Homily - Beauty & Repentance
OrthoAnalytika
The Sunday before Theophany On Repentance and Its Relationship to Beauty and Love 2 Timothy 4: 5-8; St. Mark 1: 1-8 “Behold, I will send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight;” After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Sandals – he knew humility (despite the many temptations he faced for pride!). The...
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Homily - Herod (and us) from temptation to possession
OrthoAnalytika
Matthew 2: 13-23 (The Slaughter of the Innocents) Herod (and us): from temptation to possession Five Steps of Sin The temptation (logismoi) occurs. We are NOT accountable for this. Interaction with the thought – what are the options? What would it look like? In his summary of Orthodox Spirituality in Mountain of Silence, Fr. Maximos (now Mp. Athanasios of Limassol) says that this is not sin, either. I disagree – a symptom of the disease we have is that it is all but impossible for us to imagine possibilities objectively. Consent to do the sin....
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Homily - Seeing our Ancestors in Christ
OrthoAnalytika
Sunday before the Nativity Hebrews 11:9-10,17-23,32-40 St. Matthew 1:1-25 After giving a refresher on motivated reasoning, Fr. Anthony notes how much context affects what we think about our ancestors from the genealogy of Christ. He then encourages us to tip the scales of our judgment so that we are more charitable towards people/things we are inclined to dislike, more skeptical towards people/things we are inclined to like, and generally more loving towards all. Enjoy the show!
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Introduction to Chanting - Class 7
OrthoAnalytika
Today Fr. Anthony uses the simple theory of reading (word recognition x decoding -> reading comprehension) to talk about chanting and why it is so difficult for those new to Byzantine chant to learn it (because they do not have the equivalent of word recognition), especially if they cannot read music (because they have neither the equivalent of word recognition nor the ability to decode). Enjoy the show!
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Bible Study - Revelation Session 11
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Revelation 11 20 November 2024 Chapter 7 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). Patrick Henry Reardon, Revelation: A Liturgical Prophecy (Yonkers, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2018), 53. Fr. Patrick Reardon. The final preservation of God’s elect was foreshadowed in their deliverance at the time of the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This sealing with the mark of the true Paschal Lamb fulfilled the promise contained in that earlier marking of Israel...
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Homily - Discerning Molehills from Mountains
OrthoAnalytika
Sunday of the Forefathers. 2 Timothy 1:8-18; St. Luke 14:16-24 In this homily (that Fr. Anthony would have preferred audibling to his deacon - if only he had one!), Fr. Anthony challenges us to be strong like the three holy youths but not to put ourselves in the fires of our own hells by making mountains out of molehills. Or something like that. He really needed some sleep, bless his heart! Enjoy the show!
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Homily - A Simple Theory of Reading & Theosis
OrthoAnalytika
In this homily on Ephesians 2:14-22, Fr. Anthony uses the Simple Theory of Reading to teach about why Byzantine Chant - and theosis - are so difficult, why we need a change of heart more than new words, and how the Church is the solution to our existential crisis. Enjoy the show!
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Bible Study - Revelation Session 10
OrthoAnalytika
Revelation 10 04 December 2024 Revelation 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), 85–112. o can stand?” Loosening of the First Seal 6:1. And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living beings saying, with a voice like thunder, “Come!” And here the good order of those in heaven is shown, from the first orders coming down to the second. Thus, from one of the...
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Interview: Fr. Adam Roberts on Pastoral Counseling
OrthoAnalytika
Today Fr. Anthony talks with Fr. Adam Roberts about his pastoral counseling practice. Fr. Adam is the priest of St. Paul Orthodox Church in Katy TX, the Dean of St. Athansius College, a co-founder of Camp St Thekla, the author of several books, and has a Masters of Theology in Pastoral Counseling from the University of Balamand. In his counseling, he has counseled married couples as well as youth and young adults who are struggling with purpose and identity. . Enjoy the show!
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Homily - The Long Slow Slog of Salvation
OrthoAnalytika
Luke 18:35-43. Once again demonstrating that there is some overlap between a homily and a hostage situation (30 minutes!), Fr. Anthony talks about the life in Christ being less a moment of pure enlightenment and more about turning the long, slow slog of life into a graceful movement from joy to greater joy. Enjoy the show!
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.