Hello everybody, this is Jason Terpak here. I'm coming to you with a follow-up video from my video of seven years ago titled, My Conversion to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. It had a lot of views, enough that I feel I need to make this video to clarify things as they stand today. Ever since the mid-2000s, I had a back-and-forth journey between evangelicalism and Eastern Orthodoxy. due mostly to my studies in church history and theology in the Bible.
I even wrote a short book titled Evangelical to Eastern Orthodoxy, and I completed the three-year St. Stephen's Certificate in Orthodox Theology. Today, as I record this video, I publicly renounce Eastern Orthodoxy and its teachings. There are three primary reasons, three primary theological reasons for this. Icons, Mary, and Salvation, and I'll look at those briefly with you.
The first reason is icons. Icons are central to the Eastern Orthodox, both in public worship and personal devotion. They are images of Christ, Mary, and the saints, which are kissed, prayed through, decorated, carried in processions, sensed, and lighted as a major part of Eastern worship.
The Orthodox claim that this tradition goes all the way back to the Apostles, with Saint Luke being the first iconographer. Icons are sometimes called windows into heaven. The Seventh Ecumenical Council helped to re-establish their veneration and use after the iconoclast controversy. But contrary to Orthodox claims, the earliest Christians'use of art was with simple images such as the anchor, the lamb, the ship, and the fish. to represent Christ, the anchor of our souls, and the Lamb of God, etc.
These images are closer than icons to the more developed frescoes found at the earliest house church in Dura Europis. In one of my assigned textbooks from the St. Stephen's program, called The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire, the author states, The early church avoided figural representation of Christ. for various reasons, end quote.
Then she goes on to say, and so in the catacombs Christ was portrayed by means of symbols, but by the fourth century it was clear that special material objects such as the cross and other holy relics were being widely venerated, end quote. The author also states, by the early fifth century the worship of religious images was being practiced in the church, and by that she means the veneration. Not that people are literally worshiping images, but they're using them in their worship. However, every year on the first Sunday of Lent, the Orthodox celebrate the triumph of Orthodoxy on what is called the Sunday of Orthodoxy. On this day, they celebrate the restoration of the icons to what they believe is their rightful place.
If you want to read a defense of icons, you can look at the writings of St. John of Damascus or Theodore the Studite. But from the information available in church history, we do not see an early Christian practice in which icons are included. We see a use of simple art to remind the Christians of certain spiritual themes or truths. These are some quotes from some of the early Christian writers. about images.
One of the authors, at least, is an accepted Orthodox source. One of the authors is not accepted, but he heavily influenced a very accepted source. I'll just read them to you without explanation.
From Origen, Origen said, but it is not possible at the same time to know God and to address prayers to images. But it is not possible at the same time to know God and to address prayers to images. He also said they cannot tolerate temples, altars, or images, speaking of the Christians.
Clement of Alexandria wrote, works of art cannot be both sacred and divine. Justin Martyr said, and this is the sole accusation you bring against us. that we do not reverence the same gods as you do, nor offer to the dead libations and the savor of fat and crowns for their statues and sacrifices. Lactantius said, wherefore it is undoubted that there is no religion wherever there is an image.
Again, wherefore it is undoubted that there is no religion wherever there is an image. So if icons are an integral part of Eastern Orthodoxy, but are in fact a development and not in fact apostolic, Eastern Orthodoxy cannot claim to be... thoroughly apostolic. In other words, one of the most major parts of Orthodox faith and practice are the icons called the holy icons, and they're really indeed from a non-apostolic origin.
Number two, the second theological reason I reject Eastern Orthodoxy is in regards to their beliefs and practices regarding Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary is indeed very important in the history of salvation. She was, in fact, the virgin mother of Jesus, the Son of God who came to be our Savior.
Extreme veneration of Mary is the second big reason for my rejection of Eastern Orthodoxy. Although I see biblically that Mary was highly favored by God to bear and raise his son, I still do not see... Orthodox veneration and theology about her as biblical or truly ancient.
Mary's icon is included in every Orthodox church in the world. Her intercessions are asked regularly in private prayers and liturgical services. According to the late Metropolitan Callistos, she is regarded to be without actual sin.
Mary is regarded in orthodoxy to be without actual sin. Here are a couple of New Testament scriptures to think about. She's not mentioned very much in the New Testament at all. She's mentioned in the Gospels and never mentioned in the Epistles.
But we read this in Luke chapter 11 verses 27 and 28. It says, A certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bear thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. This woman was praising Jesus'mother, but Jesus didn't take that as an opportunity and springboard into a detailed theology of Mary. and her role in salvation. He said, yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.
Matthew chapter 12, we read these words in verses 46 through 50. It says, while he yet talked to the people, behold his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother.
The earliest support for the veneration of Mary cannot be seen historically back before about 250 AD, where a fragment of a hymn to her has been found. Yes, Mary is very important. Yes, she did play a role in salvation history by being the birth giver of the Son of God, but she's not to be venerated.
She's not to be asked for prayers. Here I should note there are not many writings in the English-speaking world that argue against Eastern Orthodoxy, and not all of them are entirely of a good quality. There are two books that I know of that argue against Eastern Orthodoxy.
One by Robert Morey, and I would say it's not probably the best book to recommend, and the other is by Joshua Schuping. There's also a book called Through Western Eyes, which seeks to be an objective treatment of both the Reformed Protestant tradition and Eastern Orthodoxy and their differences. The best approach a person considering these things is to first study the scriptures.
It's probably not found in those books. I'd say something could be found, but not much. First, study the scriptures. Second, study the first 300 years of the church.
Third, ask questions of your priests and ministers, priests and pastors, while expecting thorough answers. Don't just Let them give you pat answers and send you off. But expect thorough answers.
And if you don't get it, follow up. And if the follow up doesn't help, talk to other pastors or priests. And do your own research, by the way.
Study the scriptures, like I said, number one. Fourth, pray for wisdom. God will give wisdom to those who seek him.
Fifth, don't settle one way or the other. Until you have a clear conscience, if you're trying to discern where to spend your Christian life and where your family is going to worship and be involved in community, it's a very big decision. And taking them back and forth like I have, that's not a good thing.
Study and be patient and pray and ask questions and discuss. Back to it then. The third theological reason I reject Eastern Orthodoxy is the clear biblical teaching that we are made right with God by faith and not by works.
The clear biblical teaching that we are made right with God by faith apart from good deeds. Consider these scriptures, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 10. For by grace are ye saved through faith. and that not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. It says we are saved by grace through faith.
And this scripture I'm going to have you look at on your own. Romans chapter 4, verses 1 through 5. I think this is one of the most clear passages in the Bible to point out that a person is made right with God by faith, apart from works. St. Paul, Paul the Apostle, wrote in Romans chapter 4, verses 1 through 5, about how Abraham, our father Abraham, was made right with God. And he says it was by faith, it was not by works.
or he had something to boast about. Now, people who argue and say, yes, Paul does say that we're not justified by works, the works of the law, by keeping the commandments. In this case of Abraham, since we know chronologically in the Bible, Abraham came before Moses. When it says that he was made right with God by faith and not works, it could not be arguing against works of the law. or keeping the commandments.
It's about works or good deeds, period. Nobody is made right with God by anything but faith, grace through faith, which we just read in Ephesians 2, and there in Romans 4, by faith apart from works. It's a very clear passage. Again, I say it one more time so you can read this at home.
Read it in multiple translations. If you know Greek, read it in Greek. Romans chapter 4 verses 1 through 5 about Abraham's justification or being made right with God by faith.
And someone will come back and argue and say, well, James, St. James in his epistle talks about being justified by works and not by faith alone. And I believe if we study James, we do see indeed that he's talking about justified like in... Proverbs chapter 5 or somewhere where it talks about wisdom is justified over children, the Apostle James is talking about our faith is evident by our good works. Not talking about the same justification of being made right with God, but talking about showing forth our faith through our good deeds.
Because we don't want to pit one apostle against another and say, St. James says we're saved by works and St. Paul says we're saved by faith. Well, that's a contradiction. We can't have contradiction in the Bible.
Although we work together with God, this is the concept of synergia, synergy, we are not working for our salvation. Salvation is a gift. It's given to us by grace through faith.
We cannot earn it. We do not work for it. Real faith produces good works.
But neither works of the law or moral good deeds can earn us salvation or complete our salvation or add to our salvation. I was reading one priest, Orthodox priest homily, I think it must have been, and he was saying we're introduced into the life of faith by grace through faith, but we have to have these continual good deeds and there's the Orthodox teaching of theosis. which, by the way, is not as historical as people would like to make it out to be.
You can cherry pick one or two Bible verses and some early quotes from the very earliest fathers, but it's really quite a development of much later. It is only by initial faith in Christ and continued faith in Christ that we can be saved. Some people say we're...
saved by grace through faith and then it's a one-time good deal and we don't have to do anything else well we don't except we have to have faith still it's by our faith that we're connected to god through christ and if we don't continue to trust christ then we've apostatized not from the eastern orthodox church but from from christ falling away from even from god Do good works demonstrate our faith? Sure. Do good works in a real way strengthen and reinforce our faith?
Absolutely. But do works of any kind save us or keep us saved? Absolutely not. There are other reasons that I reject Eastern Orthodoxy.
I can't go into them all, but I'll list a few. Like the changes that have been made in the way the Orthodox distribute the Eucharist. As explained in Wybrew's work, The Orthodox Liturgy, these are changes in the unchanging, unchanged church. And I'm not going to go into the details.
I'd like you to research it, figure it out yourself. The development of a celibate or non-married hierarchy, meaning unmarried bishops. Bishops cannot marry and have children, but they did for the first three, four hundred years. We know that Peter was married, and we know Paul talked about it. Do we not have the right to lead about a believing wife as the other apostles?
The Eastern Orthodox anathemas of all other Christians who are not a part of them. That's a big reason for me. The Orthodox say that there's no salvation. No salvation.
for those who are in a church outside of the Orthodox Church. And there's some kind of, I don't want to call it dancing about, but they'll say, well, we know where salvation is, but we do not know where salvation is not. And they say, who knows, maybe some people can be saved outside the Orthodox Church. But if you get really down into it, the Orthodox every year anathematize all the other Christians, say, You all are far from God for rejecting the Orthodox faith. Another reason, and this is probably the last one I might share, is the almost mandatory fasting that's imposed on the people for 200 plus days a year.
And this is likely an imposing of monastic practice on people with jobs and families. I heard a Greek bishop once say, and maybe a couple, you know, I'm pretty sure two or three others say that fasting is voluntary. And I've even asked about it. Oh, yes, it is voluntary. But in many parishes, you're likely to be regarded as a second-class Christian if you don't participate in regular fasting, including these 200-plus days a year.
Forty-day fasts, twice a week. Jesus said, when you fast, and yeah, fasting is good. and you should fast, but trying to push it on to people about when they should and how they should, it's not the best, it's not the best thing. If you've been around evangelical converts to orthodoxy, you'll realize that this video is not an opposite reaction to the negative attitudes and words of converts toward their former confessions.
It's usually pretty... I don't know what the word is, condescending and very, very proud. These are just the reasons why I'm not Eastern Orthodox, and I think these are legitimate concerns that anybody should have.
And they're concerns that keep me from going back, and I think might keep many from fully pursuing that direction. And some who did pursue it might look into some of these things and find out, hey, this is definitely not the path that I should be on. I believe that a person who actively, as a person who actively worked to bring others to Eastern Orthodoxy and even publicly did so, I need to publicly renounce it and provide some of the reasons for my decision.
I can't just say I'm no longer Orthodox. Well, why? You just got tired of fasting or something? Looks like I did. I got to work on my fasting, huh?
Orthodox people have been some of my best friends, so I hope that they realize this is not a vicious attack on them or their communion. They choose to be Orthodox. They have reasons. Everyone should have reasons for what they believe and practice, trust me. But I sought to be objective and civil in this video.
For those who will question my motives or anything else, I'll let the truth speak for itself. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. He didn't say but by the Orthodox Church or but by any other church or any other person. God bless you.
I'm glad that you listened. Feel free to comment. I probably won't get to all the comments, but I'll try to read as many as I can and comment on some of them.
But I hope that this video has been a benefit to you. Feel free to like it and share it. God bless you and hope you all are doing great. Those who are celebrating Easter tomorrow and those who are celebrating Easter next week, happy Easter. Christ is risen.