Episode 36: Could Christ have sinned? Intro to Christology, Dr. C. Veniamin

Series: Mystical Theology Episode 36: Could Christ have sinned? Intro to Christology, Dr. C. Veniamin In Episode 36 of our Mystical Theology, Dr. Christopher Veniamin introduces the central doctrine of the Christian Faith - the Church’s teaching on the mystery of the Person of Jesus Christ - by asking the question, “Could Christ have sinned?”. For themes included in this presentation, see the Timestamps below. Q&As available in The Professor’s Blog: https://mountthabor.com/blogs/the-pro... Recommended background reading: Christopher Veniamin, ed., Saint Gregory Palamas: The Homilies (Dalton PA: 2022): https://mountthabor.com/products/sain... ; The Orthodox Understanding of Salvation: "Theosis" in Scripture and Tradition (2016): https://mountthabor.com/products/the-... ; The Transfiguration of Christ in Greek Patristic Literature: https://mountthabor.com/products/the-... (2022) ; and Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, Empirical Dogmatics of the Orthodox Catholic Church: According to the Spoken Teaching of Father John Romanides, Vol. 1 (2012), Vol. 2 (repr. ed. 2020). Further bibliography may be found in our "Scholar's Corner" webpage: https://mountthabor.com/pages/the-pro.... – LINKS – Join The Mount Thabor Academy! YouTube FRIENDS AND READERS    / @themtpacademy   Patreon MEMBERSHIP TIERS   / membership   MOUNT THABOR ACADEMY PODCASTS https://www.buzzsprout.com/2232462/share THE MOUNT THABOR ACADEMY    / @themtpacademy   Print Books by MOUNT THABOR PUBLISHING https://mountthabor.com eBooks by MOUNT THABOR PUBLISHING: Amazon Kindle https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ebooks+mou... TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Could Christ have sinned? 7:02 “The Passion of the Christ” and the Agony of Gethsemane 8:26 John Climacus: “Though Christ feared death, He was not terrified by it” 10:39 Athanasius the Great: Christ not subject to death 12:17 The divine purpose: the likeness of God (Irenaeus of Lyons) 14:12 Two natures, wills and energies in Christ existing in One single Hypostasis 14:31 Only one “subject” in Christ 15:31 God is willing and acting, now in a divine way, now in a human way 15:46 Limitations of our created human nature 16:18 Christ voluntarily accepted blameless passions 17:37 Christ’s increase in knowledge 18:10 “Let this cup pass from me…” (Matt. 26.39) 18:28 Maximus the Confessor 19:23 Christ’s death voluntary 19:59 The knowledge of Christ and His humble way 21:09 The Godman is One 22:41 Christ’s human mind “enriched” 23:49 The greatest mystery: the Incarnation of the Word 24:28 All heresies deny reality of the Incarnation 25:13 John Chrysostom’s Paschal Homily: disbelief of the Enemy 26:54 Enemy, death and hades destroyed by the Lord’s humility 27:05 We escape the Enemy by following the humble Way of Christ 27:30 Human mind of Christ is the human mind of the Logos 28:34 Identification of freedom with choice - but there’s no choice in God 30:01 Maximus the Confessor: Saints in perfect harmony with will and energy of God 31:52 Doctrines of the Church have practical pastoral and ascetic significance 32:27 Example of intrusive thoughts (logismoi): “the moment the will wavers…” (Sophrony) 34:25 Orthodox theology has practical significance 34:55 The Jesus Prayer: “prayer of a single thought” 35:10 Reference to example of St. Paisios the Athonite 35:28 Appeal ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I wish to express my indebtedness to the spoken and written traditions of Sts Silouan and Sophrony the Athonites, Fr. Zacharias Zacharou, Fr. Kyrill Akon, Fr. Raphael Noica, Fr. Symeon Brüschweiler; Fr. Pavlos Englezakis, Fr. Georges Florovsky, Prof. Constantine Scouteris, Prof. George Mantzarides, Prof. John Fountoulis, and particularly to Mtp Kallistos Ware, Prof. Panayiotes Chrestou, Fr. John Romanides, and Mtp Hierotheos Vlachos: certain sentences and phrases utilized in these presentations are taken directly from my notes of some of their lectures. My presentations have been enriched by all of the above sources, owing to the adoption of certain structures, lists, schemata, and the paraphrasing of themes taken from them. Responsibility for the content of my presentations is of course mine alone. ©Christopher Veniamin 2025