Tag: Jesus Christ

The Anthropomorphism of Satan

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Early Christians did not personify Satan, in fact it was not until the Medieval period that Satan became anthropomorphized into the image which is commonly understood during the modern day (e.g. red skin, horned head, tail etc.). Initially, Satan was predicated upon pagan mythological figures who Christian’s then viewed as demons and/or part of a larger demonic evil outside the boundaries of Christianity. Prior to this, there was no consensus among artists and theologians as to how Satan should be depicted within religious artwork. Often throughout history, Satan has been illustrated as a blue angel, a male figure with blue skin and white hair. The color blue was chosen as it is symbolic of the night and the unknown, adding emotional and spiritual ambiguity, intended to inspire fear not through grotesquery but rather through an uncanny yet elegant emulation. In addition to this portrayal, Satan has also been represented as a figure with 3 goats, designed as a direct counter balance to Jesus Christ who is often portrayed within religious artwork in possession of 3 lambs which represent humanity. More specifically these 3 lambs represent purity, sacrifice, and redemption. In contrast to this, the 3 goats of Satan were meant to represent demonic entities, more specifically rebellion, deception, and spiritual corruption. This triadic symbolism was intentional as it created a theological and visual counter weight for Christ, casting Satan not only as the antithesis of Christ, but as a distorted reflection of him within the mirror of divine structure and purpose

How Wedding Ceremonies Worked Within Europe During the Medieval Period

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Medieval weddings were carried out much the same as they are during the modern day with any witnesses present being provided 3 distinct opportunities to object to the marriage with the most common objections being that the parties involved were too close in relation by blood and/or the age of the bride was too young to accept the concept of marriage and/or bare a child. A ring and a piece of gold or silver was placed upon the Christian Bible held by the priest conducting the ceremony, in an effort to have the ring blessed, after which the priest would take the brides right hand and in Latin say “In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen” which means “in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. With truth” in Latin. The priest would touch each finger, starting with the thumb, after saying each part of the Holy Trinity, ending upon the 4th finger when saying “amen”, which became the finger which the wedding ring was placed upon. It was not uncommon for both men and women to wear their wedding rings on their thumbs or middle fingers until the 17th century as any finger was considered acceptable. After undertaking vows, both the husband and wife would lay down to be covered in a shroud, afterwhich they would arise as a newly married couple. This practice was symbolic of a marriage transforming 2 unique individuals into a single person married to Jesus Christ. Finally, the priest would then kiss both the bride and groom upon their face, typically the cheek, and put the couple to bed to ensure consummation of the marriage, at which point, the marriage ceremony was considered complete

The Volatile Temperament of Jesus Christ

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Jesus Christ was known to be confrontational when his message was not being understood correctly. Christ was not adverse to conflict and was not as mild and reconciling as he is portrayed during the modern day, in fact there are accounts in which he cursed fig trees for not bearing any fruit and cursed entire locations for not responding to his message, after which he continued to migrate with his congregation, effectively leaving those people behind instead of persisting to convince them of his teachings. The Gospels account for instances like this multiple times throughout their recounts

The Celebration of New Year’s Day Within Medieval Europe

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Within Medieval Europe, January 1st was not widely celebrated as the secular New Year’s Day holiday it is regarded as during the modern day. Instead, January 1st was observed as the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus Christ in Christian liturgical calendars, a date which commemorates the circumcision of Christ, which according to Jewish custom, would have occurred 8 days after his birth with December 25th being counted as the first day. Although the Gregorian calendar eventually shifted focus toward celebrating the secular New Year on January 1st, this date was intrinsically tied to Christian religious observances for centuries. January 1st was not the standard across Europe during early development of the secular New Year however as the New Year was celebrated upon different dates in various parts of Europe depending upon the local traditions of the region. Some areas celebrated the New Year on March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation, aligning it with the spring equinox and the start of new agricultural cycles whilst others celebrated upon December 25th, to coincide with Christmas and the birth of Christ. When Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1582, January 1st was officially reinstated and recognized as New Year’s Day. This calendar reformation standardized timekeeping across Catholic countries, and over time, Protestant countries adopted the practice as well. The decision to place the New Year on January 1st was in part due to pragmatism as it simplified administrative and financial matters for the state, but also symbolic and ideologic, as it connected the start of the year with the earlier Roman calendar tradition of honoring Janus, the Ancient Roman deity of transitions, and marking the beginning of new political terms under the Julian calendar. Though modern day New Year celebrations are largely secular, the date of January 1st carries the weight of centuries old traditions, from Roman rituals to Christian observances, blending the sacred and the secular

The Origin of the Christian Halo

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The halo is not a Christian construct as in early depictions, Jesus Christ had a wand to perform miracles. The halo was put forth because as Christian artwork grew in its characters depicted, Christ needed to appear more divine and stand out which is why he was provided a halo. Paegan’s borrowed the halo from Apollo, and the Christians borrowed the halo from the Paegan’s. The halo started off as lines coming from the head much like the look of the Statue of Liberty during the modern day. The spikes of the halo were designed to represent Christ’s solar divinity

The Possibility of Jesus Christ Having a Wife

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There is a fragmented piece of papyrus which clearly indicates that Jesus Christ had a wife. The text is written in Coptic, an Ancient Egyptian form of writing. Coptic is the last form of Egyptian, descended from hieroglyphics, and is essentially Greek with a number of additional letters dependent of the dialect. The fragmented piece abbreviated the name of Christ in the exact same way that virtually all Greek texts write Christ’s name, which includes the first letter “iota”, the last letter “sigma”, and a line over top of both letters. The possessive pronoun “ta” is used in front of the term “sahima” always refers to a wife, never a woman who is known as a friend or a family member. The fragment lists Mary Magdalene as the wife of Christ, the person who was present during Christ’s crucifixion, his burial, and was the first person Christ seen upon his resurrection

The Original Intention of the 13th Century Italian Carnival Festival

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The Italian festival of Carnival which takes place during the winter in Venice, Italy, is a 13th century tradition designed to allow anonymity and indulgence before Lent commences. Ash Wednesday marks the end of Carnival and the beginning of Lent, a 40 day period of fasting and reflection. Catholic priests mark patrons forerheads with ash, a symbol of purification by fire. The 40 days of Lent represent the 40 days Jesus Christ spent in the wilderness, preparing for the culmination of his ministry upon Earth whilst being tempted by the devil. Historically, Lent was the final stretch of winter, with the last of any meat being finished during Carnival. Because of the challenges associated with winter, European Christians turned to their faith to help guide them through to the other end

The Etymology of Palm Sunday

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Palm Sunday is named as such because as Jesus Christ approached the city of Jerusalem, Israel, a large crowd welcomed him by waving palm fronds and shouting “Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!”

The Turin Shroud of Christianity

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The Turin Shroud which is believed by Christians to have been wrapped around Jesus Christ after his death and to have been left behind by Christ post-resurrection, is approximately 14’6” long by 3’6” wide and bears the mysterious image of the full front and back of a man, a person who appears to have met a violent death. The Turin Shroud negative image was stumbled upon by amateur photographer Secondo Pia in 1898 whilst taking the first archeological photographs of the shroud. Today, the Turin Shroud is kept within the royal chapel of the Turin Cathedral in Italy, under lock and key in a climate controlled, bulletproof encasing. The Catholic Church allowed scientific examination of the Turin Shroud in 1978 and in 1988, but the piece is rarely placed on display for the public, with the last showing drawing over 2,000,000 (2 million) people in 2015. Blood samples found upon the Turin Shroud found that whoever supplied it had blood type AB, a rare blood type found only in 3% of the population, however more common in the Middle East. Much of the skepticism related to the Turin Shroud stems from the fact that it was not historically documented and recorded until nearly 1400 years after the death of Christ, during the Medieval period in 1349. It is suspected that the Turin Shroud could have belonged to the last grandmaster of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay. After being arrested by Philip IV, the then king of France, de Molay was tortured, had a crown of thorns placed upon his head, and was then crucified in 1314. Scientists have theorized that because de Molay was wrapped in a long piece of cloth, the lactic acid built up during torture as well as de Molay’s own blood mixed with the frankincense which was used to keep the cloth white, provided an imprint after his death. The last known historical description and image of de Molay actually matches quite well with the image on the Turin Shroud, both images depicting a male with a large nose, shoulder length hair parted in the center, a crown of thorns, and a full beard

The Etymology of the Name “Jehova”

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The name “Jehova” (pronounced “yah-ho-vah”) is derived from the Hebrew name “יְהֹוָה‎” (pronounced “yo-vah”) which is based upon the Masoretic version of the Biblical Hebrew name “יהוה‎” (pronounced “yah-ho”). The name Jehova and all of its predecessors means “my lord” in Hebrew. The name Jehova is derived from the Greek “Iesous” (pronounced “ease-us”), from which the English name “Jesus” is derived. This Greek name is a rendering of the Hebrew name “ישוע‎” (pronounced “yeh-shu-ah”) which is a variant of the base Hebrew name “יהושע‎” (pronounced “yo-shu-ah”). In English, this name is referred to as “Joshua”. The name “Christ” is derived from the Greek term “khristos” (pronounced “kris-tus”) which means “anointed” and is based upon the Greek term “khriein” (pronounced “kree-in”) which means “anoint”. Both of these Greek terms are derived from the Hebrew term “משיח” (pronounced “mi-sha”) which means “messiah”. The term “messiah” as well as the Hebrew name “משיח” mean “anointed”, as their Greek counterpart does. This effectively means that Jesus Christ, messiah, and Jehova are all the same term with the same meaning as they are based upon the same root words and have the same translation