Category: EOC

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Orthodox Apologetics Calvinism V. Arminianism

     

  • Cherry Picking the Fathers

    Great post on Evangelicals cherry picking of the Church Fathers: Does Theological Retrieval Work? Gavin Ortlund’s switch to the Baptist tradition based on his personal study is a good example of theology as a self-constructed project (See Ortlund 2013). Herein lies the methodological divide between Protestantism and Eastern Orthodoxy. In Orthodoxy, one receives the Faith…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Orthodoxy on Calvin and Calvinism

    This is clarifying – Even Dositheus Did Not Think the Confession of Dositheus Was Infallible. 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • St John Chrysostom – On the Scriptures

    From Homily 9 on Colossians Tarry not, I entreat, for another to teach you; you have the oracles of God. No man teaches you as they; for he indeed oft grudges much for vainglory’s sake and envy. Hearken, I entreat you, all you that are careful for this life, and procure books that will be medicines…

  • Sola Scriptura is Contrary to Scripture Itself

    Defining Sola Scriptura Sola scriptura (Latin for ‘by scripture alone’) is a theological doctrine held by most Protestant Christian denominations, in particular the Lutheran and Reformed traditions, that posits the Bible as the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice. The Orthodox churches consider Sola scriptura to be contrary to the phronema (Greek…

  • Orthodox View of Dispensationalism

    The End Times – Orthodox Vs Evangelical Protestant Teachings – Presentation 3 A good overview of Dispensationalism as contrasted to Orthodoxy.

  • Review of Father Josiah Trenham’s “Rock and Sand” book

    This is a great review of “Rock and Sand”. I’m only three chapters through the book (due to some vision problems). I took Reformation History at Fuller as well as a class on John Calvin at a secular university. I also did quite a bit of reading of Reformation History along the way so I…

  • Gospel Reading 2024-11-18

     The Gospel reading is: Luke 17:20-25 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. And he said unto…

  • Are Icons an Accretion? A Response to Gavin Ortlund

     This is very well written. Are Icons an Accretion? A Response to Gavin Ortlund ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY THEN AND NOW: Panegyric to Great Martyr Theodore the Tiro (St. Gregory of Nyssa) ca 396 AD

  • Theophan the Recluse

    I asked a friend for help finding a Saint name for when I get received into the Orthodox Church. My birth name, Douglas, isn’t a Saint’s name. I was stuck. He suggested I look at the meaning of Douglas but it came back as something like “dark waters”. I couldn’t find anything redemptive in that…

  • Daily Epistle Reading 2025-11-17

     The Epistle reading for today is Galatians 2:16-20. Galatians 2:16-20 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by…