• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.

Recent content by RaphaCam

  1. RaphaCam

    Prayer requests post here!

    Please pray for me, I'm going for a trip in a dangerous city through a difficult road. Also for the repose of Vanessa and the welfare of Hegumen Pedro, Marina, Maria and Amanda, while we're at it. Lord have mercy.
  2. RaphaCam

    Taking Up Serpents?

    The taking up of serpents must be taken both literally and spiritually. Both being safe from literal serpents (Acts 28:3-5), and from spiritual serpents, that is, men who plot openly against us (as opposed to spiritual scorpions, who plot in secret, like in Luke 10:19). One should not, however...
  3. RaphaCam

    The Great Schism

    There were differences between West and East other than the Filioque clause that, fueled by the doctrine of universal jurisdiction of Romes, could have catalysed the schism, such as leavened bread, clerical celibacy or Saturday fasts.
  4. RaphaCam

    Do You Study, or Just Read The Scriptures?

    I'm interested in the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series. I've bought the Psalms one and I'll soon buy the Proverbs + Ecclesiastes + Song of Songs, and the Revelation one. Fr. Tadros Malaty has commented on many books of the OT and all of the NT, I recur to him extensively...
  5. RaphaCam

    Prayers for the dead

    The damned can benefit from our prayers, their torments may be relieved and we can even hope for a personal apocatastasis: And so can the saved, since they can be more and more deified:
  6. RaphaCam

    Who is Esau / Edom today?

    On the Philistines, I personally believe evidence that they were an Illyrian colony to be sufficient. So Gheg Albanians and Serbo-Croatians would be the nearest descendants.
  7. RaphaCam

    Was Jesus angry?

    Psalms 69:9 is seen by commentators as a prophecy for Christ's indignation in the temple. See the wording: the zeal was consuming him, eating him. The Psalmist is clearly talking about anger, so we must assume Christ was angry if we believe this verse to to actually mirror the cleansing of the...
  8. RaphaCam

    Prodigal Son's Brother

    I believe the prodigal son's indignation mirrors Prophet Jonah's indignation at God's mercy toward Nineveh.
  9. RaphaCam

    Was Jesus angry?

    We must use anger in our spiritual struggle. Ephesians 4:26 I like how this text from Fr. Lawrence Farley deals with anger:
  10. RaphaCam

    Where does God tell men to make a Bible?

    Actually, "biblos" made its way into the Bible, just not in the sense of "compilation of Scripture". Sometimes it means individual parts of it (Mark 12:26, Luke 3:4, Acts 1:20...)
  11. RaphaCam

    Who is Esau / Edom today?

    Esau prefigures the Jewish nation (the firstborn of the heritage), while Jacob prefigures the Church (which usurps Esau's heritage for his hard heart). Rebekah wears Jacob in Esau's clothes, just like the Church "wears" the promises mades for the Israelites.
  12. RaphaCam

    Kindly explain theosis

    Do read this short book if you have time, it explains theosis in very simple vocabulary and goes on a lot about doctrine. A total must-read.
  13. RaphaCam

    How do we unite the Apostolic Churches?

    The idea of many "Apostolic Churches", including those outside Orthodoxy, is foreign to mainstream Orthodox thinking across the centuries (although some recent documents have implied different). There is only One Church: the Orthodox Church. In our conception, apostolic sucession doesn't survive...
  14. RaphaCam

    Shouldn't the Pope Canonize every Christian?

    In Orthodox Christianity, canonisation means including the deceased in public veneration. Yes, every saved Christian is a saint, but when the Church declares one's sanctity, it's the official statement that they are in heaven, and for such they are: great models of holiness for the faithful...
  15. RaphaCam

    Are You Brave Enough to Post A Picture of Yourself?

    My chrismation. I had just gotten a job so I was beardless.