0:00:03.686,0:00:05.835
Hey dear ones,[br]God bless you.

0:00:05.835,0:00:07.324
Thanks for tuning in.

0:00:07.324,0:00:11.221
I have a reflection for you today[br]that I'm entitling "Organized Religion".

0:00:11.568,0:00:12.890
"Organized Religion".

0:00:15.569,0:00:20.557
For 30 years,[br]I've heard as a pastor,

0:00:21.157,0:00:23.004
as a priest of the church.

0:00:23.059,0:00:25.738
I've heard reference[br]of organized religions

0:00:25.744,0:00:28.304
by people who are frustrated [br]with their religion.

0:00:28.673,0:00:31.104
And who are abandoning [br]their commitments

0:00:31.104,0:00:34.385
and their promises to God[br]to practice it.

0:00:34.385,0:00:37.605
And, I heard this [br]from the very first days

0:00:37.605,0:00:39.134
after my Ordination.

0:00:39.134,0:00:41.935
When I was first ordained,[br]I was a mission priest.

0:00:41.935,0:00:44.468
I had a very small mission,[br]a fledgling mission

0:00:44.468,0:00:46.291
that we were organizing.

0:00:46.291,0:00:50.405
And I was trying to win[br]one of my charges,

0:00:50.405,0:00:54.789
one of my dear parishioners,[br]to a more faithful Christian life.

0:00:54.789,0:00:56.387
And when I speak to him[br]about the importance

0:00:56.387,0:01:01.921
of faithful attendance at worship,[br]and placing commitment

0:01:01.921,0:01:05.272
to the sacraments and the preparation[br]for interception of the sacraments

0:01:05.272,0:01:07.235
at the top of his list in his life.

0:01:07.235,0:01:08.485
And he said to me,

0:01:08.485,0:01:11.439
"Father, I just find that I feel [br]much closer to God

0:01:11.439,0:01:13.900
and I pray better in nature.

0:01:13.900,0:01:17.452
So I like to go out in the woods,[br]instead of going to church."

0:01:18.358,0:01:21.703
That was from the beginning[br]of my pastorate,

0:01:21.703,0:01:23.953
and I've been hearing [br]this ever since.

0:01:23.953,0:01:31.802
In fact, I've heard two references[br]to people not believing.

0:01:32.436,0:01:37.286
Serious Orthodox Christians saying[br]that they don't believe

0:01:37.286,0:01:40.567
in organized religion anymore,[br]they aren't practicing religion.

0:01:40.567,0:01:43.752
I've heard this twice in a week,[br]in a single week.

0:01:43.752,0:01:47.651
So evidently, three decades [br]after being ordained,

0:01:47.651,0:01:56.201
this grotesque excuse[br]for abandoning sacred vows to God

0:01:56.201,0:01:59.915
to practice our faith in the church,[br]hasn't lost its potency.

0:01:59.915,0:02:06.637
It's still very commonly referred [br]to as some sort of justification

0:02:06.637,0:02:09.944
for not participating[br]in the community life

0:02:09.944,0:02:11.949
in the sacred koinonia[br]of the church,

0:02:11.949,0:02:15.374
and not remaining faithful [br]to the church to the end,

0:02:15.374,0:02:17.516
which is such an important thing[br]for Christians to do.

0:02:17.516,0:02:26.933
In fact, all traditional religions,[br]all significant religions

0:02:26.933,0:02:30.062
in human history[br]have been highly organized.

0:02:30.062,0:02:35.127
There is no such thing [br]as a influential world religion

0:02:35.127,0:02:37.245
that isn't highly organized.

0:02:37.245,0:02:41.239
And, certainly, the one true religion[br]revealed from Heaven by God

0:02:41.250,0:02:43.897
to save the human race [br]and redeem the cosmos

0:02:43.897,0:02:46.144
is highly organized.

0:02:46.144,0:02:47.628
It's highly organized.

0:02:47.628,0:02:52.898
In fact, we see in the Old Testament, [br]tremendous organization.

0:02:52.898,0:03:01.148
We see Priests and Levites,[br]and their duties articulated

0:03:01.148,0:03:05.177
in great detail, [br]with levels of accountability.

0:03:05.177,0:03:10.856
Sacrifices, the nature of worship[br]and how it's to be done.

0:03:10.856,0:03:16.947
The organization of singers[br]and readers, on and on.

0:03:16.947,0:03:22.797
So, in the Old Testament,[br]the Jewish faith was revealed by God,

0:03:22.797,0:03:29.375
through Moses and developed[br]under King David,

0:03:29.375,0:03:33.879
and the Prophets in great detail,[br]in great organization.

0:03:33.879,0:03:36.033
And, in fact, [br]Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself,

0:03:36.033,0:03:38.660
Well, He loved to pray in nature[br]to His Father.

0:03:38.660,0:03:42.959
He liked to retreat to the hilltops[br]and to pray in the gardens,

0:03:42.959,0:03:47.903
and yet, He also participated[br]most directly and faithfully

0:03:47.903,0:03:51.026
in organized religion, both[br]in the synagogue and the temple.

0:03:51.026,0:03:55.357
He was faithful growing up[br]in Sabbath after Sabbath,

0:03:55.370,0:03:57.859
participating in the worship[br]of the synagogue.

0:03:57.859,0:04:04.446
And He kept all of the feasts[br]as God's faithful and true servant.

0:04:04.446,0:04:09.279
And when Our Lord Jesus Christ,[br]in the fullness of His ministry,

0:04:09.279,0:04:15.658
set forth for us the nature[br]of Christian worship

0:04:15.658,0:04:17.575
and inspired His Apostles.

0:04:17.575,0:04:22.702
He gave them also great[br]detailed instruction about organization.

0:04:22.702,0:04:26.371
He had His three, He had His Twelve,[br]He had His 70.

0:04:26.371,0:04:31.609
And then, by His Holy Spirit,[br]after His precious cross

0:04:31.609,0:04:36.106
and His three day entombment,[br]and then His resurrection from the dead,

0:04:36.106,0:04:37.806
and the descent of the Holy Spirit,

0:04:37.806,0:04:40.327
He gave great detailed instruction,

0:04:40.327,0:04:45.277
and inspired His apostles[br]how to organize the church.

0:04:45.277,0:04:50.293
The church is His Body.[br]And it's not an invisible body.

0:04:50.293,0:04:54.492
Bodies are highly organized,[br]thank God.

0:04:54.492,0:04:57.342
And when they are not highly organized,[br]they collapse.

0:04:58.056,0:05:03.776
And, so we see in the gospels[br]not only does our Savior make reference

0:05:03.776,0:05:10.110
to the process of building His church,[br]but he guides the apostles very clearly

0:05:10.110,0:05:14.940
on how to hear confessions,[br]how to retain and remit sins,

0:05:14.940,0:05:19.058
how to deal with matters [br]of church discipline.

0:05:19.478,0:05:25.312
Texts like these are found [br]in Matthew 16; Matthew 18; et cetera.

0:05:25.312,0:05:29.793
And then as you see the acts [br]of the apostles developing,

0:05:29.802,0:05:32.840
you see the ordination[br]of the sacred deacons

0:05:32.853,0:05:37.810
who were to assist the apostles [br]and the apostles organizing their lives

0:05:37.810,0:05:39.973
around prayer and the ministry[br]of the Word,

0:05:39.973,0:05:44.408
and delegating many[br]charitable acts of the church

0:05:44.408,0:05:46.160
to the diaconate, (Acts 6).

0:05:46.160,0:05:53.473
You see in Acts, Chapter 14, verse 22,[br]Saint Paul ordained.

0:05:53.473,0:05:56.609
That's a very highly organized action.

0:05:56.609,0:06:00.859
He ordained presbyters, priests,[br]in every church.

0:06:00.859,0:06:09.587
And in the Epistles, [br]you see the detailed working out

0:06:09.587,0:06:12.036
of the early organization[br]of the early church,

0:06:12.036,0:06:14.429
including such things[br]as the nature of ordination,

0:06:14.429,0:06:17.520
the laying on of hands, the bestowal of[br]spiritual gifts in ordination.

0:06:17.520,0:06:21.039
Lists of qualifications [br]for priests and deacons.

0:06:21.039,0:06:24.202
You see guidance that Paul[br]provides bishops,

0:06:24.202,0:06:26.838
like Timothy and Titus,[br]his spiritual sons.

0:06:26.838,0:06:29.239
The whole section known[br]as the Pastoral Epistles,

0:06:29.239,0:06:31.446
1st and 2nd Timothy[br]and Titus;

0:06:31.446,0:06:34.856
absolutely chock full[br]of detailed organizational guidance,

0:06:34.856,0:06:40.627
given from Saint Paul[br]to the early church.

0:06:40.627,0:06:45.121
1st Corinthians, [br]details on the celebration

0:06:45.121,0:06:49.142
of the Holy Liturgy[br]and the distribution of the Eucharist.

0:06:49.142,0:06:51.474
If someone doesn't believe[br]in organized religion,

0:06:51.474,0:06:53.460
they don't believe [br]in Jesus Christ.

0:06:53.460,0:06:57.071
And they don't believe [br]in the church that He established.

0:06:57.071,0:06:59.758
And they don't believe[br]in the Bible.

0:06:59.758,0:07:03.920
The New Testament climaxes[br]with the Books of the Apocalypse

0:07:03.920,0:07:06.856
in which heavenly worship[br]is revealed.

0:07:06.856,0:07:09.373
The great door to heaven[br]is open and John sees

0:07:09.373,0:07:12.075
what's going on[br]in the next life,

0:07:12.075,0:07:13.708
and, what do you know?

0:07:13.708,0:07:18.120
The worship of God around His Throne[br]is highly organized.

0:07:18.120,0:07:21.278
As is, the new heavens[br]and the new earth.

0:07:21.278,0:07:26.456
So, dear ones, this is not[br]a good thing to say,

0:07:26.456,0:07:31.425
"I don't believe in organized religion."

0:07:31.432,0:07:35.956
That doesn't mean that the truth faith,

0:07:35.956,0:07:38.657
the Christian faith, [br]is externalisitic.

0:07:38.657,0:07:40.649
Organized religion[br]doesn't mean externalistic.

0:07:40.649,0:07:45.153
It just means serious,[br]and big, and old.

0:07:45.153,0:07:48.776
And, if fact, you would expect[br]the Holy Church,

0:07:48.776,0:07:51.392
which is 2000 years old,

0:07:51.392,0:07:54.639
and has been growing[br]and filling the world,

0:07:54.639,0:07:58.476
and winning men and women[br]to salvation for the last 2000 years.

0:07:58.476,0:08:02.957
You would expect that she would be[br]highly organized and developed.

0:08:02.957,0:08:04.001
And, in fact, she is.

0:08:04.001,0:08:05.955
It doesn't mean externalistic.

0:08:05.955,0:08:09.004
If we are externalistic,[br]then we're not being true

0:08:09.004,0:08:10.541
to the core organization[br]of our faith,

0:08:10.541,0:08:13.917
which Our Lord and Savior gave [br]to us, which is to build from the heart.

0:08:13.917,0:08:17.617
Our faith is a matter[br]of the purification of the heart

0:08:17.620,0:08:20.404
and the transformation[br]of the inner man.

0:08:20.411,0:08:22.834
But, we're real men [br]with real bodies.

0:08:22.834,0:08:26.521
Collectively, our koinonia[br]has real structure to it.

0:08:26.521,0:08:28.338
And the church isn't just [br]

0:08:28.338,0:08:32.572
an invisible reality[br]of spiritual communion,

0:08:32.572,0:08:37.219
but also a tangible reality [br]of loved expressed,

0:08:37.219,0:08:40.207
and sacraments consumed.

0:08:40.207,0:08:45.420
And people, body and soul[br]being healed and transformed.

0:08:45.420,0:08:49.988
Usually people say comments like this [br]about organized religion,

0:08:49.988,0:08:53.156
"I don't believe in organized religion."[br]And they 'poo poo' organized religion.

0:08:53.156,0:08:59.482
Because somehow they have suffered[br]from aspects of the organization.

0:08:59.482,0:09:04.737
Perhaps they have been abused[br]by this or that leader in the church.

0:09:04.737,0:09:07.243
Or, they've suffered some[br]terrible injustice.

0:09:07.243,0:09:10.082
Or, they've been slandered[br]or hurt in some way.

0:09:10.082,0:09:13.470
And, so this is a protective mechanism[br]in their minds.

0:09:13.470,0:09:22.400
They're overreacting to the fact that[br]the church is not perfectly organized,

0:09:22.400,0:09:25.469
and not perfectly living her life[br]because the church

0:09:25.469,0:09:28.818
on earth, while true,[br]is not perfect.

0:09:28.818,0:09:34.967
And, that has been the case[br]since the time of its founding.

0:09:34.982,0:09:37.671
Read the Acts of the Apostles [br]and look at how many traumas

0:09:37.671,0:09:41.190
the holy Apostles had to work through[br]and to guide the church through.

0:09:41.190,0:09:44.253
That didn't allow people to say,

0:09:44.253,0:09:46.689
"Well, I don't believe [br]in the organized church

0:09:46.689,0:09:50.802
that the apostles were establishing[br]everywhere, in fulfilment

0:09:50.802,0:09:53.287
of their obedience to Christ."

0:09:53.287,0:09:54.488
If you separate yourself

0:09:54.488,0:09:56.736
from that community [br]and from its organization,

0:09:56.736,0:09:58.186
you separate yourself[br]from Christ,

0:09:58.186,0:10:00.318
because those that receive [br]the apostles, receive Christ.

0:10:00.318,0:10:02.521
And those that rejected[br]the apostles, rejected Christ.

0:10:02.521,0:10:05.448
So, this is my encouragement.

0:10:05.448,0:10:09.586
If you ever think that thought,[br]banish it.

0:10:09.586,0:10:11.936
That you don't believe [br]in organized religion.

0:10:11.936,0:10:15.583
You certainly do[br]if you're a believer and a Christian.

0:10:15.583,0:10:19.432
And if you have suffered, [br]don't allow yourself to overreact.

0:10:19.432,0:10:22.716
Instead, invest more in the church.

0:10:22.716,0:10:25.262
Contribute to her proper organization.

0:10:25.262,0:10:28.981
From the heart, [br]and in the body.

0:10:28.981,0:10:34.161
Contribute to her health by[br]a greater investment

0:10:34.161,0:10:41.378
to the integrity [br]of the body of Christ.

0:10:41.378,0:10:48.345
We absolutely believe in [br]and love the organized religion,

0:10:48.345,0:10:52.079
which the most Holy Trinity [br]has bequeathed to man

0:10:52.079,0:10:54.278
as the locusts[br]

0:10:54.278,0:10:57.205
in the church of Communion [br]with Him.

0:10:57.205,0:10:59.031
God be with you dear ones.

0:10:59.031,0:11:00.715
I ask your prayers.

0:11:00.718,0:11:02.346
(Narrator)

0:11:02.346,0:11:04.595
Patristic Nectar Publications [br]is pleased to present

0:11:04.595,0:11:09.228
the proceedings of the 2022[br]annual PNP conference,

0:11:09.228,0:11:13.864
entitled Holy Orthodoxy:[br]Presenting the Christian Faith.

0:11:13.864,0:11:16.314
This seven lecture series[br]is designed

0:11:16.314,0:11:20.166
to present a broad exposure[br]of the contours of the Christian faith.

0:11:20.166,0:11:23.563
Both to prepare[br]inquirers and catechumens

0:11:23.563,0:11:26.196
for holy baptism,[br]as well as deepening

0:11:26.196,0:11:29.263
and renewing the faith[br]of believers.

0:11:29.263,0:11:32.381
These lectures are delivered[br]by a collage of catechists.

0:11:32.381,0:11:35.862
Four by the deeply respected petrologists,

0:11:35.862,0:11:39.097
Archimandrite Maximos Constas

0:11:39.097,0:11:41.267
with additional single lectures

0:11:41.267,0:11:45.898
by Father Josiah Trenham,[br]Father Bogdan Bukur and Dr. Tikhon Pino

0:11:45.898,0:11:48.128
for these as well as other conferences

0:11:48.128,0:11:50.063
and available titles,

0:11:50.063,0:11:51.699
please visit our website

0:11:51.699,0:11:56.263
at patristicnector.org

0:11:56.263,0:11:57.047
(Music)