#dialogue with trypho

[poetryqueer]

was in the middle of outlining my section on justin martyr's dialogue with trypho and forgot trypho's name. things are going well.

[kurtbennett]

I've Been Ignoring Certain Jesus Followers for Way Too Long

The Apostolic Fathers in English God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to. Continue reading Untitled

[apilgrimpassingby]

My Number One Reason For Being Orthodox

I have a lot of reasons for being Orthodox, for not being Protestant and for not being Roman Catholic. However, if I had to pick one, it would be this:

The Orthodox have the most realistic epistemology.

Protestant epistemology is built around the supremacy of Scripture - Scripture tells you which traditions and councils to accept. Likewise, Roman Catholic epistemology is, in practice if not in theory, built around the supremacy of the magisterium - the magisterium tells you which traditions and scriptures you accept. Orthodox epistemology, by contrast, is built around tradition - whatever is received into and remains within Orthodox belief and practice is authoritative, whether it is a scripture, a council, a practice, a hymn and so on.

The reason this convinces me is because there are plenty of things that, to me, seem to come from neither Scripture nor magisterial pronouncement, but are nonetheless universal beliefs among Christians. My top examples are:

Demons are fallen angels: I'm not aware of any Christian group that denies this, despite the fact that, as far as I can tell, it's not stated in the Bible or by a church council. While there are implicit (Job 15:15) and explicit (Jude 6) references to angels falling, I'm not aware of any about angels falling and becoming demons; indeed, the locus classicus of such passages, Isaiah 14, would imply if read at face value that the fallen angel is imprisoned in the underworld. It's also not the only understanding of demons that could be deduced from the Bible - the Rabbinic Jewish view of shedim, as they call demons, is that they're a spirit race clearly distinct from angels who can be good or evil, much like djinni in Islam and faeries in European folklore. If there are any church councils or encyclicals enshrining this belief, they were late to the party - the Dialogue with Trypho in the mid-2nd century referenced this understanding of demons as a point of tension between Jews and Christians, so it was presumably a widespread belief at the time, reinforced by the fact that this idea is also found in St. Irenaeus Against Heresies later that century.

The New Testament canon: The New Testament canon, which is universally agreed on by Christians, pretty clearly comes from tradition. I've heard a variety of Protestant explanations for it - the most common one, that they're written by apostles, falls down due to the presence of anonymous works in it (such as Hebrews), and most explanations just appeal to tradition. The Roman Catholic explanation doesn't fare much better. The council most often appealed to as the one that set the canon, the Council of Carthage in 397, was for the most part rubber-stamping things everyone already agreed on; the corpus of Pauline epistles was basically always agreed on and the corpus of Gospels was set by 200 AD. For further reading about the formation of the canon, click here.

For any Protestants or Roman Catholics reading this, I'd like to hear your thoughts on what I've said.

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: Friday, June 14, 2024

june 1_june 14

MARTYRS JUSTIN THE PHILOSOPHER, AND THOSE WITH HIM IN ROME. (166)

The Holy Martyr Justin the Philosopher was born around 114 at Sychem, an ancient city of Samaria. Justin’s parents were pagan Greeks. From his childhood the saint displayed intelligence, love for knowledge and a fervent devotion to the knowledge of Truth. When he came of age he studied the various schools of Greek philosophy: the Stoics, the Peripatetics, the Pythagoreans, the Platonists, and he concluded that none of these pagan teachings revealed the way to knowledge of the true God.

Once, when he was strolling in a solitary place beyond the city and pondering about where to seek the way to the knowledge of Truth, he met an old man. In the ensuing conversation he revealed to Justin the essential nature of the Christian teaching and advised him to seek the answers to all the questions of life in the books of Holy Scripture. “But before anything else,” said the holy Elder, “pray diligently to God, so that He might open to you the doors of Light. No one is able to comprehend Truth, unless he is granted understanding from God Himself, Who reveals it to each one who seeks Him in prayer and in love.”

In his thirtieth year, Justin accepted holy Baptism (between the years 133 and 137). From this time Saint Justin devoted his talents and vast philosophical knowledge to preaching the Gospel among the pagans. He began to journey throughout the Roman Empire, sowing the seeds of faith. “Whosoever is able to proclaim Truth and does not proclaim it will be condemned by God,” he wrote.

Justin opened a school of Christian philosophy. Saint Justin subsequently defended the truth of Christian teaching, persuasively confuting pagan sophistry (in a debate with the Cynic philosopher Crescentius) and heretical distortions of Christianity. He also spoke out against the teachings of the Gnostic Marcian.

In the year 155, when the emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161) started a persecution against Christians, Saint Justin personally gave him an Apology in defense of two Christians innocently condemned to execution, Ptolemy and Lucias. The name of the third remains unknown.

In the Apology he demonstrated the falseness of the slander against Christians accused unjustly for merely having the name of Christians. The Apology had such a favorable effect upon the emperor that he ceased the persecution. Saint Justin journeyed, by decision of the emperor, to Asia Minor where they were persecuting Christians with particular severity. He proclaimed the joyous message of the imperial edict throughout the surrounding cities and countryside.

The debate of Saint Justin with the Rabbi Trypho took place at Ephesus. The Orthodox philosopher demonstrated the truth of the Christian teaching of faith on the basis of the Old Testament prophetic writings. Saint Justin gave an account of this debate in his work Dialogue with Trypho the Jew.

A second Apology of Saint Justin was addressed to the Roman Senate. It was written in the year 161, soon after Marcus Aurelius (161-180) ascended the throne.

When he returned to Italy, Saint Justin, like the Apostles, preached the Gospel everywhere, converting many to the Christian Faith. When the saint arrived at Rome, the envious Crescentius, whom Justin always defeated in debate, brought many false accusations against him before the Roman court. Saint Justin was put under guard, subjected to torture and suffered martyrdom in 165. The relics of Saint Justin the Philosopher rest in Rome.

In addition to the above-mentioned works, the following are also attributed to the holy martyr Justin the Philosopher:

THE MONK AGAPIT OF THE KIEV CAVE, UNMERCENARY PHYSICIAN (1095)

Saint Agapitus of the Caves. This holy Unmercenary Physician was born at Kiev. He was a novice and disciple of Saint Anthony of the Caves, and lived during the eleventh century. If any of the monastic brethren fell ill, Saint Agapitus came to him and selflessly attended to the sick one. He fed his patient boiled herbs which he himself prepared, and the person recovered through the prayers of the saint. Many laymen also turned to the monastic physician with the gift of healing.

In Kiev at this time was an experienced Armenian physician, who was able to diagnose the nature of the illness and even accurately determine the day of death just by looking at a patient. When one of these doomed patients turned to Saint Agapitus, the grace-bearing healer gave him some food from the monastery trapeza (dining area), and the patient became well. Enflamed with envy, the physician wanted to poison Saint Agapitus, but the Lord preserved him, and the poison had no effect.

Saint Agapitus healed Prince Vladimir Monomakh of Chernigov, the future Great Prince of Kiev (1114-1125), by sending him boiled herbs. The grateful prince went to the monastery and wanted to see his healer, but the humble ascetic hid himself and would not accept gifts.

When the holy healer himself became sick, that same Armenian physician came to him and after examining him, he said that he would die in three days. He swore to became an Orthodox monk if his prediction were not fulfilled. The saint said that the Lord had revealed to him that He would summon him only after three months.

Saint Agapitus died after three months (on June 1, not later than 1095), and the Armenian went to the igumen of the Caves monastery and received monastic tonsure. “It is certain that Agapitus was a saint of God,” he said. “I well knew, that it was impossible for him to last three days in his sickness, but the Lord gave him three months.” Thus did the monk heal sickness of the soul and guide to the way of salvation.

Source: Orthodox Church in America_OCA

ACTS 19:1-8

1 And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" So they said to him, "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." 3 And he said to them, "Into what then were you baptized?" So they said, "Into John's baptism." 4 Then Paul said, "John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. 7 Now the men were about twelve in all. 8 And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God.

JOHN 14:1-11

1 Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know. 5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7 If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. 8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

[troybeecham]

Today the Church remembers Saint Justin the Martyr.

Ora pro nobis.

Saint Justin the Martyr, (born c. 100 A.D. in Flavia Neapolis, and died c. 165 A.D., in Rome) was one of the most important of the Greek philosopher-Apologists in the early Christian church. His writings represent the first positive encounter of Christian revelation with Greek philosophy and laid the basis for a theology of history.

His grandfather, Bacchius, had a Greek name, while his father, Priscus, bore a Latin name, which has led to speculations that his ancestors may have settled in Neapolis soon after its establishment or that they were descended from a Roman "diplomatic" community that had been sent there.

A pagan reared in a Jewish environment, Justin studied Stoic, Platonic, and other pagan philosophies and then became a Christian in 132 A.D., possibly at Ephesus. Soon after 135 A.D. he began wandering from place to place proclaiming his newfound Christian philosophy in the hope of converting educated pagans to it. He spent a considerable time in Rome. Some years later, after debating with the cynic Crescens, Justin was denounced to the Roman prefect as a subversive and condemned to death. Authentic records of his martyrdom survive.

Of the works bearing Justin’s authorship and still deemed genuine are two Apologies and the Dialogue with Trypho. The first, or “Major Apology,” was addressed about 150 A.D. to the Roman emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. In the first part of the First Apology, Justin defends his fellow Christians against the charges of atheism and hostility to the Roman state. He then goes on to express the core of his Christian philosophy: the highest aspiration is an intellectual articulation of the Christian faith which would demonstrate its harmony with reason. Such a convergence is rooted in the relationship between human reason and the divine mind, both identified by the same term, logos (Greek: “intellect,” “word”), which enables man to understand basic truths regarding the world, time, creation, freedom, the human soul’s affinity with the divine spirit, and the recognition of good and evil.

Justin asserts that Jesus Christ is the incarnation of the entire divine logos and thus of these basic truths, whereas only traces of truth were found in the great works of the pagan philosophers. The purpose of Christ’s coming into the world was to teach men the truth and save them from the power of demons. In the third part of the First Apology, Justin vividly describes the early Christians’ method of celebrating the Eucharist and of administering Baptism.

In his brief Second Apology Justin argues that the Christians are being unjustly persecuted by Rome.

Justin’s distinctive contribution to Christian theology is his conception of a divine plan in history, a process of salvation structured by God, wherein the various historical epochs have been integrated into an organic unity directed toward a supernatural end; the Old Testament and Greek philosophy met to form the single stream of Christianity.

Justin’s concrete description of the sacramental celebrations of Baptism and the Eucharist remain a principal source for the history of the primitive church.

Justin serves, moreover, as a crucial witness to the status of the 2nd-century New Testament corpus, mentioning the first three Gospels and quoting and paraphrasing the letters of Paul and 1 Peter; he was the first known writer to quote from the Acts of the Apostles.

Though the precise year of his death is uncertain, it can reasonably be dated by the prefectoral term of Rusticus (who governed from 162 A.D. and 168 A.D.). The martyrdom of Justin preserves the court record of the trial:

“The Prefect Rusticus says: Approach and sacrifice, all of you, to the gods. Justin says: No one in his right mind gives up piety for impiety. The Prefect Rusticus says: If you do not obey, you will be tortured without mercy. Justin replies: That is our desire, to be tortured for Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and so to be saved, for that will give us salvation and firm confidence at the more terrible universal tribunal of Our Lord and Saviour. And all the martyrs said: Do as you wish; for we are Christians, and we do not sacrifice to idols. The Prefect Rusticus read the sentence: Those who do not wish to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the emperor will be scourged and beheaded according to the laws. The holy martyrs glorifying God betook themselves to the customary place, where they were beheaded and consummated their martyrdom confessing their Savior.”

Almighty and everlasting God, you found your martyr Justin wandering from teacher to teacher, seeking the true God, and you revealed to him the sublime wisdom of your eternal Word, your Son Jesus: Grant that all who seek you, or a deeper knowledge of you, may find and be found by you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

[ihopeinjesus]

Justin’s Dialogue with Trypho is a dialogue, through the persons of Justin and Trypho, between Christianity and Judaism. The Dialogue includes in its first few chapters an account of Justin’s early philosophical education and his conversion to Christianity. He had searched for truth among Stoics, Peripatetics, Pythagoreans, Platonists. His conversion came with a chance meeting on the sea-shore with an elderly man, a Christian, who told him that the truth he sought could be obtained only by divine revelation. Here’s a part of the Dialogue:

“Old Man: There existed, long before this time, certain men more ancient than all those who are esteemed philosophers, both righteous and beloved by God, who spoke by the Divine Spirit, and foretold events which would take place, and which are now taking place. They are called prophets. These alone both saw and announced the truth to men, neither reverencing nor fearing any man, not influenced by a desire for glory, but speaking those things alone which they saw and which they heard, being filled with the Holy Spirit. Their writings are still extant, and he who has read them is very much helped in his knowledge of the beginning and end of things, and of those matters which the philosopher ought to know, provided he has believed them. For they did not use demonstration in their treatises, seeing that they were witnesses to the truth above all demonstration, and worthy of belief; and those events which have happened, and those which are happening, compel you to assent to the utterances made by them, although, indeed, they were entitled to credit on account of the miracles which they performed, since they both glorified the Creator, the God and Father of all things, and proclaimed His Son, the Christ [sent] by Him: which, indeed, the false prophets, who are filled with the lying unclean spirit, neither have done nor do, but venture to work certain wonderful deeds for the purpose of astonishing men, and glorify the spirits and demons of error. But pray that, above all things, the gates of light may be opened to you; for these things cannot be perceived or understood by all, but only by the man to whom God and His Christ have imparted wisdom.”

“Justin: When he had spoken these and many other things, which there is no time for mentioning at present, he went away, bidding me attend to them; and I have not seen him since. But straightway a flame was kindled in my soul; and a love of the prophets, and of those men who are friends of Christ, possessed me; and while revolving his words in my mind, I found this philosophy alone to be safe and profitable. Thus, and for this reason, I am a philosopher. Moreover, I would wish that all, making a resolution similar to my own, do not keep themselves away from the words of the Saviour. For they possess a terrible power in themselves, and are sufficient to inspire those who turn aside from the path of rectitude with awe; while the sweetest rest is afforded those who make a diligent practice of them. If, then, you have any concern for yourself, and if you are eagerly looking for salvation, and if you believe in God, you may— since you are not indifferent to the matter — become acquainted with the Christ of God, and, after being initiated, live a happy life.” (Dialogue with Trypho, 7-8)

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT JUSTIN Feast Day: June 1

"No one who is rightly minded turns from true belief to false."

The First Christian Apologist, was born in Flavia Neapolis, Judea (now Nabius) of pagan parents in 100 AD. He was converted to Christianity at 30, after witnessing the martyrs' heroic death. Thereafter, his whole life devoted to the study and the propagation of the Christian faith.

He said: 'It is our duty to make known our doctrine, lest we incur our guilt and punishment of those who have sinned through ignorance.'

To serve the purpose, he wrote two 'Apologies' and the 'Dialogue with Trypho', which contain valuable information about the early Church's faith and practices. After opening a school in Rome, Justin held public debates with pagan philosophers, whom he convicted of ignorance and prejudice.

One of them, a cynic named Crescens, had him arrested together with six companions.

To the prefect Junius Rusticus, who urged him to sacrifice to the gods, Justin replied: 'Nobody in his senses gives up truth for falsehood. We asked nothing better than to suffer for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ and to be saved.'

Justin and his companions were beheaded in 165 AD at the age of 65, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius.

[gook54-blog]

Understand Christianity was only separate from Jewish life in Emperor Justiniams time hundreds of ywae s after " the way " was creared

Christianity

“He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind.” (1 Samuel 15:29)

Shalom Vincent,

A man named Constantine (AD 272–337) is often called a hero of the Christian faith because as the emperor of the Roman Empire, he legally banned the persecution of Christians.

But he didn’t stop there.

He also legalized a growing division between Jews and Christians that laid the foundation for nearly two millennia of anti-Semitism.

Gentile and Jew have a conversation at the Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem.

The Beginning of the End

It was not Yeshua (the Jewish Jesus) or the first Jewish apostles who started a new religion called Christianity.

Yeshua came, died, and rose from the grave as the fulfillment of the Jewish laws and the Jewish prophets.

It was early Greek and Roman leaders who created a growing chasm between Judaism and a new sect called Christianity.

The faith of the Jewish and Gentile followers of Yeshua was originally called “The Way.”

And for the first 300 years of “Christianity” the Gentile followers of Yeshua kept the Passover (there was no celebration of Easter or Christmas).

Some historians list "The Way" with the four other main Jewish sects of the time: the Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes and Zealots.

The Romans who saw the members of The Way enter the Temple also considered them to be Jewish.

However, not long after the last apostle (John) died, around 99 AD, “Ignatius of Antioch (c. 40–117 AD) told his followers, “It is absurd to profess Christ Jesus [Messiah Yeshua] and to Judaize [practice Jewish laws and customs]” (“To the Magnesians,” VIII, 10).

One wonders how Yeshua who practiced the laws and customs in the Torah, was even allowed into this new religion called “Christianity.”

By the time the apologist and theologian Justin Martyr (c.100–165) arrived on the scene, the Greek and Roman Christians accused the Jewish people of Deicide — the killing of a Divine being, Yeshua.

Justin wrote: The “tribulations were justly imposed upon you, for you have murdered the Just One” (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho).

Justin was supposedly the first person to apply the term, “true Israel,” to the Church. (Claudia Setzer, in “Jewish Responses to Early Christians”).

Many Greek-minded Gentile leaders emerged, such as Augustine and Chrysostom, who taught against keeping the Lord’s Biblical festivals as described in Leviticus 23.

They disinherited the Jewish people from the Land of Israel by saying God has now given it to Christians; and they continued to speak derogatorily about Yeshua’s brethren, the Jewish People.

Then Constantine stepped in and codified these sentiments into the laws of the land.

In AD 312, Constantine planned to attack a rival for the throne of the Roman Empire.

One famous story has it that the night before the attack, he saw a cross in the sky. Above that cross were the words, “In this sign, conquer.”

Coin c. AD 315. (Left) Emperor Constantine I and (right) Sol Invictus (the Sun god)

holding a globe in left hand with the words SOLI INVICTO COMITI (to the Unconquered Sun),

Constantine, who had been a sun-worshiping pagan and not a Christian, interpreted the vision as a sign that the Christian God would bring him victory in his fight for control of the western part of the empire.

The next day his troops won the battle and Constantine ordered his men to continue to fight under the sign of the cross.

Whether this story is factual or not, the new emperor genuinely wanted to end Roman persecution of Christians.

In the year 313, Constantine and Licinius Augustus (the two men who ruled the empire jointly) proclaimed a new law, the Edict of Milan:

“It has pleased us to remove all conditions whatsoever . . . concerning the Christians, and now any one of these who wishes to observe the Christian religion may do so freely and openly, without any disturbance or molestation.” (Edict of Milan)

In 315, Constantine issued a law intended to stop those in the “dangerous sect” of Judaism (the Jews) from persecuting relatives or friends who converted to Christianity. It was also intended to discourage Christians from converting to the “abominable sect,” meaning the Jewish religion. (Laws of Constantine the Great, October 18, 315: Concerning Jews, Heaven-Worshippers, and Samaritans)

Religious inequality was now law of the land and words like “dangerous” and “abominable” set a course for increasing hostility toward and repressive laws against the Jewish People.

Yeshua leads His final Passover dinner with His disciples (painting titled

The Last Supper by Jacopo Bassario)

Replacing the Lord's Festivals

When theological differences began dividing Constantine’s Christian empire, he called together the Council of Nicaea in 325.

The council of some 300 bishops adopted a creed which most churches embrace — up to this very day.

The Nicene Creed expresses a belief in God, in Yeshua the Christ (Messiah) as the Son of God and of the “same substance” as the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

Although nothing in the Nicene Creed is anti-Jewish, at this and later councils, the bishops moved to officially distinguish the new practices of Christianity from Judaism.

The first act in this effort was to set a date for a brand new holy day of Easter as the resurrection of Yeshua. This day would be distinct from the Biblical dates of Passover and First Fruits, which were the dates when Yeshua actually died and rose from the grave.

It is widely understood that Yeshua rose from the grave on the

Festival of Firstfruits (Nisan 16 of the Hebrew calendar) becoming

the Firstfruits (Bikkurim) of those who will also be raised up

into new life (1 Corinthians 15:20–23).

At the Council of Nicaea, Constantine read out the letter that he would subsequently send to churches everywhere:

“When the question arose concerning the most holy day of Easter it was decreed by common consent to be expedient, that this festival should be celebrated on the same day by all, in every place…

“And truly, in the first place, it seemed to every one a most unworthy thing that we should follow the custom of the Jews in the celebration of this most holy solemnity, who, polluted wretches, having stained their hands with a nefarious crime, are justly blinded in their minds…

“It is fit, therefore, that rejecting the practice of this people, we should perpetuate to all future ages the celebration of this rite, in a more legitimate order…

“Let us then have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews.” (In “How the Church Lost the Way,” by Steve Maltz, Saffron Planet, 2009).

“Let us then have nothing in common with … the Jews” sums up one of the key ideas behind much subsequent legislation against them and the sad state of anti-Semitism we see today.

The modern-day Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built upon the place identified by

Constantine's mother Helena as the burial cave and execution site of Yeshua.

Constantine also began claiming land in Israel for the Christian Church through his mother, Helena.

During her visit in 326 to 327, Helena identified where key events may have taken place in Yeshua’s life, and Constantine built churches at those locations.

At the Council of Antioch in 345 AD, Christians were banned from celebrating the Passover Seder (ritual meal) with Jewish friends or neighbors.

Then at the Council of Laodicea in 363–364 AD, the Biblical Sabbath day was outlawed:

“Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be Judaizers, let them be cursed from Christ.” (Canon 29)

By this time, all things Jewish were understood to be totally incompatible with Christianity.

The Messianic Jewish faith of “The Way” that the Jewish Messiah and His Jewish followers started was officially buried over these 300 years, and the new religion called Christianity arose.

Because of early Christian theology separating itself from anything “Jewish,” Crusaders

marched on Israel to claim it for Christianity under the banner of the cross. Images like

these cause Jewish People to associate the cross with murder of Jewish lives and

destruction of Jewish property.

Replacing and Denigrating the Jewish People

Christianity became officially recognized as the religion of the Roman Empire, by Emperor Theodosius (379–395), who was easily persuaded into allowing anti-Semitic acts of violence by church leaders.

In 388 AD, Bishop Ambrose of Milan instigated the burning of a local synagogue.

When Theodosius declared that the synagogue should be rebuilt by the bishop, Bishop Ambrose sent an appeal to the emperor and won.

In the letter, he called the synagogue, “a home of unbelief, a house of impiety, a receptacle of folly, which God Himself has condemned.” (The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Volume 34)

Under Emperor Justinian I (483–565) many of the remaining laws protecting Jewish religious and civil rights were abolished and more restrictions were imposed on the Jewish People.

A burning synagogue in Bamberg, Germany during Kristallnacht

(Night of Broken Glass) a pogrom against the Jews and their

property throughout Germany, November 9–10, 1938.

Please help our Bible Prophecy Project, and consider

sponsoring a Chapter, click now

The idea that the Christian Church is now the “True Israel” as Justin Martyr wrote naturally evolved into the idea that somehow God is just as anti-Semitic as the early church leaders.

These leaders believed that God had forever divorced Himself from His Chosen People.

As a result, they believed God took away His blessings from them. This included the Land of Israel, which He had now supposedly given to the Christian Church.

Although it sounds harmless enough, this theology is actually quite dangerous and heretical. And it still exists today.

Replacement Theology is dangerous because the Jewish People have suffered extreme social, economic, political, and physical persecution for nearly 2,000 years at the hands of religious leaders who believe God hates them as much as these Christian leaders do.

This persecution, which culminated in the death of six million Jews during the Holocaust, is the most significant reason that Jewish People do not want to hear about the love of Yeshua — they have rarely ever experienced it in His followers.

Cesare Vincenzo Orsenigo met with HItler several times as the Vatican's direct

diplomatic link to Germany and the Nazi regime from 1930–1945. He was known

for his support of fascism as well as compromise and conciliation with Hitler.

Replacement Theology is heretical because if we take it to its logical conclusion, we end up with a God who does not keep His covenant promises. We have a God who bases His performance upon our performance.

On the contrary, God was clear about His promise when He told Abraham,

“The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:7–8)

What hope is there for each of us, if the Abrahamic Covenant that God “guaranteed with an oath” is null and void? (Hebrews 6:17–18)

We thank God that He is the covenant-keeping God of Israel who does not give up on any of us, and certainly not on His ancient covenant people (the Jews):

“This is what the Lord says, He who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar — the Lord Almighty is His name: ‘Only if these decrees vanish from My sight,’ declares the Lord, ‘will Israel ever cease being a nation before Me.’” (Jeremiah 31:35–36)

Vincent, it's time for the Jewish People to experience the love of God poured out on them by the Gentile followers of Yeshua.

And it's time for us to return to our God-given heritage and the real faith of 'The Way."

We can start by celebrating the Biblical Jewish festivals, beginning with the Passover Seder on April 19.

YES, I Stand with the Jewish People Today and Forever

[apilgrimpassingby]

Human nature is divided into male and female, and the free choice of virtue or of evil is set before both equally.

The Life of Moses 31:12, St. Gregory of Nyssa, c.380 AD

For God has given likewise to women the ability to observe all things which are righteous and virtuous; but we see that the bodily form of the male has been made different from the bodily form of the female; yet we know that neither of them is righteous or unrighteous merely for this cause, but by reason of piety and righteousness.

Dialogue with Trypho chapter 23, St. Justin Martyr, c.155 AD

religion to women: you need to be servants >:(

religion to m*n: you deserve servants :D

[isaiahbie]

The Resurrection of Jesus

The bodily resurrection of Jesus rests on a bedrock of historical evidence that renders it more probable than any other alternative thesis. Let me summarize the evidence into five brief headings.

1. Jesus was buried by Joseph of Arimathea.

According to the Gospels (Matthew 27:57–61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-55; John 19:38-42) and Paul (1 Corinthians 15:4), Jesus was buried after His death. Moreover, the Gospels tell us that He was buried by a sympathetic member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea, who placed Jesus’ body in his own personal tomb. This burial is highly probable because we have multiple attestation through the early tradition that Paul cites, the Synoptic sources (Mark also seems to be citing an early source), and John’s testimony. That Jesus was interred by Joseph of Arimathea is also probable since a Christian fictive account would be unlikely to depict a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin as undertaking this generous act for Jesus when Christian authors had a tendency to vehemently criticize and condemn the Jewish leadership for their part in Jesus’ death (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15).

2. Jesus’ tomb was found empty.

The empty tomb is narrated in all four Gospels (Matthew 28:1-8; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-10; John 20:1-2), and it is impossible to invent the story on the back of Old Testament texts. The empty tomb is strongly implied in Paul’s account in 1 Corinthians 15:4 because you can’t move from “buried” to “raised” without a body vacating the tomb. Moreover, women are invoked as eyewitnesses to the empty tomb; in the ancient world a woman’s testimony did not carry any legal weight. If someone were going to manufacture a miraculous story such as this, I sincerely doubt that person would make the truth of this incredible tale rest on the testimony of a few grief-stricken and frightened Jewish women whose report would most likely be cast aside as a womanish fantasy (as what happened according to Luke 24:11, “But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them”).

On top of that, the primitive Jewish polemic against the resurrection proclamation actually presupposes that the tomb was empty. The Jewish counterclaim that the disciples stole the body (Matthew 28:13; Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 108.2; Gospel of Peter 30) assumes that Jesus’ body had somehow vacated the tomb. Furthermore, early Christian preaching in Jerusalem sometime after Jesus’ crucifixion would have been problematic if the whereabouts of Jesus’ body were known to the Jewish authorities.

3. Jesus was seen alive after His death.

According to Paul, the risen Jesus was seen by individuals and groups that included Jesus’ followers, skeptics, unbelievers, and even enemies (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). This early tradition interlocks with the multiple accounts in the Gospels that narrate persons seeing, hearing, and touching the resurrected Jesus. That includes individuals, couples, groups, and even five hundred people who saw Jesus at a single time. As we investigate the various stories of the appearances at the tomb, in a locked room, on a road out of Jerusalem, in Galilee, and by the Lake of Tiberias, we can only conclude that several individuals and groups believed that they had genuinely seen Jesus alive in a physical body after His death.

4. The earliest disciples believed in Jesus’ resurrection.

It boggles the minds of historians and sociologists how a Galilean movement in some backwater Roman provenance with a crucified leader soon became a religion that eventually dominated the Roman empire. What drove the mission, preaching, hopes, symbols, and story of the first Christians was their belief that the God of Israel had raised Jesus from the dead, and this meant the launch of a new world in the midst of an old one. Resurrection signified that the new creation had begun, and those who had seen Jesus were the custodians of a message that proclaimed justice, life, and hope to the world around them. But what gave them that idea?

Their leader was dead, they were regarded as schismatic or even apostate by their Jewish contemporaries, and they were regarded as religious rabble from the east by the Romans. Yet they remained steadfast in their conviction that Israel’s Messiah had risen from the dead, and that meant the transformation of the entire Jewish worldview. Why? I think the historian N.T. Wright hits the nail on the head:

“We are left with the conclusion that the combination of empty tomb and appearances of the living Jesus forms a set of circumstances which is itself both necessary and sufficient for the rise of early Christian belief. Without these phenomena, we cannot explain why this belief came into existence, and took the shape it did. With them, we can explain it exactly and precisely.”

5. No rival theory succeeds in explaining all of the evidence.

From time to time, people will put forward alternative theories that Jesus swooned, the disciples stole the body, His followers had grief-induced hallucinations, or the whole thing was a fraud. Yet these fanciful theories fall and break on the bedrock of evidence: How do five hundred people have the same hallucination? How does a subjective vision eat fish? How do you survive a crucifixion and burial? Once the critics have stated their case, once the skeptics have had their rant, once the liberals have tried to water down the truth, and once the rhetoric has been aired, the testimony of the first Christians remain: “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses” (Acts 2:32).

Further Reading:

The Empty Tomb

The Appearances of Jesus

The Origin of the Christian Faith

The Conspiracy Theory

The Apparent Death Theory

The Wrong Tomb Theory

The Hallucination Theory

The Reliability of the New Testament

The Problem of Historical Knowledge

Historians and Miracles

[liskadaebabbit]

Does Justin Martyr's Dialogue With Trypho Mention Mythicsts??? ft. Dr. ...

[poetryqueer]

loving the struggle to access dissertation sources outside of early printed books or weird christian websites

[apilgrimpassingby]

My theology book stack has grown considerably with Christmas.

New additions: John Chrysostom's homilies on Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, 1&2 Thessalonians and Hebrews, Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho and a collection of the Apostolic Fathers (Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Ignatius of Antioch, the Didache and the Epistle of Barnabas.

[humorwithatwist]

Who Was Justin Martyr?

Who Was Justin Martyr?

This post is part of an ongoing series on Paul and Pneuma, Justin and Judaism. Justin occupies a relatively unique place in the history of Christianity, for not only was he a “mover between many worlds” but he also stood at the end of the apostolic age and the beginning of the apologetic period of early Christianity.[1] Justin provides enough autobiographical detail in his writings to create a…

[graceandpeacejoanne]

Revelation, Who Was The Author?

So who did write Revelation? Can we even answer that? Thankfully, yes, to a great degree, just from what is contained within the book itself. #Revelation #BookofRevelation #Apocalypse

So who did write Revelation? Can we even answer that? Thankfully, yes, to a great degree, just from what is contained within the book itself. I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.Revelation 1:9 (NRSV) Already, we have been given a great…

[troybeecham]

Today the Church remembers Saint Justin, Martyr of Rome.

Ora pro nobis.

Saint Justin the Martyr, (born c. 100 A.D. in Flavia Neapolis, and died c. 165 A.D., in Rome, was one of the most important of the Greek philosopher-Apologists in the early Christian church. His writings represent the first positive encounter of Christian revelation with Greek philosophy and laid the basis for a theology of history.

His grandfather, Bacchius, had a Greek name, while his father, Priscus, bore a Latin name, which has led to speculations that his ancestors may have settled in Neapolis soon after its establishment or that they were descended from a Roman “diplomatic” community that had been sent there.

A pagan reared in a Jewish environment, Justin studied Stoic, Platonic, and other pagan philosophies and then became a Christian in 132 A.D., possibly at Ephesus. Soon after 135 A.D. he began wandering from place to place proclaiming his newfound Christian philosophy in the hope of converting educated pagans to it. He spent a considerable time in Rome. Some years later, after debating with the cynic Crescens, Justin was denounced to the Roman prefect as a subversive and condemned to death. Authentic records of his martyrdom survive.

Of the works bearing Justin’s authorship and still deemed genuine are two Apologies and the Dialogue with Trypho. The first, or “Major Apology,” was addressed about 150 A.D. to the Roman emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. In the first part of the First Apology, Justin defends his fellow Christians against the charges of atheism and hostility to the Roman state. He then goes on to express the core of his Christian philosophy: the highest aspiration: an intellectual articulation of the Christian faith which would demonstrate its harmony with reason. Such a convergence is rooted in the relationship between human reason and the divine mind, both identified by the same term, logos (Greek: “intellect,” “word”), which enables man to understand basic truths regarding the world, time, creation, freedom, the human soul’s affinity with the divine spirit, and the recognition of good and evil.

Justin asserts that Jesus Christ is the incarnation of the entire divine logos and thus of these basic truths, whereas only traces of truth were found in the great works of the pagan philosophers. The purpose of Christ’s coming into the world was to teach men the truth and save them from the power of demons. In the third part of the First Apology, Justin vividly describes the early Christians’ method of celebrating the Eucharist and of administering Baptism.

In his brief Second Apology Justin argues that the Christians are being unjustly persecuted by Rome.

Justin’s distinctive contribution to Christian theology is his conception of a divine plan in history, a process of salvation structured by God, wherein the various historical epochs have been integrated into an organic unity directed toward a supernatural end; the Old Testament and Greek philosophy met to form the single stream of Christianity.

Justin’s concrete description of the sacramental celebrations of Baptism and the Eucharist remain a principal source for the history of the primitive church.

Justin serves, moreover, as a crucial witness to the status of the 2nd-century New Testament corpus, mentioning the first three Gospels and quoting and paraphrasing the letters of Paul and 1 Peter; he was the first known writer to quote from the Acts of the Apostles.

Though the precise year of his death is uncertain, it can reasonably be dated by the prefectoral term of Rusticus (who governed from 162 A.D. and 168 A.D.). The martyrdom of Justin preserves the court record of the trial:

“The Prefect Rusticus says: Approach and sacrifice, all of you, to the gods. Justin says: No one in his right mind gives up piety for impiety. The Prefect Rusticus says: If you do not obey, you will be tortured without mercy. Justin replies: That is our desire, to be tortured for Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and so to be saved, for that will give us salvation and firm confidence at the more terrible universal tribunal of Our Lord and Saviour. And all the martyrs said: Do as you wish; for we are Christians, and we do not sacrifice to idols. The Prefect Rusticus read the sentence: Those who do not wish to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the emperor will be scourged and beheaded according to the laws. The holy martyrs glorifying God betook themselves to the customary place, where they were beheaded and consummated their martyrdom confessing their Saviour.”

Almighty and everlasting God, you found your martyr Justin wandering from teacher to teacher, seeking the true God, and you revealed to him the sublime wisdom of your eternal Word: Grant that all who seek you, or a deeper knowledge of you, may find and be found by you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.