God is not Wrathful?

"We are not saved from God's wrath, we are saved from sin and death..."

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How do Orthodox define God's wrath and his anger? How do we deal with the many passages in the Old and New Testaments, as well as the Fathers, which describe God as being angry with us for our sins and wrathful?

The common Orthodox response is that described above with the contrast against the wrathful God of the West, as described in Kalomiros' "River of Fire", but where in the Fathers is this "wrath" and "anger" described as simply a manner of speech, an anthropomorphism, or as our experience of God as wrathful due to our sin?

I have had a difficult time finding patristic references to this effect, but have found many which speak quite literally about God's wrath and its appeasement. Could anyone help? A Lutheran is questioning whether this is simply a modernist Orthodox revision of the Scriptures and the Fathers since the wrath of God at our sin, his Justice, and his work to meet that Justice for us are central- in his mind- to Christianity.

How does Orthodoxy and the Fathers view God's wrath and anger in light of our need for salvation?

Sex

On the ROCOR Yahoo! group I belong to, Rdr Constantine Wright (of whom I know some of you have heard) is currently claiming that not only did the first-created man and woman engage in sexual intercourse in Paradise, but that married persons will continue to do so, albeit without passion, in the life of the age to come. This flies in the face of everything I've ever read about the subject in Scripture and the Fathers (on neither of which, I admit, am I an expert). Does anyone know where he might have got such an idea?

A Great Recipe for Vegan Pancakes

Hope this helps during the fast...

1)
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
Sift these four ingredients together.

2)
Beat together: 1 very ripe banana
3/4 cups soymilk
3 tbsp. canola oil

3)
gently mix (1) and (2) together. Fry in margarine or oil.
Walnuts may be added for added flavor and crunch.

Update

Well, just so everyone knows, Nicholas has been home all this week, and everyone is doing very well, thanks to God!
In other news, I just finished reading the latest Tom Wolfe novel, I am Charlotte Simmons, last night. If you can stomach a lot of very foul language and some explicit, but certainly not titillating, sex, then I highly recommend this book. It is a carefully researched, fictional attempt to document life at America's top universities in the '00's, to document it in all of its sordidness, barbarity and idiocy. This makes The Closing of the American Mind look like a mild academic rebuke indeed. And the fascinating thing is Wolfe's own consciousness of his lack of moral ground from which to criticise. Most telling passage: '...collegiate was collegiate, but this was...indecent--immoral was the term that crossed his mind, but the very word had become obsolete. It had vanished from sophisticated conversation.' Bingo. The nail on the head.

Announcement

Just letting everybody know that, glory to God, our baby was delivered Friday afternoon by c-section. He's 6 lbs, 8 ounces. Unfortunately, he's had some problems transitioning to normal breathing due to fluid in his lungs, so he's currently in the NICU. But this is apparently pretty normal with c-section babies and there is every reason to believe he will soon be able to breathe normally, i.e., at a moderate pace and without an extra oxygen supply. So we're not worried, but please do pray for him. Mostly we're just really anxious to get him home when Brighid checks out Tuesday. We're naming him Nicholas Caedmon. Sorry this is all a jumbled mess...I'm pretty tired!

European Union Lowercases 'Christ'

EU lowercases 'Christ':
Brussels' grammar rule says title to be spelled with small 'c' in future

Posted: November 1, 20052:12 p.m. Eastern
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com-->© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47166

A new grammar rule devised by the European Union in Brussels stipulates the word "Christ" shall be spelled with a lowercase "c."

The rule was part of an orthography reform published in October, reported Canada Free Press.
The paper cites a German newssite, Kath.net, in reporting that the new guidelines also indicate the Dutch word for "Jews" (Joden) is to be spelled with a capital "J" when referring to nationality and with a lower-case "j" when referring to the religion.

The EU changes become mandatory next August. There are no penalties set out for those who insist on continuing to spell Christ with a capital "C."

Canada Free Press noted the title of Javier Solana, secretary general of the EU, was still to be spelled with capital letters.

Many Europeans have long discarded belief in God and in fact believe more deeply in ghosts than in a deity.

A new poll finds two-thirds of Britons said they believe in the existence of ghosts and spirits, but only 55 percent said they believe in the existence of God.

Meanwhile, 26 percent believe in UFOs, 19 percent in reincarnation and 4 percent in the Loch Ness Monster, Ananova reported.

Anne Rice, "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt"

A friend went to a book signing at Grand Central Terminal in NYC by Anne Rice of her new book, "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt". Expecting yet another in a long line of Gnostic Jesus tales, this time from the Queen of Vampires and Witches, I was surprised to hear that she rejoined the Catholic Church of her youth and was attempting a serious, orthodox telling of the life of Jesus. Here are some notes from her official website to give you some flavor.

NOTES FROM ANNE ON CHRIST THE LORD: Out of Egypt
October 28, 2005

"Dear Ones,
Tomorrow, October 29th, I leave on my book tour for the promotion of Christ the Lord. So far, the reception of the book has been quietly astonishing. Reviews have been far more kind than I ever expected, and the the talk on the internet is far greater than I ever imagined it would be, if I imagined it at all.

Let me make a few statements before I leave you for an extended period of meeting my readers face to face. First off, there is much misunderstanding about this book floating around, and misinformation about me.

This book, as I've already explained, is a sincere attempt to bring to life in fiction the world of Jesus of Nazareth, whom I believe, is the Son of God. The Four Gospels are definitely the main framework for the story, the main source for it, and the firm structure into which any fictional liberties are carefully placed. Use of the Apocrypha is extremely limited in this novel, and the reasons for the use of early legends about Jesus' childhood is fully explained in The Author's Note in the book.

I do not have any particular interest in the gnostic gospels. They do not figure in this book at all, as far as I know. Also I have not written anything at all resembling the Da Vinci Code. I thought the Da Vinci Code was a scream.

Regarding my return to the Catholic Church in 1998, this had nothing to do with my husband's illness, as he did not become ill till four years later. And it had nothing to do with my own illness in 1998 which happened afterwards.

My return to faith is described in The Author's Note as well. It was not something that happened over night. It came about over a period of years.

I make these statements because as I check out the blogs at night, I'm amazed at the momentum of false statements about me and the book and the opinions generated by these false statements. There is something frightening about seeing the same mistaken assumption repeated over and over again from blog to blog. Of course this chatter will undoubtedly die down at some point, and it may or may not affect the fate of the book in the Public Square. Whatever the case, if you've followed me this far, let me ask you to be open minded about Christ the Lord. I am not exaggerating when I say that the book surprises people.

I'm very much looking forward to this tour for all the obvious reasons: I'll see my readers, hear their voices, experience their presence in positive and fortifying ways. And this publication is especially thrilling to me because my conversion was so intense and so total, and this book represents for me the pinnacle of what I have attempted in a lifetime of writing. Understand, I've never written anything without zeal. But I do feel that all my previous research and all my earlier writing was preparation for this. ...

Take care and be well, and love, Anne."

http://www.annerice.com/bs_b_ChristTheLord.htm#anne