This week, Fr Joseph gets real: "The thing about Confession is that it is natural. That is, it is Real. Almost everything else we do with our sin is false and unnatural. We punish ourselves, justify our actions, and hide. Yet, in Confession -- in opening ourselves to God the Light -- we expose the hypocrisy of our double life. In truth, we've been living a lie. Without Confession, Absolution, and Reconciliation we live a lie before God and Man as if it were Reality. In reality, no one is fooled -- not our neighbor, not ourselves. And, let's be real, certainly not God."

A priest friend of mine likes to say, "We may not have many, but we have them all!" In this episode, I describe some the of the things that make it hard for priests and laity to see eye-to-eye and try to make the case that it really is okay not to like everything about your priests or parishes in order to love, serve, and support them. (Please note that I am NOT defending pathological or abusive parishioners and priests; we deal with those rare situations in other episodes). Enjoy the show!

Listen to find out which of the many conspiracies is occupying space in Fr. Anthony's fool head. Without it, he argues that the other problems (e.g. injustice, riots, elections, presidential narcissism) would have been handled as normal rather than extra-ordinary problems. We should have seen it coming! From his YouTube Livestream of 1/16/2021.

Fr. Ted discusses the spiritual importance of icons, citing the Seventh Ecumenical Council.

Thanksgiving should be the core of our being as Orthodox Christians.

We fast to free ourselves from the slavery of the passions.

Fr. Ted discusses St. Nicholas.

Host Kevin Allen and Father Michael Reagan continue their conversation about this most important of topics: Knowing God. Next Illumined Heart: Friday, September 24, 2010

In this inaugural episode of the new season of The Illumined Heart, Kevin Allen welcomes Father Michael Reagan to discuss a long-standing conversation between the Eastern Church and the Western Church: can we know God directly and what does this mean? The perspective in this conversation is practical, not academic. In this new season of The Illumined Heart, Kevin will be providing interviews every other week. However next week (Sept 10) he will have part 2 of his interview with Fr. Michael Reagan.

We ask God to forgive our sins and God tells us that His forgiveness is conditional on our forgiveness of others. But what does forgiveness really mean? Does it mean forgetting the offense entirely, or is it the intention to forgive that matters? What if we forgive, but the bitterness or the memory of the sin or offense comes back - have we not truly forgiven? Are we to repent of our sin once, or is it a continual process? These and other questions are the topic of the next Illumined Heart with guest Rev. Fr Tom Soroka.

Fr. Thomas Hopko, Dean Emeritus of St. Vladimir's Orthodox seminary, addresses the controversial subject of "toll houses" in this highly animated half-hour discussion with our co-hosts.

Fr. John Parker, the new chairman of the OCA's Department of Evangelization, describes how his parish, Holy Ascension Orthodox Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, went from having a handful of believers to being a lively and growing body of Christ.

anything out of frame is immediately forgotten, making it very dream-like and surreal to explore #

In 1956 an American game show debuted called “To Tell the Truth”. Each round of the game introduced three people all claiming to be the same person, and a team of panelists would ask them questions. Those pretending to be the real (usually famous) person would make up answers, while the real person would answer truthfully. The inquiring panelists would then guess which was the real person. The host of the show would conclude by saying, “Will the real (name) please stand up?” and he or she would then stand up thereby revealing their identity and the accuracy of the panelists’ guesses.

Fr. Apostolos shares from 2 Corinthians 6:1-10.

Fr. Apostolos Hill talks about deconstruction of determinism on both a personal and corporate level. The change Jesus invites us to experience is one He Himself provides. To suggest that real change is impossible, as determinists insist, is to abandon the path of salvation.

Sermon on the Sunday Before the Elevation of the Cross (Galatians 6:11-18; John 3:13-17)

We can sometimes take the blessings we receive and miracles we read about in the New Testament for granted. The reading about the healing of the blind man is one such event, because the Lord didn't simply heal his sight, He actually created eyes for the man! Fr Thomas teaches us that the health of our sight is measured by what we're willing to see regarding the love and works of God.

Lest we forget the cosmic realities of our Orthodox worship, Fr. Tom unpacks the reading of the Samaritan Woman in order to remind us that worship in spirit and in truth is not bound to space or time, and includes - not least of all - personal sacrifice.

We all suffer and struggle in our lives, but how often do we think of the reality that the demons seek to oppress us? Listen as Fr. Tom shows clearly from the Scriptures that this is the case, and what we must do about it.

As we read about the healing of the blind man, Fr. Tom implores us to always see ourselves, the Church, and - most importantly - Christ with new, spiritual eyes.

Fr. Gregory Hallam gives the sermon on the first Sunday of Great Lent

What do euthanasia enthusiasts really want? To eliminate suffering of any kind by eliminating the sufferer.

Will the United States follow the lead of other countries who have put into law the most radical euthanasia policies?

Dr. Albert Rossi reflects on a conversation he had following the Nativity divine services on how we can make Christianity really real in our lives.

Dr. Albert Rossi reflects on praying the Jesus Prayer with a living faith.

Dr. Rossi reflects on the reality and impermanence of feelings.

On a new "Ancient Faith Commentaries," Fr. Lawrence Farley explains that the LGBT reality is not really new; it is the same old darkness that St. Paul encountered in his time. And Paul's word to the Church then still stands for us today.

Fr. Lawrence Farley contends that a comparison between Santa Claus and St. Nicholas illustrates well the difference between worldly and Christian cultures, and we are called to live in the latter for all twelve months of the year.