"It would be hard to overstate the impact of The Ladder in the life of the Orthodox Church. Next to the Bible, it’s the most read and quoted and translated and printed book in the Orthodox Christian Church. Its influence is enormous...There are even places in the Lenten services to read sections of The Ladder (during 3rd, 6th, and 9th Hour). When an idea, or a text, makes it into the public services of the Church, we know that we’re dealing with something that the Orthodox Church wholeheartedly accepts and commends to Her members."

On this week's Come Receive the Light, Fr. Chris will be speaking with Archimandrite Christodoulos Papadeas about the famous Lenten Prayer of St. Ephraim.

In the Gospel of St. Mark, Jesus heals many people. But plenty of religious leaders and individuals have claimed the ability to heal. What's so special about the healing performed by Jesus? Find out in this week's episode of Get Wisdom, a weekly podcast and study guide for Orthodox young people. Click here or listen below.

"All of the things that we do during Lent—fasting, prayers, services, hidden works of asceticism…none of these things offer us salvation. Salvation comes only through Christ, and only through His Cross. Our struggle during Lent is to place ourselves in the path of Christ. To bear the crosses the Lord has given us with the humility and the faith and resolve that Christ took to His Cross."

On this week's Come Receive the Light, Fr. Chris will be speaking with Rev. Dr. John McGuckin about producing the documentary "Sophia: Secret Wisdom", and his experiences visiting monasteries and interviewing elders along the way. Listen to his reflections on the witness of monastics to the modern world, and the place of silence in the spiritual life.

Tune in to this week's episode of Come Receive the Light — essential listening for all Orthodox Christians — and anyone concerned about the Church around the world. In this week's free CRTL study guide, explore the relationship among prayer, repentance and being "born again."

Good news! OCN has received a $50,000 challenge grant for Great Lent. Every donation that we receive by Holy Pascha on April 27 will be matched DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR. Please prayerfully consider taking advantage of this excellent opportunity to give a Lenten gift that doubles in value — and reaches people for Christ. Every single gift brings us closer to our goal, so your response makes a significant difference. Please click here to read my special letter for this appeal, and here to find out more about the various ways you can give.

"The paralysis of our heart can only be healed if we come crawling before Christ, climbing up trees or lowered through roofs. Come crawling this Lent, my brothers and sisters, to this holy church and seek out the Lord for your healing. The services of the Church during this season are all about this healing. Come to Holy Confession and ask for the forgiveness that the paralytic received from Christ before he took up his bed and walked. Receive the precious Body and Blood of Christ, for it is truly medicine for our souls. Be anointed with his holy oil for it heals the flesh..."

"Christ is sole revealer of God to man. Every revelation of God in both the Old Testament and the New Testament comes through Christ. Everything for us, as Orthodox Christians, is Christ. He is the beginning and the end and the entire content of our faith and of our lives. All that is true of the humanity of Christ, all that we see revealed on Mt. Thabor when Christ is transfigured before His Apostles, all of this is also possible in us, by grace."

Here's a question for you: If Baptism is for the forgiveness of sins, then why was Jesus Himself baptized? And why is it important for you to know that Jesus was tempted? Find out what the Gospel of St. Mark and the Fathers of the Church have to say on these matters in this week's episode of Get Wisdom, along with its accompanying study guide. Click here or listen below.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Christ is risen!

It's no secret that many young people drift away from the Church. Do you ever feel like that unfortunate trend is simply unstoppable?

Live from St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles! Watch this historic Pan-Orthodox Celebration of the Hierarchal Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, followed by a sermon delivered by His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco, and a celebration of the Sunday of Orthodoxy with Hierarchs from several jurisdictions. Video Production: Philip Georgious Productions. Watch Now >>

His Grace Bishop Benjamin of San Francisco, the Hierarch of the OCA's Diocese of the West, speaks with Fr. Chris about prayer, fasting and almsgiving — three practical and powerful ways to follow in the footsteps of Christ during Great Lent.

Tune in to this week's episode of Come Receive the Light — essential listening for all Orthodox Christians — and anyone concerned about the Church around the world. In this week's free CRTL study guide, consider and explore your approach to fasting and legalism.

At last summer's Antiochian Convention in Montreal, OCN sponsored a live concert with well known Orthodox recording artist Fr. Peter Jon Gillquist. Click here to watch two songs from the performance (mov file). Watch Now >>

"Through two millennia of persecution and trials and temptations and sin and corruption, through two millennia of our failure as human beings, Christ has upheld and maintained His Church. We are the inheritors of this promise, we are handed the torch of the Faith by those gone on before us. We’ve been given a wonderful gift in the Church, and we’re called to share it. To let our fellow man know: There’s a place you can go for rest, and for healing; there’s a place you can go that will help you make sense of the mess of your life in this world."

Dr. Albert Rossi, a psychologist and professor at St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, speaks about Lay Ministry — something we are ALL called to. Also, Rod Dreher comments on a recent survey indicating a large percentage of Americans change their faiths. Please join us for this and much more!

Tune in to this week's episode of Come Receive the Light — essential listening for all Orthodox Christians — and anyone concerned about the Church around the world. In this week's free CRTL study guide, learn about exploring the Orthodox understanding of calling. Download, print & share it with friends!

I'm madly carnivorous but am giving up meat and dairy for Lent

"I don't believe I have eaten any animal from the family Rodentia. Have you?" my friend David e-mailed me last weekend from Mississippi.

He asked because he was spending the weekend roasting a fat beaver ("It is quite disgusting," he admitted) for his Eastern Orthodox Church's last meat chowdown before Lent, which comes later this year than the penitential season for Catholics and liturgical Protestants.

"This evening we’ll begin our Lenten journey to that great and holy day of our Lord’s Resurrection. But we must keep in mind that our Lenten journey will be of no use if it’s simply a dietary modification for the course of 40+ days. We’re called by our Lord to lay aside all sin. And to focus all of our energies on being with Christ."

"Miss Guinevere Pettigrew does have *quite* a day. It begins on a blustery London morning in 1939, as Miss Pettigrew awakens on a bench in a London train station. She had lost her job as a governess the day before, and no job prospects are in sight.... With nothing left to lose, Miss Pettigrew forms the bold plan of trying to pass herself off as the applicant sent by an employment agency to be social secretary to nightclub singer and social luminary Delysia LaFosse."

Please select a language to view the "Catechetical Homily" for Great Lent from His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (50k pdf).

In: English | French | Greek | German | Italian | Russian | Spanish

On this week's Come Receive the Light, Fr. Chris speaks with Fr. Stephen Freeman, author of the popular Orthodox blog "Glory to God for All Things", about deepening our spiritual life through Holy Confession and prayer during Great Lent. Also, Fr. David Gill, Fr. Ken Anthony, and much more!

After tuning in to this week's episode of Come Receive the Light, check out the accompanying free CRTL study guide, for an exploration of an appropriate attitude to confession.

Find out the latest from Dean Triantafilou, Executive Director of International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), a humatarian organization that is leading the way in the continuing disaster relief efforts after last summer's devastating wildfires. Click here or listen below.

This Sunday, March 9, is "Mission Sunday" across North America. Find out more about Christ's call to missions, and the ministry of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center, in this interview with Fr. Martin Ritsi. Click here or listen below.

When an Orthodox Christian is asked the question, “Are you saved?” we don’t exactly know how to answer. It isn’t that we don’t know Jesus Christ; we’ve known Him from the beginning. It isn’t that we have a lack of understanding about salvation—history and theology books are filled with our teaching on these matters. We don’t know exactly how to answer because it is not a question with which we are familiar. In fact, we would say that the question raises a deeper question: What is salvation?

"It’s not simply ‘a relationship with Christ’ that offers man salvation. Everyone in the world has a relationship with God—even Satan has a relationship with God. But in a saving relationship we must be healed, we must be transformed. Restored to a natural state of communion with God, from our current un-natural state of separation from God because of sin."

On this week's Come Receive the Light, Fr. Chris speaks with Sarah Elisabet Offerndal about the Martha and Mary House. We will also hear from His Grace Bishop Benjamin. Be sure to tune in!

After tuning in to this week's episode of Come Receive the Light, check out the accompanying free CRTL study guide, for an exploration of forgiveness.