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What is the Secret to Eternity?

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost / Twelfth Sunday of Matthew, August 23, 2015 I Corinthians 15:1-11; Matthew 19:16-26 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. “What good deed must I do, to have eternal life?” So asks the rich young man who approaches Jesus. He is looking for the…

“Off For More Adventures”: An Alaskan Family Connection

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Last week, I had the great blessing to speak on St. Ignatius of Antioch (AUDIO) at the Eagle River Institute at St. John Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Eagle River, Alaska. Since it was my first time in Alaska, I prefaced my talks with the following notes, delivered on Saturday, August 1st. Before I begin speaking about one of my favorite subjects, St. Ignatius of…

From “Membership” to Ministry: Feeding the Five Thousand

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Feast of St. Paraskeva / Eighth Sunday of Matthew, July 26, 2015 Galatians 3:23-4:5; Matthew 14:14-22 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. We are all familiar with this account from the Gospels of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Though we read today from Matthew 14, this…

Not Abolition, But Fulfillment: Reading Everything in the Light of Christ

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Fathers of the 4th Ecumenical Council, July 19, 2015 Titus 3:8-15; Matthew 5:14-19 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. I would like us to hear the short text of today’s Gospel again, because this is what we will speak on today. These are the words of the…

Do You Have to Read the Fathers to be Orthodox?

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
I recently posted the following on Facebook and thought I might put it here, as well: I have sometimes seen the sentiment expressed that authentic Orthodoxy means everyone reads the Fathers (perhaps “graduating” out of everything else). But that’s really a historical impossibility. Access to the writings of the Fathers for most people is a recent phenomenon that is only due, ironically, to the…

St. Ignatius of Antioch and the “Upstairs/Downstairs Church”

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The following is an excerpt from a series of lectures I am soon going to deliver on St. Ignatius of Antioch. Men of flesh cannot act spiritually, nor can spiritual men act in a fleshly way, just as faith cannot perform deeds of unfaith or unfaith those of faith. But what you do in relation to the flesh is spiritual, for you do everything…

St. Paisios and Salvation from Distraction

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost / Sixth Sunday of Matthew, July 12, 2015 Romans 12:6-14; Matthew 9:1-8 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Today we have a rare privilege in church life in that today is the very first time the feast of a saint is celebrated—St. Paisios…

The Fruit of the Spirit Who is God: St. Ambrose on the Spirit’s Goodness

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
St. Athanasius of Mt. Athos / Fifth Sunday of Matthew, July 5, 2015 Galatians 5:22-6:2; Matthew 8:28-9:1 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. On the fifth of July, we celebrate St. Athanasius the Athonite. This is not the same Athanasius whose theology won the day at the…