thepatristictradition

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Does anyone else feel the urge to run to the nearest church and curl up under a pew like some lost, abandoned cat anytime you feel particularly disconnected from God?

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Lilith is not part of the Biblical canon in any Judeo-Christian religion, and people's obsession with her cheap mythos is frankly a testament to the cheapness of our age. The popular view of Lilith is like if a 22-year-old BookTokker with a minor in Women's Studies wrote a reimagining of Genesis.

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What I hate about people reducing Jesus’s message to “be kind to each other,” besides the obvious, is that it’s a serious downgrade from Jesus telling us to love each other radically. Your neighbor is the person on the street in front of you. Your brother has to be forgiven more times than you can count. Wash each other’s feet, if they steal your coat give them your robes, die for each other. Jesus didn’t call us to be ‘nice,’ because nice just doesn’t cut it. He calls us to be lovers, not of some amorphous humanity, but of every single person we encounter.

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I think the Fall did not reach all the way down to the deep Ocean. The Creatures there are the most similar to how God imagined life on earth originally. Huge sponges, sharks that live for hundreds of years, and huggable isopods. I cannot think of more perfect animals.

Do you think God placed all those Creatures™ in the bottom of the ocean because He really wanted to make them but knew they would be terrifying to us or is the deep ocean just God’s version of a haunted house.

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Your "Biblical World View" is just 19th Century Enlightenment Propaganda

Is it just me, or does everyone stroking their ego about how "Biblical" they are, and how "Bible-Believing" they are (protestants, always), always seem to never actually believe the Bible?

I think so many of the tumors growing on the back of Sola Scriptura (where is that in the Bible?) are a result of late enlightenment, materialist philosophies, built on a bedrock of a hermeneutics of suspicion.

I saw a horrific example of this when I read someone discount John John 8:7-11 because, "Well, that section of John wasn't written by John, actually. It was added by scribes, so you shouldn't take it as seriously." Like, what? If this is your take, do you just not believe in any of the Bible? If some part is less Divinely Inspired, if it is less the Word of God, how is any of the Bible to be believed?

This is very funny, please laugh.

What this does is create impossible win conditions verging on, "If Jesus didn't write the Bible with his own earthly hands and leave it on a table for John the Baptist (not Catholic) to copy by hand, then none of it is real." Do you see how stupid that is? It is very stupid, and also very much not the historical view of the Church.

Scripture is Divinely inspired and Inerrant. It is inspired by God and has no Errors. This does not mean all of Genesis as we have it now was written by Moses himself. But all the people who recorded it for him, translated it, recovered it, and edited it were divinely inspired, and their collective work is without error.

I don't care what kind of historiographic view you take on Gospel authorship-- I care that you actually believe in the Bible. This handwringing over, "oh, who really physically wrote xyz," is a product of actual Free Masons, no I am not kidding.

This is what singled-minded, scholarly fixations on the Bible will do to people, and this is exactly why the Church needs Tradition. Tradition is why we have the Bible in the first place-- you're welcome, by the way. Tradition teaches you how to interpret the Bible. It is nothing less than the height of hubris to assume you know better, you are more imbued with the Holy Spirit, and more worthy of interpreting the scriptures than men who knew the apostles personally.

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This is what we mean when we say iconoclasm is the first among sins. It contains all other sins.

There is no dichotomy between man and God's image. Whoever tortures a human being, whoever abuses a human being, whoever outrages a human being, abuses God's image.

St. Óscar Romero

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My Patroness <3

+++🙏🏻God Bless🕊️+++

Venerable Martyr Elisaveta Feodorovna, Alapaevskaya

MEMORIAL DAY JULY 18

In humility, hiding the princely dignity, the God-wise Elisaveta, you honored Christ with the special service of Martha and Mary. Having purified yourself with mercy, patience and love, you offered yourself to God as a righteous sacrifice. But we, honoring your virtuous life and torments, as a true mentor, earnestly ask you: "Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth, pray to Christ God for the salvation and enlightenment of our souls."

💫International Orthodox Art Corporation Andcross May the blessing of the Lord be upon you!

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Truly. I get so grossed out when I see AI "icons". It truly seems demonic.

why do people AI generate religious imagery for mediocre evangelization posts when you can simply type "Catholic art" into an image search and reap nearly two millennias' wealth of tradition containing actually beautiful and deep (and copyright-free) artwork for less time and effort ?

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They seem incompatible

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About Me :)

My name is Gregoria, and I'm an Orthodox Christian under the OCA jurisdiction. I study English Literature, Pastoral Ministry, and Islam. I'm learning Arabic very slowly, and my favorite way to learn is to pray.

My Patroness is Saint Elizabeth the New Martyr and I adore her mercy and seek to emulate it every day. Some of my favorite other saints are Saint Paul (my fav angry writer), Saint Gregory of Nyssa (to whom I am especially devoted), The Romanov Martyrs, and Saint Catherine the Great.

In my spare time, I write fiction, essay, and poetry. I've been getting more comfortable with formal poetry and I'm working on re-writing a novel I should have planned out better.

I'm a convert, and my background is Assyrian(Iranian)-American and I love experimenting with different veil styles.

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The way to my heart

get me one of these <3

[thepatristictradition]

To Argue or to Keep Quiet?

What do you do when someone blasphemes in front of you? What do you do if someone confesses a heresy? How do you react when someone spreads lies about Christianity, both online and in person?

When we look to the saints for advice, they can't seem to agree. Some say we must be bold in our faith, and always rebuke a blasphemer or heretic. Yet, others say we should keep quiet and pray for the perpetrator.

There are situations where one or the other seems rather obvious. Sometimes, it's clear a blasphemer is just sinning to get a rise out of someone. Then, it seems clear that we should just pray for them quietly, or perhaps remove them or ourselves from a situation/conversation. But other times, someone may blaspheme out of pain and suffering, or they might utter heresy out of ignorance or dilution. Then, it seems that we should comfort, console, correct, and council the person.

Most of the time, our lives are not so clear-cut. We can't tell if someone is blaspheming or lying to get a rise out of someone, because they genuinely believe it, or because they're hurt-- especially with lying. Is this person really lying? Or have they been lied to, and are just repeating it?

In my opinion, to argue or not to argue, to rebuke or not rebuke, depends mostly on one's disposition. I'm good at written rhetoric-- I can respond to some statement or piece of writing with some writing of my own-- but I'm not very quick with my speaking. I tend to give a "hmm..." and I sigh and look off, searching for some statment I will only find when I go to bed. It would not be pious of me to get into an argument with a heretic, blasphemer, or infidel. It is better for me and the other person if I remain silent and pray for them.

But, there are other people who are very quick with their words, who can invent snappy come-backs on the spot. I believe this person has a duty to argue! This same person may also be lacking in deep knowledge of scripture or writing, so they should avoid long-form refutations.

What do you think? I'm still torn on this, especially when it comes to the statements of loved ones.

[thepatristictradition]

Orthodoxy is Catholic

Orthodox people (converts especially) often hear, see, and read; even think, say, and believe, that to be Orthodox, you must adopt the clothing, practices, and language of some culture that is foreign to your own.

This is not something a priest will ever tell you, Thanks be to God, but it is an overall impression that people can gather online, at coffee hour, or at Bible study. It always happens the coolest guy there is studying koine Greek.

Evangelists online, with only the best of intentions (probably a recent seminary student) will recommend converts brush up on their Greek or Church Slavonic. Female ortho-personalities will recommend women not just veil, but wear a pavlovo posad. Be sure to use the liturgical calendar to plan all events, religious or otherwise! The more niche evangelists (Antiochians) will make you learn classical Arabic and grow a beard.

All of these things are well and Good. It is good to learn the liturgical languages. Women should veil and the pavlovo posad is as fine a way as any, and I love the Julian calendar as much as the next girl. I too am studying classical Arabic and beards have my stamp of approval. But none of these are necessary to be Orthodox.

No one needs to make themselves into a Russian, Syrian, or Greek to be Orthodox. I find the accusation that you do to be particularly gross because our whole Liturgical theology goes against this-- our whole evangelistic history goes against this. We have our liturgy in the vernacular for a reason! Saint Herman of Alaska evangelized the way he did for a reason!

Our Church is Catholic. It is Universal. You ought to love the people that God allowed you to be born into.

[thepatristictradition]

Praying the Rosary, an Eastern Orthodox way

As a culturally Irish and Roman Catholic who converted to Eastern Orthodoxy I still feel quite close to the rosary and I feel it’s still a part of me. I firmly believe that cultural practices can be preserved even after conversion and thus I’ve created this small guide on how I personally pray the rosary as an Eastern Orthodox Catholic. Of course this is not the only way to pray the rosary as an Orthodox Christian and nor should it be! The Western Orthodox tradition often incorporates the rosary and the Eastern tradition of Roman Catholics do as well. The Eastern Orthodox saint, Seraphim of Sarov, even had his own version of a rosary prayer. All prayers listed below come directly from the “Jordanville Prayer Book” and it is important to note that I do not recite/contemplate any of the “mysteries” and conform to the “non-imaginative” form of Orthodox prayer. I also pray in a loop meaning I start and end with “The Apostle’s Creed” (then a sign of the cross) but that’s just a personal preference. This is my personal creation I wished to share and is not official in anyway, nonetheless I hope this guide benefits you in some small way, may your prayers be blessed.

“The Apostles Creed” or, “The Symbol of Faith”

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages; Light of Light; true God of true God; begotten not made; of one essence with the Father; by Whom all things were made; Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from the heavens, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man; And was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried; and arose again on the third day according to the Scriptures; and ascended into the heavens, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father; And shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead; Who’s kingdom shall have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life; Who proceedeth from the Father; Who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; Who spake by the prophets. In One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, And the life of the age to come. Amen.

“The Our Father”

Our Father, Who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead is not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

“The Hail Mary” or, the “Song to the Most Holy Theotokos”

O Theotokos and Virgin, rejoice, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, for thou hast borne the Saviour of our souls.

“The Glory Be”

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

“It Is Truly Meet” (replacing the “Hail Holy Queen”)

It is truly meet to bless thee, the Theotokos, ever-blessed and most blameless and Mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare, more glorious than the Seraphim; who without corruption gavest birth to God the Word, the very Theotokos, thee do we magnify. Amen.

Although I never used it before converting, if you feel the need; “The Jesus Prayer” (perhaps using the plural) can be used in place of the “Fatíma Prayer”

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner/we sinners.

[thepatristictradition]

I'd like to add another thing: many atheists and "atheists" are very invested in the secret suffering of Christians-- especially Christian women. It's almost psycho-sexual.

They insist that Christians are perpetually tormented by the fear of Hell, that we are perpetually beating our breasts out of guilt, and we are perpetually repressed in some very dramatic, docuseries-worthy way.

The reality seems to be something they are incapable of imagining. Christians I know (mind you, they are virtually all Orthodox and Catholic) rarely think of Hell. Many RCs I know are afraid people they know or admire will be damned, but I have to imagine that fear is a very different one from the fear of one's own damnation. In Orthodoxy, the instinct I have and what I have found is that the dead are assumed a straight shot to Heaven. The adage goes, the Catholic thinks everyone is going to hell, especially them; and the Orthodox thinks everyone is going to Heaven, except for him.

All this assumed anxiety about one's eternal destiny belies an essential misunderstanding about the core of Christianity: We are not a works-based Faith. Worrying about your eternal state is ridiculous because we cannot earn our salvation. All we can do is Love God with all our hearts and trust in His Mercy.

"Understand two thoughts, and fear them. One says, “You are a saint,” the other, “You won’t be saved.” Both of these thoughts are from the enemy, and there is no truth in them. But think this way: I am a great sinner, but the Lord is merciful. He loves people very much, and He will forgive my sins."-- Saint Silouan.

In a similar way, I believe Monty Python has rotted some brains. Penance is not about whacking your forehead with a crucifix to punish yourself for your sins. The penal substitutionary theory of atonement has done some serious damage, which is exactly why it is a heresy. Penance is about giving thanks for forgiveness of our sins, and I don't know how a person can be so diluted to think we do not sin. We are all sinners, we all fall short, but there is nothing about this truth that should inspire wallowing. How could that not inspire unity and peace?

I don't know how people live with the belief that they can ever be perfect-- that perfection is even possible. That must be unimaginably painful.

Suffering is not What You Think

(The Penitent Magdalene)

So often you hear, when people leave their churches, their gripes surround suffering. Why would God allow suffering? Why would God allow babies to be murdered and die of cancer? Why would He allow war and cannibalism and pedophilia? Why did God allow me to see my mother die? Why did he allow this or that?

What I cannot help but notice is that the people saying this are never talking about their own suffering.

"Why does God allow war?" said a cowardly young man who has never seen bloodshed. "Why does God allow cancer?" said a woman who is perfectly healthy. "Why does God allow abuse?" said a man who had the privilege of watching the sex abuse crisis of the RCC play out on the TV screen and not in the sacristy. "Why did God allow my mother do die?" said a daughter who is still alive.

We may mourn, and we ought to mourn, the sorrows and the fallenness of this world, but witnessing suffering is not the same as suffering.

(Just Take Them and Leave Me Alone)

This was never more clear to me than when I spent a summer arguing with my anti-natalist, atheist sister. She would spend hours berating my poor mother and father for the heinous crime of having children. During one of these spats, my sister turned to me and said, "How can you support natalism?" which she said like a slur, "your grandmother abused you from the moment you were born."

Now, this is true. Truer than she knew, or, if I have it my way, will ever know. My grandmother (who was my and my sister's primary caregiver) always despised me because I was born with a deformity. Her hatred only intensified when my sister was born. My sister was, in her eyes, perfect. As a child, my sister would ask for me to be abused in front of her, for her amusement, by my grandmother.

My sister witnessed plenty of my suffering, but she experienced not an iota of it. And yet, she used my suffering as a way to say that all of human life is suffering. She used it to discredit the worth of all human life.

(Ophelia)

I find this is always the case. When I was an atheist, I was confused by people who brought up the "problem of suffering". I never viewed my suffering as something that made my life worse. Even as an atheist and a child, I saw clearly how the suffering I experienced and was experiencing was driving me toward a larger purpose. This pattern of thought followed me into the sexual abuse I experienced in middle school and into my conversion.

My atheist associates, whose suffering I know well, likewise never cite their suffering as a reason for their disbelief. When you really get down to it, "God is a big meanie" is not a reason to reject His existence, say these associates of mine.

It is only being a witness to suffering-- usually an impotent witness-- that causes this specific kind of apostasy. Even if my sister had stopped encouraging it, I still would have been abused. Her behavior would have made little difference. It is the same for the sufferings I listed earlier. Regardless of what we tell ourselves, no boycotting, no Instagram post, and not even tax evasion or immolation will stop the Genocide Israel is purporting against the Palestinians. We, far removed, poor, and powerless foreigners, are impotent. We can do nothing to help someone with a terminal illness not die-- it's terminal. We can do nothing to help the kidnapped children we see on the news, taken from their homes halfway across the country. We cannot bilocate, live forever, or have infinite money.

When these people say, "Why does God allow suffering?" they are actually asking, "Why does God allow my impotence?" The implication is that, of course, they would solve these sufferings if only they were not impotent. Is this the case? I don't know; who am I to judge the heart of another man?

Whatever the case, it is clear to me that suffering is of some different metaphysical nature than the actual experience of suffering. I've written a little about this privately, so I will get around to expanding upon it in further posts.

[thepatristictradition]

Suffering is not What You Think

(The Penitent Magdalene)

So often you hear, when people leave their churches, their gripes surround suffering. Why would God allow suffering? Why would God allow babies to be murdered and die of cancer? Why would He allow war and cannibalism and pedophilia? Why did God allow me to see my mother die? Why did he allow this or that?

What I cannot help but notice is that the people saying this are never talking about their own suffering.

"Why does God allow war?" said a cowardly young man who has never seen bloodshed. "Why does God allow cancer?" said a woman who is perfectly healthy. "Why does God allow abuse?" said a man who had the privilege of watching the sex abuse crisis of the RCC play out on the TV screen and not in the sacristy. "Why did God allow my mother do die?" said a daughter who is still alive.

We may mourn, and we ought to mourn, the sorrows and the fallenness of this world, but witnessing suffering is not the same as suffering.

(Just Take Them and Leave Me Alone)

This was never more clear to me than when I spent a summer arguing with my anti-natalist, atheist sister. She would spend hours berating my poor mother and father for the heinous crime of having children. During one of these spats, my sister turned to me and said, "How can you support natalism?" which she said like a slur, "your grandmother abused you from the moment you were born."

Now, this is true. Truer than she knew, or, if I have it my way, will ever know. My grandmother (who was my and my sister's primary caregiver) always despised me because I was born with a deformity. Her hatred only intensified when my sister was born. My sister was, in her eyes, perfect. As a child, my sister would ask for me to be abused in front of her, for her amusement, by my grandmother.

My sister witnessed plenty of my suffering, but she experienced not an iota of it. And yet, she used my suffering as a way to say that all of human life is suffering. She used it to discredit the worth of all human life.

(Ophelia)

I find this is always the case. When I was an atheist, I was confused by people who brought up the "problem of suffering". I never viewed my suffering as something that made my life worse. Even as an atheist and a child, I saw clearly how the suffering I experienced and was experiencing was driving me toward a larger purpose. This pattern of thought followed me into the sexual abuse I experienced in middle school and into my conversion.

My atheist associates, whose suffering I know well, likewise never cite their suffering as a reason for their disbelief. When you really get down to it, "God is a big meanie" is not a reason to reject His existence, say these associates of mine.

It is only being a witness to suffering-- usually an impotent witness-- that causes this specific kind of apostasy. Even if my sister had stopped encouraging it, I still would have been abused. Her behavior would have made little difference. It is the same for the sufferings I listed earlier. Regardless of what we tell ourselves, no boycotting, no Instagram post, and not even tax evasion or immolation will stop the Genocide Israel is purporting against the Palestinians. We, far removed, poor, and powerless foreigners, are impotent. We can do nothing to help someone with a terminal illness not die-- it's terminal. We can do nothing to help the kidnapped children we see on the news, taken from their homes halfway across the country. We cannot bilocate, live forever, or have infinite money.

When these people say, "Why does God allow suffering?" they are actually asking, "Why does God allow my impotence?" The implication is that, of course, they would solve these sufferings if only they were not impotent. Is this the case? I don't know; who am I to judge the heart of another man?

Whatever the case, it is clear to me that witnessing suffering is of some different metaphysical nature than the actual experience of suffering. I've written a little about this privately, so I will get around to expanding upon it in further posts.

[thepatristictradition]

You thought when people painted the "someday you're going to have to choose, for real, between the World and God, you won't be able to walk the line between both" picture that they were talking about martyrdom.

Some extreme. "Trample this picture of Jesus." "Say you don't believe!" "Convert to a different religion!"

You didn't realize that it wouldn't look like that. You didn't realize that when the line gets drawn in the sand, and Jesus is on one side, the other side would look like crying people wailing out, "why can't you just accept me for who I am? Why aren't I enough for you?"

You didn't realize that the choice would be between Jesus the Truth...or a majority of people in the culture making movies, making t-shirt slogans, changing their names, gently telling you that maybe this word in the Bible doesn't mean what you think it means, maybe love just means love, maybe you can have Jesus and whatever sexuality you want.

"Did God really say...?"

You thought it would be something overt. But the bad guys never said, "hey, choose the dark side over the light." They always said, "hey, maybe you don't even know what Jesus said."

The choice is: "It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him." OR "Did God really say...?"

That's the choice. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is our "choose this day who you will serve." As for me, I'm serving the Lord, and He's holding on to me. He never changes, and yes He did really say.

Hold fast to the truth. It doesn't change. People and cultures do.