St. Mary Magdalene Orthodox Church Bible Study

Fr Stephen Osburn
  • 4.5 (2)
  • Education

Through our Bible studies, sermons, classes, and retreats, we seek to enter more deeply into the life and teaching of the Orthodox Church. Our classes are led by Mr. Anthony Ally, while our sermons and retreats include teaching from Fr. Stephen Osburn, Dn. Vassily Kocher, and Fr. Michael Matsko. Drawing from Holy Scripture, the wisdom of the Church Fathers, the rhythms of liturgical life, and the sacred Tradition handed down through the ages, these teachings help us see the whole Christian life in the light of Christ. Whether we are reflecting on the daily readings, commemorating a feast or saint, studying the Scriptures, listening to a sermon, or learning how to live the Orthodox faith in daily life, our purpose remains the same: to encounter the living Christ more deeply and more truly. These teachings are open to everyone, whether you are an inquirer, a catechumen, newly received into the Church, or a lifelong Orthodox Christian seeking a deeper understanding of the faith. Come and journey with us.

  1. 6d ago

    Saint John Cassian’s Eight Passions and the Spiritual Life

    Why do we keep struggling with the same sins, even when we know they’re harmful? Why does anger sometimes lead to pride, or greed lead to anxiety and frustration? In this Bible study, Anthony Ally examines St. John Cassian’s Conference 5 with Abba Serapion and the eight passions that affect our spiritual lives. These passions include gluttony, lust, greed, anger, sadness, acedia, vainglory, and pride. The Orthodox Church teaches that recognizing these weaknesses is an important step toward spiritual healing. One of the central lessons from St. John Cassian is that the passions are connected. Struggling with one passion can make us more vulnerable to others, which is why simply correcting outward behavior is not enough. Anthony explains how gluttony can weaken self-control, how greed is rooted in attachment rather than wealth, and why pride can undermine even our good intentions. He also discusses the irascible power, the part of the soul associated with anger and resistance, and how Christians can redirect that energy toward fighting temptation rather than attacking others. The goal is apatheia, or freedom from being controlled by the passions, so that our hearts become more open to the grace of the Holy Spirit. These teachings are not just for monks living in the desert centuries ago. They speak directly to the frustrations, temptations, and struggles we experience in everyday life. Anthony offers practical ways to respond to anger through prayer, overcome spiritual discouragement by dedicating our work to God, and surrender our worries by trusting in His providence. Rather than allowing our weaknesses to lead us into despair, Orthodox Christianity encourages us to recognize them as opportunities for repentance and spiritual growth. Through prayer, confession, humility, and participation in the life of the Church, we learn to cooperate with God’s grace. St. John Cassian reminds us that the Christian life is not about becoming perfect through our own strength. It is about allowing God to transform our hearts so that we can love Him and others more freely. As you listen, consider which passions most often influence your thoughts, decisions, and relationships. What would change if you began directing that energy toward prayer and repentance instead? Join Anthony Ally for this study of the ancient wisdom of the Orthodox Church and its continuing importance for Christians seeking to grow in Christ.

    Saint John Cassian’s Eight Passions and the Spiritual Life

  2. Oct 11

    October 11th, 2026: What Are You Living For?

    Why did Christ touch the coffin of the widow’s son at Nain? In Luke 7:11-16, Christ encounters a funeral procession, touches the bier carrying a dead young man, and raises him back to life. Under the Old Testament Law, contact with the dead could make someone ritually unclean, yet Christ demonstrates that death has no power over Him. In this sermon, Fr. Stephen Osburn explains how this miracle reveals Christ’s authority over death and points toward His own Resurrection. It also challenges us to consider whether we are truly living as people who believe death has been defeated. One of the most interesting connections in this Gospel is how it relates to Orthodox Christian funerals and baptism. At an Orthodox funeral, we offer a final kiss to our departed loved ones, not because death is insignificant, but because we believe it does not have the final word. During baptism, we renounce Satan and symbolically spit upon him, rejecting his authority over our lives. Both actions express the same truth revealed when Christ touches the bier at Nain: the devil’s power has been broken, and death cannot ultimately separate us from the life Christ has promised. The young man at Nain would eventually die again, but Christ’s Resurrection opens the way to eternal life. This understanding of death should change how we approach our everyday lives. We live in a world that often treats death as something to be avoided at all costs, yet rarely asks what it means to truly live. Orthodox Christianity teaches that our lives should be shaped by repentance, prayer, worship, stewardship, and service to others. Preparing for death does not mean becoming obsessed with dying, but learning to live faithfully so that we are ready to stand before Christ. The question is whether we are allowing our faith in the Resurrection to transform how we live today. Christ did not conquer death for a select few, but opened the way to life for all humanity. His victory is something we are called to embrace and share with others through the life of the Church. As you listen to this sermon, consider how much of your life is spent trying to avoid death rather than seeking the life Christ offers. Are you simply living toward death, or are you living toward the Resurrection? The Orthodox Church invites us to experience that life through faith, repentance, worship, and communion with God.

    October 11th, 2026: What Are You Living For?

  3. Oct 4

    October 4th, 2026: Becoming Merciful

    In Luke 6:31–36, Christ gives Christians one of the most difficult commands in the Gospel: love your enemies. In this sermon, Rdr. Ron Somich reflects on why Christian love must go beyond simply treating others the way we want to be treated. Loving those who already love us is easy. The Gospel calls us to something greater: mercy toward those who oppose, hurt, or even hate us. This radical love is part of the Orthodox Christian understanding of theosis, our transformation by grace into the likeness of God. Rdr. Ron begins with the feast of the Protection of the Theotokos and the vision of St. Andrew the Fool-for-Christ. St. Andrew saw the Mother of God surrounded by the saints, praying for the faithful and extending her veil over them as a sign of her protection. The feast reminds us that the Orthodox Church is not limited to what we can physically see. In the Divine Liturgy, we worship God together with the angels and saints. Rdr. Ron also reflects on St. Romanos the Melodist and how prayer transformed his weakness into a gift that served the Church. These themes lead directly into the Gospel’s difficult command to love our enemies. Moses pleaded for the people who rebelled against God, and St. Paul expressed extraordinary love even for those who rejected and persecuted him. Most importantly, Jesus Christ prayed for the forgiveness of those who crucified Him. Orthodox Christianity teaches that loving an enemy does not mean pretending evil is good. It means refusing hatred and revenge while praying for another person’s repentance, mercy, and salvation. This kind of love reveals whether our hearts are actually becoming more like God. Loving our enemies may seem impossible, and by human strength alone it is. Yet the spiritual life is not a project of self-improvement accomplished by willpower. Through prayer, repentance, worship, and the grace of God, even a heart wounded by anger can begin to change. The same Church that teaches us to ask the Theotokos and the saints for their prayers also teaches us to pray for those we struggle to love. As Rdr. Ron reminds us, God is with us, and nothing is impossible for God.

    October 4th, 2026: Becoming Merciful

  4. Oct 3

    Divine Liturgy: Blessed Is the Kingdom - The Church Gathers

    Why does the Orthodox Divine Liturgy begin with the words, “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”? Those opening words tell us where the Liturgy is going before anything else happens. The Church gathers to worship the Holy Trinity and participate in the Kingdom of God. In this class, Fr. Stephen Osburn begins walking through the Divine Liturgy itself and explains what its opening moments teach us about Orthodox Christianity and the Christian life. The class begins with the people who serve the Divine Liturgy: the bishop, priest, deacon, subdeacon, reader, altar servers, choir, and faithful. A hierarchical Liturgy with the bishop is not a different or more elaborate version of the Divine Liturgy. Instead, more of the structure that is normally compressed in parish worship becomes visible. The bishop reveals the connection of the local parish to the larger Church, while the different liturgical ministries show that worship is the work of the whole Church. The faithful are not an audience, and the choir is not performing for them. The class then turns to “Blessed is the Kingdom” and the Great Litany. The Kingdom of God is not simply somewhere Christians hope to go after death, but the reign and presence of God that has already entered human history and will be revealed in its fullness. The Church immediately begins praying for peace, salvation, the Church, civil authorities, communities, travelers, the sick, the suffering, good weather, food, and the needs of the world. Even the repeated response “Lord, have mercy” teaches us something important about prayer. We entrust our needs to God’s compassion, forgiveness, healing, protection, and loving-kindness rather than demanding that He answer according to our plans. Finally, the opening prayers remind us that the Church includes more than the people physically standing inside the building. We commemorate the Theotokos and all the saints before commending ourselves, each other, and “all our life” unto Christ our God. That final phrase gives us a picture of the whole spiritual life: not simply Sunday morning, but our work, family, relationships, suffering, joys, decisions, desires, and future offered to God. The opening of the Divine Liturgy is therefore not something to hurry through while waiting for the important part. It already teaches us what it means to live as Christians and invites us to enter more deeply into the worship and life of the Orthodox Church.

    Divine Liturgy: Blessed Is the Kingdom - The Church Gathers

  5. Sep 27

    September 27th, 2026: The Blood of Christians is Seed

    What does it mean to become a saint, and would we remain faithful if following Christ cost us everything? In this sermon, Pdn. Vassily Kocher reflects on the saints and martyrs of the Orthodox Church and the courage they showed when faced with persecution, suffering, and death. Their lives remind us that Christian faith is more than something we claim with our words. Orthodox Christianity calls every Christian to a life of holiness and faithfulness. Beginning with St. Sophia and her daughters Faith, Hope, and Love, this sermon considers Christians who refused to deny their faith even when threatened with terrible suffering. It also looks at saints such as St. Athanasius the Great, who endured exile while defending the teaching of the Church, and St. Simeon the Fool for Christ, whose unusual life concealed deep prayer and service to others. The sermon also explains why Orthodox Christians venerate saints and their relics without worshiping them. The saints are honored because their lives reveal what God’s grace can accomplish in ordinary human beings. The witness of the martyrs is not only a lesson about ancient Christian history. Their courage challenges us to examine our own spiritual life and ask what happens when prayer, repentance, forgiveness, worship, or obedience becomes inconvenient. Most Christians will never be asked to surrender their lives for the faith, but every Christian is called to die to pride, selfishness, resentment, and sin. The courage required for great trials is formed through small acts of faithfulness. Prayer, repentance, fasting, worship, and participation in the life of the Orthodox Church teach us to remain connected to Christ, the true vine. The saints remind us that holiness is not reserved for a special class of Christians. Every Christian is called to bear spiritual fruit and grow in communion with God. Their lives encourage us to consider whether our faith is merely something we profess or something that is actually transforming how we live. Listen to this sermon and reflect on what the witness of the Orthodox saints and martyrs can teach us about courage, salvation, and the Christian life. Their example leaves us with a question worth carrying into our own spiritual life: when faithfulness costs something, will we remain faithful?

    September 27th, 2026: The Blood of Christians is Seed

  6. Sep 26

    What Happens When You Stop Trying to Fix Everything?

    The world can be loud, exhausting, and filled with reasons to worry. In this Bible study, Anthony Ally looks at what happens when Christians become trapped in anxiety, distraction, and the belief that everything depends on their own strength. Orthodox Christianity teaches that peace does not come from controlling everything around us, but from learning to entrust ourselves to God. Even periods of spiritual dryness can expose our self-reliance and teach us to seek God rather than simply seeking comforting feelings. The Christian life begins to change when God is no longer treated as an idea to understand but as the living God with whom we are called to have communion. Anthony explains how repentance changes our response to weakness and spiritual struggle. Repentance is not simply feeling guilty or beating ourselves up over our failures. It means honestly seeing what is happening within our hearts, turning back toward God, and asking for His mercy. The simple prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” teaches us to stop pretending that we can heal ourselves. Through prayer, repentance, and Holy Communion, we open ourselves to the transforming grace of God. The Orthodox Church describes this transformation as theosis, our participation in the divine life by grace. One traditional image compares the human person to a cold piece of iron placed into a fire: the iron remains iron, but it begins to glow with the fire’s heat and light. In the same way, God does not erase our humanity but heals and transforms it. This transformation is often quiet rather than dramatic, appearing as greater patience, humility, forgiveness, courage, and love. The spiritual life is not about chasing visions or extraordinary experiences but faithfully learning to live in communion with God. That transformation is also meant to change how we live in the world. Washing dishes, caring for our families, going to work, studying, serving others, speaking truthfully, and enduring difficulties can all become offerings to God. Instead of escaping the noisy world, Orthodox Christians are called to enter it with hearts increasingly filled with God’s peace. Our ordinary lives can become places of prayer, sacrifice, and love. The Christian journey is one of continually turning back toward God, receiving His grace, and allowing that grace to shape how we treat the people and the world around us.

    What Happens When You Stop Trying to Fix Everything?

  7. Sep 20

    September 20th, 2026: Stop Comparing Your Spiritual Journey to the Saints

    In the Parable of the Talents, Christ tells of a master who gives his servants different amounts according to their abilities. One receives five talents, another two, and another one. The servant with one talent is not judged because he received less than the others, but because he buried what he had been given. This sermon considers what this parable teaches about our God-given gifts and the Orthodox Christian spiritual life. God calls us to faithfulness with what He has actually placed in our hands. It can be tempting to compare our spiritual lives with the apostles, martyrs, monastics, and other saints of the Orthodox Church. Their lives can seem far removed from our ordinary responsibilities and struggles. Yet God does not ask every Christian to live the same outward life. Through the Holy Spirit, we are given what we need to seek the Kingdom of God within our own circumstances. Prayer, fasting, almsgiving, hospitality, parenting, honest work, and love for our neighbor can all become ways of offering our lives to God. The Divine Liturgy gives us a model for understanding this calling. Ordinary bread and wine are offered with thanksgiving and become the Holy Gifts through the work of the Holy Spirit. In the same way, Christians are called to offer their whole lives to God. Our homes, workplaces, relationships, meals, struggles, and daily responsibilities do not have to be separated from our spiritual lives. Orthodox Christianity teaches us to remember God in everything and to allow even ordinary moments to become opportunities for prayer, repentance, thanksgiving, and love. This does not mean that the Christian life will be easy. We will fall, struggle with sin, become discouraged, and sometimes fail to use what God has given us. The answer is not despair, but repentance: get back up, return to prayer, come to Confession, receive the Eucharist, and continue the spiritual struggle. We do not need to wait for better circumstances or a perfect moment to begin. As St. Paul reminds us, now is the acceptable time. The Parable of the Talents ultimately asks each of us what we are doing with the life we have received. We do not need someone else’s gifts, circumstances, or calling in order to become faithful. The Orthodox Church calls us to offer what we have, where we are, out of love for God and our neighbor. Listen to this sermon and consider what God has already placed in your hands and how your everyday life can become an offering of thanksgiving to Him.

    September 20th, 2026: Stop Comparing Your Spiritual Journey to the Saints

  8. Sep 19

    Why do we pray and worship?

    Why do Christians pray if God already knows what we need? And why do we gather together for worship instead of simply praying at home? In this Bible study, Anthony Ally examines prayer, worship, and our active participation in the Divine Liturgy. The Orthodox Church teaches that we worship not because God needs something from us, but because we were created for communion with Him. Prayer turns us toward God and teaches us to live in His presence. Beginning with Genesis 1:26–27 and continuing through Acts 2:42, Romans 12:1, and Revelation 4–5, we see that worship has always involved communion, offering, and participation. Biblical worship is not an audience watching a religious presentation. The Divine Liturgy continues this pattern by calling the entire Church to pray, give thanks, repent, listen, and offer itself to God. The repeated words of the Liturgy, such as “Let us pray,” “Let us attend,” and “Let us lift up our hearts,” remind us that we are participants. We have come to worship, not merely to watch. Anthony also uses the example of sports to explain the difference between knowing about something and actually participating in it. Someone can know every rule, statistic, and strategy of a sport without ever stepping onto the field. The same can happen in the spiritual life when we study Scripture, theology, Church history, or the Divine Liturgy without allowing that knowledge to draw us into prayer and repentance. Orthodox Christianity calls us to something deeper than information. Through prayer, worship, and the sacramental life of the Church, we learn to offer our attention, thanksgiving, struggles, relationships, bodies, voices, and ultimately our whole lives to God. This changes the questions we bring with us to church. Instead of only asking, “What did I get out of Liturgy?” we can begin asking, “Did I pray? Was I attentive? Did I repent? What did I offer to God?” The goal of studying the Divine Liturgy is not simply to understand what we are watching, but to learn how to enter into the worship of the Church more fully. As we grow in prayer and active participation, we learn what it means to worship together as the Body of Christ and to enter more deeply into communion with God.

    Why do we pray and worship?
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Through our Bible studies, sermons, classes, and retreats, we seek to enter more deeply into the life and teaching of the Orthodox Church. Our classes are led by Mr. Anthony Ally, while our sermons and retreats include teaching from Fr. Stephen Osburn, Dn. Vassily Kocher, and Fr. Michael Matsko. Drawing from Holy Scripture, the wisdom of the Church Fathers, the rhythms of liturgical life, and the sacred Tradition handed down through the ages, these teachings help us see the whole Christian life in the light of Christ. Whether we are reflecting on the daily readings, commemorating a feast or saint, studying the Scriptures, listening to a sermon, or learning how to live the Orthodox faith in daily life, our purpose remains the same: to encounter the living Christ more deeply and more truly. These teachings are open to everyone, whether you are an inquirer, a catechumen, newly received into the Church, or a lifelong Orthodox Christian seeking a deeper understanding of the faith. Come and journey with us.

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