"THE GREAT TALES": ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE

Father Andrew Stephen Damick, known from podcasts like "The Lord of Spirits| on Ancient Faith Radio with Father Stephen De Young (link), and talks on his YouTube channel (link), is running podcast, "The Great Tales" with filologist Richard Rohlin, who is well known from his association with Jonathan Pageau on "The Symbolic World" (link). Every new episode of "The Great Tales" is automatically uploaded on the playlist in the pages section of this blog (link). But every now and then we are also dealing with the most remarkable episodes here in separate posts. 

April 10, 2025 The Great Tales: The Great Tales - Don't Look Back [Ep. 12].

One of the most important ancient Christian teachings regarding the passion and resurrection of Our Lord is the "Harrowing of Hades", also known as the “Harrowing of Hell.”

In this doctrine, Orthodox Christians teach that Christ entered the abode of the dead, shattered its gates, defeated and bound the one who ruled over that realm, and brought those who belonged to him into paradise.

Christ’s descent into Hades, triumph over the power of death, and His subsequent Resurrection, is the most significant event in the history of the cosmos.

It is also the fulfillment of numerous ancient myths and legends of descents into the underworld. Many of them do not end in quite so triumphal a manner. 

In this episode of "The Great Tales", Father Andrew Stephen Damick and Richard Rohlin examine one of the oldest (if not the oldest) Hellenic myths about a descent into Hades, as they retell and discuss the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and discuss some of the other stories and legends around Orpheus more generally.

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