Father Josiah Trenham, pastor at St. Andrew Orthodox Christian Church, delivers remarks during the Thursday morning plenary panel on "Personal, Family and Cultural Casualties from the Decline of Faith" at World Congress of Families IX Oct. 29, 2015, in Salt Lake City.
Father Josiah Trenham, pastor at St. Andrew Orthodox Christian Church, delivers remarks during the Thursday morning plenary panel on “Personal, Family and Cultural Casualties from the Decline of Faith” at World Congress of Families IX Oct. 29, 2015, in Salt Lake City.
Thank you for your public Christian witness in the necessary realm of church and state. Churches have been too fearful of the state.
This is a very tired and useless argument. Why are orthodox getting involved in politics?
First remove the board from your own eye before you try to remove the spec from your neighbors.
If Christians will focus on Theosis and being real Christians we would change the world. Instead of focusing on self change we too often want to try and change others. This is vanity and pure vainglory. Wake up!!
Got some questions and comments.
One of the most revered writers in the Philokalia, St. Maximos, clearly over-spiritualised Scripture, commiting the same error that Philo the Jew did during the first century and the heretic and medium Swedenborg did in the eighteenth century. When St. Paul was on the island of Malta and was bitten by a snake that came out of a campfire, instead of a plain reading of the text, Maximos wrote on the subject
"As I take it, the dark storm which befell St. Paul (cf. Acts 28:1-4) is the weight of involuntary trials and temptations. The island is the firm, unshakable state of divine hope. The fire is the state of spiritual knowledge. The sticks are the nature of visible things. Paul gathered these with his hand, which I take to mean with the exploratory capacity of the intellect during contemplation. He fed the state of spiritual knowledge with conceptual images derived from the nature of visible things, for the state of spiritual knowledge heals the mental dejection produced by the storm of trials and temptationsl. The viper is the cunning power hidden secretly in the nature of sensible things. It bites the hand, that is, the exploratory nature of noetic contemplation, but without harming the visionary intellect, etc. etc." (Philokalia, Volume II, Second Century of Spiritual Texts, # 23)
This is exegetical extrapolation ad absurdum, and is only one example among many in Maximos' writings. Maximos was a gnostic in his writings more than a Christian. He took and twisted the gospel of salvation and turned it into a manual for gnostic enlightenment instead of the good news proclaimed to all men that through the name of Jesus we can find forgiveness of sins. Furthermore, the Book of Acts is a New Testament book of history, as 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings and the Chronicles are. In these historical Books the facts are generally laid out literally and meant to be read as such. We find very little of the prophetic imagery such as that found in the prophetic books, the psalms and parts of the five books of Moses.
Maximos furher wrote:
"Evil is the noetic soul's forgetfulness of what is good according to nature; and this forgetfulness results from an impassioned relationship with the flesh and the world. When the intelligence is in control it dispels this forgetfulness through spiritual knowledge, since intelligence, having investigated the nature of the world and the flesh, draws the soul to the realm of spiritual realities, which is it's true home. Into this realm the law of sin cannot penetrate; for the link between the soul and the senses has now been broken, and the senses, limited to the world of sensible objects, can no longer function as a bridge, conveying the law of sin into the intellect. When the intellect transcends it's relationship with sensible objects and the world to which they pertain, it becomes utterly free from the way of the senses" (Philokalia, Vol 2, St Maximos, First Century of Various Texts, # 57 – The phrase "First Century of Various Texts" does not refer to the First Century A.D. but means "First One Hundred Various Texts").
This is not what Christianity is all about. This is Greek Hellenistic Platonism gilded with the name of Christianity. It is not our sense faculties per se that are the root of evil, but it is our rebellious and sinful hearts that are the root of evil (Mark 7:14-23), which we inherited from our original father and mother, Adam and Eve. After all .
Granted, when we misuse our sense faculties then this can be a cause of sin, however Jesus was accused by the legalistic pharisees of being a glutton simply for enjoying a good meal and communing with sinners. Seeking purity without charity and trying to isolate yourself from the world seeking some gnostic enlightenment is error. That has more in common with Buddhism.
Maximos sounded more like the Dalai Lama than a blood washed child of God. Indeed, there were Buddhist missionary monks throughout the middle east at that time. It is possible that Maximos was attempting to mix the two religions into some kind of unholy blend, much like Thomas Merton did in the twentieth century, following after a bunch of lost, pagan Buddhist monks instead of trusting in the Lamb of God, our Pasch, slain from the foundation of the world.
I know that some churches hold Maximos in high esteem. We need to hold the Word of God in the highest esteem, and measure everything else by it. I am not saved by believing what St. Maximos wrote or believing any of the words of the Philokolia . I am saved by believing what our Lord said; His words are life, and by believing everything that the prophets and the apostles spoke and wrote. I'm saved by believing and obeying the word of God It is the word of life.
I also don't read in the word of God that sleeping on the ground is a virtue, as the Philokalia states. Interestingly, Buddhists consider sleeping on an elevated bed a violation of their precepts.It is God and God's Word that will judge me in the last day, not man's opinion. I do believe in the true presence of Christ in the sacraments and I believe in apostolic succession. I also, however, have to look to God's Word as my ultimate authority. Without that we have nothing.
I believe in tradition, but it all has to line up with the Scripture. At first the Holy Orthodox Church had condemned Maximos as a heretic and condemned his writings. They considered him so dangerous that they actually cut out his tongue so that he could not spread his heresies by speach, and they cut off his hands so that he could not spread his heretical doctrine through writing. I don't know if I agree with the severity of the punishment, however concerning his heretical teachings, this was the original ruling and it was the correct one. Later on another council, influenced by those of a gnostic persuasion, had this original ruling on his teaching reversed, and his writings to this day have had an influence in eastern Christian theology, and this is very unfortunate. There is much that is attractive in what Maximos wrote. Parts of it may reflect truth, but there is enough error and heresy in what he wrote to cause one to stray from the simple path to salvation.
Remember, the devil can quote scripture, but he misuses it and quotes it out of context. 95% of the truth can be more dangerous than 100% of a lie. I knew a protestant pastor once who was spreading the teaching of a false prophet and he claimed that some if it might be good, so we could just "chew the meat and spit out the bones". This is the worst possible example of exegesis imaginable. It is only a small amount of arsenic in a cup of tasty juice that can kill you.
The Word of God does say "Be still, and know that I am God". We do commune with the Lord in the hidden chamber of our heart, and we do close our eyes during prayer to shut out the things of the world, however we approach Him on the alter of faith, and prayer, and praise. And the Person whom we approach in prayer is the triune God of the Scriptures, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We do not pray to some impersonal "mind". We come to the Father in the name of the Son, and we come to the Christ of Calvary, who shed His precious blood for our sins. It is the blood that makes atonement for our souls, and that was sprinkled on the heavenly mercy seat, so that we may make our petitions to God through Christ.
Regarding icons in the church, while statues and religious icons can help to bring the mind into a spirit of receptivity to the things of the Lord, God is invisible and eternal and we cannot see Him: "Now to the King immortal, eternal, invisible, to the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen" (1 Tim 1:17). This is a reference to God the Father.
Regarding Christ and icons. , St. Paul wrote: "Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet henceforth now we know Him no longer." (2Cor 5:16) Our Lord said to Thomas: "Thomas, because you have seen, you believe. Blessed are they who do not see, yet believe". The Lord was talking about those who would come after Thomas who would believe from the word of their preaching. I am concerned that your scholars have left your first love. You almost seem to be more enraptured with the Philokalia than the word of God. The first century Christians were not making little pictures of Mary or pictures of Jesus and praying to then. You have greatly erred.
We come to Christ on the alter of faith through prayer, through His Word, and through the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
The gospel is simple; it does not require some great metaphysical explanation. BELIEVE, RECEIVE, OBEY. That's it. Believe God's Word, receive God's Word (both the written Word and the living Word, Christ), and obey God's Word. It's not complicated. We don't have to read something into the text to try and make it a kind of a mystical language conveying some secret "higher truth" than what our Lord and His disciples were plainly writing about. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus and be baptised for the remission of sins as He commanded you and then live a life in obedience to His Word, loving God and loving and serving your fellow man.
Father Josiah, your ministry is a blessing to the Church.
Amen
A very powerful testimony. Thank you Father Josiah.
Excellente!! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Your ministry has been a great blessing to me, and to my Facebook group "Homemaking and Mothering the Orthodox way" to which i frequently post your sermons.
Thank you for this video and lecture. Much love from Canada. ☦️
This is by far the best pro-life speech I have ever seen.
Thank you Father Trenham.
This should never be allowed a used the child's divine rights
17:00 I can't believe what my ears just heard!😫
How are you this based, father?
Amen…
Powerful speech, thank you 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
This is absolutely beautiful, 100% truth! The whole world needs to hear this.
One of my top 3 videos on yt
Good speech, but when we look at what is now happening in the Ukraine, we can see that it definitely doesn't reflect the beliefs of the Orthodox Church. What's the point of it?