What defines the ministry of the Apostles?
Peter's confession.
The hundred and fifty three fish and the Restoration of Peter.
The life of the Apostles and the church is built upon the bedrock of the confession of faith.
If the "LISTEN NOW" link does not work, copy this URL into your browser: http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/feasts-of-the-saints-06-29_2008-07-12+holy-apostles-peter-and-paul.m3u
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I've been reading your blog for about a month now. I'm so blessed by your homilies. May our Lord Jesus bring many to your parish.
I was received into the Orthodox Church on Lazarus Saturday of this year. My journey out of Evangelical Protestantism took several years. Each step toward the Holy Orthdox Catholic Church was mixed with a blend of pain-filled tears and joyous anticipation. I live amidst non-Orthodox family and friends. The responses toward my conversion were quite varied. Some warned that I would be worshipping a "false Christ" a "different Jesus." Others didn't quite know what to make of me, as if I might be on the path of becoming odd. Some understood because they knew of the inner struggle and turmoil I had undergone trying to live within the Evangelical camp.
The Holy Mysteries were the impetus that propelled me to go forward. Having been within a Christian tradition that was stripped bare of the myseries, I was left feeling increasingly empty. Living within a tradition that relegated the first 1500 years of Christian history, the Early Church Fathers, and Holy Tradition as virtually insignificant, a cognitive dissonance set in. What does one do if they have no idea what their roots are? They live in ignorance, as I once did.
I now live in deep appreciation for the gift God has given me. The gift of revealing the truth and beauty of "the faith once for all delivered to the saints." That faith is to be found in the Holy Orthodox Catholic Church.