Sword in the Fire

Sin Offering : Lev. 4 Unlike the previous offerings we have discussed there are various degrees within this sacrifice. The material offered was determined by the nature of the offense and the rank of the individual for unintentional sins. Different offerings were made depending on whether the sacrifice was for a priest, a leader, a common person, or even the congregation as a whole. A young bullock was offered for a sin of the whole congregation (Lev. 4:13), for a sin of the high priest (Lev. 4:3), for the high priest on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:3), and for the consecration of priests and Levites to their offices (Exo. 29:10,14,35; Num. 8:8). A she-goat was offered for a sin by one of the common people (Lev. 4:28,32; 5:6). This offering could be combined with others such as a whole burnt offering or peace offering, but if the sin offering was needed it had to be the first offered. Sin had to be dealt with before anything else. No doubt this was designed to make the people awa...

The Bible is here and in my hands! Actually our parish has had copies for 2 weeks now. Rick Mansfield, a good friend of mine, has a wonderful blog that tends to focus on Bible translation. This is not by design but it is one of his big interests and therefore he has a lot of articles regarding translations. In fact, whenever I have a question about a translation I go to Rick's blog or to Rick himself. He has article on most modern English translation and even the various Greek and Hebrew Bibles that exist. Rick asked me to write a review of the Bible which you can find here. I am sorry for the lack of updates because now my study notes from class are really backed up. I plan on resuming the post soon.

Many Orthodox parishes around the country will use this recent prayer service during the celebration of American Thanksgiving. This is a beautiful service of prayer that was penned only recently (1940's). The following is an account of its author (Hieromartyr Gregory Petroff) and composition: " The Archpriest Gregory Petroff was a man who lived and died under this madness. How can we understand the senseless cruelty and slaughter that took place in Communist Russia? We can only by faith in God’s eternal and saving providence. “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you’” (John 15:20). It is said that Fr. Gregory was murdered while in a prison camp, but not before he was able to pen the poignant AKATHIST OF THANKSGIVING, giving to the Church and to the world light from great darkness, reminding us that even in the midst of frightful suffering true Christian conviction and courage ar...

Thoughts on Sacrifice and Sacraments/Mysteries: One of the things that I have mentioned is that all the sacrifices represent ultimately the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Everything in Scripture points to the cross. The OT was preparation for the Cross, and the NT explains the Cross. We have talked about how we enter the sacrifice of Christ through the Eucharist. However, this is the basis for all sacraments or mysteries. All sacramental acts are us participating in the Cross or the Sacrifice of Christ. Eg, Baptism, Confession, Marriage, etc. Not just the standard Sacraments but all sacramental activities such as prayer, veneration of icons, almsgiving, fasting. Grain or Drink Offering: Lev. 2 - usually accompanied other sacrifices (peace or burnt) - 1. fine flour (priest would take and mix with oil, incense and salt and place on top of whatever other sacrifice was being offered) 2. baked cakes (flat bread mixed with oil, salt, & incense) 3. boiled as a dumpling (w/ salt, oil, ...

The link to this article originally came from Fr. Stephen Freeman at Glory to God for All Things: Incarnational Approach to Orthodoxy in Indonesia An Interview with Fr.Dionysios (Rm.Dionisius Surya Halim)and his presbytera Artemia Rita: Orthodoxy was first established in Indonesia in Batavia, Java as a parish of the Harbin Diocese in accordance with the Ukase of the Harbin Diocesan Council of November 23, 1934, № 1559. In the late 1940's, the parish was under the omophorion of Archbishop Tikhon of San Francisco. Unfortunately, after the Dutch relinquish their powers to the local leadership, many of the Russian parishioners have already fled during this period of civil unrest, and eventually the parish closed in the early 1950s, when its rector Fr Vasily immigrated to the USA. The following is an online interview conducted by orthodox.cn with Fr.Dionysios (and his wife Presbytera Artemia Rita), one of the six newly ordained priests in Indonesia. Archimandrite Daniel Orthodox.cn: Th...

The Major Sacrifices of the OT: Whole Burnt Offering Grain Offering (also the Drink Offering) Peace Offering Sin Offering Trespass Offering A couple words on sacrifice: The sacrifice of Christ on the cross is multi-dimensional. There is not one image that can fully display all that happened. Because of this there were multiple sacrifices given in the OT in order to picture the content of the sacrifice of Christ. The sacrifice of Christ is the ultimate expression of Christ's self-emptying love. The extent of this love demonstrates for man the life of the Trinity ("if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father"). Just as the tabernacle is a picture of what is happening in heaven. We also have a sacrifice for us that is going on for us in heaven eternally. Jesus is eternally offering His perfect sacrifice to the Father on our behalf. The Greek for offering is “anaphora”. In the Liturgy we are joining into the one eternal sacrifice that Christ made to the Father on the cross...

The previous entry discussed the Tabernacle up to the Holy of Holies. The next piece will discuss the Altar of Incense and the Holy of Holies. Altar of Incense : This is considered part of the Holy of Holies even though technically not in there. For example, in the NT we see Zachariah (John the Baptist’s father) at the altar of incense making the daily offering. This is where God spoke to him through an angel about the birth of John. What were the people doing while he was offering the incense? Praying. - 3ft high - was gold and just like the bronze altar it had four horns on the four corners - the priest were to burn incense every morning and evening - the incense was made of 4 spices and was considered holy and the people could not use the formula for anything else. Lev 10:1; Num 16ff - symbol of the prayers and praises of the people of God - Ps. 141 - “let my prayer arise as incense before Thee, and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice.” - Mal 1:1; Rev. 8:...