From Dedication to Transformation
The Cross as the Vehicle of Personal Consecration
Lenten Retreat 2026
This is a multi-session lecture taught by Dr. Jeannie Constantinou on what distinguishes Orthodox Christianity, focusing on salvation as healing, sanctification, and union with God. Across the sessions, she contrasts the Orthodox understanding of sin as spiritual illness and salvation as theosis with Western legal and transactional models that emphasize debt, punishment, merit, or guaranteed outcomes. Particular attention is given to the Cross and Resurrection as the path of transformation, the Church as a spiritual hospital, and daily practices—prayer, fasting, confession, liturgy, and humility—that form believers over a lifetime.
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From Dedication to Transformation - The Cross as the Vehicle of Personal Consecration
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Session 1: What Makes us Orthodox Christians
Dr. Jeannie Constantinou explains Orthodox Christian understanding of salvation, contrasting it sharply with Roman Catholic and Protestant (Western) theology. The central claim is that Orthodoxy preserves the unchanged Apostolic Faith, while Western Christianity has adopted legalistic and transactional models of salvation.
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Session 2: The Church as a Hospital: Sanctification in the Orthodox Christian Life
In this session, Dr. Jeannie Constantinou presents the Church as a spiritual hospital where God heals and sanctifies the human person. Baptism is the beginning of a lifelong path toward union with God, requiring cooperation, repentance, and intentional struggle. The Church’s worship and disciplines serve this healing, not legalistic rule-keeping.
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Session 3: The Cross as the Path of Sanctification
In this session, Dr. Jeannie Constantinou explores the Cross as the heart of Orthodox sanctification: not a legal payment, but Christ’s voluntary self-offering that heals and transforms human nature. The Cross reveals divine humility and love, calls believers to repentance and imitation, and exposes pride, judgment, and self-justification as obstacles to grace.
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Session 4: Consecrating Ourselves Through the Cross
In this session, Dr. Jeannie Constantinou builds on the prior teaching by showing how Christians consecrate themselves through the Cross in everyday life. She emphasizes salvation as a lifelong journey, the Cross as freely chosen love rather than transaction, and humility as the means of victory—expressed through repentance, worship, and sanctifying daily practices.
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I’d rather read a summary of all sessions
About the Speaker
Dr. Eugenia “Jeannie” Constantinou
Dr. Jeannie is an Orthodox biblical scholar, author, and popular teacher known for patristic, historically grounded interpretation of Scripture. She first trained and worked as an attorney after earning a J.D. from Pepperdine, then shifted to theology with degrees from Holy Cross, Harvard Divinity School, and a Ph.D. from Université Laval on Andrew of Caesarea and the book of Revelation. She has taught Biblical Studies and Early Christianity at institutions such as Holy Cross and the University of San Diego and has spoken widely in parishes and conferences. As “Dr. Jeannie,” she created Search the Scriptures and Search the Scriptures LIVE! with Ancient Faith, bringing verse‑by‑verse Orthodox Bible study to a broad audience. She is married to Fr. Costa Constantinou, and they have one son.