Category: EOC
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Gospel Reading 2024-12-07
LUKE 13:19-29The Lord said this parable, “The kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom…
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It is the Nativity Fast
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Pedigree of the Patriarchs of Antioch
Antioch is where the disciples of Christ were first called Christians. Acts 11:26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. There is an…
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Angels and Prayer
When I was an Evangelical Protestant I missed quite a few things in the Bible. I read it often enough and could quote it back well. But there were a lot of passages which I didn’t really see certain details in. One of these was the role of angels in prayer. In Scripture, Angels play…
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Hidden History of Early Christian Art
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Orthodox Demographics
How many Orthodox are there?
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Orthodoxy in the News
Orthodoxy tends to stay out of the news. Recent growth in converts to Orthodox have got some notice this week in the NY Post article Young men leaving traditional churches for ‘masculine’ Orthodox Christianity in droves. In Droves? It is true that there is an uptick in the number of people being received into the Orthodox…
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Apologetics – Substance and Style
There are some apologists for the faith who have great content but fail the test of a real apologist. 2 Timothy 2:25-26 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil,…
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Epistle Reading for 2024-11-23
2 Cor 5:1-10 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being…
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Gospel Reading for 2024-11-23
Luke 10:19-20 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. This is set…
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Tradition in Scripture
The Greek word παραδόσεις (paradosis) is translated in various ways in the KJV and NIV Bibles. This obscures the fact that it’s the same word in Greek G3862 in Strong’s. In this verse, it’s translated as “ordinances” and is a command to keep the traditions that Paul himself delivered to the Church. 1 Cor 11:1-2 Be ye followers…
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Assurance of Salvation
Protestant Notion of the Assurance of Salvation is Unbiblical To a Protestant in the Reformed tradition, these words of Paul can be nothing but a theoretical impossibility. 1 Cor 9:27 But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should…
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The Seven Great Ecumenical Councils
It’s really the beauty of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. They took the Fathers and the Scriptures and reached the conclusions we have today in the Church. The Trinity, the Deity of Christ, the selection of the canon, rejection of iconoclasts, and many others. It was all based on the pattern from the first council in…
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Lists of Apostles
Similarities and Differences in the lists of the names of the Apostles Matthew and Mark have the same names, in a different order to each other, and with some different details. The Synoptic Gospels match for the most part, but Luke has a different name for one of the apostles compared to Matthew and Mark. Matthew and…
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Epistle Reading 2024-11-22
ST. PAUL’S LETTER TO PHILEMON 1:1-25 PAUL, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker, and Apphia our sister and Archippos our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God…
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Web Resources on the Church Fathers and the Bible
Helpful Study Resources This list should grow with time but here’s a start with the tools I’m using presently. Saints of the Day – Detailed accounts of the lives of the Saints of the Day CatenaBible – Click on a verse and see commentary from the Church Fathers on the verse BlueLetterBible – Useful for looking…
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Sola Fide
“Orthodoxy abhors theological innovation and Luther did two things at the same time; he committed heresy by introducing a theological innovation and he committed schism by rejecting those who did not hold to sola fide, e.g., the early church fathers and the Orthodox Church.” “The issue here is not Pelagianism or Semi-Pelagianism. The real issue…
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Orthodox Apologetics Calvinism V. Arminianism
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Cherry Picking the Fathers
Great post on Evangelicals cherry picking of the Church Fathers: Does Theological Retrieval Work? Gavin Ortlund’s switch to the Baptist tradition based on his personal study is a good example of theology as a self-constructed project (See Ortlund 2013). Herein lies the methodological divide between Protestantism and Eastern Orthodoxy. In Orthodoxy, one receives the Faith…
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The Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians – Early Church Structure
In Ignatius Chapter 8: He that is within the altar is pure, but he that is without is not pure; that is, he who does anything apart from the bishop, and presbytery, and deacons, such a man is not pure in his conscience. The Letters of Ignatius are very early. Hisg seven epistles preserved under…
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Sufficiency of Scripture?
Missing Books? In Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (called 1 Corinthians in our Bibles), Paul refers to a previous letter. This letter is no longer existent (as far as anyone knows). 1 Corinthians 5:9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people… Paul refers to a letter to…
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Orthodoxy on Calvin and Calvinism
The Orthodox Church produced the following document: The Confession of Patriarch Dositheos of Jerusalem (1672). This Confession of Faith has been ratified by all of the autocephalous Churches (Jerusalem, Russia, and Georgia in 1672; Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and the Bulgarians under the EP at the Council of Constantinople in 1723. St. Justin Popovich and St.…
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The Perspicuity of Scripture
One of the more curious novelties of the Protestants is the notion of the “The Perspicuity of Scripture”. One definition of this idea is found here: The doctrine of the clarity of Scripture (often called the “perspicuity of Scripture”) teaches that “the meanings of the text can be clear to the ordinary reader, that God uses…
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Private Interpretation of Scripture
Looking at this passage: 2 Peter 1:20-21 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Protestant Understandings of this Passage Like most…
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Saint Peter on Saint Paul – Scripture and Tradition
Saint Peter wrote about the writings of Saint Paul. 2 Peter 3:15-16 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are…