#peter kepha

[realife-mermaid]

this is for me btw bc spotify won’t let me add notes to my playlists and davg is coming out-

jackie & wilson -> bellany & morrigan

no matter where you are -> tahmina, alistair, & zevran

reflecting light -> bellany & tahmina

born free -> bellany tabris theme song

skye full of song -> tahmina surana theme song

grace -> irayz, fenris, & isabela

crystallized -> irayz & fenris

quarter past midnight -> irayz & isabela

alice -> irayz hawke theme song

a better son/daughter -> mordred lavellan theme song

i need songs for

morgwaine adaar theme song

mordred & iron bull (romance)

mordred & solas (mentor/one sided crush thing) (maybe)

morgwaine & blackwall theme song (romantic)

mordred & morgwaine (mother/child song)

i should post pictures of everyone. also i need to figure out who i’m using for veilguard….nicos works well with this group, einar isn’t bad for the setting, peter (would probably go with the name kephas, feels more dragon age-y) could fit well, faye or malia….technically wren but he’s too nice, i gotta have someone a little more evil this time, bellany, tahmina, AND morgwaine were all way too fucking fixated on saving the world, and mordred could only be so evil with their mother hovering……….reagan is an option…

[theactsoftheapostles]

"The Dome." From the Acts of the Apostles 23: 5.

Paul continues to enumerate the duties and mannerisms of a Kohen, a High Priest of Israel:

5 Paul answered, “My fellow Israelites, I did not know that he was the High Priest. The scripture says, ‘You must not speak evil of the ruler of your people.’”

The Value in Gematria is 11185, קיא‎ףה‎, "Kefa" "a dome." (כֵּפָא) is also a transliteration of the Aramaic word "Kepha," which is directly translated to "Rock." It is most famously known as the name Jesus gave to Simon, later known as Peter, in the New Testament. 

Rocks or domes are "classic commentaries" on the contents of the Torah. So in spite of my constant menstruating over the fact the Torah cannot be read literally, it must certainly be memorized literally. This is necessary so one understands its basic structure and can easily locate where objects in the Torah are found and where they fall within the continuity of the Seven Days.

We know the Torah only goes as far as Day Three, and Jesus crossed over and rose on Day Four, the Acts of the Apostles covers the home stretch to Day Seven. Jesus spoke about the latter days, but did not lecture about them using sufficient detail needed to blueprint a new church, so God gave us the Acts.

Once the story within the entirety of the Magthorah is known, then the next step is the striking of the rock, the freeing of the logic that permits the implementation of the faith in society. We will cover how this "experiment" is conducted in the next frame.

We know, for example that God split the Red Sea and Moses and the Israelites fled to safety, but the Egyptian chariots that pursued them drowned. This took place after the Passover, which took place after Moses visited God on Sinai and rained hail on Egypt.

The act of running from slavery in search of freedom is good, pursuing someone in order to re-enslave them is bad. These are the "dome" over the real meaning of the script. Splitting the Red Sea is 902, צבע, tzbe, "to paint the color."

The color is red, of course, the color of Adam, who prior to the flight from Egpyt has no Self, he is just a brick. Once one is free and crosses the Sea, one turns red, one sees the Self and pursues its further meaning. Prior to the Red Sea, one lives as the not-Self. One might live most of one's life trapped as the not-Self until one reads this Mishnah in the book of Acts, but now everyone knows how to strike the rock and find the Self. This can be done throughout one's studies of the Bible, this toggling between the rock, the classical commentaries and the esoterica hidden within by the Supreme Soul.

One could easily discuss how societies or even entire religions must cross the Red Sea and the implications of this to freedom from slavery, but no matter, the literal reading of the lesson would remain the same. Revealing all these separately and together is the job of a High Priest, who has been able, like Moses to strike the rock more than once.

[catolinewsdailyreadings]

Readings of January 4 - Christmas Week

Readings of Saturday, January 4, 2025

Reading 1

1 JN 3:7-10

Children, let no one deceive you. The person who acts in righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.  Whoever sins belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil.  No one who is begotten by God commits sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot sin because he is begotten by God.  In this way, the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 98:1, 7-8, 9

R./ All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.

Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds; His right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm. R./ All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.

Let the sea and what fills it resound, the world and those who dwell in it; Let the rivers clap their hands, the mountains shout with them for joy before the LORD. R./ All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.

The LORD comes; he comes to rule the earth; He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with equity. R./ All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.

Gospel

JN 1:35-42

John was standing with two of his disciples,  and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?"  He said to them,"Come, and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.  He first found his own brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed). Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Kephas" (which is translated Peter).

[agapeadaspera]

He gave nicknames to several of his followers, but a guy named Simon in particular was apparently just so dense that he called him "Rocky" [Cephas, from the Aramaic Kepha, meaning rock or stone]. This gets translated, when later books are penned in or translated into Latin, as Peter - from the Latin petra, stone. Saint Peter, founder of the churches of Antioch and Rome, the first Pope. He plays it off cool, all "and you shall be the rock upon which I will build my church," but I choose to believe Christ just looked at the guy one day after he completely missed the point of a parable or asked a stupid question or something and said "You know, Simon, you're dumb as a rock," and then doubled down in the funniest possible way

the thing about the bible is that it's actually really fucking funny a lot of the time

[philippequeau]

The Hollow of God

The Hollow of God

“Caph�� Caph, כ , the eleventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet, has the shape of an inverted C, and presents, graphically and symbolically, the figure of a ‘hollow’. This idea of the hollow is also found in the Hebrew word כָּף caph, which can also be transcribed kaf. This word refers to several parts of the human body, the hollow or palm of the hand, the sole of the foot, the concavity of the hip…

[transgenderer]

He was later given by Jesus the name Cephas, from the Aramaic כֵּיפָא, Kepha, 'rock/stone'. In translations of the Bible from the original Greek, his name is maintained as Cephas in 9 occurrences in the New Testament,[21] whereas in the vast majority of mentions (156 occurrences in the New Testament) he is called Πέτρος, Petros, from the Greek and Latin word for a rock or stone (petra)[22] to which the masculine ending was added, rendered into English as Peter.[23]e was later given by Jesus the name Cephas, from the Aramaic כֵּיפָא, Kepha, 'rock/stone'. In translations of the Bible from the original Greek, his name is maintained as Cephas in 9 occurrences in the New Testament,[21] whereas in the vast majority of mentions (156 occurrences in the New Testament) he is called Πέτρος, Petros, from the Greek and Latin word for a rock or stone (petra)[22] to which the masculine ending was added, rendered into English as Peter.[23]

! kepha!

[murshili-ii]

Catholic Easter special: Western Sun

~ ~

We now return to our weekly posting schedule, and to non-Celtic content.

Our fourteenth Spring Vignettes piece celebrates Catholic Easter, which will be celebrated by Roman Catholics and many Protestants on April 9th this year, according to the Gregorian Calendar.

Before you read what the piece was intended to portray, share what it portrays to _you_. I’m just the artist; you’re the beholder.

Leave a comment.

~ ~

Other than that rabbits are a symbol of fecundity, life, and birth, there’s no particular symbolism in the body of this piece; it’s just an idyllic pastoral scene with some cute bun-buns.

Baby rabbits of some wild species ordinarily have little forehead-stars (or “milk-spots”) that fade as they mature. I thought it would be very neat if a litter of baby rabbits had gold, silver, and copper forehead-stars, instead of the usual white.

Are these special rabbits? Is their birth an omen of great events? Will they grow up to be extraordinary rabbits who do extraordinary things? We just don’t know.

Many rabbits make nests at ground-level using their own beard-fur, which female rabbits grow specially for the purpose. Rabbits normally leave their babies alone for much of the day and night, and return to nurse at dawn and dusk, when it’s safest. If you find unattended baby rabbits, it’s likely that they haven’t been abandoned; they’re just lying low until their mommy returns.

The frame is inspired by Roman architecture, especially the Roman Pantheon; which was built in antiquity as a pagan temple, but was repurposed as a Christian church later in its history.

If you look closely at the repeating pattern on the lintel, you’ll notice that I very cleverly integrated St. Peter’s Cross.

According to Christian tradition, St. Peter was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus of Nazareth, regarded by Christians as an incarnation of the God of Abraham and spiritual savior of humankind. Originally named Simon, he was renamed Cephas (כֵּיפָא Kepha), Aramaic for “Stone”, by Jesus; and this name was translated into Greek as Petros (Πέτρος), the Greek word for “Stone”.

Simon and his brother Andrew were fishermen when Jesus was preaching on the Sea of Galilee. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus demonstrated his divinity by calling up a miraculous catch of fish when the nets were coming up empty. Jesus called Simon and Andrew to be “fishers of men”; and they became his apostles, preaching his teachings to the people.

After returning to Rome at a time when Christians were being persecuted by pagan Emperor Nero, Peter was sentenced to crucifixion; and by some accounts, he asked not to be crucified in the same way as Jesus, as he thought himself unworthy. He was crucified upside-down on an inverted cross; and the inverted cross is known as St. Peter’s Cross to this day.

Roman Catholics regard Peter as the foremost of the apostles and the founder of the Roman See, to whom the Pope, as Bishop of Rome, is the direct successor as leader of Christianity.

[meloveyah]

• KEPHA RI'SHON (1 Peter) 4:10 את Cepher

As Every man has received the Gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of YAHUAH.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

▪ What good is it if someone gain the whole world, and loses his own soul? To be liked and please by the world but in the end loseing thoes own soul.

▪ My Friend being please by the world Profit NOTHING, Especially if you are a Believer of The Most High YAH. As Believers, We are supposed to be a Light to the world, to ReFlect YAH'S Glory and Awesomeness to those who have Ear to Hear.

▪ Let us NOT please the world My Friend but Rather Please YAHUAH Our KING who made EveryThing that is Good and Righteous. 👑 Do it for YAH!! 👑

▪ Therefore use your Gifts that you have recevied For Righteousness ONLY that is Well Pleasing to YAHUAH.

▪ Because if it Only Please YAHUAH EL SHADDAI (The Almight Elohim) Alone, that is more BETTER than pleasing the world.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• MattithYahu (Matthew) 5:16 את Cepher

Let your Light So Shine before men, that they may See your Good Works, and Glorify your Father which is in Heaven.

[irungu]

{Commissioned By The Textile Loft}

Shot by Peter Irungu 

Models: Ella Seling And Kiruhi Juliet

Creative Director: Kepha Maina

Stylist: Bryan Emry

See full set here https://www.irungu.co/textile-loft 

[vampire-the-askerade]

if you're taking them still, maybe beckett/m!reader with "i could kiss you right now" please? thank you ^^ ❤

[ask continue: (oh for the beckett one i just sent, m!toreador reader would be awesome but u can do whatever you like ^^ just forgot to mention that lol)]

You were glad that you decided to feed earlier in the evening because if you waited until later like you were planning on then you would definitely be fighting your inner beast to not go wild right now. Beckett had invited you over to his temporary haven to bounce some information off of you to try to figure out one of his most recent finds. Now, you weren't a historian like he was, but he mostly needed someone there to say things out loud to. He said that it would only take a half-hour to and hour...that was five hours ago.

"I don't understand what this is talking about!" Beckett groaned as his topaz eyes raked over the frail chunk of tapestry on the desk in front of him. "There's constant references to a rock. I got this in a mountain! There are trillions of rocks in the area where I found it!" At this point, you were kind of zoning out on your phone, and to be honest kind of wishing for second death. While you did really like Beckett you were hoping to do something else besides just listen to him have a break down over an old rug. Sure, it was engaging for the first hour or so, but now it was just kind of concerning. "Is there a specific patter or something you are looking for?" He raked his hand through his hair. "No, and there are carvings all over the area. If there was a certain symbol or phrase I was looking for there's a high chance it's on part of the tapestry I don't have."

"Okay," you huffed as you put your phone down, "what exactly does it say?" Beckett sat up a bit more properly and tilted the stand the tapestry piece was on so he could see it better. "It says, 'You will find the answer buried under the feet of the Rock.' But, nothing about what rock it is." You couldn't help but give a snort and ask, "Well, have you asked Dwayne Johnson about it?" Beckett turned to you with a confused look on his face. Sometimes you forgot that not all the older kindred kept up with modern things; especially ones that specialize in archeology. "He's a wrestler that turned into an actor. You know, all that pop-culture stuff us Toreador are into." He chuckled a bit at the much-needed joke. "Yes, I suppose-" He stopped suddenly with the gears in his head obviously turning.

"You're suggesting, 'the rock,' could be the name of a person?" Beckett asked as he looked over the tapestry again. "Sure, I guess. Is there anyone else known as the rock?" He gave a big huff as his shoulders slumped forward with relief and slight embarrassment at his oversight. "Bloody hell... Saint Peter!" This time it was you giving him the confused look. He started to explain, albeit more to himself rather than to you. "The Biblical person Saint Peter was also known by the name Kepha later Anglicised as the Cephas. A name meaning, 'a crag,' or, 'a rock.' Now all I have to do is go back to that mountain and look for the depiction of Peter!" You couldn’t help but giggle at how giddy he was. It was like a kid getting a bike or something.

"Well, would you look at that! Turns out I'm a pretty clever boy!" You laughed as you watched him gather his things in a hurry to get back to the sight while he had still had time to. Beckett shoved a few more things into his back and chimed back, "A very clever boy! God, I could kiss you right now!"

"Well, nobody's stopping you." You teased but weren't expecting to actually get a response, much less the one that you did. On his way to the door, Beckett grabbed the sides of your face and gave you one of the deepest kisses you've ever gotten in your life. When he pulled away he immediately headed for the door. "Watch the place for me. I'll be back soon." Beckett called to you. Not that you really heard what he said; you were still in a daze from the surprise you just got.

[realife-mermaid]

okay this is here for me (but if you want to ask about a character you can 🥺👉🏼👈🏼), i’m trying to keep track of the stuff i’ve put in my tags bc some of it actually Is there for more than aesthetic reasons haha so i’m gonna keep track of the names i’ve tagged on here and also simplifying to just “c: character name” so i fucking remember how i tag everyone akskd

regular text means it’s been changed, red means it hasn’t been and it’s still floating in the ether

TAMINA AND THE TERRIBLE HORRIBLE NO GOOD VERY BAD DAY -> i think i'm just tagging literally everything that goes in my "main" universe as "the poisoned obsidian" instead of doing separate tags for separate stories within it because i never remember my own tags and there's so much crossover between characters.

MAIN POISONED OBSIDIAN CHARACTERS

c: tahmina vasquez

c: charles donnelly

c: matthias - this bitch needs a last name or an epithet or something damn

c: nia thorne - i don't think i have her on here by another name but

c: beck vida

c: evangeline de la heina

c: marty vida

c: isadora da rosa

c: leo vida

c: lilith - may tag her by a different name, settling on "nokomis all-mother" but i DO worry this falls into cultural weirdness (it is generally an igbo or ojibwe name and she is not either? but she also didn't like, name herself, and EYE am indigenous so. i'm still debating).

c: xan the scourge

c: morgwaine - also getting a last name or epithet

c: nyx the eternal

c: iggy the bloody - the way i have tagged her like 50 different things lmao

c: kephas the wanderer; c: peter the old bear (i'm gonna choose a different animal, haven't decided yet)

c: captain irayz santos

c: nicos blue

c: einar nemean - the thing is i'm thinking of combining him with nicos so he's floating free for now

c: inara khoji - her name was originally "indira" but that was always a placeholder name. did a lil more research and settled on inara.

c: reagan the redeemer

c: veruca lightseeker

c: elyse nightbridge

c: valentin of the light

i'm missing most of the witchmark characters here so althea, del, ynez, etc etc if you see anything entitled "generic fantasy universe" or "witches caused climate change" I'LL GET THERE

HISTORICAL POISONED OBSIDIAN CHARACTERS

c: sigthorn - i'm adding an epithet to the group he lives with, the way i do the obsidian isle but i'm unsure of what to call it. i was calling it the "iron atoll" until i realized i was just jacking the iron islands from asoiaf lmao (absolutely no relation to the greyjoys tho)

c: ivar

c: isabella de la heina

c: nicolias - needs an epithet, probably the same as sigthorn's

c: micah blood-eye

NO GAYS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS NOVEL -> also poisoned obsidian but these bitches need epithets so no one has been changed yet

c: lieke

c: luka

c: aneurin

MY BEST FRIEND DIED AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS STUPID T-SHIRT -> the title of the book is not changing because i think it's hilarious but it turned into a whole series (the medical/romance one) so it's being tagged as "recovering romantics anonymous" to shift the focus onto the support group the main characters all go to.

c: thalia massi (might change last name, undecided)

c: alec ruiz dubois

c: gabriella ruiz dubois

c: mary stevens ochoa

c: rocio acosta

c: cheyenne lipnicki

c: alva karla alvarez

c: hadley alvarez

BORDERTOWN BLUES -> this is not changing, just the character tagging is different now so its-

c: Lani Kealoha Lange

c: KJ Toussey

c: Key Toussey

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

41 Derselbige findet am ersten seinen Bruder Simon und spricht zu ihm: Wir haben den Messias funden (welches ist verdolmetscht: der Gesalbte).

42 Und führete ihn zu JEsu. Da ihn JEsus sah, sprach er: Du bist Simon, Jonas Sohn; du sollst Kephas heißen (das wird verdolmetscht: ein Fels).

41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). — John 1:41-42 | Lutherbibel 1545 (LUTH1545) The Lutherbibel 1545 is in the public domain. Cross References: Psalm 2:2; Daniel 9:25; Matthew 1:23; Matthew 16:17-18; John 2:25; John 21:15; 1 Corinthians 1:12

Attribution: This photo (girls sitting around table reading Bible) courtesy of: www.freepik.com/wirestock

[catolinewsdailyreadings]

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings of Sunday, January 14, 2024

Reading 1

1 SM 3:3B-10, 19

Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was.  The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, "Here I am."  He ran to Eli and said, "Here I am. You called me." "I did not call you," Eli said. "Go back to sleep." So he went back to sleep.  Again the LORD called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli. "Here I am," he said. "You called me." But he answered, "I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep."  At that time Samuel was not familiar with the LORD, because the LORD had not revealed anything to him as yet.  The LORD called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said, "Here I am. You called me." Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth.  So he said to Samuel, "Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" When Samuel went to sleep in his place,  the LORD came and revealed his presence, calling out as before, "Samuel, Samuel!" Samuel answered, "Speak, for your servant is listening."  Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect.

Responsorial Psalm 

PS 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10

R./ Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

I have waited, waited for the LORD, and he stooped toward me and heard my cry. And he put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God.  R./ Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

Sacrifice or offering you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not; then said I, "Behold I come." R./ Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

"In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, to do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!" R./ Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know. R./ Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

Reading II

1 COR 6:13C-15A, 17-20

Brothers and sisters: The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body;  God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power.  Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take Christ's members and make them the members of a prostitute? Of course not!  But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.  Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body.  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.

Gospel

JN 1:35-42

John was standing with two of his disciples,  and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?"  He said to them,"Come, and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.  He first found his own brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed). Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Kephas" (which is translated Peter).

[holdonendure]

KEPHA, an apostle of YAHUSHA HA'MASHIACH, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of YAHUAH the Father, through sanctification of the RUACH, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of YAHUSHA HA'MASHIACH: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. Blessed be YAHUAH and the Father of our ADONAI YAHUSHA HA'MASHIACH, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us anew unto a lively hope by the resurrection of YAHUSHA HA'MASHIACH from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of YAHUAH through belief unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your belief, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of YAHUSHA HA'MASHIACH: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your belief, even the salvation of your souls. את eth Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the RUACH MASHIACH which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand את eth the sufferings of MASHIACH, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Besorah unto you with the RUACH HA'QODESH sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of YAHUSHA HA'MASHIACH; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of MASHIACH, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who truly was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in YAHUAH, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your belief and hope might be in YAHUAH. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the Truth through the RUACH unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born from the beginning, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of YAHUAH, which lives and abides forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower thereof falls away: But the Word of YAHUAH endures forever. And this is the Word which by the Besorah is preached unto you.

KEPHA RI'SHON (1 PETER) 1 את CEPHER

[troybeecham]

St. Barnabas

The Church remembers St. Barnabas, Apostle and Martyr.

Ora pro nobis.

Barnabas, born Joseph, was according to tradition an early Christian, one of the prominent Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Cypriot Jew, and a Levite. Named an apostle in Acts 14:14, he and Paul the Apostle undertook missionary journeys together and defended Gentile converts against the requirement of first being circumcised. They traveled together making more converts (c. AD 45–47), and participated in the Council of Jerusalem (c. AD 50). Barnabas and Paul successfully evangelized among the "God-fearing" Gentiles who attended synagogues in various Hellenized cities of Anatolia.

Barnabas' story appears in the Acts of the Apostles, and Paul mentions him in some of his epistles. Tertullian named him as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, but this and other attributions are conjecture. Clement of Alexandria and some scholars have ascribed the Epistle of Barnabas to him, but his authorship is disputed. Although the date, place, and circumstances of his death are historically unverifiable, Christian tradition holds that Barnabas was martyred at Salamis, Cyprus, in 61 AD. He is traditionally identified as the founder of the Cypriot Orthodox Church. The feast day of Barnabas is celebrated on June 11.

Barnabas is usually identified as the cousin of Mark the Evangelist on the basis of the term "anepsios" used in Colossians 4, which carries the connotation of "cousin." Some traditions hold that Aristobulus of Britannia, one of the Seventy Disciples, was the brother of Barnabas. Acts 11:24 describes Barnabas as "a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith".

Barnabas appears mainly in Acts, a history of the early Christian church. He also appears in several of Paul's epistles.

Barnabas, a native of Cyprus and a Levite, is first mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem, who sold some land that he owned and gave the proceeds to the community (Acts 4:36-37). When the future Apostle Paul returned to Jerusalem after his conversion, Barnabas introduced him to the apostles (9:27). Easton, in his Bible Dictionary, supposes that they had been fellow students in the school of Gamaliel.

The successful preaching of Christianity at Antioch to non-Jews led the church at Jerusalem to send Barnabas there to oversee the movement (Acts 11:20–22). He found the work so extensive and weighty that he went to Tarsus in search of Paul (still referred to as Saul), "an admirable colleague", to assist him. Paul returned with him to Antioch and labored with him for a whole year (Acts 11:25–26). At the end of this period, the two were sent up to Jerusalem (44 AD) with contributions from the church at Antioch for the relief of the poorer Christians in Judea.

They returned to Antioch taking John Mark with them, the cousin or nephew of Barnabas. Later, they went to Cyprus and some of the principal cities of Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia (Acts 13:14). After recounting what the governor of Cyprus Sergius Paulus believed, Acts 13:9 speaks of Barnabas's companion no longer as Saul, but as Paul, his Roman name, and generally refers to the two no longer as "Barnabas and Saul" as heretofore (11:30; 12:25; 13:2, 7), but as "Paul and Barnabas" (13:43, 46, 50; 14:20; 15:2, 22, 35). Only in 14:14 and 15:12-25 does Barnabas again occupy the first place, in the first passage with recollection of 14:12, in the last 2, because Barnabas stood in closer relation to the Jerusalem church than Paul. Paul appears as the more eloquent missionary (13:16; 14:8-9; 19-20), whence the Lystrans regarded him as Hermes and Barnabas as Zeus.

Returning from this first missionary journey to Antioch, they were again sent up to Jerusalem to consult with the church there regarding the relation of Gentiles to the church (Acts 15:2; Galatians 2:1). According to Galatians 2:9-10, Barnabas was included with Paul in the agreement made between them, on the one hand, and James, Peter, and John, on the other, that the two former should in the future preach to the pagans, not forgetting the poor at Jerusalem. This matter having been settled, they returned again to Antioch, bringing the agreement of the council that Gentiles were to be admitted into the church without having to adopt Jewish practices.

After they had returned to Antioch from the Jerusalem council, they spent some time there (15:35). Peter came and associated freely there with the Gentiles, eating with them, until criticized for this by some disciples of James, as against Mosaic law. Upon their remonstrances, Peter yielded apparently through fear of displeasing them, and refused to eat any longer with the Gentiles. Barnabas followed his example. Paul considered that they "walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel" and upbraided them before the whole church (Galatians 2:11-15).

Paul then asked Barnabas to accompany him on another journey (15:36). Barnabas wished to take John Mark along, but Paul did not, as he had left them on the earlier journey (15:37-38). The dispute ended by Paul and Barnabas taking separate routes. Paul took Silas as his companion, and journeyed through Syria and Cilicia; while Barnabas took John Mark to visit Cyprus (15:36-41). John Francis Fenlon suggests that Paul may have been somewhat influenced by the attitude recently taken by Barnabas, which might have proven prejudicial to their work.

Barnabas is not mentioned again in the Acts of the Apostles. However, Galatians 2:11-13 says, "And when Kephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong. For, until some people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to draw back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcised. And the rest of the Jews (also) acted hypocritically along with him, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy." Barnabas is also mentioned in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, in which it is mentioned that he and Paul funded their missions by working side jobs and (it is implied) went without wives and other benefits other apostles received (1 Corinthians 9:6); Paul states that he and Barnabas forsook those benefits "that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ" (1 Corinthians 9:12).

Church tradition developed outside of the canon of the New Testament describes the martyrdom of many saints, including the legend of the martyrdom of Barnabas. It relates that certain Judeans coming to Syria and Salamis on Cyprus, where Barnabas was then preaching the gospel c. AD 61, being highly exasperated at his extraordinary success, fell upon him as he was disputing in the synagogue, dragged him out, and, after the most inhumane tortures, stoned him to death. His kinsman, John Mark, who was a spectator of this barbarous action, privately interred his body there in Salamis. His tomb became a shrine and later the cathedral church of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus.

Grant, O God, that we may follow the example of your faithful servant Barnabas, who, seeking not his own renown but the well-being of your Church, gave generously of his life and substance for the relief of the poor and the spread of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.