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dailyanarchistposts · 2 months ago

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Pacifism

Thou shalt not kill was a religious command, and pacifism began as a religious or quasi-religious doctrine. The condemnation of individual retaliation appears in most “higher” religions and philosophies — so that the submissive non-resistance of Christianity is closely analogous to the non-violence of Indian religion, the non-assertion of Chinese Taoism, and the defiant non-resistance of Socrates and many of his successors. The power of non-violence over violence, of apparent weakness over apparent strength, of right over might, is illustrated in every mythology — Jack the Giant-Killer, David and Goliath and Daniel in the Lions’ Den, Rama and Ravan and Gautama and Mara, the Battle of Marathon or the Battle of Britain, Horatius on the Bridge or the schoolboy’s voice saying Play up, play up, mid play the game, or Thurber’s Termite. The difference is that Jesus and Gautama and Mahavira and Lao-tse and Socrates have ordered non-retaliation as a moral imperative rather than merely pointing it as a moral to a story. But it was only individual non-retaliation — the State still had to punish offenders at home and fight enemies abroad. And there were several personal inconsistencies — Jesus told us not to resist evil, but he drove the money-changers from the Temple by force; Socrates would not resist the Athenian state, but he fought bravely enough in the Athenian army; Marcus Aurelius as a philosopher was a convinced Stoic, but as a Roman Emperor he persecuted Christians and fought barbarians vigorously; Asoka was converted to Buddhism and renounced war, but he kept his conquests and ruled as firmly as ever.

The contradiction between the known wrongness and the continued use of violence has usually been rationalised by the assertion that life in this world is either evil or illusory, so that either you have to do bad things for good reasons or else it doesn’t really matter what you do anyway. Followers of theoretically non-violent systems have in practice tended to make life tolerable by treating the more difficult doctrines as counsels of perfection or to withdraw from it into asceticism or quietism or both. This tendency is of course greatly reinforced when a religion or philosophy becomes established by the State. “Every Church,” said Tolstoy, “excludes the doctrine of Christ.” The story of pacifism is ini fact the story of the way monks and heretics preserved the doctrine of Christ despite its rejection by the Churches.

The early Christians, who were heretics themselves, often took non-resistance seriously. It is well known that many of them refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods and were martyred; it is less well known that many of them similarly refused to bear arms in the Roman legions and were also martyred. Many writers, such as Origen and Lactantius, made uncomplimentary remarks about war; Tertullian’s De Corona condemned it out of hand. The change came at the beginning of the 4th century, naturally enough, when Christianity was made the state religion of the Roman Empire— when, according to the Spanish humanist, Luis Vives, “Constantine entered the house of Christ with the Devil by his side.” This was when the revolting doctrine of the “just war” was invented, though to see it at its best you must read Augustine or Aquinas, The Czech theologian, Petr Chelcicky wrote a book called The Net of Faith (1521), which described how the net had been strong enough to hold little fish like the early Christians but was broken by big fish like Constantine, so that they nearly all got away. But not quite all. The doctrine of non-resistance was held by early heretical sects like the Montanists and Marcionists, and later ones like the Albigenses and Waldenses always tended to condemn war (and, as often as not, the Warfare State as well). The same was true of 16th century humanists like Erasmus and Vives. But modern pacifism began with the followers of Wyclif, the Lollards, and of Hus. When the extreme Hussites—Taborites— were routed in 1434 by their moderate enemies— Calixtines— after twenty years of bitter war, the survivors became non-resistants under their new name of Bohemian Brethren; the Moravians were a later branch who emigrated to America. Many “anabaptist” (i.e. extreme Protestant) sects followed the same pattern of pacifism following disaster after the fall of Minister in 1535. The Dutch Mennonites and Collegiants, the German Schwenkfelders and Dunkers, and the English Brownists and Baptists, were only a few of the unknown number of anabaptist sects who turned towards anarchist pacifism in the 16th and 17th centuries, when it became clear that the Kingdom of Heaven was not of this world.

But the best known of all the peace sects is the Society of Friends* which has been chiefly responsible for keeping Christian pacifism alive during the last three hundred years. There have been many later sects —the French Camisards, the Russian Molokans and Dukhobors, the AngloAmerican Shakers, Christadelphians, Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses— but the Quakers have had the greatest influence, because they have taken the maximum part in conventional life with the minimum compromise of their principles, and because they have been so much more tolerant than most other religious groups. The Quaker “peace testimony” appeared as early as George Fox’s reply to Cromwell’s Army Commissioners in 1651 and James Naylor’s last words in 1660, and it was formally stated in the ofl&cial declaration of the Society in January 1661 : “We certainly know and do testify to the world that the spirit of Christ, which leads us into all truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the Kingdom of Christ nor for the kingdoms of this world .. When we have been wronged we have not sought to revenge ourselves. Never shall we lift up hand against any that thus use us, but desire the Lord may have mercy upon them, that they may consider what they have done.” This is a perfect formulation of the doctrine of non-resistance (and is exactly what Winstanley had been saying ten years earlier — how many disappointed Diggers became Quakers?). The remarkable thing is that the Quakers have never wavered from their first position.[2] Penn’s “Holy Experiment” of Pennsylvania was from its foundation in 1682 to the fall of the Quaker regime in 1756 the nearest to a non-violent state in history. Robert Barclay said in his Apologia (1676): “It is not lawful for Christians to resist evil or to war or fight in any cause.” Johnathan Dymond said in his Essay on War (1829): “Either we must refuse to fight or we must abandon Christianity.” This is still the Quaker view, and Quakers have always taken the lead in both the official peace movement and the unofficial pacifist movement. When A. C. F. Beales set out to write his History of Peace (1931), he was “surprised to find that every single idea current today about peace and war was being preached by organised bodies over a century ago, and that the world-wide ramifications of the presentday peace movement can be traced back in unbroken continuity to a handful of forgotten Quakers in England and America at the close of the Napoleonic Wars.” Thus it was quaker initiative that led to the formation of the British Peace Society in 1816 and of the National Peace Council in 1905, and Quakers have always been active in warrelief work (which has twice won them the Nobel Peace Prize). More important, it was Quakers who bore the brunt of resistance to the demands of the Militia Acts between 1757 and 1860, both by public protest and by individual conscientious objection. So they tried to prevent war happening and resisted when it did.

The point is that Quakers don’t actually follow the doctrine of non-resistance at all. Fox told Cromwell in 1654, “My weapons are not carnal but spiritual,” but they were highly effective weapons for all that. (“The armed prophet triumphs,” said Machiavelli, “the unarmed prophet perishes.” Fox’s soul goes marching on, but where is Cromwell’s?) Quakers have never been reluctant to protest against social injustice. Elizabeth Fry’s prison work is hardly “non-resistance”. It was Quakers who led the campaign against slavery, from the early protest of the German Friends in Pennsylvania in 1688 to the formation of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1787, and right on to the end. In fact one of the most interesting things in the history of modern dissent is the close connection between professed nonresistance to evil and sustained resistance to racial oppression. William Lloyd Garrison, the American Abolitionist leader, wasn’t a Quaker because he wasn’t a Christian, but he was a total non-resistant, and so were many of his colleagues — such as Whittier, Ballou and Musser. Indeed he symbolises in his own career this curious connection, for he was not only the founder of the New England and American AntiSlavery Societies and editor of the Liberator but also the founder of the New England Non-Resistance Society and editor of the NonResistor,

One day it might be worth making a detailed examination of the Boston Peace Convention of 1838, where the Non-Resistance Societywas formed. It passed a resolution “that no man, no government, has a right to take the life of man, on any pretext, according to the gospel of Christ,” and issued a Declaration of Sentiments, including the following: “We cannot acknowledge allegiance to any human government . , . Our country is the world, our countrymen are all mankind [this was the motto of the Liberator] ... We repudiate all human politics, worldly honours and stations of authority ... We cordially adopt the nonresistance principle.” Here is pure Christian anarchism, derived from 17th century Puritanism— no wonder it excited Tolstoy so much. But these gentle unworldly pacifists were right in the front of the campaign against slavery, and Garrison was notorious for his language about the American slave-owners, which was no less violent than Bertrand Russell’s about the present rulers of the world. Non-resistance indeed!

The fact is that theoretical non-resistance only means non-resistance in practice when it remains silent. The mere declaration of conscientious objection to violence is a form of resistance, since it involves nonco-operation with the State’s key functions of oppression and war. The State can tolerate the abolition of slavery, but not the abolition of war as well. When Jesus abrogated the traditional talion law he was unwittingly challenging his State. When Dymond said in 1826, “Now is the time for anti-slavery exertion; the time will come for anti-war exertion,” he was similarly threatening his State and ours. As Bourne said in 1918, “We cannot crusade against war without crusading implicitly against the State.” It is because most pacifists never realise this that they are constantly surprised by the hostility their behavour provokes. Most pacifists are really sentimentalists— hoping to get rid of war without changing anything else, so you can bully people as long as you don’t actually kill them. It was because the greatest of all pacifists— Tolstoy— saw through this sentimentalism that he became an anarchist after 1878 as well as a pacifist. He never called himself one, since he used the word to describe those who relied on violence, but his eloquent and unequivocal condemnation of the State makes him one of the greatest of all anarchists too. His remark that “the most frightful robber-band is not as frightful as the State,” is simply an echo from Augustine’s City of God without Augustine’s pious reservation: “Without justice, what are States but great robber-bands.” And because Tolstoy utterly denied the justice of the State’s authority, he had to proclaim the duty of total resistance to the State’s totalitarian demands. It is ironical that he derived the right of resistance to the State from the same source that Augustine derived the right of oppression by the State— God.

“The clear and simple question is that,” he said in his Letter to the Russian Conscientious Objectors (1909): “Which law do you consider to be binding for yourself—the law of God, which is your conscience; or the law of man, which is the State?” The answer is in no doubt. “Do not resist evil,” he said in his Letter to a Hindu (1908), “but do not participate in evil either.” The doctrine is non-resistance, but the implication is obstinate resistance. He had already said in his Letter to the Swedish Peace Party (1899): “Those in power neither can nor will abolish their armies.” And the solution? “The people must take the matter into their own hands.” Here we see how religious pacifism and political anti-militarism came to the same conclusion before the Great War, for what Tolstoy was advocating was in fact a non-violent general strike, individual civil disobedience on such a scale that it became direct action, a revolutionary technique similar to those proposed by William Godwin, Pierre Proudhon and Benjamin Tucker, an anarcho-syndicalist insurrection without the insistence on violence that disfigured the thought of Bakunin, Kropotkin and Malatesta. But how can such a strike be organised? In the event the pacifists were shown to suffer from the same false optimism as the anti-militarists, for when the Great War came their non- violent general strike turned out to be just as much of a myth as the industrial; general strike; and they were reduced to individual conscientious objection when they were called up.

It is often thought that military conscription was unknown in this country until the Great War, but as well as the old Militia Acts there were the press-gangs and the most efficient recruiting sergeant of all, hunger; Professor Coulton’s reference to “hunger-conscripts under the name of volunteers” was no exaggeration, and it was hunger that kept the British Army going until war became too professional and too efficient in killing people. Conscription in its modern form appeared on the horizon only when the weakness of British military preparations was revealed by the Boer War (the first serious war for half a century), and the foundation of the National Service League in 1902 began a long campaign for compulsory military service. Even when the Great War came the Government delayed as long as possible, hoping that Alfred Leete’s picture of Kitchener saying Your Country needs You would be enough. But within the first year the failure of voluntary recruiting led to National Registration (of all men and women between 15 and 75!), and this showed that two million men of military age had decided not to fight for their King and Country. After this the process was fairly rapid, with “attestation” in October 1915, conscription for single men in January and married men in May 1916, and further extensions in March and May 1917 and again in January and April 1918. Conscription didn’t come to an end until August 1921.[3]

Nothing is more instructive than the way the leaders of the Labour Movement rejected every stage in this process before it happened and then accepted it afterwards, condemning the principle of conscription all the time they were collaborating with it. In the same way they managed between the Wars to oppose pacifism and unilateral disarmament on one side and conscription and rearmament on the other, and once again they accepted the fact of conscription when it returned in April 1939; after the last War, of course, it was the Labour Government that extended conscription in 1947 and also decided to manufacture and test the British Bomb. All with the best intentions. In much the same way the Official peace movement — the conference and arbitration people — which had been trying to build igloos in the Sahara for a century, collapsed as ignominiously as the Second International in 1914 and offered even less resistance in 1939. On both occasions the only people who stood firmly and unwaveringly against all war were the extreme pacifists and the extreme socialists (including many anarchists). Here we come up against the really crucial problem, which consists of two questions — Who are the real war-resisters? and How can the warresisters really resist war?

The answer to the first question was given in the Great War, when the Labour and peace movements utterly failed to resist, when the “conscientious objectors” were found to have political as well as religious principles, when the people who formed the No Conscription Fellowship in November 1914 and began going to jail just over a year later turned out to be mostly Quakers and members of the ILP. Real pacifism and real anti-militarism were the same thing, though some people followed one rather than the other, since they persuaded the same end by the same means. Religious people had to have political feelings to make the public protest, and political people had to have religious feelings to take the punishment. Remember how unpleasant it was to be a “conchie” in the Great War.

It is estimated that 6,000 men went to prison, and the common sentence was two years; worse, you could be arrested immediately after release ,if they wanted to play cat-and-mouse with you. More than 650 people were imprisoned twice, and three were actually put inside six times. Arthur Creech Jones, later a Labour Colonial Secretary, was sentenced in succession to 6 months, 12 months, 2 years and 2 years again; Fenner Brockway, founder of the NCF and later of the Movement for Colonial Freedom, got 6 months, 12 months and 2 years. (Notice how both of them were strong anti-racialists as well as anti-militarists.) At least 34 men were taken over to France in May 1916 and sentenced to be shot, though Asquith stopped any of the sentences being carried out; and more than twice that number died as a direct result of brutal treatment they received in custody, which was quite normal. It is a valid criticism of individual passive resistance to war to point out that it is ineffective, but critics must admit that it demanded considerable courage and determination. The obvious corollary is that this determination should somehow be employed more effectively, and the obvious hope between the Wars was that it would be properly organised.

But that hope was false. The NCF was dissolved in November 1919, though it was revived in February 1921 as the No More Wat Movement; in February 1937 this was absorbed by the Peace Pledge Union, which had been formed after Dick Sheppard’s famous letter of October 1934. (It is odd how Arthur Ponsonby’s similar declaration of December 1927 has been forgotten, while the Peace Pledge has become part of the national memory, along with the irrelevant Peace Ballot of 1934–35 and the unimportant Oxford Union resolution of February 1933). The result was in effect to dissolve the alliance between the religious and the political war-resisters, and this couldn’t be restored by the War Resisters’ International (which was formed in Holland in 1921) because its British section was the predominantly religious PPU. It is true that the PPU kept the faith alive and got well over 100,000 members by 1939, but it was passivist as well as pacifist, and when the war against Fascism came and thousands of men broke their pledges, it was reduced to publishing literature and counting up the numbers of COs in the registrations (seldom more than 2% and usually less than 1%). So after 1945 the situation was far more hopeless than it had been before 1914, because the war-resisters had failed miserably twice-over, and far more urgent too, because the Bomb meant that the next war really would be the war to end war, and everything else with it. The first question had been answered, but there was stili no answer to the second one — How can war-resisters really resist war? Perhaps it was just because everything had become so hopeless and so urgent that the answer came at last

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thepastisalreadywritten · 18 days ago

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SAINT OF THE DAY (November 7)

St. Engelbert was born in Berg around the year 1185 to Engelbert, Count of Berg, and Margaret, daughter of the Count of Gelderland.

He studied at the cathedral school of Cologne.

While still a boy, he was made provost of the churches of St. George and St. Severin at Cologne and of St. Mary's at Aachen, as it was a common abuse in the Church at the time to appoint the children of nobles to such positions.

In 1199, he was elected provost of the cathedral at Cologne.

He led a worldly life. During a conflict between two Archbishops, Adolf and Bruno, he sided with his cousin Adolf and waged war for him.

Consequently, he was excommunicated by the Pope along with his cousin.

After his submission, he was reinstated in 1208. To atone for his sin, he joined the crusade against the Albigenses in 1212.

On 29 February 1216, the chapter of the cathedral elected him archbishop by a unanimous vote.

The mendicant orders of the Franciscans and the Dominicans settled in his realm while he was Archbishop.

He was well disposed towards the monasteries and insisted on strict religious observance in them.

Ecclesiastical affairs were regulated in provincial synods. He was considered a friend of the clergy and a helper of the poor.

Engelbert exerted a strong influence in the affairs of the empire.

Emperor Frederick II, who had taken up his residence permanently in Sicily, gave Germany to his son, Henry VII, then still a minor.

In 1221, he appointed Engelbert as guardian of the king and administrator of the empire.

When the young king reached the age of twelve, he was crowned at Aachen by Engelbert, who loved him as his own son and honoured him as his sovereign.

Engelbert watched over the young king's education and governed the empire in his name, careful to secure peace both within and without of the realm.

Engelbert's devotion to duty, and his obedience to the pope and to the emperor, were eventually the cause of his ruin.

Many of the nobility feared rather than loved him, and he was obliged to surround himself with bodyguards.

The greatest danger came from his relatives.

His cousin, Count Frederick of Isenberg, the secular administrator for the nuns of Essen, had grievously oppressed that abbey.

Honorius III and the emperor urged Engelbert to protect the nuns and their rights.

Frederick wished to forestall the archbishop, and his wife incited him to murder.

On 7 November 1225, as he was journeying from Soest to Schwelm to consecrate a church, Engelbert was attacked on a dark evening by Frederick and his associates, was wounded in the thigh, torn from his horse and killed.

His body was covered with forty-seven wounds. It was placed on a dung-cart and brought to Cologne four days later.

King Henry wept bitterly over the remains, put Frederick under the ban of the empire, and saw him broken on the wheel a year later at Cologne.

Frederick died contrite, having acknowledged and confessed his guilt.

Engelbert's body was placed in the old cathedral of Cologne on 24 February 1226 by Cardinal Conrad von Urach.

The latter also declared him a martyr, though a formal canonization did not take place.

In the martyrology, Engelbert is commemorated on November 7 as a martyr.

A convent for nuns was erected at the place of his death.

#Saint of the Day #St. Engelbert #St Engelbert of Cologne

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nossasenhoraaparecida · 1 year ago

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🙏✝️SANTO DO DIA✝️🙏

🙏✝️13 DE JUNHO✝️🙏

🙏✝️Santo Antônio, franciscano e doutor da Igreja✝️🙏

Lisboa ou Pádua?

Celebramos a memória do popular santo — doutor da Igreja — que nasceu em Lisboa, no ano de 1195, e morreu nas vizinhanças da cidade de Pádua, na Itália, em 1231. Por isso, é conhecido como Santo Antônio de Lisboa ou de Pádua. O seu nome de batismo era Fernando de Bulhões y Taveira de Azevedo.

Agostinianos ou franciscanos?

Com 15 anos, entrou para a Ordem dos Cônegos Regulares de Santo Agostinho e foi ordenado sacerdote, com 24 anos de idade, encaminhado à carreira de filósofo e teólogo. Mas, ao conhecer a família dos franciscanos, que não só o encantou pelo testemunho dos mártires em Marrocos, como também o arrastou para a vida itinerante na santa pobreza, uma vez que também queria testemunhar Jesus com todas as forças, o santo decidiu-se por seguir os passos de Francisco e deixou a ordem de Agostinho.

Antônio, missionário e pregador

Escolheu ser chamado de Antônio em veneração a Santo Antão — anacoreta, no Egito. Logo que entrou na Ordem Franciscana, foi enviado para Marrocos. Ali, Antônio ficou tão doente, que teve de voltar, mas, providencialmente, porque foi ao encontro do “Pobre de Assis”, o qual lhe autorizou a ensinar aos frades as ciências que não atrapalhassem os irmãos de viverem o Santo Evangelho.

Nesse sentido, Santo Antônio não fez muito, pois seu maior destaque foi na vivência e pregação do Evangelho, o que era confirmado por muitos milagres, além de auxiliar no combate à Seita dos Cátaros e Albigenses, os quais isoladamente viviam uma falsa doutrina e pobreza. Ele atraía grandes multidões com as suas pregações, passava diversas horas no confessionário e reservava, para si, momentos de retiro em solidão.

Páscoa

Continuou vivendo para a pregação da palavra de Cristo, servindo à sua família franciscana por meio da ocupação de altos cargos de serviço na Ordem, isso até morrer com 36 anos para esta vida e entrar para a Vida Eterna, em 13 de junho de 1231.

O santo, muito querido, amado e venerado já em vida, foi sepultado no quinto dia após sua morte, depois de uma longa decisão de onde seu corpo seria encerrado. Foi carregado em grande procissão até a Igreja de Santa Maria em Pádua.

Popularidade

Sua popularidade era tamanha, que, imediatamente, o seu sepulcro tornou-se meta de peregrinações que duram até nossos dias. São milhares os relatos de milagres e graças alcançadas rogando seu nome. Ele foi canonizado no ano seguinte ao de sua morte pelo Papa Gregório IX.

Reconhecido pela influência de Santo Agostinho, Antônio conjugou, de modo original, mente e coração, pesquisa teórica, prática das virtudes, estudo e oração.

A minha oração

Querido Santo Antônio, fostes um exímio pregador e servo do Senhor. Ensina-me a ser também uma serva fiel e entregue aos desígnios de Deus para a minha vida. Quero conseguir também viver conjugando mente e coração, estudo e oração. Amém!

Santo Antônio, rogai por nós!

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cruger2984 · 1 year ago

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THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT DOMINIC Patron Saint of Astronomers and Astronomy Feast Day: August 8

"One day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, Our Lady will save the world."

Dominic de Guzmán (Domingo Félix de Guzmán), the founder of the Ordo Praedicatorum (Order of Preachers aka Dominicans), was born in Caleruega, Kingdom of Castile (present-day Castile-Leon, Spain), on August 8, 1170.

In the earliest narrative source, by Jordan of Saxony, Dominic's parents are not named. The story is told that before his birth, his barren mother, Joan of Aza (Juana de Aza), made a pilgrimage to the Abbey at Silos, and dreamt that a dog leapt from her womb carrying a flaming torch in its mouth, and seemed to set the earth on fire. This story is likely to have emerged when his order became known, after his name, as the Dominican order, Dominicanus in Latin and a play on words interpreted as Domini canis: 'Dog of the Lord.'

Joan of Aza was beatified by Pope Leo XII in 1829.

After his ordination, he was assigned to the Burgo de Osma Cathedral, where he followed the Rule of St. Augustine. In 1204, as he was on his way to Denmark, he converted the owner of a hotel in Toulouse. This event made him realize that preaching was his special charism (or spiritual gift). Afterwards, he was sent by the Pope to convert the French Albigenses, and after a few years of intense preaching, accompanied by the example of a holy life, many people returned to the Catholic church.

To the monks of Cîteaux, whose efforts against the heretics were fruitless, he said: 'Arm yourself with prayer, rather than a sword; wear humility rather than fine clothes.'

One day, when being asked in what book he studied his beautiful sermons, he answered: 'In no other than the book of love.'

Together with a few missionary companions, he founded in Toulouse the Ordo Praedicatorum, or 'the Order of Preachers', whose members were dedicated to sacred studies and preaching.

They received official approval in 1216. Dominic advised his brothers in these words: 'Speak only of God, or with God.'

One day, he had a vision of the Virgin Mary, who instructed him to propagate the prayer of the Holy Rosary throughout the world.

On the feast of the Assumption in 1217, he sent the Dominicans in all directions, saying: 'We must sow the seed, not hoard it.'

Dominic spent a couple of years in Rome before taking up permanent residence in Bologna (present-day Emilia-Romagna, Italy). There, he died on the Feast of the Lord's Transfiguration - August 6, 1221, at the age of 50, worn out by a life of an intense apostolate.

#random stuff #catholic #catholic saints #dominicans #order of preachers #dominic of osma #dominic of caleruega #domingo félix de guzmán #domingo de guzmán

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hereje-dino · 1 year ago

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@nahual-vagabund0

HEREJE (nombre común)

1. Cristiano que defiende o sostiene una herejía.

-"los herejes albigenses"

2. Persona descreída.

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mybeautifulchristianjourney · 1 year ago

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A HOWLING MOB rampaged through Béziers, killing men, women and children indiscriminately. Pope Innocent III had launched a crusade against the French city.

Béziers, a city of Southern France near the Mediterranean, was boiling with movements opposed to Catholicism. Especially strong were the Cathars (also known as Albigenses because Albi was their principle city). According to their opponents, the Cathars held a corrupt form of Christianity; they are said to have equated the God of the Old Testament with Satan (a Gnostic idea) and to have…

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irunevenus · 1 month ago

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O Massacre de Béziers: Um Capítulo Sombrio da História Religiosa

O Massacre de Béziers, ocorrido em 22 de julho de 1209, é um dos episódios mais infames da história medieval e um marco trágico nas Guerras Albigenses, um conflito que envolveu a Igreja Católica e os cátaros na França. Esse evento violento não apenas simbolizou a brutalidade da repressão religiosa, mas também refletiu o fanatismo que pode surgir em nome da fé. A frase proferida por um dos líderes da Cruzada, Arnaud Amaury, durante o massacre, “Matem todos, Deus reconhecerá os seus” (ou “Kill them all, let God sort them out”), ecoa até os dias de hoje como um lembrete sombrio das consequências do extremismo religioso.

Contexto Histórico: As Guerras Albigenses

As Guerras Albigenses foram um período de intensa luta entre a Igreja Católica e os cátaros, um movimento religioso que se desenvolveu na região do Languedoc, no sul da França. Os cátaros, que promoviam uma visão dualista do mundo e rejeitavam as práticas da Igreja Católica, ganharam seguidores e, consequentemente, despertaram a preocupação da Igreja, que via a heresia como uma ameaça à sua autoridade.

Em resposta ao crescimento do catarismo, o Papa Inocêncio III convocou uma cruzada contra os cátaros em 1209, uma decisão que levou à militarização da luta religiosa. Béziers, uma cidade considerada um bastião dos cátaros, tornou-se o primeiro alvo dessa cruzada.

O Evento: Uma Cidade em Chamas

No dia 22 de julho de 1209, as forças cruzadas cercaram Béziers, iniciando um ataque brutal à cidade. A invasão foi marcada pela violência extrema e pelo assassinato indiscriminado. Os cruzados, motivados por um fervor religioso, atacaram tanto cátaros quanto católicos que não se opuseram ao governo da Igreja. O número exato de mortos nunca será conhecido, mas as estimativas variam de 7.000 a 20.000 vítimas, incluindo homens, mulheres e crianças.

O massacre foi caracterizado por uma completa falta de clemência. As casas foram incendiadas, e a cidade foi reduzida a escombros. Aqueles que buscavam abrigo nas igrejas foram muitas vezes traídos, e muitos foram mortos dentro dos próprios templos. O evento não foi apenas um ato de guerra; foi um genocídio.

A Citação Famosa e Seu Significado

A frase atribuída a Arnaud Amaury, “Matem todos, Deus reconhecerá os seus”, exemplifica o extremismo que permeou a mentalidade dos cruzados. Essa declaração não apenas expressa uma visão distorcida da justiça divina, mas também destaca o desprezo pela vida humana em nome de uma causa religiosa. A ideia de que a divindade separaria os justos dos pecadores após a morte justifica a brutalidade e a violência perpetradas pelos cruzados, refletindo uma lógica que ainda ressoa em conflitos religiosos contemporâneos.

Consequências: A Repressão Religiosa e a Imposição do Poder

O Massacre de Béziers teve consequências profundas e duradouras. A brutalidade do ataque não apenas eliminou uma comunidade, mas também estabeleceu um precedente para a repressão religiosa na França e em outros lugares. As Guerras Albigenses continuaram por mais uma década, mas o massacre de Béziers serviu como um aviso para os cátaros e para todos que se opusessem à Igreja Católica.

A resposta da Igreja à heresia dos cátaros não se limitou apenas a ações militares. O massacre, juntamente com as campanhas subsequentes, solidificou o poder da Inquisição, que foi criada para erradicar a heresia e consolidar a autoridade católica. A brutalidade da cruzada e a declaração de Amaury tornaram-se símbolos de um período de intolerância que buscava a purificação da fé à custa da vida de muitos.

Conclusão: Um Lamento pelo Fanatismo

O Massacre de Béziers é um lembrete sombrio de como a fé pode ser distorcida em nome do poder e da violência. A busca pela verdade e pela justiça, quando corrompida pelo fanatismo, pode levar a atrocidades inimagináveis. A história nos ensina que a intolerância e a crueldade, muitas vezes justificadas por crenças religiosas, podem resultar em tragédias humanas irreparáveis.

Hoje, ao refletirmos sobre esse evento, devemos nos lembrar da importância da tolerância e do diálogo inter-religioso. O massacre é um exemplo trágico de como a falta de compreensão pode levar à destruição, e a frase de Arnaud Amaury continua a ecoar como um aviso sobre os perigos do extremismo religioso. Que possamos aprender com os erros do passado e trabalhar por um futuro onde a diversidade de crenças seja respeitada e celebrada, ao invés de ser motivo para divisão e violência.

#massacre #historia da religiao #religiao

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brucedinsman · 2 years ago

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Fox's Book of Martyrs

https://www.biblestudytools.com/history/foxs-book-of-martyrs/ Edited by William Byron Forbush This is a book that will never die — one of the great English classics. . . . Reprinted here in its most complete form, it brings to life the days when “a noble army, men and boys, the matron and the maid,” “climbed the steep ascent of heaven, ‘mid peril, toil, and pain.” “After the Bible itself, no…

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#2023 #Foxe&039;s Martyrs #Persecutions of the Albigenses

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jgmail · 2 months ago

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Otto Rahn: una vida en busca del Grial

Por Dmitry Moiseev

Traducción de Juan Gabriel Caro Rivera

Dmitry Moiseev explora la vida de Otto Rahn, un aventurero, medievalista y poeta de las SS cuya búsqueda de los cátaros y el Grial nos ofrece una interpretación única y esotérica de las leyendas medievales.

El último Minnesinger

La leyenda del Grial, que según la versión cristiana generalmente aceptada fue la copa de la que bebió Jesucristo en la Última Cena y en la que José de Arimatea recogió después su sangre tras la crucifixión de Jesús en la cruz, es una eterna fuente de inspiración para todo aquel que se interese por las leyendas caballerescas medievales y encuentre en ella un significado especial. Para los cristianos, el Grial es uno de los «Instrumentos de la Pasión» (Arma Christi), los instrumentos del martirio de Jesús, junto con la Cruz, los Clavos, la Corona de Espinas y otros. Para quienes no estén familiarizados con tal interpretación de este símbolo legendario, vale la pena decir que desde la Edad Media europea han existido otras interpretaciones imbuidas de un profundo significado esotérico.

Al hablar de esta leyenda en la obra El misterio del Grial (1937), el tradicionalista italiano Julius Evola (1898-1974) señala: «La historia del Grial en su conjunto tiene un carácter sobrenatural, secreto e iniciático». En el mismo lugar, cita la frase del poeta francés de los siglos XII-XIII Robert de Boron: «Los mortales ordinarios nunca han estado en los orígenes de la gran historia del Grial» (Unque retreite este n'avoit - la grant estoire dou Graal - par nul homme qui fust mortal).

Evola señala que «la piedra que cayó del cielo era una esmeralda que adornaba la frente de Lucifer. Un ángel fiel cortó una parte de ella y así apareció el Grial. Fue entregado a Adán antes de que fuera expulsado del Jardín del Edén. Seth, el hijo de Adán, regresó al paraíso terrenal durante un tiempo y se llevó el Grial con él. Otras personas llevaron el Grial a Montségur, una fortaleza en los Pirineos, que fue asediada por los ejércitos de Lucifer para devolverle el Grial y ponerlo de nuevo en la corona de su líder, de la que se había caído; sin embargo, se creía que el Grial había sido salvado por los caballeros que lo escondieron dentro de una montaña».

El Grial, ¿una copa o una piedra?

Para Otto Wilhelm Rahn (1904-1939), medievalista alemán inspirado por la historia del Grial, la versión no cristiana de la leyenda fue la principal inspiración de su corta, apasionada y extremadamente productiva vida. Su lectura de la leyenda del Grial, a la que están dedicados sus dos libros, es excepcionalmente original; ofrece una idea completamente insólita de esta leyenda, radicalmente distinta de la popular, de la que se desprende toda una consistente enseñanza espiritual, inspirada en el largo estudio de Rahn sobre la caballería cátara y la tragedia de la Cruzada Albigense (1209-1229), que tuvo como consecuencia el genocidio de la civilización occitana por los cristianos y la destrucción de sus enseñanzas espirituales originales. Como parte de esta serie de cuatro artículos para Arktos Journal, examinaremos la leyenda del Grial a través del prisma de la mirada clara de Otto Rahn y resumiremos brevemente su visión de la enseñanza espiritual cátara, tradicional de las tierras de Provenza.

Otto Rahn nació el 18 de febrero de 1904 en la ciudad alemana de Michelstadt, en la tierra de Hesse, en el centro de Alemania, cerca de la cordillera de Odenwald. El ambiente de la infancia del futuro escritor estaba impregnado de leyendas de caballería medieval: tanto su padre, Karl, como su madre, Clara, introdujeron al niño en las historias de Lohengrin, Sigfrido y Parsifal. Esto influyó mucho en la visión del mundo de Rahn, que más tarde escribió: «Mis antepasados eran paganos y mis abuelos herejes».

En 1910, el pequeño Otto fue a la escuela y luego ingresó en la Universidad Justus Liebig de Giessen, una de las más antiguas de Alemania, donde estudió Derecho, Filosofía Alemana, Historia y Filología. Se licenció en filología e historia en 1924 con una tesis titulada Investigación del maestro Kyot de Wolfram von Eschenbach. Decidió continuar sus estudios en la Ruprecht-Karls-Universität de Heidelberg y en la Albert-Ludwigs-Universität de Friburgo, pero pronto cambió de opinión sobre seguir por la senda académica y decidió centrarse en el trabajo literario. Al mismo tiempo, el deterioro de la situación económica en Alemania y en todo el mundo obligó a Rahn a realizar diversos trabajos para sobrevivir. Tradujo textos, escribió guiones para películas y trabajó como vendedor ambulante. Al mismo tiempo, su principal interés seguía siendo la espiritualidad cátara de Provenza, devastada por los católicos: Rahn se sentía atraído por aquellas tierras y estaba esperando una excusa conveniente para comenzar su propia investigación original de esta historia, que le obsesionaba desde la infancia.

¿Quién, además de sus padres y su profesor universitario de Teología, el barón von Gall, que dedicó una parte importante de su vida al estudio de la tragedia cátara, y los genios alemanes Goethe (1749-1832) y Novalis (1772-1801), a los que el propio escritor se refiere, definió la visión del mundo de Otto Rahn y su formación? Christopher Jones señala que, en 1844, año del aniversario número 600 de la caída de Montségur, el tema cátaro se estaba haciendo extremadamente popular en Europa. Se consideraba a los cátaros como los primeros anticatólicos y anticlericales, siendo esta perspectiva la que atrojo cada vez más atención sobre su drama. Cabe destacar obras fundamentales de este periodo, como la Historia de los albigenses (1872) de Napoléon Peyrat en dos volúmenes y Ensayos sobre la historia de las sectas medievales (1890) de Ignaz von Döllinger. Además, las opiniones de Rahn estaban obviamente influidas por el historiador de la religión francés Joseph Ernest Renan, autor de La vida de Jesús (1863), que provocó la furia de la Iglesia católica.

Tras años de estudio, en 1928, Rahn visitó París, donde conoció a Maurice Magre (1877-1941), poeta y escritor francés de creencias budistas, con quien el medievalista alemán compartía un interés común por las enseñanzas cátaras. Posteriormente, Magre escribiría los libros La sangre de Toulouse (1931) y El tesoro de los albigenses (1938), inspirados en la historia del catarismo. Con la ayuda de Magre, Rahn conoce a Miriam de Pujol-Murat, una condesa francesa que se consideraba descendiente de la legendaria Esclarmonde de Foix, guardiana del Grial y chatelaine de Montségur. Posteriormente, Miriam se convirtió en una de las patrocinadoras de la investigación de Rahn. También fue miembro del grupo ocultista Les Polaires, que buscaba rastros del legendario Christian Rosenkreutz.

Cuadro moderno que retrata a Esclarmonde de Foix

En 1931 Rahn visitó Ginebra, tras lo cual comenzó por fin su propia investigación sobre la saga del Grial en los Pirineos franceses. Su compañero de viaje fue el escritor suizo Paul-Alexis Ladame (1909-2000), quien, al igual que Rahn, se consideraba heredero de una antigua familia cátara. Ladame relató posteriormente muchos recuerdos de sus aventuras y las de Rahn, y en su última obra, sobre la que llama la atención el traductor al inglés de Rahn, Christopher Jones, cita el adagio cátaro: «Dentro de 700 años, cuando el laurel vuelva a reverdecer» (Al cap de set cent ans, lo laurel verdejara), las últimas palabras del último Perfectus cátaro, Guilhem de Bélibaste, antes de ser quemado vivo. También se les unió Antonin Gadal (1871-1962), místico francés, historiador del catarismo y especialista en espeleología (exploración de cuevas). Gadal instó a Rahn a prestar especial atención al papel del castillo de Montségur. Durante dos años, Rahn y sus amigos viajaron a Languedoc, Provenza y los Pirineos, tras lo cual, en mayo de 1932, fue expulsado de Francia bajo sospecha de espiar para Alemania. A su regreso a Alemania, el 13 de diciembre de 1933, se afilió a la Unión Alemana de Escritores.

El material recopilado fue suficiente para escribir un libro, del que la editorial Urban de Friburgo de Brisgovia publicó 5.000 ejemplares en 1934: La cruzada contra el Grial: La lucha entre los cátaros, los templarios y la Iglesia de Roma. Aproximadamente el mismo número de ejemplares del libro se vendieron en Francia tras la traducción del texto al francés.

Rahn comienza este texto reconstruyendo detalladamente el espíritu de la Provenza medieval, hablando a su lector de los trovadores, su cultura y su lengua: «La Poesía era la voz melodiosa de la caballería; su gracioso lenguaje, el «provenzal», primogénito entre los idiomas neolatinos, pero entretejido, cual polícroma alfombra, de retazos ibéricos, griegos, celtas, góticos y árabes». En cuanto a la poesía occitana, el historiador alemán recurre al romance inacabado del poeta medieval francés Chrétien de Troyes Perceval, Historia del Grial, así como a su versión alemana, Parzival, de Wolfram von Eschenbach, estableciendo paralelismos entre los acontecimientos de su novela y las circunstancias históricas del hundimiento de la cultura provenzal.

Reflexionando sobre la fe cátara, escribe: «Los cátaros sentían que nuestra tierra no era su patria. La comparaban con una prisión que un arquitecto, falto de experiencia, hubiera construido con materiales de baja calidad. Eran conscientes de que su verdadera patria se encontraba allende las estrellas. «Aquél Arriba», decían, ha sido construido por el Espíritu, que es Amor: que no es ni odio ni guerra, sino vida; que no es ni enfermedad ni muerte, sino… Dios. En el principio era el Espíritu. En él estaba la Palabra, y ellos eran Dios. Así como dentro de nosotros existen dos mundos que se combaten: el espíritu, que está pronto, y la carne, que es flaca, así también en el universo hay dos principios de acción: el Sí y el No, el Bien y el Mal».

Rahn pasa al mito griego del Vellocino de Oro, sobre los Argonautas, así como a los relatos sobre Hércules y sus trabajos, luego a las leyendas celtas, tras lo cual expone la idea que desarrolló sobre la «fe de los Puros», o, dicho de otro modo, sobre las auténticas creencias del pueblo provenzal: «La Iglesia de Amor (Minne) occitana se componía de perfectos y de creyentes o imperfectos. Los creyentes no estaban obligados a las reglas severas según las cuales vivían los Perfectos, en su condición de «Puros». Podían actuar como bien les pluguiera: casarse, dedicarse a los negocios, componer canciones de Minne, hacer la guerra; en resumen, vivir como entonces se vivía en Occitania. El nombre de cátaro en realidad estaba reservado a quienes, después de un tiempo de preparación exactamente delimitado y a través de una acción sacramental (el consolamentum, consolación), de la que más adelante hablaremos, habían sido iniciados en los misterios esotéricos de la Iglesia de Amor».

Rahn llama la atención sobre el hecho de que «los Puros» tenían su propia metafísica, que difería significativamente de los dogmas cristianos. En La cruzada contra el Grial describe brevemente sus principios: “En el principio existía Dios, el Eterno, el Insondable, el que tiene mil nombres y, sin embargo, es el que es: «¡Dios!». En el principio, la Palabra, el Logos, estaba con Dios. Su Padre es Dios, su Madre el Espíritu, que está en Dios. La Palabra es Dios. En el principio existía también el Espíritu. Él es el Amor con el que Dios emitió la Palabra que se hizo Vida y Luz. El Espíritu es Amor. El Espíritu es Dios. El Amor es Dios. El Amor es más resplandeciente que el sol y más brillante que las piedras preciosas más valiosas…”

Según Rahn, el concepto cátaro de Dios como Espíritu está estrechamente vinculado a las creencias precristianas de griegos y celtas. También, siguiendo a Maurice Magre, detecta algunas influencias budistas: “Uno de los símbolos del Espíritu, que es Dios —símbolo tomado del budismo por los cátaros—, era la Mani, piedra preciosa que, con sus fulgores, ilumina el mundo y hace olvidar todo deseo terrenal. La Mani es el emblema de la ley budista que disipa la noche del error. En el Nepal y en el Tíbet se la considera como el símbolo del amor al prójimo: de la dhyanibodhissattva Avalokitecvara o Padmapani”.

Poco a poco, Rahn llega a la convicción de que lo que Wolfram von Eschenbach describió en su famoso romance caballeresco es un relato cifrado de los acontecimientos de la cruzada contra los albigenses, que en la visión de Rahn aparece como un intento de capturar el Grial. Tras haber descrito detalladamente en La cruzada contra el Grial las circunstancias históricas de esta tragedia de Provenza, Rahn formula una pregunta clave y le da inmediatamente respuesta: “¿Qué pasa con el Grial, la Mani occitana? Según una leyenda pirenaica, el Grial se aleja tanto más de este mundo, tanto más se eleva hacia el cielo, cuanto que la humanidad se haga indigna de él. Tal vez los puros de Occitania custodien el Grial en una de las estrellas que circundan, como una aureola, Montségur, el Gólgota de Occitania. El Grial simbolizaba el anhelo del paraíso, en el que el ser humano era imagen, y no caricatura, de Dios, imagen que puede contemplarse cuando se ama al prójimo como a sí mismo. Héroes caballerescos, poetas orantes, sacerdotes poetas, mujeres puras, fueron en otro tiempo los guardianes de este símbolo”.

Las investigaciones poéticas de Otto Rahn no parecían reportarle la popularidad necesaria para que pudiera permitirse el lujo de olvidarse de los asuntos mundanos rutinarios. Sin embargo, un día, pasando de nuevo por dificultades económicas, el escritor recibe un misterioso telegrama anónimo que contiene una oferta para pagarle 1.000 Reichsmarks al mes por escribir una continuación de La cruzada contra el Grial. La carta sólo contenía la dirección: Berlín, Prinz-Albrecht-Straße 7. Respondiendo al interés de un misterioso patrocinador, el medievalista alemán descubrió que el remitente era Heinrich Himmler en persona, el Reichsführer de las SS y uno de los hombres más poderosos de la Alemania nacionalsocialista. Himmler informó a Rahn de que estaba muy impresionado por su libro y le invitó a continuar sus investigaciones bajo su patrocinio. Rahn entró en contacto con el «mago de la corte» de Himmler, Karl Maria Wiligut (Weisthor), y comenzó a trabajar en la Oficina Principal de Raza y Asentamiento de las SS (Rasse und Siedlungshauptamt, RuSHA).

El 12 de marzo de 1936, Rahn fue aceptado en el rango de oficial de Unterscharführer. Se convirtió en miembro de la Allgemeine-SS, con el número 276 208. Parecía que el futuro del científico alemán estaba despejado: con semejante patrocinio en la Alemania de entonces, era posible resolver cualquier problema. Rahn continuó sus investigaciones, dio conferencias públicas y habló en la radio, pero rápidamente cayó en desgracia. Siguió manteniendo relaciones con opositores abiertos al régimen como Adolf Friese; en general, no le gustaba el rumbo que estaba tomando el Estado nazi. En particular, escribió: «Hay mucho dolor en mi país. Es imposible para una persona tolerante y liberal como yo vivir en lo que se ha convertido mi país natal».

En 1937, la editorial Schwarzhäupter-Verlag de Leipzig publicó el segundo y último libro de Rahn, La corte de Lucifer: Un viaje a los buenos espíritus de Europa. Si La cruzada contra el Grial era más bien un estudio histórico, aunque con digresiones y reflexiones filosóficas, La corte de Lucifer es una posición espiritual articulada sobre las creencias neo-cátaras de Otto Rahn. El libro está concebido en forma de diario de viaje de un escritor que se desplaza a lugares relacionados con la visión que desarrolla: Provenza, Italia, Alemania, Suiza e Islandia. «Ahora la imagen que vi espiritualmente puede ser observada, comprendida y amada por otros», escribe Rahn inspiradamente en el prefacio de su obra. Allí expone detalladamente sus enseñanzas sobre el Grial. Hablando de Adelaida, la madre de Raymond-Roger Trencavel, vizconde de Carcasona, Rahn escribe: «Adelaida y su hijo se consagraron a la herejía. Rechazaron la cruz como Símbolo de Salud. El Grial era, según mis nuevos conocimientos, el símbolo de la creencia herética. Tal como tantas veces Wolfram von Eschenbach lo proclama, fue depositado en la tierra por los Puros. Con éstos daba por entendido que aludía a los cátaros, ya que cátaro significa puro». A continuación, Rahn detalla su visión del código espiritual occitano que cree haber desentrañado: “Yo sostengo lo que ya destaqué en su momento y en el sur de Francia: como el propio Wolfram expone, las verdaderas leyendas del Grial y de Parzival llegaron de la Provenza a tierra alemana; Wolfram utilizó un poema herético provenzal como modelo a seguir para su poema épico; con su garante de verosimilitud de la fuente, Kyot de Provenza, el trovador Guiot de Provenza había alabado a herejes caballerescos y a señores principales heréticos; el castillo del Grial Mountsalvatsche tuvo su ejemplo en el castillo pirenaico Montségur, el país del Grial terre de salvatsche, fue la zona del Tabor pirenaico. Y quizá fue el Grial aquel Tesoro de la Iglesia, al que cuatro puros heréticos salvaron del amenazado castillo Montségur en la región de las cuevas del Sabarthés. No ese Grial que el falseamiento eclesiástico ha hecho cáliz de la Pasión de Jesús de Nazaret, sino una piedra caída de la corona de Lucifer, la que otorga comida y bebida y confiere no tener que perecer a aquellos que son dignos de su vista”.

Basándose en el excelente trabajo filológico que realizó con el occitano y el alemán, Rahn hace una serie de afirmaciones audaces, según las cuales el Parzival de Wolfram von Eschenbach aparece como Raymond-Roger Trencavel, su madre Adelaida es la Herzeloyde de Wolfram, el Grial es un símbolo de la fe de los cátaros, su conocimiento llegó a Alemania desde Provenza, Montségur es el castillo del Grial Munsalvat, y su chatelaine Esclarmonde de Foix es la Repanse de Schoie de Parzival, «la única que puede llevar el Grial en sus manos». Por último, «nque Roma haya destruido los escritos de los cátaros, nosotros poseemos, de todas maneras, el Parzival, de Wolfram, un poema sin lugar a dudas dictado por la cataridad». El resultado de esta visión, cuidadosa y poéticamente presentada por Otto Rahn, fue un concepto espiritual integral, que seguiremos considerando en detalle en nuestros próximos artículos para Arktos Journal. Mientras tanto, volvamos a la biografía de Rahn.

Raymond VII de Toulouse

La Corte de Lucifer hizo fue aplaudida por Himmler, quien encargó personalmente 100 ejemplares del libro para sí e incluso regaló uno a Hitler. A pesar de ello, las dificultades en la relación entre Otto Rahn y el régimen nacionalsocialista fueron en aumento. El problema para las autoridades nacionalsocialistas y las SS era también la homosexualidad de Rahn, que, tras la dispersión de las SA y el asesinato de Ernst Röhm en 1934, era tratada con extrema intolerancia en Alemania, y otro hecho fue que Rahn ignoró la petición de las SS, fechada el 24 de enero de 1938, de confirmar su origen ario, lo que un mes más tarde se convirtió en el motivo del informe redactado por Karl Wolff. A pesar de que el 11 de septiembre de 1938 Rahn fue ascendido al rango de Obersturmführer, las SS estaban obviamente descontentas con él.

Del 23 de noviembre al 21 de diciembre de 1937 Rahn sirvió en el campo de concentración de Dachau: para los oficiales de las SS se trataba de una medida disciplinaria a la que eran sometidos por determinadas faltas. El motivo oficial en el caso de Rahn fue el incumplimiento de la promesa de abstenerse del alcohol durante dos años. A finales de 1938, tras un caso de falta de voluntad para cumplir las leyes raciales, Rahn pasó dos meses más en otro campo de concentración – Buchenwald – también como castigo por mala conducta.

Anticipándose a la guerra, Otto Rahn estaba sumido en la confusión. Soñaba con unir Alemania y Francia bajo la religión neocátara que había reconstruido; a principios de 1939 era evidente que este sueño no se haría realidad. El 28 de febrero de 1939 Otto Ran presentó un informe sobre su despido de las SS.

El 13 de marzo de 1939, casi en el aniversario de la caída de Montségur, Rahn desapareció en el Wilderkaiser, cerca de Zoll, en el Tirol. Este día es considerado la fecha de su muerte; Rahn murió congelado en las montañas. No se sabe si fue un suicidio, según el espíritu del ritual cátaro de la endura, o un accidente. Cuatro días después de su muerte, el 17 de marzo de 1939, Rahn fue relevado de su cargo en las filas de las SS. Karl Rittersbacher dijo posteriormente: «El tránsito de su alma, en eterna búsqueda de una nueva y deseada espiritualidad que no pudo encontrar en la Tierra, me recuerda como si un benévolo ángel de la muerte le hubiera traído el consolamentum».

Otro epitafio adecuado para la muerte de Otto Rahn puede ser una cita del místico medieval alemán Meister Eckhart, que Rahn cita en La corte de Lucifer: «El hombre justo no sirve a Dios ni a las criaturas. Permanece tan firme en la justicia que, por el contrario, no toma en consideración las penas del infierno ni las alegrías del cielo. El hombre justo toma tan en serio la justicia que si Dios no fuese justo no daría ni un comino por él. El hombre no debe temer a Dios. Dios es un Dios del presente. No hay que buscarlo o pensarlo fuera de sí, sino tomarlo como mi propio yo y como que está en mí. La verdad es, por lo tanto, noble, y ¡si Dios quisiera hacer caso omiso de la verdad, yo querría aferrarme a la verdad y dejar a Dios!»

La misteriosa muerte de Otto Rahn, sobre la que existen muchas versiones, incluso teorías conspirativas, marcó el final de su camino terrenal. Cuando cada uno de nosotros se va, lo único que sigue siendo importante es lo que conseguimos hacer en nuestra encarnación actual, la que vivimos. Tras haber pasado 35 años en este mundo, Otto Rahn había sido capaz de formular una enseñanza espiritual completa – el neocatarismo – cuidadosamente derivada de antiguas sagas, leyendas, largos años de estudios e investigaciones de campo, así como un enfoque original de la historia del Grial. Nuestras próximas publicaciones para Arktos Journal estarán dedicadas al examen del modelo esotérico y filosófico de Rahn.

#catarismo #cataros #herejías #religiones #nacionalsocialismo #edad media #otto rahn

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jesusagrario · 2 months ago

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Los Cataros o albigenses, fuerón un movimiento religioso de carácter gnóstico que se propagó por Europa Occidental a mediados del siglo X, y logró arraigar hacia el siglo XII entre los habitantes del Mediodía francés...

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thepastisalreadywritten · 1 year ago

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SAINT OF THE DAY (November 7)

St. Engelbert was born in Berg around the year 1185 to Engelbert, Count of Berg, and Margaret, daughter of the Count of Gelderland.

He studied at the cathedral school of Cologne.

While still a boy, he was made provost of the churches of St. George and St. Severin at Cologne, and of St. Mary's at Aachen, as it was a common abuse in the Church at the time to appoint the children of nobles to such positions.

In 1199, he was elected provost of the cathedral at Cologne. He also led a worldly life.

In the conflict between two archbishops, Adolf and Bruno, he sided with his cousin Adolf and waged war for him.

Consequently, he was excommunicated by the pope along with his cousin. After his submission, he was reinstated in 1208.

To atone for his sin, he joined the crusade against the Albigenses in 1212.

On 29 February 1216, the chapter of the cathedral elected him archbishop by a unanimous vote.

The mendicant orders of the Franciscans and the Dominicans settled in his realm while he was Archbishop.

He was well disposed towards the monasteries and insisted on strict religious observance in them.

Ecclesiastical affairs were regulated in provincial synods. He was considered a friend of the clergy and a helper of the poor.

Engelbert exerted a strong influence in the affairs of the empire.

Emperor Frederick II, who had taken up his residence permanently in Sicily, gave Germany to his son Henry VII, then still a minor.

In 1221, he appointed Engelbert as guardian of the king and administrator of the empire.

When the young king reached the age of twelve, he was crowned at Aachen by Engelbert, who loved him as his own son and honoured him as his sovereign.

Engelbert watched over the young king's education and governed the empire in his name, careful to secure peace both within and without of the realm.

Engelbert's devotion to duty and his obedience to the pope and to the emperor were eventually the cause of his ruin.

Many of the nobility feared rather than loved him, and he was obliged to surround himself with bodyguards. The greatest danger came from his relatives.

His cousin, Count Frederick of Isenberg, the secular administrator for the nuns of Essen, had grievously oppressed that abbey.

Honorius III and the emperor urged Engelbert to protect the nuns and their rights.

Frederick wished to forestall the archbishop, and his wife incited him to murder.

On 7 November 1225, as he was journeying from Soest to Schwelm to consecrate a church, Engelbert was attacked on a dark evening by Frederick and his associates.

He was wounded in the thigh, torn from his horse, and killed. His body was covered with forty-seven wounds.

It was placed on a dung-cart and brought to Cologne four days later.

King Henry wept bitterly over the remains, put Frederick under the ban of the empire, and saw him broken on the wheel a year later at Cologne.

Frederick died contrite, having acknowledged and confessed his guilt.

Engelbert's body was placed in the old cathedral of Cologne on 24 February 1226 by Cardinal Conrad von Urach.

The latter also declared him a martyr, though a formal canonization did not take place.

In the martyrology, Engelbert is commemorated on November 7 as a martyr. A convent for nuns was erected at the place of his death.

#Saint of the Day #St. Engelbert of Cologne

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nossasenhoraaparecida · 1 year ago

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🙏✝️07 DE OUTUBRO✝️🙏

🙏✝️Nossa Senhora do Rosário, o meio de alcançar almas para Deus✝️🙏

✝️Origens✝️

A origem do Rosário é muito antiga, pois conta-se que os monges anacoretas (eremitas dos primeiros séculos do cristianismo) usavam pedrinhas para contar o número das orações vocais. Dessa forma, nos conventos medievais, os irmãos leigos dispensados da recitação do Saltério (pela pouca familiaridade com o latim), completavam suas práticas de piedade com a recitação de Pai-Nosso e, para a contagem. Doutor da Igreja São Beda, chamado de “o Venerável” (séc. VII-VIII), havia sugerido a adoção de vários grãos enfiados em um barbante.

✝️História do Rosário✝️

O Santo Rosário foi sendo transformado com o decorrer dos anos, porém, no ano de 1214, a Santa Igreja o estabeleceu na forma e método que hoje é usado. Antes, as Ave-Marias não eram como agora, nem mesmo os mistérios contemplados entre outros ingredientes da oração. Sua origem se deu com a revelação divina de Nossa Senhora do Rosário a São Domingos de Gusmão, fundador dos dominicanos (O.P.). Por meio das citações referidas ao Bem-aventurado Alano de La Roche em seu livro “De Dignitate Psalterri”, São Luís Maria Grignion de Montfort relata a origem do Rosário.

✝️São Domingos e o Rosário✝️

A tradição espiritual conta com a revelação. São Domingos se preocupava em converter os albigenses, também conhecidos como cátaros (puros), que eram um grupo de hereges de caráter gnóstico e maniqueísta, sendo até mesmo protegida por bispos e nobres da época. Essa doutrina negava a existência de um único Deus, negava a divindade de Jesus, direcionava a salvação através do conhecimento etc.

Rosário: a chave para alcançar as almas endurecidas

Essas realidades entraram em choque com o catolicismo. Desse modo, o santo procurava converter os heréticos e enfrentava grande resistência. Certa vez, procurou retirar-se em uma floresta para rezar e ali recebeu a orientação da Nossa Senhora do Rosário: “Querido Domingos, você sabe de que arma a Santíssima Trindade quer usar para mudar o mundo? [ … ] a principal peça de combate tem sido sempre o Saltério Angélico que é a pedra fundamental do Novo Testamento. Quero que alcances estas almas endurecidas e as conquiste para Deus, com a oração do meu Saltério” (MONTFORT, 2019, p. 42-43).

✝️Do Saltério Angélico ao Santo Rosário

A propagação do Rosário por São Domingos✝️

A partir dessa situação, São Domingos começou a pregar o Santo Rosário, ou como foi dito, em revelação, “Saltério Angélico”. Assim expresso, pois naquela época poucas pessoas eram alfabetizadas e não conheciam a Sagrada Escritura. Por outro lado, os monges costumavam recitar em oração os 150 Salmos, rezando a “liturgia das horas”. Desse modo, os cristãos poderiam imitar a oração e se aproximar dos mistérios de Deus ao recitar 150 Ave-Marias, conhecida como a saudação angélica já que foi dita pelos Anjos e relatava nas Escrituras. Assim, tornou-se o “Saltério Angélico” (Salmos Angélicos).

✝️Os Mistérios: Gozosos, Dolorosos e Gloriosos✝️

Em um segundo momento, ao esfriar a devoção do Saltério Angélico, em nova aparição, Nossa Senhora do Rosário apareceu ao Beato Alano (1428 – 1475) lhe pedindo que reavivasse a prática. Assim ele formou os agrupamentos de 50 Ave-Marias e seus mistérios, conhecidos como: Gozosos, Dolorosos e Gloriosos. Ela lhe disse que muitas graças e milagres seriam alcançados por meio desse modo e reafirmou os ditos a São Domingos.

✝️A Intercessora pela Igreja do Ocidente✝️

✝️Intercessão de Nossa Senhora do Rosário✝️

Logo após, houve a batalha de Lepanto (Grécia, junto ao porto de Corinto) comandada por João da Áustria, em 7 de Outubro de 1571. O Papa Pio V procurava conter os avanços dos turcos na Europa e, antes disso, convocou os cristãos para que rezassem o rosário através da Carta Breve Consueverunt (1569). Era uma batalha extremamente importante, pois dela dependia a preservação do cristianismo e da cultura ocidental.

✝️Instituição da Festa✝️

Com a vitória adquirida, ele instituiu a festa de Nossa Senhora do Rosário no mesmo dia da batalha e reconheceu que a vitória veio por meio das orações do Rosário. Sendo este Papa da ordem dos dominicanos, por isso, seguiu a inspiração do fundador. O Pontífice instituiu a festa, inicialmente chamada de Santa Maria da Vitória.

✝️Rainha do Sacratíssimo Rosário✝️

✝️Festa Mariana Obrigatória✝️

Em 1573, o Papa Gregório XIII tornou a festa mariana obrigatória para a diocese de Roma e para as Confrarias do Santo Rosário, sob o título de Santíssimo Rosário da Bem-aventurada Virgem Maria. Em 1716, o Papa Clemente XI inscreveu a festa no calendário romano, estendendo-se para toda a Igreja. A celebração ocorria em datas diferentes, conforme os costumes locais. O Papa Leão XIII inscreveu a invocação “Rainha do Sacratíssimo Rosário” na Ladainha Lauretana em 10 de dezembro de 1883. Em 1913, o Papa Pio X fixou a data da celebração da festa em 7 de outubro.

✝️O Quarto Mistério✝️

Por fim, após anos de estímulo e devoção por parte dos papas e dos santos, São João Paulo II, em sua carta “Rosarium Virginis Mariae” (2002), institui o quarto mistério. Foi reconhecido como “luminoso”. Formando, então, o Rosário com quatro terços meditando os mistérios de Cristo. Assim, deu-se o formato daquilo que se conhece atualmente por Santo Rosário.

🙏✝️Minha oração✝️🙏

“Ó Mãe do rosário, consegui junto a Jesus aquilo que não podemos, combatei por nós e consolai-nos das intempéries da vida. Entregamos a nossa existência a Ti e de Ti tudo esperamos. Por Cristo Nosso Senhor. Amém!”

🙏✝️Nossa Senhora do Rosário, rogai por nós!✝️🙏

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armatofu · 5 months ago

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La Inquisición española es un tema de gran relevancia en la Historia de España y de Europa en general. Este controvertido período estuvo marcado por una serie de eventos y prácticas que dejaron una profunda huella en la cultura, la religión y la política de la época.

Hoy, aprovechando el estreno de la magnífica publicación de Darío Madrid, que ya hemos tenido el placer de disfrutar, exploraremos en detalle algunas pocas curiosidades sobre la Inquisición. Si quieren saber más, no olviden que tienen a su disposición, desde el día de hoy y en todos los puntos de venta, ‘La Inquisición española. Realidad y procedimiento del Santo Oficio’ publicado por Editorial Edaf. Un obra que desarrolla un análisis exhaustivo y basado en información veraz y contrastada, que arroja luz sobre este capítulo de la historia española, examinando sus causas y motivaciones, así como las implicaciones que tuvo en la vida de las personas que vivieron aquel periodo. La Inquisición española es un tema que sigue siendo objeto de debate y reflexión en la actualidad, y su comprensión es fundamental para entender la evolución de la sociedad y la religión en la Europa de la Edad Moderna.

¿Sabías que la Inquisición española no nació en España?

Contrario a la creencia generalizada, la Inquisición no tuvo su génesis en suelo español, sino que sus raíces se hallan en Francia, concretamente en la región de Languedoc. Su principal cometido consistía en reprimir la herejía cátara o albigense, y esta institución fue concebida por el Vaticano durante el Concilio de Verona en el año 1184. A medida que transcurría su evolución histórica, la Inquisición se propagó por gran parte de Europa, a excepción de algunas áreas como Gran Bretaña, los países escandinavos y Castilla en ese período.

Es fundamental señalar que la asociación predominante de la Inquisición con España, en lugar de su origen francés, es en gran medida el resultado de lo que se conoce como la «leyenda negra antiespañola». Esta narrativa adversa fue promovida principalmente por protestantes alemanes, holandeses e ingleses, y ha llevado a la percepción errónea de que la Inquisición fue exclusivamente española. En realidad, existieron otras inquisiciones en diferentes regiones de Europa que no estaban vinculadas a España e incluso algunas de ellas abrazaron la fe protestante en contraposición a la Iglesia Católica.

¡La Inquisición española no perseguía brujas!

La Inquisición española, en contraste con otros territorios que hoy conforman la actual Alemania, se caracterizó por llevar a cabo un número considerablemente menor de ejecuciones de personas acusadas de brujería, sin llegar siquiera a la cifra de cien. Esta diferencia significativa en la cantidad de ejecuciones se basaba en la perspectiva única del Santo Oficio español, que sostenía que la brujería no tenía fundamento real y que la mayoría de las personas que afirmaban ser brujas eran individuos que, en su mayoría, bien mentían, padecían enfermedades mentales o se encontraban en un estado de desequilibrio psicológico.

En este contexto, resulta notoria la célebre declaración del inquisidor Alonso de Salazar, que resuena en la historia: «No hubo brujos ni embrujados en la región hasta que se comenzó a tratar y hablar de ellos». Esta frase subraya la influencia del contexto cultural y las creencias colectivas en la percepción y la persecución de la brujería en la España de la época. En resumen, mientras en otras partes de Europa se llevaron a cabo ejecuciones masivas por brujería, la Inquisición española se mantuvo relativamente moderada en este aspecto, debido a su enfoque escéptico hacia la existencia misma de la brujería.

No todos los museos dicen la verdad…

En múltiples localidades de España e Hispanoamérica, se encuentran los denominados ‘Museos de la Inquisición’, lugares en los cuales se intenta transmitir la idea de que los objetos en exhibición fueron utilizados por la Inquisición española. Esto genera un gran interés entre turistas nacionales e internacionales, quienes adquieren boletos de entrada atraídos por la morbosa curiosidad que rodea la siniestra leyenda negra que envuelve a la Inquisición.

No obstante, es de suma importancia recalcar que ninguno de los objetos expuestos en estos museos tiene autenticidad histórica. En realidad, todos ellos son groseras falsificaciones que surgieron en el siglo XIX y fueron creadas con el único propósito de ser exhibidas en ferias y eventos de entretenimiento.

En conclusión, este libro sobre la Inquisición española de Darío Madrid, publicado por Editoral Edaf, representa un logro excepcional. La meticulosa labor de investigación llevada a cabo por el autor se traduce en una obra que arroja luz sobre aspectos cruciales de la Inquisición, desmitificando conceptos erróneos y proporcionando una visión más precisa de este período histórico.

Esta obra no solo sirve como una fuente invaluable para comprender la Inquisición española en su contexto completo, sino que también se erige como un referente para futuros académicos interesados en explorar este tema con mayor profundidad. La calidad de la investigación y la exhaustividad con la que se abordan los temas hacen que este libro sea esencial para aquellos que deseen sumergirse en la historia de la Inquisición, así como para quienes buscan desafiar y enriquecer su comprensión de este capítulo fundamental en la historia de España y de Europa.

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