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?

Matthew Namee, Executive Director of the Orthodox Studies Institutes, shares a new study tracking the disturbing reality of the major deficit in Orthodox clergy being ordained in the United States. How did we get here? What are the contributing factors? How do the Orthodox compare against non-Orthodox churches? What are the ramifications of the shortage? What is the goal of priestly formation? He also shares suggestions for both short- and long-term solutions.

What was it like to hang around with St. Raphael of Brooklyn? Did you know St. Tikhon had a brother who was in love with an opera singer? What about the mysterious Bulgarian monk who tried to convert the leader of the Mormons and became a ghost story in the Old West? In this video from Fr. Andrew's YouTube channel, he interviews Matthew Namee, Executive Director of the Orthodox Studies Institute and author of the newly published "LOST HISTORIES: The Good, the Bad & the Strange in Early American Orthodoxy." They also discuss what the new Orthodox Studies Institute is all about, as well as Matthew's Orthodox History website.

In this conversation from Fr. Andrew's YouTube channel, he welcomes Jonathan Pageau to discuss the Meaning Crisis and how the gospel of Jesus Christ responds to it. What is this crisis? Where did it come from? How is it affecting us and our world? And how does the gospel make sense of the crisis and heal us from it?

Fr. Andrew interviews two of the nuns of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex, England, who share with him the life and teachings of St. Sophrony (Sakharov), who founded the monastery. The interview was conducted on-site in the personal study of St. Sophrony at the monastery.

Fr. Nicholas Palis joins Fr. Andrew in the studio to tell him stories about his own encounters with five canonized saints -- Paisios the Athonite, Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis of Athos, Ephraim of Katounakia, Porphyrios of Athens, and Sophrony of Essex -- as well as other holy people -- Fr. Nikodimos (Nicholas) Kossis and Fr. Eustathios Giannakidis and his wife. His moments with these holy people contain wisdom, wit, sorrow and joy, and warmth from the Savior Christ.

Dr. David Ford, Professor of Church History at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, author and editor of multiple books, has a special love for St. John Chrysostom. He tells the story of how he became an Orthodox Christian, his life as a professor at St. Tikhon’s Seminary, his emphasis on writing about marriage and married saints, and his new volume of the works of the golden-mouthed preacher from Antioch.

During a pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain of Athos, Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick collected interviews with pilgrims, talking about their purpose for going to the mountain and what they received while they were there. Included along with these short interviews is a longer conversation between several of the pilgrims and a holy elder living in Kelli Marouda, a small monastic settlement near Karyes, the center of the Athonite world.

Coloratura soprano Dr. Fotina Naumenko, Professor of Voice at Shenandoah University and the daughter of a Russian Orthodox priest, tells the story of becoming a professional classical singer while remaining a faithful Orthodox Christian, as well as her passion for teaching people how to pronounce Russian arias. Spectacular virtuosic hi-jinks included.

Archpriest Pimen Simon, pastor of the Russian Orthodox Old Rite Church of the Nativity of Erie, Pennsylvania, tells the story of the Old Believer movement and how he led his parish from being priestless Old Believers to receiving the priesthood from the Russian Orthodox Church.

Kassiane, the Chinese Language Content Officer of Ancient Faith Ministries, shares the story of her life between China and North America, telling along the way how Christianity is deeply embedded in the millennia-old Chinese language, what it means to be a Chinese Christian, and how the gospel of Jesus Christ, as understood in the Orthodox Church, may be preached most effectively in one of the most ancient cultures in the world.

Season 2 of Orthodox Engagement opens its story-telling with a consummate story-teller – Deacon Nicholas Kotar, author, choirmaster, translator and podcaster. The conversation begins with a look at the Story of the Pandemic and opens into a deeper exploration of the culture-wide and personal effects of Story and its relation to the greatest story given to humanity – the gospel of Jesus Christ.