P.S. Those who deal with programming know that if there is an error in the program – it will not work (all subprograms may be impeccable, but if the program, which is written on thousands of pages, contains an error (at least one) – it will not work; and when launching it the user receives a message: error! mistake!). Similarly, if there is a contradiction, gaps, uncertainties, dark places in the teaching – such a religion or philosophy does not “work” (does not lead to salvation, fullness); as subprograms in programming can be used separately – and there will be some correct, local result, so also separate provisions, teachings, beliefs of religions and philosophies give in practice a certain positive (local) result, but fullness can be achieved only when the whole teaching is involved and is effective. And it will be so only if there are no contradictions and errors in it. Such a teaching (knowledge) exists and it is the only one – it is possessed (and with its help proclaims to all nations the Truth of Jesus Christ) the Orthodox Church, which knows (is aware of) the Father in the Son by the Holy Spirit, which “goes” to the Father through the Son by the coaction of the Holy Spirit. According to such a teaching (“program”, which as a result of launching in the life of each person gives a result – deification, salvation) input data are introduced: sinful, perishable, egotistical, passionate creature, and as a result (outcome) we get – a god by Grace, one (one) of the Most Holy Trinity – a full participant in the Divine Life. About the fact that the “Program” of Orthodoxy works impeccably, that it is effective and infallible, testify the results of its “launch”, fruits – the Most Holy Theotokos, who passed all stages of spiritual growth and reached perfection.
Therefore, every missionary (herald) must first demonstrate that there are no contradictions in his doctrine (which he usually considers the most comprehensive, covering the maximum facts and explaining the maximum phenomena, and yet contains no logical contradictions) – only then can he be trusted. An Orthodox missionary should help the person he is preaching to understand the “contradictions” in Orthodoxy (naturally, if that person sincerely wants to know the Truth), to answer all the questions, “temptations,” that arise during the process of “trust” – and guide the person to the gates of Paradise, the Church, and then it is up to the person himself (within the community, in communication with others) to proceed, to convince themselves of the veracity of the Gospel through their own experience.
It is worth noting, and recalling from Part I, that if everything the Orthodox Church declares is true, especially that we are all already saved, deified, resurrected from the dead, and all creation is already spiritualized (becoming a spiritual temple of the Holy Spirit), incorporated into the God-human body, all existing in the hypostasis of the Son of God in a divine mode, i.e., “as God” – then it becomes clear why the Church strongly opposes mechanical, irresponsible sacramental acts without proper preparation (i.e., proclamation). The Sacraments, the Church clarifies, are not magical acts that are self-sufficient if performed correctly with every detail of the procedure followed precisely. The Church views such an irresponsible approach to the Sacraments by those who administer them and those who receive them as a crime, an evil (sometimes irreparable in its consequences). We said in Part I that the Sacraments are performed by God, and humans merely administer them (whether priest or bishop), and after listening more carefully to the Word of the Church and hearing its Proclamation – that we are already saved, all creation (nature, and the hypostases continue to grow to the full measure of Christ’s growth) is already deified, resurrected, perfected, then we can clarify the thought: The Sacrament of Salvation is not only performed by God, it has already been accomplished! That is, the Sacrament of Salvation has already been accomplished once and for all, meaning nothing can be added to the nature of humanity (= the entire universe) – it is deified, resurrected, and sits at the right hand of the Father (i.e., has divine dignity)! Then what occurs in what the Church calls Sacraments (in the plural)? Since nothing more can be added to human nature, the Sacraments are directed not at nature, but at the hypostasis, the image of God, which grows towards God’s likeness. Therefore, in the Sacraments, there occurs a revelation of the Deified Reality, a manifestation of what really is, the joining of the hypostasis to the God-human Reality, the communion of the hypostasis with the divine life existing in Christ as Human Nature! Hence, we see that in all Sacraments “matter, nature” is involved – through deified nature, which exists divinely, which the Church presents to the participant of the Sacrament, and the hypostasis learns to be as God. (Initially, the Divine Hypostasis of the Logos healed, deified human nature, and now human hypostases, relying on the Holy Spirit (Who descends upon us and on the “matter” of the Sacrament: the waters of baptism, the bread and wine of the Eucharist, the oil of chrismation, etc.; “Send down Your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these Gifts offered” – prays the Church to the Father during the Liturgy-Eucharist, knowing that only by the Holy Spirit can we recognize, meet, and assimilate Christ) upon deified, healed, resurrected nature themselves are deified; therefore, the Sacraments of deification of the hypostasis are performed through the mediated deified nature). Hence, everything the Church does has one goal – to reveal Reality, to teach people to be what they are in Christ – gods by Grace!