Villains of Early Church Archives

VEC12 – Nestorius – Villains of the Early Church with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:44 — 18.5MB) | Embed

Episode 12 – Nestorius – “Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians“was

In this episode, Mike Aquilina and Kris McGregor discuss Nestorius, an archbishop of Constantinople who proclaimed that Mary could not be the “Theotokos”. Such statements brought about the Council of Ephesus and a declaration throughout the Christian Church that his thought was emphatically wrong. Mary was, and still is, the “Mother of God.”

An excerpt from Villains of the Early Church:

We’ve been having an argument with these other people, the monks explained. We say that Mary is rightly called Mother of God—in Greek, Theotokos. But these other people say it’s not right to call her anything but Mother of the Man—Anthropotokos. Which of us is right?

Nestorius was delighted with the opportunity to show off his erudition. His answer probably struck him as very clever and evenhanded. In a way, he said, you’re both right. Each of those names can be used for Mary in a loose and imprecise way. But technically the proper term would be Mother of the Christ—Christotokos. If you want to be accurate, you’ll avoid calling her anything else.3

Thus, Constantinople was first introduced to that little word “technically”—in Greek, akribos—which the world would soon learn was one of Nestorius’ very favorite terms when he was arguing with people. It revealed a lot about the way he thought. The problem with most people, Nestorius seemed to believe, was that they didn’t choose their terms carefully enough. When you’re talking about important issues of theology, you need to be very precise in your language.

The problem with Nestorius, thought practically everybody else in Constantinople, was that he had just said Mary wasn’t Mother of God.

The people of the city instantly latched onto that little word “technically” as representing everything they hated about Nestorius. “If Mary is not technically the Mother of God,” they said, “then her Son is not technically God.”4 Mary had always been called Mother of God, as long as anybody could remember. The city—the whole Empire—was devoted to the Blessed Virgin. What was wrong with this new archbishop?

“He seemed afraid of the word Theotokos,” Socrates recalled, “as if it were some frightful ghost.”5 In the opinion of Socrates and many others, the problem wasn’t loose language on the part of the great majority of Christians. The problem was that Nestorius didn’t know what he was talking about. “The baseless fear he showed on this subject merely demonstrated how very ignorant he was. He was naturally a fluent speaker, so people thought he must be well educated. But actually he was disgracefully illiterate.” Socrates thought that Nestorius not only didn’t know what the great Christian writers before him had written on these subjects, but also didn’t care. He was smarter than they were. He could work things out for himself.6

Well, if Nestorius didn’t know what the great Christians of earlier generations had taught, it was about time somebody told him. Enter the Bishop of Alexandria.

Aquilina, Mike. Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians . Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.

For more episodes in the Villains of the Early Church podcast visit here – Villains of the Early Church – Discerning Hearts Podcast

You can find the book on which this series is based here

Mike Aquilina is a popular author working in the area of Church history, especially patristics, the study of the early Church Fathers.^[1] He is the executive vice-president and trustee of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, a Roman Catholic research center based in Steubenville, Ohio. He is a contributing editor of Angelus (magazine) and general editor of the Reclaiming Catholic History Series from Ave Maria Press. He is the author or editor of more than fifty books, including The Fathers of the Church (2006); The Mass of the Early Christians (2007); Living the Mysteries (2003); and What Catholics Believe(1999). He has hosted eleven television series on the Eternal Word Television Network and is a frequent guest commentator on Catholic radio.

Mike Aquilina’s website is found at fathersofthechurch.com

VEC11 – Julian the Apostate – Villains of the Early Church with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:55 — 19.3MB) | Embed

Episode 11 – Julian the Apostate – “Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians“

In this episode, Mike Aquilina and Kris McGregor discuss Julian the Apostate, an emperor of Rome who was disillusioned by how his family who claimed to be Christians, yet acted counter to what they professed. He would embrace paganism and tried to eliminate Christian influence in the Roman Empire.

An excerpt from Villains of the Early Church:

Christians remembered Julian as “the Apostate”—the one emperor who tried to turn back to paganism. There would be no others. From 363 to 1453, when Constantinople finally fell, the Roman Empire would be Christian.

But what can we say about Julian the man? He might have been a very good emperor if he had had better relatives. In spite of his retrograde religious views, he was personally moral—in fact, puritanical—and a competent administrator when the problem was limited and solvable. Perhaps the best tribute to him comes from the Christian poet Prudentius, who neatly summed up Julian in one line:

Faithless he was to God, though not to Rome.7

Aquilina, Mike. Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians . Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.

For more episodes in the Villains of the Early Church podcast visit here – Villains of the Early Church – Discerning Hearts Podcast

You can find the book on which this series is based here

Mike Aquilina’s website is found at fathersofthechurch.com

VEC10 – Arius – Villains of the Early Church with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:40 — 19.1MB) | Embed

Episode 10 – Arius – “Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians“

In this episode, Mike Aquilina and Kris McGregor discuss Arius and the threat of the Arian heresy. Mike makes suggestions on what the Christian can do to stay true to the faith in times and recognize the Arian tendencies we continue to see today.

An excerpt from Villains of the Early Church:

ARIUS WAS an obscure Egyptian priest who probably had more influence on the history of Christian theology than any Christian thinker since St. Paul. It was all negative influence, but no one can deny the influence. Because of Arius, the Catholic Church had to define the relationship of the Son to the Father in clear and unambiguous terms. Because of Arius, we ended up with the Nicene Creed.

But no one would have guessed for most of his life that this Arius was going to set the world on fire.

Aquilina, Mike. Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians. Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.

For more episodes in the Villains of the Early Church podcast visit here – Villains of the Early Church – Discerning Hearts Podcast

You can find the book on which this series is based here

Mike Aquilina’s website is found at fathersofthechurch.com

VEC9 – Diocletian – Villains of the Early Church with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:27 — 17.5MB) | Embed

Episode 9 – Diocletian – “Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians“

In this episode, Mike Aquilina and Kris McGregor discuss Diocletian and the threat of a “police state” to religious freedom. Mike makes suggestions on what the Christian can do to stay true to the faith in times of religious persecution.

An excerpt from Villains of the Early Church:

IN THE 200s, the Roman Empire fell apart. For decades, disaster after disaster rolled across the Mediterranean world. Civil war was the normal state of political affairs. The economy fell to pieces. Plagues ravaged the cities and countryside. Emperors lasted for a few months and then were assassinated by their own guards, who knew that the next emperor would pay them a hefty bonus to get on their good side and that they could repeat the whole process again in a few months’ time and get another hefty bonus.

And then came Diocletian, and suddenly the world worked again. He came very close to being remembered as one of history’s greatest heroes, the man who saved civilization when it was on the brink of collapse.

Instead, he found himself backed into a corner he couldn’t get out of, and the world of the future would remember him as a monster.

Aquilina, Mike. Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians. Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.

For more episodes in the Villains of the Early Church podcast visit here – Villains of the Early Church – Discerning Hearts Podcast

You can find the book on which this series is based here

Mike Aquilina’s website is found at fathersofthechurch.com

VEC8 – Celsus – Villains of the Early Church with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:57 — 19.2MB) | Embed

Episode 8 – Celsus – “Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians“

In this episode, Mike Aquilina and Kris McGregor discuss Celsus and responding to his “Case against Christianity.”

An excerpt from Villains of the Early Church:

The man’s name was Aulus Cornelius Celsus, and he was one of those remarkable people who seem to know a little bit about everything. Today we remember him most as a physician, because the main work of his that survives is a treatise on medicine; but that book was actually part of a book on practically all the world knowledge that Celsus had put together. He dealt with law, war, politics, farming, and other subjects as well. And if he knew as much about them as he did about medicine, Celsus must have been a one-man Wikipedia.

The fact that Celsus was so insatiably curious about so many things may be why he bothered to try to learn about the Christians. They were a phenomenon to be studied. But his studies did not go so far as to ask the best authorities on the subject—the bishops and teachers he might have found if he had looked around. Instead, he seems to have relied on what he heard secondhand. That was probably because, although he was a scientist, Celsus was, like any good educated man in the Roman Empire, a snob first and foremost.

Aquilina, Mike. Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians. Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.

For more episodes in the Villains of the Early Church podcast visit here – Villains of the Early Church – Discerning Hearts Podcast

You can find the book on which this series is based here

Mike Aquilina’s website is found at fathersofthechurch.com

VEC7 – Valentinus – Villains of the Early Church with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:08 — 18.7MB) | Embed

Episode 7 – Valentinus – “Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians“

In this episode, Mike Aquilina and Kris McGregor discuss Valentinus and Gnostic teaching.

An excerpt from Villains of the Early Church:

We know almost nothing about Valentinus the man except that he was well educated. He had much more higher education than the average Christian: he had studied at Alexandria, so he had the ancient equivalent of a Harvard or Oxford degree. He had specialized in Platonic studies, meaning that he knew Plato backwards and forwards, at least as Plato was interpreted by later students who claimed to have understood him. (Like many philosophy students today, Valentinus probably learned about Plato from secondary sources more than from actually reading Plato.)

In about 130, Valentinus came to Rome and he stayed there for about twenty years. Thus, he was in Rome at the same time as Marcion. Valentinus later ended up in Cyprus.1

One thing his opponents gave Valentinus credit for was his brain. Tertullian and, much later, Jerome both considered him to have a formidable mind. But he applied that mind to creating an incredibly convoluted mythology rather than simply understanding the Scriptures. In this Valentinus was just like all the other Gnostics: incredibly convoluted mythologies were their stock in trade. The simple truth was for simple people. Like some academics today, the Gnostic teachers felt a need to prove their intellectual worth by filling their writings with jargon nobody but other Gnostics could understand.

Aquilina, Mike. Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians. Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.

For more episodes in the Villains of the Early Church podcast visit here – Villains of the Early Church – Discerning Hearts Podcast

You can find the book on which this series is based here

Mike Aquilina’s website is found at fathersofthechurch.com

VEC6 – Marcion – Villains of the Early Church with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:04 — 18.6MB) | Embed

Episode 6 – Marcion – “Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians“

In this episode, Mike Aquilina and Kris McGregor discuss Marcion and the dangers of money…to the extreme!

An excerpt from Villains of the Early Church:

Marcion was a rich businessman who thought he had figured out the real meaning of the Gospel. He used the power of money to found a kind of parallel church, and he was very successful for a while—which tells you a little about the state of Christianity at the time, and a lot about what you could do with money in the Roman Empire in those days.

Aquilina, Mike. Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians. Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.

For more episodes in the Villains of the Early Church podcast visit here – Villains of the Early Church – Discerning Hearts Podcast

You can find the book on which this series is based here

Mike Aquilina’s website is found at fathersofthechurch.com

VEC5 – Nero – Villains of the Early Church with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:50 — 17.8MB) | Embed

Episode 5 – Nero – “Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians“

In this episode, Mike Aquilina and Kris McGregor discuss Nero and the hallmarks and dangers of an “antichrist.”

An excerpt from Villains of the Early Church:

Pilate was a waffling dupe. Judas was a tortured soul who didn’t have the courage to repent. But perhaps no villain in Christian legend comes out as completely and utterly villainous as Nero. He isn’t just a sinner who made the wrong choice: in much of Christian legend, and even theology, he is literally the Antichrist.

Aquilina, Mike. Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians. Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.

For more episodes in the Villians of the Early Church podcast visit here – Villains of the Early Church – Discerning Hearts Podcast

You can find the book on which this series is based here

Mike Aquilina’s website is found at fathersofthechurch.com

VEC4 – Simon the Magician – Villains of the Early Church with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:54 — 17.8MB) | Embed

Mike Aquilina Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcast Simon the Magician

Episode 4 – Simon the Magician – “Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians“

In this episode, Mike Aquilina and Kris McGregor discuss Simon the Magician and learning from pride and hubris.

An excerpt from Villains of the Early Church:

IF THERE had been supermarket tabloids in Rome of the first century, Simon Magus, or Simon the Magician, would have been on the front pages every week. His story gives us zombies, levitation, a talking dog, a jewel heist, and a prophesying baby, just to name a few of the highlights. But it all begins with a true story in the Acts of the Apostles.

Aquilina, Mike. Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians (Kindle Locations 528). Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.

For more episodes in the Villians of the Early Church podcast visit here – Villains of the Early Church – Discerning Hearts Podcast

You can find the book on which this series is based here

Mike Aquilina is a popular author working in the area of Church history, especially patristics, the study of the early Church Fathers.^[1] He is executive vice-president and trustee of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, a Roman Catholic research center based in Steubenville, Ohio. He is a contributing editor of Angelus (magazine) and general editor of the Reclaiming Catholic History Series from Ave Maria Press. He is the author or editor of more than fifty books, including The Fathers of the Church (2006); The Mass of the Early Christians (2007); Living the Mysteries (2003); and What Catholics Believe(1999). He has hosted eleven television series on the Eternal Word Television Network and is a frequent guest commentator on Catholic radio.

Mike Aquilina’s website is found at fathersofthechurch.com

VEC3 – Pontius Pilate – Villains of the Early Church with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:41 — 19.0MB) | Embed

Episode 3 – Pontius Pilate – “Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians“

In this episode, Mike Aquilina and Kris McGregor discuss Pontius Pilate and learning from his weakness.

An excerpt from Villains of the Early Church:

Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate. Countless millions of Christians recite that simple historical fact when they profess their faith. It reminds us that this is real history we’re dealing with. The death and Resurrection of Jesus are not just metaphors or allegories: they really happened at a particular moment in history.

Pilate is our anchor to that historical moment. He is our grounding in historical fact.

But he’s also one of the most fascinating characters in the Gospels. His doubt and dithering in the face of an unpredictable mob make him more than just a villain. They make him human, and we feel real sympathy for him. He’s doing a bad job, but in his position it was nearly impossible to do a good job.

For more episodes in the Villians of the Early Church podcast visit here – Villains of the Early Church – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Aquilina, Mike. Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians (Kindle Locations 391). Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.

You can find the book on which this series is based here