Year: 2007

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Mosaic Covenant

A few days back I reported the discovery of a patristic-era synagogue in Israel. According to Haaretz, the workmanship is causing historians and archeologists to “rethink Byzantine-era Judaism.” (Some day soon we’ll also get around to rethinking the alleged “anti-Semitism” of the Fathers.)

Rethinking Byzantine-era Judaism

By Ran Shapira

A row of artisans and laborers – one with a saw in his hand, another with a chisel, and others with various sized hammers – are depicted on the mosaic floor recently uncovered in a Roman- or Byzantine-era synagogue at Khirbet Wadi Hamam, on Mount Nitai in the Lower Galilee. The workers appear next to a very large building, which they seem to be constructing.

Because the image appears on the synagogue floor, the researchers have assumed it depicts the construction of an important Biblical structure. Is it the Temple, Noah’s Ark, the Tower of Babel, or some other well-known work?

Dr. Uzi Leibner of the Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology and Scholion Interdisciplinary Research Center in Jewish Studies, who is leading the excavation, has no clear answer at this stage. What is clear is that the mosaic, constructed from very small stones – whose sides measure about four millimeters each – is unique. No such scenes have been found in other ancient synagogues or structures in Israel from that period. But which period exactly are we referring to – the Roman or the Byzantine? The dig at the synagogue is being carried out to answer that question.

To judge by the findings, the synagogue, which sits within the Arbel National Park, is a “Galilean synagogue” – a high-quality Romanesque structure with an elaborate facade facing toward Jerusalem and attractive stone carvings. Synagogues of this type were thought to date from the late Roman period, between the second and fourth centuries. However, in the last few years, researchers have discovered that synagogues of this type were built in the Byzantine era, too – between the fifth and sixth centuries.

The debate was sparked by the synagogue at Capernaum, a fine example of a Galilean synagogue that clearly was built in the fifth century. The findings from that synagogue and others led some researchers to consider the hypothesis that the Galilean synagogues were built mainly in the fifth and sixth centuries.

Contradictory evidence

On the face of it, this theory contradicts everything known about Judaism in the beginning of the first millennium C.E., and its relations with the ruling empires at the time. The common wisdom is that Jewish settlement flourished in the Galilee in the late Roman era – Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi compiled the Mishna at Zippori, and remarkable public buildings were constructed in many Jewish communities. However, from the mid-fourth century, when the Christian Byzantine empire rose to power, Jewish life was hampered, and some of the laws at that time even forbade the establishment of synagogues.

However, the archaeological findings from Capernaum and other synagogues indicate that things were more complex than historical records may indicate. More evidence now supports the theory that most of the Galilean synagogues actually were built during the Byzantine period, and that their Romanesque components were initially parts of earlier structures.

The synagogue at Khirbet Wadi Hamam was large and elaborate. It had a long hall running from north to south, of which about one quarter was exposed in the last excavation season, with a southern facade facing Jerusalem. The hall contained three rows of columns, and had two rows of benches along the northern, western and eastern walls.

The uniqueness of the building lies not only in its mosaic floor, but also in its combination of basalt and limestone. The walls were built from layers of basalt topped by layers of limestone; the stone benches incorporated limestone as well. The researchers believe the limestone was integrated into the structure during a massive repair. As in other Galilean synagogues, this one also contains late Roman-era architectural details – most of them also from limestone. However, the researchers believe that the signs of renovation could indicate the structure was actually built at a later stage, and that these items actually were part of an earlier structure.

The synagogue lies inside a large village, of more than 50 dunams, one of the larger, late Roman-era and Byzantine-era Jewish villages discovered in the rural Galilee. It is located strategically above the source of the Arbel river and the ancient road that wound from the Kinneret basin to the Lower Galilee and from there, via the Beit Netofa valley, to the Mediterranean sea.

Not far away were two large, well-known communities – Kfar Arbel and Migdal – as well as the big Jewish centers of the period, Tiberias and Zippori. Despite all these facts, the original name of the community was not preserved there, and it is still unknown. Findings indicate the village was abandoned permanently in the fourth century. Researchers are hoping to learn at what stage the synagogue, with its unique mosaic floor, was built.

Judging by other buildings unearthed close to the synagogue – an oil press and a two-story dwelling – the residents of the village were fairly well-off. The homes in the community were built on terraces along the slopes of the hill, separated by lanes. Since the village apparently was abandoned in the fourth century – which contradicts the claim that the synagogue dates to the Byzantine era – that period’s architecture can be examined without interference from later structures. Leibner believes the synagogue could be a test case that would help researchers improve their dating methods for Galilean synagogues. In the upcoming excavation seasons, he says he intends to find more clues that would provide a precise date, and thus possibly solve the riddle.

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The Syriac Churches and Islam

My friend David Mills passed this on, from Asia News.

The tradition of the Syriac Churches, an instrument of dialogue with Islam
 
Salzburg (AsiaNews) – Benefactors of a centuries-old tradition in co-existence alongside Muslims, the ancient Syriac Churches have an important role to play today regarding dialogue, Christian witness and cooperation.

That was the conclusion drawn from a conference which took place between November 14 and 16 in Salzburg Austria organised by Pro Oriente, a foundation of the Vienna Archdiocese which gave birth to Pro Oriente Forum Syriacum in October 2006.

It gathers together academics from the Syriac Churches with an aim to promoting its legacy and work towards improving understanding, cultural enrichment and solidarity.

“Syriac Churches Encountering Islam: Past Experiences and Future Perspectives“, was the theme of the first academic encounter, which involved scholars from Iraq, Syria, United Sates,

Austria, Germany, Holland, Italy, India and France. The conclusions drawn are based on the affirmation that from the very beginning Islam entered into close contact with Christianity of the Syro-Aramaic tradition.

The early Umayyad period is marked by an open and tolerant attitude towards Christians.

One of the main reasons might have been that the Muslims needed their administrative and economic knowledge and experience to rule and organize the newly conquered territories (for instance St. John Damascene and his father).

In the attitude of Muslims towards Christians, very soon one can realize certain ambivalence according to the social and political circumstances: At times more open and tolerant, at times more aggressive and even oppressive.

This ambivalence is easily justified by different Koranic verses. Texts concerning Islam written in Syriac (about 20) were mainly for internal use in Christian communities in order to educate and strengthen them in their own faith and to help them respond to certain questions and objections raised by Muslims.

Those written in Arabic were approaches to present Christian dogmas and moral to Muslims. Some of them are of an apologetic nature, and others are clearly polemical.

The Abbasid period inaugurates a time of wide and fertile cultural exchange as a consequence of the spread of the Arabic language. Commissioned by the caliphs (bayt al-hikma-house of wisdom), mainly Christians of the Syriac tradition undertook huge systematic translations – especially in the fields of Science, Philosophy, and Medicine – from Greek via Syriac into Arabic.

In this way the knowledge of the Greco-Roman world was made available as one of the foundation for the development of the Arabo-Islamic culture. Through the Arabic presence in Spain this heritage was transmitted to the European Christian Middle Ages.

There’s more detail at Asia News. Several papers dealt with the patristic era: “Syriacisms in the Arabic Qur’an” (Sidney Griffith); “The Syriac Churches in the Umayyad Period (661-750)” (Mor Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim, Aleppo, Syria); Christian Responses to Islam in the Umayyad Period (661-750) (Dietmar W. Winkler, Salzburg, Austria).

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Text Support

A fascinating, relatively new site, Early Church Texts

– gives access to a wide range of resources for those who wish to learn and know about Early Church History;

– has English translations (alongside original Greek and Latin texts) of important texts from the first five centuries of the life of the Church

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Archeological Updates

In Israel, archeologists found the remains of a Byzantine synagogue, with lovely mosaics intact. News reports say that this find could change our reading of the status of Jews in that corner of the Christian empire, during that century.

Archaeologists differ among themselves as to which period the ancient Galilean synagogues belong. The generally accepted view is that they can be attributed to the later Roman period (second to fourth centuries C.E.), a time of cultural and political flowering of the Jews of the Galilee. Recently, some researchers have come to believe that these synagogues were built mainly during the Byzantine period (fifth and sixth centuries C.E.), a time in which Christianity rose to power and, it was thought, the Jews suffered from persecution. Dr. Leibner noted that this difference of scholarly opinion has great significance in perhaps redrawing the historical picture of Jews in those ancient times.

Meanwhile in Rome the diggers are still pondering the cave they found at the beginning of the year, that may or may not be the Lupercale, the cave where Rome’s mythological founders, Romulus and Remus, were nursed by the she-wolf who adopted them. For the early Christians, Rome’s old founders evoked the new city’s new founders. Pope Benedict drew on his predecessor, Leo the Great, as he announced the upcoming Year of St. Paul:

Like Romulus and Remus, the two mythical brothers who are said to have given birth to the City, so Peter and Paul were held to be the founders of the Church of Rome.

Speaking to the City on this topic, St Leo the Great said: “These are your holy Fathers and true shepherds, who gave you claims to be numbered among the heavenly kingdoms, and built you under much better and happier auspices than they, by whose zeal the first foundations of your walls were laid” (Sermon 82, 7).

However humanly different they may have been from each other and despite the tensions that existed in their relationship, Peter and Paul appear as the founders of a new City, the expression of a new and authentic way of being brothers which was made possible by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

For this reason, it can be said that the Church of Rome is celebrating her birthday today, since it was these two Apostles who laid her foundations.

As far as we know, Peter and Paul did their suckling in the normal way.

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Full Text of Ephrem

It’s poetry — and not just the parts that are supposed to be poetry. Here’s an unofficial translation from Teresa Benedetta:

Dear brothers and sisters,

According to common thinking today, Christianity is a European religion, which was later exported with European culture to other nations. But the fact is much more complex, because the roots of the Christian religtion are found in the Old Testament, and therefore in jerusalem and the Semitic world. Christianity haa always nourished itself from its roots in the Old Testament.

Even its expansion in the first centuries took place in both directions: to the West – the Greek and Latin world, where it then inspired European culture; and towards the East, to Persia and as far as India, thus contributing to raise a specific culture, in the Semitic languages, with its own identity.

To show this cultural pluriformity of the only Christian faith in the beginning, last Wednesday I spoke of a representative of this other Christianity, Aphraate the wise Persian, almost unknown to us.

In the same line, I wish to speak today of St. Ephrem the Syrian, born in Nisibi around 306 to a Christian family. He was the most important representative of Christianity in the Syriac language, one who succeeded to reconcile uniquely the vocations of thelogian and poet.

He was educated and grew alongside Jacob, Bishop of Nisibi (303-338), and together with him, founded the theological school of their city. Ordained a deacon, he intensely shared the life of the local Christian community until 363, when Nisibi fell to the Persians.

Ephrem then moved to Edessa, where he continued his activity as a peracher. He died in this city in 373, victim of the plague he contracted from caring for those who had been stricken.

It is not known for certain whether he was a monk, but in any case, he remained a deacon all his life and embraced both chastity and poverty. The common and fundamental Christian identity appears in his specificity cultural expression: faith, hope – the hope which allows one to live poor and chaste in this world, placing every expectation only in the Lord – and finally, charity, up to the gift of himself in caring for the victims of the plague.

St, Ephrem has left us a graat theological legacy. His considerable output can be grouped in four categories: works written in ordinary prose (his polemical works and Biblical commentaries); works in poetic prose; homilies in verse; and finally, the hymns, surely Ephrem’s most extensive work.

He is a rich and interesting author in many ways, but especially in his theological profile. The specificity of his work is that theology and poetry encounter each other.

In approaching his doctrine, we must insist from the beginning on this: that he cast theology in poetic form. Poetry allowed him to deepen theological reflection through paradoxes and images. So at the same time, his theology becomes liturgy, it becomes music. He was, in fact, a great composer, a musician.

Theology, reflection on the faith, poetry, song, and praise of God all go together; and divine truth appears precisely in the liturgical character of Ephrem’s theology. In his quest for God, in his theology, he followed the way of paradox and symbol. He largely favored contrasting images because they serve to underline the mystery of God.

I cannot now present very much of his work, if only because poetry is not easily translatable, but to give at least an idea of his poetic theology, I would like to cite parts of some hymns. Above all, especially in view of the coming Advent, here are some splendid images from the hymn on the nativity of Christ.

Before the Virgin, Eophrem manifests his wonder in inspired words:

“The Lord came to you
to become a servant.
The Word came to you
to be still in your womb.
Lightning came to you
without making any noise.
The Shepherd came to you –
and becomes the newborn Lamb
with his submissive plaint.

The womb of Mary
has changed the roles:
He who created all things
took possession in poverty.
The Highest came to you (Mary)
but he entered with humility.
Splendor came to you,
but dressed in humble rags.
He who makes all things grow
knew hunger.
He who waters everything
knew thirst.
Bare and stripped, he came from you,
he who clothes everything in beauty.”
(Hymn “De Nativitate”11, 6-8).

To express the mystery of Christ, Ephrem used a great diversity of expressions and images. In one of his hymns, he effectively links Adam in Paradise with Christ in the Eucharist:

“It was the cherubin’s spade
that closed the path
to the Tree of LIfe.
But for the people,
the Lord of this tree
gave himself as food –
he himself as offering (Eucharistic).

The trees of Eden
were given as food
to the first Adam.
For us, the Gardener in person
has made himself food for our souls.

Indeed we all left Paradise with Adam,
who left it all behind.
Now that the sword has been taken away,
there (on the Cross), we find it again
in the lance that pierced.
(Hymn, 49,9-11).

To speak of the Eucharist, Ephrem used two images: the ember or burning coal, and the pearl. The ember comes from Isaiah (6.6), in the image of the seraphin who picks up an ember with tongs and simply brushes it across the lips of the prophet in order to purify it. The Christian, on the other hand, takes and swallows the Ember, who is Christ himself.

“In your Bread is hidden the Spirit
which cannot be consumed.
In your wine is the fire
which cannot be drunk.
The Spirit in the bread,
the fire in your wine:
behold the wonder
that we welcome to our lips.

The seraphin could not, with his fingers, touch the ember
which he could only bring close to Isaiah’s mouth.
The fingers did not hold it, nor did the mouth ingest it.
But the Lord has conceded both to us.

Fire descends with ire to destroy sinners
but the fire of grace descends on the bread and stays.
Instead of the fire which destroyed people,
we have easten the fire in the bread
and we have been revived.
(Hymn “De Fide”10,8-10).

Finally, a last example of St. Ephrem’s hymns, where he describes the pearl as a symbol of the richness and beauty of the faith:

“I place the pearl, my brothers,
in the palm of my hand to examine it.
I look at it from one side, then the other –
and it looks the same from every side.

So it is with our search
for the inscrutable Son –
because he is all light.

In its limpidity, I see the Limpid
which does not become opaque.
In its purity, I see the symbol
of the pure Body of our Lord.
And in its indivisibility, I see
the truth which is indivisible.
(Hymn “Sulla Perla” 1, 2-3).

The figure of Ephrem is still fully relevant in the life of the various Christian churches. We discover him, first of all, as a theologian who, starting from Sacred Scripture, reflects poetically on the mystery of the redemption of man by Christ, the Word of God incarnate.

His is a theological reflection with images and symbols taken from nature, from daily life and from the Bible. Ephrem confers a didactic and theological character on poetry and hymns for liturgy, Ephrem used these hymns to spread, on liturgical occasions, the doctrine of the Church. And in those times, they proved to be extremely effective as a catechetical means for the Christian community.

Ephrem’s reflections on the theme of God the Creator are important: Nothing in the world is isolated, and the world, alongside Sacred Scripture, is the Bible of God, but using his freedom in the wrong
way, man overturns the order of the cosmos.

The role of women was very relevant to Ephrem. The way in which he spoke about women was always inspired by sensitivity and respect: Jesus dwelling in the womb of Mary had raised the dignity of all women. For Ephrem, just as there is no Redemption without Jesus, there could be no Incarnation without Mary.

The divine and human dimensions of the mystery of our Redemption are found in the texts of Ephrem: poetically and with fundamentally Scriptural images, he anticipated the theological background and in some way, the language itself, of the great Christologic definitions made by the Councils of the fifth century.

Ephrem, honored by Christian tradition with the title ‘Scepter of the Holy Spirit’, remained a deacon of the church all his life. It was a decisive and emblematic choice: he was a deacon, therefore, a servant, both in the liturgical ministry as, more radically, he was a servant of the love of Christ, which he sung in unparalleled way, and in his charity towards his brothers, whom he introduced with rare mastery to a knowledge of divine revelation.

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A Few Peeks at the Ephrem Audience

Here’s the Vatican’s official summary of the audience on Ephrem:

In this week’s catechesis we turn to Saint Ephrem, the greatest of the Syriac Fathers and the most renowned poet of the patristic age. Saint Ephrem’s theology, deeply grounded in the Scriptures and profoundly orthodox in content, was expressed in poetic language marked by striking paradoxes and vivid imagery. Through his mastery of poetic symbolism, Ephrem sought to communicate, especially in his Hymns, the mystery of the trinitarian God, the incarnation of the eternal Son born of the Virgin Mary, and the spiritual treasures contained in the Eucharist. His poetry and hymns not only enriched the liturgy; they also proved an important means of catechesis for the Christian community in the fourth century. Particularly significant is Ephrem’s teaching on our redemption by Christ: his poetic descriptions of the interplay of the divine and human aspects of this great mystery foreshadowed the theology and, to some extent, even the language of the great christological definitions of the Councils of the next century. In his life-long service to the Church as a deacon, Saint Ephrem was an example of fidelity to the liturgy, meditation on the mystery of Christ and charitable service to his brothers and sisters.

Here’s CNS’s coverage of the event:

Western Christians can learn much from Eastern Christians, says pope

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christianity is not and never has been a uniquely European phenomenon, and Christians of the West can learn much from the cultural expressions of Eastern Christians, especially those of the early church, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“Today it is a common opinion that Christianity is a European religion that exported European culture to other countries, but the reality is much more complicated and complex,” he said Nov. 28 at his weekly general audience.

“It is not only that the roots of the Christian religion are found in Jerusalem, in the Old Testament, in the Semitic world and Christianity is constantly nourished by these Old Testament roots,” he said, “but the expansion of Christianity in the first centuries” went simultaneously West and East.

In Europe, but also throughout the Middle East and over to India, “Christianity with a different culture was formed,” he said. Christians in the East lived the faith “with their own expressions and cultural identities,” demonstrating “the cultural plurality of the one faith from the beginning.”

With fewer than 8,000 people present, the weekly gathering was held inside the Vatican audience hall, offering greater protection from the cold and wind for the pope, whose voice was hoarse.

The pope’s main audience talk focused on the life, teaching and poetry of St. Ephraem the Syrian, a fourth-century deacon.

“He remained a deacon throughout his life and embraced virginity and poverty,” the pope said.

Pope Benedict, whose new encyclical on the virtue of hope was to be released at the Vatican Nov. 30, said St. Ephraem was a model of the Christian virtues: “faith, hope — this hope that allows us to live poor and as virgins in this world, placing all one’s hope in the Lord — and, finally, charity to the point of self-giving in the care of victims of the plague,” which he contracted and which caused his death.

In his hymns and poetry, St. Ephraem offered theological reflections using images “taken from nature, daily life and the Bible.”

His use of song, especially liturgical song, the pope said, was an effective means of religious education because “precisely by singing, celebrating, praising God, we see not only the beauty, but the truth of the faith and we encounter the truth in person, Christ.”

St. Ephraem’s reflections on God the creator, he said, are very important.

The saint taught that “nothing in creation is isolated. The world, alongside the Scriptures, is God’s Bible. By using his freedom in an erroneous way, man upsets the order of the cosmos,” the pope said.

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Arkana

I was going to post something on Smithsonian magazine’s cover story, Keepers of the Lost Ark?, but Jim Davila beat me to it. Smithsonian’s teaser says: “Christians in Ethiopia have long claimed to have the ark of the covenant. Our reporter investigated.” Those of a certain age will detect just a trace of Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom” in the article’s approach to Christianity. But it’s fairly respectful.

… through the centuries, Ethiopian Christians have claimed that the ark rests in a chapel in the small town of Aksum, in their country’s northern highlands. It arrived nearly 3,000 years ago, they say, and has been guarded by a succession of virgin monks who, once anointed, are forbidden to set foot outside the chapel grounds until they die….

“The ark came here from Aksum for safekeeping from enemies well before Jesus was born because our people followed the Jewish religion then,” he said. “But when King Ezana ruled in Aksum 1,600 years ago, he took the ark back to Aksum.” Ezana’s kingdom extended across the Red Sea into the Arabian peninsula; he converted to Christianity around a.d. 330 and became hugely influential in spreading the faith.

Read the rest.

And if you want to read more about the ancient roots of Ethiopian Christianity, check out the Metropolitan Museum of Art and this site, too. The Ethiopian Church’s origins are recounted in the histories of Rufinus and Socrates.

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Denys the Menys

My neighbor Dr. Sarah Wear has us visiting the Neoplatonists again. She’s produced a new book that we all need to read: Dionysius the Areopagite and the Neoplatonist Tradition: Despoiling the Hellenes. Here’s the publisher’s teaser:

‘Dionysius the Areopagite’ is arguably one of the most mysterious and intriguing figures to emerge from the late antique world. Writing probably around 500 C.E., and possibly connected with the circle of Severus of Antioch, Dionysius manipulates a Platonic metaphysics to describe a hierarchical universe: as with the Hellenic Platonists, he arranges the celestial and material cosmos into a series of triadic strata. These strata emanate from one unified being and contain beings that range from superior to inferior, depending on their proximity to God. Not only do all things in the hierarchy participate in God, but also all things are inter-connected, so that the lower hierarchies fully participate in the higher ones. This metaphysics lends itself to a sacramental system similar to that of the Hellenic ritual, theurgy. Theurgy allows humans to reach the divine by examining the divine as it exists in creation. Although Dionysius’ metaphysics and religion are similar to that of Iamblichus and Proclus in many ways, Pseudo-Dionysius differs fundamentally in his use of an ecclesiastical cosmos, rather than that of the Platonic Timaean cosmos of the Hellenes. This book discusses the Christian Platonist’s adaptation of Hellenic metaphysics, language, and religious ritual. While Dionysius clearly works within the Hellenic tradition, he innovates to integrate Hellenic and Christian thought.

Buy it now! The last one to Amazon is a Paleo-Platonist.

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Teach and Preach Like the Fathers

My friend Ken Ogorek has written an innovative catechism. Actually, it’s a retrieval. Ken has reached back to the Fathers’ method of teaching by following the lectionary — the cycle of Old and New Testament readings that are used in the liturgy. It’s titled The Gospel Truth: A Lectionary-Based Catechism for Adults, and it’s a great resource for clergy and catechists. There are more than 400 pages of ready material for homilies and lesson plans that are biblical, doctrinal, and relevant. The Gospel Truth comes with a foreword by Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington and hearty recommendations from Ronda Chervin and Bishop Richard Malone of Portland, Maine.

Pastors, listen up: One priest bought a thousand copies (at bulk discount) so that he could give The Gospel Truth to each and every household in his parish. It’s a great way to do adult education. You get all the families going in the same direction, steered by the liturgy. You won’t find the book on Amazon, only at Ken’s place.