No, Virginia, Christmas Isn’t About Mithras

In 1954, deep under the streets of London, a mysterious 3rd c. temple was unearthed, but it was not as hoped a Christian church. It was a Mithraeum, a place of bloody secret rituals practiced by Roman soldiers. Who is their god Mithras? And is he the real Jesus?

In this live-recorded, in-person Q&A session, Fr. Stephen and Fr. Andrew respond to questions and comments from the attendees at the Lord of Spirits Conference, hosted Oct. 2-5 at the Antiochian Village in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.

Some say that the Persians had their own Messiah, and some even say that this is where Israel got the idea. Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, once ruled much of the ancient world. But was he God's anointed?

Nebuchadnezzar II, king of the Neo-Babylonian empire, most powerful man in the world, was brought low by divine madness. Who was this king who lived in the shadow of Etemenanki, whose visions were revealed by a prophet, and whose apex in pop culture is as a wealthy zucchini?

The ancients told tales of the inundation of the world with water -- the Great Flood. How do these stories compare with the story told in Genesis, and what does this event mean for the Christian?

It's time to call in with all your weirdest, nuttiest, and most mind-bending questions, from giants to the gyrations of James T. Kirk.

The audio mailbag is starting to fill up again, so it's time to take out the garbage. Wait, that didn't come out right.

Fr. Stephen reads tales from the ancient world calculated to drive you mad.

The Apostles are given authority by Christ to preach, to bind and loose, to exorcise, to baptize, and so on. Did that authority die with them? What is the nature of the authority of a bishop?

Christ said that the scribes and Pharisees sat on the seat of Moses (Matthew 23:2). Is this a metaphor or a defined position of authority? Did Moses pass on his authority in succession, and is it the same as his own?