Advertise on podcast: Orthodox Engagement

In his final semester before retirement as a full-time professor at St. Tikhon's Seminary, Dr. David Ford sits down in-person with Fr. Andrew to draw the arc of not only his 37-year career of teaching Church History, forming generations of Orthodox clergy, but also to share his view of the scope of where Orthodox Christianity in America is headed.

Filmmaker Yelena Popovic joins Fr. Andrew to discuss her new film "Moses the Black," a story of redemption set in the gang violence of Chicago, intersecting with the life of the great fourth-century saint. She is also the writer and director of the acclaimed "Man of God," the story of St. Nektarios of Aegina. The conversation covers everything from the Chicago setting to the R-rated elements to the ancient and modern inspiration for the film. The film opens Jan. 30, 2026. Get advance tickets here: https://hubs.la/Q03Znnjy0

Fr. Lucas Christensen, a scholar focused on the liturgical arts, joins Fr. Andrew to discuss the enchantment of church art and architecture in the grand sweep of Christian history. In the wake of Reformation iconoclasm and the reorientation of sacred art from the Renaissance onward, is it possible for Christians in the West to engage in the project of re-enchantment? What does the Orthodox Church have to say in this conversation?

Was there such a thing as Norse Orthodox Christianity? And how does that connect with the Orthodox Church in modern Norway? Fr. Andrew is joined by Norwegian Orthodox priest Fr. Theodor Svane and his wife, iconographer and doctoral student Hanne Svane, to talk about the history and culture of the Orthodox Church in Norway as well as an intriguing project that embeds Orthodox iconographic traditions into the Norwegian culture and landscape. Lots more info: http://annunciation.no/

The Orthodox Studies Institute's Matthew Namee and Dcn. Seraphim Rohlin join Fr. Andrew to talk about statistical trends in Orthodox Christianity in America and speculate about how they might play out in the coming decades.

Dr. Scott Kenworthy joins Fr. Andrew to discuss the beloved saint Tikhon (Bellavin) of Moscow, touching on his time in Russia, the United States, and in Lithuania. Dr. Kenworthy is author of the new book 'The People's Patriarch: Tikhon Bellavin and the Orthodox Church in North America and Revolutionary Russia' from Oxford University Press. The book can be ordered at this link: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-peoples-patriarch-9780197644751 Use promotion code AUFLY30 to save 30%.

His Eminence, Metropolitan Saba of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America joins Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick to talk about the Orthodox priesthood and the kind of men he's looking for to serve in his parishes. Join us for the first-ever vocations retreat hosted by the Antiochian Archdiocese in partnership with Ancient Faith Ministries at the Antiochian Village Conference Center in Bolivar, PA from August 20-23, 2026. This retreat is for Orthodox men who are considering the vocation of priesthood within the Antiochian Archdiocese. If you are trying to discern this vocation, join His Eminence Metropolitan Saba and other Archdiocesan leaders for a long weekend of panel discussions, speaker sessions, church services, and socializing. For more information and registration, visit https://www.ancientfaith.com/events/priestvocations/

In this never before released recording from 2017, Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick interviews Abbot Seraphim (Schema-Archimandrite Panteleimon) and Hierodeacon Makary of Holy Cross Monastery (ROCOR) in Wayne, West Virginia, asking the question: How does the monastery engage the world?

In his 1936 lecture "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics," J. R. R. Tolkien refuted the prevailing Beowulf scholarship of his day, which disdained the poem for its focus on monsters. He had this to say about the Old English epic: “I would suggest, then, that the monsters are not an inexplicable blunder of taste; they are essential, fundamentally allied to the underlying ideas of the poem, which give it its lofty tone and high seriousness.” Fr. Andrew sits down with ‪Jonathan Pageau‬ in his Montreal home to discuss whether and how the monsters make sense of our world today, what they have to do with the Christian story, as well as the place of the hero in facing the monsters.

There are memes and headlines going around tracking a change from 700,000 American Orthodox Christians in 2020 to 6 million in 2024. With the convert surge going on, this sounds... plausible? Matthew Namee joins Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick to talk about not only whether those numbers really make sense but also the history of how Orthodox Christians in America have been counted. He also unpacks for us his discoveries about the demographics of Orthodox in America, culled from studies of the general American population.

What exactly is the traditional role of women in the Orthodox Church? This question can be controversial, and attempts to answer it by referencing early Christianity are often short on solid scholarship in service to the Church. The subject of deaconesses is a significant lightning rod for this issue at the moment. Presbytera Dr. Anysia Metrakos joins Fr. Andrew to discuss this question, which is her academic field of expertise.

In one of his YouTube videos, Fr. Andrew discussed a pile of anecdotal evidence that there is an Orthodox convert surge. But is it real? Does it show up in real data? And is it true that there is a big spike in young men converting? Does the form of reception (baptism vs. chrismation only) make a difference in long-term engagement? Matthew Namee, Executive Director of the Orthodox Studies Institute, discusses with Fr. Andrew a new study from OSI which tracked Orthodox converts in the US from 2013-2023.

Orthodox priest Fr. Jacob Siemens who has lived in Cardiff, Wales, for some 20 years, talked with me about Orthodox Christianity in Wales, both in the ancient Church and in the modern period. And of course we also talked about King Arthur. And the dragon.

During his pilgrimage in Wales, Fr. Andrew met the remarkable Tad (Father) Deiniol, pastor of All Saints of Wales Orthodox Church in Blaenau Ffestiniog and the only Welsh-speaking Orthodox priest in the country. During the interview, he told Fr. Andrew the story of how he became an Orthodox Christian and also many details of Orthodox saints of Wales, particularly in North Wales, where he serves. And of course he told about the dragon.

Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican communion, sits down with Fr. Andrew at Ss. Theodore and Teilo Orthodox Church in Cardiff, Wales, to discuss his 60-year relationship with the Orthodox Church, including major figures such as Metr. Kallistos Ware and Archim. Barnabas (Burton). He also gives some pointers for pilgrims visiting ancient Christian sites in Wales, speaks of the peculiar character of Welsh Christianity, and answers Fr. Andrew's burning question -- what is it about dragons?