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The Saints & The Culture of Eternity

The Church is comprised of people from the world over. One of our (all Christians, regardless of origin) tendencies is to view the Church through the eyes of our particular cultures. For example, we may understand the Church from the dimension of the “cultures” of Greece, Russia, Ethiopia, the United States, or from wherever we originate. This is an errant perspective. The “culture” of the Church transcends each and all human cultures. When we enter the Church, we begin to learn about this new “culture,” this “culture” which transcends all human cultures, and all human origins.

We can learn much about this ecclesiastical “culture” by looking at the lives of the Saints. Though they originate from various cultures of the world, they each participate in the “culture” of the Church and introduce us to its characteristics. This series will look at the lives of a number of different Saints from around the world, and will glean some of the characteristics of the “culture” of the Church, which is the “culture” of eternity.

Previous Learning Series

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A Life of Responding to God

Communion with God is the very heartbeat of our creation and, thus, is the very core of our salvation.  In this communion, God faithfully and lovingly reveals Himself and His ways to us.  Mankind responds to what has been shared.  In this series, Fr. James uses the writings of Fr. Zacharias, a monastic at St. John the Baptist Monastery in the United Kingdom, to help us delve more deeply into how our hearts may be opened to this precious communion and how our lives may most appropriately respond to the God Who has shared Himself with us.

Giving Answers to Our Faith

Orthodox Christians are asked many questions by those outside of the Orthodox Faith.  It is important for us to be able to know how to answers grounded in truth and humility to the questions they ask us.  This series has two purposes.  One is to equip the faithful in the Orthodox Church to be able to express truth in answering these questions.  But this series also is designed to help us take on the mind of Christ regarding our Faith so that we grow deeper with the most clear sight of our Lord and all that He has given us to encounter Him for our salvation.

From the Harrowing of Hades to the Ascension

In this series, we will look at Christ's ministry from the moment He gave up His spirit and descended into Hades to His glorious Ascension.  We will begin with and in-depth look at His profound work of salvation known as the "Harrowing of Hades" and then make our way through Christ's post-Resurrection ministry.  We will find along the way that what Christ accomplished in Hades, He continues to do in and for each and every beloved soul He has brought into Himself.

The Harrowing of Hades
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The Harrowing of Hades

One of the great themes of the Paschal Vigil is the harrowing of Hades by our Lord Jesus Christ. Today we look at this violent act of love by our Lord Jesus Christ. The harrowing of Hades was violent to Satan, the demonic, and death itself. His love and mercy were granted to all those imprisoned there from Adam and Eve to that present moment. The Icon of the Resurrection is our guide to the ministry of Christ is the demolishing of Hades and the deceiving of the deceiver. We will also utilize Scripture from the Old and New Testaments as well as excerpts from the book "Christ the Conqueror of Hell: the Descent into Hades from an Orthodox Perspective" written by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev to deepen our understanding of Christ's plundering of Hades; His binding of the strong man, Satan, and releasing those souls in captivity within that dark prison until that moment.
The Harrowing of the Hades of our Soul
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The Harrowing of the Hades of our Soul

Just as Christ our God descended into Hades, destroyed that prison, bound Satan, and freed those held there in captivity; so Christ is doing in the very soul of all of His beloved. Today we look at the harrowing of the Hades of our own soul. Looking at the Icon of Christ's Baptism as well as the prayers prayed over the ones to be Baptized into Christ, we see even our Baptism as a harrowing of Hades. We also look today at the disciples who encounter Christ on the Road to Emmaus. There Christ descends into their darkness and captivity to their confusion, fears, and deep sadness. As He makes Himself present to those disciples they, by their encounter with Him, are raised up out of that captivity and granted peace and joy. There are so many ways that our salvation is a continuous descent of Christ into our Hades where He binds our oppressor, releases us, and raises us up to where He is granting us Paradise.

The Undoing of the Deceiver in Our Lives

St. Paul has described Christian discipleship as being akin to the rigors of military life, athletic discipline, and compulsory servanthood. He has also made it clear to us that our contention in the Christian life, that for which we prepare and train ourselves, is against what the Church calls  “the world, the flesh, and the devil.” According to Tradition, the real contention is against the temptations of the devil, who uses the world and the flesh to bait us to abandon our Christian discipleship.

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An aspect of our “training” in the Christian life is discerning the devil’s machinations and learning how to respond to them. The Roman Catholic theologian and professor, Peter Kreeft, has written an excellent book, The Snakebite Letters, as a means to reveal how the devil conspires to tempt us, how we are apt to succumb to such temptations, and, by implication, how we should respond.

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Using The Snakebite Letters as a sort of guide through these muddy waters of the spiritual life, we will look at what Kreeft (and the demonic) describes as the peculiar temptations of American Christians, how the devil tempts Christians in general, and what we are to do about it.

Awaking from our Spiritual Slumber

Spiritual despondency, simply stated, is the spiritual slumber of the soul that disconnects us from the beautiful and eternal value of the experience of God in the precious moments of our lives.  When we are in a state of spiritual slumber, we can never recognize for ourselves just how asleep we really are or why we are in that spiritual slumber.  We need the illumination of Christ to both reveal our spiritual slumber as well as to wake us up again so that we can truly live.  It is time to regain the gift of moments with God in the little time we have.

Awakening from our Spiritual Slumber: Session 3 "A Christian View of Time Part 1"
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Awakening from our Spiritual Slumber: Session 3 "A Christian View of Time Part 1"

Most of us are unaware of many deceptions that have crept into our souls regarding how we see, understand, and treat the precious little time we are given here on earth. Our enemy conditions us to see time incorrectly. At the root of every one of his deceptions is to diminish our awareness of the presence of God in every moment of our lives. When God is removed from the moments of our lives, time becomes wasteful at best and harmful at its worst. The truth of the Christian view of time is wonderfully stated in the Akathist Prayer Service of Thanksgiving: "Glory to Thee; Who cures affliction and emptiness with the healing flow of time." Today we just begin to examine this truth-filled perspective on time; the way God sees and intends to use time.
Awaking from Our Spiritual Slumber: Session 5 "Redeeming the Time"
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Awaking from Our Spiritual Slumber: Session 5 "Redeeming the Time"

St. Paul writes in Ephesians 5 that we are to live in such a way as to redeem the time. Spiritual despondency would have us throw time away blind to the very healing and redemptive presence of God in the precious gifts of the moments of our lives that He has given us. Redeeming the time is to make wise and sacred use of time. We often think of and understand the concept of sacred space. But time itself becomes sacred again when our awareness grows of God's presence in the most minute moments of our lives and we present ourselves to Him in those moments. That is when time becomes sacred. That is when the God Who eternally loves each of us manifests that love to us in the fabric time. We are healed and redeemed by a Living God Who is absolutely present in each moment of our existence when we live in that sacredness of time.
Awaking from our Spiritual Slumber: Session 6 "Distractions from the Present Moment"
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Awaking from our Spiritual Slumber: Session 6 "Distractions from the Present Moment"

Today we examine our typical thought life throughout the day. Most of us will find that we are constantly being pulled by thoughts that either direct our attention to the past or thrust our thinking into the future; both of which we have absolutely no control over. These thoughts are always at the expense of the sacred and eternal now. In considering this, we focus on recognizing the deceptive thoughts that move us toward escaping the present moment physically, mentally/emotionally, and spiritually. The important truth for us is this, neither the past nor the future grants us healing to our soul and a clear understanding of our true identity. Only by experiencing God in the present moment can we be made whole and know our most true identity.
Awaking from our Spiritual Slumber: Session 7 "The Spiritual Effort That Presses Through to Christ"
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Awaking from our Spiritual Slumber: Session 7 "The Spiritual Effort That Presses Through to Christ"

Because of so many false teachings in many areas of Christianity, the term spiritual effort sometimes leaves a bad impression in the mind of many. Some may think of having to earn their salvation by spiritual effort. Some may think of other "works" oriented theologies putting the pressure of being saved in the hands of the individual. We must see spiritual effort in terms of relationship. No relationship can exist without the mutual sharing of selves between two people. Today our focus is on our relational spiritual effort towards Christ. Christ our God is always moving toward us with a desire to share all that He is with us that we might be made whole. It is when we press through by grace all of our distractions and many deceptions that we are met with Christ Who has been awaiting us. There, in that blessed fellowship, we find healing through illumination. And where the illumination of Christ is experience, darkness and despondency do not have a chance.
Awakening from our Spiritual Slumber: Session 10 "The Four Stages of Sin"
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Awakening from our Spiritual Slumber: Session 10 "The Four Stages of Sin"

Understanding the progression of our thoughts and temptations that lead us to sin (to fall short of our truly created person) is important for us to grasp. For if we can grasp the stages of sin, we can begin to reverse the process making it easier for us to overcome by the grace of God in our lives every temptation. Even the most besetting sins in our lives can be overcome in Christ. The four stages of sin are as follows: First motion (the beginning of the thoughts of temptation), Entertainment (we entertain those thoughts giving them strength), Consent (coming into agreement with those thoughts, joining ourselves to them), Action (we make the choice to depart the order of God and act on our temptations). Today Fr. James Rooney walks us through these with various common sins and how they go through each of these steps with the goal to arrest our thoughts and temptations at the First Motion stage. If we will do this, we can experience Christ's victory over sin in our lives.

Our Vocation as a Kingdom of Priests

Examining the functions and responsibilities of the ancient Jewish priesthood, as well as the life and instruction of St. John of Kronstadt, patron saint of priests, we will attempt to glean the details of our roles as priests of creation, as mentioned in 1 Peter 2:5.  We have all, by our Baptism, been ordained to be a Kingdom of Priests.  This series will help us understand our role in this Holy Priesthood.

Our Vocation as a Kingdom of Priests: Session 9 "Representing God to the World"
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Our Vocation as a Kingdom of Priests: Session 9 "Representing God to the World"

In our study thus far, we have been looking at the role of the Priesthood of All Believers and mainly focusing on the aspect of our Priesthood that faces God representing and interceding for the world before Him. In this last session, we now focus on representing God to this present age. We ascend the mountain to fellowship with God, receive from Him, learn of Him, and be healed and transformed by Him. We descend the mountain to represent God and manifest His Kingdom before all of those around us. In this session, we look at the life of Moses in this very role seeking to see how Moses greatly succeeded in representing God to His people. But we also have a look at how Moses failed in misrepresenting God to the people. We must see this particularly in our age. For the misrepresentation of God to man will move man further away from salvation and have implications in our own lives.

The Kingdom of God is Near to Us

As we pray the Orthodox Prayer to the Holy Spirit, this truth is communicated to us, "O Heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of Truth Who art in all places and fillest all things."  As Christians, do we live in the truth that God is in all places and fills all things; that He permeates everything in in every aspect of our lives?  Or, do we live a life that somehow compartmentalizes God; a life that believes in the experience of God when we are doing the "Christian things" such as prayer, worship, or ministry; but not so much at other times in the most mundane moments of our lives?  The Incarnation brought the Kingdom of Heaven to earth for the experience of mankind unto the salvation of our souls.  God is never distant and there is never a moment of our lives when we cannot fellowship and experience God and all of the benefits of His Kingdom now manifest in the earth.  The purpose of this series is to assist us in living the true Christian life where the Kingdom of God is near to us.

The Kingdom of God is Near to Us: Session 1 "An Introduction to the Series"
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The Kingdom of God is Near to Us: Session 1 "An Introduction to the Series"

Today is an introduction to this series. In it we discuss the secularization of our faith; that we have had a tendency to compartmentalize God in our lives rather than God and His Kingdom permeating every aspect of our lives for our salvation. Jesus Christ was incarnate specifically to bring the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven to earth for our experience of Him; again, all for our salvation. This series, we pray, will break down any thoughts where we have been deceived to believe and live as if God and His Kingdom are distant at any moment of our lives; to the end that we might have realized in our daily lives all of the benefits Christ has bestowed upon us by His Kingdom being manifest on earth as it is in Heaven.
The Kingdom of God is Near to Us: Session 2 "Renewing Our Minds to Experience the Kingdom"
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The Kingdom of God is Near to Us: Session 2 "Renewing Our Minds to Experience the Kingdom"

St. Paul says in Romans 12 that we are not to be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The patterns of this world lead us to experience a two-story reality regarding the Kingdom of God. We live on the first floor while God and His Kingdom exist on the second floor as if God is not everywhere present and filling all things. For us to experience the Kingdom of God, the very reality inaugurated on behalf of mankind by the Incarnation, we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This session discusses the posture of the Christian that will pave the way for the renewing of our minds towards the very real experience of Christ and His Kingdom in our lives.
The Kingdom of God is Near to Us: Session 3 "Koinonia Fellowship with God"
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The Kingdom of God is Near to Us: Session 3 "Koinonia Fellowship with God"

If you want to know what the Christian existence is to be like, indeed what the experience of God and His Kingdom in our lives is there to be had, then look no further than Jesus' prayer for us in the Gospel of St. John 17 just before His Passion. He prays, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." We were created for the most intimate fellowship with God. We were created that God may share all He is and has with us and for us to share ourselves with Him. This is the koinonia, the fellowship, we were created to enjoy with God. And this is what has been made available once again by the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf.
The Kingdom of God is Near to Us: Session 4 "The Antiphons of Creation"
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The Kingdom of God is Near to Us: Session 4 "The Antiphons of Creation"

The creation and re-creation of all things by God makes manifest to us Who God is and all that He has done. In the beginning all of creation was permeated and filled with the Divine life of God. God created the material and the immaterial in His marvelous act of creation. This same God is the God Who reveals Himself to all and through all. This revelation of God is the starting point to our experience of true reality; and reality is greater than just the material. Our Christian life is a life of re-creation. Our journey is to see and experience all things as they truly exist. This comes only by the experience of God in our lives, for Paradise is not a place created in the Middle East. Paradise is God and the experience of Him which is now available to all who dwell in Him.

The Exodus & Our Life in Christ

The story of the Exodus is the story of every Christian and the story of the Church.  In Exodus, we see a people in bondage and slavery to an oppressive Pharaoh be delivered by God's chosen deliverer.  We see the oppressor thrown down by the mighty deliverance of God as God calls His people to Himself.  We have before us the journey of the Hebrews with God as their guide through a trying wilderness on their way to the Promised Land.  And in this wilderness, we see clearly the Christian struggle in the wilderness of this life.  Our approach to this study of Exodus will be from the perspective of the Early Church having only the Old Testament as their Scripture.  In this series, we will glean from the Early Church Father's interpretations of Exodus and how they used it to teach about our new life in Christ and our journey with Him and in Him to Paradise.

Misc. Teachings

The Liturgy on the Road to Emmaus
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The Liturgy on the Road to Emmaus

Today is Friday in Bright Week, the week immediately following the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ on Pascha (Easter Sunday). Christ our God, in His ministry between His Resurrection and Ascension, was not only revealing Himself as the Resurrection and the Life to many; but He was also preparing His disciples as to how they would continue in fellowship with Him once He has Ascended. We find one of the moments where He prepares His followers in the Gospel of St. Luke Chapter 24 as He met two of His disciples walking on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. In His time with them, He prepares them for how He will be with them even to the end of the age by manifesting very order of the Liturgy as He would journey with them. That day our Lord would minister to them in both Word and Sacrament. The shape of the liturgy has always been the Liturgy of the Word and then the Liturgy of the Faithful, or the Eucharist. In this narrative Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, shows the disciples both how they would worship Him and how He would so faithfully offer Himself to them for the healing of their souls and that there hope and joy would be complete.
The Peace from God Who is Our Refuge & Strength
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The Peace from God Who is Our Refuge & Strength

The peace God offers creates a blessed contentment in the very depth of the soul. And it is His very peace that we most certainly need in the midst of times such as these when, because of this world-wide pestilence, there is great suffering that is causing physical, emotional, and financial anxieties. But it is this God who offers us this contentment that defies the logic of our present realities. This teaching talks about our part in turning ourselves to God in prayer filled with praise in order to experience fellowship with Him; that from that fellowship He grants us His peace that guards our hearts and minds.
Between Porch and Altar: The Intercessions of God's Holy Priesthood
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Between Porch and Altar: The Intercessions of God's Holy Priesthood

In Joel Chapter 2, God through the Prophet Joel tells His priests to weep between porch and altar, and let them say "Spare Your people, O Lord." The priests were to take the role of mediators between God and mankind and pray for the mercy of God to fall upon the people. Though this was in the midst of a call by God for His people to repent, it shows us the calling of the priesthood to stand before God on behalf of mankind. My friends, we are now God's holy priesthood. If there was ever a time for us to be who we have been ordained to be by our Lord Jesus Christ and take our place interceding for His mercy on behalf of mankind, is it not now as our world is suffering the spread of this virus. This teaching is to encourage and exhort all of God's people filled with His Holy Spirit to take their ordained place and intercede for the healing and the life of the world.
The Peace That Comes When We Forfeit Control
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The Peace That Comes When We Forfeit Control

There is absolute peace to be had even in times when our lives have been completely altered, even if for a brief time. Why is it, then, that we struggle with anxiousness, worries, and sadness in times like these? I find that one major reason is because we have been living for far too long under the false reality that we were really ever in control when it comes to our lives. In this teaching, we examine the great benefit of letting go of control and becoming truly a follower of the Living Jesus Christ. There and from Him alone is where we will find a peace that none can understand in times such as these.
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