Today we celebrate that the Lord is at hand, coming into Jerusalem as the Messiah, hailed by the crowds as their Savior. He enters Jerusalem on a humble beast of burden, carrying no weapons and having no army, political machine, or media campaign to flatter the powerful and play on the fears, resentments, and hopes of the masses.

Today we conclude our commemoration of the Lord’s Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, when the spiritual eyes of Peter, James, and John were opened to behold His divine glory and they heard the voice of the Father say, “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” (Mk. 9:7)

During the season of Christmas, we celebrated the Nativity in the flesh of the Savior. Born as truly one of us, He is the New Adam Who restores and fulfills us as living icons of God. During the season of Theophany, we celebrated the revelation of His divinity as a Person of the Holy Trinity at His baptism, where the voice of the Father identified Him as the Son and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove. Christ has appeared in the waters of the Jordan, blessing the entire creation, enabling all things to become radiant with the divine glory. When we put Him on like a garment in baptism, we participate in the sanctification that He has brought to the world as we regain the “robe of light” repudiated by our first parents.

We do not have to look very closely at dominant trends in our culture today for signs that many people are offering their lives for the service of false gods, regardless of how they identify themselves religiously. The evidence of their idolatry is not primarily in where they congregate to worship, but in how they seek first the things of this world, such as possessions, power, and pleasure, and in how they hate and condemn those whom they perceive to stand in the way of their acquiring them.

Forty days after His resurrection, our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ ascended in glory into heaven and sat at the right hand of God the Father. He did so as One Who is fully divine and fully human, One Person with two natures. He ascended with His glorified, resurrected body, which still bore the wounds of His crucifixion. Our Lord’s Ascension reveals that we may participate by grace in the eternal life of the Holy Trinity and share in His fulfillment of the human person in God’s image and likeness. We may experience such blessedness even now by uniting ourselves to Christ even as we live and breathe in this world with our feet on the ground.

In this special edition of Paradise and Utopia, Fr. John Strickland responds to a recent review of the first two volumes of his book series. In it, he notes the failure to consider the books on their own terms. He uses the opportunity to elaborate what he considers a healthy vision of Christian historiography, one that supports what many consider the need for a "re-enchantment" of modern culture.

Returning to a literary career after a decade of exile, Fyodor Dostoevsky confronted one of the great delusions of secular humanism: that man is ultimately a rational being whose happiness depends on the exercise of self-interest. Characters in his novels The Idiot and Demons were designed to demonstrate that nihilistic self-destruction is the only outcome of such convictions. Father John concludes the episode by showing how nihilism played itself out in the fictional moral collapse of Dostoevsky's protagonist Raskolnikov and the real-life moral collapse of Friedrich Nietzsche.

Fr. Josiah Trenham speaks about the connection between church building consecration and people consecration at a clergy retreat for the Carolina Deanery of the Orthodox Church in America.

As we approach the Sunday of the Adoration of the Cross during Great Lent, Dr. Humphrey reviews the scriptural passages which will be read and reflects on the obedience of Christ and our own obedience.

How do we understand God’s wrath, when there is also His love and peace?

We consider the physicality of Matthew 17:1-13, 2 Corinthians 4:6 and 2 Peter 1:19-21 in the light of the experiences of Moses (Exodus 24 and 34), Elijah (1 Kings 19) Daniel (Dan 10:5-10) and the prophecy of Malachi 4. The transformation which comes in seeing and hearing God affects the whole of who we are!

This Sunday, the fourteenth of Luke, we also commemorate the prophet Zephaniah, whose tiny book in the OT speaks eloquently both of the dark state of God’s people, and his aim to bring them into the light (Zephaniah 1:14-17; 3:9-20). Those themes help us to think more concretely, and as a community, concerning the gospel and epistle for today (Ephesians 5:8-19; Luke 18:35-43), where spiritual blindness and sight is also addressed.

Chapter 6 of Revelation has some uncomfortable moments, but in it we discern the care and deliverance of our Savior, who models for us the Christian way of victory by the cross. We read this difficult sequence of the seals by reference to ancient fathers, Zechariah 6 and 11, and Isaiah.

This week we look at the Matin’s Psalm 37 LXX (38 Hebrew), understanding it in the light of several Church fathers, Job, Hebrews 12:6, and Isaiah 53:7-8. We find in this “rough” Psalm much to think about regarding God’s judgment and mercy, sin and hope.

Special Agents of Christ: A Prayer Book for Young Orthodox Saints by Annalisa Boyd (Conciliar Press, 2012). Operation 1: Daily Prayer.

Special Agents of Christ: A Prayer Book for Young Orthodox Saints by Annalisa Boyd (Conciliar Press, 2012). Operation 2: Prayers in Time of Trouble.

Special Agents of Christ: A Prayer Book for Young Orthodox Saints by Annalisa Boyd (Conciliar Press, 2012). Operation 3: Prayers of Thanks.

Special Agents of Christ: A Prayer Book for Young Orthodox Saints by Annalisa Boyd (Conciliar Press, 2012). Operation 4: Prayers for Family, Friends, and Enemies.

Special Agents of Christ: A Prayer Book for Young Orthodox Saints by Annalisa Boyd (Conciliar Press, 2012). Operation 5: Prayers for the Dead

Special Agents of Christ: A Prayer Book for Young Orthodox Saints by Annalisa Boyd (Conciliar Press, 2012). Operation 6: Preparation for Confession.

Special Agents of Christ: A Prayer Book for Young Orthodox Saints by Annalisa Boyd (Conciliar Press, 2012). Operation 7: Praying with the Saints and Angels .

Special Agents of Christ: A Prayer Book for Young Orthodox Saints by Annalisa Boyd (Conciliar Press, 2012). Operation 8: Pray like a King.

The Illustrated Life of the Theotokos for Children by Georgia and Helen Hronos, (Light and Life Publishing, 1990). This audio is only available until August 9, 2013.

The Illustrated Life of the Theotokos for Children by Georgia and Helen Hronos, (Light and Life Publishing, 1990). This audio is only available until August 9, 2013.

The Illustrated Life of the Theotokos for Children by Georgia and Helen Hronos, (Light and Life Publishing, 1990). This audio is only available until August 9, 2013.

The Illustrated Life of the Theotokos for Children by Georgia and Helen Hronos, (Light and Life Publishing, 1990). This audio is only available until September 13, 2013.

The Illustrated Life of the Theotokos for Children by Georgia and Helen Hronos, (Light and Life Publishing, 1990). This audio is only available until September 20, 2013.

The Illustrated Life of the Theotokos for Children by Georgia and Helen Hronos, (Light and Life Publishing, 1990). This audio is only available until September 27, 2013.

The Illustrated Life of the Theotokos for Children by Georgia and Helen Hronos, (Light and Life Publishing, 1990). This audio is only available until October 4, 2013.

The Illustrated Life of the Theotokos for Children by Georgia and Helen Hronos, (Light and Life Publishing, 1990). This audio is only available until October 11, 2013.

"The Transfiguration of the Lord," from Feasts of Christ and the Theotokos and Miracles of the Lord by Spiritual Fragrance Publishing (2012)

16. Book 1: The Transfiguration of Our Lord from The Twelve Great Feasts for Children by Mother Melania (Conciliar Press, 2004) Book 2: Basil's Search for Miracles part 14 (chapters 28-29) by Heather Zydek (Conciliar Press, 2007)

"The Transfiguration of Jesus" from The Bible for Young People by Zoe Kanavas (Narthex Press, 2005)

109. The Transfiguration of Our Lord from The Twelve Great Feasts for Children by Sister Elaine (Conciliar Press, 2004)

Fr. Ted reminds us to be grateful to God our Creator, the giver of all good things.

Fr. Ted warns us against forgetting that humility is an essential aspect of being a Christian.

Fr. Ted speaks at the Biennial Clergy-Laity Conference for the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Canada in Vancouver.

Fr. Ted reminds us that those who call themselves Christian should not act like other people.

It is very, very dangerous to commune without the proper preparation.

Fr. Ted calls us to a childlike gratefulness for the many gifts that we have been given by God.

Fr. Ted concludes his series on the House of God by reminding us of our need to be thankful to God for all of the undeserved gifts that He has given to us.

Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos explains the meaning of Jesus' parable on the forgiveness. This episode brings the podcast iSermon to an end after 425 episodes.

In this special 1 hour edition of The Illumined Heart, Kevin talks with Charles Ajalat. Mr. Ajalat is a powerful voice for Orthodox unity with a great deal of pan-Orthodox leadership experience. Currently chancellor and board member of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of America, he was also the architect of the historic Ligonier Meeting of Orthodox bishops in 1994—the first meeting of all twenty-nine bishops in North America. He is the founder of a Los Angeles law firm specializing in tax and litigation matters, and a graduate of Harvard University and the Law School at the University of California at Berkeley. He is a member of St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles. More resources on this topic: Again Magazine (Winter 2003) Kevin's interview with Fr. Josiah Trenham Metropolitan PHILIP's keynote address at Antiochian Convention in Montreal (2007)

This is the same interview with Charles Ajalat only broken up into 2 parts for easier download.

And here is part 2 of the interview. Each one is about 30 minutes.

Kevin interviews Robert Meyering, the former moderator of the Calvin Forum, now Orthodox Christian.

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.

The holy icon defines for us what an image should be. But pornography is an anti-icon because it breaks the link between the image and the archetype and replaces it with a link between image and fantasy. Read the transcript HERE.

A Study of the Paralytic in Mark Chapter 2 Sometimes the world appears to be so divided and its people so alienated from one another, that it seems like it would take a miracle to fix it and bring us all together again! And yet, this is exactly what Christ came to do. Likewise, the purpose of the Church, which is His body, is to re-unite in itself the world, which has been pulled apart by sin. Drawing on the healing narratives of the Gospels, the sayings of early Church Father, St. John Chrysostom, and contemporary Orthodox thinker Fr. Alexander Schmemann, Steve and Bill examine the causes of division, and discuss how we are healed, and the fragmented cosmos is put back together again in the person of Christ.