Orthodox Reflections

The Ukrainian parliament has actually passed the first reading of a law to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This is unacceptable, and Americans are the only people who have any leverage at all. Speak up!
https://orthodoxreflections.com/responding-to-ukraine-banning-the-ukrainian-orthodox-church/

We have been given an ultimatum. Either we support the Israeli National Security State, or we support the terrorist organization Hamas. As an Orthodox Christian, I completely reject this immoral choice. I support neither of these two terror-based organizations. I support Christ, the Prince of Peace, and wish to stay as far away from other people’s wars as possible. At the same time, I support the Palestinian people who have suffered so much since 1948, particularly the Christians among them. Below are four reasons why this is where I stand.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/4-reasons-to-support-palestinians-but-not-zionists-or-hamas/

The Ukraine War was the single most important event happening in the world. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, among many other powerful luminaries, said so frequently. Freedom itself was at stake. If Russia won, those pesky Ivans could take the Baltic States and threaten the rest of Europe. Russian power had to be degraded through Ukrainian force of arms, as Putin’s hordes represented an existential threat to our very way of life. Pundits, politicians, reporters, academics all endlessly lectured tired, beleaguered American tax payers that, while Ukraine would eventually emerge victorious, we had to do our part with unlimited military and financial support.

All eyes were on Kiev.

Until Hamas managed to break out of the world’s largest open air prison and attack Israeli civilians.

Suddenly, the Ukraine War has gone missing. The most strategically significant conflict since WWII, or so they told us, is getting less media attention than run-of-the-mill celebrity gossip. Taylor Swift dating a football player is more important than a shooting war in the heart of Europe. Ukraine is being thoroughly ignored, even by those who recently were the country’s bestest friends. Things are so bad for President Zelenskyy, that he is the only Jew in the whole world who is not allowed to visit Israel. https://orthodoxreflections.com/why-has-the-ukraine-war-gone-missing/

The Patriarchate of Constantinople and its associated entities (Patriarchate of Alexandria, the various Greek Archdioceses around the world) all endlessly repeat the same lies as the US National Security State – the uncanonical, radical “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” is the real Orthodox Church. Meanwhile, the UOC is not really a Ukrainian Church, but rather a Russian subversive, pseudo Church that has no right to be in the country. Why? Because Patriarch Bartholomew said so with his “Tomos”, and he has the power to do so because he is “first without equals”. These are all damnable lies that allow Western politicians to pose as defenders of religious liberty, even as they trample it. Mike Pompeo, as Secretary of State under Trump, was intimately involved in creating the OCU, and bears massive responsibility for the persecution of the canonical Church. However, thanks to Patriarch Bartholomew, Pompeo can fly around the US posing as the leader of a movement to revive Christian morals in America. He is a total fraud, whose polices have trampled the Body of Christ, but no one is calling him out about that. Former US Vice President Mike Pence also falsely poses as a Christian moral leader, with only Tucker Carlson having had the guts to challenge him on Ukrainian Christian persecution. Of course, what was Pence’s defense against his complicity in Ukrainian Orthodox persecution? It was that he had called Kiev and spoken to the OCU, who told him everything is great! After all, OCU is the “official” Church in Pence’s estimation. Patriarch Bartholomew said so. https://orthodoxreflections.com/the-essential-role-of-patriarch-bartholomew-in-worsening-ukrainian-persecution/

Satan’s rage against God and all of Creation – but especially His Church – has never diminished since. After Adam and Eve also sinned (and were thrown out of Eden), there has been war between Satan and God, with humanity as the battleground. Which of them wins over us depends on how we use our freedom. There have always been people in both camps, persecutions both without and within the Church. From Judas’ kiss to Diocletian’s bloody executions, followed by the Arians, the Nestorians, the Iconoclasts, the Crusaders, the Western schismatics, the Ottomans, and finally the Ecumenists of today – all these and many, many other assailants throughout Church history, have incessantly rocked the Ark of Salvation. And yet, despite the volleys of betrayals, massacres, heresies and prodigal bishops, the Church has and will stay the course with Christ at the helm.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/the-orthodox-church-of-today-what-is-happening-and-why-part-ii/

Some Christians say they don’t need the Church. “All we need is the Bible, Sola Scriptura.” These souls ignore how the Church (those who gather for corporate worship “in spirit and in truth”) preceded the Bible, and under the guidance of the unerring Holy Spirit wrote, guarded and rightly interpreted the Bible. It is impossible for the Holy Spirit of Truth to inspire differing or conflicting interpretations of the Bible, which is why outside the Orthodox Church, all manner of strange ideas and false heresies have arisen. Different sects holding opposite doctrines appeal to the Bible equally because they ignore Holy Tradition and rely entirely on their own private interpretations, despite God’s clear warning which is recorded in the Bible: “No prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were prompted by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20). No one can interpret Scripture by himself, because we are one body, told to “be of one mind” (Phil. 1:27). “Be one in thought, one in heart, one in soul, one in mind” (Phil. 2:2). Thus, “I believe in the Bible,” must be balanced with, “I believe in One, Holy, Catholic (universal) and Apostolic Church,” which is the Orthodox Church.3 https://orthodoxreflections.com/the-orthodox-church-of-today-what-is-happening-and-why-part-i/

The Orthodox Christian finds himself in a paradoxical state. We are to live in the world but not of the world. It is therefore absolutely normal, even essential, that we experience alienation from the world in some sense. But this can also become a trap that the demons can use to ensnare us. For example, ideology is a specifically modern phenomenon in which the experience of alienation rises to the level of a social and political theory, to the extent that the only means of salvation becomes a total transformation of society through political and social control. It is grounded in the gnostic notion that God messed up when He created, but we can re-imagine ourselves as creators. By harnessing the power of science, we can take control of our lives and of history and build the perfect world, free of disease, poverty, injustice, even death. No alienation ever again.

All human beings experience the paradoxical nature of existence, whether you are a believer or not. The notion that we can escape or overcome our paradoxical state is just another gnostic dream, a nightmare even. That many, within the Orthodox Faith, are attracted to these gnostic ideas does not change this important fact: our existence is paradoxical in nature. We can try to overcome our true nature by adopting an ideology, or we can embrace the True Faith, which in turn both recognizes and embraces our paradoxical nature in its hymns and theology. Through the Orthodox Faith, we can learn how to live faithfully in our realm which is between this world and the next. https://orthodoxreflections.com/how-should-the-orthodox-christian-relate-to-the-world/

When I am in character, I believe that nothing exists but the material Universe – matter and energy. There is nothing outside the material Universe. Of this I am certain. Being uncertain would make me an Agnostic. I am certain. I am an Atheist.

My body is nothing but an extremely complex arrangement of chemicals. In the vernacular – I am nothing but highly organized dirt. I don’t like this, even though it’s true.

My life is nothing more than an extremely complex chemical reaction within that highly organized dirt. All my life functions are nothing but chemical reactions. It doesn’t seem that way, but it must be true.

Even my thoughts are nothing but chemical reactions and chemical changes in my brain. All my concepts, my ideas, my beliefs are nothing but an arrangement of chemicals in my brain – nerve synapses and neurotransmitters. Again, that doesn’t seem right. https://orthodoxreflections.com/im-not-an-atheist-but-i-play-one-on-tv/

“I’m not political” is one of the most common objections I hear from newly awakened Christians considering transforming their faith into action. Boy, can I relate. My reply is this: “Neither am I. I detest politics as much as the next guy who just wants to be left alone. But here’s the thing. Though the battles are fought at city council and school board meetings, and the legislative floor, what we’re really fighting is nothing less than life versus death, freedom versus tyranny.”

That’s why confronting the Woke mob is not about marching with pitchforks and torches down Main Street, nor is it about shouting down opponents, as gratifying as all that might be. It’s not about winning elections or jumping on the MAGA bandwagon either. At its core, standing up to the Woke mob is about dutifully defending the Faith, our families and our freedoms. https://orthodoxreflections.com/now-that-youre-awake-110-things-you-can-do/

Last year the OCA produced a video from His Grace Bishop Alexei of Alaska at the All-American Council explaining the history and troubles of the diocese. He talked about how one of the great fragmentations of the Church in Alaska is recent, that there were abusive spiritual dynamics from authority and that the laity have become very cynical and hostile. He said that the priests were often put to shame in public by higher ecclesial authorities while the laity watched. As a result, Church authority now has to be very gentle and overlook things that they would normally address. He did not go into detail, but the subtext was clear. Some members of the clergy had taken advantage of the people’s trust, and now they have a slow journey to earn it back.

This is what COVID did to the Church as a whole, and there are no exceptions. Some zealots praise certain jurisdictions as having resisted COVID lockdowns, but this is false. Although some jurisdictions opened up and loosened restrictions more quickly than others, all the various synods and ruling bishops still shut down churches in March of 2020. They excommunicated the laity and restricted Easter to the Brahmin caste. The entire ecclesial structure of Orthodox Christianity in the Anglosphere shares in the guilt. https://orthodoxreflections.com/the-great-shift-dynamics-of-ecclesial-authority-after-covid/

As we saw over the past three plus years, many people will enthusiastically comply with government overreach when it happens again. Thanks to advances in AI, is that our DOJ, Intelligence Community, and local governments have all had plenty of time to improve their ability to predict pushback by individuals and organizations. They have all drastically improved their ability to track the noncompliant via facial recognition software, smart devices, CCTV, and online activities. Churches, private organizations, community groups, even podcasts and influencers that openly criticized the pandemic over the past few years are being watched very closely. This is the world we live in today.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/one-year-later-asking-the-hard-questions/

We the undersigned Orthodox Christians and allies condemn the actions of Patriarch Bartholomew and the Patriarchate of Constantinople for justifying and enabling Christian persecution.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/petition-condemning-the-role-of-constantinople-in-ukrainian-christian-persecution/

Western society needs a bit of balance in her view of what constitutes ‘the good life’. To that end, instead of exalting solely the ‘rags to riches’ stories, some effort ought to go into the praise and exaltation of the lives of those who traded their earthly riches for rags so that they might attain the greatest treasure of all – union with God Himself.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/riches-to-rags/

For 2,000 years, the Christian Faith has warned against the dangers of a globally integrated political, religious, social, and economic order. That particular Beast is almost fully upon us. The Globalists running the world don’t care about the citizens of any particular country or region. They are above such considerations. We are all just cogs in their vast machine generating profits for Mammon, the god of this world.

What can be done about this? See to your own soul, and those of your family. Effective resistance will require true Christian discernment that can only be developed through prayer, fasting, and participation in the sacraments. As one practical measure, we can focus on spreading the truth. The vast majority of our fellow citizens are too distracted, too propagandized, to realize that they are the suckers in this Global con game. Telling the truth can cause discontent, which can spread. Popular discontent is the only thing the Global Elite really fears. There are just so many of us, and so few of them. https://orthodoxreflections.com/the-is-no-free-market-or-democracy-in-america/

Brother Christos also understands the growing pains of coming out of normie society, and the bitter rejection that comes of it. “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is crucified.” The normies do not misunderstand you so much as hate you, because you’ve proven they’re willing slaves.

One entry is a short story satire about how American Christianity has become a consumer product for your entertainment.

“Good morning, and I would like to extend a warm and personal welcome to each and every one of you from those of us at the Church of the Holy Television. Please sit back, relax, and turn off your brain.”
https://orthodoxreflections.com/book-review-a-pack-of-cigarettes-for-the-mind/

Billionaire tech investor Marc Andreessen thinks AI is a lifelong “ally” for the children of tomorrow as they both grow up together, "They’ll have basically a partner whose goal in life will be to make them as happy and satisfied and successful as possible.” This should alarm Orthodox Christians. Every child, Orthodox or not, receives a Guardian Angel at his conception. Furthermore, every Orthodox child, at his baptism, receives a Patron Saint. These holy protectors, Guardian Angels and Patron Saints, are the God-given ‘allies’ with whom Orthodox children ‘grow up together’, who ‘know everything they’ve ever done’, who are their ‘partners’ whose ‘goal in life’ is not to give the children what will make them ‘happy, satisfied, and successful’ in a worldly sense but who will lead them safely through fallen earthly life to the Kingdom of Heaven.

https://orthodoxreflections.com/ai-and-the-image-of-the-beast-at-the-end-of-the-world/

Nicholas, co-founder and executive editor of Orthodox Reflections, joined Orthodox podcaster Buck Johnson on his popular podcast to discuss the article 3 Harmful Myths Most Christians Believe About Judaism. Buck actually spent his teenage years attending a Christian, nondenominational Zionist church. During that time, he actually took the myths discussed in this podcast as facts. The article sparked his interest in the truth, and this lively interview is the result. https://orthodoxreflections.com/counterflow-with-buck-johnson-interviews-nicholas-on-the-myths-around-judaism/

Matthew names 4 women in the lineage of Christ. Naming women at all is unusual in Jewish tradition, so why these 4? A deceiver, a prostitute, an adulteress, and only one pious Saint. How did this contribute to our salvation?

https://orthodoxreflections.com/living-generationally-covenant-perspectives-on-the-women-forebears-of-christ/

Nicholas, the executive editor for Orthodox Reflections, joined the Dissident Mama podcast to discuss the state of Orthodoxy in America, Orthodoxy’s import for the world (religiously and otherwise), the CIA and Constantinople, persecution here and abroad, and the weaponization of insanity.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/nicholas-from-orthodox-reflections-featured-on-the-dissident-mama-podcast/

Three Big Questions for Protestants:
1. Where was your “church” in the early Christian centuries?
2) If the Bible was meant to stand alone, why is it so incomplete, and where did it come from anyway?
3) How did the first Christians worship?
https://orthodoxreflections.com/three-big-questions-for-protestants/