This is a great resource of "Bible Studies" based on the Gospel and Epistle readings from St. Athanasius Orthodox Church in Santa Barbara CA.
These Bible Studies represent our best effort to describe what the
Church Fathers have had to say about the Church Lectionary, which has
its roots in Apostolic times, and which has a topic prescribed for each
given day.
CLICK HERE:
https://www.stathanasius.org/resources/bible-study-downloads/2017/
Jesus said "I am the Way." He built His Church to embody "the Way". The earliest followers of Jesus were called "the Way" (Acts 9:2; 19:9,23; 22:4; 24:14,22). Jesus revealed the "True Faith" and the "True Worship" for his followers to know how to follow Him along "the Way". This Way of Jesus is experienced in fullness in the One True Church, the Holy Orthodox Church.
Friday, October 20, 2017
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
CLASSICAL CHRISTIANITY
Please check out this wonderful resource @ www.ClassicalChristianity.com
Classical Christianity is an
effort to further enhance, edify, and educate our fellow brethren in the
Orthodox Church and help non-Orthodox become more familiar with our
teachings; in particular, teachings of the Holy Fathers. We aim to
organize the teachings of the Fathers and any articles that we write so
that those of us in this busy society can easily access them and
“acquire the mind of the Fathers,” as Fr. Seraphim Rose says. Monday, October 9, 2017
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS BY KING HEROD
“Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not”. (Mt. 2:16-18)
There are
Bible critics who make the claim that Herod could not have massacred the baby
boys of Bethlehem because the Jewish Historian Josephus failed to make
reference to King Herod committing this particular evil. But Josephus is not
the only first century historian, or source of what happened in first century
Judah. Matthew, the author of the gospel by his name, gives us a historical
account of the slaughter of the innocents by King Herod. The Holy Spirit
inspired Evangelist Matthew is much more trustworthy than a Jewish historian
writing 100 years after the said event. There was, by the way, a Roman
historian, Macrobius (c.a. 400 A.D.), that writes about Herod’s slaughter of
the Innocents.
THE SCOPE OF THE SLAUGHTER OF
INNOCENTS
Some
historians, even Christian historians, say that only a few children were slain
by King Herod because Bethlehem probably only had a population of about 1000
people, and therefore would have only had 10 to 30 two year old and under
children that could have been slain. But the scope of the slaughter appears
from the text of Matthew that it was not just the children in the little town
of Bethlehem that were in danger of King Herod’s edict. The text states that
the slaughter was not limited to the “little town of Bethlehem”, because it
bluntly reads that Herod “slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, AND in
all the coasts thereof” (KJV, 1599 Geneva, Wycliffe). In other translations we
read, “and the borders” (Young’s, Douay-Rheims, ASV, Aramaic Bible in Plain
English, Jubilee 2000, Darby, Webster’s); “and in the environs” (NASB, NAS
1977, ); “and in the region” (RSV, ISV ); “and in the vicinity” (NIV); “and in
all the districts” (NKJV, Phillips). We can see from these translations that
the massacre was not limited to the town of Bethlehem, but included a far
greater territory, as far as the coasts and/or borders of Judah.
“There appears
to be a hint in verse 18 as to what is being spoken of when we read, “AND in
all the coasts thereof”, or “AND in all the borders thereof”. Ramah, the city
of Jeremiah’s prophecy is located 5 miles north of Jerusalem (10 Miles north of
Bethlehem). Ramah is the city where Rachel lamented from. She was buried in
Bethlehem (Gen. 35:19). Ramah is a border town situated on the northern border
of the kingdom of Judah, and the southern border of the kingdom of Israel. Judah’s
borders ran from the east along the shores of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea
to the west at the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, some 30 miles; in the south
in the desert, and borders in the north, Samaria, some 55 miles. We also have a
hint from the prophecy of Micah as to the scope of Herod’s slaughter; “But
thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah…”
(Micah 5:2). Let us take note that the prophecy that Herod was made aware of by
the chief priests (Mt. 2:4-8) references Judah as the greater territory in
which the Messiah-King would be born. Micah, of course, names the very birthplace
of the Messiah, the little town of Bethlehem, and its 1000’s of villages
(hyperbolic or not). So it appears from the textual evidence that the slaughter
was not limited to “the little town of Bethlehem”, but spread all the way north
to Ramah on the border with the kingdom of Israel and quite possibly to the
remaining borders; west, south, and east.
An
interesting note is that Ramah was the city where Jewish captives were gathered
for deportation to Babylon (Jeremiah 40:1). Rachel, the wife of Jacob-Israel,
was the mother of Benjamin, whose tribe became part of the southern kingdom,
Judah. The city of Ramah was given to Benjamin by lots. So Rachel’s
descendants, her beloved children, after much suffering as captives, are now
suffering the slaughtering of Herod’s soldiers. Rachel weeps for her children.
So, exactly
how many children were slaughtered? According to the Tradition of the Ancient
Church, 14,000 children were slain. They are commemorated every year on
December 29. For me, this number is far more likely than the 6 or 10 children
as the modern scholars seem to prefer.
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