Most of my friends and relatives are Protestants. Some object to being called that and prefer to be called, Evangelical, or Baptist, or Charismatic, or just "Bible Believing." Most have no clue why I would become Orthodox. Many of these same people claim to want to get "down to foundational things." Some say that all that matters is "belief in Jesus." The trouble starts when I ask them to explain who Jesus is, and why they believe that mere "belief in Jesus" will save them. Some have become angry with me when I quote the following, "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" - Jas 2:18ff
What is the major "work of faith"? Few realize that the "salvation prayer", which usually goes something like this: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Come into my heart and save my soul" is just the very first baby step in the synergistic work of faith. It only represents the tiniest baby step toward the process of healing/salvation. We see sadly the deformity where people gain great knowledge of the Bible, where they are able to quote proof texts to supposedly prove their salvation, when rather they have not progressed one step towards true salvation.
There is no separation between salvation and healing, they are one and the same. Salvation is the Healing of the whole person. What salvation brings us, is our true humanity, rescue from sin, but more importantly the healing of the wounds, damage and deformities of sin: the inappropriate emotions, the phobias, the bigotry, the hate, the envy, the lust, the religious sickness, the false theologies, the false philosophies, the illusions, the delusion, the lies we have believed to be truth, and all the other things that deform our humanity. AS we are being healed and in fact when we are healed we are not to become "super spiritual" wherein is religious sickness, but rather totally natural. Jesus is the example of that totally natural human being in his post resurrection appearances. That is where we are headed, to be like him. That is the power that the Gospel has, to produce people who have been "sanctified," that is people who have grown to the fullness of the statue of the truly natural human, Jesus Christ, undistorted by sin.
For all those caught in the illusion of "instant salvation" who refuse to accept the clear teaching of the Bible and the Church's Tradition that healing/salvation is taught in three tenses:
Past Tense - We were healed, completely and whole by Jesus' suffering on the Cross.
Present Tense - We are being healed presently in this life as we take advantage of Jesus' work on The Cross, and with the power he gives us through the Holy Spirit, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Phillipians 2:12
Future Tense - We will be saved/healed wholly and completely in the fulness of the statue of that natural man, Jesus Christ. Ephesians 4:13.
What this world, culture and society see as the "natural human" is a being distorted by sin and the damage of sin; an unnatural man. Indeed the world, cultures and societies, comprised of sinful unnatural men are themselves distortions and unnatural. If in an instant you removed all sin, one is left with the wounds of sin, the damage and distortions of sin.
The idea that salvation is a process is hard to swallow, especially to those clinging to an idea of salvation that is gnostic at its core, that mental assent to a set of simplistic theological principles represents and produces salvation. They say, "I was saved in 1990", claiming Christ's work on the Cross without taking responsibility for the process of realizing that salvation here and now. What they describe as "salvation" is merely "conversion." Which means "turning around." I was facing away from God, and I've turned to Him." "I was walking away from God, now I'm upon The Way walking toward Him."
The Orthodox early church, that is the Apostles and Holy Fathers, and countless ordinary Christians, those who truly held the Healing Apostolic Tradition, knew that what they were protecting from the assault of false teachers, was The Way, the reality of this very process of healing. Each error taught diluted the strength and reality of the process, some errors destroyed it altogether. This is an elementary recounting of the early Church preserving and protecting that synergistic process of healing/salvation, so that it could and would be passed to generations next, undistorted by human philosophy or the deformities created by ambitious men. Bluntly stated, this is an introduction to the Healing Truth of Salvation, Satan and his minions have been trying to destroy by any means possible for two thousand years. Despite the gates of hell squalling with noisy anger and confusion, (inside and outside of the Church) and the slaughter of Christians in the hundreds of million at this point in history, (over one hundred million in the 20th century alone) nothing will destroy this truth.
- Archpriest Symeon Elias.
Tape One - The Ecumenical Councils - Part 1 http://audio.ancientfaith.com/eastwest/iew_2008-11-21.mp3
Tape Two - The Ecumenical Councils - Part 2 http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/podup/eastwest/the_ecumenical_councils_-_part_2
Tape Three - The Council of Nicaea - 1: (Dn. Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Four - The Council of Nicaea - 2: (Dn. Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Five - Post Nicaea: (Dn. Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Six - Constantinople - 1: (Dn. Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Seven - Ephesus (Dn Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Eight - Chalcedon (Dn Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Nine - Constantinople 2 (Dn Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Ten - Constantinople 3 (Dn Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Eleven - The Seventh Ecumenical Council (Dn Michael Hyatt)
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Ecumenical Councils 1-7
This is by Dr. Jeffrey Macdonald (from his website OrthodoxChurchHistory.com)
1st Ecumenical Council-Nicea 325 AD
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2nd Ecumenical Council-Constantinople 381 AD
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3rd Ecumenical Council-431 AD
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4th Ecumenical Council-450 AD
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5th Ecumenical Council-553 AD
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6th Ecumenical Council-681 AD
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Iconoclasm and 7th Ecumenical Council 787 AD Part 1
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Iconoclasm and 7th Ecumenical Council 787 AD Part 2
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Some of the Canons by Fr. Thomas Hopko:
4th Century canons
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Other 4th century canons
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3rd Ecumenical council canons
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4th Ecumenical council canons
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Quinisext Canons Part 1
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Part 2
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Part 3
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For the other 4 to 5 more parts please go to his podcast.
7th Ecumenical council canons
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