Podcasts about Divine Liturgy

Something unusual is happening across American Christianity: more people are walking into Orthodox parishes, signing up as catechumens, and staying long enough to be reshaped by the Divine Liturgy. We zoom in on what that “Orthodox surge” looks like on the ground, from standing-room-only Sundays to communities talking seriously about planting multiple missions because their current buildings cannot hold the crowd.*****Music:  ⁨@neffexmusic⁩ "Manifest It" (Instrumental)*****Witness Weekly Team:Jeremy JeremiahMario Andrew "Andrew St Mercy"  ⁨@Orthobigbro⁩ James St Simon  ⁨@jamessaintsimon⁩ Michael "Redlines" Lindsey  ⁨@redlineshq⁩  *****Questions about Orthodoxy? Please check out our friends at Ghost of Byzantium Discord server: https://discord.gg/jRXxRaqK9Please prayerfully consider supporting Cloud of Witnesses: https://www.patreon.com/c/CloudofWitnessesFind Cloud of Witnesses on Instagram, X.com, Facebook, and TikTok.Audio: https://cloudofwitnessesradio.buzzsprout.comPlease leave a comment with your thoughts!

Why do sincere people so often believe things that simply are not true? This homily examines the Orthodox understanding of prelest, or spiritual delusion, and explains how the ascetical life of the Church gradually heals our perception of reality. In an age of curated news feeds and ideological echo chambers, Christ remains the only Truth in whom faith never collides with reality.  Enjoy the show. Matthew 17:14-23 Faith is a wonderful thing—but only if it is faith in the right thing. When I was a boy, I had an idea...[ the sword.] At the time, it made perfect sense to me. I was convinced it would work. I probably defended the idea if anyone questioned it. But then reality got a vote. Wood doesn't care what I believe about it. Physics doesn't change because I'm sincere. The real world eventually reveals whether my idea was true or false. Later, my friends and I had another great idea... [the boat.] This one was even more interesting because it wasn't just my delusion—it was our delusion. We encouraged one another. We reinforced one another's confidence. The more we talked about it, the more certain we became. And then reality got a vote. The boat either floated or it didn't. Reality always gets a vote. This isn't just true of childhood adventures. It is true of every part of life. Every one of us has what we might call a "good idea fairy" living in our head. Ideas occur to us. They seem plausible. We become attached to them. Then something even stronger happens. We begin to define ourselves by them. God created our minds to recognize truth, but after the Fall our minds became vulnerable to self-deception. Once we become attached to an idea, we naturally notice evidence that supports it and explain away evidence that challenges it. Even worse, once our identity becomes wrapped up in that idea, disagreement begins to feel like a personal attack. Our passions become inflamed. We stop asking, "Is it true?" and begin asking, "Is it ours?" The Fathers of the Church had a name for this long before modern psychology existed. They called it prelest—spiritual delusion. Prelest is not simply believing something false. It is the condition in which our desires, our pride, and our passions distort our perception of reality itself. We begin trusting ourselves more than God. We mistake our own thoughts for wisdom, our own feelings for discernment, and our own will for truth. This isn't merely an individual problem. Communities suffer from it too. Families can reinforce one another's delusions. Churches can reinforce them. Businesses can reinforce them. Nations can reinforce them. History is full of tragic examples. Nazism and Soviet Communism were not sustained merely by fear. Millions of people encouraged one another to believe obvious falsehoods. Loyalty was demanded not only to a government but to an entire false vision of reality. Eventually... Reality got a vote. It always does. When our delusions concern engineering, biology, economics, or politics, reality eventually exposes them. You can only pretend that gravity is optional for so long before bridges collapse. You can only deny economic realities for so long before societies begin to unravel. Religion can be trickier. False religion—or even distorted religion—can survive much longer because the consequences are often less immediate. Spiritual delusion has a way of lingering. It can persist for years, even generations. But eventually... Reality still gets a vote. Many of us are Orthodox today because of that very fact. At some point the worldview we had inherited could no longer explain our experience. Perhaps it could not account for the reality of sin. Perhaps it could not account for the reality of grace. Perhaps it offered morality but not healing, rules but not communion, forgiveness but not transformation. Eventually something no longer fit. And God, in His mercy, used that discomfort to draw us closer to the truth. That is all to the good. Because reality is not impersonal. Reality is God's creation. Truth is not something we invent or negotiate. Ultimately, truth is not merely a thing to be discovered at all. Truth is a Person. As Christ Himself says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." And that changes everything. If Truth is a Person, then faith is not merely believing propositions about reality. Faith is entering into communion with the One who is Reality Himself. Now, if I had preached this sermon twenty years ago, I probably would have ended there, encouraging you simply to trust God, receive the Holy Mysteries faithfully, and allow the life of the Church to heal you from the many delusions that constantly threaten the human heart. But today I think I need to go further and give an additional warning. We have created a world that cooperates with our fallen psychology in ways previous generations could scarcely have imagined. Our news is customized. Our entertainment is personalized. Our conversations are curated. Algorithms learn what we already believe—or what we are tempted to believe—and quietly feed us more of it. The Fathers warned us that the passions naturally incline us toward prelest. Our modern technologies have learned to profit from those same passions. They reward outrage, reinforce tribalism, flatter pride, and encourage us to live inside carefully constructed worlds where our assumptions are rarely challenged. Never before has it been so easy to mistake a carefully curated illusion for reality. But reality still gets a vote. Sooner or later the real world intrudes. More importantly, God does. This is one of the reasons the Church is such a gift. Not because Orthodox Christians are incapable of error—we certainly are not. Not because priests are always right—we certainly are not. But because the life of the Church is designed, over time, to heal us of prelest. Scripture corrects us. The Fathers correct us. Confession corrects us. Fasting corrects us. The Divine Liturgy corrects us. Even our brothers and sisters in Christ correct us. Every one of these is a gift from God, gently loosening our grip on illusion and teaching us to see the world as it truly is. The ascetic life is not punishment. It is therapy. God is patiently healing our perception until we begin to see, desire, and love what is truly good, beautiful, and true. And let me say one more thing. If an algorithm brought you here, welcome. We are glad you're here. But understand this: the internet cannot catechize you into Orthodoxy. It can introduce you to Orthodoxy. It can even inspire you to seek the Church. But every one of us—whether we were born Orthodox or discovered Orthodoxy yesterday—comes with misconceptions, ideological baggage, and our own forms of prelest. The Church does not simply confirm our expectations. She patiently purifies them. If you stay long enough, Orthodoxy will disappoint every false image you have of it—and thanks be to God for that. Every disappointment with our fantasies is an invitation to discover Christ as He truly is. And this brings us back to today's Gospel. The disciples could not cast out the demon. Why? Because faith is not simply believing harder. Faith is not positive thinking. Faith is not convincing ourselves that something is true. Faith is trusting Reality Himself. Christ says that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains—not because faith is magical, but because genuine faith unites us to the One through whom all things were made. Every one of us lives by faith. The question is never whether we have faith. The question is whether our faith is placed in something real. Every falsehood eventually collapses under the weight of reality. Every idol eventually disappoints. Every ideology eventually reaches its limits. Every delusion eventually hears reality cast its vote. But Christ never disappoints. He is not merely someone who teaches us the truth. He is the Truth. He is Reality Himself.  So let us place our faith—not in ourselves, not in our tribe, not in our passions, not in the latest certainty of the age—but in Christ. Let us receive with gratitude the healing life of His Church, which patiently frees us from prelest and teaches us to see the world as God sees it. For in Him our faith never collides with reality, because in Him faith finally meets Reality Himself.  

Livestream church services from Christ the Savior Orthodox Church (OCA) in Chicago.

This edition was available to Cloud of Witnesses Patreons since July 6, 2026.Her dad died by suicide when she was 9 and it rewired everything. Years later, a hunger for truth pulled her from non-denominational church to Hebrew Roots, then to Orthodox liturgy.A faith crisis rarely starts with an abstract argument. Sometimes it starts with a funeral, a silent house, and a kid trying to understand why a father is suddenly gone. Our guest Taylor Biss (Voice of Taylor on Instagram) joins Jeremy Jeremiah of Cloud of Witnesses from Australia to share the story that shaped her: losing her Catholic father to suicide at nine years old, growing up detached, and carrying questions about grief, isolation, and what God does with the brokenhearted.• childhood trauma after a parent's suicide and the loneliness that follows• wrestling with fears about eternity and learning to trust God's compassion• a decisive encounter with prayer and a message about God's heart for daughters• being discipled by older women and learning the basics of Christian faith• tensions in non-denominational church life when serious Bible questions arise• why Hebrew Roots feels solid at first through Torah, Sabbath, and festivals• the movement's internal chaos, sacred name confusion, and anti-divinity claims about Jesus• a 2020 Israel trip exposing racism and excuses framed as “bloodline” privilege• leaving Hebrew Roots, resisting New Age drift, and seeking reverent worship• stepping into Orthodox Christianity and returning to weekly liturgy with her childrenTaylor walks us through the moment everything changed at seventeen when she finally said yes to church and encountered Christ through prayer and a message about God's heart toward daughters. We talk about discipleship, older women stepping in with real spiritual care, and how discovering the Father's love can heal places you didn't even know were starving. From there, the conversation turns to something many listeners will recognize: reading the Bible deeply, asking sincere questions, and realizing the non-denominational model often cannot answer with consistency or depth.That hunger for truth leads Taylor into the Hebrew Roots movement, Torah-keeping, Sabbath practices, and biblical festivals that feel “original” at first, until the cracks show up: endless private interpretations, sacred name confusion that wrecks prayer, and even teaching that denies the divinity of Jesus. A trip to Israel in 2020 becomes a major turning point as she sees racism and spiritual double standards up close. When she finally steps away, she admits how close she comes to drifting into New Age spirituality, before a longing for reverent worship pulls her toward historic Christianity and her first Divine Liturgy during Holy Week and Pascha.If you've wrestled with deconstruction, Hebrew Roots, church hurt, or a search for Orthodox Christianity that actually feels grounded, this one will meet you where you are. Subscribe, share this with a friend who's searching, and leave a review then tell us: what question or moment most shaped your faith journey?Questions about Orthodoxy? Please check out our friends at Ghost of Byzantium Discord server: https://discord.gg/JDJDQw6tdhPlease prayerfully consider supporting Cloud of Witnesses Radio: https://www.patreon.com/c/CloudofWitnessesFind Cloud of Witnesses Radio on Instagram, X.com, Facebook, and TikTok.Please leave a comment with your thoughts!

Livestream church services from Christ the Savior Orthodox Church (OCA) in Chicago.

We connect headlines, books, and everyday dating talk to one repeating theme: we blame the world to avoid looking at our own hearts. We argue that Orthodoxy answers secular modern habits by restoring a sacramental view of worship, marriage, and repentance. • praying for peace while discussing the damaged Dormition Cathedral in Kyiv • Metropolitan Saba on secularism shaping prayer, fasting, marriage, and death • challenging materialism and “Western baggage” that flattens spiritual life • Southern Baptist Convention vote on women pastors and how Orthodoxy honors women • A Confederacy of Dunces as a warning about pride without self-examination • why being correct can turn into cruelty without humility and repentance • the marriage and dating crisis as a symptom of Enlightenment rationalism • marriage reduced from covenant to contract and people treated like counterparties • “dating market” language and ROI thinking as a form of dehumanization • Orthodox marriage as martyrdom through crowning, sacrifice, and theosis • comments on worship music, entertainment, and why Orthodox chant feels sacred • latria and the Divine Liturgy as the missing category in many Protestant frameworks Please do leave us a comment down below. As you can see, we may read some of these on air in the future. If you haven't already, give this video a like. Please go check out and subscribe the various channels represented here in this episode. Questions about Orthodoxy? Please check out our friends at Ghost of Byzantium Discord server: https://discord.gg/jRXxRaqK9Please prayerfully consider supporting Cloud of Witnesses: https://www.patreon.com/c/CloudofWitnessesFind Cloud of Witnesses on Instagram, X.com, Facebook, and TikTok.Audio: https://cloudofwitnessesradio.buzzsprout.comPlease leave a comment with your thoughts!

As both the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church have seen a huge surge of young adults converting in recent years, Kari and Harry have fielded many questions from people interested in learning more about their faith. In this episode, they share the backstory of their spiritual journey, how it's evolved, and their big hope for the future. Ep. 107 Show Notes: o  Favorite Podcasts: The Bible in a Year, The Catechism in a Year, Father Evan Armatas, Word on Fire, Live with the Louhs, The Arenao  Hallow Appo Father Mike Schmitz on Catholic + Orthodox Common Ground on the Eucharist - “Pray for the unity of Christians, that one day, what divides us as Christians, may be overcome by what unites us as Christians.”o "Pope Leo XIV attends the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in Istanbul, and joins Patriarch Bartholomew I to underscore the bonds that unite us in our Christian faith and the continuing efforts to seek full communion"o  Join Kari on Substack, Instagram, or Facebook; Sign Up for Kari's email listo Kari's Bestselling Book for Moms: Is Your Daughter Ready?o Kari's Bestselling Devo for Teen & College Girls: Yours, Not Hers: 40 Devotions to Stop Comparisons and Love Your Lifeo  Kari's Books: Love Her Well, More Than a Mom, 10 Ultimate Truths Girls Should Know and Liked: Whose Approval Are You Living For?