See here:
Monday, June 29, 2009
Not so much! (Ark update)
Looks like it was a case of bad transaltion. Oh, well. Whatever they have, even if it dates from a latter post-Roman era would have been interetnig to see.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Ark of the Covenant to be revealed?
See the news article here: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132067
The Ethiopians are planning on revealing what they claim to be the Ark of the Covenant supposedly held in the Church of Mary Zion in Axum. Now it may be an old replica, or even a reliquary of some sort, even if not the genuine object.
I'm not sure how they plan on dating it [they aren't going to let a piece of it get broken off for carbon dating I'll bet].
Even if it is not legitimate it might be an interesting replica. If it does date from the time when Jews may have fled to Ethiopia, then there is a good possibly it is an exact replica made by people who saw the original.
This would be most interesting to see how they represent the Cherubim. We in the modern world tend to use human figurines. Yet, the Cherubim where not unknown in the ancient near east [such as the Arslan Tash Cherub that dates to 8th-9th century BC], and acted as guardian spirits to sacred spaces and thrones of the king. These are similar roles as played in the Old Testament as guardians of Eden (Gen 3:24) and God's throne (Ezek 1:1-28; 10:1-22). A Cherub was always represented as a composite creature, and never completely human in form. Normally they had a human face/head, but then animal bodies, such as a lion body and snake tail. Or even the lower half of a bull. In one case however, in connection with the vision in Ezekiel, the Cherubim may have animal heads such as that of eagles, but with a human body.
Conversely, it may be possible to help date the object based on said representations. A “Cherub” in the modern post-renaissance sense or as seen in some Christian iconography would suggest a latter date as a reinterpretation of the Ark. However if the Ark’s Cherubim fit the pattern found in the Ancient Near East, then it [although certainly not proof of being the genuine Ark] does show it as coming out of the same time period and cultural region of the original.
Further Reading:
Ark of the Covenant: [not claiming veracity or anything, these are just what I am most aware of]
"The Sign and the Seal" by Graham Hancock
"In Search of the Lost Ark of the Covenant" by Cornuke and Halbrook
"Lost Temple Treasures" by Randall Price
"Mysteries Of The Bible: Essays by the Biblical Archeology Society" ed by Molly Meinhardt
Cherubim:
Van Der Torn, Becking, and Van Der Horst “Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible” p. 190
Othmar Keel “Symbolism of the Biblical World” p.142
Elie Borowski, “Cherubim: God's Throne?,” Biblical Archeology Review 1995, p.37.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
New Book
"Dreams, Visions, and Spiritual Authority in Merovingian Gaul" by Isabel Moreira.
Found it at half-price books [I need to just stop prentending I won't buy something "this time"]
It sounds intereting, i'll post some comments when I'm done. [And when I get to it, as i'm reading a book on the sacraments]
Friday, May 22, 2009
The internet is amazing
Just found the entire corpus of J.P. Migne's Patrologia Latine (and Pat. Gr) online at http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu
Two items of interest for those of you who venture here:
Exorcism ascribed to St. Ambrose of Milan:
Anonymous exorcisms [and rites of excommunication]:
I wish I had more information about the last set.
Note that part of the first exorcism [Ambrose] appears in the Roman pre-Vatican II Rituale [http://www.ewtn.com/library/PRAYER/ROMAN2.TXT]
It may also appear in the newer Vatican-II Exorcism, but I have not seen that document.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Martyrdom as Combat in the account of Polycarp
The Martyrdom of Polycarp is a record of the death by fire of the Bishop Polycarp in the arena of the Roman Empire. Written by eyewitnesses to the event (15.1), the letter seeks to demonstrate what true martyrdom looks like (1.1). Behind this reflection and account of martyrdom is a theme of warfare with Satan. The martyrs face the tortures of the Roman arena not as political enemies but as spiritual enemies. The Romans are at best pawns of the kingdom of the world ruled by Satan who seeks to destroy the church through persecution.
Martyrdom is combat directly against Satan who is behind the Roman Empire. In 3.1 the writer says that the “devil did not prevail against any of them” in reference to the martyrs. What the devil had tried, he said, was to destroy their faith through persecution (2.4). This persecution is directly tied to being the persecutions of the Roman state as indicated by the whips that tore their flesh (2.2), death by fire (2.3), and being eaten by wild beasts (2.4). Echoing language in Ignatius and Barnabas, these are the “tortures of this world” that afflict the martyrs. At the same time they seem to be the attacks of Satan. Like Ignatius and Barnabas, the world is under the power of Satan who is seeking to destroy the church.
Another form of combat seems to be post-mortem inspiration by the testimony of the deaths of the martyrs. Not only does the writer see Satan at war with the martyrs while alive but also as being opposed the collection of their relics, indicating a view where Satan warred against the saints even after death by seeking the destruction of their bodies, and the prevention of their relics from inspiring hope in those still alive. (Gokey, 91) The writer states that after his death, the crowd under the influence of Satan attempted to prevent the church from retrieving his bones (17.2) because the devil was jealous that Polycarp had “won the prize” (17.1). What the Christians wanted to be able to do was to use the relics as an example to imitate (17.3), and treated them as precious objects with which they celebrated the “birthday of his martyrdom” (18.3), and those of all others who have “already fought” and for the “training and preparation of those who will do so in the future” (18.3). Like a great soldier, the death of Polycarp was to inspire others to join the fight against Satan in the arena. He had already won his prize and called others to do so as well.
The account contained in the Martyrdom of Polycarp provides insight into the worldview of the early Christians in the context of their own martyrdom. Polycarp was a soldier of Christ. He fought against Rome and, and in so doing, against Satan who was the power behind Rome (3.1). He died in battle and won the prize of victory. He inspired others to carry on the fight and train for their own combat (18.3). Satan fought with persecution and the Saints fought back with faith and endurance.
Sources:
The Martyrdom of Polycarp [Holmes. Apostolic Fathers. 3rd ed.]
Gokey. The Terminology for the Devil and Evil Spirits in the Apostolic Fathers
Saturday, May 2, 2009
New Book
I recently picked up "The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist" by Matt Baglio from Half-Price Books here in town. Looks very interesting. An Italian reporter writes about an american Roman Priest who is sent by his Bishop to Rome, to train as an Exorcist at the prestgious pontifical university there.
On a related note, those who may peruse this blog would be interested in this article, which is old yes, but untill I started reading "The Rite" I was unaware:
Monday, March 23, 2009
St. Ignatius: the Victory of the Incarnation
For Ignatius the victory over evil, and so also the grand exorcism of Satan from the Earth, was primarily a focus of the incarnation. This expressed in Ignatius’s threefold statement concerning what was accomplished against evil at the incarnation. (Ign. Eph. 19.3) The threefold deliverance for the world was from magic, ignorance and the old kingdom. Magic and spells represent all evil powers that work against humanity (Lightfoot, 83), ignorance is a contrast with the knowledge of God (Ign. Eph. 17.2), and the “old kingdom” was the dominion that Satan possessed over mankind before Christ. Each of these three evils was connected with Satan and the demonic, so that for Ignatius the demons were defeated by the incarnation (Twelftree, 228). With the destruction of these powers came the opportunity for new life (Ign. Eph. 19.3), which was the central concern of Ignatius, and so this passage reflects his views on the chief exorcistic event of history.
Ignatius draws on Pauline ideas found in such places as Colossians 2:14-15, where he calls “this age” the “ancient kingdom” which was overthrown and defeated by the cross. (Lawson, 118) However, there are some differences between the Pauline idea and Ignatius. First, Ignatius is not only connecting the defeat of the world rulers with the death of Christ but also, and more centrally, with his incarnation. In fact Ignatius says that the ancient kingdom was abolished when “God appeared in human form,” Second, Ignatius’s emphasis is on an entire kingdom defeated, more than Paul seems to demonstrate in Col 1:13. This distinction is important in seeing his worldview shaped by a combat between two kingdoms, not just one kingdom that is ruled by God through Christ opposed to illegitimate rulers.
The Church now awaits the consummation of the victory over Satan that had been won for her. This is not overtly clear in Ephesians 19, nor in Ignatius’s letters in general because, more then eschatology, Ignatius places the incarnation as central due to it being the event in which death itself was abolished (Corwin, 155). However, although the victory has been won, he also talks about a future kingdom of God with punishment for the wicked, (Ign. Eph. 16.1-2) along with a brief statement of the Two Ways doctrine which seems to imply a future end to each of the ways (Ign. Magn. 5.1). Although the powers of evil have been defeated, these powers of the old age will be finally done away with at the Second Advent (Russell, 34).
Lawson, John. A Theological and Historical Introduction to the Apostolic Fathers. New York: Macmillan, 1961.
Lightfoot, J.B. Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp. Vol. 2. The Apostolic Fathers. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1981.
Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Satan: The Early Christian Tradition. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1981.
Twelftree, Graham H. In the Name of Jesus: Exorcism among Early Christians. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007.
Corwin, Virginia. St. Ignatius and Christianity in Antioch. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1960.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Web Link - See of Rome cracks down on false miracles
Bad picture of the Pope (biased reporter maybe?) but nice bit of information. I'm glad to see Rome is actively investigating these claims and cracking down on false ones.
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