Best Fr. Geoffrey Ready Podcasts (2025)

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Land, Leadership, and Liturgy: Drafting a Response to the TRC Call for Action 38:28

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6d ago38:28

38:28

Fr Yuri presents a first draft of a statement to post on the Canadian Orthodox Church's website that will serve as a (somewhat informal) response to the TRC, that he prepared based on the previous episodes of this season. Paragraph by paragraph, Fr Geoffrey offers suggestions on how to strengthen the message, making sure that the theology is clear,…

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Land, Leadership, and Liturgy: Orthodoxy and Indigenous Peoples - UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 40:18

13d ago40:18

40:18

In this week's episode, we focus our discussion on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Parsing out each word in that title - what does it mean to be a "person", and "indigenous", what are "rights" - there is plenty to talk about, and we draw on ideas from Fr Thomas Hopko, Martin Luther King and Tom Holland (the historian, not th…

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Land, Leadership, and Liturgy: Orthodoxy and Indigenous Peoples - Reconnecting 31:16

14d ago31:16

31:16

We return to our series after a summer away, having had time to reflect on the discussion with Deacon John. Among other things, it serves as a good reminder that it can be all too easy to approach this issue with high level ideas and concepts. The truth is that on all sides of this issue can be found very real people, affected in very real ways, wh…

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Land, Leadership, and Liturgy: Perspectives on Orthodoxy and Indigenous Peoples - Deacon John Schantz 34:37

26d ago34:37

34:37

Please join us in extending a warm welcome to our special guest Fr Dcn John Schantz, who shares his family's background and its connection to missionary work with Indigenous persons, and his professional work as a pediatric cardiologist serving a population in which Indigenous people are affected disproportionately. In this thoughtful discussion, w…

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Land, Leadership, and Liturgy: Reviewing the Other Churches' Responses 40:45

30d ago40:45

40:45

Words matter. Sometimes words fall short and they disappear in short order, yet when done right they make a profound impact and can be remembered and quoted decades and even centuries later (think Nostra Aetate, or the Creed). In this episode, we take a look at the statements made by other Canadian churches in response to the Truth and Reconciliati…

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Land, Leadership, and Liturgy: Orthodoxy on Turtle Island 40:54

1M ago40:54

40:54

In today's episode, we focus our discussion on Orthodoxy in relation to the indigenous peoples of Turtle Island. As in the last episode when we spoke about St Stephen of Perm, there are many North American saints who "got it right" as well, recognizing the theological similarities and compatibility between various forms of indigenous spirituality a…

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Land, Leadership, and Liturgy: History of Orthodoxy and Indigenous Peoples (Outside North America) 44:28

2M ago44:28

44:28

In this episode, Fr Yuri and Fr Geoffrey focus in on how Orthodoxy has historically approached its mission of bringing Christianity to other cultures, before coming to North America (don't worry, we'll get to North America soon!). If we look honestly at the history of how Orthodox Christians have shared the Good News, we didn't always get it right,…

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Land, Leadership, and Liturgy: Orthodoxy and Indigenous Peoples - Introduction 31:35

2M ago31:35

31:35

If we are truly to be the Canadian Orthodox Church, we need to be attuned to our people. Throughout this season, Fr Geoffrey and Fr Yuri will explore ways that the Liturgy can (and should) reflect the place we're in, and specifically how we can effectively work with the efforts of Truth & Reconciliation with the indigenous peoples of Canada in an i…

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Finale - E11 - The Hours at Home 31:17

1y ago31:17

31:17

It's time to wrap up our series on The Hours at Home! We hope this has been as refreshing and freeing for you as it has been for us. So much of the emphasis in Orthodoxy can be on doing something "right" or "completely", but this series has been about how we can actually, in practical ways, engage in the daily prayer of the Church that makes sense …

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The Weekly Cycle - E10 - The Hours at Home 33:25

1y ago33:25

33:25

"Eight Days a Week": a classic Beatles song, yes, but also the Orthodox approach to the weekly cycle of prayer! Fr Geoffrey and Fr Yuri discuss the theme of each day of the week, how they relate to our human experience, and also offer practical advice on how to incorporate the themes into our home prayer life. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★…

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Ninth Hour - E09 - The Hours at Home 30:21

1y ago30:21

30:21

We come now to the Ninth Hour, the last service of the day, and the time to re-collect ourselves after being disoriented by our many worldly cares and concerns during the day. Fans of "The Office" might transition from work by playing "Closing Time" (if you know, you know), but the Ninth Hour encourages us instead to use this time to focus on the t…

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Sixth Hour - E08 - The Hours at Home 28:47

1y ago28:47

28:47

In Psalm 54(55) we hear, "Evening, morning and at noon, will I tell of it and declare it and He will hear my voice." We've already seen how Matins and Vespers are the bookends of the day, as dark transitions to light and light to dark. Now we see how when the sun is at its unrelenting peak, our daily rhythms also naturally lend themselves to prayer…

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Third Hour - E07 - The Hours at Home 28:58

1y ago28:58

28:58

The Third Hour is generally served between 9am and 12noon, which corresponds for many of us to the middle of our work morning. It's rather a rough time to stop for prayer, risking the interruption of our workflow. But what if — what if! — instead of seeing these services as being in competition with what we're doing in our day, we began to see them…

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First Hour - E06 - The Hours at Home 30:49

1y ago30:49

30:49

This is the hour in the daily cycle of prayer that doesn't have a high profile in the communal life of the church, often just tacked on to the beginning or end of another service, if it's celebrated at all. In contrast to the other services, which have fuller expressions in the church and we are offering ways to do it more modestly at home, this pa…

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Matins - E05 - The Hours at Home 27:05

1y ago27:05

27:05

It is cockcrow, the time when light just begins to break through the darkness, and the time for Matins. But don't go out and buy your rooster just yet (Fr Yuri is still trying to return his!) — the goal of this series is to help you enact the services of the daily cycle at home in a practical and sustainable way. Thematically, Matins is the mirror …

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Midnight Office - E04 - The Hours at Home 31:10

1y ago31:10

31:10

Midnight Office is a service that Orthodox Christians rarely do, if ever. But don't worry, we are not going to ask you to set an alarm in the wee hours of the morning, disrupting your much-needed rest! The question this series is attempting to answer is, "How do the Hours make sense in (and how do they help us make sense of) our lives?", and not, "…

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Compline - E03 - The Hours at Home 30:28

1y ago30:28

30:28

The hymns and prayers of the Hours are intimately linked to the time of day, but also to our human experiences at that time of day. Compline is served in the evening, after supper, when the sun is fully set and our own biological rhythms are slowing down. The service invites us to silence, repentance and forgiveness - in fact, when done in the cont…

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Vespers - E02 - The Hours at Home 37:23

1y ago37:23

37:23

In this series, we are encouraging you to bring the services of the hours into your home, as a natural extension of communal and liturgical church life. Today's episode will focus on Vespers, that service that straddles the transition from day to evening, from light to darkness. ETK's first public season was a (very thorough!) season on this servic…

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Series Introduction - E01 - The Hours at Home 36:44

1y ago36:44

36:44

The average Orthodox Christian does not actually pray the services of the church at home, the continuing cycle of prayers that Christians have been praying since the early days of the church, but rather prays the morning and evening prayers prescribed in prayer books. This has created a disconnect between the individualized and privatized prayer li…

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Finale - E13 - Narrative Theology 34:53

1+ y ago34:53

34:53

Fr Geoffrey and Fr Yuri wrap up our series on Narrative Theology and the discussion of Samuel Wells' book "Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics" with an overview of what we've learned and how we should move forward with this knowledge. While we navigate and improvise the fourth act of this five act play, we must remain faithful to the first…

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Wealth & Accumulation - E12 - Narrative Theology 30:06

1+ y ago30:06

30:06

Uniquely among the topics we've addressed so far in this series, wealth and accumulation has been an issue that humans have struggled with for all of history. There's nothing new here. There are many biblical examples of what it looks like to block, accept and over-accept into the wider story of God, throughout the Old Testament and also through th…

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Transgenderism - E11 - Narrative Theology 33:34

1+ y ago33:34

33:34

And we're back! We continue our series on Narrative Theology, looking at transgenderism within the improvisation model of Christian ethics. There are again so many offers on the table, and many more nuanced ways of accepting and blocking these offers, but how do we move to over-accept, wrapping this story up within the greater story of God? In both…

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Sex & Gender - E10 - Narrative Theology 34:28

1+ y ago34:28

34:28

In this episode, Fr Geoffrey and Fr Yuri tackle the topic "Sex & Gender" as they continue to run the issues chosen by our patrons through the improvisation model we've explored in this series. This method allows us to take on a certain way of being in which we faithfully, in every moment, live the fullness of the tradition we have received in the f…

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Transhumanism - E9 - Narrative Theology 32:39

1+ y ago32:39

32:39

Over the next few episodes, Fr Geoffrey and Fr Yuri will be addressing some of the thorny issues of our modern age, filtering them through the elements of narrative theology that we've been exploring over this series such as forming habits, assessing status, accepting, blocking, etc. Our patrons chose transhumanism as the first topic: a vision of m…

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Reincorporating the Lost - E8 - Narrative Theology 31:25

1+ y ago31:25

31:25

Whether through improv, songs or stories, audiences are delighted when the narrative draws to an end and elements that had been seemingly discarded are brought back into play. In fact, "Reincorporating the Lost" is necessary to bring a fulfilling conclusion to any story (just ask a child whose parent has attempted to summarize the ending to a plot!…

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Receiving Gifts - E7 - Narrative Theology 31:44

1+ y ago31:44

31:44

Instead of a binary decision between accepting gifts without discernment, or blocking them without engagement (neither of which would make for good improv theatre), there is also a third option, that of over-accepting, which focuses on the way we receive the gift. Rather than focus on what the gift IS, or what the gift is FOR, or even whether it is…

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Questioning Givens - E6 - Narrative Theology 30:45

1+ y ago30:45

30:45

In the previous episode "Accepting & Blocking", we discussed the importance in improv of using the strategy of "Yes, and..." to further the narrative. Of course, there are multiple ways of saying yes, and often this requires us to question givens. The givens we assume can imprison the way we think and act, but when we question those givens we can r…

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Accepting & Blocking - E5 - Narrative Theology 31:47

1+ y ago31:47

31:47

"I'm not your mom, and you're actually a dog". A ridiculous reply, without a doubt (especially taken out of context, but you'll have to listen to the podcast for that). Tragically, the Church sounds precisely like this most of the time. A blocking response like this one is based on fear. Fear that we cannot let go of control of the narrative, fear …

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Assessing Status - E4 - Narrative Theology 35:36

1+ y ago35:36

35:36

"Assessing Status" is a game that improv actors use to develop their skills, and it's also a game that we play daily as we interact with other people. It's part of the context of every relationship, every encounter. High and low status are neither good nor bad in and of themselves, but both are assumed as roles and can be used to move the narrative…

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Forming Habits - E3 - Narrative Theology 33:09

1+ y ago33:09

33:09

In this episode, Fr Yuri and Fr Geoffrey reflect on a chapter in Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics by Samuel Wells... well, Fr Yuri improvises his part in the reflection (and a good job he does, indeed!). We make a mistake when we think of ethics as only being issues and struggles that interrupt our "normal life". In fact, this view is e…

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Drama & Improvisation - E2 - Narrative Theology 35:15

1+ y ago35:15

35:15

If life is a play, indeed a drama, what are our lines? Fr Geoffrey and Fr Yuri explore the analogy of God's story as a five act play, where we have intimate knowledge of the three acts that have come before, book-ended by intimate knowledge of the final act, while in the midst of act four. As Christians we often look for a script, or mistakenly thi…

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Doing the Right Thing - E1 - Narrative Theology 31:58

1+ y ago31:58

31:58

We enter into our new series, Narrative Theology, by considering what it means to do the right thing, and by what methods we should discern what the right thing is anyway. Ethics are based on stories such as what a human person is, what the goal of our being is, and what constitutes a good life. As Christians, our ethics are based on the greatest s…

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Finale - E19 - Your Liturgical Bible 34:53

2y ago34:53

34:53

We come to the final episode of our series on Your Liturgical Bible, which has been focused on the pillars of the bible and its narrative themes, connecting what's written in the bible with what we do through ritual. We have seen that in the Orthodox church, liturgical worship is the primary way we experience the Scriptures, express our faith and e…

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King - E18 - Your Liturgical Bible 33:31

2y ago33:31

33:31

The core theme of the Scriptures could be considered to be the theme of monarchy. Initially the biblical narrative seems to imply that having a king would be desirable, despite prophetic warnings against, and then we see the kings of Israel fail again and again. So is it a good idea to have a king, or not? The fact is, our human expectations of kin…

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Promised Land - E17 - Your Liturgical Bible 32:15

2y ago32:15

32:15

The imagery of land and promised land in the Scriptures can be lost on those of us who live in lands of abundance. But we must also be careful to understand that the promised land is not merely imagery. It is a very real parcel of territory from which God's promises are shown to move out into the world. There can be a tendency amongst Christian to …

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Image of God - E16 - Your Liturgical Bible 30:20

2y ago30:20

30:20

As we see in the Scriptures, the Israelites had a very mature, deep and rich understanding of what it means to be an image of God. Interestingly, the word used for being an image of God is also the same word that is used for an idol, showing a duality we need to be cautious of, and the importance of ordering ourselves according to the divine and no…

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Family - E15 - Your Liturgical Bible 29:45

2y ago29:45

29:45

Christians like to tout that the Bible is all about family values, but what do we really mean by that? In fact, the very first thing that happens in God's plan of salvation is that Abram is told to abandon his family and nation in order to form a new family by which, God promises, all families will be blessed. Fr Geoffrey and Fr Yuri discuss this a…

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Resurrection - E14 - Your Liturgical Bible 30:00

2y ago30:00

30:00

What did Second Temple Jews believe about Sheol, the realm of the dead, and resurrection? There are resurrection - or bodily resuscitation - accounts throughout the scriptures, so how did the various sects interpret those accounts? Were they considered symbolic, historic or prophetic, personal or communal? In this episode of Your Liturgical Bible, …

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Life After Death - E13 - Your Liturgical Bible 31:20

2+ y ago31:20

31:20

Typically, and sadly, when we hear the words "life after death", we think of what happens to our soul after our body dies. Maybe it even spurs us to make sure that we are doing the proper things, thinking the proper way, checking the right boxes, achieving a spiritual condition that will assure we are on the right side of that equation. The scriptu…

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Ark - E12 - Your Liturgical Bible 35:20

2+ y ago35:20

35:20

When we hear the word "ark", many of us think of Noah or Moses (...or perhaps Indiana Jones). What is an ark? What are we meant to call to mind when we read about arks in the scriptures, and how does this biblical imagery express itself in our liturgical worship? Fr Geoffrey and Fr Yuri explore these questions, and caution that we are not meant to …

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Divine Council - E11 - Your Liturgical Bible 32:35

2+ y ago32:35

32:35

Time to get uncomfortable! Instead of trying to explain away the "lowercase g" gods, Fr Yuri and Fr Geoffrey define what is meant by the "Divine Council", both in common parlance and also within the Orthodox context and understanding. As we read the scriptures and participate in the liturgy, it's important to understand what monotheism is, and what…

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Wind - E10 - Your Liturgical Bible 31:07

2+ y ago31:07

31:07

Wind, breath and spirit. In English we have these three words, but there is just one word in the Hebrew (ruach) and the Greek (pneuma). In fact, there are many more metaphorical applications of this word, such as air, anger, blast, courage, despondency, quick-tempered, inspired, trustworthy and wrath. This spirit, breath and wind portrays God's act…

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Fire - E9 - Your Liturgical Bible 31:34

2+ y ago31:34

31:34

When we think of fire in the Bible, we may come up with images of hellfire, the judgement of God and a casting away from His presence. In actuality, fire is used in scripture as a way of God revealing Himself and His holiness. Fire is God's presence which humans encounter, which refines and purifies - and in this way, it's not wrong to think of fir…

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Trees - E8 - Your Liturgical Bible 31:35

2+ y ago31:35

31:35

People are trees! Except it's a bit more nuanced than that because you need to also keep in mind... trees are people! Right from the Genesis story, we see that trees (and seeds) feature prominently in the scriptural narrative, and often mirror the human story. Fr Geoffrey and Fr Yuri offer tools for your "biblical literacy toolbelt" to help you unp…

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Wilderness - E7 - Your Liturgical Bible 31:06

2+ y ago31:06

31:06

To be human is to experience times of wilderness. That is, wilderness the way Israelites understood and lived it. In modern times we tend to think of wilderness as a lush getaway, a place of refuge from our urban environment, but in the Scriptural context it is a place of desolation and lack and need, a place of testing, and a time of drawing neare…

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Mountains - E6 - Your Liturgical Bible 31:47

2+ y ago31:47

31:47

Symbolically, to be on a high place is to be on secure dry land, where creation flourishes and where God dwells among His people in an awesome and awful (or rather awe-full) way. In this episode, Fr Yuri and Fr Geoffrey discuss the ways mountains appear in the Scriptures, how we understand the meaning of mountains throughout the scriptural story an…

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Waters of Death - E5 - Your Liturgical Bible 30:55

2+ y ago30:55

30:55

Continuing on with the theme of water, in this episode Fr Geoffrey and Fr Yuri plunge into the Waters of Death - the chaotic, deadly, stagnant waters that are the counterpoint to the lifegiving waters that were explored last episode. Throughout the bible, in Genesis, Exodus, the prophets and the gospel accounts, the power of water is revealed. More…

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Waters of Life - E4 - Your Liturgical Bible 31:57

2+ y ago31:57

31:57

While the themes of the waters of life and death are intertwined in the Scriptures, in this episode, Fr Yuri and Fr Geoffrey explore the aspect of water that is life-giving and fruitful. From the creation account, through the prophets and into the New Testament, the Scriptures are woven through with experiences of living water. As Orthodox Christia…

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The Forgotten Pillar - E3 - Your Liturgical Bible 30:51

2+ y ago30:51

30:51

We have now gone through the seven pillars of biblical literacy as outlined by the Bible Project podcast, but there is a pillar that was missed. This forgotten pillar, or perhaps better called the Pillar of Pillars, is the bible as Liturgical Literature. Of course the bible precedes our Divine Liturgy, yet if the Liturgy is understood as the experi…

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Pillars of Biblical Literacy - E2 - Your Liturgical Bible 32:20

2+ y ago32:20

32:20

"Your Liturgical Bible" is our new series created just for our patrons. We will be exploring what the bible is - and what it's not. We will discuss how we're meant to read Scripture, how it connects with Liturgy and our life, and how we can use it to enact the Kingdom. In this second of half of our series introduction, Fr Yuri and Fr Geoffrey explo…