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FOCUS — Fellowship Of Orthodox Christians United to Serve


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Announcing a brand new humanitarian social service agency in the United States by the Orthodox Church.

FOCUS NORTH AMERICA
Listen to a podcast by Fr. Justin Matthews:

 

From Fr. Justin Matthews, Executive Director and CEO of Focus:

The dream of an Orthodox Christian social action agency entirely dedicated to reaching out to help our neighbors here at home has long been in the making. It is a dream whose time has certainly come.

I need not mention extensively the desperate reality many are facing in our country and even in some of our parishes. One in fifty children in the US are homeless, evicted families are living in tents, millions are jobless, and even more feel hopeless. It is for this reason that I make this appeal to you, the faithful, to support this new ministry. Continue reading

The god Called Earth


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Steve the Builder

Steve the Builder

Couples who refuse to have children in order to protect the environment, says Steve Robinson, “reject religion and dogma, (yet) their devotion to the earth is indeed a religious devotion very similar to the ancient pagans.” In fact, the “eco-fundamentalists has a version of the prosperity gospel… we ‘serve the earth god,’ name it and don’t claim it, and you get nice stuff and exotic vacations.”

Robinson continues, “The ecologist and Orthodox Christian agree that the human being is indeed taken from the dirt of the earth and thus shares in the nature of the earth itself. But Christianity says he also is given the breath of God who created the very dirt from whence he came, and so he shares in the nature of the spiritual and is given dominion over the dirt, but not for gluttonous consumption but as a means of expressing love in the image of the one who created all things out of love.”

Listen to the podcast:

Wesley J. Smith: Orthodox Advocate for Human “Exceptionalism”


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afrvertical

Our culture is at a crossroad about the value of human life, argues author and human rights activist Wesley J. Smith in an interview with Kevin Allen on the “Illumined Heart” podcast (Ancient Faith Radio). Do we value human life simply because it is human, or do we value it based on notions and definitions of “personhood” including such characteristics as sentience, awareness, stages of biological development and others factors? The former allows for a universal definition of human rights. The latter reduces human beings to “subjects” that are bound to shifting and often capricious standards that determine who lives and who dies.

 

Listen here:

widget here (43:38)

It’s a heated battle (one that even spills over into the comments of this blog on occasion). Often, the the level of vituperation in the attacks against religious defenders of human life arise because the utilitarians understand their view allows for no coherent defense of any human rights, Smith says. “They try to avoid thy weight of their own ideas by diverting [the argument] into, ‘Well, it’s just a matter of religion.'” Yet, “They are the ones obsessed with religion…” Continue reading

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A Conversation With Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev


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St. Vladimir’s Seminary recently held a symposium on the state of ecumenical relations between the different Christian communions throughout the world. In attendance was Bp. Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Vienna, a man highly respected at AOI because of his bold and clear testimony to Christ in Europe (see some of his writings on OrthodoxyToday.org). Fr. Chad Hatfield, Chancellor of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, sat down with Bp. Hilarion for a frank discussion on ecumenical relations between Orthodoxy and other Christian communions, as well as tensions between Moscow and Constantinople about the direction some of these discussions are taking.


A Conversation With Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev

Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon, sharpened his focus on bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to America during the conference as well. Listen to him explain how the Orthodox lack in their knowledge of scripture and why a recovery of scripture is sorely needed.

Holy Scripture and the Evangelization of America

Ancient Faith Radio recorded all the lectures.

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Persecuted in Romania: Frederica Mathewes-Green on Pastor Richard Wurmbrand


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He was a Lutheran pastor and was severely persecuted for his faith by communists in Romania. He is Rev. Richard Wurmbrand and Frederica has a rare recording of his voice singing a hymn to the Theotokos that he wrote himself. Frederica makes reference to an article in Again Magazine about Pastor Wurmbrand (download only).


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