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lemonlyman-dotcom · 16 days ago

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Hello!!!! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Let’s celebrate the first night of Hanukkah with Tarlos & family from This Infinite Love ❤️ 💚 fully posted on ao3 now!

“Do you want to say the blessings, buddy?” TK asks Jonah, whose gaze is fixated in wonder on the bright flame of the candle in front of Gwyn’s plate. He nods excitedly and takes TK’s offered hand, leading his brother to the window in the dining room where Gwyn’s menorah is set in the sill. TK inherited Gwyn’s mother’s menorah as well, a brass center stone that she brought back from a trip to Israel in the 80s, but TK prefers to use the one he remembers from Hanukkahs when he was a kid. The simple gold one that they lit in the window of the 85th Street apartment before making Sufganiyah that he was always too impatient to wait to cool, inevitably burning his tongue every year.

‘Worth it,’ he says with a fond smile every time he tells the story.

Carlos joins TK and Jonah at the window while their guests sit quietly at the table. TK helps Jonah place two candles on the menorah, one on the right and one at the center, and prompts him to begin the blessings.

“Bles-sed are You,” Jonah begins, squinting up to TK with a questioning look on his face. They’ve been practicing the blessings at bedtime for the past month or so, but Carlos knows some of the bigger words are difficult for Jonah to remember.

TK gives Jonah an encouraging smile and places a hand on his shoulder, reaching for Carlos’s hand with his other.

“Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe…” TK continues.

They recite the rest of the blessings together, and TK takes the lead for the First Night of Hanukkah Prayer, the Blessing of Firsts.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this season.

It feels poignant to be saying this blessing now, when he’s been thinking so much about entering a new season in his own life. He remembers telling his mom, all those years ago, that the most important thing in life was that TK was always by his side. It was true then, on the eve of their wedding, and it’s even truer now, as they consider expanding their family.

Over the past eight years he and TK have been through unimaginable pain, individually and as a couple. They’ve felt, at times, like they were constantly fighting outside forces. Throughout it all, they’ve chosen each other and this family over and over. Now, in the warm, loving home they’ve built together, surrounded by all the people they love most, they’re ready to celebrate all the beautiful life that’s seeped in through the pain.

When they rejoin the group at the table Owen and Marjan are each discreetly wiping their eyes. Carlos takes his seat next to his mom, who squeezes his shoulder before reaching across him to pat TK’s hand.

“That was beautiful, mijos.”

“Your mother would have been very proud,” Owen says, turning to Jonah, “Of both of you!”

“She is proud, Owen,” Carlos’s mom says, lifting her glass with a cheerful smile. “To Gwyn.”

Owen raises his own glass.

“To Gwyn. And to Gabriel.”

“To Gwyn and Gabriel!” The table cheers, clinking glasses of wine and non-alcoholic sangria.

Thank you for the tags @tellmegoodbye @laelipoo @everlastingday @ironheartwriter @whatsintheboxmh @literateowl @carlossreaders @paperstorm @annoyingcloudearthquake

Tagging: @annoyingcloudearthquake @henrygrass @paperstorm @nisbanisba @heartstringsduet @carlos-in-glasses @thisbuildinghasfeelings @ironheartwriter @whatsintheboxmh @orchidscript @the-126-family @bonheur-cafe @firstprince-history-huh @hereghostslive @eclectic-sassycoweyes @emsprovisions @iboatedhere @alrightbuckaroo @captain-gillian @tellmegoodbye @ladytessa74 @chicgeekgirl89 @literateowl @laelipoo @welcometololaland @basilsunrise @lightningboltreader @liminalmemories21 @freneticfloetry @sapphic--kiwi @herefortarlos @filet-o-feelings @tinyluminaryzombie @kiwichaeng @guardian-angle22 @rmd-writes @reyesstrand @never-blooms @decafdino @certifiedflower @irispurpurea and OPEN TAG 🏷️

#911 lone star #tarlos #tarlos fic #tk strand x carlos reyes #911 lone star fic #tarlos fanfic #wip wednesday

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fdelopera · 1 year ago

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I’m Christian but want to challenge what I’ve been taught after seeing your posts about the Old Testament having cut up the Torah to fit a different narrative. Today I was taught that the Hebrew word Elohim is the noun for God as plural and therefore evidence of the holy Trinity and Jesus & Holy Spirit been there at creation. Is that what the word Elohim actually means? Because I don’t want to be party to the Jewish faith, language and culture being butchered by blindly trusting what I was told

Hi Anon.

NOPE! The reason G-d is sometimes called Elohim in the Tanakh is because during the First Temple period (circa 1000 – 587 BCE), many of the ancestors of the Jewish people in the Northern and Southern Kingdoms practiced polytheism.

(A reminder that the Tanakh is the Hebrew bible, and is NOT the same as the “Old Testament” in Christian bibles. Tanakh is an acronym, and stands for Torah [Instruction], Nevi’im [Prophets], Ketuvim [Writings].)

Elohim is the plural form of Eloah (G-d), and these are some of the names of G-d in Judaism. Elohim literally means “Gods” (plural).

El was the head G-d of the Northern Kingdom’s pantheon, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah incorporated El into their worship as one of the many names of G-d.

The name Elohim is a vestige of that polytheistic past.

Judaism transitioned from monolatry (worshiping one G-d without denying the existence of others) to true monotheism in the years during and directly after the Babylonian exile (597 – 538 BCE). That is largely when the Torah was edited into the form that we have today. In order to fight back against assimilation into polytheistic Babylonian society, the Jews who were held captive in Babylon consolidated all gods into one G-d. Shema Yisrael Adonai eloheinu Adonai ehad. “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.”

So Elohim being a plural word for “Gods” has absolutely nothing to do with the idea of the Holy Trinity in Christianity.

Especially because Christians are monotheists. My understanding of the Holy Trinity (please forgive me if this is incorrect) is that Christians believe that the Holy Trinity is three persons in one Godhead. Certainly, the Holy Trinity is not “three Gods” — that would be blasphemy.

(My sincere apologies to the Catholics who just read this last sentence and involuntarily cringed about the Protestants who’ve said this. I’m so sorry! I’m just trying to show that it’s a fallacy to say that the Holy Trinity somehow comes from “Elohim.”)

But there's something else here, too. Something that as a Jew, makes me uneasy about the people who are telling you these things about Elohim and the Holy Trinity.

Suggesting that Christian beliefs like the Holy Trinity can somehow be "found" in the Tanakh is antisemitic.

This is part of “supersession theory.” This antisemitic theory suggests that Christianity is somehow the "true successor" to Second Temple Judaism, which is false.

Modern Rabbinic Judaism is the true successor to Second Temple Judaism. Period.

Christianity began as an apocalyptic Jewish mystery cult in the 1st century CE, in reaction to Roman rule. One of the tactics that the Romans used to subdue the people they ruled over was a “divide and conquer” strategy, which sowed division and factionalization in the population. The Romans knew that it was easier to control a country from the outside if the people inside were at each other’s throats.

Jesus led one of many breakaway Jewish sects at the time. The Jewish people of Qumran (possibly Essenes), whose Tanakh was the “Dead Sea Scrolls,” were another sect.

Please remember that the Tanakh was compiled in the form that we have today over 500 years before Jesus lived. Some of the texts in the Tanakh were passed down orally for maybe a thousand years before that, and texts like the Song of Deborah in the Book of Judges (in the Tanakh, that’s in the Nevi’im) were first written down in Archaic Biblical Hebrew during the First Temple Period.

There is absolutely nothing of Jesus or Christianity in the Tanakh, and there is nothing in the Tanakh that in any way predicts Christianity.

Also, Christians shouldn’t use Judaism in any way to try to “legitimize” Christianity. Christianity was an offshoot of 1st century Judaism, which then incorporated a lot of Roman Pagan influence. It is its own valid religion, in all its forms and denominations.

But trying to use the Hebrew bible to give extra credence to ideas like the Holy Trinity is antisemitic.

It is a tactic used by Christian sects that want to delegitimize Judaism as a religion by claiming that Christianity was somehow “planted” in the Tanakh over 2500 years ago.

This line of thinking has led Christians to mass murder Jews in wave after wave of antisemitic violence over the last nearly 2000 years, because our continued existence as Jews challenges the notion that Christians are the “true” successors of Temple Judaism.

Again, the only successor of Temple Judaism is Rabbinic Judaism, aka Modern Judaism.

This line of thinking has also gotten Christians to force Jews to convert en masse throughout the ages. If Christians can get Jews to all convert to Christianity, then they don’t have to deal with the existential challenge to this core misapprehension about the “true” successor to Temple Judaism.

And even today, many Christians still believe that they should try to force Jews to “bend the knee” to Jesus. When I was a young teenager, a preacher who was a parent at the school I went to got me and two other Jewish students to get in his car after a field trip. After he had trapped us in his car, he spent the next two hours trying to get us to convert to Christianity. It was later explained to me that some Christians believe they get extra “points” for converting Jews. And I’m sure he viewed this act of religious and spiritual violence as something he could brag about to his congregation on Sunday.

Trying to get Jews to convert is antisemitic and misguided, and it ignores all the rich and beautiful history of Jewish practice.

We Jews in diaspora in America and Europe have a forced immersion in Christian culture. It is everywhere around us, so we learn a lot about Christianity through osmosis. Many Jews also study early Christianity because Christianity exists as a separate religion within our Jewish history.

But I don’t see a lot of Christians studying Jewish history. Even though studying Jewish history would give you a wealth of understanding and context for your own religious traditions.

So, all of this is to say, I encourage you to study Jewish history and Jewish religious practice. Without an understanding of the thousands of years of Jewish history, it is easy to completely misinterpret the Christian bible, not to mention the Hebrew bible as well.

#judaism #jumblr #jewblr #jewish history #as a jew i never thought i'd be explaining the bible to christians but here we are!#i hope i've answered your question!#i know that a lot of jews will already know most of the jewish history i've shared but just in case i'm putting this in the jumblr tag #antisemitism tw

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indecisiveavocado · 20 days ago

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Dear Goyim Who Think Judaism and Israel Aren't Connected,

They absolutely are. The holy land of Judaism is Israel, and no amount of fiddling will get around that inconvenient fact.

Even throughout our exile, Jews clung to the idea of Israel, the holy land. Even after the Romans slaughtered us, sold us slaves, expelled us, and tried to erase our connection to the land (a propaganda that you seem to have swallowed), even after their successors tried to keep us from coming back (not that all of us left; some stayed, stayed through persecution and massacre and more), we clung to it.

Israel is the holy land. And, in the words of Jefferson, "To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world."

The central prayer in Judaism, Shema Yisrael, uses "Israel" as a synonym for the Jewish people.

We pray facing Jerusalem.

In old texts, it is incredibly common to see Israel used as a synonym of Jews. Thus in Nathan Ausubel's 1948 Treasury of Jewish Folklore we see rabbis referred to as the "Sages of Israel" (in a discussion of why Jerusalem was destroyed, no less!), and the saying "Am Yisrael Chai" literally translates as "the People of Israel live!"

At the end of the Passover seder, we say, "L'shana haba'a b'Yerushalayim" (Next year in Jerusalem).

Psalm 137: "על נהרות בבל שם ישבנו גם־בכינו בזכרנו את־ציון". Or, "Al naharot bavel sham yashavnu gam-bakhinu bezakhernu el-tzion" (Tzion, Zion, being another name for the land). "By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept as we thought of Zion." It continues, "How can we sing God's song in a foreign land? / If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning."

There are many rules that only apply when in Israel.

Observant Jews say, "ברוך אתה יי בונה ירושלים" (Barukh atah Adonai boneh Yerushalayim), or "Blessed are you, God, builder of Jerusalem" three times daily.

My very short Haftarah portion, which is assigned based on when you were born and thus not something I had control over, mentions Israel ("vegoaleikh kedosh Yisrael elohei khol-haaretz yikarei" - my brain can't stop singing it, Isaiah 54:5), in the context of God being the "Holy One of Israel". The prayer before the Haftarah reading includes the line "uvyisrael amo" (for Your [God's] people Israel). Again, my Haftarah portion was not in any way special; it was five verses. The translation of the part I read is all of 153 words. And yet it still mentions Israel. (The Hebrew, by the way, is 71 words.)

In short: by denying Jewish claims to Israel as the holy land (kedushat ha-aretz), you are erasing an indigenous people's history and implicitly accepting the narrative of settler-colonialist genociders who sought to make it as though the people whose land they were taking and who they were selling as slaves were not tied to the land and did not have any ancestral connection. Your claims are entirely false.

Sincerely,

Your Neighborhood (Non-Israeli, But Y'all Are Making Me Want To Consider Aliyah) Jew

*Extended footnote on the terminology used: There are two major (and definitely non-dialectical) indigenous languages in the region that still survive to some extent: Hebrew and Aramaic. (Other languages existed in the region - Phonecian and Ugaritic, for instance. But they didn't survive.)

The indigenous name for the region in Aramaic and Hebrew is ישראל, pronounced, roughly, "Yisrael". Via the process of translation, that became "Israel". The other common name for the region, Palestine, derives from the Roman Palestina, a relic of their campaign to destroy Jewish connection to the region by renaming it after a small Greek group who were long since gone, the Philistines. I am using the name the indigenous people of the region used, rather than the name of a colonial occupier trying to pretend like the indigenous people were unconnected to the land.

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brotherhumphrey · 1 month ago

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super excited for the end of this month because it means we’ll be singing the great advent antiphons at vespers!! we sing one of these every day from the 17th to the 23rd of december, i’m looking forward to it a lot, so here is my rating of each of the antiphons:

o sapientia: starting the antiphons off strong!! the fact that it’s the first one gives it a special something. makes it feel extra solemn and haunting. very solid 9/10

o adonai: i don’t know why but i have always found this one the most difficult to sing, and the cantor is often frustrated by this. i cannot take this kind of criticism from the cantor, if he slightly raises his voice at me i will cry. 3/10

o radix jesse: ooh the quiet parts!! ooh the drama! appeals to the theatre kid in me. i am holding space with the lyrics of o radix jesse. 10/10

o clavis david: oh this gets the older monks so excited. i’ve never understood why but it’s like the cha cha slide to them. slide to the left! now contemplate your own mortality! i don’t see the hype, personally. 6/10

o oriens: of course you have o oriens as your favourite antiphon. and pronouns. i know what you are. 11/10

o rex gentium: if i say it’s mid i will be bludgeoned to death by all of the novices currently going through their emo phase. this one is CONSISTENTLY their favourite. and like, i’ve been there. but it is out of fear that i rate this 8/10. and nothing else

o emmanuel: by this point the anticipation has started to BUILD, and this one really adds to that. it’s the last one and we’re ending on an absolute banger. 10/10

#monkposting #antiphonposting

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mysticbisexualxtian · 2 months ago

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Christ’s Descent into Hades (Hell)

Chapter I (17).

Joseph says: And why do you wonder that Jesus has risen? But it is wonderful that He has not risen alone, but that He has also raised many others of the dead who have appeared in Jerusalem to many. And if you do not know the others, Symeon at least, who received Jesus, and his two sons whom He has raised up — them at least you know. For we buried them not long ago; but now their tombs are seen open and empty, and they are alive, and dwelling in Arimathaea. They therefore sent men, and they found their tombs open and empty. Joseph says: Let us go to Arimathaea and find them.

Then rose up the chief priests Annas and Caiaphas, and Joseph, and Nicodemus, and Gamaliel, and others with them, and went away to Arimathaea, and found those whom Joseph spoke of. They made prayer, therefore, and saluted each other. Then they came with them to Jerusalem, and brought them into the synagogue, and secured the doors, and placed in the midst the old covenant of the Jews; and the chief priests said to them: We wish you to swear by the God of Israel and Adonai, and so that you tell the truth, how you have risen, and who has raised you from the dead.

The men who had risen having heard this, made upon their faces the sign of the cross, and said to the chief priests: Give us paper and ink and pen. These therefore they brought. And sitting down, they wrote thus:-

Chapter 2 (18).

O Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life of the world, grant us grace that we may give an account of Your resurrection, and Your miracles which You did in Hades. We then were in Hades, with all who had fallen asleep since the beginning of the world. And at the hour of midnight there rose a light as if of the sun, and shone into these dark regions; and we were all lighted up, and saw each other. And straightway our father Abraham was united with the patriarchs and the prophets, and at the same time they were filled with joy, and said to each other: This light is from a great source of light.

The prophet Isaiah, who was there present, said: This light is from the Father, and from the Son, and from the Holy Spirit; about whom I prophesied when yet alive, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, the people that sat in darkness, have seen a great light.

Then there came into the midst another, an ascetic from the desert; and the patriarchs said to him: Who are you? And he said: I am John, the last of the prophets, who made the paths of the Son of God straight, and proclaimed to the people repentance for the remission of sins. And the Son of God came to me; and I, seeing Him a long way off, said to the people: Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. And with my hand I baptized Him in the river Jordan, and I saw like a dove also the Holy Spirit coming upon Him; and I heard also the voice of God, even the Father, thus saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And on this account He sent me also to you, to proclaim how the only begotten Son of God is coming here, that whosoever shall believe in Him shall be saved, and whosoever shall not believe in Him shall be condemned. On this account I say to you all, in order that when you see Him you all may adore Him, that now only is for you the time of repentance for having adored idols in the vain upper world, and for the sins you have committed, and that this is impossible at any other time.

Chapter 3 (19).

While John, therefore, was thus teaching those in Hades, the first created and forefather Adam heard, and said to his son Seth: My son, I wish you to tell the forefathers of the race of men and the prophets where I sent you, when it fell to my lot to die. And Seth said: Prophets and patriarchs, hear. When my father Adam, the first created, was about to fall once upon a time into death, he sent me to make entreaty to God very close by the gate of paradise, that He would guide me by an angel to the tree of compassion and that I might take oil and anoint my father, and that he might rise up from his sickness: which thing, therefore, I also did.

And after the prayer an angel of the Lord came, and said to me: What, Seth, do you ask? Do you ask for oil which raises up the sick, or the tree from which this oil flows, on account of the sickness of your father? This is not to be found now. Go, therefore, and tell your father, that after the accomplishing of five thousand five hundred years from the creation of the world, you shall come into the earth the only begotten Son of God, being made man; and He shall anoint him with this oil, and shall raise him up; and shall wash clean, with water and with the Holy Spirit, both him and those out of him, and then shall he be healed of every disease; but now this is impossible.

When the patriarchs and the prophets heard these words, they rejoiced greatly.

Chapter 4 (20).

And when all were in such joy, Satan the heir of darkness entered and said to Hades: O all-devouring and insatiable, hear my words. There is of the race of the Jews one named Jesus, calling himself the Son of God; and being a man, by our working with them the Jews have crucified him: and now when he is dead, be ready that we may secure him here. For I know that he is a man, and I heard him also saying, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. He has also done me many evils when living with mortals in the upper world. For wherever he found my servants, he persecuted them; and whatever men I made crooked, blind, lame, lepers, or any such thing, by a single word he healed them; and many whom I had got ready to be buried, even these through a single word he brought to life again.

Hades says: And is this man so powerful as to do such things by a single word? and if he be so, can you withstand him? It seems to me that, if he be so, no one will be able to withstand him. And if you say that you heard him dreading death, he said this mocking you, and laughing, wishing to seize you with the strong hand; and woe, woe to you, to all eternity!

Satan says: O all-devouring and insatiable Hades, are you so afraid at hearing of our common enemy? I was not afraid of him, but worked in the Jews, and they crucified him, and gave him also to drink gall with vinegar. Make ready, then, in order that you may lay fast hold of him when he comes.

Hades answered: Heir of darkness, son of destruction, devil, you have just now told me that many whom you had made ready to be buried, be brought to life again by a single word. And if he has delivered others from the tomb, how and with what power shall he be laid hold of by us?

For I not long ago swallowed down one dead, Lazarus by name; and not long after, one of the living by a single word dragged him up by force out of my bowels: and I think that it was he of whom you speak. If, therefore, we receive him here, I am afraid lest perchance we be in danger even about the rest.

For, lo, all those that I have swallowed from eternity I perceive to be in commotion, and I am pained in my belly. And the snatching away of Lazarus beforehand seems to me to be no good sign: for not like a dead body, but like an eagle, he flew out of me; for so suddenly did the earth throw him out. Wherefore also I adjure even you, for your benefit and for mine, not to bring him here; for I think that he is coming here to raise all the dead. And this I tell you: by the darkness in which we live, if you bring him here, not one of the dead will be left behind in it to me.

Chapter 5 (21).

While Satan and Hades were thus speaking to each other, there was a great voice like thunder, saying: Lift up your gates, O ye rulers; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting gates; and the King of glory shall come in!

When Hades heard, he said to Satan: Go forth, if you are able, and withstand him. Satan therefore went forth to the outside. Then Hades says to his demons: Secure well and strongly the gates of brass and the bars of iron, and attend to my bolts, and stand in order, and see to everything; for if he come in here, woe will seize us.

The forefathers having heard this, began all to revile him, saying: O all-devouring and insatiable! open, that the King of glory may come in. David the prophet says: Do you not know, O blind, that I when living in the world prophesied this saying: Lift up your gates, O ye rulers?

Isaiah said: I, foreseeing this by the Holy Spirit, wrote: The dead shall rise up, and those in their tombs shall be raised, and those in the earth shall rejoice. And where, O death, is your sting? where, O Hades, is your victory?

There came, then, again a voice saying: Lift up the gates!

Hades, hearing the voice the second time, answered as if forsooth he did not know, and says: Who is this King of glory?

The angels of the Lord say: The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. And immediately with these words the brazen gates were shattered, and the iron bars broken, and all the dead who had been bound came out of the prisons, and we with them. And the King of glory came in in the form of a man, and all the dark places of Hades were lighted up.

Chapter 6 (22).

Immediately Hades cried out: We have been conquered: woe to us! But who are you, who has such power and might? and what are you, who comes here without sin who are seen to be small and yet of great power, lowly and exalted, the slave and the master, the soldier and the king, who has power over the dead and the living? You were nailed on the cross, and placed in the tomb; and now you are free, and have destroyed all our power. Are you then the Jesus about whom the chief satrap Satan told us, that through cross and death you are to inherit the whole world?

Then the King of glory seized the chief satrap Satan by the head, and delivered him to His angels, and said: With iron chains bind his hands and his feet, and his neck, and his mouth. Then He delivered him to Hades, and said: Take him, and keep him secure till my second appearing.

Chapter 7 (23).

And Hades receiving Satan, said to him: Beelzebul, heir of fire and punishment, enemy of the saints, through what necessity did you bring about that the King of glory should be crucified, so that he should come here and deprive us of our power? Turn and see that not one of the dead has been left in me, but all that you have gained through the tree of knowledge, you have lost through the tree of the cross: and all your joy has been turned into grief; and wishing to put to death the King of glory, you have put yourself to death.

For, since I have received you to keep you safe, by experience shall you learn how many evils I shall do unto you. O arch-devil, the beginning of death, root of sin, end of all evil, what evil did you find in Jesus, that you should compass his destruction? how have you dared to do such evil? how have you busied yourself to bring down such a man into this darkness, through whom you have been deprived of all who have died from eternity?

Chapter 8 (24).

While Hades was thus discoursing to Satan, the King of glory stretched out His right hand, and took hold of our forefather Adam, and raised him. Then turning also to the rest, He said: Come all with me, as many as have died through the tree which he touched: for, behold, I again raise you all up through the tree of the cross. Thereupon He brought them all out, and our forefather Adam seemed to be filled with joy, and said: I thank Your majesty, O Lord, that You have brought me up out of the lowest Hades. Likewise also all the prophets and the saints said: We thank You, O Christ, Saviour of the world, that You have brought our life up out of destruction.

And after they had thus spoken, the Saviour blessed Adam with the sign of the cross on his forehead, and did this also to the patriarchs, and prophets, and martyrs, and forefathers; and He took them, and sprang up out of Hades. And while He was going, the holy fathers accompanying Him sang praises, saying: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Alleluia! to Him be the glory of all the saints!

Chapter 9 (25).

And setting out to paradise, He took hold of our forefather Adam by the hand, and delivered him, and all the just, to the archangel Michael. And as they were going into the door of paradise, there met them two old men, to whom the holy fathers said: Who are you, who have not seen death, and have not come down into Hades, but who dwell in paradise in your bodies and your souls?

One of them answered, and said: I am Enoch, who was well-pleasing to God, and who was translated hither by Him; and this is Elijah the Thesbite; and we are also to live until the end of the world; and then we are to be sent by God to withstand Antichrist, and to be slain by him, and after three days to rise again, and to be snatched up in clouds to meet the Lord.

Chapter 10 (26)

While they were thus speaking, there came another lowly man, carrying also upon his shoulders a cross, to whom the holy fathers said: Who are you, who have the look of a robber; and what is the cross which you bear upon your shoulders?

He answered: I, as you say, was a robber and a thief in the world, and for these things the Jews laid hold of me, and delivered me to the death of the cross, along with our Lord Jesus Christ. While, then, He was hanging upon the cross, I, seeing the miracles that were done, believed in Him, and entreated Him, and said, Lord, when You shall be King, do not forget me. And immediately He said to me, Amen, amen: today, I say unto you, shall you be with me in paradise. Therefore I came to paradise carrying my cross; and finding the archangel Michael, I said to him, Our Lord Jesus, who has been crucified, has sent me here; bring me, therefore, to the gate of Eden. And the flaming sword, seeing the sign of the cross, opened to me, and I went in. Then the archangel says to me, Wait a little, for here comes also the forefather of the race of men, Adam, with the just, that they too may come in. And now, seeing you, I came to meet you.

The saints hearing these things, all cried out with a loud voice: Great is our Lord, and great is His strength.

Chapter 11 (27).

All these things we saw and heard; we, the two brothers, who also have been sent by Michael the archangel, and have been ordered to proclaim the resurrection of the Lord, but first to go away to the Jordan and to be baptized. Thither also we have gone, and have been baptized with the rest of the dead who have risen. Thereafter also we came to Jerusalem, and celebrated the passover of the resurrection. But now we are going away, being unable to stay here. And the love of God, even the Father, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

Having written these things, and secured the rolls, they gave the half to the chief priests, and the half to Joseph and Nicodemus. And they immediately disappeared: to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

#christianity #early christianity #orthodox #universalism #catholic #anglican

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gay-jewish-bucky · 5 months ago

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Baruch Ata Adonai Elohenu Melech Ha-Olam Matir Assurim

Blessed are You, O G-d, Who frees the captives.

#personcole #Farchan Al Qadi has been rescued ❤️

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the-chosen-fanfiction · 1 month ago

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Andrew | O Death, Where Is Thy Sting? | Platonic

Fearing death, you spiral into an anxiety attack upon hearing about John’s passing. Andrew knows the dreaded feeling, deciding to comfort you with the words from the Messiah.

Requested by Rachel

You aren’t a stranger to death nor to its aftermath. In your early teens, there was a dreadful day when you found your father lifeless on the floor of his study. The traumatic event of being the one to discover him as well as the toll it took on your mother has made you fear death in and of itself ever since, afraid to barely even mention it altogether. It hadn’t been the first time you had lost someone close to you, one of your best friends passing away from an illness at the young age of seven. Needless to say, it was a topic you rather avoided at all times.

Somehow, you manage to not get in touch with death for a long while. All throughout your teens so far, you only ever hear stories about people passing away instead of having to go through any grief yourself. Frankly, it is quite the fortunate position, but you are aware that the longer you are not in touch with death in any way or form, the closer it gets. It is the only thing in life that simply cannot be avoided forever.

Seeking meaning in life itself, you have found yourself getting more and more involved with Adonai, actively starting to go to synagogue. In spite of your young age and you being a woman, not allowed to attend yeshiva, you become quite adept at learning Scriptures from the scrolls your eema never got rid of since your father’s passing. Familiar with the usual kind of preachers that stand on street-corners, you know that something is definitely going on when Jesus of Nazareth enters the village of Capernaum, preaching a different message that strikes a chord deep within you. The type of message that tells you that death will not have the last word in the end.

It doesn’t take long for you to take up your belongings, say goodbye to your eema and follow Him, making you the youngest member of the group. Despite your age, you are able to adapt quite well to your new way of living. You form quick friendships, especially amongst the younger members of the followers, like John, Matthew and Andrew, as well as the women. Being all very protective of you, the Disciples look after you, ensuring that you’re safe and well-fed, even if it means themselves going hungry from time to time.

However, you are well aware that the more time passes, the more dangerous the ministry becomes, not just for Jesus but also for you as a follower. Up until a certain moment, things have been looking up, but ever since John the Baptist was captured by Herod, you have started to realise that death may be on the horizon sooner rather than later. It causes your anxiety regarding the topic to return without the need for any further triggers, making it so that you continue suffering from nightmares once again. You had met John only twice and still it was enough for the terror of death itself to come back in full swing.

A few months pass, with occasional correspondence coming from either Joanna or from John’s former students who write about his wellbeing. Still, every letter that reaches the group makes your throat tighten with fear until it has been read out loud with the message that John is trying to remain in good spirits and is praying for your safety. In the meantime, rumours about Herod’s wife reach your ears. Herodias has nothing good to say about the Baptiser calling her out on her behaviour and it is only a matter of time before she takes his fate into her own hands.

It comes in the form of a banquet where her daughter performs a sensual dance for her stepfather. Herodias sees an opportunity and takes it with both hands.

One initially uneventful day, news from Machaerus arrives. Joanna stands with trembling hands in front of Andrew’s door. Lured into the conversation as the others stand nearby, you watch how Simon rushes over to his younger brother to comfort him.

“It’s John.”

It is all you need to hear and it is all you need to know. A few worried voices call out your name but you cannot hear them due to your blood rushing inside your ears. Your legs start running before you even realise you are moving, your breath stalling inside your chest as you run through the streets of Capernaum. Although you do — did — not know John that well, it constricts your airways in a way that your father’s death didn’t do. Perhaps that you never expected it to happen since part of you had always believed that Jesus would prevent such things from happening, and you wonder if you have been naive to think so.

Suddenly overtaken by the idea that death might be around every corner now that it is not unthinkable anymore, you find yourself halting in the middle of the street, looking around violently for any pale, frighteningly cold face that might indicate that the devil is here to get you as well. Perhaps you had been foolish to run away like this, you think to yourself as you heave, for now death can chase you through the village until you are so exhausted that it corners you and takes your life force from you in the way you had always pictured it to happen.

“Are you okay?” a woman you don’t know asks, but you stagger away from her as she puts her bony hand on your arm. Perhaps she is death in disguise instead of an elderly lady, and you can’t take any chances. Dizzy, you rush back the other way, sprinting as fast as your legs can take you.

Fatigue eventually does catch up to you, though. You find yourself slamming into a wall for support, your arms only barely stopping you from colliding face-first into it, and you inhale sharply in an attempt to regain the oxygen lost. It is only now that you start crying, out of breath as you slide onto the ground behind a crate, away from any unwanted onlookers. You pull your legs up to your chest, hugging them close as if they would protect you from death finding you, rocking back and forth as you attempt to calm yourself.

You’re only so young— Too young, not even two decades old yet— You aren’t ready to go—

“—Hey, are you alright?” Your head violently shoots up to anxiously glare at the sudden appearance of a looming figure over you. For a split second, you are confused as to why death comes in the form of a curly-haired Judean, until you realise that it is Andrew who is worriedly looking down at you. “You don’t look alright.” Andrew answers his own question for you, sliding down the wall to take a seat right next to you. Wordlessly, your friend wraps an arm around you and holds you close, causing your breaths to calm down at the warm embrace.

It is clear that the younger son of Jonah has been crying himself, but still he rubs gentle circles over your back as he shushes you. “That was quite something back there,” he says. “Honestly, I was more worried about you than about John just then.”

You shrink a bit, swallowing hard at the mention of John the Baptist. “I… I just didn’t… I’m terrified.” you admit. Now that your panic has subdued enough, you are able to form clearer thoughts. Andrew hums as he pulls away from the hug, but his arm remains around you.

“John knew what he was doing. Jesus never promised us an easy road and in spite of the danger, John remained faithful up to the very end.”

You sniffle and wipe your nose on your sleeve as you realise you must look like a mess. The former fisherman doesn’t seem to mind it, though.

“I feel… I always felt like death was so far away. I have run from it for so long,” you admit. “Just the mention of it makes my blood run cold. I’m so afraid— So afraid that it will come for me, too. And now that John has died, I… I can’t help but fear that it will be here quicker than I thought.”

Andrew takes a moment to listen to the words, processing your expressed worries as he tries to find the right words to say.

“I understand that concern,” he tells you gently, with no judgement in his voice. “Death itself is ominous, an enigma. None of us have ever died before and then lived again to tell what happens after you’re gone. It is a very comprehensible fear and I am convinced that you’re not the only one feeling like this.”

You shake your head, barely daring to look at him lest you burst out into tears again. “I just… I feel like… Every time it is even mentioned, I don’t even know what to do with myself. I grow short of breath— I— I just— I can’t think straight.”

“You don’t know where to go. I understand that feeling. I’ve experienced it, too. Not with death, but with anxiety in general.” You lift your head in surprise. Andrew’s dark eyes are kind as he gives you a small, reassuring smile.

“Really?” You had always seen Andrew as such a soft-spoken, faithful man. You had somehow expected that everything about him was unwavering due to said beliefs. He gives you a small nod.

“I still am anxious from time to time. However, Jesus words are also for us, His students.”

“I know they are.”

“Do you remember the Sermon on the Mount?”

You give a small nod, thinking back on the masses of people that had gathered to hear the words from the Messiah at the Korazim Plateau. It feels like it took place last week but at the same time it feels like a lifetime ago. So much has happened in between that your entire perspective on the passage of time in and of itself has vanished somewhere along the way.

“I do.” you verbalise your response as Andrew hums, shifting a bit to get more comfortable.

“Good. Now, do you recall what Jesus told us about being afraid?”

Feeling your cheeks flame with slight embarrassment, you are forced to shake your head. Your Messiah has taught you so much that it is easy to forget one or two teachings along the way.

“He told us that we cannot add a single day to the span of our life by being anxious.”

The memory of these words forms vaguely in the back of your mind. Jesus had indeed said it, but back then you hadn’t really processed them in a way that you could apply them to your own life. Now that it is repeated to you again, you suddenly wonder if you simply hadn’t understood them before.

“The Lord cares for us.” says Andrew.

“I know.” you reply, fully aware that He does.

“But by being fearful, for example of death, we only get in our own way of living life to the fullest. John looked death in the face and didn’t fear it. Knowing him, he probably even made a John-esque comment towards the executioner.”

You can’t help but crack a tiny smile at the thought. There is hardly any doubt about that.

“We should not be apprehensive of death,” Andrew explains, “This life is just the smallest thing compared to eternity itself. The Father will call us to Him in His own time, not ours. Death means nothing in the face of life. After all, God stands above it all. We can trust Him.”

You swallow hard, allowing your head to rest against Andrew’s shoulder as you try and take in the words. “I understand that it is frightening. What I’d suggest is that you’d try to see death not as the end of life, but as a transition of your soul towards eternity. Whatever we will have to suffer through is nothing compared to what God will give us once we are with Him.”

Humming to acknowledge that, you feel yourself easing into a state of comfort. Andrew gently pats your shoulder as you pull away from his shoulder, offering him a smile.

“Thank you for that, Andrew. That has put my mind at peace a bit more. It’s not fully gone yet, but… You know. It gives me another perspective on things that I can definitely work with.”

“Good.” Andrew says, giving you a kind smile. His eyes are a bit red and puffy from crying earlier, and suddenly something dawns on you.

“Look at us. I should be the one comforting you instead of the other way around. After all, you were one of John’s closest students.”

Andrew shrugs, something akin to guilt flashing over his features.

“I feel like I should be an emotional wreck. Instead, I feel… Calm. Extremely sorrowful, but calm.”

The two of you sit in momentary silence as you mull over his words.

“Like… John has done just what he had been supposed to do, and now he can rest?” you suggest.

Andrew gives you a look, the corner of his lips turning upwards a bit. “Yeah, something like that. Maybe I should ask Jesus about it tomorrow.”

Suddenly, your chest feels tight at the realisation that Jesus must be deeply in mourning and you have had the audacity to run off somewhere into the village without remaining with the others in order to comfort Him upon His return. Andrew seems to be able to read your sudden shame from your face, because he gives your shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“Don’t worry. Jesus has at least ten others to look after Him. I am sure He is fine with us sitting here for a while longer. We can speak to Him later, there is no rush.”

A bit relieved, you sigh.

“How about we take a walk instead?” you offer.

At that, Andrew perks up, a relaxed expression appearing on his features. “I think we can use the fresh air,” he agrees, standing up before offering you his hand to help you up. Taking it and getting back on your feet, you allow yourself a moment to find your balance before heading for the Sea of Galilee, both of you eager for some breath in your lungs.

Today, the wind is pleasant and crisp, and you feel extraordinarily alive.

#the chosen #reader insert #the chosen x reader #chosen x reader #platonic #andrew x reader #the chosen andrew #noah james

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