What to Do When The Lights Go Out


Is artificial intelligence the fourth death of The Enlightenment & should Orthodox Christians even care particularly much?

Part 1 of a 2 part conversation.


Reference materials for this episode:
- The future of AI
- https://www.wired.com/story/ai-risk-party-san-francisco/
- AI is making us less smart
- https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/your-brain-on-chatgpt/


Scripture citations for this episode:
- Genesis 3
- Tree of Knowledge
- Proverbs 1:1-7
- Instruction produces wisdom

The Christian Saints Podcast is a joint production of Generative sounds & Paradosis Pavilion with oversight from Fr Symeon Kees

Paradosis Pavilion - https://youtube.com/@paradosispavilion9555

https://www.instagram.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://twitter.com/podcast_saints
https://www.facebook.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://www.threads.net/@christiansaintspodcast

Iconographic images used by kind permission of Nicholas Papas, who controls distribution rights of these images

Prints of all of Nick’s work can be found at Saint Demetrius Press - http://www.saintdemetriuspress.com

All music in these episodes is a production of Generative Sounds
https://generativesoundsjjm.bandcamp.com
Distribution rights of this episode & all music contained in it are controlled by Generative Sounds
Copyright 2021 - 2023

Following on our last episode in which we ended with the celebration of the righteous triumph of the gospel, we felt it was important to point out the boundary which must be kept on how we understand this triumph.

With the rise of nationalism in the USA, much of it Christian nationalism, as well as reflecting on such relatively recent tragedies as The Balkan war of the 1990's, it is crucial we understand winning as genuine participation in what God is doing rather than us going out into the world, weapons (rhetorical or military) in hand, to do the winning for Him.


(we didn't get to all this material, but it is relevant)

Reference materials for this episode:
- love of place is tied to attachment to possessions
- Shepherd of Hermas: parable 1
- https://www.strengholt.info/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Book-5-hermas-for-website.pdf
- our desires must be for virtue & we must not fear death
- 2nd Epistle of St Clement: chapter 5
- https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1011.htm


Scripture citations for this episode:
- dwellers in God’s tent (to the Gentiles)
- Ephesians 2: 11-21
- no lasting city (to the Jews)
- Hebrews 13:5-17

The Christian Saints Podcast is a joint production of Generative sounds & Paradosis Pavilion with oversight from Fr Symeon Kees

Paradosis Pavilion - https://youtube.com/@paradosispavilion9555

https://www.instagram.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://twitter.com/podcast_saints
https://www.facebook.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://www.threads.net/@christiansaintspodcast

Iconographic images used by kind permission of Nicholas Papas, who controls distribution rights of these images

Prints of all of Nick’s work can be found at Saint Demetrius Press - http://www.saintdemetriuspress.com

All music in these episodes is a production of Generative Sounds
https://generativesoundsjjm.bandcamp.com
Distribution rights of this episode & all music contained in it are controlled by Generative Sounds
Copyright 2021 - 2023

We start season seven off with by urging you to attend a [Orthodox] church you can't understand. Co-host Jim has realized he wasted 15 years of spiritual progress waiting for a local parish to be served in English. He traveled The Balkans enjoying all kinds of church services he couldn't understand a word of during early May & this dovetails with Fr Symeon's recent efforts to fulfill the wishes of Metropolitan Saba to teach Americans in the Antiochian tradition how to fully embrace & actualize this tradition without "becoming Middle Eastern".

Reference materials for this episode:
- The burning of the relics of St Sava
- https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2023/04/27/100127-the-burning-of-saint-savas-relics
- Episode we did on “change” on a different channel
- https://youtu.be/-Z_6hXs_wMc?si=sTsUeGqcGKMLPGY1
- Nikolai of Zica episode
- https://www.buzzsprout.com/1443073/episodes/14740645

Scripture citations for this episode:
- Swords into ploughshares
- Isaiah 2:1-4
- Let your enemies be scattered
- Psalm 68

The Christian Saints Podcast is a joint production of Generative sounds & Paradosis Pavilion with oversight from Fr Symeon Kees

Paradosis Pavilion - https://youtube.com/@paradosispavilion9555

https://www.instagram.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://twitter.com/podcast_saints
https://www.facebook.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://www.threads.net/@christiansaintspodcast

Iconographic images used by kind permission of Nicholas Papas, who controls distribution rights of these images

Prints of all of Nick’s work can be found at Saint Demetrius Press - http://www.saintdemetriuspress.com

All music in these episodes is a production of Generative Sounds
https://generativesoundsjjm.bandcamp.com
Distribution rights of this episode & all music contained in it are controlled by Generative Sounds
Copyright 2021 - 2023

The fifth Sunday of Lent, the veneration of St Mary of Egypt, is the subject of this season finale episode.

Saint Mary did not leave us with insightful writings. Saint Mary left us with an exemplary life we can strive to emulate. Yet, we have almost no details about how she lived her day to day life & we couldn't emulate it anyway because we don't live alone in a desert. But she clearly spent her life cultivating a deep sense of her sinfulness, a deep repentance of her sins, a profound awareness of God's love & a profound joy at God's forgiveness & these are what we can strive, with God's help, to emulate.

This is the answer to the question asked of the apostles in the second chapter of Acts after the first preaching of the evangelion of Jesus, The Christ: "what then shall we do?"

Reference materials for this episode:
Previous episodes
- Saint Mary of Egypt: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1443073/episodes/8220564
- Sacred Space part 1: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1443073/episodes/16010821

Complete account of St Mary’s life
- https://stmaryofegypt.org/files/library/life.htm



Scripture citations for this episode:
Readings for The Fifth Sunday of Lent
- Hebrews 9:11-14
- Mark 10:32-45

Luke 9:46-48 - parallel to Mark 10 above
Luke 9:51-56 - shall we call down lightning & thunder?
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 - Run the race to complete it & win

The Christian Saints Podcast is a joint production of Generative sounds & Paradosis Pavilion with oversight from Fr Symeon Kees

Paradosis Pavilion - https://youtube.com/@paradosispavilion9555

https://www.instagram.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://twitter.com/podcast_saints
https://www.facebook.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://www.threads.net/@christiansaintspodcast

Iconographic images used by kind permission of Nicholas Papas, who controls distribution rights of these images

Prints of all of Nick’s work can be found at Saint Demetrius Press - http://www.saintdemetriuspress.com

All music in these episodes is a production of Generative Sounds
https://generativesoundsjjm.bandcamp.com
Distribution rights of this episode & all music contained in it are controlled by Generative Sounds
Copyright 2021 - 2023

The Fourth Sunday of Lent, The Veneration of St John Cassian, is the subject of this week's episode.

Jim reflects on the core beliefs which come even before details about The Trinity, The Incarnation, The Virgin Birth, The Death, Resurrection & Ascension of this incarnate God, the singularity of the church which His apostles established, or the succession of bishops who have preserved the divine revelation which was given to those apostles by the incarnate God.

There is someone we have to acknowledge we are, a reality we have to admit is the one in which we live, before we can even begin the lifelong journey of becoming a Christian.

Reference materials for this episode:
Episodes on St John
- https://www.buzzsprout.com/1443073/episodes/10364782
- https://www.buzzsprout.com/1443073/episodes/14611115


Scripture citations for this episode:
Matthew 5:17-20 - Torah will not pass away
Matthew 11:25-30 - easy burden, light yoke
John 10:7-18 - the good shepherd brings abundant life
Romans 7 - our confusion about our own behavior
Philippians 3:6 - blameless under Torah

The Christian Saints Podcast is a joint production of Generative sounds & Paradosis Pavilion with oversight from Fr Symeon Kees

Paradosis Pavilion - https://youtube.com/@paradosispavilion9555

https://www.instagram.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://twitter.com/podcast_saints
https://www.facebook.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://www.threads.net/@christiansaintspodcast

Iconographic images used by kind permission of Nicholas Papas, who controls distribution rights of these images

Prints of all of Nick’s work can be found at Saint Demetrius Press - http://www.saintdemetriuspress.com

All music in these episodes is a production of Generative Sounds
https://generativesoundsjjm.bandcamp.com
Distribution rights of this episode & all music contained in it are controlled by Generative Sounds
Copyright 2021 - 2023

The third Sunday of Lent, The Veneration of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, is the subject of this week's episode.

Jim reflects on the paradox of a device of torture & execution becoming the emblem of our military victory, our triumph, over sin & death.

Reference materials for this episode:
GOA Digital Chanters’ Stand - https://digitalchantstand.goarch.org/goa/dcs/dcs.html
Antiochian Liturgical resources - https://www.antiochian.org/liturgicday


Scripture citations for this episode:
Hebrews 4:14-5:6
Mark 8:34-9:1
John 3:14-17

The Christian Saints Podcast is a joint production of Generative sounds & Paradosis Pavilion with oversight from Fr Symeon Kees

Paradosis Pavilion - https://youtube.com/@paradosispavilion9555

https://www.instagram.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://twitter.com/podcast_saints
https://www.facebook.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://www.threads.net/@christiansaintspodcast

Iconographic images used by kind permission of Nicholas Papas, who controls distribution rights of these images

Prints of all of Nick’s work can be found at Saint Demetrius Press - http://www.saintdemetriuspress.com

All music in these episodes is a production of Generative Sounds
https://generativesoundsjjm.bandcamp.com
Distribution rights of this episode & all music contained in it are controlled by Generative Sounds
Copyright 2021 - 2023

The Second Sunday of Lent, St Gregory Palamas, is the subject of this week's episode.

Considered a second triumph of orthodoxy, because just as the veneration of icons is necessary for Christian worship as we remembered last week, the prayer of a single thought, hesychasm, ceaseless prayer, through which we see the uncreated light of God within ourselves, is also necessary. St Gregory defended this tradition against scholastic innovations from the Latin West which rejected the capacity of the human person to have the direct experience of God.


Reference materials for this episode:
Previous episode about St Gregory
- https://www.buzzsprout.com/1443073/episodes/13986560
The Trinity & The Life of The Soul
- https://enlargingtheheart.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/gregory-palamas-the-trinity-and-the-life-of-the-soul/
Homily on The Second Coming of Christ by St Gregory
- http://www.eschatologia.com/2018/02/homily-on-christs-second-coming-st.html#more

The Ladder of Divine Ascent, St John Climacus - Step 25
Translation & publication by Holy Transfiguration Monastery
revised edition 2012


Scripture citations for this episode:
Hebrews 1:10-2:3
Mark 2:1-12

The Christian Saints Podcast is a joint production of Generative sounds & Paradosis Pavilion with oversight from Fr Symeon Kees

Paradosis Pavilion - https://youtube.com/@paradosispavilion9555

https://www.instagram.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://twitter.com/podcast_saints
https://www.facebook.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://www.threads.net/@christiansaintspodcast

Iconographic images used by kind permission of Nicholas Papas, who controls distribution rights of these images

Prints of all of Nick’s work can be found at Saint Demetrius Press - http://www.saintdemetriuspress.com

All music in these episodes is a production of Generative Sounds
https://generativesoundsjjm.bandcamp.com
Distribution rights of this episode & all music contained in it are controlled by Generative Sounds
Copyright 2021 - 2023

What Does It Mean to Be Orthodox?

The first Sunday of Lent, The Triumph of Orthodoxy, is the subject of this week's episode.

Originally remembering the Old Testament prophets, who spoke truth to power, now remembering the fathers of the 7th ecumenical council, which affirmed the necessity of the veneration of icons in Orthodox worship, Jim takes a few minutes to reflect on why it is Orthodoxy seems to triumph under adversity rather than flourishing when it is the established state religion.


Reference materials for this episode:
Episode remembering The Icon Not Made By Hands
- https://www.buzzsprout.com/1443073/episodes/13419081
Synodikon of Orthodoxy
- https://allsaintsorthodox.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023-03-05-Triumph-of-Orthodoxy.pdf


Scripture citations for this episode:
John 1:43-51
Hebrews 11:24-26, 11:32-12:10

The Christian Saints Podcast is a joint production of Generative sounds & Paradosis Pavilion with oversight from Fr Symeon Kees

Paradosis Pavilion - https://youtube.com/@paradosispavilion9555

https://www.instagram.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://twitter.com/podcast_saints
https://www.facebook.com/christiansaintspodcast
https://www.threads.net/@christiansaintspodcast

Iconographic images used by kind permission of Nicholas Papas, who controls distribution rights of these images

Prints of all of Nick’s work can be found at Saint Demetrius Press - http://www.saintdemetriuspress.com

All music in these episodes is a production of Generative Sounds
https://generativesoundsjjm.bandcamp.com
Distribution rights of this episode & all music contained in it are controlled by Generative Sounds
Copyright 2021 - 2023