Episodes

  • Revelation - Session 9
    Nov 21 2024

    In today's episode, Danny continues the series on Revelation for Fr Anthony. Enjoy the show!

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    47 mins
  • Homily - The Rich Fool Impoverished His Soul & His Neighbor
    Nov 18 2024

    THE GOSPEL
    (For the Ninth Sunday of Luke)

    The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (12:16-21)

    Context;
    13 Then someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the
    inheritance with me.” 14 But Jesus said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator
    between you two?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out and guard yourself from all types
    of greed, because one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
    The Lord spoke this parable: “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he
    thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’
    Every moment is an opportunity for grace, or to put it another way, to prepare for death – and
    eternal life. There will be a judgment: how have used the opportunities that God has given us?
    How have we prepared our soul?
    How have we prepared the souls of our neighbor (union!!!)
    And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I
    will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid
    up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’
    Let’s look at how the man has prepared his soul.
    St. Nikolai: the dog and the lamb.
    He has killed his soul and moved his passions into its place!
    The one talent.
    How has he prepared his neighbor.
    The original settting.
    St. John Chrysostom.
    But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you
    have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich
    toward God.” As He said this, Jesus called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
    There will be a judgment.
    Three types of preparation.

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    22 mins
  • Introduction to Chanting - Class 6
    Nov 17 2024

    In this class, we review Vespers service components, work on matching pitches in hand offs, and chanting clearly and consistently.

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    36 mins
  • Lecture - Why Beauty Matters
    Nov 14 2024
    Fr. Anthony riffs on the subject of beauty, sharing how a life lived in Mystery satisfies our insatiable longing for communion with the perfectly beautiful, good, and true and how beauty manifests itself in this world in how it works with the marred and imperfect.
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    37 mins
  • Bible Study - Revelation Session 8
    Nov 14 2024

    Revelation: Lesson 8
    Revelation 4:1 – 5:1

    Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse, ed. David G. Hunter, trans. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, vol. 123, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2011), 81–90.

    4:1. After these I saw, and behold, an open door in heaven! And the first voice that I heard was like a trumpet [47] speaking to me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen after these.”

    [Compare to the Ascent of Moses].

    4:2–3. 2 And immediately I was in the Spirit. And behold, a throne stood in heaven, 3 and one sitting upon the throne who appeared like the stone jasper and carnelian, and a rainbow was around the throne that looked like an emerald.

    … First, jasper, meaning, as pale green, the evergreen at once both the life-bringer and bestower of the food of the divine nature, through which every seed brings forth young sprouts. … And the rainbow like an emerald shows the variety and blooming virtues of the angelic orders.

    4:4. And around the throne twenty-four thrones, and sitting on the thrones twenty-four elders wrapped in white garments, and upon their heads gold crowns. [49]

    … by the twelve elders those who excelled in the Old, and by the twelve others those who excelled in the New. …

    4:5a. From out of the throne came flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.

    4:5b–6a. 5b And seven torches of fire burn before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God; 6a and before the throne like a glass sea like crystal.

    … The glass sea designates the multitude of the holy powers, and also the clarity, spotlessness, and calmness of the future life. …

    4:6b. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, four living beings, full of eyes in front and behind:

    The throne is shown by this to be signifying the reign and resting-place of God, in which and around which he saw the seraphim, being taught through the multitude of their eyes their ability to see God with regard to the divine light, and also that those eyes behind and in front receive light and knowledge from God.

    4:7. And the first living being like a lion, the second living being like a calf, the third living being had a face like a man, and the fourth living being like an eagle flying.

    These living beings, we think, were also seen by Isaiah…

    4:8a. And the four living beings, each of them having six wings, are full of eyes all around and within,

    4:8b. And they do not rest day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!”

    These holy powers do not rest, never ceasing the divine hymnody and offering the threefold blessing to the Tri-hypostatic Divinity. And the who is and who was and who is to come we said means the Holy Trinity.

    4:9–10a. 9 And whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanksgiving [53] to him who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, 10a the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever.

    [LITURGY!]

    4:10b–11. 10b They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 “You are worthy, Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”

    They say, “You, Master, are the cause and the provider of the crowns of victory, and thanksgiving is due to You from all things as creatures.”

    About the Small Scroll Sealed With Seven Seals Which No One Who Has a Created Nature is Able to Open

    5:1. And I saw in the right of the One who was seated on the throne a small scroll covered in writing on the inside and outside, sealed with seven seals.

    … The seven seals, which no one of created nature is able to loosen, either the fulfillment of the scroll, which is obscure and unknown to all, or the dispensation of the one “who searches the depths of the Spirit of God.” The scroll also means the prophecy which Christ himself said in the Gospel according to Luke had been fulfilled, which things occurring thereafter are to be fulfilled in the last days.

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    52 mins
  • Homily - Veterans Day
    Nov 10 2024

    The Good Samaritan and Veteran’s Day

    St. Luke 10:25-37

    Introduction.

    The Deeper Magic of Unity. The Division of Mankind into Nations. The Demons, our Fallen Psychology, and the Reification of Separation. The Coming of Christ, Pentecost, and the Promise of Unity.

    And this is where we find ourselves today. We know that Christ has brought an end to our division and allows us to be One as He is One; joyous, peaceful, and continually progressing through the endless stages of perfection in peace … but still living in a world where lives come to an end and violence between nations ceases only so long as strength and vigilance are maintained.

    The Good Samaritan

    The need for our enemies and why our love for them actually brings us the light of objectivity. Christ as the ultimate “other.”

    Veterans Day

    And so we come to the juxtaposition of this Epistle with our celebration of Veteran’s Day.

    On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month; temporary cessation of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in World War I. And yet we still have war. People and nations still prey on and threaten one another. Even when we are between wars, we no not have the peace of Christ, but the peace of strength. And where we do not have the peace of strength, we have war and the lessons of martyrdom. Our Church prays and works for the Peace of Christ; and as that peace is worked for and anticipated, we pray for and support the peace that comes from military might. This is the practice and teaching of the Church.

    Right after the anaphora we pray:

    We also offer You this spiritual worship for the whole world, for the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, and for all those who live in purity and holiness. And for those in public service; permit them, Lord, to serve and govern in peace, that in their tranquility we may lead a calm and quiet life, in all Godliness and purity.

    From our Morning Prayers:

    Lord, save and have mercy on our civil authorities; protect our nation with peace, subduing our every foe and adversary. Fill the hearts of our leaders with peaceful, benevolent thoughts for your Holy Church and for all Your people so that we, in their tranquility, may lead a peaceful and quiet life in true faith and in all godliness and purity.

    And from St. Paul (1 Timothy 2:1-2):

    First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way.

    And how is this peace that we pray for maintained? Through the sacrifice of men and women in our armed forces and police who are willing to put our security and comfort ahead of their own. [a note on the special sacrifice of Christian warriors].

    It is obtained and maintained by soldiers, sailors, marines, and first responders who are willing to suffer, to fight, to die, and yes, even to kill – not out of glory or any kind of sinful passion; but only so that we – in the peaceful space their efforts create and sustain – might pursue perfection in Christ, and through this an end to all wars achieved not through military victory or a well thought out and executed set of treaties and institutions; but through the union of all people and nations into one humanity, humbled and perfected in Christ.

    We thank all of our veterans and those serving now for your willingness to live the kind of life that allows us the freedom to pursue true and lasting peace.

    We pray that Lord our God grant that we always be so blessed with men and women [like these] who are willing to sacrifice their lives for us and we pray that He gives us, the civilians, the strength and commitment to live in such a way that their efforts are not squandered through our impiety, selfishness, and unwillingness to live and spread the Gospel.

    Allow all of us to surrender ourselves to you, Lord, through the Cross, so that our Union may be eternal and the peace between us become real and unending. Check out this episode!

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    18 mins
  • Introduction to Chanting - Class 5
    Nov 10 2024

    Today, we talked about the kind of culture we should have at the kliros (to include risk aversion and gentleness). We worked on intonation and antiphonal psalmody, and talked about being patient as our skills develop.

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    51 mins
  • Lecture - Iconoclasm
    Nov 7 2024
    The Decree of the Holy, Great, Ecumenical Synod, the Second of Nice (787 AD). 549 (Found in Labbe and Cossart, Concilia. Tom. VII., col. 552.) THE holy, great, and Ecumenical Synod which by the grace of God and the will of the pious and Christ-loving Emperors, Constantine and Irene, his mother, was gathered together for the second time at Nice, the illustrious metropolis of Bithynia, in the holy church of God which is named Sophia, having followed the tradition of the Catholic Church, hath defined as follows: Christ our Lord, who hath bestowed upon us the light of the knowledge of himself, and hath redeemed us from the darkness of idolatrous madness, having espoused to himself the Holy Catholic Church without spot or defect, promised that he would so preserve her: and gave his word to this effect to his holy disciples when he said: “Lo! I am with you always, even unto the end of the world,” which promise he made, not only to them, but to us also who should believe in his name through their word. But some, not considering of this gift, and having become fickle through the temptation of the wily enemy, have fallen from the right faith; for, withdrawing from the traditions of the Catholic Church, they have erred from the truth and as the proverb saith: “The husbandmen have gone astray in their own husbandry and have gathered in their hands nothingness,” because certain priests, priests in name only, not in fact, had dared to speak against the God-approved ornament of the sacred monuments, of whom God cries aloud through the prophet, “Many pastors have corrupted my vineyard, they have polluted my portion.” And, forsooth, following profane men, led astray by their carnal sense, they have calumniated the Church of Christ our God, which he hath espoused to himself, and have failed to distinguish between holy and profane, styling the images of our Lord and of his Saints by the same name as the statues of diabolical idols. Seeing which things, our Lord God (not willing to behold his people corrupted by such manner of plague) hath of his good pleasure called us together, the chief of his priests, from every quarter, moved with a divine zeal and brought hither by the will of our princes, Constantine and Irene, to the end that the traditions of the Catholic Church may receive stability by our common decree. Therefore, with all diligence, making a thorough examination and analysis, and following the trend of the truth, we diminish nought, we add nought, but we preserve unchanged all things which pertain to the Catholic Church, and following the Six Ecumenical Synods, especially that which met in this illustrious metropolis of Nice, as also that which was afterwards gathered together in the God-protected Royal City. We believe…life of the world to come. Amen.535 We detest and anathematize Arius and all the sharers of his absurd opinion; also Macedonius and those who following him are well styled “Foes of the Spirit” (Pneumatomachi). We confess that our Lady, St. Mary, is properly and truly the Mother of God, because she was the Mother after the flesh of One Person of the Holy Trinity, to wit, Christ our God, as the Council of Ephesus has already defined when it cast out of the Church the impious Nestorius with his colleagues, because he taught that there were two Persons [in Christ]. With the Fathers of this synod we confess that he who was incarnate of the immaculate Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary has two natures, recognizing him as perfect God and perfect man, as also the Council of Chalcedon hath promulgated, expelling from the divine Atrium [αὐλῆς] as blasphemers, Eutyches and Dioscorus; and placing in the same category Severus, Peter and a number of others, blaspheming in divers fashions. Moreover, with these we anathematize the fables of Origen, Evagrius, and Didymus, in accordance with the decision of 550 the Fifth Council held at Constantinople. We affirm that in Christ there be two wills and two operations according to the reality of each nature, as also the Sixth Synod, held at Constantinople, taught, casting out Sergius, Honorius, Cyrus, Pyrrhus, Macarius, and those who agree with them, and all those who are unwilling to be reverent. To make our confession short, we keep unchanged all the ecclesiastical traditions handed down to us, whether in writing or verbally, one of which is the making of pictorial representations, agreeable to the history of the preaching of the Gospel, a tradition useful in many respects, but especially in this, that so the incarnation of the Word of God is shown forth as real and not merely phantastic, for these have mutual indications and without doubt have also mutual significations. We, therefore, following the royal pathway and the divinely inspired authority of our Holy Fathers and the traditions of the Catholic Church (for, as we all know, the Holy Spirit indwells her), define with all certitude and accuracy that just as the figure of the ...
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    1 hr and 11 mins