The Orthodox Monastery of the Archangel Michael was established in Sydney, Australia, in 1995 by Hieromonks Kosmas and Justin. The monastery is under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, of which the ruling hierarch is His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion.

In 2007, with the blessing and support of Metropolitan Hilarion, Father Kosmas began presenting regular talks every 6–8 weeks, at Saint George Russian Orthodox Church in Carlton, Sydney. These talks were recorded and made available for purchase on CD at a number of monasteries and parishes, especially in North America.

In June of 2013, with the blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion, the website www.orthodoxtalks.com was established in order to offer these talks for purchase as MP3 downloads, as well. Five years later, on July 30, 2018, it was decided to make these downloads available free of charge. On January 4, 2019, the entire series of talks was published on YouTube. Thereafter, all CD production ceased.