Podcasts about Divine Liturgy

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

On Sunday, May 4 our Parish Family held our Spring General Assembly.  Fr. Demetri offered his sermon and his report to the faithful at the end of The Divine Liturgy.Some highlights:Paschal Season and the beauty we find at this time of yearSpecial Thank you‘sGreat and Holy Week & PaschaA few ministriesAdult Education

In many Orthodox churches, baptisms are done privately and almost secretly: after the morning Divine Liturgy at which the entire church community was present had concluded and all the people had left, a few people remained behind—or perhaps, if they had not been at the Liturgy, came to church deliberately late to attend the private family baptism to which they had been invited. If Liturgy began at 9.30 am and concluded at 11.00 am and if the people had all dispersed after the post-Liturgy coffee hour, then a baptism would be held in the now empty church around 1.00 or 2.00 pm.

Live stream services from Christ the Savior Orthodox Church (OCA) in Chicago

Track meet suspect got house arrest! These people's politicians are a MESS! Everybody falling into the pit of anger. Busy calls today!The Hake Report, Tuesday, April 15, 2025 ADTIMESTAMPS* (0:00:00) Start* (0:01:25) It's a big mess* (0:09:50) Hey, guys! Henley* (0:11:33) DAVID, Ocala, FL: Boston councilman; Karmelo Anthony* (0:21:34) DAVID story: "Foreigner"* (0:23:37) Taking sides on Karmelo Anthony* (0:29:35) WILLIAM III, CA: these different situations, these black gals* (0:36:09) WILLIAM: China is shut down* (0:36:55) Supers/Coffees… Nicknames, s— harassment* (0:46:15) MARK, L.A.: Communist takeover incoming* (0:52:12) MAZE, Dayton, OH: Your history is your problem* (1:03:47) RICK Pt 1, Hampton, VA: Track meet incident* (1:09:13) JEFF, LA: Building the country; Karmelo bail* (1:13:11) JEFF: China tariffs, Cutting regulations* (1:23:03) JEFF: L.A. city council meeting trolls* (1:24:28) RICK Pt 2: Leaving black cities; Gary, Indiana* (1:31:14) Coffee: Haterrrr* (1:36:42) STEV'N, MD: A BUNCH OF MESS!* (1:48:20) Psalters - "The Lord's Prayer" - 2006, Divine Liturgy of the Wretched ExilesLINKSBLOG https://www.thehakereport.com/blog/2025/4/15/the-hake-report-tue-4-15-25PODCAST / Substack HAKE NEWS from JLP https://www.thehakereport.com/jlp-news/2025/4/15/jlp-tue-4-15-25Hake is live M-F 9-11a PT (11-1CT/12-2ET) Call-in 1-888-775-3773 https://www.thehakereport.com/showVIDEO YouTube - Rumble* - Facebook - X - BitChute (Live) - Odysee*PODCAST Substack - Apple - Spotify - Castbox - Podcast Addict*SUPER CHAT on platforms* above or BuyMeACoffee, etc.SHOP - Printify (new!) - Spring (old!) - Cameo | All My LinksJLP Network: JLP - Church - TFS - Nick - Joel - Punchie Get full access to HAKE at thehakereport.substack.com/subscribe

Saint Isaac the Syrian begins his teaching with a gentle reminder that liberation from material things, that is, our attachment to the things of this world and placing them above God, is a slow process that involves great toil. Yet, this is the common order of things. In our journey, we often have to break loose of the mooring of those things that prevent us from loving. And so Isaac teaches us that righteous activity involves comprehending what God has revealed to us and then embodying it through action - praxis. Even as we make gains our memory of past sins and failures often brings grief to the soul. We shouldn't be discouraged by this, St. Isaac tells us, but we must simply allow these recollections to lead us to greater repentance and gratitude for God‘s mercy. Yet all of this is but a prelude to Isaac asking us an important question: Do you desire to commune with God by perceiving the love and the mercy that He reveals not just with the mind or the senses but through faith and experience?  Do you desire God? Do you desire Love? If our answer to this question is “yes” then Isaac tells us we must pursue mercy: “For when something that is like unto God is found in you, then that holy beauty is depicted by Him.“ We begin to see and comprehend the mercy and love of God by loving as he loves; by going beyond the limitations and the confines of our own understanding.  Such spiritual unity once unsealed incessantly blazes in the heart with ardent longing. The soul‘s divine vision, Isaac tells us, unites one to God and the heart becomes awestruck; filled with wonder at what no eye has seen or mind could imagine outside of the grace of God. The path to divine love first begins by showing compassion in some proportion to the Father's perfection. As Christ tells us, “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect, be merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful“ The dignity and destiny that is ours, the life and love into which God draws us should be what we pursue the most in life. To desire God, to give free reign to an urgent longing for Him brings about our transformation. Desire is our path to the Kingdom within. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:15:08 Callie Eisenbrandt: I'll take your books Father!!

Live stream services from Christ the Savior (OCA)in Chicago

Listen To Full Bible Study: "REVELATION 5:1-10" ~ July 1, 2017https://soundcloud.com/his-grace-bishop-youssef/revelation-5-1-10-bible-study

This week Fr. Michael talks about the importance of knowing Jesus and encountering Him in prayer. He talks about the need to encounter Him in our regular devotions like Divine Liturgy, Mass, Rosary, etc., but how we must also seek Him out in one-on-one prayer. Fr. Michael talks about resting in Jesus and the importance of that as we continue our spiritual journey.Follow and Contact Us!Follow us on Instagram and FacebookWe're on YouTube!Join our Goodreads GroupFr. Michael's TwitterChrist the Bridegroom MonasteryOur WebsiteOur NonprofitSend us a textSupport the show

Live stream services from Christ the Savior Orthodox Church (OCA) in Chicago

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Live stream service from Christ the Savior Orthodox Church (OCA) in Chicago

He was born in Syria in 1860, in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire. In his childhood, his family took refuge in Lebanon after their parish priest, St Joseph of Damascus (July 10) was martyred; but they later returned to Damascus. In 1879 he was tonsured a monk and entered into the service of Patriarch Hierotheos of Antioch. The Balamand Seminary had been closed since 1840, but the young monk was offered a scholarship at the Constantinople Patriarchate's seminary at Halki. Returning to Syria with a theological degree, St Raphael became assistant to Gerasimos, the new Patriarch of Antioch, traveling and preaching on his behalf. After further studies in Kiev, he transferred to the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Moscow and for a time was professer of Arabic studies at the Theological Academy in Kazan. (At that time the downtrodden Orthodox of the Middle East received considerable aid and theological training from the Tsar and from the Church in Russia).   In 1895 he was sent to the United States to shepherd the Arab Orthodox Community in New York, which was without a church or a priest. He quickly consecrated a chapel and with great energy set about the work of shepherding his flock there; but he was concerned not only for them but for the Arab Christian immigrants scattered through North America, most of whom were without a pastor and in danger of falling into heterodoxy or abandoning religious life. He traveled widely throughout the continent, visiting, counseling and serving Arab Christians, preaching, celebrating marriages and baptisms, receiving confessions and celebrating the Divine Liturgy, usually in private houses. In 1898 he published the first Orthodox prayer book in Arabic to appear in the New World. In 1899, he made a seven-month journey through forty-three American cities, seeking out the "scattered sheep" of the Church in America. His services were attended not only by Arabs but by Russians and Greeks, all of whom at that time depended on the Russian mission to North America. During this entire period, he held the official rank of Archimandrite, though his work and duties exceeded those of most bishops.   In 1901, Patriarch Meletios was elected to the see of Antioch, the first Arab to occupy the patriarchal throne for 168 years. Several proposals were made to elect Archimandrite Raphael to a see in Syria; but he refused all such offers, pointing out the Orthodox people's great and little-met needs in North America. In 1904, the Moscow Patriarchate made him Bishop of Brooklyn, the first Orthodox bishop to be consecrated on American soil. He redoubled his already impressive pastoral work, ordaining priests to the many new parishes that he had founded, and assisting Saint Tikhon (then Bishop of North America) in the care of his huge diocese. In 1905 he laid the foundation of the Monastery of St Tikhon in Pennsylvania.   The bishop saw the importance of integrating the faithful into the life of their new homeland, and was an early advocate of the use of English in American Church services. When Isabel Hapgood's Service Book — the first useful English translation of the Church's services — was published in 1906, he advocated its use in all his parishes.   In 1912, St Raphael was found to be suffering from heart disease, but continued his exhausting pastoral work for two more years. In 1915 he was finally unable to continue, and reposed after two months' illness.   When his relics were transported in 1998 from Brooklyn to Antiochian Village in Ligonier, PA, they were found to be incorrupt, and in 2000 he became the most recently glorified Saint of North America.   In North America St Raphael is commemorated on the anniversary of his repose: February 27 on the Civil/New Calendar, February 14 on the Julian Calendar. He is also commemorated with the Synaxis of Saints of North America on the Second Sunday after Pentecost. The Patriarchate of Antioch also commemorates him, but on Saturday before the Synaxis of the Archangels (November 8).

He was a nobleman born in Constantinople, and distinguished himself in a secular career, rising in the year 780 to the rank of protasecretis, Principal Secretary of State to the Emperor Constantine VI and his mother the Empress Irene, who was serving as regent.   His life took a sudden turn when, in 784, Patriarch Paul IV resigned, recommending Tarasios as the only man capable of restoring the Patriarchate, ravaged by the iconoclast heresy, to true Faith and full communion with the other Patriarchates. Tarasios, though unwilling, was virtually forced to accept the Patriarchate by the rulers and the Senate: he agreed at last on condition that an Ecumenical Council be summoned immediately to put an end to the iconoclast heresy. In a few days he was raised from a layman through all the degrees of the clergy and on December 25 784, was consecrated Archbishop of Constantinople.   At Saint Tarasios' insistence, the Imperial rulers summoned a Church Council, whch met at Constantinople in 786. Before its sessions had even begun, iconoclasts burst into the church and drove out the Fathers, who were forced to reconvene in Nicaea, where the first session opened. Patriarch Tarasios presided, and the Council concluded with a condemnation of the iconoclast heresy and the restoration of veneration of the holy images.   As Archbishop, the Saint was a model of humility, compassion, and firmness in the Faith. He refused to have any servants and dressed simply, a living rebuke to the luxury that had corrupted the clergy at that time. His works of charity were so great that he became known to the people as 'the new Joseph': he founded hospices and shelters, distributed the Church's wealth freely to the poor, and often invited the poor to his own table to share his simple fare. He insisted on exercising all gentleness and mercy in restoring repentant heretics to the Church, a policy that met with opposition from the more severe leaders of the Studion monastery. At the same time he was unbending in the defense of the Faith: when the Emperor Constantine came of age he repudiated his wife Mary in order to marry Theodota, one of her servants. The Patriarch refused to bless the adulterous union and threatened the Emperor with excommunication if he persisted in sin. The Emperor had Tarasios imprisoned, forced his licit wife to enter a monastery, and found a priest, Joseph, to bless his second marriage. The following year Constantine was blinded and dethroned, and Tarasios regained his freedom.   The holy Patriarch continued to serve his Church faithfully, occupying the episcopal throne for a total of twenty-six years. In his last years, despite a long and painful illness, he continued to serve the Divine Liturgy daily, supporting himself with his staff. In the year 806, serving at the altar, he began to chant from Psalm 85, Bow down thine ear, O Lord, and hear me, and gave up his soul to God.   "In 820, the Emperor Leo the Armenian, who for seven years had supported the iconoclasts and had fiercely persecuted the Orthodox, had a disturbing dream. He saw a stern-looking Saint Tarasius ordering a man by the name of Michael to run Leo himself through with a sword. Six days later, Leo was in fact assasinated by Michael the Stammerer, who seized power... In physical appearance, Saint Tarasius is said to have closely resembled Saint Gregory the Theologian." (Synaxarion)

Live stream services from Christ the Savior Orthodox Church (OCA) in Chicago

This week Fr. Michael reflects on a sentence in a prayer that the priest prays during Divine Liturgy, "...in the greatness of your mercy you have brought all things out of nonexistence into being..." Fr. Michael talks about what it means for God to be mercy, to give mercy, and why God brought us into being in the first place. He reads some reflections from Archbishop Raya in the Byzantine Book of Prayer.References:Byzantine Book of Prayer from Byzantine Seminary PressPilgrimage:We're going on pilgrimage! You can find all the details including dates, itinerary, and cost at the 206tours website. Want to hear this directly from Fr. Michael and Mother Natalia? Check out our announcement video.Follow and Contact Us!Follow us on Instagram and FacebookWe're on YouTube!Join our Goodreads GroupFr. Michael's TwitterChrist the Bridegroom MonasteryOur WebsiteOur NonprofitSend us a textSupport the show

Live stream services from Christ the Savior Church (OCA) in Chicago

​FOR LINKS to all our podcasts, visit the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN TEACHING PODCAST DIRECTORY at the links below. You can also search ‘Orthodox Christian Teaching' in the Apple Podcasts or Spotify apps to find all our podcasts: ON APPLE PODCASTS APP: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/orthodox-christian-teaching-podcast-directory/id1680765527ON SPOTIFY APP: https://open.spotify.com/show/1ALQ9YkJ0hhZ20GGZv7MH9?si=hVv_aqKtSrypyTLr1YZQIQ

Dr. John Bombaro of St. James Lutheran-Lafayette, IN Encountering Christ Through the Liturgy The post The Gospel in the Divine Liturgy, Part 3 – Dr. John Bombaro, 2/13/25 (0441) first appeared on Issues, Etc..

This episode is brought to you by Telepaideia, a collection of live online courses in Latin, Ancient Greek, and the classical humanities offered by The Paideia Institute. Visit www.paideiainstitute.org/telepaideia to browse the course catalogue and register! It's my pleasure today to welcome back Father John Strickland to the podcast. Four episodes ago we talked in detail about the Divine Liturgy and its place at the heart of Byzantine life. I put out the call for listeners to ask questions. Particularly those of us not familiar with Orthodoxy or ecclesiastical issues in general. And Father Strickland has kindly returned to answer them. The questions are wide ranging and so demand thorough answers which Father John provides. So we decided to split them over two episodes. Today we tackle the Orthodox view on salvation and purgatory. As well as the role of the Ecumenical Patriarch and thoughts on the Byzantine understanding of how the divine played a role in daily life. Then we finish with the Orthodox view of Catholicism, Church Union and evangelisation. John is the pastor of an Orthodox Church in Poulsbo in Washington State. He wrote a four-volume series about the history of Christian civilization called Paradise and Utopia. He's also recorded a podcast of the same name as an accompaniment to the books which you can find wherever you get your podcasts or at www.ancientfaith.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. John Bombaro of St. James Lutheran-Lafayette, IN Gospel Safebox The post The Gospel in the Divine Liturgy, Part 2 – Dr. John Bombaro, 2/6/25 (0371) first appeared on Issues, Etc..

Trump for America: Don't be fooled by numbers. Debate with caller: MLK, Homestead Act, and "generational wealth." Education propaganda in Texas!The Hake Report, Thursday, February 6, 2025 ADTIMESTAMPS* (0:00:00) Start* (0:00:51) Deportation/Importation context* (0:07:39) News, Trump* (0:11:56) Pro-tip for Rumble* (0:14:15) Hey, guys! Punchie's coffee* (0:16:48) RONNIE, OH: Homestead Act* (0:24:54) RONNIE: black morality, MLK madness* (0:42:40) RONNIE: Generational wealth* (0:49:03) RONNIE: Is BHM as evil as WHM* (0:51:02) USAID rumors* (0:55:50) Trump looking out for little girls* (1:00:49) Can't talk in that voice* (1:03:11) AMY, TX: Bible, US history, Obama vs Trump* (1:08:45) AMY: School vouchers in Texas* (1:13:50) AMY: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills; Textbook propaganda* (1:20:19) JOHN, KY: God Bless the USA Bible* (1:28:56) WILL, Australia: Eureka Stockade, 1854* (1:35:34) WILLIAM, CA: Generational Wealth* (1:44:00) Supers, Rumble ads* (1:45:15) Coffees… rushed!* (1:48:34) MAZE, OH* (1:50:15) Psalters - Dig It Up - 2006, The Divine Liturgy of the Wretched ExilesLINKSBLOG https://www.thehakereport.com/blog/2025/2/6/the-hake-report-thu-2-6-25PODCAST / Substack HAKE NEWS from JLP https://www.thehakereport.com/jlp-news/2025/2/6/hake-news-thu-2-6-25Hake is live M-F 9-11a PT (11-1CT/12-2ET) Call-in 1-888-775-3773 https://www.thehakereport.com/showVIDEO YouTube - Rumble* - Facebook - X - BitChute - Odysee*PODCAST Substack - Apple - Spotify - Castbox - Podcast Addict*SUPER CHAT on platforms* above or BuyMeACoffee, etc.SHOP - Printify (new!) - Spring (old!) - Cameo | All My LinksJLP Network:JLP - Church - TFS - Nick - Joel - Punchie Get full access to HAKE at thehakereport.substack.com/subscribe

He was born to a noble family in Alexandria. For a short time he taught rhetoric in Pelusium in Egypt; but soon his love for the things of God led him to flee to the Desert as a solitary. After a year of ascetical life, he returned to Pelusium, where he was ordained to the priesthood. After a few years he retired to a monastery where he spent the rest of his life, eventually becoming Abbot. From the monastery he wrote thousands of epistles full of divine grace and wisdom; of these more than two thousand still survive.   Saint Isidore was a student and devout disciple of St John Chrysostom, as he knew him through his writings. When St Cyril became Patriarch of Alexandria, he refused to commemorate St John in the diptychs during the Divine Liturgy. Saint Isidore wrote him a strong letter reminding him not to heed the rumors, prejudices or threats of men, and St Cyril was persuaded to restore commemoration of the Archbishop of Constantinople, and later became a strong advocate of the veneration of St John. Isidore, though a monk, was treated as a spiritual father by Patriarch Cyril: around 433, when St Cyril was inclined to deal harshly with some who had been swept up in the Nestorian heresy, St Isidore wrote to him: 'As your father, since you are pleased to give me this name, or rather as your son, I adjure you to put an end to this dissension lest a permanent breach be made under the pretext of piety.'   With reputation came persecution, and St Isidore suffered much from Imperial and church authorities unhappy with his holy influence. He bore all these troubles impassibly, and in 440 (according to one source) or about 449 (according to another) he joyfully gave up his soul to God.

Live stream services from Christ the Savior Orthodox Church (OCA) in Chicago

Live stream services from Christ the Savior Orthodox Church (OCA) in Chicago

Dr. John Bombaro of St. James Lutheran-Lafayette, IN Gospel Safebox The post The Gospel in the Divine Liturgy – Dr. John Bombaro,1/23/25 (0232) first appeared on Issues, Etc..

He was from Ancyra in Galatia, son of a pagan father and a Christian mother named Euphrosyne. His mother prophesied on her deathbed that he would suffer great torments for Christ over many years. After her death he was adopted and reared by a pious woman named Sophia. From the age of twelve, he began to fast and pray like the monks, so that he was soon ordained a deacon, and became Bishop of Ancyra at the age of twenty. His piety and zeal for the faith attracted the attention of the Imperial Governor of the region, who had him arrested. Thus began Clement's twenty-eight years of almost continuous suffering for the Faith. When he stood firm despite many tortures, he was sent to the Emperor Diocletian in Rome. The Emperor showed him a table set with costly vessels on one side, and another decked with instruments of torture on the other, and bade Clement to make his choice. The Saint replied: "These precious vessels remind how much more glorious must be the eternal good things of Paradise; and these instruments of torture remind me of the everlasting punishments of hell that await those who deny the Lord."   The Saint was viciously tortured, then transported to Nicomedia, where a converted pagan named Agathangelus ('good angel') became his companion. For many years they endured unspeakable torments alternating with long imprisonments, but nothing would move them to deny the precious Faith of Christ. After twenty-eight years of suffering, Agathangelus was beheaded; but Clement was briefly paroled and allowed to celebrate the services of Theophany and to give the holy Communion to his fellow-Christians. A few days later, as he was again celebrating the Divine Liturgy, some pagan soldiers burst into the church and beheaded him at the altar.

Live stream services from Christ the Savior Orthodox Church (OCA) in Chicago

Live stream services from Christ the Savior Orthodox Church (OCA) in Chicago

The Sunday before Theophany On Repentance and Its Relationship to Beauty and Love 2 Timothy 4: 5-8;  St. Mark 1: 1-8 “Behold, I will send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight;” After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.  I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Sandals – he knew humility (despite the many temptations he faced for pride!).  The problem is that we don't: we must listen to and heed St. John's message (as found in St. Matthew 3:2); “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand”.  This is not some prophecy of doom, but a revelation that God is among us – and the warning that we need to prepare if we are to meet Him well. “We need to repent?  We need to change?  Why?”  Some preachers might come at this by pointing out the many temptations that we succumb to, call us to account for the resulting sin, and explain the need for contrition,  confession, and absolution.  I want to come at it from a different direction: I want to focus on how this call for repentance flows naturally from one of the central components of our faith about the world and how it works.  Specifically, I want to explain how an appreciation for the existence of beauty should naturally lead us towards repentance (and from repentance to glory). Why come at it this way?  Because I am concerned about our faith.  There are strong attacks being made against Christianity, and I am not sure that people with a lukewarm and superficial faith can withstand them; people whose faith is not informed by deeper knowledge and experience will drift away.  There is a sense in which that might be useful – I am not sure how much good a superficial belief does a person, and we have all seen first hand the detrimental effect that nominal Christians have on the internal life of our parishes, not to mention their witness to the broader community.  God says of such people – through St. John the Theologian - that He will vomit such people out of His mouth (Revelation 3:15-17)!  No one wants to be vomited out of the mouth of God – and we do not want it to happen.  This is why we must evangelize the lukewarm Christians in our midst.  And it is not enough to give them a set of rules, describe how they have broken these rules, and then call them to repentance.  Nor is it enough to give them more words that describe what it is that the true Christian believes or what Orthodoxy is.  We must do everything we can so that they can personally experience the literal Truth of God's grace.  Ideally, this would happen through our worship together, but without an appreciation for the deeper nature of the things that worship taps into (the “Old Magic” as Aslan puts it in the Narnia series), it does little more than provide sentimental entertainment.  People need to be taught so that they can enjoy the fruits of worship; they need to be taught so that they “may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:13b)  I am not talking about the removal of doubt, but the answer to every thinking Christian's prayer; “Lord I believe; help me in my unbelief!” (St. Mark 9:24; St. Luke 17:5).  I think that one of the best ways to strengthen our faith and counter these new attacks –  and especially the misleading reductionism of the militant atheists – is to focus on the fundamental existence of beauty, morality, and love and the implications of this ontology for us.  Today I will focus on the sacramental ontology of beauty. 1.  Beauty is basic, it is real, and it is eternal. When we say that something is “beautiful”, we do not mean that it interacts in a pleasurable way with the conglomeration of memories that culture and experience has put into our minds: we mean that it has a specific quality to it.  It is beautiful.  When we say that we like such a thing, what we really mean (or should mean, if we practice humility) is that it is actually likable.   Yes, our description of beauty is filtered through our culture and experience - how could it not be?  But there is a quality of beauty that flows into this world as a continual outpouring of the absolute Beauty of her creator.   Just as the warmth of the sun points to the heat of that great star, so to does beauty serve as a sure sign that there is more to this world than our personal enjoyment of it. 2. Beauty is NOT for passive entertainment.  It is interactive.  Enjoyed properly, it draws us outside of ourselves as we participate in this special quality.  We can be selfish in our encounter with it, simply appreciating how it makes us feel; but we get even more out of it when we release the tethers of selfishness and really lose ourselves in a good piece of art or music or, better yet, worship.  When this happens, we experience something right and true: we encounter and commune with something wonderful outside of ourselves.  And when the exhibition is over, the concert has ended, or we have come to the end of the book or movie or service; the memory of it awakens within us a longing for more.  Our hearts have been enlarged by the time we have spent in communion with greatness.  Beauty resonates within us and nourishes and increases our capacity for it.  Once this process has begun, things change.  After this, we find that when we are separated from Beauty, there is an ever larger empty space inside that needs to be filled.  We want to enjoy it more; we want to fill our nights and days with it.  We want it to become part of our lives – in, short, we want to become one with Beauty; to sacrifice everything for the sake of Goodness becomes our most earnest desire.  Were such a consummation not possible, the existence of such transcendent Beauty would be the cause of the greatest despondency.  But the Good News is that consummation is possible.   God desires it and has satisfied our mutual longing through the Gift and Grace of His Son.  This is the Gospel: that Beauty has become Incarnate not just so we can appreciate Beauty, but so that we can join Him in His Beauty.  Through Him we can be made beautiful. Which is simply another way to say that encounters with true beauty are sacramental (mysterious): something fundamental is revealed through them, and by participating in these encounters, the seed  of glory within us is nourished and we become more beautiful, perfect, and godly ourselves.  But this does not happen automatically. 3.  Becoming beauty.  There are many wrong ways to try this: we do not become beautiful through surgery or going to concerts or even just by coming to the Divine Liturgy (the greatest gift of beauty offered on this earth).  We do it by embracing the deeper virtue.  We do it by submitting ourselves to its logic and allowing it to transform our lives in its image.  Let me paraphrase an old saw (how Michelangelo created David out of stone): if we want to become beautiful; then we start with what is already there and remove all the bits that aren't right.  If we want to participate in the experience of beauty, then we cannot do things that are ugly.  We cannot be ugly ourselves.  Which brings me to a critical point:  it isn't enough to look in the mirror to tell the difference between good and bad (beauty and ugliness) within us – our pride and psychoses do not let much of the truth in there.  Our pride will either completely overlook many of our obvious warts and defects (perhaps even calling them “beauty marks” or, just as bad condemn things that are actually God-pleasing,  No, we do not have enough discernment to affect the necessary changes on our own.  We need help.  We need to turn our attention away from ourselves toward the source of beauty; the standard of perfection; the wellspring of everything that is good.  Christ is Goodness and Beauty Incarnate.  When we encounter Him, when we live our lives within the rays of the Sun of Righteousness, we will know the essence of beauty; we will desire more; and we will want to change our lives so that we can better bask in and reflect His glory. Which is simply another way of saying not just that “Beauty will save the world, but  “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”  

"Saint Seraphim was born in the town of Kursk in 1759. From tender childhood he was under the protection of the most holy Mother of God, who, when he was nine years old, appeared to him in a vision, and through her icon of Kursk, healed him from a grave sickness from which he had not been expected to recover. At the age of nineteen he entered the monastery of Sarov, where he amazed all with his obedience, his lofty asceticism, and his great humility. In 1780 the Saint was stricken with a sickness which he manfully endured for three years, until our Lady the Theotokos healed him, appearing to him with the Apostles Peter and John. He was tonsured a monk in 1786, being named for the holy Hieromartyr Seraphim, Bishop of Phanarion (Dec. 4), and was ordained deacon a year later. In his unquenchable love for God, he continually added labours to labours, increasing in virtue and prayer with titan strides. Once, during the Divine Liturgy of Holy and Great Thursday he was counted worthy of a vision of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who appeared encompassed by the heavenly hosts. After this dread vision, he gave himself over to greater labours.   "In 1794, Saint Seraphim took up the solitary life in a cell in the forest. This period of extreme asceticism lasted some fifteen years, until 1810. It was at this time that he took upon himself one of the greatest feats of his life. Assailed with despondency and a storm of contrary thoughts raised by the enemy of our salvation, the Saint passed a thousand nights on a rock, continuing in prayer until God gave him complete victory over the enemy. On another occasion, he was assaulted by robbers, who broke his chest and his head with their blows, leaving him almost dead. Here again, he began to recover after an appearance of the most Holy Theotokos, who came to him with the Apostles Peter and John, and pointing to Saint Seraphim, uttered these awesome words, 'This is one of my kind.'   "In 1810, at the age of fifty, weakened by his more than human struggles, Saint Seraphim returned to the monastery for the third part of his ascetical labours, in which he lived as a recluse, until 1825. For the first five years of his reclusion, he spoke to no one at all, and little is known of this period. After five years, he began receiving visitors little by little, giving counsel and consolation to ailing souls. In 1825, the most holy Theotokos appeared to the Saint and revealed to him that it was pleasing to God that he fully end his reclusion; from this time the number of people who came to see him grew daily. It was also at the command of the holy Virgin that he undertook the spiritual direction of the Diveyevo Convent. He healed bodily ailments, foretold things to come, brought hardened sinners to repentance, and saw clearly the secrets of the heart of those who came to him. Through his utter humility and childlike simplicity, his unrivalled ascetical travails, and his angel-like love for God, he ascended to the holiness and greatness of the ancient God-bearing Fathers and became, like Anthony for Egypt, the physician for the whole Russian land. In all, the most holy Theotokos appeared to him twelve times in his life. The last was on Annunciation, 1831, to announce to him that he would soon enter into his rest. She appeared to him accompanied by twelve virgins martyrs and monastic saints with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Theologian. With a body ailing and broken from innumerable hardships, and an unspotted soul shining with the light of Heaven, the Saint lived less than two years after this, falling asleep in peace on January 2, 1833, chanting Paschal hymns. On the night of his repose, the righteous Philaret of the Glinsk Hermitage beheld his soul ascending to Heaven in light. Because of the universal testimony to the singular holiness of his life, and the seas of miracles that he performed both in life and after death, his veneration quickly spread beyond the boundaries of the Russian Empire to every corner of the earth. See also July 19." (Great Horologion)   July 19 is the commemoration of the uncovering of St Seraphim's holy relics, which was attended by Tsar Nicholas II.   Saint Seraphim's life became a perpetual celebration of Pascha: in his later years he dressed in a white garment, greeted everyone, regardless of the season, with "Christ is Risen!" and chanted the Pascha service every day of the year

Live stream church services from Christ the Savior Orthodox Church (OCA) in Chicago

In this episode, we dive into the Divine Liturgy with Project Mexico's resident priest, Father Demetrios Swanson. Often referred to as the "mystery of mysteries," it's more than just a ritual—it's a vibrant, living encounter between God and His people, and it sits at the very heart of the Orthodox Christian faith. Join us as we explore the depth and meaning behind this sacred tradition.

He seems to have lived in Constantinople for his entire life, but lived there as if in the desert, devoting himself entirely to solitude, fasting and prayer. For most of his adult life he ate only a few vegetables without salt once or twice a week; by his prayers many miracles were wrought in the City.   In time he was made a priest and served in the church of St Antipas, where he lived in seclusion. When the church was destroyed in the earthquake of 879, he withdrew to a dank pit in the ruins where the air was so unwholesome that he lost his hair and teeth and was almost paralyzed. He only emerged from this ascesis after twelve years. Thereafter he served the Divine Liturgy only on Feasts of the Lord, allowing himself some water and fruit after the service; otherwise he spent his time alone in silent prayer. He reposed in peace in 912 at the age of seventy-three.

It's time we talked about Orthodoxy in more detail. I ask Father John Strickland to explain the Divine Liturgy, and it's Byzantine origins, to me.John is the pastor of an Orthodox Church in Poulsbo in Washington State. He has also written a four-volume series about the history of Christian civilization called Paradise and Utopia. And he's recorded a podcast of the same name as an accompaniment to the books. He also wrote the Making of Holy Russia: The Orthodox Church and Russian Nationalism before the Revolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The teaching of St Gregory is so fundamental to Orthodoxy that he is especially commemorated each year in Great Lent on the Sunday following the Sunday of Orthodoxy (as well as on Nov. 14); Bishop Kallistos observes in the English edition of the Philokalia, "his successful defence of the divine and uncreated character of the light of Tabor...[is] seen as a direct continuation of the preceding celebration, as nothing less than a renewed Triumph of Orthodoxy."   The son of a prominent family, St Gregory was born (1296) and raised in Constantinople. At about age twenty, he abandoned a promising secular career to become a monk on Mt Athos. (His family joined him en masse: two of his brothers went with him to the Holy Mountain; at the same time his widowed mother, two of his sisters, and many of the household servants also entered monastic life.) He spent the next twenty years living as a hermit, spending five days a week in complete solitude, then joining the brethren on weekends for the Divine Liturgy and its accompanying services.   Around 1335 he was called to live a much more public life in defense of the faith and spirituality of the Church. A Greek living in Italy, Barlaam the Calabrian, had launched an attack on the hesychastic spirituality of the Church. Fundamentally, Barlaam denied that man can attain to a true vision of God Himself, or true union with Him, in this life. Gregory, recognizing in this an attack on the Christian faith itself, responded. He even left the Holy Mountain and re-settled in Constantinople so as better to wage the struggle, which had become so public that a Church Council was called to settle the issue. St Gregory's views were affirmed, and Barlaam's condemned, at the Council of Constantinople of 1341.   Though Barlaam himself returned to Italy, a series of his followers continued the attack, eventually resulting in two more Councils in 1347 and 1351, both of which affirmed the hesychasts' position. Metropolitan Hierotheos (The Mind of the Orthodox Church) writes that these councils have "all the marks of an Ecumenical Council." This, along with the fact that St Gregory's views are affirmed in the Synodikon of Orthodoxy (appointed to be read in churches every Sunday of Orthodoxy), and his commemoration every second Sunday of Great Lent, makes clear that his teaching is a basic and indispensable part of the Orthodox Faith.   In 1347 St Gregory was consecrated Metropolitan of Thessaloniki, where he served until his repose. (He spent a year of this period as the prisoner of Turkish pirates). Despite (or due to?) his austere monastic background, he was revered by his flock: immediately after his repose in 1359, popular veneration of him sprang up in Thessaloniki, Constantinople and Mt Athos and, in 1368, only nine years after his death, the Church officially glorified him as a saint.   St Gregory was always clear that unceasing mental prayer is not a special calling of monastics, but is possible and desirable for every Christian in every walk of life. See his On the Necessity of Constant Prayer for all Christians, reproduced on this site.

A native of Thessalonica, he rose from secretary to Alexander, Patriarch of Constantinople (commemorated August 30), to deacon, then succeeded St Alexander as Patriarch around 337. For his virtue and his zeal for Orthodoxy he was hated by the Arians, who were still powerful in the Empire. The Arian Emperor Constantius, learning of Paul's election, exiled him and made the Arian Eusebius Patriarch in his place. St Paul went to Rome, where he joined St Athanasius the Great in exile. Furnished with letters from Pope Julius, he was able to ascend the Patriarchal throne once again upon the death of Eusebius. But once again the Arians were able to put one of their party on the Patriarchal throne: Macedonius, who even went beyond the Arian heresy and denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. Once again the legitimate, Orthodox Patriarch found himself in exile in Rome. In succeeding years St Paul stood firm for Orthodoxy while complex political and military intrigues swirled around him, with the Orthodox Constans, Emperor of the West (and Constantius' brother) supporting him while Constantius continued to oppose him. For a time Constans was able to enforce Paul's place on the Patriarchal throne, but when he died, Constantius banished St Paul to Cucusus on the Black Sea. There, while he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the house where he was kept prisoner, the Arians strangled him with his own omophorion. His relics were brought back to Constantinople by the Emperor Theodosius the Great.