Theological Conundrums: Who is Satan?

Christians all over the world think they understand the concept of the devil. Modern theology seems to present a straightforward position on Satan, often represented as Lucifer, the fallen angel. Yet, few truly understand how the ancient Jewish world-view approached the concept of Satan. In fact, Orthodox Christian theology presents us with a disturbing notion, that Christ and Satan may very well be two sides of the same Divine emanation, not unlike the Hindu concept of Shiva and his consort Kali! Is this heresy? Or just an example of how little modern Christians understand about their own theology?

Prepare yourselves. Bishop Bryan is about to shake up your Christian paradigm forever. 

Please Help a Seminarian

Man, Myth & the Occult: A Complete Introduction to Gnosticism Part 5: Valentinianism

Today, Father Bryan Ouellette speaks about the Valentinian School of Gnosticism. Who were the Valentinians and what was their relationship to orthodox Christianity? Find out why history remembers the Christian Gnostics to be the followers of Valentinus and his theology.

Original Air Date: December 17, 2010

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Advent Sunday

Dear Friends,

Today marks the first day of the Western Liturgical year and also the season of Advent. The prayers and scriptural readings of the Church on this day remind us to keep vigilant for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But what exactly are we waiting for? Is it the Parousia? Is it the return of the Historical Jesus? Is it the Eucharistic Christ? Or could it be the mythic Christos?

I contend that any and all of these options apply.

Advent is a time to listen. It's a time to put our noisy prayers aside and just sit in the presence of God, waiting for his voice to speak to us. While Lent is the season for emptying oneself of the unnecessary, Advent is a careful measure of many deliberate moments when we allow God to fill us with perfect Grace. This is achieved by waiting. We look for God in every moment. We embrace silence so as to listen. We allow our reason to accommodate our faith and trust. And most importantly we give ourselves room to accept that when God finds us, the encounter is his and his alone to direct. This may lead us to any given series of unexpected results. Our role in this is to surrender our expectations. When God finds us, the experience is almost never as one would anticipate. This is why the Gospels express the excessively humble origins of the Savior. Messiahs are supposed to be kings, military commanders, and conquerors. How easy it is to miss that which one is not expecting.

Such is the spiritual journey of our lives. Such is Advent.

Blessings to you all in this Holy Season,

Fr. Bryan

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross

Today the Church celebrates the Seventh Century victory of Emperor Heraclius of Constantinople in his success of recovering the relic of the True Cross stolen by the King of Persia, Chosroes II, restoring it to its original placement in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

The faithful recall this history as they reflect upon the meaning of the Cross of Jesus Christ. As Gnostics, we often find it tempting to dismiss this conventional soteriology, but I strongly caution against such oversights. Gnostic wisdom traditions that only reflect upon "the Revealer" aspects of Jesus Christ can very quickly lose the Jesus Christ of faith altogether. Perhaps this is what they are hoping to do, but such an approach often leads to an unbalanced result. I suspect that this might have been why so many early Christians of antiquity attempted to separate the person Jesus from the Aeon Christ. Keeping this firmly in mind, however, it is my contention that the ancient Gnostics didn't have a literal Separationist Christology as is commonly assumed; rather, I would argue that this was a metaphorical way of indicating that the historical Jesus and the Savior Christ should be dealt with equally, but differently.

On this feast of the Cross, I invite all of you to ponder what this 2,000 year old Sacrifice means to you.

Fr. Bryan

A personal prayer after communion

Lord Jesus Christ, spread your Grace out upon the world and may your
Holy Spirit descend upon us all. May the mind of Sophia enter our minds
so that we may come to know the unknowable Father.

The Historical Jesus with Fr. Bryan D. Ouellette, Ph.D.

The Historical Jesus with Fr. Bryan D. Ouellette, Ph.D. from Universal Church of Autogenes on Vimeo.

Fr. Bryan speaks about the significance of the Historical Jesus within the framework of religious practice and salvation. Was the historical Jesus important? Did his historical actions matter or is the Gospel message a function of archetypal reality?

Basic Soteriology with Fr. Bryan D. Ouellette, Ph.D.

Basic Soteriology with Fr. Bryan D. Ouellette, Ph.D. from Universal Church of Autogenes on Vimeo.

Fr. Bryan discusses a Gnostic approach to the doctrine of Christian salvation. Is salvation necessary? It is important? Is it even compatible with the Gnostic world-view? Find out!