Clergy & Monastics Father Thomas Hopko

Roosh

Roosh

Cardinal
Orthodox
When I first became interested in Orthodoxy, I binged on his podcasts:

Speaking the Truth in Love | Ancient Faith Ministries

Compelling Commentary on Christian Belief and Behavior - Teaching and reflections by Fr. Thomas Hopko
www.ancientfaith.com
I did get a lot of value from the ones I listened to, though I do know his theology has received criticisms.

Here are his useful 55 maxims for Christian living:
  1. Be always with Christ.
  2. Pray as you can, not as you want.
  3. Have a keepable rule of prayer that you do by discipline.
  4. Say the Lord’s Prayer several times a day.
  5. Have a short prayer that you constantly repeat when your mind is not occupied with other things.
  6. Make some prostrations when you pray.
  7. Eat good foods in moderation.
  8. Keep the Church’s fasting rules.
  9. Spend some time in silence every day.
  10. Do acts of mercy in secret.
  11. Go to liturgical services regularly
  12. Go to confession and communion regularly.
  13. Do not engage intrusive thoughts and feelings. Cut them off at the start.
  14. Reveal all your thoughts and feelings regularly to a trusted person.
  15. Read the scriptures regularly.
  16. Read good books a little at a time.
  17. Cultivate communion with the saints.
  18. Be an ordinary person.
  19. Be polite with everyone.
  20. Maintain cleanliness and order in your home.
  21. Have a healthy, wholesome hobby.
  22. Exercise regularly.
  23. Live a day, and a part of a day, at a time.
  24. Be totally honest, first of all, with yourself.
  25. Be faithful in little things.
  26. Do your work, and then forget it.
  27. Do the most difficult and painful things first.
  28. Face reality.
  29. Be grateful in all things.
  30. Be cheerfull.
  31. Be simple, hidden, quiet and small.
  32. Never bring attention to yourself.
  33. Listen when people talk to you.
  34. Be awake and be attentive.
  35. Think and talk about things no more than necessary.
  36. When we speak, speak simply, clearly, firmly and directly.
  37. Flee imagination, analysis, figuring things out.
  38. Flee carnal, sexual things at their first appearance.
  39. Don’t complain, mumble, murmur or whine.
  40. Don’t compare yourself with anyone.
  41. Don’t seek or expect praise or pity from anyone.
  42. We don’t judge anyone for anything.
  43. Don’t try to convince anyone of anything.
  44. Don’t defend or justify yourself.
  45. Be defined and bound by God alone.
  46. Accept criticism gratefully but test it critically.
  47. Give advice to others only when asked or obligated to do so.
  48. Do nothing for anyone that they can and should do for themselves.
  49. Have a daily schedule of activities, avoiding whim and caprice.
  50. Be merciful with yourself and with others.
  51. Have no expectations except to be fiercely tempted to your last breath.
  52. Focus exclusively on God and light, not on sin and darkness.
  53. Endure the trial of yourself and your own faults and sins peacefully, serenely, because you know that God’s mercy is greater than your brokenness.
  54. When we fall, get up immediately and start over.
  55. Get help when you need it, without fear and without shame.
I completely fail number 32. :)
stpeterorthodoxchurch.com

Fr. Thomas Hopko: 55 Maxims for Christian Living

Fr. Thomas Hopko, Dean Emeritus of St. Vladimir's Seminary and teacher of seminarians and priests for decades passed away in 2015. Fr. Tom was first a pastor, a man with a generous heart and burning love for Christ who directed many towards our Lord.
stpeterorthodoxchurch.com stpeterorthodoxchurch.com
 
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Shayne(Иоанн)SwensonIcons

Pigeon
Orthodox
Fr Hopko has very little in the way of “troublesome” teaching. He and Fr Schmemann get a bad wrap imo, but it depends on your prerogative and whether or not you’ve actually read/listened to them. Many people who endlessly criticize those guys have often times not actually engaged in a substantive review of the work of either of those men and instead make a fuss out of their supposed associations or some off handed comment.
They both criticized fanatical monastics who wrongfully meddle in parish life as well as “Orthodoxism” which is a real problem even today. There are many people who approach Orthodoxy like it’s some kind of ideology or consumer identity rather than a lived reality. Look at all the wannabe DTTW shirts now or the edgy “counter culture” meme factories that pump out distressed elder quote memes and death metal aesthetic eye candy. It’s becoming a bit much, and borders on superficial consumerism a little too closely. One only has to spend a few minutes on social media or YouTube to encounter people who grossly misunderstand what Orthodoxy actually is and they are often times new converts who’ve imbibed far too much of the aforementioned tribal consumer content instead of “boring” catachesis one would get from a healthy parish/normal priest. Many of these people(to which I myself used to number among btw) settle out of this phase but some do not, and Fr Hopko made it a point to address these fanatics as he rightfully saw these folks as in delusion, and if you remain in this mentality you’ll miss the richness of authentic Orthodox Christianity. He did a few videos for new converts for Protecting Veil on YouTube that are hands down the best advice I’ve seen in my 8+ years as an Orthodox Christian. I watch them every few months as they are extremely humbling and they remind you where your focus should be.
His series Worship in Spirit and Truth as well as The Names of Jesus are absolutely incredible as well, as they both will blow your mind regarding the truth contained in messianic prophecy, typology, biblical history, liturgy as well as other things. All his audio content is inexhaustibly rich imo and rivals any formal education you’d get at any number of Orthodox seminaries. He was the Dean at St Vlads during the tail end of its golden era after all.

Are there things to criticize? Probably, as he was a fallible man, but I’ve simply never seen a criticism leveled at Fr Hopko that warranted the same degree of caution as you would want to employ when wading through the writings or teachings of someone like Fr John Beher. Apple to oranges imo, and you’ll probably find Fr Hopko becomes much more appealing the longer you remain in the Orthodox Church.

Just my 2 cents, and don’t take my comments about “fanatical monastics” as directed at anyone in particular. I’m most definitely not anti monastic. I’m also not trying to pick on anyone else in particular so if my comments about Orthodoxy functioning as just another consumer identity upset you, you may want to re-examine yourself and your motivations for being Orthodox. I had to and I am glad someone called me out back then as I was missing the far deeper reality.☦️
 
M

Muscovite

Robin
Protestant
Blade Runner

Blade Runner

Ostrich
Orthodox
Patrick1 said:
42 can definitely be hard
Click to expand...
I have liked Hopko and followed nearly all of his videos and podcasts, and have disagreed with him occasionally, or the way he presented things (not commonly though). This would be one of the examples. Putting it that way is in the wheelhouse of a modern culture that completely misunderstands or conflates observation, judgment, and what actual judgment is (the final judgment from God).

Please note that I liked Shayne's post above, Hopko was a very valuable resource regardless and Shayne took the time to explain why with a full consideration and background that is not only fair, but quite good.
 
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Shayne(Иоанн)SwensonIcons

Pigeon
Orthodox
Don’t sleep on Hopko or Schmemann and listen to the stupid things people who’ve never read/listened to them say on the internet. I did that(to my shame)and when I actually listened/read with an open mind I was floored with the profundity and extremely bummed I’d listened to the things said by the perpetual malcontents or fanatical neophytes who incessantly label everything as eCumeNiSm.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and guys like Hopko, Schmemann and Florovsky operated in a different academic and political milieu than we do today, so take the accusations thrown at them from people today with a hefty grain of salt. They’re not all baseless, but almost all of them are. Fr Thomas did several podcasts where he is critical of the WCC as well as Rome, so when I see people accuse him of “ecumenism” I just roll my eyes as they are ignorant and just repeating things they heard from somebody else. Fr Hopko was also very welcoming and open with Roman Catholic clerics/academics as well as Protestants and this is somehow seen as a defect when one isn’t a complete jerk to those outside the Church.
The main problem a lot of people have with Fr Hopko is that he was very averse(as his father in law Fr Schmemann was)to an erroneous inversion of ethnic tradition(s) over Tradition, and there are ALOT of people in Orthodoxy, even today, who are naive as to the difference between the two, though they will tear you to pieces if you challenge their delusion. Fr Hopko was also not one to entertain needless fanaticism masquerading as well-intentioned zealotry. Ironically, almost the exact same thing has been said by Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra in multiple works but the critics of Fr Hopko are curiously silent about that.

All in all, you may find something within the works of Fr Hopko that doesn’t perfectly align with your particular brand of Orthodoxy, but I’d encourage you to revisit him after you’ve been Orthodox a few years longer. You may find it easier to “spit out the bones” as they say, and see the value in what you once rejected.(Fr Seraphim Rose made mistakes too btw)
I can not tell you how many people I know who’ve had the exact same experience with his work that I have and who also regret listening to the vague slander of lesser men.☦
 
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