At the level of theology, we glorify and worship a single God in three hypostases: a single divinity, a single nature, a single essence, a single power and authority, and a single will. But we glorify and worship three persons and three hypostases, each with its own particularity. For being unbegotten is proper to the Father, being begotten is proper to the Son, and proceeding is proper to the Spirit. God the Father is beginningless. God the Son is co-beginningless, even though he is from the Father, and God the Holy Spirit is co-eternal and co-beginningless, issuing forth from the Father, not being begotten in the manner of a son, like the Son, but by procession. The three are one in divinity, albeit in three hypostases.

(St John of Damascus, On Theology)

At the level of the economy of God and of the Word of God, who was incarnate by the good pleasure of the Father and the co-operation of the Holy Spirit, we confess two natures and a single hypostasis: one Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once God and man, and a single person. Yet we confess two wills and two operations, each nature with its particularity, without division and without confusion. For it is proper to the divinity to raise the dead and to work divine signs. But it is proper to the humanity to hunger, thirst, grow weary, and suffer. For the Word was united without confusion and without division to the flesh. With this flesh he was assumed into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of the Father and shall come with glory at the consummation of the ages to judge the living and the dead as God incarnate.
(St John of Damascus, On Theology)

Happy St Patrick's Day! 🐍

St Patrick's Day is PAGAN!?

Apparently St Patrick's Day is replacing some other Celtic pagan festival... ugh. March 17th is his day because apparently that's the day he died that's when it was remembered. Nothing to do with paganism, as usual.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQlKqIDD32Q

@ThatAncientFaith

If anyone is interested, I have created a public calendar you can add to your phones or whatever that can help you in remembering to pray and/or fast. It follows a very basic liturgy of the hours structure (6am, 9am, noon, 3pm, 6pm) and a pattern of prayer of the ancient church: the Lord's Prayer three times a day (per the Didache), the Jesus Prayer on the additional hours, and to fast every Wednesday and Friday (per Jesus and the Didache).

I hope it will help and encourage you to pray more, and keep it quick and easy for our busy modern lives with a simple calendar notification on your phone as a prompt. Just use the link below to sync the calendar with gmail, or use the ICS attachment to import to any other calendar app! :)

🙏

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0?cid=ODcwODY4ZDcwOGYxMDY3YmIzMjkwNzQ3YmYzOTMzNjdiMjgyMmM4YjZhN2NkOGNjZGVkOTkyMzMyM2I1M2JmZEBncm91cC5jYWxlbmRhci5nb29nbGUuY29t

I just want to celebrate the fact that I've just hit 1 million views on my blogs! 🎉

Head over to my main website if you want to read them: thesacredfaith.co.uk

Choose your own adventure!

Finally completed a course I was doing from Emory University called "The Bible's Prehistory, Purpose, and Political Future".

I would highly recommend it if you want some more background on the events of Judah and Israel in the OT times.

Are we living in a simulation?

Are we living in a simulation? Or is reality just as we perceive it and it has a creator God rather than creator aliens?

It's strange how people will accept such a bizarre theory and yet completely disregard a creator God as a valid option 🤷‍♂️

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7uklQg8gM0

@ThatAncientFaith

How Old Was Jesus When He Died?

This began a few years back as a small query I wondered about. This grew into a niggle in the back of my mind that sat there for years. Then the other day I kept seeing people asking the question in various places on different social media platforms, so I thought it was a good time to properly investigate the issue!

I didn't expect it to take very long, and I only planned to look at Irenaeus' claim about Jesus being around 40 as a starting point to make a discussion around... and this quickly turned into three days of intense historical digging and study!

This one is pretty long and in depth, but I hope you enjoy it and can appreciate my conclusions, even if you disagree. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Read more:
https://thesacredfaith.co.uk/home/perma/1744230240/article/how-old-was-jesus-when-he-died.html

@ThatAncientFaith

Zechariah 9:9 NKJV
[9] “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.