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Welcome to Season 4, Episode 29 of What Matters Most!

In this episode I speak with Fr. Matthew Francis about Orthodox Liturgy and about the connections between Orthodox Liturgy and the book of Revelation. Fr. Matthew is currently completing his book Apocalypse and Liturgy and we delve into some of that fascinating world.

Fr. Matthew Francis serves as the Parish Priest of Holy Apostles Orthodox Church in Chilliwack, BC, and since 2019 has also served as the Regional Director of the Canadian Bible Society, for BC and the Yukon.

There were so many questions I wanted to ask Fr. Matthew so we will have to have him on another time to discuss questions about Orthodox Christianity in Canada and North America, especially as to what connections there are to Orthodox churches in North America and those abroad like the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, about some differences between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, and about the state of the Orthodox church in North America today. But that was a nice intro I think to the beauty of Orthodox liturgy and its deep connections to the Apocalypse of John or Revelation. Orthodox liturgy has this mystical sense that does seem to be paralleled by the mystery of Revelation. And the deep ties between Christian worship and Revelation are sometimes overlooked or people are unaware of them. I look forward to Fr Matthew’s book and, in the meantime, I refer you to two books that he mentioned that offer some of the historical background to understanding Revelation: Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John: Reading Revelation in the Ruins by Stephen Friesen and Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor by S.R. F. Price. The article I was thinking of was indeed by David E. Aune, “The Influence of Roman Imperial Cult Ceremonial on the Apocalypse of John.”

A few thanks are in order. First of all, I am grateful to Martin Strong, who guides me in the podcasting world and joins me for the Pop Culture Matters regularly. Second, the episodes are edited, engineered, and produced by Kevin Eng who is the first listener to all the episodes and my consultant for each episode, especially with the snippets that begin each episode. Thank you, Kevin, for all of your expertise and support and especially for saving this episode when I could not convert it to a listenable or viewable file. Finally, to the Fang Fang Chandra, the CCE assistant, who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly.

I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

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Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Follow us at our Instagram page, @stmarkscce and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. We’ll post there with a question as to what you are most interested in. Or email us with your suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].

John W. Martens