Friday Frivolity: Orthodox Coffee
My friend Nelson who is a lover of coffee and Eastern Christianity, sent me this link which describes different kinds of coffee in terms of early heresies…
…I think he secretly realizes that tea is superior.
Author: pilgrim
What’s the earliest depiction of the crucifixion?
The earliest depiction of Jesus’ crucifixion doesn’t, in fact, come from a Christian source. It is known as Alexamenos Graffito and, as the name suggests, it’s a piece of graffiti. It was found near Rome’s Palatine Hill and is dated sometime between 1st and 3rd Century:
The text underneath the picture says in Greek “Alexamenos worships [his] God”. The picture itself shows Jesus on a cross with a donkey’s head, with another person on the left (presumably “Alexamenos”) raising his hand in worship. It’s clear that this was written by someone who knew Alexamenos and wanted to mock him and his Christian faith.
Wise Words on Wednesday: Restless Hunger
[It’s a]…sense of a strange restlessness or a fierce curiosity. It’s probably best described as the mental, spiritual and emotional equivalent of being physically hungry, that strange but intense hunger when you don’t quite know what it is that you want to eat.
CS Lewis famously described a ‘God-shaped hole’ in each of us, which would remain empty until we knew God
– Divine Embrace
Quick Apology: You can’t pray to dead people
Continuing in my series of brief apologetic responses, today I would like to look at the subject of Saintly intercession. As I mentioned last time, these will not be thorough, nuanced rebuttals, but simply how I typically would reply when I only have a brief window of opportunity to respond to objections to my Faith.
Objection
I often see on internet forums the following common objection to Saintly intercession:
“You can’t pray to dead people”
Response
In response to this objection I point out that the Saints are not dead:
“…have you not read what was said to you by God, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” – Matthew 22:32
If Jesus says that the Saints (“Abraham…Isaac….Jacob”) are alive and well, then I think it’s pretty safe to assume that they are indeed alive. Last week we had the Feast of the Transfiguration when Jesus speaks with Moses…a “dead” man (Matthew 17:1-4). Therefore, it is incorrect to call those Christians who have passed away “dead”. They are more alive in God than they have ever been!
Music Monday: Our God Reigns
Today’s entry is probably one of my all-time favourite “Praise & Worship” songs…
Yours and so much mine
By the morning, light is Thine
Perfect by design
Mighty to man, light of the earth
Sending His Son to echo His worth
Breaker of sin, winner of souls
Every creature will know
Our God reigns over the heavens
Over the earth, Our God reigns
Praise His name, All still standing
All that was, all that remains
Our God reigns
Deepest Ocean opened wide
So shall love divide
In devotion to His bride
Standing by her side
…
So much Holy, So divine
Yours and so much mine
Why are Christians Persecuted?
Particularly given what’s going on in Iraq at the moment, it is worth taking a few moments to consider why Christianity undergoes such persecution…
Why palms?
Today’s post is one of those blog entries which I wrote quickly wrote and then forgot to schedule for publishing. Well, better late than never…
Tonight I went to an Eastern Orthodox parish for Saturday Vespers and I was struck by how they decorated their church in preparation for Palm Sunday:
Now, the reason for decorating with palms was obvious, given that Sunday is called “Palm Sunday” and in the liturgy we’ll hear the account of Jesus being welcomed with palm branches:
The next day a great crowd who had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” – John 12:12-13
However, I got to wondering…why palms? Was there any significance to it?
Thinking about it, I realized that many of the icons in my own parish featured palm branches. What was the symbolism? I was curious, so I went looking…