On this encore program from 2008, Kevin speaks with Fr. Jonathon Ivanoff, Secretary of the Department of Evangelization of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) about the "life cycle" of parishes and how to know whether your parish is thriving, dying or dead on the vine -- and what can be done about it!

What began as a conversation with Fuller Theological Seminary professor Dr. Paraskeve (Eve) Tibbs over coffee, becomes an interview on the essential differences between the ways the Christian East and West understand the fundamentals of the faith, worship, and sacraments. A great introduction to East-West Christian distinctives on this encore presentation of The Illumined Heart with Kevin Allen!

We ask His Eminence about the role of nationalism and ethnicity in the Orthodox Church.

Fr. Thomas Hopko, Dean Emeritus of St. Vladimir's Orthodox seminary, addresses the controversial subject of "toll houses" in this highly animated half-hour discussion with our co-hosts.

In this encore presentation of The Illumined Heart, hear the story of John Maddex who, along with his wife Tonya, found the Orthodox Church after nearly 40 years in Evangelical Christian radio.

How talking about anything — including violence and sexuality — can lead to consequences in others’ lives, intentionally and unintentionally. Read the transcript HERE.

In part three on this series on the end times Steve and Bill discuss the Father's ancient wisdom of being silent on things that are difficult to interpret in the Bible then go on to discuss difficult topics about the end times. In this program they discuss the Rapture, dispensationalism and the place of the Church in God's plan of salvation, and Christian Zionism, all hinges on the door of many Protestant end time theories. They summarize how the Creed addresses all of these interpretations.

We continue the series of interviews with Fr. Jonah. In part one of this interview we discuss a variety of topics that relate to the Orthodox view of the healing of the human person. Monasticism is but one of the ways that we are healed, but all of the spiritual disciplines and "methods" boil down to life within a community, whether it is a monastery, a marriage, a family or a parish. We are also trying some new sound file formats to attempt to fix the 49 minute podcast cut off problem. So, if our podcast listeners can let us know if THIS program plays all the way through we'd appreciate it!

In part two of the conversation with Father Jonah we discuss the relationship of monasticism to the "normal" Christian life. The life lived in the Gospel is universally applied to all Christians, has the same goal and foundation, but is lived out in various ways.

In the tenth and final program in the series on "Developing an Orthodox World View" Steve and Bill discuss the notion of "sola sacraments." Often we hear that the Orthodox (and other liturgical Churches) believe that all that is necessary is to show up on Sunday and take communion in order to be saved. In this program we look at the relationship of the sacramental life to the rest of our Christian walk in Christ. This is also the first program recorded in the "Basement Catacomb Studio."

Fr. Chad spoke to the Serbian Clergy Brotherhood last month on the challenges facing our priests in today's culture. We have broken it up into three parts and bring you part 1 today.

Today we bring you part two of Fr. Chad Hatfield's talk at the Serbian Clergy Brotherhood in June on the challenges facing our priests in today's culture.

Here is the third and final part of Fr. Chad's address to the Serbian Clergy about how we should look at the ministry of the priesthood in today's society.

Fr. John Parker, the new chairman of the OCA's Department of Evangelization, describes how his parish, Holy Ascension Orthodox Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, went from having a handful of believers to being a lively and growing body of Christ.

Bobby Maddex interviews Dr. Paul Meyendorff, the Alexander Schmemann Professor of Liturgical Theology and the editor of the St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly journal, about a 2012 conference on Orthodox ecclesiology and nationalism that took place at the Volos Academy for Theological Studies, the papers from which have just been published in St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly.

Dn. Michael Hyatt returns to his Sunday school class and begins teaching through Time and Despondency: Regaining the Present in Faith and Life..

Padre Nicolás predicó como Dios nos enseña en la biblia como santificar nos. Y cada uno de nosotros podemos ser un santo también. (Mateo 10:32-38) Fr. Nicholas preach how God teaches us in the Bible how to be holy. And how every one of us can be saints also. (Mathew 10:32-38)

Pd. Nicholas predicó sobre la importancia de defender la verdad y mantenga nuestra fe firme. Marcos 15:43-16:8 Fr. Nicholas preached about the importance to defend the truth and remain firm in our faith. Mark 15:43-16:8

In this podcast Steve references an article he wrote for AGAIN Magazine on the Orthodox Church and same sex attraction. In it he shares the results of several interviews with Orthodox men and women who shared their backgrounds and experiences as homosexuals before and after becoming Orthodox Christians.

In Part Two Steve answers email from listeners in a Question/Answer format.

The Orthodox view existence as directed toward an encounter with a personal God who gives meaning to all the dimensions of earthly human existence.

Listen to excerpts from this past Sunday's bulletin at St. John the Compassionate Mission, serving the most vulnerable in Toronto. "Jesus tells Mary Magdalene that He will meet His disciples in Galilee. That is the place where the community is fully alive having Christ in their midst. The place where you work, you celebrate, you heal the sick and feed the hungry with the Lord. The place where you break bread and drink good wine with the Lord and go fishing with no worry that you’ll toil all night without catching anything. The place where you take care of the sick and cure the demoniacs; where you celebrate the feast of marriage, plant, prune and harvest. The place where you learned what it means to be thankful for being alive because you tasted from life in abundance. Most of the time, life at the mission is called to find and to become a Galilee where the Lord can feel at home."

Reflections about hospitality, written by Fr. Nicolaie.

One might say that the beauty of the poor is hard to spot. But one would be wrong... because in truth, beauty is the hospitality of holiness for the human being. And where do we find this hospitality more present than in the body of the poor? Take a look into Christine's joyful and deep blue eyes, to see for yourself.

In today's generation, we do better to remain poor and in need of healing, but together in Christ; than to be healed alone and segregated through disunity. The community is learning this while walking with people like Judy.

Healing happens within the community in different ways, and at times it is given to us to witness little miracles. In the end it heals us all, in our heart. And this is the real miracle.

Martha begins a series addressing the topic of hospitality. Join her today for a look at feeding teenagers and the blessing we can find being hospitable to others.

Today Martha continues the topic of hospitality with a look at its components and lives of the saints.

Join Martha this week for more thoughts on hospitality, prayer and summer peaches!

There are stupider things to do than arguing with a culty fundamentalist. As the late great Jim Croce reminded us, you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, and you don’t pull the mask off the ol’ Lone Ranger. Arguing with a culty fundamentalist is, I admit, not as stupid as any of these things, but it is pretty stupid nonetheless, for it is a waste of precious time and utterly futile.

Presented for your consideration (as Rod Serling used to say): an old man dressed up as an Orthodox priest-monk who is actually neither priest nor monk, performing outrageous antics both in public and online in a furious attempt to draw attention to himself. Mr. Milton Kapner calls himself Brother Nathanael, and he is a Jewish man who has attracted a large following of online listeners to his regular virulent anti-Semitic rants. Though he was once a novice in an Old Calendarist monastery in Colorado, he was kicked out of that monastery and is now not a monk at all, despite wearing monastic garb, but “a showman with a persecution complex who likes to be the center of attention” (from “Orthodox Christianity Then and Now”).

Fr. Apostolos speaks about repentance as healing from the cancer of sin. Sin is that foreign substance in us which, if left untreated, will produce in us spiritual death, and God provides the treatment.

Fr. Apostolos helps us understand the centrality of the Cross for salvation.

Fr. Apostolos Hill gave a recap of the vitality of our young ones' faith alongside the pitfalls awaiting those whose spiritual development is neglected in the home or parish. Stay Alert, Stay Alive was the theme of All Saints Camp (Arizona) this past week.

Fr. Apostolos Hill gives a brief historical review of the excavation of Golgotha and the history of the Precious Cross of Christ, then an examination of the challenge of understanding the Cross in our own time.

Fr. Apostolos Hill shares a homily on this Sunday's Gospel reading, an examination from Holy Scripture of the nature of true healing.

Fr. Apostolos Hill speaks about the Parable of the Good Samaritan and the image of the man beset by robbers on the road down to Jericho. This is about the lethal reality of sin as the Prophet Ezekiel stated "the soul that sinneth, it shall die," and the totally effective cure available in the blood of the Christ.

Sermon on the Sunday Before the Elevation of the Cross (Galatians 6:11-18; John 3:13-17)

Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost