But let’s see: does the expression “faith from hearing” make sense at all? It does. This statement talks about describing the entire route—from the starting point (hearing) to the end (faith). To get somewhere, you first need to start from the starting point “hearing and understanding.” Hence, faith from hearing = deification, reaching the Goal (Divine Union) from hearing = the same (as Christians say), as baptism, Eucharist, confession, marriage (all the sacraments) for the forgiveness of sins (see Part I) = the same as overcoming the path from Pidhorodtsi to Kyiv (Pidhorodtsi is a picturesque village in the Skole district of Lviv region) starting from the parental home… Thus, in these three words (faith from hearing), the entire route from earth to Heaven (the Kingdom of God), and between the starting point and the end— a difficult thorny road of trust-verification of what was heard (the Advertising of the Kingdom of God—the Gospel)!
Let’s say a few words about “the blessed disbelief of Thomas.” From the incorrect understanding of this fragment of the verbal Gospel Icon, the declared are led into great delusion. Often in sermons on Thomas Sunday (Antipascha) one can hear the tone of demeaning Thomas and praising those present in the church, as if Thomas is weak because he believed only when he saw Christ, and you are blessed because you have not seen and believe!? And everyone leaves happy and self-satisfied with the joyful news that they are blessed, and there is nothing left to do! What a substitution, what a delusion!? And this evil is because priests cannot read Scripture (do not know that Scripture is an Icon, and how to prayerfully read the indication of the Hypostasis of Christ, the Body of the Church, and to correctly, like a tuning fork, tune their desire for the Kingdom of God, setting the tonality of Eternal Life), and they do not want to learn! So, what is this fragment of the Gospel Icon about? The Church responds: about the blessed disbelief of Thomas, he did not settle for what he heard, but wanted to see the Resurrected Lord himself, and the testimony of the apostles was not in truth (because they had not yet received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost), but in emotions, so they could not really be trusted! Blessed disbelief of Thomas, because it led him to a meeting with the Resurrected Christ, that is, to the faith-knowledge of the resurrection! He was not satisfied with the information about the resurrection alone, he wanted to verify it himself, to experience the meeting with the Resurrected! His sincere, judicious desire was satisfied by Christ! Therefore, the essence of the fragment John 20:24-29 – when the disciples told Thomas that they had seen the Lord, Thomas was not satisfied with this information, did not want to believe them at their word and thus deceive himself that he was a believer, that is, knowing the Resurrected Christ just as the eyewitnesses (although they were not convincing, having nothing more than emotions; there was no depth of knowledge of the truth in their testimony). Thomas said that he would not consider himself a believer (these are sober words!), until he touched the Body of the Resurrection. When the Lord appeared to Thomas and allowed Himself to be examined (communication with the Resurrected is faith-knowledge), He told Thomas: “Do not be unbelieving, but believing,” – that is, until you saw-know Me, you could not be faithful (at most trusting those who testified about Me), so now, having experienced faith, be faithful. Having seen Me, you became a believer (experienced faith), blessed (“Blessed are your eyes, for they see what you see”; “blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” – that is, blessed are those who see, thus Thomas is blessed!), and blessed are those who have not seen, but have trusted the Church, those who saw the Resurrected, and in fidelity and trust reached God-seeing!
Let’s give another example of the incorrect reading of the word pistis. In the rite of the sacrament of baptism, we hear the following dialogue between the presbyter and the one preparing for enlightenment (who will be baptized). The presbyter asks three times: do you believe in Christ?! The declared answers each question: I believe… Do you unite with Christ? – I unite! Have you united with Christ? – I have united! And do you believe in Him!? – I believe in him as King and God! And immediately pronounces the Creed: I believe…
The Church, before baptizing someone into the Body of Christ, meticulously prepared a detailed announcement (at all levels of being: helped the person feel the hell of godlessness and prepared the mind for repentance—great understanding)—by word taught about what the Church knows, in what (in Whom) it believes! Before baptism, the declared confessed before the Church absolute trust in what it had proclaimed to him, confessed that he trusts that everything the Church teaches is the Truth and that reality is just as it knows the Church. The declared does not believe, does not know, but only trusts! Therefore, the Church asks (the control question of the exam that the declared had passed before baptism; those of the declared who were not ready to confess absolute trust in the Church were not baptized, but further declared: a year, two—however long it takes, until the declared confesses absolute trust in the Church!): Do you trust that what the Church Proclaims (what it knows) is the truth, and do you entrust yourself, give yourself up, trust yourself to Christ, His Body – the Church?! And in baptism, chrismation, and Eucharist, faith, the knowledge of Christ by the Holy Spirit, the Kingdom of the Most Holy Trinity is acquired (given)! Therefore, when the declared reads the Church’s Creed, he reads not “I believe…”, but “I trust the Church that …” and then confesses the truthfulness of all the dogmas laid out in the Creed! Because “I believe…” in the Creed can be said only by the Church, only by the living members of the Body of Christ! Since the baptismal rites (structure) began to form already in the times of the apostles (in the II-III centuries n. e. we see the existence of catechetical schools, catechetical talks (e.g., Catechetical and Mystagogical Sermons of St. Cyril of Jerusalem IV century)), therefore the word πίστις (pistis) denoted two realities: faith and trust, depending on the context. This inertia (that two different realities—faith and trust—are indicated by one word pistis) has persisted to this day (see. Trebnik of the Kyiv Patriarchate or Slavic trebnik). When the Church used those rites—it knew what it was saying, and the declared knew what he was saying in this or that context (because he was taught!). But now, when almost one hundred percent of baptism rites are performed by pagans (priest-priests) and over pagans, who were not declared, and who had no idea and did not feel the need to be declared, it is necessary to correctly translate the text, that is, where it is about trust, write not faith, but trust. So that at least some stone lay on the path of criminals (who baptize and are baptized without declaration, and call themselves believers, when they are not even trusting!), and maybe someone will come to their senses and repent, understanding the absurdity of their situation!