Anthony’s Cell

This audio reading presents the article on Ancestral Sin from the Orthodox Study Bible. It begins with God creating mankind, establishing paradise, and commanding Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, saying that on the day he ate from it he would die by death (Genesis 2:16-17). Since Adam and Eve did not physically die that day, the words 'you shall die' point to a spiritual death through separation from God, the source of life.

Ancestral sin is Adam's willing disobedience, by which he fell from God's path to perfection. The reading lists the consequences of the fall: mortality, an inclination toward sin, and the fall of the divine image in man, along with sweat, toil, hunger, thirst, weariness, sorrow, pain, suffering, sickness, tribulations, tragedy, and tears.

It draws on Saint Gregory the Theologian, who says death cuts off sin so evil may not be everlasting, turning God's punishment into a mercy. On the question of guilt, the article states that we are not guilty because of Adam's sin but because of our own. Yet because mankind fell from God's grace through Adam's disobedience, people now have a propensity toward sin, since sin enters through fear of death.

The divine image in man is fallen but not totally corrupted or obliterated. Human nature remains inherently good, and people are still capable of doing good, though bondage to death and the devil can dull their perception of what is good. The intellectual, desiring, and irascible aspects of the soul remain natural and neutral after the fall; they can be used for good or harm, like iron made into a plow or into a sword.

The reading closes with Christ's death and resurrection, by which he conquered the devil and death, freed mankind from the fear of death, and made possible communion with God in which people become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).

An audio reading presents an article from the Orthodox Study Bible titled 'The Holy Trinity: Creator and Savior,' read aloud with singing at the beginning and end. The reading explains that the Holy Trinity is one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, distinct but not separate and not three gods, one in essence or nature.

The Father is the unbegotten fountainhead of deity, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. The article traces the Trinity's work in creating the world through Genesis: the Father made heaven and earth, the Spirit hovered over creation and co-created, and the Son as the Word of God made the light, all with creative power and equality.

In Genesis 1:26, the pronouns 'us' and 'our' reveal a plurality of divine persons operating in unity out of the one divine nature. The reading then shows how the Trinity saves the world: the Father is our redeemer, the Son inherits the people saved by him, and the words 'holy, holy, holy' in Isaiah 6 declare the three persons who save us.

Isaiah 44:3 shows the Father pouring out his Spirit like water on dry ground, and Isaiah 48:16-17 shows the Son declaring that the Father and the Spirit sent him to redeem the world. Although the Son alone became a man, all three persons save mankind. The New Testament affirms the Trinity in the Old Testament: the Word was with the Father at creation, Jesus identifies himself as existing before Abraham as 'I am,' appearing to Moses in the burning bush, and the Spirit's descent at Pentecost affirms his Old Testament presence.

Hebrews 1:8-10 affirms the Father speaking to the Son in the Psalms, acknowledging the Son as God and creator of the world. The incarnate Son fully reveals the Trinity: at the Annunciation the Holy Spirit overshadowed the Virgin Mary, and at the baptism in the Jordan the Father's voice was heard and the Spirit descended like a dove.

As the main hymn for Theophany says, when you, oh Lord, were baptized in the Jordan, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest.

An audio reading from Anthony's Cell presents the article on Creation from the Orthodox Study Bible, drawing on Scripture and St. Basil the Great. The reading opens with the Nicene Creed's confession that the one true God is the maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. St. Basil is quoted on Moses engraving the awesome name of God in our hearts as a seal and safeguard with the words 'In the beginning God created.' God was not forced to create; in his goodness and loving-kindness he freely chose to create the universe out of nothing, in contrast to the creation myths of surrounding ancient cultures.

The reading sets out the roles of Christ the Word, through whom all things were made according to John's Gospel, and of the Holy Spirit, shown in Genesis 1:2, Psalm 103:30, and Psalm 32:6. On the question of science, the reading states that the Orthodox Church has not dogmatized any particular view on the scientific accuracy of Genesis or on evolution.

What is dogmatically proclaimed is that the triune God created everything and that man alone is made in the image and likeness of God, citing Genesis 1:26-27. The Church Fathers affirm that each species came into existence instantaneously at God's command with its seed within itself, and that the development of life was not accident but the work of supreme intelligence and wisdom.

St. Basil, discussing the scientific theories of his day, counsels keeping admiration for the wisdom of God, the source of such perfect order, and recognizing that all that exists is sustained by the creator's power. The reading closes on the repeated 'And God saw that it was good' in Genesis 1, which shows the fundamental goodness of matter and the created order, the basis for a sacramental worldview, with creation's beauty and vastness intended to draw mankind to worship the creator.

An audio reading from Anthony's Cell presents 'On Not Judging One's Neighbor' by Elder Nazarius of Valaam, an instruction on the spiritual danger of condemning others. The elder teaches that it is sometimes better to fall and rise oneself than to judge, because the sinner is led to repentance while the judge becomes hardened in pride.

He calls every person to examine his own conscience, since all are conceived in iniquity and born in sins, and no one can be justified before God by his deeds. God alone is the judge of all creation, and He judges each person according to his strength, station and circumstances. The reading recounts two stories from the Prologue. A holy man who judged a fallen brother was shown by an angel the soul of the one he judged and asked to decide whether it should be placed in the kingdom or in torment; scarcely forgiven, he spent his life in lamentation.

John the Sabayete, in a vision, heard Christ command that he be cast out as an antichrist because he judged his brother before Christ's judgment, and he wandered seven years in the desert until the Lord returned his mantle to him. The elder closes by urging readers to restrain themselves from judging even when they see a sin with their own eyes, to weep and pray for those who fall rather than rejoice over their fall, and to accuse themselves instead of others.

The recording runs just over eight minutes and is divided into chapters covering self-examination, the two Prologue accounts, and the call to prayer and weeping over one's own sins.

An audio reading from Anthony's Cell reflects on why Christians must forgive, drawing on the teachings of St. Seraphim of Sarov and St. Nectarios. Forgiveness is presented as a mystery of the heart and an ascetic practice, not a social courtesy or a feeling. God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and grants life before we ask for it, so forgiving those who cannot ask is an imitation of God rather than of man.

The reading cites St. Seraphim's teaching that anger drives away the presence of the Holy Spirit from the heart, leaving no joy, light, or consolation. Resentment freezes the soul and binds us to the memory of injustice, while forgiveness is our own liberation, not the liberation of the other. Forgiveness does not mean forgetting, excusing, or allowing injustice to continue; it means removing the sin of the other from our heart.

Many people never ask for forgiveness because they cannot: their heart is wounded, darkened, or bound by passions, pride, and fear. Christ on the cross did not wait for his crucifiers to ask; he prayed for them because they did not know what they were doing, and forgiving them becomes a prayer for their enlightenment and healing.

St. Nectarios taught that the most subtle form of pride is wounded speech that pretends to seek justice while actually seeking vindication, and humility breaks these chains. The reading closes with the claim that forgiveness opens the path for the miracles of the heart: even if we never see a result, forgiveness is never wasted and is inscribed in the heart of the one who receives it.

The discussion follows the structure of the reading, moving from forgiveness as healing and imitation of God, through the danger of resentment, to pride and wounded speech, and finally to forgiving without an apology.

An audio reading from Anthony's Cell presents the discourse 'While There Is Time' by Bishop Augustinos of Florina, built on Isaiah 49:8, 'In an acceptable time I have heard thee.' The bishop observes that people find time for passports, tickets, loans, studies and family duties, yet withhold time from God, who created them for salvation.

He contrasts travelers who prepare documents and arrive on time, students who submit applications, and businessmen who pay lenders punctually with the neglect of the soul's preparation for eternity. God did not create us for travel, business, degrees, titles, dowries or weddings; the time of this life, whether twenty, forty, sixty or eighty years, is for salvation.

He addresses specific states of life: the young woman at the mirror, the young man in his car, the housewife at the malls, asking each to kneel and pray daily. He tells the husband buried in papers, TV and magazines to open the Bible with his wife and children. Of the week's 168 hours, God asks one or two for the Sunday liturgy, while people run to dark entertainment centers past midnight yet ask in church how much longer it will last.

Each year is like a komboskini with 365 golden beads, and he urges at least one day of holy confession, the spiritual clinic. He warns that death comes suddenly like a hawk among chickens, citing a mayor of Athens who died of a heart attack at his own birthday party before reaching the table. The discourse closes with the parable of the king's white and black flags: Christ raises his white flag of mercy through the cross, but the time will come when the gates shut and judgment arrives, so we must repent while there is still time.

An audio reading from Anthony's Cell presents 'Concerning Angels,' a chapter from St. John of Damascus's An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. The reading follows opening singing and a Trisagion-style invocation, then works through the text in chapters covering the creation of the angels, their definition and incorporeal nature, free will and immortality by grace, communication without speech, their local limitation and manifestation to man, their guardianship of the earth, and the nine celestial orders.

St. John teaches that God created the angels out of nothing after His own image, as an incorporal race, 'a sort of spirit or immaterial fire,' citing David: 'He maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire.' An angel is an intelligent essence in perpetual motion with free will, ministering to God, and only the Creator knows the form and limitation of its essence.

The angelic nature is rational and free but changeable, able to abide in goodness or turn toward evil; angels are immortal by grace rather than by nature, and they are not susceptible of repentance because they are incorporal. They communicate thoughts without words, created through the Word and perfected by sanctification of the Holy Spirit.

They are circumscribed, present in one place at a time, yet not hemmed in by walls, doors, bars, or seals, and they appear to the worthy in forms the beholders can perceive. They guard the divisions of the earth, are set over nations and regions, and behold God according to their capacity. Whether angels are equal in essence, God alone knows; they differ in brightness and position.

Following Dionysius the Areopagite, the text lists nine ranks in three groups: seraphim, cherubim, and thrones; dominions, powers, and authorities; rulers, archangels, and angels. Angels were created before man, and those who call them creators are 'the mouth of their father the devil,' for God alone is uncreated.

An audio reading presents Epistle LX.1, To Euchratius, About an Actor, by St. Cyprian of Carthage. The letter takes up a case of early Christian discipline: an actor settled among Euchratius' community persists in his art as a master and teacher, and Cyprian rules on whether he may remain in communion with the Church. Cyprian forbids an actor who continues in his disgraceful calling from communicating in the church.

He rejects the excuse that the man no longer performs himself, since he substitutes others in his place, teaching how a man may be broken down into a woman and his sex changed by art. Teaching the art counts as practicing it. Cyprian also appeals to Scripture, noting that the law forbids men to put on a woman's garment and judges such offenders accursed, and he argues that the modesty and credit of the church should not be polluted by so disgraceful a contagion.

He says the actor instructs not for the salvation but for the destruction of boys. The letter also addresses an appeal to poverty. Cyprian answers that the actor's necessity can be assisted among those maintained by the support of the church, if he is content with frugal but innocent food. If the church at Euchratius cannot support him, the actor may transfer to Carthage and receive what is necessary for food and clothing.

Cyprian closes by urging Euchratius to recall the actor to the way of innocence and the hope of eternal life. The reading is divided into chapters covering the argument of the letter, Cyprian's greeting, the question of communion and teaching impure arts, the fallacy of giving up the stage while teaching others, provision for poverty, and the call to repentance.