Orthodoxy 101 - Bible, Prayer and Fasting

[@TriddlerDD]

Thank you Father. Your internet ministry has been a great resource for me.... a newcomer to Orthodoxy.

[@BeTransfiguredMinistries]

Glory to God

[@Milverton68]

Wonderful teaching. I am an Anglican in the UK and find your videos very helpful. Thank you.

[@JustinMorgan105kg]

The Masoretic text is not a translation. It is from a different family of manuscripts than the family of manuscripts the Septuagint had been translated from, but still not a translation. During the 2nd temple period there were 3 families of manuscripts and when one was in doubt they would defer to the majority (2:1). Words like "Almah" from Isaiah 7:14 (הָעַלְמָה) are disputed about the meaning as to "virgin," in the Septuagint, or simply "young woman" in Jewish translations like Art Scroll or the JPS Tanack, but in the family the Septuagint was translated from it was also probably "Almah." Pre Christian Jewish translators that translated the Septuagint just interpreted the word as virgin where post first century Jewish translators into other languages no longer viewed the term as being an acceptable translation into virgin. The meaning of Hebrew words is often context dependent, so that makes the translation an even more complicated issue. That is all different though that to insinuate that the Masorites deliberately altered the Hebrew bible to suit their theology. They might have perverted the meaning of words, but its far less likely that they altered the text itself.

[@TheThornbird21]

Thank you Father! I enjoyed this one hour lecture.

[@BeTransfiguredMinistries]

Glory to God!

[@brotherwallace]

PRAYER. It is truly proper to glorify You, O Theotokos, the Ever blessed, immaculate and the Mother of God. More honourable than the Cherubim and beyond compare, more glorious than the Seraphim, who a Virgin gave birth to God the Word, You, truly the Theotokos, we magnify.

[@lornadoone8887]

Dear Father, thank you for this very helpful series! You make a statement around 15:30 minutes in about no "hidden messages" in the Scriptures, and I believe I understand and take your point in context, but if not clarified elsewhere in this talk (or others of your talks) might be a bit misleading for some inquirers. Obviously, from the very verse you quote alluding to the sign of Jonah, the NT reveals a deeper, hidden (except from those in the Church) typological meaning to many of the texts of the OT. Also, if I understand this correctly, the "apocalyptic" literature in the Bible, like the book of Revelation, does intentionally "hide" the real meaning of its message behind highly figurative and symbolic language and narratives, which would have been understood by its original recipients, but which are not easily interpreted outside that context. As you pointed out earlier, this is why we don't read Revelation publicly in the Liturgy of the Church. Presbytera Jeannie Constantinou has some excellent teaching material on this subject. Forgive me, if you cover this later in your talk--I just wanted to make this observation while it was on my mind.

[@BeTransfiguredMinistries]

Thank you for your comment. The hidden messages is not about interpretations but agendas such as whether or not the Apostles knew secrets nobody else knew. Great point.

[@sshields2173]

Thanks, there is no orthodox ministry where i live so this is very helpful

[@williambenton5784]

Good lecture, very edifying!

[@jennifercuddy5663]

I can’t wait to get my Gospel of St John explanation by the Blessed Theophylact!

[@nickdixon8115]

this was pretty informational ;) thanks

[@nickdixon8115]

i wont go into evolution being that that gets in to long of a subject concerning genesis 2-5 however, to the Church, just one question? concerning the Big Bang? How do we know this isn't what happened when God said: "let there be light" in Genesis 1:3? - ture God has been His creations guide to this day and theirs no accident about it. also in the length of years i'm glad to see that the Orthodox seem to have better understanding than the Evangelical Creationist do. - another note though in biology theirs extensive research they haven't answered the question of where does life come from or originate? - not in full detail at least- if anything little is known to this in science

[@nickdixon8115]

correct me if i am wrong but wouldnt the dead sea scrolls clear alot of that up between the LXX and Masoretic Text? of what was written and miss written? on another in truth their was a reason the Gnostic Gospels were burned out, they are filled with heresy and the earliest one was written 110 AD- that is the Gospel of Thomas- too much bs in all of em, they were written too late to even be concidered to be actualy talking about Jesus for example the Gospel of Philip written AD 150- that is120 years at least after the Ascention now how would this writter know any were first hand of Jesus? all four gospels were written in the first century

[@heragr2912]

Father, hello. Could you please try to answer a question that I am having a difficult time understanding...it concerns the will of God and prayer. I read the Gospels often (I'm Greek-Orthodox) and various books on the lives of Saints. I seem to find a contradiction of some sort to the following: In the Gospel according to St Matthew, for example, we are told, "Ask and it will be given to you; Seek and you will find; Knock and it will be given to you." Whereas, on the other hand, we are told that God knows all our needs and wants even before we are aware of them, and that we are to ask only to understand and do the will of God. For instance, one of my favorite saints is St John of Krontandt, and in the book, My Life in Christ, he repeatedly states that we are to ask what we want from God and how important that is. Again, in the Gospels, I also find that we are told that Jesus tells us to ask from Him what we want, just as he asked the blind man what he wanted from Jesus, and the man responded.So please clarify, what is the right way to pray? I feel i'm just very repetitive with my prayer request, but I also pray to learn and accept the will of God. I be believe He has done many things for me, and I'm grateful. I just feel like the basic things I;ve been praying for (like finding a good spouse, having children, understanding what my God-given talents and how to use them) have not been fulfilled. Could you please enlighten me as to what I may be doing wrong? Thank you.

[@BeTransfiguredMinistries]

Your struggle is common to every Christian. What should we pray for? What is God's will for me? This are important questions and reveal that your desire is to live according to God's will. If you did not desire God's will, you wouldn't be concerned in the first place. In short, we MUST pray for our needs as we understand them while accepting that God knows all our needs. I think oftentimes, when we pray and God doesn't "give us what we want" we characterize that as God not answering our prayers. In face He did, it's just that His answer was NO. The challenge is to accept the "no" as God's answer and work to understand our needs. God ALWAYS answers our prayers with either "YES" "NO" or "Not yet". Saint Jame teaches, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." (James 4.3) That would indicate even back then, Christians have struggled with your question. I have offered several sermons on the topics. The most recent is "The Who, What, Where, When and Why of Prayer" which you can view here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKXGoHatrtiFb8k

[@heragr2912]

Father Athanasios, thank you so much for your reply. Your reply brings clarity and understanding. I suppose a 'no' answer would signify anything that would not be in line with our salvation, such as winning the lotto or possibly a new business venture failure, for example. And certainly I have had many 'no' answers, like we all have, but many 'yes' as well. However, what also brings to mind are two fine examples, like St Anna, St Elizabeth, or even St. Hanna who prayed for years and years for what they wanted. Like you stated, it is a necessary struggle that we all Christians must face and endure. I will continue to bear my cross. I must add that the video link you provided always goes blank at 2:00. I hope to watch it in the coming hours. Thank you for taking the time to reply!

[@BeTransfiguredMinistries]

Strange. My video continues to show.

[@heragr2912]

Father, I have another question begging your advice. Can you please suggest how one can deal with feeling self-conscious about doing prostrations in front of icons when people are around (even one person,) and how one can deal with feeling guilty afterwards for not doing them. Thank you.

[@BeTransfiguredMinistries]

That is a good topic for your spiritual father. It sounds like you "want" to be doing prostrations but are worried that others might think you are doing them for the wrong reasons. This subject is most appropriate to discuss with your spiritual father.

[@nikiapostolopoulos4329]

Thank you

[@trekvana]

father can you please tell me the Bible you refernce in your videos and sermons that has both modern greek and koine greek. thank you for your videos. they have changed my life

[@TTXproductionz]

Who is the God of the Orthodox Church and Do you Believe in Trinity if you do provide me the Verses and i will convert to Orthodoxy.

[@infowolf1]

the Bible was created by the Propohets and Apostles and handed to the Church, the dogmatic definitions were based on the bible. the dipuste at nicea I about the use of the term homoousios was precisely because it was not a word in Scripture which some bishops did not like though they agreed with the idea. The Holy Trinity is shown clearly in two things: At Jesus' Baptism, Jesus was there, The Father spoke from Heaven, and The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove. Also JEsus said to baptize "in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." There is a chart I saw once showing how the same titles are used of each of the Three in various places. the word "trinity" is not in Scripture, but the idea expressed by it is. In fact, ifyou don't fall back on trinitarianism, Scripture becomes self contradictory (in appearance) and confusing.

[@justanotherlikeyou]

If you desire to know what God we Orthodox Christians worship, please read the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed, without the filioque clause "and the Son" in reference to the Holy Spirit. While the creed is not contrary to the teaching of the New Testament, it is not based upon the New Testament merely, but is a formulation of the Church's understanding via the Apostolic Tradition that it has preserved since the time of the Apostles up until that time and has preserved to this day. God bless☦

[@PhoebeK]

Father, I much appreciate your teaching and regularly watch your sermons. However I would say on a practical line it is possible to live as a vegetarian or even a vegan healthy with some thought and planing to have a wide range of vegetables, nuts and pulse so that all the trace elements needed for a healthy life. In fact among vegetarians and vegans there is the same weight issues and nutrition issues as any other group.

[@BeTransfiguredMinistries]

+Phoebe Kearns Great point! In fact many monastics live a strict "vegan" life and remain healthy.

[@אביתררחמים]

Why are you wearing the Roman collar?

[@melodykubiak5850]

You lost my interest when you put science ahead of the Biblical account of Creation. Evolutionary theory and Scripture do not mix. One must be correct. We are not descended from an allegory, but from Adam and Eve, literal persons, and the only way to know how sin came into the world is to allow God's entire account of His Creation to supersede what science thinks is true. Science has been known to be flawed. God's word is holy and perfect.

[@devinlawson2208]

The standard Orthodox view is the 7 day creation, all the father's clearly hold to it. Some Greeks have waivered in this regard trying to be modern.

[@infowolf1]

always this "the church defined the bible" etc. The Apostles gave to the bishops they appointed what to read what to rely on to establish or defend doctrine. The canon we have now is shown in the Muratorian Fragment and in St. Irenaeus "Against Heresies" and the council definitions later were simply excluding upstart works like the Shepherd of HErmas (which retained an influence anyway) and settle the dispuite about a couple of epistles and Revelation (Montanist abuse of this had got Revelation a bad reputation).

[@Gullytale]

It's not up to private interpretation yet to be read subjectively ? The Eunuch asks for a teacher. Yet not all who cry 'Lord, Lord...' can necessarily teach, regardless of how learned they imagine themselves to be or that they wear clerical garb. "The Kingdom of God is within' I believe Orthodoxy believes this ? God places 'eternity' in the heart' - Ecclesiastes. How can anyone have a relationship with God in and through Christ when those in the 'church' may not give proper teaching or guidance - which does happen. I'd sooner be a Mormon than a mindless Moron. We are commanded to seek God with all we are and love the neighbour as the self. In this all the law and prophets.

[@PhoebeK]

+Gullytale The thing with interpretation within the Orthodox Church is it is not one persons but many unrelated God-baring people who have said it over the centuries, sometimes not knowing of the others who were writing or had written the same thing. This lack of knowledge of other writings can be due to a lack of the knowledge of the language the interpretive are written in, or it can be just distance as until the 1900 texts only travailed when needed, as it was a slow process to copy texts and to move them when travel was slow and laborious. We do not alow any to become clergy and many clergy serve but not all are given the blessing to preach, the Bishop has final say as to who may preach and teach in a parish, and he is responsible to his synod. Besides the checks and balances of our Clergy for the most part having trained in a seminary, and/or spent many year under another priest before being allowed to preach. Traditionally the blessing to preach is not given lightly, the only thing given less quickly in the history of the Church is the blessing to hear confession (which is a gift given to the bishop at his consecration but he may grant to priests under his charge if there is need). There is also the safety mechanism of the laity of the Church, who through history have censured the priests and bishops when they have strayed form the teachings of the Church, all the doctrines of the Church were decided by consensus, and when teaches in the church stray from this the people even before the leaders of the church tend to censer it. We do have a relationship directly with God through Christ, however we are guided in this by our father in Christ and teaches of the Church as we trust that the Holy Spirit speaks through them, since we have not learnt to still our busy mind so be able to hear the the still small voice of calm. Our trust in our father in Christ is an important as God looks at that, holding our father responsible for showing us the right way while we are responsible for following the instructions. All I can suggest as I know that words and reason cannot convince fully is to suggest is that you ask the Lord to enlighten you to himself and to his Church.

[@stevecochran9078]

So voting for an evil, corrupt, atheistic money-grubbing murderess like Hitlery or an avowed Godless communist like Bernie would have been the Christian thing to do?