An Interview with Father Damian

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.

We begin a series on prayer which is the center of the life of the Orthodox Christian. Prayer is our connection to God who is our life. It is to be like our breathing, without ceasing. The Church provides a deep wealth of writings about prayer, but it also provides us with a daily order of services that structures the entire day around prayer. We are able to pray in the same ways the Jews prayed at set hours of the day that we see in the book of Acts. In this program Steve and Bill begin a discussion of the daily order of prayer services and then next week will move into "personal prayer" and a discussion of "The Jesus Prayer", the single most important prayer of our spiritual life.

Central to the prayer life of the Church is the cycle of eight musical tones or structures (The Octoechos, or eight echos) that accompany the hymns and prayers in all the services. In this program, Steve provides a basic, lighthearted but informative overview of the Eight Tones of the Church as expressed in Byzantine, Russian, Bulgarian and other styles, and how the Tones reflect the Orthodox Traditional concern with the beauty of sound and its place in sacramental worship.

Steve and Bill finish the mini-series on the liturgical prayer life of the Church. For all the teaching and talk about fasting on the program, the Church's liturgical calendar really focuses on the 12 Great Feasts and fasting is our preparation for the Feasts of the Church. In the third segment of the program, Steve and Bill tag team wrestle a glossary of liturgical terms and show once again that two lightweights are no match for the 2000 year old Tradition. They deftly handle the Troparion, they almost pin down the Kontakion, but the Canons and Exapostilarion finally throw them. The Church's liturgical terms win by a unanimous decision. A rematch may be scheduled in the future.

Having entered sacred space in the Church building, we now turn to the 'main event' of the Church, the Divine Liturgy. We know that liturgy means 'work of the people', the labor of love we perform as citizens of the Kingdom. Yet, there is much that must be done to prepare for the public worship, and this work is begun long before the typical schedule published in the bulletin. In this program we focus on the "eternal time" of the Divine Liturgy in the sacred space of the Church, and the rationale for the special clothes or vestments of the priest, which, having been donned with special prayers from Holy Scripture, transform him into the Icon of Christ, the Humble Servant.

The Proskomide, or the leavened bread that is offered to God, and the accompanying Proskomide prayers, form the essential first part of the Divine Liturgy, taking place well before the arrival of the parishoners to the scheduled service. In this program we attempt to convey some of the significance of the Proskomide and the preparation required for its use. In the Proskomide, the whole of the Kingdom of God - those on earth and in heaven - is commemorated; the Incarnate Lord, the One Sacrifice, the One Bread, the One Body of Christ.

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 come to the most sacred and debated words of Christian worship in history: the Epiclesis, the calling down of the Holy Spirit upon the bread and wine to make them into the Body and Blood of Christ. Is the change "real" or is it symbolic? How does the change happen? When does it happen? Are the words just a "hocus pocus" incantation? Can it happen anywhere a priest just speaks the words? Steve and Bill take up the challenge of going three rounds with this theological giant. In the first round they come out hesitant and tentative, dancing around their opponent. In the second and third rounds they get bolder and grapple with the topic but in the end are no match for the great Mystery. The epiclesis wins by a unanimous decision and Steve and Bill go home and hope to recover from their wounds by next week's show.

The mystical change of the gifts of bread an wine into the Body and Blood of Christ in the Epiclesis is followed by a series of pre-communion prayers and hymns - given to continually focus us on the grace and unity of the Holy Spirit, for it is He who has been invited to come down upon us and abide in us. The closing prayer of the Epiclesis, which declares the unity of all saints made righteous by faith, is followed by the Megalynarion - the Magnification of Mary, for it was she who by virtue of her humility and purity and the power of the Holy Spirit provided the world with Christ's Body and Blood - the Incarnation itself. The litanies then lead us to the Lord's Prayer, the extolling of God's Holiness (not ours), and then a final declaration of of our own humility and allegiance before we partake of the Mystery of Mysteries. The now thoroughly inadequate Steve and Bill move through this part of the Divine Liturgy "as usual" - with their familiar, winsome klutziness.

The prayers are said, the clergy have commmuned and we finally come to the people's communion. The Eastern Rite Orthodox communion has no counterpart in Western Christian practice, so we discuss the mechanics of taking communion, the unusual "liturgical spoon", the different ways communion has been served over the centuries, and the minor variations of praxis among Orthodox Churches. The communion ends with several prayers that declare what the Church has been teaching, confessing and praying all through the liturgy: we have found the true faith, worshipping the undivided Trinity. Is this triumphalistic arrogance or something more?

In this final program of the series on the Divine Liturgy we discuss the dismissal prayers after communion. These are more than just a formality as they express the summation of all that we have experienced for the past hour or more: God is the lover of mankind. But the Christian's experience of the Eucharist does not end with the final doxology or the Liturgy. In many parishes there are "post communion prayers" that are read as the people come for the closing blessing and antidoron from the priest. These express in prayer the Orthodox experience of the Eucharist and its meaning to us as we commune and "go forth in peace."

In response to listener requests, Steve and Bill begin a new series on the Orthodox view of the end times and the book of Revelation. With the popularity of the "Left Behind" books, the recent developments in the Middle East, and the American Protestant theological hodge podge of end time scenarios, what does the Church have to say about all of the speculations about the immanent return of Christ? In this program Steve and Bill discuss the landscape of popular end time scenarios and laugh way too much.

In the last program of the End Times series, Steve and Bill try to tag team wrestle "the Beast" and the "Antichrist." It was a tough match-up, and the they left some marks on them, but not the trademark "666." And just what does "666" mean anyway? Tune in and see who has been marked as the Beast and the Antichrist through history.

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!

This is hour two of the Andrew Tallman Show that Steve and Bill hosted during Andrew's Christmas vacation.

During a recent visit to St. John's Monastery, Steve recorded and interview with Abbot Jonah about the Jesus Prayer. In part one, Fr. Jonah discusses the Orthodox view of prayer that goes beyond "requests and praise." He also discusses the practice of the Jesus Prayer and the transformation of the human being which is a difficult and sometimes painful experience.

In part two of the discussion of the Jesus Prayer, Fr. Jonah talks about the context of the practice of the prayer and some of the spiritual pitfalls and dangers of entering a discipline of prayer without spiritual direction.

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.

Steve and Bill are once again invited to guest host the Andrew Tallman Show on KPXQ, a live Phoenix drive time Christian talk show. We decide to boldly go where no Evangelical talk show host has gone before. We discuss the topic of sola scriptura and during the program get a call from a suprise guest.

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.

On January 15th my personal podcast, "Steve the Builder," begins airing on Ancient Faith. The focus will be about my 56 years of "real" life, our culture, living and working in the world, and just being a layperson seeking to be a Christian. Bill and I will still be producing Our Life in Christ programs in the future as we can hammer out some studio time together, but Steve the Builder will fill in the blanks in between Our Life in Christ productions.

Continuing with our discussion about Eastern Orthodox ecclesiology, we turn to the question of what happened to the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church in the first centuries following the death of the Apostles, and specifically the relationship between the Eastern Churches and the Church at Rome. Contrasting the Petrine Doctrine and the conduct of Roman Bishops with that of the Eastern Bishops through the Seven Ecumenical Councils and the first millenium, we find that the collegial model was maintained as it had begun in Acts 15, and that Rome, despite certain attempts to exert universal authority over the Churches, was subject to the Councils and their declarations.

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.

We've gotten several requests over time to do a program on the Orthodox view of "speaking in tongues" and the charismatic movement within the Evangelical Churches. After avoiding the topic for a couple years we decided to do a series on the Orthodox Church's understanding of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. With all the claims and experiences regarding the Holy Spirit today is there a way to discern what is real and what is perhaps a spiritual deception? We begin the series at the beginning: the role of the Holy Spirit in creation.

We continue our discussion of Great Lent by reviewing, with many quotes from the Church Fathers, the famous Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian that is used during all the weekday services. Writing in the 4th century, St. Ephraim's hymnography captures the Spirit of the Lenten Season and has been a vital standard for the Orthodox Church ever since. In its simplicity and penetrating quality we learn that we are at once helpless and in need of God's grace to overcome our sinful nature, and yet must also pursue repentance and the virtues in faith continually, to be both emptied and filled.

We finish this Lenten series discussing the virtues of patience, love, and not judging our brother. Again, the Orthodox axiom of working out the virtues in the body is true, and we learn that patience is not merely a passive state, but also requires spiritual/bodily effort to restrain evil thoughts/actions, choosing to perform God's will instead. Love for God, neighbor, enemies and the whole of creation is our aim, cultivated with our growing awareness of God's pure and captivating eros coming down from heaven. Engulfed in this love we lose interest in the world and adopt the humble mind of Christ, whose words on the Cross, "forgive them for they know not what they do," are to become our own towards all men.

Following Chastity in the the list of virtues in St. Ephraim's prayer comes Humility. Reading from the Fathers, we find that humility is not merely a state of mind, but a mystery that comes about as the result of labors of the soul and body, mirroring the Incarnation itself, and so it is by nature incomprehensible. We look at humility and its opposite, pride and prelest. to try to gain even just a little more understanding of this virtue and why it is central to our life in Christ.

St. Ephraim begins the second half of his great prayer "Give rather a spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to Thy servant." Asking God to take our sinful passions away is followed by a petition to give us virtue, chastity being first in the order. In the Fathers, and especially St. John Climacus, we find that the virtues (which are in truth the energies of the Holy Spirit) act in our heart and are active through us through the deeds of the body surrendered to Christ. And chastity, rather than being limited to some quaint notion of sexual purity (true enough), is the virtue of wholeness in Christ which enables us to fight the passions fervently.

The addition and acceptance of three words—and the Son (filioque in Latin)—to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Symbol of Faith (Creed) in the Western Church, and then finally by the Roman See, changed the course of Church and human history. It is often seen as the primordial cause of the dogmatic schism that separated the West from the East a thousand years ago. Here we attempt to unpack the origin and significance of the filioque, and why the Eastern Orthodox Church views it as an assault on the historical doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, faintheartedness, lust for power and idle talk. -Lenten Prayer, St. Ephraim the Syrian The Lenten Season, or the Great Fast as the Church calls it, comes each year as part of the Paschal celebration. It is a forty day fast, a time of preparation during which we come face to face with ourselves in the light of extraordinary prayers and insights into our spiritual condition, given as only the Orthodox Tradition is able. Here we discuss Lent, the school of repentance and what God intends for us by it.

This is the first of a six-part series on "ICONS" from our KPXQ live radio program archives from 2004. In this program we introduce icons and what you will see in an Orthodox Church and look at the scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, that seem to prohibit the making of "graven images." Are all images "idols," and are ALL images and representations of the material world prohibited by God?

In part two of "Icons" we continue to discuss the Scriptures and the post-Reformation emphasis on the "intellectual" apprehension of the rational message of the Gospel as written in the Bible. But we will see that icons are a fulfillment of the Gospel and more specifically are a logical ramification of the Incarnation of God.

How can we communicate with the departed saints if they are dead? What is the state of the departed according to the Scriptures? Are they concious, and if so, of what? Can they hear the petitions of those alive on earth? What do they do when people pray to them? These and other questions are actually answered in the Bible. Tune in and find out where.

In this program we deal with the concept of prayer and intercession. What is prayer in the scriptures? Is "prayer" worship to be given only to God? What is intercession? Why are we commanded to intercede for each other? More importantly, who can intercede for us?