Learning from Patristics can be interesting

Learning from Early Church Fathers
According to Hippolytus, disciple of Irenaeus (hence third generation from the Apostle John) -- a true Protestant Bishop of Rome, though dismissed as the first anti-pope, in "the Refutation of all Heresies", writes that:

The Essenes:

1. Despise wealth. (9.14)
2. Sell all possessions and live in groups in every city of Israel. (9.14-15)
3. Unlike Jesus' disciples, consider the use of anointing oil as a defilement. (9.14)

4. Always dress in white. (9.14)
5. Carry only weapons when traveling in Israel. (9.15) Contrast Jesus' disciples are to simply carry staves, and only a small ratio are allowed weapons.
6. Are not to own two sets of clothes or shoes. (9.15)

7. Unlike Jesus' disciples, are not to enter the activity of buying or selling. (9.15)

8. Must start their day singing a hymn to G-D before they can converse with another person. (9.16).
9. Are allowed to work only the first 5 hours of the day, and then devote the rest to religious activity and other pursuits. (9.16).


10. Must obey the rulings of their President as if his rulings were new addendums of Mosaic Law. (9.17). These addendums, if neccessary, may be ratified by councils of no less than 100 members present...and rulings ratified by the Councils of 100 are irreversible. (9.20)

11. Are forbidden from cussing. (9.17)
12. Are encouraged to make study of plants and stones. (9.17).

13. Are ever to carry about a hatchet for instant latrine making. They will dig a 1 foot long hole, unfurl their robe like a dress, and squat upon it, not allowing even the sun to shine upon until the hole and its contents are once again covered. However, they are forbidden from doing acts of nature on Shabbat, because this ritual involves work. (9.18, 9.20)

14. Are to be obedient to all rulers after being obedient to G-D, because even wicked rulers are G-D ordained. (9.18, 9.20)
15. Are forbidden to pass beneath any graven image, such as those that would be placed above a city gate among Gentiles. (9.21)

16. If in the presence of an uncircumcised one who discusses G-D and His laws, will either force circumcise such a one by brute force, or slay such a one and feel justified in so doing. ((9.20).

17. Count the Sicarii terrorists who kill, rape, murder at Jerusalem Temple Festivals; and who, with causeless hatred, fought Rome...as one of 4 denominations/factions descended from their brand of Judaism. (9.21)


Again, Hippolytus enlightens us with more Trivia.

1. King Hezekiah's assigned men were the compilers of the book of Proverbs (cf. Proverbs 25:1); but were also the destroyers of Solomon's writings as well. Solomon had composed some 3,000 parables and 5,000 songs...many hundreds of these were about plants and various species of animal life in water, on land, and of the air. The wisdom especially contained remedies for healing diseases. Under the pretext that the people looked to the wisdom of Solomon, rather than to G-D to heal their diseases, Hezekiah destroyed the vast majority of Solomon's library of insight he had left behind. (Hippolytus, fragment on the Song of Songs).

We can therefore see that the fascination Israel had with "magics" from Solomon until the Babylonian destruction of Jerusaelm, was tied into this "forbidden" knowledge, as it were. Later retention might simply have been kept by those who practiced sorceries, until their books and knowledge was burned and purged out along with the dark "arts" they practiced as well.

2. Solomon's Temple, unlike the Temples that followed, was not with its door pointing directly to the East. (Hippolytus, Fragment on Jeremiah and Ezekiel)

Like the recent conclusions of Leen Rittmeyer and Joseph Patrich, the facing of the access to the Temple would have been offset.

http://www.ldolphin.org/Patriche-Temple.html

It seems that Patrich and Rittmeyer have shown the likelihood of the line of sight of the beautiful gate to the Holy Place being from slightly East-Southeast to West- Northwest. I am of a mind that Solomon's temple was probably more offset than these scholars have proposed. Such would be along a line of sight that leads more directly to the true crucifixion site of the Kidron and Hinom Valley juncture (Rev. 11:8), and a line of sight that is inclusive of the (later) true Pentecost upper Room of the Southeast Temple Court subjoining both the southern wall's Royal portico, and the Eastern wall's Portico of Solomon. But due to Herod's reconstruction of the Temple Mount, we may never know for sure. However, I believe this new angling by Patrich and Rittmeyer is probably at least accurate, or near to it, of the Herodian Temple.

Therefore, many of us can learn from these Early Church Fathers valuable data lost upon our current generation, and the illiteracy of modern secular scholarship in matters pertaining to Judeo-Christianity.


According to Tertullian,

1. The coming of Messiah, as indicated within a restricted timeline of fulfillment by the prophet Daniel, must occur prior to the ceasing of when unction can be made to anoint such a one as King. It is not the anointing that must occur, but Messiah's arrival before the unction ceases. Hence, no Temple and priesthood of the Temple, the unction ceases in existence...and no one else may come after to fulfill the prophecy. Hence, we are given witness that Jesus fulfills the requirement of coming as messiah before the cessation of both the Temple (with its priesthood) and the Holy Unction. (An answer to the Jews, .13)

2. Houses of ill repute (brothels) were identified by the use of laurels wrapped upon a post outside their door.

And various dressings upon doors were to the honor of various door-deities of the Romans, depending on where and how you dressed your gate or door. You had a hinge-goddess (Cardea), a door-deity (Forculus), a thresh-hold deity (Limentinus), and a Gate-deity (Janus), that helped identify your household as being apart from Judeo-Christianity.
Hence, a Christian was not allowed to have greenery upon their door, gate, or posts; but to be themselves as the light of the world, and a tree ever-green. (On Idolatry, .15)

In other words, the ancients had various "outward signs" that they looked for to testify of themselves and their beliefs. We, in our own way, also should refrain from even the appearance of idolatry ourselves; perhaps in ways we so exhibit now, but that we are or are not readily cognizant of.

An example may be in wearing the image or advertisement of a movie or rock star on a t-shirt,etc., that would constitute a "graven image of" or something that can be construed as idolatry.

Tertullian teaches us,

1) That for most of the first 170 years of Christianity, christians were forbidden from being allowed to defend themselves in Roman courts of law. (Apology,.2)

2) That any deity of Rome had to be first voted as a deity, and recognized by the Roman Imperial Senate. (Apology, .5)

3) That three of the primary occupations of Christians were that of: sailors, soldiers, and farmers. (Apology, .42)

4) In the Gladiator mid-day games ,after a battle exhibition, an actor dressed as Hermes/Mercury would first go about the stadium with a hot iron poker, and stick the bodies to see if any were feigning death or unconsciousness (and this would be part of the entertainment). He would be accompanied by an actor (probably executioner also) who was dressed like Pluto, holding a sledge like hammer in hand, to drag the gladiator bodies (or even body parts) away. (Ad nationes, 1.10)

5) Also at these (mid-day) Gladiator games, there would be the sellers of blood, who with a collection cup or pan, would collect fresh blood from the fresh punctured thigh wounds they would make of "criminals" as they lay dying, and sell it into the crowd as a cure for diseases like epilepsy. While wild animals/beasts that devoured men in the arena, were slain and sold outside the arena for food. (Apology, .9) Usually, it is several animals at a time that were released, and hence slain for exotic meat sales. (Ad nationes, 2.14)

6) Many Gladiator games began with a parade, in which many costumes and statues, thrones, etc., were displayed...like an ancient Macy's / Rose Bowl / Mardi Gras parade all wraped up in one. They also incorporated pagan religious rituals as part of the entertainment. (De Spectaculis, .7)

7) Gladiators are urged into combat by nearby overseers with rods and cat and nine-tails, so that if they do not perform or kill their opponent, they are attacked from behind by others. (De Spectaculis, .21)

Should the gladiators turn to attack these, there were archers all around the arena at appointed stations, set at the walls to shoot those in the arena (be they man or beast) down.

It is therefore no wonder, that Christians who were condemned to death in these kinds of arenas, simply chose to die quickly; rather than to kill or resist unneccessarily for the perverse amusement of others and risk their own eternal souls --being about to die in their last minutes anyway.

Patristic etc. revising of the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt, Part 1

Introduction: From Christ ... back to Homer

There appears to be a certainty among the ancients that Christ was crucified in the second year of the 192nd Olympiad. By examining the Greek histories dealing with the Olympics, and historical markers along the way, we can more deeply appreciate the freshness and vitality of the history of the New Testament, and of Christ. Further, we find, that from the Greeks themselves, they have family ties to Egypt through the Hyksos; the Syrians who oppressed the Jews as Egyptians (cf. Isaiah 52:4); and that the Romans are themselves, de facto Greek cousins, and co-descendants of these same Hyksos.

The reckoning of ancient histories outside the Bible is often a task of trying to complete a puzzle that is not clear to many ancient historians themselves. It is easier to attack the Bible, rather than to hold the same thoughtful consideration in reconstructing facts through the historical dative methods, et al.

To this day, there is hostility to biblical history spoken by those closest to the events.

The Church Fathers utilized the Greeks’ own histories against them. I have found that they could often do so successfully -- as long as they refrained to the reckoning within the first two millennia B.C. To the untrained eye, at the first, the numbers reckoning the years appear quite wild; but to the trained eye, knowing the use of Greek means of reckoning in the period in which the debate takes place, it is within the confinement of “reasonability” in a pre-calculator society.

The inability to understand ancient Greek history with certainty prior to Alexander the Great, may be summed up in this way: ‘The greatest difficulty lies with the Greek historians themselves, who were often wildly at variance with one another in their reckonings.’ And it is true, that when you have variances and debates of up to 420 or even 500 years difference among the Greek historians themselves, you have to really find whom the more reliable and non-speculative source data might be.

This search is exacerbated by modern academic hypocrisy when it comes to acceptance of ancient testimonies in regard to non-biblical history versus biblical history. Non-biblically related Greek and Roman histories are often accepted almost without question as if Gospel, and Gospel is scorned as fable or myth-making. Virtue is pooh-poohed upon 1100 and 1200 year severances between oldest manuscripts extant and its Greek and Roman original authors, with no chain of custody accountability in between. In contrast, the New Testament has over 24,000 more manuscripts extant, with portions to within a generation (30 - 40 years) of one of its authors, John the Apostle; and within two or three generations from others. Yet, the New Testament is attacked relentlessly.

In the case of the study of the chronologies of the ancient Greeks, the best handle of some of the wild variances their ancient historians gave for who did what, and when, -- in reference to the ages prior to the Olympiads, -- appears to have been grasped by early Church Fathers: Theophilus, Julius Africanus, Clement of Alexandria.

Julius Africanus tells us,
“Up to the time of the Olympiads there is no certain history among the Greeks, all things before that date being confused, and in no way consistent with each other.
But these Olympiads were thoroughly investigated (hekribonto) by many, as the Greeks made up the records of their history
-- not according to long spaces, but
-- in periods of 4 years.”
(Julius Africanus, fragment extant 13.1)

Even with the noteworthy Galilean Israelite, Josephus, there is a chronic margin of error, and inconsistency, that plagues his formulation and calculations as well.

Therefore, if we can place our calculations within a generation of the actual events, using Greek reckoning of how they arrived at such calculations, we are to consider ourselves within their own margin of error.

The following formula is probably as close as we can get in trying to establish what calculations the ancient Patristic writers and Josephus used.



The Formula

1) The Greeks who existed before Cyrus I conquering Babylon in circa 539 B.C., reckoned their years upon a 10-month or ca. 305-day calendar (Theophilus to Autolycus, 3.27). This was probably due to glacier recession on the European continent altering consistent seasonal reckonings.

Using the example of how the Hebraic 480 years of I Kings 6:1 is tabulated:
-- Pre-539 B.C., against a 10-month calendar of about 305 days. Hence, equal to Josephus' tabulation of 592 years in Antiquities, 8.3.1., according to what he calls as a "Macedonian" Greek calendar.

This is a fraction of about .8106 - .8108 of a now observed calendar year of 365.25 days. In other words, for every 81 years we have, they would have reckoned 100 years in their calculations in the pre-539 B.C. period.

2) It was with Cyrus I in Babylon, that the Greeks reckoned a 48-month cycle for each Olympiad in place of the 40-month cycle (Julias Africanus, Fragment 13 -.3). --Post-539 B.C., we are to calculate against a 12-month calendar.


3) According to Herodotus, by his era, the Greek calendar became reckoned as 12 months of 30 days, with every other year being given an extra inter-calculated month of 30 days -- Year 1 being 360 days, and Year 2 being 390 days, and then repeating itself thereafter (Herodotus, Histories, 1.33).

-- From 539 B.C. to 46 B.C., the average Macedonian / Greek year appears to have become tabulated on average of 375 days long: being 360 days 1 year, then 390 the next. So this era of 46-539 B.C. is the point of the greatest trouble in calculating actual years in Greek reckonings.

4) In 46 B.C., the Greeks adopted the standard Roman or Julian calendar of 365 days. In that particular year, adjustments were made, and 46 B.C appears to have been 445 days long.

5) The Olympiads were suspended during the Peloponnesian Wars, thus there lies a possibility of adding a 13-year addendum to any reckoning exclusively by Olympiads. My personal calculations, taking all data into advisement, point to a loss of 2 Olympiads, or another 8 years of common reckoning, during this period.


Inter-calulatory era:
As covered above, we are gaining time in our inter-calculatory period before the standard Roman calendar, and the auto-implementation of a 360-day Persian calendar. This adds one full year of inter-calculation between 46 B.C. and 539 B.C., for every 61 years that we must reckon within the confines of these years only. In short, a total of 8 years become now as variable. There appears to be a lack of consistent solar and lunar adjustments to the annual cycles, so that one Olympic might occur in summer, another in springtime, and yet another in winter; and still be true to their calendars.

It is questionable as to whether this variable is to be “factored-in” by the Patristic fathers - who must inter-calculate the Greek historical example they cite. If, however, we take the hypothetical example that the Greek reverts to the Macedonian calendar in 336 B.C.; after Herodotus’ histories -- we then find the reversion to the 10-month year of about 305 days. This will be the Macedonian influence of Philip and Alexander upon Greece, and the process (as respecting Greek calendar reckoning), thus reverts to the pre-Cyrian inter-calculation of times for only 336 B.C. to 46 B.C. This too, without the aid of the modern convenience of a calculator, led to some discrepancies in citing the same calculation in different years in different letters or apologetics.

The art of comparative dative analysis is much like the sifting of modern intelligence data. While in the process of determining exegetical accuracy, you can commit isogetical errors quite easily. The solution is to find a factual historical bane by which you can pinpoint and say, “Here. This year and event we know. Now, do the historians mention that point in time we know, and what is his calculations from that point in time?”

Julius Africanus tells us,

“…Cyrus became king of the Persians at the time of the 55th Olympiad,
as may be ascertained from the Bibliothecoe of Diodorus, and the
histories of Thallus and Castor, and from Polybius and Phlegon,
and others beside these, who have made the Olympiads a subject of
study. For the date is a matter of agreement among them all.
And Cyrus then, in the first year of his reign, which was the first year of the 55th Olympiad….” [ca.562 B.C.] (Julius Africanus, Extant 13.2)



The Olympiad reckoning
Traditionally, the first Olympiad is thought to have occurred around 776 B.C. In reality, the early Olympiads, which contained 4 years of 10 months each, first started when Ahaz reigned in his first year in Jerusalem, in 741 B.C. (Julius Africanus, Fragment 15).

Therefore, any year before 741 B.C. is pre-Olympic history to the Greeks. By being able to balance proper Biblical Chronology early on, we can more properly reckon the older dates of both Greek and Hebrew Histories as presented in Patristics.

It is entirely important that we know that 741 B.C., like the Diaspora of 586 B.C., be a fixed year and immutable. Once such a year is fixed firmly, such as the Bible does do for us, we can then springboard with greater accuracy as to what the testimony of the past really is.

When discussing their histories in the Olympic periods of 741 B.C., onwards: the Greeks took care to designate an event as happening in the number of the Olympiad, and the year. Each Olympiad being a cycle of four years, they would thus say: “In the first year of the 12th Olympiad”, so-and-so did thus-and-thus. Therefore, we can calculate that 11 cycles of 4 years at the correct annual fraction to have occurred. This is 44 times that fraction from 741 B.C., or to circa 705 to 704 B.C. (for example), for such-and-such a one, doing thus-and-thus.

Preferably, in regards to the Greeks, the calculations should be limited to within the times of the first settlements of Attica, which appear to have begun as little as 40 years before the Israelite Exodus from Egypt.

By both a biblical Redating and some comparative Greek reckoning, that date of the Israelite Exodus occurred on or about First fruits, the 17th of Nisan, in the spring of 1551 B.C.



Properly dating Homer

One example of using the Patristic reckoning of Greek history is found in the dating of Homer, the author of many Greek myths and false deities. But in order to date Homer, we also need to date the fall of Troy.

During the times of the 62nd Olympiad, Heraclitus wrote that the Trojan War and the First Olympiad were separated by 407 [10-month] years (Clement, Miscellanies, 1.21).

By that reckoning, the Trojan War ends in 1071 B.C. But Clement also cites the Greek historian Eratosthenes, who appears to “phrase” an oversight to historians.

a) From the capture of Troy to the descent (or expedition) of the Heraclidae: are 80 [10-month] years

b) From the Heraclidae to the founding of Ionia: are 60 [10-month] years

c) From the Heraclidae to the protectorate of Lycurgus: are 159 [10-month] years

d) From the protectorate of Lycurgus to the First Olympiad: are 108 [10-month] years

First Assumption ------------------------------- Actual Testimony

1070 B.C. --- The fall of Troy ------------------ 1032 B.C.
1005 B.C.--- The descent of Heraclidae ------------957 B.C.
957 B.C.---- Ionia is founded --- -----------------909 B.C.
828 B.C.--- The “Protectorate of Lycurgus” ------- 828 B.C.
741 B.C. ---- The First Olympiad ----------------- 741 B.C.

In the above, we find that the testimony hinges on a double reckoning from the descent of Heraclidae. Once this ‘double reckoning’ is established as being the ‘actual intent’ of the Greek historian: it is then corrected, and the Greek reckoning falls in line with the biblical testimony.

It also casts a light of importance on the ‘double reckoning’ as well, because to Eratosthenes, the descent of the Heraclidae is a major calculable event in Greek history. Therefore, prior to the Olympics, the Greeks must have used this as an event year from which to reckon from for about 216 years actual, or about 256 years on their calendars.

In analyzing this period, we find that the late Second Century A.D. scholar of Alexandria, Egypt, -- Clement of Alexandria -- cites Homer as having been an Egyptian, and not a Greek.

Like Herodotus, Clement lists all sorts of dates that various ancient Greeks have speculated through the centuries on the man called Homer. The most reliable of these historians, tells us that Homer died 90 years before the first Olympiad (Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 1.15, 1.21).

Taken after the percentage of what a 10-month year is to a 12-month year, we then calculate 90 years times that fraction to achieve a death of Homer in 814 B.C. (the calculation being now about 73 years prior to the First Olympiad).

His birth, according to Philochorus, was 180 years after the Trojan War (Clement, Miscellanies, 1.21). After the calculation of 180 years times the inter-calculatory fraction, the Greek percentage of a 10-month versus the later 12-month calendar, we find that Homer was born in 886 B.C. Therefore, by reckoning Greek history from fixed dates, we find that Homer died in his 71st or 72nd year of life. No more, and no less.