Recently Transcribed Episodes

The Morning Offering
Eternity

Episode date: April 24, 2013
Transcript published: April 25, 2013

Eternity: God’s love consumes all

According to St. Gregory of Nyssa, heaven and hell are not about location, but about relationship. God is everywhere, and he did not create a heaven for some and a hell for others. If we love God, his fire will be a comforting warmth, but if we choose not to have a relationship with him and have no love for our neighbor, his fire will be as hellfire. We choose how we will experience the presence of God in the afterlife, and since God can not be absent from anywhere, those who have chosen to ignore him will, nevertheless, be in his presence for all eternity.

According to St. Gregory, paradise…

Read more...

Speaking the Truth
The Epistle to the Hebrews

Episode date: March 28, 2008
Transcript published: April 25, 2013

We mentioned that the Gospel readings for the Saturday and Sunday liturgies during the Lenten period in the Orthodox Church are taken from St. Mark. All of them are taken from St. Mark. All of the epistle readings during this period are from the Letter to the Hebrews. If we go to church during Great Lent in an Orthodox church, if we go to a Divine Liturgy on Saturday or to a Divine Liturgy on Sunday, we will hear the reading from the epistle, from the Letter to the Hebrews, and then the Gospel will be from the Gospel according to St. Mark.

The Letter to the Hebrews provides the epistle readings during Great Lent for a very simple reason.…

Read more...

Speaking the Truth
Psalm 137

Episode date: March 04, 2008
Transcript published: April 23, 2013

On the three Sundays before the beginning of Great Lent in the Orthodox Church, at the Matins service, a special psalm is added. It is sung only in the church on these three Sundays in this solemn manner. This psalm is chanted in the church with all the other psalms in the continuous chanting of the psalms during the services, but it is brought forward, it’s highlighted, it’s solemnly chanted on these three Sundays.

It’s done at Matins. Matins on Sunday is always a service celebrating the resurrection of Christ. Every Sunday morning, sometimes late Saturday evening in some churches at a vigil service, the Gospel of…

Read more...

Paradise and Utopia
The Origins of Christendom in the Cosmology of Christ’s Great Commission

Episode date: April 11, 2013
Transcript published: April 23, 2013

It was the year 46 B.C., and the city of Rome was assembled for what promised to be the greatest victory parade it had ever seen. Julius Caesar, emerging from the Republic’s recent and bloody civil wars, was planning a triumph, or, rather, he was planning several of them. Caesar had proved himself master of the world, conquering armies on every known continent. He was a product of classical civilization, a man set on the achievement of worldly glory as well as a devout pagan, and as he prepared for his triumphal entry into the capital of that civilization, his message was clear: He was an invincible victor. As one of his victory banners…

Read more...

Worship in Spirit and Truth
The Trisagion Prayers - Part 2

Episode date: April 08, 2013
Transcript published: April 20, 2013

We will continue today to reflect on the Trisagion, the Thrice-Holy Hymn, at the Liturgy of the Word, also called the Liturgy of the Catechumens, namely, the first part of the Divine Liturgy: where psalms are sung, where special hymns are sung, where the clergy enter into the altar area with the solemn singing of “O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ. Save us, O Son of God…” and we would say, “...who was risen from the dead” or “...who was transfigured in glory” or “...who was baptized by John in the Jordan” or whatever might be sung there, “...save us who sing to you:…

Read more...