Paradise and Utopia
Fr. John Strickland, and Ancient Faith Ministries
Reflections on the Rise and Fall of Christendom
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 17, 2016 • 0sec
The Crisis of Western Christendom IV: New Directions in Western Soteriology
In this episode, Father John continues his discussion of developments that led to the Protestant Reformation, emphasizing doctrines and practices related to human salvation.
Aug 30, 2016 • 0sec
The Crisis of Western Christendom: The Curse of Anthropological Pessimism
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.
Jul 6, 2016 • 0sec
The Crisis of Western Christendom II: The Hypertrophic Papacy
In this episode, Fr. John discusses ways in which papal supremacy led to the growing sense of crisis that preceded the Protestant Reformation.
Nov 8, 2015 • 0sec
The Old Believer Schism and the Decline of Russian Christendom before Peter the Great
In this final episode of his reflection on Muscovite Russia, Fr. John describes the Old Believer Schism as a crisis in the formerly optimistic cosmology of eastern Christendom, leading to its decline on the eve of modern times.
Oct 21, 2015 • 0sec
The Third Rome IV: Muscovite Russia and Western Christendom
In this episode, Fr. John discusses Muscovite Russia's encounter with the West in the face of Uniatism, military invasion, and theological "captivity," all of which contributed to the decline of eastern Christendom.
Oct 6, 2015 • 0sec
The Third Rome III: The Possessor Controversy and Its Consequences
In this episode, Fr. John discusses an important and fateful development in the history of Russian Christendom before modern times, the Possessor Controversy.
Sep 30, 2015 • 0sec
The Third Rome II: The Rise of Muscovite Russia
In this episode Father John describes the rise of the Muscovite state within Russian Christendom, and the way its Orthodox leaders began to see themselves as heirs to the fallen Byzantine Empire.
Sep 30, 2015 • 0sec
The Third Rome I: Ivan the Terrible and the Murder of Saint Philip
Having related the fall of Byzantium to the Turks, Fr. John now begins a reflection on the only remaining Orthodox state in eastern Christendom, Muscovite Russia. In this introductory anecdote he tells of an event in the history of this "Third Rome" that signaled the coming decline of ecclesio-political symphony, and with it the experience of paradise.
Sep 12, 2015 • 0sec
Continuity and Catastrophe in the Old Christendom VI: The Muslim Conquest of Constantinople
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.
Sep 6, 2015 • 0sec
Continuity and Catastrophe in the Old Christendom V: Mark of Ephesus and the Council of Florence
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.
