in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit one God Amen dear ones you see from the title of this video that this is the the five-word sentence that I think is a response to nearly every Protestant argument against Orthodoxy before I get to what those five words are uh I will tell you that there seemed to be an increase of uh videos on YouTube of uh various Protestants who are are trying to somehow dis prove uh the legitimacy or truth of the Orthodox Christian Church um I thought about perhaps doing videos that that address some of the specific uh charges and accusations uh there's one in particular uh that's very lengthy I haven't even watched the whole thing yet but uh I mean every few seconds uh there's something brought up that that requires a response I've thought about doing a point BYO response I really don't have the time for that so it'll take me some time before I can even finish that I think I'm about a third of the way through and it's it's an hour and 20 minutes or so um it just takes a lot of work to do that um but at the same time do I really want to uh give more attention to some of these critical videos probably not um there are with specific criticisms that have have come out there are some some priests and some others uh who have done some podcasts who I think have done a really good job of expl explaining theologically why the criticisms don't hold and what the real Orthodox position is on these things I think there's a lot that can be said about each specific critique but whenever I I see these videos I always come back to the same thought and that thought is if your understanding and your practice of Christianity is better then you should have better results than we find in the Orthodox Church you should be able to have better results what do I mean by results well what I mean is we should be able to create holy figures there's nothing in the scriptures nowhere is can you find a place where we are told that the way the apostles were after Pentecost was only for that time and that the great understanding the great confidence with which they spoke even speaking on behalf of of of God at the council in Jerusalem the Apostle said it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us those that is a bold statement to boldly claim to be speaking on behalf and with the Holy Spirit to have Clairvoyance to be able to read people's thoughts and hearts to work miracles and not only to work miracles and even raised from the dead but to have objects that you touch work miracles themselves to have the grace in you flood into a handkerchief which then people use to have Mir there's nothing in the scripture that suggests that that was going to end as soon as the last Apostle died and in fact what you see if you read church history is that every single age has produced figures like this every single age there are stories of of the miraculous and stories of transfigured men and women who are so Grace filled that sometimes just being in their presence changes people's lives so what what is my fword response to almost any Protestant criticism show me your sa pus show me your St pus I confessed that I was originally going to title this my two-word response to every Protestant argument against Orthodoxy and just have those two words be St pus but someone rightly pointed to me pointed out to me that if that was the title my two-word response some people might assume something a little bit less appropriate so so I changed it to this this five-word response show me your St pus why do I say that in English there are two wonderful lives of St pus that have been translated uh the first one was done by his disciple Hier monk Isaac and it's this one Elder pus of Mount AOS uh there's an updated uh cover uh now that's a little bit more yellow with an icon of him um and it may it may have changed the title to St pus mono I don't remember but either way it's by ham monk Isaac uh this book is is uh especially wonderful in the fact that after his life which is told and you can see it's it's rather lengthy um but after his life which takes up over 300 Pages here uh yeah about 320 Pages or 330 Pages um it then goes into different aspects of his character his virtues and uh and uh sayings um spiritual gifts Miracles that he performed I mean there's just so much in here in that second part that I thought was so worthwhile if that were a book in and of itself it' be worthwhile um as a life it's good but if you want just a life that works in some of the teachings and miracles and everything this I think is an even better life they're both worthwhile I really recommend both this is St pus the athonite done by the Montery that uh where his relics Repose now the holy hustan evangelist John the Theologian in Thessalon Greece uh again both books are well worth it um because they're both Imports they can both be tough to find and when you do find them they can be a little bit pricey so you might spend $50 for a book like this is it worth it it's absolutely worth it now when I say show me your St pus why am I saying that I I really could choose you know inumerable Saints uh but I think that St pesos being recent having these great lives uh having much of many of his writings now translated you can find six volumes of his collected recorded talks uh in addition to three other books uh athonite fathers and athonite matters which talks about a lot of the Lesser known athonite Elders that he knew or he knew of um St arenus the cidian and Elder uh Yodas um which is a um a great book about a Orthodox Christian it's very short small you can also find a book of his Epistles um so there's and there's other books about him as well but there's just there's there's a great Library full of of things about St pesus but if you want to read his life which is what I really recommend starting with you want one or both of these books and when you when you read these what you discover is someone who looked and spoke and thought and acted just like the apostles it's one of the things that I I say very frequently the Orthodox Christian never has to act has to ask the question what would the apostles say and do if they were alive today because we have figures who were inspired by the same Holy Spirit in the same way that the apostles were alive in our own times St Joseph the hesus St St pidos of CIA s yakos of Evia uh eldis macrina Yan macrina uh and and of course St pesos and when we look at these figures you realize the holy spirit continues to work in the same ways For Those whom he has been welcomed in the same way what does it mean to welcome the Holy Spirit it doesn't mean just to accept Christ as your lord and savior it means to purify your heart to an extent that you become a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit makes a throne in your heart for Christ and you can say with St Paul it's no longer I who live but Christ lives me now there are those who are going to hear this and they're going to say well father there are plenty of Protestants out there who claim to work miracles too what's the difference well it's very hard to put into words but if you actually read these books you'll find that there's an extreme difference because this is not just about somebody who claims to work miracles and in fact many of the Miracles they would try to hide they didn't make a show of themselves but it was somebody who is inwardly transformed such that as I said people would encounter them and just the encounter with them could often be life-changing it's figures who have been absolutely transfigured by the virtues by immense unutterable humility not a human humility that just simply looks down on myself or ignores myself but a Divine humility the humility that that Christ has they have an immense love they have a love for their enemies for those who make accusations against there's a great story of St pus when he was a young monk there were two monks who were quarreling and o as I drop one they were quarreling and St pesus was very very upset that these two monks were uh were arguing with each other and accusing one another and they they could not find reconciliation so what did St pus do he went to the first and he said please don't be mad with with brother so and so what happened between you was a misunderstanding it was my fault I'm the one who caused the mistake I'm the one who who did something wrong if you're going to be upset with someone be upset with with me I it it may have looked like him but it was actually me I'm the one who did it and then he went to the other one he said don't be don't be mad at brother so and so it was me I'm the one who made the mistake I'm the one who caused the problem it may look like it was it was actually me and he got the two monks to reconcile now this is someone who had such a heart that he didn't mind if if there were those who would then hate him and and and issue false accusation against him he just wanted to see peace in them there are so many stories that we could read from these books um stories of of saints appearing uh to St pesos of his ability to to uh command animals uh to be in the state of Adam before the fall so that he could tell animals what to do and they would they would obey him of uh of Christ the panagia appearing to him of the immense beautiful fragrance that uh came from his relics after he reposed um there are so many things we could talk about with his personality um I I opened to a random page When I Was preparing for this this talk and I thought I would just read you just a few of the um a few of the little stories here and uh and then and then maybe ask a couple questions about what this means so there's this story on on page 588 this is this is from this one Elder pus that's by hro Monk Isaac I visited the venerable Elder pesus for the first time in the summer of 1991 remembers a doctor from sarus we had saved some money and I was facing a dilemma should I buy an apartment with it so we could stop paying rent or should I give the money to charity as soon as he saw me before I could even tell him about it the Elder asked doctor do birds have nests yes I answered him not pausing to think so he replied we understand each other may it be blessed I answered in obedience having received my answer I bought the apartment on the next story an anonymous testimony quote I was working in a restaurant in Germany and every now and then I would steal from my boss I felt the twinge of remorse though and hearing about Elder pus I went to the Holy Mountain to tell him about my problem and asked for advice when I arrived at panagoda where the Elder was there were there were other pilgrims there when he saw me the Elder took me aside privately behind the cell before I could say anything he took the palms of my hands and made the sign of the cross over them saying from now on quit doing what you've been doing and go to a Confessor I was deeply shaken I confessed and since then with the help of God I haven't stolen anymore there are many many stories like this why these these simple stories why share these St pus had the tendency to see somebody and to know them by name before he had ever met them no one ever told them they were coming he knew them exactly by name at First Sight he would also know their questions and know what the proper answer was in each case sometimes it's easy like don't steal sometimes it wasn't so easy and he was able to guide them with a with a shity and a confidence and if they followed his advice things would turn out well those who didn't follow his advice things would not turn out well sometimes those were things like should I have surgery I have an illness and he would say yes have the surgery other times he would say no pray go to this icon do a prostration venerate the icon ask the Saints intercessions and you'll be healed and every time what he would say would come to pass I st P was reposed in 1994 before my family became Orthodox I I never had the blessing to meet him but I know many people who did and I've talked with them and each one of them has an incredible story um one priest I know said to be in the presence of St pesus it's like you could feel the grass growing he's talking about the immense feeling of Grace that would vibrate around just his very person and just being around him he felt like the whole world came alive and like he was in Paradise um I know another priest who said he had that experience at his grave that he went to the grave and went to venerate the grave of St pesus and when he did he said he felt like heaven just broke loose and you know he couldn't stop the the stream of Tears I've actually heard many people have had that experience by the way I know a priest who went to him for advice uh regarding uh a woman he was engaged to St pus knew this man's name at a distance he saw him he knew exactly what his name was he knew the name of his of his fiance he knew what problems he was dealing with and he knew exactly what the solution was and gave it to him and he was he was frankly uh kind of direct about the advice that he gave uh and the priest talks about it as if as if it was a little bit um Curt a little bit uh um uh Direct in not the kindest way but he said the love that overflowed from him was so great it was so powerful that he of course went and did what he was told and he said everything worked out for for the good because of that I know another priest who went to go see him and he was having trouble finding his little Ki his little his little Hut on Mount AOS he was trying to find where St pus lived and he was getting lost and suddenly a monk came came by walking the other way and he said oh I'm guessing you're here to see the Elder pisos he said yes oh just go go up this way turn that way and he'll be right there waiting for you and he and he just walked by the other way well when the priest got to the cell St pus was right there and he realized the monk who passed me going the other way that's him that's him in fact i' I've heard of this happening many times with st pus where he could be a long distance or going the opposite way and end up exactly where someone was before they arrived there you know he had this ability this is such a grace-filled personality that there is no question whatsoever no question that he is and was approved by God there are there are certain Miracles that people may claim that even if they're real certainly seemed to come from the demons and not from God but in the case of St pesus with somebody who was so humble and never gave himself any credit for anything always saw himself as a deep Sinner and was always repenting he always saw himself as the worst of all who was so loving even to those who hated and slandered him there is no question that this is a man that was approved by God and if holy Orthodoxy can produce a man like this then if your going to tell me that Orthodoxy is wrong and your denomination is the true church show me your St pus show me your results show me the one in your church who looks and acts and speaks like him and is as great as St pus there's no way that you're going to have somebody like this no other Faith does only in Orthodox D do we have saints as great as this St pus again is one of many personalities that we could have brought up I brought him up because again those two lives are so worthwhile and if you've never encountered an Orthodox Saint you have no idea what monasticism is you may be unfamiliar with some of the terminology and some of this may seem foreign but I would say get your hands on one or as as I said both of those books and read them and I think you'll see what I'm talking about I don't mean this as a slam or a criticism on on Protestants and their faith and their genuiness it has nothing to do with that but if you're going to make a video that criticizes the Orthodox church and Orthodox Theology and Orthodox practices explain to me how God could approve such a figure and and he could even see Christ Christ could appear to him and Christ never corrected him on these so-called mistakes of Orthodoxy Christ never pointed to him and said by the way you're in the wrong Church explain to me how that happens the reality is is that the Saints are the proof of the faith this is what Father John Romanus a great 20th Century theologian said he says what is the church ultimately the church if functioning properly is a relic Factory the job of the church is to create holy relics relics that are fragrant and work miracles I I have heard so many people directly from their mouths about their encounters with st pus and they say being in the Pres his presence was again like being in heaven you know when I first met somebody like this and I have met people like this it was when I first realized that when St Paul says it's no longer I who live but Christ lives in me that he wasn't speaking poetically he meant it Christ really lives in such figures and in St pus Christ lived and spoke and so when we listen to St pesus we are listening to one who is God taught God taught God instructed St pesus St pedius St silon St Joseph esist Elder cleopa then we could go on and on and on and on matushka Olga these are figures that show us that the path that we're living is is not opposed to God but is is absolutely in line with what God desires for us because they're no different from what the apostles look like and again every age in the 2,000 year history of the Orthodox church the church has created figures like this you can look at more ancient Saints you can look at uh St polycarp of smea and his martyrdom and what happened with with with his martyrdom in his Relic St Ignatius uh of Antioch you can look a little bit later St John christone St basil you can look to St Martin of Tours St Anthony the great you can look later to St Simon the new Theologian keep going to St John of Damascus St Gregory palamas look at uh I've skipped over some great ones St Demetrio St pantalon uh St George the great martyr you can look to many of the kadis fathers St nicodimus you can look at St Nicholas plos incred rible figure who reposed in the 1930s St narus who died in 1920 or to more modern figures like St pus whoos in 1994 and you'll see that every age of the Orthodox Church produced men and women who look act act and speak just like the apostles and it shows that the spirit of God has been present with power in the Orthodox Church for 2,000 continuous years so it's a very very tough thing for me even even if intellectually historically theologically even if there's a question that I can't answer I can rest knowing that there is an answer out there somewhere even without me having done the research because I know what the results are the results of our faith are people like St pisio so show me your St pisos if you show me your St pisos then we can have a discussion but if you can't produce the same results well results speak results speak and the results of the Orthodox Church are incredible miraculous Saints who have brought many to repentance and brought many to Salvation through their powerful lives works and words and uh we certainly ask their constant intercessions and so show me your sa pesos if you've uh if you've never encountered Orthodox Saints before again before you come and criticize Orthodox theology I would recommend read those lives first and foremost there's nothing like them anywhere outside of orthodox I'd recommend those two to start with in the words of the great saint of Romania Elder cop of castria may heaven consume you amen