{"id":3807,"date":"2015-07-07T09:26:35","date_gmt":"2015-07-07T13:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/roadsfromemmaus\/?p=3807"},"modified":"2015-07-07T09:27:32","modified_gmt":"2015-07-07T13:27:32","slug":"the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fruit of the Spirit Who is God: St. Ambrose on the Spirit’s Goodness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
The Relics of St. Ambrose of Milan (in the white vestments)
(From Wikimedia Commons<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

St. Athanasius of Mt. Athos \/ Fifth Sunday of Matthew, July 5, 2015
\nGalatians 5:22-6:2; Matthew 8:28-9:1
\nRev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick<\/i><\/p>\n

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. <\/p>\n

O<\/span>n the fifth of July, we celebrate St. Athanasius the Athonite. This is not the same Athanasius whose theology won the day at the First Ecumenical Council in the fourth century but rather the tenth century monastic who is credited with founding monasticism on the Holy Mountain of Athos in Greece.<\/p>\n

For his feast day, we hear the beautiful epistle reading at the Divine Liturgy from Paul\u2019s epistle to the Galatians, verses 5:22-6:2. Let\u2019s spend most of our time today contemplating the first two verses: \u201cthe fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control: against such there is no law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The great fourth century Latin Father of the Church, St. Ambrose of Milan, mentions this passage in his work, On the Holy Spirit<\/i>. He uses it here not to give moral exhortations to his readers but rather as a proof of the divinity of the Holy Spirit. That is, he uses this verse as part of his argument that the Holy Spirit is truly God.<\/p>\n

In the fourth century, great debates raged among Christians first as to whether Jesus Christ the Son of God is truly God and then later concerning whether the Holy Spirit was truly God. Although the Church had long believed in the Holy Trinity, including the divinity of the Son and Spirit, heresies arose that attacked the traditional doctrine which the Church had inherited from the Apostles. As a result, in the fourth century the theological language expressing this dogma of the Church came to be more refined. In this case, Ambrose is making the case for the divinity of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what he says about the Spirit:<\/p>\n

But let us consider whether He has goodness in Himself, since He is the Source and Principle of goodness. For as the Father and the Son have, so too the Holy Spirit also has goodness. And the Apostle also taught this when he said: \u2018Now the fruit of the Spirit is peace, love, joy, patience, goodness.\u2019 For who doubts that He is good Whose fruit is goodness? For \u2018a good tree brings forth good fruit\u2019 (De Spir. Sanct.<\/i>, 1.5.62).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(The translation of the verse here as Ambrose quotes it is a little different, but it\u2019s the same verse.)<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s the argument Ambrose is making: Look at the fruit of the Spirit. It\u2019s peace, love, joy, etc. These things are good. And if the fruit is good, then the tree is good. Thus, because the fruit of the Spirit is good, that means that the Spirit is Himself good. And this is one way that the Holy Spirit is just like the Father and the Son.<\/p>\n

He goes on to say that God is good, and so of course the Holy Spirit must also be good. All goodness comes from God, and so therefore we know that the Spirit is divine. And the proof of it is that the Spirit makes \u201cgood men\u201d out of the \u201cworst\u201d (ibid.<\/i>, 1.5.64).<\/p>\n

Now, there is of course no debate within the Church these days over whether the Holy Spirit is God. We believe that He is God, just as the Father is God and the Son is God. This is what the Apostles taught and what has been confirmed for many centuries. One can find so-called \u201cChristians\u201d elsewhere who do not believe this, but it is quite settled for the Orthodox and actually for most Christians everywhere.<\/p>\n

But the linkage that Ambrose makes here from this one verse from St. Paul goes beyond the fourth century debate about the divinity of the Holy Spirit. And it comes right into our own experience as Orthodox Christians living in the twenty-first century.<\/p>\n

How? Paul makes this observation a couple verses down in Galatians 5:25: \u201cIf we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.\u201d So if we really do have the Holy Spirit within us by virtue of being sealed with \u201cthe gift of the Holy Spirit\u201d in chrismation, then that means that we should be exhibiting this \u201cfruit of the Spirit,\u201d which is \u201clove, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if someone is not showing that fruit, then it is clear that he is not \u201cwalking in the Spirit.\u201d So this is a test of our authenticity as Christians. Do I have no fruit or bad fruit? I am not walking in the Spirit. Do I have the good fruit as indicated in Scripture? Then I am walking in the Spirit.<\/p>\n

It is not for us to judge one another, of course. God will judge us. Our father-confessor will guide us. But we should use this to examine ourselves<\/i>. Am I exhibiting \u201clove, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control\u201d? If not, I need to start walking in the Spirit.<\/p>\n

But what does it mean to walk in the Spirit? Is it just to try to exhibit all these fruits? Just try hard, and that proves you\u2019re walking in the Spirit? No, that\u2019s not how you get fruit.<\/p>\n

To get fruit from a tree, it has to be planted well, watered, fertilized, pruned, and so on. In the spiritual life of the Orthodox Christian, he has to do the spiritual equivalents of these things.<\/p>\n

We have to be planted in the Church by holy baptism and chrismation. We have to be watered by consistent, persistent prayer, both privately and as a community. We have to be fertilized by learning the teachings of the Scriptures and the Fathers. And we have to be pruned by asceticism\u2014fasting, simplicity of life, and giving of our time, our abilities and our resources.<\/p>\n

When we do those things, then we can expect the fruit.<\/p>\n

But there is something even more profound here that we should not miss if we listen closely to what Paul is saying and how Ambrose is interpreting it.<\/p>\n

We have seen how we can get this fruit of the Spirit through the spiritual traditions of the Church. But in order for us to be truly motivated to have this fruit, to walk in the Spirit, we should understand what is actually happening when we do so.<\/p>\n

It is no idle phrase that doing all this is called \u201cwalking in the Spirit\u201d and \u201cliving in the Spirit.\u201d This spiritual life\u2014notice it is called \u201cspiritual\u201d life!\u2014puts us into direct contact with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the life-giving, creative Spirit.<\/p>\n

Living the Orthodox spiritual life puts us into direct contact with God. And we are not just touching God but actually immersed in God<\/i>. Thus it is said that we \u201cwalk in the Spirit,\u201d that we \u201clive in the Spirit.\u201d These are not mere metaphors. This language points to a deeply mysterious reality whereby if we live the spiritual life correctly, we experience the very presence of God.<\/p>\n

And it is that presence that changes us. It is that presence that causes the tree of our souls to grow and to bear the fruit of the Spirit.<\/p>\n

Spiritual life in the Church is not to make us moral. Of course we will be moral if we are living the spiritual life. But the spiritual life is so much more than morality. The spiritual life is about attracting the very presence of God Himself into our bodies and souls, a presence that transforms and deifies us.<\/p>\n

We can see from these teachings of the Apostle and St. Ambrose that the sense that many Christians have that spiritual life is just a sort of religious overlay that \u201cimproves\u201d the earthly life really is foolish. Our goal is not to become \u201cbetter\u201d or \u201creligious.\u201d Our goal is to establish direct contact with the Holy Trinity, by walking in the Spirit, by living in the Spirit. And in doing so, we gain “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control.\u201d<\/p>\n

To God therefore be all glory, honor and worship, to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2026 <\/i> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[751,583],"tags":[843,839],"class_list":["post-3807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-spirituality","category-sermons","tag-ambrose-of-milan","tag-holy-spirit"],"yoast_head":"The Fruit of the Spirit Who is God: St. Ambrose on the Spirit's Goodness — Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Fruit of the Spirit Who is God: St. Ambrose on the Spirit's Goodness — Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/andrewstephendamick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/andrewstephendamick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-07T13:26:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-07T13:27:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/07\/ambrose-relics.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"681\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@frandrewsdamick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@frandrewsdamick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/\",\"name\":\"The Fruit of the Spirit Who is God: St. Ambrose on the Spirit's Goodness — Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/07\/ambrose-relics.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-07T13:26:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-07T13:27:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/#\/schema\/person\/18eab8a45916faa6327a92fd04c88675\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/07\/ambrose-relics.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/07\/ambrose-relics.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":681,\"caption\":\"The Relics of St. Ambrose of Milan (in the white vestments) (From Wikimedia Commons)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Fruit of the Spirit Who is God: St. Ambrose on the Spirit’s Goodness\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/\",\"name\":\"Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick\",\"description\":\"Neither polemic nor compromise, but engagement\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/#\/schema\/person\/18eab8a45916faa6327a92fd04c88675\",\"name\":\"Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/01\/profile-pic-e1673451002804-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/01\/profile-pic-e1673451002804-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick\"},\"description\":\"The Very Rev. Archpriest Andrew Stephen Damick is Chief Content Officer of Ancient Faith Ministries, former pastor (2009-2020) of St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and author of multiple books from Ancient Faith Publishing and host or co-host of many podcasts from Ancient Faith Radio. You can follow him on YouTube, Facebook, Telegram and Instagram.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/andrewstephendamick.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/andrewstephendamick\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/asdamick\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@frandrewstephendamick\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/author\/asdamick\/\"}]}<\/script>","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Fruit of the Spirit Who is God: St. Ambrose on the Spirit's Goodness — Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Fruit of the Spirit Who is God: St. Ambrose on the Spirit's Goodness — Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick","og_description":"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\u2026","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/","og_site_name":"Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/andrewstephendamick","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/andrewstephendamick","article_published_time":"2015-07-07T13:26:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-07-07T13:27:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":681,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/07\/ambrose-relics.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@frandrewsdamick","twitter_site":"@frandrewsdamick","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/","name":"The Fruit of the Spirit Who is God: St. Ambrose on the Spirit's Goodness — Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/07\/ambrose-relics.jpg","datePublished":"2015-07-07T13:26:35+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-07T13:27:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/#\/schema\/person\/18eab8a45916faa6327a92fd04c88675"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/07\/ambrose-relics.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/07\/ambrose-relics.jpg","width":1024,"height":681,"caption":"The Relics of St. Ambrose of Milan (in the white vestments) (From Wikimedia Commons)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2015\/07\/07\/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-who-is-god-st-ambrose-on-the-spirits-goodness\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Fruit of the Spirit Who is God: St. Ambrose on the Spirit’s Goodness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/","name":"Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick","description":"Neither polemic nor compromise, but engagement","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/#\/schema\/person\/18eab8a45916faa6327a92fd04c88675","name":"Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/01\/profile-pic-e1673451002804-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/01\/profile-pic-e1673451002804-150x150.jpg","caption":"Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick"},"description":"The Very Rev. Archpriest Andrew Stephen Damick is Chief Content Officer of Ancient Faith Ministries, former pastor (2009-2020) of St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and author of multiple books from Ancient Faith Publishing and host or co-host of many podcasts from Ancient Faith Radio. You can follow him on YouTube, Facebook, Telegram and Instagram.","sameAs":["http:\/\/andrewstephendamick.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/andrewstephendamick","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/asdamick\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@frandrewstephendamick"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/author\/asdamick\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/07\/ambrose-relics.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3807"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3813,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3807\/revisions\/3813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}