Christ cursing the Fig tree. The barren fig tree looked good but there was no fruit on it.
"And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only,
and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away."
(Matthew 21:19)
"The withering of the fig tree was a miracle of special symbolism, since the tree had leaves, but no fruit. It is symbolic of the many people who claim ethical and religious identity, but who in reality have empty lives that yield no fruit."
-Holy Week in the Eastern Orthodox Church
"The fig tree means the synagogue of the Jews, which has only leaves, that is, the visible letter of the law, but not the fruit of the Spirit. But also every man who gives himself over to the sweetness of the present life is likened to a fig tree, who has no spiritual fruit to give to Jesus who is hungry for such fruit, but only leaves, that is, temporal appearances which fall away and are gone. This man, then, hears himself cursed. For Christ says, Go, ye accursed, into the fire. But he is also dried up; for as he roasts in the flame, his tongue is parched and withered like that of the rich man of the parable, who in his life had ignored Lazarus."
-Blessed Theophylact, Commentary on Matthew
The apparently healthy fig tree without fruit symbolizes an apparently healthy Orthodox Christian life that does not produce actions and behaviors that God wants from us. A person can appear to have deep faith that carries momentous burdens and appear to talk with God fervently in prayer, but at the same time, it is all a show because it does not demonstrate the love of Christ in daily actions.
Your personal interpretation of Scripture and your claim that Antioch has jurisdiction over the Philippines expose the weakness of your position. They are self defeating. Let me show you why.
First, by comparing Constantinople to the fig tree, you are by implication claiming that Antioch is the Lord Jesus Christ who by His divinity knows whether a tree is profitable of not. I say that this personal interpretation of yours is hogwash. In truth, The Lord Jesus is the only judge, Antioch is not the Son of God, and neither is the fig tree Constantinople.
Second, by claiming that Antioch has jurisdiction over the Philippines (a position which I reject) and that there is no good fruit in the Philippines (another position I reject), you are logically pointing out that after almost 2,000 years of Antioch's grip in the entire Pacific, Antioch has not produced a single fruit in the Philippines.
My question now is, how come Antioch never bothered to plant something in the Philippines after two thousand years? Where is the fruit of Antioch?
More importantly, do you honestly believe that the hundreds of evangelicals Antioch is now accomodating are better fruits than the hundreds or perhaps thousands of baptized Orthodox Christians in the Philippines who belong to the EP?
