#Orthodox Teaching of the Elders

[fiftysevenacademics]

This immortal coil

"He's still not awake? Why did you even bring him along? Last night was a disaster thanks to him!"

"Shh, Jingyi! He might hear you," Lan Sizhui hissed.

"Oh, you know he sleeps like the dead," Lan Jingyi said, prodding Wei Wuxian's shoulder to prove his point.

"I wasn't talking about him."

At that moment, the door opened and a tall, broad shouldered young man with a pale face and dark clothing entered, carrying a tray of tea and breakfast. Lan Jingyi's head jerked around, mouth sealed as tightly as if Lan Sizhui had silenced him with a spell.

"Do you have questions about the dead, gong-zi?" Wen Ning asked. "I can answer some of them."

Lan Sizhui smiled into his cup of tea. Wen Ning tolerated little criticism of Wei Wuxian as the years passed, and though he wouldn't harm a single hair on Lan Sizhui's head, the same could not be said for Lan Jingyi, whose loose mouth had run afoul of the fierce corpse's protective instinct more than once. Lan Jingyi shook his head and turned toward the table with relief.

Wen Ning, who had no need for nourishment, stood with his arms at his sides while the younger men ate, fretting over Wei Wuxian's sleeping form. He had died without a golden core, and Mo Xuanyu's body, into which he had been resurrected, had never formed one worth speaking of, so time had been catching up with Wei Wuxian, whose love of food and drink had not waned along with his activity level.

His soft, slightly paunchy body shifted beneath the quilt, jostling hair that had just a few black strands left across the pillow, and crinkled lids surrounded his closed eyes. Wen Ning still had the same sweet, handsome face he had the day he died, if you discounted the pallor and black lines running up his neck, and always would.

The Lan men ate in silence, as they had been taught, but each was thinking the same thing. Lan Sizhui knew that his friend was right. The Night Hunt had been a disaster, thanks to Wei Wuxian, who was only still alive because he had summoned Wen Ning.

For some years after the Guanyin Temple incident, young cultivators who fancied themselves rebels and romanticized demonic cultivation took Wei Wuxian for a role model. Though he did nothing to teach or encourage them, he also only actively discouraged them when Lan Wangji made an issue of it. Fortunately, the craze for necromancy dissipated as all the events surrounding the Yin Tiger Tally, Sunshot Campaign, and the Siege of the Burial Mounds faded into distant memory. To youths nowadays, including Lan Jingyi's own ten year old son, Wei Wuxian was merely Hanguang Jun's strange husband, an elder who told fantastical stories they found hard to believe, and new heroes impressed them more. Over the course of many years, Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi, Jin Ling, and their friends had eradicated or suppressed most of the ghosts and corpses these cultivators had raised before their interests shifted to more orthodox pursuits, but enough lingered to cause occasional problems.

One of these was the fierce corpse they tried to subdue last night. It had by now been almost a decade since one had caused trouble in the the Lan Clan of Gusu's territory, and Wei Wuxian brightened when he came across Sizhui preparing for the Night Hunt. It was a strong young female corpse with powerfully resentful energy. A previous expedition of younger, less experienced Lan disciples had failed to destroy it, so their elders were stepping in.

"You might need Chenqing," Wei Wuxian said, tucking the flute into his wide belt and facing Lan Sizhui with a look that was both expectant and daring him to say no. Lan Sizhui was confident that he and Lan Jingyi could deal with the menace on their own, but the sight tugged at his heart.

"Wei-qianbei, we would indeed benefit from your expertise in such matters. Would you do us the honor of joining our Night Hunt?"

Wei Wuxian, no longer used to riding a donkey, complained frequently and loudly on the way, even though he sat on a thick cushion strapped to the animal's broad back, and was so stiff when they arrived at their inn he had to soak in a hot bath before the evening meal. He drank a jug of wine over Lan Sizhui's and Lan Jingyi's protestations, insisting that he could subdue this mere female corpse blindfolded and with one hand tied behind his back.

They arrived shortly after dark at the night market where the corpse, when living, had eked out a meager existence selling noodles, and where a drunkard customer who harassed her for years had finally raped and murdered her. This man had been run over by a wagon not long afterward, but when she was resurrected, the corpse-woman did not know that and now sought revenge on anyone in the market. It was deserted, except for her high-pitched, inhuman growls. Lan Sizhui was the first to spot her and the three of them went to work.

But this corpse, while not especially big or muscular, was exceptionally agile and far more clever than most of her ilk. She spun to avoid Wei Wuxian's talismans, leaped to avoid Lan Jingyi's sword, and seemed oblivious to Lan Sizhui's guqin.

"Sizhui, I think she was deaf when she was alive!" Lan Jingyi shouted. "Your guqin isn't going to work on her."

The ragged, mouldering woman wielded a large, sharp knife she picked up at one of the stalls with one hand and swung a pole with the other, keeping the cultivators leaping and spinning to avoid her blows as well, until one of them landed squarely behind Wei Wuxian's knees. He buckled and fell and before anyone could react, she had her hands around his throat. Wei Wuxian flailed at his belt for his flute before passing out.

Lan Sizhui saw her arm rise and metal gleam in the moonlight, then heard a soft, wet thud and panic filled his head. He played three loud notes on his guqin and repeated them when nothing happened. Suddenly, a large black shape landed next to the woman and with no further ado, tore her head from her neck and then ripped her in half from top to bottom like a sheet of paper. Wen Ning scooped up Wei Wuxian's limp body and Lan Sizhui tore off his own sleeve to staunch the bleeding. Still holding Wei Wuxian, Wen Ning rose into the air and flew to the inn.

When Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi arrived not much later, Wen Ning had cleaned, stitched, and bandaged Wei Wuxian's wound, and administered pain medicine that put him soundly to sleep. The blade had penetrated deeply near the collarbone, but the injury was not life-threatening.

"This would have been child's play for him twenty years ago," Lan Sizhui said.

"Who could have imagined his reflexes would ever get so slow," Lan Jingyi replied.

Wei Wuxian slept until lunch was brought in, and the scent of food made him sit up with a growling stomach.

"Ow!" he moaned, falling back against the pillow. "Everything hurts."

"Wei-qianbei! Don't move. Let me help." Lan Sizhui scrambled to prop up Wei Wuxian with pillows and Lan Jingyi handed him a bowl of soup, which his injured throat swallowed with some difficulty.

"We can stay here until travel is not painful," Lan Sizhui said, pausing before he continued. "And then you would not need to tell Hanguang Jun what happened."

"Lan Zhan will worry if we don't return soon," Wei Wuxian said. "And besides, he's seen me in worse states."

"Worse? How bad is it, Wei Ying?"

All three of them whipped their heads around, where a tall, elegant white figure and a rougher black shape were approaching. They had not heard the door open.

"Wen Ning came to tell me and I left immediately."

"Wei-gongzi, please forgive me." Wen Ning looked at the ground apologetically but didn't feel that he truly had anything to apologize for.

"Lan Zhan, if you think I look bad, you should see the other guy!" Wei Wuxian quipped, forcing a laugh. "Ow, that hurts."

Lan Wangji looked at Lan Sizhui, who wordlessly understood.

"Jingyi, I think we need to go tend to the donkey."

"But, the innkeeper--" Lan Jingyi began to protest before he got the drift. "Oh, yeah. We'll need your help, too, Wen Ning."

Wei Wuxian's gaze traveled up the flowing white lines of Lan Wangji's robe, over the ivory throat he had so often kissed, and landed on his smooth, unblemished face, its brows knit slightly with concern, eyes, soft. His eyebrows had only a few flecks of gray and his hair, which hung around his shoulders, was as dark as ebony.

He looked scarcely older than that day in Guanyin Temple, when Wei Wuxian had promised himself to Lan Wangji for life. Wei Wuxian's lips parted to speak, but for once, no words came out. Lan Wangji sat next down next to him on the bed and cradled his head in his lap. Wei Wuxian clasped his arms around his waist.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, but not about the accident last night.

He was sorry for the frail, ordinary body that they both knew would not accompany Lan Wangji into immortality. His cultivation had only increased, his spiritual energy said to already be on a par with that of the legendary clan leader Lan Yi, and most assumed that Lan Wangji would one day ascend.

Hot tears welled beneath his lids as Wei Wuxian pictured Lan Wangji hundreds of years from now, long white hair and beard billowing in the breeze as he sat on a secluded mountaintop, meditating and playing guqin. Would he still play "Wangxian?" Over centuries, would that tune absorb the musician's emotions and spiritual energy to become a powerful spell of its own?

Wei Wuxian again opened his mouth to speak and once again, caught his words. He had been about to tease that if Lan Wangji wanted to keep him around for that long, he'd leave instructions for turning him into someone undead like Wen Ning. But then it hit him that Wen Ning would live on without him, too, and it didn't seem funny any more. He pictured Lan Wangji and Wen Ning reminisicing a hundred years from now, the only people who still remembered him from life.

Lan Wangji stroked Wei Wuxian's salt and pepper hair and kissed the creases on his forehead. They always skirted around this topic, so Wei Wuxian didn't know that Lan Wangji wasn't sure he wanted immortality if he couldn't share it with his Wei Ying.

[sybillum]

the Vision of Eulogius the Venerable

russian icon, 1565-1590

the information about the plot of this icon comes from the Hermitage Paterikon.* the earliest example of this icon comes from the cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos of the Ferapontov Monastery (1502).

it is said, that the holy fool Eulogius, during the Easter Liturgy, had a vision of the angels singing the liturgy together with the monks, and after it ended - brought gifts to the monks depending on their zeal. The angels took golden, silver and copper coins from the invisible baskets, prosphoras and the pieces of prosphoras, some of the brothers are anointed from the golden cup, others were incensed from the golden censer, others left without any gifts, and some left their gifts in the church and left emptyhanded. the story in the Paterikon explains the meaning of the vision - the angels symbolically unveil the spiritual benefits of various monastic feats and the corresponding spiritual gifts. gold is given to those who keep vigil on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and on all of the God’s feasts from night to morning; silver is gifted to those who serve from midnight to the morning; the copper coins belong to those who sing and recite the psalms; prosphoras belong to those who are diligent in reading books; bits of prosphoras - to the novices; the anointed ones are the obedient ones; the incensed are the ones who ‘only come to their senses in the church’; and the ones who abandon their gifts and leave are the ones who dabble into the ‘hellenic books and teachings’ and therefore lose the spiritual benefits obtained in the church.

the main action of the icon is happening inside of a great multi-domed church, that is located in the abode, what is indicated by the two monastic belfries. everyone gathered is blessed by the icon of the Theotokos ‘the Sign’ in the central dome of the church. on the altar under the dome there is a big liturgical cup with two holy monastic figures bowing over it. the Eulogius himself is depicted in the bottom left corner of the icon. he holds a scroll which says: ‘do not boast nor speak vainly in your pride, and may no grandeur or eloquence go out of you’. the other instructions are written on the scrolls of the angels standing in the centre, right under the icon of the Theotokos: ‘carry the crosses of each other and thus fulfil the commandment of Christ’ and ‘the word of Christ may live in you graciously in all the wisdom of your hearts’. the bottom right corner shows the expulsion of the negligent monks. 

the icon also shows the blessing of the breads: the two holy elders bowing to the cups with prosphoras is showing this. this is a ritual that remembers the blessing of the five breads and feeding five thousand people - predicting the Sacrament of the Eucharist. 

the symbolic meaning of the cup is the image of the Church, who fills the faithful with the spiritual bread, is stressed out by the comparison with the icon of the Theotokos ‘the Sign’, on whose chest the Bread of life is depicted - Child Jesus. 

*paterikon is a genre of Byzantine religious literature, which contained mostly compilations of lives of saints, their sayings, deeds of martyrs, hierarchs, tales about them etc. 

sources:

Tretyakov Gallery

Orthodox Encyclopaedia

[hivemuthur]

the Ilithid

Or - diving into the original AD&D lore form Monstrous Arcana by Bruce R. Cordell on types of Ilithids players can encounter.

Colloquially known as "mind flayers", Ilithids universally elicit images of horror and fear in the minds of surface dwellers and underwolrders alike. Ilithids shock and repulse other races due mostly to their practice of cephalophagy (...). This abominable habit has such power to appal that the saying "The 'flayer hasn't eaten yet!" was coined centuries ago to convey hope in the face of near-impossible situations.

So - hot topic, tadpoles! Originally, they come from mind flayer eggs, which Ilithids can produce only twice during their entire life. From those eggs, little, helpless tadpoles hatch after a whole month of extremely well protected incubation. And they remain so for another decade, thus it takes this long for a tadpole to mature and be ceromorphosis-ready. The tadpole survival count is 1:1000 - most of them get consumed by the elder brain which resides in the depths of the briny pool.

The criteria for ceromorphosis are also somewhat difficult, as the only acceptable races would be humans, elves, drow, githzerai and githyanki, grimlocks, gnolls, goblins and orcs. After having a tadpole inserted into one's ear, the magic begins - the process completely replaces the original tissue of the victim with Ilithid tissue, therefore - the original victim is dead. From this an Ilithid is formed - any they come in many shapes and sizes.

Generally, all of this makes Ilithids an extremely rare race to encounter (lucky original characters) and also - an extreme threat. As a society they highly resemble anything produced for Alien saga (especially Prometheus).

Arcane Ilithids Which in the lore are said to not even exist, since they are most likely the wrongly recognized type by those, who are not aware of psionic abilities effects. As per most of handbooks, psionics being different to spells, since the source of this power is science.

Ulitharids Or super-jacked Ilithids. Forming from tadpoles seasoned for not 10, but 20 years, reaching over 7 ft height and 6 tentacles and live for at least 250 years.

Elder Brain A sentient disembodied mind that resides at the bottom of the briny pool and initially is a conglomerate creation of deceased Ilithid brains. That makes it a united consciousness for all Ilithid colony. The elder brain suborns individual egos to the gestalt consciousness that suffuses it's mass of tangled, fibrous tissues. Generally, it reaches a 10-foot diameter in size (it is believed that the rest of the brain mass is shunt directly into a node of Astral Plane and remains unified with the elder brain on the Prime Material Plane).

Alhoons (Illithilichs) Rogue Ilithids! Basically undead magical adepts - strayed away from the collective consciousness and general Ilithid teachings to find their own way (in death, apparently). They "live" in solitude, being frowned upon by orthodox Ilithids.

Ilithid Vampires Exactly what is says on the cover - now eating both brains and blood. Their main area of inhabitancy is Demiplane of Dread. They are insane, not able to pass the curse to their victims and are being hunted down by their original race, since Ilithids absolutely hate them. Thankfully, no plague of vampiric mind flayers is imminent.

Urophions So, sometimes Ilithids experiment and do put the tadpole where they shouldn't. If it works, what they get is a very brain-thirsty but also not very comprehensive or mobile creature that ends up as an Ilithid watch dog. Some of them escape into the Underdark, in search of their true purpose.

Neothelids An insanely cool concept named leviathan slug by the author of the supplement. How does it happen? If someone or something kills the elder brain, the entire Ilithid colony around it dies, which leaves poor tadpoles with no food and care. As they grow hungrier, they, well... eat each other. Until the greatest tadpole survives. And the greatest tadpole still has to lurk around for little creatures' non-sentient brains. But with the right measures it will grow enough to finally eat a mind that thinks and this does the trick. Something called reciprocal sentience is triggered, creating a dragon-size neothelid, whose breath dissolves everything but brains.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

by Brad Isbell

Doctrine matters. We live in times when all truth is under attack, especially orthodox Christian teaching. The higher courts of the church are essential to preserve truth and to ensure that the church’s ministers teach and live in accordance with sound doctrine. Ruling elders are part of the firewall that protects the sheep of today…

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: Saturday, October 21, 2023

october 8_october 21

VENERABLE PELAGIA (457) THE PENITENT OF THE Mt OF OLIVES

Saint Pelagia the Penitent was converted to Christianity by Saint Nonnus, Bishop of Edessa (Saturday of Cheesefare Week). Before her acceptance of Christianity through Baptism, Pelagia was head of a dance troupe in Palestinian Antioch, living a life of frivolity and prostitution.

On the following day, when Saint Nonnus was teaching in the church about the dread Last Judgment and its consequences, Pelagia came. The teaching made a tremendous impression upon her. With the fear of God and weeping tears of repentance, she asked the saint for Baptism. Seeing her sincere and full repentance, Bishop Nonnus baptized her.

By night the devil appeared to Pelagia, urging her to return to her former life. The saint prayed, signed herself with the Sign of the Cross, and the devil vanished.

Three days after her baptism, Saint Pelagia gathered up her valuables and took them to Bishop Nonnus. The bishop ordered that they be distributed among the poor saying, “Let this be wisely dispersed, so that these riches gained by sin may become a wealth of righteousness.” After this Saint Pelagia journeyed to Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives. She lived there in a cell, disguised as the monk Pelagius, living in ascetic seclusion, and attaining great spiritual gifts. When she died, she was buried in her cell.

Source: Orthodox Church in America_OCA

NEW MONK-MARTYR IGNATIUS of BULGARIA and Mt ATHOS (1814).

The holy New Martyr Ignatius was born in the village of Eski Zagora in the Trnovo region of Bulgaria, and was named John in Baptism. While he was still a young child, his parents George and Maria moved to the city of Philippopolis and enrolled him in a school there.

Although he did well at school, he had a strong desire for the monastic life. Upon reaching adulthood, he entered the Rila monastery in western Bulgaria. There he was assigned to an Elder, with whom he lived in obedience for six years. When the Elder’s strictness became unbearable, John returned home.

About that time the Serbs rose in revolt against the Moslem government. John’s father was asked to take command of an Ottoman brigade, but he refused to fight against other Orthodox Christians.

The Moslems attacked George with furious anger. He was stabbed and then beheaded. John’s mother and sisters were also taken by the Hagarenes, and they ultimately agreed to convert to Islam.

John fled and hid in the home of an elderly Orthodox woman. His mother and sisters learned where he was hiding, and they told the Moslems. Those sent to capture him did not know what he looked like, so the old woman told them she did not know him. The woman helped him escape to Bucharest, Romania, where he became acquainted with Saint Euthymius, who would also endure martyrdom.

John did not wish to stay in Bucharest, however, and so he left for Mt. Athos. On the way he visited the village of Soumla, where he ran into his friend Father Euthymius again. Learning that Euthymius had denied Christ and beome a Moslem, John became very sad and left the village.

He had not gotten very far when Turkish soldiers stopped him and took all his possessions. They demanded that he convert to Islam, and in his fright he told them that he would do so. Satisfied with this reply, they let him go.

John reached the village of Eski Zagora, where he met an Athonite monk from the monastery of Grigoriou. They journeyed to the Holy Mountain together, and John settled in the Skete of Saint Anna. There he met Father Basil.

One day John and Father Basil traveled to Thessalonica on monastery business. While they were there the monks David and Euthymius of Demetsana suffered martyrdom because they were Christians. John was inflamed with the desire for martyrdom. Father Basil, however, urged him to postpone his intention, and so they returned to the Holy Mountain. A short time after this, Father Basil died.

When a monk from the Skete of Saint Anna told him of the martyrdom of the New Martyr Euthymius (March 22), John was once more filled with zeal for martyrdom. He was placed under the spiritual direction of the Elder Acacius, who prescribed for him prayer, prostrations, and reading the Gospel.

In time, John was found worthy of monastic tonsure, and was given the new name Ignatius. The Elder Acacius blessed him to travel to Constantinople with the monk Gregory in order to bear witness to Christ. After receiving the Holy Mysteries in Constantinople, Ignatius felt he was ready for his ordeal.

Dressed in Moslem garb, Ignatius went before the kadi and proclaimed his faith in Christ. He told him how he had promised to become a Moslem when he was younger, but now he threw his turban at the kadi’s feet and said that he would never deny Christ.

Thinking that Ignatius was insane, the kadi warned him that if he did not come to his senses he would endure horrible torments before being put to death. On the other hand, if he embraced Islam, he would receive rich gifts and great honor from them.

The courageous martyr told the kadi to keep his gifts, for they were merely temporal gifts. “Your threats of torture and death are nothing new,” he said, “and I knew of them before I came here. In fact, I came here because of them, so that I might die for my Christ.”

Saint Ignatius went on to call Mohammed “a false prophet, a teacher of perdition, and a friend of the devil.” Then he invited the Moslems to believe in Christ, the only true God.

The kadi then became so angry he could not speak, so he motioned for a servant to lead Saint Ignatius out of the room. Ignatius turned and struck the servant, then knelt before the kadi and bent his neck, as if inviting him to behead him then and there. Other servants entered the room, however, and dragged him off to prison.

Later, Ignatius was brought before the kadi for questioning. When asked who had brought him to Constantinople, he replied, “My Lord Jesus Christ brought me here.”

Again the kadi urged him to reconsider, for he was about to experience unimaginable tortures. “Do not expect to be beheaded so that the Christians can collect your blood as a blessing,” he said, “for I intend to hang you.”

Ignatius replied, “You will be doing me a great service whether you hang me or put me to the sword. I accept everything for the love of Christ.”

Seeing that he could not turn Ignatius from his Christian Faith, the kadi ordered him to be hanged. He was taken to a place called Daktyloporta, where the sentence was carried out. The martyr’s body remained hanging there for three days, then some pious Christians paid a ransom for it and took it to the island of Prote for burial.

Saint Ignatius gave his life for Christ on October 8, 1814. He is also commemorated on May 1 with Saints Acacius and Euthymius.

The head of Saint Ignatius is in the Monastery of Saint Panteleimon on Mt Athos.

Source: Orthodox Church in America_OCA

2 CORINTHIANS 1:8-11

8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, 11 you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many.

LUKE 5:27-32

27 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him. 29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. 30 And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" 31 Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance

[thesynaxarium]

Yesterday we also celebrate our Venerable Father Symeon the New Theologian. Saint Symeon was a Byzantine Christian monk and poet who was the last of three saints canonized by the Eastern Orthodox church and given the title of "Theologian" (along with John the Apostle and Gregory of Nazianzus). "Theologian" was not applied to Symeon in the modern academic sense of theological study; the title was designed only to recognize someone who spoke from personal experience of the vision of God. One of his principal teachings was that humans could and should experience theoria (literally "contemplation," or direct experience of God). Saint Symeon was born into the Byzantine nobility and given a traditional education. At age fourteen he met Symeon the Studite, a renowned monk of the Monastery of Stoudios in Constantinople, who convinced him to give his own life to prayer and asceticism under the elder Symeon's guidance. By the time he was thirty, Symeon the New Theologian became the abbot of the Monastery of Saint Mamas, a position he held for twenty-five years. He attracted many monks and clergy with his reputation for sanctity, though his teachings brought him into conflict with church authorities, who would eventually send him into exile. His most well known disciple was Nicetas Stethatos who wrote the Life of Symeon. Symeon is recognized as the first Byzantine mystic to freely share his own mystical experiences. Some of his writings are included in the Philokalia, a collection of texts by early Christian mystics on contemplative prayer and hesychast teachings. Symeon wrote and spoke frequently about the importance of experiencing directly the grace of God, often talking about his own experiences of God as divine light. Another common subject in his writings was the need of putting oneself under the guidance of a spiritual father. The authority for many of his teachings derived from the traditions of the Desert Fathers, early Christian monks and ascetics. Symeon's writings include Hymns of Divine Love, Ethical Discourses, and The Catechetical Discourses. May he intercede for us always + Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symeon_the_New_Theologian (at Marmara, Burdur, Turkey) https://www.instagram.com/p/CptBO9tr7bM/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[troybeecham]

Today, the Second Day of Christmas, the Church remembers St. Stephen, proto-Deacon and proto-Martyr.

Ora pro nobis.

Stephen (Greek: Στέφανος Stéphanos, meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor", often given as a title rather than as a name, Hebrew: ‫סטפנוס הקדוש‬‎), (c. AD 5 – c. AD 34) traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity, was according to the Acts of the Apostles a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem who aroused the enmity of members of various synagogues by his teachings. Accused of blasphemy, at his trial, he made a long speech denouncing the Jewish authorities who were sitting in judgment on him and was then stoned to death. His martyrdom was witnessed by Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who would later become a follower of Jesus and known as Paul the Apostle.

The only primary source for information about Stephen is the New Testament book of the Acts of the Apostles. Stephen is mentioned in Acts 6 as one of the Greek-speaking Hellenistic Jews selected to participate in a fairer distribution of welfare to the Greek-speaking widows.

Saint Stephen is first mentioned in Acts of the Apostles as one of seven deacons appointed by the Apostles to distribute food and charitable aid to poorer members of the community in the early church. According to Orthodox belief, he was the eldest and is therefore called "archdeacon". As another deacon, Nicholas of Antioch, is specifically stated to have been a convert to Judaism, it may be assumed that Stephen was born Jewish, but nothing more is known about his previous life. The reason for the appointment of the deacons is stated to have been dissatisfaction among Hellenistic (that is, Greek-influenced and Greek-speaking) Jews that their widows were being slighted in preference to Hebraic ones in the daily distribution of food. Since the name "Stephanos" is Greek, it has been assumed that he was one of these Hellenistic Jews. Stephen is stated to have been full of faith and the Holy Spirit and to have performed miracles among the people.

It seems to have been among synagogues of Hellenistic Jews that he performed his teachings and "signs and wonders" since it is said that he aroused the opposition of the "Synagogue of the Freedmen", and "of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them that were of Cilicia and Asia" (Acts 6:9). Members of these synagogues had challenged Stephen's teachings, but Stephen had bested them in debate. Furious at this humiliation, they suborned false testimony that Stephen had preached blasphemy against Moses and God. They dragged him to appear before the Sanhedrin, the supreme legal court of Jewish elders, accusing him of preaching against the Temple and the Mosaic Law.[Acts 6:9–14] Stephen is said to have been unperturbed, his face looking like "that of an angel"

In a long speech to the Sanhedrin comprising almost the whole of Acts Chapter 7, Stephen presents his view of the history of Israel. The God of glory, he says, appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia, thus establishing at the beginning of the speech one of its major themes, that God does not dwell only in one particular building (meaning the Temple). Stephen recounts the stories of the patriarchs in some depth, and goes into even more detail in the case of Moses. God appeared to Moses in the burning bush [Acts 7:30–32], and inspired Moses to lead his people out of Egypt. Nevertheless, the Israelites turned to other gods [Acts 7:39–43]. This establishes the second main theme of Stephen's speech, Israel's disobedience to God. Stephen faced two accusations: that he had declared that Jesus would destroy the Temple in Jerusalem and that he had changed the customs of Moses.

Benedict XVI stated that St. Stephen appealed to the Jewish scriptures to prove how the laws of Moses were not subverted by Jesus but, instead, were being fulfilled. Stephen denounces his listeners as "stiff-necked" people who, just as their ancestors had done, resist the Holy Spirit. "Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him."[Acts 7:51–53]

Thus castigated, the account is that the crowd could contain their anger no longer. However, Stephen looked up and cried, "Look! I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God!" He said that the recently executed Jesus was standing by the side of God. [Acts 7:54] According to Orthodox belief, the "Sanhedrin shouted and covered their ears, and rushed at him. They dragged him out of the city and stoned him, but the holy martyr prayed for his murderers." The people from the crowd, who threw the first stones, laid their coats down so as to be able to do this, at the feet of a "young man named Saul". However, according to the "Aramaic Bible in Plain English" and the "Weymouth New Testament" (Acts 22:20) through , St. Paul, earlier known as Saul admits he was not only standing by, he was holding the garments of those stoning St. Stephen. This has significance. The possible reason for this may be that many of the members of the Sanhedrin were wealthy. (See Luke 18:9-14) Some, who may have been wearing expensive garments may have been hesitant to throw or place them on the ground. Saul's willingness to hold the garments of those stoning Stephen might signify that he considered it an honor to do so at the time. Having held the garments, rather than just watching over them, would have made Saul much more of an accomplice. This could have added greatly to St. Paul's sense of guilt later on and illuminate why he considered himself to be the worst sinner of all. "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst." 1 Timothy 1:15 (New International Version) Approving of, and assisting in, the killing of a disciple that Christ himself had chosen, was an unforgettable act, which St. Paul regretted for the rest of his life. "But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life." 1 Timothy 1:16

Stephen prayed that the Lord would receive his spirit and his killers be forgiven, sank to his knees, and "fell asleep" [Acts 7:58–60]. Saul, a witness to the stoning, "approved of their killing him".[Acts 8:1] In the aftermath of Stephen's death, the remaining disciples fled to distant lands, many to Antioch.

We give you thanks, O Lord of glory, for the example of the first martyr Stephen, who looked up to heaven and prayed for his persecutors to your Son Jesus Christ, who stands at your right hand; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

[immerlein]

hello ms immerlein, hope you're doing well. i'm a simple inquirer into the orthodox church and i wanted to ask if you could go into detail about what marriage is, in the faith. my boyfriend is the type who thinks "why can't we just get married at a courthouse?" but because having a wedding is important to me, he'd ultimately like to go with a 'proper' one. i'm glad that he cares about me enough to allow me to make the decision, but i don't know how to convince him that marriage is indeed something sacred. ideally i'd want to have our wedding at an orthodox parish, but as he isn't (yet, maybe sooner or later) a christian i'm content with waiting

Hi there :)

Thanks for your question; it's great to hear your boyfriend respects your feelings on something as important as this. I will say, though, that you might have a hard or impossible time getting married to a non-Christian in an Orthodox church, so you would need to discuss it with a priest. By the way you've phrased your ask you do seem to know that, but just clarifying in case :) I agree that marriage is sacred and a very beautiful mystery of the Church. It is taken seriously, entered into seriously, and only broken under the most serious of circumstances (the Church allows remarriage, with conditions). The whole idea is that you marry to be "companions on the journey from earth to heaven" (St John Chrysostom) and "attain holiness". "The purpose of marriage is to unite two persons into a bond of love for their mutual companionship, support, enjoyment, and fulfillment. While the couple, on their own, already is a family, giving birth to and nurturing children is an important purpose of marriage." - goarch.org

I'm going to include some other quotes from Saints/Church Fathers/theologians that I think speak to the theology of marriage better than my own words could.

Marriage is a sacrament and a state of grace: “Marriage is not only a state of nature but a state of grace. Married life, no less than the life of a monk, is a special vocation, requiring a particular gift or charisma from the Holy Spirit; and this gift is conferred in the sacrament of Holy Matrimony.” (Ware, Timothy (1993-04-29). The Orthodox Church)

“Marriage is the key of moderation and harmony of desires, the seal of a deep friendship… United in the flesh, one spirit, they urge each other on by the good of their mutual love. For marriage does not remove God, but brings all closer to Him, for it is God Himself Who draws us to it.” - Saint Gregory the Theologian

Elder Aimilianos of Simonos Petros Monastery on Mt. Athos wrote: “When two people get married, it’s as if they're saying: Together we will go forward, hand in hand, through good times and bad. We will have dark hours, hours of sorrow filled with burdens, monotonous hours. But in the depths of the night, we continue to believe in the sun and the light.”

"There are two misunderstandings about marriage which should be rejected in Orthodox dogmatic theology. One is that marriage exists for the sole purpose of procreation...is has never been a teaching of the Church. On the contrary, according to St John Chrysostom, among the two reasons for which marriage was instituted,  it is the first reason which is the most important: 'as for procreation, it is not required absolutely by marriage...’ In fact, in Orthodox understanding, the goal of marriage is that two should become one, in the image of the Holy Trinity, Whose three Persons are essentially united in love... In the Orthodox Church, there is no understanding of sexual union as something unclean or unholy. This becomes clear when one reads the following prayers from the Orthodox rite of Marriage: 'Bless their marriage, and vouchsafe unto these Thy servants ... chastity, mutual love in the bond of peace ... Preserve their bed unassailed ... Cause their marriage to be honourable. Preserve their bed blameless. Mercifully grant that they may live together in purity .. :. Sexual life is therefore considered compatible with 'purity' and 'chastity', the latter being, of course, not an abstinence from intercourse but rather a sexual life that is liberated from what became its characteristic after the fall of Adam. The ultimate goal of marriage is the same as that of every other sacrament, deification of the human nature and union with Christ. This becomes possible only when marriage itself is transfigured and deified." - taken from the writing of Metropolitan Hilarion.

I hope this helps! Take care and all the best :)

[pharahsgf]

Feel free to ignore this ask but I'm not really sure how to feel about LQR/Lan clan in mdzs. On one hand I really buy the idea that he loves his nephews and enjoys teaching and in general his teachings are good, as well as the Lan rules. But I do think it's stressed a bit, especially in the novel, that the Lan clan and LQR by extension have strayed a bit from "spirit of the rule" to following and making rules that are very repressive (off the top of my head: don't laugh or smile without cause). And while I know that LQR loves LWJ and had no reason to believe in WWX after everything, I forgot how the discipline whip almost killed LWJ and the scars are designed to never heal and are a representation of ultimate shame. I know LWJ needed to be disciplined in some way bc he did hurt Lan elders but there is this sense that LQR punished LWJ so much hoping that he would break and when he didn't, he doubled down. Idk like I hate the way the fandom engages with the Lan and LQR without nuance but at the same time I don't think it would be out of character for him to continue to try to make WWX and LWJ's lives difficult. I really adore fics etc that explore the idea of him changing for the better though and am really tired of takes that are like nothing gets better and WWX has to deal with both JC and the Lan clan hating him. Its exhausting. You're the only MDZS blog I trust so I just wanted to ramble about this issue to you :)

aw thank you! it's nice of you to say that

wrt lan qiren... i can't fault him for his dedication to the rules and to orthodox cultivation when he is safeguarding hundreds of years of tradition and legacy, and when his attitude allowed him to not only maintain but elevate the pristine reputation of the sect he suddenly had to lead. the teachings and values of the lan have always served him well, and he never had the incentive to re-evaluate his understanding of the rulebook like lan wangji eventually would; as a result, the lan precepts become the framework through which he analyses wei wuxian's actions, and not knowing the important context behind these actions further condemns them in lan qiren's mind.

his treatment of wei wuxian is unfair and lan wangji's punishment is undeserved, but the reason he behaves like this is not because he's an unreasonable abusive conservative who lives to make wangxian's life difficult - it's because, from his point of view, wei wuxian is morally bankrupt and leading lan wangji down a path of depravity in an uncomfortable parallel to the drama that destroyed qingheng-jun. protecting his nephews and his clan are always his priorities and the knowledge available to him, alongside the values that have been instilled in him, led him to strongly believe that wei wuxian was an enemy to those goals. so, imo, if he grew to understand wei wuxian's motivations and the way he fits into the narrative of heroism painted by the lan sect's teachings, the animosity would end. that's what redeems lan qiren to me.

[onlyhope93]

He’s not as bad as he seemed to be - Chapter 1 - oops

There is nothing like Discussion Conference, in Cloud Recesses nonetheless, thought Wei Wuxian, trying to escape all the judgemental and incriminating looks the ‘orthodox’ cultivators were sending him. What wouldn’t I give for a jar of Emperor's Smile... What did he think, dragging me all the way here? He knows Lans hate everything unconventional in cultivation, but no... ‘You're my head disciple, if I have to suffer through this instead of focusing on rebuilding Lotus Pier, I damn well will not suffer through it alone. You’re coming with me, end of discussion. A-Jie will handle everything here. Besides, a little break from your constant drinking in the winehouses will do you and the owners good. At least they’ll be able to replenish their wine reserves’.  

He and Jiang Cheng, along with several of their most trusted disciples were in Gusu Lan Cloud Recesses for three days already and all that was discussed so far was how generous the Lanling Jin was in aiding various smaller and bigger sects in rebuilding and establishing connections with new sects, which sprouted after the Sunshot Campaign like mushrooms after rain. Three days, and nothing but bootlicking. Wei Wuxian felt like he’s going to be sick if he sat there even a minute longer, so after lunch he snuck out, only sending Jiang Cheng a wink. It’s a good thing his brother knows him so well that he only rolled his eyes and let him go. Trying to keep Wei Wuxian in that discussion room any longer would surely end in some political disaster.

He was walking leisurely through stone gardens and beautifully styled pathways, the serene atmosphere giving him a feeling of nostalgia. Memories of his study days flying before his eyes. How much easier it was back then... No worries, no wars, no pain, no death... We worried only for how to kill boredom, the only wars we experienced was on night hunts fighting resentful creatures, the only pain came from scrapes and cuts on training sessions or when playing around, and nobody even thought about the possibility of death, we were immortal cultivators after all. Now? All that’s left from those times are memories clouded by the shock of reality and adulthood that came too fast. Gods I’m pathetic, I’m not even 20 yet! And I feel like I’m fucking 40... ugh, get a grip Wei Wuxian! He shook off the morbid thoughts and decided to go find that waterfall he liked to spend his free time at during the lectures here. He was just about to turn the corner when he suddenly bumped into somebody. A tall somebody in white and light blue elegant clothing, stern features and a goatee. He was soooo screwed now...

“Lan xiansheng, good afternoon. Wonderful day we have today, don’t we?”, yep he was screwed. “Forgive me for my inattention. I’ll be out of your way now”, said Wei Wuxian, stepping out of the way and waiting for Lan Qiren to pass him by with haughty expression and sneer on his lips. How wrong he was.

“Wei Wuxian. Since the fate decided to cross our paths again, come” said Lan Qiren turning around and walking away, clearly expected to be followed.  

“Forgive me xiansheng, but my student years are long passed and I don’t need any more lectures.” answered Wei Wuxian, not moving.

Lan Qiren stopped, saying “I said come. You are in Cloud Recesses. ‘Do not disrespect the elder’, ‘Honour your teacher and respect his teachings’. I thought you once, therefore I am forever your teacher. Now come.”  

And with this he strode away. What was Wei Wuxian to do, but obey? I'll just have to endure it. I do it every day from Jiang Cheng anyway.

Lan Qiren led him to his office. It was a medium sized room, elegant and airy, with small stove for brewing tea close to small table for discussions and admitting guests, spacious desk for writing, and shelf that took a vast majority of the back wall for all documents and space for research materials.

Wei Wuxian stayed by the door, unsure of what to expect. Lan Qiren sat at the table and waited. He rose one of his eyebrows looking at his guest. Wei Wuxian sighed and slowly came to sit down. And since Lan Qiren clearly stated he is here as his student and due to the generational difference, it was Wei Wuxian’s responsibility to prepare and serve tea. Once the formalities were seen to and first sips of tea taken, it was time for the lecture.  

“I assume you know, or at least are able to guess, what I want to talk with you about. I was informed you strayed from the orthodox cultivation and are dealing with demonic arts. You are also well aware what my opinion of it is since the lectures you were part of. However, I was informed that you disappeared for three months after the attack on Lotus Pier and were presumably thrown into the Burial Mounds by Wen Chao. Do not look at me liked that, I was Acting Sect Leader for years before my nephew took over the sect after his father’s passing, I have my way of gaining information outside of gossip. You have not used your sword since then, nor are you carrying it with you as our tradition and propriety dictates. Answer me this. What is wrong with your golden core?”

Wei Wuxian was speechless. How did he know? There is no way he learned it from any spy, nobody except from me, Wen Qing and Wen Ning knows. There’s no way... Hackles raised, Wei Wuxian tried to play the fool.

“I don’t know what you are talking about xiansheng, my golden core is just fine. And what Burial Mounds? Your informant must be quite the storyteller.”

“Do not try lying to me and do not take me for a fool. My informant has seen a group of Wens, including Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu heading towards the Burial Mounds on their swords with someone in their grasp. The person was in bad shape, in nondescript clothing, but visibly young. Unfortunately, by the time the information got to me, you already managed to join the Sunshot Campaign. And also unfortunately, I managed to associate the youth they carried with you once the Campaign was well underway and I was informed about your new style of cultivation. Resentful energy damages the body and the spirit. It is vile, dangerous and unpredictable. I will ask again, what is wrong with your golden core?”

This cannot be happening. Out of all the people in the world it had to be Lan Qiren, hasn’t it? He has to think of something fast. There are too many people here, too many sects, too many witnesses. He has to do something otherwise the Jiang sect is going to be in danger. They just started rebuilding, they cannot afford to be attacked now, when there is so little chance they will survive it. Not when everyone will find out he is coreless and decide that his Yin Tiger Amulet is out for grabs. It is too dangerous to be in anyone else's hands.

And now here he is. All his plans to wait until the Yunmeng Jiang is fully re-established to destroy that damn thing and end this miserable existence of his with it. To wait until everyone is safe again after war. It’s all for nought.

In his panic, Wei Wuxian stood up feigning anger, looking around discreetly as if someone would be able to hear. He started to move towards the door, saying “I told you already xiansheng, my golden core is just fine. As is my body and my spirit. I know myself best.”

In a blink, Lan Qiren was in front of him, grasping his wrist. Wei Wuxian tried to escape, but what he didn’t take into account is the legendary Lan arm strength. Despite being a scholar and a teacher, Lan Qiren was still a Lan. Diligent in his training and honing his skills for years, he could easily overpower Wei Wuxian.

And then he stated probing his meridians, which were found empty but undamaged, with void in place of the core.

“Impossible,” said Lan Qiren, looking at Wei Wuxian in shock. “Who did this to you?”

His grip on the wrist slackened, and Wei Wuxian was finally able to wrest his hand back to himself. He was in sooooo much trouble now.  

“Nobody did anything to me, I am completely fine. I didn’t expect the great Grandmaster of the Lan Sect, Lan Qiren, to be so discourteous as to grab people without their permission”, seethed Wei Wuxian through gritted teeth and with anger in his eyes, their colour flickering between grey and red.  

“Forgive me my discourtesy, but it was the only way to check on your health without you avoiding examination”, said Lan Qiren, trying to placate the fuming Wei Wuxian. “The technique used to extract your golden core is very old and only 2 or 3 copies of it exist, one of which is in possession of the Lan Sect. I know it was not the Core Melting Hand, his core crushing technique destroyed also the meridians. I felt the meridians of a person attacked by Wen Zhuliu and they were in state of total devastation. Your meridians are whole and healthy, although energy in them is stagnant and tinted by resentment, and they are singed only where they meant to be connected to the core. Someone clearly performed a surgery on you. The only question is what experiments were they performing on you and what they used your core for?”

That's it, isn’t it? He's done for. After all his attempts to keep it a secret, after hurting so many people with his lies, it had to be his old teacher. He always thought the Old Man Lan hated his guts. He was ready for another lecture full of scoldings and hateful comments, but he had no idea how it turned out as it did.

And then the door opened.  

[gatekeeper-watchman]

The Myth that All Jews Rejected Jesus

"Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover many believed in his name… many of the multitudes believed in him…many came to believe in him… a great many of the priests became obedient." (John 2:23; 7:31; 8:30; 4:39; Acts 6:7)

"You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Torah." (Acts 21:20)

It’s a common teaching that the Jews of the first century rejected Jesus as the Messiah and that every Jewish generation has done so ever since.

As with many teachings passed down from our elders and through urban legends, it's not exactly what happened—at least according to the New Testament. The NT portrays the Jewish people as being of divided opinion about him, not a unified, total, hostile rejection. And that it has also been the overall Jewish response over the centuries.

Countless Jews have believed in and followed Jesus, both in his day and throughout history. Thousands of "Yeshua-believing" Jews are living in Israel today and throughout the earth.

But their stories have largely been discounted or suppressed by the Jewish community as aberrations and acts of apostasy.

Ironically, the Gentile Church over time also hushed up stories about Orthodox Jews who followed Jesus yet remained practicing, observant Jews. In the eyes of the Church, these "believers" were heretical: an embarrassing repudiation of universal, catholic (non-Jewish) Christianity.

So the Synagogue and Church have inadvertently conspired for most of history to conceal the truth: Not all Jews rejected Jesus.

Some of their stories: are Jakob Jocz, The Jewish People and Jesus Christ After Auschwitz (1981), Pinchas Lapide, Israelis, Jews and Jesus (1979), and Oskar Skarsaune, Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries (2007).

[For a PDF version of this article, click Myth that All Jews Rejected Jesus.]

Now Is Not Then

Part of the problem with this topic is the habit of reading history by what we know today. Today's urban legend says no Jewish person believes in Jesus.

A "Jew" may be a Marxist Socialist Social-Justice-Warrior atheist, a Freudian Reconstructionist New Ager, or a Hasid who believes Rabbi Schneerson of Brooklyn will rise from the grave and become the Moshiach. A Jewess may consult the Mazzalot (the stars), eats at a Subway deli, then goes wild at Adele concerts.

Each of these Jews can still define themselves as being a descendant of Abraham. But officially a "Jew" can't believe in Jesus and retain his or her ethnic identity or membership in the community.

Even though thousands of Jews right now believe that Jesus was (and is) the Messiah, the larger Jewish community has determined they are no longer—by definition—Jews. It's almost Websterian:

Jew: (noun) someone of the bloodline of Abraham who doesn't believe in Jesus the Jew.

Another challenge to unraveling the urban myth is that many Jews think of Jesus and Christianity as synonymous.

When they look at the thousands of denominations and sects under the label "Christianity" and see a largely non-Jewish—and at times anti-Jewish—religion confronting them, they have a reason not to be drawn to the "Jesus" they see.

Yet most of them choose not to see the often-radical differences between these Christianities and Jesus himself.

Out of self-protection, some Jews comb the body of rabbinic tradition for reasons (justifications) why Jews can't believe in Jesus. As expected, they find what they're looking for. A person always does.

But those who feel comfortably fortified with reasons for rejection don't realize that the rabbis—who lived and taught centuries after Jesus—were ignorant of the real story and merely passed on third-hand polemical comments about him and his disciples.

For example, the Babylonian Talmud contains many factual errors about Jesus and his disciples (Sanhedrin 43a) and is historically unuseful for gaining an objective hearing. Yet the Talmud stands as the ultimate authority for many (Orthodox) Jews.

Burn the Land Tactics Another development has been the "scorched earth policy" within Judaism. That means that what Christians believe, Jews must abandon, even if Jews once believed those ideas from Scripture— not merely abandon but repudiate them as alien doctrine.

One example. I once overheard a woman in a synagogue boldly announce that "Jews don't believe in the resurrection." But resurrection from the dead was (and still is) a central tenet of Orthodox Judaism, dating from biblical times. It is one of Maimonides' 13 Principles of the Faith which most Jews have upheld as a fairly universal definition of the Jewish Faith.

"I believe with perfect faith that there will be a revival of the dead [techiyat hameitim] at the time when it shall please the Creator." [Principle 13]

To say the resurrection is a non-Jewish concept is unhistorical. It's meant as a polemical dig at Christianity.

Tragically, in burning bridges with the past—with motives of protecting their people from Jesus—some Jewish leaders have revised their history and obliterated sources of hope their ancestors once held.

[For a study of the biblical basis of resurrection, please consider The Third Day: Resurrection Patterns.]

But why are the Talmudic sources unreliable when reporting on Jesus and his teaching? Because the rabbinic opinions about him were colored by at least two agendas.

First Agenda

The first agenda was the need to defend the reputation of previous rabbis who rejected Jesus, going back to the first century.

Later rabbis had to defend the vote of the first-century Sanhedrin which tried and convicted Jesus of blasphemy and national betrayal. Why?

It was inconceivable that the Elders of Israel would make such a colossal mistake as repudiating God's Mashiach and turning him over to Goyim to be executed.

Without questioning, without opening the documents of the case, later rabbis accepted what their teachers—and their teachers and their teachers — believed to be the right legal decision regarding the young rabbi from Nazareth. They repeated and thus validated the original ruling as the authoritative Jewish position for all time.

Second Agenda

Another influence on rabbinic views about Jesus is that the "Christianity" the medieval rabbis were rejecting was Roman Catholicism, not the Judaic faith of the New Testament.

When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire under Emperor Theodosius in AD/CE 380, it was by then largely non-Jewish and increasingly hostile to Jews and Judaism—hostile even to Jewish believers in Jesus. The new religion had little outward Jewishness about it.

Emperor Constantine had seen to that earlier at the Council of Nicea in 325 when he warned church bishops that they should have nothing to do with the practices of the "odious Jews," such as celebrating a Christian Passover.

Then, as the philosophy-trained theologians of the Church evolved their abstract doctrines about the Godhead and distilled them into a series of creedal formulas, the rabbis discerned no connection with Israel's "Old Testament" scriptures or faith. So, they rejected "Christianity"—and Jesus—as a package.

But Jesus and Christianity aren't always synonymous. The Church, in its actions and teachings, does not always represent the faith and doctrines depicted in the New Testament.

The NT is against hypocrisy and unbelief and phony religion. It is not against the historical, biblical faith of Israel.

Jesus' first disciples continued living as practicing Jews. And nowhere does the NT incite contempt or hatred for the Jewish people as a whole because many of their leaders and fellow citizens rejected Jesus. When he was hanging on the tree, Jesus asked God: "Forgive them, Father, for they don't know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).

Sadly, many Greek NT manuscripts do not contain this prayer. Some later Christian scribes didn't like the idea of Jesus seeking forgiveness for his Jewish enemies, so they took the prayer out of their copies. [Mss: Ρ75, ℵ, B, D, etc.]

[For more on this consider the articles Yeshua Did Not Hate Jews and God Did Not Reject His People]

Gradually, the Myth of Total Jewish Rejection settled in. A corollary of it is that after the Jews repudiated him, Jesus' disciples decided to preach his gospel of the Messianic Kingdom to the non-Jews, the Gentiles, who then open-heartedly accepted him and founded "Christianity."

Let's examine these two truisms to see if they are true.

First Error

According to the Hebrew Bible, God created all human beings in his image. Non-Jews or Goyim (Hebrew, "the Nations"), were not inferior, factory-discarded images of the Creator. No one was treif. Even Abraham and his children are called a goy (Genesis 12:2; 18:18); so are the people of Israel (Exodus 19:6). Goy Israel is simply one of the goyim.

When our common parents (Adam and Eve) sinned and were sent into exile from Gan Eden, their children descended into futility and death. They became "goyish" in their corruption. But God immediately moved to rescue the human family (us)—because he loved them (us).

Early on, he formed a people named Israel to be the channel of redemptive revelation to the human race. Regathering his exiled creation to himself became a central task. Reaching all the Goyim (nations) was the plan from the start.

Genesis 12:3c: In you [Avram] all the families of the earth will be blessed.

Isaiah 49:6: I will also make you a light of the Goyim so that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

Zechariah 2:11a: Many Goyim will join themselves to the LORD in that day and will become my people.

Psalm 117:1: Praise the LORD all you Goyim and let all the peoples praise Him.

The New Testament inherits these biblical mandates and assumes nothing changed with the coming of Jesus. God's Plan had simply entered its final stages. The Creator was still intent on reaching and delivering the Goyim out of their darkness.

Misreading Paul? Despite this obvious repeated teaching in the Hebrew Bible, many Christians have believed God decided to offer messianic salvation to the Gentiles only after the Jews had refused the Messiah Jesus. As Joseph Shulam of the organization Netivyah in Jerusalem has said, it's like the Goyim get rejected table scraps: a savior the Jews didn't want.  

The idea is based, in part, on a misreading of Romans 11:11-12.

There, Paul says, God exploited the rejection of Jesus by the majority of Jewish leaders and the reception of Jesus by many non-Jews to His advance His purposes—His original, eternal Purpose. The way Paul saw the events of history unfolding, it appeared as though the Gentiles got the good food because the Jews said no to it. But that wasn't the real or whole truth.

In reality, the NT shows it was because Jews did believe in Jesus of Nazareth that the message went out to Gentiles.

His apostles (agents, shlichim) who gave the gospel to the world were all Jews. They were as much "Israel" as anyone else. Time after time, they tried to recruit fellow Jews to join the messianic campaign (Acts 28:23-29), and they frequently gained volunteers in Jerusalem and throughout the Diaspora.

All Are Summoned. Many Say Yes, But Not All No, not all of Israel accepted Jesus. But Paul said even the unbelief of what he describes as "some" fellow Jews did not nullify God's original purpose to bless the world through Israel and her Messiah (Romans 3:3). He had kept a remnant of 7,000 (Rom 11:2, 4-5).

The Plan went on, even though many refused to join the Jewish disciples in being messengers of redemption. Those who rejected their national calling were left behind, and strangers gratefully entered (Acts 13:26, 46-48).

But (again) Jewish rebellion and lack of concern for the Goyim didn't thwart God's Plan for Gentiles or Israel herself. He didn't lose heart when some, even most of His people rejected His will.

Jewish disinterest in reaching Goyim today with the truth of the Bible and the good news of the biblical God isn't stopping the God of Abraham from redeeming countless millions of them—through His Messiah, Yeshua of Nazareth.

Second Error

We can't say the Jews "rejected" Jesus any more than we can say the Gentiles "accepted" him — if we mean all of them. Because in the New Testament era, most non-Jews did not accept him, while thousands of Jews did.

Goyim For Jesus When the gospel message of the Messiah and the God of Israel was preached to "pure" Gentiles (that is, raw pagans with no acquaintance with Judaism), few conversions are reported (Acts 16:11-39–Philippi; 17:34–Athens; 19:23-29–Ephesus).

But when the Messianic Message is preached in synagogues where there are many Gentile proselytes or "God-fearers" already associated with Israel, the gospel ignites a brush fire. For example, Acts 10 (the centurion Cornelius); 13:43, 48-49 (in Antioch); 14:1 (in Iconium); 17:4 (in Thessalonica); 19:17 (in Ephesus).

The Gentiles who already lived within the light of "Judaism" of the time and knew the Hebrew Scriptures were the most responsive to Jesus. Those who were ignorant of the Bible generally chose to remain so.  

So, the blackwash that only pure pagans—devoid of Jewish teaching—could swallow the Israelite Gospel about Jesus has no historical basis. This is just polemical propaganda.

The reception of Jesus by Gentiles was a fulfillment of an 800-year-old prophecy.

It will come about on that day that the Nations [Heb. goyim] will resort to the Root of Jesse… and he will lift a standard for the Goyim. (Isaiah 11:10, 12)

Jesse was the father of David; David was the "grandfather" of Jesus, who was a "root" of Jesse. There is no question that Jesus has fulfilled this Hebrew prophecy.

And Among Jews? The coming of Jesus was characterized by one pious elderly Jew: "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and the rise of many in Israel" (Luke 2:34). He saw that Jews would indeed fall away from God over the messianic child—but many would also rise: by accepting God's messianic redemption for themselves.

This mixed reaction to Jesus is exactly what we find in the New Testament.

What the Gospels Report (Contrary to Later Church Teachings)

In his gospel record, John uses an important adjective: "many" [polloi].

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover many believed in his name; many of the multitude believed in him; many came to believe in him. [Even] "many of the Samaritans [bitter enemies of Jews] believed in him" (John 2:23; 7:31; 8:30; 4:39).

Many believed; it does not say, "Everyone rejected Jesus."

Am Ha'Aretz Even though a mindless, manipulatable rabble called for Jesus' crucifixion at the hands of the Romans, the Jewish verdict wasn't unanimous. On his way to Skull Hill, dragging his cross, "there were following him a great multitude of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting him" (Luke 23:27).

The Elders Throughout his mission, Jesus was accepted not only by these common people.

Some of "the Jews" also believed in him (John 11:45). Especially in John's gospel this term designates the "Judeans" or Jerusalem spiritual leaders—the Temple Establishment, the Jewish Vatican—and their supporters, not ordinary Jewish citizens of Israel. John says "many rulers believed in him" (John 12:42). This term [Grk, archon] often denotes leaders of the Sanhedrin, the national religious court (Matt 9:18; Luke 14:1; John 3:1).  

Thus, educated and patriotic Jewish leaders saw no reason to reject Jesus, even though the majority eventually did. That these men were willing to stand their ground in an ethnic, religious, and political avalanche suggests they weren't in it for prestige or advantage. No one was buying them off to be "Yeshua-nic Jews."

Paul is undoubtedly a key witness for being a Jesus-believing Jew. He affirmed again and again that he was a "Jew," an "Israelite," a "Hebrew" and a "Pharisee" (Acts 21:39; 22:3, Rom 11:1; Phil 3:5). He never referred to himself as a "Messiah-ite" (i.e., a Christian).

Yes, there is another side to the story.

Disciples Deserted Him Though many believed in Jesus, saying "He is a good man," others replied, "No, he deceives the people" (John 7:12). Even "many of his disciples withdrew, and were not walking with him anymore" (John 6:60, 66). By the end, Jesus was left to face Roman execution alone. "All the disciples deserted him and fled" (Matt 26:56)—but only for a time, for many returned.  

And though it seems unbelievable, even when he appeared to eleven of his disciples after his resurrection the text says "some doubted" (Matt 28:17).

The NT doesn't gloss over the picture of what happened. If it wanted to convince later readers that "all the Jews" either rejected Jesus or accepted him, this mixed-reaction report isn't the best way to do that. You'd want to color your stories. That's just why these reports of Jewish responses ring true to history.

To press the point: the gospels portray an Israel of divided, not one-sided, opinion. Many leaders and many ordinary people stood on opposite sides regarding Jesus.

What the Book of Acts Reports

In the book of Acts (which covers events after the resurrection of Jesus), the picture is the same. "Multitudes" of Jews believe what they hear the disciples preach about the Nazarene.

Many [polloi] of those who had heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5,000. (Acts 4:4)

And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. (Acts 5:14; also 9:42; 17:12)

Special mention is also made of Jewish leaders and Hasidim, both within Israel and in the Diaspora.

A great many [polus] of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. (Acts 6:7)

There was a certain disciple in Damascus, named Ananias… a man who was devout by the standard of the Torah, and well-spoken oy all the Jews who lived there. (Acts 9:10; 22:12)

Certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees…had believed. (Acts 15:5)

Crispus, the leader of the synagogue [in Corinth, Greece], believed in the Lord [Yeshua], with all his household. (Acts 18:8)

You see brother how many thousands [posai muriades] there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealots for the Torah. (Acts 21:20)

A Remnant of All Here again, we read of temple priests, Pharisees, synagogue officials, and Torah zealots all saying Yes to Jesus, Yeshua of Nazareth. These were orthodox—not gentilized, assimilated—Jews. They were "Hasidic" (covenant loyal), Scripture-centered people. Such also comprised the inner circle of Jesus' childhood, as portrayed in Luke 1-2.

In the book of Acts, the nation continues to be divided on the issue of Jesus.

Those who believed in his messiahship were a minority of the nation, but that was nothing new. Only "some" ever obeyed God in Israel's history. There was always just a remnant, an inner core of faithful.

Elijah part of a group of 7,000 in his day (1 Kings 19:18). Isaiah led a remnant (Isaiah 8:16-18). Ezra and Nehemiah led a small contingent of believing exiles back from Babylon to rebuild the temple.

In the case of the Messiah Jesus Movement, the remnant was a sizable one ("many thousands," Acts 21:20). But the size of a remnant is irrelevant. That it simply existed—and now exists within the Jewish community—is the point.

Toppling the Myth's Icon

It's an injustice to the Jewish followers of Jesus to perpetuate the Myth of Jewish Rejection. The faith of thousands, then and today, cannot be written off as though nothing.

At what point should we decide that the Messiah Jesus Movement was "credible" or authentically Jewish—only if every Jew believed in and obeyed him? By that measure, the Moses Movement cannot be deemed credible or authentic, because never in Jewish history has every Jew followed Moses or obeyed God.

Shall we say the Jews rejected Moses, too?

The authenticity of a work of God within a human being needs no validation by a majority vote.

And let's be historically accurate about the Gentiles. The majority of them mentioned in Acts who heard the Good News about Jesus declined to accept it. Should we also say the "non-Jews rejected Jesus," ignoring those many who did not? What about the Gentile Remnant then and now? (Some of you are part of it yourselves.)

Polishers of the Icon Paradoxically, the Myth is promoted by two groups: (1) Christians with anti-Jewish sentiment and (2) Jews with the anti-Christian sentiment.

Both groups use identical logic:

"Since Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah from the beginning—and always have and always will—there's absolutely no point in discussing him. Drop it. Jews and Jesus are incompatible."

This thinking, of course, relieves social tensions between Christians and Jews. It promotes pluralism and tolerance. It pays homage to the great idol to which Western civilization now bows down: "There is no truth and all gods are the same. You have yours; I have mine. And, uh, I don't want yours."

But this idol denies the unique validity of the Hebrew Scriptures upon which Jewish identity depends. If the Bible isn't true, Jewish claims of unique, chosen, self-identity, and national purpose are meaningless.

Obeying the cultural idol also leads to denying Jews the God-given right to hear the facts of the original case about Jesus to make decisions about him—free of bias.

For those who dwell under the deluding cloud of the Myth of Rejection, the New Testament itself is the best tool for dispelling it and exposing the Issue again to those of our generation.

The Walls of Walls Protecting the Icon Over the centuries Jews have rejected several messianic pretenders.

But their self-defining corporate rejection of Jesus and the New Testament is different. They can't leave him in the past as they did, say, Shabbetai Zvi.

Their response is partly due to Christianity itself: (1) to what the Roman Catholic Church and many Protestant groups have done to them in Jesus' name, and (2) due to indifference toward the inspired New Testament and the dehumanizing and paganizing forces within numerous branches of Christianity—which exist to this day.

No one can rewrite the terrible volume of Christianity's history. That wall will always remain; though it's not impenetrable (as many Jews can attest). But the Paganization Barrier could come down immediately if Christians decided to demolish it and return to the authentic New Testament "Olive Tree" faith (Romans 11).

We're All Alike Historical justifications aside, the Jewish rejection of Jesus may have nothing to do with history or religious conviction. It is more likely due to an inborn and shared human response to God's Plan in every age by not a few people: "Leave me alone! Don't interfere with my life! I am all the God I need and want. I don't need saving by a messiah."

But since this sounds so brash and childish—so filled with hubris—most of us find other reasonable reasons for keeping God and Jesus, and a contrite spirit at bay.

In the end, only the individual standing alone without his tribe—like Abraham, Moses, David, or the Gentile Job—can say to God, "Here am I. I repent in dust and ashes."

  Thanks to the debris-clearing work of Jacob Jervell, "The Divided People of God," in his vital book Luke and the People of God: A New Look at Luke-Acts (Augsburg Publishing, 1972).

On Two Fulfilled Prophecies

(#1) The prophecy in Isaiah 11:10 was mentioned earlier. This says "the nations [goyim] will resort [darash] to the Root of Jesse, who will stand as a banner [nes] for the peoples."

Whether one admits Jesus is the foretold root of Jesse or not, Jesus has fulfilled this prophecy. No other Jew in history has been sought after as he has been and still is. The Goyim have gathered around no other flag raised on Zion's soil as they have his.

There is another prophecy Jesus fulfills, also related to our study.

(#2) Isaiah 49 describes God's missionary Eved, his Servant, who is both "Israel" (v. 3) and distinct from Israel. It is his calling to "bring Jacob back to [God]…that Israel might be gathered to Him" (v. 5), to "raise the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel"—and to be "a light to the Goyim" (v. 6).

The Eved thus has a dual assignment. According to Isa 11:10, he will be successful among many of the Gentiles. But amazingly to Jacob/Israel he is "the Despised One, the One Abhorred by the nation" (v. 7).

Why would a prophet of Israel foretell such a thing? Wouldn't that undermine the credibility of God's Servant and thoroughly invalidate his calling if the people from whom he arose despised him? From: Elder Steven P. Miller @ParkermillerQ, Founder of Gatekeeper-Watchman International Groups Jacksonville, Florida., Duval County, USA. Instagram: steven_parker_miller_1956, Twitter: @GatekeeperWatchman1, @ParkermillerQ, https://twitter.com/StevenPMiller6 Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/gatekeeperwatchman Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElderStevenMiller

#GWIG, #GWIN, #GWINGO, #Ephraim1, #IAM, #Sparkermiller,#Eldermiller1981

[wutbju]

Dear +++Positives+++,

You won. You absolutely won. Congrats to you all.

I imagine that the most convincing argument in your favor is that without Steve Pettit, BJU would have to close its doors. It's the bald truth. BJU needs Steve Pettit. He's charismatic, fatherly, and palatable.

I disagree with you all that his preaching is orthodox. It's absolutely not. And I disagree with you that he's made BJU so new and different. It's the same abusive legalism as always. See Pettit's response to the GRACE report. See the countless stories about life in the dorms and faculty behavior in the classroom under his watch. See what is preached in the pulpit. Everything's the same at BJU except now people wear skinny jeans and have facial hair.

I understand that that's enough for you all. I accept that. You feel like you can send your kids to BJU without embarrassment. I get that. I don't agree, but I understand.

I see you all talking about Board Reform. Frankly, there's no need for Board Reform if the Board voted the way you wanted them to. Granted, it took a ground swell of activism and a heavy dose of shaming, but it did work.

So let's talk turkey in this Thanksgiving week. If you want to make a change with the make-up of the BJU Board, there is a strategy in place. Since you have exactly zero academics in your group (Sorry, BJU faculty, I've been on both sides. It's different out here.), let me explain how it works. It's not like a corporate board or an elder board. This is a different animal and hiring a lawyer to change the Board is a big waste of money and energy. Drop that idea. You have no ground legally.

The ideal academic governance is "shared governance." A document crafted in 1966 explains this. Representatives from faculties, administrations, and boards created that statement about how all the parts of a university should fit together. Read it. If it's too boring and thorny, you can listen to a distillation here:

That explains the "best practices" for university governance. It's what academics aspire to. Do we ever reach it? I'm not sure. But that's our goal.

I bring that up because you all have to adjust your thinking about what a university board should look like. Old people -- even ancient people -- on a board is normal. That's just the way it is. Graduates of other institutions on a board? That's normal too. In fact, that's exactly what you want on a governing board. A minority group who is kind of snotty and old-fashioned? You want that too. You want tension on a board, not unanimity. An out-of-touch board that doesn't know who the faculty are and what they teach? Oh honey, that's so normal and expected. Usually we faculty like being ignored by the board. ;)

So your conclusions about board reform -- that they should be younger, compliant, BJU grads who know the employees -- will get you absolutely nowhere. Toss all that out. That's nobody's standard. The standard for governing boards is that they should "conserve the past and shape the future."

Now. What might work is this: acquiring the stated BJU policy for Board appointments and seeing if BJU met its own standards.

That's your strategy. That's the only strategy that will get any change. Let me explain.

SACSCOC's job in accrediting any school is to regularly test if an institution is following its own stated policy. That's it. For example, if I say in my Public Speaking class that at the end of the class, students will be able to deliver an informative speech, then I am held to that standard. If I don't have an informative speech on the list of assignments, I'm not meeting my own standard and I get pinged.

Get it?

Thus, what does BJU state in its Board Handbook as its standard for Trustees? I have offered the 2014 handbook. Rick Altizer might have a later version. What is the standard? Comb through it. Read it with a clear, outsider, lawyer-like eye. In 2014, the standards for the Board of Trustees are kind of silly, tbh. See "Responsibilities of Board Members" and "Responsibility of the Board to Evaluate Its Own Functions." The stated standards are ambiguous and impossible to track. Are they praying for BJU? Are they unselfish in serving BJU? Who can know that?

But can you say that the Board members are meeting that standard? If not, you've got an argument.

Now SACSCOC does have its own standards for governing boards. Those are in the mix too. You can read them here (see page 15).

The institution has a governing board of at least five members that: (a)  is the legal body with specific authority over the institution. (b)  exercises fiduciary oversight of the institution. (c)  ensures that both the presiding officer of the board and a majority of other voting members of the board are free of any contractual, employment, personal, or familial financial interest in the institution. (d)  is not controlled by a minority of board members or by organizations or institutions separate from it. (e)  is not presided over by the chief executive officer of the institution.

That's the second argument: is BJU following SACSCOC's standards? Can you make that case? Think of this like value debate in high school or undergrad. That's how you have to build this argument.

Because here's my hunch on this matter: Boards are intended to be a check on the President. But they are also appointed by the President. BJU's board is -- in its entirety -- not appointed by Steve Pettit.

The BJU Board of Trustees has been completely appointed by Bob Jones III.

The Board members' tenure proves that. John Lewis's own statement proves that.

And there's your in. It's not their age. It's not their alma mater. It's not their division. It's not their detachment. It's that they are a puppet Board for Bob Jones III instead of an ally of Steve Pettit.

To put it in SACSCOC's vocabulary: The BJU Board of Trustees is controlled by someone separate from the Board itself -- someone with familial interest in BJU.

And that's a recipe for disaster like we've seen in the last month.

The way to get the reform for that is by making a complaint to SACSCOC. SACSCOC describes that process here.

Therefore, here's your to-do list:

Get the stated policies from BJU (from the most recent board handbook) and/or from SACSCOC for the Board (see above).

Apply the current state of BJU's Board of Trustees (including these latest actions) to those policies.

Compile your complaint following those instructions to the letter. Get all the documentation. Over-prove rather than under-prove. I took about 50 pages in 2016 to prove this point.

Mail two printed copies to SACSCOC's president.

Wait. It might take months.

This is slow, tedious, and methodical. But it's possible to force BJU to change its Board makeup by using the system in place. This is the system. This is how it works.

Best to you all. Congrats again. And good luck.

Camille Kaminski Lewis, BJU Class of 1990 and 1992

[thejesusmaninred]

"The Hypocrites." From Mark 7: 1-8.

The Gospels were intended to teach a survey of Torah topics to a Greco-Roman world that did not speak Hebrew nor have access to persons that did.

The Torah is filled with prescriptions and prohibitions. In order to complete a Gospel Torah, one that more than hints at the lighter side of the faith, one must address the extremes associated with these.

The loss of understanding of the very bizarre habits of the Hebrew language resulted in deeply flawed translations and interpretations of how to complete the Torah. Jesus, who was fluent in Hebrew as a Bar Mitzvah, attempts to relay the meaning of the Kabbalah inherent to the text and help the people to learn.

In general, what is impure or defiles a man results from Egypt, from profanity within the temple of the gods. While it is true no one wants to sleep in the wet spot after a horny dude wets our bed, all dirt and discharges come from the mouth. These are a product of what goes into the ears.

Jews and Egyptians did not agree on this. Egyptians were completely inflexible in the making of their social order. Social change was not on the menu. Jews however, did believe in the non-existance of a class or caste system. The two fought.

Ritual washing which is huge aspect of traditional and orthodox Judaism is a methodological approach to purging any traces of rigid social norms using the water which is called Moshe, "hidden, covered, and then extracted from the water."

The meme pertains of course to the removal of a baby from the female and the immediate introduction into a civilized life. The Torah names many stages of life where extraction from the water is pertinent, but the most important takes place during the definition of the Self. God can make a baby, but as we have said, man must make the Self. All pure and impure practices the define or defile the Self are resolved in the wash.

Under separate cover we discussed the Marketplace. Purity and impurity begin with the desires. Desires for immoral, illegal and unethical acts are out of the question. Allowable desires must be managed according to the rules till the Self emerges and require little or no discipline.

So yes, one washes plates, dishes, hands, the body, the sex organs, and the house, certainly before surgery or other delicate work requiring sterile tools, but unless the mind recognizes what is pure and what is impure, ritual rinsing can become a kind of slavery. One would not have sex with a dirty person, but neither would one have sex with a clean one and fail to enjoy it.

So without Shabbos, ritual purity cannot be achieved.

That Which Defiles

7 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 

3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.

 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.[a])

5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,     but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain;     their teachings are merely human rules.’[b]

8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 1-2: The Pharisees gathered. There was considerable tension between Jesus and the Sanhedrin over Shabbos. There is to this day. Life without effort is a ruin, but life without happiness is death. The Number is 11962, יאטו‎ב, yatov, "I will be good."

Being good is comprised of "self-expression in ways that are just."

v. 3: Holding to the traditions of the elders. They give their hands a ceremonial washing. We know what this means, but the Number is 7095, עצה‎ ‎, "This is my advice. Have a spine."

v. 4:  They observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.[a])

Cups=353, גהג gahg, "A gathering of people to discuss the messengers from the Underworld."

Pitchers=355, גאה, gaha, "the remedy, the medicine."

Kettles=330, גל‎, a wave, a pitcher makes one feel better, but a kettle heats us up, excites us in ways we cannot explain.

One does not use the kettle, however until after the meal is finished.

The Number is 5341, הג‎דא‎ ‎, "the gadda", "the moment the opinion changes."

v. 5: Why don't you live according to the traditions?

Some traditions need stay the same, some have to change. This is the dynamic named by the Torah called Moab, "my father's water."

The Gospel Torah was written to provide a foundation, a basis of comparison that informs the Sanhedrin about the conditions that indicate when a change should be made. Jesus has already named more than a few.

The Number is 9597, טהטז‎ ‎‎, tahtaz, "play". Play comes after work, but there must be play.

v. 6-7: Without play, worship of God is invalid. We do not all have to play the same. The Number is 11962, yato b, "mischievous."

"but do not be impulsive."

v. 8: "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” The Number is 3351, גגהא, "the roof top."

In the end, people don't want to go to church or synagogue or spend their days washing their hands and dishes, praying or throwing flours and goop on statues while singing in a foreign language around peopel dressed in weird clothes head to toe, they want to be fucking around with a person they find they simply cannot resist.

The Jewish sages say this feeling was meant to last once it begins. We learn about it from within the Torah traditions, but we cannot practice it in the same place. At least not in my church we didn't, but I was raised Protestant, so that must explain it.

"That's no virgin, Mary."

[fcb4]

“Not too many years ago a young monastic aspirant went to Mount Athos. In talking with the venerable abbot of the monastery where he wished to stay, he told him, “Holy Father! My heart burns for the spiritual life, for asceticism, for unceasing communion with God, for obedience to an Elder. Instruct me, please, holy Father, that I may attain to spiritual advancement.”

Going to the bookshelf, the Abbot pulled down a copy of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. “Read this, son,” he said. “But Father!” objected the disturbed aspirant. “This is heterodox Victorian sentimentality, a product of the Western captivity! This isn't spiritual; it's not even Orthodox! I need writings which will teach me spirituality!”

The Abbot smiled, saying, “Unless you first develop normal, human, Christian feelings and learn to view life as little Davey did-with simplicity, kindness, warmth, and forgiveness-then all the Orthodox ‘spirituality’ and Patristic writings will not only be of no help to you-they will turn you into a ‘spiritual’ monster and destroy your soul…

-Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works

(Platina: St. Herman Press, 2010)