| The early Christian period is marked by the multitude of female martyrs who – even with their blood – helped the message of Christianity reach contemporary society. In the New Testament ( Lk. 8.2–3 ) we encounter references to women as sponsoring patrons of the early missionary efforts of Christianity. Priscilla and Aquila, a notable couple within the Pauline circle, probably sustained in a most decisive way the activity of St. Paul. The earliest reference to a deaconess is encountered in the Pauline Epistle to the Romans (16.1) and refers to Phoebe, a young sister from Kenchreae (near Corinth) whom Paul commends to the Romans. In the same chapter of his epistle, Paul refers to another nine women out of a whole of twenty-four notable people mentioned; among them, the above-mentioned Priscilla, the scholarly missionary and patron of the churches in Corinth and Ephesus. The notable female disciple Junia (mentioned together with Andronicus) is explicitly referred to as an Apostle; and she along with many other women (such as the explicitly named Mary, Tryphosa, Tryphaena, Persis, and so on) recall for us the early, apostolic, Christian environment where women played a vital role in the life of the church and its proclamatory mission. It seems that the role of the deaconess designated an ordained member of the church with specific duties and obligations. Sixty-four inscriptions from the Eastern Roman Empire testify to the existence of ordained deaconesses, while a few others refer to female presbyters (the meaning of which is not entirely clear). Part of the body of Christian texts which did not find their way into the New Testament, such as the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla, recount the fascination of the young betrothed virgin who for three days and three nights, without eating or drinking, remained fastened to the window like a spider listening to the words of Paul (Kraemer 1988; Lipsius and Bonnet 1891). According to the Acts, Thecla followed Paul and when thrown to the lions she was miraculously saved. |
| 77 E.g., Lucian Hist. 12, who distinguishes proper biography from falsification and flattery; Plutarch in Poetry! (Mor. 16F) points to fabricated materials in poetry (quite different from his description of his sources in the Lives). See Mosley, «Reporting,» 26; Kany, «Bericht»; Witherington, Acts, 25–26; cf. Aune, Environment, 79 (who both notes the distinction and recognizes some overlap). 78 Most Greek tragedies reflected and developed earlier tradition; thus in Helen Euripides follows the Recantation of Stesichorus (which violates the natural reading of Homer), yet to harmonize with Homer must have Menelaus and Helen meet in Egypt and return to Sparta in time for Telemachus " s arrival in the Odyssey. But such constraints were much more general than with historical works (cf. how closely Matthew or Luke follows Mark). 79 Talbert, «Acts,» 72. Pseudo-Callisthenes mixes both historical and fictitious sources, plus adds his own fictions (e.g., Alex. 1.23), 450–750 years after the supposed events. Bowersock " s examples of fictitionalized history (Fiction as History 21) are also distinctly novelistic. 81 See, e.g., Aune, Environment, 151–53; Bauckham, «Acts of Paul»; Keylock, «Distinctness,» 210. One may compare works such as the Acts of Paul and Thecla or Acts of John 53–64,73–80, where elements of the romance story line are followed, except that the women become devotees of the male teacher in chastty, devoted not to sexual love but to God " s word. 82 Some scholars have suggested some overlap in the Gospels, though acknowledging that the degree varies from Gospel to Gospel (e.g., Freyne, Galilee, 11). 86 See Kee, Miracle, 193, for other propagandists narratives in the Isis cult. It is hardly true, however, that the genre as a whole was centered on religious propaganda (Kee, Miracle, 193–94). For more Isis aretalogies see Horsley, Documents, 1:10–21. 87 Dio Cassius 1.1.1–2; Fornara, Nature of History, 120–33; Palmer, «Monograph,» 3, 29, citing, e.g., Cicero Fam. 5.12.5; Polybius 1.4.11; 3.31.13; cf. also Dionysius of Halicarnassus Demosth. 47. Bur-ridge, Gospeb, 149–51, includes entertainment among the function of many biographies; and, p. 245, complains that most of Pervós criteria for identifying novels are so broad they apply to most historical works as well; cf. Porter, « " Wé Passages,» 551–52. Some fiction did occur at times in ancient biography (Chance, «Fiction»), especially when the subject had lived centuries earlier (Lefkowitz, Africa, 82). |
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| Throughout the Fourth Gospel, Jesus utters words on a deeper level of meaning, words that can be misconstrued (e.g., 3:3–4; 4:10–11, 14–15; 6:63). Unlike his brothers, Jesus cannot simply go to the feast at any time; his interest in going to the feast is not merely to perform the ritual of attendance but to obey the leading of his Father (see comment on 3:8). He may not deceive them, but he does not begin at the feast the way they had advised: they wanted him to show himself (φανρωσον) and not remain in secret (ev κρπτω, 7:4); here he begins his time in Jerusalem «not openly» (φανερς) but in secret (ν κρπτω, 7:10). That Jesus could blend into the crowds (7:10–11) may implicitly underline the character of his incarnation (1:14). Business documents frequently listed distinctive features in a transactor " s appearance, such as placement of scars. 6358 Far more important, where relevant, ancient biography stressed personal appearance, though it is missing in many ancient biographies. 6359 It was also common (though not essential) to epideictic speeches; 6360 legends and novels also often praised the great beauty of their heroes. 6361 Some ancient teachers even thought that they could determine peoplés character based on their face, form, and the way they carried themselves. 6362 Frequently ancient heroes were taller or more attractive than their contemporaries, inviting respect, among both men ( 1Sam 9:2; 10:23; 16:7, 12 ) 6363 and women; 6364 exceptions did, however, exist. 6365 Even the odd description of Paul in the second-century novel Acts of Paul and Thecla fits the usual pattern of ancient heroic descriptions. 6366 The possibly first-century C.E., lower-class Life of Aesop describes Aesop " s ugliness, «not for its own sake but, as with Socrates, for the spice of contrast it gives to his intellectual elegance.» 6367 Beauty was treated as a natural virtue, 6368 hence the beauty of heroes seems to have been the most common norm, though Jews would undoubtedly have defined that beauty in terms of darker complexion than would have been customary in traditional northern Mediterranean literature. 6369 (Among northern Mediterranean people, most classical heroes 6370 and deities 6371 were blond, which usually characterized beauty [Longus 1.17], and white skin characterized feminine 6372 and occasionally masculine 6373 beauty.) |
| Father Haddad is a Syrian and represents the Greek-Catholic patriarch in Rome. According to him, presence of Christianity in the Middle East is not optional but a necessity. “I am convinced that coexistence will not end,” he said. “It should not end, because if it does, there will be no Christian presence. Without this presence, a new Jihad war could begin between a Muslim East and a Christian West. This Christian presence is what ensures the victory of balance and coexistence,” he explained. Maaloula is ancient city where most of the inhabitants speak the language of Jesus Christ, the Semitic Aramaic. It is located in the Rif Dimashq Governorate in Syria, 56 km to the northeast of Damascus, and built into the rugged mountainside, at an altitude of more than 1500 m. It is known as one of three remaining villages where Western Aramaic is still spoken, the other two being the nearby villages Jubb’adin and Al-Sarkha (Bakhah).There are two important monasteries in Ma’loula: the Eastern Catholic Mar Sarkis and Greek Orthodox St. Thecla. The convent of St. Thecla holds the remains of Thecla, which the second-century Acts of Paul and Thecla accounts a noble virgin and pupil of St. Paul. According to later legend not in the Acts, Taqla was being pursued by soldiers of her father to capture her because of her Christian faith. She came upon a mountain, and after praying, the mountain split open and let her escape through. The town gets its name from this gap or entrance in the mountain. However, there are many variations to this story among the residents of Ma’loula. Mar Sarkis One of the oldest surviving monasteries in Syria. It was built on the site of a pagan temple, and has elements which go back to the fifth to sixth century Byzantine period. Mar Sarkis is the Assyrian name for Saint Sergius, a Roman soldier who was executed for his Christian beliefs. This monastery still maintains its solemn historical character. Mar Sarkis has two of the oldest icons in the world, one depicting the Last Supper. |
| Although it condemns “the Acts in the name of the Apostle Andrew,” and “the Gospels in the name of Andrew,” (which were possibly the work of a Manichean gnostic, Leucius Charinus), it does not condemn the Coptic “Acts of Andrew and Matthias (or Matthew) in the Land of the Anthropofagi” nor the “Acts of Peter and Andrew” which were of Coptic origin. One might object that the Coptic texts are also forbidden under the term, “the Acts in the name of the apostle Andrew” but this reasoning doesn’t match the other cases in the Decretum where, when we have condemned texts listed as “the acts” of two people, they are described by both names (e.g. “the book which is called the ‘Acts of Thecla and Paul,’” “the book which is called ‘The Repentance of Jamne and Mambre,’” “the Passion of Cyricus and Julitta”). The Decretum condemns “all the books which Leucius, the disciple of the devil, made…” but no one insists that the “Acts of Andrew and Matthias (or Matthew) in the land of the Anthropofagai” and the “Acts of Peter and Andrew” are the work of Leucius Charinus. On the contrary, most scholars accept that these texts are the work of an unknown Coptic monk (with the national, not the religious meaning of Coptic, because this was the pre- Chalcedonian period). This author could have been a gnostic heretic or equally, he could have been an Orthodox ascetic of the desert. We don’t have enough evidence to support either view. Both the great church historian Eusebius of Caesarea and St. Epiphanius of Salamis also condemned the “Acts of Andrew,” but not “The Acts of Andrew and Matthias (Matthew) in the Land of Anthropofagi” and the “Acts of Peter and Andrew.” As far as we know, they didn’t even refer to these texts. The reason I am even considering material that was originally from this condemned text is that in the sixth century St. Gregory of Tours corrected the heretical points in “The Acts of Andrew” by Charinus, publishing a revised text with the name “Vita and Patio” (Life and Passion of Saint Andrew,)” which has been generally approved by the Holy Orthodox Church (parts of it appearing in hymns and services, and in the Synaxarion) as a basis for the Life of Saint Andrew. In this revision, St. Gregory of Tours accepts that Apostle Andrew preached to the Anthropofagai in Africa before his trip to Achaia-Greece. He obviously believed this. His version has never been condemned by the Church, and I use it as one of my possible sources. |
| The second (fourth in the Greek) book of Kings testifies that by touching the bones of the Prophet Elisha a dead man was raised to life. 2 (4) Kings xiii. 21. The Apostle Paul not only in his own immediate person wrought healings and miracles, but the same was done also in his absence by handkerchiefs and aprons taken from his body. Acts xix. 12. By this example we may understand that the saints, even after their deaths, may in like manner work beneficently through earthly means, which have received from them holy virtue. Gregory the Divine, in his first discourse against Julian, says: Thou wast not abashed by the sacrifices offered for Christ, nor didst fear the great athletes, John, Peter, Paul, James, Stephen, Luke, Andrew, Thecla, and the rest, who before and after these suffered for the truth; who withstood both fire and sword, the torturers, and all sufferings present or threatened, as if their bodies were not their own, or they had had no bodies at all. For what? That they might not, so much as by a word, betray their religion. To whom also great honors and triumphs are with just reason awarded: by whom devils are expelled and diseases healed: who appear in visions, and prophecy: whose very bodies, though separate, when touched or reverenced, have like power with their holy souls; and drops of whose blood, those least tokens of their suffering, like power with their bodies. John Damascene writes thus: The relics of the saints have been given us by our Lord Jesus Christ as salutary springs, from which manifold blessings flow. And as if in explanation of this, he remarks, that through the mind their bodies also were inhabited of God. (Theol. lib. iv. cap. 15, 3, 4.) 268 . Why is the Church holy? Because she is sanctified by Jesus Christ through his passion, through his doctrine, through his prayer, and through the Sacraments. Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it with the washing of water by the Word, that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy, and without blemish. Eph. v. 25–27. |
| St. Ambrose worked vigorously in this direction, not only in his own diocese, but in neighbouring provinces, and even in Africa. Early in his episcopate he addressed his flock on the subject, and at the request of his sister, Marcellina, gathered up his teaching in the following three books. In the first book he treats of the dignity of Virginity, and states his reason for writing. As he commences his addresses on the anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Agnes, he takes her story as the subject of the earlier part of the treatise, and shows how, amongst the Jews, and even amongst the heathen, the grace of virginity was shadowed forth, and eventually proclaimed by the corning of our Lord. He then warns parents, especially widows, not to prevent their daughters from hearing addresses on this subject, and touches on the number of those who came even from great distances to receive the veil at Milan. In the second book, speaking of the character and manner of life of virgins, he does this, as he says, by adducing examples and instances, preferably to laying down a code of rules. He speaks of Thecla, patron saint of Milan, a disciple of St. Paul, and of other virgins. In the third book he goes through a summary of the address given by Pope Liberius, when Marcellina received the veil at his hands, before a large congregation. Some cautions are introduced by St. Ambrose against excessive austerity, and instead of some outward acts, prayer and the practice of interior virtues are recommended. The subject of certain virgins who had committed suicide rather than lose their chastity is dwelt upon in answer to a question of Marcellina. The writer himself states that this treatise was composed in the third year of his episcopate, a.d. 377, and it is quoted with approval by St. Jerome, Ep. XXII. 22 and XLVIII. 14 [Vol. VI., pp. 31 and 75, of this series, and St. Augustine, de doct. Christ. IV. 48, 50. Book I. h10 Chapter I. St. Ambrose, reflecting upon the account he will have to give of his talents, determines to write, and consoles himself with certain examples of God’s mercy. Then recognizing his own deficiencies desires that he may be dealt with like the fig-tree in the Gospel, and expresses a hope that words will not fail him in his endeavour to preach Christ. |
| Residents of Ma " loula write a letter to the USA Congress: " What will happen when the USA bombs Syria? " Ma " loula, September 7, 2013 On September 6, the residents of Ma " loula sent a letter to the Congress of the USA, in which they tell what happened as a result of criminal acts in one of the oldest towns of the Christian world, reports Linga . " First, let us tell you what has happened today in Ma " loula and then explain what Ma " loula is like,” the letter said. “At 4.00 AM (Damascus time), gangs of the ‘Free Syrian army’, terrorists and killers... attacked the town, violating the security of houses, monasteries and churches, desecrating icons, and demanding that people renounce their faith and accept Islam. “Yes, that is what has happened today at dawn in Ma " loula, when the armed gangs burst into the town, shot in the square, desecrated the icons, and closed the gates. “These are the crimes aimed at Christian towns, and the terrorism directed against Christians; and this is only a part of the larger plan of wiping out Christians from our native homes. This is happening now, when our state is still strong. But what will happen when it weakens, when the air force of the USA is bombing Syria? “What awaits Christians in the towns and villages? It is terrible and it is scaring us. What happened in Ghassaniyeh (A Catholic priest-monk, Fr. Francois Mourad, was brutally killed there), in the Monastery of St. Simeon the Stylite, and in Holms, where terrible attacks on churches and monasteries took place. What has happened in all these places, arouses one " s conscience, makes one suffer. What have I done to stop terrorism in Syria? I am not even speaking about the massacres that have happened in all towns to the Christian minority. " Further in the letter the story of this very ancient town is related. The people here speak Aramaic--the language which was spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ in His earthly life--to this day; and it was here that St. Thecla, Equal-to-the-Apostles, a disciple of Apostle Paul, came through the mountain that had cleft apart before her. Her holy relics are preserved in a local Convent to this day. Pravoslavie.ru 10 сентября 2013 г. ... Смотри также Комментарии Мы в соцсетях Подпишитесь на нашу рассылку |
| Неужели жизнь апостола Павла закончилась вместе с его земной жизнью? …Разве не вправе мы полагать, что биение этого могучего сердца все еще чувствуется в жизни мира, все еще отзывается в эти позднейшие века с большей силой, чем когда–либо, — в еще более высоком смысле, чем тот, о котором мечтал Златоуст [когда называл его славным именем «Сердце мира»]? Декан Стэнли (Sermons and Essays on the Apostolic Age, p. 166) § 29. Первоисточники и литература об апостоле Павле и его служении Источники I. Исходные источники Послания Павла и Деяния апостолов (Деян. 9:1–30; 13 — 28). Подлинность четырех самых важных посланий Павла — Галатам, Римлянам и 1 и 2 Коринфянам — признают все, даже самые придирчивые критики. Подлинность посланий Филиппийцам, Филимону, Колоссянам и Ефесянам признают почти все критики. Подлинность пастырских посланий, особенно 1 Тимофею и Титу, до некоторой степени оспаривается, но даже на них лежит отпечаток Павлова гения. По поводу общих моментов в Деяниях и посланиях см. главу, посвященную Деяниям. См. также § 22, с. 147 и далее. II. Мифические и апокрифические источники «Деяния Павла и Феклы», изд. на греч. языке Грабе (на основе манускрипта, хранящегося в библиотеке Бодли, Spicileg. SS. PP., Охоп. 1698, tom. I, pp. 95–128; переизд. Jones, 1726) и Тишендорфа (на основе трех парижских манускриптов, Acta Apost. Apocrypha, Lips. 1851); на сирийском языке с англ. переводом У. Райта (Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, Lond. 1871); англ. перевод А. Уокера (Clark, «Ante–Nicene Christian Library», vol. XVI. 279 sqq.). См. С. Schlau, Die Acten des Paulus und der Thecla und die ältere Thecla–Legende, Leipz. 1877. «Деяния Павла и Феклы» решительно отстаивают идею безбрачия. Вероятно, это сочинение имеет гностическое происхождение и основано на каком–то местном предании. По словам Тертуллиана («О крещении», гл. 17, см. Иероним, «О знаменитых мужах», гл. 7), его составил некий асийский пресвитер «во имя любви к Павлу» и в подтверждение еретического учения о том, что женщины, подобно Фекле, имеют право проповедовать и крестить; за это автор был лишен сана. |
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