This Day in History: "Democracy is a volcano"

 This Day in History: "Democracy is a volcano"

On this day in 1788, Fisher Ames addresses delegates at the Massachusetts state ratifying convention. Would his state ratify the U.S. Constitution and join the Union? Ames certainly hoped so.

Nevertheless, the statements he made on this day so long ago may sound shocking to modern ears.

“A democracy is a volcano, which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction,” Ames thundered. “These will produce an eruption, and carry desolation in their way.”

What could he mean by that? Was he an elitist who didn’t trust the people? Too many people cast such a judgment on the Founders. These same people may urge the country to abandon constitutional institutions because of their supposedly elitist and anti-democratic roots.

Unfortunately, such an interpretation misunderstands our founding generation. Yes, in this case, Ames spoke of democracy as a volcano. It seems distrustful of the people. But his next sentence went in the opposite direction: He expressed his immense confidence in the people.

“The people always mean right,” Ames told his listeners, “and, if time is allowed for reflection and information, they will do right.”

He distinguished between two types of self-governance: Emotions that can seize a mob in the heat of the moment versus deliberate, thoughtful decision-making.  Obviously, he thought, the people can always be trusted in the latter circumstance.

But perhaps Ames speaks best for himself:

“I would not have the first wish, the momentary impulse of the public mind, become law; for it is not always the sense of the people, with whom I admit that all power resides. On great questions, we first hear the loud clamors of passion, artifice, and faction.” Instead, Ames expressed his desire that the “sober, second thought of the people shall be law.”

His comments reflect the difficult questions that faced the Constitutional Convention during the summer of 1787. How can a people be self-governing, even as minority groups are protected from the tyranny of a bare or unreasonable majority? How can a large, diverse country, composed of both big and small states live harmoniously together? How can the interests of a variety of people be reflected in such a vast territory as the United States of America?

Democracy, standing alone, cannot create the delicate balances needed among all these competing interests. Thus, our Constitution creates something better. Our system is a blend of democracy (self-governance), republicanism (deliberation and compromise), and federalism (state-by-state action). Power is separated among three branches of government. Moreover, power is divided between the states and the national government. Even more power is left to the people themselves! The Constitution requires super-majorities to take some actions, such as to amend the Constitution or to override a presidential veto. And we have an Electoral College.

The Founders’ statements against simple democracy—to say nothing of the institutions they created—are best understood in this larger context. To the degree that we are having trouble today, perhaps it’s because we spent 2020 & 2021 forgetting to respect the checks and balances in our Constitution.

After all, the careful balance of power in our Constitution protects liberty.  

https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-fisher-ames

In a punch bowl, combine KOOL-AID Soft Drink Mix, Splenda Sweetener, and water; stir until granules are dissolved. Stir in pineapple juice.

https://www.splenda.com/recipe/kool-aid-paradise-punch/ 

SOCIALISTS IN THE KOOL-AID

Forty years ago, the name Jim Jones and the idea of “drinking the Kool-Aid” became indelibly etched in our collective memory as the world learned of a mass cult suicide in the jungles of South America. Movies and books have been written about Jones, but a key element of his story remains in the shadows: his career in San Francisco as a preacher and politico, courting and seducing some of the most powerful Democratic Party players in that weird and wild city, including a man who has become a cultural icon and hero to many, Harvey Milk. Daniel J. Flynn, author of Blue Collar Intellectuals and Intellectual Morons, has written a deeply researched and chilling account of the strangest of bedfellows—Cult City, which hits bookstores today. Here is an excerpt.

The advertisement billed the December 2 benefit gala as “A Struggle Against Oppression.” Scheduled speakers included rising Assemblyman Willie Brown as the master of ceremonies and funnyman Dick Gregory as the keynote. Supervisor Harvey Milk and other movers and shakers of an oft moved and shaken city crammed their big names into a small font on the flyer. For the bargain of $25—and “tax deductible” at that—influence seekers could seek to influence the mighty of a great American city. In addition to mingling with such power brokers as Brown and Milk, they could corner Sheriff Eugene Brown, physician and newspaper publisher Carlton Goodlett, and Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver at San Francisco’s Hyatt Regency. And doing well meant doing good. The dinner’s proceeds subsidized the Peoples Temple Medical Program.

The Hyatt ballroom remained empty on December 2, 1978. Two weeks earlier, the small staff of the Peoples Temple Medical Program had mixed cyanide with Flavor Aid and administered the poisonous, sugary elixir to hundreds of people in faraway Guyana. The smiling seniors and racial rainbow of children touting the wholesomeness of the agricultural commune in the fundraiser’s promotional literature rotted in piles in the steamy South American jungle. On an airstrip in nearby Port Kaituma, five people, including Congressman Leo Ryan, lay dead, gunned down by Peoples Temple assassins. Others, including future congresswoman Jackie Speier, State Department official Richard Dwyer, and San Francisco Examiner reporter Tim Reiterman, nursed bullet wounds. In Guyana’s capital city, a former Harvey Milk campaign volunteer slashed her children’s throats.

The Reverend Jim Jones, the darling of the San Francisco political establishment, orchestrated the murders and suicides of 918 people on November 18, 1978. The man-made cataclysm represented the largest such loss of civilian life in American history until 9/11 and the largest mass suicide of the modern age. Nothing before or after struck Americans as so bizarre.

The event shocked the world. But the small world surrounding Peoples Temple predicted it—loudly and repeatedly. Not every utterance from Jonestown’s namesake, after all, proved as cryptic as the one block-quoted on the “Struggle Against Oppression” promotional literature: “We have tasted life based on total equality and now have no desire to live otherwise.”

https://isi.org/intercollegiate-review/socialists-in-the-kool-aid/ 

To sum up: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified[7] such would our Constitutions have us to be; new men, I say, who have put off their affections to put on Christ;[8] dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with St. Paul in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, show themselves ministers of God[9] and by the armor of Justice on the right hand and, on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by good success finally and ill success, press forward with great strides to their heavenly country. This is the sum and aim of our institute."

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms 

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Few national cemeteries can compete with the dramatic natural setting of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. The "Punchbowl" was formed some 75,000 to 100,000 years ago during the Honolulu period of secondary volcanic activity. A crater resulted from the ejection of hot lava through cracks in the old coral reefs which, at the time, extended to the foot of the Koolau Mountain Range.

Although there are various translations of the Punchbowl's Hawaiian name, "Puowaina," the most common is "Hill of Sacrifice." This translation closely relates to the history of the crater. The first known use was as an altar where Hawaiians offered human sacrifices to pagan gods and the killed violators of the many taboos. Later, during the reign of Kamehameha the Great, a battery of two cannons was mounted at the rim of the crater to salute distinguished arrivals and signify important occasions. Early in the 1880s, leasehold land on the slopes of the Punchbowl opened for settlement and in the 1930s, the crater was used as a rifle range for the Hawaii National Guard. Toward the end of World War II, tunnels were dug through the rim of the crater for the placement of shore batteries to guard Honolulu Harbor and the south edge of Pearl Harbor.

https://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/nmcp.asp 

Pope John Paul I (Latin: Ioannes Paulus I; Italian: Giovanni Paolo I; born Albino Luciani [alˈbiːno luˈtʃaːni]; 17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal history, resulting in the most recent year of three popes and the first to occur since 1605. John Paul I remains the most recent Italian-born pope, the last in a succession of such popes that started with Clement VII in 1523.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_I 

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was an unsuccessful attempted regicide against King James I by a group of English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who considered their actions attempted tyrannicide and who sought regime change in England after decades of religious persecution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot

Pope John Paul II, born Karol Józef Wojty?a (18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005), known as Blessed John Paul II since his beatification on May 1, 2011, reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of The Holy See from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at 84 years and 319 days of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted 26 years and 168 days; only Pope Pius IX (1846–1878) who served 31 years, has reigned longer. Pope John Paul II is the only Slavic or Polish pope to date, and was the first non-Italian Pope since Dutch Pope Adrian VI (1522–1523). 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II

"On March 27, 1980, a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. A series of phreatic blasts occurred from the summit and escalated until a major explosive eruption took place on May 18, 1980, at 8:32 am. The eruption, which had a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 5, was the most significant to occur in the contiguous United States since the much smaller 1915 eruption of Lassen Peak in California.[2] It has often been declared the most disastrous volcanic eruption in U.S. history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens 

On 13 May 1981, in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded by Mehmet Ali Ağca while he was entering the square. The Pope was struck twice and suffered severe blood loss. Ağca was apprehended immediately and later sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Pope_John_Paul_II 

"Published: 10 October 1996

Russian documents Set out 'tectonic weapon' research

Carl Levitin 

Moscow. The first official details have emerged in Moscow of ambitious research into 'tectonic warfare' carried out by the former Soviet Union and subsequently by the government of Russia, and involving atte mpts to stimulate 'artificial' earthquakes as weapons of destruction. According to documents obtained by the newspaper Moscow News, two research programmes, the first known as ' Mercury ' and the second as ' Volcano', were aimed at creating new earthquake epicentres by using underground nuclear explosions . Geophysicists are aware that impending earthquakes may be triggered by underground nuclear explosions . But Western geophysicists remain sceptical about tectonic warfare and have all but abandoned research after two unsuccessful phases of activity in the 1960s and 1980s, says Roger Clark, a lecturer in geophysics at the University of Leeds. Clark is not at all surprised that th e Russians tried to create earthquakes and control their location electromagnetically, however. "This sort of science is very much part of their heritage. We don't think it is impossible, or wrong , but past experience suggests it is very, very unlikely. "

The programme , which was secretly launched by the Communist rulers of the former Soviet Union in 1987, and has been unofficially known to Western geophysicists for several years, is now believed to have been abandoned. It would certainly contravene the terms of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which Russia signe d at the United Nations in Geneva last month . The Mercury project was launched in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, but came to a halt when the republic became independent. It was superseded by the Volcano project. Three underground nuclear tests are believed to have taken place at sites in Kyrgyzstan.

According to the documents, the Mercury project was launched by a secret decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. The objective was to "develop a methodology for remote operation on an earthquake epicentre by using weak seismic fields and research possibilities of transferring the seismic energy of an explosion ".

The documents say that the Mercury project involved 22 scientific and industrial organizations, including the Geological Institute of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences in Baku. The remit extended to developing the electronic equipment to be installed aboard space satellites that would control the tectonic weapon. The scientists were given three years to complete research, with testing planned for 1990.

During the research phase, Azerbaijani scientists grew increasingly confident and, according to the documents, were sure that " after [a] nuclear explosion, subterranean energy may accumulate at huge distances from the epicentre and reach massive capacity, after which the next directed explosion can release it all ".

Underground testing began at the town of Batken in Kyrgyzstan, and was directed by lkram Ke rimov , of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences. The documents say that scientists detonated an underground nuclear charge and tried to control the direction of seismic energy release d using British-built equipment known as 'system 9690 ' .

A report prepared by the Mozhaisky Military Engineering Institute concluded that the test had been a success. But progress slowed considerably following Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union. At about this time , Russia embarked on a more comprehensive tectonic warfare programme known as the Volcano project. The Earth Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) became the project headquarters .

Research was scheduled to be completed in 1992, with underground testing beginning the following year. The final test was carried out at a place code-named S36NZ-0Kh; Moscow News believes the letters 'NZ' refer to Novaya Zemlya, where Soviet nuclear testing began in the 1950s."

https://www.nature.com/articles/383471a0

Hermes (/ˈhɜːrmiːz/; Greek: Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves,[2] merchants, and orators.[3][4] He is able to move quickly and freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine aided by his winged sandals. Hermes plays the role of the psychopomp or "soul guide"—a conductor of souls into the afterlife.[3]: 179, 295 [5]

In myth, Hermes functions as the emissary and messenger of the gods,[6] and is often presented as the son of Zeus and Maia, the Pleiad. He is regarded as "the divine trickster",[7] about which the Homeric Hymn to Hermes offers the most well-known account.[8]

Hermes' attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster, the tortoise, satchel or pouch, talaria (winged sandals), and winged helmet or simple petasos, as well as the palm tree, goat, the number four, several kinds of fish, and incense.[9] However, his main symbol is the caduceus, a winged staff intertwined with two snakes copulating and carvings of the other gods.[10]

In Roman mythology and religion many of Hermes' characteristics belong to Mercury,[11] a name derived from the Latin merx, meaning "merchandise," and the origin of the words "merchant" and "commerce."[3]: 178 

Name and origin

The earliest form of the name Hermes is the Mycenaean Greek *hermāhās,[12] written 𐀁𐀔𐁀 e-ma-a2 (e-ma-ha) in the Linear B syllabic script.[13] Most scholars derive "Hermes" from Greek ἕρμα (herma),[14] "stone heap."[3]: 177 

The etymology of ἕρμα itself is unknown, but is probably not a Proto-Indo-European word.[12] R. S. P. Beekes rejects the connection with herma and suggests a Pre-Greek origin.[12] However, the stone etymology is also linked to Indo-European *ser- ("to bind, put together"). Scholarly speculation that "Hermes" derives from a more primitive form meaning "one cairn" is disputed.[15] Other scholars have suggested that Hermes may be a cognate of the Vedic Sarama.[16][17]

It is likely that Hermes is a pre-Hellenic god, though the exact origins of his worship, and its original nature, remain unclear. Frothingham thought the god to have existed as a Mesopotamian snake-god, similar or identical to Ningishzida, a god who served as mediator between humans and the divine, especially Ishtar, and who was depicted in art as a Caduceus.[18][19] Angelo (1997) thinks Hermes to be based on the Thoth archetype.[20] The absorbing ("combining") of the attributes of Hermes to Thoth developed after the time of Homer amongst Greeks and Romans; Herodotus was the first to identify the Greek god with the Egyptian (Hermopolis) (Plutarch and Diodorus also did so), although Plato thought the gods were dissimilar (Friedlander 1992).[21][22]

His cult was established in Greece in remote regions, likely making him originally a god of nature, farmers, and shepherds. It is also possible that since the beginning he has been a deity with shamanic attributes linked to divination, reconciliation, magic, sacrifices, and initiation and contact with other planes of existence, a role of mediator between the worlds of the visible and invisible.[23] According to a theory that has received considerable scholarly acceptance, Hermes originated as a form of the god Pan, who has been identified as a reflex of the Proto-Indo-European pastoral god *Péh2usōn,[24][25][original research?] in his aspect as the god of boundary markers. The PIE root *peh2 "protect" also shows up in Latin pastor "shepherd" (whence the English pastoral). A zero grade of the full PIE form--*ph2usōn--yields the name of the Sanskrit psychopomp Pushan, who, like Pan, is associated with goats.[26] Later, the epithet supplanted the original name itself and Hermes took over the role of psychopomp and as god of messengers, travelers, and boundaries, which had originally belonged to Pan, while Pan himself continued to be venerated by his original name in his more rustic aspect as the god of the wild in the relatively isolated mountainous region of Arcadia. In later myths, after the cult of Pan was reintroduced to Attica, Pan was said to be Hermes' son.[25][27]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes

Anubis (/əˈnjuːbɪs/;[2] Ancient Greek: Ἄνουβις), also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian (Coptic: ⲁⲛⲟⲩⲡ, romanized: Anoup), is the god of funerary rites, protector of graves, and guide to the underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head.[3]

Like many ancient Egyptian deities, Anubis assumed different roles in various contexts. Depicted as a protector of graves as early as the First Dynasty (c. 3100 – c. 2890 BC), Anubis was also an embalmer. By the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055–1650 BC) he was replaced by Osiris in his role as lord of the underworld. One of his prominent roles was as a god who ushered souls into the afterlife. He attended the weighing scale during the "Weighing of the Heart", in which it was determined whether a soul would be allowed to enter the realm of the dead. Anubis is one of the most frequently depicted and mentioned gods in the Egyptian pantheon; however, no relevant myth involved him.[4]

Anubis was depicted in black, a color that symbolized regeneration, life, the soil of the Nile River, and the discoloration of the corpse after embalming. Anubis is associated with his brother Wepwawet, another Egyptian god portrayed with a dog's head or in canine form, but with grey or white fur. Historians assume that the two figures were eventually combined.[5] Anubis' female counterpart is Anput. His daughter is the serpent goddess Kebechet.

Name

"Anubis" is a Greek rendering of this god's Egyptian name.[6][7] Before the Greeks arrived in Egypt, around the 7th century BC, the god was known as Anpu or Inpu. The root of the name in ancient Egyptian language means "a royal child." Inpu has a root to "inp", which means "to decay." The god was also known as "First of the Westerners," "Lord of the Sacred Land," "He Who is Upon his Sacred Mountain," "Ruler of the Nine Bows," "The Dog who Swallows Millions," "Master of Secrets," "He Who is in the Place of Embalming," and "Foremost of the Divine Booth."[8] The positions that he had were also reflected in the titles he held such as "He Who Is upon His Mountain," "Lord of the Sacred Land," "Foremost of the Westerners," and "He Who Is in the Place of Embalming."[9]

In the Old Kingdom (c. 2686 BC – c. 2181 BC), the standard way of writing his name in hieroglyphs was composed of the sound signs inpw followed by a jackal[a] over a ḥtp sign:[11]

i n

p w C6

A new form with the jackal on a tall stand appeared in the late Old Kingdom and became common thereafter:[11]

i n

p w E16

Anubis' name jnpw was possibly pronounced [aˈna.pʰa(w)], based on Coptic Anoup and the Akkadian transcription ⟨a-na-pa⟩ (𒀀𒈾𒉺) in the name <ri-a-na-pa> "Reanapa" that appears in Amarna letter EA 315.[12][13] However, this transcription may also be interpreted as rˁ-nfr, a name similar to that of Prince Ranefer of the Fourth Dynasty.

History

In Egypt's Early Dynastic period (c. 3100 – c. 2686 BC), Anubis was portrayed in full animal form, with a "jackal" head and body.[14] A jackal god, probably Anubis, is depicted in stone inscriptions from the reigns of Hor-Aha, Djer, and other pharaohs of the First Dynasty.[15] Since Predynastic Egypt, when the dead were buried in shallow graves, jackals had been strongly associated with cemeteries because they were scavengers which uncovered human bodies and ate their flesh.[16] In the spirit of "fighting like with like," a jackal was chosen to protect the dead, because "a common problem (and cause of concern) must have been the digging up of bodies, shortly after burial, by jackals and other wild dogs which lived on the margins of the cultivation."[17]

In the Old Kingdom, Anubis was the most important god of the dead. He was replaced in that role by Osiris during the Middle Kingdom (2000–1700 BC).[18] In the Roman era, which started in 30 BC, tomb paintings depict him holding the hand of deceased persons to guide them to Osiris.[19]

The parentage of Anubis varied between myths, times and sources. In early mythology, he was portrayed as a son of Ra.[20] In the Coffin Texts, which were written in the First Intermediate Period (c. 2181–2055 BC), Anubis is the son of either the cow goddess Hesat or the cat-headed Bastet.[21] Another tradition depicted him as the son of Ra and Nephthys.[20] The Greek Plutarch (c. 40–120 AD) reported a tradition that Anubis was the illegitimate son of Nephthys and Osiris, but that he was adopted by Osiris's wife Isis:[22]

For when Isis found out that Osiris loved her sister and had relations with her in mistaking her sister for herself, and when she saw a proof of it in the form of a garland of clover that he had left to Nephthys – she was looking for a baby, because Nephthys abandoned it at once after it had been born for fear of Set; and when Isis found the baby helped by the dogs which with great difficulties lead her there, she raised him and he became her guard and ally by the name of Anubis.

George Hart sees this story as an "attempt to incorporate the independent deity Anubis into the Osirian pantheon."[21] An Egyptian papyrus from the Roman period (30–380 AD) simply called Anubis the "son of Isis."[21] In Nubia, Anubis was seen as the husband of his mother Nephthys.[1]

In the Ptolemaic period (350–30 BC), when Egypt became a Hellenistic kingdom ruled by Greek pharaohs, Anubis was merged with the Greek god Hermes, becoming Hermanubis.[23][24] The two gods were considered similar because they both guided souls to the afterlife.[25] The center of this cult was in uten-ha/Sa-ka/ Cynopolis, a place whose Greek name means "city of dogs." In Book XI of The Golden Ass by Apuleius, there is evidence that the worship of this god was continued in Rome through at least the 2nd century. Indeed, Hermanubis also appears in the alchemical and hermetical literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Although the Greeks and Romans typically scorned Egyptian animal-headed gods as bizarre and primitive (Anubis was mockingly called "Barker" by the Greeks), Anubis was sometimes associated with Sirius in the heavens and Cerberus and Hades in the underworld.[26] In his dialogues, Plato often has Socrates utter oaths "by the dog" (Greek: kai me ton kuna), "by the dog of Egypt", and "by the dog, the god of the Egyptians", both for emphasis and to appeal to Anubis as an arbiter of truth in the underworld.[27]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anubis

The Hebrew term Abaddon (Hebrew: אֲבַדּוֹן ’Ăḇaddōn, meaning "destruction", "doom"), and its Greek equivalent Apollyon (Koinē Greek: Ἀπολλύων, Apollúōn meaning "Destroyer") appear in the Bible as both a place of destruction and an angel of the abyss. In the Hebrew Bible, abaddon is used with reference to a bottomless pit, often appearing alongside the place Sheol (שְׁאוֹל Šəʾōl), meaning the resting place of dead peoples.

In the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, an angel called Abaddon is described as the king of an army of locusts; his name is first transcribed in Koine Greek (Revelation 9:11—"whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon,") as Ἀβαδδών, and then translated Ἀπολλύων, Apollyon. The Vulgate and the Douay–Rheims Bible have additional notes not present in the Greek text, "in Latin Exterminans", exterminans being the Latin word for "destroyer".

In medieval Christian literature, Abaddon's portrayal diverges significantly, as seen in the "Song of Roland," an 11th-century epic poem. Abaddon is depicted as part of a fictional trinity, alongside Mahome (Mahound) and Termagant (Termagaunt), which the poem attributes to the religious practices of Muslims.[1]

Etymology

According to the Brown–Driver–Briggs lexicon, the Hebrew אבדון ’ăḇadōn is an intensive form of the Semitic root and verb stem אָבַד ’ăḇāḏ "perish", transitive "destroy", which occurs 184 times in the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint, an early Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, renders "Abaddon" as "ἀπώλεια" (apṓleia), while the Greek Apollýon is the active participle of ἀπόλλυμι apóllymi, "to destroy".[2]

Judaism

Hebrew Bible

The term abaddon appears six times in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible; abaddon means destruction or "place of destruction", or the realm of the dead, and is accompanied by Sheol.

Job 26:6: Sheol is naked before Him; Abaddon has no cover.

Job 28:22: Abaddon and Death say, “We have only a report of it.”

Job 31:12: A fire burning down to Abaddon, Consuming the roots of all my increase.

Psalm 88:11: Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon?

Proverbs 15:11: Sheol and Abaddon lie exposed to the LORD, How much more the minds of men!

Proverbs 27:20: Sheol and Abaddon cannot be satisfied, Nor can the eyes of man be satisfied. [3]

Second Temple era texts

The Thanksgiving Hymns — a text found amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 — tell of "the Sheol of Abaddon" and of the "torrents of Belial [that] burst into Abaddon". The Biblical Antiquities (misattributed to Philo) mention Abaddon as a place (destruction) rather than as an individual. Abaddon is also one of the compartments of Gehenna.[4] By extension, the name can refer to an underworld abode of lost souls, or Gehenna.

Rabbinical literature

In some legends, Abaddon is identified as a realm where the damned lie in fire and snow, one of the places in Gehenna that Moses visited.[5]

Christianity

The New Testament contains the first known depiction of Abaddon as an individual entity instead of a place.

A king, the angel of the bottomless pit; whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon; in Latin Exterminans.

— Revelation 9:11, Douay–Rheims Bible

In the Old Testament, Abaddon and Death can be personified:

Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

— Job 28:22, English Standard Version

And,

Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

— Job 26:6, English Standard Version

And,

Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man.

— Proverbs 27:20, English Standard Version

Hell and destruction are not filled; so also are the eyes of men insatiable.

— Proverbs 27:20, Brenton Septuagint Translation

And,

But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

— Proverbs 6:32, King James Bible

But the adulterer through want of sense procures destruction to his soul.

— Proverbs 6:32, Brenton Septuagint Translation

The Hebrew text of Proverbs 6:32 does not contain the noun abaddon (אֲבַדּוֹן) but a participial form of the verb shachath (שָׁחַת).[6] But the Septuagint uses apoleian (ἀπώλειαν), the accusative case of the noun apoleia (ἀπώλεια) with which it also translates abaddon in five of the six Hebrew verses that contain the word. (Though an English interlinear of the Septuagint might read "destruction the soul of him obtains", the reader should understand that "adulterer" is the subject, "soul" is the indirect object, and "destruction" is the direct object.)[7]

In Revelation 9:11, Abaddon is described as "Destroyer",[8] the angel of the Abyss,[8] and as the king of a plague of locusts resembling horses with crowned human faces, women's hair, lions' teeth, wings, iron breast-plates, and a tail with a scorpion's stinger that torments for five months anyone who does not have the seal of God on their foreheads.[9]

The symbolism of Revelation 9:11 leaves the identity of Abaddon open to interpretation. Protestant commentator Matthew Henry (1708) believed Abaddon to be the Antichrist,[10] whereas the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary (1871) and Henry Hampton Halley (1922) identified the angel as Satan.[11][12]

Early in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress the Christian pilgrim fights "over half a day" long with the demon Apollyon. This book permeated Christianity in the English-speaking world for 300 years after its first publication in 1678.

In contrast, the Methodist publication The Interpreter's Bible states, "Abaddon, however, is an angel not of Satan but of God, performing his work of destruction at God's bidding", citing the context at Revelation chapter 20, verses 1 through 3.[13][page needed] Jehovah's Witnesses also cite Revelation 20:1-3 where the angel having "the key of the abyss" is actually shown to be a representative of God, concluding that "Abaddon" is another name for Jesus after his resurrection.[14]

In Medieval Christian Literature

In medieval Christian literature, the depiction of Abaddon often mirrors the religious and cultural contexts of the time. A notable illustration of this is found in the Song of Roland, an 11th-century epic poem. This work associates Abaddon with figures such as Mahome (Mahound), Apollyon (Appolin), and Termagant, which are presented as deities in the context of the poem's portrayal of Muslims. The inclusion of Apollyon, a name sometimes linked with Abaddon in Christian texts, highlights the interpretative approaches of the period towards Islamic practices.[15]

Such literary representations in medieval Christian literature are indicative of the broader context of interfaith understanding and relations during the Middle Ages. They reflect the complexities and nuances in the depiction of figures like Abaddon and their perceived associations with other faiths.[16]

Mandaeism

Mandaean scriptures such as the Ginza Rabba mention the Abaddons (Classical Mandaic: ʿbdunia) as part of the World of Darkness. The Right Ginza mentions the existence of the "upper Abaddons" (ʿbdunia ʿlaiia) as well as the "lower Abaddons" (ʿbdunia titaiia). The final poem of the Left Ginza mentions the "House of the Abaddons" (bit ʿbdunia).[17]

Häberl (2022) considers the Mandaic word ʿbdunia to be a borrowing from Hebrew.[18]

Apocryphal texts

In the 3rd-century Gnostic text Acts of Thomas, Abaddon is the name of a demon, or the devil himself.

Abaddon is given particularly important roles in two sources, a homily entitled The Enthronement of Abaddon by pseudo-Timothy of Alexandria, and the Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, by Bartholomew the Apostle.[19][20] In the homily by Timothy, Abaddon was first named Muriel, and had been given the task by God of collecting the earth that would be used in the creation of Adam. Upon completion of this task, the angel was appointed as a guardian. Everyone, including the angels, demons, and corporeal entities feared him. Abaddon was promised that any who venerated him in life could be saved. Abaddon is also said to have a prominent role in the Last Judgment, as the one who will take the souls to the Valley of Josaphat.[19] He is described in the Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as being present in the Tomb of Jesus at the moment of the resurrection of Jesus.[21]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abaddon

The Palace of Versailles (/vɛərˈsaɪ, vɜːrˈsaɪ/ vair-SY, vur-SY;[1] French: château de Versailles [ʃɑto d(ə) vɛʁsɑj] ⓘ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Paris, France.

The palace is owned by the government of France and since 1995 has been managed, under the direction of the French Ministry of Culture, by the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles.[2] About 15,000,000 people visit the palace, park, or gardens of Versailles every year, making it one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world.[3]

Louis XIII built a hunting lodge at Versailles in 1623. His successor, Louis XIV expanded the château into a palace that went through several expansions in phases from 1661 to 1715. It was a favourite residence for both kings, and in 1682, Louis XIV moved the seat of his court and government to Versailles, making the palace the de facto capital of France. This state of affairs was continued by Kings Louis XV and Louis XVI, who primarily made interior alterations to the palace, but in 1789 the royal family and French court returned to Paris. For the rest of the French Revolution, the Palace of Versailles was largely abandoned and emptied of its contents, and the population of the surrounding city plummeted.

Napoleon, following his coronation as Emperor, used the subsidiary palace, Grand Trianon, as a summer residence from 1810 to 1814, but did not use the main palace. Following the Bourbon Restoration, when the king was returned to the throne, he resided in Paris and it was not until the 1830s that meaningful repairs were made to the palace. A museum of French history was installed within it, replacing the courtiers apartments of the southern wing.

The palace and park were designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979 for its importance as the centre of power, art, and science in France during the 17th and 18th centuries.[4] The French Ministry of Culture has placed the palace, its gardens, and some of its subsidiary structures on its list of culturally significant monuments.

History

In 1623,[5][6] Louis XIII, king of France, built a hunting lodge on a hill in a favourite hunting ground, 19 kilometres (12 mi) west of Paris,[7] and 16 kilometres (10 mi) from his primary residence, the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.[8] The site, near a village named Versailles,[a] was a wooded wetland that Louis XIII's court scorned as being generally unworthy of a king;[12] one of his courtiers, François de Bassompierre, wrote that the lodge "would not inspire vanity in even the simplest gentleman".[6][13] From 1631 to 1634, architect Philibert Le Roy replaced the lodge with a château for Louis XIII,[14][15] who forbade his queen, Anne of Austria, from staying there overnight,[16][17] even when an outbreak of smallpox at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1641 forced Louis XIII to relocate to Versailles with his three-year-old heir, the future Louis XIV.[16][18]

When Louis XIII died in 1643, Anne became Louis XIV's regent,[19] and Louis XIII's château was abandoned for the next decade. She moved the court back to Paris,[20] where Anne and her chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin, continued Louis XIII's unpopular monetary practices. This led to the Fronde, a series of revolts against royal authority from 1648 to 1653 that masked a struggle between Mazarin and the princes of the blood, Louis XIV's extended family, for influence over him.[21] In the aftermath of the Fronde, Louis XIV became determined to rule alone.[22][23] Following Mazarin's death in 1661,[24] Louis XIV reformed his government to exclude his mother and the princes of the blood,[23] moved the court back to Saint-Germain-en-Laye,[25] and ordered the expansion of his father's château at Versailles into a palace.[16][26]

Louis XIV had hunted at Versailles in the 1650s,[15][18] but did not take any special interest in Versailles until 1661.[27] On 17 August 1661,[28] Louis XIV was a guest at a sumptuous festival hosted by Nicolas Fouquet, the Superintendent of Finances, at his palatial residence, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte.[24][29] Louis XIV was impressed by the château and its gardens,[29][30] which were the work of Louis Le Vau, the court architect since 1654, André Le Nôtre, the royal gardener since 1657, and Charles Le Brun,[15] a painter in royal service since 1647.[31] Vaux-le-Vicomte's scale and opulence led him to imprison Fouquet that September, as he had also built an island fortress and a private army.[29][32] But Louis XIV was also inspired by Vaux-le-Vicomte,[33] and he recruited its authors for his own projects.[34][35] Louis XIV replaced Fouquet with Jean-Baptiste Colbert,[23][30] a protégé of Mazarin and enemy of Fouquet,[36] and charged him with managing the corps of artisans in royal employment.[37][38] Colbert acted as the intermediary between them and Louis XIV,[39] who personally directed and inspected the planning and construction of Versailles.[40][41][42]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Versailles

Chevalier Andrew Michael Ramsay.

Andrew Michael Ramsay was born in Ayr in Scotland in 1681, the son of a baker. He studied theology at the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh and graduated with a master's degree in 1707.

History.

In 1708 he went to London, ostensibly to learn French. There he studied with Isaac Newton and became a friend of John Desaguliers and David Hume. A year later he is recorded as having joined Marlborough's army in Flanders. Then, in 1710 he became a pupil of the liberal mystical philosopher, François Fénelon, Bishop of Cambrai, and was converted to Roman Catholicism. On Fénelon's death in 1715, Ramsay went to Paris where he became a friend of Philippe d'Orléans - the Regent of France - who inducted him into the neo-chivalric Order of St Lazarus and, thereafter, he became known as Chevalier Ramsay.

In 1723, King James granted him a certificate of Nobility, and in 1735 made him a Knight and a Baron, whereby he became Sir Andrew Michael Ramsay. He died at St. Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, in 1743 and is buried in the church cemetary there.

In Freemansonry.

In 1730, while visiting England, Ramsay was initiated into Freemasonry in the Horn Lodge in London. Masonry had been active in France for some years before, but was without any real structure and had only a small membership. Upon Ramsay's return to Paris, he became quite active in the Craft and soon rose to the rank of Grand Orator.

Ramsay was an idealist and did not believe that everything wonderful should be reserved for life after death. He wanted to build a Heaven on earth and in Freemasonry he thought he saw a way to do this.

In France at that time, candidates were being received in increasing numbers but the ceremonies were very brief and elementary, giving the candidates little idea of the aims and objects of the Craft. Ramsay thought that this was regrettable so in December 1736 he wrote an Oration which he delivered at social boards following initiation ceremonies.

- This was to become one of the most discussed speeches ever delivered and it is certain that no other has ever received so much attention, been so misunderstood, or had so much effect on the course and development of Freemasonry.

Andrew michael ramsay Plan of Education by Chevalier Ramsay

XVII's century Marketing.

In France at that time, candidates were being received in increasing numbers but the ceremonies were very brief and elementary, giving the candidates little idea of the aims and objects of the Craft. Ramsay thought that this was regrettable so in December 1736 he wrote an Oration which he delivered at social boards following initiation ceremonies. This was to become one of the most discussed speeches ever delivered and it is certain that no other has ever received so much attention, been so misunderstood, or had so much effect on the course and development of Freemasonry.

He aimed at giving candiates a reason to take pride in the Craft, and in their heritage. His Oration, therefore, was not a factual history of our Order but rather an allegorical account of our origins. It was, in one sense, a charge after initiation or, as some would say, the Ramsay version of the Old Charges. He did not deny the existence of the legends about King Solomon and his Temple, but passed "on matters less ancient". His Oration was essentially the speech of the idealist that he was.

He spoke of a connection between the Crusaders and Freemasons and, in fact, said that after the Crusades, Prince Edward, the son of King Henry III of England, had brought the troops back to England where they took the name Freemasons. Furthermore, he said that:

From the British Isles, the Royal Art is now repassing into France (which) will become the center of the Order.

He went on to say.

The obligations imposed on you by the Order are to protect your brothers by your authority, to enlighten them by your knowledge, to edify them by your virtues, to suffer them in their necessities, to sacrifice all personal resentment and to strive after all that may contribute to the peace and unity of society.

We desire to unite all men of enlightened minds, gentle manners, and agreeable wit, not only by a love for the fine arts, but much more by the grand principles of virtue, science and religion, where the interests of the Fraternity shall become those of the whole human race, whence all nations shall be enabled to draw useful knowledge and whence the subjects of all Kingdoms shall learn to cherish one another without renouncing their own country.

Those are surely qualities that we should look for in all true and sincere brethren today.

Nowhere in his Oration did Ramsay suggest the creation of a new rite, but that was the effect it had. Nowhere can be found a word pointing to the various degrees of vengeance, Elus, Kadosh, etc., or to the Templars. But prior to the Oration there is no trace whatsoever of what is known as Scots Masonry. Almost overnight France became deluged with all sorts of so-called Masonic high grades and the Fraternity became obsessed with idea of Knighthood.

Freemasonry had been introduced into France in about 1725. It was something the like of which the French had never known before, and it fascinated them. They thought it was wonderful, but they could not believe that it was possible that it had come down to them from common workmen who got their hands dirty cutting stone in quarries.

Ramsay provided them with an answer and an excuse. He provided them with noble ancestors. The French set about the task of purifying their rituals and in a short period of time more than 1,100 degrees were invented, forming part of more than 100 rites. Most of them had a short existence although amongst those that survived were the 25 degrees of the Rite of Perfection.

Thus, those brethren who value their membership of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite and the Rose Croix do so indirectly as a result of the efforts of Chevalier Ramsay.

The Earl of Orrery, who knew Ramsay well, wrote that Chevalier Ramsay, who was born in Scotland and educated in France, methinks un Ecossais Fran?ais (a Scottish Frenchman) appears like a Tulip engrafted upon a Thistle. One is afraid to venture near the Scotch Root, but one is allured towards it by the gaudy colours of the prominent Flower.

Ramsay was a novelist, historian, religious philosopher, and teacher. He was a Scottish expatriate, yet he was welcomed home from France by the English government. He was a Presbyterian, a Roman Catholic and a Jacobite, but was awarded an honorary degree from Oxford and made a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Foremost, Andrew Michael Ramsay was a Freemason and with his famous Oration he inadvertently changed the course of Masonic History by inspiring the creation of the hauts grades or higher degrees which eventually evolved into the Scottish Rite. The ideas in his Oration created a whole new realm within the Fraternity.

https://chevalierramsay.be/chevalier-andrew-ramsay/

Like much of early Masonic history, the origins of the Scottish Rite are uncertain. This is primarily due to the lack of historic documentation prior to the early 1700’s and not to any great veiled mystery. The few records kept were subject to loss, fire, weather and aging. So we can at best only speculate on many of our origins by looking at the few documents, historical references and legends that remain.

What We Know

In 1754, near Paris, Chevalier de Bonneville established the Chapter of Clermont. The Chapter resided in the College of Jesuits of Clermont, hence the name. It is said to have been created to honor the Duc de Clermont, then Grand Master of the English Grand Lodge of France.

The Chapter of Clermont was a “Chapter of the Advanced Degrees” and initially entailed six degrees and was later extended to 25 known degrees. The six initial degrees were 1˚, 2˚ and 3˚ St John’s Masonry, 4˚ Knight of the Eagle, 5˚ Illustrious Knight or Templar, 6˚ Sublime Illustrious Knight.

Interestingly enough historically, prior to the time of the Rite’s creation, James II had been in residence at Clermont in exile from Britain from 1688 to his death in 1701. As noted by German Masonic historian, Lenning… “whilst in exile, James II residing at the Jesuit College of Clermont in France, allowed his closest associates to fabricate certain degrees in order to extend their political views.” Lenning believed this to have been an attempt on the part of James and his associates to regain control of the British throne for the House of Stuart. If Lenning is right, this places the origins of the “Rite of Perfection” in the hands of James II and the Jacobite (Stuart) Freemasons who at the time were in exile from Great Britain throughout France and Italy. Lenning also contends that these degrees were introduced into French Freemasonry under the name of the Clermont System.

James II died in exile in 1701. His son James III is said to have continued his father’s Masonic legacy and later created further higher degrees.

Perhaps James II saw in the Jesuit morality plays of the College of Clermont a vessel for passing on a set of moral lessons. Some of the world’s greatest playwrights had emerged from Clermont. Jesuit tutelage had previously produced great writers such as Lope de Vega, Moliere, Racine, and the Corneille brothers. Ensconced in exile, I believe James II did find the inspiration and the training to help produce what would later become the first six degrees. From out of the darkness… comes light.

To be continued… (Author’s note… An in depth look at the Templar influence in Scottish Rite masonry’s origins can be found by visiting the Rosslyn Templars’ website.)

https://web.archive.org/web/20190615041607/http://www.traversecityscottishrite.com/scottish-rite-history.html

"Red Red Wine" is a song originally written, performed and recorded by American singer Neil Diamond in 1967 that appears on his second studio album, Just for You. The lyrics are written from the perspective of a person who finds that drinking red wine is the only way to forget his woes.

UB40 recorded a cover version in 1983 that went to No. 1 in the UK and was moderately successful in the United States. It was rereleased in 1988 and went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Neil Diamond version

When Diamond left the Bang Records label in 1968, the label continued to release his singles, often adding newly recorded instruments and background vocals to album tracks from his two albums for Bang. For the "Red Red Wine" single, Bang added a background choir without Diamond's involvement or permission. Diamond's version reached No. 62 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1968. Billboard described the single as a "compelling, original folk-flavored ballad."[3] Cash Box called it a "softie featuring a melancholy tale by a figure drowning his sorrow" with "dramatic vocal performance in a neatly styled arrangement."[4]

A live version was released on Diamond's The Greatest Hits (1966–92), but the 1968 single version has never been issued on a vinyl album or CD. However, according to the liner notes in the booklet included in the 1996 box set In My Lifetime, the version of "Red Red Wine" erroneously indicates it is “from Bang single 556” but it is really the original, non-overdubbed mono album master of the track. A review of the original 1996 release of this box set show Diamond also released a live version on Hot August Night (but not as a single.)

Several artists covered the song shortly after Diamond's recording was released:

In 1968, Dutch singer Peter Tetteroo (from the band Tee-Set) had a hit with a version that reached No. 6 on the Dutch Top 40 chart.

Jamaican-born singer Tony Tribe recorded a reggae version of the song in 1969 that reached No. 46 on the UK Singles Chart.[5] It became Trojan Records' first chart hit.[6]

Vic Dana's cover became his last Hot 100 hit, peaking at No. 72 in June 1970.

UB40 version

UB40 recorded a version of "Red Red Wine" for their album of cover versions, Labour of Love. According to UB40 member Astro, the group's former vocalist and trumpet player, the band was only familiar with Tony Tribe's version and did not realize that the writer and original singer was Neil Diamond. Astro told the Financial Times, "Even when we saw the writing credit which said 'N Diamond,' we thought it was a Jamaican artist called Negus Diamond."[8]

UB40's version features a lighter, reggae-style flavor compared to that of Diamond's somber, acoustic ballad. The UB40 version adds a toasted verse by Astro, opening: "Red Red Wine, you make me feel so fine/You keep me rocking all of the time," which was edited from the single that reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in August 1983 and No. 34 in the U.S. in March 1984. In the UK, it was the 3rd best-selling single of 1983 with 550 000 sales.[9]

In 1988, UB40 performed the song at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Concert. Soon after, program director Guy Zapoleon of Phoenix-based KZZP[10] placed the full version, including Astro's "rap", on the station's playlist, and it soon became the station's most popular song. With UB40 ready to release Labour of Love II, A&M Records promotion man Charlie Minor asked UB40 to hold off on releasing the album so that the label could reissue and promote "Red Red Wine." On the Billboard Hot 100 chart of October 15, 1988, the song reached a new peak at No. 1.[11] In September 2014, the Official Charts Company announced that sales in the UK had reached one million.[12] In 2023, it was included on the Official Charts Company's list of the UK's best-selling singles of all time at number 134.[13]

Neil Diamond has stated that UB40's "Red Red Wine" is among his favorite covers of his songs.[14] He frequently performs the song live using the UB40 reggae arrangement rather than that of the original version.

Other cover versions

Jimmy James and the Vagabonds released a 1968 cover version for the UK market. It charted at No. 36.[40]

Tony Tribe covered the song in 1969, reaching No. 46 on the UK chart.[41]

A 1970 remake by Vic Dana became a minor Billboard Hot 100 hit, peaking at No. 72, and reached No. 30 on the Adult Contemporary chart.[42]

In early 1972, singer Roy Drusky reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart[43] and No. 16 on the RPM Country Tracks chart.[citation needed]

In 2000, the song was interpolated in a rap by British-American documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux. The rap was later remixed in 2022 by Duke & Jones in the single, "Jiggle Jiggle".[44]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Red_Wine

In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (/daɪ.əˈnaɪsəs/; Ancient Greek: Διόνυσος Dionysos) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre.[3][4] He was also known as Bacchus (/ˈbækəs/ or /ˈbɑːkəs/; Ancient Greek: Βάκχος Bacchos) by the Greeks (a name later adopted by the Romans) for a frenzy he is said to induce called baccheia.[5] As Dionysus Eleutherius ("the liberator"), his wine, music, and ecstatic dance free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful.[6] His thyrsus, a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a weapon used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents.[7] Those who partake of his mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself.[8]

His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms; some are described by ancient sources as Thracian, others as Greek.[9][10][11] In Orphism, he was variously a son of Zeus and Persephone; a chthonic or underworld aspect of Zeus; or the twice-born son of Zeus and the mortal Semele. The Eleusinian Mysteries identify him with Iacchus, the son or husband of Demeter. Most accounts say he was born in Thrace, traveled abroad, and arrived in Greece as a foreigner. His attribute of "foreignness" as an arriving outsider-god may be inherent and essential to his cults, as he is a god of epiphany, sometimes called "the god who comes".[12]

Wine was a religious focus in the cult of Dionysus and was his earthly incarnation.[13] Wine could ease suffering, bring joy, and inspire divine madness.[14] Festivals of Dionysus included the performance of sacred dramas enacting his myths, the initial driving force behind the development of theatre in Western culture.[15] The cult of Dionysus is also a "cult of the souls"; his maenads feed the dead through blood-offerings, and he acts as a divine communicant between the living and the dead.[16] He is sometimes categorised as a dying-and-rising god.[17]

Romans identified Bacchus with their own Liber Pater, the "Free Father" of the Liberalia festival, patron of viniculture, wine and male fertility, and guardian of the traditions, rituals and freedoms attached to coming of age and citizenship, but the Roman state treated independent, popular festivals of Bacchus (Bacchanalia) as subversive, partly because their free mixing of classes and genders transgressed traditional social and moral constraints. Celebration of the Bacchanalia was made a capital offence, except in the toned-down forms and greatly diminished congregations approved and supervised by the State. Festivals of Bacchus were merged with those of Liber and Dionysus.

Name

Etymology

The dio- prefix in Ancient Greek Διόνυσος (Diónūsos; [di.ó.nyː.sos]) has been associated since antiquity with Zeus (genitive Dios), and the variants of the name seem to point to an original *Dios-nysos.[18] The earliest attestation is the Mycenaean Greek dative form 𐀇𐀺𐀝𐀰 (di-wo-nu-so),[19][18] featured on two tablets that had been found at Mycenaean Pylos and dated to the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. At that time, there could be no certainty on whether this was indeed a theonym,[20][21] but the 1989–90 Greek-Swedish Excavations at Kastelli Hill, Chania, unearthed, inter alia, four artefacts bearing Linear B inscriptions; among them, the inscription on item KH Gq 5 is thought to confirm Dionysus's early worship.[22] In Mycenaean Greek the form of Zeus is di-wo.[23] The second element -nūsos is of unknown origin.[18] It is perhaps associated with Mount Nysa, the birthplace of the god in Greek mythology, where he was nursed by nymphs (the Nysiads),[24] although Pherecydes of Syros had postulated nũsa as an archaic word for "tree" by the sixth century BC.[25][26] On a vase of Sophilos the Nysiads are named νύσαι (nusae).[27] Kretschmer asserted that νύση (nusē) is a Thracian word that has the same meaning as νύμφη (nýmphē), a word similar with νυός (nuos) (daughter in law, or bride, I-E *snusós, Sanskr. snusā).[28] He suggested that the male form is νῦσος (nūsos) and this would make Dionysus the "son of Zeus".[27] Jane Ellen Harrison believed that the name Dionysus means "young Zeus".[29] Robert S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin of the name, since all attempts to find an Indo-European etymology are doubtful.[19][18]

Meaning and variants

Later variants include Dionūsos and Diōnūsos in Boeotia; Dien(n)ūsos in Thessaly; Deonūsos and Deunūsos in Ionia; and Dinnūsos in Aeolia, besides other variants. A Dio- prefix is found in other names, such as that of the Dioscures, and may derive from Dios, the genitive of the name of Zeus.[30]

Nonnus, in his Dionysiaca, writes that the name Dionysus means "Zeus-limp" and that Hermes named the new born Dionysus this, "because Zeus while he carried his burden lifted one foot with a limp from the weight of his thigh, and nysos in Syracusan language means limping".[31] In his note to these lines, W. H. D. Rouse writes "It need hardly be said that these etymologies are wrong".[31] The Suda, a Byzantine encyclopedia based on classical sources, states that Dionysus was so named "from accomplishing [διανύειν] for each of those who live the wild life. Or from providing [διανοεῖν] everything for those who live the wild life."[32]

Origins

Academics in the nineteenth century, using study of philology and comparative mythology, often regarded Dionysus as a foreign deity who was only reluctantly accepted into the standard Greek pantheon at a relatively late date, based on his myths which often involve this theme—a god who spends much of his time on earth abroad, and struggles for acceptance when he returns to Greece. However, more recent evidence has shown that Dionysus was in fact one of the earliest gods attested in mainland Greek culture.[14] The earliest written records of Dionysus worship come from Mycenaean Greece, specifically in and around the Palace of Nestor in Pylos, dated to around 1300 BC.[33] The details of any religion surrounding Dionysus in this period are scant, and most evidence comes in the form only of his name, written as di-wo-nu-su-jo ("Dionysoio" = 'of Dionysus') in Linear B, preserved on fragments of clay tablets that indicate a connection to offerings or payments of wine, which was described as being "of Dionysus". References have also been uncovered to "women of Oinoa", the "place of wine", who may correspond to the Dionysian women of later periods.[33]

Other Mycenaean records from Pylos record the worship of a god named Eleuther, who was the son of Zeus, and to whom oxen were sacrificed. The link to both Zeus and oxen, as well as etymological links between the name Eleuther or Eleutheros with the Latin name Liber Pater, indicates that this may have been another name for Dionysus. According to Károly Kerényi, these clues suggest that even in the thirteenth century BC, the core religion of Dionysus was in place, as were his important myths. At Knossos in Minoan Crete, men were often given the name "Pentheus", who is a figure in later Dionysian myth and which also means "suffering". Kerényi argued that to give such a name to one's child implies a strong religious connection, potentially not the separate character of Pentheus who suffers at the hands of Dionysus' followers in later myths, but as an epithet of Dionysus himself, whose mythology describes a god who must endure suffering before triumphing over it. According to Kerényi, the title of "man who suffers" likely originally referred to the god himself, only being applied to distinct characters as the myth developed.[33]

The oldest known image of Dionysus, accompanied by his name, is found on a dinos by the Attic potter Sophilos around 570 BC and is located in the British Museum.[34] By the seventh century, iconography found on pottery shows that Dionysus was already worshiped as more than just a god associated with wine. He was associated with weddings, death, sacrifice, and sexuality, and his retinue of satyrs and dancers was already established. A common theme in these early depictions was the metamorphosis, at the hand of the god, of his followers into hybrid creatures, usually represented by both tame and wild satyrs, representing the transition from civilized life back to nature as a means of escape.[14]

While scholarly references are scarce, there exists a notable overlap between the Greco-Roman Dionysus and the Hindu god Shiva. Shared iconography and background include a crescent or horns on the head, panther or tiger skins, serpents, phallic symbolism (Shiva lingam), association as a wanderer and outcaste and association with ritual ecstasy. Shiva is understood to be one of a triple godhead that includes Vishnu and Brahma. Dionysus is noted in several references with an association with the east and India.[citation needed]

A Mycenaean variant of Bacchus was thought to have been "a divine child" abandoned by his mother and eventually raised by "nymphs, goddesses, or even animals."[35]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus

Revelation 17:1 The state of the Church militant being declared, now followeth the state of the Church overcoming and getting victory, as I showed before in the beginning of chapter 10. The state is set forth in 4 chapters. As in the place beforegoing I noted, that in that history the order of time was not always exactly observed, so the same is to be understood in this history, that it is distinguished according to the persons of which it treateth, and that in the several stories of the persons is severly observed in the time thereof. For first is delivered the story of Babylon destroyed, in this and the next chap. (for this Babylon out of all doubt shall perish before the 2 beasts and the Dragon). Secondly is delivered the destruction of both the two beasts, chap. 19. And lastly of the Dragon, chap. 20, in the story of the spiritual Babylon are distinctly set forth the state thereof in this chap. and the overthrow done from God, chap. 18. In this verse and that which followeth is a transition or passage unto the first argument, consisting of a particular calling of the Prophet (as often heretofore) and a general proposition.

Revelation 17:1 That is the damnable harlot, by a figure of speech called hypallage. For S. John as yet had not seen her. Although another interpretation may be borne, yet I like this better.

Revelation 17:1 The sentence that is pronounced against this harlot.

Revelation 17:3 Henceforth is propounded the type of Babylon, and the state thereof in 4 verses. After a declaration of the type, in the rest of this chap., in the type are described two things, the beast (of whom chap. 13), in verse 3, and the woman that sitteth upon the beast, verses 4, 5, 6. The beast in process of time hath gotten somewhat more than was expressed in the former vision. First in that it is not read before that he was appareled in scarlet, a robe imperial and of triumph. Secondly, in that this is full of names of blasphemy: the other carried the name of blasphemy only in his head. So God did teach that this beast is much increased in impiety and injustice and doth in this last age, triumph in both these more insolently and proudly than ever before.

Revelation 17:3 A scarlet color, that is, with a red and purple garment: and surely it was not without cause that the Romish clergy were so much delighted with this color.

Revelation 17:4 That harlot, the spiritual Babylon, which is Rome. She is described by her attire, profession and deeds.

Revelation 17:4 In attire most glorious, triumphant, most rich, and most gorgeous.

Revelation 17:4 In profession, the nourisher of all, in this verse, and teaching her mysteries unto all, verse 5, setting forth all things most magnificently: but indeed most pernicious besotting miserable men with her cup, and bringing upon them a deadly giddiness.

Revelation 17:5 Deceiving with the title of religion, and public inscription of mystery: which the beast in times past did not bear.

Revelation 17:5 An exposition: in which S. John declareth what manner of woman this is.

Revelation 17:6 In manner of deeds: She is red with blood, and sheddeth it most licentiously, and therefore is colored with the blood of the Saints, as on the contrary part. Christ is set forth imbrued with the blood of his enemies; Isa. 3:1.

Revelation 17:6 A passage unto the second part of this chapter, by occasion given of S. John, as the words of the Angel do show, in the next verse.

Revelation 17:7 The second part or place, as I said, verse 1. The narration of the vision, promised in this verse, and delivered in the verse following. Now there is delivered first a narration of the beast and his story, unto verse 14. After, of the harlot, unto the end of the chap.

Revelation 17:8 The story of the beast hath a triple description of him. The first is a distinction of this beast from all that ever hath been at any time: which distinction is contained in this verse: The second is a delineation or painting out of the beast by things present, by which he might even at that time be known of the godly, and this delineation is according to his heads, verses 2, 10, 11. The third is an historical foretelling of things to come, and to be done by him: and these are ascribed unto his horns, verses 12, 13, 14. This beast is that Empire of Rome, of which I spake, chap. 13:11, according to the mutations and changes whereof which then had already happened, the holy Ghost hath distinguished and set out the same. The Apostle distinguisheth this beast from all others in these words. The beast which thou sawest, was and is not. For so I expound the words of the Apostle for evidence’s sake as I will further declare in the notes following.

Revelation 17:8 The meaning is, that beast which thou sawest before (Rev. 13:1) and which yet thou hast now seen, was, (I say was) even from Julius Caesar in respect of beginning, rising up, station, glory, dominion, manner and stock, from the house of Julius: and yet is not now the same, if thou look unto the house and stock for the dominion of this family was translated unto another, after the death of Nero from the other unto a third, from a third unto a fourth, and so forth was varied and altered by innumerable changes. Finally, the Empire is one, as it were one beast: but exceedingly varied by kindreds, families, and persons. It was therefore (saith S. John) in the kindred or house of Julius: and now it is not in that kindred, but translated unto another.

Revelation 17:8 As if he should say, Also the same that is, shall shortly not be: but shall ascend out of the depth, or out of the sea (as was said, Rev. 13:1) that is, shall be a new stock from amongst the nations without difference, and shall in the same state go unto destruction or ruin, and perish: and so shall successively new Princes or Emperors come and go, arise and fall, the body of the beast remaining still, but tossed with so many and often alterations, as no man can but marvel that this beast was able to stand and hold out, in so many mutations. Verily no Empire that ever was tossed with so many changes, and as it were with so many tempests of the sea, ever continued so long.

Revelation 17:8 That is as many as have not learned the providence of God, according to the faith of the Saints, shall marvel at these grievous and often changes when they shall consider, the selfsame beast, which is the Roman Empire, to have been, not to be, and to be and still molested with perpetual mutation, and yet in the same to stand and continue. This in mine opinion is the most simple exposition of this place, and confirmed by the event of the things themselves. Although by the last change also, by which the Empire, that before was civil became Ecclesiastical, is not obscurely signified by these words: of which two, the first exercised cruelty upon the bodies of the saints: the other also upon their souls: the first by human order and policy, the other under the color of the law of God, and of Religion, raged and imbrued itself with the blood of the godly.

Revelation 17:1-8 

1599 Geneva Bible

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2017&version=GNV

Vice President Kamala Harris

November 4, 2021

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=287432446715585&set=a.287432426715587

Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish [ˈxoɾxe]; Portuguese [ˈʒɔɾʒɨ].

It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (Georgios) via Latin Georgius; the former is derived from γεωργός (georgos), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".[1]

The Latin form Georgius had been rarely given in Western Christendom since at least the 6th century. The popularity of the name however develops from around the 12th century, in Occitan in the form Jordi, and it becomes popular at European courts after the publication of the Golden Legend in the 1260s.

The West Iberian form Jorge is on record in Portugal as the name of Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Coimbra (1481–1550).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge

Its original Greek form, Georgios, is based on the Greek word georgos (γεωργός), 'farmer'. The word georgos itself is ultimately a combination of two Greek words: ge (γῆ), 'earth, soil' and ergon (ἔργον), 'work'. Aelius Herodianus (fl. 2nd century AD), a Roman-era Greek grammarian and writer, determined Georgios to be a theophoric name, or a name created to honor a deity, a nod to Zeus Georgos, or "Zeus the Farmer" in English. In the early stages of Greek mythology, before Zeus took on a major role in the Greek pantheon as ruler of all the gods and goddesses, he was sacrificed to as an agricultural god, a patron of crops and harvests.[6] The name took on religious significance to followers of Early Christianity in 303 with the supposed martyrdom of Georgios, a Roman soldier of Greek heritage. While the story's historical accuracy is subject to debate, his character took on real importance to the Christian Church, with Georgios and its variants being used as baptismal names and by religious officials and Christian monarchs, though it did not become common among the laity until after the Middle Ages.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_(given_name)

Bergoglio

A surname from Italian.

Translations

±surname

Italian

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:

Bergoglio

Pronunciation

IPA(key): /berˈɡɔʎ.ʎo/

Rhymes: -ɔʎʎo

Hyphenation: Ber‧gò‧glio

Proper noun

Bergoglio f

A village in Piedmont, Italy near Alessandria

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bergoglio 

Pope Francis (Latin: Franciscus; Italian: Francesco; Spanish: Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio;[b] 17 December 1936) is head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century papacy of the Syrian Pope Gregory III.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis

Borgo (sometimes called also I Borghi) is the 14th rione of Rome, Italy. It is identified by the initials R. XIV and is included within Municipio I.

Its coat of arms shows a lion (after the name "Leonine City", which was also given to the district), lying in front of three mounts and a star. These – together with a lion rampant – are also part of the coat of arms of Pope Sixtus V, who annexed Borgo as the 14th rione of Rome.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borgo_(rione_of_Rome) 

Pope Alexander VI[Note 2] (born Rodrigo de Borja;[Note 3] 1 January 1431 – 18 August 1503) (epithet: Valentinus ("The Valencian"))[6] was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into the prominent Borgia family in Xàtiva in the Kingdom of Valencia under the Crown of Aragon (now Spain), Rodrigo studied law at the University of Bologna. He was ordained deacon and made a cardinal in 1456 after the election of his uncle as Pope Callixtus III, and a year later he became vice-chancellor of the Catholic Church. He proceeded to serve in the Curia under the next four popes, acquiring significant influence and wealth in the process. In 1492, Rodrigo was elected pope, taking the name Alexander VI.

Alexander's papal bulls of 1493 confirmed or reconfirmed the rights of the Spanish crown in the New World following the finds of Christopher Columbus in 1492. During the second Italian war, Alexander VI supported his son Cesare Borgia as a condottiero for the French king. The scope of his foreign policy was to gain the most advantageous terms for his family.[7][8]

Alexander is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, partly because he acknowledged fathering several children by his mistresses. As a result, his Italianized Valencian surname, Borgia, became a byword for libertinism and nepotism, which are traditionally considered as characterizing his pontificate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI

Pope Paul V (Latin: Paulus V; Italian: Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galilei as a member of the papal Accademia dei Lincei and supported his discoveries.[2] In 1616, Pope Paul V instructed Cardinal Robert Bellarmine to inform Galileo that the Copernican theory could not be taught as fact, but Bellarmine's certificate allowed Galileo to continue his studies in search for evidence and use the geocentric model as a theoretical device. That same year Paul V assured Galileo that he was safe from persecution so long as he, the Pope, should live. Bellarmine's certificate was used by Galileo for his defense at the trial of 1633.[3]

Trained in jurisprudence, Borghese was made Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Eusebio and the Cardinal Vicar of Rome by Pope Clement VIII. He was elected as Pope in 1605, following the death of Pope Leo XI. Pope Paul V was known for being stern and unyielding, defending the privileges of the Church. He met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 and was involved in the controversy over heliocentrism. He canonized and beatified several individuals during his papacy and created 60 cardinals in ten consistories.

His insistence on ecclesiastical jurisdiction led to conflicts with secular governments, notably with Venice, which resulted in an interdict on the city in 1606. This disagreement was eventually mediated by France and Spain in 1607. Pope Paul V's diplomacy also strained relations with England, as his actions were perceived as undermining moderate Catholics in the country.

In Rome, he financed the completion of St. Peter's Basilica, improved the Vatican Library, and restored the ancient Roman aqueduct Aqua Traiana. Pope Paul V established the Banco di Santo Spirito in 1605 and is also known for fostering the rise of the Borghese family through nepotism. He died on 28 January 1621, after suffering from a series of strokes and was succeeded by Pope Gregory XV.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_V 

The Omega Point is a theorized future event in which the entirety of the universe spirals toward a final point of unification. The term was invented by the French Jesuit Catholic priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955).[1] Teilhard argued that the Omega Point resembles the Christian Logos, namely Christ, who draws all things into himself, who in the words of the Nicene Creed, is "God from God", "Light from Light", "True God from True God", and "through him all things were made".[2] In the Book of Revelation, Christ describes himself three times as "the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end". Several decades after Teilhard's death, the idea of the Omega Point was expanded upon in the writings of John David Garcia (1971), Paolo Soleri (1981), Frank Tipler (1994), and David Deutsch (1997).[3][4][5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Point

Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus: a Roman work of the entire Society, 304 §2" 

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The vir triumphalis

In Republican Rome, truly exceptional military achievement merited the highest possible honours, which connected the vir triumphalis ("man of triumph", later known as a triumphator) to Rome's mythical and semi-mythical past. In effect, the general was close to being "king for a day", and possibly close to divinity. He wore the regalia traditionally associated both with the ancient Roman monarchy and with the statue of Jupiter Capitolinus: the purple and gold "toga picta", laurel crown, red boots and, again possibly, the red-painted face of Rome's supreme deity. He was drawn in procession through the city in a four-horse chariot, under the gaze of his peers and an applauding crowd, to the temple of Capitoline Jupiter. His spoils and captives led the way; his armies followed behind. Once at the Capitoline temple, he sacrificed two white oxen to Jupiter, and laid tokens of victory at the feet of Jupiter's statue, thus dedicating the triumph to the Roman Senate, people, and gods.[1]

Triumphs were tied to no particular day, season, or religious festival of the Roman calendar. Most seem to have been celebrated at the earliest practicable opportunity, probably on days that were deemed auspicious for the occasion. Tradition required that, for the duration of a triumph, every temple was open. The ceremony was thus, in some sense, shared by the whole community of Roman gods,[2] but overlaps were inevitable with specific festivals and anniversaries. Some may have been coincidental; others were designed. For example, March 1, the festival and dies natalis of the war god Mars, was the traditional anniversary of the first triumph by Publicola (504 BCE), of six other Republican triumphs, and of the very first Roman triumph by Romulus.[3] Pompey postponed his third and most magnificent triumph for several months to make it coincide with his own dies natalis (birthday).[4][5]

Religious dimensions aside, the focus of the triumph was the general himself. The ceremony promoted him – however temporarily – above every mortal Roman. This was an opportunity granted to very few. From the time of Scipio Africanus, the triumphal general was linked (at least for historians during the Principate) to Alexander and the demi-god Hercules, who had laboured selflessly for the benefit of all mankind.[6][7][8] His sumptuous triumphal chariot was bedecked with charms against the possible envy (invidia) and malice of onlookers.[9][10] In some accounts, a companion or public slave would remind him from time to time of his own mortality (a memento mori).[11]

The procession

Rome's earliest "triumphs" were probably simple victory parades, celebrating the return of a victorious general and his army to the city, along with the fruits of his victory, and ending with some form of dedication to the gods. This is probably so for the earliest legendary and later semi-legendary triumphs of Rome's regal era, when the king functioned as Rome's highest magistrate and war-leader. As Rome's population, power, influence, and territory increased, so did the scale, length, variety, and extravagance of its triumphal processions.

The procession (pompa) mustered in the open space of the Campus Martius (Field of Mars) probably well before first light. From there, all unforeseen delays and accidents aside, it would have managed a slow walking pace at best, punctuated by various planned stops en route to its final destination of the Capitoline temple, a distance of just under 4 km (2.48 mi). Triumphal processions were notoriously long and slow;[12] the longest could last for two or three days, and possibly more, and some may have been of greater length than the route itself.[13]

Some ancient and modern sources suggest a fairly standard processional order. First came the captive leaders, allies, and soldiers (and sometimes their families) usually walking in chains; some were destined for execution or further display. Their captured weapons, armour, gold, silver, statuary, and curious or exotic treasures were carted behind them, along with paintings, tableaux, and models depicting significant places and episodes of the war. Next in line, all on foot, came Rome's senators and magistrates, followed by the general's lictors in their red war-robes, their fasces wreathed in laurel, then the general in his four-horse chariot. A companion, or a public slave, might share the chariot with him or, in some cases, his youngest children. His officers and elder sons rode horseback nearby. His unarmed soldiers followed in togas and laurel crowns, chanting "io triumphe!" and singing ribald songs at their general's expense. Somewhere in the procession, two flawless white oxen were led for the sacrifice to Jupiter, garland-decked and with gilded horns. All this was done to the accompaniment of music, clouds of incense, and the strewing of flowers.[14]

Almost nothing is known of the procession's infrastructure and management. Its doubtless enormous cost was defrayed in part by the state but mostly by the general's loot, which most ancient sources dwell on in great detail and unlikely superlatives. Once disposed, this portable wealth injected huge sums into the Roman economy; the amount brought in by Octavian's triumph over Egypt triggered a fall in interest rates and a sharp rise in land prices.[15] No ancient source addresses the logistics of the procession: where the soldiers and captives, in a procession of several days, could have slept and eaten, or where these several thousands plus the spectators could have been stationed for the final ceremony at the Capitoline temple.[16]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_triumph

What is the church triumphant?

In Roman Catholic theology, the church, the people of God, are conceived of in three categories, and the “Church Triumphant” is best understand in the context of the three:

• The Church Militant is the church on earth—they are militant in that they are in action, fighting the good fight.

• The Church Suffering is the church in purgatory—they are suffering for their sins until they have been purged and are worthy of entering the presence of God.

• The Church Triumphant is the church in heaven—they have finally triumphed over their sin on earth, come through purgatory, and are now enjoying the benefits and blessings of heaven.

Other groups, especially Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists, may use the categories Church Militant and Church Triumphant in the same way without including the Church Suffering, as these groups do not officially endorse the doctrine of purgatory.

Evangelicals do not often use the category Church Triumphant, or when they do it usually means something very different. The Gaither Vocal Band recorded a song called “The Church Triumphant,” but it does not refer to believers in heaven but to the church here on earth—what Roman Catholic theology would refer to as “The Church Militant.” This highlights a key difference between Roman Catholic and evangelical theology.

In Roman Catholic theology, very few people can be presumed to have triumphed. Most believers are suffering in purgatory. The saints who have been canonized are the only ones we can be sure are currently members of the Church Triumphant. Presumably, after thousands or millions of years in purgatory, others will join them, and eventually all believers will be triumphant,

In evangelical and biblical theology, Christians living today are triumphant in that the victory has been won by Christ. Believers participate in His triumph here and now by their identification with Him. First John 5:4–5 says, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” The Church Triumphant is made up of all believers of all times, even those on earth, because their triumph in Christ is never in doubt. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1, ESV). Even though believers on earth may struggle and suffer, there is no doubt about their ultimate triumph. Romans 8 includes the “unbroken and unbreakable chain” that begins with believers being chosen by God and ends with their glorification (verses 29–30). Glorification is so certain that it is referred to in the past tense even though it is yet to happen for believers who are alive on earth.

Romans 8 does not use the word triumphant but says that believers are “more than conquerors,” which certainly conveys the idea of triumph:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35–39).

Perhaps there is nothing wrong with thinking of the believers in heaven as the “Church Triumphant.” Certainly, believers in heaven are enjoying the victory. However, because the terminology is so entangled with a theology of merit, perhaps a different term should be used. In Roman Catholic theology, the ultimate triumph of any believer alive today is uncertain because it depends on a combination of the grace of God and the obedient response of fickle, sinful people. In evangelical and biblical theology, the triumph is certain because it depends on the faithfulness of God and the perfect work of Christ on behalf of the believer.

https://www.gotquestions.org/church-triumphant.html

Romans 8

1599 Geneva Bible

8 1 He concludeth that there is no condemnation to them, who are grafted in Christ through his Spirit, 3 howsoever they be as yet burdened with sins: 9 For they live through that Spirit, 14 Whose testimony, 15 driveth away all fear, 28 and relieveth our present miseries.

1 Now [a]then there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, which [b]walk not after the [c]flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 [d]For the [e]Law of the Spirit of [f]life which is in [g]Christ Jesus, hath [h]freed me from the Law of sin and of death.

3 [i]For (that that was [j]impossible to the Law, inasmuch as it was weak, because of the [k]flesh) God sending his own Son, in the similitude of [l]sinful flesh, and for [m]sin, [n]condemned sin in the flesh,

4 That that [o]righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled [p]in us, which walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

5 [q]For they that are after the [r]flesh, savor the things of the flesh: but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

6 [s]For the wisdom of the flesh is death: but the wisdom of the Spirit is life and peace,

7 [t]Because the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God: [u]for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be.

8 [v]So then they that are in the flesh, cannot please God.

9 [w]Now ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, because the spirit of God dwelleth in you: but if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, the same is not his.

10 [x]And if Christ be in you, the [y]body is dead, because of sin: but the Spirit is life for righteousness sake.

11 [z]But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that [aa]dwelleth in you.

12 [ab]Therefore brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh:

13 [ac]For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye mortify the deeds of the body by the Spirit, ye shall live.

14 [ad]For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

15 [ae]For ye have not received the [af]Spirit of bondage, to [ag]fear again: but ye have received the Spirit of [ah]adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

16 The same Spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.

17 [ai]If we be children, we are also [aj]heirs, even the heirs of God, and heirs annexed with Christ: [ak]if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

18 [al]For I [am]count that the afflictions of this present time are not worthy of the glory, which shall be showed unto us.

19 [an]For the fervent desire of the [ao]creature waiteth when the sons of God shall be revealed,

20 Because the creature is subject to [ap]vanity, not of its [aq]own will, but by reason [ar]of him, which hath subdued it under [as]hope,

21 Because the creature also shall be delivered from the [at]bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

22 For we know that every creature groaneth with us also, and [au]travaileth in pain together unto this present.

23 [av]And not only the creature, but we also which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we do sigh in [aw]ourselves, waiting for the adoption, even [ax]the redemption of our body.

24 [ay]For we are saved by hope: but [az]hope that is seen, is not hope: for how can a man hope for that which he seeth?

25 But if we hope for that we see not, we do with patience abide for it.

26 [ba]Likewise the Spirit also [bb]helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what to pray as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh [bc]request for us with sighs, which cannot be expressed.

27 But he that searcheth the hearts, knoweth what is the [bd]meaning of the Spirit: for he maketh request for the Saints, [be]according to the will of God.

28 [bf]Also we know that [bg]all things work together for the best unto them that love God, even to them that are called of his [bh]purpose.

29 For those which he knew before, he also predestinated to be made like to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

30 Moreover, whom he [bi]predestinated, them also he called, and whom he called, them also he justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

31 [bj]What shall we then say to these things? If God be on our side, who can be against us?

32 Who spared not his own Son, but gave him for us all to death, how shall he not with him [bk]give us all things also?

33 [bl]Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s chosen? it is [bm]God that justifieth.

34 Who shall condemn? it is Christ which is dead: yea, or rather, which is risen again, who is also at the right hand of God, and maketh request also for us.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of [bn]Christ? shall tribulation or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 As it is written, For thy sake are we killed all day long: we are counted as sheep for the slaughter:

37 [bo]Nevertheless, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Footnotes

Romans 8:1 A conclusion of all the former disputation from Rom 1:16 even to this place: Seeing that we being justified by faith in Christ, do obtain remission of sins and imputation of righteousness, and are also sanctified, it followeth hereof, that they that are grafted into Christ by faith, are out of all fear of condemnation.

Romans 8:1 The fruits of the Spirit, or effects of sanctification, which is begun in us, do not ingraft us into Christ, but do declare that we are grafted into him.

Romans 8:1 Follow not the flesh for their guide: for he is not said to live after the flesh, that hath the holy Ghost for his guide, though sometimes he step away.

Romans 8:2 A preventing of an objection: seeing that the virtue of the spirit which is in us, is so weak, how may we gather thereby, that there is no condemnation to them that have that virtue? because saith he, that virtue of the quickening spirit which is so weak in us, is most perfect and most mighty in Christ, and being imputed unto us which believe, causeth us to be so accounted of, as though there were no relics of corruption, and death in us. Therefore hitherto Paul disputed of remission of sins, and imputation of fulfilling the Law, and also of sanctification which is begun in us: but now he speaketh of the perfect imputation of Christ’s manhood, which part was necessarily required to the full appeasing of our consciences: for our sins are defaced by the blood of Christ, and the guiltiness of our corruption is covered with the imputation of Christ’s obedience: and the corruption itself (which the Apostle calleth sinful sin) is healed in us by little and little, by the gift of sanctification, but yet it lacketh besides that another remedy, to wit, the perfect sanctification of Christ’s own flesh, which also is to us imputed.

Romans 8:2 The power and authority of the spirit, against which is set the tyranny of sin.

Romans 8:2 Which mortifieth the old man, and quickeneth the new man.

Romans 8:2 To wit, absolutely and perfectly.

Romans 8:2 For Christ’s sanctification being imputed unto us, perfecteth our sanctification which is begun in us.

Romans 8:3 He useth no argument here, but expoundeth the mystery of sanctification, which is imputed unto us: for because, that the virtue of the law was not such (and that by reason of the corruption of our nature) that it could make man pure and perfect: and for that it rather kindled the disease of sin, than did put it out and extinguish it, therefore God clothed his Son with flesh like unto our sinful flesh, wherein he utterly abolished our corruption, that being accounted thoroughly pure and without fault in him apprehended and laid hold on by faith, we might be found to have fully that singular perfection which the Law requireth, and therefore that there might be no condemnation in us.

Romans 8:3 Which is not proper to the Law, but cometh by our fault.

Romans 8:3 In man not born anew, whose disease the law could not heal it.

Romans 8:3 Of man’s nature which was corrupt through sin, until he sanctified it.

Romans 8:3 To abolish sin in our flesh.

Romans 8:3 Showed that sin hath no right in us.

Romans 8:4 The very substance of the law of God might be fulfilled, or that same which the law requireth, that we may be found just before God: for if with our justification there be joined that sanctification which is imputed to us, we are just, according to the perfect form which the Lord requireth.

Romans 8:4 He returneth to that which he said, that the sanctification which is begun in us, is a sure testimony of our ingrafting into Christ, which is a most plentiful fruit of a godly and honest life.

Romans 8:5 A reason why to walk after the flesh, agreeth not to them which are grafted in Christ, but to walk after the spirit agreeth and is meet for them: because, saith he, that they which are after the flesh, savor the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit.

Romans 8:5 They that live as the flesh leadeth them.

Romans 8:6 He proveth the consequent: because that whatsoever the flesh savoreth, that engendereth death: and whatsoever the spirit savoreth, that tendeth to joy and life everlasting.

Romans 8:7 A reason and proof, why the wisdom of the flesh is death: because, saith he, it is the enemy of God.

Romans 8:7 A reason why the wisdom of the flesh is enemy to God: because it neither will neither can be subject to him. And by flesh he meaneth a man not regenerate.

Romans 8:8 The conclusion: therefore they that walk after the flesh, cannot please God: whereby it followeth, that they are not ingrafted into Christ.

Romans 8:9 He cometh to the others, to wit, to them which walk after the spirit, of whom we have to understand contrary things to the former: and first of all he defineth what it is to be in the spirit, or to be sanctified: to wit, to have the spirit of God dwelling in us; then he declareth, that sanctification is so joined and knit to our grafting in Christ, that it can by no means be separated.

Romans 8:10 He confirmeth the faithful against the relics of flesh and sin, granting that they are yet (as appeareth by the corruption which is in them) touching one of their parts (which he calleth the body, that is to say, a lump) which is not yet purged from the earthly filthiness in death: but therewithall willing them to doubt nothing of the happy success of their combat, because that even the little spark of the Spirit, (that is, of the grace of regeneration) which appeareth to be in them by the fruits of righteousness, is the seed of life.

Romans 8:10 The flesh, or all that which as yet sticketh fast in the clefts of sin, and death.

Romans 8:11 A confirmation of the former sentence. You have the selfsame Spirit, which Christ hath: Therefore at length it shall die the same in you, that it did in Christ, to wit, when all infirmities being utterly laid aside, and death overcome, it shall clothe you with heavenly glory.

Romans 8:11 By the virtue and power of it, which showed the same might first in our head, and daily worketh in his members.

Romans 8:12 An exhortation to oppress the flesh daily more and more by the virtue of the Spirit of regeneration, because (saith he) you are debtors unto God, forsomuch as you have received so many benefits of him.

Romans 8:13 Another reason of the profit that ensueth: for such as strive and fight valiantly, shall have everlasting life.

Romans 8:14 A confirmation of this reason: they be the children of God, which are governed by his Spirit, therefore shall they have life everlasting.

Romans 8:15 He declareth and expoundeth by the way, in these two verses, by what right this name, to be called the children of God, is given to the believers: because saith he, they have received the grace of the Gospel, wherein God showeth himself, not (as before in the publishing of the Law) terrible and fearful, but a most benign and loving father in Christ, so that with great boldness we call him Father, that holy Ghost sealing this adoption in our hearts by faith.

Romans 8:15 By the Spirit is meant the holy Ghost, whom we are said to receive, when he worketh in our minds.

Romans 8:15 Which fear is stirred up in our minds, by the preaching of the Law.

Romans 8:15 Which sealeth our adoption in our minds, and therefore openeth our mouths.

Romans 8:17 A proof of the consequent of the confirmation: because that he which is the Son of God, doth enjoy God with Christ.

Romans 8:17 Partakers of our father’s goods, and that freely, because we are children by adoption.

Romans 8:17 Now Paul teacheth by what way the sons of God do come to that felicity, to wit, by the cross, as Christ himself did: and therewithall openeth unto them fountains of comfort: as first, that we have Christ a companion and fellow of our afflictions: secondly, that we shall be also his followers in that everlasting glory.

Romans 8:18 Thirdly that this glory which we look for, doth a thousand parts surmount the misery of our afflictions.

Romans 8:18 All being well considered, I gather.

Romans 8:19 Fourthly, he plainly teacheth us that we shall certainly be renewed from that confusion and horrible deformation of the whole world, which cannot be continual, as it was not at the beginning: But as it had a beginning by the sin of man, for whom it was made by the ordinance of God, so shall it at length be restored with the elect.

Romans 8:19 All this world.

Romans 8:20 Is subject to a vanishing and flitting state.

Romans 8:20 Not by their natural inclination.

Romans 8:20 That they should obey the Creator’s commandment, whom it pleased to show by their fickle estate, how greatly he was displeased with man.

Romans 8:20 God would not make the world subject to everlasting curse, for the sin of man, but gave it hope that it should be restored.

Romans 8:21 From the corruption which they are now subject to, they shall be delivered and changed into that blessed state of incorruption, which shall be revealed when the sons of God shall be advanced to glory.

Romans 8:22 By this word is meant, not only exceeding sorrow, but also the fruit that followeth of it.

Romans 8:23 Fifthly, if the rest of the world looks for a restoring, groaning as it were for it, and that not in vain, let it not grieve us also to sigh, yea, let us be more certainly persuaded of our redemption to come, forasmuch as we have the firstfruits of the Spirit.

Romans 8:23 Even from the bottom of our hearts.

Romans 8:23 That last restoring, which shall be the accomplishment of our adoption.

Romans 8:24 Sixthly, hope is necessarily joined with faith: seeing then that we believe those things, which we are not yet in possession of, and hope respected not the thing that is present, we must therefore hope and patiently wait for that which we believe shall come to pass.

Romans 8:24 This is spoken by the figure Metonymy: Hope, for that which is hoped for.

Romans 8:26 Seventhly, There is no cause why we should faint under the burden of afflictions, seeing that prayers minister unto us a most sure help, which cannot be frustrated, seeing they proceed from the spirit of God which dwelleth in us.

Romans 8:26 Beareth our burden, as it were that we faint not under it.

Romans 8:26 Provoketh us to prayers, and telleth us as it were within, what we shall say, and how we shall groan.

Romans 8:27 What sobs and sighs proceed from the instinct of his Spirit.

Romans 8:27 Because he teacheth the godly to pray according to God’s will.

Romans 8:28 Eighthly, we are not afflicted, either by chance or to our harm, but by God’s providence for our great profit, who as he chose us from the beginning, so hath he predestined us to be made like to the image of his Son: and therefore will bring us in his time, being called and justified, to glory, by the cross.

Romans 8:28 Not only afflictions, but whatsoever else.

Romans 8:28 He calleth that, Purpose, which God hath from everlasting appointed with himself according to his good will and pleasure.

Romans 8:30 He useth the time past, for the time present, as the Hebrews use, who sometimes set down the thing that is to come, by the time that is past, to signify the certainty of it: and he hath also regard to God’s continual working.

Romans 8:31 Ninethly, we have no cause to fear that the Lord will not give us whatsoever is profitable for us, seeing that he hath not spared his own Son to save us.

Romans 8:32 Give us freely.

Romans 8:33 A most glorious and comfortable conclusion of the whole second part of this Epistle, that is, of the treatise of justification. There are no accusers that we have need to be afraid of before God, seeing that God himself absolveth us as just: and therefore much less need we to fear damnation, seeing that we rest upon the death and resurrection, the almighty power and defense of Jesus Christ. Therefore what can there be so weighty in this life, or of so great force and power, that might seize us, as though we might fall from the love of God, wherewith he loveth us in Christ: Surely nothing. Seeing that it is in itself most constant and sure, and also in us being confirmed by steadfast faith.

Romans 8:33 Who pronounceth us not only guiltless, but also perfectly just in his Son.

Romans 8:35 Wherewith Christ loveth us.

Romans 8:37 We are not only not overcome with so great and many miseries and calamities, but also more than conquerors in all of them.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208&version=GNV