Beautiful post today Rod. Uplifting from start to finish! The story of the martyred Saints reminds me of a clip I saw this week, an Egyptian Coptic woman whose husband was one of the Egyptian Christians brutally martyred by Isis a few years ago. She was a fierce lion proud but humbled by her husband's steadfast faith unto brutal death and proclaimed her unworthiness of such a husband if she could not stand true to her faith and bear witness to her neighbours. I watched in awe and wonder and felt a lump in my throat which turned into the Jesus Prayer, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!
I got my copy of Living In Wonder and ordered one for a fellow agnostic-for-life (and my mom and dad, who are evangelical/CS Lewis "Mere Christianity" type Christians who have joined the Catholic Church late in life), and we're doing a little book club. Really looking forward to chapter 3 😁
PS, the stories of the martyrs (like the one in this post) are powerful. Thinking about the individuals who we heroicise who put their life on the line in modernity, it was usually about self interest or some ideological commitment, or to fight against the church. The list is heavily larded with 15th-17th century (Giordano Bruno, Gallileo, Jacques de Molay, victims of the Witch Hunts, etc.) figures. It's almost like we've forgotten the category of "brave martyr" as a thing that a person can be.
Giles Corey is my personal favorite "secular martyr" - the guy accused of witchcraft at Salem who protested his innocence with an early form of civil disobedience. Sentenced to death by crushing, instead of confessing falsely, he kept asking for more weight.
The victims of witch hunts were mainly eccentric perhaps mentally ill people. The witch panics were an atrocity, less in magnitude, but not unlike the Holocaust, and we need to acknowledge that as such and proclaim Never Again.
I just received my copy of Living in Wonder from Eight Day Books. I am excited to begin reading. And thank you for all you do to introduce us to your friends like Martin Shaw. Reading about your experiences and Martin’s brings light to the Christian journeys of your readers. Your work is oh so very important. God Bless!
Did you get expedited shipping? I ordered from them, and I haven't gotten any update beyond the initial "pending" when I placed the order. Maybe I should call them tomorrow and see what's up.
I haven’t received mine either. I got an e-mail a few days ago saying they’d shipped them and to expect them in 5-9 days. You might be able to ask them for a tracking number.
So in 135, the Romans annihilate Judea, slaughter its Jews by the tens of thousands, sell tens of thousands more into slavery, raze much of its physical infrastructure, exile all Jews from Jerusalem, and turn the Temple into a pagan shrine. Yet less than 20 years later, there they are helping the Romans protect the Roman religion. Right. Sure.
"The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp"" is believed to have a core of historic elements, perhaps preserved from an eyewitness, but to have been added to. The earliest manuscripts surviving are several centuries after it was written. There are at least three instances of Anti-Semitism in the text, one quoted above and two others. Some scholars would prefer to call this is anti-Judaism. The 2nd C was a time of tension between Christians and Jews. The Catholic church did not repent of this for a very long time, but it has done so now, authoritatively.
While Catholics venerate Polycarp as a saint and accept his martyrdom as historical, they are not required to believe every detail of the martyrdom account as a matter of faith. Not phased at all that Rod quoted this - no need to censor ancient manuscripts from the 10th C, and the anti-Semitism is interesting. Not sure if he knows much of the document, not just the part about the dove flying out, might not actually be from an eyewitness. Even if it was every bit from an eyewitness, the eyewitness could be an unreliable narrator when it comes to the Jews and our journalist host knows all about that.
It's interesting, and we can be inspired by it without thinking every bit is accurate. Lots of early writing were not taken into the canon of Scripture, with one reason being they were not considered fully accurate. They were, at least in part, hagiography. So - inspirational but every detail here need not be as a camera would have recorded it. The anti-Semitic parts are consistent with ideas that they are not, but certainly not the only indicators.
I see no reason to believe "the Jews" gathered wood for Polycarp's pyre on the Sabbath. The text (not the part quoted here) says this took place on the Sabbath. That is not what Christians called Sunday. Protestants, some of them, starting using "the Sabbath". thing, Early Christians called it "the Lord's Day". I doubt the Jews incited the mob against Polycarp "with characteristic zeal", or tried to prevent Christians from collecting Polycarp's remains. - -And of course I much agree about their likelihood of their aiding the Romans in this. Also, the trial as portrayed is quite different from what a Roman trial actually would have been like at the time.
I overslept this morning and missed our weekly Latin Mass. I went to the 9:30, which can be a little on the "happy-clappy" side. One of the priests who sometimes offers Latin Mass (I don't know his name) gave the homily. Well, he went "full-Polycarp" and gave a rundown of Harris's record on life-issues, trans issues, and her open hostility to Catholicism.
He spoke about preaching a 3-night mission in the Richmond VA diocese a few years ago. Blue-suited FBI agents attended. (This made pretty big news among Catholics at the time and we discussed it here.) When Father tried to check his emails after the last night, they were gone. All of his text messages were gone. He took it to a phone tech. The phone had been hacked.
He spoke about Mark Houck, the father of 8 who was raided at his home in PA by the FBI in the middle of the night for stepping in between a hostile Planned Parenthood worker and his young son. The Biden (devout Catholic, grandpa Joe!)-Harris "Justice" Dept. wanted to give him 10 years for stepping between a PP worker and his child. He was acquitted.
I was surprised that this little old priest got a standing ovation at what can only be described as a "boomer" Mass in a more and more, "purple" area of NJ.
IMO, all politics needs to be kept out of the pulpit. I would be just as turned off if some cleric got up and ranted about the evils of Donald Trump. Bad enough I have to put up with that razzle-dazzle in the rest of my life these days. The Church is the Ark of our salvation-- not a venue to splash around in mudpuddles.
For them record, Rod, I don't want you dead. However, should it come to the choice between death and staying faithful to Christ, the latter is much more important. As Christians, we ought to remember to be praying not just for good lives, but for that strength in all of us to be brave should we be faced with death.
In his last letter to his family before his execution in 1943, Alexander Schmorell speaks with absolute certainty about leaving this world for the next. He promises to pray for them all. Strangely enough, it was through an experience in 2002 involving him whereby I became absolutely convinced that the saints do live on and are actively praying for us. It brought about a realization that there are places and times when the world to come is also very near. His story inspires me to be brave, but that closeness, if you will, makes me certain that I've got a friend on the other side already.
🤣 One can't be too careful in telling someone that if put to the test, death is a better choice than apostasy! Obviously, I think the world of Rod & consider him a friend & fellow sojourner. :) We're all called to be saints and support each other in that endeavour. (And it is fun to throw in things that might make the reading less boring as well!)
I’ll admit that I do consider the “lying to a Nazi” logic here, sometimes: if you lie to a murderous jackass about your beliefs to save your life, then is that really apostasy? I see the possible slide into cowardice there, but I’m using the lens of pearls before swine: do such people have any entitlement to the truth? It seems like a good idea to not *romanticize* martyrdom at any rate, and to avoid getting oneself killed if it could be helped.
There's a lot of nuance to it, to be sure. Sometimes, though, it's pretty clear. I think a larger thing ends up being the fact that all of us are asked to live as Christians, but some of us will be asked to die for it as well. What would our response be should it fall on us is the question.
Yeah—I think of Arthur Miller’s play the *The Crucible*. Sometimes you can lie to the pests to just make them go away, and it’s fine; but at another time, things might come to a head, and you realize that to lie would be to betray a thing of great importance. At that point it’s just about stubborn honor, not even being a Christian per se. Even the pagans understood how to die for what mattered.
Rod and God forgive me, but, every time I hear the name Polycarp, I think of Pokémon. The poor Magicarp that does nothing but flop around and cry “carp, carp” until it evolves into Gyarados who’s super powerful.
It’s the carp of it all.
Definitely going to Hell, but, help me out here parents for whom playing Pokemon Go with your kid(s) got you through Covid!
I played Pokemon Yellow on the Gameboy when I was a kid; that was the 1st generation of the game. Now I think they’re on like the 8th generation.
Also, the first time I saw a restaurant serving poke bowls, I assumed it must be a pun on the poke ball. I was mystified as to why there was no expected decor in the place.
I'm thinking that a Polycarp is a Magikarp with multiple heads, hydra style. And then they all fuse back together into a higher unity upon evolution into the dragon—it's practically a Hegelian dialectic.
P.S. I love the Saints. I do believe there is great relationship with them to be explored. Lately, I’ve been praying to Thomas and Paul whom I chose (or chose me?) to intercede during my current nightmare.
I’ve also been using the Jesus prayer to fall asleep. Wow, but it works as nighttime medicine.
I have heard the stories of many of the early martyrs, but what stays with me more is what the old guard relayed to A Ogorodnikov in your book LNBL-of the Russian priests killed one by one. What an example of faith!
My book arrived Friday. Waiting for some quiet moments to dip in, because I know I'll not be able to put it down once I do. It may be a couple of days - company expected.
Synchronicity at work, which I actually noticed this time - your article on St Petka, another I read this morning on getting to know the saints better and living like one does, and my own sense that I need to enter more into the reality of their ongoing lives.
How do you know this? It is pretty well established that in the early church, Jews persecuted Christians as heretics. This in no way justifies Christian anti-Semitism, but Saul of Tarsus himself was deputized to punish these heretics.
All the evidence is in favor of the substantial accuracy of the "Martyrdom of Polycarp" account. The Oxford (atheist) historian of the Classical World, whose "Pagans and Christians" (1987) is marred by occasional atheist asides, but which is nevertheless a marvellous book, demonstrates in that book the detailed accuracy of the "Martyrdom of Pionius the Presbyter" in Smyrna in 250, 95 years (probably) after Polycarp's martyrdom, and vindicates also in it the identity of this Pionius with the Pionius who found and copied the martyrdom account of Polycarp (as attested in one of the several "postsctipts" to the manuscript).. One striking consistency between these two accounts is the hostility of the Smyrniot Jewish community to the local Christian community, and their desire to hasten on the deaths of Polycarp and Pionius.
Almost everything that Linda has written (above) to cast doubt on the accuracy of the Account of Polycarp's martyrdom is based on no evidence of which I am aware. And on the use of the term "Sabbath," this:
"The Martyrdom of Polycarp states that Polycarp was taken on the Sabbath and killed on 'the Great Sabbath'. English patristic scholar William Cave (1637–1713) believed that this was evidence that the Smyrnaeans under Polycarp observed the seventh-day Sabbath, i.e. assembled on Saturdays. J. B. Lightfoot records as a common interpretation of the expression "the Great Sabbath" to refer to Pesach or another Jewish festival. This is contradicted by the standard Jewish calendar, under which Nisan 14, the date of the Pesach, can fall no earlier than late March and hence at least a month after the traditional date of Polycarp's death 23 February. Hence, Lightfoot understood the expression in reference to the Purim festival, celebrated a month before Pesach, while other scholars suggest that at the time the Jewish calendar had not yet been standardized, and that this day, both Jews and Christians celebrated Pesach and a (Quartodeciman) Christian Passover, respectively."
Well...I'm not saying every bit is inaccurate. It actually opened up a whole can of worms for me when I saw "The Jews, as usual". I've always been fine with Matthew and the Jewish mob, that was one mob. But this is another matter. So then it made me admit to myself that I do not need to believe everything said in early church writings, because the church itself did not believe them, and refused to canonize many things because of problems.
The part about the Sabbath you quoted lost me. I found it irrelevant if I understood it so perhaps I did not. If Christians were assembling on Saturday it was still the Jewish Sabbath and the text says the Jews were gather wood on the Great Sabbath. I am lost as to why the l quote about "before late March". Of course Passover (Pesach) need not be on a Saturday. And yes, due to Simchat Torah the candles were let for fhree days this week, but those days were not all the Sabbath, nor is Passover the Sabbath.
My sources say that scholars think the Great Sabbath was either q regular Saturday (Jewish Sabbath or a Sabbath during a Jewish festival, such as the Sabbath before Passover. - - Passover itself is most definitely not a Sabbath.
The central thing here is how much seeing an anti-Semitic phrase, for the first time, in early church writing really got to me. Yes, I'm aware of the Jewish mob, and individual persecutors such as Paul, but "as usual" - the text is saying it was all the Jews in Polycarp's city, at least, who were like this, not an isolated mob.
edit: The above written as Rod responded to William before I saw his response.
I'm going to stay out of this conversation because I don't have the historical knowledge to deal with it (Bill Tighe does). I would just caution against imposing contemporary beliefs onto the ancient past. I am strongly against anti-Semitism, and hate to read about how Jews persecuted the early church, because those events played a part later, when Christians became powerful, in justifying Christian persecution of Jews.
But it makes sense to me that Jews of that era would persecute Christians. Sense, not in that it was justified, but the first century was not a time of religious tolerance. Remember, the Gospels tell us that a mob of Jewish men were going to stone the woman caught in adultery (a punishment that Islam also prescribes). And of course in later eras, Christians persecuted Jews, and persecuted Christians they believed were heretics. As I said, this is an unfortunate part of human nature. If you were a faithful Jew, and you saw this upstart heretical sect, later called Christians, leading people away from what you regarded as the true faith, you too might be willing to persecute them unto death. It was a Jewish mob that demanded that the Romans execute the blasphemer Jesus of Nazareth (who blasphemed against Jewish orthodoxy by saying he was God). Similarly, in Acts 19, worshipers of Artemis in Ephesus worked themselves up to the cusp of a pogrom against the Christian evangelists, because people in Ephesus were converting, and abandoning the city's main religion (which also threatened the economic basis of the city -- recall that the near-pogrom began when a silversmith named Demetrius, who made his money crafting and selling tiny idols of Artemis to pilgrims, floated the idea).
The Catholic Church massacred thousands of Cathar heretics to preserve the faith. The Russian Orthodox church tortured Old Believers in the 17th century, for the sake of defending Orthodoxy. God knows I'm not defending this, but it is very common, not just in the history of Christianity, but in the history of most religions.
Thanks, Rod. You understand I had not seen something quite like this regarding Jews in early Church literature. I will process it further with William, as you suggest, should he respond.
I agree with what you said in your comment above. To me it even makes sense that the Jews at the Pool of Bethsaida are upset that Christ told the crippled man to pick up his bed outside the eruv on the Sabbath, thus break the law. Weren't they afraid Christ had healed through evil or demonic power? Not a question for you because I'm fine that you wish to stay out which is fine, but if William wants to take that question, I'd like it.
You opposition to anti-Semitism is legend! :) I think you posted something inspirational today about Polycarp - still not sure of every detail but William is expert.
"I will process it further with William, as you suggest, should he respond."
I responded a little below. You might find it useful to do an internet search on The Eighteen Benedictions (of the Shemoneh Ezrei or Amidah) and esp. on "blessing" #12, the Birkat ha-Minim ("The Blessing of - really, "against" - Heretics). These links are only a beginning
It is a big questions whether, in the final rabbinic version of this prayer Christians were condemned explicitly (as "Notzrim") or simply among Jewish heretical groups ("heretical" from the perspective of post-Temple rabbinic orthodoxy, that is) as "minim," but there is little doubt that in later centuries this prayer was bowdlerized to a greater or lesser extent, with "minim" sometimes being replaced by "malshinim" or "evildoers." (The prayer goes on to request that God destroy the Roman Empire, a petition that was sometimes bowdlerized later on as well).
The prayer took its final form at one of the rabbinic assemblies at Javneh between 75 and 95 of our era, which also inserted it in the Shemoneh Ezrei (which is why this "Eighteen Benedictions" actually contains nineteen). My internet searchings turned up scholarly and semi scholarly articles suggesting that in the century or two proceeding the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 there were earlier versions of this Birkat ha-Minim, some clearly Sadducean and directed against the Pharisees, others seemingly Pharisaic in origins, and directed against Sadducees. I didn't keep any record of these various links as I was searching the internet in my office during my spare time in the course of four or five days, and can't locate most of them now, but I did glance at those which I have linked above (which are not all in agreement with one another).
My point is that there was fierce animosity among these Jewish "sects," to the point that some of them prayed sometimes for God to destroy/extirpate one another. It should not be surprising that this continued on in the Roman world in the first, second, and third centuries, not should it be surprising that Jews and Christians alike tried to turn pagan animosity against both of them onto their rival, from Jews onto Christians and from Christians onto Jews, nor that the Jews had the advantage of being both an ancient religion and an ancient people, whereas the Christians were a novel group of dubious origin following a founder condemned alike by the Roman and the Jewish authorities. Romans respected longaeval religious rites and practices, however bizarre some of them (such as circumcision or abstaining from pork) might seem to be to them, whereas they looked on "novelties" as both false and dangerous.
2nd reply - Maybe i shouldn't replay again but I will. I re-read your comment and blew my mind. My guard has been up since childhood to some of the tings in you said, but since I knew your bona fides regarding the Jewish people, it got through. I know I said I agreed, but I did not really let some parts sink in until the re-read. i guess "the Jews killed Christ" is something I viscerally opposed forever. You did not say that they did - but I had blocked even "Most Jews would have wanted to kill Christ". I guess I thought the woman taken in adultery was a few Jews being weird because the Old Testament was long over. I guess I thought only the mob and the high priests helped Romans to kill Christ - which is true..but.... you got me to see a believing Jew of the time would have wanted what happened to Christ. I have blocked that thought since I was small and taught about the Jewish people. But you are right - so that does not call for a reply, and you are staying out of the conversation anyway. I But I had to tell you that you blew my mind. Thanks, Rod.
I'm not so sure that the average Jew at the time would have wanted to kill Christ. Everywhere He went the Gospels speak of large crowds assembling to hear Him speak and perhaps to witness or receive miracles. So it seems He was popular with the common people, and that easily explains the opposition of the rulers (e.g., the priests) to Him. and of course he routinely excoriated the Pharisees and earned their opprobrium. As for the Jerusalem mob I've seen claims by people who have studied the physical layout of first century century Jerusalem that no more than a couple dozen people could have fit in the space where the mob was gathered, and in any event you could (and even today maybe still can) assemble a mob to rant and rave for your side by handing out some money to down on their luck types.
It wasn't then, and for Orthodox Jews still isn't (although they would reject the term "Old Testament," of course). Nevthertheless, the Ashkenazic rabbis (in ca. 1000) and the Sephardic rabbis (in ca. 1975) did proscribe polygamy, a practice not condemned in the OT.
Well, I'd say that "as usual" is a bit over the top and would prefer instead "as was often the case" (in the 2nd and 3rd centuries). Two historian as dissimilar in their evaluations of the legal situation of Christians after Nero, the growth of Christianity in the 3rd century, and (especially) the character, religious beliefs, and "policy" of Constantine with respect to Christianity agree on this; cf.:
W.H.C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (Oxford, 1965: Blackwell) and Robin Lane Fox Pagans and Christians (London, 1986: Viking).
Thanks - I will take a look at the book you link to.
OK, you would prefer "as was often the case" and I would prefer "as was usual for the mob hanging out in those days who did not even respect their own Sabbath". My deeper question is about taking inspiration from this tale. I followed my conscience in speaking, but I feel a little like a jerk in some ways, you can probably guess that, since Rod wants to bless us on this beautiful day (gosh was it beautiful) but I can be taken as almost...almost...saying "Hey Rod it's not true, you can't believe it because it has that false sentence" - - but I'm not saying that. I think much of it is true, and that it is inspirational.
But what am I saying? You feel free to wish the wording of this document were otherwise as do I. It has been brought home to me like never before that what they say about saints can be false. I knew that, but I feel so weird about this. At any rate, I do sense you kind of agreeing with me that at last the phrase "as usual" is incorrect, yes?
2nd replay - for me yes, this about history, Jews in the 2nd C, etc.
But the account itself says the dove flying out is unsure. After seeing the "as usual" I had more doubt that I usually would have - and I would have had aoms - about the blood putting out the fire, the audible voice from heaven. I doubted the document. Took comfort that as a Catholic I need not believe all in the document. But just...somehow reprocessing some of this and feeling weird about it.
Many years ago, I had a lot of doubts about saints and their lives and deaths and miracles attributed to them and the like. There are certainly people for whom it seemed destiny that they become saints from the time they were very small. I there's a Russian saint of whom I've read (St. Seraphim of Sarov, perhaps) who apparently stopped nursing on Wednesdays and Fridays in observance of the fast. Is this true? I don't know. One thing I have learned is that the world is much weirder than we think, and if I shut out an idea completely, I also end up shutting down more & more ideas that don't fit into my worldview. Saints? Heck, yeah. They are here, they are with us, and they pray for us. How can I be so sure? Because of "weirdness" in my own experience, including feeling the nearness of the presence of a saint.
Paul Maier, in his translation and commentary of Eusebius’ Church History, agrees with Lightfoot that Polycarp’s martyrdom on February 23rd was probably the feast of Purim.
You'll notice that it's never "the Romans." It's always *some* Roman individuals. Not is it "the Christians." Only "the Jews" ever do things. There's a reason for that.
We have a hymn in the Liturgy which begins "When the stone had been sealed by the Jews..." Which is odd since the stone across the entrance was simply a normal part of a tomb-- you wouldn't leave it wide open after all. Of course per the Gospel the priests (though not "the Jews" in general) did demand of Pilate that a guard be placed on the tomb so that may what the hymn is referencing
I would have to analyse every case to be sure, but my hunch is that in the NT, "the Jews" refers to either the priestly class or the Pharisees, rather than to the entire ethnic group or religion (cluster of religions, is probably more accurate).
When people say "the Jews" in a modern context, they nearly always go on to make a claim that presupposes that Jews as a people have a cohesiveness that they actually don't. Such claims may be "antisemitic", as in "the Jews control the world's banking system", or philosemitic, as in "the Jews have a right to a homeland in Israel".
I don't think Jews exist as a clearly defined group the way such claims imply. The Ashkenazim are at least arguably an ethnic group, but they do not form an ethnic group together with other Jews. Orthodox Judaism is a religion, but only a minority of Jews follow it. To be sure, people are free to identify as an ethnic group on the basis of an ancestor a few generations ago having practised the religion, but I don't see why any political weight should be put on that.
This is even more the case when one looks at the claim made by many Evangelicals that "the Jews" remain the chosen people. This is based on only a single verse of the Epistle to the Romans, but let's put that aside for now. Well, who are "the Jews"; are they defined by religion or ancestry?
If by religion, well, the Talmud didn't exist in Christ's time, so modern Orthodox Judaism is a new religion that evolved out of the Pharisees, who were in turn only one faction of Judaism at that time. The claim for Reform Jews to have the same religion is even weaker. Perhaps the Karaites are the only surviving Jews?
If by ancestry, the rule that Jewishness passes along the maternal line was only developed in mediaeval times, long after the NT, so why should we accept that? In any case, it's quite likely that many Ashkenazim are not Jewish in that sense, as they're descendants of a small number of male refugees who took Central European wives, and we don't know whether they all converted formally. What if we determine ancestry by general DNA similarity? In that case, the truest Jews are Palestinian Christians. Hmmm.
Mind you, I wouldn't really care about any of this if it weren't for Zionism. I would view modern "Jews" as a reasonably respectable, small religious group, who I would like to become Christian, but would have no problems with on a civic level, kind of like Sikhs, say.
I've always assumed that that troparion is indeed referring to that sealing of the tomb mentioned at the end of the Gospel of Matthew. In line with that, I tend to agree with Rombald's thought that "the Jews" is almost a technical term of art in the NT to refer oftentimes (though not always) to the leadership only.
I don't disagree. But as practical matter any and every tomb was sealed up, and most likely it was Joseph of Arimathea's servants who did that. There was nothing sinister about the act. It was the guards placed there which were highly unusual.
I have a 18th C brass icon of St. Paraskeva but didn't know her story. Happy to be enlightened.
St. Polycarp's name means "much fruit." His disciples gathering his bones, which they regarded as more precious than gold or gems, is an early testimony for the Christian cult of relics. And veneration of saints' remains is a dramatic reversal from Roman aversion to handling corpses.
That said, Baroque era German Catholics took the "veneration" idea to bizarre extremes by having skeletons dug out of the catacombs encrusted with gems, dress in fantasy costumes, and displayed in in glass cases. Paneling the walls of churches with bones--holy or otherwise--was also done in Germany and elsewhere. Something to think about with All Saints' Day coming up.
Can anyone recommend a good edition of The Lives of Saints? Ideally an edition relied on by both Catholics and Orthodox Christians, if there’s such a thing…
My understanding is that there is only one classic work of that name, written and compiled in English by Butler, who was Catholic. I’d guess there are several published editions, but they should all be the same text, not a translation.
"Butler's Lives of the Saints" has passed through several editions since its compilation in the 18th C. The 4 Vol set ed. Herbert Thurston and Donald Attwater from 1956 is good and basic but the 12 vol edition from 2000 covers more recent saints at the expense of some older ones. The "Oxford Dictionary of Saints" which issues new editions every few years is a very good source for brief notices, although it emphasizes saints of the British Isles. "The Golden Legend," favorite collection of the Middle Ages, is available in English, translated by William Granger Ryan, hagiography at its most fabulous.
I know of no up-to-date universal guide and certainly none where Catholics and Orthodox collaborated. (Note: the Catholic Church recognizes a number of Orthodox saints after the Schism. The Church of England and Episcopalians in America recognize all sorts of saints outside their own membership, even non-Christians like Gandhi.) It's estimated that there are 25,000+people counted as saints and not even the Bollandists, who've been edited records about them since the 17th C cover them all.
Academics have been studying saints enthusiastically and publishing original texts by/about them for at least 50 years. (Caroline Walker Bynum is one excellent authority) But. alas, this fascinating material never gets into the hands of church-going people. I used to write a monthly column on saints for the National Catholic Register that regularly drew complaints from readers because I cited history rather than legend. We are certainly not obliged to take every scrap of hagiography as factual! (See Hippolyte Delahaye, "Legends of the Saints" for interpretive standards.) Ironically, the best documented martyrs from Roman times were the least likely to win a popular following. (Compare Sts Perpetua & Felicity with the cults of St. Cecilia and St. Catherine of Alexandria.)
Side note: everyone’s favorite hockey player a.k.a my kid, scored an awesome goal tonight, took quite a beating, played a heck of a game, and I just dropped his stinky self off at confirmation prep.
Beautiful post today Rod. Uplifting from start to finish! The story of the martyred Saints reminds me of a clip I saw this week, an Egyptian Coptic woman whose husband was one of the Egyptian Christians brutally martyred by Isis a few years ago. She was a fierce lion proud but humbled by her husband's steadfast faith unto brutal death and proclaimed her unworthiness of such a husband if she could not stand true to her faith and bear witness to her neighbours. I watched in awe and wonder and felt a lump in my throat which turned into the Jesus Prayer, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!
Agreed!
I got my copy of Living In Wonder and ordered one for a fellow agnostic-for-life (and my mom and dad, who are evangelical/CS Lewis "Mere Christianity" type Christians who have joined the Catholic Church late in life), and we're doing a little book club. Really looking forward to chapter 3 😁
PS, the stories of the martyrs (like the one in this post) are powerful. Thinking about the individuals who we heroicise who put their life on the line in modernity, it was usually about self interest or some ideological commitment, or to fight against the church. The list is heavily larded with 15th-17th century (Giordano Bruno, Gallileo, Jacques de Molay, victims of the Witch Hunts, etc.) figures. It's almost like we've forgotten the category of "brave martyr" as a thing that a person can be.
Giles Corey is my personal favorite "secular martyr" - the guy accused of witchcraft at Salem who protested his innocence with an early form of civil disobedience. Sentenced to death by crushing, instead of confessing falsely, he kept asking for more weight.
The victims of witch hunts were mainly eccentric perhaps mentally ill people. The witch panics were an atrocity, less in magnitude, but not unlike the Holocaust, and we need to acknowledge that as such and proclaim Never Again.
Jacques de Molay met his end in the early 1300s.
I love Miller’s play *The Crucible*.
Excellent post, Rod! Thank you!
I just received my copy of Living in Wonder from Eight Day Books. I am excited to begin reading. And thank you for all you do to introduce us to your friends like Martin Shaw. Reading about your experiences and Martin’s brings light to the Christian journeys of your readers. Your work is oh so very important. God Bless!
Did you get expedited shipping? I ordered from them, and I haven't gotten any update beyond the initial "pending" when I placed the order. Maybe I should call them tomorrow and see what's up.
I haven’t received mine either. I got an e-mail a few days ago saying they’d shipped them and to expect them in 5-9 days. You might be able to ask them for a tracking number.
I didn’t expedite. It took about four days, I believe from shipping to receiving.
Hm, okay. I also did order on the very last day that Rod indicated for a signed copy, so maybe it’s going by batches or something.
What an inspiration St. Polycarp is for all of us. Thank you Rod.
So in 135, the Romans annihilate Judea, slaughter its Jews by the tens of thousands, sell tens of thousands more into slavery, raze much of its physical infrastructure, exile all Jews from Jerusalem, and turn the Temple into a pagan shrine. Yet less than 20 years later, there they are helping the Romans protect the Roman religion. Right. Sure.
If the chronicles of the saints and martyrs clash with your modern sensibilities, it’s probably not the saints and martyrs who are wrong.
"The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp"" is believed to have a core of historic elements, perhaps preserved from an eyewitness, but to have been added to. The earliest manuscripts surviving are several centuries after it was written. There are at least three instances of Anti-Semitism in the text, one quoted above and two others. Some scholars would prefer to call this is anti-Judaism. The 2nd C was a time of tension between Christians and Jews. The Catholic church did not repent of this for a very long time, but it has done so now, authoritatively.
While Catholics venerate Polycarp as a saint and accept his martyrdom as historical, they are not required to believe every detail of the martyrdom account as a matter of faith. Not phased at all that Rod quoted this - no need to censor ancient manuscripts from the 10th C, and the anti-Semitism is interesting. Not sure if he knows much of the document, not just the part about the dove flying out, might not actually be from an eyewitness. Even if it was every bit from an eyewitness, the eyewitness could be an unreliable narrator when it comes to the Jews and our journalist host knows all about that.
It's interesting, and we can be inspired by it without thinking every bit is accurate. Lots of early writing were not taken into the canon of Scripture, with one reason being they were not considered fully accurate. They were, at least in part, hagiography. So - inspirational but every detail here need not be as a camera would have recorded it. The anti-Semitic parts are consistent with ideas that they are not, but certainly not the only indicators.
I see no reason to believe "the Jews" gathered wood for Polycarp's pyre on the Sabbath. The text (not the part quoted here) says this took place on the Sabbath. That is not what Christians called Sunday. Protestants, some of them, starting using "the Sabbath". thing, Early Christians called it "the Lord's Day". I doubt the Jews incited the mob against Polycarp "with characteristic zeal", or tried to prevent Christians from collecting Polycarp's remains. - -And of course I much agree about their likelihood of their aiding the Romans in this. Also, the trial as portrayed is quite different from what a Roman trial actually would have been like at the time.
Thank you for your information. Very much appreciated.
I overslept this morning and missed our weekly Latin Mass. I went to the 9:30, which can be a little on the "happy-clappy" side. One of the priests who sometimes offers Latin Mass (I don't know his name) gave the homily. Well, he went "full-Polycarp" and gave a rundown of Harris's record on life-issues, trans issues, and her open hostility to Catholicism.
He spoke about preaching a 3-night mission in the Richmond VA diocese a few years ago. Blue-suited FBI agents attended. (This made pretty big news among Catholics at the time and we discussed it here.) When Father tried to check his emails after the last night, they were gone. All of his text messages were gone. He took it to a phone tech. The phone had been hacked.
He spoke about Mark Houck, the father of 8 who was raided at his home in PA by the FBI in the middle of the night for stepping in between a hostile Planned Parenthood worker and his young son. The Biden (devout Catholic, grandpa Joe!)-Harris "Justice" Dept. wanted to give him 10 years for stepping between a PP worker and his child. He was acquitted.
I was surprised that this little old priest got a standing ovation at what can only be described as a "boomer" Mass in a more and more, "purple" area of NJ.
Have you ever noticed that keeping politics out of the pulpit is only about keeping politics like Father's out of the pulpit?
IMO, all politics needs to be kept out of the pulpit. I would be just as turned off if some cleric got up and ranted about the evils of Donald Trump. Bad enough I have to put up with that razzle-dazzle in the rest of my life these days. The Church is the Ark of our salvation-- not a venue to splash around in mudpuddles.
For them record, Rod, I don't want you dead. However, should it come to the choice between death and staying faithful to Christ, the latter is much more important. As Christians, we ought to remember to be praying not just for good lives, but for that strength in all of us to be brave should we be faced with death.
In his last letter to his family before his execution in 1943, Alexander Schmorell speaks with absolute certainty about leaving this world for the next. He promises to pray for them all. Strangely enough, it was through an experience in 2002 involving him whereby I became absolutely convinced that the saints do live on and are actively praying for us. It brought about a realization that there are places and times when the world to come is also very near. His story inspires me to be brave, but that closeness, if you will, makes me certain that I've got a friend on the other side already.
“For them record, Rod, I don't want you dead.”
Well, I sure am glad you cleared that up; that would be a pretty awkward misunderstanding.
🤣 One can't be too careful in telling someone that if put to the test, death is a better choice than apostasy! Obviously, I think the world of Rod & consider him a friend & fellow sojourner. :) We're all called to be saints and support each other in that endeavour. (And it is fun to throw in things that might make the reading less boring as well!)
I’ll admit that I do consider the “lying to a Nazi” logic here, sometimes: if you lie to a murderous jackass about your beliefs to save your life, then is that really apostasy? I see the possible slide into cowardice there, but I’m using the lens of pearls before swine: do such people have any entitlement to the truth? It seems like a good idea to not *romanticize* martyrdom at any rate, and to avoid getting oneself killed if it could be helped.
There's a lot of nuance to it, to be sure. Sometimes, though, it's pretty clear. I think a larger thing ends up being the fact that all of us are asked to live as Christians, but some of us will be asked to die for it as well. What would our response be should it fall on us is the question.
Yeah—I think of Arthur Miller’s play the *The Crucible*. Sometimes you can lie to the pests to just make them go away, and it’s fine; but at another time, things might come to a head, and you realize that to lie would be to betray a thing of great importance. At that point it’s just about stubborn honor, not even being a Christian per se. Even the pagans understood how to die for what mattered.
Yes Rod I don’t want you eaten alive by wild squirrels either, or burned at the stake.
Rod and God forgive me, but, every time I hear the name Polycarp, I think of Pokémon. The poor Magicarp that does nothing but flop around and cry “carp, carp” until it evolves into Gyarados who’s super powerful.
It’s the carp of it all.
Definitely going to Hell, but, help me out here parents for whom playing Pokemon Go with your kid(s) got you through Covid!
🤣
Oh, that seemed so self-evident that I didn’t even consciously notice I was thinking it. Polycarp is the missing link.
https://culturedvultures.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Magikarp-into-Gyarados-803x452.jpg
Glad I’m not the only one! Carp.
I played Pokemon Yellow on the Gameboy when I was a kid; that was the 1st generation of the game. Now I think they’re on like the 8th generation.
Also, the first time I saw a restaurant serving poke bowls, I assumed it must be a pun on the poke ball. I was mystified as to why there was no expected decor in the place.
Why are there no berries in poke bowls? Hmmmm…..
Indeed.
Well, ‘Much Fruit’ sounds vaguely evolutionary!
I'm thinking that a Polycarp is a Magikarp with multiple heads, hydra style. And then they all fuse back together into a higher unity upon evolution into the dragon—it's practically a Hegelian dialectic.
Ah! A wonderful sense of humor! I love it.
That's funny. Every time I think of Pokemon I think of kingfishers catching fire. Ever notice the only thing any Pokemon ever says is its own name?
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves—goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I do is me: for that I came.
Of course, he says more, "the just man justices".
Pika!
A kingfisher catching fire feels like something I might see in a Miyazaki film.
P.S. I love the Saints. I do believe there is great relationship with them to be explored. Lately, I’ve been praying to Thomas and Paul whom I chose (or chose me?) to intercede during my current nightmare.
I’ve also been using the Jesus prayer to fall asleep. Wow, but it works as nighttime medicine.
I have heard the stories of many of the early martyrs, but what stays with me more is what the old guard relayed to A Ogorodnikov in your book LNBL-of the Russian priests killed one by one. What an example of faith!
My book arrived Friday. Waiting for some quiet moments to dip in, because I know I'll not be able to put it down once I do. It may be a couple of days - company expected.
Synchronicity at work, which I actually noticed this time - your article on St Petka, another I read this morning on getting to know the saints better and living like one does, and my own sense that I need to enter more into the reality of their ongoing lives.
Thanks, Rod.
Dana
"The Jews , as usual, were keen to help."
The story, as usual, is made up.
How do you know this? It is pretty well established that in the early church, Jews persecuted Christians as heretics. This in no way justifies Christian anti-Semitism, but Saul of Tarsus himself was deputized to punish these heretics.
It is a sad but universal truth that people of all religions have at one time or another punished heretics.
All the evidence is in favor of the substantial accuracy of the "Martyrdom of Polycarp" account. The Oxford (atheist) historian of the Classical World, whose "Pagans and Christians" (1987) is marred by occasional atheist asides, but which is nevertheless a marvellous book, demonstrates in that book the detailed accuracy of the "Martyrdom of Pionius the Presbyter" in Smyrna in 250, 95 years (probably) after Polycarp's martyrdom, and vindicates also in it the identity of this Pionius with the Pionius who found and copied the martyrdom account of Polycarp (as attested in one of the several "postsctipts" to the manuscript).. One striking consistency between these two accounts is the hostility of the Smyrniot Jewish community to the local Christian community, and their desire to hasten on the deaths of Polycarp and Pionius.
Almost everything that Linda has written (above) to cast doubt on the accuracy of the Account of Polycarp's martyrdom is based on no evidence of which I am aware. And on the use of the term "Sabbath," this:
"The Martyrdom of Polycarp states that Polycarp was taken on the Sabbath and killed on 'the Great Sabbath'. English patristic scholar William Cave (1637–1713) believed that this was evidence that the Smyrnaeans under Polycarp observed the seventh-day Sabbath, i.e. assembled on Saturdays. J. B. Lightfoot records as a common interpretation of the expression "the Great Sabbath" to refer to Pesach or another Jewish festival. This is contradicted by the standard Jewish calendar, under which Nisan 14, the date of the Pesach, can fall no earlier than late March and hence at least a month after the traditional date of Polycarp's death 23 February. Hence, Lightfoot understood the expression in reference to the Purim festival, celebrated a month before Pesach, while other scholars suggest that at the time the Jewish calendar had not yet been standardized, and that this day, both Jews and Christians celebrated Pesach and a (Quartodeciman) Christian Passover, respectively."
It is great to have a real Church historian in this audience!
Hangs head in shame for comment about Pokemon.
The Pokemon comment was much enjoyed as well! We're not so stuck up that the comment section can't accommodate both. :)
Yes, when tempted to crawl out further on the branch of what we *think* we know, recall that Dr Tighe is watching!
Well...I'm not saying every bit is inaccurate. It actually opened up a whole can of worms for me when I saw "The Jews, as usual". I've always been fine with Matthew and the Jewish mob, that was one mob. But this is another matter. So then it made me admit to myself that I do not need to believe everything said in early church writings, because the church itself did not believe them, and refused to canonize many things because of problems.
The part about the Sabbath you quoted lost me. I found it irrelevant if I understood it so perhaps I did not. If Christians were assembling on Saturday it was still the Jewish Sabbath and the text says the Jews were gather wood on the Great Sabbath. I am lost as to why the l quote about "before late March". Of course Passover (Pesach) need not be on a Saturday. And yes, due to Simchat Torah the candles were let for fhree days this week, but those days were not all the Sabbath, nor is Passover the Sabbath.
My sources say that scholars think the Great Sabbath was either q regular Saturday (Jewish Sabbath or a Sabbath during a Jewish festival, such as the Sabbath before Passover. - - Passover itself is most definitely not a Sabbath.
The central thing here is how much seeing an anti-Semitic phrase, for the first time, in early church writing really got to me. Yes, I'm aware of the Jewish mob, and individual persecutors such as Paul, but "as usual" - the text is saying it was all the Jews in Polycarp's city, at least, who were like this, not an isolated mob.
edit: The above written as Rod responded to William before I saw his response.
I'm going to stay out of this conversation because I don't have the historical knowledge to deal with it (Bill Tighe does). I would just caution against imposing contemporary beliefs onto the ancient past. I am strongly against anti-Semitism, and hate to read about how Jews persecuted the early church, because those events played a part later, when Christians became powerful, in justifying Christian persecution of Jews.
But it makes sense to me that Jews of that era would persecute Christians. Sense, not in that it was justified, but the first century was not a time of religious tolerance. Remember, the Gospels tell us that a mob of Jewish men were going to stone the woman caught in adultery (a punishment that Islam also prescribes). And of course in later eras, Christians persecuted Jews, and persecuted Christians they believed were heretics. As I said, this is an unfortunate part of human nature. If you were a faithful Jew, and you saw this upstart heretical sect, later called Christians, leading people away from what you regarded as the true faith, you too might be willing to persecute them unto death. It was a Jewish mob that demanded that the Romans execute the blasphemer Jesus of Nazareth (who blasphemed against Jewish orthodoxy by saying he was God). Similarly, in Acts 19, worshipers of Artemis in Ephesus worked themselves up to the cusp of a pogrom against the Christian evangelists, because people in Ephesus were converting, and abandoning the city's main religion (which also threatened the economic basis of the city -- recall that the near-pogrom began when a silversmith named Demetrius, who made his money crafting and selling tiny idols of Artemis to pilgrims, floated the idea).
The Catholic Church massacred thousands of Cathar heretics to preserve the faith. The Russian Orthodox church tortured Old Believers in the 17th century, for the sake of defending Orthodoxy. God knows I'm not defending this, but it is very common, not just in the history of Christianity, but in the history of most religions.
Thanks, Rod. You understand I had not seen something quite like this regarding Jews in early Church literature. I will process it further with William, as you suggest, should he respond.
I agree with what you said in your comment above. To me it even makes sense that the Jews at the Pool of Bethsaida are upset that Christ told the crippled man to pick up his bed outside the eruv on the Sabbath, thus break the law. Weren't they afraid Christ had healed through evil or demonic power? Not a question for you because I'm fine that you wish to stay out which is fine, but if William wants to take that question, I'd like it.
You opposition to anti-Semitism is legend! :) I think you posted something inspirational today about Polycarp - still not sure of every detail but William is expert.
"I will process it further with William, as you suggest, should he respond."
I responded a little below. You might find it useful to do an internet search on The Eighteen Benedictions (of the Shemoneh Ezrei or Amidah) and esp. on "blessing" #12, the Birkat ha-Minim ("The Blessing of - really, "against" - Heretics). These links are only a beginning
https://hebrew4christians.com/Prayers/Daily_Prayers/Shemoneh_Esrei/Birkat_HaMinim/birkat_haminim.html
https://hebrew4christians.com/Prayers/Daily_Prayers/Shemoneh_Esrei/shemoneh_esrei.html
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/birkat-ha-minim
https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/lan368024
https://ornagrinman.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/update-97-january-2015-birkat-haminim-a-blessing-or-a-curse.pdf
It is a big questions whether, in the final rabbinic version of this prayer Christians were condemned explicitly (as "Notzrim") or simply among Jewish heretical groups ("heretical" from the perspective of post-Temple rabbinic orthodoxy, that is) as "minim," but there is little doubt that in later centuries this prayer was bowdlerized to a greater or lesser extent, with "minim" sometimes being replaced by "malshinim" or "evildoers." (The prayer goes on to request that God destroy the Roman Empire, a petition that was sometimes bowdlerized later on as well).
The prayer took its final form at one of the rabbinic assemblies at Javneh between 75 and 95 of our era, which also inserted it in the Shemoneh Ezrei (which is why this "Eighteen Benedictions" actually contains nineteen). My internet searchings turned up scholarly and semi scholarly articles suggesting that in the century or two proceeding the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 there were earlier versions of this Birkat ha-Minim, some clearly Sadducean and directed against the Pharisees, others seemingly Pharisaic in origins, and directed against Sadducees. I didn't keep any record of these various links as I was searching the internet in my office during my spare time in the course of four or five days, and can't locate most of them now, but I did glance at those which I have linked above (which are not all in agreement with one another).
My point is that there was fierce animosity among these Jewish "sects," to the point that some of them prayed sometimes for God to destroy/extirpate one another. It should not be surprising that this continued on in the Roman world in the first, second, and third centuries, not should it be surprising that Jews and Christians alike tried to turn pagan animosity against both of them onto their rival, from Jews onto Christians and from Christians onto Jews, nor that the Jews had the advantage of being both an ancient religion and an ancient people, whereas the Christians were a novel group of dubious origin following a founder condemned alike by the Roman and the Jewish authorities. Romans respected longaeval religious rites and practices, however bizarre some of them (such as circumcision or abstaining from pork) might seem to be to them, whereas they looked on "novelties" as both false and dangerous.
2nd reply - Maybe i shouldn't replay again but I will. I re-read your comment and blew my mind. My guard has been up since childhood to some of the tings in you said, but since I knew your bona fides regarding the Jewish people, it got through. I know I said I agreed, but I did not really let some parts sink in until the re-read. i guess "the Jews killed Christ" is something I viscerally opposed forever. You did not say that they did - but I had blocked even "Most Jews would have wanted to kill Christ". I guess I thought the woman taken in adultery was a few Jews being weird because the Old Testament was long over. I guess I thought only the mob and the high priests helped Romans to kill Christ - which is true..but.... you got me to see a believing Jew of the time would have wanted what happened to Christ. I have blocked that thought since I was small and taught about the Jewish people. But you are right - so that does not call for a reply, and you are staying out of the conversation anyway. I But I had to tell you that you blew my mind. Thanks, Rod.
I'm not so sure that the average Jew at the time would have wanted to kill Christ. Everywhere He went the Gospels speak of large crowds assembling to hear Him speak and perhaps to witness or receive miracles. So it seems He was popular with the common people, and that easily explains the opposition of the rulers (e.g., the priests) to Him. and of course he routinely excoriated the Pharisees and earned their opprobrium. As for the Jerusalem mob I've seen claims by people who have studied the physical layout of first century century Jerusalem that no more than a couple dozen people could have fit in the space where the mob was gathered, and in any event you could (and even today maybe still can) assemble a mob to rant and rave for your side by handing out some money to down on their luck types.
"because the Old Testament was long over."
It wasn't then, and for Orthodox Jews still isn't (although they would reject the term "Old Testament," of course). Nevthertheless, the Ashkenazic rabbis (in ca. 1000) and the Sephardic rabbis (in ca. 1975) did proscribe polygamy, a practice not condemned in the OT.
Well, I'd say that "as usual" is a bit over the top and would prefer instead "as was often the case" (in the 2nd and 3rd centuries). Two historian as dissimilar in their evaluations of the legal situation of Christians after Nero, the growth of Christianity in the 3rd century, and (especially) the character, religious beliefs, and "policy" of Constantine with respect to Christianity agree on this; cf.:
W.H.C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (Oxford, 1965: Blackwell) and Robin Lane Fox Pagans and Christians (London, 1986: Viking).
Cf.: https://archive.org/details/martyrdompersecu0000fren/page/n7/mode/2up
Thanks - I will take a look at the book you link to.
OK, you would prefer "as was often the case" and I would prefer "as was usual for the mob hanging out in those days who did not even respect their own Sabbath". My deeper question is about taking inspiration from this tale. I followed my conscience in speaking, but I feel a little like a jerk in some ways, you can probably guess that, since Rod wants to bless us on this beautiful day (gosh was it beautiful) but I can be taken as almost...almost...saying "Hey Rod it's not true, you can't believe it because it has that false sentence" - - but I'm not saying that. I think much of it is true, and that it is inspirational.
But what am I saying? You feel free to wish the wording of this document were otherwise as do I. It has been brought home to me like never before that what they say about saints can be false. I knew that, but I feel so weird about this. At any rate, I do sense you kind of agreeing with me that at last the phrase "as usual" is incorrect, yes?
Yes
2nd replay - for me yes, this about history, Jews in the 2nd C, etc.
But the account itself says the dove flying out is unsure. After seeing the "as usual" I had more doubt that I usually would have - and I would have had aoms - about the blood putting out the fire, the audible voice from heaven. I doubted the document. Took comfort that as a Catholic I need not believe all in the document. But just...somehow reprocessing some of this and feeling weird about it.
Many years ago, I had a lot of doubts about saints and their lives and deaths and miracles attributed to them and the like. There are certainly people for whom it seemed destiny that they become saints from the time they were very small. I there's a Russian saint of whom I've read (St. Seraphim of Sarov, perhaps) who apparently stopped nursing on Wednesdays and Fridays in observance of the fast. Is this true? I don't know. One thing I have learned is that the world is much weirder than we think, and if I shut out an idea completely, I also end up shutting down more & more ideas that don't fit into my worldview. Saints? Heck, yeah. They are here, they are with us, and they pray for us. How can I be so sure? Because of "weirdness" in my own experience, including feeling the nearness of the presence of a saint.
Paul Maier, in his translation and commentary of Eusebius’ Church History, agrees with Lightfoot that Polycarp’s martyrdom on February 23rd was probably the feast of Purim.
You'll notice that it's never "the Romans." It's always *some* Roman individuals. Not is it "the Christians." Only "the Jews" ever do things. There's a reason for that.
I must say that I agree, and I avoid that construction. I think it should be interrogated carefully when it occurs in the New Testament.
That’s coming from someone who is anti-Israel and often described here as ‘antisemitic’.
We have a hymn in the Liturgy which begins "When the stone had been sealed by the Jews..." Which is odd since the stone across the entrance was simply a normal part of a tomb-- you wouldn't leave it wide open after all. Of course per the Gospel the priests (though not "the Jews" in general) did demand of Pilate that a guard be placed on the tomb so that may what the hymn is referencing
I would have to analyse every case to be sure, but my hunch is that in the NT, "the Jews" refers to either the priestly class or the Pharisees, rather than to the entire ethnic group or religion (cluster of religions, is probably more accurate).
When people say "the Jews" in a modern context, they nearly always go on to make a claim that presupposes that Jews as a people have a cohesiveness that they actually don't. Such claims may be "antisemitic", as in "the Jews control the world's banking system", or philosemitic, as in "the Jews have a right to a homeland in Israel".
I don't think Jews exist as a clearly defined group the way such claims imply. The Ashkenazim are at least arguably an ethnic group, but they do not form an ethnic group together with other Jews. Orthodox Judaism is a religion, but only a minority of Jews follow it. To be sure, people are free to identify as an ethnic group on the basis of an ancestor a few generations ago having practised the religion, but I don't see why any political weight should be put on that.
This is even more the case when one looks at the claim made by many Evangelicals that "the Jews" remain the chosen people. This is based on only a single verse of the Epistle to the Romans, but let's put that aside for now. Well, who are "the Jews"; are they defined by religion or ancestry?
If by religion, well, the Talmud didn't exist in Christ's time, so modern Orthodox Judaism is a new religion that evolved out of the Pharisees, who were in turn only one faction of Judaism at that time. The claim for Reform Jews to have the same religion is even weaker. Perhaps the Karaites are the only surviving Jews?
If by ancestry, the rule that Jewishness passes along the maternal line was only developed in mediaeval times, long after the NT, so why should we accept that? In any case, it's quite likely that many Ashkenazim are not Jewish in that sense, as they're descendants of a small number of male refugees who took Central European wives, and we don't know whether they all converted formally. What if we determine ancestry by general DNA similarity? In that case, the truest Jews are Palestinian Christians. Hmmm.
Mind you, I wouldn't really care about any of this if it weren't for Zionism. I would view modern "Jews" as a reasonably respectable, small religious group, who I would like to become Christian, but would have no problems with on a civic level, kind of like Sikhs, say.
I've always assumed that that troparion is indeed referring to that sealing of the tomb mentioned at the end of the Gospel of Matthew. In line with that, I tend to agree with Rombald's thought that "the Jews" is almost a technical term of art in the NT to refer oftentimes (though not always) to the leadership only.
I don't disagree. But as practical matter any and every tomb was sealed up, and most likely it was Joseph of Arimathea's servants who did that. There was nothing sinister about the act. It was the guards placed there which were highly unusual.
Tighe, 1
Rosenbaum, nil.
I acknowledge your contempt.
I have a 18th C brass icon of St. Paraskeva but didn't know her story. Happy to be enlightened.
St. Polycarp's name means "much fruit." His disciples gathering his bones, which they regarded as more precious than gold or gems, is an early testimony for the Christian cult of relics. And veneration of saints' remains is a dramatic reversal from Roman aversion to handling corpses.
That said, Baroque era German Catholics took the "veneration" idea to bizarre extremes by having skeletons dug out of the catacombs encrusted with gems, dress in fantasy costumes, and displayed in in glass cases. Paneling the walls of churches with bones--holy or otherwise--was also done in Germany and elsewhere. Something to think about with All Saints' Day coming up.
Can anyone recommend a good edition of The Lives of Saints? Ideally an edition relied on by both Catholics and Orthodox Christians, if there’s such a thing…
My understanding is that there is only one classic work of that name, written and compiled in English by Butler, who was Catholic. I’d guess there are several published editions, but they should all be the same text, not a translation.
"Butler's Lives of the Saints" has passed through several editions since its compilation in the 18th C. The 4 Vol set ed. Herbert Thurston and Donald Attwater from 1956 is good and basic but the 12 vol edition from 2000 covers more recent saints at the expense of some older ones. The "Oxford Dictionary of Saints" which issues new editions every few years is a very good source for brief notices, although it emphasizes saints of the British Isles. "The Golden Legend," favorite collection of the Middle Ages, is available in English, translated by William Granger Ryan, hagiography at its most fabulous.
I know of no up-to-date universal guide and certainly none where Catholics and Orthodox collaborated. (Note: the Catholic Church recognizes a number of Orthodox saints after the Schism. The Church of England and Episcopalians in America recognize all sorts of saints outside their own membership, even non-Christians like Gandhi.) It's estimated that there are 25,000+people counted as saints and not even the Bollandists, who've been edited records about them since the 17th C cover them all.
Academics have been studying saints enthusiastically and publishing original texts by/about them for at least 50 years. (Caroline Walker Bynum is one excellent authority) But. alas, this fascinating material never gets into the hands of church-going people. I used to write a monthly column on saints for the National Catholic Register that regularly drew complaints from readers because I cited history rather than legend. We are certainly not obliged to take every scrap of hagiography as factual! (See Hippolyte Delahaye, "Legends of the Saints" for interpretive standards.) Ironically, the best documented martyrs from Roman times were the least likely to win a popular following. (Compare Sts Perpetua & Felicity with the cults of St. Cecilia and St. Catherine of Alexandria.)
Thank you Sandra! Your comment is helpful. I’ll dig a little deeper into this.
Thanks Sethu as well!
Side note: everyone’s favorite hockey player a.k.a my kid, scored an awesome goal tonight, took quite a beating, played a heck of a game, and I just dropped his stinky self off at confirmation prep.
Sorry for side note, Mom is a little excited.