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Light Through the Past

Light Through the Past

231 episodes — Page 2 of 5

St. Peter in the Book of Acts

This episode Dr. Jenkins continues to look at St. Peter's place in the New Testament, and how this status can shed light on how we should think about the St. Peter's successors in Rome. For the new books from Basilian Media & Publishing: https://tinyurl.com/ChristasTruth https://tinyurl.com/sundoesnotshine Orthodoxy & Education: https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025

Sep 11, 2025

St. Peter's Primacy in the Gospels

In this episode Dr. Jenkins continues his look at the office of the Bishop of Rome by examining the Primacy of Peter and what the four Gospels have to say about his authority.

Sep 4, 2025

The Authority of the Pope & the Schism: An Introduction

The week Dr. Jenkins shifts gears in his discussion of the Schism to offer an introduction to the office and function of the bishop of Rome. For the Orthodoxy and Education Conference: https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025.

Aug 28, 2025

Anslem of Bec and the Filioque

Dr. Jenkins continues his discussion of the schism between the Orthodox and Latins, focusing this week on Anselm of Bec and Canterbury and his treatise on the Holy Spirit, and how this became the basis for so much of later Latin theology on the subject. For the Orthodoxy and Education Conference: https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025

Aug 21, 2025

A Record of Errors

This week Dr. Jenkins looks at the errors and misunderstandings that plagued by Rome and Michael Kerularius, and thus we examine both Humbert's Bull of Excommunication against the Patriarch, but also Peter of Antioch's reprimand of Kerularios for his own misunderstandings of the Latins. For the Orthodoxy and Education Conference: https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025

Aug 14, 2025

1054 and All That

This episode Dr. Jenkins looks at the crucial and calamitous event that was the Papal legation to Constantinople in 1054, what it was (a sign of Rome's new jurisdictional claims), and what it wasn't (either the de facto or de jure beginning of the schism). https://tinyurl.com/OrthodoxRoadtoCollege

Jul 24, 2025

Revolution in Eleventh-Century Rome

This episode Dr. Jenkins looks into the events and movements in the Latin world that lay the foundation for the claims of the late-medieval Roman popes, and how the two questions of the filioque and the powers of the pope became intertwined. Still Points https://tinyurl.com/StillPoints From the Morning Watch https://tinyurl.com/HaikuPsalms

Jul 17, 2025

The Dissonant Theology of the Latin West on the Spirit

Dr. Jenkins continues his discussion on the history of the Filioque by looking at the responses of the Latin west to the accusation leveled against it by St. Photios. What emerges are two responses, with one marking the future of Western theology, and the other a road pointed to by St. Maximos the Confessor, but untraveled. https://tinyurl.com/Doxamoot2025 https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025

Jul 10, 2025

A Clash of Titans: The confrontation of Pope St. Nicholas and Patriarch St. Photios

In this episode Dr. Jenkins looks at the conflict between St. Photios the Great and Pope St. Nicholas, a confrontation that touched the question of the Filioque, but involved so much more, even scandalously so. https://tinyurl.com/Doxamoot2025 https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025 Byzantine course: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium Still Points: https://tinyurl.com/StillPoints

Jul 3, 2025

Shambolic Theology and Ecclesiastical Mayhem

This week Dr. Jenkins completes the discussion of the Frankish kingdom's descent into theological error (and the Pope's reprimand of them for it), and transitions to a key moment in Byzantine history which will bring East and West into conflict, and with it the first real disputes about the filioque. https://tinyurl.com/Doxamoot2025 https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025 Byzantine course: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium Still Points: https://tinyurl.com/StillPoints

Jun 26, 2025

The 8th-Century Politics of the Filioque

In this episode Dr.Jenkins looks at how the politics of the Germanic peoples and their posture towards the Byzantine empire play into not only the question of the filioque, but the Schism itself. https://tinyurl.com/Doxamoot2025 https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025 Byzantine course: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium Still Points: https://tinyurl.com/StillPoints

Jun 19, 2025

St. Maximos the Confessor and the Filioque

Continuing his discussion of the schism, and the filioque's contribution to it, Dr. Jenkins this week looks at St. Maximos the Confessor (580-662). St. Maximos shows that in the 640s the Latins did not confess what would later be their doctrine, that the Spirit's person eternally procedes from the Son as He does also from the Father. https://tinyurl.com/Doxamoot2025 https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025 Byzantine course: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium Still Points: https://tinyurl.com/StillPoints Next issue of Rule of Faith: https://tinyurl.com/RuleofFaith6-1

Jun 12, 2025

The Council of Toledo

This week Dr. Jenkins examines the council of Toledo of 589, and how the filioque first appeared within the creed, and within the doctrinal standards off the western church. https://tinyurl.com/Doxamoot2025 https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025 Byzantine course: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium Next issue of Rule of Faith: https://tinyurl.com/RuleofFaith6-1

Jun 5, 2025

The Filioque between St. Augustine and the Council of Toledo (589)

This episode Dr. Jenkins looks at the 5th and 6th centuries, the period after St. Augustine (d. 430), wherein the Latin west nearly unanimously embraced doctrine of the double procession of the Holy Spirit. But this confession came with no real theological explanation about what exactly this meant. https://tinyurl.com/Doxamoot2025 https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025 Byzantine course: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium Next issue of Rule of Faith: https://tinyurl.com/RuleofFaith6-1

May 29, 2025

The Western Origins of the Filioque

This episode Dr. Jenkins begins untangling how the filioque arose in the West. It is a long, strange trip. https://tinyurl.com/Doxamoot2025 https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025 Byzantine course: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium To subscribe to The Rule of Faith: https://stbasilcotc.org/journal/

May 22, 2025

Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Gregory of Nyssa and the Filoque

As we contiue our look at the question of the Schism, we pick up with the matter of Theology proper, that is, how do we think and speak of God in Himself, as opposed to how God works in Creation and Redemption, and how this impacts the question of the Filioque. https://tinyurl.com/Doxamoot2025 https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025 Byzantine course: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium To subscribe to The Rule of Faith: https://stbasilcotc.org/journal/

May 15, 2025

An Introduction to the Schism, Part 2

Building off of last week's episode, Dr. Jenkins continues discussing the preconditions of the schism, the geographical, cultural, historical, and linguistic concerns that fed into the schism, though certainly didn't create it. The links for the two conferences this Fall with the St. Basil Center. https://tinyurl.com/Doxamoot2025 https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025 Byzantine course: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium To subscribe to The Rule of Faith: https://stbasilcotc.org/journal/

May 8, 2025

An Introduction to the Schism

Prompted by thoughts on the ecclesiology of Pope St. Gregory the Dialogist, this episode begins a long discussion of the history of the schism: what it is, what's involved, and how it happened. The links for the two conferences this Fall with the St. Basil Center. https://tinyurl.com/Doxamoot2025 https://tinyurl.com/OrthEd2025

May 1, 2025

The Trail of the Papacy: Calculating Pascha

Dr. Jenkins begins a discussion of the power and prerogative of the bishops of Rome, looking at the second-century Quartodeciman controversy over the date of Pascha. This controversy marks the first interaction of the bishops of Rome with the Churches of the eastern Mediterranean. Byzantine course: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium

Apr 24, 2025

The Betrayal of St. Benedict

Finishing his look at the Rule of St. Benedict, this week Dr. Jenkins explores how St. Benedict's vision of the monastic life came off the rails and morphed into something he had no intention for in the centuries following his death in the Latin west. Dr. Jenkins on Byzantine Empre: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium

Apr 17, 2025

St. Benedict and the Pursuit of God

Dr. Jenkins continues his look at St. Benedict, this episode focusing on the goal of the monastic life, the attaining of God. For the Byzantine Course: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium

Apr 10, 2025

St. Benedict's Abbot

This episode Dr. Jenkins continues his look at St. Benedict's Rule treating the place of the Abbot, his authority, duties, and obligations, and most importantly, the place he holds in St. Benedict's monastery. For the Video of the Benedictine Monastery: https://tinyurl.com/BenedictineOrthodox For the Audio Book on St. Patrick: https://tinyurl.com/StPatrickAudio For the Audio Book on Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History: https://tinyurl.com/EusebAudio And for the Byzantine Course: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium

Apr 3, 2025

St. Benedict and the Work of God

For St. Benedict, that most necessary thing a monk could do was pray, what he called the work of God (Opus Dei), adn this episode Dr. Jenkins unpacks exactly what that looked like in a Benedictine monaster. For the Video of the Benedictine Monastery: https://tinyurl.com/BenedictineOrthodox For the Audio Book on St. Patrick: https://tinyurl.com/StPatrickAudio For the Audio Book on Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History: https://tinyurl.com/EusebAudio And for the Byzantine Course: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium

Mar 27, 2025

St. Benedict's Monastic World

Dr. Jenkins continues his investigation of Latin monasticism by at last turning to the man most responsible for its shape, St. Benedict of Nursia. You can find Dr. Jenkins course at https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium

Mar 20, 2025

Pangur Bán the Mousing Monastic Cat

This episode Dr. Jenkins concludes his discussion of early Irish Christianity but noting some possible links between the the earliest Irish Christians and influences on them that semm peculiar to eastern Mediterranean. For Dr. Jenkins new course on Byzantium: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium For Connie Marshner's Monastery and High Cross: https://tinyurl.com/MonasteryHighCross

Mar 13, 2025

St. Patrick and the Druids

This week Dr. Jenkins continues his discussion of the life of St. Patrick speaking, inter alia, about his confrontations with the Druids. On the Byzantine Course: https://tinyurl.com/LuxchristiByzantium

Mar 6, 2025

The World & Early Life of St. Patrick

Dr. Jenkins continues his investigation of western Monasticism by looking at the life of St. Patrick of Armagh (Ireland). Though a monk, St. Patrick is better known for his missionary work among the Irish, a people who once had been his masters.

Feb 27, 2025

St. Martin of Tours & the Beginning of Latin Monasticism

This episode, beginning our podcast's fourth year, Dr. Jenkins begins our look at monasticism in the Latin west.

Feb 20, 2025

The Troubled Birth of Asia Minor's Monasticism

This episode Dr. Jenkins looks at the beginnings of monasticism in Asia Minor, with whom we rightly associate St. Basil the Great, but who was inspired by the wayward Eustathios of Sebastea.

Feb 13, 2025

The Monastic Communities of Egypt

This episode Dr. Jenkins continues his survey of the history of early monasticism, looking at the several monastic communities of anchorites and hermits that made up the world of Egyptian monasticism.

Feb 6, 2025

The Pachomian Shift in Monasticism

Dr. Jenkins continues he discussion of the history of monasticism. This week Dr. Jenkins looks at the shift in monasticism that the introduction of Pachomius's early fourth-century reforms entailed.

Jan 30, 2025

St. Antony the Pattern of Monks

St. Pachomius called St. Antony a pattern for those who pursued the life in the desert. This episode Dr. Jenkins unpacks what this means.

Jan 23, 2025

Martyrdom and Monasticism

"Christian discipleship is one of leaving the world and following Christ. This episode Dr. Jenkins explores how the Church in the shadow of Martyrdom became the Church of monasticism, and why this shift was not as great as it might seem."

Jan 16, 2025

St. Ignatius' Own Words on His Martyrdom

A cold has seized Dr. Jenkins, and so we have but an abbreviated version of Path to the Academy this week. You should however, read St. Ignatius of Antioch's beautiful Epistle to the Romans, as it will be discussed next week. You can find it here: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/richardson/fathers.vi.ii.iii.iv.html

Jan 9, 2025

Monasticism: Simplicity on the Path to Flame

Why do we have monks? Why do we have laity? Shouldn't all seek to lay aside all earthly cares all the time? This episode Dr. Jenkins explores the place of "simplicity" in the Christian life, both lay and monastic and how this informs the life of the desert. Fr. Patrick Reardon interview. https://tinyurl.com/FrReardon Are We All Cyborgs discount. https://tinyurl.com/cyborgsreduced

Jan 2, 2025

The Monastic Pursuit of God: an Introit

This episode Dr. Jenkins begins looking at Orthodox Monasticism and the question of the search and pursuit of God.

Dec 26, 2024

Pope Vigilius and the Three Chapters

The "Three Chapters" caused real consternation among Latin Christians, and embroiled the duplicitous Pope Vigilius for years in a game of cat and mouse with the ever-exasperated Emperor St. Justinian. This episode Dr. Jenkins details how this issue was resolved in the 5th ecumenical council.

Dec 19, 2024

How Ought We to Think about Ecumenical Councils?

This episode Dr. Jenkins jumps into the deep, muddy, and at times turbulent waters that comprise the world of the Ecumenical councils, how the Church in the fifth and sixth centuries inchoately seemed to understand them, and how we should think about them.

Dec 12, 2024

Justinian: Emperor, Theologian, Saint

Dr. Jenkins dives into the Christology of the Emperor St. Justinian, who, though not an original thinker, full grasped the theological currents of his day, and his writings set down the path the Church would follow in Her understanding of the Union of Christ in the One Hypostasis of the second Person of the All Holy Trinity.

Dec 5, 2024

A Short Thanksgiving Intro to emperor St. Justinian

This episode, abbreviated for the American holiday, Dr. Jenkins begins our look at Emperor St. Justinian.

Nov 28, 2024

The Cyrillian Defense of Chalcedon 2: Leontius of Jerusalem

The Cyrillian Defense of Chalcedon 2: Leontius of Jerusalem Description: Leontius of Jerusalem was the foremost of the defenders of Chalcedon in the early sixth century who showed how the council was not only faithful to Cyril, but the only way to understand Cyril. Links: Pelikan, Bach, Tolkien Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdYpFTQc3FM&t=1060s Rule of Faith subscription: https://stbasilcotc.org/journal/

Nov 21, 2024

The Cyrillian Defense of Chalcedon

This week Dr. Jenkins looks at three defenders of Chalcedon and touches on a fourth, and treats their varied approaches to the question, each of which aims to show that Cyril of Alexandria was a Chalcedonian.

Nov 14, 2024

A Land of Confusion: the Strange Byways of the Defenders of Chalcedon

This episode Dr. Jenkins looks at some of the main defenders of Chalcedon, and how they could sometimes be more a hindrance than a help in the defense of the Faith.

Nov 7, 2024

There's Something Happening Here. What It Is Ain't Exactly Clear.

This week Dr. Jenkins explores why the Church found itself in such chaos following the Council of Chalcedon, and how under the emperor St. Justinian a resolution was advanced that answered matters not addressed by Chalcedon without undermining it.

Oct 31, 2024

The Undulating Status of Chalcedon before 518

This episode Dr. Jenkins covers the ecclesio-political struggle over Chalcedon, especially during the reign of Anastasius I after the death of Zeno in 491.

Oct 24, 2024

The Henotikon of the Emperor Zeno

This episode we continue our look at the Council of Chalcedon and its aftermath. Dr. Jenkins discusses the emperor Zeno's attempt to heal the schism in the East by his political sleight of hand called The Henotikon: an effort to bridge the gap created by those who rejected Chalcedon by asking them to ignore it.

Oct 17, 2024

Two Decades of Crises Following Chalcedon

This episode, Dr. Jenkins continues looking at the Council of Chalcedon and its aftermath, focusing on the two decades of bitter unrest that followed as the schism over Chalcedon develops.

Oct 10, 2024

Empire and State after Chalcedon

This episode Dr. Jenkins begins looking at the variegated and often troubled relationship between the Church and the empire, and how this relationship played a key role in the shape the history of the Chalcedonian and monophysite controversy.

Oct 3, 2024

Chalcedon: Where We've Been & Where We're Going

This week we look back at what we've covered, but more so at what the future of the podcast entails with regards our study of the division between Chalcedon's defenders and detractors. Orthodoxy and Education: https://tinyurl.com/OrthodoxEducation

Sep 25, 2024

The Latin Fathers on the Matter of Chalcedon

This episode Dr. Jenkins looks at the ways that the Latin Church talked about the economy or dispensation of the Incarnation, and what this means for its language about the realtionship of the human and Divine in the Incarnation. Orthodoxy and Education: https://tinyurl.com/OrthodoxEducation

Sep 19, 2024