A Word from the Holy Fathers
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A Word from the Holy Fathers
Reflections on Orthodoxy in its Patristic and Monastic Heritage
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Back to Forgiveness
As A Word From the Holy Fathers resumes after a summer hiatus, we look again at the theme of forgiveness in the writings of the Fathers—with an eye pa...
Back to Forgiveness
We look again at the theme of forgiveness in the writings of the Fathers—with an eye particularly toward practical injunctions on forgiveness and the...
Do You Truly Believe in the Resurrection of Christ?
In this week’s broadcast, Fr. Irenei examines a text by St. Cyril of Jerusalem, which prompts the Christian to ask the question, "Do I truly believe i...
Creation and Sacrifice in St. Symeon the New Theologian
Fr Dcn Matthew explores the homilies of St Symeon on man and creation, and in particular the way in which the Christian response to ecological concern...
St. Cyprian on Cain, Abel, and True Self-Sacrifice
What are we to make of the Genesis account of Cain and Abel? In this broadcast, Archimandrite Irenei examines a portion of St Cyprian of Carthage’s tr...
Defeating the Slavery of “Bad Habits”
Among the greatest struggles in the Christian life are the "little things"—the day-to-day "bad habits" by which we continually fall, and which seem to...
Shall We Forgive? The Fathers on Forgiveness as the Gateway to Salvation
This week, in anticipation of Forgiveness Sunday, Archimandrite Irenei explores a series of patristic texts that deal with the imperative of forgivene...
St. John Chrysostom on the Charity of Fasting
In this week's broadcast, Fr. Dcn. Matthew offers a reflection on a selection of sayings of St John Chrysostom on the pastoral nature of fasting as an...
St Athanasius: “What was God to do?”
Why did God become man? This week's reflection explores St Athanasius's consideration of the Son's incarnation as a response to his probing refrain, i...
“God Is There, Where the Understanding Does Not Reach”
In this episode, Archimandrite Irenei returns to the Life of Moses by St Gregory of Nyssa, and examines a key passage in which the Saint compares the...
Rising in Repentance
This week, Archimandrite Irenei explores two passages - one by St. John of Karpathos and the other by St. Ambrose of Milan - on the nature of the cont...
All to No Purpose Have I Left My True Home
The second of the pre-Lenten Sundays draws our attention to the Prodigal Son and his departure—and return—to his father’s house. In this week’s episod...
Not Like Other Men . . .
As the pre-Lenten weeks of the Triodion begin, this week’s broadcast explores the themes of the Fathers’ liturgical heritage, taking from the Church’s...
St. Irenaeus: The Church Which Has Been Handed Down to Us
Father Irenei examines two passages from St. Irenaeus of Lyons, which speak of receiving the truth of "the Church that has been handed down to us" fro...
The Father who Seeth in Secret Shall Reward Thee Openly
St. John Chrysostom’s 19th homily on St. Matthew’s Gospel account addresses Christ’s promise of open rewards for secret acts—but what does this mean?...
Repentance: The Daughter of Hope
In this week’s episode, Archimandrite Irenei explores St. John of the Ladder’s beautiful testimony of repentance as "the daughter of hope and the renu...
In the Clash of Destructive Errors, the Truth of the Church Stands Revealed
Focusing on a text by St. Hilary of Poitiers, Fr. Irenei explores the Saint’s conviction that the multitude of heresies and errors surrounding us in t...
St. John Chrysostom on the Wonder of the Nativity, Part 2
In the second part of his reflection on St. John Chrysostom’s famed Nativity Homily, Fr. Irenei examines the concluding segments of the sermon, in whi...
St. John Chrysostom on the Wonder of the Nativity, Part 1
Beginning a two-part reflection on the famous Nativity Homily of St. John Chrysostom, this week Archimandrite Irenei examines sections of this most-ex...
St Mark the Ascetic: Taking Up the Cross With Joy
This week, Archimandrite Irenei examines a text by St. Mark the Ascetic in which the Christian is enjoined to "give himself entirely to the Cross," un...
The Sacrifice of Human Freedom
Taking up a passage from the writings of St. Theophan the Recluse, Archimandrite Irenei examines the nature of human freedom, not as a thing good in i...
St John of Sinai: “Let Us Charge Into the Fight With Joy and Love”
Drawn from a remarkable passage from St. John of the Ladder, Archimandrite Irenei examines the crippling effect of spiritual fear on the life of the C...
From the Angel to St. Anthony: “Do This, and You Will Be Saved”
This week’s broadcast focuses on an episode from the Life of St. Anthony the Great, in which the saint, seeking solace in his spiritual struggles, rec...
What We Receive is Not our Own: A Testimony of St Macarius the Great
In a remarkable text by St. Macarius, the Christian is told that if he sees an arrogant man perform miracles, "even raise the dead," he should not fol...
St John Chrysostom on the Many Blessings of Calling God Father
In this week’s broadcast, Archimandrite Irenei considers Homily 19 on St. Matthew’s Gospel by St. John Chrysostom, exploring the richness of what call...
Did You Not Know That You Stood, Speaking to Him?
Drawn from one of the sayings of the Desert Fathers relating to the life of Abba Ammon, this week’s episode focuses on the question of our attentivene...
The River of Jordan Streaming from my Eyes
This week, Fr. Irenei reflects on one of the "Steps" from St John Klimakos’s Ladder to Paradise, in which the saint considers the life of the Christia...
A Friend of God, a Brother and Son of Christ
Beginning the second series of "A Word From the Holy Fathers," Archimandrite Irenei calls upon the spiritual homilies of St. Makarios the Great, refle...
The Wonder of the Incarnation - St. Gregory the Theologian
We conclude the first series of A Word From the Holy Fathers with this fiftieth episode, in which Fr. Matthew examines a poignant reflection on "the w...
Glory to God Who Has Shown Himself to Us: St. Ephrem and St. John on the Nativity
In a broadcast for the Feast of the Nativity According to the Flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ, we reflect on two hymns of St. Ephrem the Syrian and a p...
Glory to God Who Has Shown Himself to Us: St. Ephrem and St. John on the Nativity
In a broadcast for the Feast of the Nativity According to the Flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ, we reflect on two hymns of St. Ephrem the Syrian and a p...
Remembering the Mother of God: St. Cyril on the Theotokos and the Incarnation
In this season of Christ’s incarnate coming in the flesh, we take a moment to reflect, through the words of St. Cyril of Alexandria, on the role of th...
Remembering the Mother of God: St. Cyril on the Theotokos and the Incarnation
In this season of Christ's incarnate coming in the flesh, we take a moment to reflect, through the words of St. Cyril of Alexandria, on the role of th...
The Coming of the Lord - St. Leo the Great
Archimandrite Irenei examines a sermon by St. Leo of Rome, normally read in the season of Pascha, yet which sheds great light on the coming of the Lor...
The Coming of the Lord - St. Leo the Great
Fr. Matthew examines a sermon by St. Leo of Rome, normally read in the season of Pascha, yet which sheds great light on the coming of the Lord, and th...
St. Nicholas Cabasilas on the Assurance of the True Body and Blood
In every age, there is the temptation to doubt the Mysteries of the Church—to question how it is that the faithful should remain secure in believing t...
St. Nicholas Cabasilas on the Assurance of the True Body and Blood
In every age, there is the temptation to doubt the Mysteries of the Church—to question how it is that the faithful should remain secure in believing t...
Abba Poemen the Great: On Softening the Hardest of Hearts
In this week’s broadcast, Archimandrite Irenei examines three sayings by Abba Poemen ("The Shepherd") of Egypt on the means by which the hardest heart...
Abba Poemen the Great: On Softening the Hardest of Hearts
In this week's broadcast, Fr. Dcn. Matthew examines three sayings by Abba Poemen ("The Shepherd") of Egypt on the means by which the hardest heart can...
St. John the Dwarf: A Life of All the Virtues
What has a man whose obedience once caused a barren stick to blossom forth a tree in the desert to tell us today about the life of virtue? Is it possi...