Episodes
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Nicholas (amha'silasé) Nakis joins me on the latest Philosophy of Art and Science to talk about his journey to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church. He has lived and traveled through the Pacific Northwest, Thailand, Kenya, and Jamaica. His background is in fitness and film. He was one of the first one hundred people involved in CrossFit, and has made films about reggae music and functional fitness.
Here is his conversation with Fr. hayle’melekot, based in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. He is currently raising funds for the EOTC community there. If you would like to contribute, please reach out to me or him directly via the hyperlink above connected to his name.
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amha'silasé - is a baptismal name that means the Trinity’s gift (that a junior gives to a senior)
hayle’melekot - means the power/might of divinity
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h/t Blaise who sent this my way today. The original link from the homepage can be found here. May those with ears to hear, hear.
There is no podcast I have pushed on my friends and family harder than The Bible as Literature. And yet only a handful have ever taken me up on that offer, and even fewer have become students of scripture (and as true students also teachers and sowers of the word of life) after this exposure. “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
This clip was recorded from a voicemail I left the podcast hosts of my favorite show ten years ago, when I was a 24 year old unordained (before I entered the diaconate) Sunday school teacher and choir member of my home parish in sunny South Central Los Angeles, CA. There is no one thing I attribute my learning to when people frequently ask, but consistency is 80% of it. The fitness instructor (1 Timothy 4:8) Tony Horton, of Beachbody and P90X fame, says, “just show up”, and “do your best, and forget the rest.” When you do these things with scripture and liturgy and poetry in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church for a decade, you may learn a thing or two. Just be careful, for “much learning doth make thee mad.”
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Episodes manquant?
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Despite being besieged by technical difficulties (my sincere apologies for the abrupt end) that I can only spiritually attribute to Our Enemy, The State, I had a blast conversing again with Scott Horton. This is why I sent you our conversation from three years ago, which if you have not seen and heard you should go do so in advance of this one.
His latest book Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine (690 pages. The Libertarian Institute. November 16, 2024.), dispels the favorite spell and incantation of the legacy media, ‘unprovoked’. He traces the receipts of provocation in the Eurasian continent from every U.S. president in my lifetime: George Bush I, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, George Bush II, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden.
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This is a Throwback Thursday on this lovely Thanksgiving Day to the great and powerful Scott Horton’s first appearance on the Philosophy of Art and Science broadcast. I have been following him for at least twelve years (I reference his conversation with Wendy McElroy here and Jeremy Scahill here), and he is the most consistent voice critiquing the actions of USFG across multiple White House occupants.
Learn about North Hollywood (where I went to middle school) based KPFK 90.7 FM, a listener-sponsored radio station. And The John Birch Society, whom the twat William F. Buckley Jr. tried to expunge from the right for their consistent critiques of American foreign policy. And the inestimable multi-partisan Antiwar.com. And Afghanistan and the 60 words of the Authorization of the Use of Military Force (AUMF). And the great and powerful Dr. Ron Paul (adviser to the Department of Government Efficiency). And the gold-standard. And the 28 pages of THE JOINT INQUIRY INTO THE TERRORIST ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 – BY THE HOUSE PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE AND THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE. And more.
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Raymond Silverman, Professor Emeritus of History of Art, Afroamerican, and African Studies at University of Michigan, joins me on the latest Philosophy of Art and Science to discuss the Afroasiatic art of Aksum.
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This is an audio recording of my homily from the throne of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church’s bishop of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. I delivered this homily during communion, and the cameraman rightly took the camera away from the mystery of qwrban (qurban; sacrifice; communion), whilst keeping the audio recording on. I spliced the meaningless video away here for a smoother listen.
I mostly just read aloud chapters six and seven of the Acts of the Apostles, which I just sent you in written form in my last post. Enjoy.
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Raymond Silverman, Professor Emeritus of History of Art, Professor Emeritus of Afroamerican and African Studies, asked me to share this beautiful video with you on the creation of brana (manuscripts) in contemporary Ethiopia. As the subtitle says, it is an ancient art, but one not lost to the ash heap of history, rather it is a living, breathing art in no less a city than the namesake of this blog! Aksum.
There are also some good folks doing this work in the capital city Adees Abeba. I have one manuscript of my own, a family heirloom psalter of a couple hundred (if not a few hundred) years, that was willed to me by my paternal grandmother in 2019. If I learn qum tsihuf (standing writing; the traditional method of transcription) it would be my honor to one day recreate it by hand. In the mean time, I better digitize it for you dear reader and watcher.
Keep me and the parchment makers in your holy prayers.
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My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? (1-4)
-the faith (the trust we were entrusted with from the Lord of Glory) has no room for partiality, favoritism, differentiation by class (i.e. Beyonce, politicians, micro-celebrities)
-treat each human with dignity and respect, especially when they can offer you nothing in return
Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? (5-7)
-rich people use the court system to impose their will the way texas holdem players blind out opponents with low capital
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. (8-13)
-the King’s law is to love your neighbor as yourself; this is not a command to love yourself, as the spirit of this age teaches, rather it assumes you already love yourself since you clothe yourself, feed yourself, bathe yourself, come to church, and use the bathroom in the bathroom rather than your pants
-love God by loving strangers and your enemies (pay your enemy to read you Scripture; offer to wash their car)
-adultery and murder are not just instantiated in deed, but in speech and in thought; stay alert
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. (14-17)
-The so-called ‘Old’ Perspective and ‘New’ Perspective debate shows the Early Church interpreters to be right and Martin Luther and his spiritual children to be wrong; trust God, actions follow
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (18-end)
-demons are spiritual beings, they have doctrine and fasting (St. Moses the Ethiopian mentions fasting, scripture just speaks of their certainty of the spiritual realm)
-The common example of Abraham (Gen. 15:1-6) descendants like stars in sky; And the extreme example of Rahab (Joshua 2; 6:17-25), she of the oldest profession
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Stay in the boat, and be saved. Do not be afraid!
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This is the video followup to my last post. Blaise gave me a shoutout on his latest post, which references a talk I gave in Houston (Dec. 2019).
From his post:
During a Hebrew lesson with my mentor Fr. Paul Tarazi, a retired Greek Orthodox priest and biblical scholar from Palestine, he said something that struck me…
The two words that the NATO people use that are not found in the Semitic languages are the verbs (to have) and (to be). And those two are the downfall of Western civilization and an explanation for the current events in the news. It is crucial for understanding scripture. If you (are) nothing and you (have) nothing, you aren’t special.
He’s prolific. Follow him on Medium if you haven’t already.
My old talk:
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I am joined by Bethlehem on the latest Philosophy of Art and Science to discuss her journey of faith within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church. She has found a lane as a lay woman in high-quality photography and videography of church services. And currently attends the Ladder of Light Saint Paul’s Ethiopian-led English-parish in the D.M.V. (D.C., Maryland, Virginia metropolitan area).
Her portfolio. And Youtube channel.
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blessed are you,
that beholds the depths,
and sits upon the bodiless throne guardians.
And blessed are you, dear reader, when I am on Summer Vacation, and have time to deluge your email box with content. This is an English homily I delivered earlier today. I also did a terse Ge’ez to English poem translation for my friends who just got married. I also recently did a guest spot (in mostly Amharic) on Melkamsew Abebe’s channel. Been busy.
Stay blessed.
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I explain, in English, a Ge’ez poem crafted for the bridegroom and bride by our mutual Ge’ez and liturgy teacher.
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Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not abandon my soul in the place of the dead, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Acts of the Apostles 2:22-27 KJV
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Nathaniel “Nate” Marshall aka The Blue Scholar joins me on the latest Philosophy of Art and Science to discuss “work, theology, prayer, and the ordering of the material world as it orders our interior world.” He’s an “apologist for manual labor.”
You can read him here and xeet at him here.
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I was invited by His Beatitude Archbishop Theophilus of Northern CA, Nevada, and Arizona to visit and preach at his newly established St. John the Baptist and St. Arsema monastery in the wilderness of San Miguel, CA; along the historic El Camino Real, which I studied in 4th grade.
I reference:
Gen 16; Ezekiel 20; Psalm 135 (136); 1 John 4
When I read a verse or two, or three, of any given chapter, you can safely assume that you are being invited to eat the whole chapter, at minimum, and the whole book, at maximum, thus being sucked into scripture. Trust the medley of metaphors.
I also mention:
St. Isaac the Syrian, St. John Saba the Spiritual Elder, and Aba Pambo of the Desert Fathers.
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Highlights:
-Mar Mari Emmanuel is a bishop of the East Syriac rite. Within this tradition you have at least the Assyrian Church of the East (who stand alone since the 2nd ecumenical council) and the Chaldeans who were grafted to the Catholic Church. Their West Syriac brethren that are in our Afroasiatic communion are under His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, and there are Maronites grafted to the Catholic Church.
-mar is an East Syriac title meaning lord; mor is the West Syriac expression of the same title. we use it in the tewahdo tradition in reference to mar yishaq (St. Isaac the Syrian); one of the three monks whose works we have preserved in metshafe menekwesat (the book of monks). My rum (Eastern Roman; Greek Orthodox) Syrian friend, who runs a bomb Eastern Mediterranean restaurant in the Inland Empire, jokingly calls me Mar Elias. My first name is difficult for him to remember, but he knows a million Eliases.
-Not just linguistically, within the Semitic language family, but also genetically, Assyrians are one of the closest population groups to habesha within the West Asian cluster
-May this evil be turned to good; into a witness and confession of Christ throughout the world. May God grant Mar Mari Emmanuel strength and many, many years!
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Blaise Webster joins me on the latest episode of the Philosophy of Art and Science. He is a student of Old Greek, formal and informal Arabic, and Biblical Hebrew. And like me, he is a member of the Ephesus School Network, where he podcasts on Spotify and elsewhere. He also writes on Medium.
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This is my guest spot, originally published October 15, 2021 on Jonathan Pageau’s The Symbolic World Youtube channel.
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Originally published on my Youtube channel 03.09.2022. This was our second collaboration. Our first was my guest spot (60k views as of 04.06.24 on his show), from 10.15.2021. Jonathan Pageau is an Orthodox Christian, carver, writer, and public speaker.
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