Five years ago, I did a podcast with Andrew Gould, where at the end of the podcast, he dropped a

bomb on the conversation and suggested that there is a deep connection between orthodoxy and

pirates. I have to admit that I was very offended by that remark. Not only do pirates and monks

both live in a certain ascetical isolation from the ways of the world,

from the laws of the world, they both seek their adventure on a ship. They both accumulate treasure.

Of course, there's the monks seeking their spiritual treasure, but even in a purely material parallel, the monks accumulate actual treasure.

These two little micronations, the monks and the pirates, existing in the middle of the world, in the Mediterranean,

and you've got the whole sort of boring, modernizing world, the world of, you know, bankers and merchants circulating all around them.

So, I mean, I guess now I understand. So what you actually mean is that... This is Jonathan Pejot. Welcome to the symbolic world.

So hello everyone. We are here at the Art of Tomada in Florida Keys.

I'm here with a lot of my great friends. Deacon Seraphim is running the camera.

Neil de Grey just walked by and I'm sitting here with Andrew Gould.

And we thought, you know, five years ago,

maybe six years ago, we did, oh man, Neil, we did, we did a podcast, I did a podcast with

Andrew Gould where at the end of the podcast, he dropped a bomb on the conversation and suggested

that there is a deep connection between orthodoxy and pirates.

I have to admit that I was very offended by that remark.

But until then, since then, we haven't talked about it.

And I know that people have actually written emails to Andrew saying, please, tell us the

secret.

What is the connection?

So we thought that being here in Florida would be the perfect place to finally ask the question,

...