Spirit of the Season

[Typhoon]

A happy Thanksgiving to all the 'Merkins.

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[Heracleum Persicum]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Magi

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/magi

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Iranian Magicians in the Bible - Persian Kings according to the Bible or Wise Men of the East, also called Magi, or Three Kings of the Orient.

They followed new star to Israel to pay homage and respect to the newborn Christ Child «Massiha».

The word Magi refers to a class of ancient Zoroastrian astrologer-priests who once lived in the Persian Empire.

Today, the word is most commonly used in Christian circles to denote the Three Wise Men (Magi), who came "from the East to Jerusalem," following a bright star, to worship the Infant Jesus.

It is said that among their gifts were gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

In this way, the Magi were the first people to symbolically acknowledge Jesus as the "King of the Jews."

The journey of the Magi is still commemorated today in nativity scenes and Christmas carols, and they are seen as personifications of both generosity and dedication.

Also, The word "magic" and other cognates, derived from Magu or Magi, show how highly learned and advanced were the Magi in their knowledge

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[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Merry Christmas and God Bless to one and all

[Typhoon]

A happy Hannukah to all to celebrate.

A merry Christmas to all who celebrate.

[Nonc Hilaire]

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[Miss_Faucie_Fishtits]

Happy Christmas and Merry New Year....'>........

[Parodite]

Hope you all had a merry christmas and wish you a happy 2023!

[Typhoon]

明けましておめでとう。

A happy New Year 2023 to all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iljXj5y2hg8

iljXj5y2hg8

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Happy New Year

[Heracleum Persicum]

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May the year Ahead be Full of Contentment and Joy for all

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[Typhoon]

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to those who follow the Orthodox calendar.

[Typhoon]

A happy Vernal Equinox to all.

And a happy Nowruz | نوروز to all who celebrate.

[Typhoon]

A happy Passover to all who celebrate.

[Typhoon]

A happy Easter to all who celebrate.

[Miss_Faucie_Fishtits]

[Typhoon]

A dramatic and powerful painting. Painter?

Easter has always been a bit of a puzzle to me: it is appropriate to wish people a "Happy Easter" before or during Good Friday or should I was until Easter Sunday.

*Another puzzle is the use of the term "Good Friday".

[Nonc Hilaire]

Caravaggio.

The reason it is Good Friday is found in Pentecost and the book of Hebrews 7:

11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is witnessed of him,

“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”
18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

20 And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, 21 but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him:

“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever.’”
22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.

23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

late here but I wish a

Happy Easter

Happy Passover

and Happy Nowruz

[Typhoon]

Caravaggio.

Thank you.

The reason it is Good Friday is found in Pentecost and the book of Hebrews 7:

11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is witnessed of him,

“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”
18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

20 And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, 21 but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him:

“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever.’”
22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.

23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Well, I read it, but I didn't get it.

The most plausible explanation I could come across is that "good" is used in the now archaic sense of "holy", as in "the good book" meaning the "the holy bible".

BBC | Why is Good Friday called Good Friday?

[Nonc Hilaire]

You are correct. Good is a quality of holy. In the theological sense, only God IS good. Good is a divine asymptote that can be approached by mankind but not attained. But that’s theology and a bit extreme.

Remember JITIY (God bless him) and his Aquinan reliance on apophatic logic? God and man are separated by this asymptote, so how can God experience temptation? Or doubt? Or fear? Or pleasure?

The incarnation was required for God to experience human emotion and weakness. The incarnation enabled forgiveness and also the Holy Spirit as a means of Grace.

That is how to approach Hebrews 7. A popular Christianese phrase is reestablishing the man/God connection God broke off at the Tower of Babel. You see that aspect dramatically at Pentecost.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

I take it he was asking about the name itself because the "good" isn't universally used.

Old English followed the Scandanavian tradition of calling it "Long Friday"

The Welsh, Scots and Irish fall around "Friday of the Crucifixion"

Along the Mediterranean&Southern Europe and into the middle east, it is combinations of "Great"/"Holy" Friday

Northern Europe tends towards variations of "Sorrowful"

Christians in Karala call it "Sad Friday"

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Looking up the Good Friday in the 1909 Catholic Encyclopedia brings back:

called Feria VI in Parasceve in the Roman Missal, he hagia kai megale paraskeue (the Holy and Great Friday) in the Greek Liturgy, Holy Friday in Romance Languages, Charfreitag (Sorrowful Friday) in German, is the English designation of Friday in Holy Week.

Parasceve, the Latin equivalent of paraskeue, preparation (i.e. the preparation that was made on the sixth day for the Sabbath; see Mark 15:42), came by metonymy to signify the day on which the preparation was made; but while the Greeks retained this use of the word as applied to every Friday, the Latins confined its application to one Friday. Irenaeus and Tertullian speak of Good Friday as the day of the Pasch; but later writers distinguish between the Pascha staurosimon (the passage to death), and the Pascha anastasimon (the passage to life, i.e. the Resurrection). At present the word Pasch is used exclusively in the latter sense. The two Paschs are the oldest feasts in the calendar.

From the earliest times the Christians kept every Friday as a feast day; and the obvious reasons for those usages explain why Easter is the Sunday par excellence, and why the Friday which marks the anniversary of Christ's death came to be called the Great or the Holy or the Good Friday. The origin of the term Good is not clear. Some say it is from "God's Friday" (Gottes Freitag); others maintain that it is from the German Gute Freitag, and not specially English. Sometimes, too, the day was called Long Friday by the Anglo-Saxons; so today in Denmark.

And Parasceve supplanted an older term Hellenstic Jews used for Friday.

Parasceve (Gr. paraskevé); seems to have supplanted the older term prosábbaton, used in the translation of Judith 8:6, and in the title—not to be found in Hebrew—of Psalm 92. It became, among Hellenistic Jews, the name for Friday, and was adopted by Greek ecclesiastical writers after writing of "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles".

I think the answer is right there- parasceve was used in late latin for every friday, so to distinguish this particular friday meant putting a holy or great qualifier in front of it. Is it fair to speculate it differed where late latin was very light or non-existent on the ground?

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and just one more from the bbc which quotes the OED as noting the first written notice of "Guode Friday" in 1290:

The earliest known use of "guode friday" is found in The South English Legendary, a text from around 1290, according to the dictionary.

During the eventful reign of Edward I, the "Hammer of the Scots", who spoke French.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

And a Happy Easter to the Orthodox out there

[Typhoon]

A happy Victoria Day* to all the Canucks.

*Apparently it is a holiday celebrating the birthday of the former Queen Victoria and is, as I was once informed, unique to Canada.

[Typhoon]

A happy Canada Day - July 1st 2023 to all the Canucks.

For more information, contact the Canadian Wildlife Service

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

A belated Happy Canada Day