The co-inherence of Christ and his beloved disciple opens to their right-glorifying communion at the heart of Holy Orthodoxy, but the mystery remains hidden until wisdom unveils it, whose gaze and kiss embraces Christ in the Holy of Holies. Co-inherence is both a Christophanic and Trinitarian theophany but is also key to all the theophanic mysteries of love. Christ’s beloved bears witness to him out of love for him and he bears witness to her, telling her that her love’s anointing will always be remembered. Co-inherence is, in fact, intrinsic to everything in Holy Orthodoxy, way beyond the division of the temporal schism between East and West. Love’s co-operation with Holy Co-inherence is resisted, however, by fear and demonised by terror, but Christ transcends fear and terror in the Holy Name of love. Terrorising rage persecutes not only him but also his beloved in the desert, but Co-inherence reigns over the Kingdom of God in realms of revelatory glory, empowering the glory of grace radically to uproot the fall from grace, through the glory of the Name. All are chosen by mercy and blessed by peace, but fear prevents those who reject love from completely entering into the glory of Co-inherence.
Love redeems fear by love, not force, embracing freedom with the gaze of grace and kiss of peace. Co-inherence is a realm of co-operation, not an abuse of power, transfiguring predestination to become predestination by love to love. Fear misconstrues love by forcefully imposing itself on love, strangely corrupting incorruptible love, not of course in reality, but in deceptive appearance. When the holy city of Rome fell to the military power of the Goths in AD 410, Holy Co-inherence did not fall but rose again in the city of prophets, priests and kings, the holy city of Byzantium. The throne of Byzantium lasted for a thousand years, when, in 1453, Islamic forces defeated the Byzantine empire, whilst secretly preserving the principle of co-inherence concealed at the heart of Sufi wisdom. The cross was the icon of love adored by the populace in every Byzantine basilica, ensuring that the presence of co-inherence was never completely forgotten. The beloved’s love anointed Christ for the cross, recognising him when he spoke her name, Mary, at the entrance to the empty tomb. Love continues to resurrect the dead in his Name, remembered by a bloodless sacrifice, communicated by the Spirit in many tongues.
Not all fear eternally resists love; only the mindless fear that does not know what it is doing. Reasonable fear defends love to preserve it from violation, enabling love to love fear without despising or subjecting it. Reasonable fear, then, is never a defeated enemy of love Patience gives fear time to trust love, time to begin to abide in love, time to delight in the light and glory of love. Although love may be instinctlivly unnatural to fear, it is perfectly natural for love to befriend fear. Indeed, for wisdom, love is a way of co-inherence, saving fear from itself. Odes of co-inherence inspire songs of love, cosmic resonances of the Song of Songs, long neglected by fear, though dearly loved among bridal circles of the Lamb in the Orient. Co-inherence embraces fear with a gaze and kiss of grace, but fear is afraid the kiss of grace betrays conditional love. No wonder fear, long ago, suppressed the Gospels of Philip and Mary Magdalene, preferring to forget than to remember bridal co-companionship. Mysteries of glory include mysteries of love that wisdom discerns but fear desecrates over and over again. Co-inherent love bears the heavy burdens of fear out of love, exchanging fear for love by giving up love’s life for fear, in fear’s stead. Christ’s sacrificial love is timeless glory, unveiling thrice holy love, revealing the mysteries of timeless Co-inherence in the temporal unfolding of glory’s moving completeness.