Hunger for Righteousness Podcast Series

Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!

Being in Community, Phoebe Farag Mikhail's Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Today’s short episode is about St. Anastasia the martyr - a fitting saint for this week, since her name means “Resurrection.” This is such an inspiring story for anyone who feels trapped by their circumstances. It is also a demonstration of the real power of a praying wife.

Here are the sources I used (in addition to the Coptic Orthodox Antiphonary):

The Martyrdom of St. Anastasia

Great Martyr Anastasia the Deliverer from Poisons

As I announced on the podcast, mark your calendars for a LIVE event with author Michael Elgamal to talk about his new book, Moses: the Cross and the Gun. This book was on my Lent book list, and I loved it so much I ran a giveaway for it, too.

Submit your questions in advance on the Subscriber chat here:

Thank you for reading and listening! I look forward to meeting many of you online on May 12th.

Phoebe

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The Hunger for Righteousness Podcast and the Being in Community Newsletter are listener and reader supported publications. To receive new posts and support this work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

On today’s podcast episode, I share a lesser known story about a saint named Abba Macarius the Alexandrian (the priest) — not to be confused with the other Abba Macarius the Alexandrian (the ascetic) — nor to be confused with Abba Macarius the Great (the famous Desert Father also known as Abba Macarius the Egyptian).

To keep it simple, I refer to this Macarius as Father Macarius, and on this episode, I share a fascinating story, recorded by the historian Palladius, about how he helped a very greedy virgin become even more wealthy.

Find out more by listening to the show!

Here’s my source for this story:

The Paradise of the Holy Fathers Volume 1, translated by E. Wallis Budge.

This book is in the public domain and its contents can be found here.

This specific story that I paraphrased can be found here.

If you did want a hard copy of this book, St. Shenouda Press in Australia has published one, and you can purchase it on Amazon here (affiliate link).

Thank you for listening! Next week is Holy Week for me and many other Orthodox Christians, so we won’t have an episode then, but we’ll commence, God willing, after the Feast of the Resurrection!

May we fast an acceptable fast.

The Hunger for Righteousness Podcast and the Being in Community Newsletter are listener and reader supported publications. To receive new posts and support this work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Dear listeners,

First, congratulations to George, Sandra Mansour, and Catherine M for winning the book giveaways from my Great Lent book list! Your books will be in the mail soon.

Happy Feast of the Annunciation to all my friends who celebrated yesterday! In honor of the Feast, today’s episode is about St. Mary, the Mother of God, who loves every one of us, including the poor, who works wonders, including healing the sick, and whose prayers are so powerful they can melt iron.

I mentioned a few books and resources on the show today. These include my book, Putting Joy into Practice: Seven Ways to Lift Your Spirit from the Early Church.

I also quoted Elissa Bjeletich Davis’s book, The Art of Myrrh Bearing: Encountering Christ Through Serving Others.

I mentioned this podcast episode with Manal Moussa of Leaving the Jar:

I found the story of the woman with the broken leg in the Princeton Ethiopian, Eritrean and Egyptian Miracles of Mary Project.

I drew from the Coptic Orthodox Prayers of the Unction of the Sick, which can be found here, and specifically the Supplications here, and the Seventh Prayer here.

I also consulted St. Mary in the Orthodox Concept by Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, attached below:

Again, a blessed Feast of the Annunciation to all of us who have celebrated, and may God grant us an acceptable fast.

Phoebe

Being in Community, Phoebe Farag Mikhail's Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Dear listeners,

Today’s podcast is about two saints who loved the poor, and also about true friendship. Listen in to learn more! Let’s just say it had something to do with silver table settings like this one:

Here are the references I consulted for this episode:

Saint Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus. Coptic Orthodox Synaxarium. https://www.copticchurch.net/synaxarium/9_17.html?lang=

Saint John, Bishop of Jerusalem. Coptic Orthodox Synaxarium. https://www.copticchurch.net/synaxarium/10_13.html?lang=

St. John Chrysostom On Wealth and Poverty, Popular Patristics Series. SVS Press.

St. Gregory of Nyssa On the Lord’s Prayer and the Beatitudes, Ancient Christian Writers series, Paulist Press.

Christopher A. Hall Living Wisely with the Church Fathers, IVP Academic.

As I mentioned on the show, I’m running a giveaway for two books: The Way of the Desert Elders by Lisa Colón DeLay | SparkMyMuse and Nature Poems to See By, by Julien Peters. To enter, make sure you are subscribed, and then comment on this post with what you are reading this Lent, and which of the two books you would like to enter for.

Thank you for listening, and may we fast an acceptable fast,

Phoebe Farag Mikhail

Being in Community, Phoebe Farag Mikhail's Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Today’s Episode of the Hunger for Righteousness Podcast is about one of my new favorite saints, St. Theodora. I enjoyed learning about her so much that I read two books about her and consulted two more, in addition to reading a few articles and other sources. Theodora’s rise to power in the 6th century from humble means to empress of Byzantium is all the more extraordinary because she never forgot where she came from—in fact, she used her power to help everyone who felt as powerless as she once did.

Sadly, I was dissatisfied with most of the books about her. Two of them rely too heavily on a very much discredited but salacious account of her and Justinian’s rule by an unsavory fellow named Procopius. Because Procopius also wrote the official history of the empire under Justinian, many historians have assumed the veracity of another account he wrote called the Secret Histories, which completely and spitefully malign both Justinian and Theodora, but especially Theodora. The best history book from the ones I read in terms of sifting fact from fiction about Theodora herself is David Potter’s book, Theodora: Actress, Empress, Saint. I quoted a little bit from this book on the episode.

However, because of her and Justinian’s involvement in the Chalcedonian theological controversy, all of the books mischaracterize or even get non-Chalcedonian theology completely wrong, INCLUDING David Potter’s book. When it comes to any explanation of the theology of the Oriental Orthodox churches, it is better to read from Oriental Orthodox sources.

On the podcast, I mentioned a very important article by Susan Ashbrook Harvey, about the different narratives around St. Theodora. It is called “Theodora, the Believing Queen.” Ashbrook-Harvey is much better versed in Syrian Orthodox Church theology. Here article is worth a read, and you can download it here:

Stay tuned later this week for a newsletter with more Lent resources and a book giveaway!

May we fast an acceptable fast.

Phoebe Farag Mikhail

The Hunger for Righteousness Podcast is a reader-supported publication. Consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to support the creation of more resources like this one.

Dear listeners,

On today’s episode of the Hunger for Righteousness podcast, I share the story of St. Peter the Worshipper, whose commemoration we just celebrated last week in the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Here are the sources I used for St. Peter the Worshipper:

Coptic Orthodox Synaxarium: https://www.copticchurch.net/synaxarium/5_25.html?lang=en

Orthodox Church in America: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2003/09/22/102700-saint-peter-the-tax-collector

Catholic: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5630

This episode is dedicated to the blessed Linda Mansour. May the Lord repose her soul.

Sources on Linda Mansour:

https://en.wataninet.com/coptic-affairs-coptic-affairs/coptic-affairs/coptic-church-mourns-its-young-servant-linda-mansour/48079/

https://www.facebook.com/Oxygencanadanews/photos/a-moving-statement-from-the-diocese-of-paris-reveals-details-of-the-death-of-ser/122197486394825993/

Don’t forget to download the Hunger for Righteousness 2026 reading calendar!

May we fast an acceptable fast.

Phoebe Farag Mikhail

Welcome to Season 2 of the Hunger for Righteousness podcast series! I’m excited to share our theme for this year: Saints Who Love the Poor. Each week, God willing, I’ll be sharing the story of a saint who is most well known for their love and care for the poor and marginalized. Through their stories, we will learn the meaning of this verse:

“More than a mighty shield and better than a strong spear,

Almsgiving will fight for you against your enemy.” (Wisdom of Sirach 29:13).

Listen to the trailer to learn more!

For anyone who has chosen to read Hunger for Righteousness this year for Lent, Paraclete Press has updated the reading calendar for the book, which you can download right here:

You can now subscribe to the Hunger for Righteousness podcast on Apple Podcasts and Pocketcasts. You can also paste this link into whatever podcast player you use, and you should be able to listen to it there: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1759915/s/186385.rss

Thank you for listening, and I look forward to your comments and feedback.

May we fast an acceptable fast.

Being in Community, Phoebe Farag Mikhail's Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Dear listeners,

We are near the end of the Lent season. Next week begins Holy Week, and the last leg of our journey towards the Resurrection. On this Hunger for Righteousness podcast episode with my friend, writing buddy, and trauma-informed coach Nicole M. Roccas, we had an enlightening conversation on what it means to have experienced trauma and go through Holy Week. Nicole provides practical ideas for survivors, as well as advice for those of us who want to be supportive.

Here are some of her wise words:

If you're struggling with something during Holy Week, what do you do? ... Again, it comes back to, first and foremost, just holding space and giving yourself permission to feel how you feel, to experience distress as it comes up instead of doing the thing where we yell at ourselves, berate ourselves internally: “Get with the program. This isn't that. This is Holy Week. You should feel this. You should feel that. You should whatever.” When we start playing those games with ourselves, we add a whole bunch more distress to what our body is already experiencing. So holding space: “This is distressing. This is hard. I wasn't expecting to feel this way, but I do. What do I need at this point?” Kind of staying connected to yourself and the experience. And then from there, giving yourself options. “Do I stay? Do I maybe go to the back of the church? Do I go outside and take a, you know, get some fresh air?”

To hear and learn more from Nicole, subscribe to her Substack newsletter.

You can also learn more about her trauma-informed coaching practice by visiting Nicole’s website:

You can find out about all of Nicole’s books, including my favorite of hers, Time and Despondency: Regaining the Present in Faith and Life, below:

On our last episode, we heard from Manal Moussa, the executive director of Leaving the Jar. She just announced some great news! On March 12th, the Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors in Virginia voted YES to move forward with licensing the Leaving the Jar Home as a congregate living facility. This home will serve as a place for healing and rehabilitation for survivors of human trafficking. Praise God!

Last week, Dr. Saad Michael Saad interviewed me on Logos TV, talking about Hunger for Righteousness. You can watch the interview here:

May you enjoy a blessed Lent and Holy Week. This will be my last podcast episode before the Feast of the Resurrection, and I hope you have found this series edifying to you this Lenten season.

Thank you for listening, and I look forward to your thoughts and comments!

Phoebe Farag Mikhail

Dear listeners,

Today’s very special podcast guest on the Hunger for Righteousness podcast is Manal Moussa, the executive director of Leaving the Jar, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting global human trafficking through rescue, recovery, rehabilitation and education.

If you are wondering what human trafficking has to do with Hunger for Righteousness, be sure to read chapter 7 in the book!

I learned SO MUCH I did not know about human trafficking during this interview. Manal shared some eye-opening and critical information about understanding and identifying human trafficking. This global evil is sadly happening all around us.

Here’s a little bit of what Manal shares about what human trafficking is:

“Human trafficking is modern day slavery. And it is involved with force, fraud, and coercion, and basically using another person to solicit sex or labor trafficking. So there's two categories, labor trafficking and sex trafficking… Somehow they're tricked into it. Somehow they're blackmailed into it or forced through maybe like the influence of drugs or different things; sometimes it involves taking their paperwork so they tell them this is the job you're given you have to do what I say because I have control of your paperwork. But in general nobody wakes up in the morning and says yay I'm going to be you know trafficked and I'm going to be abused and used over and over.

It is really a very evil environment. And just to give you a little bit of understanding, it's a huge business enterprise. They make an average of $347 billion that's very close to what Apple makes. That's just to give you an idea of how big and huge this evil enterprise is and it does not discriminate of cultures, locations, age. I mean the average age mainly targets girls and age 12 to 14 because that way these are very vulnerable populations and they can definitely use the multiple times. But boys are still also a target. … It’s in almost every country.”

On how trafficking can happen anywhere:

“We think of trafficking as kidnapping. Somebody's gonna kidnap my kids or somebody's gonna take them from point A to point B and use them and I'm not gonna see them again. So many people are trafficked and they still sleep in their home, sleep in their bed with their family and nobody recognizes them. That person that's in pain could be your neighbor, your coworker, somebody with your children at school.”

Yes, human trafficking happens in the United States, in the suburbs as well as the cities. A trafficking victim could even be coming to church with us.

I’m so glad that there are organizations like Leaving the Jar that are working directly with survivors, and educating everyone else to identify when trafficking is happening, as well as prevent it in the first place. Leaving the Jar does a free training program for churches and other youth ministry services. Please contact them if you are interested in arranging something like this.

You can support Leaving the Jar AND fill the Easter basket of your loved one by purchasing their newly released 30-day devotional and guided prayer journal, Living Waters:

If you would like to support their work financially, you can donate to Leaving the Jar here:

You can also support Leaving the Jar’s work by volunteering. To learn more about volunteer opportunities, click here:

For even more information about global human trafficking, Manal recommends the National Human Trafficking Hotline:

NOTE TO LISTENERS: There is a 20 second lull in the audio/video when one of our screens froze. I tried to edit that silence but could not figure out how to do it. Please forgive my lack of tech prowess!

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts and comments. Please share them below, and thank you for listening!

Phoebe Farag Mikhail

Dear listeners,

Due to circumstances beyond my control, last week I could not post a podcast episode. Never fear, however, this week’s episode is rich enough (and long enough) to count for TWO. So, Episode 7 is now Episode 6 and 7. My guest on the Hunger for Righteousness podcast is author, artist and creator Michael El-Gamal, the mastermind behind Creative Orthodox. It was an enormous pleasure to talk about the Desert Fathers and Mothers with someone who has immersed himself in their lives and stories like Michael has.

The topic of the correlating Hunger for Righteousness chapter for this episode (Chapter 6) includes discussion about reading Scripture, with a recommendation to use the Lent lectionary as a guide when beginning a Scripture reading practice. To help with this, Appendix B of the book includes references for the Coptic Orthodox Lenten lectionary. Since it might be harder to read in the print copy of the book, Paraclete Press has allowed me to share Appendix B as a free download to my readers. So you can access it here and print it out, if you like, for suggested Scripture readings during this season.

In our conversation, we mentioned a few of Michael’s books, including A Forest in the Desert, a graphic novel about St. John the Short, who also features in Chapter 7 of Hunger for Righteousness. For younger readers, St. John the Short and the Tree of Obedience is a gorgeous picture book retelling the St. John’s most famous story. Michael also has a wonderful YouTube documentary, What’s So Great About Antony the Great? which you can view for free here. Michael shares most of his beloved Desert Fathers and Mothers artwork on Instagram, so be sure to follow him there.

We concluded our conversation with this story about Abba Theodore and Abba Pachomius, which Michael has generously allowed me to share below.

Thank you so much for listening! As always, I welcome your comments and feedback, which you can share right on the bottom of this post. Join the conversation! That’s the best thing about podcasts.

-Phoebe Farag Mikhail

P.S. Unfortunately, I have not had the time to review and edit the transcript of this episode, so if you are using closed captions, please forgive the imperfections of Substack’s AI-generated transcript!