At least 98% of the citizens Canada and America are unaware of the benefits and spiritual treasures available in Christ’s Holy Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church. Clearly, we are not following the Great Commission effectively, nor are we following in the footsteps of great Orthodox missionary saints, including those who served on this continent.
A way to understand carrying the Cross is ‘maturity.’ When we are young, existence throws many burdens on our shoulders: our minds, our bodies, our families, our societies, etc. The world is mystifying and hard, yet as we get older we look back at the ‘stress’ of youth and laugh. Why? It is because we see the pettiness of youthful worries, and realize that there were much bigger causes for concern that we were blissfully unaware of.
Like many in the Church, I was dismayed to receive news of the latest gaffe from the “Ecumenical Patriarchate,” this time in the form of titular Archbishop Elpidophoros’ widely-publicized Baptism of children of an unrepentant American ‘gay couple’ carried out by deceiving a brother Greek hierarch. Given the Archbishop’s recent ambiguous remarks about abortion in the US and some of his chosen political associations, I cannot say that this is all that surprising.
How Big Foundation Money Is Subverting Traditional Christianity –
There is a struggle within Christianity right now between those who want to retain its traditional moral and social teachings and those who seek to modernize and conform Christianity to the modern liberal democratic social order of the west. We saw this in Protestant churches immediately after the Reformation with some of the more radical reformers fleeing Europe to settle in America. Once here, they were preaching social gospel and egalitarianism by the mid-nineteenth century. We saw it again in the Roman Catholic church in the mid-twentieth century, beginning mostly with Vatican II. In both Protestant and Catholic churches, traditionalists have been mostly drowned out by modernists. Many Protestant churches now accept female ministers, LGBT clergy, and even gay marriage and abortion in some cases. Pope Francis embodies all the modern liberalization within the Roman Catholic church. From his banning of traditional Latin Mass to leading interfaith prayers at pagan temples and advocating for socialist policies, Francis has all but completed the modern liberalization of the Roman Catholic Church.
In the Gospels of St. John and St. Luke there is an account of a woman that approached Jesus as he was eating at a Pharisee’s table. St. John identifies her as Mary, the woman who had been possessed by seven demons. The same Mary that had been exercised by Christ. This woman approached Christ unashamed. She approaches Christ because there she recognizes her hope. She knows that she can only find salvation in Christ.
Much has been written in recent years about the question of universal salvation. Several authors have shown in detail that universalism is not and can never be the teaching of Orthodoxy, since it is incompatible with both Scripture and the great majority of our patristic and liturgical tradition.
It has been almost two years since the appearance of COVID-19 changed life as we know it. This far in, we seem to have more questions than answers. To help us on our journey through the strange “new normal” of Pandemia, we convened a panel of experts from the medical, Orthodox religious, and legal disciplines to help guide us. There is a great deal of hope on all fronts but a lot of work remains to be done.
Patristic Faith’s Senior Contributors come together to discuss Internet Orthodoxy, Technocracy, its Gamma-Gatekeepers, and the importance of having an apologetic ministry like Patristic Faith.
St Gregory’s letter to Cledonius (101) has one of the most important and famous Patristic statements (present in other forms in other Fathers as well): “Or, for that which is not taken up (or assumed) is not healed.
That which is united to God, that will be saved.If half of Adam fell, also half will be taken up and saved. But if all [of Adam], all of his nature will be united [to God], and all of it will be saved.”
Why does this matter? Why does Christology matter? Because God has come to us to redeem, to save, to heal, the entirety of us; that gives us the power and responsibilitiy to live entirely new lives, body and soul, by the power of the Spirit, in holiness for eternal life. He has done it for us, and calls us to join him.
At the beginning of the controversy between St Cyril of Alexandria and Nestorius, the latter had preached a sermon arguing against the use of the term Theotokos (Θεοτόκος, the Mother of God) based on his understanding of who Jesus Christ was. Cyril corresponded with Nestorius, who was the Patriarch of Constantinople, to correct him. Nestorius refused to be corrected; Cyril eventually wrote 12 anathemas which were adopted by the Third Ecumenical Council (Ephesus, 431), and Nestorius was condemned.
