#1298: Discourse 3B, Banquet of the Ten Virgins by St. Methodius

The Banquet of the Ten Virgins continues, as Thaleia argues that St. Paul was a champion of virginity.

Discourse 3B

17:04.

#1297: Discourse 3A, Banquet of the Ten Virgins by St. Methodius

The Banquet of the Ten Virgins continues, as Thaleia interprets texts on marriage in their analogical/spiritual sense.

Discourse 3: Thaleia

27:45.

#1296: Part 4, Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? by St. Clement of Alexandria

Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? continues, as St. Clement talks about being poor in bad passions and desires, and rich in God.

Part 4

13:45.

#1286: Part 2, Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? by St. Clement of Alexandria

Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? continues. This week, St. Clement examines the story of the rich young man who went away sad.

Part 2

16:29.

#1285: Discourse 2, Banquet of the Ten Virgins by St. Methodius

The Banquet of the Ten Virgins continues, as Theophila explains that marriage and having children are also good things, and that God has never stopped creating the world — or human beings, either.

Btw, Theophila’s name means “friend of God”.

Discourse 2: Theophila.

25:23.

#1275: Part 1, Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? by St. Clement of Alexandria

Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? (aka Can the Rich Man Be Saved?) is another Early Christian bestseller. People with the money to buy scrolls were also people with enough money to worry about this topic. All that camel/eye of the needle stuff Jesus said, you know?

So here’s something to read if you’re not interested in virgins having a drinking party. (Yes, I’m going to get some interesting comment spam for a while. First demons, now this…. I am Counterculture Queen!) We’re all of us in this society pretty rich, as far as the average denizen of the Roman Empire was concerned. (Except those of us without as good of public restrooms as they had.) So probably we should be a tad bit worried, too.

Btw, Googling revealed that it’s a factoid in some circles that St. Clement wrote this thing to roast the rich. Uh uh. Just listen.

Part 1

8:52.

#1274: Discourse 1, Banquet of the Ten Virgins by St. Methodius

Banquet of the Ten Virgins continues, as we meet Marcella, the oldest of the contemporary ten wise virgins. Her name means “little Mark” or “little follower of Mars”, and her attitude is appropriately militant. (Likeable, but militant.) She’s so pro-virginity that the next virgin will have to add a few clarifying remarks on other states of life.

Bonus points to St. Methodius for enriching the traditional image that milk=church teaching with “the udder of immortality”. Udderly awesome!

Discourse 1: Marcella’s Discourse.

20:13.

UPDATE: Link fixed.

#1273: Introduction, Banquet of the Ten Virgins by St. Methodius

Banquet of the Ten Virgins (aka The Symposium, aka Concerning Chastity) is a really interesting work. First of all, you get to meet St. Methodius of “St. Cyril and”. A missionary of parts, it would seem. The character Euboulios (”Good Counselor”) is his POV character in some other treatises, too. Some think that in this treatise he’s actually dropped in as the lady Euboulion; the manuscripts are apparently messy. Gregorion definitely is a lady; and apparently, being Christian means you get to pop in to see your male friends without any messy questions being asked. Heh, heh. So much for puritanical Christian society, I guess.

Eventually we get to meet not just one early Christian woman character, but eleven. We don’t know if they’re St. Methodius’ friends in real life, living Christians he admires, martyred virgin martyrs, personifications of Christian virtues, or all of the above and a few more. But it’s definitely interesting.

Also, we get to hear praise of virginity, which you don’t normally get much of — in this society or in theirs. Virginity is always countercultural, so living openly as a virgin will always require courage, stamina, and pure quill stubbornness. It’s nice to see virgins get praised, for once, and it’s also nice to see them hanging out and having fun without being portrayed as geeky Martians!

Introduction: The frame story with Euboulios and Gregorion.

9:13.

UPDATE: Link fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience.

#1264: Part 10, Life of Antony by St. Athanasius

The Life of Antony ends, as St. Athanasius recounts the story of his friend and mentor’s death.

There’s some very interesting bits on how St. Anthony of Egypt was unhappy about how the old Egyptian custom of mummifying the dead got morphed into an Egyptian Christian custom of keeping mummies of their blessed dead in the house. (Yeah, that may have been a bit much.)

But we also have a rather interesting piece of advice from the dying St. Anthony: “Therefore, be the more earnest always to be followers first of God, and then of the saints — that after death they also may receive you, as well-known friends, into the eternal habitations.” Which indeed seems to have worked out for him.

Part 10

13:19.

#1263: Part 9, Life of Antony by St. Athanasius

The Life of Antony continues, as emperors write him letters and important visitors importune him in a unique way.

Part 9

16:07.

#1262: Part 8, Life of Antony by St. Athanasius

The Life of Antony continues, as St. Anthony argues against the Arians, cures many in Alexandria, and is sought out by pagan philosophers.

Part 8

21 min.

#1260: “Exhortations to Endurance, or, To the Newly Baptized” by St. Clement of Alexandria

While we’re in Alexandria with St. Athanasius, we may as well go back a few generations to Origen’s teacher, St. Clement of Alexandria. (No, the chop was not his idea. As you’ll see, St. Clement is a calm, stable philosopher-type guy. Lots of gravitas in St. Titus Flavius Clemens.)

St. Clement was a philosopher and a layman, who wrote several longish works of theology which were pretty much for normal lay consumption. But this short piece is not deep mystagogy for the newly baptized; it’s practical advice from one layperson to another on how to conduct oneself, now that you’re in the Church.

“Exhortation to Endurance”

7:27.

#1259: Part 7, Life of Antony by St. Athanasius

The Life of Antony continues, as St. Antony does some miracles, has some mystical visions, and shows he’s not one of those sourfaced ’saints’ that so annoyed St. Teresa of Avila.

Part 7

12:20.

#1250: Part 6, Life of Antony by St. Athanasius

The Life of Antony continues, with stories of desert travel and healing, and some good advice on what to do about bad stuff you’ve done.

Part 6

17:05.

#1241: Part 5, Life of Antony by St. Athanasius

The Life of Antony continues, as suddenly Emperor Maximinus begins to persecute Christians. In the emergency, St. Anthony and his fellow monks head out of the desert and into danger, to encourage the martyrs — and for Anthony to try to get martyred himself!

Part 5

13:32.