#Byzantine Catholic Church

[thepastisalreadywritten]

The Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated annually on November 21st, commemorates the presentation of the Blessed Virgin as a child by her parents in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Before Mary's birth, her parents received a heavenly message that they would bear a child.

In thanksgiving for God's gift of Mary's birth, they brought her to the Temple to consecrate their only daughter to The Lord.

The celebration of the Feast is first documented in the 11th century within the Byzantine Catholic Church.

It was introduced into the Roman Catholic Church in the 15th century by Pope Gregory XI, then removed from the calendar by Pope Pius V in the mid 16th century.

Pope Sixtus V later reestablished the feast in 1585.

It is still celebrated today, commemorating the faith of her parents, Joachim and Anne, and the purity of Mary.

[ancientsstudies]

Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque by paandeli.

[willothewispwisteriadawn]

Bunny’s Moral Crisis and Julian being Anti Judeo-Christian

I was positive I got the impression, during my first read of TSH, that Bunny was truly morally bothered by the farmer-killing. Then I started wondering, post-reading, if I was being too generous, and Bunny legit was just worried for his life and was angry that the group was keeping secrets from him (that second one is what Henry told Richard).

But I got to the part in my on-and-off listening to the audiobook where Julian tells Richard he’s wondering what’s going on with Bunny. Julian says Bunny keeps approaching him and asking to talk about morality (particularly sin and forgiveness). Julian says he’s getting concerned that Bunny may convert to Marion’s religion. He asks Richard what denomination she is, and Richard says he thinks she’s Presbyterian. Julian is disappointed and says the only Christian denomination he can gracefully accept losing a student to is Roman Catholic.

Now this scene is interesting to me for a couple reasons. Firstly, it does indicate there may be more going on with Bunny internally than the Greek class gives him credit for. If Bunny is trying to approach Julian privately to talk about ethical dilemmas, this shows some level of genuineness in his questions (Julian also believes it to be earnest questioning). But secondly, Julian’s comment about only finding the Roman rite to be a worthy foe is so, so interesting to me.

The scene shows that something more is going on with Bunny, but it also reveals that Julian hates Judaism and Christianity— making exceptions for people like Dante and Giotto. The thing that’s fascinating to me about this detail is that Julian’s statements show the central theme of the whole book: that beauty is worth something if it’s backed by things of substance (Georges Laforgue says this, and the same thing is said by Theo in The Goldfinch. This is a concept important to Tartt’s writing).

Julian has a basic respect for Catholics, because Catholicism traditionally also has emphasis on art, philosophy, and classical aesthetic beauty. And, perhaps most importantly, Roman Catholics have kept Latin as the language of the Church and Vatican. The medieval Catholic Church was perhaps the biggest patron and commissioner of artists, and from the Catholic Church came Notre Dame, Aquinas, Dante, etc. Here, Julian mentions that the Catholics make “worthy foes” for the pagans, and what he means is that there’s all this aesthetic beauty and classical study within the Catholic Church. But it’s key here that Julian hates other branches of Christianity. The scene emphasizes that the only thing he enjoys about Catholics is their specifically classical history.

The thing I like about this detail is that it is a really specific bit of characterization to show that Julian does not care about morality or the search for truth that’s at the heart of all religions and mythologies. He’s different from people like Aquinas because he does not see human art and language as a means to articulate and pay homage one’s moral beliefs. He sees art/language as the highest good in and of itself. Once you remove the classics aspects of Catholicism, Julian does not care. And we see this because of his apparent disdain for Protestants and Jews. This also reminds me of Bunny saying Henry thinks Jamaicans have no culture. Obviously, they do, but it’s not the particular kind of culture and expression Julian and Henry find legitimate.

I guess I like how Donna Tartt understands her own theme and can show how it’s applicable so naturally just in the way her characters talk. We get a lot of hints about how closed-minded and shallow Julian actually is before we get to the end of the book where it’s confirmed.

[teenageascetic]

"That is why St Paul speaks of conjugal rights as a debt; to show that neither husband nor wife is his or her own master, but rather are each other's servants. As for you, husband, if a prostitute tries to seduce you, tell her, "My body is not my own, but my wife's." And let the wife say the same to any man attempting to undermine her fidelity: "My body is not my own, but my husband's." So if neither husband nor wife has power over their own bodies, they have even less control over money."

-St John Chrysostom On Marriage and Family Life.

[gratiae-mirabilia]

pls reblog + explain your answer in the tags!

[jameslmartello]

[monasteryicons]

Coming this winter to Monastery Icons.

[graysoniconography]

Saint Hippolytus of Rome

The hieromartyr Hippolytus of Rome was a priest and an ecclesiastical writer of the third century. He is considered to have been antipope of the Church of Rome from about 217 to 235. He was among the most important Christian theologians of the third century, and a saint. His feast day is January 30.

T

Life

The early life of Hippolytus is unknown. He was born about the year 170 and lived in Rome when young. Greek was his native tongue. He is believed to have been a disciple of Irenaeus of Lyons and to have met Origen. From the details of his work, Philosophoumena Hippolytus apparently was in Rome during the time Victor was the bishop of Rome. At the beginning of the third century he was a priest noted for his learning, eloquence, zeal, and moral earnestness. He was also noted to be a bishop of an unspecified city by Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome and by the poet Prudentius as bishop of Portus, a port for Rome.

The Philosophoumena, that is a part of his larger work "Refutation of All Heresies", shows that he dissented from the compassionate views of Bps. Zephyrinus, whom he considered to be a weak man "unskilled the church's rule", and ‎Callistus I of Rome concerning the reception of backsliders and heretics who had repented. In the "Refutation of All Heresies" Hippolytus set out to refute the doctrines of the Gnostics and condemn heretics by showing that their views were taken from pagan philosophy and oriental theosophy.

Hippolytus also came into conflict with the opinions of the bishops of Rome on christological issues of the day to such an extant that came to allow himself to be elected a rival bishop of Rome, the first antipope

Under the persecutions of emperor Maximinus Thrax Hippolytus was exiled to Sardinia in 235 where he died, reportedly a martyr. His body was returned to Rome and interred in a cemetery on the Via Tiburtina. By about 255, he was considered a martyred priest by the Church, indicating that he had been reconciled with the Church and not considered a schismatic.

Taken from Orthodox Wiki

[solitarelee]

There is an atheist on the "I would like to speak to Catholics" post who does not know the Byzantine Catholics still exist. Sir one of my friends is a Byzantine Catholic. There is a self-identified Byzantine Catholic church not far from where I live. Just because you've decided they don't count by your definition does not make them not Byzantine Catholics. I believe that is actually their call, not a random atheist on Tumblr.

[helloparkerrose]

[modestcatholiclife]

Introduction/Catholicism in the Outback

Welcome to my blog! To introduce myself: I'm a 21 year old Australian woman about to start catechism in the Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church. I'll primarily be using this blog as an account of my journey in the spiritual life and with my other self-improvement endeavours. Thank you for joining me on this journey. Now to start my first blog post in media res.

At this time, I'm visiting my grandparents on their farm alongside my fiance, mother, and two younger brothers (18 & 10). This is our fourth day here. It's lovely being out in nature, waking up to kangaroos outside my window.

My fiance and I have been treating this as a spiritual retreat of sorts, seeking to restore our prayer life which has been falling to the wayside as of late. The two of us are staying in the cottage that sits behind my grandparents' house. I've been praying my usual minor hours of the Chasoslov (Horologion) and we've been doing a matins and vespers of sorts together, using the morning and evening prayers from our Orthodox Study Bibles. We've been using my fiance's Psalter instead of the single Psalm those prayers ask for. I'm really enjoying this style of prayer and am greatly considering adding it to my own prayer life. In addition, we've been reading through St. Cyril of Jerusalem's Catechetical Lectures together in order to prepare me for my own upcoming catechism. I still don't feel even remotely prepared but it's been a big help to my understanding of the faith.

Of course, we can't spend all of our time alone in our cabin in prayer. This is a family trip and a chance for my fiance to meet his future grandparents-in-law. This was also when we were able to tell my grandparents of our engagement, as I didn't want to tell them over the phone. This news has been passed on to my aunty who we are hoping to visit this year. She and my uncle live in Melbourne; just an hour away by plane. I've never been on a plane, or out of state, and there is a lovely Ukrainian Catholic Church in Melbourne that my fiance and I would love to see. However, the two we've spent more of our time with on this trip have been my grandparents' two dogs: Owwie the kelpie and Chanel the poodle. Owwie is very friendly and Chanel is too, though she can be rather skittish.

Though it was hot when we came up here, averaging at about 30° (that's Celsius) on our first three days, the weather has turned on us now. It's not overly cold, but it keeps raining. My fiance and I did use the pool the other day but have spent more of our time cleaning up the cottage. The last people to stay here were my aunty and uncle from Melbourne two years ago so there was a lot of grime stuck to the floors. It took us a good few hours but was well worth it. I've also gotten a start on using my self-care planner, gifted to my by a friend on my last birthday. I've written in the twelve major feasts (looking forward to the Holy Theophany tomorrow), along with all the birthdays and appointments I could remember. I plan to buy a packet of highlighters to distinguish the liturgical seasons on the year-at-a-glance section of my planner. I've also filled out a lot of my Glow Up doc, where I write out all of my goals for the year. I have one that I share with friends, a habit we started back in high school, but this is the first time where I've created one by myself. I've added additional headings (with friends the headings were: Fitness, Hobbies/Interests, Hot Girl Summer - whose most common goal was always "get a haircut", Money, School - now known as Education, Social, and Tomfoolery & Shenanigans), and gone into more detailed and personal goals. Hopefully that makes sense. It's extensive, and will become more so when I get back home to my laptop.

I haven't been doing as much independent reading I would like, only having read a few chapters of The Little Book of Skin Care by Charlotte Cho and my fiance and I have continued to slack on our exercise regime, but we still have three more days here.

And that's the end of my first blog post, the only other major thing we plan to do today is book in a time for both of us to take our driver knowledge test.

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

[charlesreeza]

A 13th century Byzantine crucifix is the focal point of the Chapel of the Crucifix at the Cathedral of Syracuse, Sicily

Photos by Charles Reeza

[world-v-you-blog]

The Tapestry of History, 9 – The Rise of the West, 4 – The Renaissance

(Image – Desiderius Erasmus, sometimes reputed to be the greatest Renaissance scholar. Credit – Encyclopedia Britannica) In our previous episode, we began to look at the phenomenon of the separation of the religious and secular aspects of Western culture as it emerged from the Middle Ages. “Secular” did not mean an abandonment of religion, but the recognition that life on Planet Earth must be…

[jameslmartello]

Our Lady of Fatima, intercede for us who have recourse to you. +

[anneslifeinchrist]

Attending non-Novus Ordo Mass makes me remember just how in love I am with the Church. I am united with my brothers and sisters in our love and devotion, in our one faith in God, who is, was, and ever shall be love. It’s not the songs, the words, the patterns that unite us, it is the worship and adoration. I am never alone, I am never far from home, my home is the Church in all her beauty. 

[spokanefavs]

Meet Elaine Snider, a woman whose unwavering faith has led her to create a YouTube channel, 'The Whimsical Byzantine,' where she brings the timeless Nicene Creed to life through video reenactments.