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Father Stephen looks at the history and architecture of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and draws lessons for our own humility.

Many efforts are made to convince modern Christians that they live "in between" Christ's first coming and His second - and that this "in between" period is somehow different and requires new understandings of the gospel. Fr. Stephen refutes this false understanding and describes where it is we now live.

Fr. Stephen looks at one of the most treasured notions of the modern world.

What kind of church and facilities would you have built if money were no object and you were committed to addressing all of your community’s needs? Now what did you actually build? The difference between your dreams and your reality could, among other things, be a measure of the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of your capital campaign and overall leadership program. Anthony Scott joins Bill Marianes to talk about Capital Campaigns and how to run them.

Fr. John shares about the healing of the paralytic in John 5. "Let us endure whatever hardships we may face in this life and accept them as being for our salvation, so that a worse thing will not come upon us. Having been healed of our sins, we may rise up on that final day and enter into Paradise."

Fr. John Whiteford uses the life of New Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth to encourage the listeners to live a life of perseverance in the faith. Nothing is won without struggle and sacrifice.

There is no fall too deep for Christ's love for us. Never lose hope, my brothers and my sisters.

Fr. Steven stirs the pot of current moral difficulties facing all Orthodox Christians

See Matthew ch. 2. Their number is sometimes put at fourteen thousand.   In our own day, the icon of "Rachel weeping for her children" (Matthew 2:18) has come to commemorate also the tens of millions of children who have died through abortion.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth was a grand-daughter of Queen Victoria of England and the older sister of the Empress Alexandra (July 4). After marrying Grand Duke Sergei she converted to the Orthodox faith, though this was not required by her position. After her husband was assassinated in 1905, she took monastic vows and withdrew from the world, founding the Convent of Saints Mary and Martha. There she served as superior, devoting her time to prayer, fasting, and caring for the sick and the poor.   During the Russian Revolution, she was seized by the God-hating Bolsheviks and taken to the Urals, where she and several with her were martyred by being thrown alive down an abandoned mine-shaft. When the fall did not kill them, soldiers threw grenades down the shaft to complete their work. Saint Elizabeth was singing the Cherubic Hymn when she died.   The Nun Barbara, her cell-attendant, voluntarily followed St Elizabeth into exile and received martyrdom with her. Their relics were recovered and taken at great risk to China, then to Jerusalem, where they were deposited in the Convent of St Mary Magdalene. When their reliquaries were opened in 1981, their bodies were found to be partly incorrupt, and gave off a sweet fragrance.   Footnote: After the assassination of her husband in Moscow, Grand Duchess Elizabeth had a cross erected at the site of his death, bearing the inscription "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." After the revolution, the cross remained standing through the devotion of the people of Moscow to St Elizabeth, until it was personally torn down by Lenin.

See Matthew ch. 2. Their number is sometimes put at fourteen thousand. In our own day, the icon of "Rachel weeping for her children" (Matthew 2:18) has come to commemorate also the tens of millions of children who have died through abortion.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth was a grand-daughter of Queen Victoria of England and the older sister of the Empress Alexandra (July 4). After marrying Grand Duke Sergei she converted to the Orthodox faith, though this was not required by her position. After her husband was assassinated in 1905, she took monastic vows and withdrew from the world, founding the Convent of Saints Mary and Martha. There she served as superior, devoting her time to prayer, fasting, and caring for the sick and the poor.   During the Russian Revolution, she was seized by the God-hating Bolsheviks and taken to the Urals, where she and several with her were martyred by being thrown alive down an abandoned mine-shaft. When the fall did not kill them, soldiers threw grenades down the shaft to complete their work. Saint Elizabeth was singing the Cherubic Hymn when she died.   The Nun Barbara, her cell-attendant, voluntarily followed St Elizabeth into exile and received martyrdom with her. Their relics were recovered and taken at great risk to China, then to Jerusalem, where they were deposited in the Convent of St Mary Magdalene. When their reliquaries were opened in 1981, their bodies were found to be partly incorrupt, and gave off a sweet fragrance.   Footnote: After the assassination of her husband in Moscow, Grand Duchess Elizabeth had a cross erected at the site of his death, bearing the inscription "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." After the revolution, the cross remained standing through the devotion of the people of Moscow to St Elizabeth, until it was personally torn down by Lenin.

See Matthew ch. 2. Their number is sometimes put at fourteen thousand.   In our own day, the icon of "Rachel weeping for her children" (Matthew 2:18) has come to commemorate also the tens of millions of children who have died through abortion.

See Matthew ch. 2. Their number is sometimes put at fourteen thousand.   In our own day, the icon of "Rachel weeping for her children" (Matthew 2:18) has come to commemorate also the tens of millions of children who have died through abortion.

Did you overdo it during the fast-free period of the Holy Nativity? Are you frustrated with how you ate and that lack of attention you paid to your body? Do you struggle with overindulgence on foods and beverage? Rita discusses how and why we must forgive ourselves and move forward.

Fr. Adrian Budica interviews Pediatric Chaplain, Elizabeth Hawkins, BCC. Elizabeth is a Board Certified Chaplain and endorsed by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. (Part 1 of 2)

Fr. Adrian Budica continues his interview with Pediatric Chaplain, Elizabeth Hawkins, BCC. Elizabeth is a Board Certified Chaplain and endorsed by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. (Part 2 of 2)

During the afterfeast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Fr. John reflects on the mystery that is Mary.

The death of St. Elizabeth the Grand Duchess and New Martyr tells us about how she lived her life lived long before her martyrdom.

Fr. Joseph tackles the subject of "place" -- where we come from and where we're headed.  Your departed mom, your dad, sister, brother or spouse:  they are on that mysterious journey.  It’s only a better place if Love is there … let’s pray that includes all of us.

This week, Emma and Christina read (and watched) A Light Between Oceans. Join them as they discuss the danger of spiritual delusion, the path toward true love and repentance, and how the film adaptation missed the heart of the novel. They close with their Top 5 Worst Book-To-Film Adaptions.

This week, the guys decided to talk about their first overtly Christian piece of art: Josh Garrels’ album, Love & War & the Sea In Between. They discuss the unique power of poetry and music to speak our hearts, the struggle and necessity of facing our own brokenness, and the tension between what we see and what we hope for. They close with their Top 5 Western Christian Church Hymns.

Fr. Philip LeMasters reflects on the important role that Joseph the Betrothed played in the Nativity of Jesus Christ.

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

"Healing the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda," from Feasts of Christ and the Theotokos and Miracles of the Lord by Spiritual Fragrance Publishing (2012)

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

Welcoming the Christ Child: Family Readings for the Nativity Lent, "The Annunciation and Mary Visits Elizabeth," by Elissa Bjeletich, illustrated by Jelena Jeftic (Sebastian Press, 2017).

Welcoming the Christ Child: Family Readings for the Nativity Lent, "Conclusion – Righteous Joseph and A Child is Born in Bethlehem," by Elissa Bjeletich, illustrated by Jelena Jeftic (Sebastian Press, 2017).

"Saint Elizabeth the New Martyr," from Royal Saints: A coloring book with stories of saintly royalty throughout the history of Christianity (Draw Near Designs). Saints drawn by Marian Adams. Stories & Borders by Abigail Holt. Layout by Caroline Gann.

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)

What accounts for the differences between the Eastern and Western churches? Many things of course, but primarily the development in the West - through those such as Anselm and Aquinas - of an emphasis on human reason and intellect in the pursuit of theological understanding. Returning briefly to our discussion of Rome and the Eastern Church, we contrast rationalism with the Eastern tradition that bows to the Mystery of the Incomprehensible, that proclaims that "theologians" are pure in heart through love of God (the eastern Church grants the title of Theologian to only three Saints in all of Church History), and we begin to see how steeped our modern culture and we ourselves are in scholastic thinking.

It is a wonderful thing to know the Scriptures well, but there is a drawback: since we know how all the stories end, we can miss the drama inherent in the narrative. For example, In Luke 7:11f we can read about the grief of the widow of Nain, but since we know that her son’s death will end in his resurrection before he can be buried, we can skip too quickly from her sorrow to the happy ending and miss how terrible that grief must have been for her.