Orthodoxy Live Mailbag Edition #15

This is Orthodoxy Live with Father Evan Armitage, a live interactive call-in program where your questions about the Orthodox faith are addressed. Father Evan is the priest at St. Spirit and Greek Orthodox Church in Loveland, Colorado. Call in your question at 1-855-AF-RADIO. That's 1-855-237-2346. Here now is Father Evan. Well, good evening and welcome to Orthodoxy Live, your live call-in show about the Orthodox faith, her teachings and traditions. I'm your host, Father Evan, and we're streaming to you, not exactly live here on Ancient Faith Radio. I'm glad you're with us. It's one of our mailbag episodes. So although I'll mention the phone number for future reference, if you try calling in tonight, you won't get anybody because we've prerecorded the show. So as usual, the number to call when you're listening to the program is 1-855-AF-RADIO. But as I said tonight, we're recording a special mailbag episode and I'm very pleased to have with me tonight Simon Nelson, who's often so behind the scenes. He goes on notice. Simon, it's nice to have you on the program tonight with me. Thank you, Father. I'm happy to be here. Happy to be back. Yeah. I mean, have we, have you and I ever done a mailbag episode together? We've done one. And I must admit, I was substantially more nervous for that one than I am today. Thank God. Well, we're recording in the midst of this horrific flooding that's going on in the Midwest and it's impacted Ancient Faith Radio and Ancient Faith Ministries. The main studio in Chesterton, Indiana has been evacuated. I know our producer and the radio station manager, Mike DeGan, has had some flooding in his basement. Today there's millions impacted and our thoughts. I've been texting with a dear friend of mine who's a priest in Indiana. I know you've said your neighbors have had flooding. It's just a terrible situation. Yeah. Our local power company said it's the worst, it was a windstorm that kind of took out everyone's power, but worst event in terms of its impact on the power grid in history for our area, at least I should say. It's really crazy to see the weather change so much. In the state of Colorado, we had the hottest July in record and something like 26 days over 90 degrees, which is unheard of for us. I think we've already had over 45 days of 90 degree weather this summer. And that on top of the fact that this past winter we didn't have any snow. Literally just didn't have snow. I think my house saw one measurable snowfall the entire winter, which is crazy. And if people are following any of that, that impacts the entire West because most of the water that places like Nevada, Arizona, California get comes from the Rocky Mountains through the Colorado River. And so we certainly need to all pray that the Lord of Creation spare us from further calamity. But certainly my thoughts are with Mike and the whole ancient faith ministry team and all those in the Midwest. So well, as I mentioned, you know, we're recording a mailbag episode, which is always kind of fun to do. It gives us an opportunity to address some questions that we don't get to do while we're on air with callers. And I think I've said this many times, there's, you know, hundreds of questions that have been sent in. And I don't know if I'll ever get to all of them, but try to pick off a few and move forward in that way. Simon, I'm glad you have the time to be with me. And why don't we get going with our first question? Yeah, I have a few questions picked out tonight. Many of these are from the YouTube chat. So there's always a few that get asked either at the end of the show or just, you know, we don't have time to get to because of the callers. So now is the chance. Yeah, yeah. Well, and I should mention that, you know, so if you're listening to this episode of Orthodoxy Live and you're doing so as a podcast, then one of the things you can do is you can email at orthodoxylive at ancientfaith.com. Those come directly to me. Some people use the ask at ancientfaith radio, which is, or I'm sorry, it's ancientfaith. Ask at ancientfaith.com, which is a little bit easier to remember. But obviously, as you said, you know, a lot of times when we're on air, people are streaming with us on YouTube and they're putting this in the chat box and we certainly get more than we can answer. Yeah, that's right. Well, we can start with the first one tonight. Sure. I thought it was appropriate because we are currently on the eve of the dormition feast to have one about the mother of God. So the first question comes from someone named Matt. And he says, I've come to accept the theotokos as all holy and sinless, but I struggle with this theologically. What exactly is at stake in declaring that our holy mother was, slash is, sinless? You know, I think a lot of this question, Simon, is wrapped up in the approach we take when considering exactly what is sin. And you know, many of us have been taught and have come to believe that sin is an offense against God, which has a punishment, right? And so it's sort of the breaking of a rule. And so the simple example that would be is, you know, you're not supposed to lie. You tell a lie and there you go. You've broken the rule, you've sinned and there's a punishment and a consequence. Now there's much in that description that's actually beneficial for us, right? To think about the fact that, you know, God has given us a way of life that he's encouraged us to live, for example, in the truth and to be deceptive, to tell lies is disfiguring both to ourselves and to the communities and the people that we interact with. But that may not be a definition or a description that's helpful or beneficial in the long run. And so there's another way of thinking about sin that can be helpful. And this helps us sort of start to understand what we're talking about when we speak about Mary. And it has more to do with the idea of love, right? And this past July, I held a online class for people looking into orthodoxy called exploring orthodoxy. And it was kind of interesting to do was an online class. I hadn't done that before. I don't know that I like that format, but it gave people access that wouldn't have had it otherwise. You know, certainly people who don't live around, say, Spirit on and people who have busy lives and they can't make a drive, let's say, to the church on a Monday night. And I think it was in maybe our last session together talking about, you know, orthodox life as opposed to the idea of, you know, sort of having a set of beliefs that you've agreed to as sort of a faith statement, which leads to membership in, let's say, a church, you know, and looking at what's orthodox life, what's a lifestyle, a faithfulness towards God like. And in that discussion, it raised some questions for some people. And in the open Q&A, a gentleman, I think his name was Daniel, asked, you know, could you talk about sin a little bit more? You mentioned something in your remarks that had to do with love, relationship and sin that I quite didn't understand, you know, exactly what you're trying to say. And I made this statement that any sin is a breaking of love, as a stepping away from love. And he'd never heard that. And I said, well, that's really the better way to think about it. Like if I love my wife, right, and I'm in relationship with my wife, any stepping away from the love or the relationship is a sin. In the sense that I break the relationship, I break the commandment or the reality to love. And it's disfiguring. And it separates me from my wife and from others, you know, whatever that happens separates us from God. And that's really how we should try to approach the idea of sin. And so when we think about the mother of God and we think about her relationship and her love for her son, we can start to see how this might apply in the sense that did she live in relationship with her son? And at any point, did she break that relationship? Did she step away from the love that she had for her son? And the response the church has is no. And, you know, sort of our proof is her life. You know, she lived with her son in a relationship of love from the time of his conception to the foot of the cross, to the empty tomb, to witnessing the ascension and experiencing Pentecost, right? So there's this arc. And that's how we need to think about, you know, ourselves, right? Can we approach that type of lifestyle? That's why she becomes such an example for us. Have you ever heard the unusual phrase of Porta Itissa? Porta Itissa? I have not. Is this Greek? Yeah, it's a Greek phrase that we'll use for an icon of the Virgin. It's often an icon that's placed at, let's say, the entrance to a monastery, the entrance to a town, to one's home, kind of like gatekeeper or gateway. And we understand that, you know, in Mary there's a gateway, there's a path, there's a door that opens that humanity can follow in saying yes, like she did, and then living in relationship with God in a way that's authentic and never deviates, you know, from the relationship. I'll stop, you know, just, you know, thoughts about that. Yeah, I mean, it definitely brings to mind when St. Paul says that, you know, with, I don't remember the exact phrasing, but something along the lines of, you know, with love there's no, against this there's no law. I can't remember the exact verse. But, you know, certainly the, it makes sense that, you know, if we're loving God, if we're loving our spouse, if we're loving those around us, then, you know, we're not going to be committing moral offenses against them, but it's not the, you know, just simply not committing moral offenses is not the aim, right? Yeah, I think one of the things that we should say is that, you know, there's a distinction made about, you know, Mary in, let's say, the Roman Catholic Church, kind of separating her from even the idea of what they would call original sin. Oh yeah, yeah. And so they would say she was, you know, conceived without that. And certainly Orthodoxy doesn't say that. We say that no, she is born within the normal confines of the fall, you know, the consequences of it and the ancestral sin of Adam and Eve. So she inherited all those things, you know, mortality, corruption, an inclination towards sin. But we would say that her cooperation and love with God, her decision to live in communion and in some ways we would say union, right? I mean, she takes in Christ, right? She doesn't willingly commit sin. And so it's not independent, you know, it's not like she just did this by sheer will and sort of, you know, she's some sort of like superhuman, but rather she's united to Christ. And so her life being united to Christ in and through Christ, you know, this and this is something that we see also in the saints. You know, Christ, of course, is the only one sinless by nature. And she approaches us through grace and communion and synergy. But she certainly becomes an example then for us. And then we see other saints imitate it, you know, who in their lives get to a stage where their relationship with God and others has never broken. Their love is never, never flags, never, never sort of yields to, you know, pride and personal desire. So yeah, good question. Yeah, this Saturday we celebrate the term mission, the falling asleep of Mary and it's a sort of two week fast that we've been in. And, you know, most churches company this period with the parochlesis or supplication service that's sung, you know, each day, which is a lovely service as well. So yeah. All right, Simon, that was a good one. All right, let's move on to the next. This is a question about biblical exegesis, which are always my favorite. So some personal motivation behind picking this one. OK, a user called the armor of grace says he's referencing Zechariah 1210 where it says that Jerusalem or those within weep, seeing the Messiah. And he says this is, you know, this matches what it's saying in Matthew 2430. And then he's what his question is, it says in Zechariah 1210 that they receive grace and he says this is odd because that would also mean these enter the Messiah's kingdom is unregenerate mortals. So I believe what he's asking is he's asking about how, you know, what is what's going on with the response of those in Jerusalem, weeping, seeing the Messiah, but also the scriptures saying that they are receiving grace through this event. I guess, you know, it's a bit of an opaque question, isn't it? I mean, I guess in this question, are they are they wondering if there's the availability of grace prior to the coming of Christ? Is that you think part of the question? I've got the verse for 1210 up. OK, yeah, I think it's and I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and compassion. And they shall look upon me whom they pierced and they shall mourn for him as for a beloved one. I mean, that's a prophecy, right? Clear. And so it's it's pointing to the Christ and what will occur when he comes, right? And it's certainly understood in the church is Christological, right? This this is unquestionable. And certainly it's also understood in the church as a prophecy of Christ's passion, right, the piercing of his side on the cross, right? Yeah. Which which we read about in, let's say, John 19, because, you know, the the church reenacts that not only in the Holy Week services, but as the priest prepares the elements of the bread and the wine for the Eucharistic Assembly prior to the divine liturgy in the service of the oblation as we take the bread that's been offered, the prosphora bread, the offering bread. And there's a portion of that bread that's got the initials, Jesus Christ, Stoes and Nicodemus, Christ, conquers, that's brought out. And that is placed on the patent as the lamb that will be consecrated by the descent of the Holy Spirit and the liturgy. And we pierce that lamb with like a mini spear in that service. And we and we pierce it. And as we pierce it, we recall the prophecy of Zachariah and we recall the words of the gospel. And then if there's a deacon as he pierces the lamb, the priest, the deacon pours into the chalice, the wine and the water. But, you know, I think this is all fulfilled in the time of Christ, right? So, but I'll let you kind of, I think you were going to fill it out a little bit. Yeah, the person asking this question says that it matches Matthew 2430, which I'm not sure is is a prophecy necessarily. The verse says, then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Yeah, that's related more to the second coming. You know, the Parusea. Right. But Zachariah, just in the reading of it, you see it so clearly connected to the events that occur in Christ's life. Right. Yes. Yes. So I don't know, do you think we've kind of answered this question? Or do you think there's something hanging out there that we're not sure that we're I think grasping. There might be a little bit of confusion about the idea of the mention of the spirit of grace that's poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but then the response to that being. Grief, I guess. Well, OK, if I'm if I'm understanding the question correctly, we can we can say this. Look, the Holy Spirit is certainly active in in the Old Covenant, let's say, right? It's not as if and so is Christ. Right. We see that clearly in, you know, the the three use in the fire. Right. And in, you know, other passages of the Old Testament. And when Christ comes, the fullness of God's revelation is apparent. Right. And we still live in that reality. Right. The Messiah has come. And then the gift of the spirit and the grace of the spirit is sealed upon the hearts and the the lives of those within the church. And yet, whether it's the appearance of of of Christ, the appearance of the spirit, for some, that's always going to be joy. Yeah. But for others, it's going to be a morning because their judgment has been drawn near and, you know, that is something that can be associated with the coming of the Spirit is in Christ is clear about that himself. Right. That his presence is judgment. Yeah. And and the Spirit is one with Christ. So the the Spirit's coming is judgment to it convicts us. It convicts us, you know, let's say in the temporal sense, like, you know, you're living a certain way and the Spirit convicts you that what you're doing is wrong and there should be mourning over that. Right. Sorrow, godly sorrow that what we've done is wrong and it needs to change. But there's also the sense of this universal reality that that in the coming of the Spirit in those last times and again, you know, the prophecy of Zachariah that was mentioned by this listener is related to the events of Christ's crucifixion and picked up by the church in her liturgical celebration and commented by on the on the passage that he mentioned or she mentioned by the fathers as a direct reference to Christ's crucifixion. The second passage that they mentioned in Matthew 24 is a passage about, you know, the return and the last times, right? It if you pick up the passage, I just pulled it up in my scripture in Matthew 24. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be dark and then the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven. The powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heavens and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man. Coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Christ fills out that passage of scripture in descriptive form in the next chapter in Matthew 25, verse 31 and following, right? So so I don't think it's a correct connection that they're making between Matthew 24 30 and Zachariah 12 10. And, you know, they're kind of conflating to scriptures, right? Yeah. So they're not associated in the way that this caller might think. Yeah, yeah, because they're they're talking about different events, right? Yeah, once I'm about to cross, once talking about the parousia, you know, the the presence and return of Christ that we understand is or label the second coming. Yeah, maybe the parallel is just in both Christ and the in the Holy Spirit are revealed and then the reaction of some of joy and the reaction of others is sorrow. Yeah, I mean, it says there the sons of the earth. So it's it's those attached to this life, not the sons of heaven, OK? Not the sons of righteousness. I mean, you know, for each of us, the God presents a crisis, you know, what are you going to do? You know, you're going to follow him. And if you don't, you know, then that's that's going to be painful for you, right? Not because God wants to punish you, but because, you know, as I've given the description a hundred times and it's not mine. You know, I didn't come up with this that, you know, light is something we like. But if we live in a cave, you know, then it's painful to us. And so that's what happens. Right. That's what happens to us who who don't live in the presence of God. His presence becomes painful for us. Right. And that's why they'll mourn and weep and Nash. Right. As it says in the scriptures. That's right. OK, ready for the next question, Father? Yeah, yeah, let's let's do it. All right. This comes from someone with the username Mueller's game. He asks, what's the Orthodox view of Halloween horror movies, in particular, movies that have supernatural themes like The Exorcist or Evil Dead or Gore, etc. I watched them before I became Orthodox and I am curious. Yeah. Well, it's just not helpful, is it? I mean, it's interesting because, you know, being a parish priest and having a large community, you have people that come from all sorts of walks of life, you know, and they carry with them all sorts of perspectives. And the