Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos explains the importance of Godparents in the life of the Orthodox Christian.

Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos explains the prayers of the Orthodox Church that are prayed in the beginning days of the life of a child.

Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos calls us to lay aside our own judgment of others and turn our focus towards repentance in light of the Final Judgment.

Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos explains the reason we celebrate the Sunday of Orthodoxy.

Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos explains how we acquire the mind of Christ, by living in Christ through the life of Church.

Steve and Kevin interview syndicated columnist Rod Dreher about today's Islamic faith. Buckle up!

This interview recounts the fascinating story of the dramatic conversion to Christ (from Orthodox Judaism) and the spiritual journey of a co-founder of the messianic Christian group, "Jews for Jesus" as he finds his way "home" to the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Kevin and Steve discuss the rich array of interpretations of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross with Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Dr. Joel B. Green, of Asbury Theological Seminary (Methodist-Wesleyan), and why the reduction of this variety to a single, exclusive view of the atonement - "the "penal substitutionary model" - poses its own scandal, one that is foreign to the New Testament! Buckle up your seat belts!

With recent tragedies on college and university campuses, Kevin discusses college life today with Fr. Kevin Scherer, the Executive Director of Orthodox Christian Fellowship on this weekend's Illumined Heart.

Hunter Haynes, midwest policeman and self-proclaimed "nominal Presbyterian", spent a year in Kosovo (then part of Serbia) as a United Nations peacekeeper. The experience changed his life. Find out why in this compelling interview!

In this edition of the Illumined Heart, pioneering radio host of "Our Life In Christ" Steve Robinson talks with Kevin about the role, opportunity and challenges of lay (person) "ministry" within the Orthodox Church. Is the Orthodox Church so clerically oriented that there isn't room for lay ministry? Listen and find out in this frank interview!

Kevin Allen interviews Kyriakos C. Markides, author of The Mountain of Silence and Gifts of the Desert, talks about his life, his books, and his spiritual journey. This interview--you're going to want to listen to over and over...!

Kevin Allen continues his fascinating interview with Kyriakos C. Markides, author of The Mountain of Silence, Gifts of the Desert, and many more. Is it possible that Part Two could be better than Part One? You be the judge!

In this episode, Kevin and Father Steven C. Kostoff discuss two views of the afterlife that separate the New Age/Eastern/Gnostic from the central historic Christian belief.

Dr. H. Tristram Engelehardt, Jr. concludes his fascinating interview about life in a “neo-pagan” culture with “competing moral alternatives”.

Medical doctor (M.D.) and doctor of Philosophy (PhD.), author and university professor, Dr (Herman) Tristram Engelhardt, Jr. explains why our culture is post-Christian and post-metaphysical, how it got that way, and what the implications and challenges are for the Orthodox family.

In part 6 of our interview with the Metropolitan, we ask him to address the future of Orthodoxy and whether he is pessimistic or optimistic.

In the first section of our extensive interview with Metropolitan Kallistos, we talk about the state of the Orthodox Church both here and abroad.

Today we're going to be talking about the veneration of Mary and the Saints in the Holy Tradition. This topic is often misunderstood and can be a stumbling block for inquirers. Our guest is Father Patrick Henry Reardon, Pastor of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, Sr. Editor of Touchstone Magazine and author of Christ in the Saints.

Fr. John Whiteford and host Kevin Allen speak about one of American Christianity's defining doctrines—Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)—and why it is a flawed and non-biblical notion.

Fr. Ted Stlylianapolous (PhD), professor emeritus at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Theological Seminary, St Paul scholar and author, speaks with host Kevin Allen about justification, sanctification, the sacraments and new perrspectives on St Paul. Kevin says this is one of his best interviews because it tackles the major issues which divide the patristic and Protestant understandings of the foremost expositor of the Christian faith.

In the opening program of a new series of interviews, Dr. Bradley Nassif, theologian, author and life-long member of the Antiochian Archdiocese in North America, speaks about the "The Nature and Mission of the Bishop in the Orthodox Church". You can also read Dr Nassif's one-page piece referred to in the interview from the Antiochian website.

Andrew reminds us that we can use our creativity in cooperation with God’s creative power or we can use it apart from God. Read the transcript HERE.

In the next 4 episodes, Andrew gets very practical on ways to find our way out of addiction. Part 1 asks "How Do We Live?" Read a transcript HERE.

Andrew tells us that will power and relying on ourselves is an ineffective strategy for dealing with addiction to pornography. Read the transcript HERE.

Today Andrew continues his practical advise for freeing ourselves from addiction by offering St. Theophan's four spiritual weapons for our contimplation . Read the transcript HERE.

St Theophan tells us that “the four weapons of which we have spoken receive their power from the forces and gifts of grace, obtained for us by the blood of Christ.” And the mystery of holy communion “is Christ’s blood itself, and His flesh itself, in which Christ is Himself present as God.” Find the transcript HERE.

Music featured on Our Life of Christ

We continue our discussion of the famous Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian and his plea for God to remove from him the "lust for power" and "idle talk". As is made clear from the sayings of the Fathers cited here, these sins are so well-rooted in our normal, everyday lives that raising our self-awareness regarding how and how often we commit them is a significant Lenten undertaking.

The priest is vested, the Gifts have been prepared for the celebration of the Eucharist, and now the Divine Liturgy begins. The first half of the Divine Liturgy is called "the Liturgy of the Word" or "the Liturgy of the Catechumens". In the Liturgy of the Word we hear the Church's teaching about the saints, feasts and events being commemorated that day, the Epistle is read and the Gospel is preached. We see it is not always easy to follow along, even with a service book in hand. Steve and Bill offer some insights into the structure and flow of the Liturgy of the Word that will help newcomers participate more fully in the service.

With the reading of the Gospel and the homily that often follows it, the Liturgy of the Catechumens is concluded, and we transition to the Liturgy of the Faithful - The Communion Service. The Eucharist has always been the central focus of the life and worship of the Church from the beginning. Here we try to convey, by way of the Cherubic Hymn and the priestly prayers, the meaning of the Great Entrance - the journey of the gifts from the Prothesis table to the Altar. This is the life-journey of Christ in the world on his way to His Life-Giving Death, and the faithful are eyewitnesses to this - as the lines between heaven and earth are blurred in the mysterious and sacred space of the Kingdom.

We're baaaack! After an unintended extended hiatus from the program, we were finally able to find an evening to record a special "Christmas edition" of Our Life in Christ. In this program we walk through the icon of the Nativity and look at the wholistic view of the ministry of Christ in His incarnation. The Nativity icon foreshadows the Passion of Christ and we see in the details of the icon commmon elements that show us that our salvation began from eternity. Blessed Nativity to all of our listeners!

We continue the series of interviews with Fr. Jonah. In part one of this interview we discuss a variety of topics that relate to the Orthodox view of the healing of the human person. Monasticism is but one of the ways that we are healed, but all of the spiritual disciplines and "methods" boil down to life within a community, whether it is a monastery, a marriage, a family or a parish. We are also trying some new sound file formats to attempt to fix the 49 minute podcast cut off problem. So, if our podcast listeners can let us know if THIS program plays all the way through we'd appreciate it!

In part two of the conversation with Father Jonah we discuss the relationship of monasticism to the "normal" Christian life. The life lived in the Gospel is universally applied to all Christians, has the same goal and foundation, but is lived out in various ways.

Hierotheos Vlachos of Nafpaktos said, "The job of the Church is to make relics." The phenomenon of relics is not merely a human sentimental reaction to the past, but it is a real evidence of our salvation in Christ in whom "the fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Colossians 1:19, 2:9). The consequences of the incarnation go beyond a juridical declaration of innocence, they are evidence of the eternal destiny of the human being. In this program Steve and Bill begin to delve into the theology of the Church regarding our union with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Kevin Allen of "The Illumined Heart" podcast here on AFR interviewed Steve on lay ministry in the Orthodox Church. As usual, Kevin asks the hard questions. Join Steve and Kevin for a frank discussion of the opportunities and yes, sometimes pitfalls of trying to do lay ministry in the context of the Orthodox Church.