NEW EPISODE: Kingdoms of Israel: Reckoning

LISTEN: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/lordofspirits/kingdoms_of_israel_reckoning/

Continuing their series on the Biblical history of Israel, Fr. Stephen and Fr. Andrew chart the progress from after the Exodus up to the Second Temple Period. (Get excited about giants.)

Back in December, I was very happy to meet and be interviewed in Montreal by the priests of the Coptic Orthodox Answers podcast. It was a marathon recording session that went late into the night.

The first half was released on their channel a few months ago, and here's the second.

It's a bit of a funny story actually: When we first sat down, we talked for a long time, and then it was about 9:30-10pm. It was a great chat, and I thought we were done. Then they said to me, "How long of a break do you need before we begin again?"

So this is the part after the break!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=5SHfX-WnquM&si=S8gz246mBX_kwerO

Just finished this episode of The Great Tales! I personally loved this one a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/live/--ZDDkt2ToU?si=PN1ykQ4Lges8ztBS

A blessed feast today (May 20) of St. Daumantas of Pskov, who is one of the early (13th c.) Orthodox saints of Lithuania!

You can read about his life here: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/05/20/101450-blessed-dovmont-timothy-prince-of-pskov

One thing not mentioned there is that the reason he left Lithuania is that he was part of a conspiracy to kill its king for stealing his wife. King Mindaugas had been married to her sister Morta, but after she died, he decided to take Daumantas's wife (his sister-in-law) forcibly from her husband. The conspiracy succeeded, and Mindaugas (Lithuania's first and only king) was assassinated.

It's an understandable motive on the part of Daumantas, of course, but murder in revenge is still a sin.

I mention this because it shows that one can go on to become a saint even after horrible sin, the kind that consumes you so much that you want to kill. There is hope for everyone. Christ can transform any willing person.

(Icon by Marius Liebus)

Details below.

TOLKIEN'S GODS: DIVINE COUNCIL THEOLOGY IN J. R. R. TOLKIEN'S MIDDLE-EARTH LEGENDARIUM

REGISTER (free!): https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_X-ze5eBoTh29JEog8wDbHA

WHEN: Friday, May 30, 2pm ET
WHERE: Zoom!

I am about to complete my M.A. studies with Signum University, and part of the process is presenting an overview of my thesis, as well as answering questions about it. (This is not a thesis defense.) This is referred to as a "thesis theatre." If you would like to join the live audience via Zoom, use the registration link above.

THESIS ABSTRACT: In J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium, particularly in 'The Silmarillion' and related material, the reader encounters divine beings, including the Valar, who are called 'gods' in the text and by Tolkien himself in his commentary. Multiple divine beings in addition to the creator god Eru Ilúvatar – the Ainur – inhabit Tolkien’s world, both good and evil, and their presence is the primary reason that many scholars and readers have asked: Is Tolkien’s work Christian or pagan? Modern understandings of the divine in religion (both academic and popular) tend to divide religious traditions into monotheism and polytheism, and so Tolkien’s pantheon of gods might seem pagan. What such a reading of Tolkien usually fails to consider is the divine plurality present in the Christian tradition that does not conform to common conceptions of monotheism.

In Biblical scholarship, the divine plurality in both the Bible and other Christian texts, emblematic in the Biblical phrase 'God of gods' (Deut. 10:17; Ps. 136:2; Dan. 2:47, 11:36), may be understood through the lens of divine council theology. Further, a consideration of the Christian tradition broadly (not limiting examination only to the canonical Scriptures) shows divine plurality firmly entrenched. This thesis uses divine council theology in considering both the Bible and other major historical Christian texts to interpret Tolkien’s Valar and Maiar – both fallen and unfallen – as more consistent with a premodern Christian framework, in which there is both a single creator God and many other gods.

BIOGRAPHY: The Very Rev. Andrew Stephen Damick is an archpriest of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, Chief Content Officer of Ancient Faith Ministries, author of five books (with a sixth forthcoming in 2025), and host or co-host of nine podcasts. His work has been translated into Romanian, Spanish, Russian, Lithuanian, Mandarin Chinese, and Vietnamese. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature with minors in Religion, Ancient Greek, and Classical Studies from North Carolina State University, and a Master of Divinity degree from St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary with Honors in the field of Church History. He served in parish ministry for thirteen years and has worked in Orthodox Christian media since 2020. He is married with four children and resides in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. He believes in both dragons and giants.

#Tolkien #Paganism #DivineCouncil #Christianity #Thesis #TolkienStudies #Mythology

Today I learned that my 8x-great-grandmother was named "Mrs. Experience Bacon."

I cannot love this enough.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/67507753/experience-bacon

The Lord was taken up into the Heavens that He might send the Comforter unto the world. The Heavens made ready His throne, and the clouds His mount. The Angels marvel as they see a man more exalted than they. The Father receiveth Him Whom He had with Him eternally in His bosom. The Holy Spirit commandeth all His Angels: Lift up your gates, O ye princes. All ye nations, clap your hands; for Christ hath ascended whither He was before.

(From the Stichera for Great Vespers for the Ascension)

Copies of this remarkable icon are now available:

https://store.ancientfaith.com/saint-raphael-visit-to-yanney-homestead-large-icon/

A photo of St. Sebastian Dabovich from his 1921 passport application.

My full interview with Justin Brierley, host of the "Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God" podcast.

https://youtu.be/gkqQn9AzweA?si=Afz-uesQcvwoPHVm

This past week, I presented online my MA thesis "Tolkien's Gods: Divine Council Theology in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth Legendarium," including answering some live questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eRkj7Qy-dM

NEW EPISODE: "Awkward" Saturday?

LISTEN: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/areopagus/awkward_saturday/

What’s the deal with Holy Saturday? Is it a time of doubt and awkward waiting? The Areopagites reference a Christianity Today article about Holy Saturday to talk about what’s going on and how disconnection from tradition and scripture lead to psychologizing Biblical texts.

@AreopagusPodcast #HolySaturday #Tradition #Scripture

We just finished the newest episode of The Great Tales!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1EZWcBB5is

"The promise was now fulfilled and the Holy Spirit, given and sent by both the Father and the Son, descended. He shone round about the holy disciples and with divine power kindled them all like lamps or, rather, He revealed them as heavenly lights set above the whole world, who had the word of eternal life, and through them He illuminated all the earth. If from one burning lamp someone lights another, then another from that one, and so on in succession, he has light continuously. In the same way, through the apostles ordaining their successors, and these successors ordaining others, and so on, the grace of the Holy Spirit is handed down through all generations and enlightens all who obey their spiritual shepherds and teachers."

- St. Gregory Palamas, "On Pentecost"

CHINESE ORTHODOX MARTYRS: A FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF THE BOXER REBELLION


"The fate of these martyrs was horrible: they were disemboweled, beheaded, burned in their houses. The search for Christians and the massacres continued through all the succeeding days of the mutiny. After their dwellings had been destroyed, they were taken outside the city gates into the Boxers’ heathen temples, and there they were subjected to an interrogatory, then burned alive at the stake. We have it from eye-witnesses, heathens themselves, that many of the Orthodox Chinese met death with wonderful courage."


Today, the feast of the new martyrs, we've published a firsthand account of their martyrdom, which previously appeared in St Alexander Hotovitzky's magazine in 1901. Click here to read their story:

https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2025/06/11/chinese-orthodox-martyrs/

The newest episode of the fantastic "Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God" podcast is about the influx of conversions happening in the Orthodox Church.

I am honored to be included.

https://justinbrierley.com/surprisingrebirth/season-2-episode-13-the-orthodox-boom-new-converts-to-an-ancient-faith/