Orthamerica

Last Judgment Sunday

2012-02-18T11:07:00.000-08:00

The historic church, the undivided church, the Orthodox Church has always clungto the teachings of Christ, the apostles, & church fathers, & thus hasalways taught that “faith andfaithfulness” are inseparable. And, it is “faith & faithfulness” being one and the same thing that is addressed by St. Matthew’s gospel, ch 25: vss 31-46. There we are presented with “the parable of the Last Judgment.”

Our Lord tells this parable on the very last day before he was arrestedand put to death, and He does this not only to inform us, but also warn us thatour time just like His earthly time will one day end. It is a parable that reminds us that while trusting in Christ's love andmercy is absolutely imperative, it is equally imperative to be sure that wewill experience His righteous judgment based on our faithfulness to Him when He comesagain in glory.

Consequently, if our hearts remain hardened and unaffected by the Loveof God in Christ, we should not expect the Lord to overlook our transgressionson the day of judgment simply because He is a good and loving God. & although God does not desire the death of a sinner, He alsoexpects us to turn from our wickedness and live.

Let me say this in a more plain way: God does not repent for us, nordoes he believe for us, nor does he act for us. We must of our own volition, repent, believe, and act according to the truth, anything short of that is self-deception.

As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have nopleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live;turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house ofIsrael? "And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of therighteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, and as for the wickednessof the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, andthe righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. Eze 3: 11-12

Excerpt from the Homily of the Sunday of the Last judgment. Fr.. Carlos Miranda

In Preparation for Lent

2012-02-06T16:15:00.000-08:00

'If a king wanted to take possession of his enemy's city, he would begin by cutting off the water and the food and so his enemies, dying of hunger, would submit to him. It is the same with the passions of the flesh: if a man goes about fasting and hungry the enemies of his soul grow weak.'

John the Short

Peace

2012-02-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

Always look at your own sins and do not judge another’s. Donot be self-confident. Control your tongue, your appetite, and your drink. Ifanyone speaks to you on a controversial matter, do not argue with him. If hespeaks well, say, “yes”, if he speaks ill, say, “I don’t know anything aboutthat.” Don’t argue, and your mind will be at peace.

An unknownhermit

The Orthodox Church

2012-01-28T14:08:00.000-08:00

The Orthodox Church is thus a family of self-governing Churches. It is held together, not by a centralized organization, not by a single prelate wielding absolute power over the whole body, but by the double bond of unity in the faith and communion in the sacraments. Each Church, while independent, is in full agreement with the rest on all matters of doctrine, and between them all there is full sacramental communion. (Certain divisions exist among the Russian Orthodox, but the situation here is altogether exceptional and, one hopes, temporary in character).

There is in Orthodoxy no one with an equivalent position to the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church. The Patriarch of Constantinople is known as the "Ecumenical" (or universal) Patriarch, and since the schism between east and west he has enjoyed a position of special honor among all the Orthodox communities; but he does not have the right to interfere in the internal affairs of other Churches. His place resembles that of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the worldwide Anglican communion.

This decentralized system of independent local Churches has the advantage of being highly flexible, and is easily adapted to changing conditions. Local Churches can be created, suppressed, and then restored again, with very little disturbance to the life of the Church as a whole. Many of these local Churches are also national Churches, for during the past in Orthodox countries Church and State have usually been closely linked. But while an independent State often possesses its own autocephalous Church, ecclesiastical divisions do not necessarily coincide with State boundaries. Georgia, for instance, lies within the U.S.S.R., but is not part of the Russian Church, while the territories of the four ancient Patriarchates fall politically in several different countries. The Orthodox Church is a federation of local, but not in every case national, Churches. It does not have as its basis the political principle of the State Church.

Among the various Churches there is, as can be seen, an enormous variation in size, with Russia at one extreme and Sinai at the other. The different Churches also vary in age, some dating back to Apostolic times, while others are less than a generation old. The Church of Czechoslovakia, for example, only became autocephalous in 1951.

Such are the Churches which make up the Orthodox communion as it is today. They are known collectively by various titles. Sometimes they are called the Greek or Greco-Russian Church; but this is incorrect, since there are many millions of Orthodox who are neither Greek nor Russian. Orthodox themselves often call their Church the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Catholic Church, the Orthodox Catholic Church of the East, or the like. These titles must not be misunderstood, for while Orthodoxy considers itself to be the true Catholic Church, it is not part of the Roman Catholic Church; and although Orthodoxy calls itself eastern, it is not something limited to eastern people. Another name often employed is the Holy Orthodox Church. Perhaps it is least misleading and most convenient to use the shortest title: the Orthodox Church.

Orthodoxy claims to be universal — not something exotic and oriental, but simple Christianity. Because of human failings and the accidents of history, the Orthodox Church has been largely restricted in the past to certain geographical areas. Yet to the Orthodox themselves their Church is something more than a group of local bodies. The word "Orthodoxy" has the double meaning of "right belief" and "right glory" (or "right worship"). The Orthodox, therefore, make what may seem at first a surprising claim: they regard their Church as the Church which guards and teaches the true belief about God and which glorifies Him with right worship, that is, as nothing less than the Church of Christ on earth. How this claim is understood, and what the Orthodox think of other Christians who do not belong to their Church, it is part of the aim of this book to explain.

From "The Orthodox Church" by Timothy Ware.

Who Is The Church? Pt 2

2012-01-21T14:42:00.000-08:00

Who Is The Church According to the Fathers?

Tertullian: Against Heresies in Ch, XVIII:

But if there be any (heresies) which are bold enough to plant themselves in the midst of the apostolic age, that they may thereby seem to have been handed down by the apostles, because they existed in the time of the apostles, we can say: Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that [that first bishop of theirs] bishop shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men,—a man, moreover, who continued steadfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter. In exactly the same way the other churches likewise exhibit (their several worthies), whom, as having been appointed to their Episcopal places by apostles, they regard as transmitters of the apostolic seed. Let the heretics contrive something of the same kind.

To this test, therefore must be submitted for proof by those churches, who, although they derive not their founder from apostles or apostolic men (as being of much later date, for they are in fact being founded daily), yet, since they agree in the same faith, they are accounted as not less apostolic because they are akin in doctrine.

*Apostolic succession via paradosis is the test.

St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians, 6-7 (Vol., I)

I exhort you to study to do all things with a divine harmony, while your bishop presides in the place of God, and your presbyters in the place of the assembly of the apostles, along with your deacons, who are most dear to me, and are entrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ… Let nothing exist among you which may divide you; but be united with your bishop, being through him subject to God in Christ. As therefore the Lord does nothing without the Father, for says He, "I can of mine own self do nothing," so do you, neither presbyter, nor deacon, nor layman, do anything without the bishop.

*One doctrine only is allowed and it begins with the bishop who has the task of retaining the unaltered faith.

St. Cyprian of Carthage, Letter to Magnus (Vol, V, Epistle 75)

Wherefore, since the Church alone has the living water, and the power of baptizing and cleansing man, he who says that any one can be baptized and sanctified by Novatian must first show and teach that Novatian is in the Church or presides over the Church.

For the Church is one, and as she is one, cannot be both within and without. For if she is with Novatian, she was not with Cornelius. But if she was with Cornelius, who succeeded the bishop Fabian by lawful ordination, and whom, beside the honor of the priesthood, the Lord glorified also with martyrdom, Novatian is not in the Church; nor can he be reckoned as a bishop, who, succeeding to no one, and despising the evangelical and apostolic tradition, sprang from himself. For he who has not been ordained in the Church can neither have nor hold to the Church in any way.

* There cannot be more than one church and one doctrine.

St. Irenaeus, Against All Heresies, IV, 26, 2 ( Vol. I)

Wherefore it is incumbent to obey the presbyters who are in the Church,—those who, as I have shown, possess the succession from the apostles; those who, together with the succession of the episcopate, have received the certain gift of truth, according to the good pleasure of the Father. But [it is also incumbent] to hold in suspicion others who depart from the primitive succession, and assemble themselves together in any place whatsoever, [looking upon them] either as heretics of perverse minds, or as schismatics puffed up and self-pleasing, or again as hypocrites, acting thus for the sake of lucre and vainglory. For all these have fallen from the truth.

*No apostolic continuity results in false church.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, XVIII (NPNF-II, Vol. VII)

The Faith which we rehearse contains in order the following,

"AND IN ONE BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS; AND IN ONE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH; AND IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH; AND IN ETERNAL LIFE"...

It is called Catholic (of the whole) then because it extends over all the world, from one end of the earth to the other; and because it teaches universally and completely one and all the doctrines which ought to come to men's knowledge, concerning things both visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly; and because it brings into subjection to godliness the whole race of mankind, governors and governed, learned and unlearned; and because it universally treats and heals the whole class of sins, which are committed by soul or body, and possesses in itself every form of virtue which is named, both in deeds and words, and in every kind of spiritual gifts. And it is rightly named (Ecclesia) because it calls forth and assembles together all men.

*One doctrine without exception of persons or race.

Is The Christian Religion Dying

2012-01-14T06:45:00.000-08:00

Is the Christian Religion Dead?

To answer this question with any kind of accuracy, we must actually refine the question a bit. Perhaps we should ask two questions: one, “where” is the Christian religion dead or dying? And two, “what kind” of the Christian religion is dead or dying? It is here that we must turn to the experts; and there are several who have written on the topic, I commend “The Next Christendom” by Phillip Jenkins. There are many others.

The general consensus of these experts is that western Christianity; that is the religious sects of Christianity born out of the great schism (Roman Catholicism) and the protestant reformation (Protestantism) are the Christian religions that are dying, and they are dying in western Europe (where it has already died), in North America, and Australia. However there is more to the answer, the most ancient forms of Christian religion, by that I mean those closest to the religion of the undivided church, by that I mean Christian Orthodoxy, and a new form, Charismatic Christianity, are thriving in the southern hemisphere and in Asia.

The video above allows us to peak into the most Ancient Christian religion and how it is affectingour world. In it we see quite a contrast between our dying western Christian religion and this thriving and living eastern Christian religion that dates back all the way to the apostles.

Who Is the Church?

2012-01-05T08:31:00.000-08:00

When the church gathered in council at Nicea in 381 AD inorder to discern a single creed from various creeds that she had received fromthe apostles and the fathers, she selected four words to describe herself: “One,Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. "

These were, and continue to be, the defining marks of thechurch- sort of! These definitions have neededredefinition throughout western history in order to allow each group to seeitself within this description.

Hence, in our study we will consider the authors’ intentionswhen they wrote this creed, and then ask the question, “who is the church?”

The Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, and the all Protestantsanswer this question differently, our goal is to answer it historically; or, whowas the creed referring to?

The ChurchPresent In The New Testament

Begun in Jerusalemwith Christ’s Apostles (Apostolic)

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on thisrock I will build my church, and thegates of hell shall not prevail against it. Mat 16: 18

Built upby God the Holy Spirit (God Dwelt- Holy)

So the church throughout all Judea and Galileeand Samaria hadpeace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in thecomfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. Acts9: 31

Re-centeredin Antioch in Syria (exists in “Sees”)

And when he hadfound him, he brought him to Antioch.For a whole year they met with the churchand taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first calledChristians. Acts 11: 26

Expandedby apostolic missionaries (Missional)

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets andteachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called

Niger

, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen amember of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshipingthe Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas andSaul for the work to which I have called them." Then after fasting andpraying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So, being sent out bythe Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, andfrom there they sailed to

Cyprus

. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimedthe word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. Acts13:1-5

Subject toapostolic appointment (Episcopal Succession)

And when they hadappointed elders for them in every church,with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they hadbelieved. Then they passed through Pisidia (

Galatia

) and came to Pamphylia. Andwhen they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, and fromthere they sailed to Antioch,where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they hadfulfilled. Acts 14: 23-26

Doctrinallyunder Episcopal concilliarity (Concilliar),

The Jerusalemcouncil; Acts 15: 6-21

Directed bya universal Episcopal rule (Canon Law),

Canon law; Acts 15: 22-34

Doctrinallycorrected by Holy Tradition (Paradosis)

When he hadlanded at Caesarea, he went up and greeted thechurch… Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria,came to Ephesus.He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructedin the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taughtaccurately the things concerning Jesus… but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him theway of God more accurately. Acts 18:22-26

Doctrinally Preserved by Holy Tradition(Paradosis)

Pay carefulattention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has madeyou overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtainedwith his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come inamong you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise menspeaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore bealert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day toadmonish everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word ofhis grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance amongall those who are sanctified. Acts 20:28-32

In the NewTestament the true church is:

ÿ Begun in Jerusalem with Christ’s Apostles(Apostolic),

ÿ Built upby God the Holy Spirit (God Dwelt- Holy),

ÿ Re-centeredin Antioch in

Syria

(exists in “Sees”),

ÿ Expandedby apostolic missionaries (Missional),

ÿ Subject toapostolic appointment (Episcopal Succesion),

ÿ Doctrinallyunder Episcopal concilliarity (Concilliar),

ÿ Directed bya universal Episcopal rule (Canon Law),

ÿ Doctrinallycorrected by Holy Tradition (Paradosis)

ÿ Doctrinally Preserved by Holy Tradition(Paradosis)

Who does this describe?

Why People Become Orthodox?

2012-01-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

Below is a post that I found on the "Glory to God for All Things" blog.

People come for a variety of reasons:

1. They believe the Orthodox faith to be the truth.This is the reason I have stated for my own conversion. After every conversation, argument, etc. After every article and book, the simple fact is that I believe the Orthodox faith, including its ecclesiology to be the truth. I am willing to defend my acceptance of that, but the only defence that matters is the one I shall have to give on Judgement Day, and I believe that I will sit before a judge who Himself is the head of the Orthodox Church. The serious question will be: “What have you done with the faith I gave you?”

2. We looked at the other “options” and found them wanting.Many Orthodox converts have looked elsewhere first. Perhaps even hoping that elsewhere would answer their questions and supercede the necessity of becoming Orthodox... More

Rebuilding The Ruins!

2011-12-17T05:11:00.000-08:00

Too often it comes as a shock to westerners that historic Christianity is a mystical religion that engages the whole person in action. Most western Christians today know a great deal about having a daily bible study and prayer time, which usually consists of reading though a book or books of the bible, followed by some extemporaneous prayers, which usually leads to general feeling of well-being after wards. For many, going beyond that approaches the two great evils: "superstition" and "works righteousness". If we insert fasting, liturgical prayers, times of silence, kneeling, genufleting, lectio divina, incense, candles, prayer ropes, and prayers of the heart into the disciplines the faith, and we the average western Christian sees another religion; a religion that seems to be overly mystical and too works focused. But, why and how did these things which have been common practices for so long become so foreign? There is a trajectory within western Christianity that has made this loss of these ancient Christian disciplines possible.

It began with the victory of Augustinian Neo-Platonism, in the 5^th century. The consequence of this has left today’s Christianity thinking that the goal of a person life is to make it into heaven, rather than to become united to God in body & soul now and after this life. The long term consequence of this is a two story universe, God up stairs, & us downstairs, and our task should we choose to accept it, is to make it upstairs.

This distortion continued in the 10^th & 11^th century by the additions of St Anselm. By way of his orientation towards legal satisfaction, what we now have is a Christianity that is most of all concerned with how man gets off the hook for sin on light of its insult of God’s honor. Christianity lost its focus on why and how God restores humanity to our original design as Christ’s icon on earth.

Move forward to the 12^th & 13^th century and we find the influences of St Aquinas. His influence made Christianity something that must be explainable and definable at every point, in other words, scholastic. For many Christians today, there is no higher form of Christianity than intellectual Christianity. This is a faith that lives in the mind.

Move forward again to the protestant reformation of the 16^th century, and there the west received the same authority that prior to it belonged to bishops and popes. Every individual became the protector of the faith, with the authority to keep, shed, or redesign the articles of faith as each saw fit according to their understanding of the bible.

Go forward again to the 18^th century and find the great awakening; this movement in the Americas and England made Christianity something that must be the result of a personal crisis and catharsis. As a result, one must have had a moment that one can point to when they had their God experience, once having that experience of God no more was needed.

Couple this with the need to feel moral and aligned to God, the social Victorian moralism made its way into Christianity. This moralism shaped the faith into more than just something in the mind and a one time experience. However, the problem here is that there was a focus on a few select sins such as sexual concupiscence, drunkenness, and participation in the things enjoyed by the general culture.

To sum this all up; what we have in the west today is a faith that is dualistic, legal, intellectual, individualistic, based on a one time experience, and sustained by a biased moralism that focuses on avoiding a few specific sins. In short, the trajectory of the western faith has left us with a faith that has almost no relationship to the faith of the early church, and especially its mystical practices of transformation into Christlikeness.

Having exposed these foreign viruses that have attached themselves to the faith, we can see their emptiness, and our need to return to a faith that actually creates real union with God here and now. It is this need that gives the mystical historic spiritual disciplines their place of priority in the Christian’s life. My hope is that the exposure of the above along with the recovery of this ancient practice can help to rebuild authentic Christianity.

A Prayer Before Reading Scripture

2011-12-13T15:59:00.000-08:00

Illumine our hearts, O Master Who lovest mankind, with the pure light of Thy divine knowledge. Open the eyes of our mind to the understanding of Thy gospel teachings. Implant also in us the fear of Thy blessed commandments, that trampling down all carnal desires, we may enter upon a spiritual manner of living, both thinking and doing such things as are well-pleasing unto Thee. For Thou art the illumination of our souls and bodies, O Christ our God, and unto Thee we ascribe glory, together with Thy Father, Who is from everlasting, and Thine all-holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Journey to Orthodoxy

2011-12-08T20:05:00.001-08:00

Beforediscovering Christian Orthodoxy there was always a rather large problem that Icould never expunge from my mind. I could never make peace with the fact thatthere were a myriad of different theological opinions, interpretations, andconclusions amongst so called orthodox Christians. I would ask myself, how can we have both Calvinistsand Arminians, co-exist and not consider the others heretics? How can all theparties claim to be exegetical, but still fail to agree on things likeecclesiology, sacramentology, eschatology and all the rest? Was it possible forany group to be right about everything? Who gets to decide right from wrong? Is ultimate truth left to theindividual? Are we each forced to beinfallible popes? To sum it up, I was relentlessly troubled by the fact that inProtestantism the final conclusion over the truth is one’s own; could that be whatthe Lord had in mind? Could that be what Jesus meant when he said I will neverleave you to his church?

Inorder to try to seek peace with myself I tried to find the most ancient expressionof Protestantism. I wanted to be part of the true church. It was then that Ifound early Anglicanism; I began to seriously look into the Anglican Book ofCommon Prayer and its approach to Christianity, it was the most apostolic expressionof the faith to be could be found protestantism. In it I saw a church with agreater fullness, yet without the many additions of Rome; and without the many subtractions ofother Protestants. That was what I was looking for.

Thingsseemed to be fairly peaceful in my Anglican world up to this point; yet as timewent by I learned of the many in consitencies within Anglicanism. I knew thatit was not perfect, but what could be better? Surely not rome with all of its additions and excesses. Itwas then that I had a direct run in with Orthodoxy. That encounter turned my world upside down. Iwas doing some research for a sermon and I ran into the orthodox teaching on Kairos and Chronos, this was something that was completely foreign to me as aProtestant. I continued to dig, and found more and more Orthodox teaching thathad previously been a complete mystery to me as a Protestant. I came face toface with the content of seven ecumenical councils and their canons, singleprocession of the Holy Spirit, paradosis,essence and energies, theosis,synthesis, and then the answer I was seeking: the concilliar approach to truthand the church. What I was looking for inAnglicanism, I found in Orthodoxy. There I found the fullness of theChristianity without the additions of Rome,and or the subtractions of the reformers. There I saw a sure way to determine rightfrom wrong; there I found the one concilliar voice of the whole church ratherthan the ruling voice of any one convincing theologian. There I found the church the Lord promised us,the true church without a divided mind or practice!

Atthat point I simply wanted to enter the Orthodox Church. However, it was notthat simple. I was still responsible for the spiritual well being of my smallflock. It could notjust think of myself at a moment like this. So, I chose to invest the next severalyears of my ministry teaching my parish as much as I could about the Orthodoxfaith. During this time my ownunderstanding and practice of the Orthodox faith grew exponentially, and thishas forever changed me. Many in thecongregation that I serve have also fallen in love with Orthodoxy. In the last several months there has been arather strong desire to begin our move in the Orthodox direction.

My first hope toenter into the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church,the Orthodox Church, and to bring as many as will come with me. My second hopeis to do all that I can to contribute to the formation of an American Orthodoxy. May the Lord have mercy upon us, guide us,and watch over us as we move towards His church.

Time, Space , & Matter - pt 3

2011-11-26T08:51:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T06:51:00.001-08:00

From the vespers service of Thanksgiving (Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese):

Everyone capable of thanksgiving is capable of salvation and eternal joy. Wherefore we Thine unworthy servants offer praise to Thee our Savior, for Thou hast given all things to us, even our very lives.

Thou hast poured blessings upon us though we are ungrateful and disobedient. Showing mercy rather than righteous vengeance; Thou didst even give Thyself as a sacrifice to save us.
Accept our hymns as a thank offering, and through them enable us with our whole heart; to eternally praise Thee the Creator, Benefactor and Savior of our souls.

Orthodoxy For Anglicans

2011-11-17T18:32:00.001-08:00

Until the eleventh century, the English Church shared more than a love of icons with the whole body of the Orthodox Church: they shared a communion of beliefs, moral practice, and liturgical life with the Church throughout the world. This lasted for centuries, but it was not to last forever.

Even after the Schism of 1054 – the division between Rome and the rest of the Christian world – England remained in communion with the Eastern Orthodox. In 1066, the Norman Invasion, with backing from the pope of Rome, forced the submission to Frankish Rome of all English churchmen. Rome had already broken communion with the Orthodox East, and changed the Creed and the Conciliar tradition of the Church by elevating one bishop – the Bishop of Rome – above all others.

Why did the English remain in communion with the Orthodox East? Not because the English (and the Irish, Scots, and Welsh, as we would call them today) disliked Rome. The English church was part of the Orthodox church, from its beginnings, until the purge of Orthodox bishops following the Battle of Hastings. The English were Orthodox... More

Time, Space, Matter, and The Eyes - Iconography

2011-11-17T07:48:00.001-08:00

I have heard the Anglican Bishop, N. T. Wright tell a story of his experience as the chaplain in one of the ivey league schools in the UK. In that story he recounts a common event during his chaplaincy; it was his job to interview every student that came under his care when they enterd the school. Inevitably he would ask the question, "do you believe in God?" The great majority of the students answered this way: 'Oh no, I don't believe in some angry old man, who sits in the clouds, and sends down misfortune upon anyone who doesn't please him." To that the Bishop would answer, "Thank God, I don't believe in that God either." After this response, most students would go into temporary shock, after all he was a bishop, he was expected to believe, and this was the only god they knew. They knew only of a non material god, outside of time and space, who had no real inter-connection with his creation. They had no idea which god it is that Christians have claimed throughout the ages to be the God of creation.

I dont' know what bishop Wright said after that, I hope he said: "I belieive in the God of Israel, who was present with them, the God of the apostles who took on flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the God of the church fathers who was present with them while they were being tortured and burned at the stake, the God we find revealed in the bible and experienced within ourselves by way of His Spirit, the God who is first and foremost love, mercy, and compassion, and who made that love known in the peson of Jesus Christ."

Whatever else might be noted in the two different views here is that we believe in God that is both beyond us, and yet with us, & even in us. Moreover, we believe that God is forever connected to our matter. It is for this reason that the church from its earliest days determined to employ icons as visual presentations of both the bible, and the life of the church. Since God took on matter, He has forever sanctified it, and made holy.

Nevertheless, as a visual representation, iconography is not static, it too has been translated into forms more understandable by the cultures where the icon seeks to materially present God. Below are some contemporary translations of ancient iconography.

If one views and meditates on these Americanized icons, it is very difficult not to expereince God's presence, it is very difficult not learn something of God, and even more importantly, not expereince something of God.

More to come......

Time, Space & Matter - Part 1

2011-10-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

Ever since the early days of Greek philosophy, the west has found itself in a gargantuan wrestling match with the concepts of time, space, and matter.

The first concern in history was over matter. Thales of Miletus (the first official philosopher) began a school of thought that came to be called "material monism." He and the material monists who followed him derived that the entire visible cosmos came from a single thing or principle (either water, the infinite, air, fire). Their concern was with the origin, makeup, and right use of matter. These material monists also taught that motion is caused by the soul (psyche) because the soul (psyche) was the location where the gods exerted their powers. Consequently, anything that had the power to move things, such as rocks that move water, magnets that move metal, or persons that move objects all have souls; and the souls are “full of the gods.”

These precepts developed and transformed as the years went by, however they never departed the western mind. By the time Christianity came around, St. Paul knew that everyone understood that “it is in God that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17: 28).” This also meant that all matter was inescapably intertwined with God, and that there was a sense in which all things were holy! This became a central tenant of Christian thought. One of the best treatments of this topic is found in the book, “On The Incarnation,” by St. Athanasius.

Nevertheless, another kind of thinking would later trump the conviction that God is in all things. The challenge finds its origins in the influence of another pre-Socratic philosopher by the name of Heraclitus. It is by the teaching of Heraclitus that dualism was born in the sixth century BC. Years later, the teachings of Plato and Heraclitus would be merged to form the neo-Platonists, and they would forever firm up the concepts of material dualism instead of material monism.

In the early years of Christianity, neo-Platonism ruled in many corners of the Greco-Roman world. The neo-Platonists, following Heraclitus’ lead, taught that there was an anti-world unlike ours where the gods dwelt, and that was the perfect world. Consequently, this world and the things in it are not holy, nor our permanent home, “we’re just a passing through.” This kind of thinking, never again departed the western mind.

Coupled with Islamic influence, matter was stripped of its holiness. Matter and pictures began to be seen as inappropriate to represent the perfect world, and much less the perfect God thus the Christian doctrine of the incarnation was made a secondary doctrine. In summary, the iconoclast controversy in the eighth century came to represent both sides of argument. The historic Christian school argued that since God entered into matter, matter had been sanctified, and thus been enabled to represent the heavenly matter, time, and space of God. The other school taught matter is inadequate and unacceptable to make that representation, and therefore not to be done.

The iconoclasts were eventually defeated, but only to rise again after the reformation. It is for this reason that much of Western Christianity takes place in a hall with four plain walls and a pulpit. It is also for this reason that a theology of “why bother to polish brass on a sinking ship” rules the day. The task at hand for those who are paleo–orthodox (ancient-orthodox) is to reassert the necessity of God being at work in all things; as St Paul said, “it is in God that we live, and move and have our being.” This is especially true regarding those things which he calls the mysteries (sacraments) of the church.

More to come…

Beauty Will Save the World

2011-10-12T06:49:00.000-07:00

There is a certain beauty that points to the restored wholeness that awaits us in the future. The church, herself being a sacrament, should point us to that future in all that she does. In her decorum, in her music, in her iconography, and also in her dress. Below are a few pictures of the kind of orthodox western vestments found in the English church that put this beauty on display.

Presbyters in cassocks, gowns, and bands: this the daily dress for clergy while at church or on church business.

A Presbyter in a cassock, surplice, hood, and scarf or tippet.

A Presbyter dressed in a black cassock, white surplice, black scarf or tippet, and a cope.

The Archbishop is dressed with a cope, stole, and mitre.

The Dean and Archbishop in copes.

“What is God’s will for my life?”

2011-10-11T10:36:00.000-07:00

Discerning God’s will is both extremely easy and at the same time impossibly difficult. The reason for this is the fact that certain parts of God’s will have been clearly and adequately revealed, while other parts have been left a mystery. The church has come to call these two wills: God’s hidden will and God’s revealed will.

God has not told us everything that He knows or plans. There are secrets that belong to Him alone. At the same time, the Lord has revealed certain things that are for us and our children forever (Deut. 29:29).

God’s hidden, or secret will encompasses His sovereign choices which direct all things that come to pass in creation (Ps. 33:11; Isa. 46:8–10). These choices are unalterable, and are what Scripture alludes to when it says God cannot change His mind (Num. 23:19). We cannot know these choices in advance, and they are, “none of our business.” And while God’s choices direct the courses of our lives; they in no way excuse our rejection or trespass of those things which God has revealed. God’s secret will is a mystery, and it is meant to be so in order that the just might live by faith in accordance with what He has revealed (Hab 2:4, Rom 1: 17).

God also has a revealed will, it is found first in scripture, then in the teachings of the fathers, then in the teachings of the ecumenical councils and creeds, then in the ancient liturgies, and finally in the icons. They all contain that which God has revealed to the world for our salvation.

The rub in all of this occurs when we fail to remember that His hidden will (those things which unfold in our lives) is at work in such a way that it tests our faith in His revealed will. Faith is the assurance that God has a good purpose for His people that cannot be thwarted (Rom. 8:28), no matter what may be happening in our lives. Faith then, is living according to God’s revealed will in the midst of His secret will. This is the reason that works can never be separated from faith; where there is faith there must by necessity be works (Jam 2:24), and it is for this reason that everyone will be judged by their works (Rom 2: 5-6).

Panis Angelicus - King's College, Cambridge

2011-10-07T18:01:00.000-07:00

Robert Parsons - Ave Maria

2011-10-07T17:57:00.000-07:00

The Next Christendom

2011-09-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

Although not the first to make the point, and certainly not the last, Philip Jenkin’s The Next Christendom popularized the notion that Christianity is undergoing a metamorphosis. Jenkins, an Englishman and the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of the Humanities at Penn State University, maintains that the heart of Christianity soon will be, if it is not already, Africa and Latin America. And the shift is not merely a demographic one, but an ideological one as well. Various African and Latin American expressions of Christianity are currently eclipsing the European version of Christianity. Read More

What Can Evangelicals And Orthodox Learn From One Another - Lectures By Metropolitan Kallistos Ware - Ancient Faith Radio

2011-09-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

What Can Evangelicals And Orthodox Learn From One Another - Lectures By Metropolitan Kallistos Ware - Ancient Faith Radio

The Census & Signs of Western Decline

2011-08-30T08:29:00.000-07:00

Census figures in Memphis represent a modest decline in two-parent households since 2000, when 38.4 percent of Memphis kids lived in them. They also depict a sharp contrast between the city and the rest of Shelby County, with 69.7 percent of the 76,774 Shelby County children living outside Memphis city limits residing in two-parent households. National figures from the 2010 Census aren't available yet, but statewide, 58 percent of Tennessee's nearly 1.5 million children are in two-parent homes. Researchers and area officials say the trend toward single-parent homes is highly worrisome, but not new or limited to Memphis. Many of Memphis' most difficult problems are rooted in the growing prevalence of single-parent households in the poverty-stricken inner city, said Eugene K. Cashman Jr., president and CEO of the Urban Child Institute. “The most critical years for brain development are from conception to age 3, “Cashman said. "Being in a single-family home is a stressful environment," he said. "There's undoubtedly less resources. There's less time to touch, talk, read and play with them." The educational disadvantages translate into a less-equipped workforce, which leads to diminished economic development and a continuing cycle of poverty, Cashman said. More here.

The Western Mind, Heart, & Belly pt1

2011-08-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

This is the first video blog in the series "The Westerm Mind, Heart, & Belly".

Welcome to the Orthamerica video blog

2011-08-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Some Differences Between East and West

2011-08-12T07:22:00.000-07:00

The schism between the east and the west is a complex subject and should not be limited to political relations between the bishops and emperors but should emphasize the cultivating factors of the cultures at large and how the cultures infected the doctrines of both sides. One major difference between the western church (Roman Catholic) and the Eastern Church (Eastern Orthodox) is the manner of which theology is organized, taught and digested. Today, the Orthodox Church refers to nearly all western theology as scholasticism. Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos explains scholasticism as such in Orthodox Spirituality: A brief introduction:

“Scholastic theology tried to understand logically the Revelation of God and conform to philosophical methodology. Characteristic of such an approach is the saying of Anselm [Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093-1109, one of the first after the Norman Conquest and destruction of the Old English Orthodox Church]: “I believe so as to understand.” The Scholastics acknowledged God at the outset and then endeavoured to prove His existence by logical arguments and rational categories. In the Orthodox Church, as expressed by the Holy Fathers, faith is God revealing Himself to man. Read more…

Consumerism & Contentment?

2011-08-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

I was born on the communist island of Cuba in 1962, right in the midst of the Cuban missile crisis. It was a time when the island’s communist leadership had begun to take all private property from individuals and make them the property of the state. The new found profits were then distributed among the new elite within the communist party. All of this was done with the motto “everyone equal.” History has shown us that some were more equal than others. In any case, the drive for equality proved to be huge enough to hypnotize the population into acquiescence. The dream sold by the communists and bought by the people was one wherein everyone would be equally able to consume to the point of contentment. Obviously, that never happened. What has happened is that the Cuban economy is ruins and the people live low on the global poverty level. The dream of consuming to point of contentment became a nightmare.

As a reward for disagreeing with the new system, my parents and their children (myself included) were exiled from the Island nation. We settled in the U. S. where a totally different paradigm ruled. The American dream appeared to be one wherein a person could, if they desired work hard enough, consume one’s way into contentment. Consuming was for all intents and purposes the new path to salvation, it was that thing which would make all other things right. Now, this was obviously too crude to state outright, but it was nevertheless the reality for just about everyone I knew. And thus, consume we did. Unfortunately, it never produced the much sought after contentment, and left us with a great deal of debt. It did not take very long to figure out that something was very wrong!

The American dream has not always been to consume ourselves into contentment, nevertheless, it is not difficult to show that this has been our nation’s underlying goal since WWII; consuming has been our gospel. Nevertheless, it seems that the era of hoping for salvation through consumption may be drawing to a close. One need not have a degree in economics to note that the shifts in our prosperity are monumental, and everyone realizes something is severely wrong!

We may be entering into the most gospel hungry era in the history of our nation. Are the preachers of our nation ready for this? Are the churches ready to come out from under the yoke of consumerism, or is our gospel too contaminated with the gospel of the past 50 years? It is time that we take the words of our Lord seriously; there is no other gospel than that of Christ. There is no contentment except that which is found in the death of this world and the birth of the world to come.

Repent (metanoeo: redirect your understanding) for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (within reach).

Mat 4: 17

A New Era

2011-07-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

“Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”

These words were uttered by King David upon hearing of the death of King Saul. He remembered the former reign of Saul and lamented the end of an era. Of course, we now know that greater and more glorious days were close at hand. However, David had no way of knowing that even more glorious days were awaiting him. It is always this way when there is a change of eras.

However, when we compare the change that occurred between Saul’s administration and David’s, it seems insignificant in comparison to the change of an entire epoch. The last great epoch change occurred with the beginning of the modern era. Most scholars assign the birth of the modern era to the creation of the Guttenberg press. If you will recall, it was in the 16^th century that both the renaissance and the reformation came into full flower. The world would never be the same after these events. The worldview, morality, and politics of the western world took a completely new direction in the modern era. Natural science became the launching pad for the modern worldview, morality became centered on the individual’s desires & freedoms, and politics took on a democratic style.

Modernity however, has for all intents and purposes crashed and burned. No one of consequence believes that we will “science” our way, or “individualize” our way out of our very real problems. Humanity is broken, our system of thought is broken, politics is broken, and most are aware enough to recognize it.

In other words, we are living in a time of epoch change. A friend and colleague recently commented that the events of 911 would go down in the annals of history as the nail on the coffin of modernity. It is here however that the Christian stands while others fall. We know that the best is yet to come; how, when, and where may all be a mystery, but the fact is that the gates of hell will never prevail the church. The most glorious days of the church are yet to come.

What then is the church to do with modernity? Are we to throw it into the junk heap of history? No; at least not all of it. There has been much good that has come from modernity, education on mass, scientific advance in areas of medicine, the suppression of despotism of all sorts. The gospel has moved forward in many ways, and these good things should be preserved.

The task at hand is not merely one of deconstruction, or undoing the errors of modernity, but it is also one of reconstruction; by that I mean retaining the best of both pre-modernity (mystery, philosophy, revelation, corporate culture) and modernity, all the while looking to see where the Lord is taking His people. In short, the church must strive towards a full blown worldview that incorporates the fullness of truth, the fullness of pre-modern Orthodoxy, medieval Catholicity, and modern Evangelicalism.

An Orthodox Anglican Conversation

2011-07-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

It is not often that a discussion between two historic expressions of Christianity result in a pleasant conclusion. Here is one that does. In this conversation, several important topics such as conservatism/liberalism and ideology, Augustinianism and Pelagianism, higher criticism and the patrisitcs are discussed. This conversation highlights many important themes must be addressed and sorted out for the future American church.

Proud Aliens

2011-06-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

There are many things that are quite puzzling about Christianity to those who dwell on the outside when they look in. This is especially the case when we refer to the classic and historic worship forms of Christianity.

Those of us who practice the ancient faith do strange things like: process while carrying the Bible, banners, and crosses; we light candles, & use large amounts of incense; our clergy & altar servers dress as if they were already in the heavens. And if all of this were not strange enough, we say words that were written thousands of years ago, & we sing songs that span the 2000 (to 3500) year history of the church. And we even celebrate days on a calendar that no one in our country seems to know anything about.

We obviously belong to another rhythm of time. Our worship exposes to the watching world that we are aliens. To the outside observer, this kind of experience can be very appealing or very mystifying. In either case, it is obvious to all our worship has within it many layers of meaning. Meaning which is not easily apprehended by the biblically illiterate. Historic worship requires a new mind, heart, and soul, one shaped by another world, a spiritual world where God gives himself to us. For the reason we above all people should be eager to share our spiritual culture with all who will listen.

Consequently, it is imperative that churches that practice the ancient way of worship invest deeply in the training of their people. The mission work for historic churches (& thus the churches of the future) must focus on exposing the uninitiated to that other world that we know by every means possible: we must teach the bible, the Fathers, the councils, the songs, the prayers, the iconography, & the great books. It is by passing down the one faith in its fullness (no subtractions) that the Spirit begins to have his way with us. Historic churches are not to be museums, but rahter living and active, always at work in the molding of persons into the image of the Son of God.

Is Christianity In A Tailspin?

2011-06-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

It is inarguable that the contemporary western culture in which we live is in a spiritual tailspin. Some have labeled our era “the Post-Christian era,” others “the Post-Modern Era.” In any case, we are post, or past that which came just a few decades ago. I would assert that we are in a “The Post-Modernistic Christian Era.”

What I mean by a "Post Modernistic Christian era" is that we live in an age wherein the masses have analyzed & rejected the precepts & practices of the particular brand of Christianity that has given shape to the western mind. Unfortunately, that also means that most persons assume that they know Christianity in toto, & found it lacking.

Consequently, the western church is in deep turmoil. It is undeniable that western Christianity is experiencing a shrinking membership, & a diminishing redemptive effect on our culture; this reality stresses the fact that we cannot remain in this state.

All agree that "status quo" is not an option if we desire to survive in this new world. If we in the western church are to successfully plot a track towards the future, it is imperative that we understand how Christianity arrived at its present place. This also means that we must ask what exactly has been rejected by the masses, & why?

CONTEMPORARY REJECTIONS:

1- The vain God who desires nothing more than his honor.

2- The angry, yet loving God.

3- The simplistic explanations of creation, why evil exists, and right & wrong.

4- The sure versions of truth based on one individual’s view of reality.

The above rejections are completely justified, I say this because the earliest expressions of Christianity did not hold to any of those four precepts. Nevertheless, some version of these precepts listed above are alive & well in most expressions of western Christianity. It seems fitting therefore to state that one can be a Christian & yet not hold to the above objections. Moreover, it may even be said that in order for Christianity is to survive in the west, we must recover the purer Christianity that was free from these modernistic additions.

I suggest we begin by considering how & when we adopted the above points of view above as central tenets of our faith. In other words, we must figure out how these tenets got into the faith & then ask ourselves what existed prior to their entrance. What was the earlier & purer way? If there has ever been a better/purer way, then we should not only be familiar with that way, but also consider using that way as the pattern for the future.

The Prophecy of Egbert

2011-05-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

When I was being examined for my confirmation in the Anglican Church, I made several promises to God and to all who were present. One the most important promises was in response to this question, “what is your duty to your neighbor?” In response, I recited the answer placed into my mouth by the church, it began with these words. “My duty towards my neighbor is to love him as myself.”

This is perhaps the most difficult task that I have ever taken on, & yet it has been the most transformative. If for no other reason, because it regularly causes me to refrain from shooting from the hip every time someone strikes me the wrong way. I surely desire for folks to be patient with me, to hear what I am saying, and to try to get at my heart, & not merely what I am saying. Thus this promise provokes me to at least try do the same with others whom I would by nature have for lunch.

Never has this been truer than when it comes to the events of the past week. I was initially motivated to write scores of criticisms & condemnations regarding Harold Egbert Camping’s prophecies. However, I somehow (by God’s grace) remembered that promise I made long ago to love the way I want to be loved. This promise I made long ago gave me the opportunity to ask myself whether Egbert was setting out to do evil to the world? I don’t believe he desired to do evil; in his mistaken heart, he seemed to want to do good. He believes a mistaken version of the gospel that many others also believe, & he was serious about spreading it; moreover, he was even successful spreading his faith. All the while so many others who have it right will not put it all on the line to do so. Consequently, I say kudos to Egbert for his courage & willingness to put it all on the line & spread what he believed to be true. It is at that point that my charity towards Egbert stops. Why? Because he did harm the world, he dragged the name of Christ through the dirt, & made Christianity even more of a laughing stock, & he led many who followed him into ruin. Lord have mercy on Egbert.

What is it that gives a man such audacity? What gives a man such permission to see himself as the authoritative interpreter of scripture & truth? Perhaps the force that that gives an individual this kind of permission that is the true enemy exposed by the failed prophesy of Egbert. The fact is that everyone who was sure that the end of the apocalypse would not occur on the 21^st of May at 6 pm is equally as guilty as Egbert. Why? Because, the church has already spoken regarding scripture on this subject.

The undivided church (not any one individual) has with one voice; the voice of the Spirit, said that regarding the last day no man knows the time or the day. This means that anyone who said to themselves, or publicly, that the world would not come to an end was equally as sure of their own prophetic capacities. The fact is Egbert was wrong, nevertheless, if the church was correct, then the end could very well have come at 6 pm on the 21^st.

In the failed “Prophecy of Egbert”, as well as in the responses against him, we find the problem that the contemporary world seems totally powerless to overcome, & that is the assurance that we individuals have equal authority with the voice of the undivided church to declare dogma. Not until we learn to humble ourselves and embrace the voice of the Spirit who has spoken by His church, by means of the ecumenical councils do we even stand a chance to apprehend the truth. There is sure truth, & it is found in the voice of the undivided church, everything else that you & I come up with on your own is pure speculation & its relevance on the truth is small. It does not matter whether these speculations come to us as the voice of one man who calls himself Pope, or as the voice of another who says that it is his illumination & the authority of his bible. Both are two sides of one coin, & both find their origin in the Great Schism where one man placed himself above the church. If our voices do not match the voice of the undivided church, then it is mere speculation.

Do You Know?

2011-05-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

Rowan Williams: a letter to a six-year-old

2011-05-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

A news story in The Telegraph.

A six-year-old Scottish girl named Lulu wrote a letter to God: “To God, How did you get invented?” Lulu's father, who is not a believer, sent her letter to various church leaders: the Scottish Episcopal Church (no reply), the Presbyterians (no reply), and the Scottish Catholics (who sent a theologically complex reply). He also sent it to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who sent the following letter in reply:

Dear Lulu,

Your dad has sent on your letter and asked if I have any answers. It’s a difficult one! But I think God might reply a bit like this –

‘Dear Lulu – Nobody invented me – but lots of people discovered me and were quite surprised. They discovered me when they looked round at the world and thought it was really beautiful or really mysterious and wondered where it came from. They discovered me when they were very, very quiet on their own and felt a sort of peace and love they hadn’t expected. Then they invented ideas about me – some of them sensible and some of them not very sensible. From time to time I sent them some hints – especially in the life of Jesus – to help them get closer to what I’m really like. But there was nothing and nobody around before me to invent me. Rather like somebody who writes a story in a book, I started making up the story of the world and eventually invented human beings like you who could ask me awkward questions!’

And then he’d send you lots of love and sign off. I know he doesn’t usually write letters, so I have to do the best I can on his behalf. Lots of love from me too.

+Archbishop Rowan

Now that is real theology. A theological specialist should never occupy his time making the faith more complex, but rather help us to grasp how simple it really is.

Something Is Wrong

2011-04-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

From very early on in our human lives, we begin to develop a suspicion that all is not well. I have very early memories, perhaps from the age of 3 or 4, of the experience of fear. I can specifically remember the fear of being taken to school and being left alone there as a kindergartener. I remember having negative confrontations with others from my earliest of years; I can specifically remember a fight over a toy. All of these things and many more, made it clear that life was not as it should be. From my earliest years I knew that something was wrong with others, and I suspected that something might even be wrong with me.

The church has a name for this universal experience, and it is the term “sin”. However, at this point it is necessary that we extract the term “sin” from all of our fundamentalist western notions, and instead try to rethink of it anew. I find it helpful to try to see sin as a universal virus, a problem which the early church called a “distortion”. To distort a thing is to misshape it, and thus not allow the thing to remain in its original form, much like a virus does to our bodies when we catch it. This gets at the heart of the term sin, which literally means miss the mark, or perhaps, to miss the point of the design.

What is that point? The point or goal is a successful 3-fold relationship. It is a successful relationship with God, with others, and with our creation. Who can argue or deny that there is within us a force that distorts us so forcefully that we cannot have right relationships in these 3 areas? If we are to rediscover sin, then we must come to know it, but particularly as it is at work in ourselves.

To accomplish this we must be clued into the fact that sin is a power. It is a power that blocks our freedom to live in right relationship we know we should have; with God, with others, and with our creation. The teachings of Jesus, the apostles, and the ancient church instruct us to begin to deal with our distorting power by searching out its presence is in ourselves.

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Mat 7: 3-5

The truth passed down to us by the church is that we must to learn to ask ourselves; how is my relationship to God, to others, and to the creation not right? It is at that point that we can begin to rethink “sin”.

Today is Suspended Upon The Tree

2011-04-22T06:04:00.000-07:00

Today is suspended upon the Tree, He who suspended the land upon waters.
Today is suspended upon the Tree, He who suspended the land upon waters.
Today is suspended upon the Tree, He who suspended the land upon waters.

A crown of thorns crowns Him, who is the King of the angels.
He is wrapped in the purple robe of mockery, who wraps the heavens with clouds.
He receives smitings, who freed Adam in the Jordan.
He is tranfixed with nails, Who is the Son of the Virgin.

We worship Thy passion, O Christ.
We worship Thy passion, O Christ.
We worship Thy passion, O Christ.
Show us also Thy glorious resurrection!

Rediscovering Sin

2011-04-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

The next subject I would like tackle is the pressing need our in the contemporary west to revisit & rediscover the historic church’s view of sin.

This is obviously a highly unpopular subject, & for good reason. Much of the last several hundred years have heard sin defined by a set of truncated cultural mores. In our nation, sin has too often been forced into the shape of the mores of Victorian court, rather than the shape espoused by the undivided church. This has caused many to reject the concept of sin altogether. This rejection has lead to a free-for-all. Nevertheless, sin has not gone away, its painful consequences remain. It is still evil, it still destroys God’s beloved children, & by extension it destroys the whole creation over which we are caretakers.

Therefore, it is critically important that we rediscover what sin is, its presence, as well as its effect upon us. In this post I would simply like to offer a concise definition of sin that comes to us from the mind of the undivided church:

Sin is the seeking of one’s own will instead of the will of God, thus distorting our relationship with God, with other people, and with creation.

I will address each of these assertions in the postings to follow.

A Liturgical Hermeneutic

2011-03-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

Thus far in this series on bible interpretation called “hermeneutics’, I have addressed the need for our western culture to relearn “humility” in bible interpretation, as well the need to focus on “obedience” as a means of better interpretation. The last point that I would make in this short series is that we also need to rediscover “liturgical interpretation.” I have found that the best summation of this approach comes from the pen of Bishop Kallistos Ware.

He writes:

“As an example of what it means to interpret scripture in a liturgical way, guided by the use of it at church feasts, let us look at the Old Testament lessons appointed for vespers on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25^th. They are three in number… All are to be understood as prophesies of the incarnation from the virgin. Mary is Jacob’s ladder (Gen 28:10-17), supplying the flesh that God incarnate takes when entering into the world. Mary is the closed gate who alone among women bore a child while inviolate (Eze 43: 1-4). Mary is the house which Christ the wisdom of God takes as His dwelling (Pro 8: 22-30). Exploring this manner of choice of lesson for the various feasts, we discover layers of biblical interpretation that by no means obvious at first reading.”

While it should never be said that the plain meaning of words: phrases, clauses, and the like are of no consequence, it should also be said that the plain meaning is simply the first layer of meaning to be explored. The reformation was not incorrect in calling for a restoration of the plain meaning of the text; that was truly necessary in its day because for the most part it had been lost to the inventions of medieval preachers. However, the sad outcome was that as the liturgies were tossed out, so were the second layers of understanding exposed in the liturgies.

The liturgical cycle of the first millennium are not a mere option, they are a real necessity because they contain within them the deepest levels of biblical understanding.

An Obedient Hermeneutic

2011-03-18T13:39:00.000-07:00

In this next treatment of bible interpretation I would like to consider the role of obedience in our hermeneutics.

In Gen 12:1 we read, Now the Lord said to Abram…

The very 1^st thing worth noting is that the church of Christ believes and teaches that it is not only possible for God to make himself known & experienced by persons, but rather that it this is precisely the thing that God loves & intends to do.

God desires a situation wherein his creation lives before him at all times, & not only with God’s awareness of the creation's presence, but with the creatures equally aware of God’s presence.

At the same time we should also note that we are not told exactly how this voice of God came to Abraham, that is a mystery.

We know this, somehow, God revealed himself, & somehow Abraham heard rightly; so let me start again from vs 1:

12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

2^nd, please notice that this conversation seems to be a monologue; I say it seems, but we cannot be sure that this was the whole conversation.

After all we do not know where Moses learned the content of this meeting (maybe Jewish elders, maybe Egyptian books, maybe direct revelation), however, we can be sure of this; this is the part of conversation that the Spirit wants the church to know.

The point of the conversation is that when God speaks to Abram he tells him you GO! & then as you GO, I WILL; in fact, God says I WILL 5 times.

You GO, & I WILL show you where, I WILL make you a great nation, I WILL bless you, I WILL bless those who bless you, I WILL Curse those who do not.

When God causes himself to be experienced by Abraham, & any person, he first commands a following or a work of faith, & then when we follow, HE ACTS before our eyes.

Notice what we read in vs 4:

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him … 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.”

As Abraham went, God began to Act, & to come to Him more & more. Abram left & god reveals himself again & tells him where he is going- To your offspring I will give this land.”

And as Abraham is strengthened he turns to God more and more, now Abraham begins to go before God

So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.

And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

When God speaks, if we listen, we follow, only then does He speak more, & the more He speaks, the more we can follow, & the further we are drawn into the life of God.

Interpreting the bible has everything to do with hearing God speak and following his commands so that we might further understand, no following results in no understanding.

Humble Hermeneutics

2011-03-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

Before we begin a serious comparison between the ancient methodology of bible interpretation and that of the present, I want to emphasize the pressing need for humility in our day. Specifically, our need to rediscover humility in bible interpretation. It is due to our lack of humility that many are misled by the darkness both within us and outside of us. Thus, it is here that we might learn a thing or two from the dessert fathers.

The devil appeared to a monk, disguised as an angel of light, and said to him, “I am the angel Gabriel and I have been sent to you. But the monk said, see if you have not been sent to someone else; I am not worthy to have an angel sent to me. At once the devil vanished.

There is a tendency in contemporary bible interpretation to set aside the reality of our own limitations, and to presuppose that God is speaking to us and revealing something unique to us individually. Those two tendencies possess just enough error to be spiritually unhealthy. Surely God is speaking to us through his divine word, but never in isolation from the rest of the church. This means that whenever we deduce a meaning of a particular scripture, our conclusion cannot differ from that which others have received (all the way back to the beginning). If there is disagreement about a text, then we carefully consider the outcomes of debates, synods, councils, &C…. It may also very well be that the church has not given a strict conclusion about particular text, and we too must learn to hold a view any interpretation of those texts as private and not universal interpretations. However, when the church speaks with one voice, it is incumbant upon us to grow into that understandng and forsake our own. It is spiritual pride that leads a person to say, this has been revealed to ME, and no one else!

Like the monk in the quote above, we must learn to view our private interpretations and revelations with a great deal of suspicion, and the way to do so is by elevating the one voice of the church above our own. When we do this, those demons of interpretation quickly vanish. Those who pretend to speak with authority, yet whose voice is not aligned with the whole church (all the way back to the beginning) have probably bought into a similar false and demonic vision as that of the monk in our quote. The mindset that should prevail in us is one that sees the one voice of the church as greater than our own.

Salvation According to the Fathers

2011-02-20T21:13:00.000-08:00

One Word

2011-02-15T05:17:00.000-08:00

There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Eph 4: 4-6

The oneness of our faith and our God has been the main focus of every post thus far. I have stressed that there can be no internal or temporal changes within the godhead. This means that God cannot change His mind about anyone or anything, and that the persons of the godhead cannot think differently, they must all be of one mind. See: “One God, One Mind, One Mission.”

I also stressed the oneness that can exist between our One God and mankind. We saw that scriptural witness is that it is not only possible, but necessary for persons to participate in the work or energy of God, and that it is through this participation that we are restored to the image and likeness of God, see “Energy and God.”

In the next series of posts I would like to compare and contrast this one God of the ancient church, and this one salvation to that of the contemporary western church by the way that the two treat the interpretation of scripture. I intend to compare the way we in the contemporary west understand the scriptures as compared to those who came before us. My goal is to make plain the reality that scriptural interpretation is the church’s gift to mankind, and to point out what happens when individuals set their personal interpretation against that of the undivided church. There is only one God, one faith, and one word!

No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 1 Pet 1:20-21

Life In God

2011-01-29T12:25:00.000-08:00

The Nicene confession has enshrined the fact that all things were made through Christ. Consequently, through the Creed - Christ, the Apostles, the Church Fathers, and the Church Councils teach us that the cosmos are the stage upon which the Triune God enacts a great drama of communion by sharing the divine life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with persons who are not God.

At the heart of this divine act of creation, we find God’s desire to make room for created persons in the communion of the uncreated Persons of the Blessed Trinity through an adoptive participation in Christ. In short, God has made a way to share himself with those whom He has created, and thus He has constructed all things to facilitate that end. This truth should help us conclude then that the whole cosmos exist with the stage for communion with God in mind. The cosmos are designed then as a means of entry into this interrelationship God by way of an adoption by one who is part of the Trinity, the Son, and our Lord Jesus Christ. The point being that while we all walk around on the stage we call the cosmos, we never enter into the ongoing play as full participants until we become united to Christ by adoption. In other words, there are the stage hands and the actors, and the actors are those in who are in Christ.

The proclamation of the gospel is the doorway which opens the path that leads to this adoption, and thus to participation in the divine drama. By believing the gospel and thus believing that God not only is, but as the Psalmist says, that He is a rewarder of those who seek (look for) Him, we become not stage hands but true actors and participants in the life of the Trinity which allows us to know God.

It is this participation in the life of God that gospel presentation must expose to those of us in the west who have heard of another kind of salvation. The gospel should expose to us that salvation is a life lived in the drama which we know as the life of the Trinity. It is that life alone which enables us to know God experientially, and that life alone which restores us to the reason we were created.

Noetic Mystery

2011-01-18T16:56:00.000-08:00

The universal belief of all Christians is that the “one faith” originates with God the Father, becomes available to mankind through Christ the Son, and is apportioned to persons by God the Holy Spirit. However, ask the question, "for what purpose?" or, "what is this faith inteded to produce?" And the answers start to diverge. St. Paul tells the Ephesians:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Eph 2: 4-7.

According to St Paul, the purpose for this one faith is to enable us to experience God both in the present through Christ, and in the age to come through Christ. The goal of this faith is nothing less than to produce our participation in the life of God through Christ, and thus a participation in mystery. The church uses the term mystery because we have no words that adequately convey what it means to know and be known by God, this experience is something that can only be poorly described. The term for this kind of knowledge attained by our description is called cataphatic knowledge.

The goal of faith goes beyond catapahtic knowledge to noetic knowledge. Through noetic knowledge the God of mystery made known by the fullness of experience, and by the intimate interaction that can only occur between one person and another person. When this is reality is understood our theological debates take on a completely different tone. Can we debate God with someone who does not know God? Obviously not, however, many Christians have fallen no the trap and they have done so because they believe that they can make a better argument for their points than those who do not know God. Perhaps they can make a better argument, however, the problem is that no amount of knowledge transmitted by a debate can produce intimacy with another person, especially when it comes to the God who is mystery.

The sum and substance of Christianity’s one faith is the personal experiential knowledge of the mysterious God. Why do we believe? We believe because we know God and are known by God. What do we believe? We believe what God has said. All of this shifts the emphasis from the intellect to the noetic knowldge regarding a mystery. Not that the intellect serves no purpose, it does, but its importance is small by comparison.

One Faith of Mystery

2011-01-12T13:10:00.000-08:00

I began this blog page with the intention of first speaking on the oneness of God. While the subject has by no means been exhausted, I hope that it has been made abundantly clear that the oneness of God is central to the Christian faith, any misstep with regards to that great truth and we plunge headlong into a religion that is something other than Christianity.

Next, I intend to touch upon the “one faith”. The Christian faith is “one whole faith”. Add any parts to it (post-schism west) or leave any parts out (post-protestant west), and we fall into the same trap as those who fail to apprehend the one God, and end up with another religion.

The first point I want to stress is that this one faith is first and foremost a mystery. What I mean by mystery is that it begins and ends in another dimension, one for which our present dimension has no means to explain fully. Nevertheless, we are created by God to experience and know that dimension. Let us call that dimension the heavens; the place where time is marked out by kairos or eternity, and not chronos or temporality. This dimension is also the place where in the spiritual is as apprehendable as the physical, therefore the place wherein the “One God” dwells with clear perceptibility.

That faith requires both knowledge and participation, the sum of which I want to call experience. Nevertheless, the kind of experience can only be called mystical experience (an experience in the mystery of God’s realm). Unfortunately, in the post schism west we have reduced the Christian to the knowledge of dogma and the practice of virtues. Important as these two may be, they are meaningless without an experience of God. Therefore, the one faith to which I refer is a particular gift that Jesus Christ gives to mankind throught the Holy Spirit so that they can experience God in his ohterwise mysterious existence. The one faith must lead to the expereince of God.

In the blogs to follow I will address various aspects of the one faith that leads to an encounter with the God of mystery.

Blessed Are You O God

2011-01-03T08:35:00.000-08:00

Energetic Participation

2011-01-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

In the contemporary western world, salvation is too often presented by Christians to the world as merely the transferring of man from death to life delivered to man by God free of works (ergon) accomplished by the one who is saved by God. Because of this view salvation, is often presented by way of a typical metaphor that speaks of man as a dead man floating on the water, and of Christ as the savior, a rescuer who comes to the floating man, brings him in to the boat, and then once the man is in the boat He resuscitates the him. So far so good, however, the mistake that follows is that they also insist that once the man in the boat and is resuscitated, the rescue is complete.

It is fine to say that the rescue of the man begins by resuscitation; however, it is equally necessary to insist that this rescue is by no means complete. Why? The reason is because there is obviously still a problem with this man that has not been dealt with. We have not dealt with the reason that the man was in the water to begin with, or why he couldn’t swim well enough to stay alive. The fact is that the man is for the moment alive, but those two problems that initially drove the man to death were not fixed by the rescuer merely hauling him into the life boat and resuscitating him.

What then is the root problem? The root problem here is twofold. One, it is a delusion on the part of the man who walked into a deadly situation, and two, it is a misuse of the man’s energies that lead to is death. As you can see, pulling the man into the boat does not heal that problem. The problem that remains is this: how do we keep the man from jumping back into the deadly waters? What kind of therapy does this man need in order to stop his delusion, and instead to turn his energies towards the life and towards loving himself and others. What must the man do in order not to end up dead in the water again?

If the rescuer really desires to save this man it is necessary that the rescue be complete, it is going to take much more work than just pulling him into the boat. This rescuer must continue to treat this man, moment by moment of his life. Additionally; the man must willingly participate in the remaining steps of the rescue because the rescue is not complete until he makes it to the end alive. This means that the work or energy that brings this about (the Greek word ergon), is an essential part of this rescue both by the rescuer and by the one being rescued. Obviously, since the man has a problem it cannot be the man’s ergon alone to finish the rescue, it must be primarily the ergon of the rescuer working together with the man, but the man must participate in that work. The rescuers role is by no means diminished, he is and continues to be the rescuer, however, the man must co-operate in this rescue.

How does the rescuer get the man to want to participate in this salvation? He does so by working with the man destroy his self-destructive tendencies, and by working with the man to build life and love producing tendencies. Thus, the man experiences this rescue by the savior working (ergon) in His life, and also by synergistically (sunergon) taking on the work of the rescuer all the way to the end of his life. Therefore, it may be said that the one saved truly knows the one saving him by the saving work itself, and becomes part of his savior by his in the participation in that savior’s work.

Salvation then is not simply what happens when the man is pulled into the lifeboat, rather it is what happens when the man is so intertwined with the savior’s energies that he is one with the life and love of the savior so that he makes it to the end in the work of the savior.

Consider the following scriptures with the above description in mind:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Pet 1: 3-5

How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? (Heb 2: 3) Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation- if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Pet 2: 2-3) Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Phi 2: 12b-13) For we are God's fellow workers (sunergos). You are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me… 1 Cor 3: 9-10

For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Rom 13: 11b-14

Energy & God

2010-12-27T10:13:00.000-08:00

In the ancient theology of the undivided church, we find a concept of God that has been lost in the contemporary west. I refer to the concept of God's energies. The early church understood God’s essence (ousia) to be a distinct concept from that of God’s energies (energia). According to patristic thought, the ousia or essence of God, is God as He is, while the energia, or energies of God, are His activities in the world that enable us to experience something of the Divine.

The essence (ousia) of God was therefore understood by the fathers to be both uncreated and incomprehensible, & finds no existence or subsistence in any other thing, while the energy (energia) of God is indeed comprehensible, and finds its origin in the essence of God. This energy is the primary means by which we human beings apprehend God, first through sensory perception, and then as one grows in their relationship to the God by intuitive perception. This means then that the energy of God is the primary thing to be grasped by human beings in order to participate in what the bible calls salvation.

Unfortunately, contemporary western theology has no clear teaching on this distinction between essence and energies. Nevertheless, the church fathers gave us a large body of teaching on this subject. In fact, all the Cappadocian Fathers referred to the energies of God as “divine attributes”. Cyril of Alexandria wrote: “to make belongs to energy, whereas to give birth belongs to nature. Nature and energy are not the same thing”. In short, we can conclude that Divine essence is what God is, & Divine energies are what God does. The point of the teaching is that humanity can only know and experience God by what he does.

For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works (ergon) than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. John 5:20

Moreover, we can and must participate in God’s energies with our own energies. This participation is what is called synergy or synergia.

For we are God's fellow workers (sunergos). You are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me… 1 Cor 3: 9-10

The Trinity therefore is no mere mystery doctrine to be left in the shadows, rather, as a doctrine it is the single basis for the whole of Christianity. Thus, the energies of God are the means given by God for our participation in the life of the Trinity, which is salvation itself.

Oneness & Threeness

2010-12-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

The church has historically used a variety of words to speak of the oneness & the threeness of God, each term requires a bit of background in order to help our understanding of them. I do not intend to give a full treatment of terms like Trinity, essence, persons, and so on. However, I will try to get to the heart of the matter.

Thus far I have stated that the undivided church saw one God in whom there is no internal difference, who has one mind, one plan, one set of affections, one intention, and in whom there is no division at all. Yet, in a mystery, the church also saw that God exists in threeness. The main point that we should draw from this is that the three persons in the one Godhead have one will, and are at all times working (ergos) in perfect unity.

God the Father does not do anything that is not done though His Word, who is His eternal Son, and the eternal Word or Son does nothing apart from the Holy Spirit that eternally proceeds from the Father. In short, the three persons may be distinct, but never separated. There is one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and nothing that any of the persons in the godhead plan, think, love, or pursue occurs in isolation from the others. In the Godhead we have perfect communion. Only when we understand this oneness and threeness can we begin to look at the energies, or works, of God as they pertain to each person in the Godhead. For it is by the energies of God that mankind knows the Godhead and the persons.

One God, One Mind, One Mission

2010-12-01T08:23:00.000-08:00

The creed to which every Christian gives his allegiance begins with the words, “I believe in one God”. However, unlike any other religion under the sun, this one God is not the same as the one god claimed by non-Christian belief systems who also speak of one god. The God of Christians cannot be reduced to the philosopher’s "one" unmoved mover, or the "one" energy source behind all things. He is not the one god of the Gnostics, who speaks secrets to individuals so by those secrets they alone might have knowledge of what & who God is. He is not the one god of neo-Platonists, who is a great ruler and cares mostly about perfection and having his honor restored (this is the great error of western theology since the great schism of the 11^th century). He is not the one absentee landlord god of the deists (this is one of the most popular versions of god in our day). He is not the summation of the whole universe into one great sea of spirituality (this is the other popular "one" god of our day). Instead of these kinds of "one" god, the God we know as Christians is one essence, in three persons, who makes His presence experiential to His creation by way of His energies (ergos-works).

The understanding of the undivided church is that there exists one God; meaning that there is no internal difference within the one God, He has one mind, one plan, one set of affections, one intention, and there is no division at all within Him. Yet, in a mystery, we find that He exists in three persons: the eternal Father who is the maker of all things visible and invisible; the Son, who is eternally begotten of the Father, meaning that there has never been a time when the Father was that the Son was not, & by whom the Father accomplishes all things; and there is one eternal Holy Spirit who is the same God and the author of life and has eternally proceeded from the Father. This means that there was never a time when the Spirit was not. This one God who exists in three persons in one godhead, and these three persons make up the one perfect community of love, light, and life whom we call the Trinity.

It is in this one community or Trinity that all things live and move and have their being. Thus, it is into life within that community that all humanity and creation is called. For this reason, every great Christian teacher has said that man cannot know himself unless he first knows the one God (no communion = no true humanity). It is for this reason that Holy Communion is the goal of creation and also the means of restoration for our divided creation. Therefore, the one God that we know as Christians desires above all things to have the whole creation intertwined within his godhead which we call the Trinity and that is what we call salvation. In short, our God is the one who loves love, He loves our love and who wants us to be inter-twined with Him. Consequently, each person of the Trinity is involved in the task or creating communion unto the ages of ages.

This also means that there can exist no difference of mind within the godhead. To us who live in America this means that God the Father is not primarily angry, and the God Son is not trying to block the Father’s anger from hurting us, and the Holy Spirit is not merely keeping the peace and putting the reunion together. That would be a divided mind within the Godhead, or divine schizophrenia. God the Father and God the Son cannot be of different interests. Instead, what we need to grasp as American Christians is what the patristic and apostolic church of the first millennium understood, and that is that our God is one community, has one love, and one mission, and it is to bring all things into Himself, and into His perfect and loving community which we call the Trinity. Our one God now calls mankind to freely enter into that community, because the Lord Jesus Christ has destroyed that which prevented us from entering in, which is the sin and death that mankind introduced into the world. Moreover, a day will come when that union will be consumated in time and space, and sin and death will be no more.

Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For "God has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says, "all things are put in subjection," it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. 1 cor 15: 20-28

This one God, this one mind, and this one mission is the clear teaching of the bible, the apostles, the church Fathers, the ecumanical coucils, the creeds, and of the whole undivided church. It is to this foundational oneness of God (Trinitarianism) that the teachings of the church must return if we are to have the true God as our God.

One

2010-11-24T09:28:00.000-08:00

The nucleus, or heart, of the undivided church’s beliefs is found in these words of St Paul.

“There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

St Paul of Tarsus, the Apostle, Eph 4: 4-6

The word that cannot be missed in the verses above is the word “ONE”. It can be said that the teachings of the Lord, the apostles, and the church fathers cannot be apprehended unless one grasps this oneness of God, the faith, and the church. For this reason, I would like to begin my presentation of this ancient faith of the undivided apostolic church with this oneness. I want to begin with a consideration of the one God, then move on to a consideration the one faith, and finally with a consideration of the one church.

To the undivided church, the oneness of God was much more than a mere a numeric value assigned to the gods. In fact, the oneness of God had much more to do with the kind of God than the number of gods. I begin with the premise that Christ was a good teacher, and thus made himself understood to his disciples. Thus, the fullness of the truth about this one God was first fully given by Christ to His apostles, these disciples then taught and explained this oneness to those we call “the church Fathers,” & since then it has been the main task of the church to protect these truths without any additions or subtractions. For this reason, when certain controversies arose in the church about the kind of one God that was brought shown us by Jesus, the church had to fight to preserve for the original understanding of the same God that Jesus brought to the world’s eyes. The primary weapon employed in the church’s defense was a few particular terms. The goal of these new terms was not to formulate a new kind of God, but rather to preserve the one truth, & one faith.

In the blogs to follow I will be considering the kind of God that they strove to keep unaltered by considering such words as: Trinity, essence, persons, & energies. In addition, I will strive to point out how the centrality of these terms has been moved out to the edges of the contemporary Christian faith, which in many cases have rendered it another faith.

Orthamerica

2010-11-18T12:16:00.000-08:00

Greetings and welcome to the Orthamerica blog. I am a Christian clergyman, who has loves the ancient faith of the undivided church, and I have created this blog in order to re-introduce that faith to anyone who may be interested in it. The sad fact is that many today only know the divided mind and witness of a church comprised of over 20,000 denominations, each of which holds to a little piece of the greater story.

This faith of the undivided church is unlike anything we know in the contemporary west because it is orthodox, catholic, and evangelical. This faith is not merely a kernel of the truth, it is the fullness of the truth. This faith is not secterian, rather it is what has been belived everywhere, by all, always. This faith was founded by Christ, given to His disciples, belonged to all Christians of the first millennium, and has been passed on from generation to generation in unbroken succession since 33 AD.

In this blog I will be attempting to describe that faith, and at the same time point out the many additions and subtractions to it that are found in what passess for Christianity in our world. Finally, in this blog I will be trying to imagine what this orthodox faith of undivided church could look like in modern day America, hence the name “Orthamerica”.