How to Be an Orthodox Christian

Dcn. Seraphim Richard Rohlin, and Ancient Faith Ministries
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

How to Live the Orthodox Life

Episodes

  1. 20h ago

    The Moral Life (Part 1): The Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Transformation of the Heart [EP. 8]

    In the first of two episodes on the moral life, Dcn Seraphim works through the two great moral texts of Scripture — the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Sinai, and the Sermon on the Mount given by Christ to His disciples on a mountain in Galilee — and shows how Christ does not abolish the law given to Moses but fulfills it, taking it inward into the dispositions of the heart. The Decalogue marked off Israel by clear external standards of conduct; the Sermon on the Mount addresses a new community, the Church, in which God is concerned not only with our outward actions but with our inner thoughts, our affections, and the very movement of our wills. Handouts and resources: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1z-OVpbdZqhEDT0v3M9tipcdb-_frY4zP?usp=sharing

  2. Jun 1

    Holy Tradition: Scripture, Councils, Fathers, and Liturgy [EP. 7]

    Where does all of it come from — the eastward-facing altar, the icons, the hymns, the precise theological claims woven into every prayer? In this episode Dcn Seraphim takes up the question of Holy Tradition: not a rulebook or a second Bible, but the whole living transmission of the Christian faith from the Apostles to today, the river in which Scripture itself flows. Drawing on St. Paul, St. Irenaeus, the ecumenical councils, and the witness of saints from St. Athanasius to St. Sophrony of Essex, he shows how the Church discerned the canon, defined the faith at councils like Nicaea and Ephesus, and continues to confess that faith in her worship under the principle of lex orandi, lex credendi — the law of prayer is the law of faith. Handouts and resources: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CD0DyDFbR8DEr1yNyb_N2tdrrX8PCmUL?usp=sharing Intro: 0:00 Two Modes of Transmitting Tradition: 4:04 Scripture in Tradition: 6:45 St. Irenaeus on Tradition: 12:06 Conciliary Principle/Councils : 13:56 Fathers of the Church: 21:45 What the Church pray is what we believe: 26:14 tradition vs. “T”radition: 30:36 Closing statements: 32:16

  3. May 26

    How to Read the Holy Scriptures [EP. 6]

    In this episode, Dcn Seraphim explores the Orthodox understanding of the Holy Scriptures as a verbal icon of Christ — a living encounter with the One who speaks through every page, from Genesis to Revelation. He looks at how the Church gave us the Bible, why Orthodox Christians use the Septuagint, what is meant by reading Scripture with the Fathers, and why typological reading is not an invention of the Fathers but an extension of the way the New Testament teaches us to read the Old. Along the way he draws on St. Irenaeus, St. Theodore the Studite, St. Isaac the Syrian, and St. John Chrysostom, and shows how the hymns and readings of the Divine Liturgy are themselves the Church's living school of biblical interpretation. The episode ends with practical guidance for daily Scripture reading at home.

  4. May 18

    Almsgiving: How to Be Like God [EP. 5]

    In this episode, Dcn. Seraphim takes up the third great discipline of the Sermon on the Mount and shows why the Orthodox Church understands almsgiving not as an optional extra but as the practice by which we become like the God who gives Himself away. Drawing on Christ's teaching in Matthew 6 and 25, the Book of Tobit, the parable of the Widow's Mite, and the writings of Sts. Basil, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, and Clement of Alexandria, he traces almsgiving back to its roots in the very nature of the Trinity. He then turns to the practical questions: tithing, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, parish stewardship, and how the whole Divine Liturgy forms us as a school of giving. Show notes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WENS_5xjgyLnr5kJQPTiK3qqYTgi5Hd6/view?usp=sharing

  5. May 11

    Fasting: The Second Wing of the Christian Life [EP. 4]

    Dcn Seraphim traces fasting back to the first commandment given in Eden — a commandment about food — and shows how the Fall itself was a failure of fasting, answered in the wilderness by the New Adam who refuses to turn stones into bread. Drawing on Basil, Chrysostom, John Climacus, and John Cassian, he distinguishes Orthodox fasting from dieting or self-punishment and presents it instead as the rider's training of the horse: a medicine for the soul whose dose must be fitted to each person through the Church's principle of oikonomia. Then, he walks through the Orthodox fasting calendar — the four great fasts, Wednesdays and Fridays, the approximately forty percent of the year spent in fasting — while pairing Christ's "when you fast" in Matthew 6 with Isaiah 58's warning that a fast without mercy is no fast at all. Practical guidance follows on how to live a fasting day, how cravings become occasions for prayer, and how every act of bodily restraint is oriented toward the Eucharistic table, where food is at last received on God's terms rather than seized on our own.

  6. May 4

    Prayer: The First Wing of the Christian Life [EP. 3]

    Beginning with the desert story of Abba Macarius — "Lord, as You will, and as You know, have mercy" — this episode grounds Orthodox prayer in the simple act of turning toward God and asking for mercy. Dcn Seraphim moves from the definition of prayer as communion (Evagrius, Gregory Palamas, Anthony Bloom) into the Sermon on the Mount, walking phrase by phrase through the Lord's Prayer with the help of Chrysostom, Cyprian, Theophylact, Maximus, and Gregory of Nyssa. He then lays out the daily cycle of the Church and introduces a beginner's prayer rule as a trellis on which a prayer life can grow. The episode concludes with a demonstration of the rule at the icon corner and the encouragement that dryness in prayer is often the sign that God is drawing us deeper. PRAYER LESSON OUTLINE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wY5vsnQr2ND9GciZbsfV4b148k7qzlUp/view?usp=sharing SAMPLE PRAYER RULE: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d2WdXDHC7_-Uw0oYDtEWlsXJ4fwYSn_Y/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=113635573846427389195&rtpof=true&sd=true

  7. Apr 28

    Entering the Church of God [EP. 2]

    Orthodox Churches are laid out very differently from almost any other kind of church you're likely to walk into in North America. Why are there so many icons? What's with the wall and curtain between me and the altar? Why are people lighting candles? How should you stand, behave, dress, and orient yourself in Church? These are things that our ancestors took for granted -- and things that are often the most difficult and intimidating for newcomers. In this video, Dcn. Seraphim gives a tour of his own church, and talks about how the whole plan of salvation is inherent in the architecture and iconography of an Orthodox temple. Outro music: Cherubic Hymn, Romanian Chant, Tone 8 Choir of St. Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Cathedral

  8. Apr 21

    Introduction [EP. 01]

    Dcn. Seraphim opens the series by arguing that Orthodoxy is fundamentally a life to be lived — in the nave, at the icon corner, at weddings and deathbeds — rather than a body of information consumed on a screen. Drawing on the tradition of the martyrs and the Celtic threefold martyrdom (red, green, and white), he frames the goal of catechesis as the making of witnesses to Christ in whatever state of life God has placed them. He closes by previewing the shape of the series: praxis first (prayer, fasting, almsgiving), then moral life, the Holy Mysteries, and finally dogmatics. Outro music: Cherubic Hymn, Romanian Chant, Tone 8 Choir of St. Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Cathedral

  • 8 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

How to Live the Orthodox Life

Information

  • Creator
    Dcn. Seraphim Richard Rohlin, and Ancient Faith Ministries
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    8
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Ancient Faith Ministries
  • Show Website
    How to Be an Orthodox Christian

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