Episodes by Circa

Harmonia returns to 8th-century Japan to witness the arrival of the Lotus Sutra-not as a conquest, but as a quiet revolution.

Alcuin of York preserved Western learning during the Dark Ages and established education as essential civilizational infrastructure.

we journey to 8th-century Basra to meet Rbia al-Adawiyya, the mystic who carried a torch and a bucket through the night, vowing to set fire to heaven and extinguish hell.

The story of Ibrahim ibn Adham, the 8th-century king of Balkh who abandoned his throne to become a wandering Sufi mystic.

Wasil ibn Ata founded Islamic rational theology in 8th century Basra, insisting that reason is humanity's sacred gift and faith's finest instrument.

Adi Shankara taught that all spiritual traditions are facets of one diamond --- and the world is only now beginning to understand what he meant.

An exploration of Hasan al-Basri, a voice of conscience who challenged the misuse of religious language in the pursuit of power.

a Chinese Buddhist monk named Xuanzang risked everything to seek the origin of his faith.

A lighthearted exploration of Isidore of Seville, whose love of collecting knowledge made him an unlikely patron of computer programmers and a quiet hero of shared memory.

St Gall's hermitage became a 1,300-year library. What are we preserving that will last as long?

Æthelberht of Kent wrote mercy into English law in 600 AD --- and the threshold sanctuary created has never fully disappeared.

St. Catherine's - a quiet sanctuary where monks copied sacred texts through centuries of silence

Cassiodorus reveals how learning survives when institutions weaken and care becomes a personal responsibility rather than a function of power.

Benedict of Nursia's monasteries saved classical knowledge and built Western civilization's infrastructure through the Dark Ages with principles that remain vital today.

Bodhidharma, the 5th-century monk who brought Chan Buddhism to China, teaches that what we seek is already present beneath the noise of striving.

Harmonia invites you to the glowing hearth of Saint Brigid of Kildare, where old traditions and new faiths entwined in a time of transformation.

Harmonia remembers Hypatia of Alexandria-philosopher, mathematician, and teacher-whose life became a symbol of dignity, inquiry, and calm in an era unraveling into violence.

Harmonia visits Ethiopia's ancient Christian tradition---and the surprising books it carried into the modern world.

Metrodora wrote women's medical knowledge into the formal record two thousand years ago. Harmonia traces the thread that carried it forward.

This episode explores how Moses the Black transformed from a feared outlaw into a gentle spiritual teacher, revealing what his journey teaches us about growth, mercy, and the courage to become more than our past.

Basil of Caesarea built the ancient world's first hospital complex, turning theological conviction into institutional care that still echoes in every modern hospital.

Harmonia invites you into the gentle dawns and shared labors of Makrina the Younger-eldest of the Cappadocian siblings, architect of a hidden sanctuary

A reflection on the Imperial Library of Constantinople and the quiet responsibility of preserving memory across generations.

Eusebius of Caesarea watched the empire burn sacred books and spent his life answering that fire with memory --- and his choice still shapes what we believe today.

A Christmas special about Saint Nicholas and how his quiet, unseen kindness grew into a tradition of secret gift-giving that still warms the world today.