Fr. Tom Soroka of The Path and Sermons at St. Nicholas conducts an interview with Fr Igor Soroka as he discusses the 50th anniversary of the Cathedral Choir of the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania (OCA) as well as his significant contribution to the development of Orthodox music in the English speaking world. A liturgical choral concert celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Cathedral Choir of Pittsburgh will be held at St John the Baptist Orthodox Church, 601 Boone Avenue, Canonsburg, PA on Sunday, September 29, at 6:00 pm. The concert is open to the public and a social hour will follow the concert in the church hall. For further information, contact Rebecca Danchenko at 412-478-7252.

Bobby Maddex interviews Mark Ohanian, the Director of Programs at International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), about IOCC's relief efforts in the Philippines following Super Typhoon Haiyan. Click here to find out how you can help.

Bobby Maddex interviews Fr. Tom Soroka, the host of the daily podcast “The Path" and the priest at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in McKees Rocks, PA, which will be celebrating its 100th anniversary this coming October 10th through the 12th.

Bobby Maddex interviews Craig Hella Johnson, the director of the Conspirare choir, and Vlad Morosan, the founder and president of Musica Russica who helped select the songs that Conspirare sing on their 2015 Grammy-award winning CD The Sacred Spirit of Russia.

Bobby Maddex interviews John Della Monica, the President of the Orthodox Church Capital Improvement Fund (OCCIF).

Bobby Maddex interviews Fr. Stephen Loposky about the 17th Annual Youth Worker and Camping Conference.

We interview Fr. Robert Miclean, the Rector of Holy Archangels Orthodox Mission in Annapolis, Maryland, who will soon be leading a pilgrimage to Romania. Among the highlights of this upcoming trip will be the celebration of Holy Ascension in Valea Plopului, Romania, and Holy Pentecost at Putna Monastery in the northern part of Romania, home of the famous "painted monasteries" built by St. Stephen the Great.

Bobby Maddex interviews Archimandrite Sergius of St. Tikhon’s Monastery and Maria Sheehan, the community coordinator for the monastery, about St. Tikhon’s 114th Annual Memorial Day Pilgrimage.

Fr. Barnabas Powell interviews Fr. Evan Armatas about Fr. Evan's new Ancient Faith book Toolkit for Spiritual Growth.

Bobby Maddex interviews Dr. John Burgess, a professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, about the graduate school's Eastern Christian Doctor of Ministry Cohort, a new academic offering presented in partnership with Antiochian House of Studies.

Bobby Maddex interviews author Susan Cushman about her life and her latest book, Pilgrim Interrupted. Pilgrim Interrupted is a collection of 35 essays, 3 poems, and 5 excerpts from Susan's novels and short stories. Coming of age during the turbulent 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi; marrying young and adopting three children; leaving the Presbyterian Church of her childhood for the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith in 1987; Susan finally began to chronicle her journey in the early 2000s. Pilgrim Interrupted is her eighth book. Susan's Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Cushman/e/B00T3OPP18/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1 Susan's Personal Website: https://susancushman.com

Bobby Maddex, the Director of Digital Media for Ancient Faith Ministries, interviews Dr. John Burgess, the James Henry Snowden, professor of Systematic Theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

Join Bobby Maddex, Jerry Minetos, and Samuel Heble as they journey to Greece to experience firsthand the monasteries, sketes, and churches of both Thessaloniki and Mount Athos. In partnership with Orthodox Tours, the three travelers—all employees of Ancient Faith Ministries—present listeners with the highs and lows of pilgrimage, as well as what they should expect on their own potential journeys to Greece and the Holy Mountain. For more information about Orthodox Tours, please visit orthodoxtours.com.

The White House sides with Israel's ground assault of Lebanon while much of the world calls for a ceasefire. / Al Jazeera

Meanwhile, Iran is said to be preparing to launch a ballistic-missile attack. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

A long profile of Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose new book criticizes Israel and the corrupting influence of power. "I'm sad, but I was so enraged." / New York Magazine

Things to watch for in tonight's Vance-Walz debate. / Wake Up to Politics

Helene slamming a small town in North Carolina may disrupt the global supply chain for microchips. / NPR

A nuclear plant in Michigan will be the first in US history to restart. / CNBC

Your weekly white paper: "A systematic review about similarities in dog-human dyads." / Science Direct

A fascinating survey of how religious believers are using new technologies in their daily practices. / rest of world

An audio dive into Google's new niche product Notebook, which can turn a bunch of PDFs into a convincing podcast. / The New York Times [+]

See also: Barry C. Lynn on "Liberal democracy's last stand against Big Tech." / Harper's

From July, have you seen the trend of new books using multi-panel illustrations on their covers? They're called "bento books." / I Need a Book Cover

A celebrated new short story collection is about "people who just can't hang." / The New Yorker

Also, have you noticed worse service at restaurants lately? For the sake of society, that might be a good thing. / Economist Writing Every Day

See also: Britain experiences a rise in "zebra striping," where pub patrons alternate between alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer. / Semafor

Japan's smaller museums are praised for their elegance. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

Photographs of Japanese forests shimmering with fireflies. / Colossal

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Join Bobby Maddex, Jerry Minetos, and Samuel Heble as they journey to Greece to experience firsthand the monasteries, sketes, and churches of both Thessaloniki and Mount Athos. In partnership with Orthodox Tours, the three travelers—all employees of Ancient Faith Ministries—present listeners with the highs and lows of pilgrimage, as well as what they should expect on their own potential journeys to Greece and the Holy Mountain. For more information about Orthodox Tours, please visit orthodoxtours.com.

The unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is certainly the gift of God. But St. Paul considers a great deal of human effort to be necessary for its maintenance. It does not take care of itself. Fr. Pat fleshes this out.

The Christian must guard against anything antithetical to the Holy Spirit, whom, in 2 Corinthians 1, Paul calls the downpayment and guarantee of salvation. Fr. Pat considers three such things which should be of special concern given the world in which we live.

Deception is a major phenomenon of our own times. There have always been deceivers. But deception has become a far more integral part of modern life. Fr. Pat discusses the psychology and theology of deception, as well as the solution to the problem.

On the Feast of Pentecost, Fr. Pat compares events in the book of Genesis with the events in Acts 2.

Fr. Pat offers pre-Lenten reflections on Hanna, the mother of Samuel and Anna the Prophetess.

In this homily from Pentecost Sunday, Fr. Pat reflects with us on three points about the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church and in our lives.

Ananias and Sapphira's blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

On Palm Sunday, at the beginning of this saddest of weeks, St. Paul exhorts us, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice."

Fr. Pat takes a closer look at the true meaning of Hanukkah.

On the Sunday of the Paralytic, Fr. Pat reflects upon a most pernicious kind of paralysis—the spiritual kind.

Why was the meeting between Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew so important? We're looking at Catholic-Orthodox history in this week's Be the Bee!

The Church isn't run by a single person. Instead, we come together in councils to keep the Faith and guide the Church through challenges. From the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem (in the Book of Acts) through the upcoming Great and Holy Council, this spirit of togetherness opens us to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Many of us seek wealth, or stuff, or other temporary pleasures. Yet God wants us to seek something more. Christ chose the Cross. What do you choose?

You probably know what you need to do to grow closer to Christ, but you're having trouble getting started. Here are five ways to jumpstart your spiritual life and start connecting with the Lord today!

Archbishop Elpidophoros of America joins Steve to explore why service is at the heart of our lives as Christians. But he also reminds us that, if we truly want to emphasize service, then we must also emphasize the services of the Church.

Can you be spiritual without organized religion? What does it even mean to be spiritual? Maybe we need to rethink what we mean by spirituality and religion... Maybe we need to live like Christians: full of the Holy Spirit.

If we are faithful, does God reward us? Does He promise wealth and blessings? Or is true happiness so much more... Hank Hanegraaff, the Bible Answer Man, joins Steve at the start of Holy Week.

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) Thanksgiving is a time to feel grateful. But that attitude of gratitude can go away as soon as we're done with the turkey. How do we keep it going? Saint Paul tells us to "give thanks in all circumstances." Because real gratitude is more than a feeling. As we see in the Parable of the Rich Fool, it starts with remembering one crucial thing. As always, we've prepared a FREE downloadable workbook to help you act on what you'll learn: mailchi.mp/goarch/bethebee158

“Christians have forgotten that the ministry of listening has been committed to them by Him who is Himself the great listener and whose work they should share. We should listen with the ears of God that we may speak the Word of God.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Life Together" Jesus describes the Kingdom as a feast: a place where we're all seen and known. But life is full of disconnection and loneliness. Those moments aren't a taste of the Kingdom. While we'll never be able to solve every problem, we can all be better listeners. And we can learn to do that with the simple techniques of active listening. The ministry of listening is something we often overlook. But it's a simple way to make the Kingdom present for people and give them a taste of God's love. As always, we've prepared a FREE downloadable workbook to help you act on what you'll learn. https://mailchi.mp/goarch/bethebee164

Host Kevin Allen talks with Faith McDonnell and Ralph H. Sidway about the rising tide of Christian intolerance and genocide—the intentional killing of people for their Christian faith—and why global Christophobia is rarely covered by Western media or addressed by the United Nations. Faith McDonnell is the Director of Religious Liberty Programs at the Institute for Religion and Democracy and the author of the book Girl Soldier: A Story of Hope for Northern Uganda's Children. Her blog is titled "Juicy Ecumenism." Ralph H. Sidway is the author of Facing Islam and the blog of the same name.

Father Daniel Rogich (PhD), author of the book Becoming Uncreated: The Journey to Human Authenticity, is Kevin's guest as they discuss a growing trend in the Millennial generation regarding religious belief.

Kevin's guest is Rita Madden, host of the AFR podcast "Food, Faith, and Fasting." Rita is a Registered Dietitian who finds inspiration in the great role that the Orthodox Christian faith can play in her modern-day healthcare profession. Here she discusses caring for your health in a spiritually minded manner.

You want a spiritual experience? You want to show off about it? Listen to what St. Paul says...

For whom are the Gifts of the Holy Spirit?

St. Paul tells us to make use of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and in the Gospel we see an example of this in action. It is obvious though that there gifts are NOT for you! Matthew 9:1-8, Romans 12: 6-14

Rather than zapping us, God choses to fix us.

As Holy Week begins, Fr. Philip gives the hopeful perspective.