Mind in the Heart

This Blog is Moving

2006-12-11T10:31:00.000-06:00

I am moving this blog to wordpress because I can organize my posts and do somethings that I am not able to do on blogger. So the new blog address for Mind in the Heart is http://josephpatterson.wordpress.com/ .

Fr. John Whiteford's blog

2006-12-07T11:03:00.000-06:00

Another good Orthodox blog is Fr. John Whiteford's blog. Fr. John has written a very good critique of sola scriptura. Click on the title above to go to Fr. John's blog and click here to read his article on solascriptura .

Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Mediolanum (Milan)

2006-12-07T10:20:00.000-06:00

"This great holy father of the Orthodox Church was of eminent birth. His father was the imperial deputy of Gaul and Spain and was a pagan by faith, but his mother was a Christian. While he was still in the cradle, a swarm of bees settled on him, poured honey onto his lips, and flew away. And while still a child, he extended his hand and spoke prophetically: ``Kiss it, for I will be a bishop.'' After his father's death, the emperor appointed him as his representative in the province of Liguria, of which Milan was the chief city. When the bishop of Milan died, a great dispute arose between the Orthodox Christians and the Arian heretics concerning the election of a new bishop. Ambrose entered the church to maintain order, this being his duty. At that moment, a child at its mother's bosom exclaimed: ``Ambrose for bishop!'' All the people took this as the voice of God, and unanimously elected Ambrose as their bishop, contrary to his will. Ambrose was baptized, passed through all the necessary ranks and was consecrated to the episcopacy, all within a week. As bishop, Ambrose strengthened the Orthodox Faith, suppressed the heretics, adorned churches, spread the Faith among the pagans, wrote many instructive books, and served as an example of a true Christian and a true Christian shepherd. He composed the famous hymn ``We Praise Thee, O God.'' This glorious hierarch, whom men visited from distant lands for his wisdom and sweetness of words, was very restrained, diligent and vigilant. He slept very little, labored and prayed constantly, and fasted every day except Saturday and Sunday. Therefore, God allowed him to witness many of His miracles and to perform miracles himself. He discovered the relics of the Holy Martyrs Protasius, Gervasius, Nazarius and Celsus (October 14). Meek toward lesser men, he was fearless before the great. He reproached Empress Justina as a heretic, cursed Maximus the tyrant and murderer, and forbade Emperor Theodosius to enter a church until he had repented of his sin. He also refused to meet with Eugenius, the tyrannical and self-styled emperor. God granted this man, so pleasing to Him, such grace that he even raised the dead, drove out demons from men, healed the sick of every infirmity, and foresaw the future. Ambrose died peacefully on the morning of Pascha in the year 397."- Prologue of Ohrid

Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker

2006-12-06T00:10:00.000-06:00

This glorious saint, celebrated even today throughout the entire world, was the only son of his eminent and wealthy parents, Theophanes and Nona, citizens of the city of Patara in Lycia. Since he was the only son bestowed on them by God, the parents returned the gift to God by dedicating their son to Him. St. Nicholas learned of the spiritual life from his uncle Nicholas, Bishop of Patara, and was tonsured a monk in the Monastery of New Zion founded by his uncle. Following the death of his parents, Nicholas distributed all his inherited goods to the poor, not keeping anything for himself. As a priest in Patara, he was known for his charity, even though he carefully concealed his charitable works, fulfilling the words of the Lord: Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth (Matthew 6:3). When he gave himself over to solitude and silence, thinking to live that way until his death, a voice from on high came to him: "Nicholas, for your ascetic labor, work among the people, if thou desirest to be crowne.'' Immediately after that, by God's wondrous providence, he was chosen archbishop of the city of Myra in Lycia. Merciful, wise and fearless, Nicholas was a true shepherd to his flock. During the persecution of Christians under Diocletian and Maximian, he was cast into prison, but even there he instructed the people in the Law of God. He was present at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea [325] and, out of great zeal for the truth, struck the heretic Arius with his hand. For this act he was removed from the Council and from his archiepiscopal duties, until the Lord Christ Himself and the Most-holy Theotokos appeared to several of the chief hierarchs and revealed their approval of Nicholas. A defender of God's truth, this wonderful saint was ever bold as a defender of justice among the people. On two occasions, he saved three men from an undeserved sentence of death. Merciful, truthful, and a lover of justice, he walked among the people as an angel of God. Even during his lifetime, the people considered him a saint and invoked his aid in difficulties and in distress. He appeared both in dreams and in person to those who called upon him, and he helped them easily and speedily, whether close at hand or far away. A light shone from his face as it did from the face of Moses, and he, by his presence alone, brought comfort, peace and good will among men. In old age he became ill for a short time and entered into the rest of the Lord, after a life full of labor and very fruitful toil, to rejoice eternally in the Kingdom of Heaven, continuing to help the faithful on earth by his miracles and to glorify his God. He entered into rest on December 6, 343. In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith,an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence;your humility exalted you;your poverty enriched you. Hierarch Father Nicholas, entreat Christ our God that our souls may be saved. You revealed yourself, O saint, in Myra as a priest,For you fulfilled the Gospel of ChristBy giving up your soul for your people,And saving the innocent from death.Therefore you are blessed as one become wise in the grace of God.

What do the Orthodox mean by Catholic?

2006-12-05T10:50:00.000-06:00

As an Anglican I defined Catholic as universal. When I came across the Orthodox definition of Catholic as fullness it transformed the way I looked at the church. If Catholic means fullness then it is impossible for a church to be both Catholic and schismatic as the Anglican Branch theory holds. The following is from Fr. Thomas Hopko's series 'The Orthodox Faith". Catholic Church -"The Church is also catholic because of its relation to God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The word catholic means full, complete, whole, with nothing lacking. God alone is full and total reality; in God alone is there nothing lacking. Sometimes the catholicity of the Church is understood in terms of the Church's universality throughout time and space. While it is true that the Church is universal -- for all men at all times and in all places -- this universality is not the real meaning of the term "catholic" when it is used to define the Church. The term "catholic" as originally used to define the Church (as early as the first decades of the second century) was a definition of quality rather than quantity. Calling the Church catholic means to define how it is, namely, full and complete, all-embracing, and with nothing lacking. Even before the Church was spread over the world, it was defined as catholic. The original Jerusalem Church of the apostles, or the early city-churches of Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, or Rome, were catholic. These churches were catholic -- as is each and every Orthodox church today -- because nothing essential was lacking for them to be the genuine Church of Christ. God Himself is fully revealed and present in each church through Christ and the Holy Spirit, acting in the local community of believers with its apostolic doctrine, ministry (hierarchy), and sacraments, thus requiring nothing to be added to it in order for it to participate fully in the Kingdom of God. To believe in the Church as catholic, therefore, is to express the conviction that the fullness of God is present in the Church and that nothing of the "abundant life" that Christ gives to the world in the Spirit is lacking to it (Jn 10:10). It is to confess exactly that the Church is indeed "the fullness of him who fills all in all" (Eph 1:23; also Col 2:10). "

Saint John Damascene

2006-12-04T11:10:00.000-06:00

John was first the chief minister to Caliph Abdul-Malik and later a monk in the Monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified. Because of his ardent defense of the veneration of icons during the reign of the iconoclastic Emperor Leo the Isaurian, John was maligned by the emperor to the Caliph, who cut off his right hand. John fell down in prayer before the icon of the Most-holy Theotokos, and his hand was rejoined and miraculously healed. Seeing this miracle the Caliph repented, but John no longer desired to remain with him as a nobleman. Instead, he withdrew to a monastery, where, from the beginning, he was a model to the monks in humility, obedience and all the prescribed rules of monastic asceticism. John composed the Funeral Hymns and compiled the Octoechos (The Book of Eight Tones), the Irmologion, the Menologion and the Paschal Canon, and he wrote many theological works of inspiration and profundity. A great monk, hymnographer, theologian and soldier for the truth of Christ, Damascene is numbered among the great Fathers of the Church. He entered peacefully into rest in about the year 776 at the age of 104.- The Prologue of Ohrid You can read St. John Damascene's work An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith by clicking on this link .

Energetic Procession

2006-12-03T18:49:00.000-06:00

Photius Jones and Perry Robinson's blog is back up after several months of being revamped. This blog is not for the weak minded. Both of these bloggers are up and coming Orthodox scholars. Check Energetic Procession out by clicking the above title.

Saint Philaret the Almsgiver

2006-12-01T10:05:00.000-06:00

"Philaret was from the village of Amnia in Paphlagonia. Early in life, Philaret was a very wealthy man, but by distributing abundant alms to the poor he himself became extremely poor. However, he was not afraid of poverty, and, not heeding the complaints of his wife and children, he continued his charitable works with hope in God, Who said: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matthew 5:7). Once, while he was plowing in the field, a man came to him and complained that one of his oxen had died in the harness and that he was unable to plow with only one ox. Philaret then unharnessed one of his oxen and gave it to him. He even gave his remaining horse to a man who was summoned to go to war. He gave away the calf of his last cow, and when he saw how the cow pined for her missing calf, and the calf for the cow, he called the man and gave him the cow too. And thus the aged Philaret was left without food in an empty house. But he prayed to God and placed his hope in Him. And God did not abandon the righteous one to be put to shame in his hope. At that time the Empress Irene reigned with her young son, Constantine. According to the custom of that time, the empress sent men throughout the whole empire to seek the best and most distinguished maiden to whom she could wed her son, the emperor. By God's providence, these men happened to stay overnight in Philaret's house, and they saw his most beautiful and modest granddaughter Maria, the daughter of his daughter Hypatia, and took her to Constantinople. The emperor was well pleased with her, married her, and moved Philaret and all his family to the capital, giving him great honors and riches. Philaret did not become proud as a result of this unexpected good fortune, but, thankful to God, he continued to perform good works even more than he had before, and thus he continued until his death. At the age of ninety he summoned his children, blessed them, and instructed them to cleave to God and to God's law, and with his clairvoyant spirit he prophesied to all of them how they would live out this life, as once had Jacob. After that he went to the Rodolfia Monastery and gave up his soul to God. At his death his face shone like the sun, and after his death an unusual, sweet fragrance came forth from his body and miracles took place at his relics. This righteous man entered into rest in the year 797. His wife, Theosevia, and all his children and grandchildren lived a God-pleasing life and reposed in the Lord."- The Prologue of Ohrid

The Anglican Branch Theory Part 3

2006-11-29T15:19:00.000-06:00

Rome and Orthodoxy recognize that the visible expression of catholicity is eucharistic fellowship. If you don't share eucharistic fellowship, then how can you be in communion? If Anglicanism is catholic and Rome and Orthodoxy refuse to recognize Anglican catholicity then Rome and Orthodoxy are schismatic and not catholic which would leave Anglicanism as the exclusive catholic church which is something she has never claimed. The branch theory claims that the church is in schism but can the catholic church be in schism? Can Christ be divided? The branch theory really is Gnostic in the sense that the theory denies that the church is visibly one as Christ is visibly one. This visible oneness is experienced in the eucharistic fellowship of the one Catholic church. The fact that this visible oneness is not expressed in the branch theory troubled me as an Anglican. I was teaching my parish that we were catholic and yet I had a hard time understanding how that was without explaining it in a Gnostic way. Also, not all Anglicans hold to the branch theory and many evangelical Anglicans still hold that Rome and Orthodoxy practice idolatry and even hold heretical beliefs because of Rome and Orthodoxy's denial of the sola's of the reformation. After considering all of this I concluded that Anglicanism does not have a definition of catholicity but many definitions of catholicity. I started to ask what do we mean when we confess that the church is one and catholic in the Nicene Creed? What did the Fathers of the Nicene Creed mean when they said that the church was One and Catholic? I don't think they meant anything like the Anglican schismatic theories of catholicity. These questions and the lack of Anglican answers really troubled my soul. Orthodoxy understands the Catholic church to be visibly one which seemed to be more consistent with the intent of what is expressed in the Nicene Creed.

Another Orthodox Blog

2006-11-28T18:33:00.000-06:00

I have recently discovered another good Orthodox blog by an Orthodox priest. His recent post on the Pope's visit with the Ecumenical Patriarch is very interesting. Click on the title above to go to the blog "Second Terrace".

A Must Read

2006-11-28T18:17:00.000-06:00

I think one of the best things to read on the net is Fr. Stephen Freeman's blog. His most recent blog post is exactly what I have been thinking about recently. Fr. Stephen says, "Thus, the best advice you can give someone with regard to the Orthodox faith is: “Go to Church.” It is the Church that St. Paul calls the “Pillar and Ground of the Truth.” The internet is a wonderful tool. It can even function to give us the Scriptures electronically. Blogs can be nice. But none of them are the Church. Here you may read and by God’s grace good things will happen. But blogs will not give you the Body and Blood of Christ. Blogs cannot anoint you. Go to Church. Say your prayers. Remember God. And remember to pray for bloggers. " Read more of his recent post by clicking the title above.

The Anglican Branch Theory Part 2

2006-11-26T19:03:00.000-06:00

The branch theory is one Anglican attempt at explaining how the Anglican Church is Catholic. (There are other views but they would deny the office of Bishop as part of the essence of catholicity.) This theory kept me in the Anglican Church for years because it was important to me that I was linked to the Church of Jesus Christ and His apostles in a visible way. I also thought it was great that the Anglican definition included Rome and Orthodoxy even though Rome and Orthodoxy excluded all of the other branches. One problem that I encountered when trying to work out this theory was that it simply does not work. The Roman Catholic Church bases her catholicity on the papacy. If a church is in communion with the Pope of Rome then that church is considered Catholic. The Orthodox Church claims that the churches must hold to the fullness of the faith and must be in communion with the Patriarchs in order to be Catholic. According to Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism has added to the apostolic faith and has broken communion with the other patriarchs and is not catholic. A church can have a line of apostolic success from the apostles and still not be Catholic because she would lack apostolic fellowship and faith. So Rome and Orthodoxy claim to be the exclusive Catholic church and they have different criteria for determining who is and who is not Catholic. Rome and Orthodoxy hold that these criteria are essentials of the Catholic faith. The branch theory claims that the criterion for catholicity is simply a faithful apostolic line of succession. According to this theory, since Anglicanism, Orthodoxy and Rome all share apostolic succession then all three make up the one Catholic Church. The Anglican definition is just as exclusive as the Roman Catholic and Orthodox ones. The Anglican criteria exclude Rome’s and Orthodoxy’s essentials of catholicity for her own. When Anglicans, Orthodox, and Rome confess the Nicene Creed during the liturgy they are not confessing the same thing since they do not mean the same thing when they confess Catholic. The Universalist claims to include all religions but really excludes all religions by their denial of the essentials of all religions such as Christianity’s claim that Jesus Christ is the exclusive way of salvation. I came to see the Anglican claim of an inclusive catholicity to be similar to the Universalist claim to include all religions. The problem is that the Anglican Church excludes the Roman Catholic and Orthodox essentials in order to be able to include them. This fact hit me while confessing the Nicene Creed one Sunday morning. Part 3 to come next.

Definition of the Branch Theory

2006-11-21T22:39:00.000-06:00

…the theory that, though the Church may have fallen into schism within itself and its several provinces or groups of provinces be out of communion with each other, each may yet be a branch of the one Church of Christ, provided that it continues to hold the faith of the original undivided Church and to maintain the Apostolic Succession of its bishops. Such, it is contended by many Anglican theologians, is the condition of the Church at the present time, there being now three main branches, the Roman, the Eastern, and the Anglican Communions… From the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church

The Anglican Branch Theory

2006-11-21T20:37:00.000-06:00

"The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ’s ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same." (Article 19 "Of the Church")

The 39 Articles of Religion are held by some Anglicans as containing the boundaries of Anglican theology. Some Anglican theologians have argued that the 39 Articles do not have binding authority and that some of the articles are even contrary to the apostolic faith. As an Anglican priest, I always struggled with the apparent vagueness of the 39 Articles. Article 19 quoted above is one such article. The article basically defines the visable church is where "the pure Word is preached" and "as one that administers the sacraments according to Christ's ordinance". Some have said that the "pure Word" includes the doctrine of justification by faith only (article 11) which would exclude the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches from being part of the visible church. Others have said that the "pure Word" simply means the Nicene creed which immediately brings to mind the controversy of the filiouque clause (article 5). Some have said that the article refers to the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion as the sacraments that define the church as opposed to the 7 sacraments that the council of Trent articulates. Other Anglican commentators on the 39 Articles have said that the 19th article implies Bishops as being necessary for valid sacraments. If this is what the article means then it would exclude the validity of most Protestant sacraments because they do not have an apostolic succession of the episcopate but many Anglicans are just unwilling to affirm that. So the 19th article can include all Protestant churches and exclude Rome and Orthodoxy or it could include Rome and Orthodoxy as sharers in apostolic succession and exclude most Protestant churches. The latter does not seem to fit with the historical context of the 39 Articles since the 39 Articles seem to be in part a response to Roman Catholic errors. In the 19th century the Oxford movement began to explain the catholic church in terms of a tree with branches.They said apostolic succession is what allows a church to claim catholicity. So the three branches on the catholic tree are the Anglican Church, the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. The Anglicans believe apostolic succession to be an episcopal form of government with a proven line of succession from the apostles to present day bishops. I had learned about this theory in seminary but I never grasped the meaning of it until I read Vernon Staley's book The Catholic Religion. I wanted to be catholic without excluing Rome and Orthodoxy so I thought it was a good way to explain how the Anglican Church is catholic and yet lacks unity with the other two branches. I was comfortable with this theory for a while until one day in the middle of the liturgy it hit me that the church was one which means undivided, yet the branch theory holds that the church is divided. It later occured to me that the branch theory of the church cannot be found as a way the historic apostolic church understood catholicity so that would make the branch theory not catholic but merely a creation of the Oxford Movement. I next want to explore next how the branch theory became unworkable for me.

The Entry into the Temple of the Most-holy Theotokos

2006-11-21T15:15:00.000-06:00

When the Most-holy Virgin Mary reached the age of three, her holy parents Joachim and Anna took her from Nazareth to Jerusalem to dedicate her to the service of God according to their earlier promise. It was a three-day journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem but, traveling to do a God-pleasing work, this journey was not difficult for them. Many kinsmen of Joachim and Anna gathered in Jerusalem to take part in this event, at which the invisible angels of God were also present. Leading the procession into the Temple were virgins with lighted tapers in their hands, then the Most-holy Virgin, led on one side by her father and on the other side by her mother. The virgin was clad in vesture of royal magnificence and adornments as was befitting the ``King's daughter, the Bride of God'' (Psalm 45:13-15). Following them were many kinsmen and friends, all with lighted tapers. Fifteen steps led up to the Temple. Joachim and Anna lifted the Virgin onto the first step, then she ran quickly to the top herself, where she was met by the High Priest Zacharias, who was to be the father of St. John the Forerunner. Taking her by the hand, he led her not only into the Temple, but into the ``Holy of Holies,'' the holiest of holy places, into which no one but the high priest ever entered, and only once each year, at that. St. Theophylact of Ohrid says that Zacharias ``was outside himself and possessed by God'' when he led the Virgin into the holiest place in the Temple, beyond the second curtain-otherwise, his action could not be explained. Mary's parents then offered sacrifice to God according to the Law, received the priest's blessing and returned home. The Most-holy Virgin remained in the Temple and dwelt there for nine full years. While her parents were alive, they visited her often, especially Righteous Anna. When God called her parents from this world, the Most-holy Virgin was left an orphan and did not wish to leave the Temple until death or to enter into marriage. As that would have been against the Law and custom of Israel, she was given to St. Joseph, her kinsman in Nazareth, after reaching the age of twelve. Under the acceptable role of one betrothed, she could live in virginity and thus fulfill her desire and formally satisfy the Law, for it was then unknown in Israel for maidens to vow virginity to the end of their lives. The Most-holy Virgin Mary was the first of such life-vowed virgins, of the thousands and thousands of virgin men and women who would follow her in the Church of Christ.- The Prologue of Ohrid

An Anglican Seminary, Bp. Grafton and St. Tikhon

2006-11-16T11:23:00.000-06:00

I will post some of my thoughts concerning the "Anglican Branch Theory" next week. One of my favorite American Anglican bishops was Bp. Charles Grafton who was very good friends with St. Tikhon. Bp. Grafton was very sympathetic to the Orthodox Church and her teachings. The following link is to a very good article on St. Tikhon's visit to Nashota House in the early 1900's. http://anglicanhistory.org/orthodoxy/hatfield.pdf

St. Gregory Palamas

2006-11-14T18:31:00.000-06:00

"Gregory's father was an eminent official at the court of Emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus. The gifted Gregory, completing his secular studies, did not want to enter the service of the imperial court, but withdrew to the Holy Mountain and was tonsured a monk. He lived a life of asceticism in the Monastery of Vatopedi and the Great Lavra. He led the struggle against the heretic Barlaam and finally defeated him. He was consecrated as Metropolitan of Thessalonica in the year 1347. He is glorified as an ascetic, a theologian, a hierarch and a miracle-worker. The Most-holy Theotokos, St. John the Theologian, St. Demetrius, St. Anthony the Great, St. John Chrysostom and angels of God appeared to him at different times. He governed the Church in Thessalonica for thirteen years, of which he spent one year in slavery under the Saracens in Asia. He entered peacefully into rest in the year 1360, and took up his habitation in the Kingdom of Christ. His relics repose in Thessalonica, where a beautiful church is dedicated to him."- The Prologue from Ohrid

Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi

2006-11-09T10:58:00.000-06:00

Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi is Latin for the law of prayer is the law of belief or paraphrased your prayer forms your belief. This idea was hammered home to me in seminary. It is probably the most important thing that I took away from my seminary education. I wanted my beliefs to be formed through my praying of the Anglican liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer (BCP). Many of the prayers have roots in the ancient liturgies with a few Protestant revisions made by the prayerbook's compiler Thomas Cranmer. The prayerbook struggles in a few places it is intentionally vague but the overall ethos that one gains from praying daily praying the prayers in the BCP is a very ancient one. If one prays these prayers often, I believe it will form in them with a very Benedictine ethos. As many of you know St. Benedict's Rule is rooted in the tradition of the Desert Fathers. So the closest thing in Anglicanism to Orthodoxy is her liturgy. The Anglican liturgy formed my beliefs and ethos more than any theological book ever did. It was through my daily praying of the BCP that prepared my very being for a conversion to Orthodoxy. It was often during my praying of the liturgy that theological doctrines would become clear to me. One day during Holy Communion at Holy Cross we were confessing the Nicene Creed when it hit me that the church is "one and catholic". What did we mean that the Catholic church is one? I had thought about this before but all of the sudden in the middle of the liturgy it hit me that my branch theory understanding of this is problematic. In my next post I want to explore the "Anglican branch theory" and what I, as an Anglican, believed about how the one church is catholic.

An Excellent Read

2006-11-08T20:41:00.000-06:00

I have been reading this biography of over 1000 pages in my free time. I had no idea that Fr. Seraphim was such an intellectual. Also, this biography has many good pictures of Fr. Seraphim and those who influenced him. "This epic biography of Hieromonk Seraphim Rose tells the unique story of a man who, having grown up in a typical American home in southern California, became one of the greatest teachers of Orthodox Christianity in our times, loved and revered throughout Russia and Eastern Europe. Quoting at length from his letters, journals, manuscripts, recorded lectures and published writings, this book traces Fr. Seraphim’s intense search for truth and his philosophical development, setting forth his message and offering a glimpse into the soul of a man who lived, even while on this earth, in the otherworldly Kingdom of God".

A Quotation from Fr. Seraphim Rose

2006-11-05T23:36:00.000-06:00

"Orthodoxy is better than Bach!"- Fr. Seraphim Rose

Orthodox Ecclesiology

2006-11-02T11:06:00.000-06:00

I think the best Orthodox blog is Fr. Stephen Freeman's "Glory to God for All Things". His recent post on the "Pillar and Ground of Truth" is a good one. Also read his piece on St. Isaac of Syria. Well, just read his whole blog. http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-pillar-and-ground-of-truth/

Lutheran Pastor to Convert to Orthodoxy

2006-11-01T22:43:00.000-06:00

Lutheran pastor John Fenton shares a statement of resignation on his blog "Conversi ad Dominum". It is a painful process to give up your parish ministry and your career so please pray for pastor Fenton and his family as they travel along the difficult but joyful path to Orthodoxy. Click title above to read his blog.

The Dreaded Declaration of Principles

2006-10-31T23:15:00.000-06:00

I always struggled with the Reformed Episcopal Church's founding document called the "Declaration of Principles". This document was put forth by the founders of the REC as a document that would protect the church from Anglo-catholic errors and it was not to be changed. However, all the things that this document denied, we taught and practiced. I never even mentioned these founding "Declaration of Principles" to Holy Cross parish in Alpine because I knew they were contrary to what we believed as Biblical and catholic truth. I always felt pulled between the true Apostolic faith and what the REC had as a founding document. This was another instance where the beliefs of the parish were not rooted in the church but instead were dependant on the priest. This is an awful position for a parish and a priest to be in. So I began to think, Holy Cross could stay in the REC and continue to be contrary to the REC's foundational beliefs or join the Orthodox church where we would share a common foundation.

The Plurality of Anglican Theology

2006-10-27T13:49:00.000-05:00

One theologian that explains the theological history of Anglican theology really well is Aidan Nichols who has written, "The theology of the English Reformers was built on both Lutheran and Calvinist foundations, yet it was never systematically either Lutheran or Calvinist. Partly from conviction but mostly from political necessity their theology was poured into an institutional mould which retained large elements of a Catholic structure. As a result, when, in the reign of Elizabeth, a reflective Anglican consciousness emerges, it sees itself not as a straightforward continuation of the Continental Reformation, but as a 'via media.' The history of Anglican pluralism derives from the intrinsic difficulty of defining such a via media, and from the resultant need to leave wide open a wide latitude in the construing of doctrine. Thus the via media idea, intended as a unifiying force for Anglicanism, tended to be disintegrating in practice. It could be used in a classically Protestant direction or in a Catholic direction; or yet again in a Latitudinarian direction—on the grounds that where so much is unclear, little should be insisted on. Again, Anglicans may despair of via media and take refuge either in Anglo-Catholicism [giving it a much larger keel of Tradition for a heaving ship- PMB] or in the idea of Western [Eastern?] Orthodoxy, in each case accepting that the supreme norm for Anglican faith and practice should be provided from outside Anglicanism—either from Rome or Constantinople. Finally, Anglicans may choose to regard the incoherences (yet riches) of their own Church as simply a microcosm of those of Christianity world-wide. In this case they will argue that Anglicanism has no distinctive contribution to make to the coming Great Church [an Anglican ecumenical and eschatological idea of the Church—PMB]: its destiny is to disappear, its triumph will be its dissolution."- From The Panther and the Hind by Aidan Nichols p. xix-xx.

Considering Western Rite Orthodoxy

2006-10-27T12:54:00.000-05:00

Our desire at Holy Cross Anglican Church (REC) was to build a church that would be around until the second coming of Jesus Christ. We were convinced theologically that ancient, Biblical Christianity was sacramental at her core and we wanted to pass on to our children and the town of Alpine, TX a sacramental worldview. As I began to think about the future of Holy Cross and what exactly I was doing there, it occurred to me that this sacramental worldview could be shattered by the next priest that came to Holy Cross after me since Anglicanism is not sacramental at her core. The Anglican church allows room for both sacramental and non-sacramental theologies to exist side by side within the same church. For example, there are priests or ministers that understand Holy Communion to be a mere symbol, like J.C. Ryle, and others who understand it to be the very body and blood of Christ like Edward Pusey. Ryle and Pusey hold two theologies that are totally the opposite of each other and yet they are both Anglican theologians. I began to see that within the Anglican world there was no way to guarantee a continuation of a sacramental worldview because of the plurality of theologies within Anglicanism which has always been part of the character of Anglican theology from the beginning. About this time I remembered hearing about the Orthodox Church allowing the use of the Western Rite. Western-rite Orthodox Churches use the liturgy of St. Tikhon which is basically the Anglican liturgy (BCP) without the filioque clause in the Nicene Creed and a stronger wording that expresses the change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. Since Orthodoxy is sacramental at her core and the Antiochian Orthodox church allows for the use of the same Anglican liturgy that we used every Sunday with good improvements, then I started thinking that this might be a more stable place for us to build a church that extends into the future for our children and their children. I also noticed that in our present Anglican situation that the sacramental worldview depended on the priest being sacramental and not the church. In other words, the foundation of each parish in Anglicanism seemed to be the priest and not the church. In Orthodoxy you have a sacramental worldview because the church at her core is sacramental. So I approached two leaders on our church council (Vestry) about looking into the possibilities of Holy Cross moving to the more consistent sacramental place of Orthodox Christianity. There are more reasons that I had for considering Orthodoxy that I will share in later posts.

Three Things to Remember

2006-10-26T23:44:00.000-05:00

As we cross the sea of the world, repentance should be our ship, reverential awe its pilot, and love its harbour. —St Isaac of Syria

Orthodox Nuns Live for God

2006-10-26T10:43:00.000-05:00

SATUS PASS -- On a pine-covered patch off U.S. Highway 97, the Pacific Northwest meets the Byzantine Empire. Evergreens shelter a collection of structures that look more like typical Northwest cabins than a Greek Orthodox monastery. In the wee hours, the woods are dark. So still, so quiet, so peaceful. Elsewhere, bars are closing, truckers are making the long haul, children have been asleep for hours. At the roadside monastery at the edge of a forest, Greek Orthodox sisters are praying for them all. From this remote sylvan setting 10 miles north of Goldendale, more than a dozen nuns pray for the world. Their prayers continue until the stars disappear from the sky, the sun rises and shines, and darkness sets in again. Click on title to read more about these Greek Orthodox nuns.

Against the Protestant Gnostics

2006-10-24T23:07:00.000-05:00

Gnosticism was an early heresy that challenged Christianity by believing the spiritual to be good and the material world to be evil. The Gnostics believed that salvation involves an escape from the body and the material world to become a purely spiritual being. The way to accomplish this kind of salvation is through higher and higher degrees of knowledge (the Greek word for knowledge is gnosis). A good book on this subject is Against The Protestant Gnostics by Philip Lee. This book articulated for me the Gnostic tendency in some contemporary forms of Protestant Christianity. Many Protestant churches have come to treat the creation as something evil while quoting Genesis 1 which calls the creation good. Some Protestant groups teach that alcohol is evil so that anyone drinking a beer is living in sin. This is treating a created good thing, beer, as evil. Another way some Protestants have some Gnostic tendencies is the way that some talk about life after death. I have talked to many modern, conservative Protestants who believe that they will live in heaven for all eternity as a pure spirit but of course this is in direct contradiction to the Christian teaching of the resurrection of a physical body at the Lord's second coming. Many Protestant funerals do not even mention the resurrection of the body in their funeral services. A clear place that reveals the Gnostic tendency of Protestant Christianity is in the Protestant view of Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper. The Protestant view usually denies that Jesus Christ is present in the bread and wine of Holy Communion. One view is that Holy Communion is merely a remembering of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. According to this view, knowledge of Jesus is what is important and so what the believer receives in the Holy Communion is simply a remembering knowledge (gnosis) of Jesus. One wonders why we need bread and wine to remember Jesus... could not someone just read their Bible? Another Protestant view is that the believer partakes of the body of Jesus Christ but only in a spiritual manner. This view denies that the bread and the wine become the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ. These views in practice assert the spiritual over the material just like the early Gnostics. The Christian view is that the material elements of bread and wine are offered to God in Holy Communion and God changes the bread and wine into the very body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. This is indeed a mystery of God but the point is that we partake of God through matter that God has called tov meod (very good). As an Anglican I thought that I was avoiding gnostic tendencies until one day I started thinking of Gnosticism in terms of the Anglican view of the church. I later discovered that every Protestant Church including Anglicanism has to define the one body of Christ, the Church, in a Gnostic way. The Protestant has to define the "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church" as is confessed in the Nicene Creed in a spiritual sense because she does not share any visible unity with the other churches. However, in order to interpret the Nicene Creed in its ancient context, the Church has to be visibly one as Christ is visibly one and united because the Church is the body of Christ. Christ was physically and visibly one, so to define the church as a spiritual unity is in a practical way denying the incarnation of the Word of God and to hold a view that is really Gnostic. There are only two churches that are visibly united and claim to be the "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church". They are the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. So there are only two options for those who want to avoid a Gnostic understanding of the church (ecclesiology) and maintain an incarnational view of Christ and His Church. It was when I discovered this that I really started to be concerned about my Anglican ecclesiology because I had been trying hard to avoid Gnosticism. This really leads to an interesting study in seeing how a church's ecclesiology does or does not fit orthodox Christology which is something I began to struggle with.

Orthodox Christian Cassettes

2006-10-24T11:05:00.000-05:00

The mission of Orthodox Christian Cassettes is to record, archive and make available audio cassettes and CD’s on all aspects of the Christian faith in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition. Orthodox Christian Cassettes is a unique blend of a loan library and a sales library. All of the tapes & CDs are for loan or for purchase. Orders are shipped out as soon as possible, usually within 48 hours. We believe good service is what people want and we do our best to be prompt. OCC has 600+ messages by more than 50 Speakers on over 50 Subjects.

A Sacramental Worldview

2006-10-22T23:11:00.000-05:00

Man was created by God to be a worshiping being, a priest, who offers the creation to the Holy Trinity as a means of love and communion. I discovered this view from Fr. Alexander Schmemann who says in his book For the Life of the World, “man must eat in order to live; he must take the world into his body and transform it into himself, into flesh and blood. He is indeed that which he eats, and the whole world is presented as one all-embracing banquet table for man. And this image of the banquet remains, throughout the whole Bible, the central image of life”. The fall, according to Fr. Alexander, consisted of Adam and Eve ceasing to offer the creation to God and offering it instead to themselves and thus cutting themselves off from communion with God. In this context the Word becomes flesh and takes the cosmos into Himself and offers it perfectly on the cross to God the Father not as a satisfaction for God’s wrath but as a restoration of man to love and communion with God. This restoration is primarily experienced in Holy Communion when the Church offers the creation, bread and wine, with thanksgiving to God and God transforms what is offered into the body and blood of God the Son. By partaking of the body and blood of Jesus Christ we are united in love to God through matter. This view of reality is called a sacramental worldview. This sacramental view of reality is what I tried to get across to my parishioners at Holy Cross in Alpine through my introductory course to Christianity titled Tov Meod (Very Good). As this view became more and more a part of my Christian worldview, I became aware of a sad fact that while there were some Anglicans who shared my sacramental worldview, there were far more Anglicans who did not. While Anglicanism allows for a sacramental worldview, it is not at the heart of Anglicanism, since a theologian can hold to a non-sacramental view of the world and still be Anglican. As I continued to read Orthodox theology, it became clear that a sacramental worldview is at the core or heart of the Orthodox Church. I began to ask myself, should I remain in communion with a church that does not hold the sacramental worldview as an essential part of Christianity?

Fr. Stephen Freeman's Blog

2006-10-20T12:28:00.000-05:00

I highly recommend Orthodox (OCA) priest Fr. Stephen Freeman's new blog "Glory to God for all Things" for your spiritual nourishment and encouragement. Click title above to read it.

In Appreciation of High Church Anglicanism

2006-10-18T18:10:00.000-05:00

I spent ten years in the Anglican tradition and I thank the triune God for the time I spent in her midst. Looking back, I see that God used my time in Anglicanism as a time of preparation for the Orthodox Church and I do not regret a single moment that I spent in the Anglican Church. God brings individuals along many different paths to Orthodoxy and Anglicanism was a necessary part of my journey. There are some very good things in the Anglican Tradition. The one that sticks out in my mind is Thomas Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer (BCP). The BCP is one of the most beautiful compositions ever written in the English language. One can not help but have a deeper appreciation for beauty and reverence when worshiping the triune God using the BCP. The Anglo-Catholic and High Church Anglican traditions have a great appreciation for the tradition of the Church and the holy fathers that are part of Apostolic tradition. The importance of the church and sacraments are taken seriously and taught in many parts of Anglicanism. It is through the Anglo-Catholic and High Church traditions that I learned the importance of trying to maintain the faith of the church fathers and Holy Scripture and for this I am grateful. (My favorite summary of the Anglican High Church tradition is Vernon Staley's The Catholic Religion.) What this High Church Anglican tradition gave me was a sacramental worldview which really becomes the very point that drives me to the Orthodox Church. When I left the Anglican Church, I brought the best of the Anglican tradition with me. Now within the Orthodox Way, my sacramental worldview is whole or complete.

St. Catherine's Monastery Icons to be in LA

2006-10-17T11:27:00.000-05:00

My wife and Abby Catherine's Patron Saint is St. Catherine of Alexandria. We recently found out that some of the icons from St. Catherine's Monastery in Egypt are going to be at the J. Paul Getty Museum (Getty Center) in Los Angeles from Nov. 14, 2006 to March 4, 2007. There is a good video, on the Museum page on the right, about St. Catherine's Monastery that I recommend viewing. Click on title of post to go to the Museum page.

Fr. Patrick Reardon

2006-10-13T17:22:00.000-05:00

My favorite contemporary Orthodox theologian is Fr. Patrick Reardon. I do not know of anybody who is more deeply rooted and knowledgeable of Holy Scripture than Fr. Patrick. If I was in a Bible quiz competition then he would be the one I would choose to be on my team. I first encountered Fr. Patrick through his writings in Touchstone Magazine. I met Fr. Patrick at a Touchstone Magazine conference in 1999 where he spoke on the Fatherhood of God. It was the first time I had ever heard an Orthodox theologian speak. Fr. Patrick later visited St. Francis on the Hill in the year 2000 and spoke on the four-fold interpretation of Holy Scripture as explained by St. John Cassian. In 2004 Fr. Patrick came to Alpine for a conference we hosted at Holy Cross. Fr. Patrick is one of the main reasons why I am Orthodox. His solid teaching on Holy Scripture has been very influential in my life, but most of all he has prayed for me and my family since the day he met us. Every time I see Fr. Patrick he asks how my wife and children are by name. I know that he still prays for us by name every single day. The main reason we are Orthodox today is because Fr. Patrick never stopped praying for us in our journey to the Orthodox Church. Fr. Patrick has written some very good books. He has written Christ in the Psalms, Christ in His Saints, The Trial of Job and his newest book is Chronicles of History and Worship. His books are published by Conciliar Press and they are written in a devotional style. Thank God for Fr. Patrick Reardon and may God grant him many, many years.

The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers

2006-10-13T17:00:00.000-05:00

The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers: A Manual of Preaching, Spiritual Reading and Meditation and The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture by Intervarsity Press were my two primary resources for preparing sermons. Having to prepare sermons each week gave me the opportunity to go deeper into the Fathers (early church theologians) of the Church. When I started reading Orthodox theology, I discovered that Orthodox theologians were saying the same thing in the same spirit that I was getting from the sermons of the Fathers. So reading the Fathers prepared the ground for me in understanding Orthodox Christianity and now Orthodox Christianity has helped me to see the theology of the Fathers more clearly.

Reading Orthodox Books

2006-10-13T16:03:00.000-05:00

After teaching the "Tov Meod" course I decided that it may be good to actually read some books on Orthodox theology. I had a book by Orthodox Bishop Kallistos Ware on my bookshelf titled The Orthodox Church that I decided to read for the first time. I was so impressed with the Bp. Kallistos Ware's introduction to the Orthodox Church that I decided to order another book by him titled The Orthodox Way which I liked even better. I found that both of these books are good places for Anglicans to begin reading Orthodox theology since Bp. Kallistos Ware is an Englishman and former Anglican. I also ordered a copy of the Orthodox Study Bible which has some very good introductory articles on Orthodox Christianity as well as some very beautiful icons. I later read a book recommended to me by Fr. Patrick Reardon titled The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church by Vladimer Lossky. It was through Lossky that I first learned about apophatic (negative) theology. A friend let me borrow his copy of Anthony Coniaris' book titled Introducing The Orthodox Church: It's Faith and Life which is very basic but helpful. One of the most influential books that I read on Orthodoxy was Fr. Michael Pomazansky's book Orthodox Dogmatic Theology. A Reformed theologian by the name of Donald Fairbairn wrote a book titled Eastern Orthodoxy through Western Eyes that allowed me to see the major distinctions between Orthodoxy and Western Christianity. These are some of the books that started me on my path to Orthodoxy and after reading everyone of them I kept telling myself that Orthodox Christianity is what I believe. But at the time I thought that I could just make Othodox theology a part of my Anglican theology. Later I would come across some problems in trying to do this.

Rod Dreher converts to Orthodoxy

2006-10-13T01:26:00.000-05:00

Dallas Morning News journalist Rod Dreher tells about his journey from Roman Catholicism to Orthodoxy on his blog. Rod has written a good book titled Crunchy Cons which I highly recommend. I pray that God grants Rod and his family many years! Click the title of this post to go to Rod's blog.

Holy Cross REC in Alpine, TX

2006-10-11T22:38:00.000-05:00

Holy Cross Anglican Church in Alpine, TX had just joined the REC before I arrived. Holy Cross was a small parish of about 20 people but they were an encouraging and enthusiastic bunch. They did not have a Sunday School program of any kind when I arrived so I started teaching the adults about basic Anglican theology from Fr. Louis Tarsitano's book An Outline of an Anglican Life. The study was well attended and grew as time went on. We went from an average attendance of 15-20 on Sunday to an average of 50-60 during the five years I was there because the parish was excited about what we were doing. Since the parish was small I had a lot of time to read various books on theology which was a real blessing for me. After about 3 years at Holy Cross, I started looking into various programs that we could use to introduce someone who knew nothing about Christianity to Anglican Christianity. There were programs like "The ALPHA Course" or "Christianity Explored" but none of them did a very good job of teaching the importance of the church and sacraments. I decided to put together my own introductory course that would include the importance of the church and sacraments called "Tov Meod" which is Hebrew for "very good". It was during my time of preparing this introductory course to Christianity that I started to read Fr. Alexander Schmemann's book For The Life of The World for a second time. This time what Fr. Alexander Schmemann was saying made a lot more sense. I was so impressed with his biblical worldview that it became the primary text that I used in preparing for this course. I also borrowed a lot from C.S. Lewis and a student of his, Harry Blamires, who wrote a little known book titled The Offering of Man. This book was saying some of the same things that Fr. Alexander Schmemann was saying in his book. "Tov Meod" basically became an introductory course in Orthodox Christianity in an Anglican context. Fr. Alexander Schmemann's book For the Life of the World impacted me so much that I decided that I needed to start looking a little deeper into Orthodox Christianity.

Contemplate the Beautiful

2006-10-10T23:54:00.000-05:00

"It must be borne in mind that no single existing thing is entirely deprived of participation in the Beautiful, for, as the true Word says, all things are very beautiful. Holy contemplation can therefore be derived from all things." -Dionysius the Areopagite, The Celestial Hierarchy

Raphael House

2006-10-09T23:47:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday Fr. David Lowell (OCA) who is executive director of Raphael House in San Francisco visited Holy Trinity and spoke to us about this important Orthodox ministry. Raphael House is a ministry to homeless families. Fr. David and his family have lived and served at Raphael House for 20 years. If you are ever in the San Francisco area please plan to spend a day or two helping out at Raphael House. Fr. David's son is a freshman at St. John's College and he was in town for "Parents Weekend". Visit the Raphael House website and watch their video by clicking the title of this post.

"Raphael House is dedicated to helping at-risk children and their families achieve stable housing and financial independence, while strengthening family bonds and personal dignity. Established in 1971 as the first shelter in San Francisco for homeless families, today Raphael House has a dedicated staff and Board of Directors from the local community, along with a small core of live-in staff who are Orthodox Christian. No religious obligations are placed on the families we serve. Raphael House relies solely on private sources to meet its annual budget. Support is received from individuals, businesses and corporations, foundations, church groups, and civic organizations that are committed to promoting stability for at-risk families. We do not seek or accept federal, state, or municipal government funding. By enlisting the support of the community for our work, Raphael House sets in motion a cycle of renewal. During the past 35 years at our Sutter Street facilities we have sheltered more than 10,000 children and their parents; and more than 12,000 individuals have invested financial and volunteer support to assist Raphael House".

An Episcopal Priest in El Paso

2006-10-08T22:41:00.000-05:00

While in seminary a conservative Episcopal priest, Fr. Hal, came to Cranmer House to recruit some curates (assistant priests) to help him serve at St. Francis on the Hill. He chose my best friend and me to go and help him in El Paso, Texas. So I was made a deacon and a few months later a priest in the Episcopal Church and my first assignment was St. Francis on the Hill. I gained a lot of practical experience at St. Francis and I got to see an Anglo-Catholic in action. Fr. Hal was planning to retire soon and he spoke often of converting to Orthodoxy once he retired. At the time I did not think much about converting to Orthodoxy, but I heard everything he said about it and it stayed with me. Fr. Hal and his wife converted to Orthodoxy shortly after his retirement. St. Francis on the Hill was a parish with many problems. The main problem that I saw was that there were many different theologies in the parish. We had Evangelicals, Anglo-Catholics, and Liberals in one parish. What I discovered was that each group came in with a certain priest. When an Evangelical priest served the parish he attracted evangelicals. When an Anglo-Catholic served the parish the new members he attracted were Anglo-Catholics. And when a Liberal priest served the parish he attracted new liberal members. So when a new priest came to serve St. Francis he inherited all of these various and contradicting theologies that caused many problems in the parish. I would later discover that this was not just a St. Francis on the Hill problem but an Anglican problem. I spent a year in the Episcopal Church before I decided that the more conservative Reformed Episcopal Church was where I would rather serve. So I received and accepted a call in the year 2000 to serve at Holy Cross REC in Alpine, Texas.

Fr. Stephen Freeman's Journey

2006-10-06T23:12:00.000-05:00

Fr. Stephen is the Orthodox representative on Pontifications and his journey from Anglicanism to Orthodoxy is told on AncientFaith Radio. Listen for an inspiring conversation with Fr. Stephen Freeman, priest at St. Anne Orthodox Church in Oak Ridge, TN. Fr. Stephen is one of many Anglican priests who made his way to Orthodoxy. This is an honest and fascinating glimpse into the journey of a priest and his family. http://www.ancientfaithradio.com/archives.html

Hints of Orthodoxy in Seminary

2006-10-04T22:36:00.000-05:00

It was at an Anglican seminary, Cranmer Theological House, that I was first introduced to Orthodox Christianity. Fr. Alexander Schmemann's book For the Life of the World was recommended to me by some of my fellow seminary students. I read For the Life of the World and liked what Fr. Alexander Schmemann said about the Eucharist, which I passed off by saying it was similar to John Calvin's view of the Eucharist. The Orthodox distinctives did not really stick to me at the time, but an Orthodox seed was planted. One of my seminary professors was very sympathetic to Orthodox theology. There were two things I distinctly remember this professor teaching that I did not agree with at the time. First, that Holy Scripture was part of the Tradition of the church, rather than torn apart like it often is in the West as Scripture and Tradition. Second, that confirmation (chrismation) belongs with baptism rather than separating baptism and confirmation like is practiced in the West. The last thing that I learned from the dean of our seminary was the Orthodox practice of paedo-communion (infants and young children partaking of Holy Communion) which the Western church stopped practicing in the Middle Ages. These three issues, along with Fr. Alexander Schmemann's book, would play a big part in my consideration of Orthodox Christianity in the future.

A Gift from a Carmelite Monk

2006-10-03T22:48:00.000-05:00

The best gift I have ever received was from a Carmelite monk in California. My wife and I were traveling beside the Pacific Ocean on highway 1 in California with some friends when we decided to stop at a Carmelite monastery. Our main reason for stopping at the monastery was to see what books they had in their bookstore. It was at this bookstore that I bought a copy of The Country Parson by George Herbert which is one of my favorite books in the Anglican tradition. I thought I was taking away the best thing in the bookstore but I was wrong. As we were leaving the bookstore a Carmelite monk stopped us and said that he wanted to give us a gift. He gave us a small icon of Rublev's Hospitality of Abraham which is an icon of the Holy Trinity which you see posted here. I had no idea what an icon was but I knew it was beautiful. Little did I know that it would be used in the future by God to change my life. I kept the icon in my desk drawer for ten years before I started wondering about it. I discovered that icons are a very important part of Orthodox spirituality because they affirm the fact of history that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us". Icons are also a way that those who could not read Holy Scripture could learn and remember the Orthodox Faith. Icons are simply Holy Scripture made visible just as the Word, Jesus Christ, is made visible through the incarnation. I later discovered that the icon of the Holy Trinity summarizes the Christian Faith better than any sermon could because in one picture the meaning of existence is expressed. The meaning of existence is communion with God in and through matter which is seen by what is in the middle of the three persons of the one God. The chalice in the middle of the Holy Trinity teaches us that life is sacramental and the sacrament of Holy Communion is central to our communion with God. If you want to know the meaning of life, then study this icon of the Holy Trinity. When I realized what this icon was expressing, I started to get a thirst for Orthodox Christianity because a sacramental view of reality is at the very heart of Orthodoxy. Ironically a Roman Catholic monk's gift began to stir in me a longing for things Orthodox.

Fr. Arseny

2006-10-03T00:14:00.000-05:00

I am presently reading a book about Fr. Arseny who spent time in Stalin's Siberian prison camp because of his Orthodox Faith. This book is full of many humbling and inspiring stories of a man who loved his enemies and suffered many horrible things out of his love for others. I want to be the kind of Christian Fr. Arseny is though not in Siberia. Fr. Arseny reveals what Orthodox spirituality is all about. Frederica Mathewes-Green gives a good brief introduction to Fr. Arseny on her web site at http://www.frederica.com/writings/father-arseny.html .

The Protection of the Most-holy Theotokos

2006-10-01T17:57:00.000-05:00

John Calvin Helped me Become Orthodox

2006-10-01T16:49:00.000-05:00

Believe it or not, John Calvin was one of the stepping stones on my path to becoming Orthodox. Most people think of John Calvin in terms of predestination but really predestination was only a small part of his overall theology. It is important to distinguish John Calvin from modern reformed theology. Modern reformed theology tends to emphasize the doctrine of election or predestination above all else while John Calvin was more interested in how a person is united to Christ through the church and sacraments. John Calvin's view of predestination was worked out through the church and sacraments while much of contemporary reformed theology does not make this important connection. This is why many conservative Presbyterian churches are closer to the Baptist tradition than to John Calvin. So while I totally reject Calvin's view of predestination, I appreciate what I learned from him about the importance of the church and sacraments. I did not learn about John Calvin's theology from the Calvinists but from actually reading Calvin's famous Institutes of the Christian Religion. John Calvin's teaching on the church and sacraments became an important step up towards Orthodox Christianity.

Reformed Theology is Left Behind

2006-09-29T11:06:00.000-05:00

During seminary I began to move slowly away from Reformed theology. I began to see that there are more than two views of predestination. In most Reformed circles it is believed that a person is either a Calvinist or an Arminian. What I discovered through my own reading is that there are many, many different views of predestination. There is the Augustinian view, the St. Maximus view, the Scotist view, the Thomist view, the Molinist view, the Lutheran view, the open theism view and on it goes. My initial doubts of Calvinistic predestination began while I was translating Romans 9 from the Greek. I discovered that the context of Romans 9 is not about individual election but corporate election. St. Paul in Romans 8 is answering the Jews who are asking why God has abandoned His people for the Christian Church, the new Israel. The Jews were claiming that this is not fair. Romans 9 is St. Paul's answer to the complaint of the Jews. Also, I was reading a commentary on the 39 Articles of Religion by Edward Harold Brown who called this corporate view of election, "ecclesiastical election". This was amazing to me since I had come to the same conclusion in my own study of predestination. Peter Kreeft's commentary on Aquinas' Summa was helpful in understanding predestination in the context of providence which includes free will. I think this is also the view of Richard Hooker. I began to see God's love for all mankind in a richer way. Another book by Peter Kreeft that was helpful in seeing a more loving God than the Calvinist God was Knowing the Truth of God's Love. The updated version is now titled The God Who Loves You. If God is love (agape) then how can He not desire all to be saved? St. Maximus the Confessor brings more light to predestination when he says that God predestines natures not persons. In Him, in Christ, we are saved by joining our nature to His. St. Athanasius said, "God became man that man might become god." That is what God has predestined before the foundation of the world. The Love of God is strongly emphasized in the Orthodox Church.

From Presbyterian to Anglican

2006-09-27T21:10:00.000-05:00

One of my music professors at Huntingdon College was an organist at St. John's Episcopal Church in Montgomery, AL which was the parish Jefferson Davis, the president of the confederacy, attended. I attended a service at St. John's so I could hear my professor play the organ. I was blown away by the beauty and reverence of the service and thought, "This is what is missing in the Presbyterian church." I knew that most of the theology being taught in the Episcopal church was either watered-down Christianity or liberal theology, from which I had just escaped in the Methodist Church. I did not want to go back to a weak theology, but I thought the worship to be an appropriate way to approach a holy God. I wanted a church that was Reformed in her theology and used the Book of Common Prayer for worship. I moved to Escondido, CA to go to Westminster Theological Seminary and while searching for a church to attend in California I heard about a denomination called the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) and I decided to go and see what it was like. It was just what I was looking for. The priest was Reformed in his theology and they used the Book of Common Prayer in worship. Finally, I found a church that was both reformed and liturgical. (I found out later that "Reformed" in Reformed Episcopal refers not to Reformed theology but to the reforming of the Episcopal Church from the Anglo-Catholic tractarian movement - though many in the REC are reformed in their theology.) After joining the REC, I found out about their seminary, Cranmer Theological House, in Shreveport, LA and decided to transfer and pursue an Anglican education. It was at Cranmer Theological House that I was first introduced to anything Orthodox.

Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian

2006-09-26T17:58:00.000-05:00

From Methodist to Presbyterian

2006-09-24T23:28:00.000-05:00

When I went to college I had a growing desire to gain a deeper understanding of Holy Scripture and Christian theology. I began to realize that the Christian depth that I was seeking was not going to be found in the watered down version of Christianity that was being communicated to me in the Methodist church. One day I was introduced to an elder in a Presbyterian church(PCA)who began to tell me about the Protestant Reformation and Reformed theology which is basically the theology of John Calvin. I later started attending the Presbyterian church where I found a place that studied Holy Scripture in a more in-depth way and even talked a little about church history. I learned about the controversies of the Reformation as well as theologians like Luther, Calvin and Zwingli. We studied the book of Romans verse by verse and even looked at the meaning of some of the words in Greek. I learned about the sovereignty of God and the doctrine of predestination but the worship of the Presbyterian church did not seem to match the sovereign God we talked about. There did not seem to be any reverence and fear of God like I saw demonstrated in Holy Scripture. I had discovered a theological tradition that took Holy Scripture and history more seriously than the United Methodist but I was frustrated because the worship was so inconsistent with the God we studied. The Presbyterians seem to put a lot of emphasis on the mind but very little on worship. I also began to wonder why we did not talk very much about the first 1500 years of church history. God used the Presbyterians to start me on the path of studying the history of the church and worship which would later lead me down the road to the Orthodox church.

Practical Tips for Orthodox Living

2006-09-22T10:55:00.000-05:00

Click the title above and go to Fr. Joseph's blog for a good summary of practical Orthodox living.

My Evangelical Beginning

2006-09-20T10:34:00.000-05:00

I was raised in the United Methodist Church. As a child I was taught by word and example to value Holy Scripture and prayer. I remember seeing my mother read the Open Bible at the kitchen table while sipping on a cup of coffee. My father would occasionally sit down with me and read his favorite Psalm 23. Every time I would visit my grandparents we would begin every morning before breakfast with a reading from a Methodist devotional guide called The Upper Room which included readings from Scripture. In my teenage years I would listen to a local Christian radio station with the likes of John MacArthur and Charles Stanley who took Holy Scripture very seriously. Early on, God was laying a foundation for me in Holy Scripture and prayer that would later lead me to the Orthodox Church .

Head in the Heart Faith

2006-09-19T18:27:00.000-05:00

"The head seeks God but it is the heart that finds Him. 'For man believes in his heart and so is justified...' writes St. Paul (Romans 10:10). When the head descends into the heart, the head faith becomes a heart faith. It becomes not just a head faith or just a heart faith but a 'head-in-the -heart-faith'." Confronting Controlling Thoughts by Fr. Anthony Coniaris