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.
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FSAW - The Problem is I'm Shallow
OrthoAnalytika
Fr. Anthony talks with Fr. Gregory Jensen about his most recent "" substack article, "." The idea is that our lives are superficial and unlikely to lead to the kind of healing and growth that we are called towards. They also discuss a great irony: those who seem most motivated to move towards depth (the rigorists and gerundists) do it in a way that only increases the problem because they get distracted by the forms rather than inward discernment and change. The answer to superficiality is 1) to become part of the Orthodox Church and 2) to immerse oneself in the (seemingly...
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Bible Study - Revelation Session 6
OrthoAnalytika
Revelation, Session Six and 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,...
info_outlineRevelation: 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 throne stood in heaven, 3 and one sitting upon the throne who appeared like the stone jasper and carnelian, and a rainbow was around the throne that looked like an emerald.
… First, jasper, meaning, as pale green, the evergreen at once both the life-bringer and bestower of the food of the divine nature, through which every seed brings forth young sprouts. … And the rainbow like an emerald shows the variety and blooming virtues of the angelic orders.
4:4. And around the throne <were> twenty-four thrones, and sitting on the thrones <were> twenty-four elders wrapped in white garments, and upon their heads <were> gold crowns. [49]
… by the twelve elders <is meant> those who excelled in the Old, and by the twelve others those who excelled in the New. …
4:5a. From out of the throne came flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.
4:5b–6a. 5b And seven torches of fire burn before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God; 6a and before the throne <something> like a glass sea like crystal.
… The glass sea designates the multitude of the holy powers, and also the clarity, spotlessness, and calmness of the future life. …
4:6b. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, <were> four living beings, full of eyes in front and behind:
The throne is shown by this to be signifying the reign and resting-place of God, in which and around which he saw the seraphim, being taught through the multitude of their eyes their ability to see God with regard to the divine light, and also that those eyes behind and in front receive light and knowledge from God.
4:7. And the first living being <was> like a lion, the second living being <was> like a calf, the third living being had a face like a man, and the fourth living being <was> like an eagle flying.
These living beings, we think, were also seen by Isaiah…
4:8a. And the four living beings, each of them having six wings, are full of eyes all around and within,
…
4:8b. And they do not rest day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!”
These holy powers do not rest, never ceasing the divine hymnody and offering the threefold blessing to the Tri-hypostatic Divinity. And the who is and who was and who is to come we said means the Holy Trinity.
4:9–10a. 9 And whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanksgiving [53] to him who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, 10a the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever.
[LITURGY!]
4:10b–11. 10b They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 “You are worthy, Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”
They say, “You, Master, are the cause and the provider of the crowns of victory, and thanksgiving is due to You from all things as creatures.”
About the Small Scroll Sealed With Seven Seals Which No One Who Has a Created Nature is Able to Open
5:1. And I saw in the right <hand> of the One who was seated on the throne a small scroll covered in writing on the inside and outside, sealed with seven seals.
… The seven seals, which no one of created nature is able to loosen, <signify> either the fulfillment of the scroll, which is obscure and unknown to all, or the dispensation of the one “who searches the depths of the Spirit of God.” The scroll also means the prophecy which Christ himself said in the Gospel according to Luke had been fulfilled, which things occurring thereafter are to be fulfilled in the last days.