: where did evil come from and what is evil (which God did not create!), what is sin and the consequences of sin, what is free will, what does it mean to forgive sin and what is divine providence (we thoroughly discussed these questions in Part I.), – then we will stop listening to the devil’s slander against God, and we will affirm that God is True!
Since God is Love, then He cannot not be in our lives constantly (‘in Him we live and move and have our being’). Therefore, absolutely everything that comes to us from outside our self (our freedom) is God’s Love (Mercy in this form of existence)! Everything that happens to me: whether diseases, or sorrows, or loss of the dearest, nearest, or persecution, or the hell of godforsakenness… – this is all the best that can be for me at this time (in my certain spiritual state), – with the knowledge of providence, the care of God-Love the Church calls: ‘In everything give thanks!’,
‘Always rejoice!’ (see Part I.).
God – healer, not tormentor; Doctor, not a terrorist in interrogation… It hurts because it heals, not tortures in anger! Therefore, the suffering of people (as paradoxical as it may sound; examples see above – a freezing man, dying of hunger, who no longer feels hunger; blessed are the hungry, those who weep, those who are persecuted) and confirm this Truth – God is Love! (And which disease is treated without sorrows, which pain is treated without pain (pain overcame pain, – see Part I.), or ‘which science goes into the head without a bang’ (whom I love, I chastise)?! – see Part I.).
God-Love – Doctor, Educator, Father, Brother, Friend… – Everything for everyone (whatever is needed for fullness of being). After the Resurrection (ours!) God is already a Teacher (in the sense of providence regarding created beings) – teaches us the mysteries of the Kingdom of God and prepares us to live in It (in the Holy Spirit). Since nothing deadly can happen to us (we can no longer fall away from God!), since we have resurrected and death no longer has dominion over us, God allows us various trials, sorrows, so that we, creatively, responsibly ‘solving’ them (tasks of divine providence. – see Part I.), learn freedom (because the Kingdom of God – Kingdom of absolute Freedom)! The Lord allows those who can bear it, even to wrestle with Satan (e.g., St. Anthony the Great for a long time fought with demons (who fight the ascetic with demonic thoughts and frightening, tempting images), and when he, exhausted, powerless lay on the ground, the Lord appeared to him. Anthony asked the Lord: ‘Where were You when I, fighting the tempter, called You for help?’. The Lord replied: ‘I was invisibly here with you, ready at any moment, if you began to lose, to enter into battle for you’. Note that Anthony asked for help from God, and the Lord, knowing his strength, gave him the opportunity to fight, although if Anthony had begun to lose, the Lord would have protected him from sin, because Anthony fought alone and asked for help). And we say: but why then do others sin and God does not intercede for them? Answer: because they do not fight, and if they fight , they rely on their own strength, not asking for help from God (such pedagogy!). But do not forget – God is Love, so when He allows a person to be defeated by sin, evil, even allows to fall to the bottom of hell, abyss – He knows how to get out of this state, ‘heal’ (already in the sense – to make wise), He is Absolute Responsibility for the salvation of everyone!). Therefore, a Christian never despairs, although he finds himself at the bottom of hell (‘keep your mind in hell, and do not despair’ – see Part I.), firmly knows that God will save him (cannot not save), because He is Love (once allowed a situation, with all possible consequences – knows how to ‘correct’ it, being Love!). Of course, do not sin (why destroy your health, to then heal it?! Why do evil to yourself and suffer?!), but if you fall into some sin a thousand times a day (even to the bottom of hell), do not despair (there is no reason – God is Love), humble yourself, try a thousand times to get up, get up, fight and ask for help from God – you will be saved (you will pass the test of Love excellently) you and your house! Therefore, the Church calls us to responsibility, to creativity, to live in freedom, not fearing that something will not work out – do good, fulfill God’s commandment (who is already in the New Testament, and those who are still in the Old – God’s Commandments), and what will not work out (will not succeed to overcome sin in a fight (duel) with it or something will not work out to the end and ‘will turn out as usual’) – God will correct and accomplish in the Sacrament of Repentance!