Homily - We Are Rich in the Ways of the World
OrthoAnalytika
Galatians 6:11-18 St. Luke 18:18-27 Today Fr. Anthony uses the Apostle Paul’s call for a “new creation” instead of a fulfillment of the Law to help us evaluate the man’s challenge to the Lord. Along the way, he shares the meaning of the commandments in the “new creation” and uses the metaphor of mountain climbing to help us understand Christ’s call to give everything up and follow him. He notes that we are rich in worldly ways, making it as hard for us to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven as the camel getting through the eye of a needle. He forgot to turn...
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Revelation - Session 9
OrthoAnalytika
Seals, Scrolls, and Wrath Excursus on the Three Senses of Scripture Literal – Straightforward reading of the text. Ex: The outside writing on the scroll, the man Jesus Allegorical – Heavenly meaning veiled in the literal Ex: The inside writing of the scroll, the God-Man the (contains both the physical (literal) and the unseen (spiritual) Moral – What are we to do with this revelation? Ex: Paul’s obedience to the revelation of Jesus Christ to be an Apostle - “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision” (Acts 26.19); contrast with Jonah Tools...
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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....
info_outlineEphesians 4:1-6
Live worthily; live up to your high calling!
What is this calling? We are made in God's image and have been given power to change the world for a specific purpose: to heal the divisions among us and to raise all mankind up into the glory of God. The Gospel is that this has been made possible through the life, death, and resurrection of the God-man Jesus-Christ. But the Lord has entrusted us, to continue the work that He began. That is our calling, and St. Paul is reminding us that we need to work to be “worthy” of it.
This is not the way we usually talk, so let me put it another way:
The boss has given us a job to do and has given us the tools to do it. We need to commit ourselves to the work and to using the tools well.
Have you ever worked in a place where there were people who shirked? Where people didn't care about the quality of their work? What was that like? Did the work get done? What about them?
That's what it is like in our world. We have a job, we have tools, the question is – what kind of workers are we going to be?
St. Paul doesn't stop there. He tells us how to use the tools. Fantastic. He's got experience on the job and is giving us some advice. This is how it should be. Not all jobs are like that; some just make you figure it all out on your own. So what kind of advice does he give?
Be humble and be patient.
Why?
The goal is unity. We have been given power: why not wield it?! We know the right ways, why not impose them?! We want people to stop fighting, why not subdue and control them?
NO! Freedom. The unity must be voluntary. In the end, the kind of team built this way is much stronger than any other and because it is peaceful, it is able to bring peace. It conquers the nations not through force or coercion, but because it models the kind of life that others want and then invites them to share in it.
You can attain unity through threats, and you can attain unity through bribes. But that is a false unity.
God wants a unity of friends, united not by force, or place of birth, or kinship ties but by what he calls the bond of peace. Peace not as the absence of violence or disagreement, but as a positive force that keeps things together. It is the kind of peace that flows through things and strengthens them. It is the uniting energy that we often call love.
May God now strengthen us through His Body and Blood so that we can lead lives worthy of this calling.