Born in Trebizond, he was educated in Constantinople, then entered into ascetic life. Seeking greater reclusion, he went to the Holy Mountain to live in silence. But many others gathered around him, and in time he was forced to build the monastery known as the Great Lavra. As construction was being planned, he beheld the Mother of God, who miraculously brought forth water from a rock near the site, and promised him that she would be the abbess of his monastery. He died when the newly-constructed dome of the monastery collapsed while he and six of his brethren were working on it.

"In the time of Diocletian, a fierce persecutor of Christians called Philomarchus came to Sebaste. He arrested and killed many Christians in the town. When he saw Athenogenes and his disciples, he told the elder to sacrifice to the idols, that they should not perish as had the other Christians. Athenogenes replied: 'O Torturer, those whom you describe as having perished have not perished, but are in heaven and make merry with the angels!' There was a touching moment when a deer, which had been hand-fed by the compassionate Athenogenes, ran up to him and, seeing him in such straits, shed tears. Wild animals of the hills had more pity on the martyrs than did the pagans! After harsh torture, during which an angel of God comforted them, they were all beheaded, first the priests and fellow workers of Athenogenes and then Athenogenes himself, and went to their heavenly home in the year 311." (Prologue)   The Great Horologion adds "There is a second Martyr Athenogenes commemorated today, mentioned by St Basil... it is said that as this Athenogenes approached the fire, wherein he was to die a martyric death, he chanted the hymn O Joyous Light in praise of the Holy Trinity." This is one way that we know that the vesperal hymn Gladsome Light was in use before the time of St Basil the Great.

"Born a pagan in Persia in the time of the Emperor Constantine, he came to know the Christian faith as a young man, forsook his paganism and received baptism. He was so enchanted with the true Faith that he left all worldly things and became a monk in a monastery near the town of Nisibis. He lived among the brethren for some time, then withdrew into silence, going to Archimandrite Urbel, of whom it is said that, for sixty years, he never ate anything cooked. Urbel made him a deacon, but, when he wanted to make him a priest, Dometius fled to a distant mountain and settled in a cave there. He attained such perfection through fasting, prayer, vigils and meditation that he was able to heal the sick. When Julian the Apostate came to that place, he heard of Dometius and sent men to wall him up alive in the came, with two of his disciples. Thus died this saint of God, in 363, and went to the Kingdom of God." (Prologue). The Great Horologion says that Dometius and his disciples were stoned to death.

Acindynus, Pegasius and Anempodistus were courtiers to King Shapur II of Persia. When the king began a fierce persecution of Christians, the three withdrew from court to a private house and, fearless of their own safety, openly exhorted their fellow-Christians to stand firm in their faith. For this they were arrested and brought before their former lord, who subjected them to many cruel tortures, from which they emerged miraculously unscathed. Seeing this, one of the king's soldiers, named Aphthonius, embraced the Faith and was immediately beheaded. The former courtiers were then put to further tortures, but their only effect was to convince Elpidophorus, a distinguished nobleman, and seven thousand other Persians to faith in Christ. All were beheaded, but not before receiving holy Baptism. The trials of the three continued, but once again they were preserved, and even the king's mother was led to the true faith. Finally they were killed (the account does not say how), receiving the crown of martyrdom along with the king's mother and twenty-eight others.

How do the media determine public discourse? Are bullying, racism, etc., the biggest problems of our day? Are these things common or becoming bigger problems? What is at the root of these behaviors? Why do people bully? Why do they have racist attitudes? What makes people intolerant? What should we as Orthodox Christians do when we encounter these behaviors in others? What should we do when we are tempted to engage in them ourselves? What are some spiritual strategies for preparing to encounter these behaviors in others, in ourselves, or in discussion?

On this Sunday of Forgiveness, Fr. Andrew reflects on Adam's expulsion from Paradise and how we can return to a Paradise that we've never seen.

Fr. Andrew tells the story of St. Aidan of Lindisfarne and stresses how he was not just a bishop but also a neighbor.

On this Forgiveness Sunday, continuing his series on Lenten evangelism, Fr. Andrew discusses the Expulsion from Paradise as a key element of the Gospel, as well as forgiveness as the path back to Paradise.

On the occasion of the first feast of the newly-canonized St. Paisios the Athonite, Fr. Andrew discusses the saint's advice on praying free of distractions.

Looking at the Fall of Man as three distinct 'falls,' Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick uses the major themes of Forgiveness Sunday to discuss making the journey 'backwards' into Paradise.

"But whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant"- Matthew 20:26 The All-Stars series continues with guest Athena Vlamis, a senior at Kennesaw State University and Georgia District Student Leader for OCF. In this podcast, Tasya and Athena talk about Athena's leadership role in a new Pan-Orthodox initiative, the Connect Conference. The college seniors also discuss servant leadership, using our talents for the glory of God, the role of young adults in the church, the foundation OCF has laid in their lives, the importance of living as an Orthodox in day-to-day life, and more.

Tasya interviews Rachel Sierra and Naim Mekdessi—two students who have been active throughout their college years in OCF's South Region. The three college seniors discuss dealing with chapter elections, what it means to be District Leaders and chapter presidents, how they handle discouragement in OCF work, and more.

A lively discussion worth downloading. For details on the panel, download this PDF which has all of the information.

We hope you return for a fresh episode each week!

Matthew just returned from Alaska where he spoke at Eagle River Institute on the topic of Discovering the Will of God. His next few episodes will feature that lecture.

This is part 2 of Matthew's 4 part lecture delivered at Eagle River in Alaska.

This is part 3 of Matthew's lecture at Eagle River in Alaska.

And here is the 4th and concluding part of this talk from Eagle River in Alaska.

Let us remember to lean on each other. "A burden shared is half the burden. A joy shared is twice the joy."

For those of us who cannot go, work or provide, Fr. John notes that we can still contribute in the most important way.

Fr. John examines the life and faith of the Holy New Martyr and Grand Duchess Elizabeth.

Fr. John Oliver describes the purpose of our ascetic disciplines as believers - to be set free and partake in the glory of God!

As Orthodox Christians in a non-Orthodox culture, we have questions: Who are we? What is "the Church"? What is our relationship to friends and family of other faiths? What is ecumenism? Who will be saved? In this special edition of Hearts and Minds, Fr John Oliver offers a few reflections.

Ever tempted by those misbaving in church—you know, the parents? (Of course, kids can be quite the nuisance, too.) Fr. Joseph ventures where angels, at least priests—even parents, fear to tread!

There was a time when "Is it real, or is it Memorex?" meant something. Nowadays, we've forgotten the latter and can't define the former! Even with help from Randy Travis, ELO, Drake, Jim Croce, and Adele -- Fr Joseph still seems to miss his Ma (Bell).

After making a plea for keeping ecclesial politics subordinated to our Unity and Love for one another, Fr. Anthony makes a case for the priesthood being one of many options for those desiring to serve God and His Church. He also spends time introducing a book on vocations that the founder of the GGWB website, Fr. John Peck, recently released.

On St. Michael's Day of 2012, the parish of St. Michael the Archangel (UOC-USA) in Woonsocket, RI suffered tremendous damage from a fire. In this podcast, Fr. Anthony, the priest of St. Michael's at that time, shares hard-earned advice on preparing for, dealing with, and recovering from parish disasters. The most important advice? Keep the One Thing Needful top on the list of priorities at every step of the process.

Applying St. Gregory the Great to modern times, Fr. Gregory Jensen PhD and Fr. Anthony Perkins encourage us to turn isolation into solitude and solitude into peace; and to speak and listen to God in that peaceful silence. After a brief discourse into risk management under uncertainty, they share practical tips, learned from experience and holy tradition, on how to grow in Christ in the midst of the coronavirus. This podcast is the audio from Fr. Anthony's daily YouTube lifestream. (https://www.youtube.com/user/74snipe) Enjoy the show!

Join Fr. Anthony next to his back porch in Hartwell, Georgia, as he talks with scientist, theologian, professor, Associate Dean, and evangelist, Gayle Woloschak, PhD, DMin (Northwestern University) about COVID, vaccines, and discernment. This is a recording of Fr. Anthony's livestream. Enjoy the show!

In this episode, Fr. Daniel shares wisdom from St. John Cassian, St. Moses the Black, and St. Anthony the Great on the problem of discernment and talks about why it is so important for us - and especially clergy - to take the problem seriously. Fr. Daniel Greeson is rector of St. Anne's Orthodox Church in Oakridge TN and the editor and a writer for the new Ancient Faith Ministry Blog "Every Thought Captive", where he is publishing a series on the challenge of discernment (among other topics). Enjoy the show!

One of the challenges of our present spiritual situation is that our society has settled for something less than truth. This affects the quality of our opinions, policies, and judgments and undermines our ability to live and spread the Gospel. An indicator of the seriousness of this is our growing inability to listen to, learn from, and love people who think differently than we do. In this presentation, I frame the situation as a problem of discernment, compare scientific and Orthodox methods of knowing, and describe how polarization keeps us from using either well. I conclude with a discussion of the critical role diversity plays in discerning truth, and how the Gospel can transform the (Babelic) divisions that deafen us to the truth into a (Pentecostal) harmony that proclaims and celebrates it. Emulating the academic forum the paper was written for (the 2020 Institute for Studies in Eastern Theology), Dn. Timothy Kelleher then offers his thoughts on the presentation and subject. Enjoy the show!

Fr. Michael shares about discernment. "We all have to begin where we are, with the limited ability and grace we have.... If we follow what we know, maybe God will reveal to us some of what we do not know."

Fr. Michael shares an article by Abbess Victoria of St. Barbara's Monastery (Santa Paula, California) on ways to handle worries and distractions while praying.

Fr. Michael talks about the Orthodox Church understanding of Paradise and our encounter with Paradise.

This morning my wife and I took one of our occasional half-day vacations. It’s a warmish 19 degree day (68 Fahrenheit) with the sun poking through the clouds. We walked a mile or so up a trail in the hills and then afterward stopped by a country tea and scone place for a bite and a chat and just some quite time together, Bonnie working on her knitting project and I reading a book (what else would I be doing?). Bonnie asked me what I was reading, so I read her a little quote from from Archimandrite Aimilianos. What does it mean to be dispassionate? It means turning exclusively to God, with all your strength, energy, power, and love. There is no turning aside to anything else whatsoever….

Continuing in homily 42, St. Isaac gives us another warning. When you find unchanging peace, that is, when everything is going smoothly for you most of the time, then “beware: you are very far from the divine paths trodden by the weary feet of the saints. For as long as you are journeying in the way to the city of the Kingdom and are drawing nigh to the city of God, this will be a sign for you: the strength of the temptations that you encounter. And the nearer you draw nigh and progress, the more temptations will multiply against you.”

In Homily 43, St. Isaac speaks of three areas of ‘discipline,’ or areas in which we must guide or rule our life. Proper discipline in these areas leads to purity. These three areas are bodily discipline, leading to purification of the body; discipline of the mind, leading to purification of the soul; and spiritual discipline, leading to purification of the mind.

When I can just be at peace with the fact that I am a mess, but that I am God’s mess (God’s beloved mess), then I don’t have to prove anything. Rather, I can just be my broken self.

It seems the future of the Church, the future of the next Great and Holy Council (or the continuation of the one that has already begun) depends mostly on us, the people: the moms and dads, the brothers and sisters, the laity in general and the married priests and simple monastics. We’re the one’s whose holiness or lack thereof determines the holiness of tomorrow’s generation of leaders in the Church.

Here’s the problem: We so often set ourselves up for failure by thinking our best must mean that we should do what someone else, probably a saint, is doing or has done. And so, without discernment, we force ourselves to complete a rigorous prayer rule or fasting discipline, or to sleep very little, or attend copious church services, or to volunteer at every opportunity—all without discernment, often motivated by a pride that thinks that all we have to do is force ourselves and we will attain the spiritual heights others seem to have attained.

Fr. Michael Gillis reflects on the life and writings of 20th century Catholic author, Flannery O’Connor. "Good in this broken world is always something under construction. The grotesque—physical, moral and spiritual—that presents itself to us as the terribly deformed face of a cancer ridden child very often hides from us the Grace of God at work constructing good in that person’s life. How many people have I dismissed because I have connected the visible cancer of a terribly confused and broken moral or spiritual life with the “grotesquerie of sin”? How often have I failed to see, failed to even look for the good under construction, the glimmer of Grace at work in a life disfigured by the brokenness of sin? Truly the thought of this question overpowers me sometimes."

Jesus called the Apostles to leave everything to follow Him and become fishers of men. And He calls all of us to take up our cross and follow Him right in the midst of our daily lives, making those places of weakness and failure become occasions of beauty and blessing.

As we begin our Lenten journey, we remember today how Adam and Eve stripped themselves naked of the divine glory and were cast out of Paradise into a world enslaved by death. During Great Lent, we follow the path that leads back to Paradise.

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?

Today we commemorate a distinctive person who bore witness in his own life to the healing power of Christ. St. Nicholas lived in the 4th century in what is now Turkey and had a sizeable inheritance from his family, which he gave away in secret to the poor.

The Cross is truly the Tree of Life through which we return to the blessedness of Paradise.

It is easy to assume that we have strong faith when it seems like everything is going our way. All too often, that means that we have come to trust in ourselves for following a religion that we imagine will give us what we want. When difficult struggles come, however, the truth about our weak souls is revealed. Then we come to see that real faith in God is not about serving or congratulating ourselves, but something entirely different.

Lent calls us to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” We must do so in order to accept the great dignity of beloved sons and daughters called to return to Paradise through His Passion.

Even as the circumstances surrounding Christ's Nativity were not peaceful by conventional standards, welcoming the Prince of Peace into our lives requires embracing the inevitable tension of mindfully entrusting ourselves to Him as we come to share more fully in His fulfillment of human person in the image and likeness of God.

Now is the time to prepare for a spiritually beneficial Lent that will help us grow in the humility necessary to see ourselves and our neighbors clearly as we reorient our lives toward the great joy of Pascha.