Reading for 28 November 2010

On 28 November, we'll be discussing Chapters 4-5 of Way of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth. If you do not have your own copy of the book, you can find our reading assignment here.

We celebrate one of my favorite saints here on November 30, the Apostle Andrew. And, generally, even pious Christians in America do not know much of the story of these men beyond what we find in scripture. Sure, we all know something of the life of St. Paul, who features prominently in the Book of Acts, but even then we don't know what happened to him after that book concludes. You might like The Lives of the Holy Apostles: Saints Peter, Paul, Andrew, James ... from the Menology of St. Dimitri of Rostov in Russian and the Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church in greek, which gives extensive lives of these holy men after the Ascension of our Lord. 

Reading for 21 November 2010

For November 21, we'll be reading from Way of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth. If you don't have a copy otherwise available for you, you can get a copy here of Chapter Two: On the Insufficiency of Human Strength.

Tomorrow (15 November) begins the Nativity Fast, aka Advent, St. Philip's Fast, or St. Martin's Fast. Here's a great book of meditations for the season by one of my favorite modern, Orthodox writers: The Winter Pascha: Readings for the Christmas-Epiphany Season, by Fr. Thomas Hopko.

November 21 is the feast of The Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple. There is a richness of theology made available to us for this feast, and I hope that everyone will try to delve into it. A great reference for the feasts of the Mother of God in general is The Life of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, which is mostly an attempt to highlight some of the more interesting passages from the feasts. I highly recommend it.

Reading for 14 November 2010

Today we begin our reading of Way of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth. This is a GREAT book that you should really consider buying, but if you haven't yet or can't, take a look here at Chapter One: On a Resolute and Steadfast Purpose.

Reading for 24 October 2010

On Oct 24, we will be discussing the feasts of Transfiguration and Annunciation. The text we are reading is from Worship: An Elementary Handbook of the Orthodox Church (The Orthodox Faith, Volume 2). But if you do not have the book, you may find just the text for this class here.

Readings for 17 October 2010

Next week we'll be discussing the Nativity of Christ, Epiphany (aka Theophany) and the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple. Our readings are from Worship: An Elementary Handbook of the Orthodox Church (The Orthodox Faith, Volume 2). If you do not have the book, you can go here for the text we'll be reading.

Reading for 8 August 2010

On Aug 8, we will be discussing Baptism, Chrismation and Churching. Our reading is from Fr. Hopko's The Orthodox Faith, vol ii: worship. If you do not have the text, you can go here.

Probably one of the better sources in English on Baptism is St. John Chrysostom's "Baptismal Instructions." These are the homilies he gave to prepare and follow up on the baptism of those coming into the Church. While some of this is general teaching, he does spend a lot of time talking about baptism itself. And this is the rare decent translation of Chrysostom.

31. St. John Chrysostom: Baptismal Instruction (Ancient Christian Writers)

Reading for 1 August 2010

Continuing our review of Orthodox worship, we will be discussing icons, vestments and christian symbols, in Fr. Thomas Hopko's The Orthodox Faith, vol ii: worship. You can buy it here. Or, you can find this individual text here.

These Truths We Hold - The Holy Orthodox Church: Her Life and Teachings. This was a great book for being able to look up a lot of the various symbols, wonderworking icons, vestments and so on that can be found in the Orthodox Church. As of right now, its not available on Amazon, but you might check this link down the road, because its a great resource for your home library.

Readings for 18 July 2010

Next week we will be discussing the last four sections of the Nicene Creed. These sections include a discussion of the Church, Baptism, and the Resurrection of the Dead. If you do not have the book, go here for the reading.

The question of "what is the Church?" should be at the forefront of every American Christian's search for the "true Church." As always, Holy Scriptures should be our first place to look for this, and both the Gospels and Epistles certainly address the issue.

St. Ignatius of Antioch is the next of our classical sources for understanding the Church. Here is his letter to Smyrna, which is particularly relevant to this discussion, and here is an article (a little heady, perhaps), which helps pull together some of his teachings on the Church.

St. Cyprian of Carthage is another saint who wrote about the nature of the Church. St. Vladimir's Seminary Press has published a book of his writings "On the Church," which you can buy on Amazon here.

Readings for 11 July 2010

Next week we will discuss the mysterious Holy Spirit. If you do not have Fr. Hopko's text on this subject, go here.

There is a classic text (besides the Bible!), by St. Basil the Great, called On the Holy Spirit. You can get it from Amazon, here. St. Basil is one of the classic Orthodox teachers.

Maybe a little more accessible: try Fr. Hopko's discussion of St. Seraphim of Sarov's famous Conversation with Motovilov, about the Holy Spirit. Here's the podcast. You could read the very accessible conversation on your own (and should), here.

Readings for 4 July 2010

We have one of our usually more interesting catechism lessons coming up: The Judgment and the Kingdom of Heaven. Read here if you don't have Fr. Hopko's The Orthodox Faith: vol. i, Doctrine. How do we reconcile fire and brimstone, the worm that never dies with a loving God who died for our salvation? In the Kingdom of Heaven are we all going to sit around with wings on our backs playing harps - please, tell me it will be something a little less boring! Come and talk about it with us next Sunday.

Readings for 27 June 2010

Next Sunday, we will discuss the Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord. Go here for the reading if you do not have Fr. Hopko's book.

Readings for 13 June 2010

Forgive my not keeping this up to date.

Next week we will be discussing the incarnation of our Lord. The text for you to read ahead of time from Fr. Hopko is here.

The dominant text for discussion on this subject in the Orthodox Church is St. Athansius' On the Incarnation.

Christ is in our midst!

Readings for 9 May 2010

9 May 2010, we will begin working our way through the Nicene Creed. We will continue following Fr. Hopko's book on doctrine, the sections on The Nicene Creed, Faith, and One God the Father Almighty.

I would also like to point you to two of my favorite podcasts, both by Fr. Thomas Hopko, Speaking the Truth in Love and The Names of Jesus. These podcasts present great information to help explain the feasts, but they are also a great tool for learning our theology. Fr. Hopko brings together teachings for diverse Orthodox sources to show the same, single Orthodox teaching of the Church. Enjoy.

Also, next week we will celebrate our patronal feast. If you are not yet familiar with the life of St. Nicholas, you should consider at least reading this short life. We will sing his vigil Saturday night and divine liturgy and our parish feast Sunday morning.

For Next Week

For next we'll be reading the first section of Fr. Thomas Hopko's The Orthodox Faith, vol. i: doctrine, the section on Sources of Doctrine. If you don't have a copy, you can go here.

Today, we discussed basics of Orthodox practice that newcomers to the faith need to know immediately. These are things that are difficult to pick up on by yourself, and inquirers or catechumens should not hesitate to ask a clergyman or more experienced Orthodox Christian if any questions come up. We want you to feel comfortable in our worship, and we know that our worship can be both a little complicated and is completely new to most of you.

We also reviewed Fr. Thomas Hopko's 12 must-do's for those trying to learn Who God is.

We also looked at a list of good books for beginners. I'm including that here, with my notes for today's discussion.