Be the Bee # 142 | Why I'm an Orthodox Christian (w/ Fr Andrew Stephen Damick)

hey everybody this is steve and i'm an orthodox christian as an orthodox christian i've had this one weird experience many times in my life whether i'm at school or at work or just hanging out with friends i'm very often the only orthodox christian in the room have you ever had an experience like that more people know about the church today than in years past thanks to ministries like ancient faith radio and our work here at y2am but there are still a lot of people who don't know much if anything about the orthodox church we still make up less than one percent of the population here in the united states so it's no surprise that i'm often the only orthodox christian in the room sometimes i'm even the first orthodox christian that someone has met have you ever had an experience like that when i meet new people and they first learn that i'm orthodox they usually ask wait you're jewish and then when i explain that i'm an orthodox christian they tend to respond with similar questions what is the orthodox church and why are you an orthodox christian rather than a kind of christian that i've actually heard of before a few years ago we made a video titled three reasons i'm an orthodox christian it was our attempt to offer a simple and straightforward answer to these questions lots and lots of people have watched the video and thank god they've loved it we've even heard from people who first discovered the church by watching that video and then they watched other videos on our channel and now they're orthodox christians others have watched the video and responded with even more questions why am i an orthodox christian in particular rather than a catholic or a protestant or something have you ever gotten a question like that so following up on our last episode about what christian unity really is father andrew and i want to share four reasons that we're orthodox christians father andrew wrote a great blog post titled 12 reasons why i became and or remain an orthodox christian it's a great read and the link as always is down in the doobly-doo and of course his excellent book orthodoxy and heterodoxy gets into specific differences between the orthodox church and other religious traditions but we still wanted to distill things a bit more than his book or his blog so we're coming together again to share four reasons why we're orthodox christians four basic reasons why the fullness of the church and the truth of the gospel can be found here specifically rather than some other christian tradition father andrew take it away the first reason i'm an orthodox christian is that the orthodox church really is one church in the last episode steve and i explored what unity among christians really looks like and we narrowed it down to two basic things unity of faith and unity of worship before i entered the orthodox church in my early twenties i was a protestant which is how most american christians identify and even though most protestants will talk about how all christians are part of one invisible church that's not what we actually see in practice a presbyterian and a pentecostal may each recognize each other as christian but they have almost no stake in each other's internal church life the same holds true of someone belonging to the presbyterian church in america the pca and someone belonging to the presbyterian church usa which are both presbyterian denominations and yet even they have big doctrinal disagreements with each other while there are certainly disagreements and even conflicts within the orthodox church which steve and i were honest about in the last episode we fight from within rather than without the fact that we have such bickering and fighting with each other means that we recognize in each other that we are one church that we have a problem and we need to fix it together splitting off and starting your own denomination just isn't an option if the church is really one so one reason i'm an orthodox christian is that the orthodox church really is one church another reason i'm an orthodox christian is that the church is not derived from a book it's a historically continuous lived experience being comfortable with denominations that don't really have anything to do with each other makes sense if you see christianity as centering on a book one of the core principles at the heart of protestant and post-protestant christianity is the idea that the scripture by itself is enough at least as a starting point but as we covered back in episode 128 the problem with this idea is that that's not what the scripture actually says the first christians were all jewish they had scripture the books we today call the old testament but just because they had those books and knew they were important didn't mean they knew how to properly interpret them in chapter 24 of the gospel according to luke jesus encounters some of his disciples on the road to emmaus and those disciples are pretty heartbroken because their teacher is dead jesus was just crucified so his disciples are devastated and when the lord meets them on the road risen from the dead he scolds them a little bit o foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken ought not the christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory and then luke tells us that jesus opened the scripture to his disciples beginning with moses and the prophets jesus taught them to interpret the scripture specifically how to find him in scripture so there's a right way to interpret scripture a way given by the lord himself and which is preserved by the living community of the church and we see this way at work as we answer the big questions of who jesus is and other deep questions of theology but also as we approach smaller questions for example the second sunday after bosca is dedicated to the mur-bearing women who went to the lord's tomb to anoint him after the crucifixion we celebrate eight such mur-bearing women but you won't find a complete list of their names in the scripture luke for example writes about mary magdalene joanna mary the mother of james and the other women with them if all we had to go on was the scripture we wouldn't know who these other women are but luke wrote his gospel account for a christian audience he wrote his gospel account for people who were already christians who already knew who jesus is and who already knew who visited jesus at the tomb luke could refer to the other women because his audience knew who those other women were and that audience is the very same church that father andrew and i are a part of today because the oneness of the church doesn't simply extend across the world today it also extends back in time to the very first christians and maintaining this connection across both time and space is part of what keeps us grounded in the gospel as jesus christ delivered it to us rather than in a gospel of our own invention when we reject the community of the church and establish our own splinter communities well things get messy in a hurry for example a survey of american christians discovered that 57 agree with the statement jesus is the first and greatest being created by god which is arianism a heresy refuted by the church during the first ecumenical council in a.d 325 and 59 believe that the holy spirit is a force rather than a personal divine being which is a heresy refuted by the church during the second ecumenical council in ad381 when we cut ourselves off from the oneness of the church it's really easy to forget things that the church already knows it's really easy to fall into mistakes that the church dealt with centuries ago so the second reason i'm an orthodox christian is that the church is not derived from a book but is rather a historically continuous lived experience the third reason i am an orthodox christian is that jesus christ is the source of our unity so on the one hand as orthodox christians we disagree with the idea of church that you find amongst protestants yet we also disagree with the idea of church that you find amongst catholics catholics see their unity as being centered on the pope who is dogmatically taught to be supreme over all christians for catholics in order to be fully christian in the traditional sense you have to be obedient to the pope in that model the obedience that we owe to christ flows through the pope to the rest of the bishops and then to each christian from there one of the titles that catholics use for the pope to express this authority is vicar of christ which means he exercises christ's authority in his place as orthodox christians we don't believe that any person can have all that authority absolutized in one office even if he is a bishop or archbishop or patriarch while christ's authority is expressed through his bishops in various ways the lord himself is the center of unity exercised actively through his holy spirit jesus works through bishops but he did not delegate church unity to any one of them in an absolute way jesus isn't gone so he doesn't need to delegate all of his authority to any particular person who rules in his place we sometimes talk about the second coming of jesus as if he were gone from us and will one day be back but that seems to be a translation issue because both the scripture and the church fathers talk about christ's second appearing or manifestation not his second coming so it's not that jesus is gone and needs a vicar to rule in his place it's that he's not manifest in the same way as he was during his earthly ministry which should make sense even when jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection the disciples didn't always see him at first that's because we see the lord not just with our physical eyes but with the eyes of our hearts as jesus himself predicted before the crucifixion a little while longer and the world will see me no more but you will see me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and i will love him and manifest myself to him so no jesus isn't gone he's still with us and what's more even from the earliest times the church has seen our unity not in any particular bishop but in the lord himself we come together in unity of faith so we can assemble in unity of worship and there in our common worship as a church our unity is both assured and manifest saint ignatius an important first century bishop who was a disciple of saint john the evangelist describes the unity of the church as centered on this unified worship in his letter to the magnesians ignatius writes your bishop presides in the place of god it's not that the bishop is a vicar of god who is absent but rather that our worship is an image or icon of god's kingdom and the bishop is joined to god as he presides at worship back in episode 119 steve talked about sacraments which are experiences when our life meets the life of god and it's in the midst of our sacramental life that the church is fully present not in union with any one bishop for everyone but with our bishop surrounded by his presbyters and deacons and laity a beautiful icon of the kingdom of god because as saint ignatius also wrote wherever the bishop shall appear there lets the people also be even as wherever jesus christ is there is the fullness of the church there is the fullness of the church not around only one bishop but around every bishop united both with his clergy and laity as well as with every other bishop in the church the lord isn't gone he's here right now as the church as the fullness of the church we the church are his actual body he is the head of the body not any bishop therefore the lord himself is the source of our unity not just as a church but as the church so the third reason that i'm an orthodox christian is that jesus christ is the source of our unity and finally the fourth reason i'm an orthodox christian is that the church connects us with an enchanted world one thing that christian and father andrew and i talk about a lot is our experience as modern people in a flat secular world a world where we take it for granted that there is no heaven above that god is not really at work in the world that the world is nothing more than a flat material thing this is our experience as modern people but it isn't the truth and it's the sacramental life of the church that breaks this flatness open and connects us with a depth we otherwise wouldn't be able to experience remember episode 119 where we explored what sacraments are the sacraments of the church bring our life and god's life together the church invites us to participate in a world that isn't flat a world that is more than merely physical a world where god the father is real a world where god the son is truly risen a world where god the holy spirit continues to sanctify us and fill us with the light and life of god so we do more than give sermons about god we do more than sing songs about god we bless and sanctify all of creation we bless water and lift it up to be the means of baptism and entry into the church we bless oil and lift it up to be the means of physical and spiritual healing we lift up bread and wine and receive the lord's body and blood in return and it's not just the sacramental life of the church that opens up this additional layer to reality it's our ascetical life as well we fast as a church because we know that we don't live by bread alone we prioritize charity and love of neighbor because we seek not wealth but righteousness we love everyone even our enemies because we as children of god the father need to reflect his unwavering and unconditional love we pray we fast we give alms we bless we celebrate the divine services we sanctify all creation at a time when secular life and secular assumptions so completely saturate the air we breathe and the way we think perhaps now more than any other time this witness of the church is so critical so the fourth reason i'm an orthodox christian is that the church connects us with an enchanted world so that's it four basic reasons that steve and i are orthodox christians of course there's a lot more we could say about where we differ from other christian traditions but for purposes of this episode we've said enough for now and don't just listen to us we'd love to hear from you as well leave a comment to this video if someone asked you why you're an orthodox christian what would you say and if you're not an orthodox christian then why not wherever you are in your spiritual journey steve and i would love to hear from you and if it's okay we'd love to pray for you as well heavenly father as you and your son are one help us to be one not in a superficial way but deeply and truly united in faith and united in worship we ask this of you together with your only begotten son and your all-holy good and life-giving spirit now and ever and to the ages of ages ah men so let's be the bee and embrace the oneness of the church be the bee and live orthodoxy remember to like and subscribe and share i'll see you all next week [Music] remember to subscribe to our channel and click on the little bell so you never miss an episode and share this video with your friends and family as we all make our way to the lord together thanks for watching and god bless you

Channel: Y2AM

Views: 70,155

Keywords: Greek Orthodox, Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, Greek Orthodox Live Stream, Be the Bee, Live Orthodoxy, Steven Christoforou, Steve Christoforou, Father Andrew Stephen Damick, Ancient Faith Ministries, Ancient Faith Radio, Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, Orthodox Church, What is the Orthodox Church, Why I'm an Orthodox Christian, What is Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Easter, Why Orthodox Christianity, Why Orthodoxy, why orthodox, do you believe in god

Id: aHOe32CK3EI

Length: 16min 36sec (996 seconds)

Published: Mon May 11 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/ScholasticPalamas]

Maybe post in r/Christianity

[u/Thrylomitsos]

Wonderful.

[u/coolbutclueless]

Ive been growing to really like fr. Damick in the last year or so. I didnt like him initially having read parts of orthodoxy and heterodoxy but his stuff really has been good lately