Category: Uncategorized (Page 4 of 15)

Christ is risen from the grave!  Trampling down death by death! 

And upon those in the tombs bestowing life!  

The Christus Victor theme is a prominent one in Scripture.  Apostle Paul wrote:

For he [Christ] must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

(I Corinthians 15:25-26)

The icon to the left shows Christ as the Vanquisher of death.  We see Christ standing on top the shattered doors of hell and death lying in abject defeat.  We also see him pulling Adam and Eve from the tombs into everlasting life.

The Christus Victor theme is also prominent Athanasius the Great’s On the Incarnation:

So has death been conquered and branded for what it is by the Saviour on the cross.  It is bound hand and foot, all who are in Christ trample it as they pass and as witnesses to Him deride it, scoffing and saying, “O Death, where is thy victory?  O Grave, where is thy sting?” (§ 27)

If, then, it is by the sign of the cross and by faih in Christ that death is trampled underfoot, it is clear that it is Christ Himself and none other Who is the Archvictor over death and robbed it of its power.  Death used to be strong and terrible, but now, since the sojourn of the Saviour and the death and resurrection of His body, it is despised; and obviously it is by the very Christ Who mounted on the cross that it has been destroyed ad vanquished finally.  (§ 29)

Dear Folks,

I just got word that the ClustrMaps feature will be reset around April 23.  This is a plug-in feature located in the right column showing a map of the world with red dots.  If you click on the map you will be taken to another page that shows where at-the-moment visits are coming as well as a state by state, and a country by country breakdown.

This feature helps me to track visitors from around the world.  The basic idea is each unique visit shows up as a red dot.  Multiple visits turn into bigger size dots.  The ClustrMaps plug-in shows overall number of visits and where the visits originate.  My understanding is that the dots represent the location of the ISP than the individual user’s computer.

In March 2014 the OrthodoxBridge received over 100,000 visits.  Thank you very much!

A state by state breakdown shows California and Texas to generate the most visits. Pennsylvania, which has a sizable Orthodox population, was at one time running a strong second.  My home state, Hawaii, showed 875 visitors as of today.  Mahalo!

Going down the country listing is fascinating.  One big surprise were the 40+ visits from the Holy See (Vatican City)!  It makes me wonder who in the Vatican likes to read the OrthodoxBridge?  I would like to say “Thank you!” to our secret lurker in the Vatican.

And a heartfelt “Thank You!” and “Mahalo!” to all our readers around the world.

Robert Arakaki

Ancient Faith Radio issued this exciting announcement: a live dialogue will take place between James Payton for the Reformed tradition and Badley Nassif for the Orthodox tradition on October 27.  The conversation will be hosted by Kevin Allen on “Ancient Faith Today.”

Topic: “Perspectives on the Church Fathers”

Date: Sunday, October 27, 2013

The program will stream live 5:00 pm Pacific, 7:00 pm Central, and 8:00 pm Eastern.

Here’s a link to a time zone converter for those living in other time zones.

James Payton – Reformed

Bradley Nassif – Orthodox

Getting the Ball Rolling

I’m delighted that we will be having a real live conversations between the Reformed and the Orthodox traditions.  In view of the upcoming conversation I thought I throw out a couple of questions for our readers and lurkers:

1.    How would you describe the current conversation between the Reformed and the Orthodox tradition?  Not just here on the OrthodoxBridge, but in general.

2.    What issues or topics deserve closer attention in this current conversation?

I asked ‘Nicodemus’ for his thoughts and here are his questions:

I look forward to your comments.  First time commenters are especially welcome!

Robert Arakaki