Augustine on Relics

Theology | Quotations

It was at that time too that you revealed to your bishop Ambrose in a vision the place wehre the bodies of the martyrs Protasius and Gervasius were hidden. All these years you had preserved them incorrupt in your secret treasury, so that when the time came you could bring them to light to thwart the fury of a woman - a mere woman, but one who ruled an empire. For after the bodies had been discovered and dug up, they were carried to Ambrose’s basilica with the honour that was due to them. On the way several persons who were tormented by evil spirits were cured, for even the devils acknowledged the holy relics. But this was not all. There was also a man who had been blind for many years, a well-known figure in the city. He asked why the crowd was running wild with joy, and when they told him the reason, he leaped to his feet and begged his guide to lead him where the bodies lay. When he reached the place, he asked to be allowed to touch the bier with his handkerchief, for it was the bier of your saints, whose death is dear in your sight. No sooner had he done this and put the handkerchief to his eyes than his sight was restored. The news spread. Your praises rang out land and clear, and although this miracle did not convert the mind of your enemy, Justina, to sound beliefs, at least it restrained her from the madness of persecution.

St. Augustine, Confessions, IX:7.

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Augustine on Faith and Baptism

Theology | Quotations

During that vacation you let me suffer the agony of toothache, and when the pain became so great that I could not speak, my heart prompted me to ask all my friends who were with me to pray to you for me, since you are the God who gives health to the body as well as to the soul. I wrote down the message and give it to them to read, and as soon as we knelt down to offer you this humble prayer, the pain vanished. What was that pain? How did it vanish? My Lord and my God, I confess that I was terrified, for nothing like this had ever happened to me in all my life. Deep within me I recognized the working of your will and I praised your name, rejoicing in my faith. But my faith would not let me feel at ease over my past sins, for they had not yet been forgiven in your baptism.

St. Augustine, Confessions IX:4.

I was intrigued by Augustine’s frank appraisal of his own faith and its relationship to his baptism. He states quite plainly that he had faith, but just as plainly states that his faith did not bring forgiveness of sins. It was only his baptism (which occurs a few pages later) that brought about the forgiveness of sins. Instead, he portrays his faith as making him aware of sin and creating the resolution to be baptized. This is, of course, the catholic doctrine of baptism, but I was shaken by how boldly and plainly he stated this, when I still have some reluctance to say that someone with faith but without baptism is not forgiven.

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Fabulous Post on Child Faith

Theology | Quotations | Good Ideas

I’m working my way through the aforementioned Three Hierarchies archives. Here’s an article about infant faith and baptism that I found so compelling it couldn’t resist linking to it. It’s an excerpt from a famous Lutheran book, and it contains the following snippet of dialogue that was shocking to me, because I’d never heard anything like it before:

“But children cannot believe,” said Ahlberg, whose eagerness was increasing. The others listened in complete silence. “‘He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.’ Thus faith is necessary for baptism.”

“No, not for baptism, but for salvation. Jesus does not in that passage say what is necessary in order to be baptized, but what is necessary in order to be saved. Faith and baptism are two that belong to baptism. Don’t you see, Ahlberg, how dreadful it would be if children could not believe? In that case they could not be saved, either.”

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Three Hierarchies

Theology | Geek Stuff

I’m finally blogrolling Three Hierarchies. I’ve always like his writing, but he’s very Lutheran, which somehow made me resistant. (I don’t know why this doesn’t apply to Josh, but somehow in my mind, it doesn’t.) Anyway, what finally pushed me over the top was this post on biology and creation and this post on the doctrine of creation in the Silmarillion.

I mean, he posted on the doctrine of creation in the Silmarillion! It just doesn’t get any better than that.

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Educate Yourselves

Other | Life

A world without Romania:

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Evangelistic Failures

Life | Theology | Quotations

Seraphim has an excellent post discussing church growth woes. He’s an insightful Orthodox Christian, and I found his post encouraging–not just for Orthodox, but for any and all Christians that may feel overwhelmed by the sense of “losing” the competition for people’s souls.

Second, something we do not often think about. By time of the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in 312 AD, it is estimated that the percentage of the population in the Roman Empire that was Christian ranged from three to perhaps as high as ten percent. Once Constantine legitimized Christianity, as it were, the number of professing Christians rose enormously, proportionally with the social and business advantages of joining the Church. Less than a hundred years later, St. John Chrysostom would lament that “in vain do we stand at the altar with the chalice” for no one came forward to partake.

This should give us pause. Maybe absolute numbers are not now and never have been an appropriate criteria for measuring success in the Church. Do not misunderstand: I am not suggesting any form of predestination or other such doctrine. I am suggesting, however, that the number of people who are willing to take up their cross and embrace all that Christianity is will always be limited. That practical truth in no way dimishes our duties toward others, either to evangelize or to serve. But we need to keep a reasonable perspective on the situation. This is not a race, nor is it a competition for market share. The Orthodox Church should not be a part of the marketplace.

I highly recommend the whole thing.

It also got me thinking about what I’ve been reading lately in Pagans and Christians, a book about the first four centuries of the Church. He says that at the time of Constantine’s conversion, Rome was the most Christian city on the planet with about 5% of its population Christian. Over the whole empire, he suggests that a reasonable estimate is 2-3% of the population was Christian. That was three centuries after Jesus’ death, and it hardly suggests rousing numerical success in that time. By church-growth standards, the early church was a failure.

We should not hesitate to make disciples, but we should also not worry overmuch if we “fail” by worldly standards. Lesslie Newbigin once noted that the overwhelming concern of the epistles is not the number of converts, but their quality: Are they being taught right doctrine? Are they growing in love for Christ? Are they growing in love? Are they growing in sanctity? Is church order maintained? The urge to “evangelism”, defined as deliberately seeking converts and numerical growth, is almost entirely absent from the New Testament. Do we perhaps think too much about the number of people that come to church, and not worry enough about the kind of people we’re turning them into?

Just some things to think about.

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scorpions and cats don’t mix

Adventures of Yasmine

hey everybody-
somehow i have come through my almost 2 years in morocco without getting stung by a scorpion. unfortunately, i cannot say the same thing for my cat. last wednesday he woke me up at 5 am in his typical fashion- sprawling out in the middle of my bed, which displaces my sleeping self onto the floor. so much fun. except he wouldn’t stop crying, and he didn’t run to the kitchen when i stood up, so i turned on the light. this was probably a mistake, because there’s not much that can be done at 5 am in my town and after i saw his gigantically swelled head i couldn’t get back to sleep. it seems that he had gone out whoring (his usual tuesday night activity) and instead of a pretty lady kitty encountered a scorpion which, being dumb, he seemingly tried to eat. the scorpion, being a jerk, stung him in the chin. and muissolini, knowing when he is out-muscled ran for home.

well, as soon as it was light out i packed him into my cat bag and set out for the agriculture center, which is the closest thing to a vet we have. the 5 men hanging out there drinking tea looked at him, agreed with much nodding and pursing of lips that it was a scorpion, told me that there’s no medicine in beni tajitte for scorpions (for animals or people, convenientely enough) and proceeded to give him a mystery shot of something yellow. they told me that if i had some antihistimine creme (which i don’t have and the pharmacy in town is out of) i could put it on the bite but otherwise there was nothing they could do.

being wholly unsatisfied with this, i sought the sage advise of my friends and neighbors. they suggested: finding the scorpion, killing it and tying it’s corpse to muissolini’s face, having the cat drink tea made from an herb they claim is a natural antivenom (which my host mom spent several hours trying to track down for me, only to discover that the town’s out of that, too), finding the scorpion, killing it and soaking it’s corpse in alcohol then rubbing the alcohol on the bite, and rubbing an onion on the bite and on his face in general.

needless to say, the neighborhood was up in arms and really wanted this scorpion dead. similarly needless to say, there was no possiblility of finding the scorpion as it was at large in the entirity of the sahara desert. while this discussion is going on, my cat is vomiting periodically out of his cartoonishly overlarge head and in general letting it be known that he wants to die.

we settled on the onion, which had the added bonus of making the cat smell delightful, and i think it helped a bit. by the next morning part of his face was less puffy. and since there was no help to be had in beni tajitte (except for an abundance of onions) the cat and i fled town 3 days earlier than intended for the cooler air of the mountains.

we made many strange friends along the way (traveling with a sick cat in a bag is, apparentely, the best possible conversation starter) and i think the cooler air did him the most good. he is better now, a week later, but seems a bit nervous about small moving things. he’s living on my friend mark’s roof for the summer, and aside from the hailstorm yesterday seems to like it.

thus concludes my tale of scorpions and cats. i’ll be off to camp in 2 weeks, which i’m sure will produce many hilarious anecdotes. until then, go seal your doors and windows.

love,
jocelyn.

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Egoslavia

Geek Stuff

The true story of how an obscure New Wave band got its name, from a former band member who now writes about internet economy. The thing is, I actually like the name “Egoslavia” better than “REM”.

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great-grandmother and great-granddaughter

Life

grandmother and great-granddaughter

This is my grandmother-in-law. Seriously.

Larisa’s grandparents are a pair of impossibly ancient, traditional Romanian farmers. This is a picture of her grandmother with one of Larisa’s neices, thus great-grandmother and great-granddaughter.

I can’t put into words how honored I am to be related to these people. It is a connection with a completely different culture in the most authentic way. I love it.

(If you look through the photographs in this set, I identify everyone by name.)

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Little Si Hike

Life

Larisa in the ferns

One more set of photos. Two weeks ago Larisa and I went hiking up in the mountains, and took some nice pictures. It was a beautiful day–a bit on the hot side, but you didn’t mind as you were walking through the cool forest. We’re more out of shape than we thought, though, as we almost didn’t make it to the top (and the hike is only a few miles). However, we did pull through and appreciated it. I hurt the next day, though.

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