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racefortheironthrone · 1 month

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So I know my homoiousios vs. homoousios, and my monophysite vs. dyophysite, and my monothelite vs. dyothelite, and how it all led to the Arab caliphates getting a decent navy and winning the Battle of the Masts.

I don't, and I'd love to! (If you feel like it, obviously.) I'm pretty sure the homoiousios one is about, like, the Trinity or something, but beyond that it's all Greek to me.

(At this point, I feel like I owe @apocrypals royalties or something, but I'm getting a weird kick from doing this on Saint Patrick's Day, so let's do this).

I covered the impact of the monophysite vs. dyophysite split and the Battle of the Masts here, so I'll start from the top.

You are quite correct that the homoiousios vs. homoousios split was, like most of the heresies of the early Church, a Cristological controversy over the nature of Christ and the Trinity. This is perhaps better known as the Arian Heresy, and it's arguably the great-granddaddy of all heresies.

The Arian heresy was the subject of the very first Council of the early Church, the Council of Nicea, convoked by Emperor Constantine the Great in order to end all disputes within the Church forever. (Clearly this worked out well.) In part because the Church hadn't really sat down and attempted to establish orthodoxy before, this debate got very heated. Famously, at one point the future Saint Nicholas supposedly punched Presbyter Arius in the face.

What got a room of men devoted to the "Prince of Peace" heated to the point of physical violence was that Arius argued that, while Christ was the son of God and thus clearly divine, because he was created by God the Father and thus came after the Father, he couldn't be of the same essence (homoousios) as the Father, but rather of similar essence (homoiousios). Eustathias of Antioch and Alexander of Alexandria took the opposing position, which got formulated into the Nicean Creed. As this might suggest, Arius lost both the debate and the succeeding vote that followed, as roughly 298 of 300 bishops attending signed onto the Creed. This got very bad for Arius indeed, because Emperor Constantine enforced the new policy by ordering his writings burned, and Arius and two of his supporters were exiled to Illyricum. Game over, right?

But something odd happened: the dispute kept going, as new followers of Arius popped up and showed themselves to be much better at the Byzantine knife-fighting of Church politics. About ten years later, the ever-unpredictable Constantine turned against Athanasius of Alexandria (who had been Alexander's campaign manager, in essence) and banished him for intruiging against Arius, while Arius was allowed to return to the church (this time in Jerusalem) - although this turned out to be mostly a symbolic victory as Arius died on the journey and didn't live to see his readmission.

....and then it turned out that Constantine the Great's son Constantius II was an Arian and he reversed policy completely, adopting the Arian position and exiling anyone who disagreed with him, up to and including Pope Liberius. While the Niceans eventually triumphed during the reign of Theodosius the Great, Arianism unexpectedly became a major geopolitical issue within the Empire.

See, both during their exile and during their brief period of ascendancy within the Church, one of the major projects of the Arians was to send out missionaries into the west to preach their version of Christianity. Unexpectedly, Arianism proved to be a big hit among the formerly pagan Goths (thanks in no small part to the missionary Ulfilas translating the Bible into Gothic), who were perhaps more familiar with pantheons in which patriarchal gods were considered senior to their sons.

While they weren't particularly given to persecuting Niceans in the West, the Ostrogothic, Visigothic, Burgundian, and Vandal Kings weren't about to let themselves be pushed around by some Roman prick in Constantinople either - which added an interesting religious component to Justinian's attempt to reconquer the West.

#history #late roman empire #byzantine empire #heresy #theology #arianism

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bracketsoffear · 10 months

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Ivy Alexandria (The Mechanisms) "Ivy records the civilizations of every planet she visits, but has no objections to her crew destroying them (and is entirely willing to join). In The Bifrost Incident, she knows entirely well that the Ygdrassil system is doomed to be destroyed by the Bifrost, but she doesn’t try to prevent it--she just helps Lyf access the Black Box that will reveal this horrible truth and leaves them all to die. She was born in a library and raised surrounded by books. According to the website, "for her birthday every year, she was given a book […] She kept them all in a carefully separated pile, in the nest of blankets she slept in, in a cubby-hole made in the corner between two long bookcases […] Books were her companions, her friends, her lovers." She originally died during a library fire where she refused to let go of the books to save herself and hated the man assaulting her not for attacking her, but for letting the books burn. She describes herself as "search engine, encyclopaedia, almanac, index. She is not the reader, but the book, a library of books, each waiting its turn on the dusty shelves of an endless archive, centuries in the building." Because of her cybernetic brain, she can very accurately predict probabilities, but she remembers her past as a "catalogues of names, lists of dates, archived footage in the library of her head"--she can recall all the facts, but she not the emotions connected to them. She eventually tries to retire and spends her final centuries on a small library planet, until the library burns in a pointless war; she dies launching an escape pod, piled high with ancient texts that scholars will one day say were actually quite a dull read--which means she is committed to preserving knowledge even if it's boring. She’s the one who interviewed the other Mechanisms for their profiles on the band’s website. According to her official story "Archive Footage": "the present, she sees, she hears, she touches, tastes, smells, feels: that is what the present is for, the moment that is the only moment, the only experience, that she must absorb every facet of, because it is the one, the only now. There is no past but the chronicles, no future to speak of: there is only now, and she lives it to its fullest and is glad of it." She knows all the data, but she forgets herself every day, so she gleefully spends every day learning and understanding as much as she can."

Cecil Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale) "I know he won last time, but I honestly think he deserves it. He is seemingly all knowing about current events in the town and sometimes reports them in a similar way to fear statements. I don't pay enough attention to all the lore to know exactly how he knows all the goings-on all the time, so it seems spooky to me. Though there is no canon description of him having a third eye he is often depicted with one, and a huge eye is a part of the logo. Being watched is also a theme throughout Nightvale, with the government agents who are always outside your house, or the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home"

#eye poll #the magnus archives #the eye #poll #the mechanisms #welcome to night vale #wtnv

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bayoubashsims · 1 year

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Addams Family Tree & History

I'm sick with the flu and still grieving, so I decided to remake the Addams Family tree (lol excuse the tacky graphic design) and write down their fictional history based on all of the references to their ancestors. Some of the placements of relatives here are speculative, based on the time they lived in and so on.

Pre-1600s

The many iterations of the Addams Family provides several information on the history of the fictional family. The eldest known ancestor of the Addams family is probably the ghostly caveman featured in the musical and Mamoud Khali Pasha Addams, who was called the Firebug of the Bosporus that burned the Library of Alexandria down in 270 AD. Around the Dark Ages, an ancestor named Rulen the Ruthless Addams existed.

1600s

The earliest appearance of an ancestor was one that was featured prominently in Wednesday (series). Goody Addams and her mother lived in Jericho, Vermont during the witch trials of 1625 and were of Mexican descent, having lived among the native folk for a long time. When the town founder Joseph Crackstone set those accused of withcraft on fire, Goody escaped. Goody is not mentioned to be a direct ancestor, so it is possible that she may be the sister of one of Wednesday's ancestors.

A year later, in 1626, a Dutch man by the name of Van Dyke Addams helped in buying Manhattan from the natives of New York. Though Gomez claimed him to be his great-great-great-great-grandfather, this is not plausible because of Long John (see below), who existed in the latter part of the 1600s. Given the timeline, it's possible that Van Dyke was actually the grandfather of Long John and the father of Goody.

In the The New Addams Family, Long John Addams, Gomez's great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was a pirate and in 1699 wrote a story about his life. He had a brother named Curly Addams, whose severed hand became Pinky (presumably an ancestor of Thing) and Long John later married Lady Penelope Addams, who was actually a dread pirate that was his rival and sought someone to best her.

1700s

In the early 1700s, an aunt by the name of Calpurnia Addams danced naked in the town square and enslaved a minister, and was burned as a witch in 1706.

According to Gomez in the musical in July 31st, 1715, a man named Captain General Redondo Cuervo (short for Redondo Ventana Laguna Don Jose Cuervo), who commanded a Spanish warship named Pico de Gallo, sailed from Madrid, but was still stuck there three weeks later. He sank six months later off the southern coast of Florida and presumably settled there. It was not mentioned that he was a direct ancestor by Gomez and he did not bear the name of Addams, so it's possible that he might have come from a maternal line.

A woman by the name of Miss Salem Addams was born in 1730 and lived up until 1830, and was buried in the family cemetery.

In 1764, an Admiral John Paul Addams was apparently hanged, but he was also apparently responsible for 'the shot heard round the world' in 1775, which began the American Revolutionary War, and for fighting against Hideki Tojo's forces and the German flotilla in the North Atlantic sea during World War II.

It can be inferred that he was possibly the captain of a ghost ship, considering that he had died in the mid 1700s and was yet active in the 1940s. It is possible that he was Gomez's great-great-great-great-grandfather.

Another relative who appeared in the American Revolutionary War was Old Cannonball Addams, who was said to be a natural-born leader at Bunker Hill in 1775 before he began firing at his own men due to him not being able to see without his glasses. An Addams that possibly lived in this generation as well was Blood and Guts Addams, who may also have been in the American Revolutionary War.

During the 1700s, apparently a branch of the family split into the famous Adams political family in Boston, Massachussetts, of which Gomez's distant cousin by marriage, Abigail Adams, is a member of and sees herself as the head of the family.

1800s

Around this time, Ol' Ebenezer Addams led early settlers to the Great Plains and sold the first guns to the Native Americans (it is possible that he was Gomez's great-great-great-grandfather). Later on, Old Blood and Thunder Addams participated in the American Civil War and was very inspirational right before he turned traitor at Shiloh in 1862, while in 1863, General Ulysses S. Addams surrendered in Vicksburg after enemy soldiers caught up with him.

Then presumably in c.1860-1870, Gomez's great-great-grandfather, Goober Addams (according to Gomez in the 1992 series) built The Addams Family Mansion in order to enjoy the swamp. It is possible that Goober was a sibling of Blood and Thunder and Ulysses, and the son of Ebenezer.

His presumable son, Pegleg Addams, was Gomez's great-grandfather (mentioned in the 1964 series), who was the last of the adventureous Addams and was wanted by fifteen countries for piracy. He had hid the treasure under the mansion. It was possible that he had siblings by the name of Bluebeard Addams, Black Bart Addams, and Bloody Addams, who were presumably pirates too.

1900s

Pegleg had at least one son, Mortimer Addams, a pyromaniac who resembled Gomez and married Delilah Addams. Delilah is possibly the daughter of Grandpa Squint, a medical expert of some kind who Abraham Lincoln begged for his political support in the 1860s, and Grandma Squint, who often makes strange sounds and cackles from the attic on dark stormy nights.

It was possible that Pegleg had another son named Uncle Blight, who masterminded the presidential campaigns of Al Smith, Wendell Wilkie, and Adlai Stevenson in 1928, 1940, and 1952 (respectively). Additionally, a relative by the name of Edwin Booth Addams was presumably named after the killer of Abraham Lincoln, and could possibly be a relative of them.

Mortimer and Delilah visited the family in Addams Family Reunion, in which they showed symptoms for Waltzheimer's Disease and became pleasant old people. By the time of The New Addams Family, Delilah had died by being struck by a truck while rollerblading with headphones on. Mortimer later married Diandra Addams, who resembled Morticia.

Mortimer's son was Father Addams (possibly named Harold) who later married Grandmama (or Mother Addams), and they had four children: Gomez Addams, Pancho Addams, and Uncle Cosimo, Uncle Fester. They spent some time in Spain (Gomez calls it his 'ancestral land') as it was mentioned that Gomez lived there until he was 10 and a marriage was arranged by Mortimer (who signed the marriage contract) and Don Xavier Molina between Gomez and Consuela, Don Xavier's daughter. Their families were said to have known each other since the time of the Spanish inquisition. According to Morticia in the 1991 film, both Mother and Father Addams later died in the hands of an angry mob.

Present time

In Wednesday, Gomez and Morticia both attended Nevermore Academy for their high school, and that is where they met in 1997.

In The Addams Family (TV Series) and The New Addams Family, Granny Frump and Grandmama had planned to marry Morticia's older sister Ophelia Frump to Gomez, but the plan failed when Gomez fell in love with Morticia instead. Beforehand, Morticia had been dating Gomez' cousin Cousin Vlad, since they had gone to the same high school, and Gomez and Morticia had first met at a funeral, but only gotten to know each other better around the time of Ophelia and Gomez's matchmaking.

After they married at the age of 22, they had three children: Wednesday Addams, Pugsley Addams, and later, in Addams Family Values, Pubert Addams. There were also two other children in the Halloween special named Wednesday Jr. Addams and Pugsley Jr. Addams, but they are often not considered canon.

They live in the crumbling Addams Family mansion with their butler, Lurch, who had presumably been in the family for a long time. His father, Father Lurch, a Dr. Frankenstein-like character, put him together and wanted him to be a jockey, and he has a very smothering mother by the name of Mother Lurch. Gomez said that Lurch has the heart of an Addams and it is implied to be literal. Lurch apparently came from a long line of similar looking, hulking people. in the 2019 film, Lurch was a former inmate at the insane asylum that became the family mansion.

Another member of the household is Thing (or his full name, Thing T. Thing). Though he is sometimes portrayed as having been a hand creature born from a long line of hands (a photograph of his parents appears in the 1964 series, as a female hand holding a male hand), other portrayals have him as a disembodied hand, possibly of a member of a family. Indeed, in the original cartoons, Thing was shown to be a creature with a body who often appears in the peripherals of the illustrations. He then became an arm and later on, only a hand.

Grandmama's Branch

The oldest known ancestor from Grandmama's side of the family was her great-great-great-grandmother Slice, who sharpened guillotines and was called 'the belle of the French Revolution' in 1789-1799.

Not much is known about her branch of the family, but it was known that she came from a family of witches. Her mother was presumably called Mooma, who would run her kids out of town if they ever got too big for their brooms, while her father was presumably Grandpa Slurp, who had two heads: with a bucktooth in one head, and a receding chin on the other.

She was also known to have two siblings: Uncle Jester, a zany, trouble-making jester who resembled Fester (and who she greatly disliked), and Great Auntie Sloom, who was looked at as a family elder who presided over the family traditions (such as the Mazurka). It can be inferred, then, that Grandmama's family and the main Addams family have their traditions intertwined.

She had a dark complexion (in the original illustrations and the 2020s films) and was known to have gone to a high school named Swamptown High with Granny Frump. In the 2020s film, she often travels the world and has an Old World, Eastern-European accent, the first iteration that showed her to be of a non-American origin.

The Frump Branch

Morticia's great-great-great-Aunt Singe was said to be burned during the Salem Witch Trials of 1892-1893, placing her as the oldest known ancestor of the Frump family. Another possible relative from this time would be Great-Aunt Esther.

Morticia was known to have a grandfather named Grandpa Droop, who gave her stock certicifactes for her twelfth birthday, implying they were rich. He may presumably be the father of Morticia's father, Grandpa Frump or her mother, Granny Frump. Grandpa and Granny had fallen in love because Fester (here as Grandpa's brother, in the 1964 series) shot the arrow (and the gun) that brought them together. They had two children: Ophelia Frump and Morticia.

Granny was a witch and presumably, Morticia's ancestors were also witches. Because of Morticia's anti-social tendencies, Granny had to homeschool her and taught her everything. Morticia has an assortment of cousins with eccentric behaviors, such as the sisters Cousin Melancholia and Cousin Catastrophia, and Cousin Pretensia.

#the addams family #gomez addams #morticia addams #wednesday addams #pugsley addams #grandmama #eudora addams #grandmama addams #uncle fester #fester addams #lurch #thing #charles addams

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aceghosts · 1 year

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Dead Man Walking (A Fanmix for My Resident Evil OC, Hunter Delaney)

Spotify (Youtube links are included in the titles of the songs. Be warned; some of the music videos contain flashing lights.)

Tracklist (Below the Cut):

(Credit to @derelictheretic for the banner.)

#Resident Evil OC #RE OC #Biohazard OC #Fanmix #myfanmixes #Hunter Delaney #I was thinking about this earlier today #and it's been sitting in my drafts for a while #so I figured I would put it out today #lol Hunter's playlist is very emo compared to everyone else's #also there aren't a lot of romantic songs on here #cuz I saved that for their playlist with Wesker lol #my fanmixes

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eternal-echoes · 8 months

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“The mysterious name of God, revealed from the burning bush, a name which separates this God from all other divinities with their many names and simply asserts being, "I am", already presents a challenge to the notion of myth, to which Socrates' attempt to vanquish and transcend myth stands in close analogy.[8] Within the Old Testament, the process which started at the burning bush came to new maturity at the time of the Exile, when the God of Israel, an Israel now deprived of its land and worship, was proclaimed as the God of heaven and earth and described in a simple formula which echoes the words uttered at the burning bush: "I am". This new understanding of God is accompanied by a kind of enlightenment, which finds stark expression in the mockery of gods who are merely the work of human hands (cf. Ps 115). Thus, despite the bitter conflict with those Hellenistic rulers who sought to accommodate it forcibly to the customs and idolatrous cult of the Greeks, biblical faith, in the Hellenistic period, encountered the best of Greek thought at a deep level, resulting in a mutual enrichment evident especially in the later wisdom literature. Today we know that the Greek translation of the Old Testament produced at Alexandria - the Septuagint - is more than a simple (and in that sense really less than satisfactory) translation of the Hebrew text: it is an independent textual witness and a distinct and important step in the history of revelation, one which brought about this encounter in a way that was decisive for the birth and spread of Christianity.[9] A profound encounter of faith and reason is taking place here, an encounter between genuine enlightenment and religion. From the very heart of Christian faith and, at the same time, the heart of Greek thought now joined to faith, Manuel II was able to say: Not to act "with logos" is contrary to God's nature.”

- Pope Benedict XVI, MEETING WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF SCIENCE - Aula Magna of the University of Regensburg, 12 September 2006

#Catholic #Christianity #quotes #Pope Benedict

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nocturneequuis · 2 months

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It's almost the new millennium and Ed Teach, a senior now at Juilliard, is a rising star on his way to fame and, more importantly, money. But success is gained through hard work and a hard heart, and letting anyone in it more than just friends is a recipe for disaster; even if that someone is Stede Bonnet. Part II of the Made for You Series Chapter 1: Adagio Juilliard is hard for most, but for Ed, the shining star under the auspices of Hornigold, it can be downright brutal. The three things that keep him going are his friendship with Anne, his own ambitions, and the secret song deep in his heart inspired by a gorgeous blond who he might never see again.

Chapter 2: Andante Though the plane has landed with Stede none the wiser of Ed's identity, now due to snow and the lateness of the hour, Ed needs a ride to get where he's going. A ride which Stede can provide. Along the way old feelings and buried memories bubble to the surface. Ed might be single and Stede very very married, but some things are difficult to hide completely. Chapter 3: Allegro Alexandria Bay is probably a great place! Not that Ed has time to see it. Tired and dazzled as he is, the world doesn't stop because he needs a break and he still has rehearsals to get to. On the way he meets a couple of familiar faces, one he didn't think he'd see again, and another he wishes he could see a lot more of.

Chapter 4: Vivace The day of the concert arrives and Ed's spirits aren't the highest they'd ever been. Fortunately, Stede comes to check in on him, and though spending a morning with the very married man is a recipe for disaster-- Ed really can't say no. After all, it doesn't matter how close you dance to the fire if you're okay with getting burned.

Chapter 5: A Piacere It is finally time for the concerto, the beginning of the end, the end of the beginning. All of Ed's friends and enemies are gathered in one place...and all watching him. Ed will have to gather his courage and look to the ones that care for him most to find a way to play for himself.

#Our Flag Means Death #OFMD #Our Flag Means Death Fanfiction #Modern Day AU #Gentlebeard #Chance Meetings AU #Ed Teach #Stede Bonnet #Anne Bonny #Calico Jack #Made for You series #Mind the Tags

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wack-ashimself · 5 months

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There's two places that I will never believe what we were told in any regard about. The moon, and antarctica. And no form am I going to claim right now I know what is going on. I have no clue. I have a ton of theories, but because all of the evidence from both sources are government controlled and owned, finding the truth means you basically got to pay to explore them yourselves. I'm just saying living this long and reading about them this long, there are far too many inconsistencies to say even half of what they told us is true. There's too many stories that conflict with another. Either first hand accounts or hard data. It's kind of like the story on us nuking not once but twice japan. They say it was retaliation, but if you look into it, it was basically to scare off the russians in the future. It was a show of force. We weren't scared of japan. We were scared of russia. People forget without Russia we would have lost world war ii. So Russia was a powerhouse. And I think the whole moon race was a show. And if we got there, I don't think we got there initially. We just had to make it look like we did so again the Russians looked inferior. It's more about show than anything else. And Antarctica my only argument is the world was in the middle of multiple Wars around the world, yet everybody at the same time came together to agree that nobody could go there without permission of everybody else? That fucking weird. Nowhere else planet had this been agreed to. But antarctica? Now this is the one where I think we do have more proof. I believe that there is ancient artifacts up there that can disprove a lot of human history. But that's a specific as I'm going to get. I'm tired of trying to make claims without any hard data. There's proof to support what I'm claiming, but it's so vague and old, you could interpret it a couple different ways. Still. Kind of like the ocean. They actually say we know more about the universe than the ocean. We haven't even been to 80% of the ocean because of pressure. But I have recently saw video that freaked me the fuck out. And it was real. You know those giant squids? The size of like half of a football field? They're real. There's even proof that they've taken down ships. They just don't come up to the top surface very often because they're used to being lower. We don't know anything and we don't know that we don't know anything because we think we know something. We don't. We fucking don't. Cuz the one thing I've learned about the rich and Powerful is the truth makes their grip on us weaker. No matter what the truth is. As long as it's true. That's why they lie constantly. That's why they suppress information. That's why they burn down libraries of alexandria. They don't want you to know the truth. And if anything, that should be the only reason for searching for the truth. Because they gain from you not knowing. And you lose from not knowing. Every single time...

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orthodoxydaily · 5 months

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Icon,Saints&Reading: Saturday, November 25, 2023

november 12_november 25

SAINT JOHN THE MERCIFUL, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA (620)

Saint John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, was born on Cyprus in the seventh century into the family of the illustrious dignitary Epiphanius. At the wish of his parents he entered into marriage and had children. When the wife and the children of the saint died, he became a monk. He was zealous in fasting and prayer, and had great love for those around him.

His spiritual exploits won him honor among men, and even the emperor revered him. When the Patriarchal throne of Alexandria fell vacant, the emperor Heraclius and all the clergy begged Saint John to occupy the Patriarchal throne.

The saint worthily assumed his archpastoral service, concerning himself with the moral and dogmatic welfare of his flock. As patriarch he denounced every soul-destroying heresy, and drove out from Alexandria the Monophysite Phyllonos of Antioch.

He considered his chief task to be charitable and to give help all those in need. At the beginning of his patriarchal service he ordered his stewards to compile a list of all the poor and downtrodden in Alexandria, which turned out to be over seven thousand men. The saint ordered that all of these unfortunates be provided for each day out of the church’s treasury.

Twice during the week, on Wednesdays and Fridays, he emerged from the doors of the patriarchal cathedral, and sitting on the church portico, he received everyone in need. He settled quarrels, helped the wronged, and distributed alms. Three times a week he visited the sick-houses, and rendered assistance to the suffering. It was during this period that the emperor Heraclius led a tremendous army against the Persian emperor Chosroes II. The Persians ravaged and burned Jerusalem, taking a multitude of captives. The holy Patriarch John gave a large portion of the church treasury for their ransom.

The saint never refused suppliants. One day, when the saint was visiting the sick, he met a beggar and commanded that he be given six silver coins. The beggar changed his clothes, ran on ahead of the Patriarch, and again asked for alms. Saint John gave him six more silver coins. When, however, the beggar sought charity a third time, and the servants began to chase the fellow away, the Patriarch ordered that he be given twelve pieces of silver, saying, “Perhaps he is Christ putting me to the test.” Twice the saint gave money to a merchant that had suffered shipwreck, and a third time gave him a ship belonging to the Patriarchate and filled with grain, with which the merchant had a successful journey and repaid his obligations.

Saint John the Merciful was known for his gentle attitude towards people. Once, the saint was compelled to excommunicate two clergymen for a certain time because of some offense. One of them repented, but the other fellow became angry with the Patriarch and fell into greater sins. The saint wanted to summon him and calm him with kind words, but it slipped his mind. When he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy, the saint was suddenly reminded by the words of the Gospel: “If you bring your gift to the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift before the altar ... first, be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mt. 5:23-24). The saint came out of the altar, called the offending clergyman to him, and falling down on his knees before him in front of all the people he asked forgiveness. The cleric, filled with remorse, repented of his sin, corrected himself, and afterwards was found worthy to be ordained to the priesthood.

There was a time when a certain citizen insulted George, the Patriarch’s nephew. George asked the saint to avenge the wrong. The saint promised to deal with the offender so that all of Alexandria would marvel at what he had done. This calmed George, and Saint John began to instruct him, speaking of the necessity for meekness and humility. Then he summoned the man who insulted George. When Saint John learned that the man lived in a house owned by the church, he declared that he would excuse him from paying rent for an entire year. Alexandria indeed was amazed by such a “revenge,” and George learned from his uncle how to forgive offenses and to bear insults for God’s sake.

Saint John, a strict ascetic and man of prayer, was always mindful of his soul, and of death. He ordered a coffin for himself, but told the craftsmen not to finish it. Instead, he would have them come each feastday and ask if it was time to finish the work.

Saint John was persuaded to accompany the governor Nicetas on a visit to the emperor in Constantinople. While on his way to visit the earthly king, he dreamed of a resplendent man who said to him, “The King of Kings summons you.” He sailed to his native island of Cyprus, and at Amanthos the saint peacefully fell asleep in the Lord (616-620).

THE HOLY PROPHET AKHIAH/AHIJAH (960 B.C.)

Ahijah and Jeroboam

The Holy Prophet Akhiah (Ahijah), (cf. 1 [3] Kings 11: 29ff) – was a contemporary of Solomon, and was born in the city of Silom. The prophet predicted to Jeroboam his kingly rule over the 10 Tribes of Israel, which God would grant him, snatching them away from the hands of Solomon. Afterwards Akhiah predicted to Jeroboam the perishing of all his line. All the predictions of the prophet were fulfilled. The Prophet Ahiah died in old age 960 years before the Birth of Christ.

THE ICON OF THE MOTHER OF GOD, NAMED THE "MERCIFUL."

The All-Merciful Kykko Icon of the Mother of God: This icon was painted, according to Tradition, by the holy Evangelist Luke. It received its name “Kykkiotisa” from Mount Kykkos, on the island of Cyprus. Here it was placed in an imperial monastery (so designated because it was built with donations from the Emperor), in a church named for it. Before coming to the island of Cyprus, the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God was brought throughout the region by the will of God. At first, it was in one the earliest Christian communities in Egypt, and then it was taken to Constantinople in 980, where it remained in the time of Emperor Alexius Comnenos (end of the eleventh to early twelfth century).

During these years it was revealed to the Elder Isaiah through a miraculous sign, that by his efforts the wonderworking image painted by the Evangelist Luke would be transferred to Cyprus. The Elder exerted much effort to fulfill the divine revelation.

When the icon of the Mother of God arrived on the island, many miracles were performed. The Elder Isaiah was instrumental in building a church dedicated to the Theotokos, and placing the Kykko Icon in it. From ancient times up to the present day, those afflicted by every sort of infirmity flock to the monastery of the Mother of God the Merciful, and they receive healing according to their faith. The Orthodox are not the only ones who believe in the miraculous power of the holy icon, but those of other faiths also pray before it in misfortune and illness.

Inexhaustible is the mercy of the Most Holy Theotokos, Mediatrix for all the suffering, and Her icon fittingly bears the name, the “Merciful.” The wonderworking “Kykkiotisa” Icon of the Mother of God possesses a remarkable peculiarity: from what time period is unknown, but it is covered by a half shroud from the upper left corner to the lower right, so that no one is able to see the faces of the Mother of God and the Divine Infant. The depiction of the Mother of God appears to be of the Hodēgḗtria (“Directress”) type, as is also the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. The head of the Mother of God is adorned with a crown.

A copy of this icon is particularly venerated at the women’s Nikolsk monastery in the city of Mukachev.

Source: Orthodox Church in America_OCA

GALATIANS 1:3-10

3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

LUKE 9:37-44

37 Now it happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him. 38 Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, "Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child. 39 And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him. 40 So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not. 41 Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." 42 And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father. 43 And they were all amazed at the majesty of God. But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, 44Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.

#orthodoxy #orthodoxchristianity #easternorthodoxchurch #originofchristianity #spirituality #holyscriptures #gospel #bible #wisdom #saints #icon #sacredart

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goblins-riddles-or-frocks · 2 years

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Hellsing Playlist // Haven’t We Outgrown This Tale?

i. No One Won The War - Matt Maltese // ii. Cop Car - Mitski // iii. Cry Little Sister - Gerard McMann // iv. Devil’s Resting Place - Laura Marling // v. And You Evade Him/Born In The Blood - Joshua Burnside // vi. Weak And Powerless - A Perfect Circle // vii. Devil Devil - MILCK // viii. Cruel Melody - Black Light Burns // ix. Bitches Brew - ✟ ✟ ✟ // x. The Mission - Puscifer // xi. WTF! - Saul Williams // xii. Mer - Chelsea Wolfe // xiii. Fuck U - Archive // xiv. Desire - Meg Myers // xv. Dead Man’s Party - Oingo Boingo // xvi. Half God Half Devil - In This Moment // xvii. King - Florence + The Machine // xviii. Shut Me Up - Mindless Self Indulgence // xix. Glide Dog - Phildel // xx. Better The Devil - Skold // xxi. Walk With The Devil - Karliene // xxii. Murder - Within Temptation // xxiii. I Shall Rise - Karen O // xxiv. The In-Between - In This Moment // xxv. Dear Dictator - Saint Motel // xxvi. Who Are You, Really? - Mikky Ekko // xxvii. Burn - King Woman // xxviii. Shadowplay - Joy Division // xxix. Monsters - Ruelle // xxx. New Devil - Asking Alexandria // xxxi. Animal Impulses - IAMX // xxxii. shadowshow - iamamiwhoami // xxxiii. Don’t Fear The Reaper - The Spiritual Machines // xxxiv. Psychic Wound - King Woman // xxxv. Man Or A Monster - Sam Tinnesz

#hellsing #hellsing ultimate #playlist #spotify #music #fun fact the date is when the cheddar thing happens!#the way I IMMEDIATELY regretted the roman numerals but sunk cost fallacy my friends #anyway this is only one of many many playlists but I figured I’d post one ever #WHY isn’t this showing up in the tag :(#i was left alone with photoshop #i ramble sometimes #songs on repeat

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almaqead · 5 months

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"They Bite." From Surah 3, Ali Imran, "Mary's Ancestor."

3:118 -120 Why do we wrong ourselves?

O you who have believed, do not take as intimates those other than yourselves, for they will not spare you [any] ruin. They wish you would have hardship. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater. We have certainly made clear to you the signs, if you will use reason.

Here you are loving them but they are not loving you, while you believe in the Scripture - all of it. And when they meet you, they say, "We believe." But when they are alone, they bite their fingertips at you in rage. Say, "Die in your rage. Indeed, Allah is Knowing of that within the breasts."

If good touches you, it distresses them; but if harm strikes you, they rejoice at it. And if you are patient and fear Allah, their plot will not harm you at all. Indeed, Allah is encompassing of what they do.

Commentary:

There has always been a hostility towards the Quran and Islam, but not because of the language barrier or the customs. Islam challenges the human race to find the highest common denominator of illustrious spiritual thought and stick to it.

Its analyes always point to the most direct way to condense, right out of the clouds of heaven, the purest, simplest, least ritualistic way to take advantage of the collective assets of the human race. Not just in terms of the physical, the things we make, buy, sell, and use, but the rest- all the stuff in the libraries, the universities, all the faiths of the world, and all of their artifacts. Why? So we can come to know who we are are.

Believe it or not, we are still beneficiaries or victims of something no one takes into account- the Peloponnesian War in Greece- the most strategic and brutal slaughter in the ancient world. It almost brought all sentient human existence to an end. Athens was burnt, we don't even know what we lost, but we know it was quite a lot.

The same thing happened when the Romans burned the Library of Alexandria, and again when we torched the world's synagogues, libraries, and schools during World War II.

Why do we do the things we do when we know how they are going to turn out? Why have we allowed that pusbag Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine?

Joe Biden has got the most advanced killing machines in history at his whims and they were bought, paid for and made to put assholes in their places. That machinery and those shoulders could end the War in Ukraine in minutes. We have been planning to ice the Russians my entire life, and we know how to do it. We know we could do it. So, why are those ships and planes sitting still while the Russians invade Ukraine and are burning it to the ground?

Why are the Republicans and their Family Research Council and the Pro-Life movement allowed to bend and warp the most sacred tenet of America, "no taxation without representation?" We are not paying for the right to be mistreated by superstitious dimwits.

Why? Because Joe Biden is about as competent a protector as a cucumber squash.

So that is why we need to read and understand the Quran and cement the importance of Islam in our lives because it is the only faith that suggests we have had every opportunity to do something else and we always decide, unwisely, to give up the sources of our happiness to retarded people instead.

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bracketsoffear · 10 months

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Timekeeper Cookie (Cookie Run) "They’re an all-powerful omniscient time god who knows everything everywhere all outcomes until the end of time. They framed a child for one of their crimes because said all-knowing everything everywhere drove them to boredom and they wanted to see how people reacted. They exist at every moment in time all at once and they’re constantly watching you like a freaky little voyeur

Also remember Croissant from the last poll? This is her but if she gave into the fear and became fucked up and evil. They even committed so hard to the bit they became transgender. They have it all."

#eye poll #the magnus archives #the eye #poll #the mechanisms #cookie run

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brookstonalmanac · 6 months

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Events 10.18 (before 1900)

33 – Heartbroken by the deaths of her sons Nero and Drusus, and banished to the island of Pandateria by Tiberius, Agrippina the Elder dies of self-inflicted starvation. 320 – Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philosopher, observes an eclipse of the Sun and writes a commentary on The Great Astronomer (Almagest). 614 – King Chlothar II promulgates the Edict of Paris (Edictum Chlotacharii), a sort of Frankish Magna Carta that defends the rights of the Frankish nobles while it excludes Jews from all civil employment in the Frankish Kingdom. 629 – Dagobert I is crowned King of the Franks. 1009 – The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock. 1016 – The Danes defeat the English in the Battle of Assandun. 1081 – The Normans defeat the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Dyrrhachium. 1281 – Pope Martin IV excommunicates King Peter III of Aragon for usurping the crown of Sicily (a sentence renewed on 7 May and 18 November 1282). 1356 – Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroys the town of Basel, Switzerland. 1540 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto's forces destroy the fortified town of Mabila in present-day Alabama, killing Tuskaloosa. 1561 – In Japan the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima is fought between the forces of Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen, resulting in a draw. 1565 – Ships belonging to the Matsura clan of Japan fail to capture the Portuguese trading carrack in the Battle of Fukuda Bay, the first recorded naval battle between Japan and the West. 1597 – King Philip II of Spain send his third and final armada against England, but ends in failure due to storms. The remaining ships are captured or sunk by the English. 1599 – Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia, defeats the Army of Andrew Báthory in the Battle of Șelimbăr, leading to the first recorded unification of the Romanian people. 1630 – Frendraught Castle in Scotland, the home of James Crichton of Frendraught, burns down. 1648 – Boston shoemakers form the first American labor organization. 1748 – Signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession. 1775 – African-American poet Phillis Wheatley is freed from slavery. 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Burning of Falmouth (now Portland, Maine). 1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Franco-American Siege of Savannah is lifted. 1797 – Treaty of Campo Formio is signed between France and Austria 1851 – Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London. 1860 – The Second Opium War finally ends at the Convention of Peking with the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin, an unequal treaty. 1867 – United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day. 1898 – The United States takes possession of Puerto Rico from Spain.

#Events

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tasteforrot · 2 years

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Mystic Tetanus

I (THE LIVING NIGHT OF ALEXANDRIA) Her soul is dry and impossibly white, Bleached in the perfumes of a lustral sea— You’re looking at a sickness when you see The lights of Alexandria by night Having studied so many arcane plants, Secrets, rarities, you are in a trance; And the moon’s even paler than you thought her, For at the opaline horizon’s vent A tearful star punctures the firmament, Infinity heels over in deep water. II (PANTHEISM) Alas, nostalgia overpowers Me and how easily I tire. Dead to any other desire I live only for the rare hours. The immortal moments when I do Transcend all bitterness, all fear, And reach the center of the sphere, The Monad I aspire to On those paths of which it is written In the dark wind if not in the brass, That at the bottom of a smitten Heart the traveler comes to grasp A link unbroken with the night, Eternity burst into light. III (NICOLAITANISM) Think, outcast, how the flesh can crawl In the night of the senses, though Nothing is real except to flow In the crystal stream of soul. To quell the senses I incline Still, like old Nicholas, to hold With heresies damned sevenfold: To burn in Hell is to refine. So let not sterile abstinence But the lye of incontinence Take all—that you, my soul, my higher Self may escape the lake of fire I want to flame out in a flood Of crime, a cloud of sperm and blood. IV (MANICHEISM) That Mani was a monstrous person Much as I adore his rite, he Epitomized malignity— Mene mene tekel upharsin— I drank his famed nepenthe all for Naught. Spare me his duality, That ragout of perversity Compounded of aloes and sulfur. I prefer Satan. He may well Bite the dust in the end, it’s true; He won’t go down without a fight, Though, and we’ll take some with us, too, — I can’t wait for the sheer delight Of howling next to him in Hell. V (THE DEAD NIGHT OF ALEXANDRIA) Though Alexandria could be in turn Dark, deep, weary, witty, or taciturn The desert shows no traces of her soul. The sea reflects its absence, chaos rages Against the light and there are no more sages, Only a madman babbling in a hole; For she is dead,—in the green shady place Where her perfumes sang, mute dust fills the mouth And you can see in that star fading out A doorway opening in empty space

#Roger Gilbert-Lecomte #BLACK MIRROR: The Selected Poems of Roger Gilbert-Lecomte

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dichotomoustessellations · 3 years

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In the future people who downloaded the internet are going to be called into nursing homes to help kindle peoples minds with old ass videos that disappeared 60+ years ago

#Internet #internet culture #old age #future #future predictions #Burning of alexandria ii #Burning of alexandria #Life #society #memory #internet videos #lost media #lost internet videos

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neil-gaiman · 3 years

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How Did you come up with the first eve in the story about adams wives? I haven’t been able to find anything about her after I read it and I want to know if she’s an actual biblical character or just someone you made

She's from the Midrash. I learned about her as a 12 year old, from my barmitzvah teacher. There was a point in there, long after I'd put her into Sandman, where I was starting to think I'd imagined her, when I ran across her in Robert Graves's Hebrew Myths....

Excerpt from: The Hebrew Myths by Robert Graves and Raphael Patai (New York: Doubleday, 1964), pp 65-69

Chapter 10: Adam's Helpmeets

(a) Having decided to give Adam a helpmeet lest he should be alone of his kind, God put him into a deep sleep, removed one of his ribs, formed it into a woman, and closed up the wound, Adam awoke and said: 'This being shall be named "Woman", because she has been taken out of man. A man and a woman shall be one flesh.' The title he gave her was Eve, 'the Mother of All Living''. [1]

(b) Some say that God created man and woman in His own image on the Sixth Day, giving them charge over the world; [2] but that Eve did not yet exist. Now, God had set Adam to name every beast, bird and other living thing. When they passed before him in pairs, male and female, Adam-being already like a twenty-year-old man-felt jealous of their loves, and though he tried coupling with each female in turn, found no satisfaction in the act. He therefore cried: 'Every creature but I has a proper mate', and prayed God would remedy this injustice. [3]

(c) God then formed Lilith, the first woman, just as He had formed Adam, except that He used filth and sediment instead of pure dust. From Adam's union with this demoness, and with another like her named Naamah, Tubal Cain's sister, sprang Asmodeus and innumerable demons that still plague mankind. Many generations later, Lilith and Naamah came to Solomon's judgement seat, disguised as harlots of Jerusalem'. [4]

(d) Adam and Lilith never found peace together; for when he wished to lie with her, she took offence at the recumbent posture he demanded. 'Why must I lie beneath you?' she asked. 'I also was made from dust, and am therefore your equal.' Because Adam tried to compel her obedience by force, Lilith, in a rage, uttered the magic name of God, rose into the air and left him.

Adam complained to God: 'I have been deserted by my helpmeet' God at once sent the angels Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof to fetch Lilith back. They found her beside the Red Sea, a region abounding in lascivious demons, to whom she bore lilim at the rate of more than one hundred a day. 'Return to Adam without delay,' the angels said, `or we will drown you!' Lilith asked: `How can I return to Adam and live like an honest housewife, after my stay beside the Red Sea?? 'It will be death to refuse!' they answered. `How can I die,' Lilith asked again, `when God has ordered me to take charge of all newborn children: boys up to the eighth day of life, that of circumcision; girls up to the twentieth day. None the less, if ever I see your three names or likenesses displayed in an amulet above a newborn child, I promise to spare it.' To this they agreed; but God punished Lilith by making one hundred of her demon children perish daily; [5] and if she could not destroy a human infant, because of the angelic amulet, she would spitefully turn against her own. [6]

(e) Some say that Lilith ruled as queen in Zmargad, and again in Sheba; and was the demoness who destroyed job's sons. [7] Yet she escaped the curse of death which overtook Adam, since they had parted long before the Fall. Lilith and Naamah not only strangle infants but also seduce dreaming men, any one of whom, sleeping alone, may become their victim. [8]

(f) Undismayed by His failure to give Adam a suitable helpmeet, God tried again, and let him watch while he built up a woman's anatomy: using bones, tissues, muscles, blood and glandular secretions, then covering the whole with skin and adding tufts of hair in places. The sight caused Adam such disgust that even when this woman, the First Eve, stood there in her full beauty, he felt an invincible repugnance. God knew that He had failed once more, and took the First Eve away. Where she went, nobody knows for certain. [9]

(g) God tried a third time, and acted more circumspectly. Having taken a rib from Adam's side in his sleep, He formed it into a woman; then plaited her hair and adorned her, like a bride, with twenty-four pieces of jewellery, before waking him. Adam was entranced. [10]

(h) Some say that God created Eve not from Adam's rib, but from a tail ending in a sting which had been part of his body. God cut this off, and the stump-now a useless coccyx-is still carried by Adam's descendants. [11]

(i) Others say that God's original thought had been to create two human beings, male and female; but instead He designed a single one with a male face looking forward, and a female face looking back. Again He changed His mind, removed Adam's backward-looking face, and built a woman's body for it. [12]

(j) Still others hold that Adam was originally created as an androgyne of male and female bodies joined back to back. Since this posture made locomotion difficult, and conversation awkward, God divided the androgyne and gave each half a new rear. These separate beings He placed in Eden, forbidding them to couple. [13]

Notes on sources:

1. Genesis II. 18-25; III. 20.

2. Genesis I. 26-28.

3. Gen. Rab. 17.4; B. Yebamot 632.

4. Yalqut Reubeni ad. Gen. II. 21; IV. 8.

5. Alpha Beta diBen Sira, 47; Gaster, MGWJ, 29 (1880), 553 ff.

6. Num. Rab. 16.25.

7. Targum ad job 1. 15.

8. B. Shabbat 151b; Ginzberg, LJ, V. 147-48.

9. Gen. Rab. 158, 163-64; Mid. Abkir 133, 135; Abot diR. Nathan 24; B. Sanhedrin 39a.

10. Gen. II. 21-22; Gen. Rab. 161.

11. Gen. Rab. 134; B. Erubin 18a.

12. B. Erubin 18a.

13. Gen. Rab. 55; Lev. Rab. 14.1: Abot diR. Nathan 1.8; B. Berakhot 61a; B. Erubin 18a; Tanhuma Tazri'a 1; Yalchut Gen. 20; Tanh. Buber iii.33; Mid. Tehillim 139, 529.

Authors’ Comments on the Myth:

1. The tradition that man's first sexual intercourse was with animals, not women, may be due to the widely spread practice of bestiality among herdsmen of the Middle East, which is still condoned by custom, although figuring three times in the Pentateuch as a capital crime. In the Akkadian Gilgamesh Epic, Enkidu is said to have lived with gazelles and jostled other wild beasts at the watering place, until civilized by Aruru's priestess. Having enjoyed her embraces for six days and seven nights, he wished to rejoin the wild beasts but, to his surprise, they fled from him. Enkidu then knew that he had gained understanding, and the priestess said: 'Thou art wise, Enkidu, like unto a godl'

2. Primeval man was held by the Babylonians to have been androgynous. Thus the Gilgamesh Epic gives Enkidu androgynous features: `the hair of his head like a woman's, with locks that sprout like those of Nisaba, the Grain-goddess.' The Hebrew tradition evidently derives from Greek sources, because both terms used in a Tannaitic midrash to describe the bisexual Adam are Greek: androgynos, 'man-woman', and diprosopon, 'twofaced'. Philo of Alexandria, the Hellenistic philosopher and commentator on the Bible, contemporary with Jesus, held that man was at first bisexual; so did the Gnostics. This belief is clearly borrowed from Plato. Yet the myth of two bodies placed back to back may well have been founded on observation of Siamese twins, which are sometimes joined in this awkward manner. The two-faced Adam appears to be a fancy derived from coins or statues of Janus, the Roman New Year god.

3. Divergences between the Creation myths of Genesis r and n, which allow Lilith to be presumed as Adam's first mate, result from a careless weaving together of an early Judaean and a late priestly tradition. The older version contains the rib incident. Lilith typifies the Anath-worshipping Canaanite women, who were permitted pre-nuptial promiscuity. Time after time the prophets denounced Israelite women for following Canaanite practices; at first, apparently, with the priests' approval-since their habit of dedicating to God the fees thus earned is expressly forbidden in Deuteronomy xxIII. I8. Lilith's flight to the Red Sea recalls the ancient Hebrew view that water attracts demons. 'Tortured and rebellious demons' also found safe harbourage in Egypt. Thus Asmodeus, who had strangled Sarah's first six husbands, fled 'to the uttermost parts of Egypt' (Tobit viii. 3), when Tobias burned the heart and liver of a fish on their wedding night.

4. Lilith's bargain with the angels has its ritual counterpart in an apotropaic rite once performed in many Jewish communities. To protect the newborn child against Lilith-and especially a male, until he could be permanently safeguarded by circumcision-a ring was drawn with natron, or charcoal, on the wall of the birthroom, and inside it were written the words: 'Adam and Eve. Out, Lilith!' Also the names Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof (meanings uncertain) were inscribed on the door. If Lilith nevertheless succeeded in approaching the child and fondling him, he would laugh in his sleep. To avert danger, it was held wise to strike the sleeping child's lips with one finger-whereupon Lilith would vanish.

5. 'Lilith' is usually derived from the Babylonian-Assyrian word lilitu, ,a female demon, or wind-spirit'-one of a triad mentioned in Babylonian spells. But she appears earlier as 'Lillake' on a 2000 B.G. Sumerian tablet from Ur containing the tale of Gilgamesh and the Willow Tree. There she is a demoness dwelling in the trunk of a willow-tree tended by the Goddess Inanna (Anath) on the banks of the Euphrates. Popular Hebrew etymology seems to have derived 'Lilith' from layil, 'night'; and she therefore often appears as a hairy night-monster, as she also does in Arabian folklore. Solomon suspected the Queen of Sheba of being Lilith, because she had hairy legs. His judgement on the two harlots is recorded in I Kings III. 16 ff. According to Isaiah xxxiv. I4-I5, Lilith dwells among the desolate ruins in the Edomite Desert where satyrs (se'ir), reems, pelicans, owls, jackals, ostriches, arrow-snakes and kites keep her company.

6. Lilith's children are called lilim. In the Targum Yerushalmi, the priestly blessing of Numbers vi. 26 becomes: 'The Lord bless thee in all thy doings, and preserve thee from the Lilim!' The fourth-century A.D. commentator Hieronymus identified Lilith with the Greek Lamia, a Libyan queen deserted by Zeus, whom his wife Hera robbed of her children. She took revenge by robbing other women of theirs.

7. The Lamiae, who seduced sleeping men, sucked their blood and ate their flesh, as Lilith and her fellow-demonesses did, were also known as Empusae, 'forcers-in'; or Mormolyceia, 'frightening wolves'; and described as 'Children of Hecate'. A Hellenistic relief shows a naked Lamia straddling a traveller asleep on his back. It is characteristic of civilizations where women are treated as chattels that they must adopt the recumbent posture during intercourse, which Lilith refused. That Greek witches who worshipped Hecate favoured the superior posture, we know from Apuleius; and it occurs in early Sumerian representations of the sexual act, though not in the Hittite. Malinowski writes that Melanesian girls ridicule what they call `the missionary position', which demands that they should lie passive and recumbent.

8. Naamah, 'pleasant', is explained as meaning that 'the demoness sang pleasant songs to idols'. Zmargad suggest smaragdos, the semi-precious aquamarine; and may therefore be her submarine dwelling. A demon named Smaragos occurs in the Homeric Epigrams.

9. Eve's creation by God from Adam's rib-a myth establishing male supremacy and disguising Eve's divinity-lacks parallels in Mediterranean or early Middle-Eastern myth. The story perhaps derives iconotropically from an ancient relief, or painting, which showed the naked Goddess Anath poised in the air, watching her lover Mot murder his twin Aliyan; Mot (mistaken by the mythographer for Yahweh) was driving a curved dagger under Aliyan's fifth rib, not removing a sixth one. The familiar story is helped by a hidden pun on tsela, the Hebrew for 'rib': Eve, though designed to be Adam's helpmeet, proved to be a tsela, a 'stumbling', or 'misfortune'. Eve's formation from Adam's tail is an even more damaging myth; perhaps suggested by the birth of a child with a vestigial tail instead of a coccyx-a not infrequent occurrence.

10. The story of Lilith's escape to the East and of Adam's subsequent marriage to Eve may, however, record an early historical incident: nomad herdsmen, admitted into Lilith's Canaanite queendom as guests (see 16. 1), suddenly seize power and, when the royal household thereupon flees, occupy a second queendom which owes allegiance to the Hittite Goddess Heba.

The meaning of 'Eve' is disputed. Hawwah is explained in Genesis III. 20 as 'mother of all living'; but this may well be a Hebraicized form of the divine name Heba, Hebat, Khebat or Khiba. This goddess, wife of the Hittite Storm-god, is shown riding a lion in a rock-sculpture at Hattusaswhich equates her with Anath-and appears as a form of Ishtar in Hurrian texts. She was worshipped at Jerusalem (see 27. 6). Her Greek name was Hebe, Heracles's goddess-wife.

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