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Direct Link To This Post Topic: The Christian Saint series
    Posted: 18-Apr-2012 at 18:15
I am beginning my review of the Christian Saint's series for a variety of reasons.
 
a. I like to annoy the atheists and agnostics and secularists who lurk here and elsewhere.
 
b. I enjoy reviewing the lives of these people and the hows and whys they became famous as the original Christian church gave way to the advent of the Catholic and Orthodox versions. Ie. the give and take of the politics of the church as it developed. And also the hows and whys a particular place or nation has adopted him/her and who might have been in the preeminence until 'Saint so and So' arrived on the scene....and was possibly supplanted.
 
 
c. for informational and educational debate purposes for those interested.
 
And
 
d. see a above.
 
Very few rules on this...keep it centered on Christian Saints not others... iow: keep it on topic keep it civil.  I may not  be a Moderate on AE anymore but I still like the concept. Reply if you want.. don't if you don't. I'm not really concerned either way as we have innumerable 'guests' who view AE that might have an interest in the subject matter....so if the regulars don't participate..I'm still inclined to believe there is merit here. And then there is always 'a' above.LOL
 
So to begin: One near and dear to my heart and code, as a former soldier, who is revered by many nations and whose patronage is numerous. I will provide a short bio type link and additional sources and leap into the fray with the immortal words: ''For England and Saint George''.
 
Which always cracks me up cuz according to the extent and credible sources he was from Lod in ancient Syria/Palestine. The son of a  famous Roman official/soldier and Palestinian mother. Given the current situation and for the that matter what occurred after his martyrdom the Knight must be rolling in his grave. But pardon the minor digression.Wink
 
He himself becomes a outstanding fighting man and member of the Emperor's Guard...for the rest and much more...as noted above....see the links.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Edited by Centrix Vigilis - 18-Apr-2012 at 18:18
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Apr-2012 at 19:07
An excellent idea, Master Soldier!Smile I take the lives of the saints quite seriously as inspirational stories and real bios; I haven't read much on the Catholic one, but the Orthodox Lives of Saints read like rich lessons of ethics, where one can find an inspiration for varieties of commendable behavior. So, I'm going to be joining you here, in picture /I love icons/ and word. Are you going to follow a calendar, whether Catholic or Orthodox, or you are going on inspiration?

Very strong figure, Saint George, a warrior with a conscience and a philosopher with a spear, the archetypal Man with capital M, strong in whatever he chooses to do, goes heart and body both in battle and in asserting his ideas and choices.

Saint George is very popular in the Orthodox Christianity also. His feast day in the Orthodox calendar in Bulgaria is on May 6th, and is probably the most celebrated one of the folk tradition - a lamb is baked ans eaten in big community feasts, and all the Georges around have "name day" and buy to everyone free drinks in the pubs / I should know, my exDead was a "Georgi"=George/. He passed in the Bulgarian folk tales of the 3 brothers and the "lamia"/female dragon/, guarding the golduarde apple from it and eventually slaying it.
Here an Orthodox icon of Saint George, Russian from 15 AD, Novgorod.

File:St George.jpg

A Bulgarian one, but I dont know the style:
File:Orthodox Bulgarian icon of St. George fighting the dragon.jpg

A Byzantine one:
http://mybyzantine.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/st-george-icon.jpg

This one is awesome, shows the spirituality of the warrior, very strong image, IMHO, 13 AD, Athens. Whoever did this one was a deeply believing person - only one look at it makes even me to want to throw myself in abandoned prayer:
13th-century, wood-relief icon of St George from the Byzantine Museum of Athens

Another Greek one, from 16th century:
St. George slaying the dragon, 16th century. Greece

This one is by Immanuel Tzanes, 17th century, now in Crete; it's full of light:
Icon of St. George by Emmanuel Tzanes (1660-80), now housed in the Church of San Salvatore, Chania, Crete.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Apr-2012 at 20:30
Originally posted by Don Quixote

An excellent idea, Master Soldier!Smile I take the lives of the saints quite seriously as inspirational stories and real bios; I haven't read much on the Catholic one, but the Orthodox Lives of Saints read like rich lessons of ethics, where one can find an inspiration for varieties of commendable behavior. So, I'm going to be joining you here, in picture /I love icons/ and word. Are you going to follow a calendar, whether Catholic or Orthodox, or you are going on inspiration?

Very strong figure, Saint George, a warrior with a conscience and a philosopher with a spear, the archetypal Man with capital M, strong in whatever he chooses to do, goes heart and body both in battle and in asserting his ideas and choices.

Saint George is very popular in the Orthodox Christianity also. His feast day in the Orthodox calendar in Bulgaria is on May 6th, and is probably the most celebrated one of the folk tradition - a lamb is baked ans eaten in big community feasts, and all the Georges around have "name day" and buy to everyone free drinks in the pubs / I should know, my exDead was a "Georgi"=George/. He passed in the Bulgarian folk tales of the 3 brothers and the "lamia"/female dragon/, guarding the golduarde apple from it and eventually slaying it.
Here an Orthodox icon of Saint George, Russian from 15 AD, Novgorod.

File:St George.jpg

A Bulgarian one, but I don't know the style:
File:Orthodox Bulgarian icon of St. George fighting the dragon.jpg

A Byzantine one:
http://mybyzantine.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/st-george-icon.jpg

This one is awesome, shows the spirituality of the warrior, very strong image, IMHO, 13 AD, Athens. Whoever did this one was a deeply believing person - only one look at it makes even me to want to throw myself in abandoned prayer:
13th-century, wood-relief icon of St George from the Byzantine Museum of Athens

Another Greek one, from 16th century:
St. George slaying the dragon, 16th century. Greece

This one is by Immanuel Tzanes, 17th century, now in Crete; it's full of light:
Icon of St. George by Emmanuel Tzanes (1660-80), now housed in the Church of San Salvatore, Chania, Crete.
 
 
Some excellent representative art contributions in that post. Answering briefly... to allow others to chime as they want.....no calendar no particular order... Orthodox or RC. They share as you know many.
 
 
I'm going on, if anything, my association with Saints revered as warrior or military oriented..but that is also not a hard and fast. What I find particularly interesting about ST G....is the numbers of nationalistic groups who revere him...originally and now. For example as late as the mid 1860's at Beit Jala, Muslims and Christians alike would visit and venerate his shrine. They, Muslims, have referred to him as El Khudder given their propensity to avoid idolization. But it was and perhaps still is unique that he is venerated interfaith as well as divisional faith and by so many. No doubt there's a bit of nationalistic pride involved in his heritage.Big smile
 
 
The traditions of Bulgaria are representative in a sense of the veneration by others. And while not entirely unique his veneration is very old...the Georgians for example. And as well the Copts of Egypt who hold him in high regard and even appoint him a title of " Prince of Martyrs".
 
But I ramble... a quick search reveals him to have  allegedly been the reason for many military victories when called on from the battles of the Hundred Years War to the Wars of the Iberian peninsula between tthe Spanish, Portuguese and the Moors. And probably as late as the trenches of WW1 by some 'Tommy'.Big smile
 
There are surprisingly enough, not many Saints who have military backgrounds. But among those who do; St. G. stands with few peers in the development of his association and recognition in the Christian and Islamic faiths.
 
He is the patron of mounted warriors and Cavalrymen and knights of old. His stories whether proveable or not remain inspirational, as you note, in his concern for the poor and women and prowess and honor as a warrior. England's flag of Saint George and the US Cavalry have colors in common.
 
That's good enough for me.LOL
 
 


Edited by Centrix Vigilis - 18-Apr-2012 at 20:35
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Apr-2012 at 21:00
Originally posted by Centrix Vigilis

 
There are surprisingly enough, not many Saints who have military backgrounds. But among those who do; St. G. stands with few peers in the development of his association and recognition in the Christian and Islamic faiths.
Some Catholic ones that do are:
 
- Saint Ignatius Loyola, A Spanish professional soldier who founded the Jesuits.
- Saint Joan of Arc, The famous maid from Lorraine
-Saint Michael the Archangel (Catholic and Orthodox),  usually depicted as casting Satan into hell and is the patron saint of Police Officers (Catholic).
Saint Martin of Tours, a son of a Roman legionaire who also served several years in the legions
 
and...
 
Saint Peter (Catholic, Protestand and Orthodox), well not really a miliary man, but he could be pretty combative at times.  


Edited by Cryptic - 18-Apr-2012 at 21:14
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Apr-2012 at 23:02
Originally posted by Centrix Vigilis

Some excellent representative art contributions in that post. Answering briefly... to allow others to chime as they want.....no calendar no particular order... Orthodox or RC. They share as you know many.

Thanks, CentrixSmile.
I rather use a calendar order, so I keep track what I did and what I didn't - most lamentably my memory is not what it used to be some 20 years ago. I'm going to use the Orthodox calendar, not because I'm Orthodox /because I'm not/, but because I know it better. There are more than one saint celebrated in one day, but I'll pick one, first not to overload my posts, and second, so I have material for the next year - those kinds of informational threads have a potential to be hold for long, and I'm known to keep on threads for years, for as long as this is ok with the threadmaster, of course.

So, today, April 18th, the saint I chose is Saint Athanasia of Aegina, 790 - 860 AD, a abbess of a monastery on the island of Aegina:
"...Athanasia was the daughter of Christian nobles, Niketas and Irene, and experienced a mystical union of a star merging with her heart while weaving at the loom when she was a young girl. She wanted a spiritual life but an imperial edict required all single women of marriageable age to marry soldiers. At 16 years old, at her parents urging, she complied and married a young officer. Sixteen days after her wedding, her husband was killed in a battle with raiding Arabs. She again married this time to a deeply religious man who felt drawn to become a monk and left with her blessing to do so.

Athanasia then gave away the bulk of her possessions, converted their home into a convent and began building churches. She served as an abbess and was known for her miraculous healing of the sick and those seen as possessed. Her community later moved to Timia near the ancient church of Stephen the Protomartyr. Here crowds flocked to see her. As her fame grew she moved to Constantinople seeking solitude as an Anchoress in a cell for seven years. While walled away, she was an adviser to the Empress Theodora II. After seven years, she returned to Aegina, where she died of natural causes three days later at Timia on 14 August 860...."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasia_of_Aegina

A longer account of her life is available on this PDF http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/HolyWomen/talbch6.pdf  which is a translation of the "Holy Women of Byzantium", which is a translation from her "vitae" - "...which is held in the manuscript, Vaticanus Graecus 1660, of 916 AD. The author is unknown but most likely a man who wrote soon after St. Athanasia's death...." http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1581. She is commemorated also in the Catholic tradition, as it can be seen from the second source I linked.

Some icons of Athanasia of Aegina:

St. Athanasia of Aegina

Here with St. John the disciple of St. Gregory

 

I find this one most striking
http://antiochian.org/assets/writer/St.AthanasiatheWonderworker_1137C/clip_image001.jpg

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Apr-2012 at 23:13
Good Bio..again excellent representation in the art. iconic and religious are truly beautiful in many cases. Standard theme in many of these folks; wealthy parents... tragedy...mystic events...today which would be characterized as mental illness or delusional... the rejection of material possessions....finding solace in the church etc. 
 
And as noted feel free to follow what system ya like.
Remember a Saint a day keeps the Devil at bay.... Wink
 
LOL
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Apr-2012 at 23:39
Thanks, Centrix.
After her first vision she was "abundantly enlightened in her soul" and refused to get married, but her parents forced her into a marriage - her husband died in a battle 16 days later; then she intended to become a nun, but the emperor issued an edict that all unmarried and widow women should be given to foreign men - /it's not cleat here if this was some kind of women exchange as a part of a political treaty, or even if it's historical accurate/, bit the main point is that she was forced into it by the power of the state. With time she persuaded her husband to become a monk, after which he "fell asleep in the Lord" - which I suppose is a euphemism for dying.

So, finally being free to commit to a spiritual life /which was the only way for a woman at the time to be something more than a mere house slave and a breeding tool/ - the vitae says "taking advantage of her freedom" - she with other pious women became "tonsured"; I'm not sure is the word here means cutting of the hair short, or in a male way. Some time later she chose a place for a church by inspiration, and then for 3 more - the vitae concentrates on her ascetic behavior, and gets in a fine detail about what she did wore and ate; as well as the miracles that were done by her holy relics.

Her first vision, as described in the vitae, wasn't dramatic, it's described as a vision of a star coming to her heart "...shining star descend as far as her chest. It shed abundant light on her and then disappeared.."/the vitae I linked/. I like that, the quiet light of realization and enlightenment. I don't think this particular one would be described even now as delusional, it's more a poetic image of a very real feeling one feels when coming to believe - which can feel as coming to you, in the way a poem comes to one when one are doing the dishes or something; I can understand why many people, ancient and even now, see writing poetry as a given inspiration, it feel literally like someone put iy in one's mind, all of the sudden, in ready or almost ready shape.


Edited by Don Quixote - 18-Apr-2012 at 23:41
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Apr-2012 at 23:57
Originally posted by Cryptic

Originally posted by Centrix Vigilis

 
There are surprisingly enough, not many Saints who have military backgrounds. But among those who do; St. G. stands with few peers in the development of his association and recognition in the Christian and Islamic faiths.
Some Catholic ones that do are:
 
- Saint Ignatius Loyola, A Spanish professional soldier who founded the Jesuits.
- Saint Joan of Arc, The famous maid from Lorraine
-Saint Michael the Archangel (Catholic and Orthodox),  usually depicted as casting Satan into hell and is the patron saint of Police Officers (Catholic).
Saint Martin of Tours, a son of a Roman legionaire who also served several years in the legions
 
and...
 
Saint Peter (Catholic, Protestand and Orthodox), well not really a miliary man, but he could be pretty combative at times.  
 
All good. I shall get to them in more detail as I can or feel free to elaborate. Both Saint Michael and Saint Martin like George are personal favorites...not giving short shrift to either Loyola or Jean...These two in Particular carry great significance in the parent lands.
 
Good choices.
 
And there is also Edmund the Martyr.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19-Apr-2012 at 22:16
April 19th, my choice is St. George the Confessor:
"...Saint George the Confessor, Bishop of Antioch in Pisidia, lived during the Iconoclast period. In his youth he became a monk, was known for his holiness of life and was made bishop of Antioch in Pisidia.

St George was at Constantinople during the iconoclastic persecution under Emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820). He denounced the Iconoclast heresy at a Council of bishops, calling on the emperor to abandon it. When St George refused to remove the icons from the church, as ordered by the emperor's decree, he was exiled to imprisonment (813-820)...." http://oca.org/FSlives.asp


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Apr-2012 at 18:59
Martin of Tours
 
Another bastion saint of the early church and in particular the turbulent years following Constantine's pronouncements and the ongoing competition of religions found within the body politic and military to include Mithra ism. He by all reports, following in his Tribune fathers footsteps is a capable and honorable soldier of Cavalry. He is most famously remembered for his vision after the division of his cloak....and goes on to study and learns from major figures theological of the day.
 
 
He becomes a fierce opponent of Arianism and pagans and yet is remarkable perhaps in demonstrating the compassion of his calling.... when he challenges the Emperor and other bishops; when he demonstrates in support of the separation of the authority of the church and the secular powers in the affairs involving the followers of Priscillian. And although his attempted intercession ultimately fails he gains much honor for his attempts.
 
A mighty warrior of the faith.
 
 
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Apr-2012 at 21:01
St George has been our patron saint since the Middle Ages when he was introduced by Richard I. Before the crusades England's patron saint was Edmund the Martyr, a Saxon king taken prisoner by the Vikings and ritually killed with arrows on November 20 869
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Apr-2012 at 21:48
Quite true and demonstrates Richard's Norman French patronage more then that of his Kingdom.
He was at heart a Frenchman not an Englishman. His education his mother, his romanticism etc.etc.
 
The interesting thing is the adoption of George in France as much as the beloved Denis. No doubt due to the romanticism applied to his 'golden tale' and his original pre-eminence among the early catholic saints. And prior to the revolution.... France's devout veneration in them.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Apr-2012 at 22:25
April 20th - St. Anastaius of Sinai, a Christian philosopher and thinker /my favorite type/.
"...Saint Anastasius Sinaïta or Anastasius of Sinai, also called Anastasios of Sinai, was a prolific and important seventh century Greek ecclesiastical writer, priest, monk, and abbot of Saint Catherine's Monastery at Mt. Sinai.The little that is known about the life of Anastasius of Sinai is gathered from his own works.[1] ... His writings concern questions and answers about issues of Christian dogma, ritual, and lifestyle (catechism); sermons; and exegesis. He was fond of tracing the etymologies of key Christian terms; he was erudite in the Bible and early Patristic literature; and he had a pervasive interest in the nature of God and man, especially in the Person of Christ (Christology).[4] He was not reluctant to develop and express his own theories about key ecclesiastical issues, which led to later commentaries, emendations, and perhaps even censorship of parts of his works.[5]...."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasius_of_Sinai

"...His principal works include the Viae Dux, Qaestiones et Responsiones, Hexaemeron, Homilia i, ii, iii de creatione hominis, and the Narrationes. The Viae Dux - also called the Hodegos (Greek transliteration) and "Guide Along the Right Path" (English translation) - was written in defense of the Chalcedonian Creed. A collection of works by Anastasus, the Viae Dux served to support the true faith and to counter the attacks of heretics, in particular the Monophysites.[6]

His Qaestiones et Responsiones ("Questions and Responses") was a popular genre[7] and falls under the category of pastoral theology. It offers advice, largely to the lay community, on spiritual and sacramental matters, charitable donations, marriage, among other subjects. Here Anastasius reveals a distinctly personal tone and offers a window into the day-to-day existence of ordinary people.[8] It is especially significant because it is an eyewitness account of the expansion of Islam into Sinai and Egypt, which were predominantly Christian, and of the effect that Moslem domination had on Christian life and beliefs.[9]. Anastasius was probably the author of the Hexaemeron, a commentary in 12 books about the Genesis creation narrative. (Hexaemeron, sometimes spelled Hexameron, means “six-days”.)..."/Ibid/

The "Hexaemeron", is available to read here http://www.newmoses.org/project.html

http://saints.oca.org/IconDirectory/XSM/april/0421anastasios-sinai.jpg


His monastery, St. Katherine, in Sinai

http://www.jimandnancyforest.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/St-Catherines-Monastery.jpg


"St. Anastasius in his Monastery" by Rembrandt, 1631

File:Rembrandt-Kopist 001.jpg


By Giuseppe Franchi, 16th century

http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1788/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1788-13603.jpg


This site  http://www.anastasiosofsinai.org/links.html has links on him.

A little quote form "The Hexaemeron":

"...It says the following: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. It uses the name heaven collectively for all the heavenly and spiritual arrangements: both of the holy forces and of the spiritual order. Thus, you must consider first the cosmos above. This was created—as the theologian says—in the following way: ‘First he takes thought of the angelic and heavenly forces; and the thought was a done feat.’ Then it uses the name earth for this perceptible and visible world, collectively with its own heaven, and all the things upon the earth along with man that have come into being and exist, both animate and inanimate. So by saying In the beginning God made the heaven, it raised your mind up to the creation of the whole arrangement above. Then by introducing and the earth, it brought your mind down to the establishment of the fulfillment below. And through a part—I mean the earth—it presented to you the whole compass. It used synecdoche, so that you recognize not only the earth, but also its surrounding heaven. Thus in two phrases, in one definition, it encompassed the act of creating and the creation itself of both the spiritual world and the visible world. And God did his creating in the beginning: that is, in his paternal beginning, which is the Word. For all things came into being through him and in him...." http://logismoitouaaron.blogspot.com/2009/05/hexaemeron-of-st-anastasius-of-sinai.html


"...St Anastasius taught that God gives each Christian an angel to care for him throughout his life. However, we can drive our Guardian Angel away by our sins, just as bees are driven away by smoke. While the demons work to deprive us of the heavenly Kingdom, the holy angels guide us to do good. Therefore, only the most foolish individuals would drive away their Guardian Angel from themselves. ..." http://oca.org/FSLivesAllSaints.asp?SID=4&M=4&D=20



Edited by Don Quixote - 20-Apr-2012 at 23:02
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Apr-2012 at 22:58
And he, like Aquinas, is often regarded as a 'thinking man's/woman's saint'. Solidly in his faith, yet unafraid to examine it's tenets and or it's accomplishments and oppurtunities for developement; be it individual or collective.
 
'thinking man's/woman's saint'....their rare....but instruemental. 
 
 
I like them.
 
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Apr-2012 at 23:01
I love Aquinas, he is one of my most long-read and frequently-opened philosophers.
But I have to admit that I never read anything from Anasthatios Sinaita, even though I have him in mind - one day when I have time I'll get on the link I posted and read him to abandon.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Apr-2012 at 23:44
Yep..Aquinas, Augustine of Hippo, Thomas More. Brilliant Intellectualists and scholars. Outstanding defenders and theologians....We have not seen their like in centuries.
 
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-Apr-2012 at 00:08
I read couple of years ago a book from Gabriel Marcel, a Christian Existentialist, pretty good stuff I thought; but it doesn't have the intellectual power of, say, Aquinas. The times are different, so are the writings. Of course Aquinas was Aristotelian, and now very few read Aristotel, so who is to write like him.


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-Apr-2012 at 20:36
Since St. Anastatius of Sinai was abbot of St.Catherine's Monastery -

St.Catherine (c.288–307 AD) was the beautiful daughter of King Costus and Queen Sabinella, pagan monarchs of Cyprus and Alexandria. Legend also claims that her father was the son of Constantius and an elder half-brother of the Emperor Constantine I. She was raised a pagan and was educated in all the philosophical and scientific arts, and when she was fourteen her father died and she became queen.

On being asked to choose a spouse, she was reluctant to curtail her freedoms, and declared she would only marry a man who was greater than her in beauty, wealth, intelligence and nobility. Thinking such conditions impossible to fill, her court was in despair, but shortly thereafter Catherine received a vision of the Virgin Mary who presented Jesus to her as a suitable husband. Catherine immediately fell in love, was baptized a Christian, and espoused Christ in a mystical marriage.

She converted many in her kingdom to Christianity, but four years later the Emperor Maxentius came to Alexandria and started enforcing worship of the Roman gods, executing those Christians who refused his edict. Catherine visited him and tried to convince him of his error, and finding himself unable to answer her arguments he called together his best pagan philosophers and rhetoricians to argue against her instead. Catherine proved too clever for them, and confounded them so well that they all converted to Christianity. Maxentius was so enraged that he had them all executed, and had Catherine beaten and imprisoned. For twelve days she survived in prison, without food or water, and was visited by two hundred noble persons who were converted by her, but immediatly martyred by the Emperor.

Maxentius, despairing of using argument or torture against her, but admiring her beauty, tried to entice Catherine to paganism by offering her marriage. Catherine replied that she was already the bride of Christ, and so Maxentius, angered, condemned her to death on the spiked wheel. Through her prayer the wheel was broken, and she was unharmed. Then the emperor ordered her to be beheaded, and when her head was struck off milk issued from her neck instead of blood. Angels then carried her corpse to the future site of St.Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, where her body was discovered in 800 AD, still with hair on her head, and her bones exuding oil with miraculous healing qualities.

The monastery at Sinai was built between 548 and 565 by order of Emperor Justinian I, enclosing the pre-existing Chapel of the Burning Bush that had been ordered to be built by Helena, the mother of Constantine I, at the site where Moses was supposed to have seen the burning bush. It was known as The Monastery of the God-trodden Mount Sinai, and only much later became known as St.Catherine’s.

Her feast day is 25th November. She is the patron saint of theologians, philosophers and female royalty. She also has a fire-works names after her – the Catherine wheel.

Modern commentaters believe her whole hagiography was a romantic fiction, invented to counter balance the murder of the philosopher and pagan Hypatia by Christians in Alexandria, a hundred years after St.Catherine's own supposed demise.



St.Catherine arguing with the pagan philosophers, before the Emperor Maxentius.

Edited by Sidney - 21-Apr-2012 at 20:47
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-Apr-2012 at 21:29
A very tough lady...... as committed to her new found faith as any who receive veneration for the same.
As a patron of philosophers, she has only a few challengers if we measure her philosophy viz her acts.....tho she perse did not have an opportunity to put it in the written word...nlt she remains intensely remembered ...for as the great St. James once said:
 
 
King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
 
Catherine's works, especially during her suffering, were and remain an exemplary identification of her faith.
 
Cavalrymen love her as a warrior (at heart) lady that demonstrated just that.
"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"

S. T. Friedman


Pilger's law: 'If it's been officially denied, then it's probably true'

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Apr-2012 at 03:27
April 21st - St. Alexandra the Empress:
"...Saint Alexandra of Rome (Αλεξάνδρα) — Christian saint, known from "Martyrdom of Saint George" as Emperor Diocletian's wife. She is also sometimes called Priscilla or Prisca

Alexandra was the wife of the wicked Emperor Diocletian and was a Christian, but secretly. While Diocletian was having Saint George tortured, the Empress went to the arena and bowed before St. George and professed her faith openly. Her husband was so outraged by this and by so many people being converted by witnessing George's miracles and patient endurance, that he ordered both of them to be beheaded. Alexandra quietly accepted her sentence and prayed as the guards walked her to the place of execution. She asked if she could rest for a moment. The guards allowed this. While resting by the wall of a building, she quietly gave her soul to God. She reposed on April 21, 303. Two days later, St. George was beheaded. They are commemorated at the same time along with Anatolios, Protoleon and the 630 others who were martyred for professing faith while witnessing George's martyrdom...." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Alexandra

This was one version of her legend, here another one:

"...The Holy Empress Alexandra was the wife of Diocletian (284-305). Her supposed death was described in the Martyrdom of Saint George, which was written immediately after his death. The empress, however, received the crown of martyrdom several years later, in 314. Many events occurred during these years. In 305 the emperor Diocletian resigned the throne and power passed to his co-ruler Maximian Galerius (305-311), a fanatic pagan, as well as a coarse and fierce soldier. His wife was St Valeria, the daughter of the holy Empress Alexandra, whom Diocletian had given in marriage against her will. St Alexandra raised her daughter in Christian piety. When Galerius died, the emperor Maximinus sought her hand in marriage. When he was refused, he banished St Valeria to Syria, where she lived with her mother.

After the death of Maximinus in 311 the mother and daughter arrived in Nicomedia, trusting in the mercy of the emperor Licinius (311-324). Together with St Constantine, he had subscribed to the Edict of Milan, which gave Christians the freedom of religion, but secretly he remained an enemy of Christianity. Licinius gave orders to execute the holy Empress Alexandra and her daughter Valeria. They were beheaded, and their bodies thrown into the sea...."
http://www.allmercifulsavior.com/icons/Icons-Alexandra.htm

A representation of her by Alexey Bugarevski, 19th cent

File:Nikolai Bodarevsky 003.jpg

An Orthodox icon - St. Alexandra between St. Januarius of Neapolis and St. Anastasius Sinaita

 

http://www.comeandseeicons.com/a/inp108.jpg

http://antiochian.org/assets/writer/St.AlexandraEmpressMartyrWifeofDiocletia_11506/clip_image001.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WGNmTUms2dk/ThR6rYRZL2I/AAAAAAAAAs0/_Fli-6yuvGQ/s1600/alexandra_rome_apri%2Bl23.jpg

http://holy-icons.com/site/wp-content/uploads/alexandra-copy.jpg

http://www.allmercifulsavior.com/icons/Sca-Alexandra-of-Rome-martyr-of-Nicomedia.JPG

St. Alexandra /in the right/ with St. Monica


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