OrthoAnalytika
Welcome to OrthoAnalytika, Fr. Anthony Perkins' podcast of homilies, classes, and shows on spirituality, science, and culture - all offered from a decidedly Orthodox Christian perspective. Fr. Anthony is a mission priest and seminary professor for the UOC-USA. He has a diverse background, a lot of enthusiasm, and a big smile. See www.orthoanalytika.org for show notes and additional content.
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Homily - Gratitude and Community
01/20/2025
Homily - Gratitude and Community
On Gratitude (with thanks to St. Nicholai Velimirovich) Luke 17: 12-19 (The Ten Lepers, only one of whom returned) [Start with a meditation on the virtues of hard work and gratitude; hard work so that we can be proud of what we have done and foster an appreciation for the amount of effort that goes into the making and sustaining of things. This makes us grateful for what we have, and especially the amount of effort that goes into gifts that we receive from others. But what if these virtues break down? What if there was a society where hard work was not required and gratitude was neither expected nor offered? What if everything was both easy and taken for granted? Would this be a society comprised of real men and women, or of spoiled children? Would those who understood the need for virtue – and who cultivated it within their own lives – [would they] not weep when they saw the corruption that surrounded them?] We are taught through small things, not always being able to understand big ones. If we cannot understand how our souls cannot live for a moment without God, we can see how our bodies cannot live for a moment without air. If we cannot understand how we suffer a spiritual death when we go without prayer and the doing of good deeds, we can see how we suffer and die when we go without water and food. If we cannot understand why it is that God expects our obedience, we can study why it is that commanders expect obedience from their soldiers and why architects expect it from their builders. So it is with gratitude. If we do not understand why it is that God seeks our gratitude – and why He seeks it in both thought and action – we can look at why parents demand gratitude from their children. Why do parents require that their children thank them for everything, both large and small, that they receive from their parents? Are parents enriched by the gratitude of their children? Are they made more powerful? Is it to feed their egos? Does it give them more influence or status in society? No, parents are not enriched by their children’s gratitude, and it takes time and effort to cultivate it in them. So parents spend time and effort on something that brings them no personal enrichment. Why do they do it? They do it for love. They do it for the good of their children so that they will grow up to be civilized and a benefit to society and to their own families. “A grateful man is valued wherever he goes; he is liked, he is welcomed, and the people are quick to help him.” What would happen if parents stopped teaching their children gratitude? How would their children turn out? How would society turn out? Isn’t it every parent’s obligation, then to demand gratitude from their children? And so it is with God. He does not need our thanks. There is no way to add to His infinite power. There is no way to add to his glory. He in no way benefits from the thanks that we give Him. And yet He demands that we thank Him every morning for getting us through the night. And yet He demands that we thank Him at every meal for the food on our tables. And yet He demands that we thank Him every Sunday for the gift of His Son. It seems like a lot, right? Couldn’t we just skip it? No. Not if we want to be good. Not if we want to be holy. It isn’t just about doing things to please God (He is what He is regardless of our actions), and it isn’t really about doing things because we need to follow God’s rules. It is about being (and becoming) good and doing what is right. God desires that we be His children, through Christ, He has made this possible. Through our baptism and through our confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, we can join the ranks of the saints. This is not something to be taken for granted. We are like the lepers who encountered Christ in today’s Gospel Because of our disease, we are not fit to join the saints and angels of God. But Jesus Christ has healed us of our disease. He has nailed our sins to the Cross. He has restored our fallen humanity to a state of grace. This is not something we have earned, nor is it something we deserve, nor is it something that Christ had to do. All ten of the lepers received the gift of health and their ability to walk once more with those who are well in a healthy community. Only one was grateful. Christ God suffered and died so that all of humanity could receive the gift of healing and eternal life, and the ability to live in everlasting joy with all the saints and angels. What is our response? Are we like the spoiled child that expects everything he receives (and more), that believes that everything is his due? If so, what kind of life can we expect to have? How can it not be stunted and incomplete? What kind of families and communities can we expect to grow around us? Or are we like the child who grows into the virtuous adult, the one who everyone likes to have in their company, who brings out the best in those around him? If so, will our lives not be better? Will our community not thrive? Will we not have shown – through God’s grace – that we belong with the saints? Not because we are avoiding being punished or are being rewarded for following God’s rules; but because the faith evidenced in following God’s rules has allowed Him to grow within us. As with the tenth leper, our faith has made us well. We are not worthy of the gifts that God has given us. We accept them with open arms. We offer our thanks for them. And we join the ranks of holy ones and angels that continually proclaim His glory.
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Homily - Holiness Changes Everything
01/12/2025
Homily - Holiness Changes Everything
Homily: Holiness Changes Everything (Sunday after Theophany) Ephesians 4: 7-13 St. Matthew 4: 12-17 Review/Introduction. Ontology of Beauty. Designed to provide a deeper appreciation for our faith and to demonstrate the blindness of materialism (to include the “new atheists”). When materialists describe our appreciation for beauty, they either try to show how an appreciation for beauty somehow increased evolutionary fitness, or, in a more sophisticated way, say that it is a happy coincidence. We know that there is more to beauty than these explanations allow. God is beautiful, and His infinite beauty continually flows into creation as naturally as do logic, life, and love. Beauty draws us into a growing relationship with something Good beyond ourselves, while at the same time resonating with and nourishing the spark of beauty within; it is not only real, but it is perfecting. It’s ontology is sacramental. Today we are continuing the feast of Theophany; the celebration of God’s revelation to us of His Triune (Three in One; One in Three) nature at Christ’s Baptism. God the Father (the First Person of the Trinity) is revealed through His voice, which acknowledges Jesus as His Son (the Second Person of the Trinity), while the Holy Spirit (the Third Person of the Trinity) descends on Him and confirms this great truth. This is an important thing for us to know, and we thank God for this revelation. Among other things, the prayerful contemplation of the Trinity tells us much about how we, though separate persons, can and should be united; that the Church is more than a collection of like-minded individuals, and that the thing that they share is the thing that best defines them. It describes how we can, as the Liturgy says, have “one mind” yet maintain our own identities, thoughts, and charismas. Theophany as an Introduction to Holiness. But it is not this mysterious truth that the Church, through the hymns and scripture of the feast, would have us focus on. No, the poetry and prophecy of the feast of Theophany is on the reaction of creation to the presence of the Messiah, the Christ, the God-man Jesus; and in so doing it brings up another reality that – along with the reality of beauty that we discussed last week – “confounds the Greeks” (i.e. the new atheists and all materialists). This reality is the ontology of holiness and its effect on creation. Holiness I: a source and reflection of spiritual light, warmth, and power. Holiness is a quality that blessed things have; things that have been sanctified through their dedication to and proximity to the absolute source of spiritual light, warmth, and power. This source exists outside of creation, but creation is designed to thrive under its influence; and having thrived, to become holy itself. You get a sense of holiness when you perceive that something is “good”; and by good, I do not mean useful or pleasing. These are the selfish perversions of “goodness”. I mean when you can just tell that something is wholesome and right; when it just seems to radiate spiritual light, warmth, and power. Holiness II: Eden as the Cultivation of Holiness. As the race created in the “Image of God”, humans had a special blessing to be cultivators of a holy creation. The rest of creation, in turn, was created to respond to us. But when we forsake holiness in favor of profanity, our special relationship with creation changed; we became as much of a curse to creation as anything else. We, along with everything else, were created “good”, but we have forsaken this goodness and the result is a world that yields weeds and thistles along with fruits and vegetables. Holiness III: But God desires the restoration of creation with us as its cultivator. Old Adam – that is to say, old humanity – forsook holiness and lost its special relationship with the rest of creation. Adam fell, and scripture tells us that creation groaned in agony as a result. But here scripture is simply affirming something we already know: we are at odds with the world – some would say we are at war with it, and our attempts to subdue it through sheer force and technology have been met with, as God describes “thorns and thistles”. The response of the best environmentalists can only mitigate the affects of this sundered relationship; and the desires of the purist secular and pagan ecologists, while well intended, cannot be realized through good will alone. It seems that we are destined to wrestle with the world until either it or us are destroyed. But into this mess comes new hope: the New Adam; the one who never forsook holiness; the one who is, in fact, the pre-eternal source of holiness who chose to join the race of fallen Adam so that through Him it might be restored. Spiritual warmth, light, and power radiated from His flesh. He was holy and creation responded to Him. The waters of the Jordan were transformed by His contact with it; water became the source, the mechanism, of the perfection of humankind. All the wickedness that had come to dwell within the Jordan were “turned back” due to the presence of the messiah, the God-man Jesus. Wickedness cannot abide the presence of holiness. It is forced to either fight it or flee. And this influence of Christ on creation did not stop at the Jordan. The world could not be still at His presence: the good responded to Him as it was intended; the wicked either repented and joined Him in holiness or doubled down in its profanity. Conclusion: the mission of the Church. The marvelous thing is that through Him all of creation is being renewed. His ministry on earth was just the start, the seed. When it was planted in the earth at His death, it immediately sprang out of the earth with greater power and purpose. Through Him, by embracing His holiness – now risen as the Holy Orthodox Church with Him as its root and head – we can bring holiness to the world. In the saints, this took very tangible form; but I know that you have seen it operate in your own life. You respond to holiness and you have seen others do the same. Some recoil in shock and revulsion; others reflect it back so that the mutual glow is increased. Am I being too abstract? Try this. The materialists say there is no proof of what I am saying: let’s show how wrong they are. Repay profanity with holiness. When someone is being mean and spiteful, meet it with patience and kindness. See what the reaction is. If you are pure in your intent, there will be one of two reactions: either the spite will dissipate or it will attack. In either case, do not stop the experiment: watch how your friends and enemies alike respond to the holiness you bring into their lives. Watch how its presence in others affects you. Not only will this confound the new atheists in our midst, it will bring joy back into this troubled world. And that is the real point of the Theophany of Our Lord.
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Homily - Beauty & Repentance
01/05/2025
Homily - Beauty & Repentance
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 problem is that we don’t: we must listen to and heed St. John’s message (as found in St. Matthew 3:2); “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand”. This is not some prophecy of doom, but a revelation that God is among us – and the warning that we need to prepare if we are to meet Him well. “We need to repent? We need to change? Why?” Some preachers might come at this by pointing out the many temptations that we succumb to, call us to account for the resulting sin, and explain the need for contrition, confession, and absolution. I want to come at it from a different direction: I want to focus on how this call for repentance flows naturally from one of the central components of our faith about the world and how it works. Specifically, I want to explain how an appreciation for the existence of beauty should naturally lead us towards repentance (and from repentance to glory). Why come at it this way? Because I am concerned about our faith. There are strong attacks being made against Christianity, and I am not sure that people with a lukewarm and superficial faith can withstand them; people whose faith is not informed by deeper knowledge and experience will drift away. There is a sense in which that might be useful – I am not sure how much good a superficial belief does a person, and we have all seen first hand the detrimental effect that nominal Christians have on the internal life of our parishes, not to mention their witness to the broader community. God says of such people – through St. John the Theologian - that He will vomit such people out of His mouth (Revelation 3:15-17)! No one wants to be vomited out of the mouth of God – and we do not want it to happen. This is why we must evangelize the lukewarm Christians in our midst. And it is not enough to give them a set of rules, describe how they have broken these rules, and then call them to repentance. Nor is it enough to give them more words that describe what it is that the true Christian believes or what Orthodoxy is. We must do everything we can so that they can personally experience the literal Truth of God’s grace. Ideally, this would happen through our worship together, but without an appreciation for the deeper nature of the things that worship taps into (the “Old Magic” as Aslan puts it in the Narnia series), it does little more than provide sentimental entertainment. People need to be taught so that they can enjoy the fruits of worship; they need to be taught so that they “may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:13b) I am not talking about the removal of doubt, but the answer to every thinking Christian’s prayer; “Lord I believe; help me in my unbelief!” (St. Mark 9:24; St. Luke 17:5). I think that one of the best ways to strengthen our faith and counter these new attacks – and especially the misleading reductionism of the militant atheists – is to focus on the fundamental existence of beauty, morality, and love and the implications of this ontology for us. Today I will focus on the sacramental ontology of beauty. 1. Beauty is basic, it is real, and it is eternal. When we say that something is “beautiful”, we do not mean that it interacts in a pleasurable way with the conglomeration of memories that culture and experience has put into our minds: we mean that it has a specific quality to it. It is beautiful. When we say that we like such a thing, what we really mean (or should mean, if we practice humility) is that it is actually likable. Yes, our description of beauty is filtered through our culture and experience - how could it not be? But there is a quality of beauty that flows into this world as a continual outpouring of the absolute Beauty of her creator. Just as the warmth of the sun points to the heat of that great star, so to does beauty serve as a sure sign that there is more to this world than our personal enjoyment of it. 2. Beauty is NOT for passive entertainment. It is interactive. Enjoyed properly, it draws us outside of ourselves as we participate in this special quality. We can be selfish in our encounter with it, simply appreciating how it makes us feel; but we get even more out of it when we release the tethers of selfishness and really lose ourselves in a good piece of art or music or, better yet, worship. When this happens, we experience something right and true: we encounter and commune with something wonderful outside of ourselves. And when the exhibition is over, the concert has ended, or we have come to the end of the book or movie or service; the memory of it awakens within us a longing for more. Our hearts have been enlarged by the time we have spent in communion with greatness. Beauty resonates within us and nourishes and increases our capacity for it. Once this process has begun, things change. After this, we find that when we are separated from Beauty, there is an ever larger empty space inside that needs to be filled. We want to enjoy it more; we want to fill our nights and days with it. We want it to become part of our lives – in, short, we want to become one with Beauty; to sacrifice everything for the sake of Goodness becomes our most earnest desire. Were such a consummation not possible, the existence of such transcendent Beauty would be the cause of the greatest despondency. But the Good News is that consummation is possible. God desires it and has satisfied our mutual longing through the Gift and Grace of His Son. This is the Gospel: that Beauty has become Incarnate not just so we can appreciate Beauty, but so that we can join Him in His Beauty. Through Him we can be made beautiful. Which is simply another way to say that encounters with true beauty are sacramental (mysterious): something fundamental is revealed through them, and by participating in these encounters, the seed of glory within us is nourished and we become more beautiful, perfect, and godly ourselves. But this does not happen automatically. 3. Becoming beauty. There are many wrong ways to try this: we do not become beautiful through surgery or going to concerts or even just by coming to the Divine Liturgy (the greatest gift of beauty offered on this earth). We do it by embracing the deeper virtue. We do it by submitting ourselves to its logic and allowing it to transform our lives in its image. Let me paraphrase an old saw (how Michelangelo created David out of stone): if we want to become beautiful; then we start with what is already there and remove all the bits that aren’t right. If we want to participate in the experience of beauty, then we cannot do things that are ugly. We cannot be ugly ourselves. Which brings me to a critical point: it isn’t enough to look in the mirror to tell the difference between good and bad (beauty and ugliness) within us – our pride and psychoses do not let much of the truth in there. Our pride will either completely overlook many of our obvious warts and defects (perhaps even calling them “beauty marks” or, just as bad condemn things that are actually God-pleasing, No, we do not have enough discernment to affect the necessary changes on our own. We need help. We need to turn our attention away from ourselves toward the source of beauty; the standard of perfection; the wellspring of everything that is good. Christ is Goodness and Beauty Incarnate. When we encounter Him, when we live our lives within the rays of the Sun of Righteousness, we will know the essence of beauty; we will desire more; and we will want to change our lives so that we can better bask in and reflect His glory. Which is simply another way of saying not just that “Beauty will save the world, but “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”
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Homily - Herod (and us) from temptation to possession
12/31/2024
Homily - Herod (and us) from temptation to possession
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. This is always a sin, even if we do not carry out the action. Defeat to the idea. Not only is this sin, it weakens us to future temptations. Passion, obsession, or possession by the temptation. Let’s look at Herod’s descent into madness. He had an idea to kill all of the male infants. This was not the only choice he had; others would have been less wicked – some may have even softened his heart enough to meet the Christ with joy. This was the temptation. What happened when he interacted with this idea? Moreover, what happened when he considered all the possibilities? Was it a simple cost-benefit calculation, comparing all the options about how to react to the birth of the prophesied Messiah? When he did the math, was it purely objective, or was the scale weighted in a certain direction by his feelings, feelings that were driven by his pride and desire to rule? Remember that, as the King of the Jews, the people of God, he could have brought the Christ child into his palace and raised Him there to rule. But that option was not the one that drew his attention – it was drawn towards murder. It was drawn towards regicide and the slaughter of as many lives as necessary to guarantee it. This was not because it was the best solution – it probably wasn’t even the best way to keep himself in power. But it felt right. And so of all the ideas, or all the logismoi, both sinful and graceful, he focused on this one. He imagined what it would look like, how it would work. Which takes us to consent. He consented to the idea. He entertained it, not just to imagine whether or not it could work or to figure out the best way to get it done – it was more than that. He chewed on it. And somewhere along the way, he made it happen. Next, he was defeated by it. Not just because he pulled the trigger, but because it came to define part of how he defined himself. He was a man who did whatever was necessary to keep himself in power. All other things were defined and valued in relationship to this identity, to this desire, to this obsession. And this is the final step – he was possessed by it. And here is a difficult truth about his path to possession: this was not the first time he had united himself with this kind of sin. He had assassinated rivals, to include his own wife, to consolidate his power. Even before that, he had waged war against his own people in order to capture Jerusalem. Not to free it from the Romans, but in cooperation with the Roman general Marc Antony in order to put himself in charge. Do you see how, once he had given in to sin – in this case, violence - for personal gain, it made it easier to do so in the future? All of his fallen psychology kicked in to make repentance more and more difficult. For example, the devaluation of the lives of others, the web of justifications and lies that he had to convince himself of in order to keep himself going? For someone like this, it takes a real wake-up call to get them to change. He got the call when the wise men came, but he didn’t just hit the snooze button, he threw away the clock. “Send word so that I can go and worship Him myself.” Doesn’t that just drip with evil? How would Herod worship Him; with gifts? With prostrations? That is how the kings from the east did! Not at all. Quite the opposite. What about us? The wide road to sin-full-ness Now here is the rub. I’ve been describing Herod’s descent into madness, but that is the same wide road that beckons to us all. What sins do we entertain? What sins do we chew on? Are we obsessed by? What wickedness have we justified so fully that we feel its evil as good? And as if it wasn’t enough that each of us individually, thanks to ancestral sin, cannot imagine sin without engaging with it, we are surrounded by cultural systems that seek to deaden our instinct for the holy and replace it with other things, like hedonism and power and self-loathing and anything else that the marketers of the powers of the air can distract us with. It's easy to see this happening in others. We know people who have fallen into all kinds of sin and justified it. They immerse themselves in an internet subculture and the next thing you know they are defining themselves in new ways that separate themselves from the good, the true, and the beautiful. But it’s so hard to see this in ourselves. Herod had several baths of purification built into his temple. He was so far gone that he didn’t see the irony of maintaining ritual purity while living such a debauched and self-aggrandizing life. We should be very concerned lest we fall in the same way. What sins do our own personalities, conditions, and cultures lead us to accept as normal or even good? How can we get around the unreliability of our feelings – what we like to call our consciences when it comes to seeking the good? How do we deal with the fact that we are so far from being able to see things as they are and weight alternatives objectively? What then, can we do? The first step is to admit that we have a problem. To admit that the “old man” we put to death during our baptism is not entirely dead. The second step is to cultivate an instinct of humility, including the willingness to admit that we rarely as right as our self-confidence would have us believe. The third is to build relationships of accountability and discernment. How do you react when people correct you or offer a version that differs from your own? Taking criticisms well is a sign of spiritual maturity. It’s one that tyrants, narcissists, and sociopaths don’t have. And it’s one that we are missing unless we work on it. But we need it. We need to have people in our lives that tell us the things that we miss, the things that we get wrong. Herod skipped all these steps, and he died in his sin. We have given our lives to Christ; we are called to something better than tyranny and the slaughter of innocents. Let’s learn to live the kinds of lives – lives in communities of mutual love, trust, and support – that give no place for temptations to grow. Let’s live in Christ, together.
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Homily - Seeing our Ancestors in Christ
12/22/2024
Homily - Seeing our Ancestors in Christ
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
12/19/2024
Introduction to Chanting - Class 7
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
12/19/2024
Bible Study - Revelation Session 11
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 with the sacrificial blood of its type (Ex 12:21–23). Both Ezekiel and Exodus are important for the understanding of this seal. Ezekiel’s reference was to the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC, of which everyone was aware who saw the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. The passage in Exodus 12 had to do with the last of the ten plagues visited upon Egypt, the slaying of the firstborn sons. This sealing in Revelation, then, involves a new Exodus, in which God’s people will be delivered, not left to share in the sin of the earthly Jerusalem. Fr. Lawrence Farley: What is this seal? The image is drawn from Ezekiel 9. In this passage, angels were to slay all in Jerusalem that rebelled idolatrously against Yahweh. But before they began their dreadful task, one angel went through the city and, at the divine command, put “a mark” (in Hebrew a tau) on all who were faithful (Ezek. 9:4). To be thus marked on the forehead is to enjoy the protection of God and an immunity from coming judgment…. This time of great tribulation seems to last throughout the age, for in Matthew 24:29 the Second Coming is said to occur “immediately after the tribulation of those days.” The parallel version of this verse in Luke 21:24 seems to confirm this, for it describes what Matthew refers to as “great tribulation” as a time of “great distress upon the land … [the people] will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled”—that is, until the end of the age. Even the original prophecy of Daniel 12 states that the “time of tribulation” will be followed by the resurrection of the dead, when “many of those who sleep in the dust will awake” (Dan. 12:2). It would seem then that in Matthew 24 the “great tribulation” is the age-long time of suffering for Israel that began with the destruction of the Temple in AD 70… This understanding of “the great tribulation” (7:14) as the suffering of the Church throughout the age explains too the difference in the two crowds mentioned in this chapter. In 7:1–8, John receives a vision of the Church on earth, sealed and protected by God in preparation for their entering the final time of conflict. It is the Church of the final days. In 7:9–17, however, John sees a vaster multitude. This crowd comprises, not just the Church of the final days, but the Church gathered throughout all the centuries, coming from “the great tribulation,” the age-long struggle with the world. Unlike the former crowd, this multitude is vast beyond counting, stretching into the horizons of heaven. It is the Church glorified at last, fresh from its victorious struggle, an overwhelming testimony to the power of God.
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Homily - Discerning Molehills from Mountains
12/16/2024
Homily - Discerning Molehills from Mountains
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
12/08/2024
Homily - A Simple Theory of Reading & Theosis
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
12/05/2024
Bible Study - Revelation Session 10
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 fourfold-appearing living beings, that is, the lion, he heard originating from the first voice the command “come” <being spoken> to the angel forming the vision through an angel in a figurative fashion. The first living being, the lion, seems to me to show the princely spirit of the apostles against the demons, about whom it has been said: “Behold, the kings of the earth have been gathered together,” and also, “You will appoint them as rulers upon all the earth.”2 [60] 6:2. And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and the one sitting on it having a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. … Thus we explained the loosening of the first seal as meaning the generation of the apostles, [61] those who bend the gospel message like a bow against the demons … [and the return of the nations] Loosening of the Second Seal 6:3. And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living being saying, “Come.” I think the second living being, the calf, is said to characterize the priestly sacrifice of the holy martyrs, while the first <living being> describes the apostolic authority, as was said. 6:4. And out came another horse, bright red, and the one sitting [62] upon it was permitted to take the peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another; and he was given a large sword. We suppose that this means the second succession of the apostles, which is completely fulfilled through martyrs and teachers, during which, while the remainder of the gospel message was spreading, the peace of the world was abolished, <human> nature having been divided against itself according to that which had been said by Christ, “I did not come to bring peace to the earth but a sword,” through which the slain martyrs were lifted up to the heavenly altar. The fire-red horse <is> a symbol of either the shedding of blood or the flaming disposition of those suffering for Christ. What was written about the one seated on <the horse>, that he was permitted to take the peace, shows the all-wise allowance of God testing the faithful servants through trials. Loosening of the Third Seal 6:5. And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living being saying, “Come!” I think the third living being, the man, is said to signify the fall of people and, because of that, torment, on account of the easy fall into sin through the power of free choice. 6:5b–6. 5b And I saw, and behold, a black horse, and the one sitting on it having a scale in his hand; 6 and I heard <something> like a voice in the midst of the four living beings saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm oil and wine!” It is likely and sensible for a literal famine to occur then, just as it will also be announced by what follows. … Loosening of the Fourth Seal, Showing the Chastisements Which Befall the Impious 6:7. And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living being saying, “Come!” [65] The fourth living being, that is, the eagle, its high flight and keen eyesight coming down upon its prey from above, can signify the wounds from the divinely led wrath of God for the revenge of the pious and the punishment of the impious, unless being improved by these <wounds> they return. 6:8. And I saw, and behold, a pale horse, and the name of the one sitting upon <it> was Death. And Hades follows him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword and by famine and by death and by wild beasts of the earth. The series <of events> drawn out previously are connected to the present events. For as Eusebius says in the eighth chapter of the ninth book of his Ecclesiastical History, in the zenith of the persecutions, during the reign of Maximin the Roman Emperor, innumerable crowds were killed by the coming of famine and plague among them, along with other calamities; and such that <the living> were not able to bury them, and yet the Christians then generously busied themselves with the burial <of the dead>, and many of those who had been deceived2 were led to [66] the knowledge of the truth by the philanthropy of the Christians. … Seal, Meaning the Saints Crying Out to the Lord About the End of the World 6:9–10. 9 And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of people who had been slain on account of the word of God and on account of the witness which they had <made>. They cried out with a loud voice, saying, 10 “How long, O holy and true Master, before you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?” 6:11. And he gave them each a white robe and told them to rest again a little longer, until their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed in the future, even as they <had been>, completed <their number>. And by these <words> the saints seem to be asking for the full consummation of the world. Wherefore, they are called upon to endure patiently until the completion of the <number of> brothers, so that they will not become complete without them, according to the Apostle Loosening of the Sixth Seal, Signifying the Upcoming Plagues at the End of Time 6:12–13. 12 And I saw, and when he opened the sixth seal, and a great earthquake occurred, and the sun became black as sackcloth, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree casts its winter fruit when shaken by a great wind; It seems to us that here a shift has taken place beginning from the time of persecutions to the time before the departure of the pseudo-Christ, during which so many afflictions were prophesied to come, and perhaps the people, being practiced in these afflictions, did not renounce the punishments brought upon them by the Antichrist, of such a sort as we have never known. We often find in the Scriptures that an earthquake certainly <represents> a change in <the course of> events. … 6:14a. And the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, The sky rolled up like a scroll hints at either the unknown <time> of the second coming of Christ—because silently and in a moment the scroll is opened—or also that the heavenly powers feel pain over those who fall from the faith as if they will suffer some kind of twisting on account of sympathy and sorrow. … 6:14b–17. 14b And every mountain and island was moved from its place. 15 And the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich and the commanders of thousands [and the strong], and every slave and every freeman, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of his wrath has come, and who can stand?”
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Interview: Fr. Adam Roberts on Pastoral Counseling
12/03/2024
Interview: Fr. Adam Roberts on Pastoral Counseling
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
12/02/2024
Homily - The Long Slow Slog of Salvation
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!
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Homily - We Are Rich in the Ways of the World
11/24/2024
Homily - We Are Rich in the Ways of the World
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 on his microphone before the actual homily, so he recorded this reprisal on the drive home. Enjoy the show!
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Bible Study - Revelation Session 9
11/21/2024
Bible Study - Revelation Session 9
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 of Interpretation: Scripture and Tradition Analogia Fidei (or “Analogy of Faith”): Scripture interprets Scripture New is Old revealed; Old is New concealed “This grace hid itself under a veil in the Old Testament, but it has been revealed in the New Testament according to the most perfectly ordered dispensation of the ages, forasmuch as God knew how to dispose all things.” - Saint Augustine Working Principle: Scripture is not divided. One part illumines other parts since all parts have God as its source; contrast to a mere academic approach that divides book based on different authors Scripture testifies to Tradition: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” – 2 Peter 1.20-21 “Holy men” (literally ἁγίου ἄνθρωποι) can be interpreted simply as “saints” ἅγιος – adjective often used as a noun that can be translated “holy ones” or “saints” God is Holy and the source of all holiness; people considered holy, or of God, have a place of authority and deference in the Church in terms of practice and teaching
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Homily - The Rich Fool Impoverished His Soul & His Neighbor
11/18/2024
Homily - The Rich Fool Impoverished His Soul & His Neighbor
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 do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ Every moment is an opportunity for grace, or to put it another way, to prepare for death – and eternal life. There will be a judgment: how have used the opportunities that God has given us? How have we prepared our soul? How have we prepared the souls of our neighbor (union!!!) And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ Let’s look at how the man has prepared his soul. St. Nikolai: the dog and the lamb. He has killed his soul and moved his passions into its place! The one talent. How has he prepared his neighbor. The original settting. St. John Chrysostom. But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” As He said this, Jesus called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” There will be a judgment. Three types of preparation.
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Introduction to Chanting - Class 6
11/17/2024
Introduction to Chanting - Class 6
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
11/14/2024
Lecture - Why Beauty Matters
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
11/14/2024
Bible Study - Revelation Session 8
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 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.
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Homily - Veterans Day
11/10/2024
Homily - Veterans Day
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 to an end and violence between nations ceases only so long as strength and vigilance are maintained. The Good Samaritan The need for our enemies and why our love for them actually brings us the light of objectivity. Christ as the ultimate “other.” Veterans Day And so we come to the juxtaposition of this Epistle with our celebration of Veteran’s Day. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month; temporary cessation of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in World War I. And yet we still have war. People and nations still prey on and threaten one another. Even when we are between wars, we no not have the peace of Christ, but the peace of strength. And where we do not have the peace of strength, we have war and the lessons of martyrdom. Our Church prays and works for the Peace of Christ; and as that peace is worked for and anticipated, we pray for and support the peace that comes from military might. This is the practice and teaching of the Church. Right after the anaphora we pray: We also offer You this spiritual worship for the whole world, for the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, and for all those who live in purity and holiness. And for those in public service; permit them, Lord, to serve and govern in peace, that in their tranquility we may lead a calm and quiet life, in all Godliness and purity. From our Morning Prayers: Lord, save and have mercy on our civil authorities; protect our nation with peace, subduing our every foe and adversary. Fill the hearts of our leaders with peaceful, benevolent thoughts for your Holy Church and for all Your people so that we, in their tranquility, may lead a peaceful and quiet life in true faith and in all godliness and purity. And from St. Paul (1 Timothy 2:1-2): First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. And how is this peace that we pray for maintained? Through the sacrifice of men and women in our armed forces and police who are willing to put our security and comfort ahead of their own. [a note on the special sacrifice of Christian warriors]. It is obtained and maintained by soldiers, sailors, marines, and first responders who are willing to suffer, to fight, to die, and yes, even to kill – not out of glory or any kind of sinful passion; but only so that we – in the peaceful space their efforts create and sustain – might pursue perfection in Christ, and through this an end to all wars achieved not through military victory or a well thought out and executed set of treaties and institutions; but through the union of all people and nations into one humanity, humbled and perfected in Christ. We thank all of our veterans and those serving now for your willingness to live the kind of life that allows us the freedom to pursue true and lasting peace. We pray that Lord our God grant that we always be so blessed with men and women [like these] who are willing to sacrifice their lives for us and we pray that He gives us, the civilians, the strength and commitment to live in such a way that their efforts are not squandered through our impiety, selfishness, and unwillingness to live and spread the Gospel. Allow all of us to surrender ourselves to you, Lord, through the Cross, so that our Union may be eternal and the peace between us become real and unending. Check out this episode!
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Introduction to Chanting - Class 5
11/10/2024
Introduction to Chanting - Class 5
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
11/07/2024
Lecture - Iconoclasm
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 himself, and hath redeemed us from the darkness of idolatrous madness, having espoused to himself the Holy Catholic Church without spot or defect, promised that he would so preserve her: and gave his word to this effect to his holy disciples when he said: “Lo! I am with you always, even unto the end of the world,” which promise he made, not only to them, but to us also who should believe in his name through their word. But some, not considering of this gift, and having become fickle through the temptation of the wily enemy, have fallen from the right faith; for, withdrawing from the traditions of the Catholic Church, they have erred from the truth and as the proverb saith: “The husbandmen have gone astray in their own husbandry and have gathered in their hands nothingness,” because certain priests, priests in name only, not in fact, had dared to speak against the God-approved ornament of the sacred monuments, of whom God cries aloud through the prophet, “Many pastors have corrupted my vineyard, they have polluted my portion.” And, forsooth, following profane men, led astray by their carnal sense, they have calumniated the Church of Christ our God, which he hath espoused to himself, and have failed to distinguish between holy and profane, styling the images of our Lord and of his Saints by the same name as the statues of diabolical idols. Seeing which things, our Lord God (not willing to behold his people corrupted by such manner of plague) hath of his good pleasure called us together, the chief of his priests, from every quarter, moved with a divine zeal and brought hither by the will of our princes, Constantine and Irene, to the end that the traditions of the Catholic Church may receive stability by our common decree. Therefore, with all diligence, making a thorough examination and analysis, and following the trend of the truth, we diminish nought, we add nought, but we preserve unchanged all things which pertain to the Catholic Church, and following the Six Ecumenical Synods, especially that which met in this illustrious metropolis of Nice, as also that which was afterwards gathered together in the God-protected Royal City. We believe…life of the world to come. Amen.535 We detest and anathematize Arius and all the sharers of his absurd opinion; also Macedonius and those who following him are well styled “Foes of the Spirit” (Pneumatomachi). We confess that our Lady, St. Mary, is properly and truly the Mother of God, because she was the Mother after the flesh of One Person of the Holy Trinity, to wit, Christ our God, as the Council of Ephesus has already defined when it cast out of the Church the impious Nestorius with his colleagues, because he taught that there were two Persons [in Christ]. With the Fathers of this synod we confess that he who was incarnate of the immaculate Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary has two natures, recognizing him as perfect God and perfect man, as also the Council of Chalcedon hath promulgated, expelling from the divine Atrium [αὐλῆς] as blasphemers, Eutyches and Dioscorus; and placing in the same category Severus, Peter and a number of others, blaspheming in divers fashions. Moreover, with these we anathematize the fables of Origen, Evagrius, and Didymus, in accordance with the decision of the Fifth Council held at Constantinople. We affirm that in Christ there be two wills and two operations according to the reality of each nature, as also the Sixth Synod, held at Constantinople, taught, casting out Sergius, Honorius, Cyrus, Pyrrhus, Macarius, and those who agree with them, and all those who are unwilling to be reverent. To make our confession short, we keep unchanged all the ecclesiastical traditions handed down to us, whether in writing or verbally, one of which is the making of pictorial representations, agreeable to the history of the preaching of the Gospel, a tradition useful in many respects, but especially in this, that so the incarnation of the Word of God is shown forth as real and not merely phantastic, for these have mutual indications and without doubt have also mutual significations. We, therefore, following the royal pathway and the divinely inspired authority of our Holy Fathers and the traditions of the Catholic Church (for, as we all know, the Holy Spirit indwells her), define with all certitude and accuracy that just as the figure of the precious and life-giving Cross, so also the venerable and holy images, as well in painting and mosaic as of other fit materials, should be set forth in the holy churches of God, and on the sacred vessels and on the vestments and on hangings and in pictures both in houses and by the wayside, to wit, the figure of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, of our spotless Lady, the Mother of God, of the honourable Angels, of all Saints and of all pious people. For by so much more frequently as they are seen in artistic representation, by so much more readily are men lifted up to the memory of their prototypes, and to a longing after them; and to these should be given due salutation and honourable reverence (ἀσπασμὸν καὶ τιμητικὴν προσκύνησιν), not indeed that true worship of faith (λατρείαν) which pertains alone to the divine nature; but to these, as to the figure of the precious and life-giving Cross and to the Book of the Gospels and to the other holy objects, incense and lights may be offered according to ancient pious custom. For the honour which is paid to the image passes on to that which the image represents, and he who reveres the image reveres in it the subject represented. For thus the teaching of our holy Fathers, that is the tradition of the Catholic Church, which from one end of the earth to the other hath received the Gospel, is strengthened. Thus we follow Paul, who spake in Christ, and the whole divine Apostolic company and the holy Fathers, holding fast the traditions which we have received. So we sing prophetically the triumphal hymns of the Church, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion; Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Rejoice and be glad with all thy heart. The Lord hath taken away from thee the oppression of thy adversaries; thou art redeemed from the hand of thine enemies. The Lord is a King in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more, and peace be unto thee forever.” Those, therefore who dare to think or teach otherwise, or as wicked heretics to spurn the traditions of the Church and to invent some novelty, or else to reject some of those things which the Church hath received (e.g., the Book of the Gospels, or the image of the cross, or the pictorial icons, or the holy reliques of a martyr), or evilly and sharply to devise anything subversive of the lawful traditions of the Catholic Church or to turn to common uses the sacred vessels or the venerable monasteries,536 if they be Bishops or Clerics, we command that they be deposed; if religious or laics, that they be cut off from communion. [After all had signed, the acclamations began (col. 576).] The holy Synod cried out: So we all believe, we all are so minded, we all give our consent and have signed. This is the faith of the Apostles, this is the faith of the orthodox, this is the faith which hath made firm the whole world. Believing in one God, to be celebrated in Trinity, we salute the honourable images! Those who do not so hold, let them be anathema. Those who do not thus think, let them be driven far away from the Church. For we follow the most ancient legislation of the Catholic Church. We keep the laws of the Fathers. We anathematize those who add anything to or take anything away from the Catholic Church. We anathematize the introduced novelty of the revilers of Christians. We salute the venerable images. We place under anathema those who do not do this. Anathema to them who presume to apply to the venerable images the things said in Holy Scripture about idols. Anathema to those who do not salute the holy and venerable images. Anathema to those who call the sacred images idols. Anathema to those who say that Christians resort to the sacred images as to gods. Anathema to those who say that any other delivered us from idols except Christ our God. Anathema to those who dare to say that at any time the Catholic Church received idols. Many years to the Emperors, etc., etc. 535 Anastasius in his Interpretatio (Migne, Pat. Lat., Tom. CXXIX., col. 458), gives the word, “Filioque.” Cardinal Julian in the Fifth Session of the Council of Florence gave evidence that there was then extant a very ancient codex containing these words; and this MS., which was in Greek, was actually shown. The Greek scholar Gemistius Pletho remarked that if this were so, then the Latin theologians, like St. Thomas Aquinas would long ago have appealed to the Synod. (Cf. Hefele, Hist. Councils, Vol. V., p. 374, Note 2.) This reasoning is not conclusive if Cardinal Bellarmine is to be believed, who says that St. Thomas had never seen the Acts of this synod. (De Imag. Sanct., Lib. ii., cap. xxii.) 536 Constantine Copronymus turned many monasteries into soldiers’ barracks. In this he has been followed by other crowned enemies of Christ. Epitome of the Definition of the Iconoclastic Conciliabulum held in Constantinople, A.D. 754.530 The Definition of the Holy, Great, and Ecumenical Seventh Synod. THE holy and Ecumenical synod, which by the grace of God and most pious command of the God-beloved and orthodox Emperors, Constantine and Leo,531 now assembled in the imperial residence city, in the temple of the holy and inviolate Mother of God and Virgin Mary, surnamed in Blachernæ, have decreed as follows. Satan misguided men, so that they worshipped the creature instead of the Creator. The Mosaic law and the prophets cooperated to undo this ruin; but in order to save mankind thoroughly, God sent his own Son, who turned us away from error and the worshipping of idols, and taught us the worshipping of God in spirit and in truth. As messengers of his saving doctrine, he left us his Apostles and disciples, and these adorned the Church, his Bride, with his glorious doctrines. This ornament of the Church the holy Fathers and the six Ecumenical Councils have preserved inviolate. But the before- mentioned demi-urgos of wickedness could not endure the sight of this adornment, and gradually brought back idolatry under the appearance of Christianity. As then Christ armed his Apostles against the ancient idolatry with the power of the Holy Spirit, and sent them out into all the world, so has he awakened against the new idolatry his servants our faithful Emperors, and endowed them with the same wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Impelled by the Holy Spirit they could no longer be witnesses of the Church being laid waste by the deception of demons, and summoned the sanctified assembly of the God-beloved bishops, that they might institute at a synod a scriptural examination into the deceitful colouring of the pictures (ὁμοιωμάτων) which draws down the spirit of man from the lofty adoration (λατρείας) of God to the low and material adoration (λατρείαν) of the creature, and that they, under divine guidance, might express their view on the subject. Our holy synod therefore assembled, and we, its 338 members, follow the older synodal decrees, and accept and proclaim joyfully the dogmas handed down, principally those of the six holy Ecumenical Synods. In the first place the holy and ecumenical great synod assembled at Nice, etc. After we had carefully examined their decrees under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we found that the unlawful art of painting living creatures blasphemed the fundamental doctrine of our salvation—namely, the Incarnation of Christ, and contradicted the six holy synods. These condemned Nestorius because he divided the one Son and Word of God into two sons, and on the other side, Arius, Dioscorus, Eutyches, and Severus, because they maintained a mingling of the two natures of the one Christ. Wherefore we thought it right, to shew forth with all accuracy, in our present definition the error of such as make and venerate these, for it is the unanimous doctrine of all the holy Fathers and of the six Ecumenical Synods, that no one may imagine any kind of separation or mingling in opposition to the unsearchable, unspeakable, and incomprehensible union of the two natures in the one hypostasis or person. What avails, then, the folly of the painter, who from sinful love of gain depicts that which should not be depicted—that is, with his polluted hands he tries to fashion that which should only be believed in the heart and confessed with the mouth? He makes an image and calls it Christ. The name Christ signifies God and man. Consequently it is an image of God and man, and consequently he has in his foolish mind, in his representation of the created flesh, depicted the Godhead which cannot be represented, and thus mingled what should not be mingled. Thus he is guilty of a double blasphemy—the one in making an image of the Godhead, and the other by mingling the Godhead and manhood. Those fall into the same blasphemy who venerate the image, and the same woe rests upon both, because they err with Arius, Dioscorus, and Eutyches, and with the heresy of the Acephali. When, however, they are blamed for undertaking to depict the divine nature of Christ, which should not be depicted, they take refuge in the excuse: We represent only the flesh of Christ which we have seen and handled. But that is a Nestorian error. For it should be considered that that flesh was also the flesh of God the Word, without any separation, perfectly assumed by the divine nature and made wholly divine. How could it now be separated and represented apart? So is it with the human soul of Christ which mediates between the Godhead of the Son and the dulness of the flesh. As the human flesh is at the same time flesh of God the Word, so is the human soul also soul of God the Word, and both at the same time, the soul being deified as well as the body, and the Godhead remained undivided even in the separation of the soul from the body in his voluntary passion. For where the soul of Christ is, there is also his Godhead; and where the body of Christ is, there too is his Godhead. If then in his passion the divinity remained inseparable from these, how do the fools venture to separate the flesh from the Godhead, and represent it by itself as the image of a mere man? They fall into the abyss of impiety, since they separate the flesh from the Godhead, ascribe to it a subsistence of its own, a personality of its own, which they depict, and thus introduce a fourth person into the Trinity. Moreover, they represent as not being made divine, that which has been made divine by being assumed by the Godhead. Whoever, then, makes an image of Christ, either depicts the Godhead which cannot be depicted, and mingles it with the manhood (like the Monophysites), or he represents the body of Christ as not made divine and separate and as a person apart, like the Nestorians. The only admissible figure of the humanity of Christ, however, is bread and wine in the holy Supper. This and no other form, this and no other type, has he chosen to represent his incarnation. Bread he ordered to be brought, but not a representation of the human form, so that idolatry might not arise. And as the body of Christ is made divine, so also this figure of the body of Christ, the bread, is made divine by the descent of the Holy Spirit; it becomes the divine body of Christ by the mediation of the priest who, separating the oblation from that which is common, sanctifies it. The evil custom of assigning names to the images does not come down from Christ and the Apostles and the holy Fathers; nor have these left behind them any prayer by which an image should be hallowed or made anything else than ordinary matter. If, however, some say, we might be right in regard to the images of Christ, on account of the mysterious union of the two natures, but it is not right for us to forbid also the images of the altogether spotless and ever-glorious Mother of God, of the prophets, apostles, and martyrs, who were mere men and did not consist of two natures; we may reply, first of all: If those fall away, there is no longer need of these. But we will also consider what may be said against these in particular. Christianity has rejected the whole of heathenism, and so not merely heathen sacrifices, but also the heathen worship of images. The Saints live on eternally with God, although they have died. If anyone thinks to call them back again to life by a dead art, discovered by the heathen, he makes himself guilty of blasphemy. Who dares attempt with heathenish art to paint the Mother of God, who is exalted above all heavens and the Saints? It is not permitted to Christians, who have the hope of the resurrection, to imitate the customs of demon-worshippers, and to insult the Saints, who shine in so great glory, by common dead matter. Moreover, we can prove our view by Holy Scripture and the Fathers. In the former it is said: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth;” and: “Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath;” on which account God spoke to the Israelites on the Mount, from the midst of the fire, but showed them no image. Further: “They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man,…and served the creature more than the Creator.” [Several other passages, even less to the point, are cited.]532 The same is taught also by the holy Fathers. [The Synod appeals to a spurious passage from Epiphanius and to one inserted into the writings of Theodotus of Ancyra, a friend of St. Cyril’s; to utterances—in no way striking—of Gregory of Nazianzum, of SS. Chrysostom, Basil, Athanasius of Amphilochius and of Eusebius Pamphili, from his Letter to the Empress Constantia, who had asked him for a picture of Christ.]533 Supported by the Holy Scriptures and the Fathers, we declare unanimously, in the name of the Holy Trinity, that there shall be rejected and removed and cursed out of the Christian Church every likeness which is made out of any material and colour whatever by the evil art of painters. Whoever in future dares to make such a thing, or to venerate it, or set it up in a church, or in a private house, or possesses it in secret, shall, if bishop, presbyter, or deacon, be deposed; if monk or layman, be anathematised, and become liable to be tried by the secular laws as an adversary of God and an enemy of the doctrines handed down by the Fathers. At the same time we ordain that no incumbent of a church shall venture, under pretext of destroying the error in regard to images, to lay his hands on the holy vessels in order to have them altered, because they are adorned with figures. The same is provided in regard to the vestments of churches, cloths, and all that is dedicated to divine service. If, however, the incumbent of a church wishes to have such church vessels and vestments altered, he must do this only with the assent of the holy Ecumenical patriarch and at the bidding of our pious Emperors....
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Bible Study - Revelation Session 7
11/07/2024
Bible Study - Revelation Session 7
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. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, vol. 123, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2011). Jack Norman Sparks, The Orthodox Study Bible: Notes (Thomas Nelson, 2008), 1712. Venerable Bede, The Explanation of the Apocalypse, trans. Edward Marshall (Oxford: James Parker and Co., 1878). William C. Weinrich, ed., Revelation, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005). 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), 63–80. The Things Declared to the Angel of the Church in Pergamum 2:12–13a. 12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: “Thus says the one who has the sharp two-edged sword: 13a I know your works and where you dwell, where the throne of Satan is. This city was full of idols… 2:13b. And you keep my name. You did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, that all-faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. … 2:14–15. 14 But I have a few things against you: that you have <some> there keeping the teaching of Balaam, who in Balaam taught [30] Balak to put a stumbling-block before the sons of Israel, to eat meat sacrificed to idols, and to practice fornication. 15 Thus you also have those who keep the teaching of the Nicolaitans, which I likewise hate. So it seems this city had possessed two difficulties: First, the majority was Greek, and second, among those who were called believers, the shameful Nicolaitans had sown evil “tares among the wheat.”8 … 2:16. Repent. If not, I will come to you soon, and I will war against them by the sword of my mouth. Love for humankind is also in the threat. For he does not say, “against you,” but I will war against them, those who are incurably “diseased.” 2:17. The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches: To the one who is victorious I will give to him to eat from the hidden manna, [31] and I will give to him a small white stone, and a new name written upon the stone, which no one knows except the one receiving it.” The “Bread of Life” is the hidden manna, the One who descended from heaven for us and has become edible. … Things Declared to the Angel of the Church in Thyatira 2:18. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: “Thus says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like glowing brass. [32] … [T]his union, ignited by means of the divine Spirit, cannot be grasped by human reasoning. 2:19–20. 19 I know your works and your love and faith and service and your patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 20 But I have this very much against you, that you allow the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet, to teach and to lead my servants astray to practice immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. … 2:21. I gave her time to repent of her immorality. The evil <is> a choice, he says, since, having received time to repent rightly, she did not use it. 2:22–23a. 22 Behold, I will throw her on a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23a And I will strike her children dead. … 2:23b–25. 23b And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches reins and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your works. 24 And I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, any who have not learned the deep things of Satan, as they say: I do not lay upon you any other burden; 25 only hold fast to that which you have until I come. These things are <addressed> to the deceived heretics and those deceiving others. [34] To the more simple he says: “Since you, through your simple manner, are not able to endure the cunning and quick-witted men, inasmuch as you do not know the deep things of Satan, as you say, I do not request that you do battle through words but that you safeguard the teaching which you have received, until I will take you from there.” 2:26–28a. 26 And he who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, I will give him authority over the nations, 27 and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as earthen vessels they will be shattered, 28a just as I myself have received <authority> from my Father. To him who does my works,” he says, I will give authority “over five or ten cities,” as the Gospel said. … 2:28b–29. 28b And I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Morning star, or, it says, the one about whom Isaiah was saying, “How did he fall from heaven, the bright rising morning star?” whom he promised he will hand over to be “crushed under the feet of the saints.”22 Or <it is> the One who brings light, as has been said by the blessed Peter, [35] “dawning in the hearts” of the faithful, the well-known illumination of Christ. …. It is not surprising that we have taken this as referring to two things totally contradictory to each other. For we learn from the divine Scriptures that the lion of Judah <is> the Christ,30 and <the lion> from Bashan <is> the Antichrist. According to what is meant, it is this or the other. It <the morning star> also implies both the dawn of the future day, by which the darkness of the present life will be covered, and also its “messenger” bringing the good news of this <dawn>.32… The Things Declared to the Angel of the Church in Sardis 3:1. And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: “Thus says the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works, that in name you live, and you are dead. … 3:2. Wake up and strengthen those things which remain and which were about to die; for I have not found your works being fulfilled in the sight of God. “Shake off the sleep of laziness,” he says, “and strengthen your members, who are about to die completely through unbelief.” For it is not the beginning of good works that crowns the worker, but the completion. 3:3a. Remember, therefore, what you received and heard, and keep [that], and repent. [37] “Keep the tradition which you received from the apostles, and repent of laziness.” 3:3b. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. Naturally. … 3:4. You have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. “You possess this good,” he says, “that some people, those who have not soiled the garment of the flesh by filthy deeds, will be with me in the rebirth brilliantly attired because they have kept ‘the garment of incorruption’5 spotless.” 3:5–6. 5 He who conquers shall be wrapped about in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life, and I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” He who is victorious in the above-mentioned victory will shine like the sun in the clothing of his own virtues, and his name will remain indelible in the book of the living. [38] “He will be confessed before my Father and the holy powers,” even as triumphant martyrs, just as he says in the Gospel, “the righteous will shine as the sun.”7 The Things Declared to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia 3:7. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: “Thus says the Holy One, the True One, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shuts, who shuts and no one opens. His kingdom is called the key of David, for it is the symbol of authority. The key is also the Holy Spirit, <the key> of both the book of Psalms and every prophecy, through which the “treasures of knowledge” are opened … 3:8. I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut; <I know> that you have little [39] power, and you kept my word and did not deny my name. … “I opened before you a door of instructive preaching, which cannot be closed by temptations. I am satisfied with the attitude, and I do not demand things beyond strength.” 3:9. Behold, I will give <you> those of the synagogue of Satan—who say that they are Jews and are not, but they lie. I will make them so that they come and bow down before your feet, and they will know that I have loved you. “As a reward for the confession of my name,” he says, “you will have the return and repentance of the Jews, who will kneel before your feet, asking to approach me for the illumination which comes from me, remaining Judaizers secretly in their hearts, <though> not in appearance.” 3:10–11. 10 Because you have kept the word of my patience, I will keep you from the hour of trial which is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth. I am coming soon. 11 Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. [40] … He rightly says, I come quickly, for “after the affliction of those days immediately” the Lord will come, as he says. For this reason he suddenly commands <them> to keep the treasure of the faith inviolate, so that no one loses the crown of patience. 3:12a. He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; he will never go out of it, Naturally. The victor over the opposing powers is established <as> a pillar and a foundation of the truth, having in it the immovable base according to the Apostle. 12b. And I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven from my God, and my new name. [41] “Upon the heart of such a pillar,” he says, “I will engrave the knowledge of the divine name and of the heavenly Jerusalem, so that he will see in her the beautiful things through the eyes of the Spirit, and also my new name which will be known by the saints in the future.” … 3:13. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Let us pray that we ourselves possess such a little ear. Things Declared to the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans 3:14a. And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: “Thus says The Amen, the faithful and true witness, … 3:14b. the beginning of God’s creation: … For the beginning of creation is the primary and uncreated cause. 3:15–16a. 15 I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you be cold or hot! 16a Thus it is that you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, Gregory the Theologian says, “We must live exactly hot or exactly cold.” … [I]in faith, the middle way and the lukewarm are worthless. 3:16b–17. 16b I intend to vomit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,’ and you do not know that you are miserable and wretched and poor and blind and naked. “Just as lukewarm water causes people who receive it to vomit,” he says, “hence I too, through a word of my mouth, will vomit you like detested food into eternal punishment, for you mingled the thorns of riches with the seed of the divine word and you are unaware of your own poverty in spiritual matters and the blindness of your spiritual eyes and the nakedness of good deeds.” 3:18. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you will become rich, and that you may put on white garments, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. … 3:19. If I love someone, I reproach and correct <him>. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Oh, the love for humanity! How much goodness the reproach holds! 3:20. Behold, I stand at the door and I knock; if one will hear my voice and will open the door, I will come in to him, and I will dine with him, and he with me. “My presence is not forced,” he says. … 3:21. He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself have conquered and taken my seat with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” [45] The Kingdom and the repose of the future age are indicated by the throne. … Therefore, having made the cloud a vehicle for the rise heavenward in his Ascension,25 he also says through the Apostle that the saints will be “caught up in the clouds to meet him,” and he will come <as> Judge, as Creator and Master of creation, handing over to the saints to judge those who opposed the truly divine and blessed slavery, as the Apostle says, “Do you not know that we will judge angels?” that is, the “rulers of darkness.”28 …
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Homily - Love Lazarus!
11/03/2024
Homily - Love Lazarus!
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
11/03/2024
Introduction to Chanting - Class 4
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
10/31/2024
FSAW - The Problem is I'm Shallow
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 mundane and certainly repetitive) faith as it should be lived within our very real and often messy families and parishes. Enjoy the show!
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Bible Study - Revelation Session 6
10/30/2024
Bible Study - Revelation Session 6
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, trans. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, vol. 123, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2011). Jack Norman Sparks, The Orthodox Study Bible: Notes (Thomas Nelson, 2008), 1712. Venerable Bede, The Explanation of the Apocalypse, trans. Edward Marshall (Oxford: James Parker and Co., 1878). William C. Weinrich, ed., Revelation, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005). 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), 63–80. The Things that had been Written to the Angel of the Church of the Ephesians 2:1. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: “Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. He discourses with the church through the angel just as if he were an educator <speaking> to the one being instructed…. 2:2–5a. 2 I know your works and your toil and your patience, and that you cannot bear evil men, and you have tested those calling themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them false. 3 And you have endurance and patience on account of my name and did not grow weary. 4 But I hold it against you that you have left your first love. 5a Remember, therefore, [25] from where you fell, and repent and do the works <you did at> first. Accepting the church in two ways, he reprimands it in one way. He has put the one <reprimand> in the middle and the achievements on either side... 2:5b–6. 5b If not, I will come to you soon and I will move your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent. 6 But this you have: that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. The movement of the church <means> to deprive them of divine grace… 2:7. The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” … He promised to grant to such a victor in the war against the demons to eat of the Tree of Life, that is, to partake of the blessings of the future age, for, periphrastically, eternal life is meant by the Tree. … The Things Declared to the Angel of the Church of the Smyrnaeans 2:8. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: “Thus says the First and the Last, who was dead and came to life. The first as god, and the Last as having become man in the latter times, and having opened eternal life to us through his three-day death. 2:9a. I know your works and the tribulation and the poverty, but you are rich. “Affliction and poverty in the bodily things, which you suffer patiently for my sake, being afflicted by the unbelievers and deprived of your possessions, but in spiritual things you are rich, having ‘the treasure hidden in the field’ of your heart.” [28] 2:9b. And the blasphemy of those who say they themselves are Jews and are not, but a synagogue of Satan. … “Judah” means “confession.” [(Sept.) and they do not confess Christ] 2:10. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to put some of you in prison that you might be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He says, “Do not fear the tribulation from the enemies of God through afflictions and trials, for <it will last only> ten days and not <be> long-lived.” For this reason, death must be despised, since in a little while it grants “the unfading crown of life.” 2:11. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches: The one who is victorious will not be harmed by the second death.” … He will not be harmed by the second death of Gehenna. [29] The Things Declared to the Angel of the Church in Pergamum 2:12–13a. 12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: “Thus says the one who has the sharp two-edged sword: 13a I know your works and where you dwell, where the throne of Satan is. This city was full of idols… 2:13b. And you keep my name. You did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, that all-faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. … 2:14–15. 14 But I have a few things against you: that you have <some> there keeping the teaching of Balaam, who in Balaam taught [30] Balak to put a stumbling-block before the sons of Israel, to eat meat sacrificed to idols, and to practice fornication. 15 Thus you also have those who keep the teaching of the Nicolaitans, which I likewise hate. So it seems this city had possessed two difficulties: First, the majority was Greek, and second, among those who were called believers, the shameful Nicolaitans had sown evil “tares among the wheat.”8 … 2:16. Repent. If not, I will come to you soon, and I will war against them by the sword of my mouth. Love for humankind is also in the threat. For he does not say, “against you,” but I will war against them, those who are incurably “diseased.” 2:17. The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches: To the one who is victorious I will give to him to eat from the hidden manna, [31] and I will give to him a small white stone, and a new name written upon the stone, which no one knows except the one receiving it.” The “Bread of Life” is the hidden manna, the One who descended from heaven for us and has become edible. …
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Interview with Flavius Mihaies on Ukraine's Two Wars
10/30/2024
Interview with Flavius Mihaies on Ukraine's Two Wars
Flavius is an independent researcher and journalist who travels the world collecting and sharing the stories of how people and their faith are affected by war and hardship. I think you will enjoy our conversation about his previous work, how he came to it, and the hardships too many Ukrainians are facing as a result of the combination of Russia's unjust and fratricidal war and local corruption. Flavius's witness and voice are important and compelling. You can read his article, " . Enjoy the show!
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Homily - Don't Sow Brambles
10/27/2024
Homily - Don't Sow Brambles
2 Corinthians 9:6-11. If we are not careful, the seeds we sow will grow briars. Sow well, in Christ!
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Introduction to Chanting - Class 3
10/26/2024
Introduction to Chanting - Class 3
Ten Commandments of Chanting Bring and maintain peace in the kliros. It’s a witness of cooperation, harmony, and reverence – nothing else belongs there (any more than it does in the altar or nave). Come early and be prepared. This is especially true if you are reading an epistle. Prayer is part of the preparation. Spend time with the priest before the service to compare notes/get on the same page (and get a blessing). Our ears are more important than our voices. Make the hand-offs sound like you are part of the same team, not separate or (egad!) competing. In chanting, this includes re-pitching only when there is a problem. Chant clearly and confidently. This is the Word of God, offered to His people. Chant humbly and without vainglory. The kliros is a magnet for pride. Don’t settle for “good enough”. Even beginners get the notes right. Good chanting requires making the services witness to the harmony and unity of God. Match the tempo of the service. It’s not a race, nor is it a dirge. Let the service speak for itself. It is perfect, we become perfect in and through it. Sing with joy and thanksgiving! We bring beauty to the services as much through our witness as our voices. Terms: Intoning – musically reading simply around a single note. Often done with Psalms. Chanting – singing the words according to a set pattern or Tone. Tone – a set melody based on a given system (e.g. Byzantine or Common). Plain Reading – can be done with a normal reading voice or intoning Kliros – the home base of the chanter(s).
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Lecture - On Beauty; Lessons from the Gulag
10/25/2024
Lecture - On Beauty; Lessons from the Gulag
The Good News I According to St. John: In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. (1:1-2) Genesis 1: 26a, 27-28a Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it and rule... SUBDUE?! RULE?! Subdue into the pattern of the good, the beautiful and the true. The Curse (expulsion from Eden) Using Beauty Against Itself? (the line of Cain) The End of the Good, Beautiful, and the True? (Nephalim etc.) Genesis 9:1,7 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth... (every wild beast will dread you)... And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. Genesis 11 – The Tower of Babel The Restoration: Luke 3: 3-6 And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. The Good News II According to St. John: And the Logos become flesh and dwelt among us. (1:14a) To all who received him, who believed in his name, He gave power to become children of God. (1:12) And according to St. Paul: In [Christ] you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (e.g. Ephesians 1:13-14). St. Matthew 28:16-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Beauty in Nature, Architecture, Art, Literature, Music, Fellowship, and THE GULAG?! One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Gives insights into how people ended up in the Gulag This is really developed in the Gulag Archipelago Ivan admitted that he surrendered to Germany to betray the USSR The young Gopchik gave milk to Ukrainian guerrillas The foreman was discharged for being the son of a kulak (SoanEotP) Some insights into the state of faith and religion in the USSR Corruption in the Russian Orthodox Church Faith of the peasant/redneck (represented by Ukrainian) Orthodox Faith and (beautiful) martyrdom of the Baptists One Day - On Beauty and Art (presages his essay) Two bookkeepers, also zeks, were toasting bread on the stove. They'd rigged up a sort of wire griddle to keep it from burning. Tsezar was lolling at his desk, smoking his pipe. He had his back to Shukhov and didn't see him. Opposite him sat Kh-123, a wiry old man doing twenty years' hard. He was eating gruel. "You're wrong, old man," Tsezar was saying, goodnaturedly. "Objectively, you will have to admit that Eisenstein is a genius. Surely you can't deny that Ivan the Terrible is a work of genius? The dance of the masked oprichniki! The scene in the cathedral!" Kh-123's spoon stopped short of his mouth. "Bogus," he said angrily. "So much art in it that it ceases to be art. Pepper and poppy seed instead of good honest bread. And the political motive behind it is utterly loathsome — an attempt to justify a tyrannical individual. An insult to the memory of three generations of the Russian intelligentsia!" (He was eating his gruel without savoring it. It wouldn't do him any good.) "But would it have got past the censor if he'd handled it differently?" "Oh well, if that's what matters... Only don't call him a genius — call him a toady, a dog carrying out his master's orders. A genius doesn't adjust his treatment of a theme to a tyrant's taste." "Ahem!" Shukhov cleared his throat. He felt awkward, interrupting this educated conversation, but he couldn't just go on standing there. Tsezar turned around and held his hand out for the bowl, without even looking at Shukhov — the gruel might have traveled through the air unaided — then went back to his argument. "Yes, but art isn't what you do, it's how you do it." Kh-123 reared up and chopped at the table with his hand. "I don't give a damn how you do it if it doesn't awaken good feelings in me!" Shukhov stood there just as long as he decently could after handing over the gruel, hoping Tsezar would treat him to a cigarette. But Tsezar had entirely forgotten that Shukhov was behind him. So he turned on his heel and left quietly. Never mind, it wasn't all that cold outside. A great day for bricklaying. Walking down the path, he spotted a bit of steel broken off a hacksaw blade lying in the snow. He had no special use for it right then, but you never knew what you might need later. So he picked it up and slipped it into his trouser pocket. Have to hide it in the Power Station. Thrift beats riches. Solzhenitsyn: Beauty will Save the World Part One: The Ontology of Beauty One artist sees himself as the creator of an independent spiritual world; he hoists onto his shoulders the task of creating this world, of peopling it and of bearing the all-embracing responsibility for it; but he crumples beneath it, for a mortal genius is not capable of bearing such a burden. Just as man in general, having declared himself the centre of existence, has not succeeded in creating a balanced spiritual system. And if misfortune overtakes him, he casts the blame upon the age-long disharmony of the world, upon the complexity of today’s ruptured soul, or upon the stupidity of the public. Another artist, recognizing a higher power above, gladly works as a humble apprentice beneath God’s heaven; then, however, his responsibility for everything that is written or drawn, for the souls which perceive his work, is more exacting than ever. But, in return, it is not he who has created this world, not he who directs it, there is no doubt as to its foundations; the artist has merely to be more keenly aware than others of the harmony of the world, of the beauty and ugliness of the human contribution to it, and to communicate this acutely to his fellow-men. And in misfortune, and even at the depths of existence – in destitution, in prison, in sickness his sense of stable harmony never deserts him. But all the irrationality of art, its dazzling turns, its unpredictable discoveries, its shattering influence on human beings – they are too full of magic to be exhausted by this artist’s vision of the world, by his artistic conception or by the work of his unworthy fingers. Part Two: Can (Just) Beauty Save? One day Dostoevsky threw out the enigmatic remark: “Beauty will save the world.” What sort of a statement is that? For a long time I considered it mere words. How could that be possible? When in bloodthirsty history did beauty ever save anyone from anything? Ennobled, uplifted, yes – but whom has it saved? … It is possible to compose an outwardly smooth and elegant political speech, a headstrong article, a social program, or a philosophical system on the basis of both a mistake and a lie. What is hidden, what distorted, will not immediately become obvious. Then a contradictory speech, article, program, a differently constructed philosophy rallies in opposition – and all just as elegant and smooth, and once again it works. Which is why such things are both trusted and mistrusted… But a work of art bears within itself its own verification: conceptions which are devised or stretched do not stand being portrayed in images, they all come crashing down, appear sickly and pale, convince no one. But those works of art which have scooped up the truth and presented it to us as a living force – they take hold of us, compel us, and nobody ever, not even in ages to come, will appear to refute them. So perhaps that ancient trinity of Truth, Goodness and Beauty is not simply an empty, faded formula as we thought in the days of our self-confident, materialistic youth? If the tops of these three trees converge, as the scholars maintained, but the too blatant, too direct stems of Truth and Goodness are crushed, cut down, not allowed through – then perhaps the fantastic, unpredictable, unexpected stems of Beauty will push through and soar TO THAT VERY SAME PLACE, and in so doing will fulfil the work of all three? In that case Dostoevsky’s remark, “Beauty will save the world”, was not a careless phrase but a prophecy? After all HE was granted to see much, a man of fantastic illumination. And in that case art, literature might really be able to help the world today? It is the small insight which, over the years, I have succeeded in gaining into this matter that I shall attempt to lay before you here today. Part Three: The Terrible Beauty of the Gulag And as I stand here today, accompanied by the shadows of the fallen, with bowed head allowing others who were worthy before to pass ahead of me to this place, as I stand here, how am I to divine and to express what THEY would have wished to say? Frequently, in painful camp seethings, in a column of prisoners, when chains of lanterns pierced the gloom of the evening frosts, there would well up inside us the words that we should like to cry out to the whole world, if the whole world could hear one of us. Then it seemed so clear: what our successful ambassador would say, and how the world would immediately respond with its comment. Our horizon embraced quite distinctly both physical things and spiritual movements, and it saw no lop-sidedness in the indivisible world. These ideas did not come from books, neither were they imported for the sake of coherence. They were formed in conversations with people now dead, in prison cells and by forest fires, they were tested against THAT life, they grew out of THAT existence. When at last the outer pressure grew a little weaker, my and our horizon broadened and gradually, albeit through a minute chink, we saw and knew “the whole world”. And to our amazement the whole world was not at all as we had expected, as we had hoped; that is to say a world living “not by that”, a world leading “not there”, a world which could exclaim at the sight of a muddy swamp, “what a delightful little puddle!”, at concrete neck stocks, “what an exquisite necklace!”; but instead a world where some weep inconsolate tears and others dance to a light-hearted musical. How could this happen? Why the yawning gap? Were we insensitive? Was the world insensitive? Or is it due to language differences? Why is it that people are not able to hear each other’s every distinct utterance? Words cease to sound and run away like water – without taste, colour, smell. Without trace. As I have come to understand this, so through the years has changed and changed again the structure, content and tone of my potential speech. The speech I give today. And it has little in common with its original plan, conceived on frosty camp evenings. Part Four: The Babel of Local Scales Mankind has become one, but not steadfastly one as communities or even nations used to be; not united through years of mutual experience, neither through possession of a single eye, affectionately called crooked, nor yet through a common native language, but, surpassing all barriers, through international broadcasting and print. An avalanche of events descends upon us – in one minute half the world hears of their splash. But the yardstick by which to measure those events and to evaluate them in accordance with the laws of unfamiliar parts of the world – this is not and cannot be conveyed via soundwaves and in newspaper columns. For these yardsticks were matured and assimilated over too many years of too specific conditions in individual countries and societies; they cannot be exchanged in mid-air. In the various parts of the world men apply their own hard-earned values to events, and they judge stubbornly, confidently, only according to their own scales of values and never according to any others. In one part of the world, not so long ago, under persecutions not inferior to those of the ancient Romans’, hundreds of thousands of silent Christians gave up their lives for their belief in God. In the other hemisphere a certain madman, (and no doubt he is not alone), speeds across the ocean to DELIVER us from religion – with a thrust of steel into the high priest! He has calculated for each and every one of us according to his personal scale of values! One world, one mankind cannot exist in the face of six, four or even two scales of values: we shall be torn apart by this disparity of rhythm, this disparity of vibrations. A man with two hearts is not for this world, neither shall we be able to live side by side on one Earth. Part Five: Art Shares, Shapes, and Preserves Culture But who will co-ordinate these value scales, and how? … Who might succeed in impressing upon a bigoted, stubborn human creature the distant joy and grief of others, an understanding of dimensions and deceptions which he himself has never experienced? Propaganda, constraint, scientific proof – all are useless. But fortunately there does exist such a means in our world! That means is art. That means is literature. … They possess a wonderful ability: beyond distinctions of language, custom, social structure, they can convey the life experience of one whole nation to another. [It also] becomes the living memory of the nation. Thus it preserves and kindles within itself the flame of her spent history, in a form which is safe from deformation and slander. In this way literature, together with language, protects the soul of the nation. But woe to that nation whose literature is disturbed by the intervention of power. Because that is not just a violation against “freedom of print”, it is the closing down of the heart of the nation, a slashing to pieces of its memory. … In some cases moreover – when as a result of such a silence the whole of history ceases to be understood in its entirety – it is a danger to the whole of mankind. Part Six: Lies and Suppression Destroy What is more, it is not simply crude power that triumphs abroad, but its exultant justification. … The young, at an age when they have not yet any experience other than sexual, when they do not yet have years of personal suffering and personal understanding behind them, are jubilantly repeating our depraved Russian blunders of the Nineteenth Century, under the impression that they are discovering something new. … And on top of this we are threatened by destruction in the fact that the physically compressed, strained world is not allowed to blend spiritually; the molecules of knowledge and sympathy are not allowed to jump over from one half to the other. This presents a rampant danger: THE SUPPRESSION OF INFORMATION between the parts of the planet. Contemporary science knows that suppression of information leads to entropy and total destruction. Suppression of information renders international signatures and agreements illusory; within a muffled zone it costs nothing to reinterpret any agreement, even simpler – to forget it, as though it had never really existed. (Orwell understood this supremely.) A muffled zone is, as it were, populated not by inhabitants of the Earth, but by an expeditionary corps from Mars; the people know nothing intelligent about the rest of the Earth and are prepared to go and trample it down in the holy conviction that they come as “liberators”. Part Seven: Creating a Shared Human Story Friends! Let us try to help if we are worth anything at all! Who from time immemorial has constituted the uniting, not the dividing, strength in your countries, lacerated by discordant parties, movements, castes and groups? There in its essence is the position of writers: expressers of their native language – the chief binding force of the nation, of the very earth its people occupy, and at best of its national spirit. We shall be told: what can literature possibly do against the ruthless onslaught of open violence? But let us not forget that violence does not live alone and is not capable of living alone: it is necessarily interwoven with falsehood. Between them lies the most intimate, the deepest of natural bonds. Violence finds its only refuge in falsehood, falsehood its only support in violence. Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his METHOD must inexorably choose falsehood as his PRINCIPLE. And the simple step of a simple courageous man is not to partake in falsehood, not to support false actions! Let THAT enter the world, let it even reign in the world – but not with my help. But writers and artists can achieve more: they can CONQUER FALSEHOOD! In the struggle with falsehood art always did win and it always does win! Openly, irrefutably for everyone! Falsehood can hold out against much in this world, but not against art. And no sooner will falsehood be dispersed than the nakedness of violence will be revealed in all its ugliness – and violence, decrepit, will fall. That is why, my friends, I believe that we are able to help the world in its white-hot hour. Not by making the excuse of possessing no weapons, and not by giving ourselves over to a frivolous life – but by going to war! Proverbs about truth are well-loved in Russian. They give steady and sometimes striking expression to the not inconsiderable harsh national experience: ONE WORD OF TRUTH SHALL OUTWEIGH THE WHOLE WORLD. And it is here, on an imaginary fantasy, a breach of the principle of the conservation of mass and energy, that I base both my own activity and my appeal to the writers of the whole world.
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