Journey to Transformation: Reflections on the Ancient Faith Singles Retreat

Welcome to a special episode of the All Around Growth podcast.  Today, I'm excited to take you on a journey through an unforgettable experience that occurred at the Ancient Faith Singles Retreat held at the Antiochian Village over the weekend.  Join me as I open up about how this event truly transformed my life. I'll be sharing my own personal reflections, hoping to give you a taste of the incredible moments we shared during the retreat.   Whether you're tuning in to reminisce about your own retreat memories or you missed out on this unique experience, this episode is your chance to dive into the beauty of that weekend from my perspective.  Thank you for being part of this journey with me.  I'm grateful to have experienced it with you. 

The Ancient Faith Singles Retreat 30+ is a gathering of Orthodox Christians who are at least 30 years of age, unmarried (single, divorced, widowed), and living in the world. The weekend will include daily matins and vespers, and Sunday Divine Liturgy. The group will participate in interactive, leader-led discussion sessions, opportunities for community service, games, and social activities, and free time for relaxation and fellowship. 

The Antiochian Village is a Christian conference and retreat center located on 300 acres in the beautiful Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania, just six miles north of the historic town of Ligonier. Owned and operated by the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, Antiochian Village was established in 1978 through the vision and leadership of the Archbishop, Metropolitan Philip, who dreamed of a place where the faithful of all ages could meet, worship, and become closer to God, away from the distractions of daily life. 

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Discussion Links:

Intro Music:  Byzantine chant. Song of the Most Holy Theotokos "My soul doth magnify the Lord"

The Ancient Faith Singles Retreat

Antiochian Village: Christian Conference and Retreat Center

Explore Antiochian Village

Ancient Faith Ministries

Fallingwater

Melissa Naasko

Rev. Fr. Martin Johnson

St. Raphael of Brooklyn

Molly Sabourin

Cynthia Damaskos - Holistic Christian Life

Dan Miller - 48 Days: To the Work and Life You Love

Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

Fr. Paul Hodge

Fr. Thomas Hopko

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:40

Hello everybody. Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, whatever the case may be, wherever you are. My name is Rob Kaiser and I am your host, and I would like to welcome you to a special edition of the All Around Growth Podcast. The objective of today's show is to share with you my experiences from this past weekend at the Antiochian village in Pennsylvania where I attended the Ancient Faith Singles retreat. The very first one of its kind with at least 150 other people. So this episode today is for you. There have been many people that have written about shared their experiences, whether it's in blog posts or in the Facebook group or elsewhere, and this is my humble attempt to do the same in the format that I am most accustomed to and the way that I believe I will be able to most accurately share the experience and my takeaways from this past weekend with you. So before we get started, I would like to invite you to join me in a brief prayer. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to thee, our God, glory to thee. O Heavenly King, Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who art everywhere, present and fillest all things, the treasury of good things, and giver of life, come and abide in us and cleanse us from every stain and save our souls, O gracious Lord. Beginning with a prayer seems like the most appropriate way to talk about this experience with you. An experience that was maybe one of the greatest weekends of my life, and we'll explore and examine and talk about why that was throughout the entire episode. But before we do so, for those of you who regularly listen to the show, I think it's worth mentioning what the Antiochian Village is, what this retreat was all about, and provide a little bit of backstory before I actually start talking about it. So the Ancient Faith, that this was a retreat that was put on by ancient faith ministries at the Antiochian village, and it was intended to be and was a retreat for singles that were 30 years of age or older. And the description of the event reads as follows The Ancient Faith Singles Retreat, ages 30 plus, is a gathering of Orthodox Christians who are at least 30 years of age, unmarried, single, divorced, or widowed, and living in the world. The weekend will include daily matins and vespers and Sunday divine liturgy. The group will participate in interactive, leader-led discussion sessions, opportunities for community service, games, and social activities, and free time for relaxation and fellowship. There was an opportunity for you or any attendee for that matter to have a single room or register for a room with one, two, or even three roommates. And the grounds of the Antiochian village were absolutely amazing. But before I talk about that, let's talk about ancient faith ministries and learn exactly who Ancient Faith Ministries is, what they're all about, and why this took place in the first place. Okay, so Ancient Faith Ministries, and you can read more about Ancient Faith at ancientfaith.com. And I'm just reading from the about page. Ancient Faith Ministries exists to carry out the great commission of Jesus Christ through accessible and excellently crafted publications and creative media that educate, edify, and evangelize, leading to a living experience of God through His Holy Orthodox Church. Ancient Faith Ministries is a department of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America with a pan-Orthodox outreach. Now Ancient Faith Ministries consists of four separate departments at this time. Ancient Faith Radio, which is an online audio and video programming, including two 24-hour internet-based Orthodox radio stations, live call-in programs, and an extensive list of downloadable Orthodox content. It also consists of Ancient Faith Publishing, which produces books, booklets, and brochures for adults and children by many of the best Orthodox writers in the English-speaking world. Thirdly, there's the Ancient Faith Store, which sells books, translations, booklets, brochures, icons, greeting cards, calendars, liturgical items, gifts, jewelry, music, and more. And finally, there's Ancient Faith Films, which is a growing library of original video productions of Orthodox teaching, conferences, documentaries, interviews, and more. Different from our video podcast offerings, these films are unique, full-length features on a wide range of topics related to Orthodox Christianity. Now, like I said, Ancient Faith hosted this event, and I originally learned about this event in mid-January of this year, 2024. This event has been in the works and has been planned since uh mid-2023 with registration opening up and going live on August 14th, 2023. So the reality is this event has been planned for over a year and finally came to fruition this past weekend. It was the first weekend of its kind, the first singles retreat that's ever been hosted like this. And to be very clear, this was not a this this was not a matchmaking session. It was an opportunity for people to come together and share in the faith, grow together, and simply gather for community, fellowship, and to connect with other people who are just like us. People living in the world, meaning not as a monk in a monastery or in a convent or anything like that, just regular everyday lay people who are Orthodox Christians and at least 30 years of age. So we came together at the Antiochian village, which is located in the beautiful laurel highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania, just six miles north of the historic town of Ligonier. Owned and operated by the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, the Antiochian village was established in 1978 through the vision and leadership of the Archbishop Metropolitan Philip, who dreamed of a place where the faithful of all ages could meet, worship, and become closer to God, away from the distractions of daily life. And now, 45 years after its founding, I feel confident and very comfortable saying that this mission has been accomplished and accomplished quite successfully. Metropolitan Philip, upon the founding of the Antiochian village in 1978, said, quote, Thus, my friends, when you become weary, depressed, tired of life, empty, laden with heavy burdens, when you lose direction of life and communion with God, go to the mountain, to the Antiochian village, and you will find rest. And my friends, rest is what I found. I left that weekend with a full heart. Hope. And and simply feeling refreshed. It was amazing. The you know, I there's a Facebook group for the uh ancient faith titled The Ancient Faith Orthodox Christian Singles Outreach. And all I could think to write and share, as so many people were doing when we returned after the the conference was a simple post. And my post read as follows. After a drive back to Medina, Ohio, in silence, reflecting on the past few days with everyone in attendance at the Ancient Faith Singles Retreat, the thing I'd like to say most is thank you. Thanks to Melinda and the rest of the Ancient Faith Ministries team for organizing this, the Antiochian Village Conference and Retreat Center for hosting the event, and everyone in attendance. It was a joy to connect with each of you in the ways that we did. My heart is full from the conversations and experiences we shared together. Being surrounded by so much authenticity and love over the past few days has left me with a full heart, and with little else I feel is appropriate to say other than thank you, and to communicate with deep gratitude my appreciation for the opportunity to get to know you better. I look forward to cultivating these relationships further and connecting with those whose paths remained uncrossed or were unable to make it to the event. May God bless each and every one of you. And if you're listening to this, I mean that. Thank you. You and and and everyone that was there contributed to something that I can confidently say has changed my life. Not only at the event, but your involvement in the church is contributing to this very change that I'm talking about. And this change in my life is something that has been represented throughout the entire duration of this podcast. I've been doing this show since late 2020, and it has covered a wide range of topics. The nature of the show has changed, and that is right in line with and represents effectively, at least to the best of my ability, the change that's taken place in me personally. And over the past couple of years, through my involvement with the Orthodox Church, that change has been not only accelerated, but optimized, for lack of a better term. I am learning how to embrace and become the best version of myself that I can be. It's giving me the opportunity to become the man that God wants me to be. And for that, all I can say is thank you. Thank you for being a part of it. I felt like I connected with all of the family that I never knew I had this past weekend. Like I said, there were at least 150 of us in attendance, and we all arrived sometime Thursday afternoon. Check-in began at 3 o'clock, and I made a point to leave early Thursday morning. It was about a three-hour drive. It's a three-hour drive approximately for me from where I live in Medina, Ohio, to the Antiochian village. But I drove four hours to visit falling water, which I will link to in the show notes for any of those who are not familiar with what falling water is. But just to provide a little bit of context, let's let me just share with you what falling water, what what what falling water is. Falling water is the house that was designed in 1935 by renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who lived from 1867 to 1959. And it was designed for the Kaufman family, the owners of Pittsburgh's largest department store. Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water is one of his most widely acclaimed works and best exemplifies his philosophy of organic architecture, the harmonious union of art and nature. Falling water is located in the mountains of southwest Pennsylvania, also known as the Laurel Highlands in Mill Run, Fayette County, which is about 70 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, and about a 45-minute drive from the Antiochian village. Now, Wright designed Falling Water to rise above the waterfall over which it is built. Local craftsmen quarried native sandstone and other materials from the property and completed the construction of the main house, guest house, and service wing in 1939. There's more on that, but I'll link to this in the show notes, and I would encourage you to visit there if you ever have the opportunity. And even though I was able to visit there, the house at this point in time is undergoing some renovations, but I was able to walk the grounds, walk the trails, walk throughout the rhododendron forests, listen to the water, enjoy the beautiful day, and just simply take some time out in nature, walking, praying, communing with God and setting my getting my soul right, my mind right, my heart right, so that when I arrived and checked into the event, I would have the opportunity to be fully present with everybody that I was about to meet. So like I said, check-in began at 3:30 or 3 o'clock. And after checking into my room, I simply made a coffee and hung out in the lobby with people who had previously checked in. So big shout out to Michael for everything that he did, and Eric for coordinating these Zoom calls to give us an opportunity to do exactly that. It was wonderful, and we've actually had some after the conference just this week, and it's it's only Wednesday, March 6th, 2024. We arrived Thursday, February 29th, departed Sunday afternoon, March 3rd, and over the past couple of days, I haven't really taken the time to process the event and and and and fully wrap my head around everything that was going on. I I went to the Antiochian village to leave this world, to connect with other people, doing the same, and then without taking any time upon my departure, I immersed myself back into it, back into the the chaos and everything that led me to go there in the first place. And I felt like I was doing myself and and and God a disservice by not taking the time to sit back and reflect on the events that took place on Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning and afternoon. So after we checked in and everybody arrived, we had a very nice dinner to sit with everyone and meet people, connect with people, and after that there was a formal welcome, uh conversation and catch-up game, and that took place in the auditorium called Chestnut Auditorium, and we stayed there for several hours until everybody decided it was time to go to bed. Some of us stayed up later than others, but it was a great opportunity just to have casual time together playing board games or talking or playing cards or doing whatever it is that we wanted to do, just spending time with one another, getting to know one another and talking with each other, learning about each other, what brought us there, what brought us to the church, who we are, what our stories are. It was that for me, that was perhaps the best part of everything. It gave me an opportunity to connect with others, to learn. About you, to learn about your story, and in doing so and learning about all of you, it helped me better understand myself and why I am where I am and why I'm doing what I'm doing. So thank you for sharing your stories with me and thank you for participating in this event with me. Even if we didn't have a chance to talk one-on-one, I heard you in passing. We sat together in some of the small groups, and I appreciate everything that you contributed to the event. It was simply wonderful. Friday morning began with morning prayers at 7 a.m. And that was just a very beautiful small group prayer service. Not everyone attended, but for those who did, you guys know exactly what I'm talking about. Breakfast followed the morning prayers, and then the first of two sessions took place during that time. We were split into two different groups. Some of us attended a session by Matoshka Melissa Nasko titled Messy Hospitality, and that was where I went in the morning, and then other people attended a talk on emotional intelligence by Father Martin Johnson. And if you whatever you went to in the morning, you went to the other discussion group in the afternoon. So I attended Messy Hospitality in the morning, where we talked about uh we we we talked about coffee table, and it's not the piece of furniture, but she discussed the Norwegian concept of hugga, spelled H-Y-G-G-E. And it was more of the the vibe of hospitality. So when we talk about coffee table, when she told us about coffee table, it wasn't so much the item, it was the activity that that we do. And she told us stories about how when Finns get together, Finnish people, they they have coffee table, and her her husband's aunt would always bake, and she shared some recipes with us, and she would keep these things in the freezer, and they were always prepared so that whenever people came, they could simply take them out, put them in the oven, prepare coffee, and then make them feel welcome and always be in a position to serve them. So, you know, his aunt, Tati Carol, she never wanted anyone to feel unwelcome, and she wanted everyone to feel loved and welcome. And she told this story that was that was very moving about how her house caught on fire and burned to the ground. And despite the fact that her house was on fire and burning to the ground, what what did she spend her time doing? She spent her time pulling items out of the deep freeze that was in the detached garage, serving the neighbors and the firefighters, something called omanapanakaku, which is basically an apple pancake. So she, in the midst of all this chaos and challenge, she she found it in herself to love and welcome and serve those who came to help her. And her objective in life was to do this to help fill the hole in their heart. And she explained the concepts of coffee table and and how it can be less formal with one to five cups, you know, like a less formal event would be just a simple cup of coffee and one pastry or one snack. But the more cups you have, the more formal the event is. And she gave a lot of little tips on how to make small portions and and not turn this into an overwhelming thing because we have a tendency in America to create these events that are that are complicated, that require a whole house cleaning and and a lot of preparation that goes into it. And these events are very stressful. But but the the idea was that these are simple events that can be held frequently that don't require a lot of preparation. Pull something out of the freezer, stick it in the oven, make a coffee, sit down and talk. You don't, it's not an all-day affair, it's just something that's done routinely and regularly with people to make them feel welcome, to make them feel loved. And the whole concept of this was was absolutely fantastic. And a lot of people likened this to the American idea of an open house or a block party and and instead of a potluck. So there was just a lot of great insight and talk about what what we can do and how we can interact with each other and do so a little bit differently. And I've already shared some of this with my mom so that here on the homestead at York Meadow Farm we can begin to host little coffee tables or coffee hours and do so regularly because connecting with people is the very thing that makes us human. And this weekend was evidence of that. Restoring my faith in humanity, just seeing and experiencing all of the love within every single person that was there. It was absolutely breathtaking. And and and this is why it's taken me a couple of days to simply process what's going on and and and and and get myself in a position to where I could actually share this with you, right? So at any rate, after the morning session, we had some free time, and that was where I took some time to go through my own life, and it it it I went into this event feeling stressed, and one of the things that was suggested to me prior to the event, and then encouraged for me to do at the event was to break away and really sit down and evaluate things. And this this comes from Rachel, who is a big supporter of the show, and she suggested that I make a list like my friend Kiriiki said, which was a list that details out every commitment that I have, everything that I have to do, make another list of all the things that I dream of doing, a list of the things that make me happy, things that I do to wind down, and just take time to analyze and assess and evaluate what's going on in my life and why I am stressed and feeling the way that I am, and a day to just simply evaluate and break down what's going on, because if you if you don't know, what one of the things that I deal with personally in my life is a chronic neurological condition. I have epilepsy, and I've had this since the age of 13. And some of the people who have made suggestions like the suggestions that Rachel made also deal with chronic conditions, and they had to do something similar. This was several people had had made mention to me about this. Rachel was the one that broke it down in a very simple way and gave me a framework to follow. And in order to address their health concerns, because they were taking on too much, trying to do too many things, they were getting burnt out on life, and it was having negative consequences with regard to their health and well-being. And so they ended up having to understand what it is that they do so they can say no to certain things, and that is what I find myself trying to do right now. So during that first session of free time, I actually took some time in the library and began making my list, and it was difficult because the reality is, like you, there's a lot going on in life, and it it was difficult for me to take a hard look at what is going on in life, but I did to the best of my ability, and then we all got together for lunch at 12 o'clock and then began our afternoon sessions. And in the afternoon session, I attended a session titled Emotional Intelligence by Father Martin Johnson, and he it was a great presentation. He shared the presentation with us via email after the fact and was very clear with you know his desire to help us grow by freely giving us the presentation that he had. And I signed up, I I put my name on the list, and by the end of the weekend, that presentation was already in my email inbox. So for anybody out there that that didn't have the opportunity to get the presentation, if you're interested, then feel free to let me know, and I'd be happy to share the link with you so that you can see what he shared with us about emotional intelligence. And the long and short of it is he views emotional intelligence as a tool, and it is especially applicable to our lives right now as we approach and enter into the Lenten season. And you know, Father Martin Johnson was a great presenter, he was very charismatic and you know began the presentation with a quote from Scripture from Proverbs chapter 4, verse 23, that reads, Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. And this also really resonated with me for all the reasons that I just talked about in trying to address and wrap my head around during during this spare time. You know, with emotional intelligence, there's five key components that we have to take into consideration. We have to take into consideration self-awareness, which is knowing someone's strengths and weaknesses, and the impact on others, and just having a realistic self-confidence about all of that. We have self-regulation, which is controlling or redirecting, disrupting impulses or moods. We also have motivation and relishing growth, which is an attitude to overcome optimism, resilience, and improvement and movement spiritually. Fourth, we've got empathy, which is understanding other people's emotional makeup and their feelings. Empathy is a social skill, it helps us build rapport with others. And you know, finally, we've got a combination of all of these four aspects of emotional intelligence that allows us to effectively build relationships. And when we are effectively building relationships, what we do is we begin to show the light of Christ. We become the window which allows that light to shine through into and upon others. And as Orthodox Christians, he told us that we need to be holy and loving and compassionate and have a comprehensive understanding of what true orthodoxy is. And I don't know about you, but in my own personal life, when I talk about the church with people, they don't really seem to under some people seem to view the church as just you know some some kind of denomination that that that that does things differently. You know, validated my understanding, and and by no means am I any kind of an expert. I'm I'm I'm a catechumen. I'm I'm in the process of working my way into being received into the church. And an understanding of true orthodoxy is understanding that that this isn't simply a thing that we do on Sundays. It isn't simply a church that we go to, but this is a way of life. This is our life. And you know, the beauty of of this presentation was that he allowed us to understand that emotional intelligence is a tool that can help us as we fast and pray to make connections rather than be caustic, to cultivate restraint rather than to be rash, and to purge our passions in order to be true to ourselves. It is emotional intelligence, that is, is something to be used for purification. It is a powerful weapon, it is a real ability, muscle to help us become stronger in our relationship with others and our relationship with ourselves. He had so many good examples of everything that he talked about, and there's so much that I can, you know, that I that I wish to share. And it it there but there's there's too much. There's too much, and and this is already going long, and I haven't even gotten through the the second day. You know, but in short, I mean he he he said you can only control your own actions. And if someone does not want to accept the amends that you're trying to make or your desire to make restitution with them, then we have to pray for them. For they have declared that you are dead to them by not doing so. So we we we we we do all of this and and to, like I said, to put it all together, to work to be able to relate and connect with others. That's what emotional intelligence brings us. It helps us become complete humans, embracing a life of Christ, to become that window so that that light can shine upon others. After the second session, we had some more free time, and by this time I had learned that this free time was not going to be spent on me doing things like going through my my writings and trying to you know find peace and solitude, but there was so much, so much to do, so many people to connect with, people that were inviting me to walk the museum with them, people that were inviting me to just share in life with them. It was beautiful, and I was not going to give that up for the selfish reasons that I had and trying to find my own path. I need to do that on my own, on my own time, not in a situation like this. I wanted to capitalize on every opportunity to meet people and connect with people and cultivate relationships with people because this was the reason why I was there. I didn't realize that at the time. I thought I was going to be able to have a retreat and take some time to myself and gain some clarity in life, but the clarity that I gained in life was the actual cultivation and deepening of relationships with people, people within the church, and people outside of the church, so that we can bring them to an understanding of what a relationship with God actually means. Because I think for most people, a relationship with God is not what we understand it to be. And in short, what we as Orthodox Christians believe a relationship with God is, is love. Love in all ways, love for all people, love for all things, love for this life, and knowing that this life is short. But there's so much more than this life in this world. God is love. And as Orthodox Christians, it is our responsibility to demonstrate that in our life so that other people can see that in our life and try to embrace just a little bit of that as we share it with them. Because if people can experience just a fraction of the joy that I feel and the change that has taken place in my life, then I feel as though my work in this life has been done because the change that I have undergone through participating in the church over the past few years has been inexplicable and beyond measure. And if someone can experience just a little bit of that, it will open the door and allow them too to become a window in which the light of Christ can shine through. After the afternoon free time, we went to the grave of Saint Raphael, whose remains were moved to the Antiochian village shortly after its founding in 1978 from Brooklyn, where he was originally buried. I learned a lot about Saint Raphael. I didn't know much about him, but I knew that he was revered in the church, my home church of St. George in Akron. And I will link to this in the show notes so you guys can see what I'm referencing and all of these other articles that accompany this brief. Description of St. Raphael, but our father among the saints, Saint Raphael, Bishop of Brooklyn, was the first Orthodox Christian bishop consecrated on American soil. Traveling throughout the continent in the first years of the 20th century, he founded 30 parishes in North America. His feast day is celebrated in the Antiochian Archdiocese on the first Sunday of November. St. Raphael, a man of angelic name and apostolic fervor, was influenced by many cultures. He was born and raised in the Middle East, educated by Greeks at Halki and by Russians at Kiev, and he spent the last 19 years of his life as a missionary in North America. And when he arrived here, he basically went on tour throughout the country, traveling by train all over the place, dealing with less than hospitable conditions to unite people and bring them together. Because at that time, in the early 20th century, late 19th century, there was a lot of immigration taking place from the Middle East, from Europe, from everywhere. Everyone from everywhere was coming to America. And as Orthodox Christians came here, there was a little bit of discord taking place. So he was sent to unify Christians, to unify the church and bring it all together. So in closing, there are several themes that emerge as the story of St. Raphael's life unfolds. The first is the mysterious way in which God led him from his native homeland to the shores of the American continent. The second is his submissive attitude to the providence of God. And the third is his love for the people of God. Though during his lifetime he was neither a wonder worker nor a clairvoyant elder, Saint Raphael embraced a life of total abandonment of self for the service of God and his fellow man, a life of true spiritual asceticism. And we learned about that and more as we held a service of supplication at the grave of Saint Raphael. And it was beautiful and it was moving and I don't know what to say. As Father Paul Hodge, who was there leading the prayer services in the morning, leading the service of supplication, and leading liturgy on Sunday, as he spoke about Saint Raphael, he he got emotional because the life that this man led was so moving. May we all embrace some of the characteristics that Saint Raphael embraced in his life here serving the people of God. What a beautiful, beautiful service. A beautiful man. And may Saint Raphael pray for all of us. After that service of supplication, we had dinner and then more free time. And then there was a fun game that we all played at seven o'clock called Name That Movie Game, where there was about 40 different soundtracks of movies that were played. And we had to write down what we thought the movies were, and we were all broken up into small groups and tables, and eventually there was a winner that got 33 out of the 40 correct. But it was just again another structured way for people to connect and get together and play a game. And then after that, there was more time to have tea and cookies and you know spend time in the bookstore or play board games down in the auditorium where we were and just continue connecting with one another. And that's exactly what so many of us did. Saturday morning began again with morning prayers in the chapel, followed by breakfast. And the food there was abundant and it was delicious. And they the the people served us with love and care and compassion, and it was just an amazing time. The morning session that I attended on Friday or Saturday rather was titled Living in an Abundance Mindset. And it was small discussion groups that were led by a woman named Molly Saborin. And it was fantastic because she was a she put this together and worked with someone else titled named Cynthia Damascos, who was a functional nutrition and lifestyle coach. And that really struck a chord with me because of my own past experience with functional medicine and functional nutrition and lifestyle coaches, because a big part of why I do this show in the first place, and a big driver behind why it's been done the way it's been done was because of Dan Miller, author of the book 48 Days to the Work and Life You Love. You know, rest in peace, may his memory be eternal. Dan Miller was a driving force in creating the life and work that you love. And she made it very clear that our thoughts determine our lives. And that our life depends on the kind of thoughts that we nurture. And if our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek, and kind, then that is what our life is like. And that was spoken by Elder Thaddeus of Vid of Nitka. From Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives, the life and teachings of Elder Thaddeus. I'll try to link to that in the show notes as well. She referenced scripture, Psalm 34, verse 14. Turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it. Basically, turn, do, seek, pursue. These are all action items that we can take in our life. So much of what she said was so appropriate to everything that I had previously mentioned in trying to accomplish in that first session of free time. Trying to understand my life and everything that's going on. You know, St. Porfirio said, do not fight to expel the darkness from the chamber of your soul. But have the light of your life. You know, Molly encouraged us to be empty vessels so that we can be filled with the light of life, that light of love, the love of God. And we have to get away from this scarcity mindset and move towards this abundance mindset. And there were a bunch of discussion questions that she guided us through. Like, how do you let light into your life, into your mindset? You know, things through morning routines, and people discussed that. The second question was how do you let light into your living space, into your workspace, into your environment? And lots of good things that were discussed, lots of notes that I took from people. Finally, or thirdly, we discussed how do we let light into our body, into our relationships. And lastly, well, honestly, I don't know what the last question was. I kind of lost track as throughout the discussion, but it the the overall idea was letting light into our life, sharing that light with others. And not necessarily physical light as some people thought. And maybe I'm wrong. Oftentimes I am. But I think when she was talking about how do we let that light into our life and how do we how do we share that light with others, we're talking about the light of Christ, the love of God. What can we do to share that with people? And it was it was an incredibly appropriate discussion for where I am at this current point in time in my own life. And I'm very grateful for Molly and grateful for that discussion. And that was it. We had more free time after this. There was the ability to make service, there was the ability to engage in a service project and make little kits that were going to be sent out to the community and shared with people, and an opportunity to play board games or visit the museum or go to the bookstore or spend time outside. And again, I found myself walking the museum, being invited to the museum with people, spending time with people, just going wherever I was led. And generally, I was led to participate in something with someone or a group of people. And it was it was beautiful. I'm very grateful for all of the time spent with everyone who I encountered. Again, we had lunch, and then we had another last session of the day on Friday by Father Paul Hodge, which was titled Finding Your Orthodox Christian Path. And a lot of what he talked about appeared to be largely inspired by the works of Father Thomas Hopko. And in a nutshell, his presentation consisted of discussion topics that go as follows. Everyone has a vocation. Everyone's vocation is the same. Everyone's vocation is unique. And do you want to want God's call? Help is on the way, and we need to be faithful here and now. You know, it was interesting because we hear that everyone has a vocation, but everyone's vocation is the same, yet at the same time, everyone's vocation is unique. There's a lot of mystery, for lack of a better term, within the Orthodox Church. And Father Martin Johnson talked about this a lot. There is no straight answer within the church because many of the questions that we ask aren't simply yes or no or black or white, but he told us that many of the questions that we ask as Christians can be answered in the Orthodox Church through the Orthodox lens, if you will, by both and. And that we are called to engage within the path of orthodoxy, not necessarily by becoming a monk or a priest, but we can participate and have and find our vocation in the church by simply living and embracing everything that goes along with being Orthodox. And when we collaborate with God on the cross, we suffer what we must here and now and so obtain to know and reveal the divine glory in the coming age of days. That was one takeaway from Father Paul that I left with that that really stuck with me. And the fact that everyone's vocation is the same, that at the end of the day, no matter what we do, whether we're a doctor, a lawyer, a garbage man, whatever, our vocation in this life is the same. Our vocation is being human. We are all called to be saints. Because in the church we become holy. And in the church we are not alone. Our bond is to become one with our humanness, collaborating with God to share in his holiness. And again, there was a lot that was mentioned, direct quotes from Father Thomas Hopko, and I look forward to reading more of his work. I'm reading some of his work as part of being a catechumen, but if any of this sounds interesting, then I would encourage you to read some of what Father Thomas Hopko's work is. And there was one particular work that I'll come across here in just a moment, but um I'll get there when I get there. He also wrote that everyone's vocation is unique, and that vocation is not, you know, it's the same in that we're all human, but the uniqueness of our vocation is being me. You know, there's there's billions of humans so far, but no two have been the same. Not even not even identical twins. They appear the same, they look the same, but they are far from the same. They do not have the same personalities. And each person is holy in his or her own way. It is a sin to compare ourselves to others. And this is in large part why when the Orthodox talk about sin, we pray, the sinners of whom I am chief, that we are the first in sinners within the relationship with God and the dialogue that we have with Christ. We are not judged on a curve and we don't need others to judge ourselves. Our sin is between ourselves and God. He mentioned that many of us are holy on account of their sufferings and shared a brief story, if you will. Not even a story, more like a just a reference of a monk who is asked what he did in the monastery. And the monk's answer was, we fall and we get up again. And this is representative of life. We fall and we get up again. And so, from the view of this world, some of us will hardly suffer at all because suffering is our perspective, and we can be holy me, holy, as in whole. We can be holy me in the holy God. And it's up to us, each of us must strive to sanctify whatever life we have been given to consecrate this holiness to become the person that God wants us to be. And we have to want this. We have to want to want God's will. And God's will for us is to become divine. You know, he he he talked a lot about how monks and priests operate in the world and talked a lot about Saint Sophroni and how he dabbled in Eastern religions and, you know, again mentioned more about Father Thomas Hopko and how he wrote about the bad news of the good news. And the bad news of the good news is that finding one's vocation sounds easy, but there are few who will find it. Because this really takes a lot of work. And the work to do so is some of the work that I spoke about earlier with regard to my own actions and trying to identify everything that's going on in my life so I can begin to say no to certain things. Because when I try to do all the things, I do many of them in a mediocre manner. And doing all of these things is resulting in me becoming detached from and growing distant from God. And that's not what I want. Because it hurts me, my life has changed so much from growing and deepening my relationship with God through the church that to do anything other than that. Brings me pain. And there is nothing but good that can come from doing that, from growing closer to God, cultivating that relationship with God, deepening my faith within the church. Ultimately, Father Paul told us that love is action. Love is taking action. And sometimes the actions that we have to take mean saying no. He emphasized again that we must want to want God's will. And again, God's will for us is to be divine. For so long, I've lived a life that consists of me trying to employ my will. And not understanding or acknowledging or trying to do God's will. He said, the trouble with being. Let me rephrase that. He said, let it be to me according to thy word. And he said that self-will can destroy the fruition of our call. Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote that my heart does not rest until it rests in thee. Again, we have to want to want God's will. He continued speaking and continued encouraging us to understand that help is on the way. Help is in the way and the truth and the life. And that in order to move forward and overcome our struggles, we have to ask God's help directly through prayer and the mystical life of his church. Because the reality is we can't understand so much of this life, this faith, this God that we have, this ineffable, indescribable, unapproachable. It's not unapproachable. We can most certainly approach him, but we will never understand. This is the beauty of the mystery, right? He encouraged us to seek guidance from those who he has found and those who have followed his calling. Our angels, the saints, our spiritual father. These are things that we can do every day to seek help, to find guidance. We can prepare and participate in the services and the sacraments of his church. And in doing so, we grow. We work towards becoming divine. And lastly, we seek the way, the truth, and the life by consuming and being consumed by the holy sacraments. Saint Seraphim of Sarov wrote, We do this like being a fish in the water. Think about that. We seek the way, the truth, and the life by consuming and being consumed by the Holy Scriptures. Like a fish in the water. Father Thomas Hopko used to say that when the disciple is ready, the master appears. So we must continue to seek. My big takeaway was we have to continue to work, we have to continue to seek, we have to continue to grow. And in doing so, we prepare ourselves to get ready for the time when the master comes to us. Because he's waiting. He loves us. He wants us, he needs us. So we have we have to work, we have to be diligent. And it's not easy. It's simple, but it's not easy. We continue to have some group exercises, some group discussions, and just so much, so much good, so much good. A couple of the questions that were asked, if we're trying to discern something, just we have to ask ourselves, how much of the love of the cross is in something like this? You know, these things that we're trying to understand, that we're trying to discern, we get through them, through these things, through the cross. We have to understand the nature of the life of Christ and think about our love of the cross and Christ. And consider how much of that is in the thing that we are contemplating doing. And as far as everything else in life that happens to us, we just simply have to accept it and trust that it is God's plan for us. And finally, he encouraged us to bloom where we're planted to the greatest extent possible. And if we cannot, then we have to plan accordingly to change where we're planted. This is why monks left the city, so that they could live it more, so that they could blossom more. But not all of us are monks, not all of us can leave the city. Not all of us can leave our life. Not all of us can go somewhere and be somewhere different. Sometimes we have to remain where we are. Sometimes the life that we live is the cross that we bear. When we attend events like this and connect with people like this and learn from those like Father Paul, like Molly, like Father Martin Johnson, like Melissa Nasko. We learn. We grow. Dandelions grow and blossom in cracks in concrete sidewalks. Beauty can be had anywhere. This life, while oftentimes it doesn't seem perfect, a life through Christ within the church is, no matter what happens. And I became more confident than that, and more confident in that than ever throughout everything that happened this weekend. It was beautiful. Learning and loving and sharing and growing. After the afternoon session, we had more free time. Then we had a Vespers service in the chapel with singing and chanting by those in attendance there, led by Gerald, who's from here in Northeast Ohio. Everybody that was singing and chanting did a great job. It was beautiful. It got warm in there. There were so many of us packed into the chapel. But it didn't matter. It was timeless. It was amazing. After Vespers, we had dinner. We had more free time. And then we gathered together at 7 o'clock for a bonfire with s'mores and marshmallows and chocolate and graham crackers and everything that you would think of to have at a bonfire. Some people brought drinks. There was a lot of coffee had. There was just any and anybody was doing whatever you wanted to do, bookstore, board games, you know. But just a lot of time, a lot of people hanging around a bonfire talking, sharing, learning, growing. And then later on that night we had a speed dating session, which was mildly chaotic. Most of us had never engaged in any kind of speed dating. It was a little bit overwhelming, but it was a great time to give everybody an opportunity to connect with people that maybe we didn't connect with. Many of us stayed up late Saturday night because we had the opportunity to sleep in a little bit more Sunday morning. Because morning prayers didn't start at 7 a.m. Matins started at 9.15. And that was followed by Divine Liturgy, and that took place at the St. Ignatius Chapel on the campside of the Antiochian village. A beautiful small chapel. And again, people singing and chanting did such a fantastic job of elevating the worship experience of everyone in attendance that all I can do is say thank you to those who did for coming together with with such short notice and having very little practice beforehand. It was a beautiful thing. And I just don't I don't know what to say other than the fact that it was absolutely wonderful and beautiful. And I I I it was wonderful and beautiful. After Matins and Liturgy, we we basically had brunch, and um that was about it. At that point in time, we then headed back to all of the uh the places where we were staying, and we checked out. I had brought some Antieron with me, which is the the blessed bread, and I shared that with some people upon departing, and uh I spent some time at the bookstore and I was maybe one of the last ones to leave because I I didn't want to leave like I said in the beginning, I I felt that everyone there was the family I never knew I had. But eventually I did, and I drove home in silence, with a full heart, thinking about what had taken place over the past three days. So again, I'll just close out what with what I initially wrote in the Ancient Faith Orthodox Christian Singles outreach group after the after the event because this is really all I can think of to to to to close out this this podcast and my synopsis of the weekend. After a drive back to Medina, Ohio, in silence, reflecting on the past few days with everyone in attendance at the Ancient Faith Singles Retreat. The thing I'd like to say most is thank you. Thank you to Melinda and the rest of the Ancient Faith Ministries team for organizing this, the Antiochian Village Conference and Retreat Center for hosting the event, and everyone in attendance. It was a joy to connect with each of you in the ways that we did. My heart is full from the conversations and experiences we shared together. Being surrounded by so much authenticity and love over the past few days, it has left me with a full heart and with little else I feel is appropriate to say other than thank you and to communicate my deep gratitude. With deep gratitude, my appreciation for the opportunity to get to know you better. I look forward to cultivating these relationships further and to connecting with those whose paths remain uncrossed or who were unable to make it to the event. May God bless each and every one of you. And for all of you listening out there, thank you for taking the time to listen to this. I hope that I hope that this for those that attended the event uh with me, I hope that this brings back some memories and gives you an opportunity to reflect on many of the same things that I reflected on. I welcome any comments, questions about anything that I discussed, any dialogue that may take place as a result of sharing this experience with you. And for anybody else who wasn't at the event, Orthodox or not, I welcome any dialogue about anything that was discussed here. I will do my best to answer any questions that you may have about the church, about the faith, and I will do my best to be the window that allows the light of Christ to shine through. So, with that, I would just like to thank you and close out the episode today with the troparian of Saint Raphael, which is what we heard and sung at the service of supplication at his grave on Friday afternoon. Thank you so much, everybody. God bless.