Catechism 101

God “restarts” creation through Noah by unleashing chaotic floodwaters, preserving a remnant in a three-deck ark, and establishing a new covenant marked by the rainbow as God’s bow turned toward heaven with the promise never to destroy the earth by flood again; he notes flood stories also appear in many ancient Near Eastern texts. Sin persists as Noah gets drunk and Ham “uncovers” his father’s nak...

This lecture explains "the fall" as the devil’s attempt to destroy communion and drive humanity into despair. After Adam and Eve eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they become aware of shame, hide from each other and from God, and refuse repentance by shifting blame—Adam to Eve (and implicitly God), Eve to the serpent. God’s judgment includes the Protoevangelium: enmity between t...

Abbot Ankido emphasizes covenant as the key to Scripture because covenants form family, arguing an implied covenant with Adam and Eve later “renewed” with Noah and clarified by Luke’s genealogy calling Adam “son of God.” Adam’s vocation is framed as priest, king, and prophet—charged to “till and keep” the garden as priestly duty and to offer himself in obedience—yet he fails by allowing the serpen...

Abbot Ankido begins his new series on the Old Testament and hyper-focuses on Genesis 1–3 as the foundation for the rest of the Bible: God creates the world from nothing (creatio ex nihilo) and humanity is created in God’s image with a unique breath of life. The lecture contrasts Genesis with other ancient creation myths and explains Eden’s three-part “temple” structure. Adam is described as priest...

In the final lecture on the Creed, Abbot Ankido explains how the Nicene Creed was expanded at the Council of Constantinople (381 AD) after Nicaea (325 AD) to definitively affirm the divinity of the Holy Spirit against those who denied it, and why the added lines about “one holy Catholic and apostolic Church,” “one baptism,” and the resurrection describe the Spirit’s effects in Christians. Using Jo...

This lecture moves from the Nicene Creed’s Christological section into the Holy Spirit, explaining how the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed was developed at Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381), and why the early draft barely mentioned the Spirit. It introduces the post-Nicaea heresy of Pneumatomachianism (“spirit-fighters”), which denied the Spirit’s divinity and personhood, and highlights the Ca...

This lecture continues the Creed’s teaching on Jesus, emphasizing that his Resurrection is not a mere resuscitation like Lazarus or Jairus’s daughter but a real, glorified bodily life animated by the Holy Spirit, shown in appearances to Mary Magdalene, the Emmaus disciples, Thomas touching Jesus’ wounds, and Jesus eating with the apostles. It then explains the Ascension as Jesus taking authority a...

Abbot Ankido Sipo continues his lecture series on the Creed by moving from the Incarnation to the Paschal Mystery—Christ’s passion, death, burial, resurrection, and the Apostles’ Creed line “He descended into hell.” He argues sin is more than breaking a rule: it fractures communion, producing fear of God, shame, blame, and alienation, as seen in Adam and Eve. Salvation reverses this through Jesus...

This week's lecture continues a walk through the Nicene Creed by focusing on Christology, especially the lines affirming Jesus as “true God from true God” and “consubstantial with the Father” as the Church’s response to Arianism. It explains how Scripture presents Jesus’ divinity in a Jewish way (Alpha and Omega, Son of Man from Daniel, “I am,” calming the storm) while also insisting on the full r...

This lecture gives background on the Nicene Creed’s origins in response to Arius’s claim that Jesus is not God, noting the Council of Nicaea (325) and completion at Constantinople (381), and explains the Creed’s Trinitarian structure and sacramental roots in baptismal profession. Abbot Ankido then focuses on what the Church means by “I believe,” contrasting modern “belief” as personal opinion with...

This week's lecture gives theological background to the Nicene Creed by explaining the Arian controversy: Arius, a priest in Alexandria, taught that the Son/Word was created (“there was a time when the Son was not”), leading Bishop Alexander to condemn him and prompting Constantine to convene the first ecumenical council at Nicaea (325 AD), where the Church defined the Son as consubstantial with t...

Hosted by Abbot Ankido Sipo (from Feeding Fathers and Martyr Mentality on Qurbana Media) In this opening episode of Catechism 101, Abbot Ankido dives into "The Creed"—the powerful "I believe" we proclaim at every Mass and in the Rosary. Why do we even have creeds in a world that loves saying "my truth" and "your truth?" He breaks it down simply: the shorter Apostles' Creed (ancient baptismal quest...