The Great Tales

Special guest co-host Dcn. Nicholas Kotar joins us to tell the story of Russia’s strange tradition of mashing up saints’ lives with fairy tales.

The week after Bright Week, Fr. Andrew and Dcn. Seraphim read some of the most intense and exciting poems from the Christian tradition, both East and West, about the harrowing of Hell.

Our hosts recap three legendary poetic showdowns: Väinämöinen vs. Joukahainen in the Kalevala, Homer vs. Hesiod in ancient Greece, and Taliesin vs. an entire court full of Celtic bards. Find out who's bussin' and who's suss, who was spitting fire and who got fired.

We continue #HoaryNorthernWinter with a turn toward the German tellings of the Volsung story, the Nibelungenlied, and Þiðreks saga. Rather than being translations of the Norse material, these versions transform the story and characters and also tell some tales of their own.

#HoaryNorthernWinter continues with the final showdown with the Huns and the fall of the House of the Gjukings. While we're on the subject, we'll look more deeply into the ancient conflict with the Huns that scarred the pysche of Germanic storytellers for a thousand years.