Last Monday was Too Much, but This Monday…

Last Monday got the better of me, but today was a different story. If any of you have been following my Light Through the Past podcast, you know I have been working through St Augustine. There is a lot in Augustine that I admire and truly find pleasurable to read and ponder. As one of my students once said to me, while she loves the Greek fathers, there’s something about Augustine that seems homely and familiar. I can agree with this to a point, because I was born in the West, which means that I am of necessity a son of Augustine.

Light Through the Past & a Book: back to the blog

I have been away too long, but hope from now on to post at least every Monday morning, if not more so. Below is a text I talk about in my most recent podcast (out on Ancient Faith on 4/11/2024) which treats of St. Augustine and the Doctrine of predestination.

This Monday may be auspicious for reinvigorating the blog, as we are expecting a total eclipse in my part of the world. Where I am the sun will be blocked about 90%. But favorable for this undertaking more so as I have been able to clear my decks over the past few weeks of a number of items (some of which were cleared by the grace and kindness of God) that have precluded me from getting to back this. So, several items in my immediate future:

The Charges Against St. John Chrysostom

Below are the charges brought against St. John at the Synod of the Oak as they are recorded in J. N. D. Kelly’s appendix in his biography, Golden Mouth. The Sory of John Chrysostom: Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop. These are taken from several sources (e.g., Palladios and the Acta of the Synod as produced by St. Phtotios the Great), but found in Malingrey, 342.100-114 (Sources Chrétiennes).

Some of these charges have no corroboration in any sources, some are simply outlandish, and the rest are clearly matters of “interpretion,” i.e., that the Tall Brothers were Origenists.

Charges Brought against St. John at The Synod of the Oak

St. Ambrose & Sacramental Political Theology, 2

On this, episode 79, we look at the relationship of St. Ambrose with the great Christian Emperor, Theodosius. It was under Theodosius that the empire made Christianity, that is, Nicaean Christianity, its official religion, and cut off all imperial grants, aid, bequests, and favors to paganism.

St. Hilary of Poitiers, St. Athanasius, and Their Sacramental View of Reality

In Episode 78, St. Ambrose & Sacramental Political Theology, Part 1, we look at not St. Ambrose, but instead those saints who inluenced his own thinking. Much of what we can garner from St. Ambrose is foudn already in these two near contemporary fathers (St. Hilary reposed in 367, St. Athanasius in 373, the year before St. Ambrose’s consecration to the episcopacy). What did they have to say about the relationship of the sacrament to the world, and more explicitly, the relationship of the sacrament of the Church to the empire?

St. Ambrose and the Sacrament of the Father

“We saw the prince of priests coming to us, we saw and heard him offering his blood for us. We follow, inasmuch as we are able, being priests, and we offer the sacrifice on behalf of the people. Even if we are of but little merit, still, in the sacrifice, we are honorable. Even if Christ is not now seen as the one who offers the sacrifice, nevertheless it is he himself that is offered in sacrifice here on Earth when the body of Christ is offered. Indeed, to offer himself he is made visible in us, he whose word makes holy the sacrifice that is offered” (Commentaries on Twelve Psalms of David 38:25 [A.D. 389]).

Episodes 75 & 76 St. Ambrose and the Arians

Maker of all things, God most high,
Great ruler of the starry sky,
Who, robing day with beauteous light,
Hast clothed in soft repose the night.

That sleep may wearied limbs restore,
And fit for toil and use once more,
May gently soothe the careworn breast,
And lull our anxious griefs to rest.

We thank Thee for the day that’s gone;
We pray Thee now the night come on;
O help us sinners as we raise
To Thee our votive hymn of praise.

Saint Gregory the Theologian & the Holy Spirit

This week we look at the respective doctrines of St. BAsil the Great and ST. Gregory the Theologian, how they differ, and why.

He who is without beginning (the Father), and is the beginning (the Son), and is with the beginning (the Holy Spirit), is one God. For the nature of Him who is without beginning (the Father) does not consist in being without beginning or being unbegotten, for the nature of anything lies, not in what it is not but in what it is. It is the assertion of what is, not the denial of what is not.

Catholic Tradition Matters (added musings on Ep. 71)

The Anglican Biblical scholar, Felix Cirlot, in his pamphlet on Apostolic Succession wrote:

The Catholic Church claims a divine commission and divine teaching authority, and the promise of divine assistance in preserving , transmitting, and defining the Divine Revelation committed to her. The burden of proof is admittedly on her to justify this fundamental claim; for to try to prove it “by authority” would be to argue in a circle…. But once this cardinal issue is left behind, the Catholic is not obliged to be able to justify independently every separate article of the Deposit of Faith of the Catholic Church by direct historical evidence, especially “with certainty” as some seem to ask. It suffice if he can show that the article in question was a part of the Faith of the Church at the earliest time for which determinative historical evidence is available, and that there is no conclusive reason to doubt the claim of the Church at that time that it had always been so. {Episode 71 linked HERE.}

Catching up on the Podcast Posts (for episodes 69 & 70)

I have not posted of late, and my apologies, but below are the documents for all who wish to catch up on the documents cited on the podcast for episodes on St. Basil the Great. I will have a separate post for Episode 71, which is my Q&A on the nature of historical understanding of the past in light of the Church as a supernatural entity.