Gifts of the Holy Fathers and the Ecumenical Councils
In today’s society, gifts have become a necessary commodity. Many people give gifts for various occasions, even on their birthdays. A gift or a present is usually an unadorned object given to somebody without expecting anything in return or compensation. However, an unadorned present is not necessarily a useless gift. Generally, a present isn’t a gift unless the one who receives it already owns the item to which it is given.You can think of gifts like sarcastic t shirts
Gifts can be of several types such as material, edible and spiritual gifts. For example, let’s look into spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts include such things as wisdom, healing, knowledge, skills, abilities, and revelation. Knowledge can be in the form of scientific, literary, artistic and religious knowledge. Skills include art, business, sports and many other types of skilled activities.
On the other hand, tangible gifts include objects that can be used as tools for the other types of gifts mentioned earlier. These could be blessings, possessions, skills, etc. One example of a tangible gift would be a Bible. While the Bible is useful, no one would take out a Bible and begin to use it as a tool for prophecy or discernment.
On the other hand, spiritual gifts are much more powerful than the tangible gifts listed above. They are able to change lives in dramatic and permanent ways. Examples of spiritual gifts would be abilities like the ability to heal, the ability to communicate, and the ability to handle the divine presence. Someone with the ability to heal others would be considered gifted in the health care field. Someone with the ability to communicate well would have a very gifted and successful career as a motivational speaker.
Spiritual gifts are divided into two categories. There is the gift of prophecy and the gift of revelation. While both of these qualify as true gifts of prophecy and revelation, the word “prophetic” has a slightly different meaning in the New Testament and the Inspired language. In the New Testament, it refers to inspired utterances or sayings. In the Inspired language, it refers to sacred poetry and songs.
Another distinction between the two gifts is that while the New Testament gospels and Acts do not specifically identify the types of spiritual gifts that people had, we know that certain people were gifted with certain types. For example, when the disciples went to the Mount of Transfiguration, some of them had the ability to see images. The reason that this is so important to understand is because images are used for God to speak to people and they speak to everyone with unique languages. This is why Paul talked about the power of the Holy Spirit to manifest the images of the invisible things he has placed upon you and me.
These are just a couple of the examples of manifestation gifts that are given by Christians. There are many more. This is why I encourage you to study the Bible and pray for the gift of prophecy and revelation. It really is a special gift from God. We have been given the right to prophesy and to teach the Word of God to all the world, both through the Holy Ghost and through the Word of our Jesus.
When I was studying the book of Romans I read several times concerning the twelve apostles. One thing that struck me was the mention of Peter, who was considered by many to be the greatest among the apostles. He was second only to Luke. Most likely, if there had been a list of the greatest apostles, Peter would have ranked very high. Therefore, we can conclude that there were spiritual gifts in Rome long before the time of the Second Vatican Council. If you are Christians and want to share in this wonderful tradition, then you need to find out about the gifts of the holy fathers and the ecumenical councils.