Second: Attachment to the Lord, the living stone:

“If indeed you have tasted the Lord is gracious. Coming to Him as to a living stone,
rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious” (v. 3 & 4). “If” does not
indicate doubt, but rather the assurance that the Lord is gracious. Whoever
tastes that the Lord is gracious comes to Him as a living stone.

=====Perhaps St. Peter remembered what the Lord had called him “Peter, or
Cepha or Rock” when he declared his faith in the Lord Jesus. Here, St. Peter
reveals that the Lord Jesus is the rock or the living stone on which the church is
built.==========
=
====== St. Cyprian said22: [Christ was called “Stone,” for it was written in
Isaiah,
========“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a
precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act
hastily”(Is. 28:16). ===============
THE NEED OF A SAVIOR
========== If the evil one is doing his best to deviate believers away from the
Truth, he does that in different ways along all ages, particularly in the days of
apostasy (the antichrist); as God Himself, gets on to support His children and
believers against this devilish act.===========
=========== “Thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a
foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever
believes will not act hastily.” (Is. 28: 16) Thus, in the midst of that dark portrait the
prophet Isaiah prophesies about the Messiah, as being the ‘Cornerstone’ and
‘Foundation,’ on which the Church is established. ===========
============a. A ‘Foundation Stone’ in Zion: The Psalmist says, “The stone
which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s
doing. It is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118: 22, 23; see also Matthew 21: 42;
Acts 4: 11; Romans 9: 33; Ephesians 2: 20; 1 Peter 2: 6, 8). It is a foundation stone,
on which the Church is established; a tested stone, tempted by the devil, so that with
His conquest, He would grant us victory; a precious stone beyond any value. It is the
cornerstone that bound the Jews with the Gentiles, as two walls connected together
through faith in Him1 . Who trusts in Him will never be dismayed... In this way
Isaiah presents us with a messianic prophecy revealing the Person of the Lord Christ,
His position in relation to the Church, His richness, His glory, trust in Him, the refuse
of exchanging or rejecting Him.
The Savior is that chosen stone, rejected by those who were supposed to build
the synagogue of the Jews, to become the cornerstone. The Holy Scripture likens
Him to a cornerstone, because in Him, the two peoples of Israel and the Gentiles, are
gathered together in one faith and one love (Ephesians 2: 15)1 .

St. Cyril the Great
Who is He, of whom we talk? “The stone which the builders
rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” (Psalm 118: 23) “Having abolished in
His flesh the enmity, that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so
as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He
might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to
death the enmity.” (Ephesians 2: 15, 16)2 St. Augustine
b. On it a spiritual building will be established (Is. 28: 17), “I will make justice
(its) measuring line, and righteousness (its) plummet.” (Is. 28: 17) The building
would thus be straight with no twisting, where truth and justice would dwell, as God
Himself dwells in it with His believers. The Church is the living building set upon
the Person of the Lord Christ as its foundation, His gospel is the truth, and His cross
is the justice joined with mercy. The gospel and the cross build the Church of Christ
straight as a place of security. But those who restore to lies, like the false prophets,
the hail would become their refuge, and the flood would sweep away their hidden
depths. All their hope would go in vain, and they would lose security. Their covenant
with the death and the grave would be abolished. The scourge will bring them down
to the ground and they will be trumped underfoot (Is. 18: 28). Every morning and
every evening they hear disturbing news, about continuous attacks by the enemy.
They never find enough place to stretch themselves when sleeping, or a cover to
protect them from the cold

========Also, in Psalm 117; “The stone which the builders rejected has
become the chief cornerstone.” (v. 22). ==========
==========Also, in Zechariah, “For behold, the stone that I have laid before
Joshua: upon the stone are seven eyes. Behold I will engrave its inscription,’ says
the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day...”
(ch.3:9).========

=======“The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief
cornerstone”(22) The cornerstone is the most important stone in a building, which
binds the walls together in the foundation. There is, as well, a cornerstone above the
door, which binds the door arch to its two sides, on the right and on the left, in the
form of the letter V; without which the door would collapse, and no one would be
able to enter into the building. There is a cornerstone hidden in the foundation
underneath the building; and another one manifest above the door at the entrance. It
is, therefore the hidden and the manifest; the first and the last; without which the
building cannot stand; and no one can enter into it. That is the Cornerstone, rejected
by the wicked; sought to be crucified by the scribes and the Pharisees. And it is the
Cornerstone, beloved by the righteous, out of whom He sets a building on the rock
of living stones.
According to St. Didymus the blind: [Those who receive the gospel, who are born
of non-perishable seeds, are a chosen and justified race. And will be, at the same
time, living stones, built on the Living Cornerstone, the chosen and honored, the
foundation of the apostles and the prophets, to set the spiritual house of God1
].===========
This Rock is our Lord Jesus Christ, as it came in the Holy Gospel; for whose sake it
came in the prophecy of Isaiah: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation; A
tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes (in Him),
will not panic” (Isaiah 28: 16). And in Daniel it came: “A stone was cut out without
hands” (Daniel 2: 34). He is our Lord Jesus who was born from St. Mary, the virgin
who knew no man; He who was laid a foundation for our holy church.
This stone, rejected by the builders, namely, by the scribes and the Pharisees, and
the princes of the Jews; as they were called in the prophecy of Habakkuk: “Woe to
him who builds a town with bloodshed; who establishes a city by iniquity”
(Habakkuk 2: 12). He became the Cornerstone of the (catholic) church, who bound
two categories of believers: the circumcised, and the Gentiles. Such a union could
not happen by men, nor by angels; but was the work of the Lord, He who, in one
Person, has gathered together the Godhead and the Manhood; And gathered together,
as well, the diverse peoples into one faith; something amazing in our sight. (Father
Onesimus of Jerusalem
The Lord will reward those who followed Him, the faithful who embrace these
works with love, gladness, and piety: and will use them to establish the building
belonging to Him, as living stones, conformed by faith, to become extremely solid
by hope, and to unite together by love1 .  Just meditate in the position of the Lord
Jesus Christ between the Jews and the Christians. Is He not a Cornerstone?! In a
cornerstone, you see the end of one wall, and the beginning of another; a wall is
measured up to this stone, and another is measured from it. Hence the cornerstone
which binds two walls is counted twice. That is why ‘Jeconiah’, king of Judah, as a
symbol of the Lord, as though a cornerstone, having been denied reigning on the
Jews, and carried away by king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to the Gentiles;
So was Christ, the stone rejected by the builders, became a cornerstone (22). … The
gospel had to reach the Gentiles2 .  Without the cornerstone, namely Christ, I
cannot imagine how could men be built in the house of God, for God to dwell in
them3 ! (St. Augustine)  From Peter (1 Peter 2: 5), we learn that the church is the
body, the house of God, built by living stones4 . (The scholar Origen)  Peter calls
our Lord Jesus Christ, a chosen and precious stone, conformed by the glory and
exaltation of the Godhead; He calls Him the Cornerstone; on account of that, through one
faith, He binds two peoples – Israel and the Gentiles – together in one unity1 . (St. Cyril the Great)

As the Lord is the true Light who will ultimately come to this world for judgment;
When He first came, He granted sight to the blind, and blinded those who see the
wrong way. He honors those who bind themselves to Him in faith, and proclaims
Himself to them as a trusted foundation; Whereas, to those who do not believe in
Him, He would be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, considered as nothing,
and rejected by the builders, namely by the scribes and the Pharisees2 . (St. Didymus
the blind)  To show that He, Himself, is that stone, He said: “Whoever falls on that
stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder” (Luke
20: 18), The leaders of the people gathered together against Him, and intended to
destroy Him, on account of that they were not happy with His teachings. But He
said: “On whomever (that stone) falls, it will grind him to powder”; for He opposed
idolatry among other things; “The stone that struck the image, became a great
mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2: 35) 3 (St. (Mar) Ephraim the Syrian)
By “the builders” he means the Jewish teachers of the law, the scribes and the
Pharisees; who rejected Him, saying: “You are a Samaritan, and have a demon”
(John 8: 48); And, “He is not from God; He deceives the people” (John 7: 12) 4 (St.
John Chrysostom)
It was said that St. Maccarius, while traveling in the company of some brothers,
they heard someone wail, saying: [If a building of stone falls over me, I shall not
die; but if a cottage of hay falls over me, I will die]. When the brothers saw how the
elder marveled by that talk, they cast themselves at his feet, begging him to explain
what they heard. He said to them: [There is indeed, O my children, a great secret in
this talk===========

============This “stone” refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, about whom it is

written: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone….
It is marvelous in our eyes” (22-23; Matthew 21: 42). This is “the one pearl of great
price, for which sake the merchant went and sold all that he had, bought it” (Matthew
13: 45-46); hid it in the secret places of his heart; and found it “sweeter than honey
and the honeycomb” (psalm 19: 10); he, who keeps this stone in his heart, will get a
reward in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in the eternal kingdom of heavens. Our
Lord Jesus Christ has actually made His face like a solid stone, according to the
apostle, saying: “The Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10: 4).For the sake of the
salvation of men, “He gave His back to those who struck Him, His cheeks to those
who plucked out the beard, and did not hide His face from shame and spitting”
(Isaiah 50: 6)…. Even if He presses on us by ailments, because of His great love for
us, yet our souls will remain in a state of non-death, because of the purity of heart.
The devil, on the other hand, is as helpless as hay; If he falls on someone unaware,
and submitted him under his tyranny; If this man does not cry-out to the goodness
of God; the Spirit of God will retreats from him, and his soul will die, despite being
still in the body, because of the pains and rottenness of the ailments. (Garden of the
fathers)========
========= In Deuteronomy, “Joshua, the son of Nun, took a large stone and set
it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said
to all the people, ‘Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the
words of the Lord which He spoke to us It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest
you deny your God’” (Josh. 24:26, 27).] This is the stone that Jacob laid under
his head as mentioned in the book of Genesis, for Christ is the head of the man.
======When he slept, he saw a ladder reaching up to heaven where the Lord
is, and His angels are ascending and descending.=========
======== It is the stone that Moses sat upon on top of the mountain, when
Joshua was fighting the Amaleks as recorded in the book of Exodus. ========
=============Through the Holy Stone and Moses, His servant, sitting upon it,
Joshua defeated the Amaleks as Christ defeated the devil. ========
=========It is the great stone mentioned in the book of First Kings wherein the
Ark of the Covenant was placed. =========

In the book of First Kings, it is the stone with which David slew Goliath. Goliath’s
defeat and death symbolize the defeat of Satan and his followers, whose foreheads
are not sealed with the name of Christ; this seal continuously grants us hope and
life. ===========
=========It is the stone that Samuel had put on when conquering the
strangers, and he called it the stone of help, that is, the stone that helps us. The
Lord Jesus is the stone with which we conquer Satan, and He is the living stone to
which we go. ===============

The apostle addresses the believers saying, coming to Him, not when you come to
Him, for we should continuously struggle till the last breath. It is the living stone
that is full of love. Let us approach Him not in dry worship but in love, where we
praise Him and hear His praise. We listen to His rebuke and reveal to Him all that is
in our hearts, for He is not hard or cold concerning our weaknesses.

“You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ” (v. 5). ========
============Since He is the living Stone, we are built on Him as living stones,
for as He is living, we live by Him (John 14:19). He made us spiritual houses and
habitations for God’s spirit (Eph. 2:18-21). In this verse, we notice that: 1. It is one
house that is not divided against itself and attached by the bond of love beyond
the limits of time and place.
All the apostles and martyrs are as living stones. St. Mary is praying for us, we
who are struggling, as we are living stones too, and we also pray and love the
future generations.
Hermas saw in one of his visions that the victorious church is like a building. Many
stones from the earth were moved and built beside each other and united together
that the rows were not noticed and it became like a tower as one stone.
2. Hermas also saw that many stones refused to go into the building. These stones
are the ones that depend on their own power and the belief that they can build their
foundation on Christ outside the church; thus, they rejected the spirit of the fathers
and refused their doctrines and wanted to become independent, hence they became
outside the spiritual house. “Common priesthood”: for we are to offer spiritual
sacrifices from “within the heart,” as Tertullian said: “This sacrifice proceeds from
the whole heart and is nourished by faith and guards the truth. It is full of innocence,
purity, and chastity and is adorned by love. We have to protect it through our good
deeds presenting psalms, praises on the altar of God to receive everything from
Him24.”

All believers offer these sacrifices, but there are priests who are devoted for the
priesthood as mentioned in the epistle of James chapter five, and St. Paul has
clarified their conditions in his first epistle to Timothy25. What are these
acceptable spiritual sacrifices to God? 1. Slaying the human will or the ego is
the best sacrifice, with which one raises his hand to the cross like a spiritual
knife to slay his personal will and his private desires as Abraham raised his
knife to slaughter Isaac.

As Isaac, the son of blessing and of promise, returned alive, we too should
slaughter our will by the cross, so we may have the strong will of Christ, His
desires and the mind of Christ. Thus, we sing with the apostle saying: “I have
been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” I
have crucified the “ego,” so Christ may live in me. 2. The sacrifice of humility before
God and men: As David, the psalmist said: “For you do not desire a sacrifice, or else
I would give it.; You do not delight in burnt offering. .
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, these O God,
You will not despise” (Ps. 51:16,17). 3. The sacrifice of good deeds: As St. Paul
said, “Do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well
pleased” (Heb.13:16). David the Psalmist said, “Offer the sacrifices of
righteousness” (Ps. 4:5). Doing good and righteous deeds involve sacrifice and
carrying the cross, and the Lord smells them as acceptable sacrifices, through His
cross.

4. The sacrifice of pain and suffering: for the sake of the Lord, as St. Paul said,
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, or
persecution or famine... as it is written, ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (Rom. 8:35, 36). 5. The sacrifice of the
flesh: The believer does not look at his body as an enemy, but rather he nourishes
and cherishes it (Eph. 5:29). When the Bible or the holy Fathers speak about the
enmity of the flesh, they mean the desires of the flesh.

St. Augustine wrote a book about controlling the soul that emphasized the
importance of the flesh and that refuted what the heretics said, which was that flesh
is an enemy26. Let us then control the flesh through the bonds of love and offer it
on the altar. Let us hold on to the cross of the Lord offering the members of the
body as a living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice to God (Rom. 12:1). Let us slay
the members of the flesh and not present them as instruments of
unrighteousness to sin, but present them as instruments of righteousness to
God.

Hence, all the desires, emotions and feelings of the members of the body are
sanctified to become energy helping the spirit instead of a force fighting the spirit.
6. The sacrifice of thanksgiving: St. Paul commands us saying: “Therefore by
Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of
our lips, giving thanks to His name” (Heb.13: 15) 27. The sacrifice of thanksgiving
is the sacrifice of the angels. The heavenly creatures have no physical bodies to offer
as living sacrifices, nor material belongings to offer to charity, nor anyone to annoy
them so that they may forgive. They have no contradicting will to their Lord’s,
nor do they suffer any physical pains.
The only thing they can offer is their continuous praise and thanksgiving. Therefore,
the church trains her children to live a life of praise as in the praises of psalmody,
psalms and hymns,
so they may be trained to do the work of the angels. St. Anthony the Great, the
father of the monks, elaborates on this exercise: “When you go to sleep on your bed,
remember God’s blessings, His care for you and thank Him for that. Then when you
are filled with these memories, you will rejoice in the spirit offering praises to Him
in the highest. When one is not committing evil, the only thing that can satisfy God
is the offering of thanksgiving28.”

“Therefore, it is also contained in the Scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a chief

cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to
shame’” (v. 6). The Father has put His Son as chief cornerstone in Zion, that is in
the church, whereby the believer becomes a member in the mysterious Body of
Christ.

Hermas said: “The Lord Jesus is the old Rock and the new Door. When
questioned about that, he said that this rock and the door is the Son of God. I
asked, ‘How can the rock be old and the door be new?’
He answered, ‘Listen, O you ignorant, the Son of Man is old, for He is the Partner
of the Father in the creation, thus He is eternal.’ I asked, ‘Why is the door new, my
master?’ He answered, ‘For He was manifest in these last times (1 Pet.1:20) ;
therefore, the door became new, so that whoever is saved through it, enters the
kingdom of God.’ He asked, ‘The stones which formed the door were used in
building the church, but the ones which did not form the door were thrown outside.’
He continued, ‘Likewise, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he accepts the
name of Christ.

If you desire to enter a city surrounded by fence and has only one door, you cannot
enter unless you enter through that door. In the same manner, no one can enter the
kingdom of God except through believing in His Beloved Son Jesus Christ29.’” The
Lord Christ is the cornerstone who controls all of the building and connects
each stone to the other.
St. Augustine said30: “The cornerstone connects two walls; when the wicked
Jews rejected the faith, He connected those who believed in Him with those who
were previously Gentiles; thus, He joined the two without any prejudice toward the
Jews as there thought in their blind fanaticism.”

The Lord Christ is also the mysterious cornerstone who joined the wall of the Old
Testament with the wall of the New Testament. On Mount Tabor Moses, who
received the Law, met with Elijah the prophet and three disciples, uniting the
two testaments, declaring that the Lord is the Cornerstone for the Law, the
prophecies and the preaching of the Gospel.
“Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,
‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone” (v. 7).
When building Solomon’s temple, the builders brought a huge stone, but they could
not find a use for it; therefore, they forsook it and neglected it, but when they were
searching for a cornerstone, they could not find another one except that huge
stone, so the builders rejoiced with it.

The Jews rejected the Lord Jesus, despised Him and crucified Him because they
wanted Christ to be in accordance with their earthly interests, reigning as an
earthly king. However, those who believed in Him found that Jesus Christ
Himself, being the chief cornerstone through whom the whole building is joined
together, grows into a holy temple for the Father and in whom you all also are being
built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit (Eph. 2:20-22). We found Him the
spiritual Rock, which is not solid, that followed us and from which we drink the
same spiritual drink. (1 Cor. 10:4).St. Augustine said: “The Jews knew Him and they
crucified Him; but the whole world heard about Him and believed in Him31.”

St. Peter said that He is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to those who reject
Him. “They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were
appointed” (v. 8), Saying, “To which they also were appointed,” does not mean that
God is the One who rejected them, but they rejected Him, and the Lord had declared
earlier what they would do (Is. 8:13-15).

Moreover, He declared it when He said, “Whoever falls on that stone will be broken,
but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder” (Luke 20:18). He is like a
stone, on which they stumbled, and a rock of offense. A rock is usually huge, and
normally one would not stumble on it. However, in their disobedience, they
stumbled in Him, but He was not affected at all! They did not obey the Law (The
Word carved on stone) because of their stony hearts. Thus they stumbled on the
living stone, but we, upon obeying Him, do not stumble in Him. St. Augustine said:
“With your soft heart, you can see in these stony tablets (The New Testament) what
fits the stiff-necked people.

In the mean time, you can see the Stone, your Bridegroom, whom Peter has denied.
For them, He is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; but for you, He is the
stone, which the builders rejected, and has become the chief cornerstone. Do not be
afraid when you read these tablets for they are sent to you from your Bridegroom.
For others, they are like stones because of their insensitivity, however, to you, they
refer to power and steadfastness.

The finger of God wrote these tablets, and the finger of God cast out the devils. Also,
the teachings of Satan which tortures the conscience, are cast out by the finger of
God32.” “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His
own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of
darkness into His marvelous light” (v. 9). Since we are founded on the Cornerstone
and are attached to Him we are: “A chosen generation”: The apostle of circumcision
uttered this statement to correct Jewish misconceptions concerning being a chosen
generation, which was that God has chosen them because they were Jews.
However, when the Lord incarnated and many Gentiles were from His
ancestors and when He sent His apostles to the Gentiles, God’s love was
revealed to humanity; being chosen should not lead to pride and fanaticism, but
rather to carrying the responsibility. “A royal priesthood”: This was excerpted
from the book of Exodus (Exodus 19:1).
 Nevertheless, in the Old Testament, we know that not every one was a priest or a
king, but only the chosen. Therefore, the saying “royal priesthood” means that from
our midst there are priests dedicated to the ministry of the King of kings. “A holy
nation and His own special people”: Our special function is to minister and to
witness to the One who called us from darkness to Hismarvelous light through
practical behavior as children of light.

What we proclaim are the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His
marvelous light. This means that we reflect the beauty of the radiant Christ, so people
may see His divine light inside our hearts and get to know Him through our behavior
in our lives. Thus, the saying of the Psalmist David is fulfilled, “Out of Zion, the
perfection of beauty, God will shine forth” (Ps. 50:2). In all that, we do not take
credit, but the credit goes to the One who had mercy on us. St. Peter continues, “Who
once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy
but now have obtained mercy” (v.10). We were full of darkness, but He called us to
His marvelous light... What else coulld we want? He has chosen us to be His people
as Hosea prophesied. (Hos. 1:6, 9, 2:23).