How to be an Orthodox Christian - Catechesis Podcast Recommendation

I am often asked for recommendations for online sources for learning the faith. A great new resource for this is How to be an Orthodox Christian by Dcn. Seraphim Rohlin.

Dcn. Seraphim is the Catechist at the Saint Seraphim Orthodox Cathedral in Dallas, TX. He catechizes from the perspective of becoming Orthodox. Orthodoxy is not learned in any meaningful sense on the internet, even if we begin to learn many things while logged on. Catechism is not mainly about knowing facts about Orthodox Theology and the Orthodox teaching on this or that subject, but to become Orthodox in how you live and move and have your being. As he says in his introduction, "you cannot be catechized by the internet. Catechesis is something done face-to-face, person-to-person."

He is not doing apologetics as he teaches– that is for another time and place. The good deacon is teaching what the Church calls its faithful to become, be, and do. It is instruction for the life, which the Church "expects us to live as Christians." This catechism is an introduction that supplements the spiritual formation of your life with your priest's pastoral guidance in the parish and out into your homes, and into the world.

Through this series Dcn. Seraphim teaches so that we begin to learn to be Orthodox in the real world. The good deacon sums up being Orthodoxy nicely when he says in his introductory lesson, "It is a life lived out in the nave of your church. It is a life lived out before your icon corner. It is a life lived out at the birth of your children and beside the deathbed of your loved ones. It is a life lived out at a wedding. It is a life lived out on your own deathbed, as you make a good confession, as you receive communion, your traveling money as your passage into the next life, as it was sometimes referred to in the early church. And it is a life lived out as you stand before the dread judgement seat of Christ and give an account for what you have done with a life that He has given you. All of that is what Orthodox Christianity is."

If you want to know how to be an Orthodox Christian, or deepen that faith you already have, begin with the first episode.

May our good God Jesus Christ, His Unoriginate Father, and the Life-giving Spirit illumine us unto our salvation.