Blooming in the Desert – Episode 6 – Interview with Archpriest Eric Tosi, Secretary of the OCA

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This week the hosts of Blooming in the Desert welcomed and interviewed Fr. Eric Tosi, Secretary of the OCA, about his job and thelogical issues. Blooming in the Desert also hosted an audience from St. Paul’s and St. John’s Orthodox Churches. Many questions were asked, such as:

1.)  What aspect of parish life do you miss the most? ( i.e. leading Liturgy, confession, pastoring)
2.)  In your current position, do you work with Met. Jonah on a daily basis?  And what kind of input does he have?
3.)  What has been the most challenging aspect of your job, especially coming in at a time of change…new Met., financial concerns, etc.?
4.)  What are some of the challenges that you look forward to in the coming months?  Years?
5.)  What can we as a parish and/or individual do to assist the OCA in general and the Orthodox Church as a whole, to make our “life in Christ” a reality?

We have also posted a few of the questions asked by some of our audience members. Please note that these are questions were not written by us and may contain errors but that Fr. Eric did answer these questions with a true Orthodox answer.

1)  What are some books, writings, or other resources you would recommend to someone new to Orthodoxy? -Steve
2)  Several years ago the Pope visited Greece on the invitation of the Patriarch.  The Pope got on both knees in front of the Patriarch and asked for forgiveness on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church for all its actions in the past:  separation of the Church, persecution of the Orthodox people, not to mention their own, and ransacking one of the Churches and the relics of a Saint which was returned.  What’s up with that visit.  Note: The Patriarch forgave the Roman Catholic Church. – Ann
3)  Do you think that if we focus more on holiness, humility, repentance, fasting that our Church will find its identity?- Constantine
4)  How can the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church overcome their differences?  What do we need to do? – Dobri
5)  What is a martyr? – Tara (Mary)
6)  How do we search and find the will of God for us in a given life situation and event?  How does our own choice affect God’s judgments and provision for us? – Mihail
7)  What does the Eastern Rite have to do with the Eastern Orthodox Church. – Ann
8)  Father, I am communicating online with a Lutheran Orthodox Bishop, telling him about Orthodoxy.  What is the best thing I can say to him?

Also, if you are listening to the podcast via our website, this particular episode is larger then others, so we have broken it into 2 parts for the Media Player but you can download the episode in full by downloading it via the link above the media player.