St John Chrysostom’s Sermon on the Nativity According to the Flesh of the Christ

I behold a new and wondrous mystery! My ears resound to the Shepherd’s song, piping no soft melody, but chanting full forth a heavenly hymn. The Angels sing! The Archangels blend their voices in harmony! The Cherubim hymn their joyful praise! The Seraphim exalt His glory! All join to praise this holy feast, beholding the [...]

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The Christian Catacombs of Rome

Nice site over all. This page–The Christian Catacombs of Rome–deals with the liturgy and theology of the catacombs.

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Thoughts on Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ

This comes perhaps four years late. But such a tardiness is not without design. I have been quite resistant to viewing The Passion, to some degree from “purist” notions. Not purist in the sense of the silly spats among Orthodox as to whether such a bloody portrayal of the Passion was in keeping with “true” [...]

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A Couple of Online Resources Regarding the Filioque

If you want a good resource for looking at the filioque from the Orthdoox standpoint, then The Filioque: An Orthodox Guide by T. R. Valentine is invaluable. There is also this paper by Stephen Todd Kaster: The Filioque Controversy.

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Pagels Decoded

Father Paul Mankowski, SJ begins his critical account of Elaine Pagels’ The Gnostic Gospels, The Pagels Imposture, with the following precis (I have added the hyperlink to the ANF book and chapter cites of the texts in his citation): I am going to demonstrate that Professor Pagels’s media reputation as a scholar is undeserved, her [...]

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St. Cyril’s “One Physis or Hypostasis of God the Logos Incarnate” and Chalcedon

From Dr. John Romanides’ St. Cyril’s “One Physis or Hypostasis of God the Logos Incarnate” and Chalcedon: Both Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian Orthodox accept St. Cyril as the chief Patristic exponent of Orthodox Christology. Yet both accuse each other of not remaining completely faithful to Cyril. The non-Chalcedonian Orthodox reject the Council of Chalcedon and accuse [...]

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Cur Deus Homo: The Motive of the Incarnation

More Fr. Georges Florovsky. Fr. Georges, in his essay, Cur Deus Homo: The Motive of the Incarnation (also here in pdf), points out something extremely important that the primarily juridical emphasis in Protestant soteriology misses: The Incarnation is not a stopgap. Whether or not man would have sinned, the Incarnation would still have taken place. [...]

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Jesus the Bastard?

Episcopal priest and mother of two, Chloe Breyer, speculates about the illegitimacy of Jesus in her Slate.com article, The Earthly Father – What if Mary wasn’t a virgin? [H/T: T-19] The allegations as to Jesus’ illegitimate birth go way, way back, to the Jewish leaders of the first century, and the anti-Christian polemicist, Celsus. Such [...]

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The Astonishing Christ

Let me commend to your listening attention (all links mp3 and will open in your mp3 player): The Astonishing Christ (Session I) The Astonishing Christ (Session II) The Astonishing Christ (Session III) [H/T Journeyman James and Huw]

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Pomo/Em Church Jesus: A Reply to Andrew

Andrew, one of the respondents I quoted in my previous post (“Why the Pomo/Emergent Church is Extremely Dangerous”), gave a lengthy reply/defense in the comments to that post. I thought I would engage his comments in a separate post. Andrew begins: Clifton, I hope you don’t mind me posting a bit of a defence of [...]

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