"Jerusalem" Chapter 10

We have a pretty heavy load of readings to do by Monday. So I am going to divide up the readings. Also, after reading chapter 11, I have a lot of thoughts a remarks and feelings that I must convey before proceeding with the rest of the readings.

CHAPTER 10

"Julian, as pontifex maximus of Rome, had appointed pagan priests to oppose the Christian bishops; towns which had never adopted Christianity were given special privileges, and Christians were being gradually removed from public office. Although the emperor also disapproved of some aspects of Judaism, he admired the Jews' fidelity to their ancient faith."

- So the enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine?

"...promising to make Jerusalem a Jewish city once more: 'I will rebuild the holy city in Jerusalem at my expense and will populate it, as you have wished to see it for these many years'."

- I guess making outrageous personal promises to a select minority of people was en vogue back then.

"The old paganism still flourished, and over the years a great deal of pent-up hostility had accumulated against the church. In Paneas and Sebaste the pagans had actually rioted against Christianity when Julian's edicts were published."

- I think this is the pagan uprising that we were looking for in class today.

"In 381, Theodosius put an end to the long Arian controversy by declaring Nicene-Christianity to be the official creed of the Roman empire. Ten years later, he banned all pagan sacrifice and closed down the old shrines and temples. Some of the women in the court, such as Empress Aelia Flacilla, had already distinguished themselves in Rome by attacking pagan shrines and building splendid churches in honor of the martyrs. Now they brought this militant Christianity to the East."

- All I can say is: WWJD?

"One of the earliest of these monastic pioneers was the Armenian monk Euthymius (d. 478), who founded about fifteen monasteries in spectacular locations between Masada and Bethlehem. He was regarded by his contemporaries as a second Adam: his career was thought to have launched a new era for humanity. In their monasteries, the monks planted gardens and fruit trees, making the desert bloom and reclaiming this demonic realm for God. Each settlement was thus a new Eden, a new beginning. There monks could live a paradisal life of intimacy with God, like the first Adam."

- Really? So now-a-days, only 'art, sex, and drugs' can deliver paradisal harmony. But being a monk with a garden in the dessert and having an intimate a-sexual relationship with God would give the same results? The second Adam...a new era for humanity? WHAT?!

PAGE 206 RECAP
- The second paragraph on page 206 from the readings was the most "interesting" segment to read. Actually it made me the most angry and perturbed.  After reading the previous excerpt, how does violence, coercion, and oppression fit into the monastic lifestyle (which of course is the paradisal harmony)?  I thought the monks had an intimate relationship with God--politics and religious persecution do not exist in such a monastic relationship.

"The oppressive measures taken by the Christian emperors was beginning to alienate increasing numbers of their subjects, and this ultimately damaged the empire."

- I never really thought religion could play such a drastic role in crippling a state. Are there other solid examples that I am just over-looking?

"Yet the power of the holy city could not hold its earthly enemies at bay. The Byzantine empire was weak and internally divided, and its subjects were alienated from Constantinople. In 610, King Khosrow II of Persia judged the time right to invade Byzantine territory and began to dismember the empire....The Jews of Palestine, who had happier memories of Persian than of Roman rule, came to their aid."

- God, to pick who would be the better "conqueror"...that is pretty low. So much politic-ing. I'm sure the Poles welcomed the Soviets during World War II as the better "occupier".

"At the end of May, Jerusalem fell amid scenes of horrific slaughter...the Persians rushed into the city like wild boars, roaring, hissing, and killing everyone in sight: not even women and babies were spared. [It is] estimated that 66,555 Christians died..."

- This is sick. How could you believe in a God when He would allow such slaughter (of innocence moreso than anything else).

"...if they were to pacify the country, they had to make some concessions to the Christian majority. Withdrawal of Persian support spelled the end of any realistic hope for the restoration of Jerusalem to the Jewish nation."

- There is just no winning.

"The experience of living in Jerusalem had impelled the Christians to develop a full-blown sacred geography, based on the kind of mythology they had once despised. They now saw Jerusalem as the center of the world, the source of life, fertility, salvation, and enlightenment. Now that they had died in such great numbers for their city, it was dearer to them then ever."

- I think this a fancy way of saying Crusade!