Earth, Sun, the firmaments, and all of creation. God saw that it was good.

Today Jeannie looks at what may be the most important verse in the Old Testament if not the entire Bible.

Jeannie continues her examination of "image and likeness" by looking at the fundamental beliefs of Mormonism and Christian Science.

Jeannie is in Genesis chapter 2 but begins with a listener's question that is probably representative of many other listeners as well.

Jeannie explores the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on the Garden of Eden.

Jeannie continues her study in the book of Genesis with a look at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The last thing the world needs is more darkness. We don't need more "dark Christians." Fr Joseph serves up Convention "leftovers" at St. Joseph/Houston.

Fr. Thomas Hopko looks at Abel and Cain and why one offered acceptable worship and the other did not.

Fr. Tom pauses in his series on the Divine Liturgy to address some questions he has received about the 8 tones used in Orthodox worship.

Fr. John shares his homily on the Ninth Commandment.

Fr. John shares from Romans 6:18-23.

Fr. John shares from Matthew 4:1-11. "It's necessary for us to fast so that we don't become fat and happy and forget that we need God, but it's also necessary for us to to feed ourselves daily on the Word of God."

Fr. John talks about the necessity and importance of developing regular disciplines in our lives as we follow Christ.

Fr. John shares from Jude 3.

Fr. John Whiteford speaks on the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, and the importance of repentance in understanding our relationship with Christ.

Fr. John Whiteford tells about St. Mitrophan, the first Chinese priest and martyr of the Boxer Rebellion, and encourages us to stand firm in the Faith.

Fr. John Whiteford discusses 1 John, chapter 1.

Fr. John Whiteford goes through 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

Fr. John Whiteford talks about happiness in this life, and learning to lose ourselves for the love of our neighbors.

On the final Sunday of Pascha, Fr. John Whiteford reminds us to come humbly and meekly towards Christ.

Fr. John Whiteford considers the costliness of worship in response to the extravagant love of God. (Palm Sunday 2023)

Fr. John Whiteford preaches on forgiveness.

The start of Great Lent begins with preparation. We prepare our refrigerators, freezers and pantry for the fast, emptying it of meat and dairy. But we prepare our hearts as well, emptying it of resentments or grudges, wrongs we have done or wrongs done to us in our community. On navigating Forgiveness Vespers as an introvert.

As attention spans shrink, what entices us to move more deeply into mystery and stillness? How can the acts of reading and prayer help us acquire the spiritual and intellectual nutrition we crave in a world where fast, cheap, and easy are what’s on the menu? Angela talks with friend and bookseller, Warren Farha of Eighth Day Books about stillness, “real books” and beach reads.

In this episode Angela continues her conversation with Orthodox priest and Spiritual Ecologist, Fr. Kaleeg Hainsworth where they discuss the role of the Orthodox Christian in issues about the environment, the wilderness as a “de-tox” method, and how to survive the Zombie apocalypse.

On this episode of the Wilderness Journal, Angela contemplates exploring the “wilds” of Chicago and discusses hot button issues like Climate Change and Bigfoot with Fr. Kaleeg Hainsworth, Orthodox priest and author of “An Altar in the Wilderness."

So, why, on the Sunday before Christmas, does the Church call us to read this lineage of Jesus? Because there's an irreplaceable power to community memory. And more so for we moderns who have sacrificed our attention span for entertainment!

The Apostle Paul reveals the central purpose of our Christian life together as Church when he tells the Ephesians that all the ministries of the Faith are meant to "attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

You are the light of the world!

Jesus refuses to allow the lack of faith of His disciples to send the crowd away. He tells them, commands them "You feed them!"

“Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you.” Many of us have been taught this since we were young. But is it actually true? Or does it do more harm than good teaching this to our children and actually believing it ourselves. Join Michael as he uses incidents from his own life and relates them to key Scriptures to show not only is this statement not true, it goes against what Christ Himself teaches us about the sacredness of words, the danger of misusing them, and how this relates to our understanding of Word of God Himself.

One of the big challenges we face in today’s post-Christian era is the near complete erosion of seeing and understanding reality sacramentally. So how do we teach this reality to our young people who live in a society that rejects it? Focusing on the sacramental reality of sin, sickness and spiritual growth, Michael uses simple examples from everyday life and popular culture to offers strategies, thoughts and lessons that can help guide us to meaningful conversations with our youth.

Are we living now in the Divided States of America as opposed to the United States of America? Does the political divide we see and hear about it each day in the news speak to who we are now as persons and a society? What can it teach us about ourselves and our own hearts? Join Michael as he discusses wholeness and division from a spiritual point of view, and what we need to do to be Christ-like in today’s current climate.

Mindfulness is a growing movement in the United States. It’s finding its way into schools as well as into the daily practice of the lives of many. So what is mindfulness and what are its many benefits? How is it different from prayerfulness, or is it? Join Michael as he discusses prayerfulness and mindfulness, nepsis or watchfulness, and what some Orthodox Christians who are also priests, professors and psychologists have to say about mindfulness.

Join Michael as he uses science and examples in everyday life to discuss order and disorder, why it is important to understand what they mean spiritually, and how we must be deliberate and committed in our choices to be holy and grow in Christ.

It feels awful when we break an object we love and it is beyond repair. Yet Christ loves us and tells us we as persons must be broken for Him to “repair” us. He tells us we have no choice and that the alternative to not being broken is to be crushed. What does He mean? Join Michael as he explains Christ’s teaching and what brokenness looks and feels like.

Life’s often not fair and we all suffer from illness and affliction at times that are not of our own making. It is then we are often confronted with a choice – to continue to want to be with God even though we don’t understand why certain things are happening to us; or to let the seeming unfairness of our circumstance drive us away from Him. Join Michael as he uses a whimsical episode of the Brady Bunch to illustrate and discuss this profound truth we all experience.

Watching and supporting a loved one who is suffering often causes us to suffer just as much and even more. Join Michael as he uses scripture and real life experience to illustrate five things we need to do and remember to get through this type of suffering.

Join Michael as uses a disturbing trend among young adults when it comes to the Constitution and the Bible as a springboard to discuss happiness versus holiness, and why the Holy Fathers surpass the Founding Fathers when it comes to truly understanding how to form “a more perfect union.”

Join Michael as he discusses false power versus real power, our attraction to the former at our own expense, and how the powerlessness Christ demonstrates for us is the true power we gain when we let go of our need for control and surrender to God.

Inner darkness. We all have it whether we admit or not. How do overcome it? How do we find our way to Christ the Light and master our inner darkness? Join Michael as he addresses these questions in-depth and shows we can find our way to the Light no matter what darkness we are in.

Join Michael for a discussion on why forgiving ourselves is often so hard and what we need to understand and do to open our hearts to self-forgiveness.

Join Michael as he discusses the complementary nature of light and darkness, how both are under God’s control, and how we can understand this to maintain hope during tough times, grow in faith, and shine the Light of Christ to others.

Join Michael in a discussion of God’s goodness versus our own goodness, and why the prevalent cultural belief of many that all you have to be is a good person is results in so many unintended consequences.

Father Seraphim reflects on some of the content from his past podcasts, and asks for forgiveness because of the brief hiatus he took in posting new material.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea delivers a talk in Atlanta, GA, about the power of our demons in those we meet, including the unborn.

After we sin, our hearts freeze. For a while, we stay away from God on purpose. We need time to heal, we need some sort of ritual of cleansing, some manner in which to make ourselves (in our own eyes) acceptable again to God. But the way back to prayer must begin as soon as possible, if possible even during the act of sin itself. The sooner we turn ourselves back to face Christ's Light, the sooner we shall drag ourselves out of the depth of our fall. Remind yourself of those who were waiting in the darkness of hell for Christ's Descent - ask for their desperate desire to be forgiven, pray for their unceasing hope that Light WILL one day find them and bring them back to Life out of the death of their hell. For those who put their trust in Christ, there is always Hope, there is always Love, there is always a way back to repentance and Life.