#paul sect

[mayasaura]

Since we now know the new Nona short story is about Palamedes, and the only pair of characters including Palamedes in Tor's poll was Palamedes and Ianthe... I'm also betting it's their battle at the center of the mind. The one that made Palamedes respect her. And maybe it'll even give us some context for this:

[theclasharchives]

paul and joe with paul smith of subway sect before their show on september 20th 1976

[sonicandvisualsurprises]

1980

This was the first single from the second incarnation of Subway Sect, featuring Terry Chimes, the original Clash drummer, and Paul Chimes (Terry's younger brother) on bass.

Split Up The Money and Out of Touch deliver raw, urgent punk with Vic Godard’s sharp, offbeat songwriting.

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

are there any or has there ever been any sects/denominations of christianity that were skeptical of or opposed to pauline christianity?

just the more i read about it the more hilarious/insane it is.

like...you have jesus. and you have his followers. then jesus dies. and his followers are left to preach his word and whatnot. then after years and years of doing all this work and building this jewish christian community.

then comes this dude named paul. not just any dude. but a pharisee who openly admits to having zealously and violently persecuted christians. and he's like "hey we should preach to the gentiles."

and you and all your bros (who literally knew jesus personally in the flesh and travelled with him and stuff) are like "no you have to be a jew to be a christian, sorry."

and then paul is like "actually no. i saw jesus in a vision. i think i know better. we're going to preach to the gentiles." and then he goes off and just starts sharing your little cult with all of these foreigners but a really strange version whose theology is quite different from what you understood and he writes these letters where he just says shit and people treat those letters literally like the word of god.

it just blows my mind. how did/do people buy that? he's just some nobody and all of his authority rests on his "i had a vision". and people ate that shit up. lmao.

[shakir2]

Critical analysis of Christianity and Islam 

Food for Thought. Shakir Mumtaz. A fallacy believed by Christians and Muslims alike is that Jesus died on the cross in AD 30-33; Christians believe that Jesus had resurrected, but Muslims believe that he will return before the end of time. None of these

[Distortions in Christianity and Islam]  Hanifism, Sabianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are developmental or evolutionary stages of monotheism. Before Islam, prophet Muhammad, Qura’an, all the religions, Prophets, and scriptures were provisional for a specific people. Qura’an testifies that these religions and their scriptures changed, and except for Holy Qura’an no scripture is extant in…

[scripture-pictures]

[faithingodministries]

God See And Know Us

9 What then? Are we worse off than they? In no way: because we have before made it clear that Jews as well as Greeks are all under the power of sin; 10 As it is said in the holy writings, there is not one who does righteousness; 11 Not one who has the knowledge of what is right, not one who is a searcher after God; 12 They have all gone out of the way, there is no profit in any of them; there is…

[fanning-the-flames]

Chenqing (and Jiang Cheng) based off of John Singer Sargent’s Madam Paul Escudier (Louise Lefrvre). Same universe as Sect Leader J since I reused the table. I actually saw the original in person a while ago but only recently found it again, and really wanted to make a piece inspired by it.

This piece is dark like a poorly lit gritty movie so I suggest saving this to view when brightness is high and night shift is off on your device!

And now for some close-ups on JC and Chenqing:

I don’t usually spend much time on the underpainting but since this piece is very much centered on the values rather than color I really wanted to get that all sorted. So the bonus today is the underpainting!

[mariacallous]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a flood of texts to Bill Nye trying to convince the beloved “Science Guy” of his anti-vax claims.

The old text chain, sent before Kennedy became Donald Trump’s health secretary, was revealed by Nye during a Men’s Health profile of the children’s television presenter.

The barrage of messages from the prominent vaccine skeptic, which the magazine described as “miles and miles of texts,” contained numerous links to articles and websites peddling vaccine-autism conspiracies that Nye said he paid no real attention to.

“Just no self-awareness,” Nye said. “And if you read these articles he sent, they’re all this speculation about autism and just cause-and-effect, and mercury in vaccines, that maybe there’s a connection. I wrote him back and said, ‘Okay, I’ll read your book. I think you’ve confused causation with correlation. Your friend, Bill.’”

The stream of messages did not end there, Nye said, even after he told Kennedy, “Okay, no more texts.”

“He started again! So I cut him off,” Nye said. “He does not have good judgment. He is not suited for this job.”

A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson disagreed, telling the Daily Beast that Kennedy is “leading one of the most ambitious public health reform efforts in modern history, grounded in evidence, radical transparency, and a true commitment to the American people.”

Kennedy has led a full-blown assault on vaccines as part of the Trump administration’s campaign to restore public “trust” in the lifesaving shots.

That includes the shock move to fire all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an expert panel that evaluates vaccine safety and efficacy. All had been appointed under the Biden administration.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Kennedy said vaccines had become a “divisive issue in American politics” and that public confidence in the health agencies that provide them is ”waning.”

Nye said the increase in vaccine skepticism, which soared amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is having real life negative consequences on people’s lives.

That includes the reaction to a measles outbreak in Texas that primarily hit unvaccinated individuals in the Mennonite community.

“It was a religious sect with historically low vaccination rates. And the argument from the other side is: They have rights not to get vaccinated. No, you don’t,” a frustrated Nye said. “Unvaccinated people can, and usually do, spread a disease. And that’s why we have these rules, for public health! It’s not arbitrary. It’s not about your rights. It’s about my rights, people.”

Nye didn’t hold back on Kennedy’s bizarre public stunts either—like chugging raw milk with health influencer Dr. Paul Saladino to promote the Trump administration’s initially error-riddledMake America Healthy Again report on childhood illness.

“And then this thing where people want to drink raw milk. No, you don’t,” Nye said. “This is very well understood! Louis Pasteur! You guyyys! What is happening?”

[nerdygaymormon]

In response to the August 2024 updates to General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Executive Committee of Affirmation: LGBTQ Mormons, Families & Friends released the following statement:

We mourn with our transgender siblings as we wrestle with the painful impact of recent policy changes and guidelines released by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With over 45 years of providing support to LGBTQIA+ individuals who are current and former members of the Church, we know first-hand the pain that policies like this cause. We stand with our transgender siblings.

Rather than seek to better understand, include, and affirm transgender individuals who are also Latter-day Saints, leaders of the Church have opted to further restrict these members’ ability to participate. While these changes specifically impact individuals who have socially or medically transitioned, all are affected by the messages conveyed in these policies, which reject authentic experience and identity.

Prior to these updates, transgender members of the Church could expect their gender identities to be respected through the use of their chosen names, to participate in church meetings aligning with their gender identities, and to have some opportunities to be called to serve within the Church. The recent updates reduce the hope that the gender identities of transgender members will be respected, prohibit transgender members from church meetings aligning with their gender identities, restrict access to restrooms, and explicitly prohibit transgender members from serving in the Church as teachers or working with children.

Further, church policy now includes language that encourages detransitioning as the only pathway to reinstate full membership within the Church.

The Ninth Article of Faith of the Church states that “We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.” Modern revelation is a foundational belief of the Church. The claim of prophecy received today from the Lord’s anointed sets the Church apart from most Christian sects. However, in our view, the treatment of transgender individuals by those who claim the mantle of prophecy indicates that they, like Paul of old, “see through a glass, darkly” in this area. In that lack of clarity, leaders of the Church are co-opting ideologies of the world in promoting views of gender being restricted to that assigned at birth and in encouraging detransitioning.

We hope that God will yet reveal better for our transgender siblings.

Until then, Affirmation: LGBTQ Mormons, Families & Friends remains committed to creating worldwide communities of safety, love, and hope, fully inclusive and affirming of all sexual orientations, gender identities, beliefs, and relationships with the Church. We love you. We are here for you.

Fred Bowers, President Joel McDonald, Senior Vice President David Doyle, Vice President

[shinyhappysims]

Saelim Family Update

Hello friends. I reckon it’s time for the final Saelim family update. There has been a bit of a time jump since my last post, so all the children are settled down and the fundie children have either closed their quiver or placed a good dent in their quiver sizes, so I can offer you some closure with their stories. Third person POV, because I’m tired of Jamilah and Mimi doesn’t give a fuck about half of her siblings. Reminder that there’s SEVENTEEN of these fuckers, so be prepared to spend a nice amount of time reading today’s post!

Jamilah (67) and Niran (73) have been together for nearly 48 years of holy matrimony. They have successfully brainwashed over 250 citizens of Tomarang to follow their extremely niche sect of their religion and still aren’t satisfied. Together they have 17 children, but only acknowledge the existence of 13 of them. Obviously they are very loving parents. Niran sometimes wonders what his life would be like if his wife didn’t drag him this far into the kool-aid, but then he just sighs and prays about it. 

Oh and heads up, a good chunk of the kids have changed their names.

Oldest child Arrow-Michael (46) and his perfect helpmeet Kanyawan (47) have 13 children: Baifern (25), Pimnara (22), twins Adisorn and Cherprang (21), Navin (19), Kannika (18), Fahying (16), Praewa (13), Kritsada (11), Decha (8), Kaew (7), Paris (6), and Tahwan (4). 

Arrow-Michael, a stoic, no-nonsense police officer, is striving to build a family exactly like the one he grew up in, but with no children deviating from the straight and narrow. So far, it appears he’s been successful. Just don’t probe Fahying too much about how she really feels. 

Courage-John (45), who’d rather you call him CJ, is a very well respected journalist in conservative media, which pretty much means he’s super good at lying. His wife, Kimber (43), writes children’s picture books in her free time. He with his wife have a reasonable (for this family) 7 children: Darcy(20), Wilder (17), Scout (14), Brontë (10), Percival (8), and twins Aldous and Hyacinth (6). 

Their children attend a very small, Christian private school that CJ pays an absurd amount for in tuition fees. They live in Newcrest, right next door to…

Honor-Luke (43) and Lauryn (43)! Because CJ and Honor-Luke and Kimber and Lauryn definitely are not co-depedent on each other and have healthy boundaries. Despite being attached at the hip, they are much more fundie than their older counterparts. They have double the amount of kids as their siblings, a total of 14: Lincoln (21), Hope (20), Hadley (18), twins Leo and Louis (17), Lawrence (16), twins Hazel and Liam (15), Helena (10), Levi (7), Harmony (5), Lorenzo (3), twins Lyle and Lucian (2)

One of the older boys is some how missing from this pic. I don’t know who it is. Because I refuse to redo this picture we’re just gonna… not talk about it.

Glory-Jane Janie (42) is the oldest disgraced Saelim child. She ran away from home at the age of 18 to San Myshuno in order to pursue a career in modeling. Against all odds she was wildly successful. Jamilah refused to believe she was actually famous for about a solid decade and held out hope that she would return as a prodigal daughter someday. This pipe dream failed after Janie became pregnant with her carbon-copy daughter Diamond (13), because now that meant her daughter’s a harlot, and that’s just unacceptable.

Emmanuel-Paul Manny (40), disgraced Saelim child #2, lives in Sulani. He recently divorced his ex-wife Desta (40). They married each other mainly for an excuse for the both of them to leave their toxic childhood homes. Desta and Manny had an open relationship for a while they until they figured out if they should divorce or not. After the divorce, Manny further dedicated himself to his marine life research. Desta took Piccolo when she left, so he got another cat named Sweetie. 

Mercy-Marie (39), who you all know as Mimi, and her husband Emery (41) have 8 kids: Selah (16), Peniel (14), Garden (11), Shekinah (10), Remnant (7), Eternity (5), Calvary (3), and Jubilee (0)

We know our favorite airhead very well, so we can move on. 

Mimi’s twin Blessing-Belle (39), or simply Bless, is married to Donovan (47). They have 2 kids: Nevaeh (4) and Jalen (2). 

Bless didn’t get married until she was 34, which is embarrassingly old in her community. Luckily Donovan rescued her from spinster status. She is very legalistic with her children, as all that time sitting alone in her parents house meant she did nothing but over analyze her bible. 

Sunday-Grace (37) is married to Cameron (40) and they have 6 children: Reagan (16), Maverick (11), Jaxon (10), Kaylie(7), Beckett (6) and Oakland (3). 

Cameron runs an alpha male podcast with Emery. Despite being married to… that, Sunday-Grace has deconstructed considerably and has gotten very good at putting herself and her children first. From bikinis at the beach, sending her kids to public school, and openly being on birth control, no one knows how her parents or Cameron put up with her, but that’s probably just a testament to how loveable she truly is. Even Bless has forgiven her for “stealing” Cameron. 

Angel-Gabriel (35) lives a painfully boring life in Windenburg. He works as an engineer and is married to his college sweetheart, Joy (34). Together they have 3 sons: Josiah (8), Matthew (6) and Caleb (2). 

I am literally ripping my hair out to think of something to say about him. I forgot he existed. He’s an engineer? Wait I already said that. His wife’s an annoying “boy mom”? That’s all I got. I’m so sorry. 

Andrew-Redeemer (33), who goes by Drew instead, followed in his parent’s mission footsteps and made his way over to Mt. Komorebi to spread the Word. Sadly, he lacks his parent’s work ethic and charisma and had to abandon the mission. He works at a convenience store in Mt. Komorebi, and has only been successful at raising him and his wife Airi’s (32) children in the faith: Ayaka (12), Akio (9), Riku (7), Iroha (5), Nanami (4), and Chigusa (2)

He has another child named Takuya (15) with an old flame of his, Momoko (38). Drew’s wife, children, parents and other family don’t know of their existence, and Drew himself hasn’t seen or heard from them in nearly 13 years. 

Heavenly-Rose (31) and Trenton (36) live in Tomarang not too far from her parents and have 5 children: Mai (11), Kim (8), Doan (5), Quyen (1), and Khoa (0)

At first, they practiced NFP and sent their children to a public school, but a snippy comment from Jamilah made Heavenly-Rose break down and go back to fundamentalism. She became quiverfull, quit her job at a clothing store and started homeschooling her children. She couldn’t let go of wearing pants, miniskirts, and tank tops, however. Trenton makes the money for the household by working on the local fishing boat. 

Disciple-Philip (29) is another painfully boring son. He lives in Oasis Springs with his wife Marina (29). They have a son, Marcus (2), and are expecting their second and final child. 

Once again, I have nothing to say, except that he’s not a total asshole.

Noble-Peter Sebastian (29) is Philip’s twin and disgraced Saelim #3. He lives with his boyfriend, Elias (29), in Strangerville. They moved together under the pretense that they were going on a mission trip. As the years went by and there were no reports of them being affiliated with any church in Strangerville, rumors about the truth of Sebastian and Elias’s sexuality began to spread, Jamilah and Niran demanded that their son come home to deny that he was gay. If he didn’t return, then they would cease communicating with him, which is what happened. Sebastian and Elias are totally fine with not being married. The fact that they survived and are together is enough for them. 

Mark-Patriot (28) is another nondescript fundie boy in the Saelim family. He’s not really sure if he believes in all of this, but getting to tell a woman who is utterly obsessed with him what to do is cool to him for some reason. Probably because he got zero attention growing up. Anyways, he lives in Tomarang, continuing the Saelim family property business. He’s married to Lindsay (25), and so far they have 3 children: Tyler (5), Jake (4), and Kacey (1)

Much like Mark-Patriot, his twin Liberty-Sue (28) is the forgotten of the Saelim daughters. She tries to live perfectly in hopes that  makes her parents notice her. They probably would care more if she was a bit higher in the lineup. Unfortunately, as she is #15 out of 17, she’s lucky if her parents even get around to speaking to her at all, let alone actually caring enough to notice what she’s doing. She’s married to Brian (32), with whom she currently shares 2 children: Augustine (3) and Camilla (1), and they are expecting number 3.

Kathryn-Praise (25) is also a fundie daughter just doing her best. She gets a tad bit more attention than Liberty-Sue because she’s the unofficial youngest child, married to a minister, and she’s prettier. Fundies are shallow like that. She’s the loving stay at home wife to Sakda (43), who totally didn’t groom her. They have 6 children: Yuttana (6), Channarong (5), Mallika (4), twins Danita and Danupha (2), and Ployphailin (1). At her wedding, she boldly promised to have more children than her mother. Horrifically enough she’s on track to do so. 

Finally, Saelim #17 is also family disgrace #4, Hallelujah-Mae Maya (23) left after she realized she was indeed just a number in her family. She never got much one-on-one attention, just constantly called “the baby”, “the last one”, “number 17”, “our final blessing”, “the latest precious addition”, so on and so forth. After turning 18, she went on a seemingly impossible quest to find her sister Janie, who famously said that she didn’t even know Maya existed. After they met for the first time, Janie helped usher her into the real world. She lives in San Myshuno with her boyfriend, Zane (29), who Janie set her up with. She works as a political activist. Maya and Zane have no children, and never will have any. She’s content with being Diamond’s cool aunt. 

[whencyclopedia]

Interview: Medieval Christian Art in the Levant

Medievalists retain misconceptions and myths about Oriental Christians. Indeed, the fact that the Middle East is the birthplace of Christianity is an afterthought for many. During the Middle Ages, Christians from different creeds and confessions lived in present-day Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Palestine. Here, they constructed churches, monasteries, nunneries, and seminaries, which retain timeless artistic treasures and cultural riches.

James Blake Wiener speaks to Dr Mat Immerzee to clarify and contextualize the artistic and cultural heritage of medieval Christians who resided in what is now the Levant.

Dr Immerzee is a retired Assistant Professor at Universiteit Leiden and Director of the Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Saint Bacchus Fresco

James Gordon (CC BY)

JBW: ​​The largest Christian community in what is present-day Lebanon is that of the Maronite Christians – they trace their origins to the 4th-century Syrian hermit, St. Maron (d. 410). The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic Syriac Church, using the Antiochian Rite, which has been in communion with Rome since 1182. Nonetheless, Maronites have kept their own unique traditions and practices.

What do you think differentiates medieval Maronite art and architecture from other Christian sects in the Levant? Due to a large degree of contact with traders and crusaders from Western Europe, I would suspect that we see “Western” influence reflected in Maronite edifices, mosaics, frescoes, and so forth.

MI: Especially in the 13th century, the oriental Christian communities enjoyed an impressive cultural flourishing which came to expression in the embellishment of churches with wall paintings, icons, sculpture, and woodwork and the production of illustrated manuscripts, but what remains today differs from on one community or region to another. In Lebanon, several dozens of decorated Maronite and Greek Orthodox churches are encountered in mountain villages and small towns in the vicinity of Jbeil (Byblos), Tripoli, the Qadisha Valley, and by exception in Beirut, but only a few still preserve substantial parts of their medieval decoration programs. Most churches fell into decay after the Christian cultural downfall in the early 14th century when the pressure to convert became stronger. While many church buildings were left in the state they were, others were renovated in the Ottoman period or more recently.

Christian Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, c. 1000

Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-ND)

Remarkably Oriental Christian art displays broad uniformity with some regional and denominational differences. Cut off from the East Roman (Byzantine) Empire after the Arab conquest, it also escaped from the Byzantine iconoclastic movement (726-843 CE), which allowed the Middle Eastern Christians to develop their artistic legacy in their own way. An appealing subject is the introduction of warrior saints on horseback such as George and Theodore from about the 8th century. The West and the Byzantine Empire had to wait until the Crusader era to pick up this oriental motif and make it a worldwide success. But the borrowing was mutual. Mounted saints painted in Maronite, Melkite (Greek Orthodox), and Syriac Orthodox churches would increasingly be equipped with a chain coat and rendered with their feet in a forward thrust position, a battle technique developed within Norman military circles. Moreover, the Syrian equestrian saints Sergius and Bacchus were rendered holding a crossed ‘crusader’ banner, an attribute usually associated with Saint George, as if they were Crusader knights. Apart from these examples, there is little evidence of Oriental susceptibility to typically Latin subjects. We find Saint Lawrence of Rome represented in the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Our Lady near Kaftun, but this is exceptional.

Normally, one cannot tell from wall paintings in Lebanon to which community the church in question belonged. They all represented the same subjects and saints whose names are written in Greek and/or Syriac and may have recruited painters from the same artistic circles. Regarding architecture, the last word has not been said on this matter, because the documentation of medieval Lebanese church architecture is still in progress. Nevertheless, the build of some churches undeniably displays Western architectural influences; for example, the Maronite Church of Saint Sabas in Eddé al-Batrun is even plainly Romanesque in style.

JBW: Following my last question, is it then correct to assume that the Crusader lands – Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli, and Jerusalem – were quite receptive to Eastern Christian styles?

MI: That is difficult to tell because there is next to nothing left in the former County of Edessa and the Principality of Antioch. We do have some decorated churches in the former Kingdom of Jerusalem (Abu Gosh, Bethlehem), and here we see a strong focus on Byzantine craftsmanship and Latin usage. Apart from the preserved church embellishment in the Lebanese mountains, there are some fascinating, stylistically and thematically comparable instances across the border with Syria.

Saint Peter in Sinai

Wikipedia (Public Domain)

Although situated within Muslim territory, the Qalamun District between Damascus and Homs stands out for its well-established Greek Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox populations; and from the 18th century onwards, also Greek Catholics and Syrian Catholics. Interestingly, stylistic characteristics confirm that indigenous Syrian painters were also involved in the decoration inside Crusader fortresses such as Crac des Chevaliers and Margat Castle in Syria. It was obviously easier to contract local manpower than to find specialists in Europe.

JBW: The Byzantine Empire exuded tremendous political, cultural, and religious sway across the Levant throughout the Middle Ages; a sizable chunk of the Christian population in both Syria and Lebanon still adheres to the rituals of the Greek Orthodox Church even today.

MI: Leaving aside the cultural foundations laid before the Arab conquest, the contemporary Byzantine influences can hardly be overlooked. In the 12th and 13th centuries, itinerating Byzantine-trained painters worked on behalf of any well-paying client within Frankish and Muslim territory, from Cairo to Tabriz, irrespective of their denominational background. This partly explains the introduction of some ‘fashionable’ Byzantine subjects and the Byzantine brushwork of several mural paintings and icons. Made in the 1160s, the Byzantine-style mosaics in the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem are believed to be the result of Latin-Byzantine cooperation at the highest levels; they exhale the propagandistic message of Christian unity. In 1204, however, the Crusaders would conquer Constantinople and substantial parts of the Byzantine Empire. The Venetians brought the bounty to Venice, and, surprisingly, also to Alexandria with the consent of the sultan in Cairo, intending to sell the objects in the Middle East. So much for Christian unity…

The Eastern Greek Orthodox Church has its roots in the Chalcedonian dispute about the human and divine nature of Christ in 451, which resulted in the dogmatic breakdown of the Byzantine Church into pro- and anti-Chalcedonian factions. Like the Maronites, the Melkites (‘royalists’) remained faithful to the former, official Byzantine standpoint, except for their oriental patriarchs in Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem were officially allowed autonomy without direct interference from Constantinople. On the other hand, the Syriac Orthodox became dogmatically affiliated with the identically ‘Miaphysite’ Coptic, Ethiopian, and Armenian Churches. To complicate matters even more, part of the Greek Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox communities joined the Church of Rome in the 18th century. This resulted in the establishment of the Greek Catholic and Syriac Catholic Churches.

The Church of Nativity, Bethlehem

Konrad von Grünenberg (Public Domain)

JBW: Could you tell us a little bit more with regard to the Syriac Orthodox Church? If I’m not mistaken, there was a flourishing of the building of churches and monasteries by Syriac Orthodox communities once they fell under Muslim rule around 640.

MI: As a Miaphysite community, the Syriac Orthodox enjoyed the same protected status as other non-Muslim communities under Muslim rule. This allowed them to establish an independent Church hierarchy headed by their patriarch who nominally resided in Antioch, which covered large areas in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. Some of their oldest churches, with architectural sculpture and occasionally a mosaic, are situated in the Tur Abdin region in Southeast Turkey. Remarkably, around the year 800, a group of monks from the city of Takrit (present-day Tikrit in Iraq) migrated to Egypt to establish a Syriac ‘colony’ within the Coptic monastic community. Their ‘Monastery of the Syrians’ (Deir al-Surian) still exists and is one of Middle Eastern Christianity’s key monuments for its architecture, wall paintings, icons, wood- and plasterwork ranging in date from the 7th to the 13th centuries. The monastery also houses an extensive manuscript collection. Another decorated monastery is the Monastery of St Moses (Deir Mar Musa; presently Syriac Catholic) near Nebk to the north of Damascus, where paintings from the 11th and 13th-centuries can still be seen. The Monastery of St Behnam (Deir Mar Behnam; presently Syriac Catholic) near Mosul is reputed for its 13th-century architectural sculpture and unique stucco relief, but unfortunately, a lot has been destroyed by ISIS warriors.

The Syriac Orthodox presence in Lebanon remained limited to a church dedicated to Saint Behnam in Tripoli, and the temporary use of a Maronite church dedicated to St Theodore at the village of Bahdeidat by refugees from the East who were on the run from the Mongols during the 1250s. This church still displays its complete decoration program from this period. It is impossible to tell which community arranged the refurbishment, but the addition of a donor figure in Western dress testifies to support from a (probably) local Frankish lord. Finally, the Syriac Orthodox also excelled in manuscript illumination, examples of which can be found in Western collections and the patriarchal library near Damascus.

JBW: As the Lebanese and Syrian Greek Orthodox Churches had fewer dealings with Western Europeans than the Maronite Church, does medieval Christian Orthodox art in Lebanon and Syria reflect and maintain the designs and styles of medieval Byzantium? If so, in what ways, and where do we see deviation or innovation?

MI: As I said before, Byzantine-trained artists have been surprisingly active in the Frankish states and beyond, especially during the 13th century. I prefer to label them as “Byzantine-trained” instead of “Byzantine,” because it is not always clear where they came from. To mention an example, painters from Cyprus still worked in the Byzantine artistic tradition but no longer fell under the authority of the emperor after the Crusader conquest of the island in 1291. Culturally they were still fully Byzantine, but, speaking in modern terms, they would have had the Frankish-Cypriot nationality. The little we can say from the preserved paintings is that some Cypriot artists traveled to the Levant in the aftermath of the power change in search of new clientele. It is unknown if they stayed or returned after the accomplishment of their tasks, but around the mid-13th century we see the birth of a ‘Syrian-Cypriot’ style which combines Byzantine painting techniques with typically Syrian formal features and designs; for example, in the afore-mentioned Monastery at Kaftun in Lebanon. Typically, instances of this blended art are not only encountered in Lebanon and Syria but also in Cyprus.

The Virgin and Child Mosaic, Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia Research Team (CC BY-NC-SA)

Focusing on the shared elements in Oriental Christian and Byzantine art, the example of apse decorations illustrates the resemblances and often also subtle differences. From the Early Christian period, the common composition in the apse behind the altar consisted of the mystical appearance of Christ (Christ in Glory) between the Four Living Creatures in the conch and the Virgin between saints, such as the apostles and Church fathers, in the lower zone. However, an early variant encountered in Egypt renders the biblical Vision of Ezekiel: here, Christ in Glory is placed on the fiery chariot the prophet saw. Recent research has brought to light that this variant was also applied in Syriac Orthodox churches in Turkey and Iraq as late as the 13th century. Medieval oriental conch paintings often combine Christ in Glory with the Deesis, that is, the Virgin and St John the Baptist pleading in favour of mankind. Whereas the Byzantines kept these subjects separated, the ‘Deesis-Vision’ is encountered from Egypt to Armenia and Georgia in churches of all denominations

JBW: One cannot discuss medieval Christian art in the Near East without making some mention of Armenians and Georgians. The first recorded Armenian pilgrimage occurred in the early 4th century, and Armenian Cilicia (1080-1375) flourished at the time of the Crusades. During the reign of Queen Tamar (r. 1184-1213), Georgia assumed the traditional role of the Byzantine crown as a protector of the Christians of the Middle East. Armenians and Georgians intermarried not only with one another but also with Byzantines and Crusaders.

Where is the medieval Armenian and Georgian presence the strongest in the Levant? Is it discernible?

Tomb of Saint Hripsime in Armenia

James Blake Wiener (CC BY-NC-SA)

MI: Medieval Armenian and Georgian art can be found in their homelands, but there are also surviving works testifying to their presence in the Levant and Egypt. Starting with the Armenians, they have always lived in groups dispersed throughout the Middle East, whereas in Jerusalem they have their own quarter. A 13th-century wooden door with typically Armenian ornamentation and inscriptions in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem testify to the interest Armenians took in the Holy Land. Further to the south, a 12th-century mural painting with Armenian inscriptions in the White Monastery near Sohag reminds us of the strong Armenian presence in Egypt under Fatimid rule during the 11th to 12th centuries. They had arrived in the wake of the rise of power of the Muslim Armenian warlord and later Vizir Badr al-Jamali, who seized all power in the Fatimid realm during the 1070s. He not only brought his own army consisting of Christian and Muslim Armenians but also made Egypt a safe home for Armenians from more troubled areas.

The Christian Armenians had their own monastery and used a number of churches in Egypt. However, these were appropriated by the Copts at the downfall of Fatimid power and the subsequent expulsion of all Armenians during the 1160s. The Armenian catholicos or head of Egypt is known to have left for Jerusalem taking with him all the church treasures.

At the White Monastery, a mural was made by an artist named Theodore originating from a village in Southeastern Turkey on behalf of Armenian miners who were apparently allowed to use the monastery’s church. It is hard to believe that Theodore came all the way to accomplish just one task in this remote place. There can be no doubt that he decorated more Armenian churches during his stay in Egypt, but the Copts thoroughly wiped out all remaining traces of their previous owners.

The Georgian presence was limited to Jerusalem, where they owned the Monastery of the Holy Cross until it was taken over by the Greek Orthodox in the 17th century. In the monastery’s church, a series of 14th-century paintings with Georgian inscriptions are a reminder of this period. In addition, an icon representing St George and scenes of his life painted during the early 13th century, and kept in the Monastery of Saint Catherine in the Sinai, was a gift from a Georgian monk, who is himself depicted prostrating at the saint’s feet.

St. Catherine's Monastery, Sinai

Marc!D (CC BY-NC-ND)

JBW: Because we touched upon the incorporation of outside artistic influences coming from Western Europe and Byzantium to the Levant, I wondered if you might offer a final comment or two on those architectural or artistic influences coming from the Arab World or even the wider Islamic world.

To what extent did Levantine Christians – who often lived near their Muslim neighbors – adopt or assimilate Islamic styles of art and architecture?

MI: The earliest examples of Islamic art from the Umayyad era display strong influences of Late Antiquity, which in turn had also been the source of inspiration to early Christian art. Over the course of time, these artistic relatives would gradually grow apart to meet again on specific occasions. The earliest example of Islamic-inspired Christian art is the purely ornamental stucco reliefs in the Monastery of the Syrians in Egypt. Constructed during the early 10th century by the Abbot Moses of Nisibis. Its plastered altar room exudes the same atmosphere as houses in the 9th-century Abbasid capital of Samarra and the similarly decorated Mosque of Ibn Tulun (an Abbasid prince who came to Egypt as its governor) in Cairo.

The Mosque of Ibn Tulun, Cairo Egypt

Berthold Werner (CC BY)

The decoration of Fatimid-era sanctuary screens in Coptic churches and woodwork from Egyptian Islamic, Jewish, and secular contexts are fully interchangeable; likewise, 13th-century architectural sculpture, manuscript illustrations, and metalwork from the Mosul area display the same shared stylistic and iconographic artistic language. Broadly speaking, we are obviously dealing with craftsmen working on behalf of different parties at the local level regardless of their religious backgrounds. Occasionally, one comes across ‘Islamic’ ornaments in wall paintings, but the overall impression is that Christian painting was subject to blatant conservatism when compared to more fashionable, ‘neutral’ items of interior decoration. The only Arabic inscriptions found in mural paintings concern texts commemorating building or refurbishment activities, or graffiti left by visitors. There obviously was a difference in status between the vernacular spoken language and the Church’s Greek and Syriac.

JBW: Dr. Mat Immerzeel, thanks so much for your time and consideration.

MI: You are welcome; it is my pleasure to contribute to your magazine.

Mat Immerzeel has been active in the Middle East since 1989, first in Egypt, then in Syria and Lebanon, and recently in Cyprus. His main field of study is the material culture of Oriental Christian communities from the 3rd century to the present. In particular, he studies wall paintings, icons, stone and plaster sculpture, woodwork, and manuscript illustrations. He has participated in research projects focusing on the formation of religious communal identity, the training of local collection curators, and restoration and documentation campaigns. He is the Director of the Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East and editor-in-chief of the journal Eastern Christian Art (ECA) published by Peeters Publishers in Leuven, the Netherlands.

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[punkrockhistory]

48 years ago

Paul Simonon and Joe Strummer of The Clash with Paul Smith of the Subway Sect at The 100 Club Punk Festival, London, September 20th & 21st, 1976

[alpaca-clouds]

Let's quickly talk about the Vows of Chastity

Another thing I have been asked about is the entire thing with the Vows of Chastity, given that a lot of the American Christian sects do not have that, while for the Catholics it is a really big deal.

So, generally speaking pretty much anyone who wants to really join the institution of the church (with a few rare exceptions) will swear at least three vows:

The Vow of Chastity

The Vow of Poverty

The Vow of Obedience

Details may vary depending on what order you join. After all, the Catholic church is basically divided into a variety of different orders, and some of them have additional rules. (Some orders have also stuff like a Vow of Servitude, or a Vow of Hospitality, and other specific vows. Though in Mizrak's case the Order of St. John had only those same three Vows, with them being fairly well known to not fully enforce the vow of Poverty a whole lot.)

If you now wonder, why the Catholics have this and so many other Christian groups do not: St. Paul.

If you are not really firm with your bible, there is the following thing you need to know. Generally speaking a lot of the bigoted stuff in the bible shows up in the old testament. Then Jesus comes around and is like: "Yeah, no, forget about that. We make new rules." Then Jesus dies, and then a guy named Paul shows up, establishes a lot of the basics for the church and he is like: "Yeah, actually, fuck other religions, women and gays specifically." And he also basically made rules for apostles, that then were turned into the rules for priests and monks. And from those writings come the three vows as above.

The Vow of Chastity originated with a Vow of Celebacy, which sounds like the same, but was not quite. See, the Vow of Celebacy was originally about priests and monks not marrying, because they are basically married to God. Of course, because back in the day you are not supposed to have sex outside of marriage, this meant automatically that you were not supposed to have sex. But of course this needed to be made a bit more... clear.

Now, as Maria so rightfully says in season 1: It is rather well known that priests cannot keep it in their pants.

I have grown up Catholic, with my mother being very, very active within the church. I mean, heck, I privately met one of the popes in my childhood, just for reference how much I got roped into the entire thing.

And what I can tell you from that is: There is a lot of stuff happening within Catholic organizations based on this. "Oh, this priest has had a lover." And: "Oh, did you know Priest XY is actually in a committed relationship with his housekeeper?" And: "Bishop XY has a child out of wedlock!" And of course the classic: "When those bishops went to the Vatican there was a gay sex party!!!!"

And that is without going into the entire thing with the rape happening under Catholic organisations.

Now, at the time when both Castlevania and Castlevania: Nocturne take place, it happened that adults joined monestaries and such, but for the most part people joined in their childhood or youth. The high positions in the Church were often taken by the third or forth child of some nobles (the first one has to marry well, the second one will be kept as a backup - given high mortality - but then, because nobility and clergy were very connected, the third son usually would become a bishop or something). And lower ranking positions within the church were often filled with both orphans, and the later surviving kids of poorer families that could not afford anything else.

Today, of course, things are different. Usually people - at least in western countries - joining the clergy actively decide to do so. Which leads to a very strong overhang of queer clergy. It makes sense if you look at doctrine: Being queer is a sin. But we know of course that it simply is something you are. So you never are able to live out your sexuality without sinning. You do not want to marry a woman, because you are not attracted to women. So, why not join the clergy? Then you do not have to force yourself to have sex with a woman. Though of course, you realize soon enough - as you visit priest school - that you are not the only person with that idea. And so you sit there in the secluded school, surrounded by a bunch of self-hating homosexual men. Welp.

Mind you: Within the Catholic Church it is a constantly discussed topic. Because while Paul definitely suggests those things in his letters, Paul technically is not a prophet (he never claims he has a message from God), and neither Jesus nor the actual prophets say that those vows need to happen. This is the reason why so many other flavors of Christianity allow marriage for priests and even open homosexuality. Not to mention that the church in general with all those riches is doing very well on the Vow of Poverty. Same goes with the question of women as priests. This is also fully based on the Paulus letters. There is absolutely a chance at some point a Pope will come around to say: "Yeah, actually priests can have sex now and also hooray for female priests!"

Of course - at the time of this show... Yeah, that had not happened. xD

[sethshead]

Annual reminder that Jesus was not Palestinian and that Palestine as legally defined region did not exist at that time, nor did the Palestinian nation. This is empirically documented fact. Jesus was born a Jew and died a Jew in Roman Judea. If “Palestine” was used in some Greek texts to describe the region it was because of the Philistines (who aren’t Arab in origin) having lived here once. I’m now hearing people saying Christianity is Palestinian in origin. This is also sheer idiocy. Even if we allow for the fact that Jesus isn’t the progenitor of Christianity (again he died a Jew, his followers were all Jewish and they defined themselves as a sect of Judaism, not a new religion) and attribute the foundation to Paul and people of his generation, which I would say is true. Paul was born a Jew in Roman Judea and died 70 years before the region was renamed Palestine. Jesus and the founding of Christianity has everything to do with the Jews and zero to do with Palestine and Palestinians. And it goes without saying they have nothing to do with Arabs and Islam, except insofar as Islam tells it story with Jesus (and for that matter Judaism) being part of its origin story, which did not happen until the 600s. I will also point out that those western activists (historically clueless) who are making this claim are actually doing a great disservice to the Palestinian people. Why? Because they are inventing ancient Palestinian history that is easily refutable by fact, as I have just done. Given how easy it is to undermine such claims, when people who don’t know much about the region (but joined the river to the sea crowd because that’s what the cool kids do) learn the truth they will become skeptical about other claims made by Palestinians, some of which are true, some of which deserve acknowledgment. But the American left doesn’t care. They don’t actually care about the Palestinians. They are driven by Jew-hatred, and Zionism is the most convenient demon in their social justice arsenal. They will never help free Palestine. But what they will continue to do is endanger diaspora Jewry, which is their goal, or at least a means to their end. Such was also the case with the Arab regimes who opposed a Jewish state from the very beginning. They weren’t advocating for Palestinians, they were advocating for non Jewish state anywhere min the region. The left has constructed a binary opposition that undergirds their theology that pits the evil oppressive (((Zionists))) against the eternally oppressed Palestinians. Their construct is false, an eschatological theology and nothing else, with both “Zionists” and “Palestinians” being little more than constructs they have thrown together to advance their revolutionary (and profoundly anti-Western) agenda. But if they want to claim Palestinians as the progenitors of Christianity then, well, let me point out, that “Christianity” persecuted the Jews severely at least until the early modern era and in some parts of Europe far beyond that time, culminating in The Holocaust. So sure, you want to claim Jesus for Palestine, then you also acquire all the baggage that comes with him.

-- Jarrod Tanny

It’s all just another form of supersession.

[gatheringbones]

[“Asked which side he supported, one peasant from a village close to Saigon told a Front cadre in 1963: “I do not know, for I follow the will of Heaven. If I do what you say, then the Diem side will arrest me; if I say things against you, then you will arrest me, so I would rather carry both burdens on my shoulders and stand in the middle.” Caught between two competing regimes, the peasant did not assert his right to decide between them, rather he asked himself where his duty lay. Which regime had the power to claim his loyalty? Which would be the most likely to restore peace and harmony to his world? His decision might be based on personal preference (a government that considered the wishes of the people would be more likely to restore peace on a permanent basis). But he had, nonetheless, to make an objective analysis of the situation and take his gamble, for his first loyalty lay neither with the Diem regime nor the NLF but with the will of Heaven that controlled them both. At certain periods attentisme was the most moral and the most practical course.

As a warning to Westerners on the difficulties of understanding the twentieth-century conflict in Vietnam, Paul Mus told an ancient Chinese legend that is well known to the Vietnamese. There was trouble in the state of Lu, and the reigning monarch called in Confucius to ask for his help. When he arrived at the court, the Master went to a public place and took a seat in the correct way, facing south, and all the trouble disappeared.

The works of Vo Nguyen Giap are but addenda to this legend, for the legend is the paradigm of revolution in Vietnam. To the Vietnamese it is clear from the story that Confucius was not taking an existential or exemplary position, he was actually changing the situation. Possessed of neither godlike nor prophetic authority, he moved an entire kingdom by virtue of his sensitivity to the will of Heaven as reflected in the “eyes and ears of the people.” As executor for the people, he clarified their wishes and signaled the coming — or the return — of the Way that would bring harmony to the kingdom. For the Hoa Hao and the Cao Dai, the traditionalist sects of the south that in the twentieth century still believed in this magical “sympathy” of heaven and earth, political change did not depend entirely on human effort. Even the leaders of the sects believed that if they, like Confucius, had taken “the correct position,” the position that accorded with the will of Heaven, all Vietnamese would eventually adopt the same Way, the same political system that they had come to.

Here, within the old spiritualist language, lies a clue as to why the Vietnamese Communists held their military commanders in strict subordination to the political cadres. Within the domestic conflict military victories were not only less important than political victories, but they were strictly meaningless except as reflections of the political realities. For the Communists, as for all the other political groups, the vehicle of political change was not the war, the pitch of force against force, but the struggle, the attempt to make manifest that their Way was the only true or “natural” one for all Vietnamese. Its aim was to demonstrate that, in the old language, the Mandate of Heaven had changed and the new order had already replaced the old in all but title.

When Ho Chi Minh entered Hanoi in August 1945, he made much the same kind of gesture as Confucius had made in facing south when he said (and the wording is significant, for he was using a language of both East and West), “We, members of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam solemnly declare to the world that Viet-Nam has the right to be a free and independent country — and in fact it is so already. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.” His claims were far from “true” at the time, but they constituted the truth in potential — if he, like Confucius, had taken the “correct position.” For the Confucians, of course, the “correct position” was that which accorded with the will of Heaven and the practice of the sacred ancestors. For Ho Chi Minh the “correct position” was that which accorded with the laws of history and the present and future judgment of the Vietnamese people.”]

frances fitzgerald, from fire in the lake: the vietnamese and the americans in vietnam, 1972