| 4704 The eschatological temple could also be «built» (οκοδομηθσεται, Tob 13:16; cf. Hanson, Unity, 130). 4705 On paronomasia and traductio as rhetorical devices (used by John far more than elite rhetoricians would approve), see Rhet. ad Herenn. 4.21.29–4.22.31; Rowe, «Style,» 132; Anderson, Rhetorical Theory, 283–85; idem, Glossary, 93; comment on 3:3. 4707 E.g., Gen. Rab. 100:7; cf. witness of onés death after three days had passed (Dalman, Jesus-Jeshua, 188). Cf. Euripides Hec. 32, but this may be due to lack of burial; Euripides Alc. 1145–1146 for purification from death on the third day; for special funeral rites on the third day, see, e.g., Aristophanes Lys. 613. 4709 The «forty-six» years dates the encounter somewhere in the period 27–30, most likely close to 28 (Schnackenburg, John, 1:351; Meier, Marginal Jew, 380–82), though some favor 27 (Sanday, Criticism, 122; Smith, John 90, using Josephus Ant. 15.380) or 29 (Stauffer, Jesus, 65). The language could include an unconscious allusion to Jub. 10(forty-three years for the Tower of Babel). The aorist need not indicate that John thought the process complete at this point (Brown, John, 1:116); indeed, some of John s audience might know that the temple was officially completed 63 C.E.–three years before the war that destroyed it (Josephus Ant. 20.219; local populations might build temples for centuries, Philostratus Vit. soph. 1.25.533). Augustine Tract. Ev. Jo. 10.11.1–10.12.3 uses gematria to explain the number allegorically! 4710 Haenchen, John, 2:81, following Billerbeck, appeals to the rare portrait of a messianic builder. Juel, Messiah, 213, thinks it identifies Jesus as «the Messiah who will build the new temple.» 4711 In some cases God himself was in some sense to be its builder (Jub. 1:17; Pesiq. Rab. 1:2), as he apparently was in some sense of the first (T. Mos. 2:4). 4713 Hartman, «Temple.» Cf. Hanson, Gospel, 39, 43, also comparing Jesus to Bethel (1:51), where God is met. 4714 Let. Aris. 100–1; Philo Spec. Laws 1.76; see further Borg, Conflict, 165–70. Amoraim revised this hope to the indestructibility of the western retaining wall (Num. Rab. 11:2; Song Rab. 2:9, §4; Lam. Rab. 1:5, §31; Pesiq. Rab. 15:10). |
| The «place of a skull» (19:17) may have gotten its name from the shape of the terrain, 10095 but more likely from the executions carried out there. (In any event, the current terrain of the traditional Protestant Golgotha did not exist in Jesus» day.) 1C. Crucifixion (19:18) The Gospel writers require little description of crucifixion (19:18), which was well known in their world. Jesus» crucifixion by the Romans outside Jerusalem is an «almost indisputable» historical fact; 10096 early Christians would not have invented the crucifixion. The full horror of that mode of execution (e.g., Apuleius Metam. 3.9; 6.32; Chariton 3.3.12) remained vivid enough in the first century that all four evangelists hurry by the event itself quickly, Matthew, for example, «disposing of it in a participial clause.» 10097 (It was established rhetorical practice to hurry most quickly over points that might disturb the audience, Theon Progymn. 5.52–56.) Although some features of crucifixions remained common, executioners could perform them in a variety of manners, limited only by the extent of their sadistic creativity. 10098 Executioners usually tied victims to the cross with ropes but in some cases hastened their death by also nailing their wrists (20:25). 10099 The nails were typically five to seven inches long, enough to penetrate both the wrist and well into the wood of the cross. 10100 One being executed on the cross could not swat flies from onés wounds nor withhold onés bodily wastes from coming out while hanging naked for hours and sometimes days. 10101 The upright stakes were normally ten feet at the highest, more often closer to six or seven feet so that the man hung barely above the ground, with a seat (sedile) in the middle; 10102 animals sometimes assaulted the feet of the crucified. Romans could employ high crosses to increase visibility for significant public executions (Suetonius Galba 9.1), and given the branch here (19:29; cf. Mark 15:36 ), Jesus may have been slightly higher than usua1. 10103 |
| Pro-life groups adjust March for Life events in response to Mayor Bowser’s DC vaccine mandate SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images The annual March for Life will go on as planned this year but pro-life groups are making adjustments to their planned activities due to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s vaccine mandate, reports the Christian Post . The 49th annual March for Life is scheduled to take place on Jan. 21, six days after a vaccine mandate is set to take effect in Washington, D.C., where the march is held. The mandate will require those seeking to enter “restaurants, bars and nightclub establishments,” “indoor entertainment establishments,” “indoor exercise and recreational establishments” and “indoor event and meeting establishments” to provide proof of having received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine beginning Jan. 15. This year’s March for Life comes as the Supreme Court is scheduled to make a ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health that could return power back to the states to decide how they want to regulate abortion . The March for Life, the organization that spearheads the annual pro-life rally, announced that it will proceed as scheduled while elaborating on how the vaccine mandate might impact attendees’ availability to participate in the festivities. “The 49th annual March for Life on Jan. 21, in Washington, D.C., will proceed as planned with a kick-off concert by Matthew West at 11 a.m. followed by the rally at Noon and the march to the Supreme Court at 1:15 p.m.,” said March for Life President Jeanne Mancini in a statement Wednesday. “While the March for Life itself is not affected, our indoor events will have a few modifications due to the District of Columbia’s current Covid regulations.” The Renaissance D.C. Downtown Hotel, the site of the post-March for Life Rose Dinner and the pre-March for Life Capitol Hill 101 session, will require all participants “ages 12 and older to provide either proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test (within 24 hours of the event) accompanied by either an oral or written religious exemption or a written medical exemption.” The Rose Dinner will take place on the evening of Jan. 21, while Capitol Hill 101 will take place on the morning of Jan. 20. |
| Archive Пн His Holiness Patriarch Kirill meets with a group of pilgrims from the Roman Catholic Church 3 May 2019 year 20:32 On 3 rd May 2019, Friday of the Bright Week, after the Divine Liturgy His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with a group of pilgrims from the Roman Catholic Church led by Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, Vicar General of Rome. The meeting took place in the Patriarchal Chambers of the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius. The group also includes six hierarchs and 75 priests from Italy. Accompanying the pilgrims in Russia is Hieromonk Grigory (Matrusov), a cleric of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill greeted Cardinal Angelo De Donatis and members of the group, saying in particular: “This year the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church celebrate the Radiant Resurrection of Christ one week apart. I highly appreciate that clerics of the city of Rome led by the cardinal, Vicar General of Rome, have arrived in the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius and are visiting the Russian Orthodox Church in this Paschal season. Pascha is the best time to come to Russia and to gain insight into the Russian soul: great many people attend night services, the atmosphere of feast is felt not only in families, but even in the street. And we, of course, rejoice that such revival of religious life has taken place after decades of severe persecutions. “At the same time I would like to express my condolences to you and through you to all the Roman Catholic Church over the dreadful terrorist attacks that had occurred in Sri Lanka at Easter. I immediately sent a message of condolences to Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, expressing our prayerful support. It is completely obvious that these terrorist attacks were directed against Christians, against the Roman Catholic Church, and I think that these terrorist attacks are a challenge for the whole Christian family… “The recent years have seen positive dynamics in the development of relationships between our two Churches. I would like to particularly emphasize the importance of the meeting in Havana, when I had an opportunity to meet with His Holiness Pope Francis. We discussed many significant issues, but the main thing was that we could feel that we are two men responsible for enormous Christian communities, for two very large Christian communities. It seems that the understanding of this responsibility predetermined a very important direction in the development of our dialogue. The effects of that meeting were very positive. In 2017 the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker were brought to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Such a great spiritual event was made possible thanks to the meeting in Havana. Two and a half million people venerated the relics; people were standing days and nights in long queues, notwithstanding the weather; thousands of our volunteers helped them. |
| AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty Wael Saad Tawadros, until a few days ago a monk of the Coptic Monastery of Saint Macarius, was identified by the Egyptian judicial bodies as the perpetrator of the murder of the abbot of the monastery, Coptic Bishop Epiphanius, who was found dead in the early hours of Sunday July 29. On August 5th, the Coptic Patriarch Tawadros II expelled 34-year-old Wael Saad Tawadros from the monastery and stripped him of his monastic habit, which he had worn under his name in religion, Isaiah al Makary. Accused of “grave violations of the monastic rule,” the former monk was asked to repent for the salvation of his soul, but initially the official spokesmen of the Coptic Church denied that the measures taken against Wael were connected with the death of Bishop Epiphanius. The 64-year-old bishop had entered the Monastery of Saint Macarius, in the Wadi Natrun region, in 1984, and was ordained priest in 2002. A researcher and scholar, Epiphanius had worked on the translation from Greek to Arabic of several books of the Bible. The monks of the Monastery of Saint Macarius elected him by majority as their abbot in 2013. Egyptian police, along with 60 investigators, watched the images of surveillance cameras, inspected the monks’ cells, and interviewed the monks. According to reports, six monks were found to have been in constant conflict with the abbot and refused to obey him. Following a lengthy interrogation, the investigations led to the monk Isaiah al Makary (Wael), who was identified as a “rebel.” Last February, Wael was reportedly ordered to leave the monastery for three years, but a number of monks appealed in his name for a second chance to amend his behavior. It was discovered, however, that the monk often left the monastery against the orders of his abbot, a fact confirmed by camera footage. Even calls from his cell phone revealed “serious violations,” investigators said. The day before the abbot’s murder, Wael reportedly attempted suicide by drinking a pesticide, but was rescued by his confreres. |
| Christian Churches in Egypt under Worst Attack in Years The interior of a burned and destroyed Coptic Christian church in Minya province, Egypt. Fifty places of worship were looted and torched in just three days following the dispersal of Muslim Brotherhood camps. A burned and destroyed Coptic Christian church. A total of 30 Orthodox Coptic churches, 14 Catholic churches and monasteries, and six Protestant prayer houses have been burned. Inside a ravaged Coptic church in the Minya province. Around 160 Christian-owned buildings have also been attacked. The priest of a burned and destroyed Coptic Christian church in Minya province, Egypt. Locals say this this church was attacked by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi. Most of the attackers were young men who were chanting anti-Christian slogans, nearby residents said. Amir Tadros church in Minya province was stormed and set on fire on August 14. Churches in Minya province had to cancel Sunday Mass for the first time in 1,600 years. Attackers also targeted three religious societies, three key bookshops belonging to the Bible Society, three Christian schools, and an orphanage. Coptic leaders blame the Muslim Brothehood for the attacks, adding that such a violent onslaught against Christians has never happened before in Egypt. Source: RT Code for blog Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. Related articles Miles Windsor of Middle East Concern shares, “It’s a village with around 400 Copts living there… Egypt’s churches decided to halt all their activities, including trips and religious conferences, after they had… In Egypt’s Minya province, which has the highest percentage of Christians in the country, even the… Also by this author Today " s Articles Most viewed articles Functionality is temporarily unavailable. Most popular authors Functionality is temporarily unavailable. © 2008-2024 Pravmir.com |
| Image: damascenegallery.com On the Sunday after Pentecost, each local Orthodox Church commemorates all the saints, known and unknown, who have shone forth in its territory. Accordingly, the Orthodox Church in America remembers the saints of North America on this day. Saints of all times, and in every country are seen as the fulfillment of God’s promise to redeem fallen humanity. Their example encourages us to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets us” and to “run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). The saints of North America also teach us how we should live, and what we must expect to endure as Christians. Although it is a relatively young church, the Orthodox Church in America has produced saints in nearly all of the six major categories: Apostles (and Equals of the Apostles); Martyrs (and Confessors); Prophets; Hierarchs; Monastic Saints; and the Righteous. Prophets, of course, lived in Old Testament times and predicted the coming of Christ. The first Divine Liturgy in what is now American territory was celebrated on July 20, 1741, the Feast of the Prophet Elias, aboard the ship Peter under the command of Vitus Bering, near present-day Alaska. Hieromonk Hilarion Trusov and the priest Ignatius Kozirevsky served together on that occasion. Several years later, a Russian merchant, Gregory Shelikov, visited Valaam Monastery, and suggested to the abbot about sending missionaries to Russian America. On September 24, 1794, after a journey of 7,327 miles (the longest missionary journey in Orthodox history) and 293 days, a group of monks from Valaam arrived on Kodiak Island in Alaska. The mission was headed by Archimandrite Joasaph, and included Hieromonks Juvenal, Macarius, and Athanasius, the Hierodeacons Nectarius and Stephen, and the monks Herman and Joasaph. St. Herman of Alaska, the last surviving member of the mission, fell asleep in the Lord in 1837. Throughout the Church’s history, the seeds of faith have always been watered by the blood of the martyrs. The Protomartyr Juvenal was killed near Lake Iliamna by natives in 1799, thus becoming the first Orthodox Christian to shed his blood for Christ in the New World. In 1816, St. Peter the Aleut was put to death by Spanish missionaries in California when he refused to convert to Roman Catholicism. |
| The Chinese authorities placed ten spear-bearing guards outside the Mission, but by June 11, the Mission was burned to the ground; its library, archives, and vestry were destroyed. The boxers tortured 222 Orthodox Chinese, who became the first Chinese martyr-saints. Amongst them were Priest Metrophanes, the first Chinese priest, ordained in Japan by St. Nicholas, the enlightener of Japan. At the intercession of the Mission head, the commemoration of the Chinese new martyrs was instituted by order No. 2874 of the Holy Synod, April 22, 1902. Their relics were buried in the church sepulcher dedicated to their memory—the Church of the Holy Martyrs. Many of these relics were incorrupt. The description provided below of the destruction of Beiguan is taken from the article, “Material for the acts of the martyrs in China,” and comprises a part of the notes made by Archpriest Sergei Chan, who witnessed those terrible days. In mid May, the boxers burned down the Orthodox church and school in Dundinan before the eyes of Fr. Sergei, who was able to flee to Peking. Upon his arrival in Beiguan on May 26, Fr. Sergei told of the incident to the head of the Mission. " After listening to us attentively, Fr. Archimandrite immediately sent a letter about it to the southern podvorye, to the Russian ambassador. The next day, the ambassador himself came to Beiguan (to the northern podvorye), in order to convince all the Russian missionaries to come to the embassy quarter under protection by the military. The ambassador considered it his duty to insist upon this, so that the lives of the missionaries would not be at risk. As for property, the Chinese government said it would answer for its safety, and therefore, when they prepared to leave, the missionaries only checked everything by description, but did not take anything with them other than the ancient icon of St. Nicholas. Just before six o’clock in the evening, the head of the Mission, Archimandrite Innocent, Hieromonk Avraamy, and Deacon Vasily Skrizhalin left for the Church of the Meeting in the embassy quarter. After this, our Christians who lived around the Mission began to depart gradually: some to their relatives in the south of town, some to other apartments. Rumor began to circulate that the Mission would be burned downed if not today, then tomorrow. |
| Although the Roman Catholic Church initially resisted this and insisted on the authority of the Latin Vulgate, Roman Catholic scholarship in the latter half of the twentieth century has tended to follow the Reformers. Christians of the Orthodox tradition (whether Greek, Russian. Romanian or other strands) stick to the 14 Some scholars are coming to appreciate the value of the Septuagint as a witness to the original Hebrew. In the case of Genesis 1–11 , ser. Ronald S. Hendel. The Text of Genesis 1–11 : Textual Studies and Critical Edition (New York Oxford University Press, 1998). 15 See again for Genesis, C.T.R. Hayward, Jerom " s Hebrew Questions on Genesis (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995). traditional notion of the Septuagint or translations of it as the Christian Old Testament, and they are shored up in this position by the enormous importance of the liturgical texts that are soaked in allusions to and quotations from the Greek text of the Septuagint. In the West, Orthodox Christians are a minority, but it is worth noting that recently a few scholars have called for a return to the original Christian tradition, according to which the Christian Old Testament is the Septuagint. 16 The legend of the Septuagint. For the Fathers, this tradition was virtually unquestioned. Furthermore, it was enhanced by the widely accepted tradition of the way in which the Septuagint had been translated. According to a legend, first witnessed in the Letter of Aristeas, probably written in the second century B.C., the Septuagint was a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, commissioned by the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus (287–247 B.C.) for his library in Alexandria. The Jewish high priest Eleazar was approached and selected seventy-two scholars, six from each of the tribes of Israel, who traveled to Alexandria and there finished their translation in seventy-two days. 17 Later versions of the legend exist, for instance that recorded by the Christian bishop of Lyons in the later second century, Irenaeus. According to his version the translators numbered seventy and were required each to produce individual translations of the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures, which were miraculously found to be identical. 18 Such stories of its miraculous translation naturally enhanced the authority of the Septuagint (the title derived from the number of the translators) among Greek-speaking Jews, especially in Alexandria, and then among Christians. |
| Hundreds of Christians dressed completely in black for church services in Hong Kong Sunday to protest the intense crackdown on Christian churches by the Chinese Communist Party under President Xi Jinping. NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty The participants in the protest, which was organized by five Christian groups and dozens of individuals, also wished to show solidarity with their co-religionists on the mainland who are suffering persecution, letting them know they are not alone. “Christ is being persecuted … the church in China is being persecuted,” organizers said in an online invitation to protest. They have encouraged believers to wear black again next Sunday to call attention to what is happening to their brothers and sisters on mainland China. On December 9, Chinese security forces carried out a series of coordinated raids on the Early Rain Covenant Church, one of the most prominent house churches in China, arresting as many as a hundred members, including Pastor Wang Yi and his wife. According to Gina Goh, Southeast Asia regional manager for International Christian Concern, officials beat, tortured, and denied food and restroom accommodations to the Christian detainees. Some of the Christians were dragged along the ground, stepped on, bound to chairs, and had handfuls of hair pulled from their scalp, Goh said. Six days later, authorities repeated the exercise on the Rongguili Church in Guangzhou, the largest unregistered church in south China. Local officials shut down the church, interrupting a children’s Bible class, and confiscated some 4,000 religious books. The pre-Christmas raids are part of an escalating crackdown on house churches and unsanctioned Christian, as part of an effort by the Xi regime to secure absolute control over all religious activities in the country. So far this year, there have been more than 10,000 cases of Christians being detained in China, compared with just over 3,000 cases for the whole of last year, according to Bob Fu of China Aid, a U.S.-based Christian non-profit organization. |
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