In celebration of Mother’s Day, join Michael as he explores the language of the Genesis creation stories and what they teach us about the value of women and the feminine and motherly nature of God. He then reflects on the Theotokos and how her life and Christ’s demonstrate the value of women established in Genesis, and how they restore women to the place God intended for them. This podcast is based on a Zoom class Michael gave to a Church community and also includes responses from the question and answer period of the class.

Join Michael as he tells the story of a family who all contracted the virus, what they suffered, what medical experts and articles are saying about COVID-19 and PTSD, and how we can understand this spiritually.

Many of us have read the book Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives by Elder Thaddeus which is packed with holy wisdom. However, our thoughts gives rise to our actions, and our actions in turn reflect our thoughts. We are held to account by God for both what we think and what we do. Join Michael as he discusses the relationship to thoughts and actions, how we often entertain and get seduced by the wrong thoughts, and can make philosophy, psychology, and even theology and excuse to not have the right thoughts or take the right actions.

Join Michael as he discusses the Book of Job as a case study in suffering and the importance of how we receive our suffering; how it is often what defines our salvation and belief in and relationship to God; what God gives and does not give to us in our suffering; and how our suffering can be a mystery and those closest to us can often create obstacles for us to receive it well.

Join Michael as he discusses why God’s wrath is an expression of His love, what hinders us from understanding and accepting this, and why it is debilitating when it is intended to be transformative.

Join Michael as he provides an in-depth discussion of the many spiritual aspects of patience that are critical to our salvation and the salvation of others, and how lacking this virtue is more spiritually harmful than we may realize.

What do we deserve in life? Anything? Everything? Join Michael as he addresses the various ways we can focus on what we deserve and how most of them lead us in the wrong spiritual direction.

Join Michael as he addresses our choices and what we consent to that results in us either growing in holiness and union with Christ, or an unholy union with the devil that leads to our gradual and eventual complete destruction.

Join Michael for a discussion on why forgiving ourselves is often so hard and what we need to understand and do to open our hearts to self-forgiveness.

Join Michael for a discussion on how to understand and overcome the subtle spiritual deafness and spiritual blindness we can suffer from that leads to spiritual heart disease.

Join Michael as he reflects on the recent Supreme Court decision and why we need more than ever to remain prayerful and faithful within ourselves, and civil with each other.

Join Michael as he discusses how we should see and experience ourselves and others as living icons of Christ, and how we achieve this through the difficult task unknowing ourselves.

Join Michael as he discusses the deep theological truths of simple hospitality and how it directly relates to our salvation.

Join Michael for a discussion of the primacy of focusing on loving more not sinning less and why this will be the basis of how God judges our lives.

Join Michael in a discussion about living intentionally to embed hopefulness in our body, mind and soul, and accept death with the hope of eternal life.

Join Michael in a discussion of what Christ said in the Gospel accounts, and what the New Testament in general says about being a thief or thieves, and how the symbolism of the thief applies to us and the choice of salvation or condemnation.

Join Michael in a discussion of how to guard our hearts and minds against the ancient sins of infidelity and individualism that are both subtle and celebrated in today’s culture.

Join Michael in a discussion of our desires, how they get in the away of the elusive peace we seek, and what we need to do to find true contentment.

Is one better than the other? Fr. Seraphim begins tackling some listener questions.

Father Seraphim reflects on some of the content from his past podcasts, and asks for forgiveness because of the brief hiatus he took in posting new material.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea concludes his series on fasting.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea shares reflections at the conclusion of his recent visit to Mt. Athos.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea delivers a talk in Atlanta, Georgia, about the importance of humility in extending our view of the world.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea delivers a talk in Atlanta, GA, about the power of our demons in those we meet, including the unborn.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea answers the question of whether or not couples should abstain from sexual relations after the years of procreation.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea exhorts his listeners to fight for faith in the living God during this challenging time.

'It was through whispering that the serpent drove Adam and Eve out of Paradise, so he who speaks against his neighbor will be like the serpent, for he corrupts the soul of him who listens to him and he does not save his own soul' - Abba Hyperechius of the Desert Fathers. Slander and gossip are the fruits of evil and hatred, and their own fruits are division, brokenness and pain. He who slanders goes against Him Who asked us to be One. He who listens to the one who slanders opens himself to the other one's poison, and both of them are condemned as the spiritual murderers of the neighbor whom they slander.

At times, we are reduced to the empty shell of our being. How do we survive when there is no life in us? Working under obedience can carry us through this desert; it can empty the mind, so that the mind can be filled once again with Life by the Giver of Life.

On Violence and Power.

After we sin, our hearts freeze. For a while, we stay away from God on purpose. We need time to heal, we need some sort of ritual of cleansing, some manner in which to make ourselves (in our own eyes) acceptable again to God. But the way back to prayer must begin as soon as possible, if possible even during the act of sin itself. The sooner we turn ourselves back to face Christ's Light, the sooner we shall drag ourselves out of the depth of our fall. Remind yourself of those who were waiting in the darkness of hell for Christ's Descent - ask for their desperate desire to be forgiven, pray for their unceasing hope that Light WILL one day find them and bring them back to Life out of the death of their hell. For those who put their trust in Christ, there is always Hope, there is always Love, there is always a way back to repentance and Life.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea reminds us that who we are in Christ is the best version of ourselves.

Don't look for the easy way out of pain. Do not deny the reality of your doubts, your struggles and your sins. Be who-you-are before Christ, so that He may save the truth of who-you-are.

The is NO LIFE in despondency and abandonment. We must learn to fight for love, fight for joy, and this LOVE will teach us about God.

Back in March 2020, when I promised that I'd be recording these videos to keep each other company through the pandemic, I definitely had no idea I would still be doing this a whole year later. One year of the pandemic, one year with the virus, and we are still here, helping each other on our way. I have learnt enormously from you during this past year and I want to thank you all, on behalf of the Monastery, for the love and encouragement you have offered us. May God, Who brought all of us together, continue to bless us every day, every hour of our portion in this world, my dear ones.

Some things are to be discerned with one's mind, but others - the most important ones - should be approached based on faith and love alone. One cannot 'discern' one's vocation for married or monastic life; this is not a choice to be made based on logical assessment, but on the love one feels in one's heart.

Hope and repentance are the two wings of spiritual life.

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

The opinion of others can destroy one's self-esteem. We need to found our life on Christ's values, regardless of the response that generates in those around us. We may be unpopular, but we are truly ourselves, and that is worth carrying this Cross for.

The devil wants us to forget him. His ultimate success would be to make us believe that he is not even real, that he is just the product of our imagination. Once that happens, the flood-gates of sin are wide open in us and our salvation is in great danger.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea reminds us that these are unforgivable sins against God's Love and Mercy. Feeling entitled to God's forgiveness, reducing God's Love to an automatic, impersonal tool of forgiveness—this is spiritual abuse of God's Love, this is the unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit. The other is to lose hope, to think that God's Love is not strong enough to cover our sins, to sink so low in our despair that we believe our sin has defeated God's Love.

We are broken and our prayer reflects that brokenness. But we are called to be one, to be simple with God's simplicity. As our prayer grows, we grow as well. As we spiritually heal and let go of our complexities and divisivenesses (which are results of our fallen nature), our prayer slowly lets go of its brokenness and becomes what it is supposed to be: a prayer beyond words, a silent prayer that is an act of being.

We live in an age of new paganism. The distance we allowed between ourselves and Christ has created a spiritual void in the world, which is rapidly being filled with spiritual experiences and rituals that mirror those of the ancient pagan world.

The story of a miracle: how God healed me and then poured a mountain of grace over us was recorded by Fr Seraphim (Aldea) at Mull Monastery (The Orthodox Monastery of All Celtic Saints), on the Isle of Mull.

It is easy to ask for God's Word, but it is difficult to listen and accept His answer. That is because His answer reveals His Divine will and once we know that, we need to silence our own will and follow Him.

Join Fr. Seraphim and the Monasteries of Mull and Iona on a pilgrimage to St Brendan's Island: Eileach an Naoimh—'The Rock of the Saint'.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea introduces us to Inch Kenneth, the 'desert' of St Kenneth.

Fr. Seraphim gives a short update.

Fr. Seraphim encourages us to avoid false faces and the havoc they wreak.