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Fr. Lawrence Farley

Baptismal Boundaries. Part 2
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Baptismal Boundaries. Part 2

Fr. Lawrence Farley

We should consider the faith and life of a group taken as a whole and not simply their stated understanding of baptism or their confession of the Trinity.

Baptismal Boundaries. Part 1
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Baptismal Boundaries. Part 1

Fr. Lawrence Farley

The question of how the Orthodox Church should receive converts from other Christian confessions is a large and complicated one, and is sometimes capable of drawing very warm responses—including from some of our Protestant and Roman Catholic brethren who may feel rejected and slighted by talk of conversion from their confessions to that of Orthodoxy.

Holy Week Anti-Semitism?
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Holy Week Anti-Semitism?

Fr. Lawrence Farley

Secondly we should beware of the temptation to conform to all the current canons of political correctness. It is true that many if not most in the Jewish community find offensive the classic Christian assertion that “the Jews killed Christ”, and some have gone to the lengths of denying any Jewish responsibility at all and putting the entire responsibility for His death on the Romans. It is also true that the statement, “the Jews killed Christ” is so general as to be unhelpful.

A Polemical Faith
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A Polemical Faith

Fr. Lawrence Farley

Some people in particular are distressed when they see in Christian writers anything polemical or negative. Why, they ask, do these Christian writers have to denounce certain trends and ideas?

Why We Need a God of Wrath
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Why We Need a God of Wrath

Fr. Lawrence Farley

The real question therefore is not “Is the biblical God a God of wrath?”, but rather “Why is the wrath of God celebrated so widely and so emphatically in the Bible?”

Sanfilippo’s “Conjugal Friendship”
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Sanfilippo’s “Conjugal Friendship”

Fr. Lawrence Farley

One may have four friends or more, but (in Christian thought) only one spouse. Conjugal union is, by definition, a union of two and only two, because it is sexual. Friends stand symbolically side by side; spouses, face to face. The face to face posture of spouses expresses, both symbolically and physically, the sexuality of their union, and its essential difference from Friendship.

On the Virtue of Goodness
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On the Virtue of Goodness

Fr. Lawrence Farley

Goodness, as we see from the words and works of God in the Scriptures, is binary and discriminating. That is, it discriminates virtue from vice, and righteousness from evil.

The Mystical Theology of the Western Hat
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The Mystical Theology of the Western Hat

Fr. Lawrence Farley

Two groups of people recognize this binary ordering of the world instinctively: children and classical love poets.

Holy Hatred
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Holy Hatred

Fr. Lawrence Farley

That is, for him some bits in the Scriptures are devoid of inspiration or authority, and ought to be jettisoned since they are merely the voices of sinful humans, men incapable of rising to a divine standard.

Blood that Cries and Capital Punishment
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Blood that Cries and Capital Punishment

Fr. Lawrence Farley

We all have seen the statue of Justice holding her scales and wearing a blindfold so that she cannot be subject to partiality or bribery. That blindfold should obscure her tears as well, for one may well shed tears even when administering just punishment. All punishment for crime, whether execution or incarceration, represents a defeat for society, and should be administered with sorrow—and for Christians, with prayer for all, perpetrator as well as victim.

The God of the Old Testament
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The God of the Old Testament

Fr. Lawrence Farley

I understand some of this denunciation of the Most High on online forums and the like—some people are simply angry at Christianity and happily use any stick with which to beat Christians. They take some Old Testament verses out of their literary context and entirely out of their cultural context and start shouting. What is more perplexing to me is finding some Christians arguing that the Old Testament deity is insufficiently Christ-like. I expect the unbelievers to throw large chunks of the Bible angrily across the room. But I expected believers to be more respectful of what is for them, after all, Holy Writ.

Concerning Burning
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Concerning Burning

Fr. Lawrence Farley

Pagans could cremate and burn their dead and be consistent with their religious beliefs. Christians cannot, for Christians believe that the body has too much value to be consigned to the flames.

Deaconesses: This is Not That
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Deaconesses: This is Not That

Fr. Lawrence Farley

Whatever discussions occur regarding the possible revival or creation of an order of female deacon, let us all at least be open and truthful. Let us admit that this is not that: the proffered model of deaconess bears little resemblance to the ancient order. Let us therefore debate possibility of the new model on its own modern merits.

Where Do You Worship?
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Where Do You Worship?

Fr. Lawrence Farley

Given that our worship takes place in heaven it is not surprising to see so many icons on the walls around us, nor that we ask for the prayers of the Mother of God and the saints and angels. Since we have ascended to heaven, we find ourselves invisibly surrounded by the saints who also stand with us in heaven’s court. With what else should be adorn our church walls and icon corners but their images?

An Exclusive Creed
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An Exclusive Creed

Fr. Lawrence Farley

Why this insistence on exclusion? The Fathers of Nicea wanted to exclude heresy from the Church for the same reason that a doctor wants to exclude cancer from the body of his patient—because if he includes the cancer in the patient’s body, the result will be the death of the patient. Cancer kills, and so does heresy. Heresy is not simply incorrect opinion, akin to getting a numerical sum wrong. Heresy is stubbornly refusing to accept the truth, in exactly the same way as someone who has been poisoned might stubbornly refuse to accept swallowing the antidote. A person who has been poisoned will die. And the good intentions of the heretic notwithstanding (for who knowingly accepts error?), the person who refuses God’s provided remedy of Christ will also die.

What Does an Ecumenical Council Look Like?
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What Does an Ecumenical Council Look Like?

Fr. Lawrence Farley

The point here is that the Councils were not content merely to produce documents for people to read for their edification. They insisted that these truths be followed, and backed them up with anathemas, excommunicating those who dissented from them.

About Wearing Cassocks and Other Good Habits
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About Wearing Cassocks and Other Good Habits

Fr. Lawrence Farley

One joins a church or a monastic community precisely because it is in some way unlike the modern world, and presents one with a clear alternative to secularism. The different clothing witnesses to the presence of this clear alternative—one rooted in the past centuries and preserving its liturgical practice, history, tradition, and dogma.

Mind the Gap
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Mind the Gap

Fr. Lawrence Farley

For me the perplexing thing about the gap is not that it exists—secularists will be secular, after all, and most people are too busy living life to spend much time questioning the underlying presuppositions of their culture. For me the perplexing thing is how Christians could come to deny the existence of the demonic

Pascha: The Blast of a Trumpet
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Pascha: The Blast of a Trumpet

Fr. Lawrence Farley

Why a trumpet? Why not (for example) a signal fire, or the waving of a standard? Why a trumpet blast, and what did the blast of a trumpet mean to Israel?

Remembering Elmer
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Remembering Elmer

Fr. Lawrence Farley

Today’s young children are now in danger from a source other than traffic. I refer to the pandemic of pornography sweeping our land.

Defending the Synodikon
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Defending the Synodikon

Fr. Lawrence Farley

The point of the Synodikonis to draw very thick lines in the doctrinal sand and say that if anybody in the Church crosses those lines and strays into heresy, they must either recant or get out, and it is precisely this approach to truth that is necessary and saving.

A Fixed Date for Pascha?
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A Fixed Date for Pascha?

Fr. Lawrence Farley

Recently there has been some talk in church circles of changing the present calendar so that Pascha (or “Easter” as it is known in the West) falls on the same day every year.

What Does “Aionion” Mean?
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What Does “Aionion” Mean?

Fr. Lawrence Farley

Some suggest that the word simply means “age-long”, indicating that the punishment of the unrighteous will endure for an age and then come to an end, and they point out that the root of the word is aeon [αιων], meaning “age”. What are we to make of this?

The Fathers and the Fire
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The Fathers and the Fire

Fr. Lawrence Farley

In this final blog article I will examine some of the Father’s teaching to see how they viewed the pain of hell being consistent with God’s love.

The Morality of Gehenna
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The Morality of Gehenna

Fr. Lawrence Farley

Hell and heaven therefore are in no sense parallel to each other, as the objection presupposes. They are not two different compartments of reality, with heaven on the top-floor penthouse and hell in the basement.

Christian Universalism: Will Everyone Finally Be Saved?
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Christian Universalism: Will Everyone Finally Be Saved?

Fr. Lawrence Farley

I suggest that the latest interest in Universalism, the belief that everyone will eventually be saved, is the latest fad (or, if preferred, that it is currently fashionable).

Destination Weddings
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Destination Weddings

Fr. Lawrence Farley

The popularity of Destination Weddings is a symptom of a more profound cultural dysfunction. The problem is not just that this is a rich person’s game, and one that effectively excludes as guests those not able to bear the cost of jetting away to the Destination and staying at a fancy hotel.

Apocalyptic Spirituality
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Apocalyptic Spirituality

Fr. Lawrence Farley

We know how it will really unfold—with the last trumpet, and the voice of the archangel, and the resurrection of the dead, and the final triumph of Jesus, and the new Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God like a bride adorned for her husband. We know what others don’t. We know the word “maranatha”.

A Poor Man Named Lazarus
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A Poor Man Named Lazarus

Fr. Lawrence Farley

Our Lord’s parable of Lazarus and the rich man is unique among the parables, for in this parable alone one of the characters has a name.

Moving the Boundary Marker
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Moving the Boundary Marker

Fr. Lawrence Farley

The question for Christians is this: is the apostolic Tradition which the Church has received authoritative, or not? Have we the authority to move the ancient boundary landmark which our fathers have set?

America the Great?
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America the Great?

Fr. Lawrence Farley

America has not yet become Babylon the Great, despite the recent legal ruling. But even if it does, so what? We can peek at the end of the Book, and see how the story will end. And it turns out that it will end with glory, with the kingdom of this world becoming the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

Teach Your Children Well
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Teach Your Children Well

Fr. Lawrence Farley

The times have become even more dangerous for children as we descend further and further into spiritual barbarism and as every last trace of Christian faith and morals is banned and banished from our western culture.

Charlie Brown and the Lonely Walk of Faith
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Charlie Brown and the Lonely Walk of Faith

Fr. Lawrence Farley

I have watched it faithfully every year since I can remember, and have the whole wonderful thing more or less memorized by heart.

What Is the Unforgivable Sin?
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What Is the Unforgivable Sin?

Fr. Lawrence Farley

The pastoral irony of all this, of course, is that any Christian who asks a priest with trembling whether or not he has committed the unforgivable sin cannot possibly have committed it, for the question proves that the one asking it loves Jesus and fears being separate from Him.

The Ascension and the Glorification of Man
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The Ascension and the Glorification of Man

Fr. Lawrence Farley

It is especially important to remember this at the Feast of the Ascension, for the Ascension is not only the triumph of God, but even more the triumph of Man. We do not glorify God by belittling man and denying humanity its proper glory. Humanism, with its emphasis on the splendour of the human person, at least gets that right.

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