We interview Fr. Robert Miclean, the Rector of Holy Archangels Orthodox Mission in Annapolis, Maryland, who will soon be leading a pilgrimage to Romania. Among the highlights of this upcoming trip will be the celebration of Holy Ascension in Valea Plopului, Romania, and Holy Pentecost at Putna Monastery in the northern part of Romania, home of the famous "painted monasteries" built by St. Stephen the Great.

Bobby Maddex interviews Fr. Robert Miclean, the Rector of Holy Archangels Orthodox Mission in Annapolis, Maryland, about the pilgrimage he will be leading to Romania in 2019.

Bobby Maddex interviews Reader Nicholas Chapman, Dn. Paul Siewers, and Kh. Frederica Matthewes-Green about the new title from Holy Trinity Publications, Healing Humanity: Confronting Our Moral Crisis. Listen in as they discuss the conference that inspired the book as well as timely topics such as sexuality, freedom, theosis and the challenges that Christians face as they stand for traditional values. This incredible title can be purchased directly from Holy Trinity Publications here.

Bobby Maddex interviews Fr. Chad Hatfield, the President of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary and a Professor of Pastoral Theology, about the 38th Annual Fr. Alexander Schmemann Lecture that will take place at the seminary on January 30th.

John Maddex sits down with Man of God producer Yelena Popovic to get an update on the results from the Spring showings in the US. She shares some good news about a Canadian release as well as the availability of streaming and downloads very soon.

Bobby Maddex speaks with Yelena Popovic about the widely acclaimed film, Man of God, which is now available for purchase in digital format, DVD, and Blu-ray.

Bobby Maddex interviews author Susan Cushman about her life and her latest book, Pilgrim Interrupted. Pilgrim Interrupted is a collection of 35 essays, 3 poems, and 5 excerpts from Susan's novels and short stories. Coming of age during the turbulent 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi; marrying young and adopting three children; leaving the Presbyterian Church of her childhood for the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith in 1987; Susan finally began to chronicle her journey in the early 2000s. Pilgrim Interrupted is her eighth book. Susan's Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Cushman/e/B00T3OPP18/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1 Susan's Personal Website: https://susancushman.com

Bobby Maddex, the Director of Digital Media of Ancient Faith Ministries, interviews Fr. John Manuel, Greek Orthodox priest and author of the book, Fable Hood Trilogy; What I learned as a Child published by City Bear Press. Available for purchase on Amazon or at citybearpress.com

Bobby Maddex, Digital Media Director at Ancient Faith Ministries interview with Graham Sparkman, a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, arranger and composer. Please visit; www.grahamsparkman.com www.grahamsparkman.com/open.spotify.com

China's appetite for an Iran-Israel war is said to be limited. / The Economist

Five takeaways from Kamala Harris's interview with Charlamagne Tha God. / The New York Times [+]

Donald Trump turns a town hall into a 39-minute "living-room listening session." / The Washington Post [+]

Why does the media still struggle to portray Trump accurately? Partly because of the "myth of the reasonable man." / Degenerate Art

A reporter's road trip through the Southwest, talking to voters, finds that "Latinos are as American as anyone else, if not more so." / The Los Angeles Times

Farmers worry that Trump's proposed "mass deportations" will decimate the US food supply. / Grist

Unrelated: Russia to unveil a new statue of Joseph Stalin. / Politico

Billionaires are said to be dominated by existential crises, "although each displays nuance when it comes to confrontation." / MacGuffin

Who left the United States a $7 billion payment? Theories suggest a Texan investment manager, but it's maybe someone still alive trying to minimize their taxes. / Sherwood

See also: There's no evidence the Internet Archive was hacked to edit history—but what if it was? / Interconnected

Unrelated: A video tour of New York City's so-called fake buildings. / Open Culture

TikTok is turning users with relatively low follower counts into paid shopping influencers. / rest of world

A new AI company enables users to create bots in the likeness of any person—without their consent. / WIRED

Old fashioned bookshops are now cool destinations for young people. "I can spend hours browsing—I think that's a big part of it." / The Guardian

Writers and authors create adhoc writing programs to compete with institutional workshops. / Airmail

Astrophysicists are "exulting" in new findings about the universe's first billion years, such as an image of the earliest known galaxy. / Quanta Magazine

Video and photos of 14,000 prescription lenses dangling in a Japanese forest. / Colossal

View Post →

Russia has suffered catastrophic losses during its invasion of Ukraine, but its policies suggest the end justifies the means. / The Guardian

Mara Karlin: An era of limited war has ended; an age of comprehensive conflict has begun. / Foreign Affairs

A new rideshare company in South Africa is reportedly using intimidation to coerce drivers and passengers. / rest of world

In the past two years, Donald Trump has called for every major American TV news network to be punished. / Reliable Sources

An ethicist says making presidents and candidates share their medical history is a bad idea. / STAT

Street psychiatrists in Los Angeles offer a solution for mentally ill people—basically, "DoorDash for meds." / The New York Times [+]

Related: Observations from an hour spent last week in an LA coffeeshop. / Meditations in an Emergency

The WNBA players union opts out of its collective bargaining agreement, two years before its expiration. / The Associated Press

Unrelated: Multiply the number two by itself 136,279,841 times, minus one, and you get the new largest known prime number. / The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search

The late-in-life partner of Oliver Sacks movingly recalls the neurologist's search to build a cohesive life. / The New York Times [+]

Anthony Bourdain's french fries recipe. "If you don't blanch your fries first, you'll get a scandalously bad result." / The Melt

See also: Remembering Ka, the "quiet sage" of underground rap (and firefighter). / Pitchfork

"A group of woodcocks is a fall. A flock of seagulls is annoying." Some ruminations on words connected to wood. / Harper's

View Post →

In this special documentary, Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick goes on pilgrimage to encounter Fr. Nicola Yanney, an early 20th century Orthodox missionary in America and the first priest ordained by St. Raphael of Brooklyn, whose missionary territory included most of the Great Plains. Join Fr. Andrew as he explores the life of this holy man through interviews, research and prayer in Kearney, Nebraska, asking the question: Is Fr. Nicola a saint? Included with this documentary are 9 bonus tracks of extra interviews and other material that was not included in the main documentary.

Fr. Pat explores the dynamic nature of God's word, what it means to profess the Resurrection, and the contrast between law and gospel.

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 discusses the patterns of thought that make man so resistant to the cross.

Fr. Pat discusses three problems that the Samaritan woman faces when she comes to the well and meets Jesus.

Fr. Pat presents a series of biblical quotations about kingship and priesthood.

Fr. Pat discusses the longest dialogue in the Bible between Jesus and another person.

Fr. Pat reflects on Luke's version of the blind man in Jericho.

The Cross of Christ addresses the human condition. On the Sunday before the Elevation of the Holy Cross Fr. Pat examines three traits of the human condition.

The radical path taken by Peter, James, and John in Luke 5 to forsake all and follow Christ is a path for us as well. It has has a fundamental effect on our imagination and memory, our approach to knowledge, and our relationship to truth.

On the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, Fr. Pat reflects upon human history, the event of Jesus of Nazareth, and upon the true protagonist of this parable.

In the Incarnation, God assumes not only human nature, but also human experience. With respect to this, Fr. Pat Reardon talks about human memory, human speech, and human resolve

John the Baptist is a man caught in the tectonic crisis of the major shift in world history. Fr. Pat considers the three answers Jesus gives to his own question about John: "What went ye out into the wilderness to see?”

Paul's explanation of what it means to be a human being as expounded in the Book of Romans should be the key to everything we do.

On the Sunday after the Theophany, Fr. Pat preaches from Matthew 4:12-17.

Fr. Pat takes a closer look at Rabbi Gamaliel, teacher of St. Paul, and at Gamaliel’s advice to the Sanhedrin concerning how to deal with the Apostles, who in disobedience to the Sanhedrin would not stop teaching in Jesus’ name.

Every summer, my brothers and sisters, in either late June or early July we listen to the first ten verses of Romans 10. This text appears near the middle of Paul's analysis of the dialectical structure of history, which is the subject of Romans 9-11.

Romans 5:1-11

With the coming of the Light, there are three responses: that of the Pharisees, that of the parents of the blind man, and that of the blind man himself.

Throughout the Paschal season, the Church reads from the Acts of the Apostles, a history book, in place of the Epistles during the Divine Liturgy. In this homily for Pascha, Fr. Pat asks, "What does the resurrection of Christ mean to human history?" (7:57)

Jesus' encounter with the Syrophoenician woman as recounted by Matthew (chapter 15) has much to teach us when we consider Phoenicia's history, the woman herself, and the meaning of the children's bread.

Fr. Pat preaches on the story of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15.

Fr. Pat reflects upon the encounter between Jesus and the woman with the chronic bleeding who touched the hem of His robe.

Who is the first human being? The answer may surprise you!

Feeling scared to go back to school or work? What about Church? This has been a crazy time for us all. So Steve and Christian and back to share 4 keys to staying healthy during the coronavirus pandemic (and as public place begin to reopen). They even made a companion journal to the episode. The journal offers guided questions to help you stay healthy: mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Get your free "Healthy Human" PDF here: https://mailchi.mp/goarch/be_the_bee_144 Are you anxious for churches to reopen? Are you feeling scared? Leave a comment and share how you're doing.

“You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9) What does it really mean to be a man or a woman? Society usually gives us two extremes: to accept every gender stereotype (no matter how superficial), or to completely reject the differences between male and female (no matter how obvious). But what if the Church could offer a better way? What if the differences between men and women taught us something about how we can all grow in holiness? Building on the work of Dr. Timothy Patitsas (Hellenic College Holy Cross), we'll look at how Adam and Eve failed to be the man and woman God called them to be. And how Jesus Christ and His saints (especially the Theotokos and Saint John the Forerunner) show us a better way. As always, we've prepared a FREE downloadable workbook to help you act on what you'll learn: mailchi.mp/goarch/bethebee159

Guest: The V. Rev. Patrick Henry Reardon, pastor of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church, Senior Editor of Touchstone magazine, AFR podcaster, and author of the newly released The Jesus We Missed: The Surprising Truth About the Humanity of Christ, speaks about the often misunderstood human nature of Christ just two days before His Advent celebration!

Are Humans the Centerpiece of Creation? This episode deals with "Human Exceptionalism" and its threat by the animal and nature rights movements. Kevin Allens's guests are lawyer and award-winning author (and Orthodox Christian) Wesley J. Smith ("A Rat Is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy"), and Fr Christopher of New Skete monastery.

In this special edition of Ancient Faith Today, Kevin speaks, in this extensive interview, with David Daleiden, the director of the Center For Medical Progress, the pro-life activist organization that planned and produced the ​exposé videos that have shaken the abortion industry in the United States.

One of the great evils of all times is slavery and in this time human trafficking. Unknown to many an Antiochian Orthodox Christian has dedicated his life to educating the public and ending this evil practice. In this episode host Kevin Allen speaks about human trafficking with Tony Nassif Jr, the President of the Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation. He also produces national Preventing Abuse Conferences which focuses on preventing human trafficking and child abduction.

Does anyone notice any difference in you when you've met with the Lord?