Fr. John discusses the ways in which iconography was defined and produced in Byzantine Christendom.

Fr. John introduces the principle of heavenly orientation and then explores actual forms of art, beginning with iconography.

Fr. John looks at a couple of consequences of St. Augustine's anthropology in the West.

Fr. John describes the desanctification of the world that began to occur in the time leading up to the Great Schism.

Fr. John addresses the foundations in the West of a growing pessimism about man's condition, paying particular attention to Augustine.

After a transition to his new parish assignment, Father John returns to the podcast with a discussion of the atmosphere of catastrophe that hung over the old Christendom of the east as the Muslim Turks advanced on Byzantium, while a defender of traditional Christianity, Saint Mark of Ephesus, prepared to depart for the unionist Council of Florence in the west.

Fr. John introduces the force that kept traditional Christianity on course at a moment of crisis in the east, Hesychasm, and how it maintained Christendom's focus on paradise.

In this episode, Fr. John describes why Saint Gregory's defense of hesychasm against the westernized Barlaam represented a defense not only of Orthodoxy, but of Christendom itself.

In this episode, Fr. John draws upon several scholarly works to show how hesychasm protected eastern Christendom from the forces that had begun to lead the new Christendom of the west away from traditional Christianity.

Fr. John draws attention to a feature of Byzantine statecraft in which the Emperor persecuted and manipulated the leadership of the Church.

Fr. John gives an account of the atmosphere in Italy in which Orthodox and Roman Catholic delegates met to discuss the possibility of union in the middle of the fifteenth century. Only one of the Orthodox would refuse to sign the resulting Treaty of Union, Saint Mark of Ephesus.

In this final episode of Reflection 17, Fr. John relates the final catastrophe to befall eastern Christendom during the period, the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453.

In this latest episode on the impending Protestant Reformation, Fr. John discusses ways in which the long legacy of pessimism about the human condition and the world in general undermined western Christendom at one of her most critical moments.

In this episode Fr. John explores the life of Protestant father John Calvin and the reformer's contribution to the Reformation project.

In this episode Father John discusses a few tendencies in Calvinism that would serve to undermine the place of paradise in Reformation Christendom, especially the doctrine of "total depravity" and the spiritual anxiety that accompanied it.

Fr. John discusses the dignity of man according to the Greek Fathers

In the first episode of part two of his four-part podcast "Paradise and Utopia," Fr. John Strickland, a professor of history at Saint Katherine Orthodox College, describes how Pope Nicholas I paved the way for the rapid development of the papal theory of empire.

Fr. John contends that to understand the coming of the Renaissance and its humanism, one really needs to understand how in the West the doctrines about man became increasingly pessimistic.

In this episode Fr. John discusses ways in which Reformed cosmology represented a shift from the heavenly immanence of paradisiacal Christendom toward the heavenly transcendence of utopian Christendom.

Fr. John continues to discuss St. Augustine by looking first at his notorious doctrine of original sin and its impact on the conception of man in the West.

Fr. John discusses the spiritual transformation of time by Christianity.

In this reflection on an emerging post-Christian Christendom, Fr. John Strickland discusses two ways in which eighteenth-century philosophes—from Voltaire to Thomas Jefferson—worked to subvert the paradisiacal culture of the old Christendom. He explores their use of photic imagery such as "enlightenment" and their introduction of the tripartite utopian model of history consisting of ancient, medieval, and modern periods. He concludes with a brief description of Edward Gibbon's famous and influential work The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Most Americans know Tchaikovsky as the composer of the delightful dances contained within the Nutcracker Ballet. As Fr. John Strickland shows, however, there is much more to be heard in their melodies, and little that was delightful about the emotionally agonized life behind them. Using selections from a variety of works, he explores how the romantic agony came for Tchaikovsky in his boyhood and thereafter never departed. Special attention is given to an analysis of the famous Sixth Symphony, nicknamed Pathetique. First performed just days before the composer's abrupt death, the work brings the generation of the romantics to a heart-rending and emblematic conclusion.

In this introduction to the final part of Paradise and Utopia, Fr. John reads the prologue to his recently released book, The Age of Nihilism: Christendom from the Great War to the Culture Wars. The episode introduces the nihilistic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the role compositions by Richard Wagner played in his formation. Included are musical excerpts of the latter's famous "Wedding March" and "Ride of the Valkyries."

In these episodes, Fr. John Parker reads Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven by Saint Innocent of Alaska, a beautiful, simple, and short book on the basics of Christianity, authored by one of our North American saints. Introduction, pp.5-7. For permission to read, Fr. John thanks Holy Trinity Publications, Jordanville, NY. Indication, ISBN 0-88465-075-8, can be purchased at http://www.holytrinitypublications.com or at good bookstores and websellers everywhere.

In these episodes, Fr. John Parker reads Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of Heavenby Saint Innocent of Alaska, a beautiful, simple, and short book on the basics of Christianity, authored by one of our North American saints. "Part One: The Blessings that Jesus Christ has granted Us by His Death," pp 8-11. For permission to read, Fr. John thanks Holy Trinity Publications, Jordanville, NY. Indication, ISBN 0-88465-075-8, can be purchased at http://www.holytrinitypublications.com or at good bookstores and websellers everywhere.

In these episodes, Fr. John Parker reads Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven by Saint Innocent of Alaska, a beautiful, simple, and short book on the basics of Christianity, authored by one of our North American saints. "Part Two: How Jesus Christ lived on Earth, and What He Suffered for Us." pp 11-16. For permission to read, Fr. John thanks Holy Trinity Publications, Jordanville, NY. Indication, ISBN 0-88465-075-8, can be purchased at http://www.holytrinitypublications.com or at good bookstores and websellers everywhere.

Fr. John interviews Fr. Christopher Foley of Holy Cross Orthodox Church, High Point, North Carolina.

Fr. John shares about the Sunday of All Saints and gives a challenge for us to follow the examples of the missionary saints.

Fr. John shares an update and prayerful reflections on the recent flooding in South Carolina.

Fr. John shares an update from the Department of Evangelization with the 18th All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America, July 2015.

Fr. John Parker shares reflections from Crete at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care. Learn more about the conference at http://pemptousia.com/2018/01/2nd-international-conference-on-digital-media-and-orthodox-pastoral-care-the-living-water-2/.

Fr. John Parker shares reflections from Crete at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care. He tells about St. Nikephorus the Leper. Learn more about St. Nikephorus at https://orthodoxwiki.org/Nicephorus_the_Leper. Learn more about the conference at http://pemptousia.com/2018/01/2nd-international-conference-on-digital-media-and-orthodox-pastoral-care-the-living-water-2/.

Fr. John Parker shares reflections from Crete at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care. He tells about Olga, a woman he met at the conference who is editor of the Russian magazine, Foma. Learn more about Foma. Learn more about the conference.

Fr. John Parker shares reflections from Crete at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care. He introduces Orthphoto.net. Learn more about the conference.

Dr. Edith Humphrey considers the Judges’ parable of the bramble and the trees, and the most famous of the Servant Songs of Isaiah, to illuminate the godly vs. self-seeking ambition, and the New Testament readings for this week.

Here the Old Testament readings for Great Vespers and the New Testament readings for Divine Liturgy are used to illuminate the importance of councils and primacy in the holy Church—a Church that is visible and concrete, with a recognizable and divinely-ordained shape, just as our Lord actually took on humanity, and did not simply visit us in an “appearance.”

What do the martyrdom of John the Forerunner and the weakness of Herod have to say to twenty-first century North American Christians? Explore the implications of John’s beheading and St. Paul’s description of the Forerunner, with the help of Psalm 2 and Malachi 4.

What is sure and what is shallow? Our Great Vesper readings (Genesis 14:14-20, Deuteronomy 1:8-11, 15-17 and Deuteronomy 10:14-21) guide us in understanding what the fathers of the ecumenical councils have done, and in reading Titus 3:8-15 and Luke 8:5-15.

Here the Old Testament readings for Great Vespers and the New Testament readings for Divine Liturgy are used to illuminate the importance of councils and primacy in the holy Church—a Church that is visible and concrete, with a recognizable and divinely-ordained shape, just as our Lord actually took on humanity, and did not simply visit us in an “appearance.” This program is a re-air from July 17, 2015.

We consider the humility of Jesus and the Theotokos in the Presentation, as well as the reason why humility is so important, as seen in our readings for Divine Liturgy this Sunday (2 Timothy 3:10-15; Luke 18:10-14), in the light of Hezekiah’s plea before God in 4 Kingdoms 19:9-20 and our Lord’s own pattern in Philippians 2: 5-11.

Consider the passages in St. Andrew’s canon concerning Moses, alongside Hebrews 11:24-25, 32-40 and John 1:43-51 and 2 Peter 1. We learn the apostolic way of reading the Old Testament as warnings and examples to help us at the beginning of Great Lent.

We read the stories of the Holy Martyr George (celebrated this Sunday April 23, along with St. Thomas Sunday) in the light of Job, Isaiah and Revelation 12, seeing him as a mirror to our victorious Lord, who cleansed the chaotic waters of all that lurked there, and trampled down death by death.

This week, as we approach Great Lent, Dr. Edith Humphrey helps us prepare our minds by focusing upon godly humility, as seen in Job, in the model laid out for Timothy by St. Paul, and in the well-known parable of the Publican and the Pharisee.

Remembering the apostles, we consider Jesus’ words from Matt 9:13 concerning God’s mercy, and the Resurrection hymns in the fourth tone, in the light of 1 Cor 1:26-31, Hosea 6:6-7, Genesis 3:1-5, and Wisdom 2:23-24.

What is meant by the phrase “He was not tempted by Hades”, and is it the case that Jesus appeared first to the Theotokos? We look to the Scriptural teaching on the despoiling of Hades, to the cultural associations of Hades in the Greek and Roman mind, and to the prophet Isaiah for help in understanding the joy of Holy Saturday’s conquest.

This joyful and profound hymn is understood more fully by contrasting Mary’s “yes” to Eve’s rebellion, by seeing the Incarnation as the beginning of the new creation, and by seeing the parallel between David’s joyful procession with the Ark to Bethlehem, and the Holy Virgin carrying our Lord into that same city for our salvation. (Genesis 1-3, 1 Chronicles 16:8-36, Genesis 22:18)

With this podcast, we complete our study of the eight resurrectional-dismissal hymns for the Theotokos, reading the Theotokion that we will sing for the feast of St. Gregory the Theologian on January 25th. We are helped in understanding this lyrical hymn by several passages in the NT, but also by returning to Genesis, Deuteronomy, Hosea, and Psalm 138/139. Here we see the wonder of the God who seeks and finds, and calls all of the cosmos to rejoice as He shows His glory.

This week we read Acts 6:1-7, the story of the selection of the first deacons, in light of Ephesians 4:10-13, Exodus 18:19-21, Numbers 17 and Deuteronomy 34:9. We rejoice in the wonder of how authority works in the Church, with every member given the Holy Spirit, while we offer our leaders special honor as they help us on the road to full maturity in Christ.

We consider how honoring one another can lead us, in a positive way, to heartfelt humility and maturity in Christ. We are helped by the epistle readings for this Sunday (Titus 3:8-15; Romans 12:6-14), as they are illumined by Numbers 12:3, Isaiah 66:2, and Proverbs 25:27.