Are Benjamin Cabe And Theoria.TV Trustworthy Resources for Orthodox Christians?

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@GentleBreeze1234 10 ай бұрын

It occurs to me now that the subject of marital fasting is, unfortunately, in our day a very controversial issue and there is much confusion about the Church's teaching. This topic was only briefly addressed in the video, so here is provided additional Patristic material on this topic. I am not aware of a single Saint who says that marital fasting is unnecessary. The point that the video really tries to emphasize is that we have no basis to reject the teachings of Saints if we are not basing this rejection in the teaching of other Saints. Saints can certainly be wrong but we have to follow SOME Saint at least. We have to follow the consensus of the Saints. What Ben consistently does is that he rejects a Saint's teaching and then simply substitutes his or other modern people's opinion, with no reference to any Saint at all. St Nicodemos speaks on martial fasting in the Exomologitarion: On page 157 he lists sins against the Fourth Commandment and includes having sexual relations with your wife on Sundays and Feast Days. On page 211 he says: "just as there must be a fast from food on Wednesday, Friday, and Great Lent, there must also be a fast from pleasures of the flesh. For this reason weddings cannot take place on these days, because the divine Paul commands that married couples are not to come together during a time of prayer and fasting (1st Cor. 7:5). And the divine Chrysostom, brining the saying of Joel as a witness: 'Sanctify a fast...Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her closet' (Joel 2:15-16), says that even newlyweds, who have strong desire, vigorous youthfulness, and unfettered urges, are not to come together during a period of fasting and prayer (De Virginitate 30, PG 48, 544)...Likewise, married couples who come together on Wednesday and Friday must be corrected through penances." He even goes on to suggest that they also fast (although are not obligated) from sex on Mondays as well. From the Rudder: Question 5 from the 18 Canons of St Timothy of Alexandria: "If a woman has coition with her husband during the night, or, as likely as not, a man with his wife, and a church meeting ensues, ought they to partake of communion, or not? Answer: They ought not to do so, because the Apostle says emphatically: “Deprive yourselves not of each other, unless it be for a time by agreement, that ye may give yourselves leisure to pray; and then come ye again together, to avoid having Satan tempt you on account of your failure to mingle” (I Cor. 7:5). Interpretation (of St Nicodemos): To one who had asked whether a married couple ought to partake of the divine Mysteries, when a liturgy is held in the morning, and they have had sexual intercourse with each other during the night immediately preceding, the Saint replied in the present Canon that they ought not to commune;1 and in witness thereof he cites the words of the Apostle, who orders married couples not to deprive one party the other of sexual inter- course, save by agreement of both the parties; and only then not to have sexual intercourse when a sacred liturgy is being celebrated, on Saturday and Sunday, and in general on all feast days, so that they may partake of communion (for it is thus that the passage saying “that ye may give your- selves leisure to pray” is interpreted in c. XIII of this same Saint as well as in the third Canon of St. Dionysius, both of which Canons you may read for yourself), and again to mingle carnally, and to do this on account of their irrestrainable desire, to prevent Satan from tempting them by inciting them to commit fornication or to commit adultery with wives of other men or husbands of other women, as the case may be." Question 13 from the 18 Canons of St Timothy of Alexandria: "What days of the week ought to be assigned to those who are conjoined in marriage for them to abstain from communion with each other? And on what days ought they to have it? Answer: Though I have already answered this question, I will answer now once more. The Apostle says. “Deprive ye not yourselves of each other, unless it be for a time by agreement, in order that ye may have leisure to pray” (I Cor. 7:5). And again: “Come ye together again, that Satan tempt you not on ac- count of your failure to mingle” (ibid.). But one must necessarily abstain on Saturday and Sunday, on account of the fact that on these days the spiritual sacrifice is being offered to the Lord. Interpretation (of St Nicodemos): The Saint has been asked on what days of the week married couples ought not to have sexual intercourse by mingling together carnally, and he has replied in the present Canon, by citing in evidence the words of St. Paul addressed to married couples, to the effect that neither of the parties ought to deprive the other of carnal intercourse, unless both of them abstain from coition by agreement for a time, in order to engage in prayer, and that they ought again to mingle with each other soon enough to prevent Satan from tempting them on account of their failing to mix themselves together as wine is mixed with water. In explaining at what time and what prayer Paul means for married couples to refrain from coition, the Saint states that it is Saturday and Sunday (and in general every feast day), on which days they are obliged to refrain from sexual intercourse because of the fact that for the most part it was on those particular days that the spiritual sacrifice used to be performed, or, in other words, the sacred liturgy used to be celebrated, and they had to prepare themselves and get ready to partake of the divine Mysteries.1 See also c. III of Dionysius." St. Nicodemos references many saints and canonists which interpret the words of the Apostle Paul regarding the principle of this, with great strictness. In his Exomologetarion and Rudder (which was approved for all churches by the Ecumenical Patriarchate), St. Nicodemos references especially St. Timothy and Dionysios the Alexandrians, St. John Chyrsostom who brings to his support the Prophet Joel, the canonists Balsamon and Zonaras, and St. John the Faster to not only abstain from marital relations on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and all great feasts and fasting periods, but even goes further (showing this is the minimum) and says it is a pious custom to refrain on Mondays and to not commune even if a nocturnal emission is coupled with provocative imagery. On what basis can we stand here and reject the teachings of these Saints? What Saints disagree with them? Why should we trust priests who go against these teachings if they can't tell us which Saints say otherwise?

@TheRealRealOK 10 ай бұрын

I misspoke. I didn’t mean unnecessary, I meant that it’s not a requirement for every single fast day. And I’m right. All the Saints say “for a time and if both spouses agree.” This is 100% a pastoral issue and you’re not in a position to tell people what they should or shouldn’t do.

@GentleBreeze1234 10 ай бұрын

@@TheRealRealOK The canons are pastorally applied, nothing is a robotic legalism. Canons will be relaxed if people are weak. People with certain physical illnesses will not be expected to abstain from all animals products during fasts, etc. But the norm, the bar, is clearly there. All fasting days equally apply to marital relations as they do for food. It is required to abstain from sex on fasting days no less than it is required to abstain from meat and dairy products. If someone is weak and they can't do it, then that's something for them to work through with their spiritual father. But we cannot make excuses and try to say that the standard isn't the standard and that we don't need to be struggling to adhere to the standard. I'm not telling people anything, I am simply presenting the teaching of the Church.

@NavelOrangeGazer 10 ай бұрын

Fr. John Whiteford has an excellent more pastorally minded nuance of this teaching on his blog for our times.

@TheRealRealOK 10 ай бұрын

@@NavelOrangeGazer Yes, Fr John is a better resource than this channel. 100%. Everyone should talk to clergy about this, not listen to some rando.

@TheRealRealOK 10 ай бұрын

@@GentleBreeze1234 Keep viewing the canons like rules you have to follow. You have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re laity, you shouldn’t even be talking about the canons. You admit they’re a pastoral issue, so stop sharing your opinion. Your ego is ridiculous. You’re just like Ben Cabe.

@r4ngerr4ge32 11 ай бұрын

Please pray for Ben, that he may repent.

@orthodoxos1971 5 ай бұрын

All I hear Ben saying is: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law

@Calciu_83 11 ай бұрын

His reaction online to a catechumen who committed suicide recently was absolutely shameful.

@NavelOrangeGazer 10 ай бұрын

"never let a good crisis go to waste" That's when it became blatantly clear his vendetta against a certain priest had pushed him over the edge.

@gigachad2221-g4n Ай бұрын

Read his article on that incident on his substack. I disagree with Ben on a lot of things, but I think he just got very upset by the whole thing and lashed out. Understandable, it is a monumental tragedy.

@MaximusWolfe 4 ай бұрын

This is an outstanding channel. My compliments. ☦️

@GentleBreeze1234 4 ай бұрын

More to come!

@ryrocks9487 11 ай бұрын

It’s very sad. We need to make sure we warn inquirers away from his material!

@T_Wozna 2 ай бұрын

Good video, thanks for the content.

@OrthodoxChristianTheology 10 ай бұрын

@18:16 is actually the Anathemas of 543--but they are found in the manuscript of the 5th council from what I know, but presumably added by editors. It's sort of complicated, but historically the fathers treated documents appended to councils with the same weight as conciliar documents--but modern readers find this bizarre and disregard such texts. If the fathers of the sixth council thought this way, they would have disregarded the Letter of St Menas as not relevant to the 5th council (because he was not alive when it was convened). IMHO people need to approach ancient documents with the mindset of those who penned and used them in order to properly understand them.

@GentleBreeze1234 10 ай бұрын

Thank you for your comment! I think this furthers the point of the video. It is not Orthodox to doubt the Holy Tradition that has been handed down to us. To stand above Tradition as supposedly enlightened moderns and to judge it according to our own flawed perspective. Such a mentality leads to spiritual ruin.

@NavelOrangeGazer 10 ай бұрын

Origenists will do anything to try and rehabilitate their idol.

@ryrocks9487 9 ай бұрын

Good job with the video, by the way.

@ApostolicEchoes 3 ай бұрын

This man is surely not Orthodox. The canons, saints, dogmas all contradict his opinions.

@Walker888 10 ай бұрын

Can anyone else tell who not to trust just from the face they present? Lord Forgive me.

@DFMoray 5 ай бұрын

Man, what is going on with the sound here?

@fantasypvpvideos 7 ай бұрын

Please contrast the teachings of other channels with the teachings of the orthodox saints. It'll be highly valuable for people being introduced to orthodoxy and searching for the right direction. Our doctrines should be based on the saints and councils, deviating from this has, for example, led to a certain amount of orthodox people not even accepting the teaching on tollhouses and the soul after death (For this i recommend Fr.Seraphim Rose's book "The Souls After Death"). May the Lord Jesus guide and bless you.

@blockpartyvintage1568 2 ай бұрын

No he definitely isnt trustworthy. He goes on Roman Catholic podcasts to slander his own priests.

@Naflergasin 5 ай бұрын

Where is the Chase Haggard interaction from? I want to watch it

@GentleBreeze1234 5 ай бұрын

It was recorded I think from a conversation they had on Discord. I took this recording from a video on Andrew Wilson's channel and I edited out Andrew's commentary.

@kazb6526 5 ай бұрын

So he's basically Eastern Catholic?

@jamesgazay8089 8 ай бұрын

Ben unfortunately "checks all the boxes.." of a false teacher!

@snowps1 9 ай бұрын

Ben has that clearly identifying "voice" if you catch my drift. That's why he thinks the way he does. He doesn't see his own proclivities as sinful.

@JulianLife81 5 ай бұрын

Meaning he’s skittles?

@Benjamin-bq7tc 5 ай бұрын

@@JulianLife81 Well, he's definitely effeminate.

@JulianLife81 5 ай бұрын

@@Benjamin-bq7tc maybe I just didn’t notice it…hmm maybe…

@gigachad2221-g4n Ай бұрын

Not an argument. And how dare you make an accusation like this without evidence

@OrthodoxHSMother 5 ай бұрын

We stopped watching him a long time ago.

@carolflower9672 9 ай бұрын

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS EXCELLENT VIDEO LORD HAVE MERCY

@sojjjer 8 ай бұрын

Seriously why defend tobacco? after everything? Why?

@___-_____- 2 ай бұрын

I've had my back and forth's with him for a while. I genuinely think he is some kind of protestant agent or something. God forgive me if I'm wrong.

@joshua-l6m 5 ай бұрын

He was definitely sus to me when he made a vid poking at Jay Dyer followers(youtube), people who criticize Jay have some ground in terms of maybe strong behavior but they're almost always heterodox or ecumenist. Ben seems to lean more ecumenist/liberal, I can't see that ending well against the strong objectivity of Orthodoxy.

@triggered8556 Ай бұрын

The overzealous dyer fans are way better then the ecumenists.

@satanslayer9320 10 ай бұрын

Kyrie Eleison

@Jerônimo_de_Estridão 5 ай бұрын

The teaching of Romanides on ancestral sin *IS* Pelagianism 101.

@paisios2541 5 ай бұрын

It is not. The Ancestral Sin by Fr John Romanides is 100% the Orthodox Patristic Teaching. This is something that has not been challenged in the Church until very recently with a large influx of poorly catechized western converts who have not discarded their theological baggage.

@ICONFESSONEBAPTISM 10 ай бұрын

bugman

@Death2Compromise 4 ай бұрын

At least he takes the standard view of global Orthodoxy since the past century. 💀

@bonniejohnstone 2 ай бұрын

If a person in the Orthodox Church is wrong, you are not supposed to shout what you deem as their sin from the rooftops while a mountain of sin is in your own heart. God is Judge and the Church has Clergy and confessors wiser than you or I established to council those who have gone off the rails. Your confessor might have a talk with you about judging others and lack of love. The Church is full of sinners, haven’t you noticed?

@GentleBreeze1234 2 ай бұрын

@@bonniejohnstone I have a blessing to be making this video. No where in the video are the personal sins of the Archbishop mentioned at all. We are dealing with his public teachings, which absolutely must be called out for the sake of the brethren, because he is harming others. I don't know where you are getting this idea that we must not point out when clergy are publicly teaching heresy, this is not Orthodox. Many Saints say we must speak out when clergy publicly teach heresy.

@omorthon5774 2 ай бұрын

Ben should take that advice too and be more respectful of Fr Heers, Fr Josiah and Fr Whiteford, HIS EMINENCE Met. Nicholas, and the DEPARTED METROPOLITAN HILARION.