12/9/2012
Archpriest John Whiteford
God takes what He already blesses from Creation in terms of natural marriage and makes it into something else.
Fr. Peter Heers, Fr. John Whiteford
A discussion about the newly released book from Uncut Mountain Press, On the Reception of the Heterodox into the Orthodox Church: Patristic Consensus and Criteria with Fr. John Whiteford, rector of St. Jonah Orthodox Church (ROCOR) in Spring, TX, outside of Houston.
The book makes a compelling case for why the reception of converts by baptism should be the norm, especially in our time, and given that few non-Orthodox Christians baptize by a triple immersion.
Recently Public Orthodoxy published an article by Lidiya Lozova, in which she excused the government sponsored persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and alleged that this reflects the popular opinion of the Ukrainian people.
I do, however, want to address a very clear example of how western propaganda has attempted to distort something that Patriarch Kirill has said, and twist it into something that is almost the complete opposite of what he said.
I do however want to draw attention to how Ecumenism among those who are ostensibly Orthodox is working to merge renovationism, modernism, and LGBTQP and abortion activism into what will likely come to be the church of the Antichrist.
The Living Church died off in Russia, because the faithful in Russia rejected it, but Renovationism has continued to exist elsewhere, and while all of the aforementioned issues are still on the table for them, they have added quite a few since then.
The fact that today we have people openly promoting the LGBTQP agenda in the Orthodox Church is something that was unthinkable less than a dozen years ago.
There is absolutely no ambiguity at all on the question of whether or not abortion is murder.
The people at Public Orthodoxy have issued a declaration against the Russian Church in which they accuse the Russian Church of heresy -- which they assert is the idea of "Русский мир" or "The Russian World."
So in Christian baptism, we are baptized both with water, and with the Holy Spirit, which is why in the Orthodox Church we baptize a person in water, and anoint them with Holy Chrism, all in one service.
Since the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), and the Moscow Patriarchate (MP) have reconciled, why is it that we still have three jurisdictions of Russian origin in the US?
The question I have asked many people who have advocated that such changes are necessary is very simple: Is there any evidence that anyone has ever gotten sick from receiving communion with a spoon? There answer to this question is "no."
I have long been aware of the fact that David Bentley Hart's theology was far from Orthodox, but I have become convinced -- after reading more of his writings, and listening to him speak -- that his theology cannot even be categorized as properly Christian.
I recently received an e-mail with some practical questions about how people should deal with the implications of the mess created by Constantinople's incursion into the canonical territory of the Russian Church, and their embrace of unrepentant and unordained schismatics in Ukraine.
What do the terms “apocrypha” and “deuterocanonical” mean, and how does the Orthodox Church view them?
Rating: 9.1|Votes: 21
This video provides an excellent presentation by Archpriest John Whiteford, chief pastor of St. Jonah Orthodox Church (ROCOR) in Spring, Texas, on how Orthodox Christians should view Bible study.
Rating: 4.5|Votes: 55
When it comes to those who wish to either dismiss the idea of the toll houses, or to label them as heretical, I have often been amazed, both at the evidence that they are willing to ignore, and what they seem to think proves their case.
Rating: 6.2|Votes: 85
The toll house tradition is an image that is intended to teach us something about things that are beyond our normal experience.
Rating: 9.4|Votes: 56
This is the text of a talk that I gave at St. Tikhon University in Moscow, at a conference entitled "Causes and Challenges of the Current Crisis of Inter-Orthodox Relations," on February 25th, 2019.
Archpriest John Whiteford, Jesse Dominick
Rating: 9|Votes: 53
Since I became Orthodox, one of the big things I have been concerned with is trying to bring people into the Church. It’s harder to bring people into the Church now because it’s harder to explain what Orthodoxy is.
Rating: 9.8|Votes: 32
Fasting is an essential aspect of the Christian life, and it is one thing that, unfortunately, is becoming for the majority of Christians in the world an increasingly foreign concept.
Fr. John Whiteford
Rating: 9.3|Votes: 22
Question: "I read recently that James, the “brother of the Lord," was not one of the 12 Apostles. Are there not two James’ among the twelve? Please elaborate and clarify the identity of these 3 (or 2?) individuals?"
Rating: 8.4|Votes: 116
Fr. John Whiteford gave a sermon to his parishioners explaining the decision of the ROCOR to break communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate—which means also the Greek Orthodox Diocese of North America, under the Ecumenical Patriarch—and what this means for members of ROCOR.
Rating: 9.4|Votes: 36
The question of what Orthodox Christians should make of Protestant biblical scholarship is a complicated question. First off, what do I mean by "Protestant biblical scholarship"?
Rating: 9.7|Votes: 47
Today, we see the beginnings of a new renovationist movement, and this group is so radical that it makes the "Living Church" look quite traditional by comparison.
Rating: 9.3|Votes: 30
The Lord who commands us to honor our fathers and mothers does not forbid us to provide proper care or burial for our parents, but the Lord’s claim on our time, treasure, labor, and devotion, must always take the first priority.
Rating: 9.2|Votes: 33
Pews do tend to make the congregation feel like spectators in the services, rather than participants.
Rating: 8.9|Votes: 32
In the wake of another cold-blooded school shooting, this time by a teenager who had been baptized in the Orthodox faith, rector of the Church of St. Jonah in Spring, Texas (ROCOR) Fr. John Whiteford talks about a sore them—how to keep ourselves going in the spiritual life and how to impart this to our children, against the growing tide of anti-Christian cultural norms.
Rating: 9.7|Votes: 29
Lent seems like a long time at the beginning, but it can pass you by quickly, if you don't make a point of putting forth the effort to pray more, attend more of the services, and to read more.
Rating: 8.8|Votes: 47
Question: "What is the appropriate way for laypeople to use incense in prayer?"
Rating: 7.6|Votes: 23
Why is there no mention of the Trinity in the Nicene Creed? If it was written by a Synod of bishops in order to direct the young Church’s thinking, why then is there no mention of the Trinity? Is/was the Trinity less important than the other tenets laid out in the Credo?
Rating: 8.5|Votes: 13
Seminaries are a relatively recent thing in Church history. The first seminaries were established in the wake of the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation in the 16th century, and were only later adopted as a model by both Orthodox and Protestants.
Rating: 9.5|Votes: 13
Individual members, and even local Churches may err, but it is not possible for the entire Church to teach that which is erroneous—and Ecumenical Councils are certainly an example of what the Church as a whole teaches.
Rating: 8.7|Votes: 41
Certain prayers are pronounced in a very low voice by the priest in the altar during the Anaphora, as the choir sings, and thus the congregations does not hear them.Why aren’t the anaphora prayers read by the priest during Divine Liturgy not pronounced out loud? What are the “secret prayers”? Fr. John Whiteford gives an explanation.
Rating: 9.3|Votes: 34
But in more practical terms, how should an Orthodox Christian in our times discern what entertainment is acceptable, and what should be avoided? Also, how do you deal with raising children in the context of the internet and ubiquitous access to it via various mobile devices?
Rating: 9.9|Votes: 59
Fr. John shares from Genesis 13, providing a comparison between the corruption of Lot and the social mentality of the 21st century.
Rating: 8.5|Votes: 12
In our services we often speak of “our holy and God-bearing fathers, and all the saints...” I understand that the reference is made to the Church’s founding fathers, but who is meant specifically? All the Apostles? Or just Peter and Paul?
Rating: 9.6|Votes: 19
How can someone best assimilate into the “culture” of Orthodoxy, even picking up other national customs, without losing their own nationality (being from the USA for example)? How do we find that middle balance of taking the good and leaving the bad from our own culture?
Rating: 9|Votes: 11
St. Gregory was not attacking those "who insist on literal interpretations," he was attacking those who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit, who insisted on exclusively literal interpretations as a cloak for their impiety -- and their impiety was not that they interpreted Scripture literally, but that they denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit.
Rating: 10|Votes: 22
John Fotopoulos and Aristotle Papanikolaou, in their recent article "Women and the Creed: Who For Us Humans and for Our Salvation," (published by "Public Orthodoxy") have expressed their unhappiness that the Greek Archdiocese has decided to use a translation of the Creed that is in line with pretty much every other translation that English speaking Orthodox Christians have been using for as long as we have had Orthodox Christians speaking English. They are offended by the use of the word "man".
Rating: 8.8|Votes: 37
On what basis does Mark Arey present his novel interpretations as if they were the correct Orthodox understanding of this passage? Certainly not on the basis of the Fathers. Certainly not on the basis of how the Church has always understood this passage.
Rating: 8.9|Votes: 17
Of course we should deal with people who struggle with that sin pastorally, just like we do people who struggle with alcoholism, adultery, drug abuse, or any other passion that is especially difficult to overcome. But if we fail to communicate what sin is, it is impossible for those whom we have confused to overcome sins that they do not recognize to be such.
Rating: 8|Votes: 3
The veneration of the relics of the saints is rooted in several Biblical truths, as well as in the Tradition of the Church.
Rating: 8.3|Votes: 10
If someone says that they are pro-life and pro-choice, this can only mean that they personally oppose abortion, but they think that others should be free to decide the matter for themselves, because they don't want to "impose their morality" on anyone else. Is this a morally defensible position?
Rating: 9.3|Votes: 42
If someone dies without repentance, is it possible for such a person to repent after death? Fr. John Whiteford answers this question through the writings of the holy fathers of the Church.
Rating: 8.9|Votes: 7
When we tithe, we recognize that God is the source of all that we have, and by giving back the first ten percent, we give thanks to God, and show that we trust God to continue to provide for our needs, rather than clinging to what we have, because we have no such trust.
Rating: 8.7|Votes: 3
If Christ thought it was important for His Apostles to learn all this at that crucial moment in His earthly ministry, then I think it is important for us to go with some regularity to the Old Testament and have a look, to see those very same things that Christ showed His disciples.
Rating: 10|Votes: 3
If you read the Book of Genesis especially, you find this phrase repeated whenever is introduced a new figure, or basically a new chapter in the history of God’s people.
Rating: 10|Votes: 1
There are a few things that I have found helpful in terms of making good use of my time.
All of us at some point in our lives have been wicked, and inclined to scorn correction. But if we have any wisdom we should love those who justly rebuke us.
Rating: 6.2|Votes: 12
In the Orthodox Church, we make prostrations, or full bows to the ground, as part of our prayer life. Sometimes, prostrations are made even during the Divine Liturgy. But there are certain rules about this, and these rules are also subject to local practice. Fr. John Whiteford discusses a general practice concerning when prostrations are made at the Liturgy.
Rating: 7.2|Votes: 18
Anyone who is able can serve the function of a Reader, when needed. And there are many people who are not tonsured as Readers who do.
Rating: 10|Votes: 2
I cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that our government continues, with our tax-payer dollars, to fund and arm those who are raping, murdering, and displacing Christians (who represent about ten percent of the overall population) and other religious minorities in Syria.
Rating: 3.5|Votes: 4
Is Psalm 50 a Messianic psalm? Why does the psalm culminate in animal sacrifice? How should we incorporate this psalm in our daily prayers? Fr. John Whiteford talks about one of the most often-read psalms.
Rating: 8.4|Votes: 5
The Orthodox approach to translation has generally been a conservative one. Slavonic was never the street language of Slavic speakers. It was a high form of Slavic language, with a huge amount of created terms, using Slavic root words, and putting them together in the same way Greek theological terms were constructed. The end result was a highly elevated language which was within reach of Slavic speaking people, but was not the language of the street.
Rating: 8.4|Votes: 25
Some claim that Orthodoxy does not approve of self-defense or firearms specifically, specifically attacking the "take your purse and buy" a sword verse from Luke that is often used in support of armed Christian self-defense. Some even go so far as to say, or at least strongly imply, that Christians shouldn't kill in combat/war. What is the Orthodox Church's teaching regarding a Christian's right or ability to hurt or kill others in self-defense? As soldiers during war? What about defending one's family from violence?
It is said of the Old Testament Prophets that they afflicted the comfortable, and comforted the afflicted—and that saying, while pithy, actually has a great deal of merit to it. If you have someone who is a heretic or schismatic, seeking to divide the Church, or a careless sinner whose behavior is causing scandal to the Church, such a person would be in need of some measure of affliction, to wake them up.
Rating: 6.5|Votes: 30
Wasn’t Elisha being cruel when he sent those bears against those children who were teasing him about being bald in 2 Kings 2:23-25? And why was it precisely two she-bears? Fr. John Whiteford talks about the incident near Bethel, when St. Elisha cursed the gang of disrespectful young men.
Many ask, which is the Lord’s Day, Saturday or Sunday?
It is the handwriting of the decree that was against us, i.e. the righteous sentence of God due to us for our sins which are blotted out, and nailed to the Cross. By extrapolation, some texts speak of it more generally as the debt of our sin, but this is focusing on the penalty of the sentence against us.
Rating: 7.2|Votes: 21
Is the Church the new Israel? This idea has been disparaged as "Replacement Theology." And how are we to understand the the term "New Jerusalem"? Is it Heaven? The Church? A literal city? All three? Fr. John Whiteford looks at the Scripture and patristic writings on the New Jerusalem.
Before Christ went into the garden over the brook Cedron where he would be arrested by the band of men and officers sent by the chief priests and Pharisees, He prayed to the Father for His disciples: I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. Fr. John discusses the meaning of this verse.
Rating: 5.8|Votes: 4
Some ask, doesn't the fact that the Old Testament has laws that allow for slavery constitute an endorsement of slavery? Fr. John Whiteford discusses the Old Testament and slavery.
Rating: 1|Votes: 1
In Deuteronomy 28:66-67, Moses talks about fearing the day and night. What all is going on there? Verse 66 is quoted in the hymns for the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, as Christ our Life hanging before our eyes, but what does the rest of the verse mean? Fr. John Whiteford talks about this verse so pertinent to the Sunday of the Cross.
Rating: 5.2|Votes: 13
In the Orthodox Church, Holy Communion is administered to communicants using a special spoon. Some have asked, doesn’t the 101st canon of the Council of Trullo forbid the use of Communion spoons? And why are the laity not allowed to receive Communion in the hand and from the chalice, as they did at the time of the Ecumenical Councils? Fr. John Whiteford answers these questions about the use of Communion spoons in our Orthodox Liturgy.
Rating: 9.7|Votes: 7
What is the value of silence and quiet in a time when we are always “plugged in”?
Rating: 8.2|Votes: 6
How can an involuntary child “put on Christ” if he had no say in the baptism? In what sense and in what way is baptism salvific if the child is unable to answer God with a good conscience? Fr. John Whiteford discusses the topic of infant baptism.
Rating: 9.2|Votes: 19
How can someone who is pro-life oppose abortion and yet be in favor of the death penalty? Christians often ask this question, but it’s hard to get a satisfactory answer. Fr. John Whiteford discusses the difference between “killing” and “murder”.
Rating: 7.8|Votes: 6
Fr. John Whiteford answers the question: “I have heard it argued that the phrase in the Liturgy, “A mercy of peace, a sacrifice of praise” is both nonsensical and a corruption of an earlier text. Is this correct, and if not, what does the phrase mean?”
Is it correct that St. Mark "blundered" in the writing of his Gospel? There is no reason why we should conclude that he did, and you will never find any Father of the Church making any such suggestion. However, this is what Fr. Gregory Hallam stated recently in his E-Quip lecture series, in a lecture about St. Mark's Gospel.
Fr. John Whiteford talks about how Orthodox Christians can do when they are under obligation to participate in secular celebrations during the Nativity Fast.
Rating: 5.3|Votes: 6
Protestants often reference 1 John 5:13, These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. This is a verse that they claim as a basis for having complete assurance of their salvation. What is the Orthodox teaching on this passage? Fr. John Whiteford discusses the concept of assured salvation.
Rating: 6.4|Votes: 7
What does St Paul mean when he says, Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law? Does this mean that women cannot direct or sing in the choir?
Rating: 9|Votes: 3
What were the sources of doctrine for the Israelites in the Old Testament? Was it Tradition, or Scripture? Fr. John Whiteford talks about divine revelation and Tradition in the Old Testament.
Rating: 8.9|Votes: 10
All the children are doing it, and we know how hard it is to get our children to swim upstream and ignore the heathenish customs of their peers. Rather than make light of this problem, we decided to ask some Orthodox priests in the United States who have to deal with this every year what they say to their own children and other families about Halloween.
Rating: 7.9|Votes: 8
"The problem with premillennialism is that it tended to feed into other heresies, such as Montanism, which believed that Montanus was the Holy Spirit incarnate, and which believed that the Kingdom of God was soon to come to be established in Phrygia. We have seen similar heresies with millenialist eschatology in more recent times, with the Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, Mormonism, the Jim Jones Cult, and Branch Davidians. Given the excesses this view has tended to produce, the Church felt it necessary to clearly define the matter."
Rating: 5.1|Votes: 14
Clearly, if the Apostles could interpret the Old Testament in allegorical and typological terms, no one who claims to be a Christian should object to the Church Fathers doing likewise.
Rating: 4.1|Votes: 17
Some things are inherently sinful, and some things are sinful in specific contexts. For example, it is sinful for an Orthodox Christian to disregard the fasts for no compelling reason, and to eat a hamburger on a fast day, but there is nothing inherently sinful about hamburgers. Likewise, for Israelites, not eating certain kinds of foods had a symbolic meaning, and was a matter of obedience, but there was nothing inherently sinful about eating shrimp. However, it is inherently sinful for a man to have sex with another man, and the Bible is completely unambiguous about this.
Rating: 7.2|Votes: 44
As is often the case, the proper Orthodox perspective on this question is one of balance. We should proclaim the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), and not just the parts that we find most appealing. Nor should we overreact to the imbalances of heterodox theologians, and thus fall into a new error, by rejecting important aspects of our Tradition.
Rating: 7.6|Votes: 7
What is the significance of the sign of the Cross? Why is it performed when it is? When is it preformed besides after a prayer? Fr. John Whiteford answers these questions on his blog.
Rating: 7.2|Votes: 43
If one wishes to study the Scriptures, one of the most important things that he must do is to acquire a good translation of the text, unless he just happens to know Biblical Hebrew, and Koine Greek. Especially nowadays, when it seems there is a new translation or study Bible that is published each year, it is not a simple choice to make.
Rating: 6.4|Votes: 53
That the Septuagint is the most authoritative text in the Orthodox Church is something that is confirmed in just about any Orthodox catechetical text you could consult. The Septuagint text is the text that the Church has preserved. The Masoretic text is a text that has not been preserved by the Church, and so while it is worthy of study and comparison, it is not equally trustworthy. We have the promise that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all Truth (John 16:13), and so can indeed affirm that "Our Church holds the infallible and genuine deposit of the Holy Scriptures."
One could argue that the most ideal form of government is a theocracy, but as the history of Israel up to this point demonstrated, such a theocracy only worked out well for the people when they were zealous to obey God, which very often was not the case. So monarchy is perhaps the second best system of government, but not one without problems ... because for monarchy to work out well, you need a king that is pious.
Rating: 5.5|Votes: 2
Anyone above the age of 30 has to be amazed at the rapidity with which the gay agenda has been advanced, and with the speed that transgender activism has become the new cause of the left. The Left's goal is the destruction of conservative Christianity, in any form.
We, the Orthodox clergy of Houston and Southeast Texas, are compelled by our responsibilities before God to speak out plainly against the rebellion against God's created order that we see being waged on both the local and national level.
Rating: 5.2|Votes: 31
The Church has always considered the soul as the part of the human being that needs healing because She has seen from Hebrew tradition, from Christ Himself, and from the Apostles that in the region of the physical heart there functions something that the Fathers called the nous.
Dr. George Demacopoulos of Fordham University recently posted an article entitled "Orthodox Fundamentalists," on the Greek Archdiocese's website. There are a number of problems with it that I think need to be pointed out.
Rating: 9|Votes: 16
It is therefore not only permissible, but obligatory for all of the faithful, and even more so for the clergy, to oppose these attempts to infect our Church with the same heresies that have wreaked such havoc in mainline Protestant Churches, and are in the process of doing the same in the Roman Catholic Church.
Nun Cornelia (Rees), Fr. John Whiteford
Rating: 8.9|Votes: 9
In his most recent blog post, he has now taken aim against not only the "religious right" (a favorite target of his in recent years), but now even the Orthodox Church that he still is ostensibly a member of is in his cross-hairs—because they support Russia's laws restricting the promotion of homosexuality.
