Fr. Gabriel, priest at St. Mary Magdalene (OCA) in Fenton, MI speaks at College Conference Midwest about how to practically live a sacramental life by dissecting the Church's sacraments and how we draw closer to Christ through them.

Fr. Brendan Pelphrey and Kassiani discuss Ecumenism and what it means to Orthodox Christians.

In this episode, Danielle and Fr. Timothy explore how Judgement can bring us closer to Christ as we embark on journey towards Lent

Matthew answers the question, "What was God's purpose with the Old Testament sacrificial system?"

Matthew concludes his series by examining the nature of man's conscience.

Sacraments are how God lives out His life in us moment by moment, day by day.

Sacraments are not a bridge to anywhere - they are the destination.

Are the sacraments some duty to be fulfilled or are they part of our very lives as Orthodox Christians?

Matthew encourages us to contemplate the sobering Parable of the Last Judgment, because what will happen to us at that moment is being decided right now.

Join Fr. Nick and Dr. Roxanne with special guest Melinda Johnson for a new episode of Healthy Minds Healthy Souls titled "Women of Faith." They'll talk about the recent book Seven Holy Women: Conversations with Saints and Friends, which was written by a group of Orthodox women writers.

Fr. Evan provides a short history and spiritual biography of the New Testament canon.

Fr. Evan discusses the formation of the New Testament canon and the authorship of the Gospel of Mark.

Let us remember to lean on each other. "A burden shared is half the burden. A joy shared is twice the joy."

What do those words in the liturgy mean? And how do we accomplish this? Fr. John enlightens us with the answers.

Fr. John examines the life and faith of the Holy New Martyr and Grand Duchess Elizabeth.

As Orthodox Christians in a non-Orthodox culture, we have questions: Who are we? What is "the Church"? What is our relationship to friends and family of other faiths? What is ecumenism? Who will be saved? In this special edition of Hearts and Minds, Fr John Oliver offers a few reflections.

The Ancient Faith Men's Retreat runs August 22-25, 2024.

Tackling the differences among the Gregorian, Julian, and Appalachian Calendars concerning the date of Christmas is nothing new -- and can be quite the tongue twister.

A Roman Catholic priest, two Orthodox clergymen, a Baptist boy and an Episcopalian gal, along with a Greek layman—unexpectedly—share a Thanksgiving campfire. What do you think happens?

In our last episode: a Roman Catholic priest, two Orthodox clergymen, a Baptist boy and an Episcopalian gal, along with a Greek layman—unexpectedly—share a Thanksgiving campfire. In the end, Fr Joseph asked: "What do you think happens?" This week, an answer (provided almost entirely from AFR listeners).

First it was "live podding," then the dread, the guilt and the heavens were separated from the earth (which, naturally, led to a parody of the theme song from "Green Acres"). Clean Monday blows through quickly; pigs don't fly, but kites do (and don't miss Fr. Joseph's fun outtakes at the very end).

(Fr. Joseph dedicates this program to the memory of Fr. Matthew MacKay, who would have appreciated the humor—he hopes.) This week the Orthodixie podcast catches up with the author of An Empty Church is a Peaceful Church, Fr. Danislav Gregorio, about his new book, Speedy Sacraments for Liturgical Losers.

Last year's "listener supported" Thanksgiving podcast featured a Roman Catholic priest, two Orthodox clergymen, a Baptist boy and an Episcopalian gal, and a Greek layman, who—unexpectedly—shared a Thanksgiving campfire. Here are the combined episodes, slightly edited; stay tuned for details regarding this year's contest at episode's end!

A 3-year-old Thanksgiving "tradition": The Eighth Ecumenical Campfire—and contest. This year's contest winners will receive the new book by Fr. Michael Keiser titled Spread the Word: Reclaiming the Apostolic Tradition of Evangelism. Tune in to this encore episode for details.

From a retreat given in an historic Southern City featuring song snips from Johnny Rivers, William Warfield, and Paul Simon (just to name a few).

Just a few women, at first, raised their hands; later, all of them acknowledged their "sonship." If God's their Father, who's their Mother? Fr. Joseph speaks to gals and guys at St Nicholas Church, Shreveport, Louisiana.

A sermon on the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women reveals shocking news!

This ecumenical Thanksgiving tale has developed over the years—in large part thanks to AFR listeners. Enjoy!

You have to listen to get the connection. Hint: Men and Women are just different!

Who knew they were a protected species? Apparently not St. George!

Fr. Anthony continues discussing the book Ten Commandments for Pastors New to a Congregation by Lawrence W. Farris.

After making a plea for keeping ecclesial politics subordinated to our Unity and Love for one another, Fr. Anthony makes a case for the priesthood being one of many options for those desiring to serve God and His Church. He also spends time introducing a book on vocations that the founder of the GGWB website, Fr. John Peck, recently released.

Join Fr. Anthony next to his back porch in Hartwell, Georgia, as he talks with scientist, theologian, professor, Associate Dean, and evangelist, Gayle Woloschak, PhD, DMin (Northwestern University) about COVID, vaccines, and discernment. This is a recording of Fr. Anthony's livestream. Enjoy the show!

In this episode, Fr. Daniel shares wisdom from St. John Cassian, St. Moses the Black, and St. Anthony the Great on the problem of discernment and talks about why it is so important for us - and especially clergy - to take the problem seriously. Fr. Daniel Greeson is rector of St. Anne's Orthodox Church in Oakridge TN and the editor and a writer for the new Ancient Faith Ministry Blog "Every Thought Captive", where he is publishing a series on the challenge of discernment (among other topics). Enjoy the show!

One of the challenges of our present spiritual situation is that our society has settled for something less than truth. This affects the quality of our opinions, policies, and judgments and undermines our ability to live and spread the Gospel. An indicator of the seriousness of this is our growing inability to listen to, learn from, and love people who think differently than we do. In this presentation, I frame the situation as a problem of discernment, compare scientific and Orthodox methods of knowing, and describe how polarization keeps us from using either well. I conclude with a discussion of the critical role diversity plays in discerning truth, and how the Gospel can transform the (Babelic) divisions that deafen us to the truth into a (Pentecostal) harmony that proclaims and celebrates it. Emulating the academic forum the paper was written for (the 2020 Institute for Studies in Eastern Theology), Dn. Timothy Kelleher then offers his thoughts on the presentation and subject. Enjoy the show!

In this episode, Fr. Anthony and Fr. Harry Linsinbigler address the often misunderstood necessity of withholding sacraments. Framing it as a normal process (to include preparation for Baptism/Chrismation) allows us to see it less as a political power play or punishment (as the world would have us see it) and more as a valid and necessary part of our life in Christ. Enjoy the show!

Today Fr. Anthony waves the "Good Idea Wand" (a cursed artifact to be sure) to come up with solutions to the problem of maladjusted clergy. He then invites Fr. Gregory to evaluate them. The ideas they discuss are; psychological evaluations, mandatory reporting of credit scores and financial debt, annual performance evaluations, and peer reviews. In the end, they both agree that even though solutions like these may offer short-term benefits, the best solution is to facilitate the growth of genuinely Orthodox cultures and institutions. Enjoy the show!

Let’s not just offer little Bible Stories as morality tales. Let’s instead help our children to encounter the Scriptures in their wholeness, finding Christ in the Old and the New.

Is there a way to approach the Old Testament with our children in a fascinating and dimensional way? Elissa encourages us to teach Old Testament stories on three different levels.

Fr. Michael shares about discernment. "We all have to begin where we are, with the limited ability and grace we have.... If we follow what we know, maybe God will reveal to us some of what we do not know."

Fr. Michael shares his concerns with the familiar "Poop in the Brownies" story and offers some positive alternatives to talking about purity with children.

This morning my wife and I took one of our occasional half-day vacations. It’s a warmish 19 degree day (68 Fahrenheit) with the sun poking through the clouds. We walked a mile or so up a trail in the hills and then afterward stopped by a country tea and scone place for a bite and a chat and just some quite time together, Bonnie working on her knitting project and I reading a book (what else would I be doing?). Bonnie asked me what I was reading, so I read her a little quote from from Archimandrite Aimilianos. What does it mean to be dispassionate? It means turning exclusively to God, with all your strength, energy, power, and love. There is no turning aside to anything else whatsoever….

It seems the future of the Church, the future of the next Great and Holy Council (or the continuation of the one that has already begun) depends mostly on us, the people: the moms and dads, the brothers and sisters, the laity in general and the married priests and simple monastics. We’re the one’s whose holiness or lack thereof determines the holiness of tomorrow’s generation of leaders in the Church.

Concern over God’s judgement has nothing to do with striving to be better. Concern over God’s judgement is to continually strive to enter God’s rest, to humble ourselves and feel sadness over our wretchedness, and to offer that wretchedness to God as prayer. This is what concern for God’s judgement looks like according to St. Isaac the Syrian.

Sometimes letters are sent to AFR addressed to no specific person. In such cases various authors, podcasters or bloggers are called upon to respond to the letter. The lot fell to me for this one. Of course, in selecting a person to respond to a question, you don’t necessarily get the best or even most correct answer to the question. You get that person’s answer—given his or her current understanding, knowledge, ability to communicate and level of sleep deprivation. I share the question and my response with you-all in the hope that some of you might find it interesting and even a little helpful—even if you have never wondered about the Hebrew rendering of Hosea 14:2.

Luke 16 contains one of the most difficult to understand parables of Jesus. It is commonly called the parable of the Unjust Steward. For most of my life the parable offended me. Like the Pharisees in 16:14, I want to deride Jesus for telling a parable that, on the face of it, advocates embezzlement. The servant in the parable gets sacked for “wasting” his master’s goods, so the servant decides to earn favor with his master’s debtors by writing off a large part of the debt they owe the master. And what makes this parable particularly hard to stomach is that the master actually commends his servant for doing this. After sacking the servant for wasting his funds, the master commends him for embezzling them. How does that make sense?

Here’s the problem: We so often set ourselves up for failure by thinking our best must mean that we should do what someone else, probably a saint, is doing or has done. And so, without discernment, we force ourselves to complete a rigorous prayer rule or fasting discipline, or to sleep very little, or attend copious church services, or to volunteer at every opportunity—all without discernment, often motivated by a pride that thinks that all we have to do is force ourselves and we will attain the spiritual heights others seem to have attained.

To begin with, we must remind ourselves that salvation is a mystery, and that discerning principles and rules in the scriptures and self consciously applying them to ourselves is no guarantee that we will find salvation. In fact, it seems that this approach to seeking to discover and apply the correct formula or law to his life is exactly the approach used by the ruler who fails to find salvation.

Is there a difference between men and women in regard to theosis? Short answer: No. Long answer: Every human being is unique. Gender is part of that uniqueness.

Canceling Arrested Development was a huge mistake. Some might say that bringing it back for Season Four was an even huger mistake. Steve and Christian explore what makes certain shows land with an audience, why Arrested Development was before its time, and how we in the Church can avoid making the same huge mistakes as the producers of many TV Shows that were canceled too early (or not early enough) and were brought back for more. Of course, they end with another Top Five. Typical.