What is a human—dust and breath, body and spirit—without tearing ourselves in two?
Deacon Anthony (St. Anthony the Great Orthodox Church, San Diego) joins Cloud of Witnesses with hosts Mario Andrew, Jeremy Jeremiah, and John for a rich, practical conversation on an Orthodox vision of the whole person and the mind (phronema) of the Church.

We trace a path away from the twin traps of indulgence (living by our appetites) and denial (pretending we’re already angelic), toward a fearless embrace of reality in Christ. Through Scripture, the Fathers, and stories from parish life, Deacon Anthony shows how God meets us in the tangible—mud on eyes, bread and wine, water and oil—to heal the heart and remake our lives.

In this episode you’ll hear:

• Body & Soul together: why the Incarnation means Christianity is never “purely spiritual” or “only physical.”
• The phronema (mindset) of the Church: how a Christian way of seeing reshapes what we notice, how we judge, and whom we love.
• Using God-given tools rightly: judge ourselves, not our neighbor; fear sin, not repentance; hate the illness, not the person.
• Confession as healing: real accountability, a spiritual father, and why naming sin breaks its power.
• Community over isolation: salvation is ecclesial and relational—you can’t be saved on an island.
• Heaven & hell begin now: entitlement and isolation taste like hell; humility and communion taste like heaven.
• Saints as role models: why children (and adults) need holy examples more than celebrities.
• Eucharist & the senses: why worship that engages sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch anchors faith in reality.

If “symbolic religion” has felt thin—or if modern “live-your-truth” scripts leave you empty—this conversation offers a hopeful, time-tested alternative: sacrament, repentance, and daily love that form the whole person in Christ.

Find an Orthodox Church near you today. Visit https://www.antiochian.org/home 

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What if reverence isn’t a feeling you chase, but a reality you enter?

This episode follows a grateful former Protestant named Michael from his upbringing all the way to a first Divine Liturgy in a small Orthodox chapel on a military base in Okinawa—and the quiet discoveries that happened along the way. Join Cloud of Witnesses hosts Jeremy Jeremiah and Mario Andrew as we move through warm family memories, the culture shock of military life, and the slow drift that happens when belief outruns practice. Then the trail turns: an old-school YouTube series on church history, the Jordan River baptismal site, a striking painting of confession, and even a meme about the Theotokos—little breadcrumbs pointing toward something older, deeper, and strangely familiar.

What we explore (without the debate club tone):

Icons, saints, Mary—through the Incarnation: not add-ons, but practices that flow from God made flesh and the Church’s unbroken life.

A reframing question: instead of “Were the early Fathers really Christians?” try “Would they recognize our faith as theirs?” That single question reshapes how we think about worship, authority, sacraments, and belonging to a parish that actually forms us.

Worship reimagined: the first Liturgy lands as awe-filled, ordered, communal—not performance or preference but the Church at prayer.

Accountability & spiritual fatherhood: why guidance matters when culture pulls hard—and how confession, obedience, and community keep us real.

Vocation with roots: plans for law school and faithful presence in public life, now steadied by a tradition that tells you who you are.

Gratitude without amnesia: love for Scripture and prayer received in Protestant homes, alongside honesty about what felt missing—continuity, reverence, and a daily rule of life.

If you’ve felt restless—church-hopping, yearning for weight and continuity—this conversation offers a gentle map: the ancient path is not a museum; it’s a living way that teaches hearts to pray, minds to think with the Church, and bodies to worship with all the senses.

Listen & share. If this resonates, subscribe and send to a friend who’s searching. In your review, tell us the one question you’d ask the early Church—what would you hope they recognize in your faith?

Questions about Orthodoxy? Please check out our friends at Ghost of Byzantium Discord server: https://discord.gg/JDJDQw6tdh

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Is the Non-Denominational Church Even A Church?  What do you think?

If you love Jesus and hunger for something older, deeper, and steadier than the non-denominational scene, this conversation is for you.

Cloud of Witnesses hosts Jeremy Jeremiah, Mario Andrew, and first time, special guest host Michael, weigh the spectacle of modern worship against the historic shape of the church and ask a hard question with charity: are non-denominational congregations churches, and are they the church Jesus founded. Personal stories, doctrine, and authority guide a candid look at formation, sacraments, and accountability.

We look gratefully at what many non-denom churches do well—zeal for the gospel, real hospitality to seekers—while asking a harder question: what actually makes a church the Church Jesus founded? From there we explore how that answer shapes worship, formation, and accountability over a lifetime.

What we unpack (high level):

Experience vs. endurance: how production-heavy services can spark decisions but fail to grow deep roots.

Doctrine & discipleship: why “results” metrics quietly displaced catechesis, repentance, and the classical pattern of spiritual growth.

Sacraments at the center: communion, baptism, confession—not as add-ons, but as Christ’s appointed means of grace.

Authority that can correct: the difference between a movement built on personalities and an institutional church with bishops, priests, and deacons in apostolic succession.

Oversight & ordination: what happens when there’s no higher court to address error—or to restore a fallen leader.

Belonging vs. floating: why “me and Jesus” Christianity leaves people spiritually unparented and communities fragile.

This isn’t a hit piece—it’s an appeal to fullness. If your faith feels powerful but thin, if leadership turnover keeps resetting the vision, or if you’re curious about ancient paths that have held through centuries, we point toward a visible, sacramental, and accountable church life that forms believers for the long haul.

Listen, share, and discuss with a friend who’s asking the same questions. If this helped you think more clearly about church and discipleship, subscribe, rate, and leave a review so others can find the show.

Questions about Orthodoxy? Please check out our friends at Ghost of Byzantium Discord server: https://discord.gg/JDJDQw6tdh

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A man climbs a ladder to hang drapes and slips into a lifetime’s truth: he’s been decorating emptiness. We sat with Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich and asked hard questions about status, ritual, and the kind of love that only shows up when it costs.

Quick story snapshot (Tolstoy): Ivan Ilyich, a successful judge with a “proper” life, suffers a fatal illness after a trivial accident. As pain strips away his self-deception, society’s politeness rings hollow—only the servant Gerasim meets him with honest compassion. In his final hours Ivan sees that a life ordered around comfort and appearances cannot save; repentance and self-giving love can.

What we explore (through an Orthodox lens):

• Marriage as sanctification, not transaction—a place where pride dies and love learns to serve.
• Rituals with a why—why liturgy and household habits either form us or numb us.
• Seeing with others’ eyes—how wives, husbands, converts, and cradle faithful re-read the same text and grow empathy.
• The bruise as a parable of sin—ignored at first, spreading quietly, distorting how we see those closest to us.
• Gerasim’s ordinary holiness—humility, patience, and joy as the persuasive answer to “main-character energy.”
• Recovering a shared moral language—how myth and realism help us talk about death, judgment, and mercy in an age of “my truth.”

Takeaway: Don’t wait for a deathbed to choose communion over isolation. Read bravely, examine your ladders, and practice the love that moves first—especially when it costs.

Questions about Orthodoxy? Please check out our friends at Ghost of Byzantium Discord server: https://discord.gg/JDJDQw6tdh

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Jeremy Jeremiah, Orthodox Christian, and host of today's Cloud of Witnesses episode, reacts and responds to Dillon Baker of The Protestant Gentleman podcast (https://www.youtube.com/@theprotestantgentleman) testimony that he, Dillon, is leaving the Non-Denominational church, and why.

What if the Sunday you know has drifted far from the church you need? We follow a thoughtful journey out of a non-denominational megachurch toward a rooted, reverent, and sacramental vision of Christian life. The conversation starts with authority and structure: why do so many churches teach different things, and who decides? From sola scriptura to elder boards with conflicting interpretations, we unpack how fragmentation becomes normal when there’s no visible, historic body to anchor doctrine and practice.

We trace the journey out of a non-denominational megachurch toward a historic, sacramental, and accountable expression of the church. Along the way we examine authority, discipleship, pastoral care, reverence, and why communion belongs at the center.

• identifying fragmentation born of solo interpretation and weak structures
• contrasting seeker models with worship for the baptized
• reclaiming the pastor as present shepherd, not executive
• rejecting a popular gospel that mutes sin and judgment
• restoring reverence through sacred space, symbols, and creeds
• embracing participatory liturgy over passive consumption
• naming the limits of unformed community group leadership
• elevating communion and baptism as the church’s heartbeat
• counting the relational cost of leaving and discerning next steps
• inviting conversation about apostolic continuity and unity

From there, we move into discipleship and the true purpose of Sunday. If church is designed as a seeker venue, believers become spectators and the gospel gets softer. We make the case that the gathered church should be for the baptized—shaping souls through confession, accountability, and the ordinary disciplines that form resilient Christians. That priority reframes the pastor’s role from CEO to shepherd and challenges the assumption that charismatic leadership and scalable programs equal spiritual health.

Reverence takes center stage as we explore the power of sacred space, ancient hymns, creeds, and participatory liturgy. This isn’t about aesthetics; it’s about recognizing the holiness of God and recovering practices that have carried the church for centuries. The climax lands on the sacraments, especially communion. We consider the real presence, why the Lord’s Table once stood at the heart of worship, and what is lost when a sermon becomes the main event. Along the way, we count the cost of leaving a beloved community and open a path toward unity with a church that offers accountability, depth, and apostolic continuity.

If you’re wrestling with megachurch hype, soft preaching, or surface fellowship, this conversation offers a map back to depth and stability. Listen, share with a friend, and then tell us: what anchors your worship—stage or altar? Subscribe for more thoughtful, tradition-aware conversations and leave a review to help others find the show.

Questions about Orthodoxy? Please check out our friends at Ghost of Byzantium Discord server: https://discord.gg/JDJDQw6tdh

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What if the church you’ve been searching for all along is the one you didn’t know existed? Kyle David shares how a lifetime of sincere belief still left him split between Sunday performance and weekday drift—until a medical collapse forced brutal honesty about faith, pride, and the limits of self-reliance. The story begins with restless church-hopping across megachurch stages and traditional pews, and moves through a pandemic-era return to the sanctuary that felt more like rebellion than routine.

We trace Kyle’s path from church fatigue and a divided life to a near-death crisis that reawakened faith, reverence, and daily discipline. The journey lands in Orthodoxy, where mystery is honored, repentance is central, and community finally feels like home.

• Protestant upbringing across multiple denominations
• dissatisfaction with casual worship and lack of reverence
• gap years from church without renouncing belief
• pandemic as a catalyst to reexplore tradition
• medical collapse, surgery, and dependence on grace
• honoring science while affirming providence
• music as a metaphor for spiritual discipline
• Eastern sense of mystery aligning with Orthodoxy
• finding belonging at St. Anthony the Great
• repentance and Christ as the physician of souls

That restlessness turns into a reckoning when COVID pneumonia, a hurricane evacuation, and months in hospitals strip away pretense. Kyle talks candidly about respecting modern medicine and still seeing providence at work: surgeons and science as channels, not the source, of healing. From that edge of life, he stops “presenting” as Christian and starts practicing one—daily prayer, Scripture, repentance, and a slower, steadier walk. We explore how Orthodoxy’s humility before mystery resonates with his Korean heritage and why the Church as a “hospital for the soul” shifted his understanding of mercy, sin, and healing.

Music threads through the conversation as a living metaphor. As a drummer, Kyle learned to keep time within and adjust to the room without losing the beat. That’s how he approaches faith now—discipline that makes space for grace. The turning point came at St. Anthony the Great in San Diego, where belonging finally felt honest: fewer smoke machines, more reverence; less hype, more healing. If you’ve felt the gap between head knowledge and a changed life, this story will meet you where you are and invite you deeper into a faith that doesn’t explain away mystery but teaches you to stand before it.

If this conversation moved you, tap follow, share it with a friend who’s searching, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.

Questions about Orthodoxy? Please check out our friends at Ghost of Byzantium Discord server: https://discord.gg/JDJDQw6tdh

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Truth That Burns, Love That Heals (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)

What if the most loving thing you can do is tell the ugliest truth? We gather the crew: Jeremy Jeremiah, Bri, James St. Simon, and Mario Andrew, to sit with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and pull apart the mendacity that keeps a family polished on the outside and starved on the inside. With literature professor James St. Simon and the team, we unpack Maggie’s raw persistence, Brick’s calculated indifference, and Big Daddy’s denial, tracing how confrontation becomes care when someone finally says what everyone already knows.

A family built on mendacity tries to hold shape while money, memory, and desire pull it apart. We trace how hard truth cuts open the wound, why Maggie stays on the roof, and how Brick’s numbness begins to thaw when lies finally fail.

• Maggie’s persistence as a test of love
• Brick’s addiction as avoidance of grief and desire
• Big Daddy’s denial and the cost of false reassurance
• The hot tin roof as a metaphor for truth and marriage
• Succession, status, and how families buy distraction
• Confession as an act of care, not cruelty
• Surgical model of reconciliation and slow healing
• Rain, sobriety, and the fragile hope of renewal

We start in that charged bedroom where Maggie claws for connection and Brick drowns in bourbon, then widen to the loud halls where inheritance schemes and polite lies pass for affection. Along the way, we explore the hot tin roof as a living metaphor: love that burns but purifies, truth that hurts but heals. We talk addiction beyond the bottle—shopping, status, busyness—and why families so often choose props over presence. The turning point comes as Brick forces Big Daddy to face mortality and Big Daddy forces Brick to face desire, betrayal, and grief. No flashbacks, no easy answers—just voices, pressure, and the slow relief that only honesty can bring.

From there, we map a practical path through reconciliation. Think surgery: you cut, remove the rot, and accept the scar. The rain-soaked confrontation reads like a baptism; Brick’s first dry minute hints that sober love is possible when denial finally breaks. The film’s ending resists fantasy, leaving stitches instead of smooth skin, and that’s the point. Healing is real, but it’s slow. If you’ve ever chosen distraction over intimacy or kept peace by keeping quiet, this conversation offers language, courage, and a way back to the table.

If this resonated, subscribe, share it with a friend who loves classic cinema and honest talk, and leave a review with the truth you’re choosing to face next.

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Icons, Conversion, And A Life Reframed

We trace Sdn Michael Roeder’s path from ministry and publishing to iconographer and the deaconate, exploring how a single purchase grew into a collection, a craft, and a new spiritual home. Along the way we unpack technique, tradition, and why icons feel like windows that also watch.

Join us for this Cloud of Witnesses exclusive, a presentation on an iconographer’s journey from faith, to art, to transcendence, to Orthodoxy, given only once at Point Loma Nazarene University, Thursday, October 2nd, at 7 p.m. (PDT).  

• early family loss, blended roots, and resilient confidence
• first icon purchase and the pull toward sacred art
• retirement, workshops, and apprenticeship in iconography
• Orthodoxy’s phronema and full-senses worship
• travel to Russia, Wales, and encounters with living tradition
• making, gilding, and finishing techniques for icons
• how tradition guides creativity without distortion
• parish life, service, and supporting church iconographers
• collecting ethics, provenance, and legacy questions
• why the eyes of saints communicate love and peace

What if a single image could rearrange your life? Michael Rader joins us to share how buying one modest icon opened a door to two hundred more, years of study and apprenticeship, and a surprising call to serve as a subdeacon. We follow his path from youth ministry and publishing into the world of egg tempera, gold leaf, incense, and chant—learning how beauty can teach as deeply as books and how a tradition can expand the heart without abandoning the mind.

We talk about the phronema—the Orthodox way of seeing—and why the liturgy engages every sense: candles and incense for scent, chant and bells for sound, processions and prostrations for the body, and a calendar that binds communities across continents. Michael explains how icons are made, from gessoed boards and warm red bole beneath leaf to fine painted gold for intricate lines. He shares the craft realities of commissions, timelines, and finishing, and the guardrails that keep iconography faithful to theology while still leaving room for personal skill and nuance.

Travel stories from Russia and Wales bring the tradition to life: cathedrals heavy with color, Rublev’s Trinity looming with quiet power, and small wooden churches radiant without marble or gold. We explore collecting with conscience, the peace guests feel in a home lined with saints, and a simple test from a trusted dealer: look into the eyes and see whether the love of God looks back. That gaze, Michael says, is what drew him deeper—past analysis, into adoration. Press play to meet the saints, learn the craft, and consider how sacred art might reshape your prayer, your space, and your week.

Enjoyed the conversation? Follow Cloud of Witnesses, share with a friend who loves art and faith, and leave a review with the icon or artwork that moved you most.

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A man on a shaky ladder, a fall that leaves a bruise, and a life that suddenly tastes bitter—Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich gives us one of literature’s clearest X-rays of modern emptiness. We gather with friends to unpack why a story written in 1886 speaks uncomfortably well to status-chasing, curated lives, and the quiet neglect of the people closest to us. Along the way, we ask hard questions about sacrifice, spiritual participation, and what it really takes to make a home feel like a living, breathing church.

We start with the image of the bruise—how a small accident blooms into moral clarity—and follow it into marriage. Through Ivan’s unreliable eyes, his wife seems petty and cold; with a wider lens, she appears faithful, present, even courageous as she brings a priest and urges communion. That tension opens a deeper conversation: family as a school of self-giving; the cost of motherhood and the subtler demands on fathers; and why tender, Christlike leadership from husbands often unlocks a responsive, resilient love. A simple parenting moment—a father shifting from command to kindness—becomes a model for authority as stewardship rather than control.

From there, we hold Tolstoy’s quiet hint of redemption alongside the need to act before the end. Participation matters: in sacraments, community, honest conversation, and art that reads us back. We contrast vanity’s ladder with the ladder of ascent, examine main-character syndrome, and challenge the habits that keep us numb to the good right in front of us. The practical takeaways are simple and demanding: move your ladder, choose the table over the timeline, and practice seeing what is lovely in others so cynicism doesn’t win.

If this conversation stirred something in you, subscribe for more thoughtful, faith-filled literary dives, share with a friend who loves classics, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway or pushback—we’d love to hear where you agree, disagree, or want to go deeper next.

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Christian community is the antidote to self-deception.

• orthodoxy as structure that resists delusion
• self-justification versus truth-telling in love
• humility in fraternal correction without judgment
• gratitude and compassion when others fall
• response to “just me and Jesus” objections
• unity, sacraments, and commandments as lifelines
• returning after failure and rising “from glory to glory”
• church as hospital and mission to make earth heavenly

What if anger is less about others and more about the truths we’re afraid to face? We dive into a candid, compassionate conversation about reality, responsibility, and why community is the antidote to self-deception. Alongside Deacon Anthony, our Cloud of Witnesses hosts Jeremy Jeremiah, Mario Andrew, and John, explore how Orthodoxy offers an objective frame that keeps us grounded, helping us see ourselves honestly while learning to correct others with humility and love.

We challenge the reflex to justify our own faults and over-accuse others, reframing fraternal correction as an act of care: approach with facts, confess your weakness, ask to understand, and only move if love leads. That posture opens the door to genuine reconciliation and restores people to the life of the Church. We also take on the familiar “it’s just me and Jesus” stance, unpacking why isolation breeds delusion and how unity, the sacraments, and the commandments are not legalism but the concrete path Christ gave for life in Him.

The conversation turns deeply personal: what keeps us coming back after failure? We talk about the inexhaustible nature of grace—rising “from glory to glory”—and the tangible peace found in worship that we’re meant to carry into the world. The Church is a hospital for the soul: we receive healing, then we’re sent to make the earth more like heaven through daily acts of mercy, courage, and truth. If you’ve wrestled with anger, pride, or the temptation to go it alone, this story-driven exchange offers a clear, warm invitation to reality, humility, and unity.

If this resonated, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a comment—your support helps others find the show and join the conversation.

Questions about Orthodoxy? Please check out our friends at Ghost of Byzantium Discord server: https://discord.gg/JDJDQw6tdh

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