Your tongue longs to jump into argument, but restrain it. It is a tyrant, and you might fight it daily seventy times seven...from the Ladder of Divine Ascent, by St. John Climacus
For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. He is able also with a bridle to lead about the whole body. For if we put bits into the mouths of horses, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also ships, whereas they are great, and are driven by strong winds, yet are they turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the force of the governor willeth. Even so the tongue is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man: But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. - James 3.2-10 DRB
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Famous Examples of Byzantine Icons
Theotokos of Vladimir, Protectress of Russia; 12th Century; gift of Patriarch of Constantinople to Grand Duke of Kiev, now in Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow
Andrei Rublev's famous Trinity Icon, early 15th century
Rublev's the Face (Christ the Saviour), 15th Century
Icon Not Made by Human Hand, by Simon Ushakov, Russia, 1658
Weeping Icon of Mariapoch, 17th Century, village of Poch, Hungary
Christ the Pantokrator, 6th century from St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai
Preobrazhenie (The Transfiguration), Novgorod, 15th Century
Icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God, Novgorod, 13th Century
Christ Pantokrator, Mosaic from Hagia Sophia in Instanbul, end of 9th Century
Theotokos Enthroned, Hagia Sophia in Instanbul, 9th Century
Theotokos & Child, from the Apse of Hagia Sophia in Instanbul
Our Lady of the Sign- often seen on the Apse of Byzantine Churches
Icon of The Holy Protection (Pokrov), one of the most beloved images of the Theotokos in the Slavic Churches
Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn (Ostra Brama), painted by an unknown Lithuanian artist, 1630. Other names for this Icon: Joy of All Joys; Umilenie (Tenderness); Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy. Although originally this is a Western style painting, it has been adopted by Byzantine Christians, most notably St. Seraphim of Sarov and the Diveyevo Monastery.
Byzantine Christians and the Bible
A page from the Kiev Psalter of 1397 in Church Slavonic. It is also known as the Spiridon Psalter, and is preserved in the Russian National Library
Coptic Bible
Oriental Churches
Coptic Icon of St. Mark, Writer of the Gospel and Founder of the Coptic Church
Ethiopian Orthodox Liturgy
Fr. Bede Griffiths celebrating the Holy Qurbono (The Mass) according to the Syro-Malankara Rite
His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos and Supreme Patriarch of All Armenians
Mar Dinkha IV is is the current Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East
An official photo of Pope Shenouda III, 117th Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa on the Apostolic Throne of St Mark
Coptic Icon of St. Anthony & St. Paul
Coptic Christian Church Relief Wall
.jpg)
2 comments:
Lance,
A question I keep meaning to ask you is the meaning of the Orthodox Cross. Why is the third cross piece angled?
Blessings!
Dan Thompson
Dan,
Blessings-
there are several meanings to the third bar being angled.
1) It represents the actual foot rest of the cross(not that there necessarily really was one!).
2) it represents the Cross standing between Heaven & Earth
3) It represents those on the way to salvation and those on the way to damnation.
Here is some further commentary from Wikipedia:
"The Eastern Orthodox cross (also known as Crux Orthodoxa, the Byzantine cross, the Eastern cross, and the "Russian" cross) can be considered a modified version of the Patriarchal cross, having two smaller crossbeams, one at the top and one near the bottom, in addition to the longer crossbeam. The lower crossbeam represents the footrest (suppendaneum) to which the feet of Jesus were nailed. In most earlier representations (and still currently in the Greek Church) the crossbar near the bottom is straight. In later Russian and other traditions, it came to be depicted as slanted, with the side to the viewer's left usually being higher. One tradition says that this comes from the idea that as Jesus took his last breath, the bar his feet were nailed to broke, thus slanting to the side. It is also said that the slanted bar represents the repentant thief and the unrepentant thief that were crucified with Christ, the one to Jesus' right hand repenting and rising to be with God, and one on his left falling to Hell and separation from God. In this manner it also reminds the viewer of the Last Judgement. Another explanation of the slanted crossbar would suggest the Cross Saltire, as tradition holds that the Apostle St. Andrew introduced Christianity to lands north and west of the Black Sea: today's Romania, Moldova, Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine."
Blessings,
Lance
Post a Comment