In this video I talk about two topics and connect them with each other: Christ being tempted in the desert and His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. I mainly answer the question of whether we can speak of Christ truly being tempted and how we can understand His prayer in the garden of gethsemane using patristic witness such as St. Maximus the Confessor and St. John of Damascus.
St. Maximus the Confessor’s Letter to Marinus is a somewhat popular prooftext used by Roman Catholic Apologists in which they attempt to argue that St. Maximus was a filioquist. This video explains in detail why such an argument is untenable.
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.
At the Mystical Supper in the Upper Room Jesus gave a dramatically new meaning to the food and drink of the sacred meal. He identified Himself with the bread and wine: “Take, eat; this is my Body. Drink of it all of you; for this is my Blood of the New Covenant” (Matthew 26:26-28).
“Immanent critique” is a Marxist method of analysis arising out of the notorious Frankfurt School of subversive scholarship. In theory, the immanent critiquer enters intellectually into a targeted culture to develop its thinking along its own lines so as to reveal its inherent contradictions. In practice, the immanent critiquer simply caricatures an opponent’s argument, “problematizes” his caricature, then blames the supposed contradictions on his opponent.
In this video presentation we discuss Christ as the Paradigm of Creation, On Will and It’s Distinctions, Divine Simplicity and Free Choice, and Repentance After Death
In this paper I will address St Maximus the Confessor’s concept of the gnomic will, including (1) what he means by the term; (2) how does it differ from natural will; (3) the historical development of his usage of the term; (4) whether Christ has a gnomic will; and (5) what are its implications to deification.
“It is appointed to men once to die, and then the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). This sober warning reminds us of one of the most essential themes of the Gospel—that each of us is continually moving ever closer to the moment when we must stand before the righteous Judge. Seen from one point of view, all of Orthodoxy is nothing more than a preparation for that moment. That is not to say that we should not also be moved by the pure love of God and delight in divine beauty. To be so moved is undoubtedly a great blessing. Yet both Scripture and the services of the Church never let us forget that, underneath all our other thoughts and actions, there is and must be a fear of the Judgment.
