Thank you Fr. Paul, these lessons are, at times, eye opening and they amswer a tremendous number of questions I had as a heterodox in all the protestant groups I was involved with. This lesson thus far was the most mind-blowing. Thank you dear father, thank you. ☦️
Daniel, sometimes you have to do what your heart demands and what you know is true. I started coming to Orthodoxy against my wife's wishes, it caused me a lot of problems and she was having doubts she could continue the marriage. Not very seriously, but I know she thought about leaving. I prayed for both of us, and it was rough for a few months, but Orthodoxy has effected such a deep change in my being, she could not help but realize this was a good thing. She's even been to liturgy with me now a couple of times. And I am falling in love with the Church and with Christ. Sometimes you have to pay a price to follow Christ, if she loves you she'll understand. Honesty and patience is necessary of course.
October 2nd 2022 this Catechism 5: was posted to TH-cam 1:17 The barrier between The Uncreated and The Created was bridged in Jesus Christ's Incarnation. 2:26 How do we make Christ's Victories into Our Victories? 3:20 Orthodoxy is full of both/and paradoxes. 4:36 Salvation done only by God is Calvinism. 5:34 Salvation done only by Man is Pelagianism. 6:42 The Scriptures are not systematic. Christ did not give to Man a system of belief, Christ gave a Way of Relationship with Him. We want the endless mystery. 7:55 St. Seraphim of Sarov read the New Testament every week. Some Saints would memorize Scripture. 8:53 Define Grace. Define Saved. Define Faith. 9:20 Pelagianism vs St. Augustine. St. Augustine went a little too far in his defense against Pelagius. 10:15 St. John Cassian's experience with several Desert Abbas 11:05 Salvation is a working together of God and Man, God's Will and Man's Will. 12:10 St John Cassian is an Orthodox Saint. *Out with the dirt, in with The Grace* 13:25 The Glass, The Heart of Man full of Virtue and Evil, The Fight of The Heart. 14:28 This Glass is Full of Dirt, Full of My Ego "HOW DARE YOU!" 15:25 Scoop the dirt out, Pour the water in. 16:45 Pour in the medicine. 17:16 Faith is Actively Living Out The Good News of God. 17:45 The Good Works remove The Dirt within us and make room for Christ to send His Grace to fill us after we empty ourselves of the dirt that has built up within us. 19:58 Romans 2:6, Rending to Man according to his works. 20:26 Christ is involved as a Coworker in every step of this process of Healing of The Soul. 21:50 Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead! Works and Faith go together. 23:15 One is not received by Faith Alone. 24:05 Faith is Living and Active. Faith can be big, Faith can be small. 24:51 Orthodoxy is about Faith seeking Faith, imperfect seeking perfect. 25:14 Faithfulness to Christ. 25:44 Faith can be seen in How We Live. 27:39 Asceticism. Matthew 16:21. Much of Western Christianity has lost "Deny Yourself, Take Up Your Cross, and Follow Me" 29:51 Asceticism is not only for Monastics. 30:30 Married and Monastics. Different ability to achieve, same Goal. 32:00 _The Ascetic Ideal and The New Testament_ by George Flovosky. 34:00 Addiction. 36:20 With enough discontent, the devil makes a path for despair to afflict the human heart. 37:00 A little self-denial. A little pain. A little more Self-Control. 37:50 The heart can free itself from addictions. Greater fulfillment. Greater pure joy and peace, Radiant Joy. 38:43 "I hope someday you will" get to experience that kind of Pure Joy. (amen). 39:46 The Soul as Garden, the Passion as weeds, The Passion become rooted habits, The Passion makes deep roots in The Human Heart. 41:04 The Major Passions - Gluttony + Fasting - Lust + Abstinence - Avarice - Anger + Meekness - Sadness - Acedia/Despondency - Vainglory - Pride + Humility 42:19 Forcefully practice virtue 43:08 _The Therapy of Spiritual Illness_ by Jean-Claude Larchet 44:12 _The Spiritual Life and How to Be Attuned To It_ by St. Theophan The Recluse 47:45 Medicines + Prayer + Fasting + Almsgiving + Prostrations each is tailored to the particular person, based on their life. 48:59 Prayer + Conversation with God, ok. 49:23 + Struggle, + Focus Start with a Prayer Book. Learn the form. 50:25 Guided by The Holy Spirit. In time, you will express the prayer as if they are your own words. 51:27 Prayer Rule Basics. Learning about where your heart is. 51:55 Start by saying your prayers, move to Praying your prayers. + Inviting God in 52:27 Yearn for Prayer. Learn to Love It. Quantity leads to Quality. 53:00 Fasting. The Day of Fasting. Moses Fasted 40 Days and Nights. Jonah, David, Darius the King of Persia, John The Baptist, Jesus Himself, The Church of Antioch, Paul and Barnabas. Fasting is a normal part of Christian Life. 54:53 Most people live in a Fallen Order, God's order to Fast turns this back into a Proper Order. 55:30 Lifting up The Soul. Lightening The Soul. Placing the Body in the proper place, in service to The Soul. 57:10 Show a little love > A couple dollars. Wisdom in almsgiving. 58:40 Bow and Prostration. 59:20 We are Body and Soul. Prostration is a Humbling motion. 1:01:28 The Struggle to Love Christ. Struggling with division. + Start Slowly! 1:02:35 Putting Love back where it is due. Reording the World within us, back to their true purpose. 1:03:25 The Blessings of A Saint's Body after Repose. 1:04:40 A Life of Repentance, a Life restoring back Right Union between Man and God. 1:05:20 Centered on Beatitude. It takes a LONG TIME to get used to this Way. Love God Love Neighbor With All Your Heart Mind Soul. 1:06:48 "I choose myself over God constantly." 1:07:50 All of life is worship, aiming at something. 1:08:25 "Anything that is worthwhile is tough to obtain." - I will fall! + I will do my best to struggle well + If I repent, Christ Will Pick Me Back Up Again. 1:09:30 No Falls Ever would lead to Pride, so there will always be falls. 1:10:43 Tough, Violent, Battling Ego, until we can't fight anymore and we need Christ to do the rest. 1:11:27 Don't shrink The Spiritual Life down to a little checklist. 1:12:10 The Driving Force must be Love, Yearning For Christ. 1:12:36 Dry periods. My zeal is really weak. Examine myself. 1:13:31 Love God. Don't Sorrow Christ. Not because I think I will earn Salvation, I know He forgives me 1:14:02 I want Him to see how much I desire His Forgiveness. *Questions* 1:14:33 1:15:48 St. John The Wonderworker of Kronstdat Can I show this person Love? 1:16:37 Sitdown, eat, talk. Interesting stories, mental illness, drugs. 1:18:04 Do the best you can. Pray for them. 1:19:46 The World, define what you mean by The World. 1:21:03 Sanctifying The World by being more Saint Like, more Christ Like. 1:22:51/1:24:59 Saint Gregory of Nyssa's _The Light of Moses_ Entering Into Divine Darkness, Light Within The Darkness. A very Complex Ascetic Ideal. 1:26:00 St Silouan The Athonite. Prostrations at the end of prayer rule. Prostrations at the end of the day. 1:27:10 Parish Prayer Book.
An Australian Lutheran theologian I knew mentioned one day that every sin is an attempt to get something God means us to have but to take a shortcut and get it "NOW!" That seems similar to what Fr. Paul says here about passions. He also talked about the equivalent of "we fall and get back up again" except he used Baptism as an illustration: there we are swimming in God's grace, and the 'old man' grabs hold and drags us under so we have to wrestle him and drown him again. Something that strikes me here is how at a Lutheran college there wasn't a single resource for personal spiritual life!
I'm really enjoying these lectures. I'm currently in catechism classes at my parish in Washington. Where coincidentally Fr. James Bernstein is a part of. His son in law,Fr. David is our priest there.
TO BE READ BEFORE BAPTISM (books are in recommended order only) 1. Wisdom for Today from the Early Church: A Foundational Study by David Ford 2. Know the Faith by Fr Michael Shanbour 3. Thinking Orthodox by Dr. Eugenia Constantinou 4. On the Incarnation by St Athanasios 5. Father Arseny, 1893-1973: Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual Father translated by Vera Bouteneff 6. The Way of a Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues His Way by an Anonymous author 7. The Mountain of Silence by Kyriacos Markides (Important note: This is an incredible book, introducing readers to basic Orthodox spirituality, spiritual principles, and many modern Saints of the Church. Everything said by Fr. Maximus in the book is completely Orthodox and worthy of attention. The author (Markides), however, takes a modern, syncretistic viewpoint that often skews Fr. Maximus’ words. Markides’ interpretation is not only faulty; it is, at times, dangerous. Please disregard his analysis and stick with Fr. Maximus’ words directly. Note especially that Markides’ chapter on the difference between Eastern and Western Christianity is particularly problematic.) 8. The Illness and Cure of the Soul in the Orthodox Tradition by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos TO BE READ IN YEAR FOLLOWING BAPTISM (can be read during catechumenate period as well) 9. Knowledge of God by Harry Boosalis 10. God’s Revelation to the Human Heart by Fr. Seraphim Rose 11. The Field by St Ignatius Brianchaninov 12. Wisdom from Mount Athos: The Writings of Staretz Silouan by Archimandrite Sophrony 13. The Truth of our Faith by Elder Cleopa 14. Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus 15. From I-ville to You-ville by Mersine Vigopoulou (a children’s book, but one that should be read by every Orthodox Christian!)
Pelagius did not actually believe that and the church more than once considered him orthodox despite Augustine’s false accusation (which he admitted as much in his writings). Wasn’t until Augustine got the emperor involved to declare Pelagius a heretic for something he did not teach. I hate that we call it Pelagianism as it’s smearing a brother’s name. He never said we didn’t need God’s grace, but Augustine wanted to make a point at Pelagius’ expense.
I think the reason the church would go to the other extreme is because of the normal human tendency to think of things as black and white. That is why certain groups of people just try to believe the POLAR OPPOSITE of another group of people. We don’t see the gray areas so, when we disagree with something, we tend to believe the contrary, not the contradictory, of it.
Bless Father! Is the handout that you showed in this video available in PDF? We are using your videos for our mission catechism and would greatly appreciate having it to share.
Hmmm, his cutting in line example, to me, isn't the best, per se. It's inherently wrong to cut in front of people in line. Whether or not a person gets upset about it, or how they handle it is another thing, they can be as graceful as possible, but that by no means makes the act of the other person 'just'. It might be reasonable to honk, but instead of honking out of egotistical rage, it's simply to signal to the other driver they've done something wrong. A person could also, for instance, if someone cut in front of them in line, they could calmly point out to them, "I was ahead of you, the back of the line is over there." I don't think that the point of grace is to allow evil or wrong-doing to run rampant without even acknowledging it... but the point would, from my limited understanding, be to have mercy, empathy, and calmness in the face of such evil or wrong-doing.
Fr. Paul Truebenbach I know this isn't this vidoes topic but please help. In Genesis 1 it implies that darkness is uncreated and was always there. My question is was water always there and is water uncreated
Neither darkness nor water are uncreated. The essence of God is His uncreatedness, so anything uncreated would be God. We can't even say that darkness was "always there," as time is itself a created thing. Thus, "always" would mean before time began. So darkness only became possible in creation.
@@frpaul thank you for answering. I’m about to go watch video 14 and you answering really made it feel relevant not just some thing I’m watching from years ago. Thank you
Thank you Fr. Paul, these lessons are, at times, eye opening and they amswer a tremendous number of questions I had as a heterodox in all the protestant groups I was involved with. This lesson thus far was the most mind-blowing. Thank you dear father, thank you. ☦️
Please pray for us. My wife Cathy is against Orthodoxy. I'm old and in poor health. I desire to be Orthodox. Thank you all again.
praying for you
@kristenhertzler4386 God bless you, Kristen. Glory to God 🙏 ☦️
You have my prayers 🙏🏼. God bless you!
Daniel, sometimes you have to do what your heart demands and what you know is true. I started coming to Orthodoxy against my wife's wishes, it caused me a lot of problems and she was having doubts she could continue the marriage. Not very seriously, but I know she thought about leaving. I prayed for both of us, and it was rough for a few months, but Orthodoxy has effected such a deep change in my being, she could not help but realize this was a good thing. She's even been to liturgy with me now a couple of times. And I am falling in love with the Church and with Christ. Sometimes you have to pay a price to follow Christ, if she loves you she'll understand. Honesty and patience is necessary of course.
@steelfalconx2000 wise words, my friend. They are deeply appreciated.
This homily is pure gold. Glory to God, our Lord Jesus Christ and thank you father🙏🏻☦️
October 2nd 2022 this Catechism 5: was posted to TH-cam
1:17 The barrier between The Uncreated and The Created was bridged in Jesus Christ's Incarnation.
2:26 How do we make Christ's Victories into Our Victories?
3:20 Orthodoxy is full of both/and paradoxes.
4:36 Salvation done only by God is Calvinism.
5:34 Salvation done only by Man is Pelagianism.
6:42 The Scriptures are not systematic. Christ did not give to Man a system of belief, Christ gave a Way of Relationship with Him. We want the endless mystery.
7:55 St. Seraphim of Sarov read the New Testament every week. Some Saints would memorize Scripture.
8:53 Define Grace. Define Saved. Define Faith.
9:20 Pelagianism vs St. Augustine. St. Augustine went a little too far in his defense against Pelagius.
10:15 St. John Cassian's experience with several Desert Abbas
11:05 Salvation is a working together of God and Man, God's Will and Man's Will.
12:10 St John Cassian is an Orthodox Saint.
*Out with the dirt, in with The Grace*
13:25 The Glass, The Heart of Man full of Virtue and Evil, The Fight of The Heart.
14:28 This Glass is Full of Dirt, Full of My Ego "HOW DARE YOU!"
15:25 Scoop the dirt out, Pour the water in. 16:45 Pour in the medicine.
17:16 Faith is Actively Living Out The Good News of God.
17:45 The Good Works remove The Dirt within us and make room for Christ to send His Grace to fill us after we empty ourselves of the dirt that has built up within us.
19:58 Romans 2:6, Rending to Man according to his works.
20:26 Christ is involved as a Coworker in every step of this process of Healing of The Soul.
21:50 Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead! Works and Faith go together.
23:15 One is not received by Faith Alone.
24:05 Faith is Living and Active. Faith can be big, Faith can be small.
24:51 Orthodoxy is about Faith seeking Faith, imperfect seeking perfect.
25:14 Faithfulness to Christ.
25:44 Faith can be seen in How We Live.
27:39 Asceticism. Matthew 16:21. Much of Western Christianity has lost "Deny Yourself, Take Up Your Cross, and Follow Me"
29:51 Asceticism is not only for Monastics.
30:30 Married and Monastics. Different ability to achieve, same Goal.
32:00 _The Ascetic Ideal and The New Testament_ by George Flovosky.
34:00 Addiction.
36:20 With enough discontent, the devil makes a path for despair to afflict the human heart.
37:00 A little self-denial. A little pain. A little more Self-Control.
37:50 The heart can free itself from addictions. Greater fulfillment. Greater pure joy and peace, Radiant Joy.
38:43 "I hope someday you will" get to experience that kind of Pure Joy. (amen).
39:46 The Soul as Garden, the Passion as weeds, The Passion become rooted habits, The Passion makes deep roots in The Human Heart.
41:04 The Major Passions
- Gluttony + Fasting
- Lust + Abstinence
- Avarice
- Anger + Meekness
- Sadness
- Acedia/Despondency
- Vainglory
- Pride + Humility
42:19 Forcefully practice virtue
43:08 _The Therapy of Spiritual Illness_ by Jean-Claude Larchet
44:12 _The Spiritual Life and How to Be Attuned To It_ by St. Theophan The Recluse
47:45 Medicines
+ Prayer
+ Fasting
+ Almsgiving
+ Prostrations
each is tailored to the particular person, based on their life.
48:59 Prayer
+ Conversation with God, ok.
49:23 + Struggle, + Focus
Start with a Prayer Book. Learn the form.
50:25 Guided by The Holy Spirit. In time, you will express the prayer as if they are your own words.
51:27 Prayer Rule
Basics.
Learning about where your heart is.
51:55 Start by saying your prayers, move to Praying your prayers.
+ Inviting God in
52:27 Yearn for Prayer. Learn to Love It. Quantity leads to Quality.
53:00 Fasting. The Day of Fasting. Moses Fasted 40 Days and Nights. Jonah, David, Darius the King of Persia, John The Baptist, Jesus Himself, The Church of Antioch, Paul and Barnabas. Fasting is a normal part of Christian Life.
54:53 Most people live in a Fallen Order, God's order to Fast turns this back into a Proper Order.
55:30 Lifting up The Soul. Lightening The Soul. Placing the Body in the proper place, in service to The Soul.
57:10 Show a little love > A couple dollars. Wisdom in almsgiving.
58:40 Bow and Prostration.
59:20 We are Body and Soul. Prostration is a Humbling motion.
1:01:28 The Struggle to Love Christ. Struggling with division.
+ Start Slowly!
1:02:35 Putting Love back where it is due. Reording the World within us, back to their true purpose.
1:03:25 The Blessings of A Saint's Body after Repose.
1:04:40 A Life of Repentance, a Life restoring back Right Union between Man and God.
1:05:20 Centered on Beatitude.
It takes a LONG TIME to get used to this Way.
Love God
Love Neighbor
With All Your Heart Mind Soul.
1:06:48 "I choose myself over God constantly."
1:07:50 All of life is worship, aiming at something.
1:08:25 "Anything that is worthwhile is tough to obtain."
- I will fall!
+ I will do my best to struggle well
+ If I repent, Christ Will Pick Me Back Up Again.
1:09:30 No Falls Ever would lead to Pride, so there will always be falls.
1:10:43 Tough, Violent, Battling Ego, until we can't fight anymore and we need Christ to do the rest.
1:11:27 Don't shrink The Spiritual Life down to a little checklist.
1:12:10 The Driving Force must be Love, Yearning For Christ.
1:12:36 Dry periods. My zeal is really weak. Examine myself.
1:13:31 Love God. Don't Sorrow Christ. Not because I think I will earn Salvation, I know He forgives me 1:14:02 I want Him to see how much I desire His Forgiveness.
*Questions*
1:14:33 1:15:48 St. John The Wonderworker of Kronstdat
Can I show this person Love?
1:16:37 Sitdown, eat, talk. Interesting stories, mental illness, drugs.
1:18:04 Do the best you can. Pray for them.
1:19:46 The World, define what you mean by The World.
1:21:03 Sanctifying The World by being more Saint Like, more Christ Like.
1:22:51/1:24:59
Saint Gregory of Nyssa's _The Light of Moses_
Entering Into Divine Darkness, Light Within The Darkness.
A very Complex Ascetic Ideal.
1:26:00 St Silouan The Athonite.
Prostrations at the end of prayer rule.
Prostrations at the end of the day.
1:27:10 Parish Prayer Book.
I really enjoyed your talk... And a lot of what I've seen in the Orthodox church.
Praise the Lord! Thank you
I want part 2, NOW! 🎉
This was a great series! Thankyou Fr Paul and team!
An Australian Lutheran theologian I knew mentioned one day that every sin is an attempt to get something God means us to have but to take a shortcut and get it "NOW!" That seems similar to what Fr. Paul says here about passions.
He also talked about the equivalent of "we fall and get back up again" except he used Baptism as an illustration: there we are swimming in God's grace, and the 'old man' grabs hold and drags us under so we have to wrestle him and drown him again.
Something that strikes me here is how at a Lutheran college there wasn't a single resource for personal spiritual life!
Thank you
I'm really enjoying these lectures. I'm currently in catechism classes at my parish in Washington. Where coincidentally Fr. James Bernstein is a part of. His son in law,Fr. David is our priest there.
Great video. Learned a lot. God bless you Father Truebenbach!
Thank you Father!!!!
Would it be possible to post your book list?
Catechumen Book List
TO BE READ BEFORE BAPTISM (books are in recommended order only)
1. Wisdom for Today from the Early Church: A Foundational Study by David Ford
2. Know the Faith by Fr Michael Shanbour
3. Thinking Orthodox by Dr. Eugenia Constantinou
4. On the Incarnation by St Athanasios
5. Father Arseny, 1893-1973: Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual Father translated by Vera Bouteneff
6. The Way of a Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues His Way by an Anonymous author
7. The Mountain of Silence by Kyriacos Markides
(Important note: This is an incredible book, introducing readers to basic Orthodox spirituality, spiritual principles, and many modern Saints of the Church. Everything said by Fr. Maximus in the book is completely Orthodox and worthy of attention. The author (Markides), however, takes a modern, syncretistic viewpoint that often skews Fr. Maximus’ words. Markides’ interpretation is not only faulty; it is, at times, dangerous. Please disregard his analysis and stick with Fr. Maximus’ words directly. Note especially that Markides’ chapter on the difference between Eastern and Western Christianity is particularly problematic.)
8. The Illness and Cure of the Soul in the Orthodox Tradition by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos
TO BE READ IN YEAR FOLLOWING BAPTISM (can be read during catechumenate period as well)
9. Knowledge of God by Harry Boosalis
10. God’s Revelation to the Human Heart by Fr. Seraphim Rose
11. The Field by St Ignatius Brianchaninov
12. Wisdom from Mount Athos: The Writings of Staretz Silouan by Archimandrite Sophrony
13. The Truth of our Faith by Elder Cleopa
14. Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus
15. From I-ville to You-ville by Mersine Vigopoulou
(a children’s book, but one that should be read by every Orthodox Christian!)
@@frpaul awesome thank you
Thank you so much for this list
Pelagius did not actually believe that and the church more than once considered him orthodox despite Augustine’s false accusation (which he admitted as much in his writings). Wasn’t until Augustine got the emperor involved to declare Pelagius a heretic for something he did not teach. I hate that we call it Pelagianism as it’s smearing a brother’s name. He never said we didn’t need God’s grace, but Augustine wanted to make a point at Pelagius’ expense.
I think the reason the church would go to the other extreme is because of the normal human tendency to think of things as black and white. That is why certain groups of people just try to believe the POLAR OPPOSITE of another group of people. We don’t see the gray areas so, when we disagree with something, we tend to believe the contrary, not the contradictory, of it.
Bless Father! Is the handout that you showed in this video available in PDF? We are using your videos for our mission catechism and would greatly appreciate having it to share.
@@Jonahandwhale sppoc.org/the-spiritual-life-and-how-to-be-attuned-to-it-theophan-the-recluse-pdf/
Can't find catechism 4
studio.th-cam.com/users/video5CQMYHWUzg4/edit
7:20-7:30 this. this. this. because then pride sneaks in
Hmmm, his cutting in line example, to me, isn't the best, per se. It's inherently wrong to cut in front of people in line. Whether or not a person gets upset about it, or how they handle it is another thing, they can be as graceful as possible, but that by no means makes the act of the other person 'just'. It might be reasonable to honk, but instead of honking out of egotistical rage, it's simply to signal to the other driver they've done something wrong. A person could also, for instance, if someone cut in front of them in line, they could calmly point out to them, "I was ahead of you, the back of the line is over there."
I don't think that the point of grace is to allow evil or wrong-doing to run rampant without even acknowledging it... but the point would, from my limited understanding, be to have mercy, empathy, and calmness in the face of such evil or wrong-doing.
Fr. Paul Truebenbach I know this isn't this vidoes topic but please help. In Genesis 1 it implies that darkness is uncreated and was always there. My question is was water always there and is water uncreated
Neither darkness nor water are uncreated. The essence of God is His uncreatedness, so anything uncreated would be God. We can't even say that darkness was "always there," as time is itself a created thing. Thus, "always" would mean before time began. So darkness only became possible in creation.
@@frpaul thank you for answering. I’m about to go watch video 14 and you answering really made it feel relevant not just some thing I’m watching from years ago. Thank you
Link to Theophan PDF is broken.