As Iron Sharpens Iron

A conversation between Paul and Fr Josiah Trenham on “Integrity” and “Being a Man of Your Word” - centered on the Orthodox Christian faith.

As a father of three sons and an Orthodox Christian, I know that the most important measure of my success in fatherhood depends on my ability to lead my sons to Christ. I know that my actions speak far louder than my words, so thus being a man of integrity will determine my success.

I would like to understand better what St Paul says in Romans 7: "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do." And especially how I am to respond in the face of that - what are the sources of my own duplicity, twisted intentions, and darkened heart, how do I become more aware of these things in everyday life, and what am I to do about it.

In this conversation, I particularly ask, what is the reason that I am unable to recognize, even less control my inability to do what I say I want to do? And how do I handle my anger in a way that can bring me and my family closer to God.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

1:58 - The topic of Integrity in Jesus Christ

4:44 - St Paul as a model of human integrity

11:17 - Christian Hypocrisy

13:50 - Fake vulnerability vs true vulnerability in Christ

19:36 - On the wickedness of judging others

25:05 - The danger of anger

28:34 - What we should be angry about?

30:14 - Harnessing anger for courage

34:30 - St Moses the Black on prioritising your Life in Christ

38:35 - How to learn to see the Lord’s providence in your life

40:33 - Seeking Christ earnestly, with integrity

42:59 - Are you thrilled about participating in Divine Service?

45:04 - Seek First the Kingdom of God

48:18 - Male friendships for integrity

To check out Maniphesto Core, see: https://maniphesto.com/core-member/

To ask questions or get in touch with us, please join our Telegram Group here: https://t.me/isipodcast

Answer the cry of the Forerunner at our men’s retreat this September 27-29. Full information can be found here: https://www.avg2alpha.com/cry-of-the-forerunner/

Paul Robson and Father Joseph Gleason discussed the challenges of implementing liturgical family life, emphasizing the importance of a hierarchical structure and discipline in a family context. They also discussed the significance of daily family prayer, the role of child discipline, and the need for humility, repentance, and forgiveness in family relationships. They concluded that discipline is a measure of love and that it is essential to teach children to repent and seek forgiveness.

To check out Maniphesto Core, see: https://maniphesto.com/core-member/

To ask questions or get in touch with us, please join our Telegram Group here: https://t.me/isipodcast

Answer the cry of the Forerunner at our men’s retreat this September 27-29. Full information can be found here: https://www.avg2alpha.com/cry-of-the-forerunner/

A conversation with Fr Joseph Gleason on homosexuality and the Orthodox church.

To check out Maniphesto Core, see: https://maniphesto.com/core-member/

To read more about Fr Joseph's work, see: https://movingtorussia.substack.com/

To ask questions or get in touch with us, please join our Telegram Group here: https://t.me/isipodcast

Answer the cry of the Forerunner at our men’s retreat this September 27-29. Full information can be found here: https://www.avg2alpha.com/cry-of-the-forerunner/

In this episode, Fr Michael Butler talks about some of the pluses and minuses of Internet Orthodoxy.

Please join us for further discussion on our Telegram group, which can be found here: https://t.me/isipodcast.

And answer the cry of the Forerunner at our men’s retreat this September 27-29. Full information can be found here: https://www.avg2alpha.com/cry-of-the-forerunner/

The modern man is bombarded with so many decisions about online voting, online dating,

Internet pornography, Bitcoin, blockchain, stable cryptocurrencies, gun control, crowd control, birth control, the highway patrol, gay-rights, women's rights, homosexuality, feminism, sexism, agesim, racism, and 100 other issues that seem so "new" to us today.

We think of ourselves as the first to ever face these issues. It never even occurs to us to crack open a dusty book in a library, to see what the Early Church Fathers and saints say about these topics, because, surely, they lived so long ago, that none of them ever even thought about such things. Right?

To check out Maniphesto Core, see: https://maniphesto.com/core-member/

To read more about Fr Joseph's work, see: https://movingtorussia.substack.com/

To ask questions or get in touch with us, please join our Telegram Group here: https://t.me/isipodcast

A conversation with Fr Michael Butler on the Orthodox Royal Path in a time of division and polarisation. We cover Fr Seraphim Rose, Church Fathers such as St John Cassian, topics such as evolution, and the current political climate especially in the USA.

For for information on Cry of the Forerunner retreat, see: https://avg2alpha.com/cry-of-the-

forerunner

For the pilgrimage to Mt Athos, check out: https://maniphesto.notion.site/Athos-Pilgrimage-2024-71a65456cc5b4422b58357012949009b

To check out Maniphesto Core, see: https://maniphesto.com/core-member/

To ask questions or get in touch with us, please join our Telegram Group here: https://t.me/isipodcast

Paul shares his 4 most important points he has learnt being an Orthodox Christian living far away from a local parish where the liturgy is served in an language he understands.

For for information on Cry of the Forerunner retreat, see: https://avg2alpha.com/cry-of-the-forerunner

To check out Maniphesto Core, see: https://maniphesto.com/core-member/

To ask questions or get in touch with us, please join our Telegram Group here: https://t.me/isipodcast

Getting back to basics, this is a conversation on how to start praying as an Orthodox Christian. After a short intro on our USA - Denmark - Russia connection, we cover starting prayer, the Orthodox prayer rule with pre-written prayers and spontaneous prayer, and then also cover a lot of praying as a family, particularly related to discipline.

For for information on Cry of the Forerunner retreat, see: https://avg2alpha.com/cry-of-the-forerunner

To ask questions or get in touch with us, please join our Telegram Group here: https://t.me/isipodcast

A conversation with Fr Michael, Fr Joseph and Paul on finding home in the Church, with a particular focus on participating in the fasts and feasts of the Church Year.

For for information on Cry oft he Forerunner retreat, see: https://avg2alpha.com/cry-of-the-forerunner

For the Pilgrimage to Essex with Fr Michael and Paul, check https://www.avg2alpha.com/mens-retreat-st-johns-monastery-essex/

To ask questions or get in touch with us, please join our Telegram Group here: https://t.me/isipodcast

This is a conversation between Fr Joseph Gleason and Paul on Fr Seraphim Rose's book: Nihilism: The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age. We cover especially the first chapter of the book in the context of our conversations on Orthodox masculinity, and how it relates to conversations about science, philosophy and evolution.

For for information on the Pilgrimage to Essex with Fr Michael and Paul, check https://www.avg2alpha.com/mens-retreat-st-johns-monastery-essex/

To ask questions or get in touch with us, please join our Telegram Group here: https://t.me/isipodcast