Doug’s Theological Thoughts
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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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Thoughts on Authorship of the Pauline Corpus
Modern scholarship sees some of the letters of Paul as being genuinely written by Paul and others as written later by others. There is strong consensus in modern New Testament scholarship on a core group of authentic Pauline epistles whose authorship is rarely contested: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon.…
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Epistle Reading 2024-12-05
ST. PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS 5:22-26; 6:1-2 Brethren, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also…
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Gospel Reading 2024-12-03
LUKE 21:12-19 The Lord said to his disciples, “Beware of men who will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be a time for you to bear testimony. Settle it therefore…
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Gospel Reading 2024-11-26
LUKE 19:45-48 At that time, Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.” And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and…
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Nazarite Vows
Josephus briefly recounts an episode where, in the 12th year of the reign of Nero, during the outbreak of the First Jewish-Roman War, Bernice (the sister of King Agrippa II) had put herself under a Nazirite vow and had come to Jerusalem thirty days before she was to offer her sacrifices, Wikipedia Did Mary take…
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Epistle Reading 2024-11-26
ST. PAUL’S FIRST LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS 1:6-10 Brethren, you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit; so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of…
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Saints of the Day 2024-11-26
Alypius the Stylite of Adrianopolis Orthodox Christianity Then and Now Nikon Metanoeite Orthodox Christianity Then and Now Stylianos the Monk of Paphlagonia Orthodox Christianity Then and Now George the New Martyr of Chios Orthodox Christianity Then and Now Akakios of Sinai who is mentioned in The Ladder, Innocent of Irkutsk Orthodox Christianity Then and Now
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Church Fathers 2024-11-25
Catherine the Great Martyr of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine[a] (Greek: Αίκατερίνη) is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar who became a Christian…
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Gospel Reading 2024-11-25
MARK 5:24-34 At that time, a great crowd followed Jesus and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard…
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Epistle Reading 2024-11-25
ST. PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS 3:23-29; 4:1-5 Brethren, before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed. So that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a…
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Church Fathers 2024-11-24
Our Holy Father Clement, Pope of Rome (AD 96) Our father among the saints Clement of Rome (also called Clemens Romanus to distinguish him from Clement of Alexandria) was the third in succession after the Apostle Peter as bishop of Rome. Clement is known mainly for the letter he wrote to the Corinthians in about…
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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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Gospel Reading 2024-11-24
LUKE 18:18-27 At that time, a ruler came to Jesus and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do…
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Epistle Reading 2024-11-24
ST. PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS 6:11-18 Brethren, see with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that would compel you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross…
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Synergism is Scriptural
The Greek word, συνεργέω, is transliterated as synergeō and is translated as “workers together” in this passage: 2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. This same word is used in many passages in the New Testament. Mark 16:20 And they went forth,…
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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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Saints of the Day – 2024-11-23
Here are the Saints of the Day Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, Gregory, Bishop of Agrigentum, Dionysios, Patriarch of Constantinople, Ischyrion, Bishop of Egypt, Afterfeast of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple, Sisinios the Confessor Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium He lived about 340-394 AD. His biography can be found here. He is important for…
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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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Interesting Fifth Century Amulet
An interesting fifth century object was found in Turkey. The object was interpreted by the Turkish archaeological authorities as King Solomon which Islam sees as Prophet Solomon. “The depiction of Prophet Solomon on this necklace surprised us and revealed the importance of the artifact for Anatolian archaeology,” said Çelikbaş. Anatolia is a region of Turkey.…
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