Doubt and Faith

Doubt and Faith Series

by Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

http://bit.ly/doubtandfaith

YouTube Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAEAB36D0C61F8115

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75FMmJT7RS0

Divine Call and Human Response

Divine Call and Human Response
The Syriac Tradition II: St Isaac of Nineveh
by Sebastian Brock


It is a matter for wonder that, at a time when Greek East and Latin West were both plunged into the despond of the Dark Ages during the seventh and eighth centuries, the monks of the syriac-speaking Churches — by then living under muslim rule — were engaged in two very different activities both of which still indirectly leave their mark today: in Syria, Orthodox monks were translating and commenting on Aristotle’s Organon, a prelude to the translations into Arabic, whose subsequent Latin renderings were to have such an influence upon scholastic theology; while further east, in modern Iraq and western Iran, monks of the Church of the East were producing a literature of astonishing richness and insight on the spiritual life. Best known of these oriental solitaries is St Isaac of Nineveh (seventh century), who, like many other mystics, has proved to be a truly ecumenical figure, transcending the boundaries of ecclesiastical divisions. His works, translated into Greek by two monks of the Palestinian monastery of St Saba in the ninth century, and first published in 1770, are still favourite reading on Mount Athos today. They also provided the main stimulus for the contemporary monastic revival in the Coptic Orthodox Church, centering around the figure of Father Matta the Poor.

Interviews with Father Wadid

Interviews with Father Wadid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5AgTcAu-KE

Salvation in Christ: An Orthodox Approach

Salvation in Christ: An Orthodox Approach

by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F7h-TStNd8

On Hymns and Sermons

"We must be careful to ensure that the worship songs we use are Orthodox in their origin, lyrics, melodies and in their spirit and communion and unity with Christ ought to be embedded within their meaning."

+ HG Bishop Tawadrous (HH Pope Tawadrous II)

"Liturgical theology may therefore be called faith’s grammar in action — a genuine theology, but one manifested and preserved in the community’s lex orandi (law of prayer) even before it is parsed into lex credendi (law of belief). It is discovered in the structure of the liturgy, which shapes the lives of liturgists. Kavanagh was fond of calling liturgy the faith of the Church in motion. “This means that the liturgy of a church is nothing other than that church’s faith in motion on certain definite and crucial levels…. Thus a church’s worship does not merely reflect or express its repertoire of faith. It transacts the church’s faith in God under the condition of God’s real presence in both church and world.”"

+ Dr David Fagerberg, Theologia Prima

"In the experience of the Orthodox Church, liturgy is always the expression of the faith, life and teachings of the Church, and therefore a sure path to learning these. "Lex orandi lex est credendi.” The rule of prayer is the rule of belief. And only insofar as we return to this rule, can we recover the true foundations of Orthodox Christian Education."

+ Fr Alexander Schmemann, Liturgy and Life, 22

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBsmJDjqdF4

Steve the Builder Discussing "Love Wins"

Full Official Transcript Posted on Ancient Faith Radio (an unofficial transcript of the video was posted earlier here) http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/stevethebuilder/love_wins_an_orthodox_view_of_salvation

Importance of Dialogue

"Dialogue constitutes more than merely a better understanding or toleration of our differences, indeed, dialogue is the essence of reconciliation and transformation. Therefore, religious leaders should be working together, through dialogue, to affirm God's peace in the world.  We, as religious leaders, have a moral obligation to resist war and promote peace as a vital and fundamental necessity for all humanity. Religion cannot and should never be a basis for war and conflict, nor should it be used as an instrument of fundamentalism and fanaticism for purely political motives and ends."

+ Ecumenical Patriarchate Bartholomew I, August 14, 2012, Communiqué on the resurgence of Violence spreading throughout the World, http://www.patriarchate.org/documents/violence

Also Professor Richard Schneider on a similar discussion on the importance of Dialogue & Unity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDv_VsNxQjM

What does it mean to be a Christian?

What it means to be a Christian
by Abouna Peter Farrington

This morning I would like us to ask ourselves what it means to be a Christian?

It was in Antioch that the believers were first called Christians. In the Acts of the Apostles we read in Acts 11,

Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

The name Christian wasn’t one that the early believers chose for themselves. It was one that they were given by others. Perhaps rather dismissively. It means a follower of Christ, someone who belongs to Christ, even a slave of Christ. And this is how the early Church lived, in such a way that those who saw them understood that they had committed everything to Christ.

A Christian is first of all someone who has given themselves to Christ. We might even say that a Christian is someone who has abandoned themselves into Christ’s hands. St Paul says in his letter to the Philippians, ‘For me to live is Christ, to die is gain’. What does this mean? Surely it means that my whole life belongs to Christ. Every moment we live is to be lived for Christ and in Christ. Indeed once we become Christians we have no life that is not life for Christ and in Christ.

"Where was Christ in the Newtown Massacre?" by Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick

Many have blogged and spoken about the Newtown massacre this past weekend and Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick's sermon is probably one of the better sermons that I've encountered concerning the tragedy: http://roadsfromemmaus.org/2012/12/17/where-was-christ-in-the-newtown-massacre/

I was most touched by Abouna's mention of life and the endurance of love:

"The truest answer to violence is love. The truest answer to death is life. The only prevention for violence is for the heart to have no violence within it. We can legislate all we like, but the violent heart will still find a weapon and the opportunity to use it. We cannot prevent evil through any system devised by mankind. But we can grapple with evil and defeat it, but only with love—real love, too, not just some sentimental feeling, but self-sacrifice. Those women who died with those children demonstrated love. In that moment when they chose to give their lives for the children in their care, it did not matter if they had happy feelings about them—probably some of those kids annoyed them on one day or another. What mattered was the act, the act of defeating death with life. Christ said, “Greater love hath no man than this, than that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)."

I am humbled and awed by the courage of these beautiful women who risked their lives and died to save their students. This past weekend my heart has been singing "axia" for these women and all women, all mothers (whether biological or spiritual) who like the Theotokos are bearers of Love. 

I am also increasingly aware of the honor of the presence of Children. Children (whether born, aborted or unborn): wonderful persons fashioned in the image and likeness of Christ, who are the fruit of love and who bring love by their very presence, their very being. 

May children continue to grow in that love, and may we 'adults' always remember the precious love of children of whom the Kingdom of heaven belongs.

The Church's Prayers for the World

"the Church prays for the sick and suffering, for the military and armed forces, for those who are living, and for those who are departed. The petitions reveal that the Church is neither opposed to the world nor separate from it, but rather called to encounter it. The prayers are comprehensive, and the priest offers the names of everyone in the Church who is in need of prayer. In these prayers, Church and world meet; to each, the people respond, “Lord have mercy,” “Grant it, O Lord,” or “Amen.” It is worth repealing that both the petitions and responses are public and the entire congregation is invited to pray them, thus underscoring our common ministry in the royal priesthood."

+ Fr William C. Mills

The Orthodox and Music

"Orthodox worship involves the whole body and all its senses. One quote from an Orthodox website says, “Orthodox Church art and music has a very functional role in the liturgical life and helps even the bodily senses to feel the spiritual grandeur of the Lord’s mysteries.” In many Orthodox worship settings throughout the world, there are literally almost no spoken words. All words are chanted (sung). In fact, chanting styles have developed to try to guarantee that what is said is understood.

This is because in an Orthodox worship, the words that are being chanted are of supreme importance. There are different chanting styles, but they all have as a goal the making the words of the chant to be fully understandable. In fact, the words of an Orthodox worship have not varied in centuries, though sometimes certain words have been omitted. (Note: the translation of the words has obviously varied, but not the general words themselves.)

But, you need to understand that at its heart, the Orthodox see their music as connecting them to the music that is being sung by the angels and the elders at the foot of the throne of God (Rev. 4:8-11, Isa. 6:1-4, Eze. 3:12). Exodus 25 claims that the worship of Israel followed a heavenly pattern. The Book of Hebrews confirms that and further alludes to Christian worship also following that same heavenly pattern. “We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.”

Music is not an option for the Orthodox or frosting on the cake. It is something which ought to be a part of every believer’s life. Saint Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “You must every one of you join in a choir so that being harmonious and in concord and taking the keynote of God in unison, you may sing with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father, so that He may hear you and through your good deeds recognize that you are parts of His Son.”

When we chant, we chant Truth. When we sing, we join with the angels in heaven and the elders before the throne and the multitude from every tribe, nation, people, and language. When we chant, we pray to God. When we sing, we express our oneness and our fellowship is with God the Father through Jesus Christ so that He may hear us. When we chant we join ourselves to the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets, to the New Testament apostles, to the historic saints and martyrs of the Church, to both the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant. When we sing we join our Earthly experience to the heavenly realities."

+ Fr. Ernesto Obregon, http://www.orthocuban.com/2012/10/the-orthodox-and-music/

Wisdom Fraction of St. Epiphanius

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYVTfDjnuQ0 

O our God, where are the lands of Wisdom? Where are the footprints of their ways? Who would pass over the seas to buy them with pure gold? Who can ascend above the clouds and bring them? The mortal man does not know Its way for most men forsake It. Wisdom is hidden, even from the angels. Those who possess Wisdom obtain grace and those who hate It love death. Wisdom is brighter than the sun and all the stars. Wisdom is the Light of the Father existing with Him from eternity. Wisdom has existed from eternity.

She renews everyone. She enters the souls of the righteous through all the ages. Wisdom is more precious than pearls and unequal to all honors. Wisdom has counsel, might, and knowledge. By Wisdom kings reigned, the great men are honored, and the princes of the earth govern. Wisdom loves those who love Her and protects those who keep Her. Those who seek Wisdom find grace.

Wisdom walks in the way of justice and moves in the path of truth. Wisdom grants richness to those who acknowledge Her and fills their treasures with joy.

God granted Wisdom to our father Jacob, and She then appeared and walked on earth as a Man. Wisdom has built Her house. She has hewn (carved) out her seven pillars. She has slaughtered Her meat. She has mixed Her wine. She has also furnished Her table. The house of Wisdom is the universal and apostolic Church, and Her seven pillars are life-giving sacraments of God.

Wisdom sent forth Her servants to say always throughout the ages, "You who are simple turn to me." As to those who lack understanding She says, "Come eat of My Body and drink of My Blood. Relinquish the ignorance from among you, so that you might live."

Wisdom is our Savior Jesus Christ who redeemed us with the sacrifice of His Body, bought us by His bloodshed, and chose us for His eternal kingdom. We ask You O our Master to grant us to find wisdom in You alone; to accept this sacrifice from our hands. Accept our fasting and prayers, so we may dare as sons to cry to You, our heavenly Father, "Our Father..."

http://tasbeha.org/hymn_library/view/2390

A Short Guide for Confession

A Short Guide for Confessions that you might like...

http://stsilouan.org/HOWTOPREPAREFORCONFESSION.pdf

+ + +
  

Can you hear the music and the dance in the Father's house?

How to prepare for Confession...The Parable of the Prodigal Son

Practical Steps to Implement Joint Commission

Practical steps to unity (because it is by being authentic and honest to our shared Orthodox Ethos that we can unite, serve each other and also preach the Gospel and offer all to God for the life of the world.)

What can be done?

...those engaged in the process of fostering the reunion of the Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian churches recognized the need for practical guidelines in the following areas: (1) sacramental intercommunion, (2) liturgy, (3) spirituality, (4) administration, (5) catechesis, (6) theological education, (7) marriage and child-rearing, (8) publications, and (9) social and cultural undertakings.

To what extent have we accomplished this task? To what extent have we enabled out theological convergence to find expression on the practical level? My fear is that if our unity remains only on the level of theology, our rapprochement on the level of doctrinal formulae, it will be no unity at all. And there will always be the naysayers among us who, because they do not really know "the other," will continue to use theology as a means of perpetuating division.

Confession: The Path to Renewal of the Heart

Confession: The Path to Renewal of the Heart
by Archimandrite Irenei, Transcribed from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDXQz02KX9c

The life in Christ is a Mystery. I wish to speak today of the contours of this Mystery, which is at the very center of our existence as Christian people and which defines in a special way, our manner of life in the Church, for this is precisely with our precious Orthodox faith is, it is a life, it is something that is to be lived and lived specifically and wholly in Christ.

On Liturgical Churches And Worship

A recent post by Fr John Peck entitled "Evangelical Professor, Students On Liturgical Churches And Worship" which quotes several students and a Professor at the Moody Bible Institute speaking about their thoughts about Liturgical Worship and "Liturgical Churches."

Two Conversations on Death

Two Conversations on Death by Fr Alexander Schmemann

Posted on http://payingattentiontothesky.com/2012/02/10/two-conversations-on-death-alexander-schmemann/

Characteristics and Sources of Orthodox Theology

Characteristics and Sources of Orthodox Theology
by Protopresbyter Maxym Lysack

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This evening as we begin our talks together I wanted to talk to you about the Orthodox faith, and I wanted just to present an introduction to it.  Right at the very start I wanted to say that Orthodox theology does not begin with proofs for the existence of God.

"On Death & Bereavement" by Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

Death & Bereavement

Parish, talks by Metropolitan Anthony

From www.masrchive.org

I

12.4.1984

I was asked, last time to interrupt the normal flow of our talks which should have led us to speak now on the Eucharist and to speak on preparation for death, or perhaps on death and the way in which we can think of it and meet it. I would like to add to this in the last talk something about the various rites which are connected in the Orthodox Church with death, what happens afterwards to the body of the person who has died. How do we treat this body which has been instrumental in all that the soul has acquired, all that was done, achieved, or in all those things in which a person has failed. To begin with, I would like to dispel, if I can, the habitual attitude which modern man has developed concerning death - a feeling of fear, of rejection, a feeling that death is the worst that can occur to a person and that at all cost survival must be achieved, even if survival has little to do with living, with a quality of life or with life altogether.

Desiring God

"A maiden, espoused to a wealthy man, may receive any number of gifts before the consummation: ornaments, clothing, or precious vessels. But she is not satisfied until the time of the marriage comes and she arrives at full communion. So also the soul, betrothed to the Heavenly Bridegroom, receives as pledge from the Spirit gifts of healing or of knowledge or of revelation. But it is not satisfied with these until it reaches the perfect communion, that is, of love unchangeable and unfailing. It frees from passion and agitation those who have desired it. So also, an infant might be decked out with pearls and costly clothing. When it is hungry, it thinks nothing of the things it wears, it cares only for the breast of its nurse—how it may receive milk. So also consider it to be with the spiritual gifts of God to whom be glory forever. Amen."

+St Macarius the Great

A Pressing Concern for Orthodox

A Pressing Concern for Orthodox: Theology and Bioethics

"I ask your forgiveness for being so blunt, but we don't live in the fourth century. I worry about the lack of solid theology, and understanding of some very critical life issues of our times that seem to just be ignored by contemporary orthodox piety....

...I take this opportunity also to ask for your prayers during this season of fasting before the feasts of Nativity and Theophany and ask for your forgiveness."

+ Very Rev. Fr. Roberto Ubertino, Excerpt of Priest Musings, December 2012

Anamnesis: Remembrance of Divine Life

"Anamnesis is fundamental to understanding our own place in the Church. How many people who witness a marriage remember their own marriage at the ceremony? Or who attends a funeral of a friend or loved one and does not consider his or her own mortality? A constant sense of remembering brings to the forefront the reality that we are fully members of the Body of Christ who are being formed and shaped into the likeness of Christ. Once we stop remembering who we are, we stop functioning as members of the Body.

The Christian concept of remembrance stems from the ancient Hebrew understanding of the word, which means to make present. At every Passover meal the father of the house recalls the Exodus story and the deliverance that the Lord performed for his people. The act of remembering the Exodus story makes present Gods saving power in today’s world. Similarly, at every Baptism we are called to remember our own Baptism, and the prayers and symbolic actions once again become powerful for us. The people of God must identify ourselves with the child in the font, for just as he or she is accepting a new birth of water and the Spirit, so too are we accepting the same rebirth in our own lives: the coining of Christ to exorcize the demons from our lives, receiving sanctification and redemption through the baptismal waters, being clothed with the white garment of purity, accepting the call to walk in newness of life." 

+ Fr William C. Mills, "Church, World, and Kingdom: The Eucharistic Foundation  of Alexander Schmemann's  Pastoral Theology" (Chicago: Hillenbrand Books, 2012) 58-59.

Carry one another's burdens

"Carry one another's burdens"
Saint Paul's Epistle to the Romans XV: l-7

By Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

How beautiful and seemingly simple are the last words of to-day's Epistle: 'Carry one another's burdens, and so you will fulfil the Law of Christ'. But how much they claim from us! Linking it with Christ means that we must be prepared to carry the burden of each person, of everyone, whether it is a friend or a foe, whether the burden seems to be great and honourable, or whether it is humiliating to us as it is defiling to the other person.

Theology vs Spirituality?

Is there a seperation between Theology and Spirituality/Pastoralia in Orthodoxy?

"The work of the devil is diabolical: literally, to “throw in two,” from dia (two) and baleo (to throw). The unity of the Church in Christ, by redemptive contrast, is symbolical: Things separated are thrown together."

+ David W. Fagerberg, "Theologia Prima: What Is Liturgical Theology?" 2nd Ed. (Chicago: Hillenbrand Books, 2004) 202. 

+ + +

"A devastating aspect of the modern (and post-modern) world is the tendency to separate and isolate, to disintegrate and fracture. The spiritual and material are divided from each other, as are the metaphysical and existential, and the theoretical and practical. Faith and knowledge are opposed. Theology and piety are divorced. Freedom is put in opposition to authority as the individual person— or parish, province, tribe, or region— is placed against, rather than within, the larger community of family, church, society, nation, and world. Prophet is opposed to priest, charismatic to institutional, individual to corporate, private to public. An essential task of Orthodox theological education is to expose this literally "diabolical" approach to reality, and to teach and demonstrate in action the proper relationship between unity and diversity in all areas of human life and activity."

+ Fr Thomas Hopko, "Speaking the Truth in Love: Education, Mission, and Witness in Contemporary Orthodoxy." (New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2004) 33.

+ + +

"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism. "

+ St Paul (Epistle to the Ephesians 4:1-5)

Introduction to the Orthodox Faith Part 6

The Orthodox Understanding of the Human Person

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPuUF8k4yks

Evangelism and Presence in Orthodoxy

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom on Evangelism:

"We do not try to win people over to Orthodoxy, but we are a missionary Church in the sense that we believe with all our hearts that Orthodoxy is infinitely precious, is capable of bringing joy and vision to people both if things divine and of human relationships and of our total attitude to the created world, and we want to share it - whether people become Orthodox technically or not is something which is secondary to us. What matters to us is that they should become partakers of this exulting joy and wonder which Orthodoxy is. So what we should do is to be a presence that is convincing; that is, looking at us people should see on our faces, in our eyes, in our behaviour,a dimension of wonder, joy and also of a sincere and sober desire to serve; and a disciplined mind and heart capable if serving faithfully whomever is in need if being served. And I think that if we became even a small light - if we became nothing but a handful if salt that prevents corruption- if we could bring a little hope to the hearts of people who have lost all hope, a little faith in the sense of trust and faithfulness and knowledge of God,  a little love, we would be fulfilling our vocation. This is what we should bring, each of us perhaps a crumb, all of us we possess, and express this in the readiness to give without asking any return."+ HE Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, from Gilligan Crow's 'A Man of Vision' (New York: SVS Press, 2005) 158-159.

"It requires true saintliness to see the divine light shining in the darkness of another's personality, but to be seen as an icon of God could be for a person redemption. It is impious to venerate icons without venerating out neighbour, for in serving our neighbour we adore God." + HE Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

The Package

"Even spirituality is marketed. We have a natural hunger for God, but those things that are natural are inevitably swathed in the unnatural voice of the passions. Thus we need God – but we need Him for our passions. Thus we find the God who will underwrite our narrative. The story of conversion becomes our organizing moment (“watch how I follow God”). Religious music is packaged to appeal. The aesthetics of religious experience can thus be more important than the content itself. Nothing is safe from the passions. The highest, most noble pursuits can be as driven by passion as the lowest bestial desires. The consumer shops for his God."

+ Fr Stephen Freeman, http://glory2godforallthings.com/2012/11/23/shopping-for-god/

Two talks about Salvation

An Orthodox Christian View of the Doctrine of Salvation by Faith Alone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkPcVFx-U-k

Salvation in Christ 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F7h-TStNd8

Why don’t the Orthodox do more evangelism?

I think the following section from Silouan Thompson's blog is reminder of being authentically Orthodox and reflecting that authentic encounter of Person. Again the theme revolves around our Lex Orandi and our Lex Credendi. Our Soteriology, our approach, our worship and our ethos...

Why don’t the Orthodox do more evangelism?

From: http://silouanthompson.net/faq/#10

Forgiving

"A brotherhood of monks complained to St Macarius the Great about another monk who allowed a woman into his cell. They asked Abba Macarius to come rebuke the monk. So Abba Macarius followed them to the cell of the monk.

When the monk saw them coming, he hid the woman under a large earthenware vessel. Abba Macarius knew this, and as he entered the cell he immediately sat on the vessel, and told the brethren  to search the cell, but that he is tired and unable to get off the vessel. So they searched and did not find the woman. The could not dare to ask Abba Macarius to step off the vessel, so they left in shame.

Abba Macarius rebuked them for attacking an "innocent monk." Then he turned to the monk and said, "Brother, judge yourself before they judge you!" Upon leaving the cell, Abba Macarius heard a voice from heaven saying, "Blessed are you Macarius for you have acted like your Saviour in covering peoples' sins."

+ Desert Fathers

Thou shall never fall

Attended a university/grad talk by Very Rev. Fr. Mark Aziz at St George and St Anthony Coptic Orthodox Parish in Ottawa. Abouna reminds us about the Theandric work of Christ and our synergia and participation in the Divine Life of the Holy Trinity. Repentance and Confession and participation in the mysteries of the Church. The promise is that in receiving this from Christ we shall never fall.

"[2] Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, [3] as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, [4] by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. [5] But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, [6] to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, [7] to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. [8] For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. [10] Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; [11] for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 

2 Peter 1:2-11 (NKJV)

"His Divine Power" - Fr Mark Aziz discusses 2 Peter 1:2-11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpIXFs5DEv8

The Educated

"Men and women who are truly theologically and spiritually educated reveal a boldness, born of humility, a confidence tempered by tentativeness, a speech generated by silence, an apology inspired by charity. They resist premature closure of complex issues and superficial answers to complicated questions. They know how to live with ambiguity as they give, with meekness and gentleness, account for the hope that is in them. They speak the truth in love with an enlightened zeal that prevents them from replacing God’s righteousness with a righteousness of their own. They evangelize without seeking to convert. They witness without seeking to win. They teach without desiring to dominate. They testify to truths in which they delight and find life, whatever cost of their convictions, because they simply cannot do otherwise. And they have infinite respect for everyone and everything."

+ Fr. Thomas Hopko, Speaking the truth in Love, Chapter 1 Excerpt

On St Gregory Palamas

Part I: St. Gregory Palamas & the Challenge of Barlaam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLmw_8FKR8w

Part II: The Teachings of St. Gregory Palamas on the Spiritual Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMWmhw-skb0

On Building Character of Children

Character
by Fr. Philip LeMasters

Fr. Philip LeMasters argues that if raising everyone's self-esteem by watering down substantive visions of the good life is our preferred mode of operation, then heaven help us if we want our kids to worship anything other than their own self-centered desires.

After the Election

After the Election

by Fr. Philip LeMasters

Fr. Philip LeMasters, Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Religion at McMurry University, argues that the primary political action of Orthodox Christians is not found in voting, carrying signs, spouting slogans, or putting bumper stickers on cars. Rather, our most fundamental political witness is to participate in the Divine Liturgy.

Christians And The World

"The calling of the Orthodox Christian is not to transcend the material or secular world, living in some imagined mystical isolation from the “profane.” We are to transfigure the material through the spiritual by our life and actions. We are to bring to bear in our immediate environs the Kingdom of God, and thereby assist in remaking the world in His image, and not our own."

+ Fr Deacon James Bryant, Reclaiming the Arts: An Orthodox Perspective, http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/53335.htm

"The Christian faith is that God is with us. The Christian life is lived moment by moment in union with God and in harmony with nature which God has rendered the bearer of the holy and the place of communion.

Living a one storey life can be described as simply living here and now. It is being present to God Who is present to us. It is recognizing the true nature of the created world as the arena of both our struggle and our serenity."

+ Fr Stephen Freeman, Christianity in a One-Storey Universe



Christ is in our midst. He is and ever shall be.

Holy New Martyr Elizabeth

 An amazing short biography of a wonderful and beautiful saint and martyr. Axia Axia Axia. May her prayers and blessings be with us all Amen.

THE HOLY NEW MARTYR GRAND DUCHESS ELIZABETH (+1918)

by Fr Andrew Phillips

http://orthodoxengland.org.uk/elizabet.htm

'There will come a time when gifted poets will write verse in praise of the Grand Duchess, her noble soul, her radiant feats, not only ascetic feats but also feats of love and mercy. Her beautiful and noble deeds, her sacrifice, a sacrifice made on the altar of love, will never be erased from the memory of human nobility and mankind will bless her as great, for she was wedded to love'.

Abbot Seraphim, The Martyrs of Christian Duty, P.12, Beijing, 1920.

Prayer of El Sheikh El Rouhani

Give me Lord to love You. Lord, teach me how to love You. Train me for this love of Yours and let me progress in my love for You. Pour Your love in my heart through the Holy Spirit. Remove from my heart, O Lord, any other love that contradicts Your love, till the whole heart becomes Yours. O Lord, do not let me love anything or anyone more than You, or to love anyone or anythings, a lust or a desire, that does not agree with Your love. Please Lord, do not allow my heart to have in it who would compete with You or what would compete with You...or offend Your love.

+ Prayer of El Sheikh El Rouhani

Fr Mark Aziz on "Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy" V2

Abouna Mark Aziz speaking about Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy at St Mark Coptic Orthodox Parish in Washington, DC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZrplAmOPHU

Transcript:

The Promise of the Image

Talk on Personhood by Fr John Behr:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqkIIis8Zgw

Are we still encountering this Liturgical Crisis?

This is an excerpt from Fr Alexander Schmemman's "Introduction to Liturgical Theology" written in 1966. We need to ask ourselves, have we addressed the issues that Abouna mentions or are we still encumbered with the things that consist this liturgical crisis? Je Nai Nan.

"The liturgical crisis consists, first of all, in the mistaken concept of the function and place of worship in the Church, in the profound metamorphosis in the understanding of worship in the mind of the Church. Let us emphasize the fact that we are speaking here about something much more important than the misunderstanding of the texts, ceremonies and language of divine service. We are speaking here about the whole approach to worship and its "experience.” Worship - its structure, its form and content—remain what they were before and essentially what they have always been. In this sense it is right to speak of Orthodoxy’s faithfulness to its liturgy. But to understand it and to use it are two different things. A discrepancy has appeared between the basic purpose of worship and the way it is understood, while the membership of the Church has simply not noticed this discrepancy, and the "key” which supposedly leads to an understanding of the Church’s worship actually excludes the possibility of this understanding. No matter how paradoxical it may sound, what obscures the meaning of worship is that it has become for the faithful an object of love, indeed almost the sole content of Church life.

Liturgy as a Way of Evangelisation

"These examples may sound strange to us who very often associate evangelisation with a distribution of Bibles or other printed material free of charge, with missionaries who knock at the door of houses, or with some educational and training process. If this is the case, it is because we often have the perception of Christianity as a “religion of the book”, forgetting that the starting point of the Christian faith is not a book, but an event: the paschal mystery of Christ." 

+ Archimandrite Job Getcha

http://www.prescottorthodox.org/2012/01/liturgy-evangelisation/

Archmandrite Job's quote addressing the presuppositions of this method...

and pointing out the Orthodox Way....the Way of Healing and Restoration, of Love unpackaged and unhindered...

Liturgy as a Way of Evangelisation

Remembering Fr Daniel Sysoev

Fr Daniel Sysoev

Today is the anniversary of the Martyrdom of Fr. Daniel Sysoev. Fr. Daniel Sysoev was killed in Moscow, Russia, on the 20th November 2009. He was famous for his missionary work among immigrants from ex-Soviet republics. May his memory be eternal!

"Deification" An Essay by Fr. Dr. Bijesh Philip

Source: http://stots.org/node/335 (Indian Orthodox Rite)

What is the ultimate goal of human life? What is the main objective of spirituality? In Orthodox Christian perspective, the one word answer to this decisive question is Deification. Let us have a brief reflection on this very significant insight in the Orthodox Christian tradition.
        The English word of deification, the Greek equivalent ‘theosis’ and its Malayalam equivalent ‘¤¤bpzKkYI’ refers to the process of becoming like God. Becoming like God means to be like Christ, the perfect presence of God in History. Deification points to the fulfillment of human being. The world famous Orthodox Christian theologian H.G. Dr. Paulos  Mar Gregorios has defined deification as ‘humanization’ because it is a process of becoming fully human.

Heal us...that we may live in Thee forever

From the Anaphoras of the Ethiopian Rite:


"As Thou did join the body of Thy Son with our body, and Thou did mix the blood of The Messiah with our blood, so put Thy fear in our heart and the beauty of Thy Worship in our mind." 

Tender Mercy (Eleusa) Icon, Ethiopian Rite

+ Anaphora of St Dioscorus

"Grant us to be united through Thy Holy Spirit, heal us by this oblation that we may live in Thee forever." 

+ Priest & Congregation prayer, Anaphora of St Cyril, 75, Ethiopian Rite, p147.

"As with the mixture of this wine with water, the one cannot be separated from the other, so let Thy divinity be united with our humanity, and our humanity with Thy divinity, and let They greatness be united with our humility and our humility with Thy greatness. Lord accept this our offering from us for a memorial of righteousness before Thee." 

+ Priest's prayer, Anaphora of John Son of Thunder, 92, Ethiopian Rite, p70

Source: http://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/biography/englishethiopianliturgy.pdf

Prayers of Thanksgiving

Wishing Happy Thanksgiving all those celebrating this weekend in America. Truly a joy to see how the Church always gives thanks (ie. think Eucharist and Liturgy) and how so many prayers of the Church are infused throughout the ethos of Orthodox prayer life.

For example in the Coptic Rite:

Thanksgiving Prayer and Psalm 50 (Coptic Orthodox Rite)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzVtWXlk4pQ

And this beautiful Orthodox hymn/prayer service of Thanksgiving prayed by in a few of the other Rites....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtNRime7e_M

THE AKATHIST OF THANKSGIVING

“Glory to God for all things!”

SOURCE: http://www.saintignatiuschurch.org/akathistcd.html

Enthronement Liturgy of Pope Tawadrous II

Truly a wonder and joy to see the way that His Holiness Pope Tawadrous II received his elevation and enthronement to the See of St Mark. The humility and the sense of love that he expressed all spoke in a beautiful way to the Orthodox world. May his reign be like no other, a Patriarchate that leads us to union with the Holy Trinity, a witness of Orthodox Unity, and a confession of Christ Crucified and Risen to the ends of the earth. Axios Axios Axios, Pope Avva Tawadrous II. 

May God grant you wisdom and strength, love and compassion, truth and long life, beloved Sayedna.

Glory be to the Holy Trinity.

Watch the Enthronement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHDNJV7P5-Q

Thank you to David Bebawy for providing these links!
http://davidbebawy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Papal_Enthronement_Service.pdf
http://davidbebawy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Patriarch-Consecration_Coptic-Encyclopedia.pdf



Rites of the Enthronement of the Patriarch

Iconological Theology

A recent handout from Professor Richard Schneider's Iconology Class:

(chart is to be read from the bottom up)

Handout is the copyright of Professor Schneider.

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom Discusses Fasting

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

In today's Gospel (St. Luke 10:25-37) we hear the Lord saying to each of us that our neighbour is not the one whom we like, not even the one whom we love; it is the one who needs us, whether he likes us or not, and it is to him that we must turn in compassion, in charity, as indeed the Lord God Himself turned to us at the moment when the whole of mankind was alien to Him; and again, turns to each of us at the moment when we are at rock bottom, when we are as far away from Him as we can imagine, indeed, much farther, because only God can measure the distance that separates us from our being in Him, with Him, the distance which measures His absence from our life.

On November 28th is the beginning of fasting time that prepares us for Christmas; many will turn to fasting, eating those things which are appointed by the Church; but is that the fast which God wishes us to keep? Listen to what the Lord said to the Hebrews, from the lips of Isaiah the Prophet [Isaiah 58:3-8]:
"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgressions ... Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as though they were a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God. ... Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and Thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure and exploit all your labourers! Behold, you fast for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness! You shall not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, to break every yoke! Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him? and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of thy Lord shall be thy rearguard."

Let us remember these words, because more than ever in our time we must not fast hypocritically, not fast with false piety, but fast by turning away from every evil, from all evil, put right in our lives everything that has gone wrong.

Are we going to meet the day when the Lord our God took flesh in order to enter into the realm of death, He Who is the Eternal One, the day when He chose to enter into the realm of suffering for our sakes - are we going to meet this day by accepting to continue in our estrangement from Him? And we are estranged from Him when we hate our neighbour, when we reject our neighbour, when we refuse to forgive, when we turn away from him or her who is in need of our mercy - not only of bread, not only of shelter - indeed, that also counts! - but in need of forgiveness, of the mercy of the heart! Are we going to meet the Lord who came to save sinners by rejecting those whom we consider as sinners, those who have offended us, those against whom we have fought? Can we meet the Lord on such terms?

Let us think of the shepherds: they were simple people, unsophisticated, uncomplicated, but their hearts were open to the extent to which it was possible to them, they were clean, pure of heart, and therefore, they could hear the news of the Incarnation; they could hear and receive the news as the most wonderful thing that changed everything in their lives. We have been listening to the good news day-in, day-out, year after year - has it come to us as good news that has transformed our lives, made us into people beyond compare, people who are prepared to live and to die for those who hate, who reject, who ignore, who offend us? If we are not - it is in vain that we speak of being Christian; he who does not love his brother is a liar when he says that he loves his God - these are the Apostle's words.

Let us therefore enter into this period of fasting in earnest, stand in judgement before God to be judged by Him, and ask ourselves whether we could stand side by side with Him when others come to be judged, and step forward and say, 'Lord! I have forgiven - Thou hast no grudge against him, against her, any more!' Amen.

Love Expressed

“To some people your love will be expressed with joy and to others it will be expressed with your pain. You will consider everyone your brother or your sister, for we are all children of Eve. Then, in your prayer you will say: 'My God, help those first who are in greater need, whether they are alive or reposed brothers in the Lord.’ At this point, you will share your heart with the whole world and you will have nothing but immense love, which is Christ.”
+Elder Paisius of Mount Athos

Introduction to the Orthodox Faith Part 5

Part 5

Salvation in Christ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AZfJ-iXMGU

Orthodox Denominationalism

“I do not know a Greek Christ, a Russian Christ, an English Christ, an Arab Christ. Christ for me is everything, the super cosmic being, if we confess in the creed, Christ is very God, the Saviour of the Universe, the Creator of the World by whom all things are made, how can we bring our understanding of Him down to a question of nationality, place or epoch?”

+ Archimandrite Sophrony (disciple of St Silouan)

On the Lord's Prayer

On the Lord's Prayer

"The most holy and venerable invocation of our great and blessed God the Father is a symbol of the personal and real adoption to be bestowed  through the gift and grace of the Holy Spirit. In accordance with it, once every human particularity is overcome and disclosed by the coming of grace, all the saints will be and be called sons of God to the extent that from that moment they will have radiantly and gloriously brightened themselves through the virtues with the divine beauty of goodness."

+ St Maximos the Confessor, Chapter 20, The Church's Mystagogy,  in "Maximous the Confessor Selected Writings" (New York: Paulist Press, 1985) 203.

A Reflection on Missiology

Meeting a Non-Orthodox Society
by Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh (from Jacob's Well, Winter 1997)

  Twelve Apostles in the power of the Holy Spirit went out into the world. They were accompanied or surrounded by a small group of disciples, in all seventy men and women. And they converted the world, not immediately, but they started a wave of understanding, of knowledge, of newness of life, that made the whole world different from what it had been for thousands of years before. There are now millions of Christians of different denominations and yet, because of us, Christians, Christianity seems to become increasingly irrelevant.

Liturgy In All Things

"Many in the Church attend the Liturgy, but far fewer develop a deep spiritual understanding of their lives as eucharistic. Holy Communion is a proleptic participation in the Kingdom of God. It is the messianic banquet in which Christians are united with their Lord and with one another as we join in the heavenly worship of God Almighty. Communicants experience a foretaste of heavenly peace when they become what they receive: the Body of Christ. In the Eucharist, there are powerful resources for challenging the worldly corruption of the Church. The Eucharist identifies those who take it as the Body of Christ, as those who already participate in God’s eschatological reign. Those who commune are in communion with the Holy Trinity. It is a tragic mistake to overlook these profound resources for shaping the Christian life. Indeed, the Eucharist is the Christian life in the sense that to receive the sacrament is to participate in the life of Christ and the eternal communion that is the Heavenly Kingdom."

+ Fr. Philip LeMasters, "Toward a Eucharistic Vision of Church, Family, Marriage and Sex" (Minneapolis: Light & Life Publishing Company, 2004) 12.

"The Eucharist is a liturgy. And he who says liturgy today is likely to get involved in a controversy. For to some—the "liturgically minded”—of all the activities of the Church, liturgy is the most important, if not the only one. To others, liturgy is esthetic and spiritual deviation from the real task of the Church. There exist today "liturgical” and "nonliturgical” churches and Christians. But this controversy is unnecessary for it has its roots in one basic misunderstanding— the "liturgical” understanding of the liturgy. This is the reduction of the liturgy to "cultic” categories, its definition as a sacred act of worship, different as such not only from the "profane” area of life, but even from all other activities of the Church itself. But this is not the original meaning of the Greek word leitourgia. It meant an action by which a group of people become something corporately which they had not been as a mere collection of individuals —a whole greater than the sum of its parts. It meant also a function or "ministry” of a man or of a group on behalf of and in the interest of the whole community. Thus the leitourgia of ancient Israel was the corporate work of a chosen few to prepare the world for the coming of the Messiah. And in this very act of preparation they became what they were called to be, the Israel of God, the chosen instrument of His purpose.

Thus the Church itself is a leitourgia, a ministry, a calling to act in this world after the fashion of Christ, to bear testimony to Him and His kingdom. The eucharistic liturgy, therefore, must not be approached and understood in "liturgical” or "cultic” terms alone."

+ Fr. Alexander Schmemann, For Life of the World (New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1963) 25.