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!
info_outline Bible Study - Revelation Session 11OrthoAnalytika
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...
info_outline Homily - Discerning Molehills from MountainsOrthoAnalytika
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!
info_outline Homily - A Simple Theory of Reading & TheosisOrthoAnalytika
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!
info_outline Bible Study - Revelation Session 10OrthoAnalytika
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...
info_outline Interview: Fr. Adam Roberts on Pastoral CounselingOrthoAnalytika
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!
info_outline Homily - The Long Slow Slog of SalvationOrthoAnalytika
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_outline Homily - We Are Rich in the Ways of the WorldOrthoAnalytika
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...
info_outline Bible Study - Revelation Session 9OrthoAnalytika
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...
info_outline Homily - The Rich Fool Impoverished His Soul & His NeighborOrthoAnalytika
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...
info_outlineHomily – Bringing Grace to a Messy World
St Luke 18:35-43. The healing of the blind beggar.
Three points:
Jesus did not stay in one place.
Jesus Christ is and was God. It is fitting that He reside in the throne room of God, surrounded by the cherubim and seraphim, with His holiness reflecting off all the angels and archangels around Him. But as the being of perfect love, He had to act on behalf of his beloved children (US!). So He took flesh and became man.
Some would have expected Him to take up residence in the Temple or in the Governor’s House. But instead He lived among common men and women and, for the last three years of His life, went from town to town so that everyone would know the Good News of salvation. His body was the temple and He took His holiness, His healing love, and the truth of the Gospel everywhere He went.
We must do the same. God resides within us. We are called to love others as God loves us. We are more than just disciples, we are Christ to the world– we are members of His body, the Church. Others expect us to keep the reason for our joy and hope here in this building, but that is not how to love! Yes, we invite the world to be transformed by joining us here, but love requires that we share the reason for joy and hope in the world. We don’t hide it under a bushel (no!) we let it shine!
The Lord was traveling in today’s lesson, and we give a glimpse at what happened as He did. We see that it isn’t always neat.
Jesus – and his disciples – encountered the messiness of the world.
The world is a messy place. Look what happened in today’s lesson: Christ and His entourage are almost to Jericho, and a beggar disrupts their travel. This comes on the heels of other messy encounters: people having the nerve to bring their children up to Him to be blessed … a Rich Young Man questioning Jesus, and now this beggar! I am willing to guess that, in their weaker moments, the disciples would have preferred Jesus stay in a place where they could control Him. Then He could teach them – and anyone else who knew how to behave and knew what kind of questions were appropriate.
But that would have been a different God, the God of Ivan Karamazov’s “Grand Inquisitor”. Life is messy. People have real problems, questions, and needs that do not fit into neat little categories. And God goes out to meet them where they are. As with the Rich Man, He may not always tell them what they want to hear, but there is the real sense that love required meeting people where they are (out in the world)… and then leading them to the cross and, through that, to the Resurrection and life eternal.
We have to recognize the way our desire to control and mediate grace is more often a result of our own totalitarian pathology than a genuine desire to do God’s will. Yes, grace leads to harmony; but demanding harmony before offering grace is like withholding medicine until a patient is well enough to deserve it.
Everyone glorified God.
My final point may seem obvious, but it demands attention. How did the people respond to the blind man’s healing? Did they attack Jesus (they did in other places, as when He healed on the Sabbath)? Were they upset that He wasted His time and power on a simple beggar when He could have done something more important? Were they upset that they did not get their fair share of Jesus’ miracles on their own body (I bet all of them suffered from something!)?
No, the Gospel says; “And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.”
This is the proper response to God’s love and power no matter how it matches our desires or expectations: glorification! When we glorify God, we become more human, more happy, more resilient. And when others see us glorifying God, not just here in the temple, but everywhere we see Him and His miraculous action in this world, they are naturally drawn to worship Him as well.
Yes, let’s continue to praise God and enjoy His miracles here within these walls, but let’s be like Jesus Himself and take the Good News out into the world and let our friends and neighbors – even our enemies – feel the healing grace that flows through our love for them. Yes, it’s going to be messy and it may well mean that more unworthy beggars than kings feel the benefit of this grace; and it may end up meaning that we bring more grace to the lives of the people in communities of the upstate than to those in the great halls of Washington D.C. (that may seem to need it more).
But Christ cured the blindness of the beggar on the way to Jericho despite the all terrible things the powerful were doing in Rome. Evangelism is local; it begins with the transformation of our hearts into overflowing fountains of grace that pour out to bless everyone we meet. May the Lord strengthen us as we spread His grace in a messy world.