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, however we do have some shining examples of missionary saints that can serve as models to us. Sts Cyril and Methodius, for example, fought against the trilingual heresy to bring Christianity to the Slavs. Centuries later, and very ironically, St Stephen of Perm fought a similar "quadrilingual heresy" - you'll have to listen in to hear what that was about! When done right, as Orthodoxy spread, it was received and then indigenized into the new lands, using their own culture and traditions in order to tell the story in a way that would touch the hearts of their people. 

St Stephen of Perm in particular shows us not only how to bring the gospel to a new people, interfering as little as possible with their culture, language and traditions, but also models how to stand with them against those that would do them harm. In modern terms, he shows us how to be a true "ally".