Good morning! Today is the feast of St. John, one of Jesus' inner circle of disciples, and the author of the fourth gospel, the book of Revelation, and at least one of the three "Johannine" epistles in the New Testament. He's the only one of the apostles who was not martyred (there is a legend that they tried to boil him in oil, but unsuccessfully), and he lived the longest - into the second century. The title "the beloved disciple" doesn't mean that Jesus loved him more, it's a reference to the fact that he was the youngest disciple - it's like saying he was the most adorable disciple, or something like that.
On another note, we are back home, and very grateful for a great time with family, but also really glad to be home. Here's a picture of my "house" - across the back is my oldest son Rick, and his wife Jess, then our daughter Anjela, then my younger son John with his wife Shiann. I'm holding their daughter, Annabelle, and Tammy is holding Anjela's son Zach. Rick and Jess live in Wisconsin, and John, Shiann, and Annabelle live in Illinois. Anjela and Zach live with us, but Anjela's first boy Zeph is still in the Philippines, and we're waiting for his visa to be approved to come to the US. He's 4 years old. So even though we are are spread out, this is my household, and in the last several years I've become much more atuned to practicing a kind of prayer in which one includes one's loved ones - not only praying for them (for their benefit), but bringing them into the prayers by praying for them (i.e., on their behalf). In the same sort of way that Jesus died both for us, and for us (in our place), we can pray for our loved ones as though they were praying with us. This is the reason that virtually all early Christian prayers are we/us prayers, not I/me prayers.
Here's a short (about a minute) video I took going around the Holy Column in the church of Santa Prassede. This is the column that Jesus was tied to when he was scourged by Pontius Pilate. They don't always have the barrier down, so you usually don't get to see it from all the way around. I wanted to get video of the whole thing all the way around because I ran across a note in an ancient document that said that those who made a pilgrimage (at that time to the Holy Land, since it was still in Jerusalem) could visit the Holy Column, and could see marks left from the hands of Jesus where he gripped it as he was being whipped. I assume that this is pious legend, but I figured since the column has that dark & light marble, maybe there's a place where the dark parts look like hands. I did not see it, but if you do, let me know!
I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:
In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
I hope you like the song!
Here is our next set of texts - as we get into John chapter 6, we first encounter Jesus feeding the multitudes - in this case 5,000 families!
Now, as you know, there is also an account o Jesus feeding 4,000, and so you may also know that some scholars might speculate that these are just different versions of the same story that circulated and were handed down orally, until they were written down. Even the fact that both stories occur in the same gospel would not stop that kind of speculation. So I thought the first question I would have to ask was whether the Church fathers thought this was one event or two - BUT (and you see where this is going) I forgot that Jesus himself makes reference to two separate events (in Matthew 16 and in Mark 8) so there is no question for the Church fathers - these are two separate events. So it seems that Jesus performed this sign (miracle) of the feeding of the multitudes on two occasions. It's not just one event told two different ways, and it's also ...
My voice was still recovering from a bad cold, so not sounding my best, but this was a great conversation about pilgrimage, for the Jubilee year - more of this coming in other interviews! (FYI, I think I was the third of three guests that day, so you will have to fast forward to find me)
It seems that one way or another we need to talk about different kinds, or different levels of heresy. What I have been calling heresy vs. heterodoxy, others call heresy on fundamental doctrines vs. heresy on less fundamental doctrines. In other words, Heresy with a capital H (over fundamental doctrines like the Trinity and christology) are the kinds of heresies that move one outside the boundaries of what Christianity is, and that's because the very definition of Christianity is defined according to these fundamental doctrines. To refuse to sign the Creed at the Council of Nicaea in 325, or the Council of Constantinople in 381 - and indeed to reject any of the contents of the Creed today - means that a person is NOT a Christian.
So are the non-chalcedonians, such as the miaphysites (including St. Gregory of Narek, and today's Coptic Christians) - are they heretics? Well, like it is with a lot of things, that depends on your definition of heresy. If you include in your definition of ...
