The 16th Century was pivotal for the Orthodox Church in Russia which is during the reign of Ivan the Terrible and also the period when the Russian Church was given autocephaly.

We have just finished the month of January where many of the heroes of the Faith are remembered. One of them is St. Maximus the Confessor who paid a price for resisting bishops and emperors when he thought they were promoting false doctrine. Fr. Tom teaches us what can we learn from this humble and brave saint.

In this very helpful theological discourse, Fr. Thomas Hopko states that the trinitarian understanding of God is absolutely essential to the Christian faith.

In the next in his series on Church organization and structure, Fr. Tom talks about 17th Century Russia and the influences of Patriarch Nikon and the Old Believer schism.

In this fascinating episode, Fr. Tom talks about the tragic influence of Peter the Great and the further westernization of the Orthodox Church in Russia.

Fr. Tom returns to the subject of his recent episode "God Is In Control. Yes or No?" He responds to the listener feedback and clarifies his thoughts on the subject.

For the next few podcasts, Fr. Tom will be looking at the important 19th century in Russian Orthodox history. He recommended several books but in particular these three. The Heart of Russia by Scott M. Kenworthy The Making of Holy Russia by Fr. John Strickland Russian Orthodoxy on the Eve of Revolution by Vera Shevzov

In his continuing series on bishops and Church organization, Fr. Thomas speaks about various clergy figures from that time. He references the book My Life's Journey: The Memories of Metropolitan Evlogy.

Today, Jeannie talks about the many and various translations and versions of the Bible

Today, Jeannie looks at two of the Cappadocian Fathers: Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa.

Following a very helpful and instructive series of lessons providing an introduction to the Bible, Jeannie today begins her study of Genesis.

Today, Jeannie begins her verse by verse study of Genesis but starts with an interesting story about her experience at the recent meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Jeannie continues in Genesis chapter 1 with the story of creation.

Earth, Sun, the firmaments, and all of creation. God saw that it was good.

Today Jeannie looks at what may be the most important verse in the Old Testament if not the entire Bible.

Jeannie continues her examination of "image and likeness" by looking at the fundamental beliefs of Mormonism and Christian Science.

Jeannie is in Genesis chapter 2 but begins with a listener's question that is probably representative of many other listeners as well.

Jeannie explores the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on the Garden of Eden.

Jeannie continues her study in the book of Genesis with a look at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Dr. Constantinou explains all that you ever wanted to know about the Passover, including how it is celebrated today.

Dr. Constantinou continues her discussion of ritual impurity and its connection (or lack thereof) to Orthodox women.

Dr. Constantinou finishes up her discussion of Elijah, this time focusing on the typology of the prophet.

Dr. Constantinou highlights a number of key passages from the book of Isaiah.

Dr. Constantinou discusses Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones.

Dr. Jeannie Constantinou begins the reading and study of the first chapter of the Book of Daniel, with commentary from the Church Fathers.

I've become obsessed with site speed over the last six months, systematically working through each of my sites to improve their speed. Supposed SEO benefits aside, the faster your site is, the better the user experience. And the better the user experience, the higher the conversion rate – sales, leads or newsletter subscribers; whatever a…

The post 10 Simple Ways to Make Your WordPress Site Faster appeared first on Sugarrae.

Google Alerts is a free service offered by Google that will alert you to new content Google finds on the web that contains keywords you specify. Google Alerts is most commonly recommended as a way to monitor your brand – and your competition's brand – online. But I also use Google Alerts as a way…

The post Using Google Alerts to Find New Affiliate Programs in Your Niche appeared first on Sugarrae.

If you follow me on Twitter, then you know I sometimes complain about the current state of the industry – most notably centered around what passes for research and discussion these days. It feels like people want to be handed the fish – with little interest in learning how the person with the fish caught…

The post A Call for a Search Discussion – How Google Works appeared first on Sugarrae.

If you've looked into search engine optimization as a promotional technique for your website, you have likely come across the advice to make your website secure (having an https:// appear in front of your URLs instead of http://). Google has been very vocal in pushing for all websites to make the move to being secure,…

The post How to Make Your WordPress Website Secure (SSL) in 6 Steps appeared first on Sugarrae.

Fr. Finley, with reference to potential “mass conversions,” explains what we must do to prepare.

Fr. Joseph shares a few stories about the lapsed and confession.

Did you know that the word "gossip" originally meant "godparent" and is connected with the word "sibling"? Did you know that gossip and Good News aren't the same? (Go ahead, you can tell me, I won't tell.)

We don't know the future, but past sermons provide a clue of what we are to do. Fr Joseph speaks at St John the Divine/Lake Charles, Louisiana.

When the churches are open again, some folks will be shouldering even more doubts than before due to being kind of “shell shocked”—hurt by having been locked out of church services—especially during the holiest season! Suffice it to say, whether we’ll admit it or not, we’re all hurting a bit. So, you see, we’re all missions now!

The same God that knows if a hair falls from your head, the same God that knows if a sparrow falls from the sky, is not surprised about COVID. We cannot, as Christians, say we believe one thing only to become addicted to the news that tells us to believe another thing. Fr Joseph preaches at St Joseph / Houston.

Moments after the explosion on August 4, Fr. Joseph receives audio messages from his daughter in Beirut.

For those of you who are new to the Orthodox Church—or were‚—what say ye about that daunting second visit? Good experience, not-so-good experience? Fr Joseph shares some comments from parishioners and invites yours.

Would you like to see more movies about Orthodox saints? Well, stay tuned! Yelena Popovic, the writer, director, and producer of the movie "Man of God" and her husband, Alexandros Potter sat down with Fr Joseph to talk about the forthcoming "Moses the Black" movie and their new venture, SimeonFaith, which will produce and distribute other Orthodox Christian films. Listen till the end for your role in this apostolic work! A teaser for the forthcoming "Moses the Black" can be found at SimeonFaith.com.

Fr. Thomas Hopko looks at Abel and Cain and why one offered acceptable worship and the other did not.

Is there a prescribed physical place where the liturgy is to be served or not served? Fr. Tom traces the history from the "house church" to the present day.

As the Little Entrance is concluded a transition is taking place to the proclamation of the Word of God. Today Fr. Tom comments on that transition as well as the choice of readings for the Divine Liturgy.

As he continues his series on the Divine Liturgy, Fr. Thomas Hopko talks about the Antimension or Altar Cloth that is on every altar in the Orthodox Church. Learn about its importance in verifying the authority of the parish to offer the Holy Gifts.

In this podcast Fr. Tom begins his reflections on the words and actions of the Great Entrance with the Bread and Wine to the Altar Table.

Fr. Tom offers a very helpful explanation of what we are actually offering in the procession of the Great Entrance in the Divine Liturgy.

Fr. John shares his homily on the 1,025th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia.

Bishop Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland is the guest homilist at St. Jonah Orthodox Church.

Fr. John asks the question, "Will your children remain in the Church?" (Deuteronomy 6:1-9) and gives suggestions for parents to pass along the faith.

Fr. John encourages us to renew our minds and not live in our former sins.

Fr. John speaks about humility (James 4:1-10).

Fr. John shares stories of martyrdom and encourages us to prepare for our own.