the Faith of the Ancients…

Sir.50

[1] The leader of his brethren and the pride of his people
was Simon the high priest, son of Onias,
who in his life repaired the house,
and in his time fortified the temple.
[2] He laid the foundations for the high double walls,
the high retaining walls for the temple enclosure.
[3] In his days a cistern for water was quarried out,
a reservoir like the sea in circumference.
[4] He considered how to save his people from ruin,
and fortified the city to withstand a seige.
[5] How glorious he was when the people gathered round him
as he came out of the inner sanctuary!
[6] Like the morning star among the clouds,
like the moon when it is full;
[7] like the sun shining upon the temple of the Most High,
and like the rainbow gleaming in glorious clouds;
[8] like roses in the days of the first fruits,
like lilies by a spring of water,
like a green shoot on Lebanon on a summer day;
[9] like fire and incense in the censer,
like a vessel of hammered gold
adorned with all kinds of precious stones;
[10] like an olive tree putting forth its fruit,
and like a cypress towering in the clouds.
[11] When he put on his glorious robe
and clothed himself with superb perfection
and went up to the holy altar,
he made the court of the sanctuary glorious.
[12] And when he received the portions from the
hands of the priests,
as he stood by the hearth of the altar
with a garland of brethren around him,
he was like a young cedar on Lebanon;
and they surrounded him like the trunks of palm trees,
[13] all the sons of Aaron in their splendor
with the Lord’s offering in their hands,
before the whole congregation of Israel.
[14] Finishing the service at the altars,
and arranging the offering to the Most High, the Almighty,
[15] he reached out his hand to the cup
and poured a libation of the blood of the grape;
he poured it out at the foot of the altar,
a pleasing odor to the Most High, the King of all.
[16] Then the sons of Aaron shouted,
they sounded the trumpets of hammered work,
they made a great noise to be heard
for remembrance before the Most High.
[17] Then all the people together made haste
and fell to the ground upon their faces
to worship their Lord,
the Almighty, God Most High.
[18] And the singers praised him with their voices
in sweet and full-toned melody.
[19] And the people besought the Lord Most High
in prayer before him who is merciful,
till the order of worship of the Lord was ended;
so they completed his service.
[20] Then Simon came down, and lifted up his hands
over the whole congregation of the sons of Israel,
to pronounce the blessing of the Lord with his lips,
and to glory in his name;
[21] and they bowed down in worship a second time,
to receive the blessing from the Most High.

This quote from LXX Sirach, describes the celebration of the ancient liturgies in the temple of Ancient Israel.  For anyone who has attended Orthodox liturgy, the parrallels are clear – the interaction between the congregation, deacons and priest reflect the worship lead by Simon the High Priest in former times.  The Divine Liturgies of the Orthodox Church are clearly inheritors of the traditions of ancient Israel as indeed the Church is Israel and as the true Israel is not disjointed from the life and prayer of the fathers dating back to our father Adam.

New Years Bombing in Egypt

FatherJames

Our hearts are saddened by yet again another fundamentalist New Years present to the suffering Coptic Christians of Egypt. Those who are killed like sheep for no reason other than they were Christians coming out of Church are most definitly true martyrs of Christ and are now under His throne praising Him.

All Australian brothers and sisters of the Coptic Orthodox Church offer their deepest condolences to the relatives of the New Martyrs of Alexandria, to HH Pope Shenouda III, The Coptic Holy Synod and all Bishops, Fathers and lay people of the blessed Coptic Orthodox Church and to Mrs Ghaly of Melbourne for the loss of multiple members of her family in Alexandria, Egypt.

 

 

 ALEXANDRIA, Egypt – A powerful bomb exploded in front of a crowded Coptic Christian church a half hour into the New Year early Saturday, hitting worshippers emerging from a holiday Mass in the Egyptian city of Alexandria and killing at least 21 people in an attack that raised suspicions of an al-Qaida role.

The attack came in the wake of repeated threats by al-Qaida militants in Iraq to attack Egypt’s Christians. A direct al-Qaida hand in the bombing would be a dramatic development, as Egypt’s government has long denied that the terror network has a significant presence in the country. Al-Qaida in Iraq has already been waging a campaign of violence against Christians in that country.

Police initially said the blast came from an explosives-packed car parked outside the Saints Church in the Mediterranean port city. But the Interior Ministry later said it was more likely from a suicide bomber who blew himself up among the crowd…

 

The Four Incorporeal Creatures Mission stands in solidarity and love with the families of all who have been killed and injured in this heinous act.  Our love, support and prayers are with our brethren in Alexandria at this time.

Please remember to consider these families in our prayers, and we hope you are comforted by the message of Christ revealed to St John the Evangelist in the book of Revelation -                                                                                                                                                                                

 

REVELATION 16:4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying:

“ You are righteous, O Lord,
The One who is and who was and who is to be,
Because You have judged these things.
6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
And You have given them blood to drink.
For it is their just due.”

7 And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

In the Apocalypse, the murderers shall be made to drink the fruit of their evil as the waters turn to blood as they did in the day of Moses. The reply from the altar is the voice of the martyrs crying out for the just judgement of the Living God – the call to DIVINE JUSTICE. THE UNJUST SHEDDING OF BLOOD SINCE THE DAY OF ABEL VIOLATES THE COSMIC ORDER OF GOD’S CREATION.

Genesis 4:10 (God is talking to Cain) “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. ¹¹ So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”

So it was that the earth shook and the heavens darkened at the crucifixion of the Holy One of Israel – and He will return on that great and terrible day of the LORD to execute judgement on all mankind - may God have mercy on us.

 

“The day will come when they will Kill you thinking they do God a service.” Jesus Christ…

St Antony said these words in the 300′s AD. “The day will come when those who are insane shall call you insane for not being like them.”

 

 

Egyptian churches praise US report on religious Freedoms

Amr Bayoumi
19/11/2010

Egyptian churches welcomed, for the first time, the American religious freedom report, stressing that Christians face discrimination in Egypt, and that the Egyptian government bears responsibility for Egypt’s poor ranking because the government has ignored past criticism and failed to address legitimate concerns.

A senior bishop in the Orthodox Church who requested not to use his name, confirmed that there is clear, explicit discrimination against Christians in Egypt.

“Because of the intensity of discrimination Copts face, Pope Shenouda III, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Copts in Egypt, has refrained from comment on these events except for one sentence: our lord is present,” the bishop said.

Pastor Safut al-Biyadi, head of the Anglican communion in Egypt, also confirmed that Christians in Egypt face discrimination.

“If we were confronting our problems ourselves, then the West would not get involved, but we are the ones who are giving them the opportunity to interfere,” Biyadi told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

Father Rafiq Greish, the Catholic Church spokesperson, agreed that there is discrimination against Christians in Egypt. He pointed out that some government jobs exclude Christians, such as the state security apparatus.

Greish said that Christians recognize that there is an intense discrimination against them, and that the government has failed to correct mistakes.

The annual US State Department Report on the Status of Religious Freedom around the world, published on Wednesday, criticized “the practice of religious discrimination against Christians and Baha’is”, saying that they did not enjoy equal opportunities to pursue government jobs.

The report said that converts from Islam to Christianity are subject to numerous restrictions, the most noteworthy of which is the refusal of authorities to issue them new identity cards which reflect their conversion to Christianity.

An Indian Church’s Colourful Tribute to Mary

WEST SAYVILLE, N.Y. — Without doubt, many more people line the sidewalks to see the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan than to watch the St. Mary Malankara Indian Orthodox Church’s annual Assumption Day Parade, which began here on Sunday with the usual blowing of the kumbu horn and the dancing of the koladi by the congregation’s teenage girls, dressed in saris and banging sticks.

But the Indians’ parade has its longtime devotees: neighborhood residents, mostly, who say they look forward to the procession because it is practically the only time when the people of the congregation venture outside, not counting getting in and out of their cars.

None of St. Mary’s 100 or so parishioners live in West Sayville, a predominantly white, middle-class community on Long Island’s South Shore where in the last few decades a surfeit of empty church buildings has attracted various religious communities on wheels.

The Indian congregants drive in from Queens, Brooklyn, western Nassau County and even New Jersey and Staten Island, to worship in a former Dutch Reformed Church building they bought in 1992. Inside, they speak Malayalam, the dialect of the Indian province where most have their roots, and they worship according to an Orthodox Christian liturgy that traces its origins to the teachings of the apostle Thomas.

At an hour or more, their road time is longer than the average trip to church, but national surveys show that most Americans travel farther to religious services than they used to, just as they journey farther to work. Except for Orthodox Jews, who are required to do so, hardly anyone walks to a house of worship anymore — a shift in the landscape that may be best illustrated by the now-unimaginable tableau of Norman Rockwell’s 1953 work “Walking to Church.”

In West Sayville, the congregation and its parade have assumed a mysterious, almost mythical status, despite the procession’s official permit and the three Suffolk County police cars assigned to traffic control.

“If you didn’t actually see this with your own eyes, and some people around here haven’t, you might think I was making it up,” said Christopher Bodkin, a local historian and a former town councilman. “I mean it is so rococo, wonderful, Hindu-esque, with the flower petals, the girls holding the decorative parasols — everything but the elephants.”

On Sunday, people watched with a mixture of fascination and neighborly nonchalance as the procession made its way around the block, marking the annual observance of Mary’s ascent into heaven. At the front was a float with posters of Mary and Thomas and other saints perched on cottony white clouds. Then came the men playing the Indian kumbu horn and chemda drums, the women keeping time with little brass cymbals called Ilathalam, then the littlest girls in angel wings and then the teenagers dancing.

The congregation’s women followed behind, pastel-colored saris billowing in the breeze as they flung paper flowers of red and blue. Bringing up the rear was a car carrying the Rev. Paulose Adai, the parish priest, whose plaintive singing of the devotional hymns was greatly amplified from a loudspeaker on the vehicle’s roof.

“Usually, they’re very quiet people,” said Kathy Ahern, a neighbor, shouting to be heard over the din. “I mean, this is the only day we hear anything from them at all.” She laughed.

Across the street, some people sat on their porches, glancing occasionally over the tops of their newspapers at the passing parade.

Malankara Christians trace their origins to the first century A.D., when St. Thomas is said to have taken the heavily traveled trade route from the eastern Mediterranean to Kerala, a province on the southwest coast of India where today about 20 percent of the population is Christian. They have had churches in the United States since the early 20th century, but have grown significantly since the 1970s, when immigration policy opened the doors to many nurses trained in the Christian hospitals of Kerala. Nationwide there are about 100 parishes.

Though the churches hew closely to Orthodox Christian liturgy, members also sustain many Indian cultural traditions. Worshipers remove their shoes before entering the church. Men and women sit separately.

And as is still customary in large segments of Indian society, young people accept the notion that their parents will be deeply involved in their selection of a mate.

“It’s not, like, ‘arranged marriage.’ But your parents have to approve of him, and have a meeting with his parents, and you probably wouldn’t marry anyone outside your religion,” said Judy Geevarghese, 30, who is married to Christopher Geevarghese, 28, whom she met at a cousin’s wedding in another St. Mary Malankara parish. They have a daughter, Arianna, 19 months old.

Varghese Poulos, one of the congregation’s founders, said church members originally met in a rented basement in Astoria, Queens. Every Sunday, it had to be completely furnished — from the portable altar to the folding chairs.

Finding out that there was an empty church for sale, even an hour’s drive away, was “like a miracle to us,” he said.

Mr. Bodkin, the former councilman, suggested there was an oddity in the move: The Indian Orthodox congregation, with its bells and drums, had taken over what was once an outpost of the strictest Calvinist worship.

There is no Dutch Reformed Church in the United States anymore. It has splintered into several new churches. But Jim Stasny, a former pastor of one of those offspring churches in West Sayville, who now lives in Washington, D.C., said he was pleased that someone was putting the building to good use.

“It would be better, perhaps, if they weren’t honoring saints, of course — we don’t believe in saints, you know,” he said. “But hey, things have changed. We wish those folks well.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/nyregion/17procession.html?_r=2

The Luminous Eye

    The Luminous Eye is a concise introduction to the mystical writings of Syria’s favourite monk, St Ephrem the Syrian.  Universally revered in the east, his poetry has encapsulated the spiritual eye of generations of Orthodox Christians.  The poetry of St Ephrem and his hymns are a wonderful re-working of Scripture endowed with the spiritual vision of the patristic mind and a living testimony to the living stream of this holy tradition.  St Ephrem’s writings are at once both simple and complex, although the simplicity at timescould betray to the undiscerning mind the rich tapestry of theological reflection interwoven as great themes collide in his work.

The Luminous Eye is another Cistercian Publication, who are to be commended for translating and publishing a number of rare patristic books from the original languages such as “Pachomian Koinonia” from the Coptic.  Whilst the “Luminous Eye” acts as good general introduction to the work of St Ephrem, SVS Press have previously published St Ephrem’s “Hymns on Paradise” perhaps some of his most beautiful work – which is to be reccommended to go into greater depth through his hymns in sequence rather than in the format in “The Luminous Eye” where only portions are quoted and then expounded by the author.

However you encounter him, St Ephrem is one of the great and often underestimated writers of the patristic era.  Well worth reading on a nice day outdoors in the company of creation!

The Perpetual Virginity of St Mary in the founders of protestantism

Perhaps this is the only time you will find quotes from protestants on this site but nevertheless it is a pointed reminder that the notion St Mary had Children apart from our Lord except by adoption is a modern innovation and misunderstanding of Scripture, that was not even considered by the founders of Sola Scriptura (Bible Alone) who rejected tradition.  Our Lord gave St Mary to St John the beloved from the cross as his mother because she had no other children… The holiness of St Mary is evident in apart from the Lord’s prayer the most beautiful prayer in Scripture which reveals the humility of St Mary Luke 1:46ff…

 

Famous Protestants on the doctrine of the Perpetual Virginity of the Theotokos

Martin Luther: “It is an artcle of faith that Mary is the Mother of the Lord and still a virgin…Christ, we believe, came forth from a womb left perfectly intact.” (Works of Luther, V. 11, pp319-320; V. 6, p 510) See also this article.

John Calvin’s Commentary on Matthew 1:25: “And knew her not This passage afforded the pretext for great disturbances, which were introduced into the Church, at a former period, by Helvidius. The inference he drew from it was, that Mary remained a virgin no longer than till her first birth, and that afterwards she had other children by her husband. Jerome, on the other hand, earnestly and copiously defended Mary’s perpetual virginity. Let us rest satisfied with this, that no just and well-grounded inference can be drawn from these words of the Evangelist, as to what took place after the birth of Christ. He is called first-born; but it is for the sole purpose of informing us that he was born of a virgin. It is said that Joseph knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son: but this is limited to that very time. What took place afterwards, the historian does not inform us. Such is well known to have been the practice of the inspired writers. Certainly, no man will ever raise a question on this subject, except from curiosity; and no man will obstinately keep up the argument, except from an extreme fondness for disputation.”

John Wesley: “I believe that [Christ] was… born of the blessed Virgin Mary, who, as well after as before she brought Him forth, continued a pure and unspotted virgin.”

Letter to a Roman Catholic, July 18, 1749.

 The Church of God has always considered St Mary as the second Ark of the Covenant,

for truly what dwelt within Our Blessed and Holy Mother was greater than the

tablets of stone which Our Lord God wrote on in the Ark of the Covenant.  So we call

her the Most Holy Theotokos or God bearer because we uphold the doctrine of the

incarnation that God the Word became man uniting Dininity and Humanity in the one person,

which was the statment of faith that Christ told St Peter he would build the Church on…

    Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

Matthew 16:^{13 x}Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ And they said, “Some say ^yJohn the Baptist, others say ^zElijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter replied, ^a“You are ^bthe Christ, ^cthe Son of ^dthe living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus answered him, ^e“Blessed are you, ^fSimon Bar-Jonah! For ^gflesh and blood has not revealed this to you, ^hbut my Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you, ⁱyou are Peter, and ^jon this rock² I will build my church, and ^kthe gates of ^lhell³ shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹ I will give you ^mthe keys of the kingdom of heaven, and ⁿwhatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed⁴ in heaven.” ^{20 o}Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. ^x

For ver. 13–16, see Mark 8:27–29; Luke 9:18–20 ^y ch. 14:2; Mark 6:14; Luke 9:7 ^z Mark 6:15; Luke 9:8; [ch. 17:10; Mark 9:11; John 1:21] ^a John 11:27 ^b See ch. 1:17 ^c See ch. 14:33 ^d Deut. 5:26; Josh. 3:10; Ps. 42:2; Jer. 10:10; Dan. 6:20; Hos. 1:10; Acts 14:15; 2 Cor. 3:3; 1 Tim. 4:10 ^e [ch. 13:16] ^f [John 1:42; 21:15–17] ^g 1 Cor. 15:50; Gal. 1:16 (Gk.); Eph. 6:12; Heb. 2:14 ^h 1 Cor. 2:10; 12:3; [ch. 11:25; John 6:45] ⁱ [ch. 10:2; John 1:42] ^j Eph. 2:20; Rev. 21:14; [ch. 7:24] ² The Greek words for Peter and rock sound similar ^k Job 38:17; Isa. 38:10 ^l See ch. 11:23 ³ Greek the gates of Hades ^m [Isa. 22:22; Rev. 1:18; 3:7] ⁿ [ch. 18:18; John 20:23] ⁴ Or shall have been bound … shall have been loosed ^o Mark 8:30; Luke 9:21; [ch. 17:9]; See ch. 12:16 The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001, S. Mt 16:13-20

 

 

Happy and Blessed New Year 1726 AM (Age of Martyrs)…

It is believed that the ancient Egyptians were the first to arrange a calendar, the Alexandrian Calendar; this became the Julian calendar when it was adopted in the west under Julius Caesar.

The original Calendar was organised by astronomy which was considerably accurate and was developed to aid in agriculture.

The calendar we use is derived from a Catholic Pope Gregory of the 16^th century, known the Gregorian calendar.  The western calendar was based not on the stars but on the cycle of the sun.

The Julian Calendar Day is made up of six hours, as we see in our Agpeya prayer book.

Friday marked the first day of the Coptic Year of 1726 am. 

In the year 284 AD, a very wicked emperor of Rome named Diocletian led a campaign of terror aimed at stamping out Christianity, wherein genocide was unleashed against the Church of God and so began the great persecution of Christians throughout the known world.

In memory of the honour of the blood of martyrs, we began our calendar at this point.  Consider that the Fathers of the Church never did anything without reason, and this date is no exception.  It is a call to remind us that true Christianity involves taking up one’s cross and denying self.  For some, this led to martyrdom.  Prior to the New Year we celebrated the feast of the martyrdom of St John the baptist, whose own sacrifice for pointing to the truth of the coming Kingdom of the Messiah was continued on in the life of the Church by the Apostles, when, like Christ, they were prepared to lay down their lives because of the great love they had in Christ, as well as their confidence in him.

Consider the witness of the confessors as well.  We mentioned already the apostles who were all except for one martyred. 

Watching some sports like football finals we see passions run high and the competitors give there all in their chosen sport.  The crowd’s passion too is caught up with the immense pressure on the players, and some thousands of people have their lives intertwined with the hopes and dreams of the players and the fellow supporters.  Spectators curse opposition players and referees, and cheer on their own favourite players as if their life depended on it.  Unfortunately, for some people, this is the extent of their lives.  Yet, consider for a moment what it was like in the Ancient Roman Empire.  They too held games, although we know that a great many of them were far more bloodthirsty than our modern sports.  Consider to the Coliseum of Rome.  The ground itself to the very grains of sand is hallowed by the shedding of Christian blood in the most awful of circumstances.  Imagine what they went through, the fear, the pain, the emotions considering their loved ones, and yet with boldness and great love for Christ they gave all for their love of Christ.  Some modern groups think it wrong to honour them, let me say it is wrong to not honour them!  For who could be more Christlike than one who gave up their lifeblood for His sake, just as He poured out His blood for the salvation of the world?

Some people think we worship the saints.  This is a misconception and misunderstanding of the way we act as Christians.  We believe wholeheartedly our family as the body of Christ extends beyond the grave into life eternal, and those holy ones who are part of the mystical body intercede for us before the throne of God.  St Augustine answered critics in his day about this very topic as follows…

Chapter 27.—Concerning the Nature of the Honor Which the Christians Pay to Their Martyrs.

But, nevertheless, we do not build temples, and ordain priests, rites, and sacrifices for these same martyrs; for they are not our gods, but their God is our God.  Certainly we honour their reliquaries, as the memorials of holy men of God who strove for the truth even to the death of their bodies that the true religion might be made known, and false and fictitious religions exposed.  For if there were some before them who thought that these religions were really false and fictitious, they were afraid to give expression to their convictions.  But who ever heard a priest of the faithful, standing at an altar built for the honor and worship of God over the holy body of some martyr, say in the prayers, I offer to thee a sacrifice, O Peter, or O Paul, or O Cyprian? for it is to God that sacrifices are offered at their tombs,—the God who made them both men and martyrs, and associated them with holy angels in celestial honor; and the reason why we pay such honors to their memory is, that by so doing we may both give thanks to the true God for their victories, and, by recalling them afresh to remembrance, may stir ourselves up to imitate them by seeking to obtain like crowns and palms, calling to our help that same God on whom they called. 

Celebration for the commemoration of martyrs in the early Church usually took place at their graves. So the ancient church of Smyrna annually commemorated its bishop St. Polycarp (a disciple of St John the Beloved apostle and evangelist) and valued his bones more than gold and gems, though with the express distinction: “Christ we worship as the Son of God; the martyrs we love and honor as disciples and successors of the Lord, on account of their insurpassable love to their King and Master, as also, we wish to be their companions and fellow disciples.”

The history of martyrdom does not however end in the early Christian centuries.  To this very day the Coptic Church finds blessed and holy martyrs amongst its ranks when Christians are called to die for their love of Christ and receive the eternal crown of martyrdom…

Perhaps this year we can increase our reading of the lives of the Holy Martyrs, Confessors and Anchorites of the Church and our resolve to follow their example in our own lives… 

The Authority of the Septuagint in the Ancient Church as Recorded by St Augustine

The Septuagint was first translation from the Hebrew Old Testament to the Greek language, the Bible used by the first Christians and proves the existence of all the Old books before 300 BC.  Some 1200 + years later some of the books were rejected by protestants as not divinely inspired.  This is in contradiction to the words of St Augustine of Hippo who expounds the sacred nature of the translation.  (See picture of original fragment to right)

In the Orthodox Church we accept the complete canon of Scripture affirmed at The African Synod of Hippo, in 393, approved the New Testament, as it stands today, together with the Septuagint books, a decision that was repeated by Councils of Carthage in 397 and 419. These councils were under the authority of St Augustine, who considered the Canon a closed issue as handed down from the Fathers of the Early Church…(Site of the council of Carthage seen left)                                                                                                                                            

 

                                   

ST AUGUSTINE – THE CITY OF GOD

By What Dispensation of God’s Providence the Sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament Were Translated Out of Hebrew into Greek, that They Might Be Made Known to All the Nations.

One of the Ptolemies, kings of Egypt, desired to know and have these sacred books.  For after Alexander of Macedon, who is also styled the Great, had by his most wonderful, but by no means enduring power, subdued the whole of Asia, yea, almost the whole world, partly by force of arms, partly by terror, and, among other kingdoms of the East, had entered and obtained Judea also, on his death his generals did not peaceably divide that most ample kingdom among them for a possession, but rather dissipated it, wasting all things by wars. 

Then Egypt began to have the Ptolemies as her kings.  The first of them, the son of Lagus, carried many captive out of Judea into Egypt.  But another Ptolemy, called Philadelphus, who succeeded him, permitted all whom he had brought under the yoke to return free; and more than that, sent kingly gifts to the temple of God, and begged Eleazar, who was the high priest, to give him the Scriptures, which he had heard by report were truly divine, and therefore greatly desired to have in that most noble library he had made. 

When the high priest had sent them to him in Hebrew, he afterwards demanded interpreters of him, and there were given him seventy-two, out of each of the twelve tribes six men, most learned in both languages, to wit, the Hebrew and Greek and their translation is now by custom called the Septuagint.  It is reported, indeed, that there was an agreement in their words so wonderful, stupendous, and plainly divine, that when they had sat at this work, each one apart (for so it pleased Ptolemy to test their fidelity), they differed from each other in no word which had the same meaning and force, or, in the order of the words; but, as if the translators had been one, so what all had translated was one, because in very deed the one Spirit had been in them all. 

And they received so wonderful a gift of God, in order that the authority of these Scriptures might be commended not as human but divine, as indeed it was, for the benefit of the nations who should at some time believe, as we now see them doing.

 

Above - 11th Century depiction of the group of elders with Andreas and Aristeas 

of Alexandria giving a letter to Eleazar, 

the High Priest (seated right on a cushioned throne). 

In the lower pane an attendant stands by Ptolemy with shield and lance. 

Ptolemy receives the letter from Andreas and Aristeas, 

who are accompanied by Jewish envoys.

 

Of the Authority of the Septuagint Translation, Which, Saving the Honor of the Hebrew Original, is to Be Preferred to All Translations.

For while there were other interpreters who translated these sacred oracles out of the Hebrew tongue into Greek, as Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, and also that translation which, as the name of the author is unknown, is quoted as the fifth edition, yet the Church has received this Septuagint translation just as if it were the only one; and it has been used by the Greek Christian people, most of whom are not aware that there is any other.  From this translation there has also been made a translation in the Latin tongue, which the Latin churches use. 

Our times, however, have enjoyed the advantage of the presbyter Jerome, a man most learned, and skilled in all three languages, who translated these same Scriptures into the Latin speech, not from the Greek, but from the Hebrew.   But although the Jews acknowledge this very learned labor of his to be faithful, while they contend that the Septuagint translators have erred in many places, still the churches of Christ judge that no one should be preferred to the authority of so many men, chosen for this very great work by Eleazar, who was then high priest; for even if there had not appeared in them one spirit, without doubt divine, and the seventy learned men had, after the manner of men, compared together the words of their translation, that what pleased them all might stand, no single translator ought to be preferred to them; but since so great a sign of divinity has appeared in them, certainly, if any other translator of their Scriptures from the Hebrew into any other tongue is faithful, in that case he agrees with these seventy translators, and if he is not found to agree with them, then we ought to believe that the prophetic gift is with them. 

For the same Spirit who was in the prophets when they spoke these things was also in the seventy men when they translated them, so that assuredly they could also say something else, just as if the prophet himself had said both, because it would be the same Spirit who said both; and could say the same thing differently, so that, although the words were not the same, yet the same meaning should shine forth to those of good understanding; and could omit or add something, so that even by this it might be shown that there was in that work not human bondage, which the translator owed to the words, but rather divine power, which filled and ruled the mind of the translator.  Some, however, have thought that the Greek copies of the Septuagint version should be emended from the Hebrew copies; yet they did not dare to take away what the Hebrew lacked and the Septuagint had, but only added what was found in the Hebrew copies and was lacking in the Septuagint, and noted them by placing at the beginning of the verses certain marks in the form of stars which they call asterisks. 

And those things which the Hebrew copies have not, but the Septuagint have, they have in like manner marked at the beginning of the verses by horizontal spit-shaped marks like those by which we denote ounces; and many copies having these marks  are circulated even in Latin.  But we cannot, without inspecting both kinds of copies, find out those things which are neither omitted nor added, but expressed differently, whether they yield another meaning not in itself unsuitable, or can be shown to explain the same meaning in another way.  If, then, as it behoves us, we behold nothing else in these Scriptures than what the Spirit of God has spoken through men, if anything is in the Hebrew copies and is not in the version of the Seventy, the Spirit of God did not choose to say it through them, but only through the prophets. 

But whatever is in the Septuagint and not in the Hebrew copies, the same Spirit chose rather to say through the latter, thus showing that both were prophets.  For in that manner He spoke as He chose, some things through Isaiah, some through Jeremiah, some through several prophets, or else the same thing through this prophet and through that.  Further, whatever is found in both editions, that one and the same Spirit willed to say through both, but so as that the former preceded in prophesying, and the latter followed in prophetically interpreting them; because, as the one Spirit of peace was in the former when they spoke true and concordant words, so the selfsame one Spirit hath appeared in the latter, when, without mutual conference they yet interpreted all things as if with one mouth.

Six out of each of the twelve tribes of Israel before Ptolemy to 

translate the Scriptures into Greek - 11th Century manuscript

Wisdom from the Desert!

“The heart itself is only a small vessel,

yet dragons are there, and lions;

there are poisonous beasts

and all the treasures of evil;

there are rough and uneven roads;

there are precipices;

but there too, are God and His angels,

life is there too, and the Kingdom;

there, too, is light, and there the apostles,

and heavenly cities, and treasures of grace.

All things lie within that little space.”

 

St Makarios the Great

          SAINT GREGORY OF NYSSA – THE LIFE OF MOSES

Saint Gregory of Nyssa is one of the great Fathers of the Church and this wonderful little book is in itself evidence of his holiness because of the profound mystical reflection which is nothing short of inspirational.  Furthermore, it is clear evidence of why the writings of the Church Fathers should take an honoured place as second only to our Divinely inspired Scriptures in the significance of Christian writings.  This particular work is so full of awe and wonder at the marvels of God and Divinity one will never again read over the well known account of the life of Moses the arch prophet the same way again.  It seems impossible to actually put into words the profound nature of Saint Gregory’s insight, so I will leave you with a little quote…

“After he had passed some time in this kind of life, the history says an awe inspiring theophany occurred.  At high noon a light brighter than the sunlight dazzled his eyes.  Astonished at the strange sight, he looked up at the mountain and saw a bush from which this light was flaming up like a fire.  When he saw the branches of the bush sprouting up in flame as if they were in pure water, he said to himself “I will go and see this great sight.”  As soon as he said this, he no longer received the marvel of the light with his sight alone, but (which is most astounding of all) his hearing too was illuminated by the rays of light.  The light’s grace was distributed to both senses, illuminating the sight with flashing rays and lightning the way for the hearing with undefiled teachings.  The voice from the light forbade Moses to approach the mountain burdened with lifeless sandals.  He removed the sandals from his feet, and so stood on that ground on which the divine light was shining.” 

This is just a taste of the wonderful depth of this book, no Orthodox Christian can read this and not be moved…

This book is now available in an affordable edition from Harper Collins Spiritual Classics Series or from the Classics of Western Spirituality Series.