Sermons & Devotionals by Longer Catechism of The Orthodox

420. What is meant in the Lord's Prayer by our debts? Our sins. 421. Why are our sins called debts? Because we, having received all from God, ought to render all back to him--that is, subject all to his will and law; which if we do not, we are left debtors to his justice. 422. But who are our debtor... Read More

76. What is it to believe in God? To believe in God is to have a lively belief of his being, his attributes, and works; and to receive with all the heart his revealed Word respecting the salvation of men. 77. Can you show from holy Scripture that faith in God must consist in this? The Apostle Paul w... Read More

439. What is the Lord's first precept of blessedness? They who would be blessed must be poor in spirit. 440. What is it to be poor in spirit? It is to have a spiritual conviction that we have nothing of our own, nothing but what God bestows upon us, and that we can do nothing good without God's help... Read More

405. Is not God's name holy? Doubtless it is holy in itself. Holy is his name. Luke i. 49. 406. How, then, can it yet be hallowed? It may be hallowed in men; that is, his eternal holiness may be manifested in them. 407. How? First, when we, having in our thoughts and heart the name of God, so live a... Read More

199. How came it to pass that Jesus Christ was crucified, when his doctrine and works should have moved all to reverence him? The elders of the Jews and the scribes hated him, because he rebuked their false doctrine and evil lives, and envied him, because the people, which heard him teach and saw hi... Read More

455. What is the Lord's fourth precept for blessedness? They who would be blessed must hunger and thirst after righteousness. 456. What is meant here by the word righteousness ? Though this word may well stand for every virtue which the Christian ought to desire even as his meat and drink, yet shoul... Read More

415. What is bread for subsistence?1 The bread which we need in order to subsist or live. 416. With what thoughts should we ask of God this bread? Agreeably with the instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should ask no more than bread for subsistence; that is, necessary food, and such clothing and... Read More

397. Is there not a prayer which may be termed the common Christian prayer, and pattern of all prayers? Such is the Lord's Prayer. 398. What is the Lord's Prayer? A prayer which our Lord Jesus Christ taught the Apostles, and which they delivered to all believers. 399. Repeat it. Our father, who art ... Read More

252. What is the Church? The Church is a divinely instituted community of men, united by the orthodox faith, the law of God, the hierarchy, and the Sacraments. 253. What is it to believe in the Church? It is piously to honor the true Church of Christ, and to obey her doctrine and commandments, from ... Read More

129. How are we to understand the names Jesus Christ, the Son of God? Son of God is the name of the second Person of the Holy Trinity in respect of his Godhead: This same Son of God was called Jesus, when he was conceived and born on earth as man; Christ is the name given him by the Prophets, while ... Read More

445. What is the Lord's second precept for blessedness? They who would be blessed must mourn. 446. What is meant in this precept by the word mourn? Sorrow and contrition of heart, with unfeigned tears, for that we so imperfectly and unworthily serve the Lord, or even rather deserve big anger by our ... Read More

408. What is the kingdom of God spoken of in the second petition of the Lord's Prayer? The kingdom of grace, which, as St. Paul says, is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Rom. xiv. 17. 409. Is not this kingdom come already? To some it has not yet come in its full sense; while to o... Read More

226. How does holy Scripture speak of Christ's coming again? This Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Acts i. 11. This was said to the Apostles by angels at the very time of our Lord's ascension. 227. How does it speak of hi... Read More

471. What is the Lord's seventh precept for blessedness? They who would be blessed must be peace-makers. 472. How are we to fulfill this commandment? We must live friendly with all men, and give no occasion for disagreement: if any arise, we must try all possible ways to put a stop to it, even by yi... Read More

431. What do we ask in these words of the prayer, Deliver as from evil? We ask for deliverance from all evil that can reach us in the world, which since the fall lieth in wickedness (1 John v. 19): but especially from the evil of sin, and from the evil suggestions and snares of the spirit of evil, w... Read More

223. Is the statement of our Lord's ascension in the sixth article of the Creed taken from holy Scripture? It is taken from the following passages of holy Scripture: He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. Eph. iv. 10. We have such a ... Read More

467. What is the Lord's sixth precept for blessedness? They who would be blessed must be pure in heart. 468. Is not purity of heart the same thing as sincerity? Sincerity which feigns not any good dispositions foreign to the heart, but shows the really good dispositions of the heart by good deeds, i... Read More

428. What is meant in the Lord's Prayer by temptation ? Any conjuncture of circumstances in which there is imminent danger of losing the faith, or falling into great sin. 429. Whence come such temptations? From our flesh, from the world, or other people, and from the devil. 430. What do we ask in th... Read More

283. Why does the Creed mention Baptism? Because faith is sealed by Baptism, and the other Mysteries or Sacraments. 284. What is a Mystery or Sacrament? A Mystery or Sacrament is a holy act, through which grace, or, in other words, the saving power of God, works mysteriously upon man. 285. How many ... Read More

450. What is the Lord's third precept for blessedness? They who would be blessed must be meek. 451. What is meekness? A quiet disposition of spirit, joined with care neither to offend any man, nor be offended at any thing one's self. 452. What are the special effects of Christian meekness? These: th... Read More