Bobby Maddex interviews Peter Schweitzer, a member of the board of directors of Most Holy Theotokos: Rescuer of the Perishing, an Orthodox assisted-living facility for Orthodox Christians nearing the end of life, located in Clearwater, Florida. Peter is here today to update us on the progress of the facility and to tell you about an opportunity to help support this important ministry.

Bobby Maddex interviews Veronica Hughes about her new book Saint Veronica: An Eastern Orthodox Historical Overview and Liturgical Service.

On this special edition of Ancient Faith Presents, Elissa Bjeletich, host of the live program Everyday Orthodox, interviews Anna Kallis, Michelle Moujaes, and Dr. Philip Mamalakis about their affiliation with the FaithTree organization and its Relationship Project, which focuses on youth and their identity in Christ, real intimacy, friendship and loneliness, physical desire and attraction, marriage, dating, and more!

Bobby Maddex interviews John McKinney, the author of Hiking the Holy Mountain: Tales of Monks and Miracles on the Trails of Mount Athos, Greece.

Bobby Maddex interviews Rebecca Pagani, the Board Chair of the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative, about the upcoming Third Annual Orthodox Advanced Leadership Conference.

Bobby Maddex interviews Marcia Brim, the host of the AFR podcast The Bible's Grand Narrative and the founder of For Rachel's Children. Click here to read Jessica's story, and click here to listen to the Brian Brock interview. Please likewise view the attachment to this audio.

At the dinner following the 33rd Annual Schmemann Lecture at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary, Dr. Charles Ajalat, the former chancellor for the Antiochian Archdiocese and the co-founder of International Orthodox Christian Charities, presented a plan for a governing structure of the world wide Orthodox Church. Also see transcript below. Earlier in the evening, Dr. Ajalat received an honorary doctorate in Canon Law. Here he is with his January 31, 2016, proposal.

Jane G. Meyer is the Children's' Book Editor for Ancient Faith Publishing, and she joins us to talk about the importance of Orthodox books for children as well as an opportunity to help support new publications.

Bobby Maddex interviews John Heers, the director of the First Things Foundation, about the organization's work with the COVID virus.

Bobby Maddex interviews Fr. Chad Hatfield and Hollie Benton about an exciting event coming up in September at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. The meeting is called The National Orthodox Advanced Leadership Conference.

Bobby Maddex interviews a handful of OCF students and alumni about the importance and reach of Orthodox Christian Fellowship. In part, the students discuss the OCF Now Campaign. Help OCF reach $25,000 by August 4, and this amount will be matched! Find out more here.

John Maddex talks with the team behind the Icons of Sound project that resulted in Cappella Romana's chart-topping surround-sound recording, Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia. He talked with the four people integral to the project: Alexander Lingas (Music Director of Cappella Romana), Bissera Pentcheva (Professor of Art and Art History, Stanford University), Jonathan Abel (Professor at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, Stanford University), and Mark Powell (Executive Director of Cappella Romana). Order the CD and related resources Also check out Icons of Sound at Stanford University

Bobby Maddex interviews Georgia Georgiou, a member of the executive committee of SOFIA, which stands for Student Orthodox Fellowship in Australia.

Bobby Maddex interviews Hollie Benton, Executive Director of the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative, and Fr. Chad Hatfield, President of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, about the upcoming 5th annual National Orthodox Advanced Leadership Conference. The conference will be taking place at St. Vladimir's Seminary from Sept. 17-19. To find out more about the conference, the lineup of speakers, and how to get a registration discount, visit the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative website.

Join special host, Richard Rohlin, as he interviews brilliant authors and educators, Dr. Edith Humphrey and Angelina Stanford. Together they engage in rich conversation about literature, fantasy, art, and faith. Topics include: what makes literature good or bad? How do we choose good literature for our children? How do we write good literature for our children? And more! To learn more about Dr. Edith Humphrey and her newest book, "Beyond the White Fence" here. To learn more about Angelina Standford and her work at the House of Humane Letters, check out their website. To learn more about Richard Rohlin and his Finding the Golden Key project, click here.

Bobby Maddex is joined by Hollie Benton and Fr. Paul Hodge to discuss the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative and its upcoming peer learning & BootCamp sessions for leadership development. Listeners who are interested in joining the upcoming cohorts can learn more and register at the OCLI website.

John Maddex is joined by Fr. Chad Hatfield and Dr. Andrew Geleris to talk about the upcoming Advanced Leadership Conference sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative. The dates are September 16-18, 2022 and the topic is "Money - The Gospel Changes Everything." This discussion centers on the issue of funding for parishes and organizations and the mind set that hinder growth. The book by Dr. Andrew Geleris that was referenced is Money and Salvation - An Invitation to the Good Way.

Bobby Maddex interviews Peter and Sharon Georges about their mission work in Uganda to help provide accessible education to children and break the cycle of poverty. To learn more about and support this incredible ministry, please visit their website here.

Bobby Maddex interview with Ann Van Fossen, the Chief Academic Officer for the Classical Learning Resourse Centre, also known as the CLRC, as well as, two of her teachers at the centre; John Bassett and Michelle Wib Band. To learn more about the CLRC please go to; clrconline.com. email @ info@clrconline.com Also the CLRC is offering a discount code until August 3,2023 which is AFR10

Bobby Maddex, Director of Digital Media for Ancient Faith Ministries interviews Zachary Waltz, the headmaster of Hagia Sophia Orthodox Classical Academy located in Indianapolis, Indiana. As well as Fr. David Wey, the rector of the Academy. Please visit https://www.hagiasophiaclassical.com for more information about the academy

Bobby Maddex, the Director of Digital Media for Ancient Faith Ministries, interviews the Board of Directors of Three Hierarchs High School, founded in 2021 with the help of His Eminence Nicolae of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas and located in Niles, Illinois. For more information about the school and to register for the next upcoming school year, please visit https://www.thochs.org.

Bobby Maddex interviews Dr. Andrei Psarev, a professor of Russian Church History and Canon Law and the Director of Undergraduate Studies at Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary, about his daily reflections on the history and theology of the Orthodox Church, now available on Substack: https://andreipsarev.substack.com.

Millions are without power after Hurricane Milton tears across Florida. / The Tampa Bay Times

The hurricane also tore open the Tampa Bay Rays' roof and felled a crane. / The Weather Channel, X

Photographs of Los Angeles's 400-mile network of aqueducts and hydropower plants. / Science History Institute

New Mexico works to preserve its network of ancient gravity-fed irrigation ditches. / Undark Magazine

A theory tries to explain why more Latinos are supporting Donald Trump—basically, because they're a diverse group of people with diverse interests. / The New Yorker

A round-up of under-discussed political races. / Wake Up to Politics

A few things learned from Melania Trump's new memoir. / The Cut

Fashion experts analyze outfits worn by the presidential and vice presidential candidates. / GQ

Unrelated: An analysis of the top fanfic pairings—"who gets shipped and why?" / The Pudding

Abu Dhabi overtakes Oslo to become the world's richest city in terms of assets managed by sovereign wealth funds. / Semafor

Elon Musk has long promised a fully autonomous vehicle, but don't expect him to follow through this week. / The Verge

Caitlin Dewey: Silicon Valley has—alarmingly, and increasingly—never looked more macho. / Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends

Wimbledon will replace line judges with electronic line calling next year, ending a 147-year tradition. / sky news

Rafael Nadal plans to retire next month at age 38. / Tennis & Beyond

South Korea's Han Kang receives this year's Nobel Prize in Literature "for her intense poetic prose." / The Literary Saloon

A profile of Kang from 2023: "That will be a problem when I die—I won't be able to finish all my ideas." / The Independent

Selections from Tara Booth's comics that were made to "cope with life" or "just lighten the mood." / It's Nice That

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Amid shortages of food, fuel, and medicine, Cuba's electrical grid has collapsed four times since Friday, leaving 10 million people without power. / Reuters

The presidential election is down to more than swing states; in fact, the outcome appears to rest on these 21 microcommunities. / The New York Times [+]

Elon Musk's $1 million daily sweepstakes for Pennsylvanians promising to vote Republican is "either an incentive for someone to vote or it's a reward. And either way, it violates federal law." / NPR

See also: The misery of living in a swing state during election season. / The New York Times [+]

"This key is awarded if the candidate can persuade the public that they are conscious." The real 13 keys for winning the White House. / McSweeney's

As if this year's US election wasn't already chaotic enough, the FBI has arrested a man planning an election day attack on behalf of the Islamic State. / The Guardian

Laugh about Trump's ridiculous dance party all you want, but the kitschy nostalgia is exactly in line with the world his supporters long for. / Intelligencer

In a dispatch from a prisoner, the horror of Texas's containment cages. (Content warning.) / Slate

This year's flu shot doesn't protect against a once-common influenza strain that now appears to have been eradicated through Covid distancing and masking. / NPR

In an interesting comparison of median home values and median incomes, these are the most and least exclusive communities for homebuyers in America. / The Hustle

An "unusually narrow" skyscraper—at only one apartment wide, or 22.5 meters—could be going up in downtown Dubai. / Dezeen

See also: "The Neom giga-project in Saudi Arabia is currently using one fifth of all the steel produced in the world." / AGBI

Unrelated: "it is time to commit to building the largest physically possible space telescope." / Palladium

Kurt Vonnegut once designed a board game, General Headquarters, that is finally available, some 70 years after it was originally conceived. / Open Culture

Amazon says it will be getting rid of those plastic inflatable air pillows by the end of the year, but the plastic blue-and-white mailers may be sticking around for a while. / Grist

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A 26 minute documentary on an Orthodox coffee house/bookstore in Colorado Springs

Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick journeys into the hollers of central Appalachia and encounters one of the least-known forms of American Protestant religion, exploring their faith, their music and one of their churches, through the eyes of an Orthodox priest raised in that tradition.

Part one of a four-part documentary called "Transformation: Same-Sex Attraction Through the Lens of Orthodox Christianity." In this first episode, we meet four individuals who are faithful, obedient Orthodox Christians in terms of celibacy, but are attracted to members of the same sex. What are their stories, struggles, and disappointments? How have they been received in the Orthodox Church? And what do they want the Church to know about that struggle? Resource: Christian Faith and Same Sex Attraction by Fr. Thomas Hopko

Part two of "Transformation: Same-Sex Attraction Through the Lens of Orthodox Christianity." In part two, we take a deep dive into the theology surrounding same-sex attraction. What do the Scripture, canons, and Fathers have to say about it? Is it sinful to have a same-sex attraction? Archbishop Michael, Dr. Jeannie Constantinou, Fr. Harry Linsinbigler, Dr. Roxanne Louh, and Dr. Edith M. Humphrey are among our panelists. Resource: Christian Faith and Same Sex Attraction by Fr. Thomas Hopko

Fr. Pat contemplates what the life of the Virgin Mary teaches us concerning 1) dogmatic theology, 2) the life of piety and worship, 3) the moral, ascetical life.

Fr. Pat reflects on goodness, beauty, and truth in Jesus's encounter with Photini of Samaria.

Fr. Pat explores three ways of looking at Protagoras's infamous assertion.

Fr. Pat explains that prayer is the highest of all human activities.

Fr. Pat reflects on the mystery of the Incarnation.

Fr. Pat explores three essential components of Biblical worship: the sanctuary itself, the bread, and the lamp stand.

Fr. Pat discusses Peter walking on the water.

In the parable of the Vineyard and the Vinedressers, Jesus is not giving a moral teaching, as might be expected, but rather is presenting His own story about His relationship to God and to the people of Israel. Fr. Pat discusses this.

Fr. Pat explores the literary source of Christian philosophy as found in the Holy Scriptures.

In this homily from the Sunday of St. Thomas, Fr. Pat comments on three things that jump out at him from the Gospel text of John 20:19-31.

"The religious impulse is as natural to human beings as the intake of oxygen." In this homily based on the story of the Publican and the Pharisee in Luke 18, Fr. Pat reflects upon the soul's innate attraction to God.

In this homily given on Great and Holy Thursday, we meditate with Fr. Pat both on the encounters that Moses, Job, and Isaiah had with God, and on Jesus’ agony in the garden, and the significance of these various events as they pertain to our daily practice.

Fr. Pat considers with us the Icon of the invisible God from three perspectives that Christ Himself gave to us when He declared "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

Were the new Gentile converts obliged to observe all the mandates of the Torah? As the Apostle Paul contemplated this, he came to the understanding that history not only matures, but had a pivotal point. Fr. Pat preaches from Galatians 3:23-4:5.

Discussion of the care of the human soul is of special necessity in the age and atmosphere in which we live. Fr. Pat turns once again to this very important topic.

It seems that our society is trying to walk on water without the power of God, and is consequently in the process of drowning in its many confusions. Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon reflects on our adhering to God’s revealed will vs. trying to make history.

On the Sunday which is both the birthday of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the Sunday before the Feast of the Holy Cross, Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon looks at how these two are connected.

What exactly is the Sunday of Orthodoxy? Is it recognition of an achievement, or is it more than that? Fr. Pat explores the meaning of icons and the Triumph of Orthodoxy. This homily was preached in 2008.

In this homily given on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon reflects upon what makes us children of God.

Fr. Pat's reflections on Luke 17:12-19, the cleansing of the ten lepers.

Fr. Pat preaches from 2 Timothy 3:10-15.

The story of Jesus healing the man born blind in John 9 provides the context for Fr. Pat's reflections on epistemology, anthropology, and history.