This is an important piece of architecture in northern Italy. As people were baptized they were underneath this dome. Imagine looking up. There is symbolism everywhere. Remember that most people couldn't read and were taught their catechism from architecture and stained-glass windows, and other visualizations of Christianity.
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio was one of my book club's monthly reads. It certainly was different than my usual fare. It was entertaining, comedic, apropos to today's dating scene, where there're online dating, dating in a minute meetups, etc.
The idea is that every time a man enters the attic, he comes down a different man. At first, the main character, Lauren is curious, and keeps sending rejects up the ladder to the attic. However, she finds a good husband that she wants to keep, but he accidently goes up into the attic!
Then there's the time, one of the husbands falls out of the attic, down the steps, and is incapacitated for months! He, understanderedly, never wants to go up the steps, again. What a scene to push him back up into the attic!
There is a conclusion to this never ending supply of husbands. Lauren does not pick the man she falls in love with, nor one she can he live with, or the richest, or anything at all. She takes what she's left with, lives with it, and makes the best of it. After all, that may be what we all do.
Interesting that the early Christians were mostly pacifists. They took scripture descriptions of warfare as warfare of Christians fighting demons. Good fighting bad. However, it seemed that once Constantine made Christianity legal, and many people became Christians, governing Christians became a problem. How do you repel Barbarian attacks? This was a serious problem.
Hence, the crusades came to be. Could Christians allow Infidels to take over the Holy Land? I wonder how pacifists would handle that? Nowadays, the media would show the world that people were being killed and negotiations for peace probably would result. But then there was no instantaneous news.
What would Jesus do?
Apocatastasis is a theological theory where at the end of the world everything will be restored to its original state. This idea was around the second and third century. I kind of like it. Everyone will be in heaven, even Satan and his minions.
Even Origen thinks God's purpose is that all souls will be saved. He is all merciful, is He not? This final restoration includes Satan.
However, it seems that this opinion is considered an "open question." It is also called universalism = apocatastasis.
As for me, I don't believe it, because it was Satan, who told Eve, "you surely will not die." So I wouldn't believe a word he said.
Although, it is a nice thought.
Yes, I'm still here. I confess my only excuse is laziness. Plus, I was attempting to write a short story for a contest in the Lamp. It's terrible!!! I would be embarrassed to submit it. However, I will post it here, after I catch up on telling you what been going on in my monkey brain, and some books I've read.
First, I need to tell you something I learned about one of our early church fathers, Origen. Origen lived
If you enjoy time travel, then Down Pinhole by Glenn Cooper is the book for you. Down Pinhole is the first in a trilogy. The story begins with Emily, a physicist, who is working on a space collider. When the machine is put to the maximum test, Emily is gone and in her place is a man from another time and place. Emily's boyfriend, John, volunteers to go in and get her back.
Where she went wasn't really in time. It's a place--hell. It's interesting to see who's there and their story. It's an interesting mix of science, history, fantasy, and horror.
The end was a surprise because I wasn't expecting it, yet, it had to be, because there's another in the Down series.
This is an early example of Apostolic Succession. This fresco is from the catacombs of Aquileia. The two figures dressed like Romans are Peter, ordaining Hermacoras, and Mark, on the right. Hermacoras is wearing the pallium, which only Archbishops wear. St. Peter is handing over the shepherd’s staff, called a bishop’s crozier, while ordaining Hermacoras—see Peter’s right hand and fingers depicted in a blessing.
After Peter’s death, the bishops who Peter ordained will carry on this ordaining rite, bishops to bishops down through time. I think of it as people handing down inheritances, land, titles, and other patronages.
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My sister died a month ago. A sibling dying is not an inconsequential event, for anyone. For me, it was deep. You see, she was ten years older than I, so she was also a mother figure for me. Actually, she was better than a mother. I'll give you an example.
When I was ten years old, I told my sister about a boy I liked (Never to my mother!) We looked his name up in the phone book. (How's that for a nostalgic journey?) We found his family name and address. We got in the car and drove by his house. That's it. That's all. What mother would do that? Only sisters do those things.
Another favorite memory I have of my sister is a Christmas memory. We both loved to color. Whenever I was sick, she bought me a new coloring book. It seemed I was always sick with measles, chicken pox, asthma, colds, and even a ruptured appendix! And of course, Santa always brought new crayons and coloring books. Christmas night, we loved to put all the lights off in the living room, except for the Christmas tree lights. Then we would crawl under the Christmas tree and color with our new crayons and books.
It was magical!
Before dementia stole my sister from me, we sent each other birthday cards. Since my birthday was a couple of weeks before hers, whatever type of card she sent me, I would reciprocate by bumping it up a notch. If she sent me a lovey-dovey, mushy Happy Birthday Dear Sister, I would send her the most grandiose "lovey-dovey", mushy card. If she sent me a funny card, I reciprocated with a real zinger.
Recalling old memories leaves a sense of warm nostalgia. Reminiscing leads me to tell you something important.
School starts in a couple of weeks, and when I took my grands to buy school supplies, I found myself staring at all the Crayola products.
Mmmm. Yes, I did.
I bought the biggest box of crayons the store sold, and an adult coloring book. While we checked out our purchases, I took out my personal items and brought them home.
As I colored that night, I thought of the many types of prayers that everyone uses. And I thought that sometimes... sometimes, the best prayers are those that are offered up in color.
ICHThYS is an ancient "password" for the early Christians. When the early Christians couldn't worship publicly, they went underground--to the catacombs. The password to enter was to draw an IChThYS--in Greek (ΙΧΘΥΣ) .
This would be a fish because Peter and some of the other apostles were fishermen. It was called IChThYS the Greek Word for fish.
Philosophy was the noun early Christians used when referring to religion. They called it philosophy, after the philosopher, Philo, who lived in Alexandria. He wrote about politics and religion. He maintained that the first Bible, the Septuagint and Jewish law were a blueprint for current theory. He harmonized the Torah with Greek philosophy. His allegorical exegesis was important to the Church Fathers.
That's what the Church Fathers called theology, and religion. Here is an Imaginative illustration of Philo made in 1584 by the French portrait artist André Thevet
By André Thévet - André Thevet (1502-1509): Les vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres grecz, latins et payens (1584)https://archive.org/details/lesvraispourtrai01thev, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12233681
This probably is the last book in the series of The Library of the Dead. However, the book ends with the mother pregnant again with another ancient scribe. So? I'm writing about The Keepers of the Library by Glenn Cooper. Will Piper, the supposedly retired NY cop/FBI agent, is the protagonist. His teenage son runs to a girlfriend, in Scotland. They met online. Unfortunately, her family keeps him. Will takes off to get him back. As usual, in Cooper's books, the action is crazy fast. The armies of three countries get involved. They are all after the library.
The library continues past the dates, everyone thought was the end of the world. Even more surprising is the diary of Benjamin Franklin, which the family had. Evidently, Franklin was there three centuries ago. Franklin was concerned with the American Revolution and set up of a new government. Will saves Franklin's diary too.
When Christianity was in its infancy, the Emperor of Rome was considered a god. Around 45 BC the Jewish army helped Julius Caesar fight his wars, and so, the Jewish worship of Yahweh was tolerated. However, the Jews insisted that these Christians were not Jews and weren't excused from worshipping Caesar, as god.
The Christians acknowledged Caesar's authority to govern but would not worship him. Remember Matt 22: 20-21, They would pray for him, honor him, obey him, but he is only a man who God appointed to rule.
Art from Catacombs
Baptizing
She stopped in her tracks.
She looked shock.
Her eyes narrowed.
She turned and walked away.
What did I say?
I tried to think back.
Did I offend?
By her response, yes.
She was hurt, deeply.
If only I could silent my tongue.
God breathes life into Adam.
Newborns scream that same breath
into their lungs.
Resuscitation breathes that same
breath to life. Again
and again.
Our favorite author, Anonymous, wrote an Apology dissertation, known as To Diognetus. It has been renowned for its resonance with current Catholic theology. Mind you, it's dated 160-200 AD. I imagine there were all sorts of ideas running loose, so the apologists hammered down the Apostolic teachings.
It criticized pagans, atheists, Jews, etc. Anonymous explains the nature of Christianity as "love." How's that compared to the other early religions?
Do you think the citizenry laughed at these Christians? Probably some did, some still do, but actually, paradoxically, the followers of Christianity multiplied exponentially.
The Physician of Nineveh by Glenn Cooper has something for everyone. It has history. It has romance. It is an action thriller. It has fantasy. It has science. It has time travel. It has a happy ending--for all.
The major characters are a physician from the seventh century, BC, and a scholar specializing in Assyriology, Kate Mayne, from the twenty-first century, AD. They meet through time-travel.
See, Mannu the Assyrian physician uses black magic to travel through time, to find a cure for King Ashurbanipa's favorite concubine. He lands in London, where Kate finds him. Kate, scholar, that she is, thinks her dreams have come true. The drama comes in when the King's enemies follow Mannu to make sure he doesn't succeed in his quest.
The story is different, and like I said, it has everything.
Melito was the first bishop of Sardis, in Asia Minor. Sardis, once was capital of Lydia, a wealthy capital in modern day Turkey. It one of the Seven Churches of Asia, in Revelation. King Croesus's wealth was known in Sardis.
Did you ever hear of it? Keep that in mind and meditate that "All is passing, only God abides."
Melito, as other evangelists, was writing Apologies, defending the faith in the second century. Most of what he wrote is lost. What remains is his Apology, or some of it. From it, we understand that he mentions the existence of cooperation between the church and the Roman Empire. One gets the idea that God predestined that the church was formed specifically to flourish during the Constantine era and after, giving rise to the Holy Roman Empire. Do you want to call this political theology?
Popular Mechanics has an article that highlights Christianity, as early as the third century. A skeleton was found in Frankfurt, Germany, wearing a religious medal--a cross. The skeleton is dated 230-279 AD, which means that Christianity had spread as far north to Germany by that century. During that time, the Emperor, Nero, was persecuting Christians. So for anyone to wear a Christian symbol was very brave, if not foolish. His or her, faith, must have been very important.
It is not only a cross; there is a Latin inscription, on it. Translated:
(In the name?) of Saint Titus.
Holy, holy, holy!
In the name of Jesus Christ, Son of God!
The Lord of the World
resists with [strength?]
all attacks(?)/setbacks(?).
The god(?) grants well-being
Admission.
This rescue device(?) protects
the person who is
surrenders to the will
of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son,
since before Jesus Christ
all knees bow: the heavenly ones,
the earthly and
the underground, and every tongue
confess (to Jesus Christ).
Who is St. Titus? He was a disciple of Paul. He carried Paul's letters and organized and helped Paul. There is no description of how he died.
Interesting is the award, Cross of St. Titus. This award is given to chaplains, who offered "meritorious contributions to the unique and highly visible Unit Ministry Team Observer Controller Program. The award recognizes the great importance of realistic, doctrinally guided combat ministry training in ensuring the delivery of prevailing religious support to the American Soldier."
Wikipedia
I guess the idea for the Cross of St. Titus was because of the companionship, support, dependability, and trust, that Titus gave to St. Paul.
Thank God, I'm here and now, not living during the times of the novel, The Calamity Club by Kathern Stockett. The depression era was hard, but the degradation Blacks, women, children, and those intellectually challenged, had to endure, broke my heart.
The story in The Calamity Club tells it all. The limited job opportunities, women had no choice, but to accept. How orphans were treated. How Blacks were treated. And I learned a new vocabulary word--miscegenation.
Miscegenation: Derived from Latin miscere ("to mix") and genus ("race"); historically used in laws banning interracial marriage
The story begins with a little girl, Meg, being left alone. Her mother didn't come home. Eventually, she is sent to an orphanage, that must have been inspired by Charles Dickens. The people in that town, the boss lady, Garnett, volunteers, Birdie and Frances, and the people who eventually adopt Meg, are all unforgettable people. I loved all the characters.
In fact, I love everything about the book.
Apologist comes from the Greek language, meaning defense. That's a different meaning to us, nowadays. But the early Christians had to constantly be on the defense from the government, Jews, and pagans. Why?
At that time, God was Caesar and only worship of him, was allowed.
The Jews opposed the early Christians because the Christians preached that the Jews killed Jesus.
The pagans didn't like the morality of the Christians, who criticized many of their mores.
What were the Christians defending?
There are always prejudice against new ideas, especially if it involves changing lifestyles.
Misunderstandings of what the Christians were preaching.
Cannibalism--yes, because Jesus said "Eat my flesh, drink my blood," non Christians just didn't understand. John 6:53-56
Incest--again, misunderstanding of the teachings on love of our brothers and sisters. 1 John 4:21 and Romans 12:10.
Political subversion--yes, even today. Christians must obey their well-formed conscience, not their government or illegal orders from authorities.
Add to the above, fear. Fear and distrust generated the hatred of Christians and unleashed persecution against them.
Do you see the three P's? Three for Trinity. The P is Greek, Rho. The "X" is Christ's cross. Thus this symbol is cal...
