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| Armine Kent Died 21st August 1818 St Mary - Burgh-next-Aylsham © Godric Godricson |
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Armine Kent Died 21st August 1818
Charles Boulter Died 1816
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| Charles Boulter Died 27th August 1816 St Mary - Burgh-next-Aylsham © Godric Godricson |
The reason for scripture on the blog
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| The scriptures contain the history of burials through time. |
There are some verses from Christian scripture on the blog recently and I wanted to explain something about them. I am not saying anything about Christianity by the use of scripture. It isn't that I'm saying that Christianity is better than any other religious tradition. Instead, I want to say something about ancient burial tradition as captured in the scriptures. The texts say something about the religious and burial traditions of ancient peoples in the Middle East. The idea of embalming and cave burial is all included and we have the later concepts of saints and relics all over Europe. The scriptures are a record for the past and we can all access the information on line and in paper form.
John William Parmeter
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| John William Parmeter Died 25th July 1799 St Mary - Burgh-next-Aylsham © Godric Godricson |
Ecclesiastical Histories
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Ecclesiastical Histories
Sozomen, Salaminius Hermias (ca. 400-450)
Socrates of
Philip Schaff (1819-1893)
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"I shall first speak of the relics of the prophet. An independent chapter, built on a local story. Caphar-Zechariah is a village of the territory of Eleutheropolis, a city of Palestine. The land of this district was cultivated by Calemerus, a serf; he was well disposed to the owner, but hard, discontented, and unjust towards his neighboring peasants. Although he possessed these defects of character, the prophet stood by him in a dream, and manifested himself; pointing out a particular garden, he said to him, “Go, dig in that garden at the distance of two cubits from the hedge of the garden by the road leading to the city of Bitheribis. You will there find two coffins, the inner one of wood, the other of lead. Beside the coffins you will see a glass vessel full of water, and two serpents of moderate size, but tame, and perfectly innoxious, so that they seem to be used to being handled.” Calemerus followed the directions of the prophet at the designated place and zealously applied himself to the task. When the sacred depository was disclosed by the afore-mentioned signs, the divine prophet appeared to him, clad in a white stole, which makes me think that he was a priest. At his feet outside of the coffin was lying a child which had been honored with a royal burial; for on its head was a golden crown, its feet were encased in golden sandals, and it was arrayed in a costly robe. The wise men and priests of the time were greatly perplexed about this child, who and whence he might be and for what reason he had been so clothed. It is said that Zechariah, the superior of a monastic community at Gerari, found an ancient document written in Hebrew, which had not been received among the canonical books. In this document it was stated that when Zechariah the prophet had been put to death by Joash, king of Judah, the family of the monarch was soon visited by a dire calamity; for on the seventh day after the death of the prophet, one of the sons of Joash, whom he tenderly loved, suddenly expired. Judging that this affliction was a special manifestation of Divine wrath, the king ordered his son to be interred at the feet of the prophet, as a kind of atonement for the crime against him. Such are the particulars which I have ascertained on the subject.
Although the prophet had lain under the earth for so many generations, he appeared sound; his hair was closely shorn, his nose was straight; his beard moderately grown, his head quite short, his eyes rather sunken, and concealed by the eyebrows."
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