Did Jesus Have a Wife?

There are really just a few blogs that I read and Just Genesis is at the top of that list. Alice has a way of cutting to the basics and I encourage my readers to visit her blog. (leah)

by Alice C. Linsley at Just Genesis blog

Jesus Christ never married but He has two brides, following the marriage and acendancy pattern of his Horite ruler-priest ancestors. A second bride was taken shortly before he ascended.

The second bride is the Church, represented by Photini. As was the common practice among Abraham’s people, grooms met and courted their brides at wells.

The pattern of two wives characterizes the Horite marriage and ascendency structure. This is evident with Abraham’s father, Abraham, Jacob, Esau and Moses’ father.

The first wife is his sister bride, represented by all who lived in faithful expectation of His coming into the world in the flesh. They repose in the “Bosom of Abraham.” Among these are the priest Simeon and the Prophetess Anna.

Karen L. King, the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard University, notes that Jesus refers to a wife in this Gnostic Coptic fragment.  The specific phrase in question reads, “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife…” and many assume that this must be a literal wife.

Photo: Karen L King

In this article in the New York Times, King makes the point that “that this fragment should not be taken as proof that Jesus, the historical person, was actually married. The text was probably written centuries after Jesus lived, and all other early, historically reliable Christian literature is silent on the question.”

The Vatican has declared the fragment a fake.

Related reading:  Who Were the Horites?; Moses’ Horite Family; Jesus’ Horite Ancestry; Yes, Georgia, there is a Kingdom!; Dr. Albert Mohler, The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife? When Sensationalism Masquerades as Scholarship; The Wife of Jesus Hoax

 

on Blessed is the man…

rhigraphics.com

HOMILY on the blessed man…

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful (Psalm 1:1).

Brethren, most blessed is he who is not so hardened by sin that he can hear and fulfill this counsel of God that has come through the prophet. The ungodly are those who, in every way, think contrary to God and His will. The sinners are those who walk the path of their own desires, and their thoughts are contrary to the will of God and His law. The scornful are those who destroy themselves and others by their evil deeds. The danger is this: first comes the ungodly counsel (either from wicked men or from sinful thoughts); then the actual committing of sin; then the unrepentant sinner becomes a scandalous example of evil to others. Therefore, blessed is the man who neither heeds the counsel of ungodly men or thoughts, but finds sufficient counsel for his salvation in the Law of God. Blessed is the man who has not even once walked in the way of sinners, or, if he has walked on that path, he has repented and returned to the path of life that is the Lord’s. Blessed is the man who has not sat in the presence of the scorner of innocent souls who, by his seductive example, corrupts such souls. For it is said of the corrupter: It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea (Matthew 18:6).

O my brethren, blessed be all of you, men and women, who cautiously avoid these three evils: ungodly thoughts and counsels, sinful deeds, and the corrupting of others. These three evils are like one poisonous serpent that grows from a small snake into a giant serpent.

O Blessed Lord our Creator, help us by Thy power and Thy goodness, that we may be saved from the cruel serpent that Thou, O Lord Christ, didst defeat by the weapon of Thine invincible and honorable Cross. Help us to hearken only to Thy counsel, that we may walk only on Thy path, and shine by Thine example.

To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
~St Nikolai Velimirovic ~ The Prologue of Ohrid

whose sin is covered…

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered… I acknowledged my sin unto You, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

Psalm 32, 1, 5

the Word of God is true…

St Theophan the Recluse

We celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit… Could it be that there was no Spirit in us? No, there was not: For the Holy Ghost was not yet given (Jn. 7:39). And a new spirit will I put within you (Ez. 36:26); God breathes a new spirit of life into man… The apostles were the first vessels of the Holy Spirit… As life in plants freezes from the winter cold, so does man’s spirit freeze when he is given over to sin… There is a sprout of life in a seed, and life is also in plants that have frozen over the winter. But if the Lord does not send the spirit of spring, the seed and the plant do not grow, and the face of the earth is not renewed (cf. Ps. 103, 30)… Repentance opens the door to the operation of the Spirit of God, but a lack of repentance locks that door…

And then the soul enlivened and cleansed by the Holy Spirit shines with the Trinitarian unity… We cannot fathom how this wondrous work of goodwill takes place, but the Word of God is true… Here is the path by which the Spirit of God leads to perfection those who receive Him … The beginning of it all is repentance, the middle of this work and ascetic struggle is cleansing of the heart from passions and its saturation with virtues, and the end is the holy mystery of communion with God… Where there is no communion with God, there is no Spirit… For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting (Gal. 6:7-8).

~St. Theophan the Recluse

The Apostle Philip baptized this black man…

An Icon of Saint Philip the Deacon with the Ethiopian Eunuch, by Ann Chapin (2008)

from the Prologue of Ohrid:

The Apostle Philip baptized this black man, a eunuch. Following his baptism the eunuch returned to his home and began to preach Christ. He was the first Apostle of Faith among the blacks in Ethiopia.

“Then the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, get up and head south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route. So he got up and set out. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, that is, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury, who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home. Seated in his chariot, he was reading the Prophet Isaiah. The Spirit said to Philip, `Go and join up with the chariot.’ Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the Prophet and said, `Do you understand what you are reading?’ He replied, `How can I, unless someone instructs me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him. This was the scripture passage he was reading: `Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will tell of his posterity? For his life is taken from earth.’ Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply, `I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this? About himself, or about someone else?’ Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this scripture passage, he proclaimed Jesus to him. As they traveled along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, `Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being baptized?’ Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and he baptized him. When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but continued on his way rejoicing. Philip came to Azotus, and went about preaching the good news to all the towns until he reached Caesarea” (Acts of the Apostles 8: 26-40).

The eunuch died a martyr and became worthy of the Kingdom of God.

Why does the Giver of life flee…

“An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.’” (Mt. 2:13).

Why does the Giver of life flee before mortal men?  Could God, the Lord of life and death, not have been able to command an angel to take the soul of King Herod, instead of commanding Joseph to flee from Herod right into Egypt?  Almighty God could have done this, but what would it have achieved?   Maybe it would have been more satisfying to our superficial human understanding, but it would have over set the most wise plan of our salvation.  How could the terrible distortion of human nature by sin upon sin have been demonstrated by the Gospel, and also the necessity of man’s salvation by God’s direct action been made clear, were God, that night, to have cut short Herod’s evil intentions by death?  How would the pit of sin in which mankind had fallen, estranged itself from the true God as its guide, have become evident to the spiritually blind, had it not happened that God Himself fled before men?

~Saint Nikolai of Zhicha: “Homily IV On the Nativity”

who was begotten before time began…

The Son of God who was begotten before time began, and established all things according to the will of the Father, He was conceived in the womb of Mary, according to the appointment of God, of the seed of David, and by the Holy Ghost. For says [the Scripture], “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and He shall be called Immanuel.” He was born and was baptized by John, that He might ratify the institution committed to that prophet.

Ignatius, Letter to the Ephesians, 18
St. Ignatius of Antioch, the God-bearer

commemorated December 20 (The Prologue of Ohrid)

Daniel & the Three Children…

The Prologue of Ohrid:

The Holy Prophet Daniel and the Three Children: Ananias, Azarias and Misael

All four were of the royal tribe of Judah. When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed and plundered Jerusalem, Daniel, as a boy, was carried away into slavery together with the Jewish King Jehoiachim and countless other Israelites. An account of his life, sufferings and prophecies can be found in detail in his book. Completely devoted to God, St. Daniel from his early youth received from God the gift of great discernment. His fame among the Jews in Babylon began when he denounced two lecherous and unrighteous elders, Jewish judges, and saved the chaste Susanna from an unjust death. But his fame among the Babylonians began from the day he deciphered and interpreted the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. For this, the king made him a prince at his court. When the king made a golden idol on the Plain of Dura, the Three Children refused to worship it, and for this they were cast into a fiery furnace. But an angel of God appeared in the furnace and cooled the fire so that the children walked around the furnace unharmed by the fire, singing: Blessed art Thou, Lord God of our fathers (Daniel 3:26). The king saw this miracle and was amazed. He then brought the children out of the furnace and bestowed upon them great honors.

In the time of King Belshazzar, when the king was eating and drinking with his guests at a banquet from consecrated vessels taken from the Temple in Jerusalem, an invisible hand wrote three words on the wall: Mene, Tekel, Upharsin (Daniel 5:25-28). No one was able to interpret these words except Daniel. That night, King Belshazzar was killed. Daniel was twice thrown into the lions’ den because of his faith in the One, Living God, and both times the Lord saved him and he remained alive. Daniel beheld God on a throne with the heavenly hosts; saw angels; discerned the future of certain people, of kingdoms, and of the whole human race; and prophesied the time of the coming of the Savior on earth. According to St. Cyril of Alexandria, Daniel and the three children lived to old age in Babylon and were beheaded for the true Faith. When they beheaded Ananias, Azarias stretched out his cloak and caught his head; following this, Misael caught Azarias’s head and Daniel caught Misael’s head. An angel of the God translated their bodies to Judea, to Mount Gebal, and placed them under a rock. According to tradition, these four God-pleasers arose at the time of the death of the Lord Christ, appeared to many and again fell asleep. Daniel is numbered among the four great prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel). He lived and prophesied five hundred years before Christ.

About fools, wiser than the world…

 

“We are fools for Christ’s sake” (1 Corinthians 4:10).

Thus speaks the great Apostle Paul who in the beginning was guided by worldly wisdom, which is against Christ, until he recognizes the falsehood and decay of the wisdom of the world and the light and stability of the wisdom of Christ. Then, the holy apostle did not become angry with the world because they called him “a fool for Christ’s sake” neither did he, in defiance of the world, hesitate to be called by this name.

It is not of any value to us how the world is going to regard or call us. However, it is important, and extremely important, how the holy angels in the heavens will regard and call us when, after death, we meet with them. This is of crucial importance and everything else is nothing.

Either we are fools for the world because of Christ or we are fools for Christ because of the world. O how short-lived is the sound of a word of the world! If the world would say to us “fool,” the world will die and its word will die! What then is the value of its word? But if the heavenly, immortal ones say to us “fool,” that will neither die nor is it removed from us as eternal condemnation.

Whoever does not believe in the Living God, nor in eternal life, nor in the Incarnation of the Lord Christ, nor in Christ’s Resurrection nor in the truth of the Gospel nor in God’s eternal mercy and justice – is it any wonder if he considers that one a fool who does believes in all of this?

O, may every one of us who cross ourselves with the Sign of the Cross not only find it easy to endure but with satisfaction receive the name “fool” for Christ’s sake! Let us rejoice and be glad if the non-believers call us such, for that means that we are close to Christ and far away from the non-believers. Let us rejoice and be glad and repeat with a powerful echo in the ears of the world: yes, yes, indeed we are fools for Christ’s sake!

O Lord Most-wise, strengthen us by Your power that we not fear the non-believing world neither when they lash us with whips nor when they insult us with words for Your sake.

hat tip: The Prologue of Ohrid

parable of the wicked vineyard tenants…

Luke 20 9-19
Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.

And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent [him] away empty.

And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated [him] shamefully, and sent [him] away empty.

And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast [him] out.

Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence [him] when they see him.

But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.

So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed [him]. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them?

He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard [it], they said, God forbid.

And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written:

The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?
Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.

King James Version