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The Ghost Of Past Christmas Presents

What do Charles Dickens, Buzz Lightyear, Vladimir Lossky, the Carolina Panthers, the Baltimore Colts, Angels, Shepherds, George Frideric Handel and Kawasaki all have in common? Surely to goodness nothing but this podcast! Fr Joseph is visited by another "ghost."




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The Ghost Of Christmas Favre

A vision of Brett Favre, along with the surprise of a Pittsburgh Steeler, join Fr. Joseph (a husky seventh grade boy) on the playing field of ... priestly ministry.




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They Will Know We Are Christians By Our ... Blogs?

What's the difference between Orthodox Christians' participation on the Internet and, say, secular scoundrels? Sometimes, it seems, not much. Fr. Joseph admits his foot's been in his mouth but his tongue's still in his cheek; in other words: "Let's be careful out there!"




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What Is The Orthodox Christian Fellowship?  (A Clergy-Laity Report)

Fr. Joseph interviews the Development Director, Presbytera Shyla Hadzellis and her husband, Fr. Nicholas, about OCF and their presence at the recent GOA Clergy-Laity Congress held in Atlanta, Georgia.




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A Survey of Christian Caterpillars, Muslim Hookahs & Holy Bread

The number of Orthodox Christians in America is greatly inflated in a recent survey; an anonymous Orthodox comments on a Christian caterpillar; and a Muslim converts to Christianity thanks to antidoron -- all this and more as Fr. Joseph reads letters from AFR listeners.




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The Ghost Of Past Christmas Presents ... A Contest

The audio version of the book, "We Came, We Saw, We Converted: The Lighter Side of Orthodoxy in America" is the perfect gift for that special someone (you know, the one who's hard to buy for, and you might as well get them something for free!). Fr. Joseph is giving away free copies to those who send him their funniest Christmas Story—listen closely to this encore (re-gifted?) episode, "The Ghost of Past Christmas Presents" for details on how to win your free audio book download!




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Back When Christmas Was Younger

The entries are in, the votes have been tallied—thanks to all who participated! We have three "winners"—Erin, Alex, and Adam—a kid's story, and some kids telling stories.




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Back When I Was the Antichrist

Everyone from Nero to Kissinger to Osama to GaGa has been believed to be the Antichrist. The weekly Bible study group at St. Joseph Church, Houston, is about to learn from—I mean, of—another one.




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What Does an Orthodox Christian Look Like?

Fr. Joseph speaks at the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Denver's Clergy-Laity Conference, hosted by St George Greek Orthodox Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico. (He was going to title the talk "What Does a Greek Look Like?"—but then again, what DOES a Greek look like?)




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Christ Is Ascended! (Huh?)

It always comes on a Thursday and, after a familiar dialogue of forty days, it always leaves one speechless (so to speak). In this episode from 2007, Fr. Joseph looks at the "Hi's" and "Hello's" of the Feasts.




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The Way of Christ is Easy . . . in Mecca

Fr. Joseph travels to Pennsylvania to deliver a series of talks based on the Didache. In this episode, excerpts from two OCA parishes: Holy Cross, Williamsport, and Christ the Saviour, Harrisburg.




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Kids, Pigs, a Side of Hopko, and Demonic Christians

Jesus cast the demons into the swine. What did that sound like? Fr Joseph, with help from the children of St Joseph Church, and a potent dish of Hopko, explains.




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Christian Gonzalez on Youth Ministry

Elissa interviews Christian Gonzalez, the California deanery youth director of the Antiochian Diocese of Los Angeles and the West, about how we need to rethink our approach to ministering to our youth.




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The True Meaning of Christmas

Gifts are a part of Christmas, and that's actually okay, but "God become flesh" is the true meaning of Christmas.




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Merry Christmas!

Elissa is tired of being caught between Christmas and Nativity. Are you?




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Christ Speaks from the Cross

The four Gospels offer different perspectives and even different stories on our Lord. Elissa uses this situation as the basis for a family retreat during Great and Holy Friday.




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Christ is Risen! (Now What?)

Some years, Bright Week is filled with joy, but there are other years when we are just worn out. Have we done Pascha wrong? What do we do next?




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Orthodox Christian Fellowship: Ministry as Family

Elissa talks with Dan Bein from Orthodox Christian Fellowship about this important ministry for college students.




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Lukewarm Christians

Fr. Michael follows up last week's podcast ("Error to the Right") with a discussion about the warning to the Laodicean Christians to not be lukewarm (Revelation 3). "We are all sick, blind, naked, wretched, but it's only the lukewarm who don't think they are."




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A Christ-like Response to ISIS

Fr. Michael shares his thoughts about how Christians can respond to violence in our world. "One cannot help being deeply troubled by the latest wave of persecution against Christians perpetrated by the ISIS movement. It is a terrible situation that demands from Christians everywhere some sort of response. To do nothing seems intolerable. We feel we must respond, but how?"




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On Dating Non-Orthodox Christians

Young people, my daughters included, often say that there are no good candidates among the Orthodox Christians they know. I understand this problem. Often Orthodox Christian churches are small and choices are limited.




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Receiving Christ and Satan

"Within each person, each baptized, Spirit-filled, Orthodox Christian, there are angels and demons raging. We are, so long as we live in this body of flesh, at war."




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Patience: What Growth In Christ Looks Like

Deciding to follow Christ or repenting from a besetting sin is only the first step in a very long journey. St. Isaac the Syrian likens this walk with Christ to a soft drop that hallows out a hard rock. It is not the gush of water caused by a sudden cloudburst of enthusiasm that actually changes us (although it often sets a direction). It is not the dramatic move that forms us into the image of our Master. Rather, it is the “small but always persistent discipline” that carves away the hard stone of our sinful passions and smooths our rough edges and undermines the foundation of our delusions about ourselves, about the world and about God. This is why St. Isaac tells us that patience, actually, is the evidence of God’s consolation received secretly, or in a hidden way, in our souls.




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Christian Outrage?

After my last blog post, John commented that the burning of Churches in Canada calls for “Christian outrage” now, while love and forgiveness can wait until after the crimes have been investigated and resolved. I can honestly say that I know how John feels. In fact, I will go so far as to say that until one feels outrage, one can’t honestly love and forgive. Outrage is a natural human response to outrageous acts—like burning down a Church. If one does not begin by feeling a certain amount of outrage, then I would wonder if that person is actually in touch with reality. Outrage is a natural, merely human emotion.




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Episode 35: Christian and Steve, The Comeback Kids

Christian and Steve take a dive into the world of stand-up comedy with the John Mulaney’s Netflix special The Comeback Kid. The guys discuss views of masculinity, the power of self-reproach and honesty, and the ability of comedy to take heavy topics and make them approachable-if-irreverent. They close with their Top 5 Comedy Specials.




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Episode 147: The Christmas Chronicles 1 & 2

"I'm Santa Claus, Teddy, not Yoda." Steve and Christian watched the delightful holiday movies, "The Christmas Chronicles" and "The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two" The guys discuss Santa Claus, pastoral care, the struggle to determine our identity, and a sacramental view of the world. ​ Philanthropy Spotlight: We're also shining a light on the FOCUS North America, a national movement of Orthodox Christians, united in faith and joined by a desire to provide action-oriented and sustainable solutions to poverty in communities across America. FOCUS has operations and youth volunteer experiences in more than 20 cities in the United States. Learn more on the parish website: https://focusnorthamerica.org/ ​




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Ascending with Christ in Holiness

Are we ascending in holiness with Christ through the pains and challenges of this world?




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Christ's Shocking Mercy: Homily for “St. Timon” Sunday

Fr. Philip calls us to become vessels of the shocking love of God that is the salvation of the world.




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Bearing Witness to the Risen Christ

We are called to bear witness of the resurrected Lord, along with St. Thomas, who sought to know Christ through a personal experience with Him.




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Fools for Christ

Pride is one of the primary hinderances to our life in Christ. Instead, humility accepts the will of God in our lives, like the Theotokos, even if it makes look like fools to the world.




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Dying to Live in Christ

Each one of us are invited into new life in Christ. However, we must be willing to die to those things which hold us back if we are to become a 'new creation' in Christ like the Theotokos.




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The Rich Young Ruler & The Joy of Christmas

Approaching God's requirements as a simple checklist for eternal life will leave us, like the Rich Young Ruler, outside of the great joy of Christmas.




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The Battle of the Christian Life

The point of the Christian life is a participation in the healing of the human person, struggling against the forces of evil in our own souls.




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Our Family History and the Healing Work of Christ

Fr. Philip LeMasters reflects on the genealogy of Jesus, and healing work of redemption that comes through Christ.




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Offering Ourselves to Christ

Fr. Philip LeMasters calls us to offer ourselves to the Christ who offered Himself for the life of the world.




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Abiding with Christ in His Passion

Fr. Philip LeMasters invites us to experience the deep truth of Holy Week as we abide with Christ in His passion.




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The Forefathers of Christ

Fr. Philip LeMasters calls us to reflect upon the fulfillment of the promises to the descendants of Abraham in Jesus Christ.




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Christmas: The Humility of Love for All People

Fr. Philip LeMasters recounts the Christmas story that is for all humanity.




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Christ is Risen!

Fr. Philip LeMasters preaches on the Gospel reading from Thomas Sunday.




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Now Is The Time to Prepare to Become “A New Creation” at Christmas

Fr. Philip LeMasters shares about the rich, foolish farmer. "The barn of the rich fool was a pagan temple in which he worshiped only himself. If we live according to the standards of our world of corruption, we will become just like him by seeking to lay up treasures for ourselves to the point that we will shut ourselves out of the new life that Christ has brought to the world."




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Receiving Christ's Peace with the Humility of a Blind Beggar

Christ came to restore sight to the blind beggars of the world. Let us embrace the disciplines and spirit of the Nativity Fast in ways that will help us see that that is precisely who we are. Let us acquire the humility necessary to receive and share the peace that He was born to bring to the world. That is how we must all prepare to welcome Him into our hearts and lives at Christmas.




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Christ's Baptism as an Epiphany of the Salvation of the World

At Theophany, we celebrate that no dimension of our life or world is intrinsically profane or cut off from sharing in the holiness of God. All things, physical and spiritual, visible and invisible, are called to participate in the divine glory that our Lord has brought to the world, to become even now signs of the coming fullness of God’s Kingdom.




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Preparing to Present Ourselves to Christ

We celebrate the Presentation of Christ forty days after His birth, in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Theotokos and St. Joseph bring the young Savior there in compliance with the Old Testament law, making the offering of a poor family, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the old man St. Simeon proclaims that this Child is the salvation “of all peoples, a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.” The aged prophetess St. Anna also recognizes Him as the fulfillment of God’s promises.




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Mindfully Embracing Christ's Peace in This Most Challenging Holy Week

Our calling this week is to enter into the profound contrast between the ways of the world as we know them and the life of our crucified and risen Lord. Especially today, it is easy to focus on what is going wrong, on what we have lost already or may lose in the future.




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Becoming Truly Human by Ascending with Christ

By rising into heavenly glory as the God-Man, Christ has shown us what it means to become truly human in the divine image and likeness.




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Bearing Witness to Christ as Distinctive Persons

It may seem strange that Orthodox Christianity gives so much attention to martyrs and saints. To speak of those who die for their faith is to recall instances of murder. Why would a religion give so much attention to such an unpleasant subject?




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Becoming Our True Selves Through Faith in Christ

The only true response to the challenges we face today is to believe in and confess Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world. If we cultivate the humility necessary to entrust ourselves to Him, then we will gain the spiritual strength not to fall into self-centeredness, fear, resentment, hatred, or other sinful states of soul that are such appealing distractions to facing the truth about ourselves.




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Spiritual Strength Comes Through Entrusting Ourselves to Christ

We must never think that the vocation to holiness is reserved exclusively for some people, perhaps the clergy, the monastics, or only the great saints.




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Loving Our Neighbors as Christ Has Loved Us

The Lord used the story of the Good Samaritan to show us who we must become if we are truly uniting ourselves to Him in faith.




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Manifesting the Peace of Christ in a World Still Enslaved to the Fear of Death

As we continue to celebrate Theophany in a world that remains in “the region and shadow of death,” let us focus mindfully on living each day as those who have died to sin and risen with our Lord to a life of holiness. That is how we may wear a garment of light and become living epiphanies of the salvation of the world.