Explore every episode of the podcast Through a Monk's Eyes

Surviving Our Own Hypocrisy (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Don't Fall for the Devil's Entertainment (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Why We Must Practice Obedience to Have Faith (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Reading versus Lived Experience of Jesus Christ (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Don't Let Expectations Define You (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

The Voices You Listen to Shape Your Life (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Jesus Christ: The Only Path to Salvation (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

The One True Christ... and the many false ones (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

True Christians Have No Enemies (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Having Constant Spiritual Ups and Downs? (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Procrastination and Self-Worth (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Unnatural Associations (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Being Young is VERY Hard in this World We Made (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

"Low" Periods Hide a Spiritual Treasure (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

What Does an Orthodox Holy Altar Look Like? (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

On the Blood of Martyrs (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Don't Hide You from Christ (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Fasting for God Opens Our Spiritual Sight (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Learning About Spirituality from the Celtic Saints (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

How to Fight Evil from our Hearts in a World of Lies and Confusion (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Fr. Seraphim encourages us to avoid false faces and the havoc they wreak.

Fr. Seraphim encourages viewers to take time away before resetting their lives.

Fr. Seraphim gives a short update.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea introduces us to Inch Kenneth, the 'desert' of St Kenneth.

Fr. Seraphim gives an update on the monasteries.

Join Fr. Seraphim and the Monasteries of Mull and Iona on a pilgrimage to St Brendan's Island: Eileach an Naoimh—'The Rock of the Saint'.

St. Morwenna is commemorated on July 18.

"Truly I say to you, I do not know you."

What has light to do with darkness?

The sign of a true Christian

It is easy to ask for God's Word, but it is difficult to listen and accept His answer. That is because His answer reveals His Divine will and once we know that, we need to silence our own will and follow Him.

The story of a miracle: how God healed me and then poured a mountain of grace over us was recorded by Fr Seraphim (Aldea) at Mull Monastery (The Orthodox Monastery of All Celtic Saints), on the Isle of Mull.

We live in an age of new paganism. The distance we allowed between ourselves and Christ has created a spiritual void in the world, which is rapidly being filled with spiritual experiences and rituals that mirror those of the ancient pagan world.

This video is part of a Lenten Retreat at St Seraphim's Cathedral in Santa Rosa, California. As we prepare to enter Great Lent, we might ponder on the impossible height to which we are being called—to be perfect with the Father’s perfection—an impossibility that becomes possible in Christ, as we open up to His presence. This paradox and the tension it creates in us keep our spiritual life safe from being reduced to empty piety and religiosity.

We are broken and our prayer reflects that brokenness. But we are called to be one, to be simple with God's simplicity. As our prayer grows, we grow as well. As we spiritually heal and let go of our complexities and divisivenesses (which are results of our fallen nature), our prayer slowly lets go of its brokenness and becomes what it is supposed to be: a prayer beyond words, a silent prayer that is an act of being.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea reminds us to keep ourselves grounded in humility, so we may fight pride and hypocrisy, and prevent them from staining our spiritual struggle before the Lord. When you are at the beginning of your spiritual life, you need to prioritize your ascetical works, because they will eventually help you open up to receive God's Grace.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea reminds us that these are unforgivable sins against God's Love and Mercy. Feeling entitled to God's forgiveness, reducing God's Love to an automatic, impersonal tool of forgiveness—this is spiritual abuse of God's Love, this is the unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit. The other is to lose hope, to think that God's Love is not strong enough to cover our sins, to sink so low in our despair that we believe our sin has defeated God's Love.

'All is well, but I feel dry. Where there was life, I now have only the memory of it.' We tend to formalise our spiritual life, but Life is not in formalities: Life is in the Spirit—We need to reset our spiritual life to factory settings, jumping out of our comfort zones into a new, living faith.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea reminds us that prayer is 'the art of arts and the highest science'. Prayer is hard, it is exhausting and it will slowly burn the sinful parts of your being. This is why prayer is naturally painful and extremely difficult. In its perfect form, prayer is impossible for our fallen selves, but it becomes possible by grace (for the Saints) and in Christ's Kingdom, when we shall finally experience the full potential of our human nature.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea answers the question "If God is perfect, why did He create imperfection?", by reminding us of His love for His creation.

Would you tell the demoniacs whom Christ healed that they are 'perfect as they are'? Would you tell Mary Magdalene that the seven demons who fought her made her 'who she was'? Would you stop Christ from forgiving sinners because there is no need for them to be forgiven? If we are 'perfect as we are', then what need do we have of Christ? THIS is why the idea that we do not need to change, that we have to embrace ourselves just as we are and that sin is somehow part of our true selves — this is why this heresy is the door through which the collapse of our entire faith enters. If I am perfect as I am, then I don't need Christ for anything. Even more, this Christ Who tells me that I DO need to change becomes an antiquated and outdated 'invention', without Whom I can very well live my life.

The devil wants us to forget him. His ultimate success would be to make us believe that he is not even real, that he is just the product of our imagination. Once that happens, the flood-gates of sin are wide open in us and our salvation is in great danger.

Why can't I stop sinning when I want to stop with all my being? Why is it that I cannot pray with the strength with which I want to pray? Why can't I be the person I want to be for the love of Christ? And is there a way to actually move forward from all this sin and to grow in our spiritual life?