We look to Psalm 62 (LXX)/ 63 (Hebrew text) as a model for practicing the presence of God, and are assured that He is always with us, encouraging us to seek His face.

This week we read the fifth of the six “censing” psalms of Orthros, Psalm 102 (LXX)/ 103 (MT), and marvel at God’s invitation that we should bless Him. We are helped in understanding the Psalm by Hebrews 7:7, Colossians 1:12-13, James 2:13, and the blessed Augustine.

The Hidden Garden by Jane G Meyer, illustrated by Masha Lobastov (Conciliar Press, 2012)

"The Parable of the Vineyard Workers" from The Parables of Christ by Spiritual Fragrance Publishing (2012)

"The Transfiguration of the Lord," from Feasts of Christ and the Theotokos and Miracles of the Lord by Spiritual Fragrance Publishing (2012)

"The Presentation of the Lord," from Feasts of Christ and the Theotokos and Miracles of the Lord by Spiritual Fragrance Publishing (2012)

"The Crucifixion of the Lord," from Feasts of Christ and the Theotokos and Miracles of the Lord by Spiritual Fragrance Publishing (2012)

"The Resurrection of the Lord," from Feasts of Christ and the Theotokos and Miracles of the Lord by Spiritual Fragrance Publishing (2012)

"The Ascension of the Lord," from Feasts of Christ and the Theotokos and Miracles of the Lord by Spiritual Fragrance Publishing (2012)

" 'I Believe, Lord,' and He Worshipped Him," from Feasts of Christ and the Theotokos and Miracles of the Lord by Spiritual Fragrance Publishing (2012)

"Saint James, The Brother of the Lord," from The Co-Workers for the Gospel, Illustrated Biographies, Book 5, by Spiritual Fragrance Publishing (2012)

4. Chrissi reads The Blackbird's Nest: Saint Kevin of Ireland by Jenny Schroedel (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2004) and Basil's Search for Miracles by Heather Zydek (part 2) (Conciliar Press, 2007)

6. On today's program, Chrissi reads The Ascension of Our Lord from the series The Twelve Great Feasts for Children by Sister Elayne, now Mother Melania (Conciliar Press, 2004) and Basil's Search for Miracles part 4 (chapters 9-10) by Heather Zydek (Conciliar Press, 2007).

16. Book 1: The Transfiguration of Our Lord from The Twelve Great Feasts for Children by Mother Melania (Conciliar Press, 2004) Book 2: Basil's Search for Miracles part 14 (chapters 28-29) by Heather Zydek (Conciliar Press, 2007)

35. Book 1: The Nativity of our Lord from The Twelve Great Feasts for Children by Mother Melania (Conciliar Press) Book 2: A Perfect Christmas written by Dennis Eugene Engleman and illustrated by Niko Chocheli (Regina Orthodox Press, 2004)

37. Book 1: The Holy Nativity of Our Lord: The Birth of the Messiah by Euphemia Briere (St. Nectarios Press, 1993) Book 2: The Miraculous Child: A Christmas Folktale from old Russia retold by Alvin Alexsi Currier (Conciliar Press, 2000)

39. Book 1: The Theophany of Our Lord from The Twelve Great Feasts for Children by Mother Melania (Conciliar Press, 2002) Book 2: The Baptism of Our Lord, by Euphemia Briere (St. Nectarios Press,1994)

43. Book 1: The Meeting of Our Lord from The Twelve Great Feasts for Children by Mother Melania (Conciliar Press, 2002) Book 2: Katie Visits a Monastery, by Elizabeth Saxild, part three and conclusion (St. Nectarios Press, 1998)

54. Book 1: The Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem from The Twelve Great Feasts for Children by Sister Elayne, now Mother Melania (Conciliar Press, 2005) (duration 3.37) Book 2: Great and Holy Friday from The Three-Day Pascha Series by Mother Melania (Conciliar Press, 2006) (begins at 4:20, duration 5.25) Book 3: Drita: An Albanian Girl Discovers her Ancestor's Faith by Renee Ritsi (Conciliar Press, 2008) (begins at 9:58, duration 13.10)

55. Book 1: Great and Holy Saturday from the Three-Day Pascha Series by Mother Melania (Conciliar Press, 2006) (duration 3.33 mins) Book 2: Pascha, The Feast of Feasts from the Three-Day Pascha Series by Mother Melania (Conciliar Press, 2006) (begins at 4:18, duration 3.32 mins) Book 3: Christ has Risen, Children! by Svetlana Visotskaya (The Publishing House of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral, 2001) (begins at 8:00, duration 4.02 mins)

109. The Transfiguration of Our Lord from The Twelve Great Feasts for Children by Sister Elaine (Conciliar Press, 2004)

141. The Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem from The Twelve Great Feasts for Children by Sister Elayne, now Mother Melania (Conciliar Press, 2005)

143. Great and Holy Saturday from the Three-Day Pascha Series by Mother Melania (Conciliar Press, 2006).

Nicholas Meets His Guardian Angel by Eleni Christos and Helen Iakovos-Dalalakis (Light & Life Publishing, 2001).

Fr. Ted explains why Holy Week actually begins with Lazarus Saturday.

Fr. Ted encourages us to read the New Testament before the Old Testament.

St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church has a new deacon. Listen here to the ordination speech by the newly ordained Dn. John Karvelas.

The priest is simply the vehicle by which Christ moves us from one place to another.

Fr. Ted reflects upon the power of prayer to protect our heart or nous at the center of our being from the passions and influences of the world.

Fr. Ted calls us to put to use one of the most powerful tools that we have in fighting the passions—fasting!

Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos speaks of the basic criteria by which all people will be judged.

Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos reflects on the life and ministry of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople.

Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos explains the meaning of Jesus' Parable of the Talents.

Here's a hint: It's wrong! Great stuff as Kevin Allen interviews this popular Orthodox priest, a senior editor at Touchstone Magazine.

Raised by the Hell’s Angel’s motorcycle gang as a youth, John Franklin lived a hell on earth before submitting to Christ and discovering The Orthodox Church while serving a third-term in prison. A story of (continuing) repentance and the grace and mercy of God, this is one you won’t want to miss!

Ex-member of the hard-core Christian rock band East West (2002 Dove Award Winner!) speaks about the Christian Contemporary Music Industry, the reality of touring life on the road, the spiritual and physical exhaustion that eventually led him to examine his faith and eventually discovery of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

If you missed it the first time, here is another opportunity to hear this very frank and open conversation with Charles Ajalat, the Chancellor of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in North America. It is about an hour long but worth the investment of your time!

The past few years have seen their controversies within the Self Ruled Antiochian Archdiocese of North America. On September 30, 2010, Kevin Allen and John Maddex traveled to Englewood, NJ to visit the headquarters of the Antiochian Archdiocese and the home of it’s Archbishop Metropolitan Philip Saliba. Our purpose was to seek clarification on several key areas that have become a concern to many, and fodder for the blogosphere. His Eminence warmly welcomed us and gave Kevin the freedom to ask any question he thought would be helpful to our audience in understanding several critical issues. There were four specific topics we wanted him to address: 1. The meaning and future of self rule in the Antiochian Archdiocese. 2. The status of the Bishops in North America and the meaning as well as the ramifications of the title “Auxiliary Bishop.” 3. The finances of the Antiochian Archdiocese and in particular the status of an audit. 4. The view point of His Eminence on the Episcopal Assembly, SCOBA, and the future of Administrative Unity in North America. We have left the Metropolitan’s remarks intact and unedited to make them available to the audience for their own evaluation and conclusions. This episode provides the entire interview. If you are interested in listening to the individual topics, we have also divided it up into 4 sections and those are available on The Illumined Heart page of Ancient Faith Radio. A free transcript is also available.

In a very special edition of The Illumined Heart, we have an extensive conversation with His Eminence Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, Professor Emeritus in Eastern Orthodox Studies at Oxford University, and Bishop of Diokleia. Metropolitan Ka!istos is widely regarded as perhaps the world’s leading theologian of the Eastern Orthodox Church today. We present the entire interview here but also offer it in bite size pieces below. Kevin Allen's guest host is John Maddex.

Rookie police officer, Orthodox deacon's son and priest's grandson, Joseph (Jobie) Braun speaks with Kevin about his job as a policeman in the infamous Los Angeles "South Central" area (e.g. the movie "Training Day") and how his Orthodox Christianity keeps him grounded.

Andrew says seeking union with anything or anyone outside of God gradually takes away our freedom, takes away our personhood, takes away our ability to be uniquely ourselves. Read the transcript HERE.

In this program, we revisit Orthodox Holy Week with selected passages from the Holy Tradition - in the hope of trying to convey the richness of the "conversation" between God and the Church. For Christ invites us to go with Him to the Holy Cross, and we find ourselves both willing and unwilling, like the repentant harlot and the betrayer Judas, like the good thief and the blind and unbelieving crowd. Glory to God in Christ! He overcomes the wrath and sins of mankind through love and humility in His Suffering and tramples down Death by Death.

We begin a series on prayer which is the center of the life of the Orthodox Christian. Prayer is our connection to God who is our life. It is to be like our breathing, without ceasing. The Church provides a deep wealth of writings about prayer, but it also provides us with a daily order of services that structures the entire day around prayer. We are able to pray in the same ways the Jews prayed at set hours of the day that we see in the book of Acts. In this program Steve and Bill begin a discussion of the daily order of prayer services and then next week will move into "personal prayer" and a discussion of "The Jesus Prayer", the single most important prayer of our spiritual life.

The priest is vested, the Gifts have been prepared for the celebration of the Eucharist, and now the Divine Liturgy begins. The first half of the Divine Liturgy is called "the Liturgy of the Word" or "the Liturgy of the Catechumens". In the Liturgy of the Word we hear the Church's teaching about the saints, feasts and events being commemorated that day, the Epistle is read and the Gospel is preached. We see it is not always easy to follow along, even with a service book in hand. Steve and Bill offer some insights into the structure and flow of the Liturgy of the Word that will help newcomers participate more fully in the service.

Mat. Juliana Schmemann, the widow of Fr. Alexander Schmemann, former dean of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, delivers a speech via video titled "The Joy to Serve."

Dr. Kyriaki Karidoyanes Fitzgerald, an Orthodox theologian, pastoral counselor, and licensed psychologist, delivers a speech titled "Eve, Mary, and Us."

Dr. Mary Ford, Assistant Professor of New Testament at St. Tikhon's Orthodox Seminary, delivers a speech titled "Light from the Past on Vocations Today."

Professor Herman Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., a professor of ethics at Rice and emeritus professor of medicine at Baylor University, delivers the St. Ambrose Society lecture on "Preaching the Word of the Lord: Being an Orthodox Christian in a Post-Christian Public Square.” The outline for Dr. Engelhardt's speech is attached here as a PDF.

Dr. Predrag Matejić, the curator of the Hilandar Collection at Ohio State University, delivers the third annual Fr. John Meyendorff Memorial Lecture. Metropolitan Tikhon of the OCA and Metropolitan Joseph of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese were also given honorary doctor of divinity degrees at the convocation.

Orthodox author, speaker, and AFR podcast host Frederica Mathewes-Green delivers a speech titled "Confessions of a Freelance Writer: Discerning God's Will in an Unpredictable Vocation."