The last of the classic councils was, like so many of the others, a comic production worthy of the Marx Brothers—and simultaneously a tragedy worthy of Tolstoy. In the eighth-century run-up to the Second Council of Nicaea we encounter an emperor known as "Poopyhead," who summons a synod known as the "Headless Council"—all for the sake of forbidding the use of devotional images. That's where it started anyway. Eventually the emperor got around to condemning any honor paid to saints, and then he d...
Sep 28, 2022•18 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Leave it to intellectuals (in any age) to "solve" the world's problems in ways that create bigger problems. Monothelitism was a religious idea concocted by policy wonks in boardrooms. It was supposed to remedy the doctrinal differences that divided Constantinople from Egypt. It failed to do that, and it also provoked a schism between Constantinople and all of western Christendom. The Third Council of Constantinople was called in 680 to clean up the mess. LINKS Christoph Cardinal Schonborn, God S...
Sep 14, 2022•18 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Every council represents a crisis — often provoked by strong and eccentric personalities. But Constantinople II, in 553 AD, may have been the strangest of all. At the center of the drama were an imperial power couple, Justinian and Theodora, and a weak pope who vacillated between cowardice and duty. LINKS Extracts from the Acts https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3812.htm Biography of Justinian https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08578b.htm Biography of Pope Vigilius https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/...
Aug 26, 2022•20 min•Season 2Ep. 6
What happened when God took flesh? A simple question roused hundreds of speculative answers, most concerning the "person" and "nature" (or natures) of Jesus Christ. But the philosophical terms themselves were slippery, and mistranslations only made matters worse. The wild speculation came to a stop at the Council of Chalcedon, thanks to a letter from Pope Leo the Great. His "Tome" defined terms with abundant clarity. Since then, in mainstream Christianity, Orthodox Christology has been Chalcedon...
Aug 11, 2022•17 min•Season 2Ep. 5
From the distance of more than a millennium and a half, Nestorius can seem a comic character. He was a verbally fussy man with an uncanny knack for alienating people. Within days of his installation as bishop of Constantinople, he had offended the imperial family, the monks, and the nobles, but also the common people. He also caused a major fire in the city. But when he tried to suppress devotion to Mary as "Mother of God," he invited all his enemies to join forces against him—because such a cam...
Jul 27, 2022•36 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Nicaea didn't resolve the Arian crisis. In fact, it provoked a riot of reactions — endless variations on the Arian theme. Imperial force only made matters worse. For a half-century, conflict raged. The situation seemed hopeless until Theodosius summoned bishops to meet in 381. LINKS Socrates Scholasticus, Church History (Book V) https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2884 Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History (Book VII) https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/f...
Jul 13, 2022•21 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Nicaea (325 A.D.) is the first of the ecumenical councils, not only in chronology, but also in importance. It occupies a certain primacy. The phrase "Nicene Faith" is sometimes used as an equivalent term for classic Christian doctrine. That's how we see it after centuries of development. But what did it mean to those who attended? LINKS Eusebius of Caesarea, Oration in Praise of the Emperor Constantine https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2883 Eusebius of Caesa...
Jun 29, 2022•23 min•Season 2Ep. 2
When the Church is in crisis, its bishops meet in council. Since the generation of the Apostles, this has been the customary way of settling major disputes over doctrine and discipline. In the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 15, the Twelve met with certain elders and chosen experts to exercise an authority that was different from the authority that any of them possessed individually. This established a practice for the ages to follow. The councils in the time of the Fathers—the first seven ecumeni...
Jun 15, 2022•19 min•Season 2Ep. 1
In the first three centuries of Christian history, the practice of the faith was a capital crime, and many gave their lives as the ultimate testimony. The Church called them "witnesses"—in Greek, martures, whence we get the English word martyr. To speak of martyrdom, the early Fathers employed language usually reserved only for the Eucharist. So what does martyrdom have to do with the Mass? LINKS Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, "Eucharist and Mission," in Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith: The Church as Co...
May 25, 2022•22 min
Music formed the early Christians in faith. It catechized them. Inspired them. Unified them. Healed them. The Fathers — from Ignatius of Antioch to John of Damascus — testify to this fact. Many of them wrote music. Augustine wrote a book about music. At a time when most people could not read, music was the most effective delivery system for doctrine. The decisions of the councils would have been dead letters apart from their placement in musical settings. In this episode, early Christian music f...
May 11, 2022•29 min
Why is it big news when someone claims to find a fragment of a lost "gospel"? Why do people say that these ancient apocrypha threaten to overturn everything Christians believe? In the second century, some of these pseudonymous books appeared and quickly landed in the remainder bin, called into question by giants such as Irenaeus and Tertullian. They're news today because of a modern myth, crafted by one of the renowned literary critics of the 20th century — and sustained by ivy-league celebritie...
May 04, 2022•37 min
Most lowly and most loved, deacons played supremely important roles in the early Church. Think Lawrence of Rome. Think Ephrem of Syria. They were consistently voted most likely to be pope. Jerome wryly observed that when a bishop wanted to demote a deacon, he ordained him to the priesthood. LINKS Ignatius of Antioch, The Epistle to the Trallians https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1630 Ignatius of Antioch, The Epistle to the Philadelphians https://www.catholic...
Apr 26, 2022•17 min
Ever wonder how Bible study was done in the early Church? It was done with chains. The CATENA did the work that Bible software does for us today. It did the work of concordances and even entire shelves of commentaries. Catena is Latin for chain, and the links in these long-ago chains were extracts from the sermons and letters of earlier interpreters of Scripture. LINKS Roger Pearse's blog entries on ancient catenae https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/category/catena/ St. Thomas Aquinas, Catena A...
Mar 22, 2022•20 min
When asked what's wrong with the Church, commentators from Pope Francis to Russell Shaw will blame an elusive beast named "clericalism." But what is clericalism, and where did it come from? In this episode we track the beast to its birthplace, the Church of the fourth century. Our native guides are Augustine, John Chrysostom, and others—who offer us good counsel for defeating it in our own time. LINKS Anonymous, The Epistle to Diognetus https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0101.htm Minucius Felix, ...
Mar 09, 2022•24 min
The hospital arose as a Christian institution, dependent on the Christian principles of charity and hospitality. There were no pre-Christian hospitals. This episode tells the story of how it happened—how the early Church changed the practice of medicine forever. LINKS Mike Aquilina, The Healing Imperative: The Early Church and the Invention of Medicine as We Know It https://catholicbooksdirect.com/products/mike-aquilina-the-healing-imperative Gary B. Ferngren, Medicine and Health Care in Early C...
Feb 23, 2022•29 min
The Empire faced a crisis in the year 9 A.D. Romans were not reproducing. They weren't even marrying. Caesar Augustus recognized that this posed a dire threat to the Roman way of life—the empire's cultural and intellectual heritage, and its homeland security. He made new laws to encourage fertility. He even proposed a pagan "theology of the body." His successors made more laws. All failed, and eventually it was Christianity that restored and revived the Roman family and Roman world. Here's the f...
Feb 09, 2022•32 min
John of Damascus, the last of the Fathers, was born into a world newly conquered. In the seventh century, many lands that were once home to Eastern Christianity, had fallen to the invading armies of Arab Muslims. John's father and grandfather, both devout Christians, served as treasury officials for the Muslim caliphate. So John was able to provide a rare outsider's view of Islam when it was new on the world scene. In Christian history he is known as the great defender of the practice of venerat...
Jan 25, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 56
Isidore of Seville lived at a time when the memory (or fantasy) of a homogeneous Roman culture was rapidly fading. It was a time to gather the last of the classical harvest into the barns. The conquering "barbarians," the Visigoths, had now been ruling in Spain for centuries. They were no longer foreigners. Rather, a new culture was forming, a "melting pot" of Roman and northern elements. A man of holy ambition, Isidore laid strong foundations for the medieval European culture that would follow....
Jan 12, 2022•15 min•Season 1Ep. 55
By the seventh century, Christian thinkers of East and West were settling into scholastic methods, synthesizing and systematizing the thought of their Greek or Latin forebears. Maximus represents the best mind (by far) in this movement. Greek by origin, he spent decades living in Latin lands. His writing reflected the beauty and brilliance of piety and theology on both sides of the Mediterranean. In Maximus (to steal a phrase from Pope John Paul II) the Church breathed with both lungs. He marsha...
Dec 29, 2021•18 min•Season 1Ep. 54
His name retains its greatness, even in modern times—even for Christians who don't know much history. They know Gregorian Chant, and maybe Gregorian Masses. Who was the Gregory behind those monuments? Born into nobility, he held vast estates in Italy and Sicily, but gave them up to be a monk. Then he gave up being a monk so that he could serve the Church. Elected pope, he recast the papacy as a full-time exercise of servitude. He was "servant of the servants of God," and as such he reformed the ...
Dec 14, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Benedict was not the first monk to compose a rule for living in community — but he's certainly the most influential. He wrote the Rule that the Emperor Charlemagne would propose as guidebook for all monks in the West. Yet Benedict himself was self-effacing in the extreme, and he remains elusive for historians. Lately, he has emerged as a patron and model for people whose civilization could be entering a Dark Age. Know anybody like that? LINKS Benedict of Nursia, The Rule https://ccel.org/ccel/be...
Nov 29, 2021•15 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Forget the shamrocks. Pour the green beer down the sink, and drive the snakes from the Emerald Isle of your imagination. Listen up and encounter the real St. Patrick, author of two passionate, fascinating Christian works—deserving of a place with the Church Fathers. Patrick arrived in pagan Ireland in the fifth century, first as a slave and then as an itinerant bishop. By the end of his life, Ireland was a Christian nation. LINKS Patrick of Ireland, Confessio https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/conf...
Nov 11, 2021•17 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Peter Chrysologus is known as the "Doctor of Homilies," and he always preached with brevity. Every word was golden. He was archbishop of Ravenna during that city's brief term as capital of the Western empire. His sermons rang like poems, rich with biblical insight and glimpses of ordinary life in a fifth-century urban center. LINKS Peter Chrysologus, a sermon in the Office of Readings https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=173 Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 148 http://www.liturgi...
Oct 27, 2021•15 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Romanus the Melodist looms large from his lifetime in the sixth century. Today he is much sung and little known—at least with certainty. Beautiful legends have filled in the cracks of his biography. According to one, he was tone-deaf and non-musical when heaven granted him the gifts of composition and vocal performance. He went on to compose many verse homilies, kontakia, which are still sung in the Eastern churches today. Having lived in Homs, and then Beirut and Constantinople, he introduced S...
Oct 14, 2021•15 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Though prolific in his words and prodigious in his deeds, Leo was utterly self-effacing. Classically educated, he never quoted the classics. He preached with Gospel simplicity. He strove always to let Christ shine through his sermons and his letters. Yet he made history for three world-changing interventions. It was Leo who stopped Attila the Hun's rampage through Europe. It was Leo who put a decisive end to the ancient heresies about the natures of Christ. And it was Leo who kept the barbarian ...
Sep 28, 2021•21 min•Season 1Ep. 48
All Christians respected the authority of Scripture, but already in the fifth century the Church was riven by conflicting interpretations of Scripture. A monk in Gaul, Vincent of Lerins, developed a formula to determine true doctrine from false. "All possible care must be taken," he said, "that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all." Conservative by temperament, Vincent nonetheless allowed for development in religion through the ages. He emphasized the special rol...
Sep 15, 2021•16 min•Season 1Ep. 47
Cyril's uncle was the notorious Theophilus, a ruthless and fiercely competitive churchman — and the old manhood handpicked his nephew to be his successor as bishop of Alexandria. Cyril learned from Theophilus how to orchestrate an international incident and carry it through to the victorious end. But he was very much his own man: a towering intellect, the mastermind of the Council of Ephesus, a prodigious commentator on the Scriptures, and a saint of a different sort. LINKS Socrates Scholasticus...
Aug 25, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 46
The great ascetic movement was in its first years of explosive growth when John Cassian journeyed from West to East. He visited the communities of monks and hermits in Palestine and Egypt. Though he sought a quiet life, he got caught up in international intrigue and adventure. In his later years he drew together the memories of his years in the desert, and composed two works on the cultivation of virtue and the practices of prayer. LINKS John Cassian, The Conferences (Part 1) https://www.catholi...
Aug 10, 2021•18 min•Season 1Ep. 45
In this bonus episode originally from the Catholic Culture Podcast, CatholicCulture.org's director of podcasts, Thomas V. Mirus, interviews voice actor James T. Majewski (Catholic Culture Audiobooks) and author Mike Aquilina (Way of the Fathers) about how they make their shows and the effect reading and studying the Church Fathers has had on them personally. Contents [2:15] James's training in philosophy and acting as preparation for narrating the Fathers [7:00] How Mike meandered into a career ...
Aug 04, 2021•53 min
Prudentius is the Latin poet most praised from the ancient Church. Phenomenally creative, he invented new poetic forms and genres—and established artistic standards that would hold through the Middle Ages. Scholars as varied as C.S. Lewis and Robert Wilken call him "the first Christian poet," the first great representative of a real Christian literature. Compared to Prudentius, all earlier Christian poets were dabblers. Upon his model depended such later luminaries as Bunyan, Milton, and Spenser...
Jul 26, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 44
