Joel Dunn सार्वजनिक
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A weekly podcast of meditations on Orthodox theology, the lives of the saints, and the hymnody of the Orthodox Church for your podvig (spiritual struggle). Podvig: A Russian Orthodox term approximating “spiritual struggle." St. Theophan the Recluse defines our entire Christian life as podvig. He explains that the spirit hates sin, while the flesh dwells in it. How is this battle within ourselves to be resolved? Through podvig, that spiritual struggle of bringing the soul into mastery over th ...
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According to the Genesis 3 account of the fall of Man, the first and most immediate result of Adam and Eve’s consumption of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil was the realization that they were naked. According to St. Ambrose of Milan: "Whoever has lost the covering of his nature and virtue is naked." --- Send in a voice message: https://p…
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The law written by the hand of God on stone tablets represents the law’s inability to enliven the dead, for when Moses descended the mountain, the people had already created the golden calf. Therefore, the tablets were remade and Moses wrote on the stone tablets. But Christ, who fulfilled the law and took His life back up again, now writes the law …
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This episode focuses on sharing the afflictions of Christ through bearing our own cross. Sacrifice was established as soon as mankind was expelled from paradise where Adam and Eve did not sacrifice their own will, but instead took the fruit for themselves. Love in sacrifice and sacrifice in love are the cornerstones of true Life. Without love, sacr…
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This episode delves into the concept of the cross as baptism from the Old Testament to the New, in which Christ calls His crucifixion a baptism. Sign up at https://thepodvig.com to get the full transcript episode! Support the podcast here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepodvigpod/support --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.s…
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Like the wooden horse given to the city of Troy, the Cross of Jesus Christ is not at all what it seems. It is dead wood that produced the ripened fruit of eternal life; it's a sword disguised as gallows. Sign up at https://thepodvig.com to get the full transcript episode! Support the podcast here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepodvigpo…
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The prophecy of St. Simeon the God-receiver involves both Christ and His mother. This episode explores the biblical, liturgical, and theological meaning of the Theotokos becoming the new Eve and her essential role in the Kingdom of God. Get the full transcript by signing up at https://www.thepodvig.com/Support the podcast here: https://podcasters.s…
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Your life, beloved, is a war and temptation precipitates each battle. Saint Theophan the Recluse said it this way: “The arena, the field of battle, the site where the fight actually takes place is our own heart and all our inner man. The time of battle is our whole life.” St. James tells us that every man is tempted from within, being lured away by…
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St. Peter teaches that “as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16So how does one be Holy? Is that just a platitude or is it actually achievable? Support the podcast to help keep this thing going! https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepodvigpod/supportVis…
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In its ancient understanding, technology (“techne” in Greek) is a form of spiritual knowledge and skill granted to humans by the divine for their empowerment. Although we tend to think of technology as its physical application, it universally originates from the spiritual realm. Therefore, the use of technology doesn’t just have physical repercussi…
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A simple life is not about depriving ourselves of earthly joy, comfort, or material possessions. Rather, it is a deliberate choice to reorient our lives toward what truly matters. Simplifying our lives allows us to shed that which weighs us to this Earth, while at the same time knowing that: "The spiritual life does not remove us from the world, bu…
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Christ reconciled the entire human race through his death, burial, and resurrection, and, like Adam, provided both a body and the blood necessary for His bride, the Church. Pentecost is the recreation of the woman, wherein God breathes the Holy Spirit into the body and blood taken from the side of His Son on the cross. The power of the Holy Spirit,…
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Humility is the preeminent Christian virtue. It is a disposition of the heart and mind, which recognizes one’s true self and one’s complete dependence on God. According to St. Isaac the Syrian, “The sum of all virtues is humility. By it, the soul is made like God." In this episode, we will briefly explore ‘humility’ from an Orthodox perspective, an…
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We are terrestrial beings, being made from Earth. Therefore we have physical bodies, but we are enlivened with God-breathed souls. Therefore, mankind is made from a unique combination of earth and spirit. We have physical bodies, but we are not primarily earthen. While there is no official Orthodox dogma on the subject, Sts. John of Damascus and Gr…
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Please forgive me for not posting an episode in a while. My wife gave birth to our 9th child recently and priorities had to shift. Not to mention the lack of sleep that made writing this episode much more difficult. The episode explores Divine Light as well as create light. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepod…
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St. Gregory Palamas teaches that “[God] is not revealed in his essence (ousia), for no one has ever seen or described God's nature; but he is revealed in the grace (charis), power (dynamis) and energy (energeia) which is common to Father, Son and Spirit … Distinctive to each of the three is the person (hypostasis) of each… Shared in common by all t…
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Pride was the first sin to enter the world through man. Adam and the woman desired to “be like God,” and consumed, without a blessing, the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. St. James tells us, God is neither tempted nor does He tempt, but “each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has…
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Psalms 103:2 describes God as one: “Who cover[s] [Himself] with light as with a garment…”God’s first creation was light. Genesis 1:3 But it is not until verse 14 that God creates the heavenly bodies in the firmament that give off light. There was light before there were lights.This makes sense. We know there was light before there was creation at a…
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It's been a few weeks since I posted an episode. Forgive me. There's been a lot going on over that time and now Orthodox Christmas is upon us. For about 12 days recently I was stricken with a debilitating health issue. I endured a lot of pain and required a cane just to walk for several of those days. One night last week I couldn't sleep because of…
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In the Unseen Warfare, Saints Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain and Theophan the Recluse tell us that “the enemy watches [us] constantly, waiting for an opportunity to sow evil in [us].” They implore us, “be doubly watchful over yourself, lest you fall in the nets spread for you.” St. Maximos the Confessor observes that “God allows the demons to attac…
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Acquiring patience is a hard lesson and one that persists to the end of our earthly sojourn. In the Church, patience is considered a virtue. St. Paul famously lists patience in his discourse on the fruit of the spirit. Noah Webster defined Patience as The suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil, with a calm, unruff…
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“The heart is but a small vessel; and yet dragons and lions are there, and there likewise are poisonous creatures and all the treasures of wickedness; rough, uneven paths are there, and gaping chasms. There also is God, there are the angels, there life and the Kingdom, there light and the apostles, the heavenly cities and the treasures of grace: al…
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Happy Thanksgiving everyone! In this episode, I’d like to tell you about America’s actual First Thanksgiving. In the spring of 1618, four gentlemen met in London, England, to negotiate the formation of a new company, The Berkeley Company, and to start a town and plantation in the colony of Virginia. They had received a grant from King James I for 8…
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“The saints,” says St. Silouan the Athonite, “were people like all of us. Many of them came out of great sins, but by repentance, they attained the Kingdom of Heaven. And everyone who comes there comes through repentance, which the merciful Lord has given us through His sufferings.”This is but an echo of Our Lord’s answer when asked if few will be …
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To what extent does one pursue physical healing? To what lengths should one go? When should one stop such a pursuit and simply rely on God’s providence? How do we obtain the phronema or the mind of the Church with respect to our own bodily suffering?The lives of the saints suggest that there is no singular answer to these questions other than to st…
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You may be aware of the following quote from St. Silouan the Athonite: "Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not." But do you know the context of that quote? Check out this episode to learn about it and stay for the timeless wisdom of a beloved Siant, whose humility and love for God and man stand as a shining beacon for us all. The episode is a serie…
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According to St. Seraphim of Sarov, “Just as the Lord is solicitous about our salvation, so too the murderer of men, the devil, strives to lead a man into despair…” Being exposed by our sins should humble us. It should bring us to blessed tears of repentance. But we must never ever sink into despair. In order to receive the promise of adoption, we …
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St. Dyonisuis the Areopagite, a greek convert to Christianity in the 1st century when St. Paul preached in Athens at the Areopagus, said that: “[E]vil is Non-Existent.” This may seem to be a mind-bending concept, but we can look to Genesis Chapter 1 to help explain this concept: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth wa…
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Since the undertaking of a podvog involves the acceptance of sufferiung and the practice of self-sacrifice, let us briefly address, at least briefly, the different perspectives of suffering as it relates to salvation in Eastern Orthodoxy as opposed to Western Christianity. In Orthodox Christianity, suffering has no intrinsic value and does not disc…
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“[I]n the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33Certainly, we can rightly abhor suffering and physical death, which are the result of sin, but we cannot, as Christians, be afraid of or avoid either one of them. Patiently enduring one’s cross for the sake of love is the only path to the Kingdom …
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A sermon by St. John Maximovich of Shanghai and San Francisco in Serbia in 1928 on St. Seraphim of Sarov. The sermon is as applicable to us today as it was then. As in the time of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, the royal martyrs, we too, find ourselves on some sort of precipice. Something in the world is changing around us such that we can sense,…
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This week, I share a story from an Elder on Mt. Athos about a layman who undertook a podvig (spiritual struggle) in simple obedience, which resulted in a miraculous spiritual accomplishment. We also learn of the dangers of pride in such instances. "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with…
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Genesis tells us that man was created according to the image and likeness of God. St John of Damascus said ‘The expression according to the image indicates rationality and freedom, while the expression according to the likeness indicates assimilation to God through virtue.’ In the garden, mankind was adorned with all virtue, but it was lost as a re…
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In this inaugural episode I briefly explain the history of the concept of podvig, outline it's aim as the struggle for true freedom, and set the stage for future meditations on this integral spiritual discipline. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepodvigpod/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify…
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1 Peter 4:12-13"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy" Hello and welcome to Podvig. I'm Joel Dunn. What is Podvig? Essent…
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