Sacramental Living

Join Michael in a discussion about how we often neglect our bodies, the physical and spiritual ramifications to ourselves and loved ones, how this is profoundly unspiritual, and what we need to think and do to treat our physical selves the way God intends us to.

Join Michael for a discussion of the primacy of focusing on loving more not sinning less and why this will be the basis of how God judges our lives.

Join Michael in a discussion about prayerful and practical ways to frame our understanding in regard to our difficulties and setbacks, and deal with them in a spiritually healthy way.

Join Michael in discussion of what it means in the Liturgy when the Priest prays “And let us ask for a Christian end to our life, peaceful, without shame and suffering, and for a good defense before the awesome judgment seat of Christ” and how that should drive our daily behavior.

We live in a consumer culture. Businesses gather and sell data and information about us to target us as consumers. We are increasingly treated more like consumers than persons. The Christmas season for many has become nothing more than frenzied consumerism. John Michael as he discusses the human person in the context of consumer culture, comparing and contrasting the language of consuming used in our Liturgy and throughout the Bible with modern notions of consuming and how this relates to our love and growth as human persons.

Join Michael as he discusses the deep theological truths of simple hospitality and how it directly relates to our salvation.

Join Michael as he discusses how we should understand time and reconcile our past through the eternally crucified Christ, and let Him transform it and free us of guilt, shame, and regret.

Join Michael as he discusses how we should see and experience ourselves and others as living icons of Christ, and how we achieve this through the difficult task unknowing ourselves.

Join Michael as he discusses the complementary nature of light and darkness, how both are under God’s control, and how we can understand this to maintain hope during tough times, grow in faith, and shine the Light of Christ to others.

Join Michael as he recounts a story of a good friend’s nervous breakdown and his experience of theophany, theosis, repentance, and God’s beauty amidst his trauma and suffering.

Join Michael as he shows why restraint is Christ-like and liberating, and the path of ultimate freedom out of the self-inflicted tyranny of our own thoughts and behaviors.

Join Michael as he reflects on the recent Supreme Court decision and why we need more than ever to remain prayerful and faithful within ourselves, and civil with each other.

Join Michael as he discusses the success of failure and the failure of success, and how our worldly success can be a blessing or a curse depending on we approach it spiritually.

Join Michael for a discussion on how to understand and overcome the subtle spiritual deafness and spiritual blindness we can suffer from that leads to spiritual heart disease.

Join Michael for a discussion on how to avoid being paralyzed with guilt and shame over our worst failures, and experience God at work within them.

Join Michael for a discussion on why forgiving ourselves is often so hard and what we need to understand and do to open our hearts to self-forgiveness.

Join Michael as he examines trauma and traumatic episodes from his life, and explores how to use them to develop a deeper trust in God.

Join Michael as he examines what it means to experience true freedom, and why what we think is freedom is a form of bondage we don’t recognize.

Join Michael as he examines the role expression of opinion plays in society today, how to guard ourselves against our own and other’s opinions that fuel our pride and cause anger and division, and what to do to maintain humility, thoughtfulness, and love of others.

Join Michael as he discusses how we should understand God’s authority versus secular notions of authority, and why rejecting and tearing down authority does not result in liberation and freedom but rather the opposite.

Join Michael as he discusses why we need separation that is holy before we can have true unity with each other; and how many are choosing an unholy type of separation based on fear, ideologies, and other things are the entry to the wide gate leading to destruction.

Join Michael as he addresses our choices and what we consent to that results in us either growing in holiness and union with Christ, or an unholy union with the devil that leads to our gradual and eventual complete destruction.

What do we deserve in life? Anything? Everything? Join Michael as he addresses the various ways we can focus on what we deserve and how most of them lead us in the wrong spiritual direction.

Join Michael as he provides an in-depth discussion of the many spiritual aspects of patience that are critical to our salvation and the salvation of others, and how lacking this virtue is more spiritually harmful than we may realize.

Inner darkness. We all have it whether we admit or not. How do overcome it? How do we find our way to Christ the Light and master our inner darkness? Join Michael as he addresses these questions in-depth and shows we can find our way to the Light no matter what darkness we are in.

Join Michael as explores the subtly of idolatry and the little gods that lurk behind our idols that lead us slowly down a dangerous spiritual path.

Join Michael as explores the question is our Orthodox Christian religion the only true religion or the completely true religion, and the how our answer to this question affects our internal self and outward behavior to detriment or betterment of ourselves and others.

Join Michael as he discusses why God’s wrath is an expression of His love, what hinders us from understanding and accepting this, and why it is debilitating when it is intended to be transformative.

Join Michael as he discusses what eros and agape really mean and why they cannot be separated, how growth in love is deeply linked to suffering, how disordered desire can grip us, how we never truly sin alone, and how it always affects both us and others when we act on our disordered desires.

Join Michael as he discusses what a darnel is and what it means to us, how easy it is to be deceived by the spirit of the age, and what we need to do to ensure we gain and apply Christ-like discernment in all matters.

Join Michael as he discusses the challenge of living our Orthodox faith and Holy Tradition fully and without compromise, and witnessing effectively and lovingly to others outside of the faith. Listen as he explains how easy it is to fall into the trap of putting God in neat little box in our minds and hearts how this is detrimental to ourselves and others.

Join Michael as he explains why we need to become, and always stay, “enchanted” by God through sacramental understanding and participation, and how this is our witness and demonstration of the truth of the Gospel.

Join Michael as he expounds upon these words we sing and chant between Pascha and Ascension Thursday and what they should mean to us even as we continue to face the reality of death.

Join Michael as he discusses false power versus real power, our attraction to the former at our own expense, and how the powerlessness Christ demonstrates for us is the true power we gain when we let go of our need for control and surrender to God.

Join Michael as he discusses how we are either living in repentance or rebellion at any given time in our response to God grace, and how this determines the quality of our existence both now and in the life to come.

Join Michael as he discusses the failure of the first fast in the Bible and its implications to us; how fasting is not about food the way we typically approach it; and fasting’s corporate and communal nature and what it means to us as persons not individuals.

Great Lent is a holy and sacred time of year yet we can turn it into a secular practice and experience if we are not careful. Join Michael as he discusses our understanding and participation in Lent, and how to avoid subtle ways that lead us to experience Lent less than how we should.

So many people love a good conspiracy theory. But these theories do damage and harm to individuals, communities, and our society. Join Michael as he discusses the primary reasons people believe them and why doing so is antithetical to our faith.

Cancel culture is a culture of hate, division, and destruction. Join Michael as he uses the Gospels and other scripture to show just how wicked this culture is; what the current culture is doing to us; why we are knowingly or unknowingly participating in it; and what we should do to combat it.

Christ says “your faith has made you well” specific to three healings in the Gospel accounts. This phrase means much more than we think it does and understanding it in full opens our eyes to how we should be living our faith and why many of us are not. Join Michael as breaks this simple phrase down with all of its layers of meaning and what we should be doing daily to be made well.

What’s the difference between testing and temptation? How can we discern God’s at work in our lives versus the enemy’s attacks? Why does the Greek in the scriptures use the same word for testing and temptation? Join Michael as he addresses these questions and compares and contrasts testing and temptation.

St. Porphyrios wrote, “Whoever wants to become a Christian must first become a poet.” Most of us are not poets so does this preclude us from being true Christians? Join Michael as he explores God’s poetic and artistic nature and how to understand and connect to Him through the divine language of symbol, beauty, and our own personal artistry even while living in a culture dominated by utilitarianism and reductionism.

Join Michael as he discusses the Book of Job as a case study in suffering and the importance of how we receive our suffering; how it is often what defines our salvation and belief in and relationship to God; what God gives and does not give to us in our suffering; and how our suffering can be a mystery and those closest to us can often create obstacles for us to receive it well.

Many of us have read the book Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives by Elder Thaddeus which is packed with holy wisdom. However, our thoughts gives rise to our actions, and our actions in turn reflect our thoughts. We are held to account by God for both what we think and what we do. Join Michael as he discusses the relationship to thoughts and actions, how we often entertain and get seduced by the wrong thoughts, and can make philosophy, psychology, and even theology and excuse to not have the right thoughts or take the right actions.

Join Michael as he offers a reflection on how and why the liturgical life of the church should be lived continuously both inside and outside of the church walls, how Christ teaches and demonstrates this in the Gospel, and how we can sometimes make our liturgical worship a requirement instead of a means to draw closer to Christ and love others.

Join Michael as he discusses what it really means “not to lose heart” according to Christ and St. Paul, examines the scriptures where these words are used, looks at their meaning in the original Greek, and why we actually have a responsibility to others not to lose heart.

Join Michael as he discusses the danger of giving into the wrong desires, some of which seem benign but aren’t; the struggles we encounter on the journey from self-desire to self-denial; what authors such as Lewis, Tolkien, and others can teach us; and ways we can frame our thought to help us with this important struggle.

Join Michael as he discusses what we should do when we feel like God is absent from our lives, and how we can overcome the tyranny of our negative thoughts and feelings that create this false sense of separation.

Join Michael for an in-depth discussion of healing, what Christ demonstrates in the Gospels, and some surprising reasons why we are and are not as open to healing as we’d like to think.

Join Michael in an in-depth discussion about the self-defeating voice in our head that makes us feel like imposters who we will be discovered a frauds, the internal and external influences that feed this negative self-talk, and how we can overcome it in Christ.

Join Michael as he tells the story of a family who all contracted the virus, what they suffered, what medical experts and articles are saying about COVID-19 and PTSD, and how we can understand this spiritually.

In celebration of Mother’s Day, join Michael as he explores the language of the Genesis creation stories and what they teach us about the value of women and the feminine and motherly nature of God. He then reflects on the Theotokos and how her life and Christ’s demonstrate the value of women established in Genesis, and how they restore women to the place God intended for them. This podcast is based on a Zoom class Michael gave to a Church community and also includes responses from the question and answer period of the class.

The circumstances of the coronavirus and the global pandemic give us an opportunity, amidst the suffering, to reexamine aspects of our faith, and refresh and renew our thinking and practice. Join Michael as he takes a deep dive of what it means to pray in the name of the Lord, especially during this time of great need.

Retaining the hope of a child is not easy, especially in today’s coronavirus pandemic environment. Yet this is what Christ want us to do according to the Gospel. Using thoughts from Orthodox teacher and professor Vigen Guroian’s chapter on childhood from his book The Orthodox Reality: Culture, Theology, and Ethics in the Modern World, Michael explores this topic in depth, and explains how by remembering that Christ is the eternal child of God can rekindle our sense of hope during this difficult time.

Inspired by the conditions of the coronavirus, but not about the virus itself, Michael reflects on why either our transcendent or immanent mindset makes a huge difference on how we cope with such trying circumstances.

The St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral has been holding nightly classes/discussions, seven days a week at 7 PM EST. Led by Father George Kokhno and Father Valery Shemchuk, each night either one of them, or guest speakers such as Michael Haldas, Archimandrite Sergius of St. Tikhon's Monastery, Father Maximus Urbanowicz, and others have led discussions. Michael recently led a class in which the topic was Fear and Control. All are welcome to join future classes. Download the Zoom App to your smartphone or tablet, or join through the web at (https://zoom.us/j/2100687480). If you use the app simply open it, use code 2100687480 to join.

Join Michael as he talks about how to capture and protect our mind from the world of false images we live in, and how doing so also supports our mental, physical and spiritual health.

We have all heard the phrase “culture of death.” Many use it to describe the culture we live in, especially when it comes to current social issues. Join Michael as he talks about life and death, what we as Orthodox Christians need to do to continually bring life to a world riddled with death, and why our understanding of life and death needs to be understood in a much broader and deeper sense.

Bondage to sin and wrong behavior and struggling with things we can’t seem to overcome plague us all to lesser or greater degrees. Join Michael as he talks about three typical forms of bondage that grip us and what we need to do to overcome them.

It’s terrible feeling to lose hope and feel like our circumstances are hopeless. It’s not how we are meant to live, but we can lose sight of this because of what we are going through. Join Michael as he shares his thoughts and experiences on this very difficult topic and how we can maintain or recapture hope no matter what we are experiencing. Michael also shares some exciting developments occurring with Ancient Faith Ministries and the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, an author whose fiction deals a lot with hope amidst hopelessness.

How do we continue to love unconditionally amidst our suffering, especially when this suffering is caused by the people we love best? How do we attain and maintain the maturity of faith we need to be Christ-like, let God be in control, and recognize the grace in our lives despite the pain. Join Michael as he shares his thoughts and experiences on this very difficult topic.

We live in a pace driven and action oriented culture where we are always on the go. We achieve much yet feel mentally, physically, and spiritually exhausted. We have forgotten how to just be. Join Michael Haldas as he explores this topic in depth and offers some thoughts on the hierarchy of action and contemplation in our lives.

Join Michael as he explores the webs and patterns of our life, and uses poem, story, myth, metaphor, and examples from his own life to show how we can recognize God and continuity within our myriad choices, and know His peace.

Have you ever felt like you were wrestling or struggling with God, like your life was out of control, the future was unknown or something to be feared, and you were at a loss about what to do? Your prayers seem unanswered and God seems silent. Join Michael as he recounts the story of Jacob and shows how Jacob’s story and his struggle with God is our story.

Making extensive use of the Scriptures, join Michael Haldas as he teaches an in-depth Bible lesson on the truth about truth; the truth about the real gravity and depravity of lies and lying; and what Christ means when He talks about the “father of lies” and “the ruler of this world” who was “a murderer from the beginning.”

Join Michael has he discusses in-depth how J.R.R Tolkien and his work were formational in preparing him to accept the truth of sacramental reality as experienced and taught in Orthodox Christianity.

Join Michael as uses a disturbing trend among young adults when it comes to the Constitution and the Bible as a springboard to discuss happiness versus holiness, and why the Holy Fathers surpass the Founding Fathers when it comes to truly understanding how to form “a more perfect union.”

Join Michael as he uses Scripture and a well-written article to discuss the slippery slope of letting the words “our thoughts and prayers” become synonymous for non-action.

Watching and supporting a loved one who is suffering often causes us to suffer just as much and even more. Join Michael as he uses scripture and real life experience to illustrate five things we need to do and remember to get through this type of suffering.

Sometimes our lives are in such chaos and darkness it is hard to believe God is in control and is loving us and caring for us. Join Michael as he dramatically recounts the story of the Gadarene Demoniac told in Mark 5:1-20, unlikely though it would seem, to demonstrate God’s providence in our lives.

Michael offers thoughts and personal reflections of his recent experience with the miraculous icon of St. Anna at St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Waymart, PA, and the Kardiotisa, “The Tender Heart” myrrh-flowing, miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary at St. George Orthodox Church in Taylor, PA.

Drug related deaths due to heroin and opioids are on the rise. It’s becoming an epidemic. Why is this? What are the factors contributing to this crisis of life and death? Why is this crisis reflective of a deep spiritual disorder that demands that parishes and their members get engaged based on their resources and capacity? Join Michael as he attempts to address these questions and shares information from his Metropolis that can be useful to many.

CDC reports that suicides have increased 25% since 1999 in nearly every state and recent celebrity suicides have cause a renewed focus on this issue. The CDC report further lists reasons, warning signs, and who this is affecting most. What can everyday ordinary Orthodox Christians do, who are not clergy or mental health professionals, to help combat this tragedy. Join Michael Haldas as he shares his personal experience and offers some thoughts on this topic.

Life’s often not fair and we all suffer from illness and affliction at times that are not of our own making. It is then we are often confronted with a choice – to continue to want to be with God even though we don’t understand why certain things are happening to us; or to let the seeming unfairness of our circumstance drive us away from Him. Join Michael as he uses a whimsical episode of the Brady Bunch to illustrate and discuss this profound truth we all experience.

Join Michael as he takes a deep dive into what mercy is, why we often misunderstand it, why we sometimes misperceive God as harsh or even vengeful, and what we need to understand to open our hearts to God’s ever-present mercy.

It feels awful when we break an object we love and it is beyond repair. Yet Christ loves us and tells us we as persons must be broken for Him to “repair” us. He tells us we have no choice and that the alternative to not being broken is to be crushed. What does He mean? Join Michael as he explains Christ’s teaching and what brokenness looks and feels like.

How do we know if we are having a mystical experience versus just an experience of awe and wonder. Does it even matter if it is one or the other? How can we trust our experiences and what are their value? Recounting his own special experience at St. Paul’s church in Rome, join Michael as he tells his story and addresses these important questions. This episode also features Metropolitan Kallistos Ware sharing his earliest recollection of his own religious experience.

Dealing with the negative voice in your head that holds you back, causes doubt and anxiety, and robs you of your peace and joy.

Exploring the characters of Frodo, Gollum, Harry, and Voldemort from these two great works beloved by millions, and what they remind us about concerning love, sacrifice, choice, and more.

Exploring what the Sacrament of Confession teach us about the dangers of popularity and hero-worship in this age of social media.

Join Michael as he discusses the principle of losing to gain, and what it is we need to lose about ourselves to gain Christ. Focusing particularly on cynicism, he explores why it is ‘sin-a-cism’ and draws on biblical examples to illustrate how and why we need to change this attitude for our spiritual health.

Join Michael as he uses science and examples in everyday life to discuss order and disorder, why it is important to understand what they mean spiritually, and how we must be deliberate and committed in our choices to be holy and grow in Christ.

Love, joy, worry, and anxiety are just some of the emotions we experience intensely as parents. Join Michael as he offers a personal story and reflection about the complex world of parenting, and our need for Christ to be the best parents we can be.

How should we fast as Orthodox Christians? Is there really a right and wrong way? What is the real intent and purpose of fasting? Join Michael as he discusses the deeper meaning of fasting and compares the various ways people fast, how we often misunderstand fasting, and how it relates to our awareness of God’s presence in our lives.

How do we understand God’s grace and providence in the direction of our lives? Is there such a thing as chance and coincidence, or is it simply our lack of spiritual perception that makes it seem so? Join Michael as he thoroughly explores this topic and shares personal examples, thoughts and the insights that apply to all of us.

Being spiritual and having no religious affiliation is a rapidly increasing segment of society. We hear people say they’re spiritual but religious all the time, but what does it really mean? How do people understand “spiritual” and “religious” when they describe themselves this way? Join Michael as he thoroughly explores this topic and shares personal examples and insights to help us understand this growing movement.

Many of us can remember when we learned the truth about Santa Claus, but what truth did we learn? Using examples from J.R.R Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, the Polar Express and our Orthodox Christian understanding of mystery, join Michael as he shares a recent conversation about Santa and what the story of the Christmas gift giver may actually be teaching us.

Mindfulness is a growing movement in the United States. It’s finding its way into schools as well as into the daily practice of the lives of many. So what is mindfulness and what are its many benefits? How is it different from prayerfulness, or is it? Join Michael as he discusses prayerfulness and mindfulness, nepsis or watchfulness, and what some Orthodox Christians who are also priests, professors and psychologists have to say about mindfulness.

Are we living now in the Divided States of America as opposed to the United States of America? Does the political divide we see and hear about it each day in the news speak to who we are now as persons and a society? What can it teach us about ourselves and our own hearts? Join Michael as he discusses wholeness and division from a spiritual point of view, and what we need to do to be Christ-like in today’s current climate.

Have you ever felt so bad about something you said or did, or something you continue to say and do, something you know is wrong but can’t seem to help yourself and you feel wracked with guilt? Do you judge yourself as a result? Join Michael as he uses examples from the Gospels and everyday life and discusses the difference between healthy guilt and lingering guilt, and the dangers of self-judgment that lead us to cutting ourselves off from God.

One of the big challenges we face in today’s post-Christian era is the near complete erosion of seeing and understanding reality sacramentally. So how do we teach this reality to our young people who live in a society that rejects it? Focusing on the sacramental reality of sin, sickness and spiritual growth, Michael uses simple examples from everyday life and popular culture to offers strategies, thoughts and lessons that can help guide us to meaningful conversations with our youth.

In conjunction with the Feast of the Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, Michael shares some thoughts about what we can teach our young people about the Cross and our personal transformation; the Cross and Understanding Christ as our doctor rather than our lawyer; and the Cross and the Commandments.

In Orthodoxy we often hear and read about the Uncreated Light of God. What is this Uncreated Light? Can we experience this Divine Light or is it something only Saints can experience? Join Michael as he explains certain Scriptures that illuminate our understanding of God’s Uncreated Light, and shares thoughts and experiences that demonstrate how all of us can partake of the Divine Light and experience the Transcendent in our ordinary daily lives.

Struck by the phrase “disenchanted with morality” in the pages of a book one morning, Michael shares his thoughts that came to mind. Why does it seem society often appears disenchanted with morality? Why is Christianity so often wrongly perceived and taught as a judgmental set of moral rules and rigid codes of behavior? Why is legalism doing so much harm to our faith? What truly is morality from an Orthodox Christian perspective? Join Michael as he addresses these questions and more, and explains the “enchantment” we should all experience because of our faith.

Financial pressures in our Orthodox Churches are very real and often cause great worry and anxiety. As a result, we, both clergy and laity, can lose our focus and get our priorities out of order. Using the terms “Prophet” and “Profit” to symbolize two different mentalities (not suggesting Churches are trying to make a profit in the conventional sense) join Michael as he discusses what our priorities should be and what results proper focus on them would yield.

Comfort, and feeling comfortable, is a desire all of us have and we strive to fulfill this desire. But it can come at a cost because the root of our desire and the means by which we achieve it are not always in our best interests. Join Michael as he explains why comfort can lead to spiritually harmful complacency and blind us to the real purpose of our faith.

“Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you.” Many of us have been taught this since we were young. But is it actually true? Or does it do more harm than good teaching this to our children and actually believing it ourselves. Join Michael as he uses incidents from his own life and relates them to key Scriptures to show not only is this statement not true, it goes against what Christ Himself teaches us about the sacredness of words, the danger of misusing them, and how this relates to our understanding of Word of God Himself.

Michael describes his recent experience, while recovering from a concussion, of viewing key scenes from the Academy Award winning movie Good Will Hunting through an Orthodox Christian lens. Using these scenes and their circumstances as illustrations, he discusses understanding sin as sickness, condemning self-judgment and judgment in general, the fine line between our sense of personal accountability and self forgiveness, and both God’s love for us and our love for each other as it should be.

Racism is a serious wrong that no one should argue. However, from an Orthodox Christian point of view, it is a far deeper wrong than is ever portrayed in the public debate. Join Michael as he explains why racism goes against the core of Christianity, and through story and anecdote describes why it seems is so hard for us to celebrate and embrace differences.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:48 to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect. But how is this possible when we know we are sinners? Did He really mean this? And if so, what exactly did He mean? Join Michael as he discusses what it means to be perfect from an Orthodox Christian point of view and shares a story that illustrates and addresses the difference between being perfect and perfectionism and why “good enough” is actually okay.

In the Book of Genesis God says not to eat from the Tree of Life, yet in Revelation He invites us to eat from the Tree of Life. Michael explores the reasons why from an Orthodox Christian perspective. He discusses the sinfulness and sacredness of eating and hunger as taught to us through the Scriptures, specifically Genesis and Revelation, and our Holy Tradition; and what we are really doing when we fast and prepare for and receive the Eucharist.

Michael discusses the top five regrets of the dying from the popular article and best-selling book of the same name by Bronnie Ware. What do we typically regret and why? What can we do to avoid such regrets? Michael explores these and other related questions from an Orthodox Christian perspective.

Sometimes we can get so caught up in Church life that we lose sight of its true purpose. Michael explores this through some real life stories and thoughts, and challenges us to remember what happens to us through living the Christian life and Who is the very point of the sacramental life.

Michael discusses the nature of evil from an Orthodox Christian perspective and why evil always leads to its own destruction.

Michael discusses the Orthodox theological understanding of what it means to be a person, and how the passion of politics poses a danger to us in how we regard and treat each other as persons.

Michael examines the Star Wars phenomenon from an Orthodox Christian and sacramental point of view, and with a special focus on comparisons between the Force and the Holy Spirit.

Michael discusses flaws in the debate of “God or Science” and shows why “God and science” is a more appropriate, and how science can serve as a sacramental means to deepen our faith.

Michael describes an Orthodox understanding of why we should care for the environment, and what the story of Cain and Abel teaches us about this important issue.

Michael helps us understand the critical difference between intelligence and wisdom. In this episode, he references Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon's book Wise Lives: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Wisdom of Sirach.

What happens when life delivers a blow we were not prepared for? Michael shares the story of how one person reacted and what we can learn from it.

Michael looks at the story of the Woman at the Well and extracts lessons for understanding how Christ can forgive sexual sin.

Michael explores the source of our inspiration when we create for the glory of God.

Michael explores and explains Christ’s teaching on life and the perspective and priorities we should have as a result.

Michael offers in-depth thoughts on death from an Orthodox perspective.

Michael observes a sign in a bookstore and reflects on how it symbolically speaks to the state of Christianity in our country today.

Michael shares two different experiences from his own life when desiring a word from God.

Michael says all deep and lasting stories, truth or mythical, are echoes or reflections of the true story of The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Michael challenges us to avoid the extremes as we attempt to live in an increasingly dark culture as Orthodox Christians. Christ has given us the example.

Michael discusses why understanding the personal nature of God and experiencing God’s presence is so important and what it means to us.

If we are honest, we will all admit that we struggle from time to time with doubt. Michael reflects on that reality and helps us understand the meaning of doubt as well as faith.

In his third episode, Michael reflects on a topic in the news a lot lately. How do we as Orthodox Christians view marriage and what is significant about our ceremony?

Michael speaks to the layman about the way we see ourselves in the structure of the Church.

Michael Haldas introduces himself and his new podcast giving us a glimpse of what to expect twice each month beginning today.