Fr Kosmas's talks have been an invaluable resource and have accompanied me on numerous long drives. He hasn't uploaded anything in nearly a year and the last talk, scheduled for January, was canceled. Hoping they're able to resume soon.
Fr Kosmas - Orthodox Talks
- Thread starter GodGiveMeStrength
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I highly recommend everyone, Orthodox or not listen to his spiritual talks
Fr. Kosmas is an incredible orator and his talks have helped me so much! You can sense his great humility and his talks have such a calming, spiritual effect. They are long, however if anyone is interested you can start with this short sermon.
Am I crazy for saying I don’t like Orthodox Talks that much?
Hieromonk Kosmas has some good things to say of course, but when I try to listen to his four hour lectures there’s so much aimless rambling, for a lack of a better term, that I rarely hear much of what the talk is supposed to be about.
I think this is a case where some more judicious editing would really be beneficial. I don’t have time to listen to such long podcasts and think it’s a bit ridiculous that I can listen for an hour and still be nowhere close to the supposed topic of the talk.
I might not mind the off topic elements if it was more edifying but the sheer pessimism of the talks can be rather discouraging, there’s often a strong vibe of “everything everywhere is completely awful, you’re all doing everything wrong and you should listen to this one guy on Mount Athos who’s doing things right.” Listening to this vein of Orthodox content just makes me feel like it’s all hopeless. It’s stuff that probably plays well in a monastic context but feels bleak beyond that.
Something I appreciate about priests like, for instance, Fr. Josiah Trenham and Fr. John Whiteford is that they have a good balance of challenging the listener but also encouraging them.
Hieromonk Kosmas has some good things to say of course, but when I try to listen to his four hour lectures there’s so much aimless rambling, for a lack of a better term, that I rarely hear much of what the talk is supposed to be about.
I think this is a case where some more judicious editing would really be beneficial. I don’t have time to listen to such long podcasts and think it’s a bit ridiculous that I can listen for an hour and still be nowhere close to the supposed topic of the talk.
I might not mind the off topic elements if it was more edifying but the sheer pessimism of the talks can be rather discouraging, there’s often a strong vibe of “everything everywhere is completely awful, you’re all doing everything wrong and you should listen to this one guy on Mount Athos who’s doing things right.” Listening to this vein of Orthodox content just makes me feel like it’s all hopeless. It’s stuff that probably plays well in a monastic context but feels bleak beyond that.
Something I appreciate about priests like, for instance, Fr. Josiah Trenham and Fr. John Whiteford is that they have a good balance of challenging the listener but also encouraging them.
I agree that they can be long. I’ve listened to over 30 of the talks. However, I’ve actually feel like I’ve consistently heard opposite of what you’re saying. He really encourages the lay people to not do anything that will build up our pride. One thing he constantly says is to read books for different audiences. He feels that people fall into the trap of only reading monastic books and becoming deluded into thinking they’re monks.
One positive thing I can say I got from Orthodox Talks, is that I appreciated the talks about the value of reading lives of the Saints. I think it's good that he really hammers this point home, this is easy to overlook in favor of diving into deep theological treatises that are probably over most of collective heads. There's a lot of practical and pastoral application from reading the lives of the Saints; although in my case, I find some types encouraging and inspiring, while others make me feel like it's all hopeless, so I suppose a good guiding principle is to focus on those that benefit you and not spend so much time on those that don't.
I disagree with you completely, I don't feel that there's too much rambling. I can perhaps see your point regarding time. They're long talks. I would suggest listening to the more recent ones. Or talks specifically about marriage or raising children, actually the ones on Sts Nektarios, Paisios and Porphyrios are very edifying as well. As time goes on, you can feel how he himself becomes more centred and structured, and the point is addressed relatively quicker than in older talks.
I pray you give them another try!
As @GodGiveMeStrength mentioned, these talks are invaluable.