Summer/Fall 2017 (#70-71)

I. Christianity Comes Over the Alps
A Short History of Christianity in Switzerland

II. The Martyrs of the Swiss Alps

1. St. Maurice and the Theban Legion

2. The Swiss Legacy of the Theban Martyrs
   Pilgrimage with us to early Swiss Christian sites associated with the saints and martyrs of the Theban Legion: Agaunum/Saint-Maurice (site of the martyrdom); Andermatt and Zürich (Sts. Felix, Regula, and Exuperantius); Solothurn (Sts. Ursus and Victor); St. Verena Gorge and Bad Zurzach (St. Verena). Also, a short conversation with Swiss Orthodox church historian Bishop Amvrosii Cantecuzène on the Theban Legion. 

III. Missionary Saints of Switzerland

1. In the Company of the Swiss Saints Early Swiss Christian towns and churches dedicated to the country’s first missionaries: Sitten (Sts. Amatus, Theodul, Altheus); Disentis (St. Sigisbert); Cazis (St. Victor of Tomils and Cazis); Chur (Sts. Asinio, Lucius, and Valentian); Saint-Ursanne (St. Ursanus); Saint-Imier (St. Imier); and Einsiedeln (St. Meinrad).

2. Mariastein Monastery and the Basel Relics

3. Pilgrimage to the Beatus Caves

4. St. Gallen: Meeting St. Gall and St. Otmar

Winter/Spring 2017 (#68-69)

Pilgrimage to Lesvos: The Spiritual Treasury of a Greek Island
Explore the rich Christian history and venerate the saints of the Greek Aegean island of Lesvos (Mitilene): Sts. Raphael, Nicholas and Irene; New Martyr Theodore of Byzantium; the Agiassos Icon of the Mother of God, and the shrine of St. Michael the Archangel.

Living Faith and Unsung Saints: Memories of a Holy Island 
Stories from Lesvos-born Archimandrite Raphael Pavouris of the grace-filled islanders of his Lesvos childhood. An authentic and moving glimpse of a generation that is now passing away.

“To Help Them Safely From the Sea…”: The Heroism of Lesvos’ Greek Villagers
How the coastal villages of the island of Lesvos saved 800,000 Syrian refugees. 

Orthodoxy in the Urals: Remembering Verkhoturye
A 1994 pilgrimage account to the town of Verkhoturye on the Tura River, high in Russia’s Ural Mountains. The pristine town surrounded by majestic forests has been a pilgrimage destination for centuries, with the third largest church in Russia and the relics of St. Simeon, Siberia’s most beloved saint.

Acquiring Faith: A Siberian Childhood
The compelling story of a Soviet childhood through the eyes of a woman born to Orthodox exiles in the Ural town of Verkhoturye. Nina Kartasheva’s childhood recollections are offset by her account of a later critical illness and the miraculous intervention of the last Russian Royal Family.

Fall 2016 (#67)

Living with Lions: The St. Mary of Egypt Animal Sanctuary
In a unique and engaging interview, Veterinarian Joanne Stefanatos and her husband David Hetzel recount their experience of raising lions and a myriad of birds, beasts and reptiles at their Las Vegas, Nevada home. Along with overseeing her own holistic veterinary practice and the St. Mary of Egypt Animal Sanctuary, Dr. Stefanatos annually treats more than a thousand wild animals brought to her by state workers. The couple’s deeply Orthodox worldview lends much needed clarity to the discussion of man’s relationship to animals.

Animals, Man and God: Orthodoxy and the Animal Kingdom
A veterinarian for forty-five years, Dr. Joanne Stefanatos and her husband David Hetzel have made numerous visits to Europe, South America, and Africa to study animals in their native habitat. Interspersed with enlightening stories of animal behavior, Dr. Stefanatos describes the patristic Orthodox view of animal nature, as well as new research on how we relate to the animal kingdom.

On the Nature and Souls of Animals
Quotes from Scripture, the Holy Fathers, Orthodox elders and authors.

The Snakes of Markopoulo
by Mother Nectaria McLees
At the Feast of the Dormition on the Greek island of Cephalonia, hundreds of snakes descend from the rocky slopes, seemingly to pay homage to the Mother of God. Veterinarian Joanne Stefanatos, a daughter of native Cephalonians, traveled to the island to help us research this unique phenomenon.

Spring-Summer 2016 (#65-66)

Saint Innocent of Alaska and Sitka’s Russian-American Heritage
Local Sitka interpreters on the rich history of Alaska’s Russian colonial headquarters, its remarkable Orthodox saints, and the vital Native American Tlingit population that holds fast to its Christian legacy.

Following the Star: Conversations with Sitka Elders
In the summer of 2015, Road to Emmaus asked four long-time parishioners to tell us their memories and impressions of Orthodox church life in Sitka. 

Sitka’s Cathedral of Archangel Michael: An Historic Russian Church in a Land of Saints
Rev. Fr. Michael Boyle on the challenges and rewards of pastoring America’s oldest Orthodox cathedral.

A Russian Priest in Alta California: Father John Veniaminov’s Visit to Fort Ross and the Franciscan Missions
by Mother Nectaria McLees
In 1836, Fr. John Veniaminov, the future St. Innocent of Alaska, made a 1400-mile pastoral visit to a Russian outpost in California. While there he eagerly toured local Spanish Franciscan missions and recorded his impressions.

Remembering Saint Innocent
Fascinating impressions by visitors who shared neither the hierarch’s nationality, background, nor his religion; nothing, in fact, but good fellowship.

Russian Church Bells on California’s El Camino Real
The fascinating story of how Russian church bells were used in California’s Spanish missions.

Winter 2016 (#64)

Reflecting the Heavenly Jerusalem: Building New Churches with Dignity and Grace
In the second-half of a compelling interview on how church design, materials, and liturgical furnishings support or detract from the iconicity of worship, Orthodox church designer Andrew Gould of Charleston, South Carolina reflects on church buildings around the world and advises large parishes and small missions on incorporating traditional patterns into a beautiful, fitting, and prayerful house of worship.

I. Orthodox Architecture: Supporting the Iconicity of Worship

II. Parishes and Missions: Building a New Orthodox Church on Traditional Patterns

III. The Craftsman Heritage: Schooling, Patronage, and New Initiatives in Europe and America

All Manner of Things Beautiful: Met. Hilarion of Kiev’s Sermon on Law and Grace
An accolade from Metropolitan Hilarion of Kiev in praise of the church built by Grand Prince Vladimir and his son Yaroslav-George.

A Crown of Beauty in the Hand of the Lord: Patriarch Photios on the Restoration of Hagia Sophia
The patriarch’s 867 homily on the ravages of iconoclasm can apply equally to our era’s norms of church building. Yet if we understand, as St. Photios did, that our architecture reflects our theology, we may desire to glory in something more true and lasting.

Fall 2015 (#63)

On Earth as it is in Heaven: Form and Meaning in Orthodox Architecture
by Andrew Gould
A rich introductory essay to Orthodox architecture: how church design, construction, materials, and liturgical furnishings support the iconicity of worship in traditional Byzantine, Russian, and Balkan churches, and why we need to identify and emulate these old patterns. 

“Mass Transfigured By Light”: The Iconic Vision of an Orthodox Church 
In this first of a two-part series, Andrew Gould of Charleston, South Carolina joins Road to Emmaus in a discussion of his work and vision as a contemporary Orthodox church designer. With his unique background in ecclesiastical art history and architecture, Andrew presents a compelling and inspiring look at the elements of traditional Orthodox church-building and why we cannot afford to ignore them.

“We Cannot Forget That Beauty”: Notes on Sources for the Conversion of Rus’ 
by Mother Nectaria McLees
St. Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostles was a shrewd and innovative prince who found in Christianity a religion for himself and his people, a rich piety that has resonated in Russia for over a thousand years. Here the traditional account of his search, culminating in the visit of envoys to the Church of Hagia Sophia, is bolstered by little-known textual evidence that illumines the medieval Christian landscape.

Summer 2015 (#62)

Facing Eternity in a Russian Hospice: Sustaining Compassion and Love in the Final Days
Orthodox medical worker Frederica deGraff speaks of her work at the First Moscow Hospice in Moscow, Russia and on profound experiences of death, love, and personhood as her patients live out their final weeks.

A Peaceful Passing: Negotiating the Hospital and Hospice 
Physical Therapist Demetrios Wilson speaks with Road to Emmaus about end-stage medical decisions and how to prepare for a peaceful Christian passing. 

A Simple Grace
Bruce Petersen, Art Director and Graphic Designer for Road to Emmaus, describes his casket-making enterprise and why people are turning to simple, more natural burials. 

Clothed in White Linen
Descended from nine generations of linen makers, journalist Bruce Clark describes traditional linen harvesting and processing, its frequent mention in the Bible, and the use of linen from pre-historic Georgia to the Shroud of Turin.

Sweet Relief: Greek Burial Rites and Ritual Lamentation
From ancient Greek burial rites to the fascinating Greek Christian tradition of lamentation, Road to Emmaus traces the universal need to grieve and the ritual mourning that survives until now in traditional Christian cultures.

Spring 2015 (#61)

On the High Road with Scotland’s Saints: Six Early Christian Pilgrimage Destinations
Take an armchair pilgrimage of Scotland’s southern marches, lofty peaks, and windswept isles in this overview of six early Christian pilgrimage sites: Whithorn, St. Andrews, Iona, Glasgow, Edinburgh/Dunfermline, and the Orkney Islands. Join us as we recount the lives of Sts. Ninian, Columba, Kentigern-Mungo, Giles, Triudana, Margaret of Scotland, and Magnus Erlendsson.

Columba’s Children: Life and Community on a Holy Island
Iona guide Jana McLellan gives a fascinating view of daily life as a 21st-century Christian in the Inner Hebrides, and what it means for Iona’s native sons and daughters whose ancestral home is Columba’s holy isle.

How the Vikings Got Their Comeuppance: “Iona’s Revenge” 
A look at how the tragic Viking raids of the seventh to eleventh centuries left not only a trail of martyred monks, plundered monasteries, and ravaged Christian communities, but in an unexpected turn of events, impacted the Vikings themselves. 

New Beginnings: Orthodoxy in Today’s Scotland
An interview with Archimandrite Raphael Pavouris of Edinburgh’s pan-Orthodox Church of St. Andrew on Orthodox parishes in Scotland after the Second World War and the life and legacy of Archimandrite John Maitland Moir, who for over thirty years supported displaced Orthodox emigrants, new missions, and a growing number of native Scottish converts.

Winter 2015 (#60)

Chastity and Empathy: Eros, Agape, and the Mystery of the Twofold Anointing
Dr. Timothy Patitsas, Assistant Professor of Ethics at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, returns to Road to Emmaus with a discussion of how the roots of chastity are to be found in attentive devotion to the Triune God, unleashing the liberating power of purity and the consolation of spiritual Beauty. 

Chastity
How real Chastity is not the absence of passion, an empty and neutral state, but a pure eros that through self-forgetting leads to ultimate fulfillment and contentment; also, Christ’s institution of Chastity in both its marital and virginal forms at the wedding in Cana.

Empathy 
Why a humane and universal empathy requires the foundation of Chastity, and how recovering the sacramental view of creation is needed to give morality its proper place within our relationship to God. 

The TwoFold Anointing 
The Holy Spirit unites us with Christ in both his Crucifixion and his Resurrection, dividing real from apparent beauty by revealing the presence of the Cross within the Beautiful.