Jesus to ~400 AD

(My original has many pictures and illustrations.  Please excuse this installment until I am able to complete it.)

Joseph of Arimathea was, according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' Crucifixion. Medieval interest in Joseph centered on two themes, that of Joseph as the founder of British Christianity (even before it had taken hold in Rome), and that of Joseph as the original guardian of the Holy Grail.  Legends about the arrival of Christianity in Britain abounded during the Middle Ages.  Tertullian (AD 155–222) wrote in Adversus Judaeos that Britain had already received and accepted the Gospel in his lifetime, writing of:  “ … all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons–inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ.”  Eusebius of Caesarea, (AD 260–340), one of the earliest and most comprehensive of church historians, wrote of Christ's disciples in Demonstratio Evangelica, saying that "some have crossed the Ocean and reached the Isles of Britain."  Saint Hilary of Poitiers (AD 300–376) also wrote that the Apostles had built churches and that the Gospel had passed into Britain.  Hippolytus (AD 170–236), considered to have been one of the most learned Christian historians, puts names to the seventy disciples whom Jesus sent forth in Luke 10, includes Aristobulus of Romans 16:10 with Joseph, and states that he ended up becoming a pastor in Britain.  The first literary connection of Joseph of Arimathea with Britain had to wait for the ninth-century Life of Mary Magdalene attributed to Rabanus Maurus (AD 766–856), Archbishop of Mainz.  Rabanus states that Joseph of Arimathea was sent to Britain, and he goes on to detail who travelled with him as far as France, claiming that he was accompanied by "the two Bethany sisters, Mary and Martha, Lazarus (who was raised from the dead), St. Eutropius, St. Salome, St. Cleon, St. Saturnius, St. Mary Magdalen, Marcella (the maid of the Bethany sisters), St. Maxium or Maximin, St. Martial, and St. Trophimus or Restitutus."  Rabanus Maurus describes their voyage to Britain:  “Leaving the shores of Asia and favored by an east wind, they went round about, down the Tyrrhenian Sea, between Europe and Africa, leaving the city of Rome and all the land to the right.  Then happily turning their course to the right, they came near to the city of Marseilles, in the Viennoise province of the Gauls, where the river Rhône is received by the sea.  There, having called upon God, the great King of all the world, they parted; each company going to the province where the Holy Spirit directed them; presently preaching everywhere…”  The route he describes follows that of a supposed Phoenician trade route to Britain, as described by Diodorus Siculus.

William of Malmesbury mentions Joseph's going to Britain in one passage of his Chronicle of the English Kings, written in the 1120s.  He says Philip the Apostle sent twelve Christians to Britain, one of whom was his dearest friend, Joseph of Arimathea.  He claims that Glastonbury Abbey was founded by them; Glastonbury would be associated specifically with Joseph in later literature.  Cardinal Caesar Baronius, the Vatican Librarian and historian (d. 1609), recorded this voyage by Joseph of Arimathea, Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, Martha, Marcella and others in his Annales Ecclesiatici, volume 1, section 35.  The accretion of legends around Joseph of Arimathea in Britain, encapsulated by the poem hymn of William Blake And did those feet in ancient time held as "an almost secret yet passionately held article of faith among certain otherwise quite orthodox Christians", was critically examined by A. W. Smith in 1989.   In its most developed version, Joseph, a tin merchant, visited Cornwall, accompanied by his nephew, the boy Jesus.  C.C. Dobson made a case for the authenticity of the Glastonbury legenda.

In Robert de Boron’s Joseph d'Arimathe, Joseph is imprisoned much as in the Acts, but it is the Grail that sustains him during his captivity.  Upon his release he founds his company of followers, who take the Grail to Britain.  In the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, a vast Arthurian composition that took much from Boron, it is not Joseph but his son Josephus who is considered the primary holy man of Britain.  Later authors sometimes mistakenly or deliberately treated the Grail story as truth—John of Glastonbury, who assembled a chronicle of the history of Glastonbury Abbey around 1350, claims that when Joseph came to Britain, he brought with him a wooden cup used in the Last Supper and two cruets, one holding the blood of Christ, and the other his sweat, washed from his wounded body on the Cross.  John further claims King Arthur was descended from Joseph, listing the following imaginative pedigree through King Arthur's mother: “Helaius, Nepos Joseph, Genuit Josus, Josue Genuit Aminadab, Aminadab Genuit Filium, qui Genuit Ygernam, de qua Rex Pen-Dragon, Genuit Nobilem et Famosum Regum Arthurum, per Quod Patet, Quod Rex Arthurus de Stirpe Joseph descendit.”  Elizabeth I cited Joseph's missionary work in England when she told Roman Catholic bishops that the Church of England pre-dated the Roman Church in England.

The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers.  The legend may combine Christian lore with a Celtic myth of a cauldron endowed with special powers.   The early Grail romances centered on Percival and were woven into the more general Arthurian fabric.  Some of the Grail legend is interwoven with legends of the Holy Chalice.

The Holy Lance (also known as the Spear of Destiny, Holy Spear, Lance of Longinus, Spear of Longinus or Spear of Christ) is the name given to the lance that pierced Jesus' side as he hung on the cross in John's account of the Crucifixion.

The Magnificat (Song of Mary) is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services.  It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn.  English (Douay-Rheims): “My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.  Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.  Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name.  And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.  He hath shewed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.  He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.  He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy: As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.”

The Western Mindset is infused with Christianity.  The pagan religions even had a form of pre-Christian theology.  Arts and Music of the Gentile had in earlier centuries striven after Higher purposes, not simply the materialistic or fleshy motivations of our Jewish dominated culture.  I have hence included some great hymns of faith:

“Beneath the Cross of Jesus” Words: Elizabeth C. Clephane, 1868

1. Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand, The shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land; A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way, From the burning of the noontide heat, and the burden of the day.

2. O safe and happy shelter, O refuge tried and sweet, O trysting place where Heaven’s love and Heaven’s justice meet! As to the holy patriarch that wondrous dream was given, So seems my Savior’s cross to me, a ladder up to heaven.

3. There lies beneath its shadow but on the further side The darkness of an awful grave that gapes both deep and wide And there between us stands the cross two arms outstretched to save A watchman set to guard the way from that eternal grave.

4. Upon that cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see The very dying form of One Who suffered there for me; And from my stricken heart with tears two wonders I confess; The wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.

5. I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place; I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face; Content to let the world go by to know no gain or loss, My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.

“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” Words: Isaac Watts 1707

1. When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride.

2. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ my God! All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.

3. See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

4. His dying crimson, like a robe, Spreads o’er His body on the tree; Then I am dead to all the globe, And all the globe is dead to me.

5. Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.

“Christ the Lord Is Risen Today”  Text: Charles Wesley, 1707-1788   Music: Lyra Davidica, 1708

1.        Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!

                Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!         Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

2.        Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!              Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!

                Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!                                Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

3.        Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!                  Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!

                Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!               Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!

4.        Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!         Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!

                Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!             Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

5.        Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!          Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia!

                Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!             Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

6.        King of glory, soul of bliss, Alleluia!                       Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!

                Thee to know, thy power to prove, Alleluia!          Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!

“And Can it be that I Should Gain”  Words: Charles Wesley, Psalms and Hymns, 1738.  Music: Thomas Campbell (1777-1844)

1. And can it be that I should gain An interest in the Savior’s blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain— For me, who Him to death pursued?  Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

2. ’Tis mystery all: th’Immortal dies: Who can explore His strange design? In vain the firstborn seraph tries To sound the depths of love divine.  ’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore, Let angel minds inquire no more. ’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore; Let angel minds inquire no more.

3. He left His Father’s throne above So free, so infinite His grace— Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam’s helpless race:  ’Tis mercy all, immense and free, For O my God, it found out me! ’Tis mercy all, immense and free, For O my God, it found out me!

4. Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature’s night; Thine eye diffused a quickening ray— I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;  My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee. My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

5. Still the small inward voice I hear, That whispers all my sins forgiven; Still the atoning blood is near, That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.  I feel the life His wounds impart; I feel the Savior in my heart. I feel the life His wounds impart; I feel the Savior in my heart.

6. No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him, is mine; Alive in Him, my living Head, And clothed in righteousness divine,  Bold I approach th’eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own. Bold I approach th’eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

“Amazing Grace!”  Words: John Newton (converted ex-slave trader)1779

1. Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see.

2. ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed!

3. Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.

4. The Lord has promised good to me, His Word my hope secures; He will my Shield and Portion be, As long as life endures.

5. Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail, And mortal life shall cease, I shall possess, within the veil, A life of joy and peace.

6. The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, The sun forbear to shine; But God, who called me here below, Will be forever mine.

7. When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than when we’d first begun.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus”  Words & Music: Helen H. Lemmel, 1922

O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There’s a light for a look at the Savior, And life more abundant and free!

Refrain: Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting He passed, and we follow Him there; Over us sin no more hath dominion— For more than conquerors we are!                Refrain

His Word shall not fail you—He promised; Believe Him, and all will be well: Then go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell!                Refrain

“The Church’s One Foundation” Words: Samuel J. Stone  Music: Samuel S. Wesley (1810-1876)

1.        The Church’s one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord, She is His new creation By water and the Word. From heaven He came and sought her To be His holy bride; With His own blood He bought her And for her life He died.

2.        She is from every nation, Yet one o’er all the earth; Her charter of salvation, One Lord, one faith, one birth; One holy Name she blesses, Partakes one holy food, And to one hope she presses, With every grace endued.

3.        The Church shall never perish! Her dear Lord to defend, To guide, sustain, and cherish, Is with her to the end: Though there be those who hate her, And false sons in her pale, Against both foe or traitor She ever shall prevail.

4.        Though with a scornful wonder Men see her sore oppressed, By schisms rent asunder, By heresies distressed: Yet saints their watch are keeping, Their cry goes up, “How long?” And soon the night of weeping Shall be the morn of song!

5.        ’Mid toil and tribulation, And tumult of her war, She waits the consummation Of peace forevermore; Till, with the vision glorious, Her longing eyes are blest, And the great Church victorious Shall be the Church at rest.

6.        Yet she on earth hath union With God the Three in One, And mystic sweet communion With those whose rest is won, With all her sons and daughters Who, by the Master’s hand Led through the deathly waters, Repose in Eden land.

7.        O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we Like them, the meek and lowly, On high may dwell with Thee: There, past the border mountains, Where in sweet vales the Bride With Thee by living fountains Forever shall abide!

“A Mighty Fortress is our God” Words & Music: Martin Luther, 1529  This song has been called “the greatest hymn of the greatest man of the greatest period of German history” and the “Battle Hymn of the Reformation.”

1.        A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing: For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.

2.        Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing; Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing: Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same, And He must win the battle.

3.        And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us: The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him.

4.        That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth; The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth: Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever.

Christianity has also revered Nature as the primary witness of the characteristics of God.:

“We Plough the Fields” by German Matthias Claudius  1782

We plough the fields and scatter The good seed on the land, But it is fed and watered By God's almighty hand: He sends the snow in winter, The warmth to swell the grain, The breezes and the sunshine, And soft, refreshing rain.

Refrain: All good gifts around us Are sent from heaven above; Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord, For all his love.

He only is the maker Of all things near and far; He paints the wayside flower, He lights the evening star; The winds and waves obey him, By him the birds are fed; Much more to us, his children, He gives our daily bread.               Refrain

We thank thee then, O Father, For all things bright and good, The seed time and the harvest, Our life, our health, our food. Accept the gifts we offer For all thy love imparts, And what thou most desirest, Our humble, thankful hearts.              Refrain

“Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” Text: Henry Alford, 1810-1871 Music: George J. Elvey, 1816-1893

1.        Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home; all is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.  God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied; come to God's own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

2.        All the world is God's own field, fruit as praise to God we yield; wheat and tares together sown are to joy or sorrow grown; first the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear; Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.

3.        For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take the harvest home; from the field shall in that day all offenses purge away, giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast; but the fruitful ears to store in the garner evermore.

4.        Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring thy final harvest home; gather thou thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin, there, forever purified, in thy presence to abide; come, with all thine angels, come, raise the glorious harvest home.

Since this Compiler is mostly Swedish, the following hymns are included:

"How Great Thou Art" is a Christian hymn based on a Swedish poem written by Carl Gustav Boberg (1859–1940) in Sweden in 1885.  The melody is a Swedish folk song.  Commonly Used English Lyrics:

Verse 1: O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder Consider all the works Thy hands have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Refrain: Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee; How great Thou art, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee: How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Verse 2: When through the woods and forest glades I wander And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees; When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:    (Repeat Refrain.)

Verse 3: And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in; That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin:               (Repeat Refrain.)

Verse 4: When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration, And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!       (Repeat Refrain.)

“Children of the Heavenly Father” (Swedish) 1858

1. Children of the Heavenly Father Safely in His bosom gather Nestling bird nor star in heaven Such a refuge e’er was given

2. God His own doth tend and nourish In His holy courts they flourish From all evil things He spares them In His mighty arms He bears them

3. Neither life nor death shall ever From the Lord His children sever Unto them His grace He showeth And their sorrows all He knoweth

4. Though He giveth or He taketh God His children ne’er forsaketh His the loving purpose solely To preserve them pure and holy

5. Lo their very hairs He numbers And no daily care encumbers Them that share His ev’ry blessing And His help in woes distressing

6. Praise the Lord in joyful numbers Your Protector never slumbers At the will of your Defender Ev’ry foe man must surrender.

“Day by Day” (Swedish) by Lina Sandell Berg (1832-1903)

1.Day by day and with each passing moment Strength I find to meet my trials here; Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment I’ve no cause for worry or for fear; He whose heart is kind beyond all measure Gives unto each day what He deems best!; Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure Mingling toil with peace and rest.  2.Ev'ry day the Lord Himself is near me With a special mercy for each hour; All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me, He whose name is Counselor and Pow'r. The protection of His child and treasure, Is a charge that on Himself He laid; "As your days, your strength shall be in measure," This the pledge to me He made. 3.Help me then in ev'ry tribulation, So to trust Your promises, O Lord; That I lose not faith's sweet consolation, Offered me within Your holy Word. Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting, E'er to take, as from a Father's hand, One by one, the days, the moments fleeting, Till I reach the promised land.

35   Paul of Tarsus, a Jewish Pharisee, claims to have converted to Christianity and begins converting only Gentiles to Christianity.  Some researchers claim that Christianity is a conspiracy to prevent Gentiles from fighting the Jews.  Some claim that Paul Judaified Christianity.  Some German researchers, understanding the roots of Tarsus, suggested that Paul’s mother was Greek.  He did quote from the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament.

Christian Citizen:

1)“He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.”  NIV Luke 22:36

2)“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.  Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.  For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.  For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.  Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.  This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing.  Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”  NIV Romans 13:1-7

3)“But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”  NIV Matthew 5:39

4)“Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”  (Matthew 22:21).

1)Luke 22:36, in older days, was considered clear words from Jesus to physically defend oneself against evil.  2)Paul’s Romans 13 is a clear injunction that Government is to restrain evil and promote good.  Christians, after peaceful methods, must change an evil government with revolution.  3)Turning the other cheek is to force the striker to treat you as an equal.  The first strike is from the back of the hand as to a servant, the second strike is the front of the hand.  4) In the US, we are Caesar.  And isn’t everything, God’s?

There is a theory that the New Testament was composed by the Piso family of ancient Rome, a prominent plebeian branch of the gens Calpurnia, descended from Calpus the son of Numa Pompilius.  with at least 50 prominent Roman family members recognized.  Members are known into the 2nd century.  The surname was later changed to Riso.  Numa Pompilius (753-673 BC; king of Rome, 715-673 BC) was the legendary second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus.  A secondary theory would be that the New Testament was edited by them.

Was the New Testament composed or edited to convert Gentiles to a submissive, pacifist form of Judaism?  The Jews themselves were not pacifists, but racist supremacist militants.  If this theory of pacifism is true, there is still enough verses such as the preceding that can predicate a militant Christianity.

During the American Revolution, many preachers used Scripture to maintain and encourage the right to revolt against wicked Government.

Three Hymns which have influenced this author:

“Dare to be a Daniel”  -Words & Music: Philip P. Bliss(1838-1876), 1873   Ira Sankey said this hymn was prohibited by the Sultan from use in Turkey.

1)Standing by a purpose true,/Heeding God’s command,/Honor them, the faithful few!/All hail to Daniel’s band!

Refrain: Dare to be a Daniel,/Dare to stand alone!/Dare to have a purpose firm!/Dare to make it known.

2)Many mighty men are lost/Daring not to stand,/Who for God had been a host/By joining Daniel’s band.    Refrain

3)Many giants, great and tall,/Stalking through the land,/Headlong to the earth would fall,/If met by Daniel’s band.    Refrain

4)Hold the Gospel banner high!/On to vict’ry grand!/Satan and his hosts defy,/And shout for Daniel’s band.  Refrain

“Trust and Obey” by John H. Sammis (1846-1919) 1887.  Music: Daniel B. Towner (1850-1919)

1)When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,/What a glory He sheds on our way!/While we do His good will, He abides with us still,/And with all who will trust and obey.

Refrain: Trust and obey, for there’s no other way/To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

2)Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,/But His smile quickly drives it away;/Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,/Can abide while we trust and obey.                        Refrain

3)Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,/But our toil He doth richly repay;/Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,/But is blessed if we trust and obey.                                Refrain

4)But we never can prove the delights of His love/Until all on the altar we lay;/For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,/Are for them who will trust and obey.                        Refrain

5)Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet./Or we’ll walk by His side in the way./What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;/Never fear, only trust and obey.                       Refrain

“Are Ye Able?” by Earl B. Marlatt (1892-1976) 1926. Music: Harry S. Mason, 1924

1)“Are ye able,” said the Master,/“To be crucified with Me?”/“Yea,” the sturdy dreamers answered,/“To the death we follow Thee.”

Refrain: Lord, we are able. Our spirits are Thine./Remold them, make us, like Thee, divine./Thy guiding radiance above us shall be/A beacon to God, to love and loyalty.                     

2)Are you able to relinquish/Purple dreams of power and fame,/To go down into the Garden,/Or to die a death of shame?                        Refrain

3)Are ye able, when the anguish/Racks your mind and heart with pain,/To forgive the souls who wrong you,/Who would make your striving vain?                   Refrain

4)Are ye able to remember,/When a thief lifts up his eyes,/That his pardoned soul is worthy/Of a place in paradise?                  Refrain

5)Are ye able when the shadows/Close around you with the sod,/To believe that spirit triumphs,/To commend your soul to God?              Refrain

6)Are ye able? Still the Master/Whispers down eternity,/And heroic spirits answer,/Now as then in Galilee.                                Refrain

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV) “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.”

Paul quotes the Greek Septuagint, the Old Testament translated from Hebrew.  Paul encapsulates Christ’s teaching: The Spectrum of Love has nine ingredients: Patience "Love suffers long.";   Kindness "And is kind.";   Generosity "Love envies not.";   Humility "Love vaunts not itself, is not puffed up.";   Courtesy "Doth not behave itself unseemly.";   Unselfishness "Seek not her own.";   Good Temper "Is not easily provoked.";   Guilelessness "Think no evil.";    Sincerity "Rejoice not in iniquity, but rejoice in the truth." Galatians 5:22-23 (New International Version) - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.

Ephesians 6:10-20 (New International Version) The Armor of God:  10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

 Fear of the Jews:

About the evolving Judaism:

“Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”” Matthew 16:6 NKJV

“It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” Matthew 21:13 NKJV

“Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. You blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because ye build tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore you be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill up then the measure of your fathers.  You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell?”  -Jesus Christ - Matthew, 23:23-33.

“For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.  Jesus Christ - Matthew, 23:4.

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widow's houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.”  -Jesus Christ - Matthew, 23:14.

“And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.”  Luke - Acts 23:12

Galatians 1:13-14 (NIV) For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.  I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

I Thessalonians 2:14-6 (Jews do not please God)…and are adversaries to all men…wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.

“For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.” 1Thessalonians 2:14-6 NIV

1 Timothy 1:13 (NIV) Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. [Sounds like the philosophy of the Nazi Camps - to create good citizens out of ne’er-do-wells.  “Work shall make you free.”]

Titus 1:10-16 “For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, ESPECIALLY THOSE OF THE CIRCUMCISION, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.  One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”  This testimony is true.  Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth.  To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.  They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.”

John 7:13 “But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the Jews.”

John 9:22 “His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.”

John 12:42 “Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue;”

John 19:38 “After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body.”

John 20:19 “So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." (NASB)

“After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.” St. John - St. John 7:1.

John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is not truth in him.  When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it. - then answered the Jews - (which makes it clear that Christ was addressing the Jews.)

2 Corinthians 11:24 (NIV) “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.”

In one place the Lord said, "They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me." (John 16:2,3)

Stephen speaking before a synagogue council just before his execution: "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit.  As your fathers did, so do you.  Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?  And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it." (Acts 7:51-53, RSV)

****Traditions of the Elders:  After 70 ad, the religion of the Jews turned even deeper towards 'Talmudic Judaism' or 'Rabbinic Judaism.'  Since the Temple was destroyed, the priesthood took prominence.  This is up to the current day.  The hatred towards Jesus became more intense.

"The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, 'Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?' And He (Jesus) said to them, 'Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: "This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.' He was also saying to them, 'You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.'" (Mark 7:1-9)

Matthew 15:2 NIV "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!"

Matthew 15:3 NIV Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?

Matthew 15:6 NIV he is not to 'honor his father ' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

Mark 7:3 NIV (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.

Mark 7:5 NIV So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"

Mark 7:13 NIV Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."

Mark 7:4 NIV When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles. )

Mark 7:8 NIV You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

Mark 7:9 NIV And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!

****Fear of Death:

To the Hebrews: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

Of the Greeks: "I'd rather be a day-laborer on earth working for a man of little property than lord of all the hosts of the dead." --Achilles, in The Iliad.  As illustrated by the above remark by the hero Achilles, death was not a glorious thing for the ancient Greeks. In Homer's epics, the dead are "pathetic in their helplessness, inhabiting drafty, echoing halls, deprived of their wits, and flitting purposelessly about uttering batlike noises."  While undesirable when compared with life on earth, this vague, shadowing existence was not generally cause for fear of the afterlife.  Only terrible sinners (like Tantalus, Tityus and Sisyphus) were punished after death; similarly, only a select few ended up in the paradisical Elysian Fields.

Of the Germans: Roman Policy towards the Germans 370 AD Liber XXVIII v. 2 “But he had to do with a people who knew not the fear of death…”-Ammianus Marcellinus

****Heaven, Hell, Eternity, New Heavens and New Earth

Heaven –Paul testified that he had been to the Third Heaven.  Even though Jewish and other Christian writings may have up to 7 heavens, the Kabbalah has a different angel assigned to each one, it is generally understood that the first heaven is where birds dwell, the second heaven is where the stars dwell and the third heaven is where God dwells.

Hell- In many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife.  Religions with a linear divine history often depict Hell as endless.  Religions with a cyclic history often depict Hell as an intermediary period between incarnations.  Other afterlife destinations include Heaven, Purgatory, Paradise and Limbo.

The modern English word Hell is derived from Old English hel, (about 725 AD to refer to a nether world of the dead) reaching into the Anglo-Saxon pagan period.    This is envisioned as a "misty" place (rather than the fire envisioned by Christianity and Islam) where go all women and in addition, some men.  Punishment for wrong deeds is not mentioned.

In Christianity, punishment in Hell typically corresponds to sins committed during life, either specific or in general, with condemned sinners relegated to one or more chamber of Hell or to a level of suffering.  Hell is traditionally depicted as fiery and painful, inflicting guilt and suffering.  In classic Greek mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus.  It is either a deep, gloomy place, a pit or abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides within Hades (the entire underworld) with Tartarus being the hellish component.

The Christian doctrine of hell derives from the teaching of the New Testament, where hell is typically described using the Greek words Tartarus or Hades or the Arabic word Gehenna.  Hell is translated from 3 different terms: 1) Hades has similarities to the Old Testament term, Sheol as "the place of the dead", both the righteous and the wicked.; 2) Gehenna refers to the "Valley of Hinnon", which was a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem.  It was a place where people burned their garbage and thus there was always a fire burning there.  Bodies of those deemed to have died in sin without hope of salvation (such as people who committed suicide) were thrown there to be destroyed.  Gehenna is used in the New Testament as a metaphor for the final place of punishment for the wicked after the resurrection (and possibly of throwing away one’s life on sin).; 3) Tartaro (the verb "throw to Tartarus") occurs only once in the New Testament in II Peter 2:4, where it is parallel to the use of the noun form in 1 Enoch as the place of incarceration of 200 fallen angels.  It mentions nothing about human souls being sent there in the afterlife.

Some Christian theologians of the early Church and some of the modern Church subscribe to the doctrines of Conditional Immortality.  Conditional Immortality is the belief that the soul dies with the body and does not live again until the resurrection.  (Paul says that the Mortal will put on Immortality.)  Annihilationism is the belief that the soul is mortal unless granted eternal life, making it possible to be destroyed in Hell.

Universal Reconciliation is the belief that all human souls (and even Demons) will be eventually reconciled with God and admitted to Heaven.

Biblical words translated as "Hell": Abaddon -Hebrew meaning "destruction"; Gehenna; Hades; Infernus -Latin meaning "being underneath"; and Sheol in the King James Bible, is translated as "Hell" 31 times and translated as "the grave" 31 other times.  Modern translations, however, do not translate Sheol as "Hell" at all, instead rendering it "the grave," "the pit," or "death."  Tartarus appearing only in II Peter 2:4 in the New Testament.

**Many contemporary religious Jews do not believe in Heaven or Hell.

Eternity- While in the popular mind, eternity often simply means existence for a limitless amount of time, many have used it to refer to a timeless existence altogether outside time.  The Greek term Aeonios, rendered eternal or everlasting in contemporary Scriptures has a more qualitative rather than quantitative meaning.  It means future rather than endless.  The Scripture speaks of future death, future punishment, etc.  There are many instances in Scripture where something is considered to be forever, which has an end in a subsequent portion of Scripture.  

New Heavens and New Earth refers to a whole new society, such as a new society following the destruction of an experienced one.  As with the terms eternal and forever, this term has been fulfilled many times in Scripture.

Mankind has a common origin and heritage and then diversified into different cultures and religions.  Just as the concept of Christ was prefigured within the Old Testament, it has also been prefigured in the both major and tribal religions.  Some say that other religions influenced the language and even the person of Jesus the Christ.  Just as Hebrew midrash influenced the gospel writing about the person of Jesus, perhaps pagan religion did too, but there is no strong evidence, only incomplete parallels.  My argument is that even if it did, it was only in the language of description of Jesus, not the historic person.

The Gospel was paraphrased in German idioms and metaphors to reach the Germans.  Can we not paraphrase it to reach others around the world, even unto contemporary Judaism and agnostic materialists?

God in different languages: Arabic: Allah (Al = the, lah = God);  Chinese: Shang Di;  Croatian: Bog;  German: Gott;  Hungarian: Isten;  Italian: Dio;  French: Dieus;  Finnish: Jumala;  Latin: Deus;  Norwegian: Gud;  Portugese: Deus;  Russian: Boze;  Spanish: Dios;  Urdu : Khudah

Jesus Christ in different languages: Afrikaans: Jesus Christus;  Albanian: Jezu Krishti;  Arabic - Isa al Maseeh (Jesus the Messiah);  Azerbaijani: İsa Məsih;  Basque: Jesus Christ;  Catalan: Jesús Crist;  Croatian: Isus Krist;  Czech: Ježíš Kristus;  Danish: Jesus Kristus;  Dutch: Jezus Christus;  Estonian: Jeesus Kristus;  Filipino: Hesukristo;  Finnish: Jeesus Kristus;  French: Jésus-Christ;  Galician: Xesús Cristo;  German: Jesus Christus;  Haitian Creole: Jezi Kris la;  Hungarian: Jézus Krisztus;  Icelandic: Jesús Kristur;  Indonesian: Yesus Kristus;  Irish: Íosa Críost;  Italian: Gesù Cristo;  Latvian: Jēzus Kristus;  Lithuanian: Jėzus Kristus;  Malay: Yesus Kristus;  Maltese: Ġesù Kristu;  Norwegian: Jesus Kristus;  Polish: Jezus Chrystus;  Portugese: Jesus Cristo;  Romanian: Isus Hristos;  Slovak: Ježiš Kristus;  Slovenian: Jezus Kristus;  Spanish: Jesús Cristo;  Swahili: Yesu Kristo;  Swedish: Jesus Kristus;  Turkish: İsa Mesih;  Vietnamese: Chúa Giêsu Kitô;  Welsh: Iesu Grist

Don Richardson (1935- ) is a Canadian Christian missionary, teacher, author and international speaker who worked among the tribal people of Western New Guinea, Indonesia.  He argues in his writings that, hidden among tribal cultures, there are usually some practices or understandings, which he calls "redemptive analogies", which can be used to illustrate the meaning of the Christian Gospel, contextualizing the biblical representation of the incarnation of Jesus.  “Eternity in Their Hearts: Startling Evidence of Belief in the One True God in Hundreds of Cultures Throughout the World” (2006)

It is important to one’s life for a sense of purpose or significance to believe in concepts greater than oneself.  To believe in a God imbued with Absolutes such as ultimate Truth brings forth a strong bedrock to hold onto one’s own truths and not waver to popular sentimentality.  The Gospel author John equates Jesus’s Truth with the Logos or the Greeks’ Ultimate Word of Truth.  Paul equates Jesus with the Greeks’ ‘Unknown God’, the God of Absolutes.

New Testament: Matthew ; Mark ; Luke ; John ; Acts ; Romans ; 1 Corinthians ; 2 Corinthians ; Galatians ; Ephesians ; Philippians ; Colossians; 1 Thessalonians ; 2 Thessalonians ; 1 Timothy ; 2 Timothy ; Titus ; Philemon ; Hebrews ; James ; 1 Peter ; 2 Peter ; 1 John ; 2 John ; 3 John ; Jude ; Revelation

John Arthur Thomas “John AT” Robinson (1919–12/5, 1983) was a New Testament scholar, author and a former Anglican Bishop of Woolwich, England. Robinson was considered a major force in shaping liberal Christian theology.  Along with Harvard theologian Harvey Cox, he spearheaded the field of secular theology and, like William Barclay, he was a believer in universal salvation.  His book Honest to God caused controversy, as it called on Christians to view of God as the "Ground of Being" rather than as a supernatural being "out there".   Most liberal scholars consider the New Testament as being written after 100ad with the Gospels being written not by their attributed authors, but by their disciples.  In contrast to his usual liberalness Robinson wrote “Redating the New Testament”.  Robinson concluded that much of the New Testament was written before AD 64, partly based on his judgment that there is little textual evidence that the New Testament reflects knowledge of the Temple's AD 70 destruction.  The Temple’s destruction was central to Judaism and would have been mentioned!  Robinson's call for redating the New Testament was echoed by much subsequent scholarship.  His early dates for the gospels have not carried widespread conviction among modern-critical scholars, although most conservative and traditionalist scholars concur with his dating of the synoptics.

****Kingdom theology is a system of Christian thought that elaborates on inaugurated eschatology, which is a way of understanding the various teachings on the kingdom of God found throughout the New Testament that speak of the coming of the kingdom of God as a future event in some places and in other places as an ongoing or even a completed event.  Its emphasis is that the purpose of both individual Christians and the church as a whole is to manifest the kingdom of God on the earth, incorporating personal evangelism, social action, and foreign missions.  The doctrine rejects the doctrine of the Pretribulation Rapture, which states that Christ will return to remove the church from the earth. Rather than being "rescued" by Christ, the role of the Church is to usher in Christ.  Today this teaching about the "already" and "not yet" has been accepted by many Christians, including pre-, a- and postmillennialists.

 ****Biblical criticism is "the study and investigation of biblical writings that seeks to make discerning and discriminating judgments about these writings."  It asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work in its production; what sources were used in its composition and the message it was intended to convey.  It also addresses the physical text, including the meaning of the words and the way in which they are used, its preservation, history and integrity.  Biblical criticism draws upon a wide range of scholarly disciplines including archaeology, anthropology, folklore, linguistics, oral tradition studies, and historical and religious studies. In the last 150 years, biblical criticism has grown to include: Textual criticism;  Source criticism;  Form criticism and tradition history;  Redaction criticism;  Canonical criticism;  Rhetorical criticism;  Narrative criticism;  Psychological criticism;  Socio-scientific criticism; Postmodernist criticism.  Midrash links Jesus to Old Testament in Gospel accounts to show his importance.  Midrash is saying someone is similar to another in personal attributes or actions.

 Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha:  Besides for the Apocrypha which is included in Catholic Scriptures and the early King James Version, there were several documents written during the Old Testament era which could have come close to being included.  Some were even referred to in the Old Testament as reference material.  During the New Testament era and the early Christian period, many other books were written.  They were written as other eye witness accounts, early theology, pure fiction or as devotional.  There may have been as many as 80 gospels written of Jesus alone.  One of the rules for inclusion into the New Testament was that the document had been written by an Apostle (called out follower) rather than only a Disciple (follower). 

The term Pseudepigrapha commonly refers to numerous works of Jewish religious literature written from about 200 BC to 200 AD.  Not all of these works are actually pseudepigraphal.[4] Such works include the following: 3 Maccabees ; 4 Maccabees ; Assumption of Moses ; Ethiopic Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) ; Slavonic Book of Enoch (2 Enoch) ; Book of Jubilees ; Greek Apocalypse of Baruch (3 Baruch) ; Letter of Aristeas ; Life of Adam and Eve ; Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah ; Psalms of Solomon ; Sibylline Oracles ; Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch (2 Baruch) ; Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

New Testament - Reasons for inclusion in or exclusion from the canon included apostolic authority, general acceptance, and theological appropriateness for "proto-orthodox" Christianity.  Church Fathers and Theologians through the ages have debated which should be included, for example, Origen accepted Shepherd of Hermas, Epistle of Barnabas, and 1 Clement.

The English-language King James Version of 1611 followed the lead of the Luther Bible in using an inter-testamental section labelled "Books called Apocrypha", or just "Apocrypha" at the running page header. The section contains the following: 1 Esdras (Vulgate 3 Esdras) ; 2 Esdras (Vulgate 4 Esdras) ; Tobit ; Judith ; Rest of Esther (Vulgate Esther 10:4-16:24) ; Wisdom ; Ecclesiasticus (also known as Sirach) ; Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy (all part of Vulgate Baruch) ; Song of the Three Children (Vulgate Daniel 3:24-90) ; Story of Susanna (Vulgate Daniel 13) ; The Idol Bel and the Dragon (Vulgate Daniel 14) ; Prayer of Manasses ; 1 Maccabees ; 2 Maccabees.  Included in this list are those books of the Vulgate that were not in Luther's canon.

Didache or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles is a brief early Christian treatise, dated to the late first century.  The text, parts of which may have constituted the first written catechism, has three main sections dealing with Christian lessons, rituals such as baptism and Eucharist, and Church organization.  It was considered by some of the Church Fathers as part of the New Testament.  Lost for several centuries, the Didache was rediscovered in 1873 by Philotheos Bryennios, Metropolitan of Nicomedia in the Codex Hierosolymitanus.  An English translation was first published in 1883.  It is considered part of the collection of Apostolic Fathers.

****The New Testament apocrypha are a number of writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives.  The general term is usually applied to the books that were considered by the church as useful, but not divinely inspired.  As such, to refer to Gnostic writings as "apocryphal" is misleading since they would not be classified in the same category by orthodox believers.

Infancy Gospels  - The rarity of information about the childhood of Jesus in the canonical Gospels led to a hunger of early Christians for more detail about the early life of Jesus. This was supplied by a number of 2nd century and later texts, known as infancy gospels, none of which were accepted into the biblical canon, but the very number of their surviving manuscripts attests to their continued popularity.  Most of these were based on the earliest infancy gospels, namely the Infancy Gospel of James (also called the "Protoevangelium of James") and Infancy Gospel of Thomas, and on their later combination into the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (also called the "Infancy Gospel of Matthew" or "Birth of Mary and Infancy of the Savior").  The other significant early Infancy Gospels are the Syriac Infancy Gospel, the History of Joseph the Carpenter and the Life of John the Baptist.

Jewish Christian Gospels - Jewish Christian sects within Early Christianity that retained a strong allegiance to Judaism, upholding Mosaic Law, used these Gospels as specific to themselves: Gospel of the Hebrews ; Gospel of the Nazarenes ; Gospel of the Ebionites.  Since these mostly survive as quotes scattered amongst critical commentaries by Pauline Christianity, some modern theories suggest that these may be variations on one another, although the quotations from the Gospel of the Ebionites appear more distinct than the others.  It has also been suggested that the Gospel of the Hebrews may have been an earlier version of the Greek Gospel of Matthew.

Rival versions of canonical Gospels  - Many alternate edited versions of other gospels existed during the period of early Christianity. Sometimes, those attributed to the text state elsewhere that their text is the earlier version, or that their text excises all the additions and distortions made by their opponents to the more recognized version of the text.  The church fathers insisted that these people were the ones making distortions, but some modern scholars do not.  It remains to be seen whether any are earlier and more accurate versions of the canonical texts.  Details of their contents only survive in the attacks on them by their opponents, and so for the most part it is uncertain as to how extensively different they are, and whether any constitute entirely different works.  These texts include: Gospel of Marcion ; Gospel of Mani ; Gospel of Apelles ; Gospel of Bardesanes ; Gospel of Basilides ; Gospel of Cerinthus

Sayings Gospels  - One or two texts take the form of brief logia—sayings and parables of Jesus—which are not embedded in a connected narrative: Gospel of Thomas .  A minority of scholars regard the Gospel of Thomas as part of the tradition from which the canonical gospels eventually emerged; in any case both of these documents are important as showing us what the theoretical Q document might have looked like.

Passion Gospels  - A number of Gospels are concerned specifically with the "Passion" (arrest, execution and resurrection) of Jesus: Gospel of Peter ; Gospel of Nicodemus (also called the "Acts of Pilate") ; Gospel of Bartholomew ; Questions of Bartholomew ; Resurrection of Jesus Christ (which claims to be according to Bartholomew).  Although three texts take Bartholomew's name, it may be that one of the Questions of Bartholomew or the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is in fact the unknown Gospel of Bartholomew.

Harmonic Gospels  - A number of texts aim to provide a single harmonization of the canonical gospels, that eliminates discordances among them by presenting a unified text derived from them to some degree.  The most widely read of these was the Diatessaron.  Of all the extant texts, the majority appear to be variations on the suppressed Diatessaron.

Gnostic texts  - In the modern era, many Gnostic texts have been uncovered, especially from the Nag Hammadi library.  Some texts take the form of an expounding of the esoteric cosmology and ethics held by the Gnostics.  Often this was in the form of dialogue in which Jesus expounds esoteric knowledge while his disciples raise questions concerning it.  There is also a text, known as the Epistula Apostolorum, which is a polemic against Gnostic esoterica, but written in a similar style as the Gnostic texts.

Dialogues with Jesus  - Apocryphon of James (also called the "Secret Book of James") ; Book of Thomas the Contender ; Dialogue of the Saviour; Gospel of Judas (also called the "Gospel of Judas Iscariot") ; Gospel of Mary (also called the "Gospel of Mary Magdalene") ; Gospel of Philip; Greek Gospel of the Egyptians (distinct from the Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians) ; The Sophia of Jesus Christ ;

General texts concerning Jesus: Gospel of Truth ; Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter (distinct from the Apocalypse of Peter) ; Pistis Sophia ; Second Treatise of the Great Seth

Sethian texts concerning Jesus  - The Sethians were a Gnostic group who originally worshipped the biblical Seth as a messianic figure, later treating Jesus as a re-incarnation of Seth.  They produced numerous texts expounding their esoteric cosmology, usually in the form of visions: Apocryphon of John (also called the "Secret Gospel of John") ; Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians (distinct from the Greek Gospel of the Egyptians) ; Coptic Apocalypse of Paul (distinct from the Apocalypse of Paul) ; Trimorphic Protennoia

Ritual diagrams - Some of the Gnostic texts appear to consist of diagrams and instructions for use in religious rituals: Ophite Diagrams ; Books of Jeu

Acts  - Several texts concern themselves with the subsequent lives of the apostles, usually with highly supernatural events.  Almost half of these are said (by who?) to have been written by Leucius Charinus (known as the Leucian Acts), a companion of John the apostle.  The Acts of Thomas and the Acts of Peter and the Twelve are often considered Gnostic texts.  While most of the texts are believed to have been written in the 2nd century, at least two, the Acts of Barnabas and the Acts of Peter and Paul are believed to have been written as late as the 5th century.

Acts of Andrew ; Acts of Barnabas ; Acts of John ; Acts of the Martyrs ; Acts of Paul ; Acts of Paul and Thecla ; Acts of Peter ; Acts of Peter and Andrew ; Acts of Peter and Paul ; Acts of Peter and the Twelve ; Acts of Philip ; Acts of Pilate ; Acts of Thomas ; Acts of Xanthippe, Polyxena, and Rebecca

Epistles  - There are also non-canonical epistles (or "letters") between individuals or to Christians in general. Some of them were regarded very highly by the early church: Epistle of Barnabas ; Epistles of Clement ; Epistle of the Corinthians to Paul ; Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans ; Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians ; Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians ; Epistle to Diognetus ; Epistle to the Laodiceans (an epistle in the name of Paul) ; Epistle to Seneca the Younger (an epistle in the name of Paul) ; Third Epistle to the Corinthians - accepted in the past by some in the Armenian Orthodox church.

Apocalypses  - Several works frame themselves as visions, often discussing the future, afterlife, or both: Apocalypse of Paul (distinct from the Coptic Apocalypse of Paul) ; Apocalypse of Peter (distinct from the Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter) ; Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius ; Apocalypse of Thomas (also called the Revelation of Thomas) ; Apocalypse of Stephen (also called the Revelation of Stephen) ; First Apocalypse of James (also called the First Revelation of James) ; Second Apocalypse of James (also called the Second Revelation of James) ; The Shepherd of Hermas

Fate of Mary  - Several texts (over 50) consist of descriptions of the events surrounding the varied fate of Mary (the mother of Jesus): The Home Going of Mary ; The Falling asleep of the Mother of God ; The Descent of Mary

Miscellany  - These texts, due to their content or form, do not fit into the other categories: Apostolic Constitutions (church regulations supposedly asserted by the apostles) ; Book of Nepos ; Canons of the Apostles ; Cave of Treasures (also called The Treasure) ; Clementine literature; Didache (possibly the first written catechism) ; Liturgy of St James ; Penitence of Origen ; Prayer of Paul ; Sentences of Sextus ; Physiologus

Fragments  - In addition to the known Apocryphal works, there are also small fragments of texts, parts of unknown (or uncertain) works. Some of the more significant fragments are: The Unknown Berlin Gospel (also called the Gospel of the Saviour) ; The Naassene Fragment ; The Fayyum Fragment ; The Secret Gospel of Mark ; The Oxyrhynchus Gospels ; The Egerton Gospel

Lost works  - Several texts are mentioned in many ancient sources and would probably be considered part of the apocrypha, but no known text has survived: Gospel of Eve (a quotation from this gospel is given by Epiphanius (Haer. xxvi. 2,3).  It is possible that this is the Gospel of Perfection he alludes to in xxvi.2.  The quotation shows that this gospel was the expression of complete pantheism) ; Gospel of the Four Heavenly Realms ; Gospel of Matthias (probably different from the Gospel of Matthew) ; Gospel of Perfection (used by the followers of Basilides and other Gnostics. See Epiphanius, Haer. xxvi. 2) ; Gospel of the Seventy ; Gospel of Thaddaeus (this may be a synonym for the Gospel of Judas, confusing Judas Iscariot for Judas Thaddaeus) ; Gospel of the Twelve ; Memoria Apostolorum

There were even others including the Letters between Pilate and Herod.  Pilate is shown to have become a believer, while Herod did not.

A note about orthodoxy - While many of the books listed here were considered heretical (especially those belonging to the Gnostic tradition—as this sect was considered heretical by Proto-orthodox Christianity of the early centuries), others were not considered particularly heretical in content, but in fact were well accepted as significant spiritual works.  They are however not considered canonical.:  1 and 2 Clement ; Shepherd of Hermas ; Didache ; Epistle of Barnabas ; Apocalypse of Peter ; The Protevangelium of James ; Third Epistle to the Corinthians

Evaluation  - Among historians of early Christianity the books are considered invaluable, especially those that almost made it into the final canon, such as Shepherd of Hermas.  Bart Ehrman, for example, said:  “The victors in the struggles to establish Christian Orthodoxy not only won their theological battles, they also rewrote the history of the conflict; later readers then naturally assumed that the victorious views had been embraced by the vast majority of Christians from the very beginning ... The practice of Christian forgery has a long and distinguished history ... the debate lasted three hundred years ... even within "orthodox" circles there was considerable debate concerning which books to include.”

 ****Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis.  Midrash is a way of interpreting biblical stories that goes beyond simple distillation of religious, legal or moral teachings.  It fills in many gaps left in the biblical narrative regarding events and personalities that are only hinted at.  There is a Greek (Hellenistic) way of thinking and there is a Hebrew (Hebraic) way of thinking. Paul used both.  When Paul spoke to the Hebrews he used the Hebrew way of thinking, but in Athens when he was preaching the gospel to the Areopagites (Acts 17:22-31), he used the Greek way of thinking.  Hebrews seek a sign, Greeks seek wisdom.  There is validity in both, if they are used biblically.  If you look at the way the New Testament quotes the Old Testament, it is clear that the apostles did not use western Protestant methods of exegesis or interpretation.  Jesus was a rabbi.  Paul was a rabbi.  They interpreted the Bible in the way other rabbis did-according to a method called Midrash.

In Christian tradition, Saint Paul frequently engaged in midrashic argument in his letters by justifying his views with the words "as it is written," followed by a verse of Jewish scripture (Romans 9:13, Romans 11:26, 1 Corinthians 1:19, and so forth).  Jesus engaged in a halakhic midrashic exercise in his famous Sermon on the Mount when he said, for example: "It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.'  But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery." (Mt. 5:31-32)  Gospel writers used midrash as they referred to Old Testament prophets.   Later and contemporary Christian commentators on Old Testament texts may also be said to be engaging in a "Christian midrash."  For example, the traditional Christian midrash on Isaiah 53 interprets the Suffering Servant as Jesus, while the Jewish midrash of the same chapter sees the servant as Israel.

Revelation may be an expansion of Psalm 2.  It enthrones the Crucified Messiah as King of Israel, protects against persecution, and shows through history that God is in control.  Just as Psalm 2 sets up the Anointed King as God’s king, defends the sovereignty of Israel, and warns the others that God is in control.

 Gnosticism:  Pure Gnosticism was Manicheanistic with equal good versus evil forces and numerous intermediaries added.  Medieval and modern Christianity continued a few of these beliefs, such as Satan and God were equal powers.  Islam continues this belief with a good and bad power on each shoulder.  Many recent discoveries of Biblical era documents have been labeled as Gnostic, whereas they are not.  “It is a noteworthy fact that heads of Gnostic schools and founders of Gnostic systems are distinguished as Jews by early church fathers.  Some derive all heresies, including that of Gnosticism, from Judaism.  The principle elements of Gnosticism were derived from Jewish speculation.  Since the second century BC, Gnostic thought was bound up with Judaism, which had accepted Babylonian and Syrian doctrines” (Jewish Encyclopedia, “Gnosticism,” p. 681)

 According to their own account of their origins, Gnostics traced their sacred tradition back to Seth, one of the sons of Adam.  Sethian teachings emphasize the power of the Divine Sophia and even downplay the Christos in the mythic scenario of Sophia's fall.  One of the essential claims of the Sethians was to preserve the teaching of True Humanity, the Anthropos, not to be confounded with the image of perfect humanity in Jesus Christ.  (Adam and Seth, miniature from the Royal Chronicles of Cologne, 1238 CE. National Library, Brussels.)

 Mary Magdalene is often pictured reading a book to indicate that the Gnostics were intellectuals and teachers who taught literacy and maintained the high culture of the pre-Christian world.  The Magdalen Reading by Roger van der Weyden, c. 1435.

Christianity with pagan parallels:

Yes, there were other pagan gods with legends of divine births and resurrections, but many Emperors also claimed divine birth and the theme of a god coming back is usually suggestive of the hopeful return of tribal ‘golden ages’.

Yes, Easter and Christmas were first pagan holidays.  Easter is named after Astarte and Christmas is the Winter solstice.  When formal Christianity was advancing into Europe and elsewhere, pagan temples were converted and pagan celebrations were adapted.  Even some pagan gods became Christian saints.  There are elements of the Gospel which are symbolically close to native religions and were rather easily accepted especially by the Europeans.  Europeans had been pre-conditioned to accept Christianity.  Throughout the world, religions are pre-conditioned to easily accept Christianity. 

By the first century Alexandria boasted the largest Jewish population in the Roman world.  But in spite of the fact that two-fifths of the city was Jewish, it was the most anti-Jewish city in the ancient world.  Finally, in 38 AD, the hatred that had been fomenting in Alexandria for many years spilled over into anti-Jewish riots.  As a result of these riots two delegations were sent to Rome. One of these groups– the one defending the pagans–was led by Apion. 

Apion (20s BC - c. 45-48 AD), Graeco-Egyptian grammarian, sophist and commentator on Homer.  Apion studied at Alexandria, and headed one of the deputations sent to Caligula (in 40) to attack the Jews with claims of disloyalty following inter communal riots that left many Greeks and Jews dead.  Apion's criticisms of Jewish culture and history were replied to by Josephus in Against Apion.  He settled in Rome at an unknown date. Apion taught rhetoric until the reign of Claudius.  He wrote several works, none of which has survived.  The well-known story "Androclus and the Lion”, is from his work.  In his school and in his writings Apion taught three great themes: (1) He cast aspersions on the racial origins of the Jews  (2) He questioned their patriotism and loyalty as citizens  (3) He accused them of secretly practicing human sacrifice and cannibalism.  The first recorded instance of a blood libel against the Jews was in the writings of Apion, who claimed that certain Jews sacrificed Greek victims in the Temple of Jerusalem.  Apion, according to Josephus said: “that they used to catch a Greek foreigner, and fat him thus up every year, and then lead him to a certain wood, and kill him, and sacrifice with their accustomed solemnities, and taste of his entrails, and take an oath upon this sacrificing a Greek…”   He called Moses "nothing but a seducer and wizard."  None of his writings survive, except for what is quoted by Josephus (Contra Apion). Jews in the imperial court at Rome managed to have Apion executed, by order of Emperor Commodus.

Purim, the Jewish holiday of Revenge against Gentiles.

“(The Jews) carry out this (rite)  every year, on a pre-established date.  They catch a Greek merchant and feed him for a whole year.  They later take him into a forest, kill him and sacrifice him according to their religion.  Then they savor the viscera, and in the moment of sacrificing the Greek, they swear their hatred of all Greeks.  Then they dump the remains of the carcass into a ditch.” - Apion

Apollonius of Tyana (c.15?–c.100?) was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from Asia Minor.  Being a 1st-century orator and philosopher around the time of Christ, he was compared to Jesus of Nazareth by Christians in the 4th century.  He said that Jewish crimes "pollute" Palestine.

Chaeremon of Alexandria (1st century CE) was a Stoic philosopher, historian, and grammarian.   In 49 he was summoned to Rome to become tutor to the youthful Nero.  It’s unclear, but he probably agreed with Manetho that the Jews had been expelled from Egypt for their deviancy.

Cleomedes was a Greek astronomer who is known chiefly for his book On the Circular Motions of the Celestial Bodies.  He took note of the Yiddish-like "corrupted Greek" used by Jews of the day, saying that it came "from the very midst of the synagogue or from the beggar-folk that throng around it... It is a Jewish jargon, of a monstrous alloy, immeasurably inferior to anything that creeps upon the earth." (T. Reinach, Textes...)38 Anti-Jewish riots in Egypt, recurring again in 66, 115-7, and finally expelled in 414 ad.

40 Anti-Jewish riot on Tigris River.

Claudius (8/1 10 BC – 10/13 AD 54), was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54.  Claudius proved to be an able and efficient administrator.  He was also an ambitious builder, constructing many new roads, aqueducts, and canals across the Empire.  During his reign the Empire conquered Thrace, Noricum, Pamphylia, Lycia and Judaea, and began the conquest of Britain.  The Jews were; as Claudius states, ‘agitating’ for more privileges for themselves beyond what was normal for citizens of the Roman Empire and this probably included further trade concessions in addition to the special privileges conferred on them as Jews by the Emperor Augustus: to ‘reap the profits of their own special privileges’.   The Jews were arrogantly and forcibly seeking access into Greek educational establishments and when the Greeks of Alexandria refused to grant this demand the Jews tried force (probably using hired thugs from the local Egyptian population). The Jews were importing large numbers of Jews from Palestine and the rest of Egypt; openly and by stealth, in order to swell their ranks either as a form of proto-Zionist project, a way to gain more privileges by the use of numbers and/or simply for the sake of avarice.  In trying to deal with political turbulence and anti-Roman subversion at Alexandria, he forbade officials there "to introduce or invite Jews who sail down to Alexandria from Syria or Egypt, thus compelling me to conceive the greatest suspicion; otherwise I will by all means take vengeance on them as fomenting a general plague on the whole world." (Epistolae)

Judas: (He appears as a Jew throughout Western art.)

 (Byzantine around 800-1000  A.D.)

   “The Kiss of Judas” by Gustave Dore   “Judas Iscariot” by Leonardo da Vinci

  “Judas before the Sanhedrin” by Alexandre Bida

 1306

 Jew Fifth Column: A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within, to help an external enemy.  It was used first by a Spanish General during the Spanish Civil War.  In fact, Jesus did not trust in the honesty of Jewish conversions; for He knew them better than anyone else:  John 2:23-4 “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles that He did.  But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because He knew them all.”  Jesus Himself despised the Jews, because He was a Galilean.  Unfortunately, the Samaritans, Galileans and the other inhabitants of Palestine were ruined by assimilation into modern Jewry, with the exception of those who had already previously been blessed to understand the Gospel.

John 8:31-59 This passage shows how various Jews, who had believed in Jesus, afterwards attempted to contradict His sermons and even to kill Him.  The Lord has first to conduct with them a verbal dispute for the defense of His teaching and afterwards to conceal Himself, so that they did not stone Him; for His hour was not yet come.  John shows us here something further of the classical tactics of the Jews falsely converted to Christianity and their descendants: misrepresentation of belief in Christ, in order to afterwards attempt to destroy His church, exactly as they then attempted to kill Jesus Himself.

Rev 2:1-2 “Unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus write… I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.”

Paul in Ephesians 20   “18. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, ‘Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons. 19. Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with his own blood. 29. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.’”

Paul in Galatians 2  “1. Then, fourteen years later, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. 3. But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4. And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. 5. To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.”

Paul in Titus I. “10. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision.”

Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 “12. But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. 13. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

Paul in Thessalonians 2:14-16  “For you suffer the same things from your compatriots as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us; they do not please God, and are opposed to everyone, trying to prevent us from speaking to the Gentiles that they may be saved, thus constantly filling up the measure of their sins.  But the wrath of God has finally begun to come upon them.”

Peter in 2 Peter 2  “1. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves a swift destruction. 2. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”

Peter in 2 Peter 2   “21. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22. But it happened unto them according to the true proverb: The dog is turned to his own vomit again (Proverbs XXVI, 11) and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

****Crypto-Jews   Cecil Roth, the British Jewish historian, paraphrased showed: 

1. That crypto-Judaism or concealed Judaism is in its different forms as old as the Jews themselves and that the Jews even in the times of pagan antiquity already used cunning to conceal their real nature as such, so as to appear as ordinary members of the (pagan) people in whose region they lived.   

2. That in the 5th century of the Christian era, during the persecutions in Zoroastrian Persia, Jewry went to a certain extent underground.   

3. That with the period of flowering of Christian teaching in the 4th century a new phase began in Jewish life, in that the latter claimed for itself the new faith and that such conversions of Jews to Christianity could not be sincere and that the new converts continued to practise their Judaism in secret.  He observes that false conversions had become universal practice from France to Constantinople, from one end of Christian Europe to the other.  In this manner there arose alongside Jewry, which openly practiced its religion, a subterranean Judaism, whose members were only Christian in appearance.   

4. That in Marranism, besides the hypocritical conversion and the practice of Judaism in secret there exists a deeply-rooted tradition, which obligates the Jews to transfer this inclination from parents to the children.  The author cites the events in England and Scotland since 1290, where one of the reasons presented for the expulsion of the Jews was that they misled the newly converted to practice Judaism, and that many children were stolen by them and brought into the north of the land, where they continued to practice the old religion i.e. the Jewish.   It must be pointed out that after 1290 the Jews were banished from England and no one could be domiciled in the land if he were not a Christian.  In this connection a very interesting reference is made by the renowned Hebrew historian to the assertion of a Jewish chronicler, viz. that to the presence of crypto-Judaism is to be attributed the fact the English so easily accepted the Reformation as well as their preference for Biblical names.  ….  

5. That the phenomenon of Crypto-Judaism was not merely confined to the Christian world.  One still finds in different parts of the Musulman world, communities of Crypto-Jews, as Cecil Roth observes, who records several examples of Jewish communities in which the Hebrews, who outwardly were Musulmen, are in secret still Jews.  This means that the Jews have also introduced a “Fifth Column” into the bosom of the Islamic religion.   This fact perhaps explains the many divisions and the uproar which has occurred in the world of Mohammed. (The Plot against the Church)

~50 Joseph of Arimathea was, according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' Crucifixion.  Joseph of Arimathea is venerated as a saint by the Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox and some Anglican churches. During the late 12th century, Joseph became connected with the Arthurian cycle, appearing in them as the first keeper of the Holy Grail.  Later retellings of the story contend that Joseph of Arimathea himself travelled to Britain and became the first Christian bishop in the Isles.  Medieval interest in Joseph centered on two themes, that of Joseph as the founder of British Christianity (even before it had taken hold in Rome), and that of Joseph as the original guardian of the Holy Grail.  Medieval interest in genealogy raised claims that Joseph was a relative of Jesus; specifically, Mary's uncle, or according to some genealogies, Joseph's uncle.  Speculation makes of him a tin merchant, whose connection with Britain came by the abundant tin mines of Cornwall.  One version, popular during the Romantic period, even claims Joseph had taken Jesus to Britain as a boy.  This was the inspiration for William Blake's mystical hymn Jerusalem.

Philo (20 BC – 50 AD), known also as Philo of Alexandria, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher.  Philo used philosophical allegory to fuse and harmonize Greek philosophy and Jewish traditions.  His method followed the practices of both Jewish exegesis and Stoic philosophy.  Some scholars hold that his concept of the Logos as God's creative principle influenced early Christology. Other scholars, however, deny direct influence but say both Philo and early Christianity borrow from a common source.  For Philo, Logos was God's "blueprint for the world", a governing plan.

Euphrates, was an eminent Egyptian Stoic philosopher, who lived c. 35-118 AD.  He made a report to Emperor Vespasian saying that "The Jews have long been in revolt not only against Rome but against humanity." (Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius Tyanaeus)

 Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (12/15, 37 – 6/9, 68), born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, and commonly known as Nero, was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68. He was the last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor.  He succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death.  During his reign, Nero focused much of his attention on diplomacy, trade, and increasing the cultural capital of the empire. He ordered the building of theaters and promoted athletic games.  His reign included a successful war and negotiated peace with the Parthian Empire, the suppression of a revolt in Britain, and the beginning of the First Roman–Jewish War.  In 64, most of Rome was destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome.  In 68, the rebellion of Vindex in Gaul and later the acclamation of Galba in Hispania drove Nero from the throne.  Facing assassination, he committed suicide on 9 June 68.  Nero's rule is often associated with tyranny and extravagance.

He is also known as the emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned", and as an early persecutor of Christians.  This view is based upon the main surviving sources for Nero's reign - Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio.  The non-Christian historian Tacitus describes Nero extensively torturing and executing Christians after the fire of 64.  Suetonius also mentions Nero punishing Christians, though he does so as a praise and does not connect it with the fire.  The Christian writer Tertullian (c. 155- 230) was the first to call Nero the first persecutor of Christians.  He wrote "Examine your records.  There you will find that Nero was the first that persecuted this doctrine".  Lactantius (c. 240- 320) also said Nero "first persecuted the servants of God" as does Sulpicius Severus.  However, Suetonius gives that "since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he [the emperor Claudius] expelled them from Rome"  These expelled "Jews" may have been early Christians, although Suetonius is not explicit.  Nor is the Bible explicit, calling Aquila of Pontus and his wife, Priscilla, both expelled from Italy at the time, "Jews."

 Lucius Annaeus Seneca (Seneca the Younger; c4 BC – AD 65) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature.  He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero.  While he was later forced to commit suicide for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate Nero, the last of the Julio-Claudian emperors, he may have been innocent.  His father was Seneca the Elder and his elder brother was Gallio.  He mentions the distribution of grain which Josephus declares was refused by Cleopatra to the Jews.  Seneca shared the prejudices of Roman society against the Jews, and there is tradition that he was a Christian.  "The customs of this most infamous people have been so strengthened that they were in all countries have spread, the victors have the vanquished pressed their laws."

In 64 A.D., a great fire broke out in Rome, destroying portions of the city and economically devastating the Roman population.  Suetonius cast blame on the Emperor Nero himself as the arsonist, claiming he played the lyre and sang the Sack of Ilium during the fires.  Tacitus says that Nero attempted to shift the blame to the Christians (Chrestiani), setting off the earliest documented Imperial persecution of what was regarded by the Romans at the time as still a Jewish sect and as a superstition.  While Suetonius makes no connection to the Christians in his account of the Great Fire, he mentions Christiani elsewhere as an example of Nero's harshness, saying that punishments were inflicted on them.  In his Life of Claudius, Suetonius says that Jews instigated by Chrestus were expelled from the city for causing disturbances. 

Historians now explain the persecutions of the Christians in the early centuries by pointing out how easy it was in those days to ascribe the crimes of the Jews to Christians, because Christianity originated in Judea.  Christians were also accused of cannibalism, because of the Lord’s Supper and of Atheism, because of them not accepting the numerous gods.

Domitian (10/24 51 – 9/18 96) was Roman Emperor from 81 to 96.  Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.  Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish-Roman War.  He strenuously opposed Jewish influence in his government and was probably assassinated.

Suetonius (Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus), (ca. 69/75 – after 130), was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era.  His most important surviving work is a set of biographies of twelve successive Roman rulers, from Julius Caesar to Domitian, entitled De Vita Caesarum.  Other works by Suetonius concern the daily life of Rome, politics, oratory, and the lives of famous writers, including poets, historians, and grammarians.  Suetonius's mentions of Chrestus and Christiani, taken with that of Tacitus, is an important piece of evidence in scholarly discussions of the historicity of Jesus.  "There had spread over all the Orient an old and established belief, that it was fated at that time for men coming from Judaea to rule the world"           

Tacitus (Publius Cornelius Tacitus) (AD 56 – AD 117) was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. “The customs of the Jews are base and abominable and owe their persistence to their depravity.  Jews are extremely loyal to one another, always ready to show compassion, but towards every other people they feel only hate and enmity.  As a race, they are prone to lust’; among themselves nothing is unlawful.”  "To the Jews everything is unholy that is holy for us”. ... He wondered why Jews hate 'all other human beings as enemies'.  "the ancient scriptures of their (the Jews) priests alluded to the present as the very time when the Orient would triumph and from Judaea would go forth men destined to rule the world"           

 “The institutions which have prevailed among them are tainted with low cunning, for the scum and refuse of our nations, renouncing the religion of their country, were in the habit of bringing gifts and offerings to Jerusalem - hence the wealth and growth of Jewish power; and also because among themselves they keep inviolate faith, and are always ready to show compassion to one another, while they cherish bitter enmity against all others.” (Histories, Book V, Section 5)  “When the Assyrians, and after them the Medes and Persians, were masters of the Oriental world, the Jews, of all nations then held in subjugation, were deemed the most contemptible.”(Annals, 15)  Like most of the best people in ancient Rome, Tacitus considered the Jews a menace to the majority people in their unending subversion of religion, country and family.  He coined a motto for the Jews that was widely repeated by other writers: "Adversus onmes alios hostile odeum"  (Enemies of all races but their own).  On money movements into Jerusalem, see also Cicero.

Tacitus also wrote “Germania” which spoke of the Germans as pure-bred, frighteningly tall, dazzlingly blond warriors with their piercing blue eyes, their chastity and their courage.  These were from second-hand reports.  He also wrote negative terms which have been challenged for centuries to instead declare the Germans as brilliant farmers, who drank sparingly, lived in nice houses and did not practice human sacrifice as earlier charged.

Persius, (Aulus Persius Flaccus) (Volterra, 34-62), was a Roman poet and satirist of Etruscan origin.  In his works, poems and satires, he shows a stoic wisdom and a strong criticism for the abuses of his contemporaries.  His works became very popular in the Middle Ages.  "You move your lips in silent dread, and turn pale at the Sabbath of the circumcised." (Satires, 5)

Gaius Petronius Arbiter (ca. 27–66 AD) was a Roman courtier during the reign of Nero. He is generally believed to be the author of the Satyricon, a satirical novel believed to have been written during the Neronian age.  When he claimed that "the Jews worship the hog and the ass" (Poetic Fragments), it is usually assumed that he was merely being sarcastic.  But actually, he was probably referring to the widespread belief that these animals were somehow involved in the religious proceedings in the Temple at Jerusalem.  Plutarch's De Iside, for example, summarized reports on ass worship in the temple made by Antiochus Epiphanes and other conquerors who had penetrated its 'Holy of Holies.'

 ****German Law - Tacitus in his Germania gives an account of the legal practice of the Germanic peoples of the 1st century.  Tacitus reports that criminal cases were put before the thing (tribal assembly).  Lighter offenses were regulated with damages (paid in livestock), paid in part to the victim (or their family) and in part to the king.  The death penalty is reserved for two kinds of capital offenses: military treason or desertion was punished by hanging, and moral infamy (cowardice and homosexuality) was punished by throwing the condemned into a bog.  The difference in punishment is explained by the idea that "glaring iniquities" must be exposed in plain sight, while "effeminacy and pollution" should best be buried and concealed.  Minor legal disputes were settled on a day-to-day basis by elected chiefs assisted by elected officials.  The law was understandable enough that one-third of it was recited each year at the annual Thing.

  Roman Map of Germania

Josephus (37 – c.100 AD/CE), was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded 1st century Jewish history, such as the First Jewish–Roman War which resulted in the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.  He has been credited by many as recording some of the earliest history of Jesus Christ outside of the gospels, this being an item of contention among historians.  Josephus was a law-observant Jew who believed in the compatibility of Judaism and Graeco-Roman thought, commonly referred to as Hellenistic Judaism.  His most important works were The Jewish War (c. 75 AD/CE) and Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94 AD/CE).   The Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation (66–70).   The Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for a Roman audience.  He writes this to counter anti-semitism by giving a more favorable view of Jewish achievements, customs and character.  These works provide valuable insight into 1st century Judaism and the background of Early Christianity.  "Their (the Jews) chief inducement to go to war was an equivocal oracle also found in their sacred writings, announcing that at that time a man from their country would become monarch of the whole world. This they took to mean the triumph of their own race."           - Josephus

 The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in Revelation 6:1-8.  The four beings ride out on white, red, black, and pale horses commonly seen as symbolizing Conquest, War, Famine and Death, respectively.  The Christian apocalyptic vision is that the four horsemen are to set a divine apocalypse upon the world as harbingers of the Last Judgment.  Although the most popular and publicized interpretation is of the future by Zionist evangelicals, most modern, degreed scholars interpret Revelation from a preterist point of view, arguing that its prophecy and imagery apply only to the events of the first century of Christian history. 

   70   ****The Temple of Jerusalem is destroyed after 4 years of insurrection by Jews, and Christianity has historically considered this the end of a dead Judaism.   The New Testament is the New Covenant or Agreement between the Creator and man.  It is universal religion as opposed to the limited one of the “Chosen People”.

Judaism had become totally perverted from its godly side.  At the time of destruction, there were even tranvestite priests.  Three different written testimonies at that time claim to have seen Jesus with heavenly hosts come to destroy Jerusalem.

According to Josephus, Bellum Judaicum; in VII.v, he says that, along with Simon and John, Titus brought to Rome 700 Jews, "whom he had selected out of the rest as being eminently tall and handsome of body", and, according to VI.ix, Titus captured 97,000 Jews; another 1,100,000 died or were executed during the siege.  Josephus claims that of the 1,100,000 people killed during the siege, a sizeable portion of these were at Jewish hands and due to illnesses brought about by hunger.  "A pestilential destruction upon them, and soon afterward such a famine, as destroyed them more suddenly."  Others fled to areas around the Mediterranean.  Jewish gangs fought one another “driving stakes up their victim’s rectums to force them to reveal their stock of grain.”  The Jewish Talmud claims that 4 billion jews were killed by Romans. 

The Jewish Encyclopedia article on the Hebrew Alphabet states: "Not until the revolts against Nero and against Hadrian did the Jews return to the use of the old Hebrew script on their coins, which they did from motives similar to those which had governed them two or three centuries previously; both times, it is true, only for a brief period."   Titus reportedly refused to accept a wreath of victory, claiming that he had "lent his arms to God".  Before Vespasian's departure, the Pharisaic sage and Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai obtained his permission to establish a Judaic school at Yavne. Zakkai was smuggled away from Jerusalem in a coffin by his students. Later this school became a major center of Talmudic study.

 73 In The Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel (1995), Mr. Ben-Yehuda looks at the origins of what he calls the myth: that Masada was a heroic tale, worthy of celebration.  He argues that the standard story's description of the Jewish rebels as Zealots -- religious revolutionaries -- is a distortion of Josephus's narrative by early Zionists.  Josephus actually said the rebels belonged to a group known as the Sicarii.  The Sicarii left Jerusalem early in the revolt, and they were the ones who took over Masada.  While there, they raided the nearby Jewish town of En Gedi, killing some 700 people and stealing the town's food, says Josephus.  Contrary to the popular tale of heroism at Masada, Mr. Ben-Yehuda views the Sicarii as terrorists who killed innocent people and committed suicide rather than fight to the death.

 The Wailing Wall or Western Wall is located in the Old City of Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of the Temple Mount.  It is said by the Jews to be a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple's courtyard.  It has been said that the earliest source mentioning Jewish attachment to the site dates back to the 4th century. In December 1973, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia stated that “Only Muslims and Christians have holy places and rights in Jerusalem”.  The Jews, he maintained, had no rights there at all.  As for the Western Wall, he said, “Another wall can be built for them.  They can pray against that".  Raed Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel wrote that:  "The Western Wall – all its various parts, structures and gates – are an inseparable part of the al-Aqsa compound...The Western Wall is part of Al-Aqsa's western tower, which the Israeli establishment fallaciously and sneakily calls the 'Wailing Wall'.  The wall is part of the holy al-Aqsa Mosque".

 Titus (Latin: Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus (12/30 39 – 9/13 81), was Roman Emperor from 79 to 81.  A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, thus becoming the first Roman Emperor to come to the throne after his own father.  Prior to becoming Emperor, Titus gained renown as a military commander, serving under his father in Judaea during the First Jewish-Roman War.  The campaign came to a brief halt with the death of emperor Nero in 68, launching Vespasian's bid for the imperial power during the Year of the Four Emperors.  When Vespasian was declared Emperor on July 1, 69, Titus was left in charge of ending the Jewish rebellion.  In 70, he had successfully laid siege to and destroyed the city and Temple of Jerusalem.  For this achievement Titus was awarded a triumph; the Arch of Titus commemorates his victory to this day.  He completed the conquest of Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple after decades of turmoil and subversion originating there.

The Roman colony, Aelia Capitolina, was built over the ruins of Jerusalem, over half a century later by Emperor Hadrian.  The city was complete with forums, baths and temples.  After the Jewish Revolt of 132-135, Jews were forbidden to enter the area except for the Tisha B’Av observance commemorating the destruction.  With this one exception Jews, were banned from living there or making pilgrimages.  The Roman Tenth Legion was assigned to guard the area, preventing Jews from entering at any other time.  Constantine began building churches and shrines at alleged sacred spots all about the region, mostly found by his mother, Helena.  Called Jerusalem again, it once again began to have Jewish residents.  Palestine was now the holy land of the Christian religion.  Not all the Jews left Palestine.  With permission of the Romans, the Sanhedrin moved over to the coastal city of Jamnia.  They began to develop the Judaic religion and writing down the Talmud.

****Preterism is a variant of Christian eschatology which holds that most or all of the biblical prophecies concerning the End Times refer to events which have already happened in the first century after Christ's birth.  Many biblical prophecies have been thought of pertaining to the future by self-absorbed generations of Christians.  But prophecies only pertain to the possible future of the time of writing.  There have been suggestions that some Preterists surfaced throughout the centuries and that it was the prevailing attitude of the first generation.  It was systematically written after the Reformation by some Catholics and Protestants.

****The Exile of Jews (or Diaspora throughout the Roman Empire) in 70ad when Jerusalem was destroyed is a fabrication.  Many did leave as they had as merchants for centuries, but most Jews in Palestine became Christians and later Muslims.  Natives in Jerusalem were still about 50% Christian in 1948.  Others moved to earlier Jewish Centers such as Babylon.  By 70, the Jews were already scattered across the Roman Empire.  There was an estimated 7 million, making them a tight, cohesive tribe of 7% of the Empire’s population, twice as much as are officially in modern US. 

****Sephardics – Everytime the Jews were conquered in Old Testament history, the Elites who knew they would be put to death, fled to other parts of the Mediterranean including North Africa and Spain.  Being Aristocrats, there was some assimilation with local leaders, but also they landed with their wealth and became instant power lords.  This is the beginning of international banking and international outrageous usury. 

****Proselytism - Even though the Jewish people claim to be exclusive within their race, they have predominantly grown through conversion of other tribes.  About 10% are Sephardic and are generally converted Berbers and about 90% are Ashkenazi and are generally converted Khazars.  There is very little, if any, Abrahamic blood within them.  Even throughout the Old Testament or Torah, it was primarily converted tribes which grew into the Tribe of Jews.  Judaism was forced on Edom and even King Herod was not Jewish, but an Edomite and the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin became generally Edomite.  

**** Assimilation by Conversion - Many non-Israelites joined the Israelite community, often through marriage or acceptance of the beliefs and practices of the community. In this sense, assimilation is the earliest form of conversion. Abraham and his descendants absorbed many pagans and servants into their group, greatly increasing the size of the Israelite people.  Many joined during Exodus with the "mixed multitude" [non-Israelites], and they increased their numbers from among non-Israelite peoples, both those who lived in Canaan (such as the Hittites, Hivvites, Girgashites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and others) and those who entered the land.  Later during their stay in Babylon, non-Jews joined by renouncing their pagan ways, and by accepting new beliefs.  During Israelite hegemony, tribes such as the Edomites were forced to join and later as nations adopted monotheism, a few full nations adopted Judaism.  The Berbers and the Khazars are but two examples.  At times, conversion has accounted for a substantial part of Jewish population growth.  In the 1st century of the Christian era, for example, the population more than doubled, from 4 to 8–10 million within the confines of the Roman Empire, in good part as a result of a wave of conversion.  Before the Enlightenment, Jews did not intermarry, but tribes converted.  Assimilation has been huge since the European Enlightenment, especially in America since Jewish European migration.  Currently, around 45% of Jewish singles marry outside of the Tribe.  The non-Jews easily identify and adopt Jewish tribal values of victimhood and ‘Chosenness’.

“The Jews are not, and have never been a race.  They are a mixture of many races; there are lean lank Jews in Spain, fat short Jews in Bavaria, red haired Jews in Russia, and black Jews in Abyssinia and Malabar.  Many Jews have black crinkly hair and thick lips, derived from the Moors and the Negroes; many have Semitic features, derived from the Bedouin and the Phoenicians, while others present Mongolian traits.  The so-called “Jewish” nose is not Semitic; it has been derived from the Hittites.”

****Cohen-Levi:

Kohen is the Hebrew word for priest.  Jewish Kohanim are traditionally believed and halachically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the Biblical Aaron.  The noun kohen is used in the Torah to refer to priests, both Jewish and non-Jewish, such as the Jewish nation as a whole, as well as the priests of Baal (2Kings 10:19).  During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, Kohanim performed the daily and holiday (Yom Tov) duties of sacrificial offerings.  Today kohanim retain a lesser though somewhat distinct status within Judaism, and are bound by additional restrictions according to Orthodox Judaism.

Levi/Levy was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi.  Certain religious and political functions were reserved for the Levites, and the early sources of the Torah—the Jahwist and Elohist—appear to treat the term Levi as just being a word meaning priest; scholars therefore suspect that "levi" was originally a general term for a priest, and had no connection to ancestry, and that it was only later, for example in the priestly source and Blessing of Moses, that the existence of a tribe named Levi became assumed, in order to explain the origin of the priestly caste.

The Cohen-Levi priestly castes have a greater similarity with other Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim.  Their assimilation with gentiles have been much less than other Jews.

****Jewish Genetics – Genetic markers are full of politics.  Evolutionists say that Chimpanzees are 98% similar to humans, but this is pinpointing only certain markers and purposely leaving out the many which are vastly different.  The same with the politics of human to human Genetics.  Within the Jewish Tribe markers called Cohen or Levi are considered the purist being hereditary priesthoods, but even at that 52% of Ashkenazi Levites have Genetic links to Central Asia, the home of Khazaria!  The signature did reach the Near East but is actually still rare there.  If the patrilineal descent of the two priestly castes had indeed been followed as tradition describes, then all Cohanim should be descended from Aaron, the brother of Moses, and all Levites from Levi, the third son of the patriarch Jacob.  About half (this is pure?) the Cohanim, in both the Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities, did indeed carry the same genetic signature on their Y chromosome.  One problem of current findings is their contradiction when claiming that the Jews are at the same time genetically “closer” to the Turks and to the Arabs.  These studies are all based on the weak preconception that Jews are from Palestine, whereas it is historically known that they are 90% Khazars.   Jewish populations have also shown a high degree of genetic admixture with European non-Jews (30-60%).  The new findings were also seen as support for the idea that there was significant admixture with non-Jews in Greco-Roman times.

 Missions of Jesus’ Apostles:

Peter (Simon) preached first in Judea and then in Antioch, in Bithynia, in Asia, in Cilicia, died in Babylon.

Paul (Saul) preached in many countries beginning in Jerusalem and ending in Rome, the capital of the world.  In Rome, he was beheaded by Emperor Nero.

Andrew preached within the boundaries of what later became Russia. He erected a cross on a Kievan hill and predicted the future enlightenment of Russia by the Christian faith.  He preached on the shores of the Black Sea and in other countries.  In Byzantium, he ordained by the laying of hands on the bishop Stachys, one of the seventy disciples.  In the city of Patras in Achaea (Greece), pagans crucified him on a cross formed in the shape of the letter X, which thus came to be known as the Cross of St. Andrew.

James, the son of Zebedee, preached in Jerusalem and was the first of the apostles to suffer for Christ.  On orders from the Judaean King Herod Agrippa, he was beheaded in Jerusalem.

John the Theologian after torture in Rome was sent in exile to the Isle of Patmos.  St. John lived longer than all the other apostles and died peacefully in Asia, in the city of Ephesus.  According to tradition, the apostle by his own desire was buried alive by his disciples.  When, soon after burial, Christians came to open his grave, the body of St. John was not to be found.

Philip preached in Asian countries with the Bartholomew and his sister Miriam.  In Phrygia, a province of Asia Minor, in the city of Hierpolis, he met a martyr’s death.  He was crucified head down.

Bartholomew (Nathaniel) at first preached together with the Philip in Syria and Asia; after that, he went to India and translated the Gospel of Matthew into the Indian language.  Later, he preached in Armenia where he suffered a martyr’s death in the city of Albanopolis.

Matthew preached for a long time in Judea and then in all parts of Ethiopia (later: Abyssinia, Nubia, Kordofan, Darfun; and now: Ethiopia and the Sudan).  He was killed by the sword in one of the cities of ancient Ethiopia.

 James, the son of Alphaeus, preached in Syria, Egypt, and in other countries.  In one of these, he was crucified on a cross.

 Judas, the brother of James, also called Thaddeus or Lebbaeus, preached in Judah, Galilee, Samaria, and Idumea, in Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia.  In Persia, he was hung on a wooden cross and shot with arrows.

Simon the Zealot, a Canaanite, preached in Mauritania in Africa.  He was also in England (formerly called Britannia).  For preaching faith in Christ, he was crucified on a cross, according to one source, in Georgia on the order of the Georgian King Aderhi; and according to another source — in Persia.

Matthias was chosen from the seventy to take the place of the fallen Judas.  He preached in Judea and in outer Ethiopia.  Returning to Judea, he suffered for Christ being first stoned and then beheaded.

Mark was from among the seventy apostles and labored with the Apostle Peter.  He also preached on the shores of the Adriatic Sea.  He received a martyr’s end in Alexandria by being dragged behind a chariot along the stones in the city streets.

Luke was from among the seventy apostles and labored with the Apostle Paul.  He later preached in Egypt and ended his spiritual feat with a martyr’s death by hanging.

James the Righteous, one of the seventy, was the first bishop of Jerusalem as it was established by the Lord Himself.  He is called the "Brother of the Lord."  St. James was thrown from the roof of the Jerusalem Temple by the Jews and then killed by a blow on the head.  This was about 62 A.D.

James was the first who to formulate the order of the Divine Liturgy, which was the foundation for liturgies by Basil the Great and  John Chrysostom that we celebrate now.  The Liturgy of James is now celebrated in Jerusalem and elsewhere on his feast day.

Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus (meaning "Twin"), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus.  He is best known for disbelieving Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in John 20:28.  He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel. He is also believed to have crossed the largest area, which includes the Persian Empire and India.  He was pierced with spears and then beheaded with a sword.

These stories are ones of courage, not of weakness and fear. 

 Simon Magus was a Samaritan proto-Gnostic and traditional founder of the Simonians in the first century AD.  His only Biblical reference is in Acts 8:9-24 and prominently in several apocryphal and heresiological accounts of early Christian writers, some of whom regarded him as the source of all heresies, particularly St. Justin who wrote about Simon about one hundred years after his life.  He is also mentioned in a great number of Gnostic texts and was according to them one of the leaders of the early Gnostics.

Simony is the crime of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus.  Simon Magus offers the disciples of Jesus, Peter and John, payment so that anyone on whom he would place his hands would receive the power of the Holy Spirit.  This is the origin of the term simony but it also extends to other forms of trafficking for money in "spiritual things".

Simon Magus (Simon the Magician) was a Samaritan magus or religious figure and a convert to Christianity, baptized by Philip the Evangelist, whose later confrontation with Peter is recorded in Acts 8:9-24.  In early  traditions Simon is often regarded as the source of all heresies.  (There is another kind of ‘Peter’ which when added to Simon could have become the Simon Peter, the first Pope, who was buried in a pagan cemetery.  The Apostle Peter was more likely buried in the city of Babylon, which was the center of Jewish learning and commerce.)

Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus) (23 AD – August 25, 79 AD), was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian.  First c. Roman naturalist. He said that Jews despise all gods but their own, and are masters of sorcery. (Natural Histories)

95 Council of Jamnia - Jewish leadership declare that Christians could no longer worship in synagogues.

Pope Clement I (fl. 96), also known as Saint Clement of Rome, is listed from an early date as a Bishop of Rome.  He was the first Apostolic Father of the Church.  He may have been the fourth Bishop of Rome, first being appointed to a Jewish congregation, as he was probably Jewish.

****The Apostles' Creed  It is widely used by a number of Christian denominations including the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, Lutheranism, the Anglican Communion, and Western Orthodoxy. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists.  The name of the Creed comes from the probably fifth-century legend that, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit after Pentecost, each of the Twelve Apostles dictated part of it.  It is traditionally divided into twelve articles.  Because of its early origin, it does not address some Christological issues defined in the later Nicene and other Christian Creeds.  It thus says nothing explicitly about the divinity of either Jesus or of the Holy Spirit.  This makes it acceptable to many Arians and Unitarians.  Nor does it address many other theological questions that became objects of dispute centuries later.   1. I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.  2. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.  3. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.  4. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.  5. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again.  6. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  7. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.  8. I believe in the Holy Spirit,  9. the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints,  10. the forgiveness of sins,  11. the resurrection of the body,  12. and life everlasting. Amen.

The Council of Jamnia is a hypothetical late 1st-century council at which the canon of the Hebrew Bible was alleged to have been finalized.  First proposed by Heinrich Graetz in 1871, this theory was popular for much of the 20th century.  Now, there are other theories.  The Talmud relates that some time before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai relocated to the city of Yavne/Jamnia, where he received permission from the Romans to found a school of Halakha (Jewish law).  Yavne was also the town where the Sanhedrin relocated after the destruction of the Temple.  Zakkai's school became a major source for the later Mishna, which records the work of the Tannaim, and a wellspring of Rabbinic Judaism.  In 1871 Heinrich Graetz, drawing on Mishnaic and Talmudic sources, theorized that there must have been a late 1st century Council of Jamnia which had decided the Jewish canon.  The prevailing scholarly consensus is that the Council was actually dealing with other concerns entirely.  The notion of a biblical canon was not prominent in second-century Rabbinic Judaism or even later and the "notion of Torah" was expanded to include the Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud, Babylonian Talmud and midrashim. 

 Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis) (March 1, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD), was a Latin poet from Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) best known for his twelve books of Epigrams, published in Rome between AD 86 and 103, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Nerva and Trajan.  In these short, witty poems he cheerfully satirizes city life and the scandalous activities of his acquaintances, and romanticizes his provincial upbringing.  He wrote a total of 1,561, of which 1,235 are in elegiac couplets.  He is considered to be the creator of the modern epigram.  There are three principle themes to Martial’s epigrammatic attacks on the jews: A) That the jews are a dirty and unclean people.; B) That the jews are a lecherous people and frequently attempt to seduce others.; C) That the jews are tricksters, thieves, liars and frauds.

 Juvenal (Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis), was a Roman poet active in the late 1st and early 2nd century AD, author of the Satires.  “A Jew will never show the way to a Gentile or lead him to a fountain... The Jews will sell you any dream you please for small change.” (Satires)  Juvenal also had a good deal to say on the propensity of the Jews living in Rome for magic and sorcery, which is interesting in the light of the constant complaint of later Christian writers that they were involved in the very same thing, an accusation always scoffed at by Jewish apologists as a figment of the neurotic medieval imagination.

Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus)(ca. 35 – ca. 100) was a Roman rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing.  “The founders of cities are to be detested for concentrating a race which is a curse to others, namely the votaries of the Jewish mumbo-jumbo.” (Institutio oratoria)

 Jose the Galilean was a Jewish sage who lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries of the Common Era.  He was one of the Tannaim, the rabbis whose work was compiled in the Mishna.  Jose was a contemporary and colleague of Rabbis Akiba, Tarfon, and Eleazar ben Azariah.  He suffered from the prejudice commonly held against the Galileans by the Judeans (Jews).  (14^th century imaginary portrait)

100           100           100           100

100           100           100           100

100   Ichthys (Greek: capitalized ΙΧΘΥΣ or ΙΧΘΥC) is the ancient and classical Greek word for "fish".  In English it refers to a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point so as to resemble the profile of a fish, used by Early Christians as a secret symbol and now known colloquially as the "sign of the fish" or the "Jesus fish."  Ichthys can be read as an acrostic, a word formed from the first letters of several words.  It compiles to "Jesus Christ God's Son Savior" in ancient Greek.  Iota is the first letter of Iēsous, Greek for "Jesus". ;  Chi is the first letter of Christos, Greek for "anointed". ;  Theta is the first letter of Theou, Greek for "God's". ;  Upsilon is the first letter of Huios, Greek for "Son". ;  Sigma is the first letter of Sōtēr, Greek for "Savior".

 Saint Simeon of Jerusalem, son of Clopas, was a Jewish Christian leader and according to most Christian traditions the second Bishop of Jerusalem (62-107).   Eusebius of Caesarea gives the list of these bishops.  According to a universal tradition the first bishop of Jerusalem was Saint James the Just, the "brother of the Lord," who according to Eusebius said that he was appointed bishop by the Apostles Peter, St. James (whom Eusebius identifies with James, son of Zebedee), and John.  According to Eusebius, James was killed at the instigation of the high priest, Ananus, in about the year 63.  Eusebius relates that Simeon was elected by the community at Jerusalem chose to succeed James.  According to Hegesippus, Simeon prevailed against Thebutis, whom the church fathers deemed a Judaizing heresiarch (leader of a heretical doctrine or movement), and led most of the Christians to Pella before the outbreak of the Jewish War in 66 and the destruction of Herod's Temple in 70.  About the year 107 or 117 he was crucified under Trajan by the proconsul Atticus in Jerusalem or the vicinity.

 Plutarch, born Plutarchos (c. 46 – 120 CE), was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia.  The non-Jews of Alexandria and Rome alleged that the cult of Dionysus was widespread among Jews.  Plutarch gives a Bacchanalian interpretation to the Feast of Tabernacles:  "After the festival called 'the fast' [the Day of Atonement], during the vintage, the Jews place tables laden with different fruits in booths of thickets woven from vines and ivy.  Their first festival is called by them Sukkah (σκηνή).  A few days later, the Jews celebrate another festival, which one may simply call a Bacchanalian festival.  For this is a festival on which the Jews carry fig branches and sticks adorned with ivy and carry them into the Temple. One does not know" – adds Plutarch – "what they do in the Temple.  It seems reasonable to suppose that they practice rites in honor of Bacchus. For they blow small horns as the people of Argos do during the festival of Dionysus, and call upon their god.  Others, who are called Levites, walk in front, either in allusion to Lysios (λύσιος) – perhaps 'the god who attenuatescurses' – or because they call out 'Euius,' i.e., Bacchus." According to Plutarch the subject of the connection between the Dionysian and Jewish cults was raised during a symposium held at Aidepsos in Euboea, with a certain Moiragenes linking the Jewish Sabbath with the cult of Bacchus, because "even now many people call the Bacchi 'Sabboi' and call out that word when they perform the orgies of Bacchus." 

Quotes from Plutarch Symposium with Callistratus, Polycrates, and Lamprias  - “The reason why the hog is had in so much honor and veneration amongst them is, because as the report goes, that creature breaking up the earth with its snout showed the way to tillage, and taught them how to use the ploughshare, which instrument for that very reason, as some say, was called HYNIS, A SWINE.  … But I should think that if the Jews had such an antipathy against a hog, they would kill it as the magicians do mice; when, on the contrary, they are by their religion as much prohibited to kill as to eat it.  And perhaps there may be some reason given for this; for as the ass is worshipped by them as the first discoverer of fountains, so perhaps the hog may be had in like veneration, which first taught them to sow and plough.”  “When all the company requested and earnestly begged it of him; first of all (says he), the time and manner of the greatest and most holy solemnity of the Jews is exactly agreeable to the holy rites of Bacchus; … What they do within I know not; but it is very probable that they perform the rites of Bacchus. …. And I suppose that their Sabbaths have some relation to Bacchus; for even now many call the Bacchi by the name of Sabbi, and they make use of that word at the celebration of Bacchus’s orgies. …The Jews themselves witness no less; for when they keep the Sabbath, they invite one another to drink till they are drunk; But this is no inconsiderable argument that Bacchus was worshipped by the Jews.”

Plutarch reported that the pig was their god, and Juvenal observed that the hogs never die except of old age in Palestine, because the Jews look upon the flesh of swine as more precious than human beings.  And the people believed.  Men who spent every seventh day in idleness were incomprehensible to the Romans.

His Moralia has strongly anti-Jewish passages. De Iside et Ostride speculates on the beliefs of Jewish mysticism, and on the demonic nature of the Jewish god.

 Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy, and was also the driving force behind Greek theater.  He was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete.  His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms; some are described by ancient sources as Thracian, others as Greek.  In some cults, he arrives from the east, as an Asiatic foreigner; and in others, from Ethiopia in the South. He is a major, popular figure of Greek mythology and religion, and is included in some lists of the twelve Olympians.  He was also known as Bacchus, the name adopted by the Romans and the frenzy he induces, bakkheia. His thyrsus is sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey.  It is a beneficent wand but also a weapon, and can be used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents.  He is also the Liberator (Eleutherios), whose wine, music and ecstatic dance frees his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subverts the oppressive restraints of the powerful.  Those who partake in his mysteries are possessed and empowered by the god himself.  His cult is also a "cult of the souls"; his maenads feed the dead through blood-offerings, and he acts as a divine communicant between the living and the dead.

116 ad  The Emperor ordered all Jews in Mesopotamia killed.

 Ignatius Bishop of Antioch (98-117A.D.) – Epistle to the Magnesians –“For if we are still practicing Judaism, we admit that we have not received God’s favor…it is wrong to talk about Jesus Christ and live like Jews. For Christianity did not believe in Judaism, but Judaism in Christianity.”

 Justin Martyr (103–165) was a Christian apologist and saint. His works represent the earliest surviving Christian "apologies" of notable size.  St. Justin Martyr stated in 116 A. D. "The Jews were behind all the persecutions of the Christians.  They wandered through the country everywhere hating and undermining the Christian faith." “If you curse Him and those who believe in Him, and when you have the power, put us to death, how is it not possible that requisition shall not be made of you as being altogether hard-hearted? For you are behind all the persecutions of Christians.  You wander from place to place hating and undermining the Christian faith.”-Dialogue With Trypho The Jew.   Justin's writings were the first real expression of the idea that Jewish social misfortunes are the consequence of divine punishment for the death of Jesus.  As a result, Jews will never be able to escape suffering in human society.  Having made references to the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem, their desolate lands and burned out cities, Justin assures his rabbinic dialogue partner that these sufferings were justly imposed by God in light of Jewish responsibility for the death of Jesus.

The Greeks, of course, were the immediate victims of Jewish fury.  All Egypt, both Alexandria and Thebais, with Cyrene, arose.  The Jewish successes in Egypt were immediate. The Greeks retreated before them, falling back to Alexandria.  The City fell to the Greeks and most of its Jewish population perished.  Headed now by Andrew and Lucas, the Jewish armies swept over all Lower Egypt, where they were reinforced by additional thousands.  They penetrated Thebais and butchered all who stood in their way.  The Roman army under Lupus, dispatched to quell the revolt, was defeated.  The pagan world, immersed in cruelty, had never witnessed such scenes of horror and barbarity.  The Jews, in a frenzy of blood, killed every Gentile within striking distance — “they killed a multitude of people countless as the sands of the sea.”  Nor were they content with merely killing.  Some of the Gentile leaders were sawed asunder from head to foot.  They flayed the Gentile bodies, and clothed themselves with the skins.  They twisted the entrails of the slain and wore them as girdles.  They anointed themselves with the blood of their victims.  The victors, who disdained to eat the flesh of swine, feasted on the bodies of their enemies.  Captives were thrown to wild beasts, or forced to fight each other to the death as gladiators in the arenas.  220,000 Gentiles fell in Egypt, while not a single goyim of either sex or age was left alive in Cyprus—some 240,000.  The populous city of Salamis became a desert.

Lupus, the Roman governor, without troops after his defeat, was helpless to stay the horror about him.  Terror, such as had never before been known, swept the land.  Meanwhile, Hadrian (afterward emperor) landed his legions on Cyprus and defeated the Jews, whom he expelled from the island.  Not even a shipwrecked Jew was ever again permitted to land on the island without suffering the penalty of death.

Marcius Turbo landed with a considerable force of cavalry and legions on the coast of Cyrene.  He soon suppressed the insurrection in that province and marched upon Egypt where Lucuas still spread death and terror.  Lucuas and his Jewish butchers attempted to force their way by the Isthmus of Suez, and some of them are believed to have escaped into Palestine.  It is recorded that the Jewish losses exceeded the number that fled Egypt under Moses—600, 000.  With the destruction of the Alexandrian synagogue, “The glory of Israel departed.”

  132-5  Bar Kokhba leads a revolt against the Romans.  This is the last overt Jewish war, the Jews mostly use covert methods or servitude-gentile nations in future conflicts.  One segment of the population, however, refused to join in the revolt and wage war under the banner of Bar Kochba - the Jews who had believed in Jesus as the Messiah. Bar Kochba killed a number of them, seeing them as enemies, heretics and traitors to the national cause.   Outraged at this, the growing Mediterranean church began to harbor bitterness against the Jewish people.  [Even the Jews didn’t have the ‘nose’ until the Khazarians accepted Judaim.]

"Epistle of Barnabas" Chapter 4vs 6-7 (between 130A.D. and 138 A.D.)- “Take heed to yourselves and be not like some piling up you sins and saying that the covenant is theirs as well as ours. It is ours, but they lost it completely just after Moses received it.”

130 BABYLON - The Jewish population numbered between 800,000 and 1,200,000, which was between 10-12% of the entire population. The Jews were semi-autonomous and had full freedom of religion.  The Apostle Peter was buried in Babylon, not Rome.

135  BETAR  -The last major stronghold in Judea fell against overwhelming Roman forces.  Simon bar Kochba (bar Kosiba) the leader of the revolt was killed.  An estimated half a million(?) Jews perished in this revolt which left over 985 villages and 50 fortresses in ruins.  So great were the Roman losses that the emperor in his annual report to the Senate left out the customary: "I and my army are well."

 Marcion (ca. 85-160) was a Christian theologian. His teachings were influential during the 2nd century and a few centuries after, rivaling that of the Church of Rome.  His canon included ten Pauline Epistles and one gospel called the Gospel of Marcion, plus a rejection of the whole Hebrew Bible, and did not include the rest of the books later incorporated into the canonical New Testament.  He propounded Christianity free from Jewish doctrines with Paul as the reliable source of authentic doctrine.  Paul was, according to Marcion, the only apostle who had rightly understood the new message of salvation as delivered by Christ.  Marcion believed that the wrathful Hebrew God was a separate and lower (or non) entity than the all-forgiving God of the New Testament.  This belief was considered by contemporaries as similar to Gnostic or Manichaeistic Christian theology in being dualistic, but in modern terms, he probably was propounding the Christian God and considering the Jewish God as a manufactured vain imagination by an exclusive tribe.  Adolf von Harnack wrote “Marcion: The Gospel of the Alien God” in 1924.  Harnack basically agrees with Marcion.  The organization continued in the East for some centuries later, particularly outside the Byzantine Empire and in the West up to the 5^th century.  Marcion's role in the formation of the New Testament canon was pivotal, as he was the first collect Paul’s letters.  Marcion found problems in the Old Testament versus Christ; especially its alleged approval of atrocities and genocide.   Today’s New Testament tells of the problems between the Judaizing followers of Christ and those forming the Church by Grace.  Marcion’s followers rivaled the church in Rome until declared an heresy and forced the Catholic Church to adopt orthodox platforms.  Marcion, like Paul was a Jew/Hebrew.

 136 JERUSALEM - Hadrian built a pagan temple on the site of the destroyed Temple.  He renamed the city Aelia Capatolina and forbade Jews to enter into the city.  The second Jewish Revolt (132-135 AD) lasted about three and a half years before the Roman army under Julius Serverus was able to bring Bar Kokhba to bay in a fortress near Jerusalem.  Jewish annals record that 50 forts and 985 villages were destroyed and that 580,000 Jews were killed during the course of the war.  The Romans for their part were reputed to have lost the legio XXII Deiotariana.  In the rebellion's aftermath, Hadrian permanently banned Jews from setting foot in Jerusalem and then rebuilt the city as a Roman colony.

Hadrian (Publius Aelius Hadrianus) (1/24, 76 – 7/10, 138) was Roman Emperor from AD 117 to 138.  In addition to being emperor, Hadrian is also a notable Stoic and Epicurean philosopher. The Talmud reports that the Emporer Hadrian slaughtered some 800,000,000 million Jews at a time when most historians say there were about 2,000,000 Jews in Palestine.  Gentiles are said to have fertilized their vineyards for seven years with the blood of Israel without using manure.  Sixty-four million Jewish children, according to the Talmud, are supposed to have been slaughtered by the Gentiles in Bethar.  Another section of the Talmud says that the Romans killed 4 billion Jews or "as some say" 40 million Jews. The blood of the slain Jews is to have reached the nostrils of the Roman horses and then, like a tidal wave, plunged a distance of one or four miles to the sea, carrying large boulders along with it, and staining the sea a distance of four miles out.  The bodies of Jews slain by the Gentiles were used to build a fence around Hadrian's vineyard, which is said to have been eighteen miles square and the blood that was saved from the tidal wave was used to fertilize the vineyards for seven years.

 Polycarp (69 – 155 AD) was a Christian bishop of Smyrna.  According to the Martyrdom of Polycarp, he died an 86 year old martyr, bound and burned at the stake then stabbed when the fire failed to touch him.  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, that he had been a disciple of John the Apostle.  Jews demanded the execution of Polycarp.

 "Mardi Gras" or "Carnival”, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday.  Mardi gras is French for Fat Tuesday, referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season.  In English the day is sometimes referred to as Shrove Tuesday, from the word shrive, meaning "confess."  Popular practices include wearing masks and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing, sports competitions, parades, etc.  In mid February the ancient Romans celebrated the Lupercalia, a circus like festival not entirely unlike the Mardi Gras we are familiar with today.  When Rome embraced Christianity, the early Church fathers decided it was better to incorporate certain aspects of pagan rituals into the new faith rather than attempt to abolish them altogether.  Carnival became a period of abandon and merriment that preceded the penance of Lent, thus giving a Christian interpretation to the ancient custom.  Carnival comes from the Latin words carne vale, meaning "farewell to the flesh."  As early as the middle of the second century, the Romans observed a Fast of 40 Days, which was preceded by a brief season of feasting, costumes and merrymaking.  The Carnival season kicks off with the Epiphany, 12 days after Christmas, celebrates the visit of the Wise Men bearing gifts for the infant Jesus. 

Lent (Latin: fortieth) is the Christian observance of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday.  The traditional purpose of Lent is the penitential preparation of the believer—through prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial.  Its purpose is heightened in the annual commemoration of Holy Week, marking the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events of the Passion of Christ on Good Friday, which then culminates in the celebration on Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  During Lent, many of the faithful commit to fasting or giving up certain types of luxury as a form of penitence.  The Stations of the Cross, a devotional commemoration of Christ's carrying the Cross and of His execution, are often observed.  According to the Synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus spent forty days fasting in the desert before the beginning of His public ministry, where He endured temptation by Satan.  Early church father Irenaus of Lyons (c.130-c.200) wrote of such a season in the earliest days of the church, but back then it lasted only two or three days, not the 40 observed today.  In 325, the Council of Nicea discussed a 40-day Lenten season of fasting, but it's unclear whether its original intent was just for new Christians preparing for Baptism, but it soon encompassed the whole Church.

 Shoulder Angel/Devil: A shoulder angel often uses the iconography of a traditional angel, with wings, a robe, a halo, and sometimes a harp.  The shoulder devil likewise usually looks like a traditional devil with reddish skin, horns, barbed tail, a pitchfork (or actually a trident) and (sometimes) cloven hooves.  Often, both resemble their host, though sometimes they will resemble other characters in the story who are responsible or mischievous.  The idea may have originated from the Christian concept of a personal guardian angel, who was often considered to be matched by a personal devil who countered the angel's efforts (though there is a very similar idea outlined in The Shepherd of Hermas.  Especially in popular medieval dramas, like the 15th century The Castle of Perseverance.  In both this and Christopher Marlowe's play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, of about 1592, the "Good Angel" and "Bad Angel" offer competing advice (Act 2, scene 1, etc.) to the hero.  The non-canonical book, The Shepherd of Hermas (~140ad) has a reference to the idea of two Angels, There are two angels with a man--one of righteousness, and the other of iniquity.  Hermas is told to understand both Angels, but to only trust the Angel of Righteousness.  There is a similar Islamic belief of Kiraman Katibin, two angels residing on either shoulder of humans which record their good and bad deeds.  However, these angels do not have influence over the choices one makes, and only record one's deeds.  One may view this image in Freudian terms, with the Angel representing the super-ego (the source of self-censorship), counterbalanced by the Devil representing the id (the primal, instinctive desires of the individual).

Celsus was a 2nd century Greek philosopher.  He said “The Jews were a tribe of Egyptians who revolted from the established religion.” wrote that Jews "pride themselves in possessing superior wisdom and disdain for the company of other men."  “The Jews are fugitives from Egypt who have never performed anything worthy of note and were never held in any reputation or account.” (Quoted by Origenes, Contra Celsum.)

Philostratus, was the name of four Greek sophists of the Roman imperial period: One believed that Jews "have long since risen against humanity itself.  They are men who have devised a misanthropic life, who share neither food nor drink with others." (Cf. Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, I, iii.)

Claudius Ptolemy (c.90 – c. 168), was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek.  He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet.  He lived in Egypt under Roman rule.  His works are which modern historians base much of their data concerning the Jewish chronology from the time of the captivity and then the release of the Jews to about the rise of Alexander the Great.  The dates of Nebuchadnezzar’s and Cyrus’ reigns and exploits are assumed to be fixed by Ptolemy’s seven lunar eclipses dated from 747bc-330bc.  He was in later history honored by the Jews.

 ****Runes - The earliest runic inscriptions date from around A.D. 150.  The characters were generally replaced by the Latin alphabet as the cultures that had used runes underwent Christianization by around A.D. 700 in central Europe and by around A.D. 1100 in Northern Europe.  However, the use of runes persisted for specialized purposes in Northern Europe.  Until the early twentieth century runes were used in rural Sweden for decoration purposes in Dalarna and on Runic calendars.

170 Melito, Bishop of Sardis (Asia Minor) -Published a sermon "On the Passion" in which he blamed the Jews for the persecution and death of Jesus and absolved Pontius Pilate and the Romans from any guilt.  Although there was much evidence to the contrary his stand served to rid the Romans of any responsibility or shame and thus encourage them to convert.  This is one of the first times the Jews were officially accused of deicide.

Saint Irenaeus , (2nd century AD – c. 202) was Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire (now Lyons, France).  He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology.  He was a hearer of Polycarp, who in turn was a disciple of John the Evangelist.  Irenaeus' best-known book, Against Heresies (c. 180) is a detailed attack on Gnosticism, which was then a serious threat to the Church. Irenaeus is recognized as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.  Irenaeus explained Jewish law as necessary for a time because of human sinfulness. But the coming of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem signaled that the time of the Jews and their law was over.  According to Irenaeus, Jesus was attacking the Jewish claim to be able to know the Father without accepting the Son.  He relied on the parables of the wicked tenants (Mt 21: 33-34) and the wedding feast (Mk 22: 1-14) to "prove" that God had destined the Gentiles to replace unresponsive Jews in the kingdom.

Marcus Minucius Felix was one of the earliest of the Latin apologists for Christianity.  He is now exclusively known by his Octavius, a dialogue on Christianity between a pagan and a Christian ascertained as written between 150-270 AD.

The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus is probably the earliest example of Christian apologetics, writings defending Christianity from its accusers.  The Greek writer and recipient are not otherwise known, but the language and other textual evidence dates the work to the late 2nd century; some assume an even earlier date and count it among the Apostolic Fathers.   The writer is a Johannine Christian who does not use the name "Jesus" or the expression the "Christ" but prefers the use of "the Word."  Contents are Chapter I.-Occasion of the Epistle.  Chapter II.-The Vanity of Idols.  Chapter III.-Superstitions of the Jews.  Chapter IV.-The Other Observances of the Jews.  Chapter V.-The Manners of the Christians.  Chapter VI.-The Relation of Christians to the World.  Chapter VII.-The Manifestation of Christ.  Chapter VIII.-The Miserable State of Men Before the Coming of the Word.  Chapter IX.-Why the Son Was Sent So Late.  Chapter X.-The Blessings that Will Flow from Faith.  Chapter XI.-These Things are Worthy to Be Known and Believed. Chapter XII.-The Importance of Knowledge to True Spiritual Life.

200           200           200           200

 The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible.  The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah ("Teaching", also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim ("Writings")—hence TaNaKh.  The name "Miqra", meaning "that which is read", is an alternative Hebrew term for the Tanakh.  According to the Talmud, much of the contents of the Tanakh were compiled by the "Men of the Great Assembly" by 450 BCE, and have since remained unchanged. Modern scholars believe that the process of canonization of the Tanakh became finalized between 200 BCE and 200 CE.  The Hebrew text was originally an abjad: consonants written with some applied vowel letters.  During the early Middle Ages scholars known as the Masoretes created a single formalized system of vocalization.   According to Jewish tradition, the Tanakh consists of twenty-four books. The Tanakh counts as one book each Samuel, Kings, Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah and counts (the Twelve Prophets) as a single book.

The Torah (literally "teaching") consists of five books, commonly referred to as the "Five Books of Moses".  In Hebrew, the five books of the Torah are identified by the first prominent word in each book.  The English names are derived from the Greek names given to the books in the Septuagint, which are based on the thematic content of each of the books, as follows: (Bereshit) – Genesis; (Shemot) – Exodus; (Vayikra) – Leviticus; (Bamidbar) – Numbers; (Devarim) - Deuteronomy

Nevi'im ("Prophets") consists of eight books: 6. (Y'hoshua) – Joshua; 7. (Shophtim) – Judges; 8. (Sh'muel) - Samuel (I & II); 9. (M'lakhim) - Kings (I & II); 10. (Y'shayahu) – Isaiah; 11. (Yir'mi'yahu) – Jeremiah; 12. (Y'khezqel) – Ezekiel; 13. The Twelve Prophets: a. (Hoshea) – Hosea; b. (Yo'el) – Joel; c. (Amos) – Amos; d. (Ovadyah) – Obadiah; e. (Yonah) – Jonah; f. (Mikhah) – Micah; g. (Nakhum) – Nahum; h. (Havakuk) – Habakkuk; i. (Ts'phanyah) – Zephaniah; j. (Khagai) – Haggai; k. (Z'kharyah) – Zechariah; l. (Mal'akhi) - Malachi

Ketuvim ("Writings") are sometimes also known by the Greek title "Hagiographa" and consists of eleven books. The "Sifrei Emet," "Books of Truth": 14. (Tehillim) – Psalms; 15. (Mishlei) – Proverbs; 16. (Iyov) - Job

The "Five Megilot" or "Five Scrolls": 17. (Shir Hashirim) - Song of Songs; 18. (Rut) – Ruth; 19. (Eikhah) – Lamentations; 20. (Kohelet) – Ecclesiastes; 21. (Esther) - Esther

The rest of the "Writings": 22. (Dani'el) – Daniel; 23. (Ezra v'Nechemia) - Ezra-Nehemiah; 24. (Divrei Hayamim) - Chronicles (I & II)

Christianity was represented by Independent Church Fathers who were later incorporated as Catholic Fathers.  Christianity spread throughout the known world reaching Africa by 100 ad, China by 300 ad, and Scandinavia by 1000 ad.

****Quotes from Popes of the Roman Catholic Church wherein they taught:   1)That the Jews are cursed for murdering Jesus;    2)That the Jews are cursed to be traitors like Judas;    3)That the Jews are cursed to be unscrupulous moneygrubbers, like Judas;    4)That the Jews are cursed to be outcasts like Cain, segregated from the rest of the society within which they live;    5)That the Jews are cursed to be distinguished from everyone else by an identifying mark, like Cain;    6)That the Jews are cursed to be outcasts, periodically ejected from the nations amongst whom they live, like Cain;    7)That the Jews are cursed to be slaves like Esau;    8)We also give a list of instances where Christians expelled the Jews in line with the teaching and exhortation of the Church.

Like Royalty, both in the East and the West, used the Jews as Treasurers, Bankers and Tax collectors and who then periodically took their property;  there were many Popes who also shielded the Jews from community outrage until they themselves were personally outraged. 

****Expulsions - There were at least 109 Locations (cities, regions, countries) in Christendom where Jews had been expelled since AD 250.  Christendom led by the belief that their Savior was of the Hebrew tribe, but also believing in the curse and deadness of Judaism, left Jews alone, allowing them into their communities.  Outside of retaliations, called ‘Persecutions’, Jews lived safely throughout Christendom and were able to continue their Gentile hatred.  Ghettos were self-imposed by Rabbis to maintain cohesion and stop assimilation.  Each of these occasions were of Jewish overreach, when either through believed or actual reality, Christians were being cheated.  How many expulsions in Muslim countries?

205 Hippolytus of Rome  - Wrote Contra Judaeous, which blamed the harsh conditions of the Jews on their rejection of Jesus.

Tertullian (Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus),  (ca. 160 – ca. 220 A.D.) was a prolific early Christian Berber author and the first to write Christian Latin literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy.  Tertullian has been called "the father of Latin Christianity".  Tertullian argued that divine judgment is upon Israel, and Jews are destined to suffer for the crucifixion.  "The Jews formed the breeding ground of all anti-Christian actions."  Tertullian presented Jesus as the messiah who ought to have been recognized by the Jewish people but was not.  As a result, he argued, the Jews were subjected to God's wrath.  “What other race is there in the world that has brought upon itself such infamy as has the Jewish?” (Ad nationes)

Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (AD 155 or 163/164 to after 229), known in English as Cassius Dio, Dio Cassius, or Dio (Dione. lib) was a Roman consul and a noted historian writing in Greek.  Dio published a history of Rome in 80 volumes, beginning with the legendary arrival of Aeneas in Italy through the subsequent founding of Rome and then to 229; a period of about 1,400 years.  Of the 80 books, written over 22 years, many survive into the modern age intact or as fragments, providing modern scholars with a detailed perspective on Roman history.  Describing the savage Jewish uprising against the Roman empire that has been acknowledged as the turning point downward in the course of that great state-form: "The Jews were destroying both Greeks and Romans.  They ate the flesh of their victims, made belts for themselves out of their entrails, and daubed themselves with their blood... In all, 220,000 men perished in Cyrene and 240,000 in Cyprus, and for this reason no Jew may set foot in Cyprus today." (Roman History)  Purim, the Jewish holiday of Revenge against Gentiles.

219 Babylonia as the center of Judaism (219 CE to c.1050 CE) - After the fall of Jerusalem, Babylon would become the focus of Judaism for more than a thousand years.  The rabbi Abba Arika, afterward called simply Rab, was a key figure in maintaining Judaism after the destruction of Jerusalem.  Rab left Palestine to return to his Babylonian home.  Rab and Samuel were acknowledged peers in position and learning, their academies likewise were accounted of equal rank and influence.  The key work of these academies was the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud.  The Mishnah and Babylonian Gemara together form the Talmud Bavli (the "Babylonian Talmud")and was completed in the 6th century, adding manifold amplifications to its text.  The two academies lasted until the middle of the 11th century.

Philostratus (ca. 170/172-247/250), called "the Athenian", was a Greek sophist of the Roman imperial period.  The usually quoted passage from Philostratus runs as follows:  ‘For the Jews have long been in revolt not only against the Romans, but against humanity; and a race that has made its own a life apart and irreconcilable, that cannot share with the rest of mankind in the pleasures of the table nor join in their libations or prayers or sacrifices, are separate from ourselves by a greater gulf than divides us from Susa or Bactra or the more distant Indies.’

250 The hatred of the Christians stemmed partly from the INFLUENCE exercised by the Jewish religion in Carthage and the surrounding area, where there were many Judaizing sects and proselytes.  Jews are expelled from Carthage.

    Origen (c. 185–254) was an early Christian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished writers of the early Christian Church.  Using his knowledge of Hebrew, he produced the Hexapla and a corrected Septuagint.  He wrote commentaries on most of the books of the Bible.  He interpreted scripture allegorically and developed certain doctrines with similarities to Neo-Pythagorean and Neo-Platonist thought. Because of the extent of his writings and diverse thoughts he had been declared anathema in the 6th century, but has been rehabilitated.  Reading the biblical texts in this way, he insists in On First Principles, is the solution to the problem of the "hardhearted and ignorant members of the circumcision" (that is, Jews), who "refused to believe in our Savior" because they could not get beyond the literal sense of the text.  One of the greatest Hebraists, he charged Jewry with being addicted to magical practices. (Commentary Upon Matthew)

Lawrence of Rome (c. 225 – 258) was one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome who were martyred during the persecution of Valerian in 258.  According to lore, among the treasures of the Greek church entrusted to Lawrence for safe-keeping was the Holy Chalice, the cup from which Jesus and the Apostles drank at the Last Supper.

Saint Cyprian (  -9/14, 258) was bishop of Carthage and an important early Christian writer.  He wrote “The Testimonies against the Jews”.

274 The Battle of Châlons was fought between Roman Emperor Aurelian and Emperor Tetricus I of the Gallic Empire.  Fought in what is now Châlons-en-Champagne, France, it was the battle that marked the end of the independent Gallic Empire, and its unification back to the Roman Empire, after thirteen years of separation.

 Saint George (ca. 275/281 – 4/23, 303) was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Palestine and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr.  In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic (Western and Eastern Rites), Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox churches.  He is immortalized in the tale of Saint George and the Dragon and is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.  His memorial is celebrated on 23 April, and he is regarded as one of the most prominent military saints.  Many Patronages of Saint George exist around the world, including: Aragon, Catalonia, England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, India, Iraq, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Serbia and Russia, as well as the cities of Genoa, Amersfoort, Beirut, Fakiha, Bteghrine, Cáceres, Ferrara, Freiburg, Kumanovo, Ljubljana, Pomorie, Preston, Qormi, Rio de Janeiro, Lod, Barcelona, Moscow, Tamworth and the Maltese island of Gozo, as well as a wide range of professions, organizations and disease sufferers.

Dragons are legendary creatures, typically with serpentine or otherwise reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures.  There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon and the Chinese dragon.  Those who hold to the science of a younger earth may believe that the dinosaurs died off within human time.  [I think that dragons of some type may have existed up through the 8th century.]

( Hamsa charm) The evil eye is a look that is believed by many cultures to be able to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike.  The term also refers to the power attributed to certain persons of inflicting injury or bad luck by such an envious or ill-wishing look. The evil eye is usually given to others who remain unaware.  The idea appears several times in translations (Tirgumim) of the Old Testament. Charms and decorations featuring the eye are a common sight across Greece and Turkey and have become a popular choice of souvenir with tourists.  The evil eye is mentioned several times in the classic Pirkei Avot (200ad?)(Ethics of Our Fathers). In Chapter II, five disciples of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai give advice on how to follow the good path in life and avoid the bad.  Attempts to ward off the curse of the evil eye has resulted in a number of talismans in many cultures.  In Jewish culture, the hamsa is called the Hand of Miriam; in some Muslim populated cultures, the Hand of Fatima.  However, it is considered a superstition to practicing or religious Muslims that any symbol or object protects against the evil eye.  In Islam, only God can protect against the evil eye.

300           300           300           300

304 - Armenia accepts Christianity as state religion.

306 Council of Elvira - One of the earliest Christian councils, it decreed that intermarriage and social intercourse with Jews were forbidden.

Eusebius of Caesarea, c. AD 263–339, called Eusebius Pamphili, became the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine about the year 314.  Eusebius, historian, exegete and polemicist is one of the more renowned Church Fathers.  He (with Pamphilus) was a scholar of the Biblical canon.  He wrote Demonstrations of the Gospel, Preparations for the Gospel, and On Discrepancies between the Gospels, studies of the Biblical text.  As "Father of Church History" he produced the Ecclesiastical History, On the Life of Pamphilus, the Chronicle and On the Martyrs.  Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History, confines the role of Jews to that of witnessing to divine justice.  “The Jews are a perverse, dangerous, and criminal sect.”

Sylvester was pope from January 31, 314 to December 31, 335, succeeding Pope Miltiades. He condemned Jewsh anti-Christian activity.

 Constantine the Great or Constantine I (Caesar Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus) (2/27 c.272 – 5/22 337) was Roman emperor from 306, and the sole holder of that office from 324 until his death in 337.  Best known for being the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine reversed the persecutions of his predecessor, Diocletian, and issued (with his co-emperor Licinius) the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious toleration throughout the empire.  Constantine also transformed the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium into a new imperial residence, Constantinople, which would remain the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire for over one thousand years.    After his conversion, the Jews were oppressed with new restrictions and Christians were forbidden to associate with them.  Constantine banished rabbis and made the marriage of a Jew with a Christian woman a capital crime.  Constantine was baptized by an Arian bishop.  “The JEWS are a nefarious and perverse sect.”  His first law code referred to synagogues with a Roman slang word meaning 'brothel.'   In 315, however, he rigorously moved against Jewish intermarriage with Christians.

 The Globus Cruciger (Latin, "cross-bearing orb") is an orb topped with a cross, a Christian symbol of authority used throughout the Middle Ages and even today on coins, iconography and royal regalia.  It symbolizes Christ's (the cross) dominion over the world (the orb).  When held by Christ himself, the subject is known in the iconography of Western art as ("Saviour of the World").  It is associated with the sceptre.  Citizens of Rome were familiar with the globe represented by Jupiter and Roman Emperors used this symbol.  In 312, Constantine I had a vision of the cross above the sun, as well as the words "In this sign, shall you conquer".  Constantine's soldiers drew the cross on their shields, and defeated their foe, Maxentus.  This heralded the beginning of the Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire.  In ~423, the orb was topped with a cross.  The crowned orb was in general use as a finial on western royal crowns, whether actual objects or merely heraldic crowns, all over Europe, for example in Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia and Imperial Germany, among others.  It may still be seen in the national arms of the surviving European monarchies.  In modern England, the Sovereign's Orb symbolizes both the state and Church of England under the protection and domain of the royal crown.

 Saint Helena (ca. 246/50 – August 18, 330) was the consort of Emperor Constantius, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I.  She is traditionally credited with finding the relics of the True Cross, with which she is invariably represented in Christian iconography.  She is considered a Christian female worthy.

G. K. Chesterton in his book 'A Short History of England' writes that she was considered a Briton by the British.  The bishop and historian Eusebius of Caesarea states that she was about age 80 on her return from Palestine.  She is considered by the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern and Roman Catholic churches, as well as by the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Churches as a saint, famed for her piety.  Constantine appointed his mother Helena as Augusta Imperatrix, and gave her unlimited access to the imperial treasury in order to locate the relics of Christian tradition.  In 326-28 Helena undertook a trip to the Holy Places in Palestine. According to Eusebius of Caesarea she was responsible for the construction or beautification of two churches, the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, and the Church on the Mount of Olives, sites of Christ's birth and ascension.  Local founding legend attributes to Helena's orders the construction of a church in Egypt to identify the Burning Bush of Sinai.  The chapel at St. Catherine's Monastery--often referred to as the Chapel of Saint Helen—is dated to the year AD 330.  Jerusalem was still being rebuilt following the destruction caused by Emperor Hadrian.  He had built a temple over the site of Jesus' tomb near Calvary, and renamed the city Aelia Capitolina.  Accounts differ concerning whether the Temple was dedicated to Venus or Jupiter[22] According to tradition, Helena ordered the temple torn down and, according to the legend that arose at the end of the 4th century, chose a site to begin excavating, which led to the recovery of ‘Jesus’ cross.  Tradition says that the site of the Vatican Gardens was spread with earth brought from Golgotha by Helena to symbolically unite the blood of Christ with that shed by thousands of early Christians, who died in the persecutions of Nero.  According to one tradition, Helena acquired the Holy Tunic on her trip to Jerusalem and sent it to Trier.  In Great Britain, later legend, mentioned by Henry of Huntingdon but made popular by Geoffrey of Monmouth, claimed that Helena was a daughter of the King of Britain, Cole of Camulodunum, who allied with Constantius to avoid more war between the Britons and Rome.

 “The Seamless Robe of Jesus” is the robe said to have been worn by Jesus during (or shortly before) his crucifixion.  The relic is preserved in the Cathedral of Trier in Germany.  According to the Gospel of John, the soldiers who crucified Jesus did not divide his tunic after crucifying him, but cast lots to determine who would keep it because it was woven in one piece, without seam.  The history of the Trier robe is certain only from the 12th century.  The relic is normally kept folded in a reliquary and cannot be directly viewed by the faithful.  Pilgrimages took place at irregular intervals to view the garment: 1512, 1513, 1514, 1515, 1516, 1517, 1524, 1531, 1538, 1545, 1655, 1810, 1844, 1891, 1933, 1959, and 1996.  The present pilgrimage with the exhibition of the robe is taking place between April 13 - May 13. 2012.  It is the 500th anniversary of the first pilgrimage after the Imperial Diet.

Trier is Germany's oldest city. Legend has it that in 2000 BC the Assyrians established a colony here. The Roman colony of Augusta Treverorum (Trier) was founded by Augustus in 16 BC. Trier became a favored residence of several Roman emperors, including Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor. The cathedral Constantine built in Trier in 326 AD is Germany's oldest. After destruction by Germanic tribes in the 5th century, the great city of Trier became a small town.

Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius was an early Christian author (ca. 240 – ca. 320) who became an advisor to the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine I, guiding his religious policy as it developed, and tutor to his son.  He wrote apologetic works explaining Christianity in terms that would be palatable to educated people who still practiced the traditional religions of the Empire, while defending Christian beliefs against the criticisms of Hellene philosophers.  His ("Divine Institutions") is an early example of a systematic presentation of Christian thought.  It was intended to point out the futility of pagan beliefs and to establish the reasonableness and truth of Christianity as a response to pagan critics.

325 Nicaea 1^st Catholic Council-Though the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15 and Galatians 2) was the first Church Council, attended by the Apostles, the first Ecumenical (world-wide) Council was called by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great with Pope Saint Sylvester I.  Saint Athanasius argued for condemning Arius and defining the Consubstantiality of the Son with the Heavenly Father. (Arius (AD 250 or 256 – 336) was a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt.)  It also forbade Jews to own Christian slaves or convert pagans to Judaism. 

The Nicene Creed is the profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It was adopted in A.D. 325. It is given high importance in the Anglican Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Oriental Orthodox churches, the Roman Catholic Church including the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Old Catholic Church, and most Protestant denominations.  There are several current translations.  This one is in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:  I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible: And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God, Begotten, not made, Being of one substance with the Father, By whom all things were made; Who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven, And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, And was made man, And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.  He suffered and was buried, And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, And ascended into heaven, And sits on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead: Whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost, The Lord and giver of life, Who proceeded from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spoke by the Prophets.  And I believe one Catholic and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins. And I look for the Resurrection of the dead, And the life of the world to come.  Amen.

****Some favorite Latin Phrases on Religion:

Adeste Fideles: O come, all ye faithful; Agnus Dei: The Lamb of God; anno domini: In the year of our lord; avē Maria: Hail Mary!; bona fides: Good faith; Cantate Domino: Sing to the Lord; Credo: I believe; Credendum: articles of faith; Christi crux est mea lux: The cross of Christ is my light; Christo et Ecclesiae: For Christ and for the Church; Corpus Christi: Body of Christ; cruce signati: Marked with a cross (Crusaders); Crux: Cross; crux spes unica: The cross is the only hope; dies dominicus: The Lord's day; Dies Irae: Day of Wrath; dante Deo: By the gift of God; De Civitate Dei: On the City of God; Dei gratia: By the grace of God; Dei iudicium: By the judgment of God; dies irae: Day of wrath (the day of judgement); Deo duce, ferro comitante: With God as my leader and my sword as my companion; Deo et regi fidelis: Faithful to God and king; Deo favente: With God's favor; Deo gratias: Thanks be to God; Deo, patriae, amicis: For God, fatherland, and friends; Deo volente: God willing; Deus lux Mea: God is my light; Deus nobiscum, quis contra?: God is with us, who can be against us?; Deus nobis fiducia: God is our trust; Deus providebit: God will provide; Deus tecum: May God be with you (singular); Deus vobiscum: May God be with you (plural); Deus vult: God wills it (motto of the First Crusade); Domine, dirige nos: Lord, direct us (motto of London); Dominus: The Lord; Dominus illuminatio mea: The Lord is my light; Glōria in excelsīs Deō: glory to God in the highest; Glōria Patrī: glory to the Father; Iēsūs Nazarēnus, Rēx Iūdæōrum (I.N.R.I.): Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews; imago Deī: image of God; Magnificat: "it magnifies"; meā culpā: through my own fault; nihil obstat: "nothing stands in the way"; permission to publish; opus Deī: the work of God; Pater Noster: Our Father; Via Crucis: "the Way of the Cross"; Via Dolōrōsa: the Way of Sorrow.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 293 – May 2, 373) was a Christian theologian, bishop of Alexandria, Church Father, and a noted Egyptian leader.  He is best remembered for his role in the conflict with Arius and Arianism.  At the First Council of Nicaea, Athanasius argued against Arius and his doctrine that Christ is of a distinct substance from the Father.  In relation to Jews, Athanasius’s argument is that the plundering of Jerusalem and the cessation of dreams, visions, and prophecy have happened in accordance with the coming of Christ.  “When did prophet and vision cease from Israel?  Was it not when Christ came, the Holy One of holies?” Jerusalem, with all its types and shadows, stood until “Essential Righteousness” came.  But upon his coming, Jersualem’s function as well as that of the prophets was completed and “sealed.”  Athanasius then points to other passages that prophecy that the kingdom of the Jews would stand until Christ’s coming (Gen. 49:10; Matt. 11:13; Ps. 118:27).  This concludes his refutation to the Jews.

    Arius (250 or 256–336) was a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt.  His teachings about the nature of the Godhead, which emphasized the Father's Divinity over the Son, and his opposition to the Athanasian or Trinitarian Christology, made him a controversial figure in the First Council of Nicea, convened by Roman Emperor Constantine in 325 AD.  After Emperor Constantine legalized and formalized Christianity, the newly recognized Christian Church sought to unify and clarify its theology.  Trinitarian partisans, including Athanasius, used Arius and Arianism as epithets to describe those who disagreed with their doctrine of co-equal Trinitarianism, a Christology representing the Father and Son (Jesus of Nazareth) as "of one essence" (consubstantial) and coeternal.

Although virtually all positive writings on Arius' theology have been suppressed or destroyed, negative writings describe Arius' theology as one in which there was a time before the Son of God, where only God the Father existed.  Despite concerted opposition, 'Arian', or nontrinitarian Christian churches persisted throughout Europe and North Africa, in various Gothic and Germanic kingdoms, until suppressed by military conquest or voluntary royal conversion between the fifth and seventh centuries.  The debate over the Son’s precise relationship to the Father did not begin with him, Arius merely intensified the controversy.

Arius appears to have been a man of personal ascetic achievement, pure morals, and decided convictions. He was "tall and lean, of distinguished appearance and polished address. Women doted on him, charmed by his beautiful manners, touched by his appearance of asceticism.  Men were impressed by his aura of intellectual superiority."  The historian Socrates of Constantinople reports that Arius ignited the controversy that bears his name when St. Alexander of Alexandria, who had succeeded Achillas as the Bishop of Alexandria, gave a sermon on the similarity of the Son to the Father.  Arius interpreted Alexander's speech as being a revival of Sabellianism, condemned it, and then argued that "if the Father begat the Son, he that was begotten had a beginning of existence: and from this it is evident, that there was a time when the Son was not.  It therefore necessarily follows, that he [the Son] had his substance from nothing."  This quote describes the essence of Arius' doctrine. 

It is believed that Arius was influenced in his thinking by the teachings of Lucian of Antioch, a celebrated Christian teacher and martyr.  Like many third-century Christian scholars, Arius was influenced by the writings of Origen, widely regarded as the first great theologian of Christianity.  However, while he drew support from Origen's theories on the Logos, the two did not agree on everything.  Arius clearly argued that there was a time when the Son did not exist, and that the Logos had a beginning.  By way of contrast, Origen taught that the relation of the Son to the Father had no beginning.  At the Council of Nicaea, all secular dioceses of the empire sent one or more representatives to the council, save for Roman Britain; the majority of the bishops came from the East.  Twenty-two bishops, led by Eusebius of Nicomedia, came as supporters of Arius.  Historians report that Constantine, who had never been baptized as a Christian during his lifetime, was baptized on his deathbed by the Arian bishop, Eusebius of Nicodemia.  Constantius II, who succeeded Constantine, was an Arian sympathizer who openly encouraged the Arians

During the reign of Constantius II, the Arian Gothic convert Ulfilas was consecrated a bishop by Eusebius of Nicomedia and sent to missionize his people.  His success ensured the survival of Arianism among the Goths and Vandals until the beginning of the eighth century, when these kingdoms succumbed to their Nicean neighbors or accepted Nicean Christianity.  Arians also continued to exist in North Africa, Spain and portions of Italy, until finally suppressed during the sixth and seventh centuries. 

**** [Varieties of Christianity – Each successive Catholic Council with headquarters in Rome continued to further define Christian theology.  Men who were called heretics were usually faithful to the precepts of Christ and evangelistic.  This author believes that the way to spiritual relationship with God is narrow enough without defining every jot and tittle.]

330 - Ethiopian King Ezana of Axum makes Christianity an official religion.

   ****Saint Nicholas (270 – 12/6 343), also called Nikolaos the Wonderworker.  He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus.  The historical Saint Nicholas is remembered and revered among Catholic and Orthodox Christians.  He is also honored by various Anglican and Lutheran churches.  He is honored in the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe.  In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Saint Nicholas' memory is celebrated on most every Thursday of the year (together with the Apostles).  Saint Nicholas Day is usually on December 6.  Saint Nicholas is celebrated by all the Christian communities in Lebanon and Palestine and old Byzantine areas: Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian.

Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, and simply "Santa", is a figure with legendary, mythical, historical and folkloric origins who, in many western cultures, is said to bring gifts to the homes of the good children during the late evening and overnight hours of Christmas Eve, December 24.  Santa Claus is generally depicted as a portly, joyous, white-bearded man wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers, and black leather belt and boots.  This image became popular in the United States and Canada in the 19th century due to the significant influence of Clement Clarke Moore's 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" and of caricaturist and political cartoonist Thomas Nast.  This image has been maintained and reinforced through song, radio, television, children's books and films.  The North American depiction of Santa Claus as it developed in the 19th and 20th century in turn influenced the modern perceptions of Father Christmas, Sinterklaas and Saint Nicholas in European culture.  According to a tradition which can be traced to the 1820s, Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, with a large number of magical elves, and nine (originally eight) flying reindeer.  Since the 20th century, in an idea popularized by the 1934 song "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", Santa Claus has been believed to make a list of children throughout the world, categorizing them according to their behavior ("naughty" or "nice") and to deliver presents, including toys, and candy to all of the well-behaved children in the world, and sometimes coal to the naughty children, on the single night of Christmas Eve.  He accomplishes this feat with the aid of the elves who make the toys in the workshop and the reindeer who pull his sleigh.

Numerous parallels have been drawn between Santa Claus and the figure of Odin, a major god amongst the Germanic peoples prior to their Christianization.  Odin was sometimes recorded, at the native Germanic holiday of Yule, as leading a great hunting party through the sky.  Two books from the 13th century from earlier sources, describe Odin as riding an eight-legged horse that could leap great distances, giving rise to comparisons to Santa Claus's reindeer.  Yule or Yuletide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas.  The festival was placed on December 25 when the Christian calendar was adopted.  Scholars have connected the celebration to the Wild Hunt.  [The Wild Hunt is an ancient folk myth prevalent across Northern, Western and Central Europe.  The fundamental premise in all instances is the same: a phantasmal, spectral group of huntsmen with the accoutrements of hunting, horses, hounds, etc., in mad pursuit across the skies or along the ground, or just above it.]  Customs such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others stem from Yule.  The fact that Yule is not etymologically tied to Christianity means Yule in the Nordic countries is also celebrated by many non-Christians.  The non-religious treat Yule as an entirely secular tradition.

Despite Santa Claus's mixed Christian roots, he has become a secular representation of Christmas and has been disliked by many Christians through the ages.  The metamorphosis of Saint Nicholas into the more commercially (Jewish) lucrative Santa Claus, took several centuries in Europe and America.  Each Nordic country claims Santa's residence to be within their territory. Hanukkah was a minor Jewish holiday built up to compete with Christmas.  Jews have written and distributed most of the Christmas songs which do not include Jesus.

[Not to be confused with Nick or Old Nick, a name of the Devil.  The name is derived from the Dutch Nikken, the devil, meaning slayer--for as the devil was "a murderer from the beginning."]

The Twelve Days of Christmas are the festive days beginning Christmas Day (25 December).  Song is for Christian instruction?:

On the 1st day of Christmas my true love gave to me...A Partridge in a Pear Tree: The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, whose birthday we celebrate on December 25, the first day of Christmas. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge that feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, recalling the expression of Christ's sadness over the fate of Jerusalem: "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered you under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but you would not have it so . . . ." (Luke 13:34)

On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Two Turtle Doves: The Old and New Testaments, which together bear witness to God's self-revelation in history and the creation of a people to tell the Story of God to the world.

On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Three French Hens: The Three Theological Virtues:  1) Faith, 2) Hope, and 3) Love (1 Corinthians 13:13)

On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Four Calling Birds: The Four Gospels: 1) Matthew, 2) Mark, 3) Luke, and 4) John, which proclaim the Good News of God's reconciliation of the world to Himself in Jesus Christ.

On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Five Gold Rings: The first Five Books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch:  1) Genesis, 2) Exodus, 3) Leviticus, 4) Numbers, and 5) Deuteronomy, which gives the history of humanity's sinful failure and God's response of grace in the creation of a people to be a light to the world.

On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Six Geese A-laying: The six days of creation that confesses God as Creator and Sustainer of the world (Genesis 1).

On the 7th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Seven Swans A-swimming: The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: 1) prophecy, 2) ministry, 3) teaching, 4) exhortation, 5) giving, 6) leading, and 7) compassion (Romans 12:6-8; cf. 1 Corinthians 12:8-11)

On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Eight Maids A-milking: The eight Beatitudes: 1) Blessed are the poor in spirit, 2) those who mourn, 3) the meek, 4) those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 5) the merciful, 6) the pure in heart, 7) the peacemakers, 8) those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. (Matthew 5:3-10)

On the 9th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Nine Ladies Dancing: The nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit: 1) love, 2) joy, 3) peace, 4) patience, 5) kindness, 6) generosity, 7) faithfulness, 8) gentleness, and 9) self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)

On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Ten Lords A-leaping: The ten commandments: 1) You shall have no other gods before me; 2) Do not make an idol; 3) Do not take God's name in vain; 4) Remember the Sabbath Day; 5) Honor your father and mother; 6) Do not murder; 7) Do not commit adultery; 8) Do not steal; 9) Do not bear false witness; 10) Do not covet. (Exodus 20:1-17)

On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Eleven Pipers Piping: The eleven Faithful Apostles: 1) Simon Peter, 2) Andrew, 3) James, 4) John, 5) Philip, 6) Bartholomew, 7) Matthew, 8) Thomas, 9) James bar Alphaeus, 10) Simon the Zealot, 11) Judas bar James.  (Luke 6:14-16).  The list does not include the twelfth disciple, Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus to the religious leaders and the Romans.

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Twelve Drummers Drumming: The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostles' Creed: 1) I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. 2) I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. 3) He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. 4) He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell [the grave]. 5) On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 6) He will come again to judge the living and the dead. 7) I believe in the Holy Spirit, 8) the holy catholic Church, 9) the communion of saints, 10) the forgiveness of sins, 11) the resurrection of the body, 12) and life everlasting.

Hilary of Poitiers (AD 291-371) wrote: "Jews are a perverse people accursed by God forever."  He spoke of the Jews as "a people who had always persisted in iniquity and out of its abundance of evil glorified in wickedness."  “The Jews are always seething to slaughter the Christian people.” (Tractatus mysteriorum)

Cyril of Jerusalem was a distinguished theologian of the early Church (ca. 313-386).   He claimed the Jewish Patriarchs, or Nasi, were a low race.

 ****Julian the Apostate -Flavius Claudius Julianus (331/332 – 6/26, 363) was Roman Emperor from 355 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer.  A member of the Constantinian dynasty, he was made Caesar by Constantius II in 355 and took command of the western provinces.  Julian was a man of unusually complex character: he was "the military commander, the theosophist, the social reformer, and the man of letters".  He was the last non-Christian ruler of the Roman Empire and it was his desire to bring the empire back to its ancient Roman values in order to save it from "dissolution".  He purged the top-heavy state bureaucracy and attempted to revive traditional Roman religious practices at the cost of Christianity. His rejection of Christianity in favor of Neoplatonic paganism caused him to be called Julian the Apostate by the church.

Jews were allies of Julian the Apostate -In the year 360, Julian, a cousin of Constantius, was proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army.  The policy of Julian had three principal aims: 1-To renew paganism and to again declare it a state religion of the Empire, so that Rome, which according to his view had declined through Christianity, might return to its old glory.  2-To destroy Christianity.  3-To concede to Jewry its old positions, from which it had been expelled by Constantine and his sons; even the rebuilding of the Temple of Solomon was to be arranged.

From the beginning the Jews were his unconditional allies, which once again proves that, when it suits them, they are capable of fighting for paganism and the cult of idols, even indeed against monotheism, whenever this allows them to work for the destruction of the Church, even though they are inwardly monotheists and enemies of the cult of idolatry.  While the Jews allied themselves with Julian and allowed him to enjoy their help, they supported the restoration of idolatry, although they say that they are so greatly repelled by it.  However, in order to obtain their goal, namely the destruction of Christianity, they prove that they are capable of everything, even of utilization of the atheistic and materialistic teachings of modern Communism, although they remain deeply religious and spiritual.

The famous Jewish historian Graetz says of Julian:  “The Emperor Julian was one of those strong characters who imprint their names indelibly on the memory of men.  Only his early death and the hatred of the ruling Church were responsible for his not being provided with the tide ‘Julian the Great’”.   He adds that Julian paid great admiration to the Jewish religion, and confirms that “the period of government by Julian, which lasted just two years (November 361 to June 363), was a time of extreme felicity for the Jews of the Roman Empire.”  Graetz likewise establishes that the leader of Jewry in the Empire, the Patriarch Hillel, was expressly called by Julian “his respected friend”, and that he promised him in an autographed letter to make an end of the misdeeds committed by the Christian Emperors against the Jews.

Further, Julian made all necessary preparations in order to begin the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem.  He addressed a letter to all Jewish congregations of the Empire, in which he spoke in friendly way of the leader of Jewry in the Empire, the Patriarch Julos (Hillel), as his brother.  He promised the abolition of the high taxes laid upon the Israelites by the Christians, guaranteed that in future none should accuse them of blasphemy, promised freedom and security, and promised to have Jerusalem rebuilt at his expense, as soon as he returned victorious from the Persian war.  For the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem Julian commissioned his best friend, Alypius of Antioch, to whom he gave instructions to spare no expense, and commanded the governors of Palestine and Syria to assist with everything necessary.  In his zeal to restore paganism, Julian also prepared all means for the reconstruction of the pagan temples.  He reorganized the worship of idols and gave them a hierarchy similar to that of the Church.  He renewed the pagan cult with great splendor and celebrated the pagan feasts in ancient pompous manner.

And the Jewish-Castilian Encyclopaedia remarks under the word “Julian” the following:  “He particularly valued the Jews.  He had extensive knowledge of the Jewish cause and refers in his writings to various religious institutions of the Jews.  It appears that he wished to found among the Jews of Palestine a Patrician Order (called “Aristoi” in the Talmud), which was to exercise judicial functions.  He attributed a higher value to Judaism than to Christianity, although he regarded it as inferior to the pagan philosophy.  With his death, the short period of tolerance was at an end, which the Jewish community enjoyed between the setting-in of Christian persecutions.” 

Jew historian Graetz, to whom we will hand over at this point, reports: “On Saturdays and the Jewish festivals, many Christians, especially of the female sex, both women of noble birth as well as those of lowly status, were regularly to be encountered in the synagogues. They listened devoutly to the trumpet call on the day of the Jewish New Year, were at the solemn cult of the Day of Atonement and took part in the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. The fact that they performed all this behind the back of the Christian clergy and therefore had to beg their neighbors not to betray them, made the matter still more attractive. Against this spontaneous honoring by Christians of Jewish institutions, Chrysostom directed his violent monkish sermons and used all kinds of harsh expressions against them, by his preaching that the synagogues were disgraceful exhibitions, dens of thieves and even worse.”

Crypto-Jews -Jewish historian Narcisse Leven in “Fifty Years of History: The Universal Jewish Alliance” points out that, when the Church triumphed in the Roman Empire, “it guided the forces of the Empire against the Jews”, and that it hampered Jews as well as those baptized into Christianity.  “Honorary rights were taken from them, and even the baptized were excluded from the higher offices and a military career.  Upon pain of death they were forbidden to carry on trade with Christians and town slaves, even if the latter were pagans... Justinian went so far as not to recognize the evidence of Jews against Christians as proof in the courts of law.”  Leven says that these orders were summarized “in the Codices of Theodosius II and Justinian, but that they lost their power with the barbarian invasion.  The East Empire preserved and renewed them... in the Western Empire the barbarian invasion halted the persecution.”  The hierarchies of the Empire and of Holy Church were in harmony, to exclude not only the declared Jews, but also those baptized, from the higher offices and a military career.  This reveals that the Jews and their descendants who had gone over to Christianity were excluded from leading positions of state and the army despite their baptism.  The grounds become evident, if one takes into consideration that other authorized Jewish historians like Graetz and Cecil Roth openly admit that the conversions were feigned.  Although they confessed outwardly to the said religion, they were secretly just as much Jews as before; and among these false Christians the secret cult of Judaism was passed on by father to son, although the latter were baptized and outwardly lived like Christians.

Throughout history and in the modern world these feigned conversions continue.  They are feigned to be able to succeed in their adopted societies.  Since the Jewish Enlightenment of the late 1800’s, the families usually do not continue Judaic worship, but do continue to worship the “golden calf” and mammon.  By the 2^nd or 3^rd generation, the family may even forget they were Jews, but continue to have traditions of philo-Semitism and acquired business practices.  Jews have always assimilated in clothing, speech and other societal characteristics.  They have also always assimilated genetically, with Jews marrying local women (Shiksas).  Each succeeding generation looks more like the host population.  Yet they continue to have traditions of philo-Semitism, acquired business practices and a materialistic worldview.  They may not conspire together in the local Synagogue Kahal, but often they can still spot each other and continue to conspire against the host population.

Gregory of Nyssa (died AD 394), Bishop of Cappadocia: "the Jews are…Slayers of the Lord, murderers of the prophets, adversaries of God, men who show contempt for the Law, foes of grace, enemies of their fathers' faith, advocates of the Devil, brood of vipers, slanderers, scoffers, men whose minds are in darkness, leaven of the Pharisees, assembly of demons, sinners, wicked men, stoners, and haters of righteousness."

Aurelius Ambrosius, better known in English as Ambrose (c. between 337 and 340 – 4 April 397), was a bishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the fourth century. He is counted as one of the four original doctors of the Church.  “What real wrong is there, after all, in destroying a synagogue, a 'home of perfidy, a home of impiety,' in which Christ is daily blasphemed?”   Ambrose defended a fellow bishop for burning a synagogue at Callinicum and asked "who cares if a synagogue - home of insanity and unbelief - is destroyed?"

364 - Conversion of Vandals to Christianity begins during reign of Emperor Valens.

370 - Wulfila translates the Bible into Gothic, the first Bible translation done specifically for missionary purposes.

 ****Cardinal virtues - In some Christian traditions, there are four cardinal virtues: Prudence - able to judge between actions with regard to appropriate actions at a given time ; Justice - proper moderation between self-interest and the rights and needs of others ; Restraint or Temperance - practicing self-control, abstention, and moderation ; Courage or Fortitude - forbearance, endurance, and ability to confront fear and uncertainty, or intimidation .

These were derived initially from Plato's scheme (which also includes piety (hosiotes)) and adapted by Saint Ambrose, Augustine of Hippo, and Thomas Aquinas.  The term "cardinal" comes from the Latin cardo or hinge; the cardinal virtues are so called because they are hinges upon which the door of the moral life swings.  Plato identified them with the classes of the city described in The Republic, and with the faculties of man. Temperance was associated with the producing classes, the farmers and craftsmen, and with the animal appetites; fortitude with the warrior class and with the spirited element in man; prudence with the rulers and with reason. Justice stands outside the class system and divisions of man, and rules the proper relationship among the three of them.  It may have been taken up from there into Jewish philosophy; Wisdom 8:7 reads, "She [Wisdom] teacheth temperance, and prudence, and justice, and fortitude, which are such things as men can have nothing more profitable in life."

It was certainly taken up in Christianity, as St. Augustine, discussing the morals of the church, described them:  For these four virtues (would that all felt their influence in their minds as they have their names in their mouths!), I should have no hesitation in defining them: that temperance is love giving itself entirely to that which is loved; fortitude is love readily bearing all things for the sake of the loved object; justice is love serving only the loved object, and therefore ruling rightly; prudence is love distinguishing with sagacity between what hinders it and what helps it.  These "cardinal" virtues are not the same as the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity (see 1 Corinthians 13). Together, they comprise what is known as the seven cardinal virtues, also known as the heavenly virtues.

 ****The Eight Deadly Sins: On the Training of a Monk and the Eight Deadly Sins by St. John Cassian (360-435) - The struggle against the eight principal faults, i.e. first, Gluttony or the pleasures of the palate;  secondly, Fornication;  thirdly, Covetousness, which means Avarice, or, the love of money;  fourthly, Anger;  fifthly, Dejection;  sixthly, "Accidie," which is heaviness or weariness of heart;  seventhly, kenodocila which means foolish or vain glory;  and eighthly, pride."

In AD 590, some years after Evagrius, Pope Gregory I (540-604) revised this list to form the more common Seven Deadly Sins, by folding sorrow/despair into acedia, vainglory into pride, and adding extravagance and envy, while removing fornication from the list.  In the order used by both Pope Gregory and by Dante Alighieri in his epic poem The Divine Comedy, the seven deadly sins are as follows:

The identification and definition of the seven deadly sins over their history has been a fluid process and the idea of what each of the seven actually encompasses has evolved over time.  Additionally, as a result of semantic change: Lust was substituted for luxuria in all but name ; socordia (sloth) was substituted for acedia.

The Seven Deadly Sins (vices) in the traditional order with the virtues against which they are sins.  The history of this list goes back at least to Pope St. Gregory the Great and St. John Cassian.

Pride vs Humility - Seeing ourselves as we are and not comparing ourselves to others is humility.  Pride and vanity are competitive.  If someone else's pride really bothers you, you have a lot of pride.

Avarice/Greed  vs – Generosity - This is about more than money.  Generosity means letting others get the credit or praise.  It is giving without having expectations of the other person.  Greed wants to get its "fair share" or a bit more.

Envy vs Love-  "Love is patient, love is kind…" Love actively seeks the good of others for their sake.  Envy resents the good others receive or even might receive.  Envy is almost indistinguishable from pride at times. 

Wrath/Anger vs Kindness - Kindness means taking the tender approach, with patience and compassion.  Anger is often our first reaction to the problems of others.  Impatience with the faults of others is related to this.

Lust vs Self control - Self control and self mastery prevent pleasure from killing the soul by suffocation.  Legitimate pleasures are controlled in the same way an athlete's muscles are: for maximum efficiency without damage.  Lust is the self-destructive drive for pleasure out of proportion to its worth.  Sex, power, or image can be used well, but they tend to go out of control.

Gluttony vs Faith and Temperance - Temperance accepts the natural limits of pleasures and preserves this natural balance.  This does not pertain only to food, but to entertainment and other legitimate goods, and even the company of others.

Sloth  vs Zeal -  Zeal is the energetic response of the heart to God's commands. The other sins work together to deaden the spiritual senses so we first become slow to respond to God and then drift completely into the sleep of complacency.

Jew Biblical Supremacism/ Racism:

Isaiah 49 (NIV)  22 “See, I will beckon to the nations,    I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms    and carry your daughters on their hips. 23 Kings will be your foster fathers,    and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet.

Isaiah 60 (NIV) 10 “Foreigners will rebuild your walls,    and their kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion. 11 Your gates will always stand open,    they will never be shut, day or night, so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations—    their kings led in triumphal procession. 12 For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish;    it will be utterly ruined. 13 “The glory of Lebanon will come to you,    the juniper, the fir and the cypress together, to adorn my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place for my feet. 14 The children of your oppressors will come bowing before you; all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the LORD,    Zion of the Holy One of Israel.  15 “Although you have been forsaken and hated, with no one traveling through, I will make you the everlasting pride    and the joy of all generations. 16 You will drink the milk of nations and be nursed at royal breasts.

****Amalekites: The sole purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews, according to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a senior Sephardi adjudicator.: "Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world ­ only to serve the People of Israel."

"Happy will be the lost of Israel, whom the Holy One, blessed be He, has chosen from amongst the Goyim, of whom the Scriptures say: 'Their work is but vanity, it is an illusion at which we must laugh, they will all perish when God visits them in His wrath.'  At the moment when the Holy One, blessed be He, will exterminate all the Goyim of the world, Israel alone will subsist, even as it is written: ‘The Lord alone will appear great on that day! …’” Zohar, Vayshlah 177b

"Annihilate the Amalekites (non-Jews) from the beginning to the end. Kill them and wrest them from their possessions.  Show them no mercy.  Kill continuously, one after the other.  Leave no child, plant, or tree.  Kill their beasts, from camels to donkeys."

 Amalekites are not a particular race or religion, but rather all those who (are perceived to) hate the Jews for religious or national motives. "Amalekites will remain as long as there are Jews.  In every age Amalekites will surface from other races to attack the Jews, and thus the war against them must be global."  This is the Racial Supremacism and Racism of the Jews.  

Goy or Goyim: translated as Gentiles, but refered to by Jews as cattle, dogs, or dumb animals.

  ****370   The Babylonian Talmud, the oral law of Moses and 3 sets of succeeding commentaries on the oral and written law of Moses.  It is the size of an Encyclopedia.  It is very clear, usually in expunged English passages, of its contempt for Christianity and for gentiles.  The Talmud began before Jesus and is what he referred to as the ‘traditions of the elders’.  The Talmud has two components: the Mishnah (c. 200 CE), the first written compendium of Judaism's Oral Law;  and the Gemara (c. 500 CE), a discussion of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Tanakh (Old Testament).  The Tanakh is an acronym of the initial Hebrew letters of the Tanakh's three traditional subdivisions: Torah (Pentateuch of Books of Moses), Nevi'im (Prophets)and Ketuvim (Writings).  The Talmud claims that Jesus was a bastard, Mary was a whore and that Christians will be boiled in excrement (or semen) when the Messiah comes.  The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia states that "The Talmud is the real "bible" of the Jews and that it supersedes the Old Testament.

“Pharisaism became Talmudism, Talmudism became Medieval Rabbinism, and Medieval Rabbinism became Modern Rabbinism.  But throughout these changes of name, inevitable adaption of custom, and adjustment of Law, the spirit of the ancient Pharisee survives unaltered.  When the Jew reads his prayer, he is reciting formulae - prepared by pre-Maccabean scholars; when he dons the cloak prescribed for the Day of Atonement and Passover Eve, he is wearing the festival garment of ancient Jerusalem; when he studies the Talmud he is actually repeating the arguments used in the Palestinian academies.” ““The modern Jew is the product of the Talmud”  “The Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent without a break, through all the centuries” - JTSA, (The Pharisees)

 “The Jew is a confessional type; such as he is he has been made by the law and the Talmud; more powerful than blood or climatic varieties, they have developed in him the characteristics which imitation and heredity have perpetuated.”  “The Talmud had formed the Jewish nation after its dispersion; thanks to it, individuals of diverse origin had constituted a people; it had been the mould of the Jewish soul, the creator of the race; it and the restrictive laws of the various societies have modeled it.” Bernard Lazare (Anti-Semitism, Its History and Causes)

“Their leading ideas and methods found expression in a literature of enormous extent... The Talmud is the largest and most important single member of that literature ... and the study of it is essential for any real understanding of Pharisaism.”  The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia - (1943), under ‘Pharisee’.

“The Talmud is to this day the circulating heart's blood of the Jewish religion. Whatever laws, customs, or ceremonies we observe - whether we are Orthodox, Conservative, Reform or merely spasmodic sentimentalists - we follow the Talmud. It is our common law.” - Herman Wouk (This is My God)

“The Talmud was the enemy of Christian truth and the sole cause of the refusal of the Jews to recognize the divinity of Jesus...  “The Talmud was burned in Poland in 1557 because of the charge made against the Jews that they used the blood of Christian children in their ceremonies.” -Michael L. Rodkinson – (History of the Talmud)

A few Quotations from various Books of the Talmud and the Cabala.  In the latest versions since the 1948 Socino edition, the English translations have edited these passages.: 

“The Most Holy spoke thus to the Israelites You have recognized me as the only ruler of the world, and for that reason I will recognize you as the only rulers of the world. -Chaniga, 3a, 3b.

“Wherever the Hebrews go, they must make themselves the master of their lords. -Sanhedrln, 19.

“God has given the Jews power over the possessions and blood of all nations. -Seph. Jp., 92, 1.

“Regarding the Gentile claims to property rights, their possessions are ~ like unclaimed land in the desert. ~ -Baba Bathra, 54b.

“With respect to robbery - if one stole or robbed or seized a beautiful woman, or committed similar offenses, if these were perpetrated by one Gentile against another, the theft, etc., must not be kept, and likewise the theft from an Israelite by a Gentile, but theft from a Gentile by an Israelite may be retained. -Sanhedrin, 57a.

“It is always a meritorious deed to get hold of a Gentile's possessions. -Schuichan Aruch.

“When a Jew has a Gentile in his clutches, another Jew may go to the same Gentile, lend him money and in his turn deceive him, so that the Gentile shall be ruined.  For the property of a Gentile, according to our law, belongs to no one, and the first Jew that passes has full right to seize it. -Schuichan Aruch, Choachem , Hamischpath, 156.

“It is not permitted to rob a brother, but it is permitted to rob a non-Jew, for it is written (Leviticus XIX, 13) ‘Thou shalt not rob thy neighbor’.  But these words, said by Jehova, do not apply to a goy who is not thy brother. -Baba Mezia, 61a.

“A Jew may lie and perjure to condemn a Christian. The name of God is not profaned when lying to Christians. -Baba Kama, 113a, 113b.

“It is a great sin to make a present to a Gentile.  But it is permissible to give alms to the poor of the Gentiles, to visit their sick and to give the last honors to their deceased and to console their relatives because of the peace, so that the Gentile may think the Jews are good friends of theirs in showing them consolation. -Aboda Zarah, page 20

“A thing lost by a goy may not only be kept by the man who found it, but it is even forbidden to give it back to him. -Schulchan Aruch, Choschen, Hamischpath, 266, 1.

“Jews must always try to deceive Christians. -Zohar 1 160a.

“Those who do good to Christians will never rise from the dead. -Zohar 1 25b.

“At the time of the Choihamoed the transaction of any kind of business is forbidden. But it is permitted to practice usury on the Gentile, because the practice of usury on a Gentile at any time pleases the Lord. -Schulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, 539.

“In case of a deathly sickness a Jew is permitted to consume something unclean (i.e. something that he is by law compelled to regard as unclean and which to touch under other circumstances he is strictly forbidden) in case he believes that it may assist his recovery. But also in this case he is not permitted to make use of something which belongs to the most unclean of all, namely, the Christian Church. -Schulchan Aruch, Johre Deah, 155.

“It is a good deed for every Jew to burn and destroy the non-Jewish church or whatever belongs to it or is done for ~, and to throw the ashes into the four winds or to throw them into the water.  Furthermore, it is the duty of every Jew to try to uproot every non-Jewish church and to give it a curse name. -Schulchan Aruch, Johre Deah, 143.

“Jews are human beings; the other peoples of the world are not human beings, but beasts.” -Baba Mezia.

“Although the peoples of the world outwardly resemble Jews, they are actually only as apes in comparison with men. -Schene Lucohoth Ha'berith.

“The souls of the non-Jewish people come from the devil and are souls such as the cattle and animals have.  The seed of the stranger also is cattle-seed. -Schefla Tal. 4.2, Memachem, page 53, F. 221.

“The houses of the Goyim are the houses of animals. -Leb. Tob. 46. 1.

“Marriages taking place amongst Gentiles have no binding strength: their cohabitation is just as the coupling of horses, therefore, their children do not Stand as humanly related to theIr parents. -Schulchan Aruch

“The seed (child) of a Christian is of no more value than that of a beast. -Kethuboth 3b.

“All non-Jewesses are whores. -Eben Haezar.

“A man may do with his wife whatever he pleases, as with a piece of meat coming from the butcher, which he can eat according to his fancy, salted, roast, boiled, or like a fish coming from the market. -Nedarim 20b.

“When one finds that evil appetites are taking hold of his senses, let him repair to some place where he is unknown, let him dress himself in black and follow the impulses of his heart. -Mo'ed Katan 17a.

“A Jew is permitted to rape, cheat, and perjure himself; but he must take care that he is not found out, so that Israel may not suffer. -Schulchan Aruch, Johre Deah.

“A Jew may violate but not marry a non-Jewess. -Gad. Shas. 2,2.

“A Gentile girl who is three years old can be violated. -Aboda Shara 37a.

“Inasmuch as non - Jewish child at three years and a day is suitable for copulation, her raper is only unclean until the evening, when he is clean again after taking a dip in the water. -Choschen Ha'mischpat.

“If a Jew has raped a non-Jewish girl, and another who saw it is called as a witness, that Jew must, without compunction, swear falsely. -Johre Deah.

“Moses said, ‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife and he who committeth adultery incurs the death penalty.’  This means only adultery committed by, or with, Jews. The wife of a Gentile is excluded. -Sanhedrin.

“Do not save Christians in danger of death. -Hikkoth Akum X 1.

“Extermination of Christians is a necessary sacrifice. -Zohar II 43a.

“The Christian birthrate must be materially diminished. -Zohar II 64b.

“If a goy kills a goy or a Jew he is responsible; but if a Jew kills a goy he is not responsible. -Tosefta, Aboda Zara 8:5.

“Every foreigner (non-Jew) who glorifies Sunday must be killed without asking him. -Sanhedrin.

“Even the best among the Gentiles deserves to be killed. -Abodan Zarah 26b.

“The best of the Christians must be strangulated. -Rasoni, Exodus 14.

“It is permitted to kill a Jewish denunciator everywhere. It is permitted to kill him even before he has denounced. -Schulchan Aruch, Choschen Hamischpath, 338.

“He who sheds the blood of the goyim is offering a sacrifice to God. -Talmud, Jalqut Simeoni.

“If a heathen smites a Jew, he is worthy of death. -Sanhedrin. 58b.

“A heathen who studies the Torah deserves death. -Sanhedrin 59a.

“Every goy who studies the Talmud, and every Jew who helps him in it should die. -Sanhedrin 59a.

“It is forbidden to initiate a non-Jew into the secrets of the law.  The Jew who concerns himself with this is as guilty as if he laid waste the world and denied the sacred name of God. -Jalkut Chadash.

“Proselytes are as injurious to Judaism as ulcers to a sound body. -Talmud.

“A Jewish mid-wife is not only permitted, but she is compelled to help a Jewish mother on Saturday and when so doing to do anything which otherwise would desecrate the Saturday.  But it is forbidden to help a non-Jewish woman even if it should be possible to help her without desecrating the Saturday, because she is to be considered only as an animal. -Schulchan Aruch, Orach Chalm, 330.

“A Jewish wet-nurse is forbidden to nurse the child of a Gentile, even if she would be paid for that, because in so doing she would assist in raising a Gentile.  Only in case she is in great pain because of a surplus of milk and such milk can become dangerous to her, is she permitted to do so.  The Jew is also forbidden to teach a Gentile a handwork by which he could sustain himself. - Schulchan Aruch, Johre Deab, 154.

“An animal which has been slaughtered by a Gentile or by a Jew has become a non-Jew, is to be considered as a diseased animal - Schulchan Aruch, Johre Deah, 15.

“A Jew is forbidden to drink from a glass of wine which a Gentile has touched, because the touch has made the wine unclean. -Schulchan Aruch, Jobre Deah, 122.

“The Jews were created to be served by the non-Jews.  The latter must plow, sow, weed, dig, mow, bind, sieve and grind.  The Jews are created to find all this in readiness. -Berachoth.

“Work is harmful and brings but little. -Gittin 68a

“Teach your son an easy vocation and endeavor thereby to acquire estates and riches. -Quid Dusen 89a.

“There is no meaner calling than that of agriculture. -Jebamoth.

“A maiden aged three years and a day may be acquired in marriage by coition. -Sanhedrin 55b.

“If a woman sported lewdly with her young son and he committed the first stage of cohabitation with her - Beth Shammal says, he thereby renders her unfit to the priesthood - Beth Hillel declared her fit. All agree that the connection of a boy aged nine years and a day is real connection; whilst that of one less than eight years is not; their dispute refers only to one who is eight years old. -Sanhedrin 69b.

“When a grown-up man has intercourse with a little girl it is nothing, for when the girl is less than three years old it is as if one puts the finger into the eye - tears come to the eye again and again, so does virginity come back to the little girl under three years.  When a small boy has intercourse with a grown-up woman he makes her as ‘a girl who is injured by a piece of wood.’ -Kethuboth 11b

“A woman came before Rabbi Hisda confessing to him that the lightest sin that she committed was that her younger son is the issue of her older son.  Since this was her lightest sin she was excused. -Abodah Zarah 17a.

“A woman who had intercourse with a beast (i.e. a dog) is eligible to marry a priest. -Yebamoth 59b.

“He who strikes his father or his mother is liable only if he wounds them.  In this respect cursing is more stringent than smiting, for, he who curses his parents after death is liable while he who smites them after death is not. -Sanhedrin 85b.

“Israel is like the lady of the house to whom her husband brings the money.  Thus Israel is without the burden of labor and receives the money from the people of the world. -Jalkut Schlm., 75, 2.

“What is the meaning of Bar Sinai, that is, Mount Sinai?  It means the mountain from which radiates Sinai, that is, hatred against the people of the world. -Schabbath 89.

“And he who desires that none of his vows made during the year shall be valid, let him stand at the beginning of the year and declare, “Every vow which I may make in the future shall be null”. His vows are then invalid. -Nedarim 23b.

“He who stands naked before a candle is liable to be seized with epilepsy. –Pesachin

“The Talmud is an inexhaustible mine. The most diverse, and often the most contradictory opinions are recorded in it.  Astrology, zoology, jurisprudence and medicine are treated side by side with interminable accounts and discussions on matters of sex.  One finds there maxims, exhortations, thoughts of a high moral order, charming little stories, pitiless judgments, advice which we consider immoral, and, lastly, trifling and unlikely debates wherein the simplest ideas are confused for the love of argument, pushed to absurdity.  The former Rabbi Drach, converted to Catholicism, says that the Talmud contains ‘a large number of musings, utterly ridiculous extravagancies, most revolting indecencies, and, above all, the most horrible blasphemies against everything which the Christian religion holds most sacred and most dear.’   -Isaac de Costa, who has left in Dutch Protestant circles a reputation for probity and knowledge, describes the Talmud in a few words, Sterculinium cum margaritis, a dunghill studded with pearls...

In the matter of translations by non-Jews, we have always preferred that of M. Luzsensky, whose accuracy has been established by the Courts.  In 1923, the Public Prosecutor of Hungary caused his Hungarian translation to be seized on account of ‘attack on public morals’ and ‘pornography’. In delivering its verdict, the Court declared interalia: “The horrors contained in the translation of Alfred Luzsensky are to be found, without exception in the Talmud.  His translation is correct, in that it renders these passages, which are actually to be found in the original text of the Talmud, after their true meaning.” -M.H. de Heekelingen – “Israel: Son Passe, Son Avenir”

Hesronot Shas - (Hebrew) A small book that contains portions of the Talmud that were censored out by Catholic authorities in the middle ages.  In Christian countries, the Talmud and other Jewish law books were censored by Christian authorities, stating that certain passages of those books contained insults to Christianity or Gentiles.  Converted Jews had exposed these passages.  Modern rabbis continue to lie saying these are not applicable to Gentiles, but Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, the translator of the most recent English version of the Babylonian Talmud, unknowingly admitted, "Indeed, almost every passage dealing with non-Jews must be suspected of having undergone some change." (Talmud Reference Guide, , Random House, NY, 1989).

350 Toledot Yeshu (The History of Jesus) is a medieval version of the story of Jesus from a Jewish perspective.  The work deliberately attacks and parodies the Christian Gospels and refers to Jesus as the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier, devoted to magic powers, a seducer, heretic and the victim of a shameful death.  It has been called the counter-gospel, anti-gospel, and anti-evangel.  There is no one authoritative Toldoth Yeshu story; rather, various medieval versions existed that differ in attitudes towards the central characters and in story details.  The literary origins of Toledot Yeshu cannot be traced with any certainty and are unlikely to be before the 4th century.  Some suppose that the source material is no earlier than the 6th century, and the compilation no earlier than the 9th century.  The Toldoth Jesu was a frontline Jewish retort to the Christian gospel.  It’s comforting message made this mock gospel extremely popular with Jews for over a millennium.  Persecuted by crusaders and the Inquisition, the Toldoth encourages Jews to laugh at Christ.  In a fast moving, witty style, it glorifies Judas Iscariot and leads Jews to identify with him as a heroic figure.  In 1823, a Jewish Toldoth editor, Solomon Bennet, boasted that Jews still believed it as literally as Christians believe the New Testament.  Even the 1905 Jewish Encyclopedia repeatedly refers to the Toldoth as an accurate representation of how historic Judaism has viewed both Christ and Judas.  The Toldoth and its derisive approach were discarded by Jewish apologists in the 20th century. But its content, still is the basis for Jewish ridicule and hatred toward Christians.  Jewish Hollywood ridicules Christian believers.

Jesus according to the Talmud; has sex with his donkey and performed magic with his penis: "Balaam (Jesus) was blind in one eye, as it is said, [and the man] whose eye is open. He practiced enchantment by means of his membrum. For here it is written, falling, but having his eyes open; whilst elsewhere is written, And Haman was fallen on the bed whereon Esther was. It was stated, Mar Zutra said: He practiced enchantment by means of his membrum. Mar the son of Rabina said: He committed bestiality with his ass. The view that he practiced enchantment by means of his membrum is as was stated."- Sanhedrin 105a  "According to the view that all the Balaam passages are anti-Christian in tendency, Balaam being used as an alias for Jesus"- Sanhedrin 106b FN:6  The 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia states: "pseudonym 'Balaam,' given to Jesus"

****Some Main Jewish Holidays:  There are holidays of repentance and renewal, but remember it is only for the Chosen and forgiveness is only for the Chosen tribe.  Gentiles are sub-human.  Many holidays celebrate the victories (killings) of Gentiles.

Holidays for the year 5772 (2011–2012): Thursday, September 29: Rosh HaShanah, Saturday, October 8: Yom Kippur,  Thursday, October 13: Sukkot, Thursday, October 20: Shemini Atzeret, Friday, October 21: Simchat Torah, Wednesday, December 21: Hanukkah, Wednesday, February 8: Tu Bishvat, Thursday, March 8: Purim, Saturday, April 7: Pesach, Thursday, April 19: Yom Ha'Shoah, Thursday, April 26: Yom Ha'atzmaut, Thursday, May 10: Lag Ba'omer, Sunday, May 27: Shavuot, Sunday, July 29: Tisha B'Av (postponed).  Other years are approximately near these same dates.

 Rosh Hashanah —Jewish New Year.  It is the first of the High Holidays or ("Days of Awe"), celebrated ten days before Yom Kippur.  Rosh Hashanah is observed on the first two days of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar.  It is described in the Torah as (a day of sounding [the Shofar]).  A shofar is a horn, traditionally that of a ram, which is used on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  Shofar come in a variety of sizes.

****Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement - Kol Nidre prayer- "All personal vows we are likely to make, all personal oaths and pledges we are likely to take between this Yom Kippur and the next Yom Kippur, we publicly renounce. Let them all be relinquished and abandoned, null and void, neither firm nor established. Let our personal vows, pledges and oaths be considered neither vows nor pledges nor oaths." [Considered being the right to sin.]  “The Jewish Prayer Book lists the following sins specifically, as amongst those which are unconditionally forgiven the Jew on Yom Kippur:  Sins committed with incestuous lewdness;   Assembling to commit fornication;   Oppressing one's neighbor;  Deceitful acknowledgments;   Violence; Denying and lying;   Taking and giving bribes;   Calumny;   Extortion and usury;   Haughtiness;   Shamelessness;   Lawlessness;   Litigiousness;   Treachery to one's neighbor;  Tale-bearing;   False-swearing;   Embezzlement;   Stealing.” Samuel Roth – (Jews Must Live)  No other religion in the world has offered a spectacle as contradictory, as malicious as the Jewish prayer Kol Nidre used during Yom Kippur. - Samuel Roth.  (The present author has visited during this holy day and was surprised to hear these words.)

 Hanukkah — Festival of Lights – Victory over Seleucid Greeks.  A minor holiday built up to compete with Christmas.

Purim — Festival of Lots.  Huge holiday for Jews.  Victory over Persian gentiles from the book of Esther.  Luther did not consider this book inspired. [It is passionately celebrated as a joyous holiday of Revenge over Gentiles.] Purim is characterized by public recitation of the Book of Esther, giving mutual gifts of food and drink, giving charity to the poor, and a celebratory meal;  other customs include drinking wine, wearing of masks and costumes, and public celebration.  As early as the 5th century, and especially in the Geonic period (9th and 10th centuries), it was a custom to burn Haman in effigy on Purim.  The Jewish feast of Purim is Jewry's biggest celebration.  Purim, the Jewish holiday of Revenge against Gentiles. 

Each year, the secret businessmen's B'nai B'rith fraternity selects two Gentile enemies of the Jews who are to be hanged in effigy. One year they hanged Yasser Arafat and Syrian President Assad. The year before it was Austrian President Kurt Waldheim and anti-Zionist U.N. leader V. Sofinsky. 

Purim has also been celebrated through Jewish influence on aggressive military dates, such as invasions, or capital punishment dates and throughout the year.

[In Palestine and in some areas of Russia the Jews hold their processions out in the public.  At the head of the procession the effigy of Haman is carried, and is stoned, stabbed with knives, and beaten with sticks.  In 1764 the Jews of Monastyr (Russia) celebrated Purim with a live "Haman." The Jewish inn-keeper, Moscho from Michalkoweitz, had brought the drunken farmer Adamko to the festival in his wagon.  The Jews took off his clothes, celebrated their festival, dressed him as "Haman" and gave him a savage beating.  They also burned him on the back and Adamko arrived home totally drunk, complained of severe pains and died the next day.] Also, the hatred hysteria depends on the power of the Jews.  As a small minority, the public displays are moderated.  As a powerful majority, Jews physically take it out on their Gentile neighbors.

Pesach — Passover – Victory over Egyptians.

New Israeli/Jewish national holidays:

Yom HaShoah — Holocaust Remembrance day. Victory of Propaganda over Germany and all Christians.

Yom Hazikaron — Memorial Day - Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism (whose?) Remembrance Day.

Yom Ha'atzmaut — Israel Independence Day. Victory over Palestinians.

Yom Yerushalaim - Jerusalem Day. Victory of the Six Day War over Muslims.

Menorah - The menorah is described in the Bible as the seven-branched candelabrum made of gold and used in the portable sanctuary set up by Moses in the wilderness and later in the Temple in Jerusalem.  Fresh olive oil of the purest quality was burned daily to light its lamps.  The menorah has been a symbol of Judaism since ancient times and is the emblem on the coat of arms of the modern state of Israel.  The menorah symbolized the ideal of universal enlightenment.  The seven branches allude to the branches of human knowledge, represented by the six lamps inclined inwards towards, and symbolically guided by, the light of God represented by the central lamp.  The menorah also symbolizes the creation in seven days, with the center light representing the Sabbath.  It is also said to symbolize the burning bush as seen by Moses on Mount Horeb (Exodus 3).

The Menorah is also a symbol closely associated with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.  According to the Talmud, after the Seleucid desecration of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, there was only enough sealed (and therefore not desecrated) consecrated olive oil left to fuel the eternal flame in the Temple for one day.  Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days which was enough time to make new pure oil.  The Talmud (Menahot 28b) states that it is prohibited to use a seven-branched menorah outside of the Temple.  The Hanukkah menorah therefore has eight main branches, plus a ninth branch set apart as the shamash (servant) light which is used to kindle the other lights. 

Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah are Jewish coming of age rituals.  According to Jewish law, when Jewish boys reach 13, they become responsible for their actions and become a Bar Mitzvah.  The age for girls is 12.  In addition to being considered responsible for their actions from a religious perspective, B'nai mitzvah may be counted towards a minyan (prayer quorum) and may lead prayer and other religious services in the family and the community.  The age of B'nai Mitzvah was selected because it roughly coincides with physical puberty.  Prior to a child reaching Bar or Bat Mitzvah, the child's parents hold the responsibility for the child's actions.  After this age, children bear their own responsibility for Jewish ritual law, tradition, and ethics and are able to participate in all areas of Jewish community life.

Jewish Prayers:

Kaddish is a prayer found in the Jewish prayer service.  The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name.  The opening words of this prayer are inspired by Ezekiel 38:23, a vision of God becoming great in the eyes of all the nations. The central line is "May His great name be blessed forever, and to all eternity".

Shema Yisrael ("Hear, [O] Israel") are the first two words that is a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services.  The first verse encapsulates the monotheistic essence of Judaism: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one," found in Deuteronomy 6:4.  The term "Shema" is used by extension to refer to Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 11:13-21, and Numbers 15:37–41.

The Amidah ("The Standing Prayer") is the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy.  This prayer, among others, is found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book. Observant Jews recite the Amidah at each of three prayer services in a typical weekday: morning, afternoon, and evening.  The typical weekday Amidah actually consists of nineteen blessings.  The language of the Amidah dates from the mishnaic period, before and after the destruction of the Temple (70 CE).  The 12th prayer inveighs against informers and heretics.  The 15th prayer is for the restoration of Jerusalem and of the throne of David (coming of the Messiah).  The prayer is recited standing with feet firmly together, and preferably while facing Jerusalem.

Tisha B'Av is an annual fast day in Judaism which commemorates the destruction of both the First Temple and Second Temple in Jerusalem, which occurred about 655 years apart, but on the same Hebrew calendar date.  Although primarily meant to commemorate the destruction of the Temples, it is also considered appropriate to commemorate other Jewish tragedies that occurred on this day, most notably the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.  Accordingly, the day has been called the "saddest day in Jewish history".  Tisha B'Av falls in July or August in the western calendar.

"In the most important section of the weekday prayer - the 'eighteen blessings' - there is a special curse, originally directed against Christians, Jewish converts to Christianity and other Jewish heretics: 'And may the apostates have no hope, and all the Christians perish instantly'". -Shahak

"the cabbalists believe that some of the sacrifices burnt in the Temple were intended for Satan. For example, the seventy bullocks sacrificed during the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles, were supposedly offered to Satan in his capacity as ruler of the Gentiles, in order to keep him too busy to interfere on the eighth day, when sacrifice is made to God. Many other examples of the same can be given."-Shahak

 The Western Wall, Wailing Wall is located in the Old City of Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of the Temple Mount.  It is usually considered a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple's courtyard, and is one of the most sacred sites in Judaism outside of the Temple Mount itself.  Just over half the wall, including its 17 courses located below street level, dates from the end of the Second Temple period, commonly believed to have been constructed around 19 BCE by Herod the Great, but recent excavations indicate that the works were not finished during Herod's lifetime.  The remaining layers were added from the 7th (!) century onwards.  This Archeological research shows it was not even Jewish.

****Jew Exploitation of the Gentile Population / the Cause of “Anti-Semitism”!    Through the centuries….

Talmudic Rabbinical Judaism or Modern Judaism is the direct descendant of Phariseeism.  Its ‘Chosen People’ exclusiveness and utter disregard of Gentiles as neighbors or are even as human has led to tremendous exploitation through finances and vices.  Jewish business collusion through internal agreements creates monopolies which destroy the separate and naïve Gentile businesses.  These Kahals or Jew Associations also pay off political leaders to keep the masses enslaved.

The Belief that “Anti-Semitism” is just because of religious reasons is overblown and fabricated.  Gentiles cannot but believe that it is the Jewish rejection of Christ and Christian values which results in Jewish extreme hatred of Gentile populations.  From the people, the distrust of the Jews comes from their apparent ‘otherness’ and being ripped off by them.

From the Church, there are additional motives:

It doesn’t seem logical to the modern mind, yet Christ says to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin.  But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”    24 “You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”   25 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”   26 “Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”   27  "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.”   28 “In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”   29 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.”   30 “And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’”   31 “So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.”    32 “Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!”     33 “You snakes!  You brood of vipers!  How will you escape being condemned to hell?”    34 “Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers.  Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.”     35 “And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” (NIV)

 Week-Day names: The Germanic peoples adapted the system introduced by the Romans but glossed their indigenous gods over the Roman deities (with the exception of Saturday) later than AD 200 but before the introduction of Christianity during the 6th to 7th centuries.  Sunday "sun's day"; Monday "moon's day";   Tuesday "Tiw's day" (a one-handed god associated with single combat and pledges);  Wednesday “Wodan’s day” (Odin, the father god);   Thursday “Thor’s day” (the god of thunder);   Friday “Frigg’s day”;   Saturday “Saturn’s day” (Roman father of Zeus).

381 Constantinople 2nd Catholic Council- Roman Emperor of the East Theodosius I convened the second General Council.  Because of friction between the emperor who was headquartered in Constantinople and Pope Saint Damasus I, located in Rome, neither the Holy Father nor his papal legates attended.  Already the split between East and West was manifesting itself.  186 bishops did attend.  Most notable were Doctors of the Church Saint Gregory Nazianzen and Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, who with the Council Fathers, reaffirmed the First Council of Nicaea and defined the Consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son, thereby condemning the heresy of Macedonius. (Macedonius (d. after 360) was a Greek bishop of Constantinople from 342 up to 346, and from 351 until 360.

 

****The Byzantine Empire (or Byzantium) was the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, centered around its capital of Constantinople, and ruled by the Byzantine emperors, direct successors to the ancient Roman emperors.  During its existence of more than a thousand years the Empire remained one of the most powerful economic, cultural, and military forces in Europe.  The Empire received a mortal blow in 1204 by the Fourth Crusade, when it was dissolved and divided into competing Byzantine Greek and Latin realms.  Most of its remaining territory was lost in the Byzantine–Ottoman Wars, culminating in the Fall of Constantinople and its remaining territories to the Muslim Ottoman Turks in the fifteenth century.  Jews were instrumental in financing and loaning troops to the Muslims to destroy the Christian East.

The Byzantine Empire was known by its inhabitants as “Rhomania ” because Constantine the Great, Byzantium’s first Emperor from 306 to 337 AD, established the empire’s center in Constantinople as the “New Rome.”

"Byzantine" itself comes from "Byzantium" (a Greek city, founded in 667 BC), the name of the city of Constantinople before it became the capital of Constantine.  Before this time Greek had been used for the Empire and its descendants within the Ottoman Empire.  Although the empire had a multi-ethnic character during most of its history and preserved Romano-Hellenistic traditions, it was usually known to most of its western and northern contemporaries as the Empire of the Greeks due to the increasing predominance of the Greek element.  In modern historical atlases, the Empire is usually called the Eastern Roman Empire in maps depicting the empire during the period AD 395 to AD 610, after the new emperor Heraclius changed the official language from Latin to Greek; in maps depicting the Empire after AD 610, the term Byzantine Empire usually appears.

Byzantium was a strongly Christian nation and did not succumb to Jewish intrigues and only began to disintegrate after the Fourth Crusade.  Jews lived prosperously, but according to Ezra Pound were “kept out of banking, out of education, and out of government.”  They could not control the economy, pervert the youth, or betray the nation.

See Justinian I in 564:  Justinian forbade Jews:  + To engage in proselytism; + To marry Orthodox Christian women; + To possess Orthodox Christian servants; + To hold office or honors in the Roman state; + To build new synagogues; + To read the Old Testament in Hebrew but rather in Greek which did not cut out the prophecies that pointed to Jesus Christ; + To use Judaic interpretations of the Old Testament; + To bear witness in court against an Orthodox Christian; + To hold teaching positions in Roman schools or as private tutors.  The culmination of Justinian’s “Codex” was the denial of Roman citizenship to the Jews and relegating them to the rank of second class citizens.  Even part of the Orthodox Church’s “canon law” prohibited its members from seeking out “remedies” from Jewish physicians.

From the 1590s, L. Byzantinus or Byzantine was originally used of art style; later in reference to the complex, devious, and intriguing character of the royal court of Constantinople.  Now, perjorative.  (Jewish origin?)

378 - Jerome writes, "From India to Britain, all nations resound with the death and resurrection of Christ".

380 - Roman Emperor Theodosius I makes Christianity the official state religion.

382 - Jerome is commissioned to translate the Gospels (and subsequently the whole Bible) into Latin.

****Sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine.  By the use of such places as a safe haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety.   In Europe, Christian churches were sometimes built on land considered as a particularly 'holy spot', perhaps where a miracle or martyrdom had allegedly taken place or where a holy person was buried.  Church sanctuary is where fugitives formerly were immune to arrest (recognized by English law from the fourth to the seventeenth century).  In England, King Ethelbert made the first laws regulating sanctuary in about AD 600.  By Norman times, there had come to be two kinds of sanctuary: All churches had the lower-level kind, but only the churches the king licensed had the broader version.  The medieval system of asylum was finally abolished entirely in England by James I in 1623.  (See Progress of Peace 1863, 1864, 1899)

Origin: The Cities of Refuge were towns in the Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah in which the perpetrators of manslaughter could claim the right of asylum; outside of these cities, blood vengeance against such perpetrators was allowed by law.  In many ancient cultures, the inviolability of deities was considered to extend to their religious sanctuaries and all that resided within, whether criminals, debtors, escaped slaves, priests, ordinary people, or, in some cases, passing cattle; biblical scholars suspect that Israelite culture was originally no different.  In general, the area covered by these rights of sanctuary varied from a small area around the altar to a large area beyond the limits of the town containing the sanctuary (the limits often being marked in some way), depending on the significance of the deity and the importance of the sanctuary; it was considered a greater crime to drag an individual from the sanctuary or to kill them there than it was to defile the sanctuary itself. 

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