Touching upon all the gifts that the season of Great Lent offers for spiritual growth, Fr. John Behr, Dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, delivers four reflections on the emergence of life through suffering, brokenness, and death. With astute attention to the teachings of Scripture and the Fathers, Fr. John centers on the necessity of dying for true life in Christ—life eternal—to emerge.

Touching upon all the gifts that the season of Great Lent offers for spiritual growth, Fr. John Behr, Dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, delivers four reflections on the emergence of life through suffering, brokenness, and death. With astute attention to the teachings of Scripture and the Fathers, Fr. John centers on the necessity of dying for true life in Christ—life eternal—to emerge.

Touching upon all the gifts that the season of Great Lent offers for spiritual growth, Fr. John Behr, Dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, delivers four reflections on the emergence of life through suffering, brokenness, and death. With astute attention to the teachings of Scripture and the Fathers, Fr. John centers on the necessity of dying for true life in Christ—life eternal—to emerge.

Touching upon all the gifts that the season of Great Lent offers for spiritual growth, Fr. John Behr, Dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, delivers four reflections on the emergence of life through suffering, brokenness, and death. With astute attention to the teachings of Scripture and the Fathers, Fr. John centers on the necessity of dying for true life in Christ—life eternal—to emerge.

Here is the first of Archpriest John Behr's four meditative talks to St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary's community during the first two days of Great Lent on the topics "Our Response to the Call of God," "Holding Our Tongue," and "Holding Our Mind." Father John, the Dean of St. Vladimir's, was this year's leader of the rigorous annual retreat that marks the beginning of the Great Fast for seminarians, faculty, and staff at St. Vladimir's.

Here is the second of Archpriest John Behr's four meditative talks to St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary's community during the first two days of Great Lent on the topics "Our Response to the Call of God," "Holding Our Tongue," and "Holding Our Mind." Father John, the Dean of St. Vladimir's, was this year's leader of the rigorous annual retreat that marks the beginning of the Great Fast for seminarians, faculty, and staff at St. Vladimir's

Here is the third of Archpriest John Behr's four meditative talks to St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary's community during the first two days of Great Lent on the topics "Our Response to the Call of God," "Holding Our Tongue," and "Holding Our Mind." Father John, the Dean of St. Vladimir's, was this year's leader of the rigorous annual retreat that marks the beginning of the Great Fast for seminarians, faculty, and staff at St. Vladimir's.

Here is the fourth of Archpriest John Behr's four meditative talks to St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary's community during the first two days of Great Lent on the topics "Our Response to the Call of God," "Holding Our Tongue," and "Holding Our Mind." Father John, the Dean of St. Vladimir's, was this year's leader of the rigorous annual retreat that marks the beginning of the Great Fast for seminarians, faculty, and staff at St. Vladimir's.

This is one of three lectures that Fr. Chad Hatfield delivered at the Parish Life Conference of the Antiochian Diocese of Los Angeles and the West, held in Phoenix, Arizona, June 28-July 3, 2016.

This is a lecture from St. Vladimir's Seminary's annual Orthodox Education Day event, held this year on October 1, 2016. The speaker is Dr. Mary B. Cunningham, lecturer in Historical Theology in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham, England.

St. Vladimir's Seminary's 75th Commencement, held May 20, 2017, included several distinguishing moments: granting degrees to 16 graduates in three academic programs; remarks to graduates by His Beatitude the Most Blessed Tikhon, of the Orthodox Church in America; the commencement address by His Grace the Right Reverend John of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America; the appointment of Archpriest John Behr to the newly established “Father Georges Florovsky Distinguished Professorship of Patristics"; and the bestowal of the St. Macrina Award upon Archpriest Chad Hatfield, Seminary President.

"Mama Maggie" Gobran, a Coptic Christian who has been called the “Mother Teresa of Cairo,” speaks at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary on October 21, 2016.

Sponsored by the St. Ambrose Society, a student interest group at St. Vladimir's Seminary, this is a lecture by Dr. Ryan Sampson Nash, the Director of the Ohio State University Center for Bioethics.

Antwian (Anthony) Davis has been experiencing and witnessing God's miraculous grace from a time beyond his own memories as a small child, and seemingly at every turn since: through the profound faith of his parents; in his journey from serious illness and near death in childhood to health and adulthood; from ordained Baptist minister to seminarian at St Vladimir's Seminary; and during his encounters with the sick, suffering, and incarcerated. In this episode of Voices from St Vladimir's Seminary, Antwian shares powerful stories from his life and conversion to Orthodox Christianity—including why he's thankful to his Baptist parents, who he says "actually raised me to be Orthodox." Antwian, who currently serves as SVS Press Bookstore manager, also reveals his favorite Press books and announces the next stop in his grace-filled journey, this time away from St Vladimir's Seminary.

Dn. Michael discusses chapter two in St. Athanasius's book On the Incarnation. This is lesson four in his series "In But Not Of."

Padre Nicolás predicó sobre la llamada de Dios y cada uno de nosotros tenemos que sobrevenir el mal para responder a la voz de amor del Señor. (Cor. 6:16-18; 7:1) Fr. Nicholas preached about the call of God and how every one of us need to overcome the evil in the world and respond to the loving voice of the Lord. (Cor. 6:16-18; 7:1)

Padre Nicolás predicó sobre que sabemos algo grande viene porque estamos preparando. (Lucas 5:1-11) Fr. Nicholas preached about we know that something is coming because we are preparing ourselves. (Luke 5:1-11)

Loving our family as Christ loves our family gives us a tangible way to respond to hatred with love, to intolerance with compassion, to despair with hope, and to rashness and instability with steadfastness and self-control.

I had to put one of my dogs to sleep. He was young, healthy but had been abused. He started biting visitors to our home. I was confronted with the question, "What does love demand?" When our pets die, or we have to kill them, what do we tell our kids? What do we do for closure? Do our pets go to heaven?

Steve the Builder reviews Inception. But after seeing the movie, he's not sure if Ancient Faith Radio is real. Nor is he sure if the idea for the podcast was planted in his head by Leonardo DiCaprio or by a night out at the park with friends in 1969. But maybe the movie is more real than the people who made it intended it to be.

Steve answers listener email and discusses our human fear of free will. Ultimately, we are created FOR paradise, not BY paradise.

Steve discusses his struggle with his recent diagnosis with cancer while caregiving his dying parents. He takes an honest, hard look at the common sayings and spiritual counsels often given to people who are suffering.

Fr. Evan Armatas is joined by guest co-host Fr. Gregory Mathewes-Green as they tackle questions about spiritual reading, contraception, and more. Listen for a special "cameo" appearance by Kh. Frederica!

Dn. Theodore, the Director of Community of St. John the Compassionate Mission, reminds us that our relationship with God needs to be simpler and a lot more trusting.

Nikolai, a counselor at St. John the Compassionate Mission, explains why it's important to break bread together with the poor.

Fr. Roberto Ubertino, Founder and Executive Director of St. John the Compassionate Mission, demonstrates how part of the challenge and the beauty of living Orthodox mission is learning to accept the tenderness of God in our lives through the poor.

Paul shares about his experiences at the mission with children of all backgrounds and from all walks of life. He reflects on a story that changed his perspective of world cultures, and how that pertains to our Orthodox way of life.

Listen to excerpts from this past Sunday's bulletin at St. John the Compassionate Mission, serving the most vulnerable in Toronto. "Jesus tells Mary Magdalene that He will meet His disciples in Galilee. That is the place where the community is fully alive having Christ in their midst. The place where you work, you celebrate, you heal the sick and feed the hungry with the Lord. The place where you break bread and drink good wine with the Lord and go fishing with no worry that you’ll toil all night without catching anything. The place where you take care of the sick and cure the demoniacs; where you celebrate the feast of marriage, plant, prune and harvest. The place where you learned what it means to be thankful for being alive because you tasted from life in abundance. Most of the time, life at the mission is called to find and to become a Galilee where the Lord can feel at home."

Listen to excerpts from this past Sunday's bulletin at St. John the Compassionate Mission, serving the most vulnerable in Toronto.

Listen to excerpts from this past Sunday's bulletin at St. John the Compassionate Mission, serving the most vulnerable in Toronto.

Listen to excerpts from this past Sunday's bulletin at St. John the Compassionate Mission, serving the most vulnerable in Toronto.

Listen to excerpts from this past Sunday's bulletin at St. John the Compassionate Mission, serving the most vulnerable in Toronto.

Listen to reflections about encountering Christ in the midst of pain, from St. John the Compassionate Mission.

Listen to stories from Brother Luke about people who frequent St. John the Compassionate Mission in Toronto, Ontario.

Listen to a short reflection about R., whose life has been difficult as he lives for the Truth.

The Refuge is a place to refocus, pray, and plan, impacting the entire community associated with St. John the Compassionate Mission.

Fr. Nicolaie writes about forgiveness and loss at St. John the Compassionate Mission.

Another story written by Brother Luke of St. John the Compassionate Mission in Toronto.

Reflections written by Brother Luke.

"On Friday we tried to read the gospel on the stairs at the mission. We were not well organized and without structure. In spite of this, reading the gospel outside made us, even for a little while, to see and hear Jesus preaching to people in the light of the day, sitting in the boat." From reflections written by Fr. Nicolaie.

Writings from Fr. Nicolaie for the Sunday before the Nativity.

Reflections written by Fr. Nicolaie about the gospel story of the father of the demon-possessed boy.

Most servants are faithful with the talents entrusted to them. Even though broken and poor, they keep nothing for themselves. This is the reality of the gospel that we see within the community: there is an abundance of good done by the people.

A community member and Father Nicolaie each reflect on their experience with an aspect of the Gospel story of the young man who was possessed.

Notes from the community that offer a peek at how the community members are seeing God at work in and through each other.

Join Martha this week for some practical tips to help with your Lenten meals.

in some cases, Meta is automatically creating the pages #

grateful to Mia Sato for staying on this beat, which affects so many smaller sites I care about #

they're asking people not to access NYT games or cooking apps until it's over, so give up that Wordle streak #

So, what’s the deal with clerical dress and monastic habits? Do they really matter?