Homily - The Rich Fool Impoverished His Soul & His Neighbor
OrthoAnalytika
THE GOSPEL (For the Ninth Sunday of Luke) The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (12:16-21) Context; 13 Then someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But Jesus said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator between you two?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out and guard yourself from all types of greed, because one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” The Lord spoke this parable: “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I...
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Introduction to Chanting - Class 6
OrthoAnalytika
In this class, we review Vespers service components, work on matching pitches in hand offs, and chanting clearly and consistently.
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Lecture - Why Beauty Matters
OrthoAnalytika
Fr. Anthony riffs on the subject of beauty, sharing how a life lived in Mystery satisfies our insatiable longing for communion with the perfectly beautiful, good, and true and how beauty manifests itself in this world in how it works with the marred and imperfect.
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Bible Study - Revelation Session 8
OrthoAnalytika
Revelation: Lesson 8 Revelation 4:1 – 5:1 Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse, ed. David G. Hunter, trans. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, vol. 123, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2011), 81–90. 4:1. After these I saw, and behold, an open door in heaven! And the first voice that I heard was like a trumpet [47] speaking to me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen after these.” [Compare to the Ascent of Moses]. 4:2–3. 2 And immediately I was in the Spirit. And behold, a...
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Homily - Veterans Day
OrthoAnalytika
The Good Samaritan and Veteran’s Day St. Luke 10:25-37 Introduction. The Deeper Magic of Unity. The Division of Mankind into Nations. The Demons, our Fallen Psychology, and the Reification of Separation. The Coming of Christ, Pentecost, and the Promise of Unity. And this is where we find ourselves today. We know that Christ has brought an end to our division and allows us to be One as He is One; joyous, peaceful, and continually progressing through the endless stages of perfection in peace … but still living in a world where lives come...
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Introduction to Chanting - Class 5
OrthoAnalytika
Today, we talked about the kind of culture we should have at the kliros (to include risk aversion and gentleness). We worked on intonation and antiphonal psalmody, and talked about being patient as our skills develop.
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Lecture - Iconoclasm
OrthoAnalytika
The Decree of the Holy, Great, Ecumenical Synod, the Second of Nice (787 AD). (Found in Labbe and Cossart, Concilia. Tom. VII., col. 552.) THE holy, great, and Ecumenical Synod which by the grace of God and the will of the pious and Christ-loving Emperors, Constantine and Irene, his mother, was gathered together for the second time at Nice, the illustrious metropolis of Bithynia, in the holy church of God which is named Sophia, having followed the tradition of the Catholic Church, hath defined as follows: Christ our Lord, who hath bestowed upon us the light of the knowledge of...
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Bible Study - Revelation Session 7
OrthoAnalytika
Revelation, Session Seven Christ the Savior, Anderson SC Chapters Two and Three – the letters to the seven churches Sources: The translation of the Apocalypse is from the Orthodox Study Bible. Lawrence R. Farley, The Apocalypse of St. John: A Revelation of Love and Power, The Orthodox Bible Study Companion (Chesterton, IN: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2011), Bishop Averky, The Epistles and the Apocalypse (Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, Volume III. (Holy Trinity Seminary Press, 2018). Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse, ed. David G. Hunter, trans....
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Homily - Love Lazarus!
OrthoAnalytika
Colossians 3:12-17; St. Luke 17:12-19. Fr. Anthony challenges us not to let anything - to include politics - keep us from seeing and loving the people around us. He also warned of the hellfire we earn if we only learn to love and feed our egos. Enjoy the show!
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Introduction to Chanting - Class 4
OrthoAnalytika
In this class, we talk about chanting with predictable patterns, chanting together and intoning clearly.
info_outlineThe Reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians. (3:4-11)
Brethren, when Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
St. Augustine: But what did he go on to say? “When Christ appears, your life, then you also will appear with him in glory.” So now is the time for groaning, then it will be for rejoicing; now for desiring, then for embracing. What we desire now is not present; but let us not falter in desire; let long, continuous desire be our daily exercise, because the one who made the promise doesn’t cheat us.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
St. Athanasius: But the saints, and they who truly practice virtue, “mortify their members” and as the result of this, are pure and without spot, confiding in the promise of our Savior, who said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” These, having become dead to the world, who have renounced the merchandise of the world, gain an honorable death.
St. Jerome: In a general way all that is of the devil is characterized by hatred for God. What is of the devil is idolatry, since all idols are subject to him. Yet Paul elsewhere lays down the law in express terms, saying: “Mortify your members.” Idolatry is not confined to casting incense upon an altar with finger and thumb or to pouring libations of wine out of a cup into a bowl.
On account of these, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. In these you once walked, when you lived in them.
But now put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.
Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all.
St. John Chrysostom: Now what Paul wishes to say is that there is no benefit in those things, for all those things fall apart, unless they are done with love. This is the love that binds them all together. Whatever good thing it is that you mention, if love be absent, it is nothing, it melts away. The analogy is like a ship; though its rigging be large, yet if it lacks girding ropes, it is of no service. Or it is similar to a house; if there are no tie beams, of what use is the house? Think of a body. Though its bones be large, if it lacks ligaments, the bones cannot support the body. In the same way, whatever good our deeds possess will vanish completely if they lack love.
Patristic quotes:
Gorday, P. (Ed.). (2000). Colossians, 1–2 Thessalonians, 1–2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon (p. 49). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.