Way of the Fathers with Mike Aquilina CatholicCulture.org

It’s hard to be an intelligent Christian without somehow handling Origen’s ideas. He set the ground rules for scientific study of the Bible. He wrote foundational works in spirituality, apologetics, and fundamental theology. In this episode, we look at those big accomplishments, but also examine the ideas that got him into trouble. Do souls exist before they get bodies? Does Satan get saved in the end? Does allegory trump history when we read the Bible? And did Origen really say all these things anyway? Find out why the Man of Steel is just as controversial today as he was almost two millennia ago.
Links
St. Methodius of Olympus, Against Origen (fragment) https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1833
St. Jerome, Letter 84 to Pammachius https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2379
Thomas Mirus on Origen’s theology https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/church-fathers-origens-theology/
Pope Benedict XVI on Origen’s thought https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=7548
Catholic Culture Audiobooks reading of Origen homily on Genesis: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/origen-alexandria-homily-i-on-genesis/
More works by the Fathers
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/
Mike Aquilina's website https://fathersofthechurch.com
Theme music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed http://www.ccwatershed.org.
 

Origen of Alexandria was one of the most important figures in Christian antiquity—most brilliant and most productive—yet also one of the most complicated. He was widely influential and widely despised. He was praised for his accomplishments and blamed for disasters. He wrote thousands of books and invented several academic disciplines, including scientific biblical studies, fundamental theology, and spiritual theology. Toward the end of life he endured tortures rather than deny the faith; and he died a hero’s death. This is the first of two episodes on his life and work.
Links
Gregory of Pontus, The Oration and Panegyric Addressed to Origen https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1849
Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History: Book VI https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1999
A Letter from Origen to Africanus https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1693
Origen, On Prayer http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/origen_on_prayer_02_text.htm
More works by the Fathers
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/
Catholic Culture Audiobooks reading of Origen homily on Genesis: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/origen-alexandria-homily-i-on-genesis/
Mike Aquilina's website https://fathersofthechurch.com
Theme music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed http://www.ccwatershed.org.
Origen of Alexandria was one of the most important figures in Christian antiquity—most brilliant and most productive—yet also one of the most complicated. He was widely influential and widely despised. He was praised for his accomplishments and blamed for disasters. He wrote thousands of books and invented several academic disciplines, including scientific biblical studies, fundamental theology, and spiritual theology. Toward the end of life he endured tortures rather than deny the faith; and he died a hero’s death. This is the first of two episodes on his life and work.
Links
Gregory of Pontus, The Oration and Panegyric Addressed to Origen https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1849
Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History: Book VI https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1999
A Letter from Origen to Africanus https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1693
Origen, On Prayer http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/origen_on_prayer_02_text.htm
More works by the Fathers
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/
Mike Aquilina's website https://fathersofthechurch.com
Theme music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed http://www.ccwatershed.org.

 
He was a believer for little more than a decade, but in that time he managed to set one of the pre-eminent examples of Christian leadership. Before his conversion, Cyprian had lived the Carthaginian dream. He was wealthy and successful, but miserable and maybe addicted to drink and other pleasures. With his baptism came a transformation. Within a year he was ordained a priest. In two years he was bishop over all of North Africa. His years in office were a time of unprecedented crisis. His Church faced persecution, pandemic, catastrophic climate change, and famine. He managed all with grace and won his prominent place in history before dying as a martyr.
Links
The Life and Passion of Cyprian, Bishop and Martyr https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1732
Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise: On the Lapsed https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1708
Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise: On the Mortality (Or Plague) https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1712
Cyprian of Carthage, Epistle 62: On the Sacrament of the Cup of the Lord https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1779
More works by the Fathers
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/
Mike Aquilina's website https://fathersofthechurch.com
Theme music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed http://www.ccwatershed.org.

He started as a papal critic, became history's first antipope, and today is honored — with the pope he rejected — as a saint whose feast day is universal. Go figure. Hippolytus of Rome is one of the great curiosities of early Christian history. In ancient times he was known for his encyclopedic books of theology, which became standard reference works in the centuries to follow. The Church revived his Mass prayers in the last century, and they're still in use today.
Links
The Refutation of All Heresies
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1706
The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus: Part I.—exegetical
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1728
The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus: Part II.—dogmatical and Historical
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1730
More works by the Fathers
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/
Mike Aquilina’s website
https://fathersofthechurch.com
Theme music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of http://www.ccwatershed.org.

Alexandria, in Egypt, was the intellectual capital of the Greco-Roman world, and as the second century turned to the third it emerged as an influential center of Christian thought. Its first impression was spectacular — and it all came from a teacher named Clement. He was a seeker after truth, and had traveled the Mediterranean to study under the greatest Christian teachers. He settled in Alexandria, the site of a newly founded school, and eventually he came to lead the school. Several of Clement's works have survived, including his great trilogy on the spiritual and moral life. Any Christian who has pursued the life of prayer in the great Christian tradition has encountered ideas developed by Clement.
Links
Who Is the Rich Man that Shall Be Saved? https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1650
Exhortation to the Heathen https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1658
The Instructor [Paedagogus.] https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1659
The Stromata, or Miscellanies, Books I-II https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1660
The Stromata, or Miscellanies, Books III-V https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1661
The Stromata, or Miscellanies, Books VI-VIII https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1648
Mike Aquilina on the school of Alexandria https://fathersofthechurch.com/2006/10/24/out-of-egypt/
More works by the Fathers
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/
Mike Aquilina’s website
https://fathersofthechurch.com
Theme music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of http://www.ccwatershed.org.

Perpetua of Carthage is almost unique in the literature of her time. She is a woman and a writer. Over the course of centuries, traditional Greco-Roman culture produced very few female writers. Nor did ancient literature bother much with the particular concerns of women. So Perpetua stands out as a witness to women’s experience in the third century—and the changed status of women in the Church. A Christian martyr, she kept a diary while in jail. The diary records ordinary details, such as visits from family members and the conditions of the prison. But it also tells of extraordinary visions. Perpetua speaks of pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and weaning. In prison she emerges as a charismatic leader of her fellow Christians. Her diary is an extraordinary record, and it is a beautiful meditation on Christian life.
Links
Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity (Perpetua's Diary) https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1678
The Story of Saint Perpetua (animated feature) 
https://brotherfrancisstore.com/collections/catholic-heroes-of-the-faith/products/catholic-heroes-of-the-faith-the-story-of-saint-perpetua
The Passion of Saint Perpetua (documentary)
https://brotherfrancisstore.com/collections/catholic-heroes-of-the-faith/products/catholic-heroes-of-the-faith-the-passion-of-saint-perpetua
Perpetua’s Song
https://brotherfrancisstore.com/products/perpetuas-song-audio-download
More works by the Fathers
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/
Mike Aquilina’s website
https://fathersofthechurch.com
Theme music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of http://www.ccwatershed.org.