Pedigree of the Patriarchs of Antioch

Antioch is where the disciples of Christ were first called Christians.

Acts 11:26 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.

There is an unbroken list of the Patriarchs of the Church of Antioch down to the present day (OrthodoxWiki: List of Patriarchs of Antioch).

This is one element of Apostolic Succession. Christ left a Church and it is still here today.

His Beatitude Patriarch John X (Yazigi) of Antioch and All the East is the primate of the Church of Antioch.

Angels and Prayer

When I was an Evangelical Protestant I missed quite a few things in the Bible. I read it often enough and could quote it back well. But there were a lot of passages which I didn't really see certain details in. One of these was the role of angels in prayer.

In Scripture, Angels play a role in prayer. This can be seen in this passage:

Luke 1:13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.

Zacharias prayed for a child and the angel came to communicate that his prayer was heard.

An even more clear passage is found in Revelation:

Revelation 8:3-4 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.

Here the passage shows angels performing an intermediate role. They take the prayers of the saints and an incense censor and place them on the altar before the throne of God. Why Do Orthodox Christians Pray to the Saints?

Hidden History of Early Christian Art

 

Orthodox Demographics

 How many Orthodox are there?

Orthodoxy in the News

Orthodoxy tends to stay out of the news. Recent growth in converts to Orthodox have got some notice this week in the NY Post article Young men leaving traditional churches for ‘masculine’ Orthodox Christianity in droves.

In Droves?

It is true that there is an uptick in the number of people being received into the Orthodox church. And many of them are young men. My own Catechumen class has thirteen Catechumens. Eight of them are going to be received into the church at Epiphany (in January) after a year in the Catechumen process. Some of them are converts from Protestantism. At least one is an older man who has been married to an Orthodox Church member and has been around the church for twenty years but just never went through the Catechesis process. Our previous priest didn't have an intentional process in place to receive members. Our new priest is by the book.

Internet Influencers

A lot of us, myself included, increasingly lead our lives on-line. We meet people there who are like us and people who are different than us. Some of these people have an interest in the Christian faith and has led to some interaction with Orthodox online often for the first time. There are some solid Orthodox apologists on X and other places. They are able to defend the Orthodox faith, and their opponents are usually unable to answer them due to a lack of experience with the Orthodox. They tend to get viewed as Catholics, but the anti-Catholic arguments don't stick with the Orthodox because the Orthodox agree with many of the critiques of the Roman Church.

Other Media Outreach

Some of this is due to the ministry of Father Josiah [Trenham]. 

Is Orthodoxy Based?

Orthodoxy holds to traditional value in marriage and families. This is not a particularly popular thing and the Orthodox Church does attract people who want a traditional life.

Orthodox Churches have male priests only and the hierarchy of the Church is male. The NY Post article notes that much of the Protestant Church has a female energy to it. I think this is generally accurate and can be seen in church attendance. Protestant Churches have more men than women with wives often attending church alone and the number of scandals that come out of this are many.

However, this is not to be seen as a hatred of women. The Orthodox Church has a very high place for Mary, the Theotokos (God-Bearer in Greek). The Theotokos is seen at the top of the typical church building above the altar and has a prominent place. Many of the prayers of the church are to the Theotokos asking her to intercede with her Son on our behalf. But the Church sees the Theotokos in the correct position below Christ as we all are.

All in all, the article is worth reading.

Apologetics - Substance and Style

 There are some apologists for the faith who have great content but fail the test of a real apologist.

2 Timothy 2:25-26 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

In our enthusiasm to share the truth of Christ and His Body, the Church, may we keep Hs Spirit at the top of our mind and act as He acts. It's as important how we say something as what we say.

Epistle Reading for 2024-11-23

2 Cor 5:1-10 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

There are a great many things in this passage that are clearly revealed here more than in other places in Scripture. One of these is the state of the soul after death. We won't be some ethereal disembodied spirit, but we will receive our resurrection bodies. Our bodies will be raised from mortality to immortality.

The judgement of all men will happen. This judgment will be done based on what we did in the bodies we have now. This is a call to live in holiness and the fear of God in the here and now. The judgment will be final.

This life has pain and suffering but glimpses of the glory that is to be revealed. John adds further detail about that life to come.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

The Glory that Christ has with the Father will be ours on that day.

John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Paul referred to the same thing. 

Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Theosis is this - Christ in me, the hope of glory.

Colossans 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

This is not an incidental doctrine. It is the goal of our lives in Christ. It is what we push on towards.

Gospel Reading for 2024-11-23

Luke 10:19-20 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

This is set when the "70 others also" returned to Jesus. They saw that even the demons were subject to them. Jesus saw the Devil fall from power "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." The kingdom of Satan was forever changed and weakened. His power over men was being taken down. Jesus left this authority with His Church.

Tradition in Scripture

The Greek word παραδόσεις (paradosis) is translated in various ways in the KJV and NIV Bibles. This obscures the fact that it's the same word in Greek G3862 in Strong's.

In this verse, it's translated as "ordinances" and is a command to keep the traditions that Paul himself delivered to the Church.

1 Cor 11:1-2 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.

There are many examples where the word is translated as "tradition(s)" and used in a negative sense to separate the traditions of man from the traditions of God. For instance:

Matthew 15:3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

In addition to 1 Cor 11 (see above) there are at least two other passages where Paul instructs the Church to follow the traditions he delivered to the Church.

2 Thes 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions G3862 which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

2 Thes 3:6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition G3862 which he received of us.

 

Assurance of Salvation

Protestant Notion of the Assurance of Salvation is Unbiblical

To a Protestant in the Reformed tradition, these words of Paul can be nothing but a theoretical impossibility.

1 Cor 9:27 But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

2 Cor 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

This ascetic struggle is what the Church calls its members to perform. 

So how can we have an assurance of salvation?

John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

The Seven Great Ecumenical Councils

It's really the beauty of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. They took the Fathers and the Scriptures and reached the conclusions we have today in the Church. The Trinity, the Deity of Christ, the selection of the canon, rejection of iconoclasts, and many others. It was all based on the pattern from the first council in Acts 15 where the church gathered and considered the matter of how Gentils should be received and how they should behave. The leaders of the church decided the matter and the laity agreed. The Church kept that pattern believing it was God's way of determining truth between varying Fathers.

Jesus promised the Spirit to guide His Church into all truth.

The Protestants pick and choose from among these councils the things they agree with and the things they disagree with. 

Lists of Apostles

Similarities and Differences in the lists of the names of the Apostles

Matthew and Mark have the same names, in a different order to each other, and with some different details.

The Synoptic Gospels match for the most part, but Luke has a different name for one of the apostles compared to Matthew and Mark. 

• Matthew and Mark have Thaddaeus
• Luke has Judas the brother of James

Luke and Acts have the same list of names but considering they are both authored by Luke this should not be a surprise. 

Gospel Source Materials (KJV)

Mat 10:2-3 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

Mar 3:16-19 And Simon he surnamed Peter; And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him...

Luk 6:14-16 Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.

Act 1:13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.

Epistle Reading 2024-11-22

ST. PAUL'S LETTER TO PHILEMON 1:1-25

PAUL, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker, and Apphia our sister and Archippos our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may promote the knowledge of all the good that is ours in Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you - I, Paul, an ambassador and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus - I appeal to you for my child, Onesimos, whose father I have become in my imprisonment. (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel; but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own free will. Perhaps this is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back for ever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand, I will repay it - to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be granted to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchos, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

It's not often we get an entire book as the reading of the day. The Epistle reading for today is about two of the saints for today.

Archippus the Apostle, Philemon the Apostle & his wife, Apphia, Onesimos the Disciple of Paul, Holy Martyr Cecilia and those with her, Afterfeast of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple, Kallistos Xanthopoulos, Patriarch of Constantinople, Anthimos, President of Crete, Righteous Jacob of Evia

It tells the story of a slave who escaped his master and ended up with Paul. He was helpful to Paul since Paul was imprisoned at the time and needed food, etc.

Paul sends him back to his master with this letter and entreats his master to receive him back as a fellow servant of Christ and no longer as a slave.

This book was influential in the movement to abolish slavery (Christian abolitionism).

In the fourth century, the bishop Gregory of Nyssa articulated a fundamentally Christian conception of the world that embedded a thorough rejection of the notion that one human could be owned by another and a condemnation of the institution of slavery.

 

Web Resources on the Church Fathers and the Bible

Helpful Study Resources

This list should grow with time but here's a start with the tools I'm using presently.

• Saints of the Day - Detailed accounts of the lives of the Saints of the Day
• CatenaBible - Click on a verse and see commentary from the Church Fathers on the verse
• BlueLetterBible - Useful for looking up verses and some helpful language tools but heterodox commentaries (Evangelical Christian bias) warrant caution
• Orthodox-Reformed Bridge - Excellent resource for addressing Protestant, Evangelical, and Reformed theology from an Orthodox Perspective
• Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America - Excellent resource on Orthodoxy
• Daily Scripture Readings
• Ancient Faith Ministries - Excellent resource with a lot of great podcasts
• The Lord of Spirits podcast - Highly recommend this podcast series for deep Bible dives into the seen and unseen world
• Christian Classic Ethereal Library - Great resource for reading the Church Fathers but clunky search
• Ancient Church Fathers - Full text of the ANF and NPNF
• New Advent - Fathers of the Church
• Orthodox Wiki - Topical view of Orthodox teaching and practice. Almost 5000 pages. Somewhat curated since "anyone can edit" it but generally pretty good

Sola Fide

"Orthodoxy abhors theological innovation and Luther did two things at the same time; he committed heresy by introducing a theological innovation and he committed schism by rejecting those who did not hold to sola fide, e.g., the early church fathers and the Orthodox Church."

"The issue here is not Pelagianism or Semi-Pelagianism.  The real issue between classical Protestantism and Orthodoxy is monergism versus synergism.  The Orthodox Church unabashedly affirms the synergistic understanding of salvation in Christ: God in his grace reaches out to us and we respond to God’s initiative."

Response to Theodore – Semi-Pelagianism, Sola Fide, and Theosis

Orthodox Apologetics Calvinism V. Arminianism

 

Cherry Picking the Fathers

Great post on Evangelicals cherry picking of the Church Fathers: Does Theological Retrieval Work?

Gavin Ortlund’s switch to the Baptist tradition based on his personal study is a good example of theology as a self-constructed project (See Ortlund 2013). Herein lies the methodological divide between Protestantism and Eastern Orthodoxy. In Orthodoxy, one receives the Faith from the Church and one does theology within the context of the Church. In Protestantism, one constructs theology based upon one’s careful study of the Bible.

The Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians - Early Church Structure

In Ignatius Chapter 8:

He that is within the altar is pure, but he that is without is not pure; that is, he who does anything apart from the bishop, and presbytery, and deacons, such a man is not pure in his conscience.

 The Letters of Ignatius are very early. Hisg seven epistles preserved under the name of Ignatius are generally considered authentic, since they were mentioned by the historian Eusebius in the first half of the fourth century. 

We see the same structure in the early church that we see today.

Some Protestants have tended to deny the authenticity of all the epistles because they attest to a monarchical episcopate in the second century. 

Sufficiency of Scripture?

Missing Books?

In Saint Paul's letter to the Corinthians (called 1 Corinthians in our Bibles), Paul refers to a previous letter. This letter is no longer existent (as far as anyone knows).

1 Corinthians 5:9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people...

Paul refers to a letter to The Laodiceans as well. This letter may be the one referred to as Ephesians (OSB notes on Col 4:14 suggest this possibility due to geographics proximity between the two cities).

Colossians 4:16 After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.

These missing letters have never been an issue to the Historical Churches. It did not escape their notice that there were missing letters, but it was not of any particular concern. For the Historical Churches the Scriptures were not the sole deposit of the faith so nothing was missing when the books were lost.

Gathering of the Epistles into a Collection

By this historical construction (The Lost Letters of Saint Paul, and How They Were Lost in Patheos) the Epistles of Paul were not even gathered together and quoted by the Fathers until the Second Century. Note: I think this is an entirely reasonable reconstruction but have not looked at the account of the Fathers for their account of the collection of the Epistles of Paul.

This paper puts the collection of the Epistles as either 150 or 180 AD. In any event, the letters of Paul as a corpus would have been unavailable as a collection to the first six or so generations of Christians. There is simply no way that the early Church was founded around the collection of the writings of Paul.

The collection of letters became our Pauline epistles [sic: and are now] in the New Testament. From the second century, people start valuing and quoting these rediscovered letters.

Orthodox Church View of the Scriptures

It is the faith of the Orthodox Church that the Church alone possesses the fullness of the faith and that the faith is found in Holy Tradition - which includes Holy Scripture. A missing book or two (perhaps as many as hundreds or more missing books per the Patheos link above) isn't an issue for the Orthodox Church. It's just a historical footnote.

Critiques of the Protestant View

Protestants hold a vastly different idea of Scripture, the idea of the "sufficiency of scripture". This is an extra-Biblical tradition.

Scripture is sufficient in that it is the only inspired, inerrant, and therefore final authority for Christians for faith and godliness, with all other authorities being subservient to Scripture. The Sufficiency of Scripture,

Missing books are much more serious concern for the Protestant approach to church authority since they imply a missing part of the revelation. Some attempts to explain these issues with a notion that Paul may have made some error in those other letters so they were not preserved. This and other explanations are entirely ad hoc.

Orthodoxy on Calvin and Calvinism

The Orthodox Church produced the following document: The Confession of Patriarch Dositheos of Jerusalem (1672). 

This Confession of Faith has been ratified by all of the autocephalous Churches (Jerusalem, Russia, and Georgia in 1672; Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and the Bulgarians under the EP at the Council of Constantinople in 1723. St. Justin Popovich and St. Nikodim Milas speak of it as having already been accepted by the Serbian Church in their publications published by the Serbian Church). and is therefore dogmatically binding upon the faithful.

It lays out more than a dozen decrees against Calvinism.