#Egeria the pilgrim | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

troybeecham · 3 years

Text

Today the Church remembers St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Theologian and Bishop.

Ora pro nobis.

Cyril of Jerusalem was a distinguished theologian of the early Church (c. 313 – 386 AD).

About the end of 350 AD he succeeded Maximus as Bishop of Jerusalem, but was exiled on more than one occasion due to the enmity of Acacius of Caesarea, and the policies of various emperors. Cyril left important writings documenting the instruction of catechumens and the order of the Liturgy in his day.

Little is known of his life before he became a bishop; the assignment of his birth to the year 315 rests on conjecture. Cyril was born at or near the city of Jerusalem, and was apparently well-read in both the Church fathers and the pagan philosophers. Cyril was ordained a deacon by Bishop St. Macarius of Jerusalem in about 335 AD and a priest some eight years later by Bishop St. Maximus. About the end of 350 AD he succeeded St. Maximus in the See of Jerusalem.

Relations between Metropolitan Acacius of Caesarea and Cyril became strained. Acacius is presented as a leading Arian by the orthodox historians, and his opposition to Cyril in the 350s is attributed by these writers to this. Sozomen also suggests that the tension may have been increased by Acacius's jealousy of the importance assigned to St. Cyril's See by the Council of Nicaea, as well as by the threat posed to Caesarea by the rising influence of the seat of Jerusalem as it developed into the prime Christian holy place and became a centre of pilgrimage.

Acacius charged Cyril with selling church property. The city of Jerusalem had suffered drastic food shortages at which point church historians Sozomen and Theodoret report “Cyril secretly sold sacramental ornaments of the church and a valuable holy robe, fashioned with gold thread that the emperor Constantine had once donated for the bishop to wear when he performed the rite of Baptism”. It was believed that Cyril sold some plate, ornaments and imperial gifts to keep his people from starving.

For two years, Cyril resisted Acacius' summons to account for his actions in selling off church property, but a council held under Acacius's influence in 357 AD deposed St. Cyril in his absence (having officially charged him with selling church property to help the poor) and Cyril took refuge with Silvanus, Bishop of Tarsus. The following year, 359, in an atmosphere hostile to Acacius, the Council of Seleucia reinstated Cyril and deposed Acacius. In 360, though, this was reversed by Emperor Constantius, and Cyril suffered another year's exile from Jerusalem until the Emperor Julian's accession allowed him to return.

Cyril was once again banished from Jerusalem by the Arian Emperor Valens in 367 AD. St. Cyril was able to return again at the accession of Emperor Gratian in 378, after which he remained undisturbed until his death in 386. In 380, St. Gregory of Nyssa came to Jerusalem on the recommendation of a council held at Antioch in the preceding year. He found the faith in accord with the truth, but the city a prey to parties and corrupt in morals. Cyril's jurisdiction over Jerusalem was expressly confirmed by the First Council of Constantinople (381), at which he was present. At that council he voted for acceptance of the term homoousios, having been finally convinced that there was no better alternative. His story is perhaps best representative of those Eastern bishops (perhaps a majority), initially mistrustful of Nicaea, who came to accept the creed of that council, and the doctrine of the homoousion, that God the Father and God the Son were of the same nature..

Though his theology was at first somewhat indefinite in phraseology, he undoubtedly gave a thorough adhesion to the Nicene Orthodoxy. Even if he did avoid the debatable term homoousios, he expressed its sense in many passages, which exclude equally Patripassianism, Sabellianism, and the formula "there was a time when the Son was not" attributed to Arius. In other points he takes the ordinary ground of the Eastern Fathers, as in the emphasis he lays on the freedom of the will, the autexousion (αὐτεξούσιον), and in his view of the nature of sin. To him sin is the consequence of freedom, not a natural condition. The body is not the cause, but the instrument of sin. The remedy for it is repentance, on which he insists. Like many of the Eastern Fathers, he focuses on high moral living as essential to true Christianity. His doctrine of the Resurrection is not quite so realistic as that of other Fathers; but his conception of the Church is decidedly empirical: the existing Church form is the true one, intended by Christ, the completion of the Church of the Old Testament. His interpretation of the Eucharist is disputed. If he sometimes seems to approach the symbolic view, at other times he comes very close to a strong realistic doctrine. The bread and wine are not mere elements, but the body and blood of Christ.

Cyril's writings are filled with the loving and forgiving nature of God which was somewhat uncommon during his time period. Cyril fills his writings with great lines of the healing power of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit, like “The Spirit comes gently and makes himself known by his fragrance. He is not felt as a burden for God is light, very light. Rays of light and knowledge stream before him as the Spirit approaches. The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen, and to console”. Cyril himself followed God's message of forgiveness many times throughout his life. This is most clearly seen in his two major exiles where Cyril was disgraced and forced to leave his position and his people behind. He never wrote or showed any ill will towards those who wronged him. Cyril stressed the themes of healing and regeneration in his catechesis.

Cyril is author of the Catecheses, or Catechatical Lectures on the Christian Faith. These consist of an introductory lecture, then eighteen lectures on the Christian Faith to be delivered during Lent to those about to be baptized at Easter, and then five lectures on the Sacraments to be delivered after Easter to the newly baptized. These have been translated into English (F L Cross, 1951), and are the oldest such lectures surviving. (It is thought that they were used over and over by Cyril and his successors, and that they may have undergone some revision in the process.)

Cyril lived in a time of intense apocalyptic expectation, when Christians were eager to find apocalyptic meaning in every historical event or natural disaster. Cyril spent a good part of his episcopacy in intermittent exile from Jerusalem. Soon after his appointment, Cyril in his Letter to Constantius of 351 AD recorded the appearance of a cross of light in the sky above Golgotha, witnessed by the whole population of Jerusalem. The Greek church commemorates this miracle on the 7th of May. Though in modern times the authenticity of the Letter has been questioned, on the grounds that the word homoousios occurs in the final blessing, many scholars believe this may be a later interpolation, and accept the letter's authenticity on the grounds of other pieces of internal evidence.

Cyril interpreted this as both a sign of support for Constantius, who was soon to face the usurper Magnentius, and as announcing the Second Coming, which was soon to take place in Jerusalem. Not surprisingly, in Cyril's eschatological analysis, Jerusalem holds a central position.

Matthew 24:6 speaks of "wars and reports of wars", as a sign of the End Times, and it is within this context that Cyril read Julian's war with the Persians. Matthew 24:7 speaks of "earthquakes from place to place", and Jerusalem experienced an earthquake in 363 AD at a time when Julian was attempting to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Embroiled in a rivalry with Acacius of Caesarea over the relative primacy of their respective sees, Cyril saw even ecclesial discord a sign of the Lord's coming. His Catechesis 15 would appear to cast Julian as the antichrist.

“In His first coming, He endured the Cross, despising shame; in His second, He comes attended by a host of Angels, receiving glory. We rest not then upon His first advent only, but look also for His second."

He looked forward to the Second Advent which would bring an end to the world and then the created world to be re-made anew. At the Second Advent he expected to rise in the resurrection if it came after his time on earth.

Every year, thousands of Christian pilgrims came to Jerusalem, especially for Holy Week. It is probably Cyril who instituted the liturgical forms for that week as they were observed in Jerusalem at the pilgrimage sites, were spread to other churches by returning pilgrims, and have come down to us today, with the procession with palms on Palm Sunday, and the services for the following days, culminating in the celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. We have a detailed account of Holy Week observances in Jerusalem in the fourth century, thanks to a a Spanish nun named Egeria who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and kept a journal.

Strengthen, O Lord, the bishops of your Church in their special calling to be teachers and ministers of the Sacraments, so that they, like your servant Cyril of Jerusalem, may effectively instruct your people in Christian faith and practice; and that we, taught by them, may enter more fully into the celebration of the Paschal mystery; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

#christianity #jesus #saints #god #salvation #peace #theology #father troy beecham #troy beecham episcopal #father troy beecham episcopal #early church

1 note · View note

lawrenceop · 4 years

Text

Holy Land Retrospective - Day 3

Reminder: clicking on the link for each photo (links are all in red text) will take you to the Flickr page where you can see the photo in larger sizes. Start with DAY 1, or go back to DAY 2, or read on!

PHOTO 9: This symbol is called the labarum, and it is one of the oldest of Christian symbols, which takes us back to the time of the Emperor Constantine, under whose auspices the Holy Land sites were first explored (by his mother St Helena) and who built the first major churches on these sites. At the centre of the labarum is the monogram of Christ, formed by the first two Greek letters of that title, Χριστός (Christos), and it is surrounded by a laurel wreath, a symbol of victory and imperial power. According to Eusebius, Constantine saw a vision in which he saw this symbol, and he was told by Jesus that in this sign, he would be victorious. He subsequently won the battle at the Milvian Bridge near Rome in 312, which led to his becoming sole Emperor of the Roman Empire. In 313, he ended the State persecution of the Christians, and eventually was baptised. His mother Helena converted shortly after her son became Emperor, and she was proclaimed Augusta Imperatrix.

In 326-28, St Helena came to the Holy Land and, using funds from the imperial treasury, she found the holy sites which we visit throughout the Holy Land today, and she built great basilicas on these sites. Sadly, none of these basilicas have survived the millennia in which Islamic conquest and the fall of the Byzantine empire led to their destruction. This mosaic of the labarum, though, dates to the 4th-century, almost certainly from the Constantinian basilica that Helena had built here, and it is in now preserved within the current (very modern-looking) basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth; the current basilica was dedicated in 1969.

Many people cluster around the cave, which is where Our Lady lived, and around which her house was built (although the house was somehow transferred to Loreto for safekeeping when the Christian sites of the Holy Land were being ravaged by Islamic invaders). It was in that cave that the archangel St Gabriel appeared to Mary, and it is here that he made the announcement that changed the course of human history.

“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!"” - Luke 1:26-28

But in our excitement to see this marvellous place, and to contemplate the incarnation, it is easy to miss all that surrounds this rather unique location. For around the site of Mary’s cave are several layers of architectural history. Christianity, you might say, began with Mary’s “Fiat” to the angelic revelation, but in another sense, this mosaic of the labarum reminds us of another beginning that was caused by a divine revelation. For Christ himself intervened in 312 to safeguard his Church from Roman persecution, and thanks to Constantine the Great (whom some Christians venerate as a saint) and his mother St Helena, the Church spread and the Faith flourished, and pilgrimages to the Holy Land began. One of the earliest pilgrims, Egeria, came here in 384, and she mentions being shown this “big and splendid cave” in Nazareth where Our Lady had lived.

But this mosaic labarum, this sign of victory, being all that remains of a great past age reminds us of the essential truth that it signifies: The victory of Christ is not principally about military might, nor the maintenance of empire, nor about worldly power. Rather, in Nazareth, in this humble backwater town where the people lived in caves, in holes in the ground, we see that the victory of Christ is the victory of love, of divine grace winning over the hearts of men and women. And it all began here, where Mary of Nazareth said: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." (Lk 1:38)

PHOTO 10:

“And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”

This window at the centre of the facade of the Annunciation basilica shows the moment of the divine overshadowing. In the Greek of St Luke, the word used is ἐπισκιάζω (episkiazó). God is all light, pure brilliance, dwelling in inaccessible light, in whom there is no darkness at all. (cf 1 Jn 1:5 and 1 Tim 6:16). Everything that is not God, therefore, i.e., every created thing is by comparison in darkness so that when the divine Light shines upon them, they are overshadowed, literally, they stand in the shade of the light. It’s a beautiful profound image, when we think about it, and this stained glass window vividly expresses its meaning. For Mary is not shown in any shadow at all, but rather, as the word ἐπισκιάζω implies, Mary is enveloped and bathed in light. Thus she is “full of grace”, she is full of God’s divine light. Indeed, he who is Light dwells in her womb. Indeed, it is the light of her Son, his grace, which sanctifies Mary so thoroughly, so completely, that she is conceived, even, in light and hence she is uniquely preserved from the moment of her conception from the darkness of sin.

PHOTO 11: The inscription reads: “And he came to Nazareth. And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."” (cf Lk 4:21) On the third morning we had travelled several hours by coach from Jerusalem to Nazareth, praying the Rosary as we went. The town is now dominated by the conical dome of the Annunciation basilica, but a short walk from the basilica is the church built on St Joseph’s house, the place where the Holy Family of Nazareth lived. Like the cave of the Annunciation, this, too, is like a rock-hewn cave underground. Nearby, is the site of the synagogue, shown here, where Jesus had preached. And just a stone’s throw away are more excavations of underground caves where people lived in Nazareth; I was amazed to realise that Jesus and his family were ‘cave-dwellers’. Moreover, everything is ‘nearby’ because Nazareth was a very small village. And yet, two thousand years ago, among these humble cave-dwellers in this humble location, God accomplished his greatest work: the salvation of the human race, overturning the sin of Adam, and the ending the reign of Satan over this world. For in Nazareth Christ had announced to his townspeople “this has been fulfilled in your hearing.” It is mistaken to think that epic events need to be performed on a grand and monumental stage. God’s greatness is precisely to be found in his humility and his attention to the little. All he needs is a human heart that is opened in faith to his Word.

PHOTO 12: It was a short journey from Nazareth to Mount Tabor. The landscape here was relatively flat; we had come across some hills and mountains as we had driven north from Jerusalem, and now in Galilee, the landscape reaching down to the sea was low-lying. Except for one great mountain that could be seen from miles around. The Bible does not tell us which mountain Christ ascended for his Transfiguration, but in 348 St Cyril of Jerusalem chose Mount Tabor as the most likely location, and this was backed by St Jerome, the great Biblical scholar who lived and died in Bethlehem. This inscription records that “according to an old tradition, Tabor is the mountain of the apparition of Christ”, but interestingly, not simply the mountain of the Transfiguration where Saints Peter, James, and John receive a foretaste of Easter glory, but also where the Risen Lord appeared to his disciples. As Luke 28:16-17 says: “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him; but some doubted.”

A church was built on this site shortly after St Cyril of Jerusalem identified this place, and in 1099 even a Benedictine monastery was founded here. This photo shows the marble inscription on the ruins of that monastery, which had been destroyed by Islamic invaders in 1113; the monks were martyred.

Perhaps this is what Resurrection faith entails, and this mountain that witnessed the Resurrection of Jesus fittingly is the place to remember the faith of countless Christian martyrs:

"Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” – Mt 10:28

PHOTO 13: If Tabor is the mountain of the Risen Lord, then it is right to expect symbols of the Resurrection to abound. This stained glass window in the Art Deco style stands behind the Altar where we celebrated Mass. The peacock is, like the labarum, another early Christian symbol although this was installed in the 1920s when the current Transfiguration Basilica was built. Because the ancients believed that the flesh of peacocks was incorruptible, the peacock became a symbol of immortality. The beauty of the peacock was also a symbol of the Resurrection and the new life of grace that transforms and beautifies us. Here, the peacocks flank a Eucharistic chalice, with the Triangle indicative of the Holy Trinity. Therefore, this window is a reminder that we Christians receive a share in divine life through the Eucharist, and that the power of Christ’s Body and Blood gives us eternal life, and also makes us as beautiful as Christ is. Every time we come to the Mass, we stand on Tabor, as it were, and we glimpse the Resurrection; we receive a foretaste of the divine life of heaven; and, indeed, we receive the command and comforting reminder of the Risen Lord which he first pronounced on Mount Tabor:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." – Mt 28:19-20

PHOTO 14: The view from the high vantage point of Mount Tabor (which had been an important military post) explains why the Lord chose this mountain to send his apostles out to “all nations” (cf My 28:19). From here, one can glimpse on one side the Sea of Galilee, which for the apostles was home. It was familiar, and safe, and was their ‘comfort zone’. But on the other side, one catches in the distance the glint of the Mediterranean sea, which was perilous, unknown, and forbidding. But, Christ promised to be with them always, and so, secure in that faith, they set out into the big wide world. Thank God for that!

PHOTO 15: Back in Jerusalem, at dinner on the third night, our special guest, Jim Caviezel arrived to join our pilgrimage; he would have a week with us. But I had an appointment somewhere even more special: the Holy Sepulchre! So, I dashed out of dinner and rushed back to spend some quiet moments before the church closed for the night.

This photo, I think, captures the quiet of the night time in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, and it also shows you one of its many hidden passages and nooks - it is well worth exploring at leisure in the evening. The deeply marked stones on the wall, and the flagstones, worn smooth and shiny by countless feet, speaks of the antiquity of this church, and yet, this section is only a thousand years old. Before it was vaulted in stone, this section stood open to the elements, a kind of open courtyard between the two structures that sheltered Calvary and the Empty Tomb. At the end of this passageway, in the well-lit space is the prison where Christ and the two thieves were held before they were crucified.

You may have noticed in yesterday’s photo from the Holy Sepulchre (Photo 8), that a very tall ladder is prominently placed at the entrance of the church. So, too, in this side passage, ladders are in evidence. All these ladders are used for changing the hundreds of votive oil lamps that constantly burn within the church. But the ladders also remind me of two things. Firstly, that a ladder was probably needed to take Jesus down from the Cross for his burial, and so it is fitting that ladders should be seen in this church because the ladder connects Calvary and the Empty Tomb; he goes from the Cross to the Tomb. But, secondly, the ladder is a symbol of what Christ’s Death and Resurrection have accomplished for us. Because of Jesus’s sacrifice on the Cross, and by his rising from the dead, Mankind can now climb up the ladder of grace to heaven; we go from our tombs to eternal life!

PHOTO 16: The doors of the Holy Sepulchre church are sealed for the night, and a fortunate few are locked within alongside the monks and clergy where they will remain in prayer all night. But the rest of us have been herded outdoors by the Muslim keeper of the keys, and sometimes with the encouragement of the Israeli police. Since at least 1192, the keys of the Holy Sepulchre have been entrusted to a prominent Muslim family because no single Christian denomination could be seen to have control of the church. Although we might see this as a sad sign of Christian disunity, there is a fittingness to it. The Tomb of Christ, after all, had also been sealed by unbelievers.

The doors are locked, again with a ladder because the lock is so high up, and then a hatch is opened, and the ladder passed back into the church through the hatch. This simple nightly routine is being photographed by the many pilgrims and tourists gathered outside at 9pm, and I liked the look of the blue glow of their screens against the warmer light of their surroundings.

Hundreds stand outside for this spectacle, but far far fewer will be here before dawn when the church re-opens its doors (before 4am). I suppose this, too, is fitting for only three very devout women came to the tomb early that Sunday morning and saw its stone rolled away.

“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body.” – Luke 24:1-3

Tomorrow: Sea of Galilee and Capernaum

#Holy Land #pilgrimage #retrospective #reflection #206 Tours #Annunciation

5 notes · View notes

orthodoxydaily · 5 years

Text

Holy Apostles St Peter and Paul

The Fast and the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul

By Bishop Thomas Joseph and Peter Schweitzer

Having celebrated the feast of feasts, the Lord’s Pascha, and Pentecost fifty days thereafter, we are about to embark upon the Apostles’ Fast, which this year begins on June 12, 2017, and ends with the commemoration of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul on June 29.

The Apostles’ Fast is a prescribed fasting period of the Church, lasting from the day after the Sunday of All Saints to the 29th of June, the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul.

It is a sad truth that many neglect this particular fast for a variety of reasons inconsistent with the apostolic and patristic tradition. Prior to reflecting upon the importance of the Apostles’ Fast, a review of the ancient history of this particular fast may help us to recognize its integral place in the life of each and every Orthodox Christian.

The fast of the holy Apostles is very ancient, dating back to the first centuries of Christianity. We have the testimony of St. Athanasius the Great, St. Ambrose of Milan, St. Leo the Great and Theodoret of Cyrrhus regarding it. The oldest testimony regarding the Apostles’ Fast is given to us by St. Athanasius the Great (†373).

In her Diary, the pilgrim Egeria (fourth century) records that on the day following the feast of Pentecost a period of fasting began. The Apostolic Constitutions, a work composed no later than the fourth century, prescribes: “After the feast of Pentecost, celebrate one week, then observe a fast, for justice demands rejoicing after the reception of the gifts of God and lasting after the body has been refreshed.”

From the testimonies of the fourth century we ascertain that in Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Antioch the fast of the holy Apostles was connected with Pentecost and not with the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul on June 29. In the first centuries, after Pentecost there was one week of rejoicing, that is a fast-free week, followed by about one week of fasting.

The canons of Nicephoros, Patriarch of Constantinople (806-816), mention the Apostle's Fast. The Typicon of St. Theodore the Studite for the Monastery of Studios in Constantinople speaks of the Forty Days Fast of the holy Apostles. St. Symeon of Thessalonica (†1429) explains the purpose of this fast in this manner: “The Fast of the Apostles is justly established in their honor, for through them we have received numerous benefits and for us they are exemplars and teachers of the fast ... For one week after the descent of the Holy Spirit, in accordance with the Apostolic Constitution composed by Clement, we celebrate, and then during the following week, we fast in honor of the Apostles...” continue reading

#orthodox #christian #ancientfaith #origin #feast #apostle

14 notes · View notes

pamphletstoinspire · 5 years

Photo

THE USE OF INCENSE AND ITS MEANING

THE MEANING OF INCENSE

The disappearance of the use of incense in the reformed Mass by Pope Paul VI is something that is completely inexplicable. Indeed while in the classic Roman Rite the use of incense was strictly regulated, confined to the chanted Mass and to the solemn mass (during the latter it could never lack), in the revised rite the use of incense was instead freely amplified.

But ever since it may be used always and whenever, the smoking thurible has disappeared from our churches. It reappears unfailingly at the end of funerals, taking on a sense of sadness and mourning which in no way is appropriate to it.

Perhaps the motive is to be found in the enigmatic translation of a rubric in Number 276 of the Principles and Norms in using the Roman Missal: the use of incense, in Latin, is ad libitum, but instead of translating this phrase with as one pleases, the text of the Italian Episcopal Conference states that incensing in all of the masses has become simply optional.

And it is known, in the mentality of the clergy of a certain age, all that is optional means not recommended (read as: useless frill).

Ad libitum, specifically, is instead an expression of the Latin language that means "to your pleasure," "as you will!" other than not obligatory, optional, not needed (that is optional)! It is optional in a positive meaning (that is you have the faculty to use it), but this conception in Italian is not normally perceived anymore, hence the translation can be deceiving. In the IV Century (the golden epoch of liturgists), the famous pilgrim Egeria described like this a liturgy held in the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem: "When they had sung three psalms and prayed these three prayers, behold are brought thuribles within the grotto of the Anastasis, so that the whole basilica of the Anastasis is filled with perfumes" [Diary of Travels, 24, 10]. The solemn incensing of the place in which Christ was risen preceded the reading, by the Bishop, of the Gospel of the Resurrection.

The use of incense in the Holy Sepulcher, re-proposes the image of the women who bring aromatic oils to embalm the body of the Lord and instead they find the Angel who announced the glorious resurrection (Cf. Mark 1: 6).

According to St. Paul, all Christians, by the witness of their faith, expand throughout the world the aroma of Christ who offered himself to the Father "in sacrifice of fragrant aroma" (Cf. Cor 2: 14; Eph 5: 2) that spreads throughout the basilica where the rite is celebrated. A kind of waiting for the prayers of the assembly that rise to heaven.

According to studies of the etymology of its name being a typically sacrificial sign (burning a precious thing with the intention of offering it to God), perhaps it has been placed aside specifically for this unequivocal and ancestral call, not certainly adapt for a feast, or a supper among friends, or things of this sort.

The rising of aromatic smoke cannot but recall the temple and God to whom one offers the holocaust victim, accompanying it with fragrant aroma. In the offertory rites of the Mass this was (and still is) evident.

ANOTHER STORY WHY THE CHURCH USES INCENSE

Its spiritual purpose is rich in meaning, and incense has been used in divine worship for thousands of years.

The Catechism reminds us that prayer involves much more than our soul, “Whether prayer is expressed in words or gestures, it is the whole man who prays” (CCC 2562).

For this reason the Church’s public forms of worship contain numerous elements that are visible and engage our bodily senses. The Catechism teaches us that, “In human life, signs and symbols occupy an important place. As a being at once body and spirit, man expresses and perceives spiritual realities through physical signs and symbols. As a social being, man needs signs and symbols to communicate with others, through language, gestures, and actions. The same holds true for his relationship with God” (CCC 1146).

To help engage all of our senses during the celebration of Mass, lifting up our bodies and souls to God, the Church for centuries has used incense as an important exterior sign.

Incense was a vital part of worship for many ancient religions, including the Jewish worship of God. In the Tabernacle, as well as the Temple, God commanded that an “altar of incense” be built. God directed that Aaron, the High Priest, “shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations” (Exodus 30:8).

Connected to this tradition is the best known phrase mentioning incense in the Old Testament, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before thee, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice” (Psalm 141:2).

Christians quickly adopted the use of incense, and it appears prominently in the book of Revelation in the heavenly liturgy, where St. John describes, “the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God” (Revelation 8:4).

In light of the above scripture passages the primary meaning behind the use of incense is to symbolize our prayers rising up to God. When we see the incense we are reminded that the priest is there to gather up our petitions and plead on our behalf before our loving and merciful God.

Incense also calls to mind the heavenly reality of the Mass. It connects our celebration to the heavenly liturgy depicted in the book of Revelation and reminds us that the Mass is a meeting place between heaven and earth.

Last of all the thick cloud of incense can often obscure our view of the altar. This is a good thing and reminds us of the mysterious nature of the Mass. Our mortal minds cannot comprehend fully the mystery that is being celebrated before our eyes and the incense makes that reality even more tangible.

So while the use of incense can seem strange at times, it has deep spiritual roots and has been a part of divine worship for thousands of years.

From: www.pamphletstoinspire.com

#incense

1 note · View note

astridstorm · 3 years

Text

Lessons in Having Enough

Picture by Eularia Clarke, The Five Thousand

For an audio version of this sermon, click here.

Ahhh, could there be a better reading for summertime? Summer, when abundance is all around us, the cares and worries of winter--and especially the winter we’ve been through--when those cares are distant. I love this reading.

On a hillside in Galilee, Jesus and a crowd are gathered, so caught up in his words of hope that they’ve lost track of time. Until their stomachs begin to rumble. The 12 disciples start to panic, as they are wont to do. “There’s nothing to eat!” they complain to Jesus. “What are we going to do now!?” (Or more like, What are you going to do, Jesus?!)

You can interpret what happens next in two ways. Jesus, no one knows how, turned a few loaves and fish into many, as if by magic. OR Jesus calmly helped everyone to stop, assess what they (in fact) had, upon which they came to see There was enough--more than enough--for all.

Either way, it’s a miracle.

It kind of reminds me of how, during the pandemic, many of us woke up to the fact that a simple walk outside our home, or listening to the birds outside, or just paying more attention to our families and immediate surroundings, these things contained greater blessings than we had realized. What seemed to be scarcity, was actually abundance.

“Enough is as good as a feast.”

----

When our pilgrim group, just before the pandemic, went to the Holy Land, we visited the site of this event. As you would expect, it was verdant and peaceful. The earliest accounts of the Holy Land that we have are from a pilgrim in the fourth century named Egeria, who described the place where Jesus fed the multitude like this (and just close your eyes, if you want, and picture it):

“By the sea is a grassy field with plenty of hay and many palm trees. By them are seven springs, each flowing strongly. And this is the field where the Lord fed the people with the five loaves and two fishes. In fact the stone on which the Lord placed the bread has now been made into an altar. People who go there take away small pieces of the stone to bring them prosperity, and they are very effective.”

This is a fourth century writer. The church that stands on that site today isn’t the one that was built around her, Egeria’s, time; it’s much more recent. But the stone that became an altar, and a very old early Christian mosaic of loaves and fishes, still remain. And you can see them if you visit.

It’s a sacred place. You feel it when you’re there. But it isn’t the only place where the miracle of making people see just how abundantly we’re provided for has taken place. It happens time and again, everywhere, And in every time, And in every life.

The thought of ancient pilgrims bringing back a chunk of the rock on which Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes--of course you can no longer do that--made me think of my own habit of collecting things from places I associate with the abundant grace of God. And there are many of them.

As I wrote my sermon, in fact, there within reach was a photo I took several years ago while lying in a hammock at my family’s Missouri farm. You can see mist rising up from the grass. A footpath winds out from the hammock to a small red barn. A chestnut tree stretches its limbs, and the morning sky behind it is a glowing pink color. That was a moment of profound peace, calm, and assurance that God had provided.

On my desk are some rocks I brought home from our visit last summer to Penobscot Bay in Maine. I spent hours with my five year-old daughter collecting rocks, and shells, digging for clams in low tide, building little huts and watching things burrow into the sand ahead of our each foot step. Abundance.

The prayer book given to me at my ordination has become a sort of relic--and it looks as old as one, with its torn pages, completely worn leather cover, crumpled edges because I once left it out in the rain. But it reminds me of all the times I thought, I’m out of nourishment. I have nothing left. Then God provided.

Each of these--be they a memory, a photo, an object--is like those small chips of stone people took from the altar in Egeria's day: reminders of all the times I’ve realized, I have enough--more than enough. And those memories/objects create a mindset. To quote Egeria, again: “People who go there take away small pieces of the stone to bring them prosperity, and they are very effective.”

So, before you run in panic to the neighboring towns and villages looking for more food, as the disciples thought they needed to do to feed those gathered... stop, take a moment, and consider if you might not have enough right where you are.

We do.

Amen.

0 notes

karryalane · 1 year

Text

#God #Christ #Jesus #Salvation through Christ #Egeria the Pilgram

0 notes

eliasboaz · 4 years

Text

Catholic Shepherds’ Field Beit Sahour - Bethlehem

As we know the First mention of Bethlehem according to Biblical Records is in the Bible in Genesis, when Rachel was giving birth to Benjamin, after she passed away Jacob went to settle there beyound the Tower, Migdal Eder Tower Genesis 35:21

Tower of the Flock - Migdal Eder Watch Tower

Now if we Read in Mich 4:8 it tells us that, And you, O tower of the flock, the hill of daughter Zion, to you it shall come, the former dominion shall come, the sovereignty of daughter Jerusalem. As we can see that Migdal Eder Tower of the Flock was actually on a Hill that was Called Bat-Zion Daughter of Zion from the source of this Biblical Reference we can also tell that the Tower of the Flock is actually on a Hill and it was called BAT-ZION - Daughter of Zion and at that location where the tower overlooks the fields from the Hill and the sheep that have been used as Sacrificial Animals in Rituals of the Temple of Jerusalem.

Boaz and Ruth one of the Bible Love Stories

About 1250-1050 BC the fields of Beit Sahour - Bethlehem was love scene for these two Biblical Figures, the Old Rich Israelite and the Gentile Moabaite Widow, it all Started when Elimelech ( Means My God is King ), and Naomi which means a Blessing and she had two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Mahlon at the times of Feminine they went to the lands of Moab at the times of Judges, of course, the Bible doesn't forget to mention that they were Ephrathites of Bethlehem of Judah. And Actually it is very interesting to know that the Theological Story of Boaz and Ruth is Controversial with Eza and Nehemiah about intermarriage but for us as Christians and as messianic hope that it means the Message of God is for Everyone it is not for specific people we are all his children. Elimelech was the Husband of Naomi , Mahlon Husband of Ruth and Chilion Husband of Orpha. Also the Bible mention for us that it happend during the Barley Harvest so most likely it is the Middle of April, Barely of the First crop was ready for the Harvest by the time of the Passover, in the Middle of April. Elimelech had a inheritance of land among his family but unless a family redeemer a Goel could be found , naomi would be compelled to sell it, but Elimelech a Relative and according to Levirate Law to Marry Mahlon's Widow Ruth in order to carry on his family's inheritance. Boaz was attracted to Ruth, but informed her that there was a relative closed than him, he wwho had the first right to be the redeemer of the Estate of Elimelech and that it would be required for this kinsman to reject hsi right before Boaz could proceed in the matter. Boaz Called this relative to the Gate of the City before the elders and told him that of ruth's situation and his right to Redeem the estate to Marry Ruth, the Relative delcared that he did not desire to do so , and removed his sandal in Symbol that he had renounced high rights in favor of Boaz. Boaz bought the Estate from Naomi and Married ruth , ruth became the parents of Obed, who became the father of Jesse , the Father of King David.

The Shepherds (the first evangelists)

Biblical texts preserve much evidence for a longstanding tradition of shepherding among the earliest peoples of the Bible. Notable biblical figures (such as Abel, Abraham, Lot, Laban, and Moses) tended sheep, often by way of contrast with others, such as Cain (murder of Abel), the “tiller of the ground” (a farmer) (Gen 4:2) Franciscan Catholic Shepherds Field Opening Hours 8:00 am – 16:45pm / Sunday 8:00-11:30/14:00-16:45pm Catholic Shepherds Field is Located to the East of Bethlehem , South East of Bethlehem to be Exact, These Fields Mark the location Where the Angels first announced the Birth of Jesus Christ to the Shepherds also traditionally not only the Site of Annunciation to the Shepherds but also introduced in Ruth 2:2 where Ruth Gleaned in the Fields of Boaz for her self and Naomi. Another Name the Locals Call this Area of the Fields are Siar El Ganem - which could be translated into two meanings the walking area of the Sheep or the Sheepfold, it can be easily reached by taking the first track on the left after Beit Sahour. The Site was Partly Excavated in 1859 by Carlo Guarmani he was an offical from the French Embassy then later on Between 1889 and 1906 the Franciscans succeeded in buying the land and carrying out archaeological Research and Excavations. However the only planned systematic excavations carried out only in 1951-1952 by Father Virgilio Canio Corbo and there they found a huge monastic agriculatural establishment with presses, cisterns, silos and Grottos. The Ruins Beside the new Chapel are from Byzantine Period and as we know the First monastery was founded at the site by the End of the 4th Century AD on a site Occupied during the First century AD by nomadic shepherds so we can say this place was inhabited in the time of Jesus Christ for Sure. The First Century Remains are represented by Oil Press, Grottoes , Pottery, Burial Niches. The Byzantine Monasteries are represented by Church, Courtyards, Cisterns, Bakery, Rooms with Mosaics and Silos. The Monastery was enlarged during the 6th Century the Apse of the Church being reconstructed with stones from the original polygonal apse of the Church of the Nativity. This roman Catholic Site is mentioned as Khirbet Siyar el-Ghanem as Archeological Reference of the Site. This Site was occupised during the First Century by most likely a nomadic Shepherds. A New Church has been built 1953-54 by famous Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi or as we call him the Architect of the Holy Land. According to Jerome Murphy-O'Connor the Writer of the Book The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700, he says that since the excavations did not bright to light a venerated cave, it is impossible to reconcile this site with the description given by Egeria, and also Jerome said that the site is as simple of many monasteries in the Judean desert during the Centuries when Byzantine monasticism was at its zenith. The Site Does Not Contain a Venerated Cave - Actually it Does the Cave just Next to the New Church is a Venerated Cave since the 4th CenturyJerome Murphy, see it as simply of many monasteries built during the Byzantine period - With all Due respect to Jerome Murphy He is not Biblical Evidence or Archeological Evidence it was just assumption Its lack of special significance is shown by the fact that the site was not re-occupied after the Persian attack 614 - According to the Archeological informatin we have that this monastery actually flourished Between the 4th till the 8th Century. Why I and many others Belive this Could be most likely the Location of the Shepherds Field? This Location have Cave that have been Partly Ecnlosed to Make the New Chapel of Antonio Barluzzi This Location Have been destroyed by the Time the First Crusade Came here but pilgrims continued to visit and commemorate this Site.in the 4th Century a Church has been built by the CaveThis Location was HUGE a complex of Caves containing Tunnels, Rooms, Storage Rooms, and Most important Mikvah that trace back to the First Century at the Time of Jesus Christ. If we compare this Location to other Places in the Area this is most likely the place of the Shepherds, would you follow Writings from 20th Century as evidence or Stone Evidence and archeological Evidence this location was indeed inhabited in the First Century by Shepherds that had Mikvah (Jewish Shepherds) most likely the probably for this site is more than others according to my understanding and research.

The New Church by Antonio Barluzzi The Holy Land Architect

in 1953 a New churh was built in the Site by the Famous Architecture Antonio Barluzzi and Dedicated to the Angels. The church is Known as the New Shrine of (Excelsis Deo) which has a dodecagonal Shape - 12 Angels and 12 Sides with Five Apses having inclined plane that recall the structure of a field tent, even though most likely the Shepherds would have stayed in Cave's not in Tents in Ancient times in this Area specially the First Century, but it was just Symbolic design.

The Religious Concept of the Shepherds Field

Some Shepherds amongst the most despised of the Jewish people went to Adore Jesus, Dazzled by a great light, an angel savior had been born, and they heard a host of Angels praising God who by send the Messiah to the earth, had shown his greatness to the celestial court and given salvation to men. The Sanctuary Designed by Holy land Architect that stands on a rock overlooking the Ruins.it Has a dodecagonal shape with five apses having an inclined plane, recalling the structure of a filed tent like the one that could have been used by the shepherds. The Light Penetrated the Concrete and Glass dome illuminating the interior calls to mind the divine light that appeared to the Shepherds.The Inside of the Church is divided into a nave and two aisles and five apses. in the middle part of the Dome stand 12 Angels around is the verse from Luke 2:14 that says: "Glory to God in Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. "Inside the Church on Three Parts are three sceneries regarding the announcement of the angels, adoration of the shepherds and return of the shepherds. The Fresco of the Scene of the Announcement of the Angels to the ShepherdsThe Fresco of the ADoration of the shepherds The Fresco of the Scene of the Return of the Shepherds Read the full article

0 notes

superhalfrussian · 5 years

Photo

4th Century Pilgrim Route – and NO NAZARETH! Itinerarium Burdigalense – the Itinerary of the Anonymous Pilgrim of Bordeaux – is the earliest description left by a pious tourist. It is dated to 333 AD. The itinerary is a Roman-style list of towns and distances with the occasional comment. As the pilgrim passes Jezreel (Stradela) he mentions King Ahab and Goliath. At Aser (Teyasir) he mentions Job. At Neopolis his reference is to Mount Gerizim, Abraham, Joseph, and Jacob's well at Sichar (where JC 'asked water of a Samaritan woman'). He passes the village of Bethel (Beitin) and mentions Jacob's wrestling match with God, and Jeroboam. He moves on to Jerusalem.Our pilgrim – preoccupied with Old rather than New Testament stories – makes no single reference to 'Nazareth.'A generation after the dowager empress had gone touring, another geriatric grandee, the Lady Egeria, spent years. in the 'Land becoming more Holy by the day'. Egeria – a Spaniard, like the then Emperor Theodosius and almost certainly part of the imperial entourage – reached the Nazareth area in 383. This time, canny monks showed her a 'big and very splendid cave' and gave the assurance that this was where Mary had lived. The Custodians of the Cave, not to be outbid by the Keepers of the Well, insisted that the cave, not the well, had been the site of the divine visitation. This so-called 'grotto' became another pilgrimage attraction, over which – by 570 – rose the basilica of another church. Today, above and about the Venerable Grotto, stands the biggest Christian theme park in the Middle East. https://www.jesusneverexisted.com/nazareth.html

0 notes

marylindamelnyktravel · 5 years

Text

The Church of Beatitudes

The Church of the Beatitudes is a Roman Catholic church located by the Sea of Galilee near Tabgha and Capernaum.

Located on a small hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee, and built on the traditional site of Jesus delivery of the Sermon on the Mount, pilgrims are known to have commemorated this site since at least the 4th century. In her itinerary of the Holy Land, after describing the Church of the Loaves and Fishes, the pilgrim Egeria (ca. 381 CE) writes, "Near there on a mountain is the cave to which the Savior climbed and spoke the Beatitudes."

Members of our group

A storm came up on the Sea Of Galilee and Davis said that Jesus could help us handle the Storms in our lives.

#holy land trip #mary linda melnyk travel #marylindamelnyktravel #israel #church of beatitudes

0 notes

chvazquez · 6 years

Photo

#Egeria #Roma #Rome #turistas #tourists #mujeres #women 👩 #Palestina #Palestine #mártires #martyrs #SantaElena #StHelena #Cruz #Cross #basílica #basilica #Egeria #España #Spain 🇪🇸 #Francia #France 🇫🇷 #monja #nun #revolución #revolution #peregrinos #pilgrims #mujerescristianas #christianwomen #SanPablo #StPaul #Cristo #Christ #Cristianismo #Christianity ⛪✝️

0 notes

catholiccom-blog · 7 years

Photo

The Tradition of Candlemas

February 2, Catholics mark the presentation of Christ in the temple. But not all Catholics are aware of the cultural origins of this feast.

According to the Mosaic law, a mother such as Mary who had given birth to a male child was considered unclean for seven days; moreover, she was to remain “in the blood of her purification”—i.e., outside the temple—for thirty-three days more. If the woman had borne a daughter, the time that she was excluded from the sanctuary was doubled.

When the time (forty or eighty days) was over, the mother was to “bring to the temple a lamb for a holocaust and a young pigeon or turtle dove for sin”; if she was not able to offer a lamb, she was to take two turtle doves or two pigeons; the priest prayed for her and so she was cleansed (see Leviticus 12:2-8).

Forty days after the birth of Christ, Mary complied with this precept of the law. She redeemed her first-born from the temple and was purified by the prayer of Simeon the just in the presence of Anna the prophetess (see Luke 2:22).

Early celebrations

No doubt this event, the first solemn introduction of Christ into the house of God, was celebrated in the early Church in Jerusalem. We find it attested to in the first half of the fourth century by the pilgrim of Bordeaux, Egeria or Silvia. The day—February 14—was solemnly kept by a procession to the Constantinian basilica of the Resurrection and and Mass that included a homily on Luke 2:22.

At that time, the feast had no proper name; it was simply called the fortieth day after Epiphany. This latter circumstance shows that, in Jerusalem, Epiphany was when the feast of Christ's birth was celebrated. From Jerusalem the feast of the fortieth day spread over the entire Church and later was kept on February 2, since within the last twenty-five years of the fourth century the Roman feast of Christ's nativity (December 25) was introduced.

The feast appears in the Gelasianum (manuscript tradition of the seventh century) under the title of Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but the procession is not mentioned. Pope Sergius I (A.D. 687-701) introduced a procession for this day. The Gregorianum (tradition of the eighth century) does not speak of this procession, which fact shows that the procession of Sergius was the ordinary “station,” not the liturgical act of today.

The feast spread slowly in the West; it is not found in the Lectionary of Silos (A.D. 650) nor in the Calendar (A.D. 731-741) of Sainte-Genevieve of Paris. In the East it was celebrated as a feast of the Lord; in the West as a feast of Mary, although the Invitatorium ("Gaude et laetare, Jerusalem, occurrens Deo tuo"—"Rejoice and be glad, O Jerusalem, to meet thy God"), the antiphons, and responsories remind us of its original conception as a feast of the Lord.

The blessing of the candles did not enter into common use before the eleventh century. In the Middle Ages it had an octave in the larger number of dioceses; also today the religious orders whose special object is the veneration of the Mother of God (Carmelites, Servites) and many dioceses (Loreto, the Province of Siena, etc.) celebrate the octave.

The blessing of candles

According to the Roman Missal, the celebrant, in stole and cope of purple, standing at the epistle side of the altar, blesses the candles (which traditionally were of beeswax). Having sung or recited the five orations prescribed, he sprinkles and incenses the candles. Then he distributes them to the clergy and laity while the choir sings the canticle of Simeon, Nunc dimittis. The antiphon “Lumen ad revelationem gentium et gloriam plebis tuae Israel” (“A light to the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel”) is repeated after every verse, according to the medieval custom of singing the antiphons.

During the procession that follows, participants carry lighted candles and the choir sings the antiphon “Adorna thalamum tuum, Sion” (“Adorn the bridal chamber, O Zion”) composed by St. John of Damascus, one of the few pieces for which the words and music have been borrowed by the Roman Church from the Greeks. The other antiphons are of Roman origin.

The solemn procession represents the entry of Christ, who is the light of the world, into the Temple of Jerusalem. The procession is always kept on February 2, even when the office and Mass of the feast is transferred to February 3.

Before the reform of the Latin liturgy by St. Pius V (1568), in the churches north and west of the Alps, this ceremony was more solemn. After the fifth oration a preface was sung. The “Adorna” was preceded by the antiphon “Ave Maria.”

While today such processions are held inside the church, during the Middle Ages the clergy left the church and visited the cemetery surrounding it. Upon the return of the procession, a priest, carrying an image of the Holy Child, met it at the door and entered the church with the clergy, who sang the canticle of Zachary, “Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel” (“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel”).

At the conclusion, entering the sanctuary, the choir sang the responsory “Gaude Maria Virgo” or the prose “Inviolata” or some other antiphon in honor of the Blessed Virgin.

#Catholic Answers #Candlemas #Presentation of the Lord #Blessing of Candles

10 notes · View notes