Deposit of the Faith: Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant

 

Founding of Christendom: Against Heresy Post 20

 

We have already heard of St. Irenaeus. He had traveled to Rome, with St. Polycarp, to discuss the date of Easter with the pope. This has been a debate between the western Church and the eastern Church. Both have good reasons for celebrating Easter at different dates.

The problem was resolved with a compromise– the western Church would continue their tradition of celebrating Easter always on a Sunday, and the eastern Church would continue their tradition of celebrating it on the date according to their calendar.

Founding of Christendom: Saint Apollonius the Apologist and Martyr Post 19

Apollonius, martyr (185 AD) and defender of the faith, produced one of the most priceless documents of the early Church. He defended Chritianity before the Roman Senate.  Apollonius was a Roman senator who was denounced as a Christian by one of his servants. He was arrested and brought to trial.

The Praetorian prefect, Sextus Tigidius Perenis, arrested him, also putting the slave to death– the informer. Perennis demanded that Apollonius denounce the faith, and when he refused, the case was remanded to the Roman senate. Apollonius wrote out his defense in one of the most eloquent documents defending Chritianity. Despite his articulate defense, Apollonius was condemned and beheaded.

The account in the Roman Martyrology (feastday 21 April) is as follows:

    “At Rome, commemoration of Saint Apollonius, philosopher and martyr. Under the Emperor Commodus, he defended, before the Prefect Perennius and the Senate, the cause of the Christian faith in a finely argued address, and then, after being condemned to death, confirmed it by the witness of his blood.”

Here is a good account this relatively unknown
saint from ucatholic:

Social Studies: Tom Sowell on Charter Schools and Their Enemies

 

The Second Enlightenment

 

Founding of Christendom: Perscution in Lyons France Post 18

After a 23 year rule, Emperor Athonius Pius died in 161 AD. He had been the best emperor since Caesar Augustus.The phase of the “good emperors” (Trajan: 98-117 AD, Hadrian: 117-138 AD, Antoninus Pius: 138-161 AD and  Marcus Aurelius: 161-180 AD) was now to end with the reign of Marcus Aurelius.

Marcus Aurelius (161-180) was the adopted son of Emperor Pius and the fulfilment of Plato’s hope of a philosopher king. He was not just a king of a country, but the emperor of the western world covering most of the coastal countries of the Mediterranean. Marcus was a real philosopher adopting one of the most practical philosophies for an emperor --Stoicism. Unlike Buddhism, which denies reality, Stoics embrace reality. Marcus’ book: “Meditations” is still a classic of stoic thought. The caricature of stoics being unemotional is not accurate. They just were not controlled by sentiment. It definitely lacked the insights of mercy that Christianity could give, as well as the sanctity of life.

Amazing World: Scientists May Have Found a Way to Treat All Cancers... By Accident

 I hate to be cynical but these promising discoveries never make their way to the public. I have been following treatments fro cancer for years, but they all seem to go to "development hell"--never to see the light of day. They are either never heard from again, or are written off as a false hope.

There was a controversy with amygdalin back in the 1970's. The man made form of  amygdalin is called Laetrile. There was great hope of it being the cure for cancer and many doctors were treating their cancer patients with it successfully. But "Big Pharma" seemed to get involved and squashed it. The FDA outlawing its use in the USA. There is a lot of confusing literature on it.

But what convinced me it was true, was a little documentary called "Second Opinion." It tells the story how a major USA testing laboratory falsified the findings about its effectiveness. It really did work.

Amygdalin can be found in high doses in nature in apple seeds and especially bitter apricot seeds. The claim is they are poisonous but they are not. Some things can appear dangerous by the composition of the chemical names, like cyanide in found in vitamin B12. The structure is as important as much as the chemicals.

2nd opinion documentary film from Balance Field on Vimeo.