Last week, there was an annual calendrical coincidence which I have never commented upon before because the matters concerned are very sensitive. Now I do so, but without any agenda or any implications. Comments offered will be very negatively moderated in the same spirit.
Saturday was Holocaust Memorial Day. It was preceded in our calendar by the Feast of S Polycarp.
We have an eye-witness account of his Martyrdom. Its narrative repeatedly emphasises the local Jewish agency in these events. We are, by the way, in the mid-century.
... Ioudaion ton ten Smyrnan katoikounton akataskhetoi thumoi ...
... malista Ioudaion prothumos, hos ethos autois, eis tauta hupourgounton ...
... hupoballonton kai eniskhounton ton Ioudaion ...
... ten ton Ioudaion genomenen philoneikian ...
"We are, by the way, in the mid-century."
ReplyDeleteMid second century, I suppose you meant; maybe (IIRC) 23 February 155.
I use the account of the "Martyrdom of St. Polycarp" in one of the classes I regularly teach; and I have also used the "Martyrdom of Pionius the Presbyter," the accuracy and eyewitness reliability of which was brilliantly vindicated by Robin Lane Fox in his Pagans and Christians (1986). Pionius was a Smyrniot presbyter who was martyred in February or March 250 during the Decian persecution; Lane Fox believes that he is the same Pionius who write a coda to the "Martyrdom of St. Pionius" stating that he had recovered and copied a decrepit account of that manuscript. Pionius's martyrdom account seems to indicate that the Bishop of Ephesus apostatized during the Decian persecution.
POSTSCRIPT to my last comment:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cogwriter.com/martyrdom-of-pionius.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyrdom_of_Pionius
"The Holocaust" THE Holocaust happened ONCE. A long time ago. Perhaps some of you have heard of it.
ReplyDeleteMost people are totally unaware that modern Rabbinical Judaism has adopted a theory of what I will call "auto-messianism" Not everyone, of course, follows it, but it is the plurality opinion. To the extent that Zionists are not in fact atheists, it is the overwhelming position. (The main reason why Orthodox Jews stand in opposition to Israel.)
Auto messianism goes as follows: Outside of Israel, all Jews constitute a single person. I have heard Rabbis actual say this. Thus, since the Messiah is a single person, box one is checked.
The second point is the utterly weird notion that the Jewish victims of the Nazi regime were
a spotless victim. OK.
Third, they somehow offered themselves and voila! They get Israel Back!
A nice piece of result-oriented argument if ever there was one.
What is most interesting to me is that it puts paid to the silly statement ubiquitous in modern Christianity that the Jews rejected Christ because they were waiting for a great military leader. Some Jews wanted this, of course, but we would call them "heretics."
Thankfully, the rest of the Jews- maybe most of them- eventually accepted Christ, thereby finding salvation.
In truth, modern Judaism is a hopelessly fragmented hodge-podge of competing views, running the entire gamut from atheism to a not inconsiderable number of people who deeply suspect that Christ was IN FACT the Messiah. I have known such people my entire life.
Where am I going with this, you well may ask. Please bear with me.
When I was a boy, two Jewish boys lived in my apartment building who were my own age. They would do their homework for Hebrew School in the stairwell leading down to the lobby. At such times, they would be wearing their yarmulkes. Naturally, being a schoolboy, well versed in Sunday School, I would dispute matters with them. Christ, I informed them, was the Messiah. After all, he was from the House of David, was Born in Bethlehem, suffered, died and was risen from the dead, etc, etc, etc, They would start to deny that those things were "signs of Messiah" and I would continue down the stairs and tell my friends that the Jews lost another argument. I should point out that those Jewish people in my building were all good friends of my family, and there is no antisemitism lurking in this story.
Imagine, then my shock, when years later, the Lubavitcher Grand Rebbe Menachem Schneerson died, and there was a huge air of excitement regarding his impending Resurrection! The Hasidim were all agog, talking of the House of David, and all the rest. A Jewish attorned contemptuously quipped, to general approval, that "he has everything but a flying donkey," referencing a Jewish Legend. Well, naturally, Schneerson is still in the ground, even after three days, and most Hasid's eventually moved on. Hasids might have been crazy, but not crazy enough to believe in "auto-messianism"
I will cut to the chase:
No Christian should ever call Hitler's crimes against the Jews "The Holocaust" Nor should a Christian ever downplay Hitler's other victims, or Stalin's. or Pol Pot's, or Chairman Mao's, and so forth. Pray for the dead if you will, but steer clear of the politically driven cult of death that is the holocaust industry. THE Holocaust happened just the once.
Thanks for the reff., Fr. Hunwicke. I read Greek. Could you give me the source and chapter for the transliterated lemmata you quote? If it's not too much trouble.
ReplyDeleteAMDG
MM
Thanks for pointing this out.
ReplyDelete-and Jews living in Smyrna cried out with uncontrollable anger and a great shout
-and the Jews were extremely zealous, as is their custom, in assisting at this.
-And they said this owing to the suggestions and pressure of the Jews,
-the centurion saw the contentiousness caused by the Jews,
These seem to be be among a number of literary tropes which relate the passion of Polycarp to the passion of Christ.
1. Polycarp giving a last meal and agonizing in prayer before his arrest; 2. Arriving in Smyrna on a Donkey; 3. Interrogation by a Roman governor and high priest Herod; 4. betrayal by a servant; 5. Jews calling for death: He has truly bourn much fruit.