In this episode, Danielle and Fr. Timothy get deep into understanding humility and its importance for our Lenten journey.

In this episode, Danielle and Fr. Timothy continue on the Pre-Lenten journey by drawing connections between our repentance and God’s compassion and love for mankind.

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

In this episode, Danielle and Fr. Timothy discuss the liberation found in humbly forgiving ourselves and others before Christ.

Fr. Nicholas and Dr. Roxanne Louh welcome special guest Elissa Bjeletich tonight to talk about Nativity and families.

On St. Michael's Day of 2012, the parish of St. Michael the Archangel (UOC-USA) in Woonsocket, RI suffered tremendous damage from a fire. In this podcast, Fr. Anthony, the priest of St. Michael's at that time, shares hard-earned advice on preparing for, dealing with, and recovering from parish disasters. The most important advice? Keep the One Thing Needful top on the list of priorities at every step of the process.

Fr. Anthony interviews Fr. John Peck (http://frjohnpeck.com) about the joys and challenges of North American missionary work and ways that those called to it can get themselves and their families ready for it and the many challenges it - and life - can bring. We talk about the need to get out of debt and how important it is to have an awesome, loving, and mutually supportive relationship with your wife. Enjoy the show!

Elissa offers ideas for teaching during the three-week period of preparation for Great Lent (which is itself a preparation) to ensure that our kids benefit from the Church's wise preparation before the preparation.

Elissa presents part two of her brief series on preparing for Lent.

Fr. Philip LeMasters shares about the rich, foolish farmer. "The barn of the rich fool was a pagan temple in which he worshiped only himself. If we live according to the standards of our world of corruption, we will become just like him by seeking to lay up treasures for ourselves to the point that we will shut ourselves out of the new life that Christ has brought to the world."

We celebrate the Presentation of Christ forty days after His birth, in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Theotokos and St. Joseph bring the young Savior there in compliance with the Old Testament law, making the offering of a poor family, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the old man St. Simeon proclaims that this Child is the salvation “of all peoples, a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.” The aged prophetess St. Anna also recognizes Him as the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Theophany shows us that Jesus Christ is not merely a great religious teacher or moral example. He is truly God—a member of the Holy Trinity–and His salvation permeates His entire creation, including the water of the river Jordan. Through His and our baptism, we become participants in the holy mystery of our salvation.

John the Baptist was unspotted from the world due to the spiritual strength he gained from a life of asceticism and prayer, and he called people to follow him in preparing the way of the Lord as they bore “fruits worthy of repentance” and treated other people with the care appropriate to the children of God.

We must mindfully take the steps necessary to follow the Theotokos in becoming holy living temples of the Lord. That is the only way to celebrate this feast and to prepare to celebrate Christmas with integrity.

In the remaining days before Christmas, let us embrace the radically disorienting calling to hope in nothing and no one other than the God-Man Who is born to heal and fulfill all who bear the divine image and likeness.

Those who have put on Christ in baptism and who receive the Communion of His Body and Blood must become epiphanies of His fulfillment of the human person in God’s image and likeness. As we prepare to celebrate Theophany, let us gain the spiritual clarity to behold the glory of Christ’s baptism by straightening the crooked areas of our lives.

If we are ever tempted to think that the Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are antiquated niceties for those removed from the cares of daily life, we must think again. They are absolute necessities for us to live faithfully in our world of corruption. They are not practices focused on individual spiritual gratification, but how we find the strength to offer ourselves for the blessing of our neighbors and the salvation of the world.

Like the rich man, many want a spiritual pat on the pack for continuing down whatever passion-driven path they have followed so far.

Most people today surely do not think of the weeks before Christmas as a time of preparation for being loosed from bondage to the corrupting forces of sin and death. More commonly, we use this time of year to strengthen our addiction to the love of money, possessions, food, drink, and other worldly pleasures.

Let us prepare for the banquet through fasting, prayer, generosity, confession, and repentance, so that we will have the spiritual clarity to accept the great invitation that is ours in Christ Jesus.

As we continue to prepare to welcome Christ at His Nativity, we must keep our focus on becoming like those who first received Him with joy. That includes the Theotokos, whose Entrance into the Temple, where she prepared to become His Living Temple, we celebrated last week. That includes unlikely characters like the Persian astrologers or wise men, certainly Gentiles, who traveled such a long distance to worship Him. What better news could there have been than that the Prince of Peace was coming “to preach good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”? (Lk. 4:18-19) As we sing during these weeks of Advent, “Dance for joy, O earth, on hearing the gladsome tidings; with the Angels and the shepherds now glorify Him Who is willing to be gazed on as a young Child Who before the ages is God.”

On the last couple of Sundays, our gospel readings have reminded us what not to do if we want to prepare to welcome Christ into our lives and world at His Nativity. The rich fool was so focused on money and possessions that he completely neglected the state of his soul. The rich young ruler walked away in sadness when it became clear that he loved his wealth more than God and neighbor. The weeks before Christmas are the most commercialized time of the year when we are all bombarded with messages that the good life is primarily about having a lot of money and being able to buy whatever we want. Since the Lord warned so clearly of the folly of giving our hearts to the false god of riches, it is sadly ironic that the celebration of His Nativity so often occurs in ways that contradict the blessedness of His Kingdom.

This week, as we approach Great Lent, Dr. Edith Humphrey helps us prepare our minds by focusing upon godly humility, as seen in Job, in the model laid out for Timothy by St. Paul, and in the well-known parable of the Publican and the Pharisee.

We reflect back upon the Psalm “By the Waters of Babylon,” heard by many of us in the past three weeks, as a preparation for Great Lent. Its troublesome final verse is read with the help of other portions of Scripture, St. John Chrysostom, Cassiodorus and others, so that we can understand why the psalm retains a valuable place in our worship together.

In this final episode of “Light from the Canticles,” we contemplate the Song of Simeon, also known as the Nunc Dimittis (Luke 2:29-32), with help from select fathers, Genesis 26:26-30, 2 Samuel (Kingdoms) 20:41-42, Isaiah 54:10, and Nehemiah 8:3. The elder Simeon’s song of blessing and gratitude becomes ours as we remember the fulfillment of God’s promises, and rejoice in the Incarnate One, who has brought us release from sin and death. Next episode we will start a series on the Psalms sung at Vespers, in the Divine Liturgy, and in our daily readings: “Light from the Psalms.”

Prepare, O Bethlehem: The Feast of the Nativity, illustrated for children by Niko Chocheli (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2000)

Prepare, O Bethlehem!: The Feast of the Nativity Illustrated for Children by Niko Chocheli (St Vladimir’s Seminary Press (2000)

33. Book 1: Prepare, O Bethlehem!: The Feast of the Nativity illustrated for Children by Niko Chocheli (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2000) Book 2: Halloween Town by Dennis Eugene Engleman (Regina Orthodox Press) part three and conclusion

Prepare, O Bethlehem: The Feast of the Nativity, illustrated for children by Niko Chocheli (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2000)

128. Prepare, O Bethlehem: The Feast of the Nativity, illustrated for children by Niko Chocheli (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2000)

Prepare, O Bethlehem: The Feast of the Nativity, illustrated for children by Niko Chocheli (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2000)

Fr. Ted reminds us that those who call themselves Christian should not act like other people.

It is very, very dangerous to commune without the proper preparation.

Well-known theologian, composer, and author Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, Chairman of the Department of External Relations for the Moscow Patriarchate, delivered an academic address at St. Vlad's on November 8, 2014, on the topic of primacy in preparation for the 2016 Great and Holy Council. He was also given an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree.

Addressing members of the Orthodox Inter-Seminary Movement (OISM), St. Vladimir's Seminary President Fr. Chad Hatfield offer some thoughts for future ordained and lay leaders who will be serving in an "aggresively anti-Christian" world. His insights and suggestions for further reading will be of interest to the seminarian and non-seminarian alike.

Padre Nicholas predice que nos debemos prepararnos para el reino, para el rey, y para el cielo. Galatas 2;16-20 Fr. Nicholas preaches that we must prepare ourselves for the kingdom, for the King, and for heaven. Galatians 2:16-20

El Padre Nicolás predicó cómo debemos prepararnos para recibir a Cristo resucitado en nuestras vidas. Father Nicolás preached how we should prepare to receive the risen Christ in our lives.

Dn. Mark enumerates the things you'll need to have ready to prepare a body for burial and explains what to expect when you encounter a dead body.

Dn. Mark explains exactly what needs to be done when preparing a body for burial.

Yesterday's homily was the first of a two-part presentation leading to Pentecost. Taken primarily from Ezekiel, Fr. Apostolos reviews the departure of the Presence and Spirit of God from the first Temple because of the wickedness of the priests and people. Then, from the Prophet's vision of the valley of the dried bones, we have the promise of the Spirit's return to us by the mercy of God as we repent. Next week, Fr. Apostolos will speak about the operation of the Spirit as addressed in Romans 8 and elsewhere.

On Meatfare Sunday we commemorate the Last Judgment, when Christ returns to His creation to judge the world and redeem His people. Fr Thomas reminds us that our fasting is related to the Judgment. As we fast to prepare for Pascha, the Lord's resurrection is the first sign of our resurrection and the coming Judgment.

The celebration of Palm Sunday is juxtaposed against the dark events that we experience in the life of Christ during Holy Week. Fr Thomas reminds us that our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem is an example of having the "peace from above" even if you're marching to the Cross.

We are to point to Christ and not ourselves as we prepare the way for others to receive Him; we decrease that Christ might be glorified in and through us.

In the Epistle for today from the closing verses of Chapter 6 of the Second Letter to the Corinthians, St Paul gives us a challenge and a promise. He challenges us to change how we are living; and he promises us that if we separate ourselves from idols, God will be loving and gentle and care for us with great mercy.

Fr. Gregory speaks to both the children and adults admonishing them and all of us to properly prepare for the coming of Christ in the flesh.