Faith Unto Ages

Sermon: “Whose Name is On the Coin?”

When our Lord was teaching in the temple (Matthew 21:23), He was interrupted by the chief priests & elders who had lots of envy and hatred towards Him. One way by which they had shown this was by calling into question His Authority (Matthew 21:23). In an attempt to discredit Jesus, and even “ensnare Him in His speech” as the Bible says (Matthew 22:15), the Pharisees have sent spies to Jesus from a group known as the Herodians. The gospel of Matthew says:

“Then the Pharisees going, consulted among themselves how to insnare him in his speech. And they sent to him their disciples with the Herodians” (Matthew 22:15-16).

The Herodians are believed by scholars to have been a Jewish political group that favored giving taxes to the Romans, their colonizers, who had control over all Judea. They were called Herodians because they were named after Herod the Great who was appointed by the Roman Empire as being the regional king of Judea. The Pharisees despised the Herodians because they were regarded as being sell-outs, or traitors of the Jewish people given that they were in favor of taxing their own kind on behalf of the Roman Empire, which was regarded as a form of humiliation. However, the Pharisees have collaborated with this group which they despised since, as discussed previously, they wanted to ensnare, or trap Jesus with a question regarding taxes which was the Herodian’s expertise.

An Orthodox Apologia for the Intercession of Saints

Concerning the Orthodox Church’s teaching on the intercession of saints, heretics often argue that it is both idolatrous and unbiblical. When the Orthodox Christian is challenged on this matter, they are forced to respond to at least one of the following objections: ‘How could the saints hear your prayers if they are dead?’, ‘praying to saints is idolatry!”, “where is that in the Bible?”, & “the Bible says that there is only one Mediator between God and Man.”

It is important to note that the Holy Orthodox Church does not by any means disagree with the latter statement presented above, given that this comes directly from Divine Revelation itself (c.f. 1 Timothy 2:5, Heb 8:6, 9:15, 12:25, etc). Before we address the objections to the doctrine of the intercession of the saints, it is necessary to first define Christ’s role as the Mediator between God and man in detail.

Do Muslims and Christian’s worship the same God?

A recent wave of discussion has emerged on various online platforms between Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics regarding whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God. This is because some Roman Catholic apologists have made attempts to defend what the Second Vatican Council taught:

“But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind.” – Lumen Gentium Chapter 2:16.

To contribute to this discussion, I would like to share the perspective of a medieval Coptic Orthodox Church’s father on this subject, and then compare it to that of earlier fathers, as well as scripture itself, to see if they have aligning view points.