The Orthodox Apologetics Podcast

This episode discusses how the Church Fathers describe the journey of the soul after death in the angelic realm (also called the aerial realm) before arriving to Paradise or hades. We will present what Orthodox Christians agree upon, as well as what they continue to discuss.

Dn. Seraphim Richard Rohlin unpacks the medieval origins of purgatory: how it developed in late medieval and Counter-Reformation Catholicism, and what the Orthodox response has been to this belief.

Orthodoxy does not teach the popular Protestant idea of instantaneous entrance into heaven after death. We do believe in prayer for the dead, and even potential delays on the journey of the soul in the afterlife. Does this mean we teach the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory?

Prayers for those who have died is a deeply Orthodox practice, and there is ample evidence for it in the early Church, but what are the reasons behind it? And why do others condemn the practice as either pagan or unnecessary?

In today's episode, we respond to the work of New Testament scholar Marcus Vinzent, who argues that the Resurrection wasn't the foundation of early Christianity and that most early Christians had never even heard of it.

Many older Catholic history books will label the Greeks or Orthodox as "Photian schismatics." We will explore how this phrase was used and the role of St. Photios the Great in missionary efforts as well as with the reunion between the East and West in 879.

Before the 1054 Schism, there was a smaller schism that separated East & West which was healed in the Council of 879 (also called the 'Council of Union' or by others, the '8th Ecumenical Council'). The West slowly forgot this council but what if it remembered it once again?

Old Roman Catholic myths about St. Mark of Ephesus as a stubborn schismatic are beginning to be recycled today, but modern scholarship is actually vindicating his virtuous character. This episode is part 2 to last week's episode on the failed council of Florence.

Many Roman Catholic apologists have turned to an argument that the Orthodox Church falsified itself in the 15th century by embracing the council of Florence as an ecumenical council and then later rejecting it. Dr. Cyril Jenkins joins us to address these concerns head on.

Many Protestant scholars consider petitions and praises to saints in the liturgy to be a slow development that doesn't flower until the middle ages. However, the First Christian Hymnal (Jerusalem Chantbook) dated to the 300s AD is causing scholars to rethink this history.