Steps to Transformation

In this touching two-hour remembrance, Kevin Allen welcomes three friends who knew Fr. Thomas Hopko as a friend, a colleague, and a priest. You'll also hear tributes from his listeners from all around the world. Our thanks to Dr. Al Rossi, Dr. Peter Bouteneff, and Mother Christophora for sharing on the program.

We are seeing eastern meditation and mind-body practices like hatha yoga, tai chi, qi gong; and mindfulness-based therapy gaining wide credibility and attracting more and more adherents. Whether we as Orthodox should adopt eastern spiritual mind-body practices is a matter of great debate in the Orthodox Church. In this edition of Ancient Faith Today, Kevin discusses with his guest Christopher Kies what “Mindfulness” meditation is in its secular and Buddhist spiritual contexts; the Orthodox Christian correlative approach of Nipsis or Watchfulness; how they differ in goals and approaches; and whether formal Mindfulness meditation practices are appropriate for Orthodox Christians.

Guest: Frederica Mathewes-Green, ex-feminist turned pro-life Christian, author of Gender and Real Choices, and a cultural commentator for NPR, National Review, Beliefnet.com, and Ancient Faith Radio.

As we enter the election cycle in 2016 what biblical principles or Church canons should be priorities in selecting candidates and supporting party platforms? Should Christian teachings, moral and bio-ethical teaching and Orthodox canons be disregarded in a contemporary secular society? Kevin’s guest is George E. Demacopolous, a Professor of Theology and the Fr. John Meyendorff and Patterson Family Chair of Orthodox Christian Studies, as well as the Co-Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University in New York.

In America Christianity is losing its youth, especially when they enter college and university. This is the case across all Christian faith traditions. Two recent studies conducted by both the Barna Group and USA Today found that nearly 75 percent of Christian young people fall away from the faith between the ages of 18 and 22. In this program, host Kevin Allen discusses with his guest Emma Solak, an Orthodox Christian university student and active member of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship—a pan-Orthodox Christian campus ministry—he challenges today’s Christian students face in college and our increasingly secular culture, and ways to stay strong in the faith.

In this first episode of 2016, host Kevin Allen speaks with Archimandrite and Abbot Sergius of the Monastery of Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, the oldest Orthodox monastery in the U.S., about practical ways Christians can cooperate with the grace of God to "...be transformed ..." (Rom. 12:2) into the Likeness of Christ. Abbot Sergius is the author of the book "Acquiring the Mind of Christ: Embracing the Vision of the Orthodox Church" (St Tikhon Seminary Press). Father Sergius is the 16th Abbot of Saint Tikhon’s Monastery and Lecturer of Orthodox Spirituality at Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary.

One of the great evils of all times is slavery and in this time human trafficking. Unknown to many an Antiochian Orthodox Christian has dedicated his life to educating the public and ending this evil practice. In this episode host Kevin Allen speaks about human trafficking with Tony Nassif Jr, the President of the Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation. He also produces national Preventing Abuse Conferences which focuses on preventing human trafficking and child abduction.

Kevin's first guests were Fr. Hans Jacobse, President of the American Orthodox Institute, and Dr. John Mark Reynolds, philosopher, author, and newly appointed Provost of Houston Baptist University. The subject was The New Atheists and their claims against Christianity

In this two-part interview Kevin's guest is "George," who became a Sunni Muslim at age 14 and studied to become an Imam at a madrasa, studying Quran, Arabic language, Islamic theology, hadith, and jurisprudence. He left Islam and became an Orthodox Christian 20 years later. Among other things, Kevin and his guest discuss Islamic theology, common misunderstandings of Christianity by Muslims, differences between "orthodox" Islam and the Nation of Islam, the true understanding and practice in Islam of slavery and jihad, and the extraordinary journey that led "George" to Orthodox Christianity.

For most people in our society the Christmas season is a time of celebration, with holiday parties, and unleashed consumerism. For Orthodox Christians however the Advent Season is a time of fasting, prayer and ascetic struggle. Why? In this edition of Ancient Faith Today, host Kevin Allen discusses with Father Gregory Jensen, author of the book The Cure for Consumerism, the reason for the ascetic struggle for Orthodox Christians.