This years totally new series begins with discussions about our common doubts, drawing from the best seller book, The Reason For God, by Rev. Timothy Keller. On the topic of suffering we draw from the book The Meaining of Suffering and Strife and Reconciliation by Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev. Then the discussion moves to the scriptural teaching on faith as taught by the recent leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, Pope Shenouda III. Then we will move deeper to discuss the Mystery of the Heart, the temple within each of us, as taught by Archimandrite Zacharias from the John the Baptist monastery in England. Finally, we will reflect on the teaching of Saint Silouan of Mount Athos on Peace and Love.
Archimandrite Zacharias is a member of the Patriarchal Stavropegic Monastery of StJohn the Baptist, England, founded by his spiritual father, and translator of Elder Sophrony’s writings from Russian into Greek, he holds degrees in Theology from the Institute of St. Sergius in Paris France, and the University of Thessalonica, Greece, also receiving the degree of Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) from the latter institution for his work on the theology of Elder Sophrony (translated into English under the title, Christ, Our Way and Our Life A Presentation of the Theology of Archimandrite Sophrony). Also he most recently authored The Enlargement of the Heart from which we from material from for this series. This latter book is the recording of a series of lectures delivered in Wichita, Kansas at the 2007 Clergy Brotherhood retreat of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church. The Retreat was held under the direction of the Right Reverend Basil Essey, Bishop of Wichita and the Diocese of Mid-America on February 6-9, 2007.
Timothy Keller was born and raised in Pennsylvania, and educated at Bucknell University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div., 1975), and Westminster Theological Seminary, where he received his D.Min in 1981. He learned most m=form his nine years as pastor of West Hope Presbyterian Church in the small blue collar town of Hopewell, Va. His second Church was Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, which he start in 1989 with his wife Kathy and three young sons. Today Redeemer has nearly six thousand regular attendees at five services, a host of daughter churches, and is planting churches in large cities throughout the world. He is the author of several books, including The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, which garnered awards from World Magazine and Christianity Today and was No. 7 on The New York Times Best Seller list for non-fiction in March 2008. It is the first part of this book that is used in the first part of this series. He book cannot be recommended for Orthodox Christians because it includes a Theology which is quite different that Orthodox Theology. His approach to address young professional who have doubts about Christian belief is very engaging and useful.
Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev lived from 1912-1993. was born on the 25th February 1912 (Old Style) in the village of Gorno Brodi (Serres region). He was the youngest son of poor and pious parents. Under the pressure of the tragic events of the Second Balkan War (June 16, 1913— July 18, 1913, O.S.) they forsook their native land and emigrated, together with their numerous offspring, to Sofia. He finsihed the course of the Orthodox Theological Seminary of Sofia as one of its best pupils and in 1934 became a student in the Faculty of Theology in the University of Sofia. He then became a scholarship student and continued. His life in the foreign land was penurious, his grant sufficed only for the university taxes, while his resources for food and lodgings were scanty. The permanent poverty and the strenuous mental efforts wore him out and he became ill of tuberculosis. When, by God’s mercy, he recuperated, his health was to remain frail until his last breath. He was conferred the academic degree of Doctor of Theology from the Bern University in Switzerland. He was appointed as teacher in the Theological Seminary in Plovdiv, and not long after that was transferred to the Sofia Seminary. On February 3 1940 he was tonsured a monk with the name of Seraphim. In 1945 Hieromonk Seraphim was sent to the town of Sliven, where he served for two years as Protosyngellos of the local metropolitan residence. His selfless and competent work was highly estimated by the ecclesiastical authorities. In January 1947 he was raised to the dignity of Archimandrite and appointed as head of the Department of Culture and Education in the Holy Synod, an office which he held until 1960. In 1960 Archimandrite Seraphim was appointed professor in the Sofia theological academy “Saint Clement of Ochrid”. He was an outstanding pastor, spiritual writer and theologian in contemporary Bulgaria. Today his books and pahpheltes are pivital in rasiing the level of spiritual life amidst the Bulgarian people, and reflect a depth of insight and experience which can touch the souls of all those in the world today who are hungry for God.
Pope Shenouda III was the 117th Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark. His episcopate lasted 40 years, November 1971 until his death on 17 March 2012. He became a monk in 1954 under the name Father Antonios the Syrian after joining the Syrian Monastery of the Ever-Virgin Mary the Theotokos. In 1958, he was elevated to the priesthood. In 1962, Pope Cyril VI summoned Fr. Antonios and consecrated him General Bishop for Christian Education and as Dean of the Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary, whereupon he assumed the name Shenouda, which was the name of the Coptic saint, Shenoute the Archimandrite (lived 347/348–465/466) He was consecrated as Leader of the Coptic Church on 14 November 1971. During his papacy, the Coptic church grew significantly. He appointed the first ever bishops for North American dioceses, which now contain over two hundred parishes (214 in the United States, 38 in Canada and one in Mexico), up from four in 1971. He graduated from Cairo University with a BA in History in 1947. After graduation, he completed his military service as dux (top of group), and began work as a teacher of English, History and Social Sciences in a high school in Cairo. Meanwhile, he attended graduate courses in Archaeology and Classics at Cairo University specializing in the History of Ancient Egypt and Islamic Egypt. He worked as a high school English and Social Studies teacher by day, and attended classes at the Coptic Theological Seminary by night. Upon graduation from the seminary in 1949, he was appointed to teach New Testament and Old Testament Studies at the Seminary. He has written many books one of which is Life of Faith from which we draw material for this series. This book and many of his other book as well as a large number of Orthodox authors can be found on the internet from this location http://www.orthodoxebooks.org.
Saint Silouan of Mount Athos was born Simeon Ivanovich Antonov in 1866 to Russian Orthodox parents who came from the village of Sovsk in Russia's Tambov region. At the age of twenty-seven he left his native Russia and came to Mount Athos, where he became a monk at the Monastery of St. Panteleimon and was given the name Silouan, the Russian version of the Biblical name Silvanus.
An ardent ascetic, he received the grace of unceasing prayer and saw Christ in a vision. After long years of spiritual trial, he acquired great humility and inner stillness. He prayed and wept for the whole world as for himself, and he put the highest value on love for enemies. Thomas Merton, a twentieth-century Catholic monk, described Silouan as “the most authentic monk of the twentieth century.” St Silouan died on September 24, 1938. He was glorified by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1987.
Though barely literate, he was sought out by pilgrims for his wise counsel. His writings were edited by his disciple and pupil, Archimandrite Sophrony. Father Sophrony has written the life of the saint along with a record of St. Silouan's teachings in the book Saint Silouan the Athonite. His teachings on Peace and Love are taken from this book.