19 August 2019

Missile Romanum ... hairesis kai skandalon ...

The egregious Austin Ivereigh is reported to have complained that admirers of the former Roman Pontiff Pope Benedict are a "source of division and scandal" because they launch aginst PF "a missile every month".

It is surprising how different things can seem from different viewpoints. To me, it seems that admirers of PF, and sometimes even his own pontifical mouth, are the most constant sources of division and scandal, consistently reliable in their grim predictability.

And it seems to me that never a month goes by without these same gruesome sources emitting divisive missiles of unorthodoxy or of scandalous ambiguity.

Let us be fair. From the beginning of this pontificate, there has been no concealment of the fact that  its policy is "to make a mess". It is a shame that the words ataxian polutropos poieson are missing from so many of the Greek manuscripts of II Timothy 4.

However, in the surviving fragments of that sadly lacunose text, S Paul does advise us to preach the Word eukairos akairos. He never ... even in an ambiguous footnote ... mentions the need to do this on an irregular, intermittent, or less than monthly basis.


9 comments:

ALDU said...

Ironically, Austen Ivereigh was one of the co-founders of Catholic Voices, an organisation established prior to the visit to the UK of the then Pope. The purpose of Catholic Voices was, and still is, to improve the public perception of the Catholic Church and to counter unfair comments which made about the Pope. That Pope was Pope Benedict XVI.

coradcorloquitur said...

The great shame, much to be lamented, is that the imaginary salvos constructed by Austin the Acolyte are neither real nor daily. Such would be the fulfilling of a glorious and filial duty to both the Church and the Papacy. But, alas, we have very few real men in the Church these days.

Fr PJM said...

"ataxian polutropos poieson": Father, in your charity would you be so kind as to translate and explain this? I'm not asking you to do my homework. I have without success consulted interlinear Greek/English texts, and have not succeeded. Thank you.

Bertie Wooster said...

ἀταξίαν πολύτροπον ποιῆσον is what the Padre meant (although 'hagan' is better rendered ποιήσατε, btw Fr H) if that helps you find it. If you do find it, let us (and the highest spheres of the Church) know about it, as it would surprise all and delight some.

William Tighe said...

Male a mess in many ways.

Calvin Engime said...

Fr PJM: ataxia is a noun not found in the New Testament which refers strictly to indiscipline among soldiers, but more generally to any disorder or confusion; but related words appear such as the verb atakteo, "to be out of ranks, lazy, idle, irresponsible," the adjective ataktos, and the adverb ataktos with an omega. Polutropos is an adverb in Hebrews 1:1 for how God has spoken in the past, namely "in many ways." Poieson is an extremely common verb worthy of careful study in your lexicon (headword poieo); but it has the basic meaning of "make" or "do," and is used here in the aorist imperative. Just as Paul commands Timothy, e.g., ergon poieson euangelistou, our host jokes that some would have you think he also wrote ataxian polutropos poieson.

Fr John Hunwicke said...

Dear Bertie

I meant polytropos ending omega sigma, an adverb.

Bertie Wooster said...

Dear Father,
Of course; I ought to have listened to what my man J. told me before posting--he does usually know best.

Unknown said...

I wanted to take courses in Classical Greek. They were full and I was placed in Sanskrit instead. My daughter in law is slowly teaching me the kind of Greek spoken in Ikaria but it just doesn’t help me here. Regrets! God bless you Father!