Religion

Saint Peter Chrysologus to deliver short sermon in Paris 2024

Some even blame Christianity for cultural appropriation: Thomas Jolly, insists the scene is a nod to a pagan celebration featuring Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility, wine and revelry.

Saint Peter Chrysologus, known as the Doctor of Homilies for the concise but theologically rich reflections he delivered during his time as the Bishop of Ravenna, could have delivered it to the Paris 2024 Olympics organizers on his Feast Day July 30.

St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, whose feast we celebrate today, July 30, was nicknamed “Peter of the Golden Words” and “Doctor of Homilies,” was designated a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XIII in 1729.

As historian Mike Aquilina writes “Peter Chrysologus is known as the “Doctor of Homilies,” and he always preached with brevity. Every word was golden. He was archbishop of Ravenna during that city’s brief term as capital of the Western empire. His sermons rang like poems, rich with biblical insight and glimpses of ordinary life in a fifth-century urban center.”

 Olympics organizers deeply apologized for a colossal mistake at the opening ceremony: introducing South Korea’s athletes as North Korea. “As the South Korean athletes waved their nation’s flag on a boat floating down the Seine River on Friday evening, they were announced in both French and English as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”

Using Hoyle, Einstein or even the Wittgenstein Ruler, such ‘colossal mistake’ pales in comparison with the organizers and Legacy Media like CBS Newsmocking Christianity. As CBS ‘reports:” The organizers behind the Paris Olympics apologized to anyone who was offended by a tableau that evoked Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” during Friday’s opening ceremony and provoked outrage by religious conservatives around the world. The organizers, however, defended the concept behind it. ‘Religious conservatives’ – Get it? Today Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei said the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics insulted Jesus Christ and directed insults at ‘holy figures of divine religions’.

Some even blame Christianity for cultural appropriation. USA Today ‘reports’ opening ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, has insisted that the scene is not a reference at all to the Last Supper. “Rather, the performance is a nod to a pagan celebration featuring Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility, wine and revelry.”

As bad as Paris 2024 is, there was paganism and theological controversies in the 3rd -5th centuries. In the 2nd century Hadrian constructed a temple to Venus on the site of the crucifixion of Jesus on Golgotha hill in order to suppress Christian veneration there. Eusebius wrote in 325 AD: “How Constantine Commanded the Materials of the Idol Temple, and the Soil Itself, to Be Removed at a Distance: He ordered that the materials of what was thus destroyed, both stone and timber, should be removed and thrown as far from the spot as possible; and this command also was speedily executed. The emperor, however, was not satisfied with having proceeded thus far: once more, fired with holy ardor, he directed that the ground itself should be dug up to a considerable depth, and the soil which had been polluted by the foul impurities of demon worship transported to a far distant place.” (Eusebius , The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine, book 3, ch 27)

The main Latin theology came primarily from such figures as Tertullian and Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, rather than from any figure in Rome. Tertullian wrote Against Praxeas, in which he discussed the doctrines of the Trinity and the person of Christ. But in 251 Novatian’s schism at Rome diverted interest away from speculative theology to juridical questions about the membership of the church and the validity of sacraments. Differences of opinion over similar issues in the 4th century led to a schism between Rome and the churches of North Africa.

Yet Peter Chrysologus was a pivotal bishop who preserved the faith in his region of Italy in the fifth century. He was an adult convert to Christianity, then was ordained a deacon and priest before being raised to bishop of Ravenna in 433.

Many people were still practicing paganism in Ravenna when he began his work there, and this caused other Christians to fall away from the faith. He reformed and solidified the Church there with his preaching, actions and by encouraging frequent reception of Communion.

The triumph of Christianity over the pagan religions of ancient Rome led to the greatest historical transformation the West has ever seen: a transformation that was not only religious, but also social, political and cultural. The Paris Olympics organizers remind us of Saint Paul’s warning 2000 years ago, about complacency, good and evil: “Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power.
Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.”

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