Raised in Queens, New York by formerly Orthodox Jewish parents whose faith had been undermined by the Holocaust, Arnold Bernstein (now Fr. James Bernstein) went on his own personal quest for the God he instinctively felt was there. He was ready to accept God in whatever form He chose to reveal Himself—and that form turned out to be Christ.

Later he became a founding member of Jews for Jesus. But Bernstein soon perceived discrepancies in the various forms of Christian belief that surrounded him, and so his quest continued—this time for the original Church. With his Jewish heritage as a foundation, he studied and evaluated, and eventually came to the conclusion that the faith of his forefathers was fully honored and brought to completion only in the Orthodox Christian Church. He is the author of "Surprised by Christ".

Matthew Gallatin is the author of the popular book, Thirsting for God in a Land of Shallow Wells (Conciliar Press, 2002). Audiences around the country have heard him share the story of his journey from evangelical Protestantism to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. “Pilgrims from Paradise,” his weekly podcast on Ancient Faith Radio (www.ancientfaith.com), reaches thousands of listeners each month with timely teachings on the Orthodox Christian experience.

Matthew has a masters from Gonzaga, taught there and at North Idaho College for 17 years, and now writes and speaks full-time. As pastor of a non-denominational church in the 1980s, Matthew became troubled by the doctrinal contradictions that separate Christians. His spiritual journey led him to the Early Church Fathers and over time Matthew discovered the Orthodox Church to be the faithful Church of the first centuries.