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

A modern man sits alone in his living room, staring at his phone, desperately looking for some way to distract himself from the loneliness and pain that he doesn’t want to admit he’s feeling... Fr Jospeh Gleason gives an Orthodox Christian approach to dealing with loneliness. To ask questions or get in touch with us, please join our Telegram Group here: https://t.me/isipodcast

In this episode, Fr Michael Butler talks about the Noonday Demon, the passion of akedia, of listlessness, and describes what it does to us and how we can combat it. In addition, he shows that the Fathers’ advice on combatting listlessness is found in an updated way in a lot of contemporary self-development literature and that it is useful to us, as well, in our own struggles in life. Please like or comment on this episode. If you think someone else would find it useful, pass it on, so that others can be helped. Continue the discussion on our chat group on Telegram, which you can find here: https://t.me/isipodcast. Also, please mark your calendars! The Cry of the Forerunner: A Retreat for Men, will be held Friday thru Sunday, 27-29 September 2024, culminating with the 17th Annual Male Bonding Party that Sunday evening. We’ll be using the same venue as last year's Beloved Sons Retreat, namely, Holy Transfiguration Church in Livonia, Michigan. More details will be coming soon. We hope to see you there!

The first episode of a new season of the Iron Podcast, with our new co-host Fr Joseph Gleason. We talk about coming into an Orthodox Church and the peculiar blend of masculine strength and vulnerability found in the church. We then dive into an essential element of the Orthodox faith - spiritual fatherhood. 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

The last episode for this season from Paul on perhaps the most relevant for Western converts and clear truth speaking Orthodox writer of the recent Western World, Fr Seraphim Rose. This is a humble and poor expression of appreciation and inspiration Paul has received from discovering and diving into the work of Fr Seraphim. Works mentioned in the episode include: Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works - https://www.amazon.com/Father-Seraphim-Rose-Life-Works/dp/1887904077 Nihilism: The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age - https://www.amazon.com/Nihilism-Root-Revolution-Modern-Age/dp/1887904069 Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future - https://www.amazon.com/Orthodoxy-Religion-Future-Seraphim-Rose/dp/188790400X God's Revelation to the Human Heart - https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Revelation-Human-Heart-Seraphim/dp/0938635034/ - or even better watch this excellent video of the same work on the Harmony YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/T1HBRRcFFTs?si=zm5xTC3yvYia1gOE The Royal Path - True Orthodoxy in an Age of Apostasy - http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/royal.aspx Information on the pilgrimage to St John the Baptist Monastery in Essex can be found here: https://www.avg2alpha.com/event/mens-pilgrimage-st-john-the-baptist-monastery-essex-england-10-6-june-2024/

This week we enter into the fast of Great Lent and it is also the day that we celebrate the Uncovering of the Holy Cross. We read up the story again and then we recount the homily of St John Chrysostom on the Holy Cross. If you would like to join a community run by Fr Michael and Paul focused on supporting men to live a more integrated life, then sign up for Maniphesto Core on https://maniphesto.com/core-member/ And finally, please join us and followers of this podcast on Telegram for continuing discussion and Christian fellowship among like-minded Orthodox men: https://t.me/isipodcast. Thanks for your support!

In this episode, Fr Michael Butler tells the life of St Maximus the Confessor, his struggle against imperial policy and the heresies of his day, and how he came to earn the title of “Confessor.” If you would like to join a community run by Fr Michael and Paul focused on supporting men to live a more integrated life, then sign up for Maniphesto Core on https://maniphesto.com/core-member/ Please join us and followers of this podcast on Telegram for continuing discussion and Christian fellowship among like-minded Orthodox men: https://t.me/isipodcast. Thanks for your continued support.

A summary of the life and work of St Gregory Palmas with specific attention on his life affirming vision of the whole man in his work, the Triads. You can find an english translation of the Triads here: https://www.agape-biblia.org/orthodoxy/Gregory_Palamas_The_Triads_Classics_of_Western_Spirituality.pdf If you would like to join a community run by Fr Michael and Paul focused on supporting men to live a more integrated life, then sign up for Maniphesto Core on https://maniphesto.com/core-member/ And finally, please join us and followers of this podcast on Telegram for continuing discussion and Christian fellowship among like-minded Orthodox men: https://t.me/isipodcast. Thanks for your continued support.

In this episode, we are joined again by Fr Joseph Gleason who shares the life and lessons on true financial wisdom from St Lawrence of Rome. If you are interested in seeing more of the work of Fr Joseph, then check him out on Substack here: https://substack.com/@movingtorussia or join his Telegram group "Ask an Orthodox Priest" here: https://t.me/+JNuKxhBTygllMDYy Please join us and followers of this podcast on Telegram for continuing discussion and Christian fellowship among like-minded Orthodox men: https://t.me/isipodcast. Thanks for your continued support.

A conversation with Fr Michael Butler, Fr Joseph Gleason and Paul Robson on the application of the early saints on our life in society today. Particularly we cover issues around an Orthodox view on the concepts of time and progress, drawing together the main points of the previous three episodes, and considering how we experience first hand the unfolding revelation of the stories of Holy Scripture through our participation in the Divine Services of the Church. If you would like to join an accountability group for Orthodox men, run by Fr Michael or by Paul, then sign up for Maniphesto Core on https://maniphesto.com/core-member/ If you are interested in seeing more of the work of Fr Joseph, then check him out on Substack here: https://substack.com/@movingtorussia or join his Telegram group "Ask an Orthodox Priest" here: https://t.me/+JNuKxhBTygllMDYy And finally, please join us and followers of this podcast on Telegram for continuing discussion and Christian fellowship among like-minded Orthodox men: https://t.me/isipodcast. Thanks for your continued support.

In this episode, Paul shares the life of perhaps the most important, and certainly the most prolific and central of the Church Fathers, St John Chrysostom of the Golden Mouth. Please join us and followers of this podcast on Telegram for continuing discussion and Christian fellowship among like-minded Orthodox men: https://t.me/isipodcast. Thanks for your continued support.