Fr. John addresses the uncertainty in Byzantium following the death of Constantine and then the consolidation of Christianity shortly after that.

Fr. John discusses the importance of worship to Byzantium, the immense degree to which its culture was influenced by liturgy, and the significance of "facing East."

Fr. John looks at traditional Christianity's eucharistic rites in order to see how they served to reorient the world toward the kingdom of heaven.

Fr. John discusses the design, history, and importance of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Fr. John explores what exactly monasticim was in the days of St. Macarius.

Fr. John explores marriage within the life of early Christendom.

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

Fr. John discusses the spiritual decline of the Church in the West and the attempt to reform this degradation.

Fr. John continues his exploration of the pivotal reign of Pope Leo IX and the way in which its reforms led toward a confrontation with the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1054.

In this conclusion to his account of the Great Schism, Fr. John reviews the leading controversies that aggravated relations between Rome and Constantinople during Pope Leo IX's military confinement, and how they resulted in the latter's posthumous act of excommunicating Patriarch Michael Cerularius in 1054.

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

In this episode, Father John continues his discussion of developments that led to the Protestant Reformation, emphasizing doctrines and practices related to human salvation.

In this episode Father John concludes his reflection on the critical state of western Christendom on the eve of modern times, exploring how the Reformation tried to resolve the issue of anthropological pessimism but ironically served to intensify it.

In this anecdotal introduction to the final reflection of Part 2 of the podcast, Father John relates the extraordinary story of a Reformation-era town that declared itself the kingdom of Christ on earth, a "New Jerusalem." Expressing a profound absence of God in the world, however, the story of Reformation Muenster was in fact a sign of the fall of a Christendom centered upon the experience of paradise.

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.

In this episode Fr. John discusses Reformed attitudes toward worship, and the ways in which western Christendom's liturgical and sacramental foundations were eroded when they were put into practice.

In this episode Father John explores the way in which the loss of sacramental experience among Calvinists led to the rise of a political ideology that would unintentionally lay the foundation for utopia.

In this final episode of Part 2 of the podcast, Fr. John discusses the catastrophic wars that broke out in western Christendom during the Reformation age. These wars, along with other forces unleashed by developments in the Reformation and earlier, would ultimately result in the loss of Christianity's legitimacy, leading to the rise of a modern, secularized form of Christendom centered upon the experience of utopia.

Fr. John delineates the various ways in which Constantine contributed to the Christianization of the Roman state.

In this episode Father John describes some of the most noteworthy effects of the Protestant Reformation on Western Christendom, emphasizing the decline of a sacramental basis for civilization and the rise of a primarily moral one.

Returning after a long absence from the podcast, Fr. John in this episode introduces a new reflection on the crisis of western Christendom prior to the Reformation by discussing the penitential context of Martin Luther's famous Ninety-Five Theses.

Father John welcomes listeners back to the podcast with the opening to its third part, the age of utopia. He also summarizes some of the main points of his recently released book The Age of Division, which tells the history of Christendom covered in the second part of the podcast.

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

Fr. John discusses the ways in which the Church tries to create a sanctified topography in Christendom.

In this special video episode (the first of two parts), Father John discusses the background to the revolution in art during the Italian Renaissance. Though it produced some of the most stunning and innovative works ever, secular humanism represented a radical departure from the heavenly orientation of traditional Christian art.

This is part 2 to last week's special video episode, on the revolution of art during the Italian Renaissance.

In this episode Fr. John Strickland discusses various ways in which Christendom's leadership rejected the reformational Christianity that had provoked the wars of Western religion and replaced it with science, philosophy, pietistic Christianity, and a new religion known as deism.

In this anecdotal introduction to Reflection 21, Father John relates a remarkable but short-lived revolution in fourteenth-century Rome that served as a sign of what the age of utopia would bring. Listeners who enjoy the music of Richard Wagner will recognize the ill-fated revolutionary's name and understand why the turbulent nineteenth-century composer was attracted to him! And speaking of music, if you are wondering about the new closing sequence, it is a chorus from Mozart's utopian opera The Magic Flute and consists of the following (in translation): "When virtue and justice strew with fame the path of the great, then earth is a realm of heaven, and mortals are like the gods."

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.

The early nineteenth-century romantics pioneered a new way of seeking personal transformation. Following a century in which deism desecrated the world, separating heaven and earth, they wanted to re-enchant the West. But by ignoring traditional Christianity and looking instead to the "God substitutes" of philosophical idealism, they only succeeded in creating a counterfeit experience of transcendent communion.

Fr. John Strickland concludes his account of the origins of modern political ideology with the rise of nationalism, a force that not only proved to be a counterfeit to traditional Christianity, but the cause of one of utopian Christendom's greatest tragedies.

In this final episode of part three of the podcast, Fr. John Strickland traces the outcome of secular humanism in the case of the Russian Revolution. Though numerous Orthodox Christians warned of the impending disaster facing a post-Christian Christendom, Vladimir Lenin and his Bolsheviks took advantage of discontent caused by the First World War to plunge violently into a project of counterfeit transcendence they called "building socialism."

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."

Returning to a literary career after a decade of exile, Fyodor Dostoevsky confronted one of the great delusions of secular humanism: that man is ultimately a rational being whose happiness depends on the exercise of self-interest. Characters in his novels The Idiot and Demons were designed to demonstrate that nihilistic self-destruction is the only outcome of such convictions. Father John concludes the episode by showing how nihilism played itself out in the fictional moral collapse of Dostoevsky's protagonist Raskolnikov and the real-life moral collapse of Friedrich Nietzsche.

Travel with Fr John as he heads to Beaufort, SC, for an organizational meeting of a new mission, and shares about the whole process.

On Forgiveness Sunday, Holy Ascension Orthodox Church was visited by missionary James Hargrave. James serves with the Orthodox Christian Mission Center in Tanzania. Fr. John Parker interviews James about his work there.

Fr. John recorded these comments in his car on the way to the Sunday of Orthodoxy Vespers service in his region. He asks, "What is the difference between Triumph and Triumphalism?"

Fr. John Parker traveled to Romania and sat down with OCMC missionary Floyd Frantz who works with the Church to help people with addictions.

Fr John recently travelled to the OCA’s Exarchate of Mexico at the invitation of His Grace, the Rt Rev. Bp Alejo. In today’s podcast, he recounts his journey.

In this episode, Fr John reflects on the Scripture readings for the Divine Liturgy of the Feast of the Holy Ascension—and their impact on our mission and commission as Orthodox Christians.

Fr. John leads a discussion at a Diocese of the South (OCA) luncheon where attendees share their experiences.

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 Parker recently traveled to Kodiak, Alaska, and Spruce Island, Alaska, for the Feast of St. Herman of Alaska. While there, he had the chance to speak with all sorts of Orthodox Christians who minister in this beautiful, holy land of America. Today he introduces this series and then we will post updates every couple of days.

In this special edition of Lord, Send Me, Fr. John Parker sits down with best-selling author and pastor Rick Warren. They talk about Orthodoxy, evangelism, and the current state of the Evangelical movement.

On his way back home from the OCMC board meeting, Fr. John reflects on his recent visit and interview with Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Community Church.

Fr. John interviews Fr. Josiah Trenham about the importance of preaching in fulfilling the Great Commission.

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

Fr. John recently spoke at St. Basil's Mission in Wilmington, NC, on their parish feast and on the occasion of the blessing of land for the construction of a church. He discusses the definition of "success" for a mission and parish.