St. Sebastian of San Francisco & Jackson (Nov. 30), Apostle to all America and first American-born priest, reposed in 1940 after his remarkable labor for Christ and His lost sheep. This essay comes from his book “Preaching in the Russian Church” and shines light, in a clear and simple way, on the truth of the uniqueness of the Orthodox Church. This saint is worthy of far greater recognition than he currently receives for all that Christ did through him.

0:09 Introduction by Fr. Seraphim Rose from The Orthodox Word

3:02 St. Sebastian: What is the Orthodox Church?

3:55 The true and divine doctrine of holy faith

5:08 Heresy, or injury to the teaching of Christ

7:39 God the Father

8:00 God the Son

8:23 God the Holy Spirit

9:05 To be saved one must belong to the Orthodox Church

13:03 conditions of the true of lawful hierarchy

13:13 1) grace-filled Apostolic Succession

15:06 2) confesses the truth and is foreign to heresy

15:22 3) The Sacraments must retain the form and actions, otherwise the Sacrament may not be valid.

16:49 4) the true and lawful hierarchy must obey the rules and canons universally accepted by the Orthdoox Church.

17:27 5) also needed is unity in a spirit of peace and love.

17:59 The Orthodox Church is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church

”What is the Orthodox Church? The Orthodox Church is a body or community of people who, 1: correctly believe in Divine Revelation; and, 2: who obey a lawful hierarchy instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, through the Holy Apostles.”

“In the course of time the Apostolic Tradition, which was transmitted orally at first, was gradually, as the necessities of the Church demanded, committed to writing; and it is found in the works of the Holy Fathers and teachers of the first several centuries.”

“The Apostles transmitted the power of conferring the Holy Spirit only to bishops.” -context is the example of how the Deacon Philip could not bring down the Holy Spirit on the Samaritans

”Therefore, it is the duty of Christians to obey the Church, for outside of her there is no salvation.”

This text can be found in Issue #5 of The Orthodox Word: https://archive.org/details/100101V17N05061981SepOctNovDec/001%20V01N01%201965%20Jan%20Feb/

ALSO, listen to the Life of St. Sebastian (five parts) here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzFKi22k2KYiAmhiJ6mQaberXVJ0FZePY

Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!