Encounter ancient spiritual wisdom...
Explore eternal truth...
Discover a transformative way of life...
Location: Emory University, AMUC Harland Cinema
(630 Means Dr, Atlanta, GA 30322)
Free Parking Available at: Peavine Parking Lot
(29 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA 30306)
All lectures are followed by light hors d'oeuvres.
Admission is free. All are welcome.
LECTURE ONE: Thursday, January 30th, 7pm
The Good News About Hell
By Rev. Dr. Silviu Bunta
Jesus Christ's Descent into Hades
The earliest Christians considered Jesus’ death and resurrection life-giving. But it wasn’t just these two events alone that they celebrated. They also focused on what happened in the three days between Jesus’ crucifixion and his resurrection, namely, what they understood to be his descent into Hades.
This lecture does not simply introduce the tradition of the descent of Christ into Hades. Instead, Father Silviu goes more deeply into the tradition of Jesus’ descent by situating it in the scriptures and the liturgy of the Orthodox Church – in the feast of the holy and great Sabbath/Saturday. His talk will lead us to what may be a somewhat surprising conclusion: on this day Christ encounters in the innermost cells of hell not only the people who were there 2,000 years ago, but all people of all times and in every broken experience of their lives.
Reverend Doctor Silviu Bunta
Father Silviu grew up and lived in Romania before he and his family moved to the United States He studied early Judaism and ancient Christianity at Marquette University and received his doctorate in the Old Testament and Early Judaism in 2005. Between 2007 and 2022 he taught as full-time Bible faculty at the University of Dayton, amassing a large collection of scholarly publications on biblical and liturgical studies throughout the Christian world.
In 2012, Father Silviu was ordained to the diaconate and the priesthood by Archbishop Alexander (Golitzin) in the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). In 2022 Father Silviu retired from his tenured position at the University of Dayton and relocated to southern Texas, where he is currently serving the community of St. George Orthodox Church. He now devotes the rest of his time to his research projects and translations for Cherubim Press.
LECTURE TWO: Thursday, February 6th, 7pm
The Religion of Dying
by Hieromonk Seraphim Aldea
Father Seraphim Aldea
Father Seraphim Aldea was tonsured as a monk in 2005 at Rasca monastery in Bucovine, North Moldavia. Several years later, he founded the first Orthodox Christian monastery in the Celtic Isles in a thousand years. Father Seraphim continues to reside at the ever-growing monastery dedicated to All Celtic Saints, from which he shares messages of spiritual encouragement with the world through the Mull Monastery YouTube channel.
Father Seraphim has a Ph.D. in Modern Theology from the University of Durham (UK) for a thesis on Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov's Ecclesiology.
The Role of Death in the Spiritual Traditions of Eastern Christian Mysticism
For over two thousand years, Christians in the east have seen death as “the last enemy” – an unavoidable reality that cuts deeply against the will of God for the world. However, through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, these same Christians have realized that the way to overcome death is to embrace it. This mentality, founded in the New Testament Scriptures themselves, gave rise to a rich spiritual tradition of death in the Orthodox Christian Church.
As a hieromonk and theologian immersed in the Orthodox Christian spiritual traditions related to death, Father Seraphim will discuss the ascetic efforts to die daily, die to the world, and remember death that undergird the Christian life. With special reference to the Church’s monastic and liturgical traditions, Father Seraphim will describe how the broader mystical/ascetic life of the Orthodox Church invites us into this spiritual tradition of death for the transformation of soul and body.
LECTURE THREE: Thursday, February 27th, 7pm
In Dying We Live
by Dr. David Ford
The Martyric Foundations of the Church
After Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the earliest Christians were quickly subjected to the same initial faith of their teacher: death. Almost all of the twelve disciples were martyred for their faith, and thousands of other early Christians received the same treatment in the first few centuries A.D. For the ancient Church, the deaths of these believers were not mere bumps along the path to a fully realized Christian community. Rather, they were seen as the very foundations of the Church.
In a journey spanning the millenia from the time of Christ to today, Dr. Ford will trace the themes of martyrdom in the Scriptures and the Christian world. He will demonstrate that while martyrdom has become a generally forgotten experience in the Christian west, it is nevertheless an integral part of the Christian faith – one that must be honored and received to this day.
Dr. David C. Ford
Dr. David C. Ford is a Professor of Church History at Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. He received his Ph.D. from Drew University in Madison, N.J and has written voluminously about the Orthodox Christian faith over the past few decades.
As a scholar well versed in Scripture, Dr. Ford co-authored and edited the 21 single-page thematic articles in the Old Testament portion of the complete Orthodox Study Bible, published in 2008. Most notably, Dr. Ford has authored texts that examine the lives and writings of early Christian saints and Church fathers and apply them to the lives of Christians today. Dr. Ford’s greatest area of focus has been the life and teachings of Saint John Chrysostom, on which he has written a number of books and encyclopedia entries.