There are so many "online Orthodox" voices (including clergy) that leave me feeling confused and dejected. Patristic Nectar is never one of them. Thank you so much for the continued edification, encouragement & clarity. Blessings in Christ. 🙏
Beware of the people who are new to Orthodoxy and yapping on youtube. Seems to be a fad now and they are looking to Orthodoxy for the wrong reasons. There are many good Fathers and Bishops online to listen to. Ecumenism is also something to pay attention to when listening to a person online or deciding if you SHOULD even listen to them. To many it is a heresy and I am in that camp also.
There are horrors, please grieve and mourn and pray. But beware of the devil’s temptation to judge and condemn and think your tradition has the monopoly on God and cornered the market so-to-speak. It’s also filled with many beautiful things as well. Love, humility, meditation, contemplation, cogitation, sacred silence, Cross-centered theology and an understanding of suffering and the Cross of our sweet Lord, faithful Christian’s praying night and day with tears and love, etc. Please pray for the RC church if you see sins. But also consider that there are many beautiful, faithful, loving, and humble Christian’s there. I’m praying for more peaceful and meek and humble dialogue between the Christian traditions, including (and especially) myself. Forgive me, a sinner.
Be also aware that Orthodoxy too is full of sinners both lay and hierarch; Know this and stand against evil and corruption of the faith in all things, oneself especially. God bless!
DURING COVID I WATCHED CHRISTIANS THROW POLICE OUT OF CHURCHES AND SPREAD DEATH. SO HERE I AM PROTECTING KIDS FROM CHRISTIAN TERROR. WHAT UP?@@ChristAliveForevermore
Thank you for posting another video. You may not know it,but these videos help many people come to Christ and his church. Even probably more than you know.
Thank you, brother, for this excellent talk. The wheat and tares are in the Church and are also in us. So we look to our own sins and not to those of others. We need to repent daily.
Grateful I can watch these reflections. I Need to be there in person to participate, to make it real. I still regret not making it there when Jonathan Pageau was there. Thanks for posting that video. Jordan Peterson walked this horse to water, Jonathan Pageau made drinking the water undeniable. People commonly say they believe the Word became Flesh; for me, there were so many coincidences until I realized I truly couldn’t deny it. It was an unexpected realization, a revelation I suppose.
Thank you Father Trenham for this message. I've found that many people have not heard nor have much understanding of the Orthodox Christian concept of the Nous (as opposed to Reason), and how the fall of man darkened our Nous, and made us susceptible to be ruled by our Passions that lead us to sin. It wasn't until i read the book Orthodox Psychotherapy by Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos that i really got a good grasp of the Nous and the Passions myself. I say this only because i feel people absolutely need to learn this crucial aspect of Holy Orthodoxy to start their healing through Repentance and Atonement. Blessings in Christ.
@PatristicNectarFilms please father Josiah explain pelagianism and semi-pelagianism and what's the Orthodox Churc doctrine of the original sin, how grace works, and what can we actually do to obtain it. Please!
I thank you for sharing the need to repent of my sins. I am a gentile. I have been exploring many faiths. There is an agreement I find in that I need to repent of my sins. I am a confused and broken being. I have been baptized into an organized church other than Orthodox Church. Yet for reason I do not understand, I have been learning most from Orthodox Christianity and Orthodox Judaism from my position as a stranger. I also learn from other faiths. It is not my intent to be a rebel. I recognize there are behaviors and actions of mine that are sins according to the majority of faiths that I have learned from. It is not my intent to cause harm to anyone that has been learning from the various faiths. I am seeking to understand how to repent of my sins without causing disturbance to others faith and practice. Michael Funk
The Heavens celebrate when even a single sinner repents. Try to find an Orthodox Church near you and speak to the priest there. I hope this helps you on your path to the Truth. God bless!
Yes, maybe a clarification revelation video on why priests are called fathers would be good for us who are coming from a protestant point of view. I have learned a lot about orthodoxy and a lot about God's word since studying the orthodox faith, but this one still gets me.
As a protestant until I started attending an Orthodox parish in my late 60's, I had no problem with calling anyone Father. It was Mary and reverencing her & the saints. My Pentecostal background was iconoclastic. I had an adult son who converted a couple years before me, and he really excells at explaining and teaching and he helped me understand. He is a reader now and helps with all inquirers and catechumens.
I also am pentecostal at the moment, my mother and stepfather are orthodox and have been helping me. I have also been listening to the catechism lectures and attending the zoom meeting/lectures, they have been very helpful and I agree with most if not all I have heard so far. And when I don't understand something I like to dig deeper looking for an explanation vs writing it off and turning away as some people do, so many are set on their ways and not open to change, but I am seeking truth, and was introduced to the orthodox faith through my parents who converted and say it is the one true church. However there are a lot of similarities between orthodox and pentecostal but also a lot of differences, I'm at a place of studying and praying to see which way the Lord leads me.
I just watched "call no man father?" It was helpful, thank you. I will leave the comment up for others to see so they aski can watch it. God bless you.
It is an ongoing sadness inside of me. It is about the unwillingness of orthodoxy to deeply and as neutral as possible do research about metaphysical, supernatural and occult (veiled) matters. The fear of being wrong and the lack of integrity thereof have created a tradition that is partly unhealthy and ascribes gnosis to old saints whom may have lacked such in significant ways. I have for a long time been drawn to orthodoxy but 'bounces' back by representatives who consider me heretic and anathema just because I have done certain investigations that contradicts their dogma - dogma they adhere to with blind belief and no willingsness to actually explore together with mindful prayer to the Holy Spirit. I find this utterly saddening.
Correct me if I am wrong but you appear to be saddened by the fact that Orthodoxy did not want to go Protestant and join your majesty sitting proudly on a throne as "infallible" Pope and embrace results of your investigations of "supernatural" phenomena.?
@@johnnyd2383 No need to be sarcastic, brother. I wrote in sincerity and not for provocation. However, it is the catholics who have this infallible dude on the throne, not protestants. I respect that the orthodox never give such status to mere men.
@@M-i-k-a-e-l I was only translating your own assertions. And what I can read in your text are accusations towards Orthodoxy for not going along with your wishes. Such accusations are typical Protestant slur. For your information, Orthodox people say that Protestantism instead of bringing delusional Pope down to Earth, managed to elevate every Protestant to the position of the Pope. Every one thinks he is infallible and guided by the Holy Spirit is able to create sound doctrines. Results are obvious. One more info for you about Orthodox and supernatural experiences... they are in Orthodoxy extremely rare and are most of the times kept private. Orthodox Saints always prayed to God not to give them any visions or apparitions as they are dangerous sources of vainglory and pride. Hope this explains to you our positions.
@@johnnyd2383 I think the same delusions is everywhere, orthodox, catholic, protestants. The only thing I feel from your words are fear of standing in integrity and a very closed heart. I wish you a great path ahead with many blessings, regardless which church you think is the only right one. God works way beyond such petty human boundaries. Peace!
@@M-i-k-a-e-l You are certainly entitled to your own beliefs whether they concur with the EOC or not. We never forcibly converted anyone to Orthodoxy as we believe that God's Kingdom is eternal and absolute freedom and to enter it one needs to do it with one's free will. Thus you are free to believe anything you want. We can only lament about those who are blind to see narrow path God's Orthodox Church walks on and pray to God to touch their hearts and remove veil that is preventing them to see. May God be with you.!
Of course no one should be called "father" in a sense that sets them up as an authority apart from God -- this is why Christ rebuked the pharisees. But that is not what is happening in the case of priests. The Church's clergy are representatives of Christ: "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20). Hence they can be called Pastors even though Christ said "there shall be one flock and one Shepherd" (John 10:16), because they participate in the singular Pastorhood of Christ. And the New Testament also calls Church leaders "fathers" even though there is one Father, because as God's representatives the clergy officiate the Lord's Baptism whereby people are begotten and saved through the Gospel. Hence Paul says, "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel" (1 Corinthians 4:15), indicating that he is a father to them. And Saint John addresses such church leaders and says, "I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning" (1 John 2:14). There are numerous other times in the New Testament when the word "father" is used for persons other than God -- it's important to look at overall context both of such cases and of Christ's initial warning about hubristic titles.
@@orthodoxensign consider gospel of John chapter 1: 12 - 13, it's a spiritual birth as Jesus also repeated to Nicodemus, have to be born from above. Consider 1 john chapter 2: 2 0 - 26. The anointing remains with our salvation no man can teach us. So in my own opnion it's predestination that determines who is our true father and his own son Jesus as our true high priest. We don't need any pontifex maximus as the Roma church has with their priests. Last consider Isaiah chapter 63 v 16. Abraham and Israel ( jacob) were called father's, UT this verse puts it in context. Who is their true father of their salvation or redeemer.
@@frederickanderson1860 Yes we have to be born anew from above, by water and the Spirit: this is Baptism, and Peter tells us Baptism saves (2 Peter 3:21) and Paul calls it the "washing of regeneration" (Titus 3:5). You're right that we are anointed as Christians -- this is the sacrament of Chrismation and it is mentioned elsewhere in the Bible and also implied by our status as a royal priesthood (priests and kings are anointed). However, notice that John, _in writing to the churches about Chrismation and the resulting indwelling of the Spirit,_ was actively *teaching* them. We Orthodox Christians have the Spirit in us, yes, but we still benefit from teaching just like the early churches profited from teaching. This is why Paul says, in a verse I quoted above, that the Corinthians had many instructors, and elsewhere he tells the Corinthians that God appoints people in the Church to be teachers, and he teaches Timothy and Titus to teach others, and he tells the Ephesian fathers to instruct their children (6:4), and he tells the Hebrews to make remembrance of leaders who spoke the Word to them (13:7). This is how Christ intended for His body to be, so that some serve by teaching and pastoring and fathering (in Christ, being God's ambassadors, like Paul shows). This is why He appointed the Apostles and why they appointed Bishops and Presbyters and Deacons by laying on of hands, as it describes in Acts and the Pastoral Epistles (and as was foreshadowed in the Old Testament when Joshua succeeded Moses). This God-appointed Apostolic hierarchy continues, in obedience to the Bible, to this day in the Orthodox Church, whereas protestants do not have _anything like_ the Biblical view of Church structure. In the Bible, Church leaders are appointed by the previous leaders, in succession. These leaders -- Bishops -- are ordained by God to participate in His status as "Bishop and Shepherd" (1 Peter 2:25). Priests serve as representatives too. Fr. Josiah Trenham was elevated to the presbytery by a bishop who was made a bishop by bishops who were made bishops by bishops etc etc etc... all the way back to the Apostles. So we, being the same Body as existed from the beginning when Christ established it here, put forward the question, as the Church: Why are you quoting the Bible, even the Covenant between God and His Church, when you are separated from the Church, rejecting its Scriptural teachings and Biblical hierarchy? Accept the Church and delight in what the Bible teaches. If not, will not God rightly ask "What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth? seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest My words behind thee" (Psalm 50:16-17)? Come home to the Orthodox Church whose divine Bridegroom has invested her with God's written word.
I am genuinely curious how you reconcile your post with passages like 1 Timothy 2:7 "for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle-I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying-a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth." Or the one previously mentioned in I Corinthians 4:15-17?
I think you made a small error. We didn't convert the Roman Empire, they converted us. The only people who really followed in an interesting way were the Desert Fathers and Mothers who took one look at what was happening to Jesus' teaching under Rome and left.
You are entitled to your opinion. As an Orthodox I can suggest to you to read 4th and 5th century eastern fathers and compare with 2nd and 3rd century ones... and if you find a difference let me know. I can attest to you that there is no difference.
There are so many "online Orthodox" voices (including clergy) that leave me feeling confused and dejected. Patristic Nectar is never one of them. Thank you so much for the continued edification, encouragement & clarity. Blessings in Christ. 🙏
The three I listen is this one, abbot tryphon and father spyridon
@@Nektarios0316Yes, I follow the same also.
@@Nektarios0316I listen to those too 🙏🏻☦️😊
Yeah because he speaks in Wisdom. It's simple because he can connect the good intentions of Christ with His consequences (i.e. God's Will/Loop).
Beware of the people who are new to Orthodoxy and yapping on youtube. Seems to be a fad now and they are looking to Orthodoxy for the wrong reasons. There are many good Fathers and Bishops online to listen to. Ecumenism is also something to pay attention to when listening to a person online or deciding if you SHOULD even listen to them. To many it is a heresy and I am in that camp also.
Fr. Josiah Trenham. Please pray for me and my family. Pray that my family come out of Pentecostalism 😢
I left the RC Church because it was full of horror. It's getting worse as well. I'm so glad and relieved that I found the true church 🙏🏻☦️
PARANOIA IS A SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESS
There are horrors, please grieve and mourn and pray. But beware of the devil’s temptation to judge and condemn and think your tradition has the monopoly on God and cornered the market so-to-speak.
It’s also filled with many beautiful things as well. Love, humility, meditation, contemplation, cogitation, sacred silence, Cross-centered theology and an understanding of suffering and the Cross of our sweet Lord, faithful Christian’s praying night and day with tears and love, etc.
Please pray for the RC church if you see sins. But also consider that there are many beautiful, faithful, loving, and humble Christian’s there.
I’m praying for more peaceful and meek and humble dialogue between the Christian traditions, including (and especially) myself.
Forgive me, a sinner.
AND 200,000 RAPED ALTAR BOYS WHO STILL CAN'T SLEEP AT NIGHT
@@JasonoftheCross
Be also aware that Orthodoxy too is full of sinners both lay and hierarch; Know this and stand against evil and corruption of the faith in all things, oneself especially. God bless!
This hit me right in the heart. I don't repent as often as I should. I still have filthy habits. It gets me down but things might be looking up soon.
PARANOIA IS ALWAYS AN ADORABLE MENTAL ILLNESS.................
@@martinkent333 Wow, you are so awesome. In fact, I do have a mental disorder. Bipolar disorder. I don't know your deal man but may God rebuke you.
@@martinkent333 You've got nothing better to do, have you?
DURING COVID I WATCHED CHRISTIANS THROW POLICE OUT OF CHURCHES AND SPREAD DEATH. SO HERE I AM PROTECTING KIDS FROM CHRISTIAN TERROR. WHAT UP?@@ChristAliveForevermore
Thank you for posting another video. You may not know it,but these videos help many people come to Christ and his church. Even probably more than you know.
Glory to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior both now and forever ☦️❤️
Our Lord loves his Fathers. 🙌 What a great, great, great astonishing power.
I pray all Fathers use it as our Lord wills it. ☦️🙏❤️
Thank you, brother, for this excellent talk. The wheat and tares are in the Church and are also in us. So we look to our own sins and not to those of others. We need to repent daily.
Lord is firm and obvious
Thank you father ❤❤❤
Grateful I can watch these reflections. I Need to be there in person to participate, to make it real.
I still regret not making it there when Jonathan Pageau was there. Thanks for posting that video.
Jordan Peterson walked this horse to water, Jonathan Pageau made drinking the water undeniable.
People commonly say they believe the Word became Flesh; for me, there were so many coincidences until I realized I truly couldn’t deny it.
It was an unexpected realization, a revelation I suppose.
God bless Fr. You know you cannot touch weapons, so we got you man on man on this one.
Always gotta be watchful/perfect one's nepsis to prevent these horrors for ourselves and our brothers & sisters.
Paranoia is a common thing. Good for kids.
Father Josiah, please pray for my wife Cathy and me. To escape from the Protestant Church.
Outstanding ! 💯 Thank you father 🙏 ☦️🏅
I am blessed through your messages! Thank you!
Thank you Father Trenham for this message. I've found that many people have not heard nor have much understanding of the Orthodox Christian concept of the Nous (as opposed to Reason), and how the fall of man darkened our Nous, and made us susceptible to be ruled by our Passions that lead us to sin. It wasn't until i read the book Orthodox Psychotherapy by Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos that i really got a good grasp of the Nous and the Passions myself. I say this only because i feel people absolutely need to learn this crucial aspect of Holy Orthodoxy to start their healing through Repentance and Atonement. Blessings in Christ.
Thank you Father, for one more video.
Thank you Father!!
Faith into practice = works. My old protestant skin peels more each day.
So well said, Father
Thank God for you.
@PatristicNectarFilms please father Josiah explain pelagianism and semi-pelagianism and what's the Orthodox Churc doctrine of the original sin, how grace works, and what can we actually do to obtain it. Please!
Interesting, thank you.
Thank you Father☦️
Lord suffering with us
I thank you for sharing the need to repent of my sins. I am a gentile. I have been exploring many faiths. There is an agreement I find in that I need to repent of my sins. I am a confused and broken being. I have been baptized into an organized church other than Orthodox Church. Yet for reason I do not understand, I have been learning most from Orthodox Christianity and Orthodox Judaism from my position as a stranger. I also learn from other faiths. It is not my intent to be a rebel. I recognize there are behaviors and actions of mine that are sins according to the majority of faiths that I have learned from. It is not my intent to cause harm to anyone that has been learning from the various faiths. I am seeking to understand how to repent of my sins without causing disturbance to others faith and practice. Michael Funk
The Heavens celebrate when even a single sinner repents. Try to find an Orthodox Church near you and speak to the priest there. I hope this helps you on your path to the Truth. God bless!
Yes, maybe a clarification revelation video on why priests are called fathers would be good for us who are coming from a protestant point of view. I have learned a lot about orthodoxy and a lot about God's word since studying the orthodox faith, but this one still gets me.
As a protestant until I started attending an Orthodox parish in my late 60's, I had no problem with calling anyone Father. It was Mary and reverencing her & the saints. My Pentecostal background was iconoclastic. I had an adult son who converted a couple years before me, and he really excells at explaining and teaching and he helped me understand. He is a reader now and helps with all inquirers and catechumens.
I also am pentecostal at the moment, my mother and stepfather are orthodox and have been helping me. I have also been listening to the catechism lectures and attending the zoom meeting/lectures, they have been very helpful and I agree with most if not all I have heard so far. And when I don't understand something I like to dig deeper looking for an explanation vs writing it off and turning away as some people do, so many are set on their ways and not open to change, but I am seeking truth, and was introduced to the orthodox faith through my parents who converted and say it is the one true church. However there are a lot of similarities between orthodox and pentecostal but also a lot of differences, I'm at a place of studying and praying to see which way the Lord leads me.
Father Josiah has a reflection entitled, "Call No Man Father?" He posted it to this channel about 2 years ago. Highly recommend it.
I just watched "call no man father?" It was helpful, thank you. I will leave the comment up for others to see so they aski can watch it. God bless you.
Catchy title, Father!
Clever title. ❤
Sadly I don't see much glory in the Church of England these days.
What Bible were you reading from Father?
We having festival on 13,14 15 in Bakersfield
It is an ongoing sadness inside of me. It is about the unwillingness of orthodoxy to deeply and as neutral as possible do research about metaphysical, supernatural and occult (veiled) matters.
The fear of being wrong and the lack of integrity thereof have created a tradition that is partly unhealthy and ascribes gnosis to old saints whom may have lacked such in significant ways.
I have for a long time been drawn to orthodoxy but 'bounces' back by representatives who consider me heretic and anathema just because I have done certain investigations that contradicts their dogma - dogma they adhere to with blind belief and no willingsness to actually explore together with mindful prayer to the Holy Spirit.
I find this utterly saddening.
Correct me if I am wrong but you appear to be saddened by the fact that Orthodoxy did not want to go Protestant and join your majesty sitting proudly on a throne as "infallible" Pope and embrace results of your investigations of "supernatural" phenomena.?
@@johnnyd2383 No need to be sarcastic, brother. I wrote in sincerity and not for provocation.
However, it is the catholics who have this infallible dude on the throne, not protestants.
I respect that the orthodox never give such status to mere men.
@@M-i-k-a-e-l I was only translating your own assertions. And what I can read in your text are accusations towards Orthodoxy for not going along with your wishes. Such accusations are typical Protestant slur. For your information, Orthodox people say that Protestantism instead of bringing delusional Pope down to Earth, managed to elevate every Protestant to the position of the Pope. Every one thinks he is infallible and guided by the Holy Spirit is able to create sound doctrines. Results are obvious. One more info for you about Orthodox and supernatural experiences... they are in Orthodoxy extremely rare and are most of the times kept private. Orthodox Saints always prayed to God not to give them any visions or apparitions as they are dangerous sources of vainglory and pride. Hope this explains to you our positions.
@@johnnyd2383 I think the same delusions is everywhere, orthodox, catholic, protestants.
The only thing I feel from your words are fear of standing in integrity and a very closed heart. I wish you a great path ahead with many blessings, regardless which church you think is the only right one. God works way beyond such petty human boundaries. Peace!
@@M-i-k-a-e-l You are certainly entitled to your own beliefs whether they concur with the EOC or not. We never forcibly converted anyone to Orthodoxy as we believe that God's Kingdom is eternal and absolute freedom and to enter it one needs to do it with one's free will. Thus you are free to believe anything you want. We can only lament about those who are blind to see narrow path God's Orthodox Church walks on and pray to God to touch their hearts and remove veil that is preventing them to see. May God be with you.!
"Living in the mix" isnt this worldly even sound worldly when you say
Jesus commands call no man on earth your father, or a teacher. Jesus made it plain who is our true father and teacher, regarding our salvation.
Of course no one should be called "father" in a sense that sets them up as an authority apart from God -- this is why Christ rebuked the pharisees. But that is not what is happening in the case of priests. The Church's clergy are representatives of Christ: "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20). Hence they can be called Pastors even though Christ said "there shall be one flock and one Shepherd" (John 10:16), because they participate in the singular Pastorhood of Christ. And the New Testament also calls Church leaders "fathers" even though there is one Father, because as God's representatives the clergy officiate the Lord's Baptism whereby people are begotten and saved through the Gospel. Hence Paul says, "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel" (1 Corinthians 4:15), indicating that he is a father to them. And Saint John addresses such church leaders and says, "I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning"
(1 John 2:14). There are numerous other times in the New Testament when the word "father" is used for persons other than God -- it's important to look at overall context both of such cases and of Christ's initial warning about hubristic titles.
@@orthodoxensign consider gospel of John chapter 1: 12 - 13, it's a spiritual birth as Jesus also repeated to Nicodemus, have to be born from above. Consider 1 john chapter 2: 2 0 - 26. The anointing remains with our salvation no man can teach us. So in my own opnion it's predestination that determines who is our true father and his own son Jesus as our true high priest. We don't need any pontifex maximus as the Roma church has with their priests. Last consider Isaiah chapter 63 v 16. Abraham and Israel ( jacob) were called father's, UT this verse puts it in context. Who is their true father of their salvation or redeemer.
@@frederickanderson1860 Yes we have to be born anew from above, by water and the Spirit: this is Baptism, and Peter tells us Baptism saves (2 Peter 3:21) and Paul calls it the "washing of regeneration" (Titus 3:5). You're right that we are anointed as Christians -- this is the sacrament of Chrismation and it is mentioned elsewhere in the Bible and also implied by our status as a royal priesthood (priests and kings are anointed). However, notice that John, _in writing to the churches about Chrismation and the resulting indwelling of the Spirit,_ was actively *teaching* them. We Orthodox Christians have the Spirit in us, yes, but we still benefit from teaching just like the early churches profited from teaching. This is why Paul says, in a verse I quoted above, that the Corinthians had many instructors, and elsewhere he tells the Corinthians that God appoints people in the Church to be teachers, and he teaches Timothy and Titus to teach others, and he tells the Ephesian fathers to instruct their children (6:4), and he tells the Hebrews to make remembrance of leaders who spoke the Word to them (13:7). This is how Christ intended for His body to be, so that some serve by teaching and pastoring and fathering (in Christ, being God's ambassadors, like Paul shows). This is why He appointed the Apostles and why they appointed Bishops and Presbyters and Deacons by laying on of hands, as it describes in Acts and the Pastoral Epistles (and as was foreshadowed in the Old Testament when Joshua succeeded Moses). This God-appointed Apostolic hierarchy continues, in obedience to the Bible, to this day in the Orthodox Church, whereas protestants do not have _anything like_ the Biblical view of Church structure. In the Bible, Church leaders are appointed by the previous leaders, in succession. These leaders -- Bishops -- are ordained by God to participate in His status as "Bishop and Shepherd" (1 Peter 2:25). Priests serve as representatives too. Fr. Josiah Trenham was elevated to the presbytery by a bishop who was made a bishop by bishops who were made bishops by bishops etc etc etc... all the way back to the Apostles. So we, being the same Body as existed from the beginning when Christ established it here, put forward the question, as the Church: Why are you quoting the Bible, even the Covenant between God and His Church, when you are separated from the Church, rejecting its Scriptural teachings and Biblical hierarchy? Accept the Church and delight in what the Bible teaches. If not, will not God rightly ask "What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth? seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest My words behind thee" (Psalm 50:16-17)? Come home to the Orthodox Church whose divine Bridegroom has invested her with God's written word.
I am genuinely curious how you reconcile your post with passages like 1 Timothy 2:7 "for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle-I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying-a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth."
Or the one previously mentioned in I Corinthians 4:15-17?
@@andys3035 am sure Paul would not go against christ teaching. If you love me you keep my commandments.
I think you made a small error. We didn't convert the Roman Empire, they converted us. The only people who really followed in an interesting way were the Desert Fathers and Mothers who took one look at what was happening to Jesus' teaching under Rome and left.
You are entitled to your opinion. As an Orthodox I can suggest to you to read 4th and 5th century eastern fathers and compare with 2nd and 3rd century ones... and if you find a difference let me know. I can attest to you that there is no difference.