When faith and life intertwine, extraordinary conversations blossom. That's precisely what unfolded as Rafael from Orthodox Review joined Cloud of Witnesses Radio, unveiling the interplay between his deep-rooted Christian beliefs and the everyday trials one endures. His moniker, "the guy with one and a half thumbs," isn't just an intriguing tag—it's a beacon of resilience, a story that underscores how life's twists can shape our spiritual journey. Nick and Jeremy's dialogue with Orthodox Review ventured through the essence of faith, centered on Christ, and the ways in which love, drawn from sacred texts and the teachings of modern saints, anchors our actions and interactions, especially in the digital realm where understanding can sometimes be lost.
The authenticity of an Orthodox Christian life—imbued with simplicity and sincerity—is not found merely within the intellectual pursuit of religion. As Raphael, Nick and Jeremy exchanged personal anecdotes, it became clear that a genuine connection with the Savior lies at the core of our existence. We delved into the potent impact of Orthodox literature on our spiritual paths, sharing stories about figures like Saint Raphael of Brooklyn, whose exemplary life and dedication to God's work have deeply influenced our personal faith. Raphael's insights into the art of making prosphora, a reflection of his commitment to tradition and spiritual practice, promise to inspire and connect with the faithful in their own culinary explorations.
Wrapping up our spiritual odyssey, we discussed the importance of feeding our souls with enriching spiritual literature, just as we nourish our bodies with food. We pondered over the growth of the Orthodox Church and the profound influence of texts like the "Evergetinos" on our faith. Raphael, candidly opening up about his personal battle with arthritis, exemplified how physical challenges can mold our relationship with faith. As we concluded, we highlighted the significance of making the wisdom of the saints accessible and engaging, inviting listeners to further explore Raphael's captivating work on Orthodox Review, where the sagas of the saints come to life for today's seekers of enlightenment.
Visit our friend, Raphael, over at Orthodox Review:
https://www.youtube.com/@OrthodoxReview
Thank you for journeying w/ the Saints with us!
When faith and life intertwine, extraordinary conversations blossom. That's precisely what unfolded as Rafael from Orthodox Review joined Cloud of Witnesses Radio, unveiling the interplay between his deep-rooted Christian beliefs and the everyday trials one endures. His moniker, "the guy with one and a half thumbs," isn't just an intriguing tag—it's a beacon of resilience, a story that underscores how life's twists can shape our spiritual journey. Nick and Jeremy's dialogue with Orthodox Review ventured through the essence of faith, centered on Christ, and the ways in which love, drawn from sacred texts and the teachings of modern saints, anchors our actions and interactions, especially in the digital realm where understanding can sometimes be lost.
The authenticity of an Orthodox Christian life—imbued with simplicity and sincerity—is not found merely within the intellectual pursuit of religion. As Raphael, Nick and Jeremy exchanged personal anecdotes, it became clear that a genuine connection with the Savior lies at the core of our existence. We delved into the potent impact of Orthodox literature on our spiritual paths, sharing stories about figures like Saint Raphael of Brooklyn, whose exemplary life and dedication to God's work have deeply influenced our personal faith. Raphael's insights into the art of making prosphora, a reflection of his commitment to tradition and spiritual practice, promise to inspire and connect with the faithful in their own culinary explorations.
Wrapping up our spiritual odyssey, we discussed the importance of feeding our souls with enriching spiritual literature, just as we nourish our bodies with food. We pondered over the growth of the Orthodox Church and the profound influence of texts like the "Evergetinos" on our faith. Raphael, candidly opening up about his personal battle with arthritis, exemplified how physical challenges can mold our relationship with faith. As we concluded, we highlighted the significance of making the wisdom of the saints accessible and engaging, inviting listeners to further explore Raphael's captivating work on Orthodox Review, where the sagas of the saints come to life for today's seekers of enlightenment.
Visit our friend, Raphael, over at Orthodox Review:
https://www.youtube.com/@OrthodoxReview
Thank you for journeying w/ the Saints with us!
There's so many people that either approach the faith as an academic pursuit and there's so many people that approach the faith as like this cultural thing. Or they do it because it's based, or whatnot, or they're looking for some sort of community, which it is a community, but it's important to constantly remind people that it's about Christ. Amen.
Speaker 2:Hi, I'm Jeremy.
Speaker 3:I'm Nick.
Speaker 2:This is Cloud of Witnesses Thinking Like the Saints. Yes, super excited. Today we have with us Rafael from Orthodox Review and we are going to have an interesting conversation. We're already having some technical issues.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. You want to tell us a little bit about Orthodox Review and what you do, or maybe I should say what you don't do. Sure, sure, sure, because you do everything For anyone that's.
Speaker 1:I don't know about that. Listen, I'm a weirdo who likes to collect books and talk about them, and that's like the baseline, you know. Sometimes I'll bring up an issue or a subject that I think is worth sharing, sometimes good, sometimes not so much, but yeah, for the most part I like to just kind of go through liturgical texts, prayer books, altars, that sort of thing, and kind of geek out on them a little bit, and then occasionally we'll do live streams where we'll go over some relevant topics or updates on publishing stuff, things like that. So nothing too extravagant, but I've been doing it for a little over four years now and there's a few people out there that seem to enjoy the content.
Speaker 2:So I just keep plugging along More than a few.
Speaker 3:Okay, so I've noticed you start most of your episodes as the guy with one and a half thumbs and I don't know if you've actually explained that or not, maybe somewhere away in the past. But may I ask, may I inquire?
Speaker 1:Of course, of course, and yeah, I've told the story a few times and I don't mind telling it again. It's kind of a silly story. So 10,000 years ago, I was living in an apartment building in downtown Bloomington and I was between jobs at the time. So I was helping the superintendent with some busy work, I was doing some refurbishment and some finishing work. That's that the other thing. And so we were moving a stove into the basement of the building. Now, unfortunately, you cannot access the basement with something that large from the inside. You have to go outside, and so there's staircase that goes down, hello Kat, and so there's a step up and then some steps down. Now I've worked for moving companies before and I think I know my way around a hand truck and this guy, old school southerner, just wasn't hearing it Like he's older, so he knows better. And so I'm on the receiving end of this thing and he's like all right, you know, I'm going to start letting it down now. And of course he fumbles it and it tears my thumb off against the wall.
Speaker 3:Oh Lord of mercy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I was shocked, and so it just so happened that the nice young couple that was living above me at the time were crossing the street, and so they rushed down. They found the thumb, and so when I got to the hospital they reattached it. It's just not a clean cut, though. It was like torn, torn off, yeah, declothed, so to speak. Yeah, so within 48 hours it was just dead, and so they had to take it back off.
Speaker 3:Lord of mercy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so now I get old nubby.
Speaker 3:Oh man, it's crazy. It's kind of in a funny, ironic way, your thumb ends up being in so many of your videos because you're always turning pages to books and things.
Speaker 2:I'm always like what is the?
Speaker 3:story of this thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, and especially like the first year at least, I didn't even show my face on camera, so it was just my hands in the books and that was pretty much it, and so it really was like part of my character.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, not really cool.
Speaker 1:But a cool post script to the story is fast forward to how many years ago now, several years ago now, and I was driving a taxi for a living in town and I go to pick up a fare, and who is it? But the guy that dropped the stove on me and he apologized, but it was. It was cool because you know he thought I'd be all upset and well, you know, stuff happens, man, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So can I say, rafael, you said a couple of things in that story I loved hearing that that I want to comment on one. You said 10,000 years ago so yeah, this mean that you're an old earthener.
Speaker 1:Sure, why not? I'm joking, right. Yeah, I'm all about the younger dry ass. Why not?
Speaker 2:Why not, right? Yeah, we can have an online debate on that issue. Oh gosh, the other.
Speaker 1:You know, I've actually, I've actually figured out the secret key to that argument.
Speaker 2:What is?
Speaker 1:it. None of it matters. In the long run, when it comes to our salvation and where we're headed, it makes no difference whatsoever. Yeah, what is St?
Speaker 3:Paul. St Paul says something like why do you fight about, you know, genealogies and things of no effect? It's, it's, it's a rabbit hole, lord of Mercy.
Speaker 3:Yes and you know I must comment a fun one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there are some fun ones. I must comment that. You know I see a lot of your episodes and not everything is about reviewing books, but I do really appreciate the tone that you set when you talk about certain subjects, because I always noticed that it's seasoned with love on Both sides and I really appreciate that. You don't see it that often, unfortunately, especially online, so I really appreciate that whenever I see your stuff.
Speaker 1:Well, thank God. Thank God because I and I and that that's the reason I don't do as much commentary as Maybe I could, because if I can't Bring myself to a place where I can look at something objectively and and not Embrace the passions over it, yeah, you know I don't want to do anything because, like you said, there there's just a lot of gloom and doom and you know, desk pounding out there a lot of armchair theologians, and you know I try to take a very blue collar approach to these things where it's just like. You know, I'd barely graduated high school, but I'm still an Orthodox Christian and you know this is not a, this is not an academic venture, you know it's, it's about faith in God and yeah, so I try to share that is, is is as well as I possibly can, to God's grace. So, yeah, I just I try to keep things friendly and basic and yeah, so, and yet, the, the truth still comes through right.
Speaker 2:That's what's beautiful about that is that Nick and I talk about this a lot Is that orthodoxy is lived right. Orthodoxy is not within the pages of, you know, of scholarly books, as great as they may be. That's not where orthodoxy is found, you know, and I think that's that does come shining through it in your videos. Yep, yeah, you, you mentioned that. You know the yeah, thumb incident. I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan, and I'm not sure if you are yourself, but Tolkien famously tells the story of Frodo, frodo of the nine fingers, because Frodo lost a finger.
Speaker 1:I may or may not have.
Speaker 2:Yes, I Believe it. Say no more.
Speaker 1:I think I already know no sorry, I thought really watched return to the team again last night for, like the up to you times, nice.
Speaker 2:Okay, then I knew we're on the same page. I could see it.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Rafael I could see it, nick, I was just gonna follow up on that, yeah, yeah totally.
Speaker 2:My father actually is missing half of a Limp, not limb Lickament, digit, digit, if you will. He was. He was a truck driver for years and he was one day Opened up his engine, car, the engines running right, there's all the fans and all the stuff going on and he said he was just looking in there. He in his splits that he just went to whatever was touched, something he said in a that fast his half, his finger gone.
Speaker 1:Found it.
Speaker 2:It was just ripped it right off.
Speaker 1:So to this day.
Speaker 2:So my dad today is his middle, is down about there, but anyway, wow, yeah, yeah, lord of Mercy.
Speaker 3:So it's kind of interesting, you know.
Speaker 2:But the reason I bring this up, rafael, because it's tied to what you were saying and what Nick was touching on is, I mean, being real. Telling these real stories just doesn't have to be fancy. We don't have to be talking about theology and all these things. You still Are able to, I think, connect with your audience even more and and be able to share the beauty of orthodoxy and and and the. You know the Throne of the faith more almost than you do in those other ways, and so I just kind of wanted to touch on that in terms of this real life. I like how you put this, this blue collar approach to sharing orthodoxy.
Speaker 1:Kind words, high praise. High praise, as Nick cage might say, you know, and it's not something that that I originally started to do consciously either. You know, I'm because I'm kind of a spurred anyway. So I I just kind of I do what it seems to be the right thing to do. And then I, for you know, just as an example, you know, I was talking to some catechumens at church the other day and I Don't even remember what we were talking about. Like I don't remember what I said, I don't remember a thing. Um, and then after the fact, one of them was like oh, you know, that really helped this, that. The other thing, you know, like thank god, because, like I, literally I will open my mouth and just start running it and hope that I don't screw it up. So I attribute all of that to god, because that is not me at all. I personally am an idiot. So if anything intelligent comes out of my mouth, I know it's not me. Yeah, I know the feeling. I know the feeling.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, but yeah, I, you know, I just there's. There's so many people that either approach the faith as this, as as an academic pursuit, and there's so many people that approach the faith is like this cultural thing, or or they do it because it's based or, or whatnot, or they're looking for some sort of community, which it is a community, but it's. It's important, I think, to Constantly Remind people that it's. It's about christ. Amen. We are christians because we follow christ, we believe in the word jesus christ as the son of god and we worship him and we try to do what he told us to do to the best. And if you're orthodox for any lesser reason than that, then why? You know what's the point. You could follow any. You know guru or or you know Self-help manual, you want. But unless you truly believe in christ and that's why you're there, because you want communion with the savior, then you know it's, it's all for god, amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 3:Amen Amen.
Speaker 1:I, I, I think and I'm not entirely certain, but I think that maybe somewhere in my head that's the trigger that god made was like Okay, you can talk about this stuff, but it's gotta be full of love, because if it's not full of love, then you know them, what's the point? There's so many people that that that can be harsh and and criticize and they say, well, I'm doing this because I love you, and it's like no, you're doing it because you're a jerk. You know, like I can smell my own. You know what I mean, because I believe me, I can be a jerk.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it's just there's not enough like of that that love that we read about in the scriptures, that we read about in the fathers in the desert ascetics, and of all these saints, like even modern saints. You know, like see paeosios or someone like that, where it's just like they talk about felotimo. You know that, that all-encompassing, like completely unarbitrary, like love, no matter what. Like someone's gonna shoot at Hitler, I'm taking that bullet why? Because he's a human being made in the image of christ. That's that's love, you know. So, in my own way, I just, I guess I'm trying to bring a little bit of that back in into the uh, into the conversation, amen, yeah.
Speaker 3:It's, it's funny, you know, we're in a world full of content and material and yet something that simple, that message, the message of christ, is still refreshing In Whoever or however it's embodied. It's like the ringing of a bell. You know when it's, when it has that Correct orthodox ring. It rings true in your heart and it needs that. That bell needs to be rung. So thank you for for doing it to your you know abilities and capabilities that god has given you.
Speaker 1:Thank, thank, thank god. All for all that this because again, it's not you know, as as as a broken human being, that's not my natural state. So, yeah, again, glory to god for the glory to god.
Speaker 1:I'm mad and uh, you know, I, I would say I would say in general, like it's, it's easy to get sucked into, you know, into theology, you know as a convert, um, and because you know that that's that's usually what happens, like you discover the faith and your zealous for the faith, you decide you want to absorb as much as you possibly can, and that's, that's a trap that I fell into the first few years, um, I was orthodox and and it led me to a place where I melted my brain out pretty much. So, if I can help anyone avoid melting their brain, no one should be reading the Philokalia in the first decade of their life.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's just a bad idea.
Speaker 1:Trust me, I'm in there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's interesting that we're talking about this, because this is basically kind of the purpose of our podcast. I'm not sure if you know, but our main content is like voice acted renditions of the lives of the saints.
Speaker 1:And it's good stuff, by the way.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much.
Speaker 3:Thanks be to God. But with our more interviews and talks, it's about how we can apply that in our lives, and that's exactly what we're talking about right now and I wanted to ask. So your name is Raphael and I was wondering okay, so which saint Raphael and what's the story behind you personally?
Speaker 1:Okay, so it's a saint Raphael of Brooklyn, the bishop Raphael. How are we? I was introduced to him by my priest at the time, father Peter Robichel, because I was. It was getting closer and closer to my prismation and he was like, well, have you picked a saint yet? And I was like, no, I haven't. I'm having a very hard time, and I will admit that at the time I was so really into things. I was like I want some Slavic sounding name, I want something that's like totally divorced from my secular name, and so I'm thinking like T-Con or Surges, or I was like, ooh, vladimir, there's a good one.
Speaker 3:Pentel Amon.
Speaker 1:And he was like, yeah, exactly, or a Pimen or just something that doesn't sound European at all. And he was like you know, there's a saint from Brooklyn and the reason he mentioned that is because I'm from Long Island and I worked in Brooklyn and all this. And he was like, oh, what is there? And so he introduced me to Saint Raphael and I read about him and I fell in love, absolutely fell in love with the man, and that was it. That was it for me. I was like this is a guy. I mean, whether I chose him in the beginning for the right reasons or not is inconsequential, because now I love him for the right reasons, yeah, so yeah, I mean it's not like an extravagant story or anything like that, and I can talk about Saint Raphael till the cows come home, just because, like, and it's not like he did anything, it's not like he had grand adventures or anything, it's just this is a man who loved God so much that he worked himself to death.
Speaker 1:And I can identify with that, you know. You know he had some views on, you know the way Orthodoxy should be presented in America that I wholeheartedly agree with and that I, you know, I stick by to this day. You know, both him and Saint Ticombe were very vocal about certain things that I'm a big fan of and so, yeah, so, and you know, every year I read his life again and you know I get, I get two opportunities to celebrate his feast day, depending on you know what your distinction I want to follow, because, well, his feast day, and like the OCA and everything is in February, on the day of his repose, but in the Antiochian church and some other churches he celebrated on the first Saturday in September, where it's the Synexus of the Holy Ark Angels, which was his feast day. So so I tend to get emails twice a year.
Speaker 2:Nice, that's really cool that work that he described Raphael. It reminds me of Saint Nectarios. You know that same sort of just. You know, through travail after travail, he just continued, you know, to serve God and that's beautiful.
Speaker 1:That pioneering spirit that just says never give up. Yeah, yeah, that's what he did. He was only in his fifties when he reposed. He was not Wow, he was not old Like you. Look at a picture of him near the end you're like, wow, this guy's got to be like 70, 80 years old. Wow, he was in his fifties.
Speaker 3:Load of mercy.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, our priest at our parish. He often says that this is a man that he was not martyred, but he worked himself to death for God. Yep, oh, I love that. I wish I knew more about him and I'm being inspired to read about him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there is a book on his life and it also has, like, all the service, variables, for you know, vaspers through Mattens and all the energy.
Speaker 3:Oh, nice yeah.
Speaker 1:Also his acophist and it's published by the Antiochian Archdiocese and I think they're like it's like 10 bucks.
Speaker 2:And one thing I love about your channel is that because you mentioned you know the books available Antiochian Village. You said it's 10 bucks. You do that a lot on your channel and that's helpful. You know when you're looking for a particular book or recommendations. It's a great resource. So you know, to those of you listening right now to this podcast, please go check out Rafael over at Orthodox Review, where you do you look at a number of books, prayer books, etc. And sometimes comment on the prices, sometimes a little you know. Just please understand.
Speaker 1:We're talking about that latest episode. Well, every book I read is meaningful. Yeah, I haven't touched a secular work of fiction or nonfiction since I converted, so it's been about 11 years since.
Speaker 1:I just I no longer have that much, you know, fiction interest to read anything like that. I've tried, it just doesn't work. But the latest book I finished was the Heavenly Gift from Neuropress, which is all about prostra and it's not. It's not just a cookbook, it's, you know, the history, the theology, stories from priests and old gaios and stuff that, a whole bunch of stuff in there, and you know all their publications. Just, they look fantastic, they're built to last. So you know, and I think it was $28 maybe, which, considering everything that went into the book, yeah, well worth every penny, oh, that's amazing yeah, I've never heard of it.
Speaker 1:It's a recent publication. Only came out like maybe a month ago.
Speaker 2:Oh nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm. I plan on doing an episode where we actually use the instructions in the book to bake a prosphora. It's a cool idea. I got myself a prosphora seal just for that purpose. I got this nice wooden prosphora seal. The people that I'm staying with right now happen to be prosphora bakers and they come from the Slavic tradition, which is a different process altogether from what's presented in this book, because this is the Greek tradition, so it's a little different. So that actually gives me more material to work with.
Speaker 3:Nice. I don't know if this is by New Rome, but have you read the book? It kind of reminds me of this. It's called the Divine Liturgy, in Light of the Fathers, I believe.
Speaker 1:Ah, yes, you know what, I've not read it.
Speaker 3:Oh man, it really reminds me of it the way you're describing it, because it's not just like a liturgy right. It really takes like every verse of the liturgy and every priestly and deacon prayer and everything in response by the people, and it has quotes of the fathers and it's just so amazing.
Speaker 2:That sounds amazing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's so amazing to see the amount of symbolism that is infused in the prayers and the whole service. Truly, nothing is happenstance. Everything is an icon. It's just like an icon.
Speaker 1:It's liturgical that our deacon, Deacon Patrick, uses to teach Catechymens about it.
Speaker 3:It's not that I'm unaware of the book.
Speaker 1:It's on the pile of books I just haven't gotten to yet and for people that maybe have a hard time reading it. Or more to the podcast thing and it's unfortunate that he never got to finish it but Father Thomas Hopko did a podcast series called Worship and Spirit and Truth that I think they released the final episode of that like the week after he reposed. He didn't get to finish it, but much like that book, it is so in depth and detailed, like I think, the first 30 episodes. He just talks about the history of liturgy in general, starting from Genesis on. I think he spends seven episodes on the prosphemy and of course, in his charming but stern sort of way it's a great way to get an idea of just how deep everything really is.
Speaker 2:That's incredible.
Speaker 1:That's my speech.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's tied. Raphael, you had mentioned that book on Prosphora, kind of the yayas, and who kept that going, especially in difficult times. This was given to me, a woman, and the salvation of the world by Evdokimov. I don't want to totally butcher his name, but this book is amazing and what it gets into is really the role not just of women but of men in terms of the church, but even drawing the distinction between masculine and feminine. As more than just our physical bodies, it's also something much, much deeper, and so this is kind of what I've been going through during this period and, sorry, I almost dropped it. One of the best parts is the second chapter as a chapter on the image and likeness of God and mind blowing in terms of his kind of description of who we are as human beings.
Speaker 3:I was wondering do you have anything on your top tiers that you want to start reading and then reviewing, or oh, wow, that's a good question.
Speaker 1:That's a good question. Like I said, the brain milk was real. So I've actually read a lot of books and I can only remember maybe half. Sure, I remember, in fact, last year ordering a book and being like, yeah, I really want to read this book, and then going into my, you know, because not all of them could fit on the shelves. So I, you know, I have a couple of boxes and I was going through a box and I was like I already have and read this book. Oh my goodness. So that's how it happened once in a while.
Speaker 1:That being said, I once I can get everything out of storage, once I get settled into a permanent living situation again. I've been going through the Evergentinos, which is a four volume complete sayings of the Desert Fathers from the Center for Traditionalist Christian Orthodox Studies, and I was live streaming that, like once a week for a little while, where we just kind of, you know, spend an hour and going into it Because the lives of the fathers and their sayings especially, you know they're not something you just want to blow through, you want to take your time with it.
Speaker 3:Definitely.
Speaker 1:Same thing with what's it? The Aesthetical Homilies, you know, when they say I pay you a day, this is a reason, yeah, but outside of that I'm not sure. Like I'll probably take your suggestion and read that one on on mothers yeah, honestly, I get, I get distracted, but but there are a few service books that have just been published that I'm probably going to be doing as well. They're just like supplication, supplicatory services and stuff that were just recently published by St T Gons, and Father Michael over at St T Gons is going to hook me up with those. But yeah, because when it comes to spiritual reading, it's like I I'm one of those people where I'll find something I really like and go back to it, and the number one for me I will. If I could order a case of these and just start throwing them at people, I would is way of the aesthetics by Tito Goliander. It's it's about thick and it weighs a ton, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I have found that the shorter the work, the heavier the content tends to be. That's one of them. Unfortunately, the spiritual Psalter of St Ephraim from St John of Crownstaff Press is no longer in print, but there's another translation out there that I haven't checked out yet. But that's another one where, like even as a devotional sometimes I'll just go to it and it's just, it's good. You know I really do.
Speaker 1:You know, keeping things simple on the show is just an extension of how I do things in my daily life. You know, I try to stay as simple as possible, you know, for instance, you know, talking about going back to books, I've already read when I was living at the monastery. You know there's a reading list like yeah, it'll say, okay, now you've got to read this book and you know, jot down whatever comes to your mind. So I read like maybe a half a dozen books in the five months I was there and you know, with extensive notes and stuff, and I'm like, wow, I really want to read that again. So like the northern today, which is all about, you know, the desert fathers of Northern Russia and stuff like that that I would love to go back through Because I just don't. I don't absorb information the way most people do, I suppose, and so I lose a lot of it.
Speaker 2:So I think that's. I mean, that's true of a lot of people around fail, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:It reminds me of a. I believe it's a quote by Saint John Chrysostom and he was upraiding the people, for I believe and I can't quote, this is a paraphrase, but I believe he was saying something like don't criticize priests for speaking. You know every service, because in the same way that your body needs food constantly, your soul also needs to constantly eat spiritual nourishment. So I thought that was really good, because it's it's not a one and done. It's not a one and done, not at all. Yeah, guess what? If you like mac and cheese, you'll probably go back to mac and cheese, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like like what you're saying with the readings. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you know there's also something to be said about adding half a can of condensed tomato soup to your mac and cheese. Chrysostom's great, but you know what's also good, like you know basil and finacea. So it's like you know you have different flavors.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's funny you mentioned that, saint John saying that. I was on the phone with a fellow earlier today, randy, who that's another story altogether. But we were talking about homilies in church and how certain priests tend to keep things like Protestant simple in a sense, and it struck me that I think and this, this, this may be a product of just having so many converts and so many catechumens these days in our churches.
Speaker 2:Thank.
Speaker 1:God, amen. That's good to hear, I think. I think it's okay to trust the congregation to have more brain cells than people think they do, and it's okay to go deep on things in a homily. Not everyone is an academic, but if you're in the church you can probably handle anything a priest can throw at you or I should hope so and if not, you know you're going as a priest afterwards.
Speaker 2:Sure sure, or you will eventually, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:So I'm just. I'm a big fan of deep homilies. You know I usually don't remember them, but I appreciate them when they happen.
Speaker 2:Rafael, I was encouraged to hear what you just said in terms of the large number of catechumens coming in, etc. We actually, nick and I, had a conversation the other day with another Orthodox podcaster and he was saying he was from a parish, that it was not the case, that it was kind of a more ethnic parish. And they weren't. It wasn't a convert parish, and I think he had said Nick correct me if I'm wrong he was the only convert there, or something of that nature. Do you mind, rafael, saying what diocese are you in currently and do you know why? Or maybe talk to us about what you guys are seeing in terms of the influx?
Speaker 1:Oh, sure, sure, sure. I attend St Basil, the great Orthodox Church. We used to be in Wilmington, North Carolina, but now we're actually on the outskirts in a township called Castle Hane, but still in the greater Wilmington area.
Speaker 1:We are OCA, diocese of the South, awesome. So we started out in a church basement and then went to a warehouse and we were in the warehouse when I converted all those years ago and then a few years later we finally raised enough money to build a building. So we got about seven and a half acres out in Castle Hane. We built a building and at that point we had maybe 30 years ago per missioners. We are now maxed out. On a regular Sunday we have anywhere between 100 and 125 people.
Speaker 3:Wow glory to.
Speaker 1:God Amen, and a lot of young people. A lot of young people, but also a lot of people from the old country Russians, Ukrainians, Romanians, Serbians so we have a really interesting mixture of people like immigrants literal immigrants and then cradle orthodox and then converts. Now, when I converted, I was the only catacomber there. We had a regular Sunday with anywhere like 12 to 20 people on a Sunday. So in 10, 11 years, that's quadrupled. Pardon me, I just got to reposition myself, and so when it comes to the catacombs, we're getting it's. God has blessed this parish. For what reason, I don't know, Because we've had everything from like an entire family's like husband, wife and kids from the Catholic church come in. Wow, We've had complete atheists who, I don't know, discovered orthodoxy online or had an aha moment or whatever come in and be received. Neo-agents, people that just found orthodoxy by accident. Well, I don't believe anyone finds it by accident. It's the will of God.
Speaker 2:If accident, you call it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly. So, like right now. I think we have six or eight catacombs right now and I think most of them will be received this upcoming TASCA. Some of them may be sooner, but you know, and the age range is like, and I'm getting messages from teenagers, you know, like still in high school, that are like my parents won't let me go to the orphanage first. I do, I'm like I just pray, dude, see, when we're 18, I guess. So we really do like we run the gamut there, and I think part of it is because Wilmington is a college town. It's close to a couple of military bases. So we have, you know, we have military yeah, I tend on the regular, and in fact two of the catacombs are military, yeah, which is cool, and then so, and because it's a college town, it's also very progressive, and so when people are looking for, you know, looking to follow Christ and not looking for a rainbow flag, the Orthodox Church is really the only game in town.
Speaker 2:Amen. You know, everything you said, rafael and I knew Nick everything you said could be applied to our parish. Seriously, even to the military military college town, same, you know, died demographics that are coming in, Nick, at this stage we probably have, I don't know, five, six saints saying about of the catacombs, something like that. That's really amazing. It's beautiful.
Speaker 3:It is a beautiful thing, I feel like there, this needs to be documented because I feel like maybe it's not the same with you, but I feel like covid really was this catalyst and we were talking about this in our other conversation. Oh yeah, I feel like a lot of people just got blackpilled or call it whatever you want. But people woke up. You know from all ranges. You know from, like you said, atheism, neo-paganism, college kids, you know, and young people, you know, suicidal people, I mean everyone. They're just kind of somehow, by God's grace.
Speaker 2:Dude, yeah, they're lukewarm orthodoxy, lukewarm orthodoxy.
Speaker 1:Yup Getting pulled back.
Speaker 1:I mean it was. It was definitely a separating the wheat from the chaff, because first you had people that their faith was wishy-washy so they just never came back. But then you had people that were stuck alone at home and, like, all you have to do is like look at a screen all day and you start thinking about, you know, okay, where does life go from here? And then there's Christ, okay, there's the church Wow, great. And so you know, the floodgates are open. So you know, for every individual our parish at least, that didn't come back after covid we gained two more People that maybe were neglecting their faith all of a sudden realized just how much they, they missed communion. You know, hey, that's the best of us. So, yeah, I think that was. You know, despite whatever you might think about the reasoning behind the lockdowns and all that, the one thing you did do was light a fire under some people's butts and get them running.
Speaker 3:Yeah, find some help.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I will. I will crawl on bloody stumps to get to a liturgy if I have to, and it's nice to know there's other people that that would do that too. Yeah, so.
Speaker 3:I was wondering have you seen your own podcast, your own channel, become a ministry to bring people outside of, like you know, your geographical radius?
Speaker 1:Oh, I've been told it is. Yeah, I've, and this is not usually the kind of information that I'd advertise because you know I just I struggle with ego a lot, but you know I've had priests reach out to me over the years and call this a ministry because of that, and I try to ignore what they're saying because the moment I start taking this too seriously, I think it can go very, very wrong. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:But I, you know, there are. You know I don't have a whole lot. I've got like 5600 subscribers right now, so it's not like this massive audience or anything. But two families at my parish found me before they found the church. Thanks be to God. Like well, not me, not me, the channel, they found the church. Yeah so yeah it's huge.
Speaker 1:I got to strike the word me from my vocabulary. But yeah, so God's doing something. I'm going to let him keep doing his work and I'll just flatten my gums and yeah, that's great, that's exciting, Exactly yeah thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2:Please pray for us Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I've got a very long list.
Speaker 2:Yeah, rafael, I want to ask you and we don't want to keep you too long, because I know you're. It's okay, I can see you've got some structural issues there.
Speaker 1:My arthritis is acting up. Yeah, sorry, it's like that.
Speaker 2:And the cold doesn't help. I'm sure Nick and I want to begin to ask on every interview and you can't say Saint Rafael, okay, because I know that might be your first answer. He can't answer with him. If you were to have the power to say to cloud witnesses, journey with the saints, hey, I want you guys to cover this saint. Who would it be and why?
Speaker 1:Oh, that's a fantastic question. All right, dorotheos of Gaza why?
Speaker 3:I actually don't know his story because no one knows about there you go.
Speaker 2:I want you to know.
Speaker 1:He wrote the very first book that the very first book Father of Seraphim assigns to anyone coming to Holy Cross is the Discourses and Sangs of Dorotheos of Gaza. And you want to talk about a desert father amongst desert fathers. You give Saint Anthony a run for as much. Wow, wow, they're all one of each other. But yeah, he's one of them. Okay, nice.
Speaker 3:That's cool, nice that's good to know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:He wasn't on my radar.
Speaker 1:My man. He's a powerhouse of monastic wisdom.
Speaker 3:Awesome, amen, great. That's awesome. I'll have to look up the story and, who knows, maybe we'll find some time to get his story in.
Speaker 2:Lord willing, right it's right in the future.
Speaker 1:Hey, but you know what? Now, everyone that's watched this podcast up to this point has heard that name, so now they can just go out and do it. It's true.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. That's the whole point of our podcast and our channel is to educate people in an engaging way, the lives of the saints and how applicable they are, and it's just a treasure house, right.
Speaker 1:It's a treasure house, so we're just trying to bring that wealth.
Speaker 2:Thank you and Rafael, what one of the nice things about what we're doing because what you said a lot earlier really resonated with me and I'm sure it does with Nick as well, because we talk about this a lot and that's that idea of ego and the challenge of it.
Speaker 2:As here we are, right, we're all in front of cameras, we're all on the internet, you know, putting ourselves out there, and it is a major concern and an issue and obviously has to be a constant source of prayer, etc. But what I was going to say was one of the slight benefits that we have with our format is we're trying just to put the saints in front, you know, just put the saints, the saints story, their faith, their journey, and we can kind of, you know, lord willing, we're able to say, hey, we have nothing to do with it, it's completely us, the saints, by the grace of God. So, anyways, that's, I appreciate what you were saying on that point, rafael, because it is a very real issue and, you know, lord, have mercy and people listening right now. If you would please pray for, pray for us, pray for Orthodox review and pray for cloud of witnesses.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I gotta tell you like it's refreshing to see someone doing what you're doing, because I mean, you look at someone like presiding on films and it's like it's cool, like they have nice artwork and it's and it's like pretty much just someone reading a prologue, right, and I'm okay with that. That's fine. But I think humanizing the writings of the saints by having people act them out, you know, vocally at least, I think it makes it a little more tangible, a little more real. Because more often than not and maybe it's just me you can get into a book where you're reading the life of a saint or you're reading the saints or whatever, and it's just like it just feels like a textbook, feels like homework or whatever, whereas where, when it's presented to you in a dramatic fashion, I hate to say it, but these days we just as a culture, tend to absorb that information. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that way. That way is. I mean I'm here for it.
Speaker 1:I'm all for it.
Speaker 3:Sorry to God. Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much. That means a lot to us, rafael.
Speaker 2:It means a lot to us. We really appreciate that. You can't say enough how much that means to us, because that is absolutely our goal. Rafael, where where I want to give you the last word, but before you do so, where can our audience find you and how would you like them to contact you?
Speaker 1:Okay, well, of course you know there's the YouTube channel Orthodox review. If anyone ever wants to reach out to me, orthodox review at gmailcom. I also have Instagram that I don't often post to, but I do get messages through there. We also have a Discord server, which the links for that are all on the YouTube page and whatnot, and if it's a really dire situation I will give up iPhone, which I've done. So, but yeah, orthodox review at gmailcom. Orthodox review on YouTube. Rafael Fiedler on YouTube as well. That's my secret channel and if you correctly figure out how to spell my name, you'll you'll be in for it.
Speaker 2:There you go, a little Easter egg, that's cool.
Speaker 1:I think it's either a treat or something you just wish you'd not known. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, this video isn't cool, but this is. This is very nice.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you so much for sharing.
Speaker 1:Well, thank God, thank God, Thank you so much for having me on. It's always a pleasure to talk to other absolutely Orthodox creators and people that just you know take their faith seriously. But you know, don't like pounding on desks.
Speaker 2:And hopefully take their faith seriously, but maybe don't take themselves too seriously, lord willing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a good way of putting it. Yeah, yeah, Well.
Speaker 2:Rafael, we really appreciate it. This was a lot of fun, right? Lord willing, let's do this again sometime.
Speaker 1:Yeah, always happy to run my mouth.
Speaker 2:Have a great night. Stay warm out there. Thank you as well, god bless you. Thank you, thank you, god bless you.