God's Acre

Saturday 6 October 2012

Aristocracy and death

Folklore about Church foundations

Ecclesiastical Curiosities
Edited William Andrews (1899) Project Gutenburg
Kalkara - © Godric Godricson

Afzelius, in his collection of Swedish folk tales, says: “Heathen superstition did not fail to show itself in the construction of Christian churches. In laying the foundations the people retained something of their former religion, and sacrificed to their old deities, whom they could not forget, some animal, which they buried alive, either under the foundation, or within the wall. A tradition has also been preserved that under the altar of the first Christian churches a lamb was usually buried, which imparted security and duration to the edifice. This was an emblem of the true church lamb—the Saviour, who is the corner stone of His church.

When anyone enters a church at a time when there is no service, he may chance to see a little lamb spring across the choir and vanish. This is the church-lamb. When it appears to a person in the churchyard, particularly to the grave-digger, it is said to forbode the death of a child that shall be next laid in the earth.”

Friday 5 October 2012

Silly and clumsy imposition

A Treatise on Relics - John Calvin
(1870) - Project Gutenburg

"It is not my intention now to discuss the abominable abuse of the relics of Our Lord, as well as of the saints, at this present time, in the most part of Christendom. This subject alone would require a separate volume; for it is a well-known fact that the most part of the relics which are displayed every where are false, and have been put forward by impostors who have most impudently deceived the poor world. I have merely mentioned this subject, to give people an opportunity of thinking it over, and of being upon their guard. It happens sometimes that we carelessly approve of a thing without taking the necessary time to examine what it really is, and we are thus deceived for want of warning; but when we are warned, we begin to think, and become quite astonished at our believing so easily such an improbability. This is precisely what has taken place with the subject in question. People were told, “This is the body of such a saint; these are his shoes, those are his stockings;” and they believed it to be so, for want of timely caution. But when I shall have clearly proved the fraud which has been committed, all those who have sense and reason will open their eyes and begin to reflect upon what has never before entered their thoughts. The limits of my little volume forbid me from entering but upon a small part of what I would wish to perform, for it would be necessary to ascertain the relics possessed by every place in order to compare them with each other. It would then be seen that every apostle had more than four bodies,and each saint at least two or three, and so on. In short, if all the relics were collected into one heap, the only astonishment would be that such a silly and clumsy imposition could have blinded the whole earth."

Full of life

God in the sacraments in Malta
© Godric Godricson

The ‘God of hope’ seen in Jesus is one and the same as that same God seen in the Book of Exodus. We can see that instead of a new idea born out of nothingness He is "the absolute future" (Karl Rahner) or, figuratively, the Lord of the future, who says, "Behold, I make all things new."

It may be deduced that the Revelation of God to mankind contained within the Hebrew Bible must be understood to be able to understand subsequent developments in terms of hope and the development of hope for mankind.

In the debate, we can see that the idea of ‘hope’ was always contained within God’s relationship with mankind as portrayed both within the Hebrew Bible and in God’s message to the people of Israel. The idea of ‘hope’ for the future remained ultimately undeveloped in the area of Sheol and the afterlife although it became amplified through time and was ultimately revealed.

In the Resurrection of Jesus we have a fulfilment of the earlier messages contained within the Hebrew Bible and so strongly is that message of Resurrection hope portrayed; that Saint Athanasius, writing in the 9th Century AD, can evoke the story of Lazarus in such terms.

“…but into the midst came Jesus, the Storehouse which is full of life, the Mouth which is full of sweet odour, the Tongue which frightens death, the Mighty One in His commands, the Joy of those who are sorrowful, the Rising of those who have fallen, the Resurrection of the dead, the Assembly of the strong, the Hope of the hopeless.”

Humanity has been given hope in Jesus and the suicidal God becomes the store for all that is good. It is hardly surprising that death is vanquished and burial becomes associated with religion. Churches become the focus for burials and the horrors of overcrowded burial sites become understandable