Didactic, Deuteronomy 26:16-19, Psalms 119:1-8, Matthew 5:43-48, St Polycarp, Seven Churches of Asia, Smyrna Anatolia Turkey, Mystical City of God Book 6 Ch 11 The Resurrection, Catholic Catechism Part One Section 2 The Creeds Chapter 2 Article 5:2 On The Third Day he Rose From the Dead
Good Day Bloggers! Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!
Year of Faith - October 11, 2012 - November 24, 2013
P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Serenity Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.
The world begins and ends everyday for someone. We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift of knowledge and free will,
make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone to our eternal home in
Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to
eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and
survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes
from this earth to Purgatory and/or Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual
gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
Heed the Solemnity of Lent! This Lent instead of "Giving Up" something, why not "Give" by volunteering time to a worthy cause, or extending a simple act of kindness!
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’(Matthew 25:34-40)
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Prayers for Today: Friday in Lent
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Prayer For the Holy Election of Our New Pope
May the Lord preserve the sanctity of the enclave as they embark on electing our new Holy Father, give him life, and make him blessed upon earth, and deliver him not to the will of his enemies.
LET US PRAY:
O God, the Shepherd and Ruler of all the faithful, in Thy mercy look down upon Thy servant, (Our New Pope), whom Thou will appoint to preside over Thy Church, and grant we beseech Thee that both by word and example he may edify those who are under his charge; so that, with the flock entrusted to him, he may attain life everlasting. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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February 2, 2013 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
"Dear children, love is bringing me to you - the love which I desire to
teach you also - real love; the love which my Son showed you when He
died on the Cross out of love for you; the love which is always ready to
forgive and to ask for forgiveness. How great is your love? My motherly
heart is sorrowful as it searches for love in
your hearts. You are not ready to submit your will to God's will out of
love. You cannot help me to have those who have not come to know God's
love to come to know it, because you do not have real love. Consecrate
your hearts to me and I will lead you. I will teach you to forgive, to
love your enemies and to live according to my Son. Do not be afraid for
yourselves. In afflictions my Son does not forget those who love. I will
be beside you. I will implore the Heavenly Father for the light of
eternal truth and love to illuminate you. Pray for your shepherds so
that through your fasting and prayer they can lead you in love. Thank
you."
January 25, 2013 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
"Dear children! Also today I call you to prayer. May your prayer be as strong as a living stone, until with your lives you become witnesses. Witness the beauty of your faith. I am with you and intercede before my Son for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
"Dear children! Also today I call you to prayer. May your prayer be as strong as a living stone, until with your lives you become witnesses. Witness the beauty of your faith. I am with you and intercede before my Son for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
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Today's Word: didactic di·dac·tic [dahy-dak-tik]
Origin: 1635–45; < Greek didaktikós apt at teaching, instructive, equivalent to didakt ( ós ) that may be taught + -ikos -ic
adjective
1. intended for instruction; instructive: didactic poetry.
2. inclined to teach or lecture others too much: a boring, didactic speaker.
3. teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson.
4. didactics, ( used with a singular verb ) the art or science of teaching.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8
1 How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of Yahweh!
2 Blessed are those who observe his instructions, who seek him with all their hearts,
4 You lay down your precepts to be carefully kept.
5 May my ways be steady in doing your will.
7 I thank you with a sincere heart for teaching me your upright judgements.
8 I shall do your will; do not ever abandon me wholly.
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Today's Epistle - Deuteronomy 26:16-19
16 'Yahweh your God commands you today to observe these laws and customs; you must keep and observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
17 'Today you have obtained this declaration from Yahweh: that he will be your God, but only if you follow his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his customs, and listen to his voice.
18 And today Yahweh has obtained this declaration from you: that you will be his own people -- as he has said -- but only if you keep all his commandments;
19 then for praise and renown and honour, he will raise you higher than every other nation he has made, and you will be a people consecrated to Yahweh, as he has promised.'
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Today's Gospel Reading - Matthew 5: 43-48
'You have heard how it was said, You will love your neighbour and
hate your enemy. But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for
those who persecute you; so that you may be children of your Father in
heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good,
and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike. For
if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even
the tax collectors do as much? And if you save your greetings for your
brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Do not even the gentiles do as much? You must therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Reflection
Reflection
• In today’s Gospel we see how Jesus has interpreted the
commandment: “You shall not kill” in such a way that its observance may
lead to the practice of love. Besides saying “You shall not kill” (Mt 5,
21), Jesus quoted four other commandments of the ancient law: you shall
not commit adultery (Mt 5, 27), You shall not bear false witness (Mt 5,
33), eye for eye, and tooth for tooth (Mt 5, 38) and, in today’s
Gospel: “You shall love your neighbour and will hate your enemy” (Mt 5,
43), five times, Jesus criticizes and completes the ancient way of
observing these commandments and indicates the new way to attain the
objective of the law, which is the practice of love (Mt 5, 22-26; 5,
28-32; 5, 34-37; 5, 39-42; 5, 44-48).
• Love your enemies. In today’s Gospel Jesus quotes the ancient law which says: “You will love your neighbour and hate your enemy”. This text is not found like this in the Old Testament. It is rather a question of the mentality of the time, according to which there was no problem in the fact that a person hated his enemy. Jesus was not in agreement and says: “But I tell you : For if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Do not even the gentiles do as much? You must, therefore, set no bounds to your love, just as your heavenly Father sets none to his”. And Jesus gives us the proof. At the hour of his death he observed that which he preached.
• Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing. A soldier takes the wrist of Jesus and places it on the arm of the cross, places a nail and begins to hammer it in. Several times. The blood was flowing down. The body of Jesus contorted with pain. The soldier, a mercenary, ignorant, far from knowing what he was doing, and of what was happening around him, continued to hammer as if it were a piece of the wall of his house and had to put up a picture. At that moment Jesus prays for the soldier who tortures him and addresses his prayer to the Father: “Father, forgive them! They know not what they are doing!” He loved the soldier who killed him. Even wanting it with all their strength, the lack of humanity did not succeed to kill in Jesus, humanity and love! He will be imprisoned, they will spit on him, will laugh and make fun of him, they will make of him a false king crowning him with a crown of thorns, will torture him, will oblige him to go through the streets like a criminal, hearing the insults of the religious authority, on Calvary they will leave him completely naked in the sight of all. But the poison of the lack of humanity did not succeed to attain the source of love and of humanity which sprang from within Jesus. The water of the love which sprang from within was stronger than the poison of hatred which was coming from without. Looking at that soldier, Jesus felt sorrow and prayed for him and for all: “Father, forgive them! They know not what they are doing!” Jesus, in solidarity, almost excuses those who were ill treating and torturing him. He was like a brother who goes with his murder brothers before the Judge and, he the victim of his own brothers, says to the judge: “They are my brothers, you know they are ignorant. Forgive them! They will become better!” He loved the enemy!
• Be perfect as perfect is your Father who is in Heaven. Jesus does not simply want to frighten, because this would be useless. He wants to change the system of human living together. The Novelty which he wants to construct comes from the new experience which he has from God, the Father, full of tenderness who accepts all! The words of threat against the rich cannot be an occasion of revenge on the part of the poor. Jesus orders that we have the contrary attitude: “Love your enemies!” True love cannot depend on what one receives from others. Love should want the good of others independently of what they does for me. Because this is the way God’s love is for us.
Personal questions
• To love the enemies. Am I capable to love my enemies?
• Contemplate Jesus, in silence who at the hour of his death, he loved the enemy who killed him.
• Contemplate Jesus, in silence who at the hour of his death, he loved the enemy who killed him.
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane
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Saint of the Day: Saint Polycarp
Feast Day: February 23
Patron Saint: Author of the Epistle, Letter to the Philippians
Attributes: wearing the pallium, holding a book representing his Letter to the Philippians
Polycarp (69 – 155) (Ancient Greek: Πολύκαρπος) was a 2nd century Christian bishop of Smyrna.[1] According to the Martyrdom of Polycarp he died a martyr, bound and burned at the stake, then stabbed when the fire failed to touch him.[2] Polycarp is regarded as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches.
It is recorded by Irenaeus, who heard him speak in his youth, and by Tertullian,[3] that he had been a disciple of John the Apostle.[4][5] Saint Jerome wrote that Polycarp was a disciple of John and that John had ordained him bishop of Smyrna.
The early tradition that expanded upon the Martyrdom to link
Polycarp in competition and contrast with John the Apostle who, though
many people had tried to kill him, was not martyred but died of old age
after being exiled to the island of Patmos, is embodied in the Coptic language fragmentary papyri (the "Harris fragments") dating to the 3rd to 6th centuries.[6] Frederick Weidmann, their editor, interprets the "Harris fragments" as Smyrnan hagiography
addressing Smyrna-Ephesus church rivalries, which "develops the
association of Polycarp and John to a degree unwitnessed, so far as we
know, either before or since."[7] The fragments echo the Martyrology, and diverge from it.
With Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp is regarded as one of three chief Apostolic Fathers. The sole surviving work attributed to his authorship is his Letter to the Philippians; it is first recorded by Irenaeus of Lyons.
Surviving writings and early accounts
The sole surviving work attributed to him is Polycarp's letter to the Philippians, a mosaic of references to the Greek Scriptures, preserved in Irenaeus' account of Polycarp's life. It, and an account of The Martyrdom of Polycarp that takes the form of a circular letter from the church of Smyrna to the churches of Pontus, form part of the collection of writings Roman Catholics term "The Apostolic Fathers" to emphasize their particular closeness to the apostles in Church traditions. Outside of the Book of Acts which contains the death of Saint Stephen, the Martyrdom is considered one of the earliest genuine[1] accounts of a Christian martyrdom, and is one of the very few genuine accounts from the actual age of the persecutions.
Biography
There are two chief sources of information concerning the life of Polycarp: the letter of the Smyrnaeans recounting the martyrdom of Polycarp and the passages in Irenaeus' Adversus Haereses. Other sources are the epistles of Ignatius, which include one to Polycarp and another to the Smyrnaeans, and Polycarp's own letter to the Philippians. Other sources, such as Pionius' Life of Polycarp or excerpts from Tertullian and Eusebius of Caesarea are considered largely unhistorical or based on previous material. In 1999, some third to 6th century Coptic fragments about Polycarp were also published.[8]
Papias
According to Irenaeus, Polycarp was a companion of Papias,[9] another "hearer of John" as Irenaeus interprets Papias' testimony, and a correspondent of Ignatius of Antioch. Ignatius addressed a letter to him, and mentions him in his letters to the Ephesians and to the Magnesians. Irenaeus regarded the memory of Polycarp as a link to the apostolic
past. He relates how and when he became a Christian, and in his letter
to Florinus stated that he saw and heard Polycarp personally in lower
Asia. In particular, he heard the account of Polycarp's discussion with John and with others who had seen Jesus.
Irenaeus also reports that Polycarp was converted to Christianity by
apostles, was consecrated a bishop, and communicated with many who had
seen Jesus. He repeatedly emphasizes the very great age of Polycarp.
Visit to Anicetus
According to Irenaeus, during the time his fellow Syrian, Anicetus, was Bishop of Rome, in the 150s or 160, Polycarp visited Rome to discuss the differences that existed between Asia and Rome "with regard to certain things" and especially about the time of the Easter
festivals. Irenaeus said that on certain things the two bishops
speedily came to an understanding, while as to the time of Easter, each
adhered to his own custom, without breaking off communion with the other. Anicetus— the Roman sources offering it as a mark of special honor— allowed Polycarp to celebrate the Eucharist in his own church.[10] They might have found their customs for observing the Christian Passover differed, Polycarp following the eastern practice of celebrating Passover on the 14th of Nisan, the day of the Jewish Passover, regardless of what day of the week it fell.
Date of martyrdom
 |
| Polycarp miraculously extinguishing the fire burning the city of Smyrna |
In the Martyrdom, Polycarp is recorded as saying on the day of
his death, "Eighty and six years I have served him," which could
indicate that he was then eighty-six years old[11] or that he may have lived eighty-six years after his conversion.[2]
Polycarp goes on to say, "How then can I blaspheme my King and Saviour?
Bring forth what thou wilt." Polycarp was burned at the stake for
refusing to burn incense to the Roman Emperor.[12] The date of Polycarp's death is in dispute. Eusebius dates it to the reign of Marcus Aurelius, c. 166 – 167. However, a post-Eusebian addition to the Martyrdom of Polycarp dates his death to Saturday, February 23, in the proconsulship of Statius Quadratus — which works out to be 155 or 156. These earlier dates better fit the tradition of his association with Ignatius and John the Evangelist. However, the addition to the Martyrdom
cannot be considered reliable on only its own merits. Lightfoot would
argue for the earlier date of Polycarp's death, to which Killen would
strongly disagree.
Great Sabbath
Because the Smyrnaean letter known as the Martyrdom of Polycarp states that Polycarp was taken on the day of the Sabbath and killed on the Great Sabbath, some believe that this is evidence that the Smyrnaeans under Polycarp observed the seventh day Sabbath. William Cave wrote, "...the Sabbath or Saturday (for so the
word sabbatum is constantly used in the writings of the fathers, when
speaking of it as it relates to Christians) was held by them in great
veneration, and especially in the Eastern parts honoured with all the
public solemnities of religion."[13]
Some feel that the expression, the Great Sabbath refers to the Christian Passover
or another annual holy day. If so, then the martyrdom would have had to
occur between one and two months later as Nisan 14 (the date that
Polycarp observed Passover) cannot come before the end of March in any
year. Other Great Sabbaths (if this is referring to what are
commonly considered to be Jewish holy days, though observed by many
early professors of Christ) come in the Spring, late summer, or Fall.
None occur in the winter.
The Great Sabbath may be alluded to in John 7:37. This is called the
Last Great Day and is a stand-alone annual holy day immediately
following the Feast of Tabernacles. It is, however, disputable whether such biblical references mean a common practice or just onetime events.
Importance
Polycarp occupies an important place in the history of the early Christian Church.[8] He is among the earliest Christians whose writings survive. Saint Jerome wrote that Polycarp was a "disciple of the apostle John and by him ordained bishop of Smyrna."[14]
He was an elder of an important congregation which was a large
contributor to the founding of the Christian Church. He is from an era
whose orthodoxy is widely accepted by Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Church of God groups, Sabbatarian groups, mainstream Protestants and Catholics alike. According to David Trobisch, Polycarp may have been the one who compiled, edited, and published the New Testament.[15] All of this makes his writings of great interest.
Irenaeus, who had heard him preach in his youth, said of him:[16] "a man who was of much greater weight, and a more steadfast witness of truth, than Valentinus, and Marcion,
and the rest of the heretics". Polycarp lived in an age after the
deaths of the apostles, when a variety of interpretations of the sayings
of Jesus were being preached. His role was to authenticate orthodox
teachings through his reputed connection with the apostle John: "a high
value was attached to the witness Polycarp could give as to the genuine
tradition of old apostolic doctrine," Wace commented,[2]
"his testimony condemning as offensive novelties the figments of the
heretical teachers. Irenaeus states (iii. 3) that on Polycarp's visit to
Rome, his testimony converted many disciples of Marcion and Valentinus.
Surviving accounts of the bravery of this very old man in the face of
death by burning at the stake added credence to his words.
References
- ^ a b Saint Polycarp at Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^ a b c Henry Wace, Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies, s.v. "Polycarpus, bishop of Smyrna".
- ^ Tertullian, De praescriptione hereticorum 32.2
- ^ Polycarp, The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913.
- ^ Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses III.3, Polycarp does not quote from the Gospel of John in his surviving letter, which may be an indication that whichever John he knew was not the author of that gospel, or that the gospel was not finished during Polycarp's discipleship with John. Weidmann suggests (Weidmann 1999:132) that the "Harris fragments" may reflect early traditions: "the raw material for a narrative about John and Polycarp may have been in place before Irenaeus; the codification of the significance of a direct line of succession from the apostle John through Polycarp may arguably be linked directly to Irenaeus".
- ^ Dating according to Frederick W. Weidmann, ed. and tr. Polycarp and John: The Harris Fragments and Their Challenge to the Literary Tradition (University of Notre Dame Press, 1999).
- ^ Weidmann 1999:133.
- ^ a b Hartog, Paul (2002). Polycarp and the New Testament. p. 17. ISBN 978-3-16-147419-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=gTMTO_9li4cC.
- ^ Irenaeus, V.xxxiii.
- ^
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Polycarp". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. http://www.1911encyclopedia.com/Polycarp.
- ^ Staniforth, Maxwell, trans. Early Christian Writings London: Penguin Books (1987): 115.
- ^ Polycarp.net
- ^ Cave, Primitive Christianity: or the Religion of the Ancient Christians in the First Ages of the Gospel. 1840, revised edition by H. Cary. Oxford, London, pp. 84-85).
- ^ Philip Schaff, ed., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2, 3, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf203.v.iii.xix.html
- ^ David Trobisch, "Who Published the New Testament?", Free Inquiry, 28:1 (2007/2008) pp.30-33. See http://www.trobisch.com/david/CV/Publications/20071226%20FreeInquiry%20Who%20Published%20Christian%20Bible%20BW.pdf
- ^ Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses III.3.4
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Today's Snippet I: Seven Churches of Asia
 |
| Map of western Anatolia
showing the island Patmos
and the locations of the cities
housing the seven Churches.
|
The Seven Churches of Revelation, also known as The Seven Churches of the Apocalypse and The Seven Churches of Asia (referring to the Roman province of Asia, not the entire continent), are seven major churches of Early Christianity, as mentioned in the New Testament Book of Revelation and written to by John the Apostle.
All seven sites are in modern-day Turkey and no longer have significant Christian populations because the majority of the Greek population had been deported under the Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations signed by Greece and Turkey.
In Revelation, on the Greek island of Patmos, Jesus Christ instructs his servant John
to: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches:
to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to
Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea."[1]
"Churches" in this context refers to the community of Christians
living in each city, and not merely to the building or buildings in
which they gathered for worship.[2][3]
The seven churches are located in:
- Ephesus (Metropolis of Ephesus)
- Smyrna (Metropolis of Smyrna)
- Pergamon (Metropolis of Pergamon)
- Thyatira
- Sardis (See of Sardis)
- Philadelphia (Metropolis of Philadelphia)
- and Laodicea, near Denizli (see Laodicean Church)
Character of the Churches
- Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7) - the church that had forsaken its first love (2:4).
- Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11) - the church that would suffer persecution (2:10).
- Pergamum (Revelation 2:12-17) - the church that needed to repent (2:16).
- Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29) - the church that had a false prophetess (2:20).
- Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6) - the church that had fallen asleep (3:2).
- Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13) - the church that had endured patiently (3:10).
- Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22) - the church that was lukewarm and insipid (to God)(3:16).
Seven Messages
The letters follow a common pattern. For example: the Lord first addresses each church and identifies himself,[4] then defines things that he knows about the church in question.[5] After this a challenge or reproach is given,[6] followed by a promise.[7] In all seven cases the admonition is included, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches",[8] although sometimes this comes before the promise and sometimes after.
Although the letters differ in length in accord with the needs of
each community, all conclude with an appeal to hold fast and to listen
to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Each church is promised
that everyone who conquers will be rewarded by Christ.
Some Historicists
typically interpret the seven churches as representing seven different
periods in the history of the Church from the time of Paul until the
return of Jesus Christ.[9] Scofield states that "these messages by their very terms go beyond the local assemblies mentioned."[10]
He is of the opinion that the letters have a prophetic purpose
disclosing the seven phases of the spiritual history of the Church.
Angels of the churches
Chapters 2-3 of the Revelation has specific messages for each of the
seven churches. The message of each of the seven letters is directed to
the angel of the particular church that is mentioned.
Origen[11] explains that these "angels" are the guardian angels of the churches, a view upheld by Henry Alford. But Epiphanius[12] explicitly rejects this view, and, in accordance with the imagery of the passage, explains it of the bishops.
John sees a vision of the Son of Man, who walks among seven lampstands and has seven stars in his right hand. Revelation 1:20
states that "The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and
the seven lampstands are the seven churches." The comparison of a
teacher to a star is scriptural.[13]
Augustine of Hippo's
reason for interpreting angels of the churches as the prelates of the
church is that St. John speaks of them as falling from their first
charity which is not true of the angels.[14][15]
Others would say that the falling away relates to the churches, not to
the messengers, as each of the seven letters conclude with the words "He
who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
In the New Testament, the Greek word for angels (aggelos) is not only used for heavenly angels, but also used for human messengers, such as John the Baptist (Matthew 11:10,Mark 1:2,Luke 7:27) and God's prophets (Revelation 22:8-9) [16] Scofield has noted that The
natural explanation of the "messengers" is that they were men sent by
the seven churches to ascertain the state of the aged apostle ... but
they figure any who bear God's messages to a church.[17]
Seven Dispensations
The messages to the seven churches, while being for actual churches, can also be applied to seven distinct ages of the Church.
- Ephesus - The strong church
- Had patiently borne adversity, and could not stand evil.
- They had left their first love. God appealed to them to remember from where they had fallen.
- Smyrna - The poor, rich church.
- This church would face persecution.
- God had nothing against them.
- Pergamos - The faltering church
- Had not denied God.
- Had allowed false prophets into the church.
- Thyatira - The apostate church
- Had many good works.
- Had allowed the false prophetess Jezebel to come in.
- Sardis - The dying church
- Asked to repent and watch.
- Philadelphia - The weak church
- God promised to keep them from the hour of temptation.
- The synagogue of satan, who claimed to be Jews, would know that God was with them.
- Laodocia - The lukewarm church
- This church thought they were fine.
- God asked them to buy gold from him, so they would be rich.
References
- ^ Revelation 1:11
- ^ John (1994). Barbara Aland, Kurt Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger. ed. The Greek New Testament. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft.
- ^ Walter Bauer (1979). William F. Arndt, F. Wilbur Gingrich, and Frederick W. Danker. ed. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. University of Chicago Press.
- ^ 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14
- ^ 2:2-3, 9, 13, 19; 3:1, 8, 15-17
- ^ 2:4-5, 10, 14-16, 20-25; 3:2-3, 9-11, 18-20
- ^ 2:7, 10-11, 17, 26-28; 3:4-5, 12, 20-21.
- ^ 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22
- ^ Unger's Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1975), p924
- ^ Scofield, W. I., The Scofield Study Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996) p1331
- ^ Hom., xiii in Luc., and Hom., xx in Num.
- ^ Hær., xxv.
- ^ Dan., xii, 3.
- ^ Ep., xliii (al. clxii), n. 22.
- ^ Angels of the Churches, Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ Merrill Unger, Unger's Bible Dictionary, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1975) p52
- ^ Scofield, W. I., The Scofield Study Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996) p1331
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Today's Snippet II: Smyrna, Anatolia, Turkey
 |
| ancient ruins of Smyrna |
(Ancient Greek: Σμύρνη or Σμύρνα) was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia.
Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its
good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is
located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey. The first site, probably founded indigenously, rose to prominence during the Archaic Period as one of the principal ancient Greek settlements in western Anatolia. The second, whose foundation is associated with Alexander the Great, reached metropolitan proportions during the period of the Roman Empire. Most of the present-day remains date from the Roman era, the majority from after a 2nd century AD earthquake.
In practical terms, a distinction is often made between Old Smyrna, the initial settlement founded around the 11th century BC, first as an Aeolian settlement, and later taken over and developed during the Archaic Period by the Ionians, and Smyrna
proper, the new city moved into from the older one as of the 4th
century BC and whose foundation was inspired, and perhaps also
initiated, by Alexander the Great.
Old Smyrna was located on a small peninsula connected to the mainland
by a narrow isthmus at the northeastern corner of the inner Gulf of İzmir, at the edge of a fertile plain and at the foot of Mount Yamanlar
which had seen the earlier Anatolian settlement commanding the gulf.
Today, the archeological site, named Bayraklı Höyüğü, is approximately
700 metres (770 yd) inland, in the Tepekule neighbourhood of Bayraklı at 38°27′51″N 27°10′13″E.
New Smyrna developed simultaneously on the slopes of the Mount Pagos (Kadifekale today) and alongside the coastal strait immediately below where a small bay existed until the 18th century.
The core of the late Hellenistic and early Roman Smyrna forms today the large area of İzmir Agora Open Air Museum
at this site. Research is being pursued at the sites of both the old
and the new cities in a continuous manner and in a regionalized
structure, since 1997 for Old Smyrna and since 2002 for the Classical
Period city, in collaboration between İzmir Archaeology Museum and the Metropolitan Municipality of İzmir.[1]
History
Etymology
There are several explanations brought forth as regards its name. One of these involve a Greek myth derived from an eponymous Amazon named "Σμύρνα" (Smyrna), which was also the name of a quarter of Ephesus, and can also be recognized under the form Myrina, a city of Aeolis. In inscriptions and coins it is often written "Ζμύρνα" (Zmurna), "Ζμυρναῖος" (Zmurnaios), "of Smyrna". Smyrna is also an ancient Greek word for myrrh.
The modern name "İzmir" derives from the former Greek name Σμύρνη
"Smyrna", through the first two syllables of the phrase "εις Σμύρνην"
(pronounced "is Smirnin"), which means "to Smyrna" in Greek. A similar
etymology also applies for other Turkish cities with former Greek names,
such as İznik (from the phrase "is Nikaean", meaning "to Nicaea"), Istanbul (from the phrase "is tan Polin" or "to the City") or even for the Greek island of Kos, called "İstanköy" in Turkish.
In ancient Anatolia, the name of a locality called Ti-smurna is mentioned in some of the Level II tablets from the Assyrian colony in Kültepe (first half of the 2nd millennium BC), with the prefix ti- identifying a proper name, although it is not established with certainty that this name refers to modern day İzmir.
The region of İzmir was situated on the southern fringes of the
"Yortan culture" in Anatolia's prehistory, the knowledge of which is
almost entirely drawn from its cemeteries, and in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, in the western end of the extension of the yet largely obscure Arzawa Kingdom, an offshoot and usually a dependency of the Hittites,
who themselves spread their direct rule as far as the coast during
their Great Kingdom. That the realm of the 13th century BC local Luwian ruler who is depicted in Kemalpaşa Karabel rock carving at a distance of only 50 km (31 mi) from İzmir was called the Kingdom of Myra may also leave ground for association with the city's name.
The newest rendering in Greek of the city's name we know is the Aeolic Greek Μύρρα Mýrrha, corresponding to the later Ionian and Attic Σμύρνα (Smýrna) or Σμύρνη (Smýrnē), both presumably descendants of a Proto-Greek form *Smúrnā. Some would see in the city's name a reference to the name of an Amazon called Smyrna who would have seduced Theseus, leading him to name the city in her honor. Others link the name to the Myrrha commifera shrub, a plant that produces the aromatic resin called myrrh and is indigenous to the Middle East and northeastern Africa. The Romans took this name over as Smyrna which is the name that is still used in English when referring to the city in pre-Turkish periods.
As shown above, the name İzmir (Ottoman Turkish: إزمير İzmir) is the modern Turkish version of the name Smyrna/ Smyrni. In Greek it is Σμύρνη (Smýrni), Իզմիր (Izmir) in Armenian, Smirne in Italian, Esmirna in Spanish, Smyrne in French, and Izmir (without the Turkish dotted İ) in Ladino. In English, the city was called Smyrna until the Turkish Postal
Service Law of 28 March 1930, upon which the name Izmir (sometimes
İzmir) was also adopted in English and most foreign languages.
Third millennium to 687 BC
The region was settled at least as of the beginning of the third millennium BC, or perhaps earlier, as the recent finds in Yeşilova Höyük suggests. It could have been a city of the autochthonous Leleges before the Greek colonists started to settle along the coast of Asia Minor as of the beginning of the first millennium BC. Throughout antiquity Smyrna was a leading city-state of Ionia, with influence over the Aegean shores and islands. Smyrna was also among the cities that claimed Homer as a resident.[6]
The early Aeolian Greek settlers of Lesbos and Cyme,
expanding eastwards, occupied the valley of Smyrna. It was one of the
confederacy of Aeolian city-states, marking the Aeolian frontier with
the Ionian colonies.
Strangers or refugees from the Ionian city of Colophon
settled in the city and finally (traditionally in 688 BC) by an
uprising Smyrna passed into their hands and became the thirteenth of the
Ionian city-states. Revised mythologies made it a colony of Ephesus.[7] In 688 BC, the Ionian boxer Onomastus of Smyrna won the prize at Olympia, but the coup
was probably then a recent event. The Colophonian conquest is mentioned
by Mimnermus (before 600 BC), who counts himself equally of Colophon
and of Smyrna. The Aeolic form of the name was retained even in the Attic dialect, and the epithet "Aeolian Smyrna" remained current long after the conquest.
Smyrna's position at the mouth of the small river Hermus at the head of a deep arm of the sea (Smyrnaeus Sinus) that reached far inland and admitted Greek trading ships into the heart of Lydia,
placed it on an essential trade route between Anatolia and the Aegean
and raised Smyrna during the 7th century BC to power and splendor. One
of the great trade routes which cross Anatolia descends the Hermus
valley past Sardis, and then, diverging from the valley, passes south of Mount Sipylus and crosses a low pass into the little valley where Smyrna lies between the mountains and the sea. Miletus
and later Ephesus were situated at the sea end of the other great trade
route across Anatolia and competed for a time successfully with Smyrna;
but after both cities' harbors silted up, Smyrna remained without a
rival.
The Meles River, which flowed by Smyrna, is famous in literature and was worshiped in the valley. A common and consistent tradition connects Homer
with the valley of Smyrna and the banks of the Meles; his figure was
one of the stock types on coins of Smyrna, one class of which numismatists call "Homerian"; the epithet Melesigenes was applied to him; the cave where he was wont to compose his poems was shown near the source of the river; his temple, the Homereum,
stood on its banks. The steady equable flow of the Meles, alike in
summer and winter, and its short course, beginning and ending near the
city, are celebrated by Aristides
and Himerius. The description applies admirably to the stream which
rises from abundant springs east of the city and flows into the
southeast extremity of the gulf. The archaic city ("Old Smyrna") contained a temple of Athena from the 7th century BC.
Lydian period
When the Mermnad kings raised the Lydian power and aggressiveness, Smyrna was one of the first points of attack. Gyges
(ca. 687—652 BC) was, however, defeated on the banks of the Hermus, the
situation of the battlefield showing that the power of Smyrna extended
far to the east. A strong fortress was built probably by the Smyrnaean
Ionians to command the valley of Nymphi, the ruins of which are still imposing, on a hill in the pass between Smyrna and Nymphi.
According to Theognis (c. 500 BC), it was pride that destroyed Smyrna. Mimnermus laments the degeneracy of the citizens of his day, who could no longer stem the Lydian advance. Finally, Alyattes II
(609—560 BC) conquered the city and sacked it, and though Smyrna did
not cease to exist, the Greek life and political unity were destroyed,
and the polis
was reorganized on the village system. Smyrna is mentioned in a
fragment of Pindar and in an inscription of 388 BC, but its greatness
was past.
Hellenistic period
Alexander the Great conceived the idea of restoring the Greek city in a scheme that was, according to Strabo,
actually carried out under Antigonus (316—301 BC) and Lysimachus
(301 BC—281 BC), who enlarged and fortified the city. The ruined
acropolis of the ancient city, the "crown of Smyrna", had been on a
steep peak about 1250 feet high, which overhangs the northeast extremity
of the gulf. Modern İzmir was constructed atop the later Hellenistic city, partly on the slopes of a rounded hill the Greeks called Pagos[8]
near the southeast end of the gulf, and partly on the low ground
between the hill and the sea. The beauty of the Hellenistic city,
clustering on the low ground and rising tier over tier on the hillside,
was frequently praised by the ancients and is celebrated on its coins.
Smyrna is shut in on the west by a hill now called Deirmen Tepe, with
the ruins of a temple on the summit. The walls of Lysimachus crossed
the summit of this hill, and the acropolis occupied the top of Pagus.
Between the two the road from Ephesus entered the city by the Ephesian
gate, near which was a gymnasium. Closer to the acropolis the outline of
the stadium is still visible, and the theatre was situated on the north
slopes of Pagus. Smyrna possessed two harbours. The outer harbour was
simply the open roadstead of the gulf, and the inner was a small basin
with a narrow entrance partially filled up by Tamerlane in 1402 AD.
The streets were broad, well paved and laid out at right angles; many
were named after temples: the main street, called the Golden, ran
across the city from west to east, beginning probably from the temple of
Zeus Akraios on the west slope of Pagus, and running round the lower
slopes of Pagus (like a necklace on the statue, to use the favorite
terms of Aristides the orator) towards Tepecik outside the city on the
east, where probably stood the temple of Cybele,
worshipped under the name of Meter Sipylene, the patroness of the city.
(name deriving from the nearby Mount Sipylus, which bounds the valley
of the city's backlands). The plain towards the sea was too low to be
properly drained, and hence in rainy weather the streets of the lower
town were deep with mud and water.
At the end of the Hellenistic period, in 197 BC, the city suddenly cut its ties with King Eumenes of Pergamum
and instead appealed to Rome for help. Because Rome and Smyrna had had
no ties until then, Smyrna created a cult of Rome to establish a bond,
and the cult eventually became widespread through the whole Roman
Empire. As of 195 BC, the city of Rome started to be deified, in the
cult to the goddess Roma. In this sense, the Smyrneans can be considered as the creators of the goddess Roma.
In 133 BC, when the last Attalid king Eumenes III died without an
heir, his will conferred his entire kingdom, including Smyrna, to the
Romans. They organized it into the Roman province of Asia, making Pergamum the capital. Smyrna, however, as a major seaport, became a leading city in the newly constituted province.
Roman and Byzantine period
As one of the principal cities of Roman Asia,[9] Smyrna vied with Ephesus and Pergamum for the title "First City of Asia."
A Christian church and a bishopric existed here from a very early time, probably originating in the considerable Jewish colony. It was one of the seven churches addressed in the Book of Revelation.[10] Saint Ignatius of Antioch visited Smyrna and later wrote letters to its bishop, Polycarp. A mob of Jews and pagans abetted the martyrdom of Polycarp in AD 153.[9] Saint Irenaeus, who heard Polycarp as a boy, was probably a native of Smyrna.[9] Another famous resident of the same period was Aelius Aristides.
Polycrates reports a succession of bishops including Polycarp of Smryna, as well as others in nearby cities such as Melito of Sardis. Related to that time the German historian W. Bauer wrote:
Asian Jewish Christianity received in turn the knowledge that henceforth the "church" would be open without hesitation to the Jewish influence mediated by Christians, coming not only from the apocalyptic traditions, but also from the synagogue with its practices concerning worship, which led to the appropriation of the Jewish passover observance. Even the observance of the sabbath by Christians appears to have found some favor in Asia...we find that in postapolstolic times, in the period of the formation of ecclesiastical structure, the Jewish Christians in these regions come into prominence.[11]
In the late 2nd century, Irenaeus also noted:
Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna…always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true. To these things all the Asiatic Churches testify, as do also those men who have succeeded Polycarp.[12]
Tertullian wrote c. 208 AD.
Anyhow the heresies are at best novelties, and have no continuity with the teaching of Christ. Perhaps some heretics may claim Apostolic antiquity: we reply: Let them publish the origins of their churches and unroll the catalogue of their bishops till now from the Apostles or from some bishop appointed by the Apostles, as the Smyrnaeans count from Polycarp and John, and the Romans from Clement and Peter; let heretics invent something to match this.[13]
Hence, apparently the church in Smyrna was one of only two that
Tertullian felt could have had some type of apostolic succession. During
the mid-3rd century, however, changes occurred in Asia Minor, and most
there became affiliated with the Greco-Roman churches.
When Constantinople
became the seat of government, the trade between Anatolia and the West
diminished in importance, and Smyrna declined. The Seljuk commander Tzachas seized Smyrna in 1084 and used it as a base for naval raids, but the city was recovered by the general John Doukas. The city was several times ravaged by the Turks, and had become quite ruinous when the Nicaean emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes rebuilt it about 1222.
Ottoman period
Ibn Batuta found it still in great part a ruin when the homonymous chieftain of the Beylik of Aydın had conquered it about 1330 and made his son Umur governor. It became the port of the emirate. Soon afterwards the Knights of Saint John established themselves in the town but failed to conquer the citadel. In 1402, Tamerlane stormed the town and massacred almost all the inhabitants. The Mongol conquest was only temporary, but Smyrna was recovered by the Turks under the Aydın dynasty after which it became Ottoman, when the Ottomans took over the lands of Aydın.
Greek influence was so strong in the area that the Turks called it "Smyrna of the infidels" (Gavur İzmir).[14]
While Turkish sources track the emergence of the term to the 14th
century when two separate parts of the city were controlled by two
different powers, the upper İzmir being Muslim and the lower part of the
city Christian.
During the late 19th and early 20th century, the city was an
important financial and cultural center of the Greek world. Out of the
391 factories 322 belonged to local Greeks, while 3 out of the 9 banks
were backed by Greek capital. Education was also dominated by the local
Greek communities with 67 male and 4 female schools in total. The
Ottomans continued to control the area, with the exception of the 1919–1922 period, when the city was assigned to Greece by the Treaty of Sèvres.
The most important Greek educational institution of the region was the Evangelical School that operated from 1733 to 1922.[15]
The Great Fire of Smyrna
The Great Fire of Smyrna as seen from an Italian ship, 14 September 1922
The Great Fire of Smyrna or the Catastrophe of Smyrna (Greek: Καταστροφή της Σμύρνης, "Smyrna Catastrophe", Turkish: 1922 İzmir Yangını, "1922 Izmir Fire", Armenian: Զմյուռնիոյ մեծ հրդեհ) was a fire that destroyed much of the port city of Izmir (then generally referred to by its ancient name of Smyrna in English) in September 1922. Eyewitness reports state that the fire began on 13 September 1922 and lasted until it was largely extinguished on 22 September. It occurred four days after the Turkish forces regained control of the city on 9 September 1922, effectively ending the Greco-Turkish War in the field, more than three years after the Greek army
had landed troops at Smyrna on 15 May 1919. Estimated Greek and
Armenians deaths resulting from the fire and massacres range from 10,000 to 100,000
Approximately 50,000 to 400,000
Greek and Armenian refugees crammed the waterfront escaping from the
fire and were forced to remain there under harsh conditions for nearly
two weeks. The systematic evacuation of Greeks on the quay started on 24
September with the permission and cooperation of Turkish authorities
when the first Greek ships entered the harbor under the supervision of
Allied destroyers. Some 150,000 to 200,000 Greeks were evacuated.
The fire completely destroyed the Greek and Armenian quarters of the city; the Muslim and Jewish quarters escaped damage.
There are different claims about who was responsible for the fire,
however there were numerous eyewitness accounts of uniformed Turkish
soldiers setting fire to Greek and Armenian homes and businesses.
A number of studies have been published on the Smyrna fire. The most thorough is Professor of literature Marjorie Housepian Dobkin's Smyrna 1922,
which concludes that the Turkish Army systematically burned the city
and killed Greek and Armenian inhabitants. Her work is based on
extensive eyewitness testimony from survivors, Allied troops sent to
Smyrna during the evacuation, foreign diplomats, relief workers, and
Turkish eyewitnesses. A recent study by historian Niall Ferguson
comes to the same conclusion. Historian Richard Clogg categorically
states that the fire was started by the Turks following their capture of
the city. In his book Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922,
Giles Milton addresses the issue of the Smyrna Fire through original
material (interviews, unpublished letters, and diaries) from the Levantine
families of Smyrna, who were mainly of British origin. All the
documents collected by the author during this research are deposited in
Exeter University Library.
The conclusion of the author is that it was Turkish soldiers and
officers who set the fire, most probably acting under direct orders.
The main critics of Horton and Housepian are Heath Lowry and Justin McCarthy, who argue that Horton was highly prejudiced and Housepian makes an extremely selective use of sources. Lowry and McCarthy are members of the Institute of Turkish Studies and have in turn been strongly criticized by other scholars for their denial of the Armenian Genocide and been described as being on "the Turkish side of the debate."
Turkish author and journalist Falih Rifki Atay, who was in Smyrna at
the time, and the Turkish professor Biray Kolluoğlu Kırlı have agreed
that the Turkish Army was responsible for the destruction of Smyrna in
1922. More recently, a number of non-contemporary scholars, historians,
and politicians have added to the history of the events by revisiting
contemporary communications and histories.
There are other accounts that contradict some of the facts presented in the above accounts. These include a telegram sent by Mustafa Kemal, articles in contemporary newspapers, and a short non-contemporary essay by Turkish historian Reşat Kasaba of the University of Washington briefly describes events without making clear accusations.
The accounts of Jewish teachers in Smyrna, letters of Johannes
Kolmodin (a Swedish orientalist who was in Smyrna at the time), and Paul
Grescovich's report says that Greeks or Armenians are responsible for
the fire. R.A. Weight stated that "his clients showed that the fire, in
its origin, was a small accidental fire, though it eventually destroyed a
large section of the town".
Post World War I
Smynra was occupied by Greece from May 15, 1919, after the end of the First World War. A military administration was formed by Greece in and around Smyrna. The Greek premier Venizelos had plans to annex Smyrna and he seemed to be realizing his objective in the Treaty of Sèvres signed on August 10, 1920.[16] (However, this treaty was not ratified by the parties and replaced by the Treaty of Peace of Lausanne.)
The occupation of Smyrna came to an end when the Turkish army of Kemal Atatürk entered the city on September 9, 1922, at the end of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922).
Agora
The remains of the ancient agora of Smyrna constitute today the space of Izmir Agora Museum in Izmir's Namazgah quarter, although its area is commonly referred to as "Agora" by the city's inhabitants. Situated on the northern slopes of the Pagos hills, it was the
commercial, judicial and political nucleus of the ancient city, its
center for artistic activities and for teaching. Izmir Agora Open Air Museum consists of five parts, including the agora area, the base of the northern basilica gate, the stoa and the ancient shopping centre.
The agora of Smyrna was built during the Hellenistic era. After a
destructive earthquake in 178 AD, Smyrna was rebuilt in the Roman period
(2nd century AD) under the emperor Marcus Aurelius, according to an urban plan drawn by Hippodamus of Miletus. The bust of the emperor's wife Faustina
on the second arch of the western stoa confirms this fact. It was
constructed on a sloping terrain in three floors, close to the city
center. The terrain is 165 m wide and 200 m long. It is bordered on all
sides by porticos. Because a Byzantine and later an Ottoman
cemetery were located over the ruins of the agora, it was preserved
from modern constructions. This agora is now the largest and the best
preserved among Ionian
agoras. The agora is now surrounded by modern buildings that still
cover its eastern and southern parts. The agora was used until the
Byzantine period.
On entering the courtyard, to the left is the western stoa, in the back the basilica
and on the right side the Ottoman cemetery. The courtyard was
surrounded by porticoes on three sides. The basilica and the western
portico were built over an infrastructure of basements with round arches
to protect them against future earthquakes. The eastern end and the
southern porticoes consisted of a two-floor compounded structure.
Beneath the basilica was a covered market place. The design of the
basement has a strong resemblance with the crypto-porticus
constructions of the western provinces. The monumental entrance at the
eastern side was one of the most magnificent and arched structures of
the Hellenistic era.
A two-storied stoa, 17.5 m wide, was constructed at the eastern and
western side of the agora. Each stoa was divided in three galleries by
two rows of columns. Each stoa had an upper story. The stoas were
protected from sun and rain by a roof. These impressive structures
measured 75 m by 18 m. The southern part of the western stoa has many
water channels and large water reservoirs, pointing to the presence of
water in the agora.
Excavations
Although Smyrna was explored by Charles Texier
in the 19th century and the German consul in İzmir had purchased the
land around the ancient theater in 1917 to start excavations, the first
scientific digs can be said to have started in 1927. Most of the
discoveries were made by archaeological exploration carried as an
extension during the period between 1931–1942 by the German
archaeologist Rudolf Naumann and Selâhattin Kantar,
the director of İzmir and Ephesus museums. They uncovered a
three-floor, rectangular compound with stairs in the front, built on
columns and arches around a large courtyard in the middle of the
building.
New excavations in the agora began in 1996 and are being continued
regularly since 2002 under the sponsorship of the Metropolitan
Municipality of İzmir. A primary school that was adjacent to agora and
that fell victim to a fire in 1980 not having been reconstructed, its
space could be incorporated into the historical site. This meant that
not only could the area of agora be increased to 16,590 square metres
but also new digs could be launched in a previously unexplored zone. The
archaeologists and the local authorities, means permitting, are also
keenly eyeing a neighbouring multi-storey car park, which is known to
cover an important part of the ancient settlement. During the present
renovations the old restorations in concrete are gradually being
replaced by marble.
The most important result of the new studies has been the discovery
of the agora's northern gate. It has been concluded that embossed
figures of the goddess Hestia found in these digs were a continuation of the Zeus altar uncovered during the first digs. Statues of the gods Hermes, Dionysos, Eros and Heracles
have also been found, as well as many statues, heads, embossments,
figurines and monuments of people and animals, made of marble, stone,
bone, glass, metal and terracotta. Inscriptions found here list the
people who provided aid to Smyrna after the earthquake of 178 AD.
References
- ^ Eti Akyüz Levi, Dokuz Eylül University (2003). "The Agora of İzmir and Cultural Tourism". The International Committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage (CIPA), 2003 Antalya Symposium.
- ^ Σμύρνα, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
- ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheke, iii.14.4 (Adonis), as quoted in Geoffrey Miles, Classical mythology in English literature: a critical anthology 1999:215.
- ^ σμύρνα, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
- ^ List of ancient Greek words starting with σμύρν-, on Perseus
- ^ Gates, Charles. Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
- ^ Strabo xiv. (633 BC); Stephanus Byzantinicus; Pliny, Natural History v.31.
- ^ Simply "the hill".
- ^ Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005, article Smyrna
- ^ Revelation 1:11 and 2:8-11
- ^ Bauer W. Kraft RA, Krodel G, editors. Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity, 2nd edition. Sigler Press, Mifflintown (PA), 1996, pp.87-89
- ^ Irenaeus. Adversus Haeres. Book III, Chapter 4, Verse 3 and Chapter 3, Verse 4
- ^ Tertullian. Liber de praescriptione haereticorum, circa 208 A.D.
- ^ A Modern Crusade in the Turkish Empire. Retrieved June 10, 2008.
- ^ Geōrgiadou, Maria (2004). Constantin Carathéodory: mathematics and politics in turbulent times. Springer. p. 145. ISBN 978-3-540-20352-0.
- ^ Andrew Mango, Atatürk, p. 217. Giles, Milton (2008) Paradise Lost
- Ekrem Akurgal (2002). Ancient Civilisations and Ruins of Turkey. Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-0-7103-0776-7.
- George E. Bean (1967). Aegean Turkey: An archaeological guide. Ernest Benn, London. ISBN 978-0-510-03200-5.
- Philip Mansel, Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean, London, John Murray, 11 November 2010, hardback, 480 pages, ISBN 978-0-7195-6707-0, New Haven, Yale University Press, 24 May 2011, hardback, 470 pages, ISBN 978-0-300-17264-5
- Stillman, ed. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, 1976.
- Turner, J. Grove Dictionary of Art. Oxford University Press, USA; New Ed edition (January 2, 1996); ISBN 978-0-19-517068-9.
- Giles Milton (2009). Paradise Lost. Sceptre. ISBN 978-0-340-83787-0.
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Today's Snippet III: The Mystical City of God,
The Divine History and Life of The Virgin Mother of God
Book 6, Chapter 11
THE RESURRECTION.
The fullness of wisdom in the soul of our great Queen and
Lady amid all her sorrows permitted no defect or remissness in noticing and
attending to all the duties of each occasion and at all times. By this heavenly
foresight She met her obligations and practiced the highest and most eminent of
all the virtues. As I have said, the Queen retired, after the burial of Christ,
to the house of the Cenacle. Remaining in the hall of the last Supper in the
company of saint John, the Marys, and the other women who had followed Christ
from Galilee, She spoke to them and the Apostle, thanking them in profound
humility and abundant tears for persevering with Her up to this time throughout
the Passion of her beloved Son and promising them in his name the reward of
having followed Him with so much constancy and devotion.
At the same time She
offered Herself as a servant and as a friend to those holy women. All of them
with Saint John acknowledged this great favor, kissed her hands and asked for
her blessing. They also begged her to take some rest and some bodily
refreshment. But the Queen answered: "My rest and my consolation shall be
to see my Son and Lord arisen from the dead. Do you, my dearest friends, satisfy
our wants according to your necessities, while I retire alone with my Son."
In her retirement during this evening the great Lady contemplated the doings of
the most holy soul of her Son after it left the sacred body.
For from the first
the blessed Mother knew that the soul of Christ, united to the Divinity,
descended to limbo in order to release the holy Fathers from the subterranean
prison, where they had been detained since the death of the first just man that
had died in expectance of the advent of the Redeemer of the whole human race. By
the presence of the most holy Soul this obscure cavern was converted into a
heaven and was filled with a wonderful splendor; and to the souls therein
contained was imparted the clear vision of the Divinity.
In one instant they
passed from the state of long-deferred hope to the possession of glory, and from
darkness to the inaccessible light, which they now began to enjoy. All of them
recognized their true God and Redeemer, and gave him thanks and glory, breaking
forth in canticles of praise saying: "The Lamb that was slain is worthy to
receive power and Divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory and
benediction. Thou hast redeemed us, Lord, in thy blood, out of every tribe, and
tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us to our God a kingdom and
priests, and we shall reign on the earth (Apoc. 59, 12). Thine is, O Lord, the
power, thine the reign, and thine is the glory of thy works." Then the Lord
commanded the angels to bring all the souls in purgatory, and this was
immediately done. As if in earnest of the human Redemption they were absolved
then and there by the Redeemer from the punishments still due to them, and they
were glorified with the other souls of the just by the beatific vision. Thus on
that day of the presence of the King were depopulated the prisonhouses of both
limbo and purgatory.
The divine soul of Christ our Redeemer remained in limbo from
half past three of Friday afternoon, until after three of the Sunday morning
following. During this hour He returned to the Sepulchre as the victorious
Prince of the angels and of the saints, whom had delivered from those nether
prisons as Spoils of His victory and as an earnest of His glorious triumph over
the chastised and prostrate rebels of hell.
In the sepulchre were many angels as
its guard, venerating the sacred body united to the Divinity. Some of them,
obeying the command of their Queen and Mistress, had gathered the relics of the
sacred blood shed by her divine Son, the particles of flesh scattered about, the
hair torn from his divine face and head, and all else that belonged to the
perfection and integrity of his most sacred humanity. On these the Mother of
prudence lavished her solicitous care. The angels took charge of these
relics, each one filled with joy at being privileged to hold the
particles, which he was able to secure.
Before any change was made, the body of
the Redeemer was shown to the holy Fathers, in the same wounded, lacerated and
disfigured state in which it was left by the cruelty of the Jews. Beholding Him
thus disfigured in death, the Patriarchs and Prophets and other saints adored
Him and again confessed Him as the incarnate Word, who had truly taken upon
Himself our infirmities and sorrows (Is. 53, 4) and paid abundantly our debts,
satisfying in his innocence and guiltlessness for what we ourselves owed to the
justice of the eternal Father. There did our first parents Adam and Eve see the
havoc wrought by their disobedience, the priceless remedy it necessitated, the
immense goodness and mercy of the Redeemer. As they felt the effects of his
copious Redemption in the glory of their souls, they praised anew the Omnipotent
and Saints of saints, who had with such marvelous wisdom wrought such a
salvation.
Then, in the presence of all those saints, through the
ministry of those angels, were united to the sacred body all the relics, which
they had gathered, restoring it to its natural perfection and integrity. In the
same moment the most holy soul reunited with the body, giving it immortal life
and glory. Instead of the winding-sheets and the ointments, in which it had been
buried, it was clothed with the four gifts of glory, namely: with clearness,
impassibility, agility and subtility (John 19, 40). These gifts
overflowed from the immense glory of the soul of Christ into the sacred body.
Although these gifts were due to it as a natural inheritance and participation
from the instant of its conception, because from that very moment his soul was
glorified and his whole humanity was united to the Divinity; yet they had been
suspended in their effects upon the purest body, in order to permit it to remain
passable and capable of meriting for us our own glory. In the Resurrection these
gifts were justly called into activity in the proper degree corresponding to the
glory of his soul and to his union with the Divinity.
As the glory of the most
holy soul of Christ our Savior is incomprehensible and ineffable to man, it is
also impossible entirely to describe in our words or by our examples the
glorious gifts of his deified body; for in comparison to its purity, crystal
would be obscure. The light inherent and shining forth from his body so far
exceeds that of the others, as the day does the night, or as many suns the light
of one star; and all the beauty of creatures, if it were joined, would
appear ugliness in comparison with his, nothing else being comparable to
It in all creation.
The excellence of these gifts in the Resurrection were far
beyond the glory of his Transfiguration or that manifested on other occasions of
the kind men mentioned in this history. For on these occasions He received it
transitorily and for special purposes, while now He received it in plenitude and
forever. Through impassibility his body became invincible to all created power,
since no power can ever move or change Him. By subtility the gross and earthly
matter was so purified, that it could now penetrate other matter like a pure
spirit. Accordingly He penetrated through the rocks of the sepulchre
without removing or displacing them, as He had issued forth from the womb of his
most blessed Mother. Agility so freed Him from the weight and slowness of
matter, that it exceeded the agility of the immaterial angels, while He himself
could move about more quickly than they, as shown in his apparitions to the
Apostles and on other occasions.
The sacred wounds, which had disfigured his
body, now shone forth from his hands and feet and side so refulgent and
brilliant, that they added a most entrancing beauty and charm. In all this glory
and heavenly adornment the Savior now arose from the grave; and in the
presence of the saints and Patriarchs He promised universal resurrection
in their own flesh and body to all men, and that they moreover, as an effect of
his own Resurrection, should be similarly glorified. As an earnest and as a
pledge of the universal resurrection, the Lord commanded the souls of many
saints there present to reunite with their bodies and rise up to immortal life.
Immediately this divine command was executed, and their bodies arose, as is
mentioned by saint Matthew, in anticipation of this mystery (Matthew 27, 52).
Among them were saint Anne, saint Joseph and saint Joachim, and others of the
ancient Fathers and Patriarchs, who had distinguished themselves in the faith
and hope of the Incarnation, and had desired and prayed for it with greater
earnestness to the Lord. As a reward for their zeal, the resurrection and glory
of their bodies was now anticipated.
Of all these mysteries the great Queen of heaven was aware
and She participated in them from her retreat in the Cenacle. In the same
instant in which the most holy soul of Christ entered and gave life to his body
the joy of her immaculate soul, which I mentioned in the foregoing chapter as
being restrained and, as it were, withheld, overflowed into her immaculate body.
And this overflow was so exquisite in its effects, that She was transformed from
sorrow to joy, from pain to delight from grief to ineffable jubilation and rest.
It happened that just at this time the Evangelist John, as he had done on
the previous morning, stepped in to visit and console Her in her bitter
solitude, and thus unexpectedly, in the midst of splendor and glory, met Her
whom he had before scarcely recognized on account of her overwhelming sorrow.
The Apostle now beheld Her with wonder and deepest reverence and concluded that
the Lord had risen, since his blessed Mother was thus transfigured with joy.
In this new joy and under the divine influences of her
supernatural vision the great Lady began to prepare herself for the visit of the
Lord, which was near at hand. While eliciting acts of praise, and in her
canticles and prayers, She immediately felt within Her a new kind of jubilation
and celestial delight, reaching far beyond the first joy, and corresponding in a
wonderful manner to the sorrows and tribulations She had undergone in the
Passion; and this new favor was different and much more exalted than the joys
overflowing naturally from her soul into her body. Moreover She perceived within
Herself another third and still more different effect, implying new divine
favors.
The blessed Mary being thus prepared, Christ our Savior,
arisen and glorious, in the company of all Saints and Patriarchs, made his
appearance. The ever humble Queen prostrated Herself upon the ground and adored
her divine Son; and the Lord raised Her and drew Her to Himself. In this
contact, which was more intimate than the contact with the humanity and the
wounds of the Savior sought by Magdalen, the Virgin Mother participated in an
extraordinary favor, which She alone, as exempt from sin, could merit. Although
it was not the greatest of the favors She attained on this occasion, yet She
could not have received it without failing of her faculties, if She had not been
previously strengthened by the angels and by the Lord himself. This favor was,
that the glorious body of the Son so closely united itself to that of his purest
Mother, that He penetrated into it or She into his, as when, for instance, a
crystal globe takes up within itself the light of the sun and is saturated with
the splendor and beauty of its light. In the same way the body of the most holy
Mary entered into that of her divine Son by this heavenly embrace; it was, as it
were, the portal of her intimate knowledge concerning the glory of the holy soul
and body of her Lord. As a consequence of these favors, constituting higher and
higher degrees of ineffable gifts, the spirit of the Virgin Mother rose to the
knowledge of the most hidden sacraments. In the midst of them She heard a voice
saying to Her: "My beloved, ascend higher!" (Luke 18, 10). By the
power of these words She was entirely transformed and saw the Divinity clearly
and intuitively, wherein She found complete, though only temporary, rest and
reward for all her sorrows and labors. Silence alone here is proper, since
reason and language are entirely inadequate to comprehend or express what
passed in the blessed Mary during this beatific vision, the highest She had
until then enjoyed. Let us celebrate this day in wonder and praise, with
congratulations and loving and humble thanks for what She then merited for us,
and for her exaltation and joy.
For some hours the heavenly Princess continued to enjoy the
essence of God with her divine Son, participating now in his triumph as She had
in his torments. Then by similar degrees She again descended from this vision
and found Herself in the end reclining on the right arm of the most sacred
humanity and regaled in other ways by the right hand of his Divinity
(Cant. 2, 6). She held sweetest converse with her Son concerning the mysteries
of his Passion and of his glory. In these conferences She was again inebriated
with the wine of love and charity, which now She drank unmeasured from
the original fount. All that a mere creature can receive was conferred upon the
blessed Mary on this occasion; for, according to our way of conceiving such
things, the divine equity wished to compensate the injury (thus I must call it,
because I cannot find a more proper word), which a Creature so pure and
immaculate had undergone in suffering the sorrows and torments of the Passion.
For, as I have mentioned many times before, She suffered the same pains as her
Son, and now in this mystery She was inundated with a proportionate joy and
delight.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN. (The Virgin Mary speaks to Sister Mary of
Agreda, Spain.)
Each of these gifts are correspondingly augmented in him who
in the state of grace performs the least meritorious work, even if it be no more
than removing a straw or giving a cup of water for the love of God (Matth. 10,
42). For each of the most insignificant works the creature gains an increase of
these gifts; an increase of clearness exceeding many times the sunlight and
added to its state of blessedness an increase of impassibility, by which man
recedes from human and earthly corruption farther than what all created efforts
and strength could ever effect in resistance separating itself from such
infirmity or changefulness; an increase of subtility, by which he advances
beyond all that could offer it resistance and gains new power of penetration; an
increase of agility, surpassing all the activity of birds, of winds, and all
other active creatures, such as fire and the elements tending to their centre.
From this increase of the gifts of the body merited by good works, thou wilt
understand the augmentation of the gifts of the soul; for those of the body are
derived from those of the soul and correspond with them.
In the beatific vision
each merit secures greater clearness and insight into the divine attributes and
perfections than that acquired by all the doctors and enlightened members of the
Church. Likewise the gift of apprehension, or possession of the divine Object,
is augmented; for the security of the possession of the highest and infinite
Good makes the tranquility and rest of its enjoyment more estimable than if the
soul possessed all that is precious and rich, desirable and worthy of attainment
in all creation, even if possessed all at one time. Fruition, the third gift of
the soul, on account of the love with which man performs the smallest acts, so
exalts the degrees of functional love, that the greatest love of men here on
earth can never be compared thereto; nor can the delight resulting therefrom
ever be compared with all the delights of this mortal life.
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Catechism of the Catholic Church
Part One: Profession of Faith, Sect 2 The Creeds, Ch 2 Art 5:2
CHAPTER TWO
I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY SON OF
GOD
Article 5
"HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. ON THE THIRD DAY
HE ROSE AGAIN"
Paragraph 2. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE FROM THE
DEAD
638
"We bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this
day he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus."Acts 13:32-33
The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, a faith
believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community;
handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the documents of the New
Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with
the cross:
Christ is risen from the dead!
Dying, he conquered death;
To the dead, he has given
life. Byzantine Liturgy, Troparion of Easter
I. THE
HISTORICAL AND TRANSCENDENT EVENT
639
The mystery of Christ's resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that
were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness. In about A.D.
56 St. Paul could already write to the Corinthians: "I delivered to you as
of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in
accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, that he was raised on
the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to
Cephas, then to the Twelve. . ."I Cor 15:3-4 The Apostle speaks here of the
living tradition of the Resurrection which he had learned after his conversion
at the gates of Damascus.Acts
9:3-18
The empty
tomb
640
"Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has
risen."Lk 24:5-6 The first element we encounter in the framework of the
Easter events is the empty tomb. In itself it is not a direct proof of
Resurrection; the absence of Christ's body from the tomb could be explained
otherwise.Jn 20:13 Nonetheless the empty tomb was still an essential sign
for all. Its discovery by the disciples was the first step toward recognizing the
very fact of the Resurrection. This was the case, first with the holy women,
and then with Peter.Lk 24:3Lk 24:3 The disciple "whom Jesus loved"
affirmed that when he entered the empty tomb and discovered "the linen
cloths lying there", "he saw and believed".Jn 20:2,
6, 8 This
suggests that he realized from the empty tomb's condition that the absence of
Jesus' body could not have been of human doing and that Jesus had not simply
returned to earthly life as had been the case with Lazarus.Jn 11:44
The appearances
of the Risen One
641
Mary Magdalene and the holy women who came to finish anointing the body of
Jesus, which had been buried in haste because the Sabbath began on the evening
of Good Friday, were the first to encounter the Risen One Mk 16:1 Thus the
women were the first messengers of Christ's Resurrection for the apostles
themselves. Lk 24:9-10 They were the next to whom Jesus appears: first Peter,
then the Twelve. Peter had been called to strengthen the faith of his brothers,I Cor 15:5
and so sees the Risen One before them; it is on the basis of his testimony that
the community exclaims: "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to
Simon!"Lk 24:34
642
Everything that happened during those Paschal days involves each of the
apostles - and Peter in particular - in the building of the new era begun on
Easter morning. As witnesses of the Risen One, they remain the foundation
stones of his Church. the faith of the first community of believers is based on
the witness of concrete men known to the Christians and for the most part still
living among them. Peter and the Twelve are the primary "witnesses to his
Resurrection", but they are not the only ones - Paul speaks clearly of
more than five hundred persons to whom Jesus appeared on a single occasion and
also of James and of all the apostles.I Cor 15:4-8
643
Given
all these testimonies, Christ's Resurrection cannot be interpreted as something
outside the physical order, and it is impossible not to acknowledge it as an
historical fact. It is clear from the facts that the disciples' faith was
drastically put to the test by their master's Passion and death on the cross,
which he had foretold. Lk 22:31-32 The shock provoked by the Passion was so great
that at least some of the disciples did not at once believe in the news of the
Resurrection. Far from showing us a community seized by a mystical exaltation,
the Gospels present us with disciples demoralized ("looking
sad" Lk 24:17) and frightened. For they had not believed the holy women
returning from the tomb and had regarded their words as an "idle
tale".Lk 24:11 When Jesus reveals himself to the Eleven on Easter
evening, "he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart,
because they had not believed those who saw him after he had
risen."Mk
16:14
644
Even
when faced with the reality of the risen Jesus the disciples are still
doubtful, so impossible did the thing seem: they thought they were seeing a
ghost. "In their joy they were still disbelieving and still
wondering."Lk 24:38-41 Thomas will also experience the test of doubt and
St. Matthew relates that during the risen Lord's last appearance in Galilee
"some doubted."Jn 20:24-27 Therefore the hypothesis that the Resurrection
was produced by the apostles' faith (or credulity) will not hold up. On the
contrary their faith in the Resurrection was born, under the action of divine
grace, from their direct experience of the reality of the risen Jesus.
The condition of Christ's risen humanity
645
By means of touch and the sharing of a meal, the risen Jesus establishes direct
contact with his disciples. He invites them in this way to recognize that he is
not a ghost and above all to verify that the risen body in which he appears to
them is the same body that had been tortured and crucified, for it still bears
the traces of his Passion.Lk 24:30 Yet at the same time this authentic, real
body possesses the new properties of a glorious body: not limited by space and
time but able to be present how and when he wills; for Christ's humanity can no
longer be confined to earth, and belongs henceforth only to the Father's divine
realm.Mt 28:9 For this reason too the risen Jesus enjoys the sovereign
freedom of appearing as he wishes: in the guise of a gardener or in other forms
familiar to his disciples, precisely to awaken their faith. Mk 16:12
646
Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with
the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter: Jairus'
daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus. These actions were miraculous events,
but the persons miraculously raised returned by Jesus' power to ordinary
earthly life. At some particular moment they would die again. Christ's
Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body he passes from the
state of death to another life beyond time and space. At Jesus' Resurrection
his body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit: he shares the divine life
in his glorious state, so that St. Paul can say that Christ is "the man of
heaven".1 Cor 15:35-50
The
Resurrection as transcendent event
647
O truly blessed Night, sings the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil, which alone
deserved to know the time and the hour when Christ rose from the realm of the
dead! O vere beata nox, quae sola meruit scire tempus et horam, in qua Christus ab inferis resurrexit! But no one was an eyewitness to Christ's Resurrection and no
evangelist describes it. No one can say how it came about physically. Still
less was its innermost essence, his passing over to another life, perceptible
to the senses. Although the Resurrection was an historical event that could be
verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the apostles'
encounters with the risen Christ, still it remains at the very heart of the
mystery of faith as something that transcends and surpasses history. This is
why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his
disciples, "to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who
are now his witnesses to the people."Acts 13:31
II. THE
RESURRECTION - A WORK OF THE HOLY TRINITY
648
Christ's Resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a transcendent
intervention of God himself in creation and history. In it the three divine
persons act together as one, and manifest their own proper characteristics. the
Father's power "raised up" Christ his Son and by doing so perfectly
introduced his Son's humanity, including his body, into the Trinity. Jesus is
conclusively revealed as "Son of God in power according to the Spirit of
holiness by his Resurrection from the dead".Rom I 3-4 St. Paul insists
on the manifestation of God's powerRom 6:4 through the working of the
Spirit who gave life to Jesus' dead humanity and called it to the glorious state
of Lordship.
649
As for the Son, he effects his own Resurrection by virtue of his divine power.
Jesus announces that the Son of man will have to suffer much, die, and then
rise.Mk 8:31 Elsewhere he affirms explicitly: "I lay down my life, that
I may take it again. . . I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take
it again."Jn 10:17-18 "We believe that Jesus died and rose
again."I Th 4:14
650
The Fathers contemplate the Resurrection from the perspective of the divine
person of Christ who remained united to his soul and body, even when these were
separated from each other by death: "By the unity of the divine nature,
which remains present in each of the two components of man, these are reunited.
For as death is produced by the separation of the human components, so
Resurrection is achieved by the union of the two."St. Gregory of Nyssa, In Christi res. Orat. I: PG 46, 617B; cf.
also DS 325; 359; 369
III. THE
MEANING AND SAVING SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESURRECTION
651
"If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your
faith is in vain."I Cor 15:14 The Resurrection above all constitutes the
confirmation of all Christ's works and teachings. All truths, even those most
inaccessible to human reason, find their justification if Christ by his
Resurrection has given the definitive proof of his divine authority, which he
had promised.
652
Christ's Resurrection is the fulfilment of the promises both of the Old
Testament and of Jesus himself during his earthly life.Mt
28:6 The phrase
"in accordance with the Scriptures"I Cor 15:3-4 indicates that
Christ's Resurrection fulfilled these predictions.
653
The truth of Jesus' divinity is confirmed by his Resurrection. He had said:
"When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am
he."Jn 8:28 The Resurrection of the crucified one shows that he was
truly "I AM", the Son of God and God himself. So St. Paul could
declare to the Jews: "What God promised to the fathers, this he has
fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the
second psalm, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you.'"Acts 13:32-33
Christ's Resurrection is closely linked to the Incarnation of God's Son, and is
its fulfilment in accordance with God's eternal plan.
654
The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from
sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life
is above all justification that reinstates us in God's grace, "so that as
Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk
in newness of life." Justification consists in both victory over the death
caused by sin and a new participation in grace.Eph 2:4-5 It brings about
filial adoption so that men become Christ's brethren, as Jesus himself called
his disciples after his Resurrection: "Go and tell my
brethren."Mt 28:10 We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of
grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the
only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.
655
Finally, Christ's Resurrection - and the risen Christ himself is the principle
and source of our future resurrection: "Christ has been raised from the
dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. . . For as in Adam all
die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive."I Cor 15:20-22 The risen
Christ lives in the hearts of his faithful while they await that fulfilment. In
Christ, Christians "have tasted. . . the powers of the age to
come" Heb 6:5 and their lives are swept up by Christ into the heart of
divine life, so that they may "live no longer for themselves but for him
who for their sake died and was raised."2 Cor 5:15
IN BRIEF
656 Faith in the Resurrection
has as its object an event which as historically attested to by the disciples,
who really encountered the Risen One. At the same time, this event is
mysteriously transcendent insofar as it is the entry of Christ's humanity into
the glory of God.
657 The empty tomb and the
linen cloths lying there signify in themselves that by God's power Christ's
body had escaped the bonds of death and corruption. They prepared the disciples
to encounter the Risen Lord.
658 Christ, "the
first-born from the dead" (⇒ Col 1:18), is the
principle of our own resurrection, even now by the justification of our souls
(cf ⇒ Rom 6:4), and one day by the new life he will
impart to our bodies (cf ⇒ Rom 8:11).
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