@commendatore2516in that case, baptism was not possible, so he was baptised "with his blood." But if it is possible to get baptized, it is a necessity. God is merciful and He understands what we can and cannot do better than we
@commendatore2516To add to what basementlm4200 said, St. Dismas, the thief, was under the old Covenant. God can also make exceptions to the normative way that He has left for us.
That's the wrong answer. That answer is if you want to go to hell. The answer is to emulate Christ and do as he did. Simple as that. But heathens get upset at this notion as this is the one and only true way. As Christ said, "I am the way, I am the truth".
@@x88868 Christ is Faith Himself and Repentance Himself (in His sinless nature, of course, not in being repentant sinner because He never sins). Orthodoxy is the tradition of acquiring the likeness of God, acquiring God Himself.
Im reminded of the follow scripture when listening to this teaching: Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; *but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,* you will live.
51:06 I love that you declared you are saved as a past tense. Salvation is a process in the sense of mankind being saved from sin in an actual way; but at the same time, in just as real of a way, Jesus HAS already saved us. This is the mystery, it’s a process to grow into our salvation but also, it’s true that Christ’s work “is finished.” With our free participation, we simply have to receive what He has purchased by grace. This is one of the best videos so far as a Protestant that I’ve found on salvation. I think for Protestants, we have a fear that engaging in conversation about works will secretly lead to a belief in our own hearts that we have “earned” God’s favor. Most Protestants that truly love God want to know the truth. Videos like this are extremely helpful for fleshing out that truth.
Father bless. A perpetually important message. Thank you. If only I could fill my heart continually with the ascetic ethos you described here...in Christ and for Christ.
The timing of this video is "convenient" as we are moving closer to our Baptisms into the Orthodox church and my Protestant family fights us on this decision. Just last night, I received texts about what they think is "all you need" to be saved.
You are doing the right thing. I was Baptized and Chrismated into the Church December 17th last year. I left the protestant church for the truth. You will know the truth and it shall set you free.
@@czuw2967 So great! Just be warned. The spiritual warfare is stronger the closer you become to joining the church. We've had multiple things happen this past year that kept delaying us and I said, no more! It is happening! Expect hurdles and obstacles. Expect unpleasantries.
Follow the Ecumenical council's decision . The Holy Fathers are our guides to all issues that cause havoc in the Church. If we did the above we would not be in the position we are today😢
This is absolute truth! It's not in some prayer that someone tells you to recite. Believe in faith and repent and be baptized into the one true church.
Thank you for these most inspiring lectures, the content that this channel produces is greatly appreciated. Greetings from a Dutch catechumen (Russian Orthodox Church in Groningen)
Thank you for posting this lecture! I didn't know how to find it beyond the attempts I made after watching the post a few days ago that had the excerpt from it...
Glory to God. I wrote my first comment here in gratitude for this message being posted, anticipating that Truth would be found in it... He is in the message, as I have learned much that clarifies so many aspects of His Church, and salvation. The timeliness of my hearing the excerpt and not finding the whole lesson when I searched for it, until you posted it as I arose this morning, is impeccable. As I hoped for a response to my request for how to find it, I learned more with other subsequent lessons that prepared me with examples that related to this one. Such as, "the spirit of man and the natural man" brought to mind the exposition of Metropolitan Sergius' actions described in your Russia's New Martyrs, Lesson 6, and other lessons that clarified and illumined the immense import of this one... Thank you!!!
@@stas5184 when we surrender to GOD our ego geta humbled our false self "dies" and our true self ( soul ) rises . Jesus on the cross showed us that by surrendering to god we die so that god can express himself through us . ☦️ instead of being selfish we becone selfless
@@stas5184 not easy but not hard , search about theosis , nepsis and apathia , this teachings will make u progress faster in the faith and transformation ☦️ purification of the nous
It is very clear that the Western Protestant concept of believe and you're saved is out of line with church history but it appears sometimes in Orthodoxy that the concept of change your mind and what you need to do to be saved is dozens and dozens of things after which possibly maybe you might be saved. If I ask you as an orthodox priest what must I do to be saved how many minutes and how many words would it take for you to answer that? It appears to me it would be a lengthy lecture. Can anybody tell me how I'm wrong?
Trying to see the truth of Holy Orthodoxy through the lens of the English language often fails when we use certain translations in the King James. Not only do we read that Judas Iscariot repents, God Himself also repents(!) according to the King James. Therefore, when we use the English word repentance for the Greek word μετάνοια, we are frequently using the wrong word.
When He returns in glory to judge the living and the dead (all of the latter will be resurrected, some to eternal blessedness and others to the opposite, each by his/her own choice) & to rule His Kingdom without end, every knee shall indeed bow to Him, but alas it will then be too late for those who failed to repent before then. Let us not be among them!
"The world continues to founder in the vicious circle of its material problems: economic, class, nationalistic and the like, because people refuse to follow Christ. We have no wish to become like him in all things: to become his brethren and through him the beloved children of the Father and the chosen habitation of the Holy Spirit. In God's pre-eternal Providence for man we are meant to participate in his Being : to be like unto him in all things. By its very essence this design on God's part for us excludes the slightest possibility of compulsion or predestination. And we as Christians must never renounce our goal lest we lose the inspiration to storm the kingdom of heaven. Experience shows all too dearly that once we Christians start reducing the scope of the revelation given to us by Christ and the Holy Spirit, we gradually cease to be attracted by the Light made manifest to us. If we are to preserve our saving hope, we must be bold. Christ said: "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (J 16,33). He had overcome the world in this instance not so much as God but as Man, for he did in truth become man." Saint Sophrony of Essex ☦️ His Life is Mine
"It would be a great lie to tell searching souls: go to church because there you will find peace." The opposite is true. The Church tells those who are at peace and asleep: "Go to church because there you will feel the real anguish for your sins, for your perdition, for the world's sins and perdition. There you will feel unappeasable hunger for Christ's truth. There, instead of feelingthere, instead of feeling lukewarm, you will be set on fire; instead of learning the wisdom of this world, you will become fools for Christ." St. Maria of Paris(1891-1945)
Who is the author of the first quote? _"It is impossible to come to know the truth or to grasp theology in any other way but following the Saints."_ I didn't get his name.
A lot of people depart on this issue on the authority of theology. We say it is the Saints but we also say the Saints are not infallible, some make mistakes, etc. This makes people from rationalistic backgrounds become scandalized. They think theology is an intellectual tradition. Theology requires faith, not for it to make sense to our fallen mind, of course we do not automatically have the mind of God in order to affirm this or that theological idea as true, we are simply blind. We have faith, the authority of sainthood is not something we non-saints can interpret. If there is a variation of consensus among the Fathers, we determine which one is correct by assessing them all in sum, the truth of God the Holy Spirit will be obviated from that assessment because that is how He speaks (through the prophets - and in the new covenant, through the apostolic fathers, the saints not just some random clergy). If there is not a patristic consensus, it is simply not a matter which concerns humanity, it has not been revealed by God, it does not effect our salvation. The west is all about self authority, solipsistic thinking, customizing your views based on what you like, lack of asceticism, luxury, style, culture, etc. They are offended by the Saints, but God is offended by their lack of piety, lack of faith, lack of correct practice, whose way outweighs the other? It is good for a patristic doctrine to knock down something you believe in, you should enjoy it, embrace it, that is the continuation of baptism, the renewal and transformation of the self. Uncertainty is Satan in the West, but in the east the mind is a door of Satan to get inside our soul, there must be a harmonisation of the west to its original authority structure which stems from the east. Those who are possessed will likely not give themselves over to the Holy tradition wilfully, their blockage is a spiritual problem not intellectual, they must have their existing faith system knocked down, the spirit will lose its power over them, then they are ready to embrace the path of catechism. There is no such thing is just learning about the faith, it's either catechism or rejection of catechism, seeking out information entails one has been inspired by God. The west does not know about Orthodoxy really, especially in modern times, because they have become spiritually infantile, small, narrow, rigid, short sighted, lacking, dry. They are spiritually unfamiliar, like a cripple who does not know how to walk. They want an Orthodoxy which is academic, not requiring a new life, that new life undermines the objectives of the secular sphere.
Evangelicals posit that a single vocal declaration is all that is necessary for Salvation... Scripture says " They pay Me lip service But their hearts are far from Me!" Believing that God exists And loving Him are 2 different things.... It is written Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself. Love thy neighbor, Not Envy nor Calumnize them! If Evangelical Protestants believed that Catholics and Other Christians Were wrong, They should Pray For them, Not attack them. Also read about Jesus and the rich man.. " Good Master, What must I do to inherit everlasting life?" Jesus said " Go and Sell All you have and then come back here and follow Me." He didn't say " Believe In Me" or " Accept Me with your Mouth!" He said Go and DO and then Follow Him! Also , Salvation and Justification are 2 different things... If a man says he loves his bride and yet does not make time to spend with her or take action to show her, That man is a Liar. If a " Christian" says The Lord saved them and does not seek after Him ( keep His commandments) that person is Also a Liar Repentance isn't a 1 time thing... Daily we fall and daily we repent No one is perfect, not even Evangelicals.
Yeah except salvation and identification are almost identical, not exactly same but those saved = justified There's no judgement for those already saved as I understand/know, because they already are saved
It's my understanding that protestant theology separates justification and sanctification. Catholics say justification and sanctification are pretty much the same thing, and I assume the orthodox church is somewhat similar to the Catholic church on this theology? Although I am not 100% sure.
ปีที่แล้ว +3
I whole heartedly agree with you. I think someone who believes and gets baptized also ought to pursue holy living and an active prayer life as well as have that faith reveal itself through good works. I think that many Protestants would agree with this. I think what ends up happening is protestants see the Lord's work on calvary as a done deal for the believing Christian and there is no other way or additives to receiving salvation than through that miraculous grace filled sacrifice. They see catholics and orthodox believers jumping through hoops and doing all these things as if that will complete their salvation where as protestants see these things as added rewards to the believer in the afterlife. We ought to pray for one another regardless of theological differences. I think there are people giving lip service in all church families and much corruption everywhere and it hurts the universal church. At the end of the day we ought to pursue Him with our whole selves and come alongside others who believe the same. ❤
ปีที่แล้ว +1
So as a protestant. Orthodox say "we are the true church" and catholics say "we are the true church" and any other believer in Christ says anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. He also says my yoke is easy and my burden is light and yet there is all these things added to a basic gospel that seems heavy. What am i getting wrong here?
There was the one Church (Ekklesia; the People of God) in the beginning, the continuation of the Second Temple Faith and before, the spiritual Israel, the Body of Christ. The Assyrian church departed from it in the early 5th century. Decades later the Oriental churches departed. Various heterodox groups departed like the Arians. In the 11th century Rome departed and from there spawned the English and Western Reformations. But, even though these groups departed from it, the Church was still there. This Church is the Orthodox Church as none of the current (and ones that are no more) local churches went anywhere even though limbs were pruned from the tree. In the Protestant world there is no cohesion or real unity, no unity of faith, or baptism or even the one Lord and God of all as they believe different things about all three. Without those three things in unity there is no Church, esp. if there's no Eucharistic communion (as even in the first century was the point of unity). So the Protestant ideal of "being saved" is not reality. It's not a one and done "me and my Bible alone" thing. The Faith of Christ has always been communal and in the Ekklesia. We are not saved yet, not until the particular judgment after this life. When you believe, you act as well. You also help others in the Ekklesia and not just focus on yourself. One should also have humility and listen to the shepherds of the sheep who teach right faith just as the first [Orthodox] Christians listened to St. Paul, St. Peter, St. James, St. Jude, etc. and then to their direct successors. Leaning only on your own understanding is where every heresy began. Nothing has been added in the Church. What Protestants see as added is by their willful or unwillful ignorance on the early Church and that of the first millennium. It is also from indoctrination by pastors using rhetoric against the Papal institution and false history (usually bringing something up about Constantine) that fail to see that Rome didn't call the sh0ts then.
“But as for ourselves, we were agreed that there is something more trustworthy than any of these artificial conclusions, namely, that which the teachings of Holy Scripture point to: and so I deem that it is necessary to inquire, in addition to what has been said, whether this inspired teaching harmonizes with it all.” St. Gregory Nyssa On the Soul and the Resurrection “We do not think that it is right to make their prevailing custom the law and rule of sound doctrine. For if custom is to avail for of soundness, we too, surely, may advance our we not bound to follow theirs. Let the inspired Scripture, then, be our umpire, and the vote of truth will surely be given to those whose dogmas are found to agree with the Divine words.” St. Gregory Nyssa On the Holy Trinity "For if we told you to be persuade by arguments, you might well be perplexed: but if we bid you believe the Scriptures, and these are simple and true, the decision is easy for you. If any agree with the Scriptures, he is the Christian." St. John Chrysostom Homilies on Acts Homily 33
"Better far that I should read with certainty and persuasion of its truth the Holy Scripture, placed on the highest (even the heavenly) pinnacle of authority, and should, without questioning the trustworthiness of its statements, learn from it that men have been either commended, or corrected, or condemned... …At the same time, as I have said already, it is to the canonical Scriptures alone that I am bound to yield such implicit subjection as to follow their teaching, without admitting the slightest suspicion that in them any mistake or any statement intended to mislead could find a place. Wherefore, when I look round for a third name that I may oppose three on my side to your three, I might indeed easily find one, I believe, if my reading had been extensive; but one occurs to me whose name is as good as all these others, nay, of greater authority- I mean the Apostle Paul himself. To him I betake myself; to himself I appeal from the verdict of all those commentators on his writings who advance an opinion different from mine. I interrogate him, and demand from himself to know whether he wrote what was true, or under some plea of expediency wrote what he knew to be false, when he wrote that he saw Peter not walking uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel, and withstood him to his face because by that dissimulation he was compelling the Gentiles to live after the manner of the Jews. And I hear him in reply proclaiming with a solemn oath in an earlier part of the epistle, where he began this narration, The things that I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. [Galatians 1:20] 25. Let those who think otherwise, however great their names, excuse my differing from them. The testimony of so great an apostle using, in his own writings, an oath as a confirmation of their truth, is of more weight with me than the opinion of any man, however learned, who is discussing the writings of another.” St. Augustine Letter 82, To Jerome
“[W]herefore we offer the doxology to the Father with the Son. But we do not rest only on the fact that such is the tradition of the Fathers; for they too followed the sense of Scripture, and started from the evidence which, a few sentences back, I deduced from Scripture and laid before you.” Basil the Great De Spiritu Sancto
“What then, shall be our way of arguing? We shall answer nothing new, nothing of our own invention, though they challenge us to it; we shall fall back upon the testimony in Holy Scripture about the Spirit, whence we learn that the Holy Spirit is Divine, and is to be called so. Now, if they allow this, and will not contradict the words of inspiration, then they, with all their eagerness to fight with us, must tell us why they are for contending with us, instead of with Scripture. We say nothing different from that which Scripture says.” Gregory Nyssa On the Holy Spirit "For concerning the divine and holy mysteries of the Faith, not even a casual statement must be delivered without the Holy Scriptures; nor must we be drawn aside by mere plausibility and artifices of speech. Even to me, who tell you these things, give not absolute credence, unless thou receive the proof of the things which I announce from the Divine Scriptures. For this salvation which we believe depends not on ingenious reasoning , but on demonstration of the Holy Scriptures." St. Cyril of Jerusalem Catechetical Lecture 4
Not individually. No, of course. But the Holy Spirit guides the Church and the voice of the Holy Spirit is heard in COUNCIL and when such councils are accepted by the fullness of the Church. We see this at work, for example, in Acts, at the Council of Jerusalem. “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.”
Evangelicals hold that once you're "saved" you will not be judged... The Scriptures state ALL SHALL STAND BEFORE THE THRONE OF God For Judgement!! God Alone will Judge the souls of Men Not Evangelicals!!
Obviously, we don’t mean that God does not speak to us and lead his people!! What is meant here is that there’s no more Revelation that will add to and differ from that which has been revealed by Jesus Christ, with regard to the holy Trinity. Of course, God still is revealing himself to saints and the faithful throughout the ages. It’s not in an absolute sense of his interaction with people.
@@OrthodoxEthos That’s a helpful clarification. However, who are we to say that God will not continue to reveal Himself in such a way that our theology will continue to evolve as it has since the dawn of creation? It points to the living experience of faith which is ever alive and changing, not a strict adherence to a finite set of beliefs about God.
"Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." By grace we have been saved through faith. And this is NOT of ourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
@Cre8Peace The Church was born in Christ and the Apostles. That said, though, the Epistles are an integral part of Holy Scripture and were written in context of, and in reference to, an already existing and functioning Church.
Do you know what that "faith" means in original Greek? What faith you cite is "demons have faith and tremble", but when Christ says "have faith" He says "Follow" faith, not just acknowledge 2 different words in original Greek, yet you lutherans or whatever - choose faith of Demons
All good works we do are because of God's uncreated grace infused in us at baptism and Chrismation [in the Ekklesia]. It is out of love for Him. So we can't boast.
i went to a catholic school and a girl who was protesent didnt bring her grandparents said ' im protesent ' i said i saw a two diferent set of boys bring both of their grandparents then she had to say she was just lazy to bring a grandparent
The gospel. Jesus Christ died for your sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Acknowledge your a sinner, ask Jesus Christ to forgive you, put your trust in his finished work on the cross / his shed blood that can cleanse your sin.. and ask him to forgive you and save you. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
We must be baptized in the Church (the collective Body of Christ, the Ekklesia) and laying on of hands to be sealed with the Holy Spirit. We also must commune of Christ or we have no life in us. Faith is there but there must be action in that faith.
Eastern Orthodox really should be reaching out to Protestants. We’re not protesting holy tradition, we’re protesting the accretions and bizarro dogmas that the Catholic Church brought in. It’s your job to come to us in the West, that’s how grace works. Be sent. Don’t attack us and make us walk a bed of nails to come to you. I went to look for an EO church to direct my grandmother to and there wasn’t one in her whole county. Why is that? There are dozens of Protestant churches in the county. I say this to your shame. Maybe if you were more focused on the great commission and less on how Orthodox can you be, doctrinally. Are you really that Orthodox in your practice if you’re lax in the great commission? There should be an Orthodox house church or fellowship or bishop in every city in the US! Does Christ really want you to focus on monastic life? Or getting out in the streets and preaching to all creatures? I pray that the Orthodox focus less on beautifying their worship houses and icons and praying for their own salvation and more on building the Temple of living stones. Maybe if you spent more time preaching Christ you wouldn’t need to spend as much time asking the saints to ask Christ to forgive you for not doing what he told you to do (sinning). I’m sorry for the rant, but as I consider EO it makes me already almost ashamed at the lack of Christian soldiers doing the work.
There are many reasons why Orthodoxy is unchanged in 2000 years. One of those reasons is that we commit to keeping the truth no matter what. Forced evangelism leads to compromises. It`s what the catholics did and what the protestants do. They widen the path for the sake of being accepted by as many as possible so they make the path get wide enough to reach the people...while we keep the narrow one try to bring people to it which is way way harder.
Well since this is the first century that all of the Orthodox Church is not completely in persecution (though some local churches are), we *are* evangelizing in this temporary time. We don't market the Faith like a business, nor scream at people on street corners (ineffective), threaten people with hell (coersion), nor travel to places to plant churches and then disappear after. Our missionary clergy do go to places and plant Orthodox Parishes and then they stay there to create an Orthodox community and help the people. If we didn't have any evangelization this very TH-cam channel would not exist, nor any of the others, groups wouldn't exist on many online platforms, Parishes wouldn't have festivals with church tours and classes shortly after for inquirers.
Have you heard of St. Herman and Innocent of Alaska? What about all the Africans being newly Baptized in the Orthodox Church. Your way of thinking is overly protestant and if you're seeking orthodoxy then you don't have a clear mindset yet. You should pray to humble yourself and not question a 2000 year old church of it's way of doing business. IIRC, there are so many different sects of protestants because they lack guidance from the church fathers aka saints! Be very careful as to how your mindset is triggering you. It's okay to go on rants because your wished orthodoxy was protestant but only the way you see it. That's part of human nature. But look pass that and pray for enlightenment.
There never was, is, or could ever be any ontological separation between man and the God in whom we live and move and have our being. Salvation, therefore, is simply the conscious participation in the inherent communion of God and man (and all that is). None of this requires dogmatic beliefs. Salvation is simply the lived reality of non-separation.
Which dogmatic beliefs do you deny? The Hypostatic union? The Trinity? The sacraments? Without specific teachings the faith disintegrates into generalities and possibly heresies.
@@prayunceasingly2029 The point isn’t to pick apart specific beliefs (although that can be done), but to point to the fact that no beliefs are necessary to know that which can be experientially known. The foundation of beliefs is ignorance, whereas knowing is direct, immediate, and lived. Any statement about the truth is but a feeble pointing to that which is ultimately beyond all words. Dogma does not precede knowing, but rather is the product of experiential knowing. Too often beliefs are seen as an end in and of themselves when they are really just fingers pointing to the moon. Faith isn’t about “specific teachings” - that’s just a collection of ideas. Faith is the lived experience of communion, which is inherent and available to all, irrespective of institutional affiliation. We’re well past the point of constructing higher and thicker walls in a world in which there is no separation between God and man and all that is.
@@voievod9260why do you eastern Orthodox never seem to know that many Protestants believe in the sacraments and that baptism saves? It's like you guys are collectively uneducated.
"It would be a great lie to tell searching souls: go to church because there you will find peace." The opposite is true. The Church tells those who are at peace and asleep: "Go to church because there you will feel the real anguish for your sins, for your perdition, for the world's sins and perdition. There you will feel unappeasable hunger for Christ's truth. There, instead of feelingthere, instead of feeling lukewarm, you will be set on fire; instead of learning the wisdom of this world, you will become fools for Christ." St. Maria of Paris(1891-1945)
The video ends abruptly due to a recording malfunction, but the full lecture is still presented here. Forgive us for any confusion.
@commendatore2516in that case, baptism was not possible, so he was baptised "with his blood."
But if it is possible to get baptized, it is a necessity.
God is merciful and He understands what we can and cannot do better than we
@commendatore2516To add to what basementlm4200 said, St. Dismas, the thief, was under the old Covenant. God can also make exceptions to the normative way that He has left for us.
if all this is[about salivation] written it will be useful for more souls in the world.
Two easy words: "Faith and repentance." Amen
Right, and the foundation of all repentance is the one true baptism which many of today's clergy seem to deny people all over the world
That's the wrong answer. That answer is if you want to go to hell. The answer is to emulate Christ and do as he did. Simple as that. But heathens get upset at this notion as this is the one and only true way. As Christ said, "I am the way, I am the truth".
@@x88868 Christ is Faith Himself and Repentance Himself (in His sinless nature, of course, not in being repentant sinner because He never sins). Orthodoxy is the tradition of acquiring the likeness of God, acquiring God Himself.
@@ICONFESSONEBAPTISM wrong. Always making excuses. Lazy and typical sinner 🤣
@@Monk_mode1 faith and repentance, huh? Is that a weekend thing?
Im reminded of the follow scripture when listening to this teaching:
Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; *but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,* you will live.
51:06 I love that you declared you are saved as a past tense. Salvation is a process in the sense of mankind being saved from sin in an actual way; but at the same time, in just as real of a way, Jesus HAS already saved us. This is the mystery, it’s a process to grow into our salvation but also, it’s true that Christ’s work “is finished.” With our free participation, we simply have to receive what He has purchased by grace.
This is one of the best videos so far as a Protestant that I’ve found on salvation. I think for Protestants, we have a fear that engaging in conversation about works will secretly lead to a belief in our own hearts that we have “earned” God’s favor. Most Protestants that truly love God want to know the truth. Videos like this are extremely helpful for fleshing out that truth.
Thank you for your zealous, consistent and continuous work Father Peter. Glory to Jesus Christ!
Glory be forever!
Father bless. A perpetually important message. Thank you. If only I could fill my heart continually with the ascetic ethos you described here...in Christ and for Christ.
You made this video just when I needed it, thank you.
The timing of this video is "convenient" as we are moving closer to our Baptisms into the Orthodox church and my Protestant family fights us on this decision. Just last night, I received texts about what they think is "all you need" to be saved.
You are doing the right thing. I was Baptized and Chrismated into the Church December 17th last year. I left the protestant church for the truth. You will know the truth and it shall set you free.
@@dabeez68 that's our day this year :)
Me and my wife and kids are becoming catechumens this Sunday! It’s encouraging to see your comment. Stand fast!
@@czuw2967
Amazing
@@czuw2967 So great! Just be warned. The spiritual warfare is stronger the closer you become to joining the church. We've had multiple things happen this past year that kept delaying us and I said, no more! It is happening! Expect hurdles and obstacles. Expect unpleasantries.
Follow the Ecumenical council's decision .
The Holy Fathers are our guides to all issues that cause havoc in the Church.
If we did the above we would not be in the position we are today😢
This is absolute truth!
It's not in some prayer that someone tells you to recite. Believe in faith and repent and be baptized into the one true church.
AMHN
Thank you so much for the knowledge you share with such Grace. Especially in english. ✝️🙏🏻❤️
Lord I believe. Help my unbelief!
Grant me faith, humility and true repentance.
Lord, shine your light on my darkness. ☦️
Amen!!!
Thank you for these most inspiring lectures, the content that this channel produces is greatly appreciated.
Greetings from a Dutch catechumen (Russian Orthodox Church in Groningen)
Glory to God for this lecture! Thank you, Father, for continuing to help guide us towards the path of Salvation!
Thank you for posting this lecture! I didn't know how to find it beyond the attempts I made after watching the post a few days ago that had the excerpt from it...
Glory to God. I wrote my first comment here in gratitude for this message being posted, anticipating that Truth would be found in it... He is in the message, as I have learned much that clarifies so many aspects of His Church, and salvation. The timeliness of my hearing the excerpt and not finding the whole lesson when I searched for it, until you posted it as I arose this morning, is impeccable. As I hoped for a response to my request for how to find it, I learned more with other subsequent lessons that prepared me with examples that related to this one. Such as, "the spirit of man and the natural man" brought to mind the exposition of Metropolitan Sergius' actions described in your Russia's New Martyrs, Lesson 6, and other lessons that clarified and illumined the immense import of this one...
Thank you!!!
Thanks!
Thank you and may God bless you!
All glory to God
amen!☦️💙
Love this Fr.Heers! Amen! ☦️🔥🔥
Amen
Become cruscified and you will be saved ☦️
hey, can you explain what do you mean by that?
@@stas5184 when we surrender to GOD our ego geta humbled our false self "dies" and our true self ( soul ) rises . Jesus on the cross showed us that by surrendering to god we die so that god can express himself through us . ☦️ instead of being selfish we becone selfless
@@thenarrowdoor7 Thanks. I just got my Orthodox Study Bible today. Understanding Christianity is not easy but in the end it will be worth it ☦️
@@stas5184 not easy but not hard , search about theosis , nepsis and apathia , this teachings will make u progress faster in the faith and transformation ☦️ purification of the nous
It is very clear that the Western Protestant concept of believe and you're saved is out of line with church history but it appears sometimes in Orthodoxy that the concept of change your mind and what you need to do to be saved is dozens and dozens of things after which possibly maybe you might be saved. If I ask you as an orthodox priest what must I do to be saved how many minutes and how many words would it take for you to answer that? It appears to me it would be a lengthy lecture. Can anybody tell me how I'm wrong?
Trying to see the truth of Holy Orthodoxy through the lens of the English language often fails when we use certain translations in the King James. Not only do we read that Judas Iscariot repents, God Himself also repents(!) according to the King James. Therefore, when we use the English word repentance for the Greek word μετάνοια, we are frequently using the wrong word.
I trust the saints!!!
Why was the Council of Hieria overturned after 3 decades?
@@dave1370 never heard of it
St Gregory Palamas: "In this lies piety: Not doubting the God-bearing Fathers" (the saints)
BEAUTIFUL.
Like St. Augustine?
@@dave1370Consensus.
Thank you. Praise God.
When He returns in glory to judge the living and the dead (all of the latter will be resurrected, some to eternal blessedness and others to the opposite, each by his/her own choice) & to rule His Kingdom without end, every knee shall indeed bow to Him, but alas it will then be too late for those who failed to repent before then. Let us not be among them!
"The world continues to founder in the vicious circle of its material problems: economic, class, nationalistic and the like, because people refuse to follow Christ. We have no wish to become like him in all things: to become his brethren and through him the beloved children of the Father and the chosen habitation of the Holy Spirit. In God's pre-eternal Providence for man we are meant to participate in his Being : to be like unto him in all things. By its very essence this design on God's part for us excludes the slightest possibility of compulsion or predestination. And we as Christians must never renounce our goal lest we lose the inspiration to storm the kingdom of heaven. Experience shows all too dearly that once we Christians start reducing the
scope of the revelation given to us by Christ and the Holy Spirit, we gradually cease to be attracted by the Light made manifest to us. If we are to preserve our saving hope, we must be bold. Christ said:
"Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (J 16,33).
He had overcome the world in this instance not so much as God but as Man, for he did in truth become man."
Saint Sophrony of Essex ☦️
His Life is Mine
"It would be a great lie to tell searching souls: go to church because there you will find peace." The opposite is true.
The Church tells those who are at peace and asleep: "Go to church because there you will feel the real anguish for your sins, for your perdition, for the world's sins and perdition. There you will feel unappeasable hunger for Christ's truth. There, instead of feelingthere, instead of feeling lukewarm, you will be set on fire; instead of learning the wisdom of this world, you will become fools for Christ."
St. Maria of Paris(1891-1945)
Who is the author of the first quote? _"It is impossible to come to know the truth or to grasp theology in any other way but following the Saints."_ I didn't get his name.
A lot of people depart on this issue on the authority of theology. We say it is the Saints but we also say the Saints are not infallible, some make mistakes, etc. This makes people from rationalistic backgrounds become scandalized. They think theology is an intellectual tradition. Theology requires faith, not for it to make sense to our fallen mind, of course we do not automatically have the mind of God in order to affirm this or that theological idea as true, we are simply blind. We have faith, the authority of sainthood is not something we non-saints can interpret. If there is a variation of consensus among the Fathers, we determine which one is correct by assessing them all in sum, the truth of God the Holy Spirit will be obviated from that assessment because that is how He speaks (through the prophets - and in the new covenant, through the apostolic fathers, the saints not just some random clergy). If there is not a patristic consensus, it is simply not a matter which concerns humanity, it has not been revealed by God, it does not effect our salvation. The west is all about self authority, solipsistic thinking, customizing your views based on what you like, lack of asceticism, luxury, style, culture, etc. They are offended by the Saints, but God is offended by their lack of piety, lack of faith, lack of correct practice, whose way outweighs the other? It is good for a patristic doctrine to knock down something you believe in, you should enjoy it, embrace it, that is the continuation of baptism, the renewal and transformation of the self. Uncertainty is Satan in the West, but in the east the mind is a door of Satan to get inside our soul, there must be a harmonisation of the west to its original authority structure which stems from the east. Those who are possessed will likely not give themselves over to the Holy tradition wilfully, their blockage is a spiritual problem not intellectual, they must have their existing faith system knocked down, the spirit will lose its power over them, then they are ready to embrace the path of catechism. There is no such thing is just learning about the faith, it's either catechism or rejection of catechism, seeking out information entails one has been inspired by God. The west does not know about Orthodoxy really, especially in modern times, because they have become spiritually infantile, small, narrow, rigid, short sighted, lacking, dry. They are spiritually unfamiliar, like a cripple who does not know how to walk. They want an Orthodoxy which is academic, not requiring a new life, that new life undermines the objectives of the secular sphere.
Evangelicals posit that a single vocal declaration is all that is necessary for Salvation...
Scripture says " They pay Me lip service But their hearts are far from Me!"
Believing that God exists And loving Him are 2 different things....
It is written Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself.
Love thy neighbor, Not Envy nor Calumnize them!
If Evangelical Protestants believed that Catholics and Other Christians Were wrong, They should Pray For them, Not attack them.
Also read about Jesus and the rich man..
" Good Master, What must I do to inherit everlasting life?"
Jesus said " Go and Sell All you have and then come back here and follow Me."
He didn't say " Believe In Me" or " Accept Me with your Mouth!"
He said Go and DO and then Follow Him!
Also , Salvation and Justification are 2 different things...
If a man says he loves his bride and yet does not make time to spend with her or take action to show her, That man is a Liar.
If a " Christian" says The Lord saved them and does not seek after Him ( keep His commandments) that person is Also a Liar
Repentance isn't a 1 time thing...
Daily we fall and daily we repent
No one is perfect, not even Evangelicals.
Yeah except salvation and identification are almost identical, not exactly same but those saved = justified
There's no judgement for those already saved as I understand/know, because they already are saved
It's my understanding that protestant theology separates justification and sanctification. Catholics say justification and sanctification are pretty much the same thing, and I assume the orthodox church is somewhat similar to the Catholic church on this theology? Although I am not 100% sure.
I whole heartedly agree with you. I think someone who believes and gets baptized also ought to pursue holy living and an active prayer life as well as have that faith reveal itself through good works. I think that many Protestants would agree with this. I think what ends up happening is protestants see the Lord's work on calvary as a done deal for the believing Christian and there is no other way or additives to receiving salvation than through that miraculous grace filled sacrifice. They see catholics and orthodox believers jumping through hoops and doing all these things as if that will complete their salvation where as protestants see these things as added rewards to the believer in the afterlife.
We ought to pray for one another regardless of theological differences. I think there are people giving lip service in all church families and much corruption everywhere and it hurts the universal church. At the end of the day we ought to pursue Him with our whole selves and come alongside others who believe the same. ❤
So as a protestant. Orthodox say "we are the true church" and catholics say "we are the true church" and any other believer in Christ says anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. He also says my yoke is easy and my burden is light and yet there is all these things added to a basic gospel that seems heavy. What am i getting wrong here?
There was the one Church (Ekklesia; the People of God) in the beginning, the continuation of the Second Temple Faith and before, the spiritual Israel, the Body of Christ.
The Assyrian church departed from it in the early 5th century. Decades later the Oriental churches departed. Various heterodox groups departed like the Arians. In the 11th century Rome departed and from there spawned the English and Western Reformations.
But, even though these groups departed from it, the Church was still there. This Church is the Orthodox Church as none of the current (and ones that are no more) local churches went anywhere even though limbs were pruned from the tree.
In the Protestant world there is no cohesion or real unity, no unity of faith, or baptism or even the one Lord and God of all as they believe different things about all three. Without those three things in unity there is no Church, esp. if there's no Eucharistic communion (as even in the first century was the point of unity). So the Protestant ideal of "being saved" is not reality. It's not a one and done "me and my Bible alone" thing.
The Faith of Christ has always been communal and in the Ekklesia. We are not saved yet, not until the particular judgment after this life. When you believe, you act as well. You also help others in the Ekklesia and not just focus on yourself. One should also have humility and listen to the shepherds of the sheep who teach right faith just as the first [Orthodox] Christians listened to St. Paul, St. Peter, St. James, St. Jude, etc. and then to their direct successors. Leaning only on your own understanding is where every heresy began.
Nothing has been added in the Church. What Protestants see as added is by their willful or unwillful ignorance on the early Church and that of the first millennium. It is also from indoctrination by pastors using rhetoric against the Papal institution and false history (usually bringing something up about Constantine) that fail to see that Rome didn't call the sh0ts then.
4:10 Protestants appeal to Holy Tradition (Scripture particularly) to attempt to dismiss the very concept of Holy Tradition. It's quite ironic.
Yeah but not really. Consider the fathers themselves where they say that even they follow scripture as their rule of faith.
“But as for ourselves, we were agreed that there is something more trustworthy than any of these artificial conclusions, namely, that which the teachings of Holy Scripture point to: and so I deem that it is necessary to inquire, in addition to what has been said, whether this inspired teaching harmonizes with it all.”
St. Gregory Nyssa
On the Soul and the Resurrection
“We do not think that it is right to make their prevailing custom the law and rule of sound doctrine. For if custom is to avail for of soundness, we too, surely, may advance our we not bound to follow theirs. Let the inspired Scripture, then, be our umpire, and the vote of truth will surely be given to those whose dogmas are found to agree with the Divine words.”
St. Gregory Nyssa
On the Holy Trinity
"For if we told you to be persuade by arguments, you might well be perplexed: but if we bid you believe the Scriptures, and these are simple and true, the decision is easy for you. If any agree with the Scriptures, he is the Christian."
St. John Chrysostom
Homilies on Acts
Homily 33
"Better far that I should read with certainty and persuasion of its truth the Holy Scripture, placed on the highest (even the heavenly) pinnacle of authority, and should, without questioning the trustworthiness of its statements, learn from it that men have been either commended, or corrected, or condemned...
…At the same time, as I have said already, it is to the canonical Scriptures alone that I am bound to yield such implicit subjection as to follow their teaching, without admitting the slightest suspicion that in them any mistake or any statement intended to mislead could find a place. Wherefore, when I look round for a third name that I may oppose three on my side to your three, I might indeed easily find one, I believe, if my reading had been extensive; but one occurs to me whose name is as good as all these others, nay, of greater authority- I mean the Apostle Paul himself. To him I betake myself; to himself I appeal from the verdict of all those commentators on his writings who advance an opinion different from mine. I interrogate him, and demand from himself to know whether he wrote what was true, or under some plea of expediency wrote what he knew to be false, when he wrote that he saw Peter not walking uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel, and withstood him to his face because by that dissimulation he was compelling the Gentiles to live after the manner of the Jews. And I hear him in reply proclaiming with a solemn oath in an earlier part of the epistle, where he began this narration, The things that I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. [Galatians 1:20] 25. Let those who think otherwise, however great their names, excuse my differing from them. The testimony of so great an apostle using, in his own writings, an oath as a confirmation of their truth, is of more weight with me than the opinion of any man, however learned, who is discussing the writings of another.”
St. Augustine
Letter 82, To Jerome
“[W]herefore we offer the doxology to the Father with the Son. But we do not rest only on the fact that such is the tradition of the Fathers; for they too followed the sense of Scripture, and started from the evidence which, a few sentences back, I deduced from Scripture and laid before you.”
Basil the Great
De Spiritu Sancto
“What then, shall be our way of arguing? We shall answer nothing new, nothing of our own invention, though they challenge us to it; we shall fall back upon the testimony in Holy Scripture about the Spirit, whence we learn that the Holy Spirit is Divine, and is to be called so. Now, if they allow this, and will not contradict the words of inspiration, then they, with all their eagerness to fight with us, must tell us why they are for contending with us, instead of with Scripture. We say nothing different from that which Scripture says.”
Gregory Nyssa
On the Holy Spirit
"For concerning the divine and holy mysteries of the Faith, not even a casual statement must be delivered without the Holy Scriptures; nor must we be drawn aside by mere plausibility and artifices of speech. Even to me, who tell you these things, give not absolute credence, unless thou receive the proof of the things which I announce from the Divine Scriptures. For this salvation which we believe depends not on ingenious reasoning , but on demonstration of the Holy Scriptures."
St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Catechetical Lecture 4
If we are to follow the "Holy Fathers" is that saying they were infallible?
Not individually. No, of course. But the Holy Spirit guides the Church and the voice of the Holy Spirit is heard in COUNCIL and when such councils are accepted by the fullness of the Church. We see this at work, for example, in Acts, at the Council of Jerusalem. “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.”
@@pah9730so why was the Council of Hieria overturned?
So is reading books from the saints the same as following the holy fathers?
Glory to God ❤
Evangelicals hold that once you're "saved" you will not be judged...
The Scriptures state ALL SHALL STAND BEFORE THE THRONE OF God For Judgement!!
God Alone will Judge the souls of Men
Not Evangelicals!!
Christ has redeemed us from the power of sin and death and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
25:25 "After Pentecost there is no more revelation"
So, the book, of Revelation, was written, before then?
No? Then why should the heavens be closed?
Yeah, what a totally absurd thing to say. Every moment is a constant revelation of God.
Obviously, we don’t mean that God does not speak to us and lead his people!!
What is meant here is that there’s no more Revelation that will add to and differ from that which has been revealed by Jesus Christ, with regard to the holy Trinity.
Of course, God still is revealing himself to saints and the faithful throughout the ages.
It’s not in an absolute sense of his interaction with people.
@@OrthodoxEthos That’s a helpful clarification. However, who are we to say that God will not continue to reveal Himself in such a way that our theology will continue to evolve as it has since the dawn of creation? It points to the living experience of faith which is ever alive and changing, not a strict adherence to a finite set of beliefs about God.
"Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved."
By grace we have been saved through faith. And this is NOT of ourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
@@GigiGhibaI just quoted Scripture. Soo, yeah.
James 2:19-26
@Cre8Peace The Church was born in Christ and the Apostles. That said, though, the Epistles are an integral part of Holy Scripture and were written in context of, and in reference to, an already existing and functioning Church.
Do you know what that "faith" means in original Greek? What faith you cite is "demons have faith and tremble", but when Christ says "have faith" He says "Follow" faith, not just acknowledge
2 different words in original Greek, yet you lutherans or whatever - choose faith of Demons
All good works we do are because of God's uncreated grace infused in us at baptism and Chrismation [in the Ekklesia]. It is out of love for Him. So we can't boast.
i went to a catholic school and a girl who was protesent didnt bring her grandparents said ' im protesent ' i said i saw a two diferent set of boys bring both of their grandparents then she had to say she was just lazy to bring a grandparent
What is aftonousia?
Autoexousio
Self-governing/ free will
"if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Rom 10:9)
Incomplete 🤣
I hear a baby getting baptized
The gospel. Jesus Christ died for your sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Acknowledge your a sinner, ask Jesus Christ to forgive you, put your trust in his finished work on the cross / his shed blood that can cleanse your sin.. and ask him to forgive you and save you. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
We must be baptized in the Church (the collective Body of Christ, the Ekklesia) and laying on of hands to be sealed with the Holy Spirit. We also must commune of Christ or we have no life in us. Faith is there but there must be action in that faith.
Eastern Orthodox really should be reaching out to Protestants. We’re not protesting holy tradition, we’re protesting the accretions and bizarro dogmas that the Catholic Church brought in.
It’s your job to come to us in the West, that’s how grace works. Be sent. Don’t attack us and make us walk a bed of nails to come to you.
I went to look for an EO church to direct my grandmother to and there wasn’t one in her whole county. Why is that? There are dozens of Protestant churches in the county. I say this to your shame. Maybe if you were more focused on the great commission and less on how Orthodox can you be, doctrinally. Are you really that Orthodox in your practice if you’re lax in the great commission?
There should be an Orthodox house church or fellowship or bishop in every city in the US!
Does Christ really want you to focus on monastic life? Or getting out in the streets and preaching to all creatures? I pray that the Orthodox focus less on beautifying their worship houses and icons and praying for their own salvation and more on building the Temple of living stones. Maybe if you spent more time preaching Christ you wouldn’t need to spend as much time asking the saints to ask Christ to forgive you for not doing what he told you to do (sinning).
I’m sorry for the rant, but as I consider EO it makes me already almost ashamed at the lack of Christian soldiers doing the work.
Christianity is not a marketing scheme.
There are many reasons why Orthodoxy is unchanged in 2000 years. One of those reasons is that we commit to keeping the truth no matter what. Forced evangelism leads to compromises. It`s what the catholics did and what the protestants do. They widen the path for the sake of being accepted by as many as possible so they make the path get wide enough to reach the people...while we keep the narrow one try to bring people to it which is way way harder.
Well since this is the first century that all of the Orthodox Church is not completely in persecution (though some local churches are), we *are* evangelizing in this temporary time.
We don't market the Faith like a business, nor scream at people on street corners (ineffective), threaten people with hell (coersion), nor travel to places to plant churches and then disappear after.
Our missionary clergy do go to places and plant Orthodox Parishes and then they stay there to create an Orthodox community and help the people.
If we didn't have any evangelization this very TH-cam channel would not exist, nor any of the others, groups wouldn't exist on many online platforms, Parishes wouldn't have festivals with church tours and classes shortly after for inquirers.
Have you heard of St. Herman and Innocent of Alaska? What about all the Africans being newly Baptized in the Orthodox Church. Your way of thinking is overly protestant and if you're seeking orthodoxy then you don't have a clear mindset yet. You should pray to humble yourself and not question a 2000 year old church of it's way of doing business. IIRC, there are so many different sects of protestants because they lack guidance from the church fathers aka saints!
Be very careful as to how your mindset is triggering you. It's okay to go on rants because your wished orthodoxy was protestant but only the way you see it. That's part of human nature. But look pass that and pray for enlightenment.
There never was, is, or could ever be any ontological separation between man and the God in whom we live and move and have our being. Salvation, therefore, is simply the conscious participation in the inherent communion of God and man (and all that is). None of this requires dogmatic beliefs. Salvation is simply the lived reality of non-separation.
Which dogmatic beliefs do you deny? The Hypostatic union? The Trinity? The sacraments? Without specific teachings the faith disintegrates into generalities and possibly heresies.
Hello Aaron I am Aaron too
@@prayunceasingly2029 The point isn’t to pick apart specific beliefs (although that can be done), but to point to the fact that no beliefs are necessary to know that which can be experientially known. The foundation of beliefs is ignorance, whereas knowing is direct, immediate, and lived. Any statement about the truth is but a feeble pointing to that which is ultimately beyond all words. Dogma does not precede knowing, but rather is the product of experiential knowing. Too often beliefs are seen as an end in and of themselves when they are really just fingers pointing to the moon. Faith isn’t about “specific teachings” - that’s just a collection of ideas. Faith is the lived experience of communion, which is inherent and available to all, irrespective of institutional affiliation. We’re well past the point of constructing higher and thicker walls in a world in which there is no separation between God and man and all that is.
Baptism does not save.
Ok protestant 😂
it regenerates
BAPTISM = Death and Resurrection of/in Christ. Christ saves THROUGH this and the other MYSTERIES, which are giving Christ and given by Christ.
1 Peter 3:21 literally says that baptism saves.
@@voievod9260why do you eastern Orthodox never seem to know that many Protestants believe in the sacraments and that baptism saves? It's like you guys are collectively uneducated.
@OrthodoxChristianTheology : AMEN 🙏 ‼️
"It would be a great lie to tell searching souls: go to church because there you will find peace." The opposite is true.
The Church tells those who are at peace and asleep: "Go to church because there you will feel the real anguish for your sins, for your perdition, for the world's sins and perdition. There you will feel unappeasable hunger for Christ's truth. There, instead of feelingthere, instead of feeling lukewarm, you will be set on fire; instead of learning the wisdom of this world, you will become fools for Christ."
St. Maria of Paris(1891-1945)