Episodes
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Why We Remain: 25th Anniversary Special, Part 2
In part two of this two-part series finale, Steve and Bill discuss how the action of God in the sacramental life in the Church has made their conversions "stick," despite the challenges of worshipping in close community. This episode was recorded live on October 3, 2026, at St. Patrick's Orthodox...
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What We Have Witnessed: 25th Anniversary Special, Part 1
In part one of this two-part series finale, Steve and Bill are back to reflect on over two and a half decades as members of the Body of Christ, from the challenges they faced along the way to the transformative growth of Orthodoxy in America, both online and in-person. This episode was recorded...
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Steve the Builder Begins!
On January 15th my personal podcast, "Steve the Builder," begins airing on Ancient Faith. The focus will be about my 56 years of "real" life, our culture, living and working in the world, and just being a layperson seeking to be a Christian. Bill and I will still be producing Our Life in Christ...
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Role of Laity in the Orthodox Church
Kevin Allen of "The Illumined Heart" podcast here on AFR interviewed Steve on lay ministry in the Orthodox Church. As usual, Kevin asks the hard questions. Join Steve and Kevin for a frank discussion of the opportunities and yes, sometimes pitfalls of trying to do lay ministry in the context of…
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Encountering Mary, Part Five
In the final program of the series on "Encountering Mary," we deal with some of the hymnography and prayers that are a "brick wall" to many Evangelicals. We discuss several prayers in which Mary seems to be given attributes of deity or usurps the work of Christ in the life of the Christian. But,...
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Encountering Mary, Part Four
In this program we continue the discussion of the early Church's interpretation of Scripture and the typology that points to both the birth of Christ and His birth giver. The hymnography of the Church both praises Mary for her faith and obedience but also explicates the Scriptures and teaches us...
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Encountering Mary, Part Three
In Part Three of the series on Mary, Steve and Bill tackle some listener feedback and questions about Mary, veneration, worship and children. In the second half of the program they discuss the early second century Fathers of the Church and the universality of the doctrine of Mary as the second…
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Encountering Mary, Part Two
In Part Two of our series on dealing with "Mary issues," the tardiloquent and equipotent Steve and Bill talk more about "the culture of the Kingdom," the language of the Church, and the development of the Marian doctrines in Church history.
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Encountering Mary, Part One
In response to several panicked emails from listeners who attended their first Orthodox services and came face to face with the Church's piety regarding Mary, we begin a series on "Encountering Mary." In the first program we read a typical email and discuss several misconceptions, misperceptions...
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Interview with Fr. Gregory Jensen on Psychology, Part Two
The second hour of an interview with Fr. Gregory Jensen on the use of psychology and the Orthodox spiritual life.
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Interview with Fr. Gregory Jensen on Psychology, Part One
Steve interviews Fr. Gregory Jensen, an Orthodox priest and psychologist. Fr. Gregory discusses the place of clinical psychology within Orthodox spirituality, particularly as it relates to pastoral care and confession.
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Essence and Energy, Synergy Part 6
In the sixth and final program on the series on "Relics," Steve and Bill discuss issues that face the Western theological concepts of nature, person, will and their relationships to one another before and after the fall. How one views the nature of God and the human being determines one's view of...
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Essence and Energy, Relics Part 5
We continue the discussion of essence and energy and give a very broad overview of the influence of the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle on Augustine and Aquinas and how philosophy has influenced the views of God in the West. We also discuss how the East and West's views of God manifest...
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Podcast Promotion
You can order the CD from Grace Brooks at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)/**/ The cost is $12.50 plus shipping. Tell her you heard about it on Our Life in Christ! Thanks!
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Relics Part 4: Persons, Essence and Energies
In part four of our discussion of relics, we tackle the nature of God and the nature of the human being and how we can "know" a person. What is the relationship of "nature" to a "person"? What is an "energy"? How are a nature's energies expressed? The proper definition of nature, energy and...
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Relics Part 3: Essence and Energies
After a two-month disappearance, Steve and Bill resurface and finally record part three of the series on "Relics." In this program they discuss the Orthodox view of God and how the creation can literally "participate in God," or, as St. Peter says, be a "partaker of the divine nature." How can…
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Relics Part Two, The Orthodox View of Salvation
Hierotheos Vlachos of Nafpaktos said, "The job of the Church is to make relics." The phenomenon of relics is not merely a human sentimental reaction to the past, but it is a real evidence of our salvation in Christ in whom "the fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Colossians 1:19, 2:9). The...
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Relics, Part One
After being AWOL for several months, we're actually back in the Basement Catacomb Studio recording new material! In the first of a several part series on "relics," we discuss the universal human behavior of collecting "memorabilia" of significant people, the universal human struggle to define the...
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Sola Scriptura on the Andrew Tallman Show
Steve and Bill are once again invited to guest host the Andrew Tallman Show on KPXQ, a live Phoenix drive time Christian talk show. We decide to boldly go where no Evangelical talk show host has gone before. We discuss the topic of sola scriptura and during the program get a call from a suprise...
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Fr. Jonah on Why Be a Monk
In the final interview of the series with Father Jonah, Steve and Bill have a major meltdown during the first segment trying to explain that even though this is the last interview it was really the first one recorded. This program focuses on the Christian life and monasticism as one expression of...
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Father Jonah on the Healing of the Human Person, Part 2
In part two of the conversation with Father Jonah we discuss the relationship of monasticism to the "normal" Christian life. The life lived in the Gospel is universally applied to all Christians, has the same goal and foundation, but is lived out in various ways.
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Father Jonah on the Healing of the Human Person, Part 1
We continue the series of interviews with Fr. Jonah. In part one of this interview we discuss a variety of topics that relate to the Orthodox view of the healing of the human person. Monasticism is but one of the ways that we are healed, but all of the spiritual disciplines and "methods" boil…
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Fr. Jonah on Monasticism
We continue the series of interviews with Fr. Jonah Paffhausen. In this program Fr. Jonah discusses monasticism as a response to the Gospel. While monasticism is a specific calling, there is also a foundation of universal principles that all Christians are called to. Steve and Fr. Jonah also...
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Interview with Fr. Jonah on the Jesus Prayer, Part 2
In part two of the discussion of the Jesus Prayer, Fr. Jonah talks about the context of the practice of the prayer and some of the spiritual pitfalls and dangers of entering a discipline of prayer without spiritual direction.
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Interview with Abbot Jonah on the Jesus Prayer, Part 1
During a recent visit to St. John's Monastery, Steve recorded and interview with Abbot Jonah about the Jesus Prayer. In part one, Fr. Jonah discusses the Orthodox view of prayer that goes beyond "requests and praise." He also discusses the practice of the Jesus Prayer and the transformation of…
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We're Back
Steve and Bill offer indisputable evidence that they are still alive by breaking radio silence. Tune in and find out what has been going on for the last few weeks, and then join them in a discussion of "The Unseen Warfare," a Lenten discussion of the spiritual warfare.
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The Andrew Tallman Show Hour Two
This is hour two of the Andrew Tallman Show that Steve and Bill hosted during Andrew's Christmas vacation.
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Steve and Bill Host a Protestant Radio Program
Steve and Bill got invited to fill in for the vacationing Andrew Tallman, the afternoon drive time talk show host on 1360 KPXQ, the Phoenix area SALEM evangelical radio station. It is a two-hour show from 5 to 7pm, so we are posting the first hour of the program this week and the second hour next...
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An Explanation of the Nativity Icon
We're baaaack! After an unintended extended hiatus from the program, we were finally able to find an evening to record a special "Christmas edition" of Our Life in Christ. In this program we walk through the icon of the Nativity and look at the wholistic view of the ministry of Christ in His...
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Holy Spirit Part 2
In this episode, Steve and Bill discuss the role of the Holy Spirit in bringing salvation to the human race through the person of Mary on whom the Holy Spirit descends to incarnate the second person of the Godhead, Jesus Christ. This is understood as the "economy" or the role of the Spirit as the...
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The Holy Spirit Part 1
We've gotten several requests over time to do a program on the Orthodox view of "speaking in tongues" and the charismatic movement within the Evangelical Churches. After avoiding the topic for a couple years we decided to do a series on the Orthodox Church's understanding of the person and work…
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End Times Part 4: 666, Antichrist and the Beast
In the last program of the End Times series, Steve and Bill try to tag team wrestle "the Beast" and the "Antichrist." It was a tough match-up, and the they left some marks on them, but not the trademark "666." And just what does "666" mean anyway? Tune in and see who has been marked as the Beast...
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End Times Part 3, Rapture, Dispensationalism and Zionism
In part three on this series on the end times Steve and Bill discuss the Father's ancient wisdom of being silent on things that are difficult to interpret in the Bible then go on to discuss difficult topics about the end times. In this program they discuss the Rapture, dispensationalism and the...
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End Times Part 2, Church History
In the second part of a possible 144,000 part series on the End Times and the Revelation of St. John, Steve and Bill give some definitions of some of the views of the Tribulation and Rapture and where the second coming of Christ and judgment fits in the various scenarios. Then they take a romp...
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The End Times Part One
In response to listener requests, Steve and Bill begin a new series on the Orthodox view of the end times and the book of Revelation. With the popularity of the "Left Behind" books, the recent developments in the Middle East, and the American Protestant theological hodge podge of end time...
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The Divine Liturgy Part 9: The Dismissal and Post Communion Prayers
In this final program of the series on the Divine Liturgy we discuss the dismissal prayers after communion. These are more than just a formality as they express the summation of all that we have experienced for the past hour or more: God is the lover of mankind. But the Christian's experience of...
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The Divine Liturgy Part 8: Receiving Communion
The prayers are said, the clergy have commmuned and we finally come to the people's communion. The Eastern Rite Orthodox communion has no counterpart in Western Christian practice, so we discuss the mechanics of taking communion, the unusual "liturgical spoon", the different ways communion has…
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The Divine Liturgy, Part 7: Pre-Communion Prayers
The mystical change of the gifts of bread an wine into the Body and Blood of Christ in the Epiclesis is followed by a series of pre-communion prayers and hymns - given to continually focus us on the grace and unity of the Holy Spirit, for it is He who has been invited to come down upon us and…
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The Divine Liturgy, Part 6: The Epiclesis
We come to the most sacred and debated words of Christian worship in history: the Epiclesis, the calling down of the Holy Spirit upon the bread and wine to make them into the Body and Blood of Christ. Is the change "real" or is it symbolic? How does the change happen? When does it happen? Are the...
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Divine Liturgy Part 5: Lay Aside All Earthly Cares
The bread and wine, the gifts of the people, have been moved from the table of preparation (prothesis table) to the altar in the Great Entrance. In this program we further discuss the Cherubic Hymn in which we are admonished to "lay aside all earthly cares" as we confront the reality of the...
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The Divine Liturgy, Part 4: The Liturgy of the Faithful - The Great Entrance
With the reading of the Gospel and the homily that often follows it, the Liturgy of the Catechumens is concluded, and we transition to the Liturgy of the Faithful - The Communion Service. The Eucharist has always been the central focus of the life and worship of the Church from the beginning.…
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The Divine Liturgy, Part 3: The Liturgy of the Word
The priest is vested, the Gifts have been prepared for the celebration of the Eucharist, and now the Divine Liturgy begins. The first half of the Divine Liturgy is called "the Liturgy of the Word" or "the Liturgy of the Catechumens". In the Liturgy of the Word we hear the Church's teaching about...
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The Divine Liturgy, Part 2: The Proskomide
The Proskomide, or the leavened bread that is offered to God, and the accompanying Proskomide prayers, form the essential first part of the Divine Liturgy, taking place well before the arrival of the parishoners to the scheduled service. In this program we attempt to convey some of the…
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The Divine Liturgy, Part 1
Having entered sacred space in the Church building, we now turn to the 'main event' of the Church, the Divine Liturgy. We know that liturgy means 'work of the people', the labor of love we perform as citizens of the Kingdom. Yet, there is much that must be done to prepare for the public worship,...
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A Tour of an Orthodox Church
It is said that if you are familiar with the book of Revelation you will feel right at home in an Orthodox Church. The interior of the Church is modeled after the vision of St. John, who on the Lord's Day in worship, sees the heavenly worship he is participating in here on earth. The 'sacred…
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Sacred Space
If the daily, monthly, yearly prayer cycle of the Church and personal practice of the Jesus Prayer speak to the consecration of the person in time - sacred time - then it follows that Orthodox Christians are also concerned with space and its relationship to the Kingdom of God. Orthodox Church...
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Personal Prayer
In this program we discuss the topic of "personal prayer" in the Orthodox Tradition. Liturgical (corporate) and personal prayer are tightly linked together because the goal of all prayer is, ultimately, union with God. To "pray without ceasing" (I Thess. 5:17) is to live every moment consciously…
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The Great Feasts
Steve and Bill finish the mini-series on the liturgical prayer life of the Church. For all the teaching and talk about fasting on the program, the Church's liturgical calendar really focuses on the 12 Great Feasts and fasting is our preparation for the Feasts of the Church. In the third segment…
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The Eight Tones
Central to the prayer life of the Church is the cycle of eight musical tones or structures (The Octoechos, or eight echos) that accompany the hymns and prayers in all the services. In this program, Steve provides a basic, lighthearted but informative overview of the Eight Tones of the Church as...
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Prayer, The Daily Order
We begin a series on prayer which is the center of the life of the Orthodox Christian. Prayer is our connection to God who is our life. It is to be like our breathing, without ceasing. The Church provides a deep wealth of writings about prayer, but it also provides us with a daily order of…
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About this show
Join program hosts Steven Robinson and Bill Gould for an hour of insightful discussion about Orthodox Christian faith and practice.
Hosted by
Steve Robinson, Bill Gould, and Ancient Faith Ministries
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