... A POINT ON CULTURE ... THE MYSTERIES OF ANCIENT GREECE
shocking discovery by reading the Holy Scriptures
Full report of the Conference by Prof. Vincenzo Angelo Russo to "Sarda Domus Civitavecchia.
I am a professor of literature, over the years I wrote poems, sagas (legendary fictional stories of a people, a family and a social group), essays and short stories parabolic. Because of the shape and content of the four very different kinds just mentioned, more than one reader asked me:
- You can find out where you are genuine? Your writings appear to have come from the pen of different authors. "
I replied
- I hope to be in everything I've been given. Flip: how a house is not poor, usually there are more rooms and more apartments in a building, so the personality human is unique and indivisible, but it has many implications, so a man can be sincere and authentic even in contradictions. Tonight, however, let me introduce you to expose some of the results of my research, conducted through comparative studies between the Scriptures and the Greek Mythology. It may be that, as I am about to refer, others have already discovered and told. I have not given, for sure, because I know that I have read all the books in view of the earth. Precise, however, that if two or more people should do the same discoveries through meditations and walks of life, hardly riproporrebbero in the same way, but each of them backed up by their own perspective, giving a personal contribution of originality to a vision of the same deeper and more complete. Solving a math problem is likely to take the same proceedings, it is much less in other areas of thought. I will add even more confirmation of what I have said, that if more people were to take the same journey and each of them will write the record, describe not only different but also the arrival of the stages of the route would be dissimilar and their reflections . That said, I am going to expose what I found disconcerting about the similarities between the figures of Heracles (Hercules), Zeus (Jupiter) and Prometheus with the Redeemer. This is not the usual vague and sometimes combinations of some ancient myths with certain basic principles of Christianity. I refer to those of the Brahmanic Trimurti of religion with the Trinity Evangelical, the Egyptian goddess Isis fertilized by the gaze of the god Osiris, with the virgin motherhood of Mary, the god Mithras, the creator of light and triumph over darkness and death, with Christ that rises triumphant from the tomb. The similarities outlined by the parallels to me and became part of an organic system, by matching special with some episodes of the human story of Christ, from its conception to its apotheosis in heaven with the Father.
I would just like to expose some of the similarities found:
1. Heracles (Hercules), born of Zeus (Jupiter) and Alcmene and Christ, Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and Mary, both have God as a father, a woman for a mother and putative father: Heracles is Amphitryon, who, after the birth, the affilierà , and Christ is St. Joseph. -
A listener from the third row interrupts me and asks:
- It would be so kind to give me an explanation of the figure of Alcmene, who was mentioned earlier?
The answer:
- According to myth, was a woman deeply in love with her husband Amphitryon, very beautiful, virtuous and still a virgin, because her husband had made a vow not to have conjugal relations with her until after his return from war. She would have been true even if the sum of all had the request. Except that Zeus, invaghitosi of such beauty and desiring to possess it, resorted to trickery to take the form of the absent spouse, therefore, believed to lie with your husband, conceived Heracles.
continue:
2. Discoveries of their wives pregnancies, Amphitryon and San Jose had a behavior similar in some respects. It 's true that Amphitryon was so drastic to want to burn alive Alcmene, while St. Joseph, gentle and respectful of the law, he wanted to divorce Mary secretly to keep her stoned as an adulteress: but either they changed their minds and accept their women, when events supernatural revealed to them that the two pregnancies were of divine origin. The first miracle was the rain, which extinguished the pyre where she was placed Alcmene, the second was the angel said to St. Joseph in a dream: - "... Do not be afraid to take Mary ... because what he has in his lap is the work Holy Spirit ... "Mt 1:20
3. Hercules was born with the daunting task of freeing the world from monsters through the twelve labors, the Divine Word was made flesh in Christ, to redeem mankind from sin through His works and His teachings spread between people through the twelve apostles.
4. Herakles, still in the cradle, escaped from the danger of poisonous snake bites him sent by the jealous Hera (Zeus' wife); Christ, an infant, escaped from the assassins sent to him by the jealous Herod (Massacre of the Innocents).
Let me clarify:
- It could be argued that the episodes compared are not identical.
Note that this search does not proceed by matching comparisons, but for similarities. In saying, for example, that two brothers Frank and John, the comparison focuses on equality of the number, then if those of one are high and those of the lean and fat, and low is a subject that is outside the topic.
Go ahead:
5. Some centuries before Christ, the tragic poet Euripides in the play "Alcestis," said Heracles, on a trip, he went to the palace of his friend Admetus king of Fere, found him in mourning the death of Queen Alcestis, in order to love him, had sacrificed their lives. Admetus, in order not to disturb the cheerful exuberance of the host, is considered sacred, the court ordered all the silence. Despite this, Heracles also sensed the tragic atmosphere that reigned in the house. Learned the truth from a servant who, overcome by grief, had broken the secret, angry with the death and moved to the mourning of the king, rushed to the tomb of the late Queen. There he found the monstrous Thanatos demon of death, ready to seize and bring it into the underworld. With an enterprise worthy of the beloved son of Zeus, he hired a bitter fight, defeated him, tore Alcestis and returned alive to the love of her husband.
Christ went to the village of Bethania, the family of his friend Lazarus, and found the sisters Martha and Mary overwhelmed with grief at the death of his brother. Similar to Heracles trembled with anger, he was moved, he went to the tomb, he defeated death, bringing to life the friend and the affection of his loved ones laugh.
6. Heracles arrived at the gates of hell, in the mythical garden of the Hesperides, where resided the nymphs of the night and the sun, after sunset, slept regenerate its forces in a golden cup. There he won the battle against the serpent Ladon, which, in the middle the garden was bound to the branches of a large tree with golden apples.
Christ, by His coming, triumphed over the devil, who, in the garden of Eden, in the guise of a snake was wrapped around the apple tree by which he allowed sin to enter into the human race.
the serpent Ladon symbolizes the devil, it is deduced from its immortality. In fact, Apollonius Rhodius, greek epic poet, who lived in the third century. BC, in his Argonautica drawn from very ancient myths, says that the Argonauts came to the Garden of the Hesperides, Ladon found the serpent pierced by the arrows of Heracles. However, despite the same Apollonius the judge died, continue to move the tail, thus revealing his immortal nature.
7. Heracles won the battle against the Hydra, whose pestilential breath made barren lands of the whole district. The hellish monster, with many heads, splashing in putrid waters of Lerna swamp and emerging suddenly they devoured the flocks and the wayfarers.
Christ triumphed over Satan's diabolical power that is manifested in the multiplicity of human sin, symbolized perhaps by the many heads of Hydra, with which it tries to lead the world to ruin.
8. Since the neck of each of the other two heads severed Hydra sprouted, Heracles did bring some coals by his nephew Ioalo, which burned the excisions inflicted on the monster, thus preventing the heads of regeneration. It can be said: his victory over the beast Hell was produced by the fire, as it shines, it heats, burns and can be purified, to sequence the three means given to man by God through the Holy Spirit through Christ to overcome sin : Illuminating the Divine Grace (shining), the loving warmth of Charity (heating), Penance (burns and purifies).
9. As the hero could not kill the last head of the monster, one that refreshes all the others, being immortal, buried under a huge boulder. In the Apocalypse of St. John, the last of the sacred books, the angel of God, by order of the Most High, he threw Satan, the great dragon father of all evil, the abyss and placed above the seal.
10. Hercules descended into the underworld, where he found two friends in chains: the right Pirithous Theseus and the offender. Theseus freed carry away, but when he proceeded to break the bonds of Pirithous guilty, all underworld and the god of the dead rebelled against and would not let him
Christ, after death, to unhinge the gates of hell, led by Paradise itself in the righteous and the patriarchs, who were waiting for him, but not the hammer of the reprobate.
Another listener interrupts me and asks: "Why did you just called Theseus, guilty of having abandoned Ariadne on the island of Naxos, where her through the gift of the ball helped him out of the Labyrinth, where the said it had killed the Minotaur? "
reply:" I called such because it atoned for his crime with the pain to return home to his father's suicide Aegean. Who, convinced that his son had been killed by the Minotaur, threw himself from a cliff into the sea below, which, in the tragic memory of the episode, was given the name "Aegean." In addition, he is redeemed from the same crime with the administration of justice and wisdom with the city of Athens. Some might accuse him of having seriously offended the god of the dead, to be descended into hell with his friend Pirithous with intent to kidnap Persephone, wife of the god. But, according to myth, he, after trying in vain to dissuade his friend by the sacrilegious, overwhelmed by a strong sense of brotherly love, accompanied him with the sole purpose of protecting him from the dangers of the beyond the grave.
Continuation: 11
Deianira While Hercules and the bride were preparing to cross the river Eveno, approached them to be half man and half horse, the centaur Nessus, who offered to ferry the woman on the other side. The moment rushed back in, he took to flight taken by an overwhelming desire to lust after. Hercules, hearing the cries of the bride, shell against the treacherous ferryman an arrow imbued with the poisonous bile and blood of the Hydra (the above named monster hell-with its many heads that would symbolize the diversity of human sin). The Centaur before he died he found a way to retaliate with hypocritical sweetness Deianira whispering: "Pick up, in this little urn, the blood gushing from my wound, and if one day would fall in love with another woman Heracles, send him a garment soaked with it and he, after having worn, will return to you and love you forever. " Some time after Heracles fell in love with Iole, the daughter of King Eurytus dell'Acalia .. Then, as told by the greek poet Sophocles, lived in the fifth century. C. the opera "Trachis" Deianira, to regain it, sent him a tunic soaked with the blood of the centaur, made from the poisonous bile and blood of the Hydra. The garment came to Heracles put it in the same night in which his father built a new temple and offered him a sacrifice of worship. As soon as the sun rose, the poisons of the monster they made their devastating effect, penetrated into the lungs and choked the breath. The tunic had turned into a shroud of fire that clung like a second skin and strips of flesh were detached during the futile attempts to strapparselo off. Then the hero he sailed from friends on the mountain Eta, where he ordered them to amass a pile of wood on which it went up and begged those present to burn it. No one obeyed him, except his friend Filoti or according to other myths of his father. Heracles died tortured at the stake, but shortly before the flames licked him, was kidnapped and transported by the goddess Athena in heaven, where at the right hand of Zeus with his human and divine nature.
Note the sequence similarities between the mythological story told and the Gospel:
12. in the same night as Hercules built a new temple to Zeus and offered him a sacrifice, death came to him with the gift sent to him by Deianira fatal, the woman who was loved and had listened to lying words of the Centaur Nessus. On the night of the Last Supper, in the act in which Christ shared bread with his disciples and built the New Church, making the sacrifice of the Eucharist, the death came to him with the hypocritical kiss of Judas, one of the twelve who had given listening to Satan.
Heracles died in agony on the pyre, with the shoulder tunic poisoned by blood and bile Hydra (1) (a monster with many heads that perhaps symbolizing all the sins of men). Christ died, broken on the Cross, for having taken upon Himself the sins of the world.
13. According to one of the ancient myths, Deianira, noticing that he caused the death of Heracles, for the pain and remorse, hanged himself. (See dictionary mythological Ed UTET Deianira voice), Judas (as the Gospel Mt 27.5), after causing the death of Christ, for similar reasons, the same way he took his own life.
14. Heracles, from the fire before he died, gave Iole, the woman who was so dear to the beloved son Illo. Christ on the Cross. " . . Seeing Mary, and beside her the disciple whom he loved .. and said, "Woman, behold your son." Then he turned to the disciple, "Behold your mother ...". (John 19:26-27) and shouted: "My God!" In Aramaic "Eloi" (Mc.15, 24) corresponds to the name "Iole" read backwards. It could inferred from a reading of the myth that that woman was there with friends during the agony of the hero.
15. Heracles, after his death, ascended to the right of Zeus with his human and divine nature, Christ, after the death and resurrection, ascended to the Father as God-Man, who is also hypostatic union of two distinct natures, but not separate.
16. Friends of Hercules sought his bones among the ashes of the fire, but found only the armor, as the glorified and ascended to the right hand of Zeus. The disciples of Christ sought his body in the tomb, but found only the shroud, as transfigured and risen to the Father.
17. Formerly, in the city of Thebes was shown to strangers the empty tomb of Alcmene, mother of Heracles, because according to myth, at the end of her earthly life had been taken with the mortal remains of the Beatitudes on the island. In Jerusalem the pilgrims is shown the tomb of Mary, also empty, because, according to the tradition upheld by the Dogma of the Assumption (Proclaimed by Pope Pius XII on 1 November 1950), after the transition (Dormition), is rising with whole body in Heaven.
18. Even among the Titan Prometheus and the Redeemer there are similarities:
According to myth, the Titans were giants who had tried to climb Olympus. For this reason, they were struck by lightning of Zeus and plunged into the abyss darkness of Tartarus. Note the remarkable similarity of that episode with the expulsion of the rebel angels from heaven, which are tested by God, the sin of pride and were cast into the darkness of Hell, "... where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth ... "Mt 22.13.
Prometheus dissociatosi by his peers, having proclaimed his loyalty to Zeus, created man with the mud and allowed the Goddess of Wisdom Athena's wisdom and breathe the breath of life. Its creation also received, as most of the gifts, the fire from the gods that, following a fault, was taken from him. Prometheus, driven by an immense feeling of love toward being that he himself had created, stole fire and gave it back, so it was effectively shackled by Zeus in the mountains of the Caucasus, where every day an eagle swooped that tore the side and ate the liver. To make its excruciating agony was the supreme god in a way that its subject is the torture continued renewal. This martyrdom was interrupted by Heracles, who killed the eagle and broke the chains, freed Prometheus.
from this incident shows the following similarities:
a) Prometheus, as mentioned above, after creating the man with the mud, by the goddess Athena, and breathed the breath of wisdom and life.
The Word, incarnate in Christ before he created the man with the water and dust and to do so in His own image and likeness, by the "Holy Spirit", he breathed into him the soul.
b) Prometheus, for having made it to his son lost the fire of the gods, was chained on the rock. Christ, for giving the man lost the gift of Grace, was nailed to the Cross.
c) Prometheus had his side pierced by the eagle of Zeus, Christ had his side pierced by the spear of a Roman soldier, who teaches military for the eagle.
In summary, while the figures of Prometheus and Hercules are both symbolic anticipation of the Redeemer, in the myth of Heracles, who breaks the chains of Prometheus and frees him, can see Christ who breaks the chains of death and resurrected Himself.
not carry these analogies to support an addiction earlier cults of Christianity, but to give credit to the certainty of faith that the Holy Spirit breathes into various religions, in different times and places, by granting to each of them, finds space for ecumenical . Not only through Scripture but also through the myth, the Savior has probably wanted to herald his coming among men, and also answer some of the aspirations of the pagans.
As I mentioned the words "evidence ecumenical" I consider it appropriate to demonstrate clearly the difference between syncretism and ecumenism:
- If I profess the Catholic religion and then were to suggest to believe in reincarnation, I would make a squalid syncretism as those who belong to the universal religion must believe in the resurrection, not reincarnation. If you took into consideration the principle of the sacredness of the guest, I would find it a meeting point for ecumenism. The Second Vatican Council indicates the road of ecumenism in order to overcome the differences between the various Christian denominations, to coming back, in an atmosphere of brotherhood, shared values. This trend has spread from the post-conciliar Church to other religions in the world.
back to Greek mythology, Zeus is hidden behind the unknowable deity of Fate (see Iliad) that is revealed in this trilogy:
1. Zeus bows to the will of Fate;
2. law in his mysteries;
3. communicates the will of Fate to men through oracles Dodona and Ammon and is called the god of the prophecies (in Latin, Soter, which means savior of the people).
Likewise in the Christian religion, the Son is hidden behind the unknowable deity of the Father, who reveals himself in a similar trilogy
1. accept the will of Him: "... Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me, but not my will be done, but your ..." Lk. 20.42,
2. law in its mysteries: "... no one knows the Father except the Son .. . Mt 11.27
...", 3. communicates the will of Him to men. " . . Everything I've heard from my Father I have made known to you ... "Jn. 15.15. and is called the "Savior." If
between the myth of Hercules and the human story of Christ there are similarities, it can be assumed that, as Deianira caused the death of Heracles, the hero because he preferred to Iole, so Judas may have betrayed Christ because the Savior had given primacy not to him but to Peter. "Why such a grudge does not dwell in the other Apostles?". One might respond: "If an individual follows a Guide Light, motivated solely by his ambitions, it is likely that another gratified to see more of him, his mind kindled envy. Where to go behind the light driven by love, as did the apostles, can only welcome if another gets more than he does because he loves him. I think, therefore, the petty motives of envy and greed and not that of one who sees a zealot and Judas burning disappointed because Christ would not have been placed at the head of a revolt against the Romans. Admittedly, a thesis of this kind is not evident in any of the writings accepted by the Roman church. Similarly, I reject the insinuation fantareligiosa of a Christ who would not die on the cross, but recovered from the cares of the apostles, he would even married to Mary Magdalene .. etc etc (See The Da Vinci Code). I find that it is a delusion born of a mind frame squalid and perverse purposes purely editorial.
As I am about to conclude, another listener asks me this question:
- Do you think a theologian would agree on what was stated in this meeting?
answer:
- I wish I could be wrong, but common sense and experience lead me to believe that, even in the course of my research I was able to shed light on the truth more obvious and indisputable, probably you'll always find someone to refute me .. Invade a field that considers only its own and "like to see any cock between his fellow scratching his chickens." It could also pass the hypothesis that, after being snubbed, the use with a few tweaks to their advantage. The world is full of "first women", not only women, each of which lives in constant fear that the spotlight can be usurped. Some might find my parallels too bold, but if I turn out in that form, because to ignore them?
1. note - Hydra, whose poisons burn the meat of Heracles, read to the contrary by the verb: ardi ".
Angelo Vincenzo Russo
e-mail sandro.bellovino @ fastwebnet.it
BIOGRAPHY
Angelo Vincenzo Russo, born in Tolfa, based in Civitavecchia, where he lives and works. E 'teacher Professor of Humanities in state schools.
directs the Tax, Monthly Bulletin of legislation, case law and information in tax matters and the like. Collaborate to newspapers and magazines and participating in broadcasting.
addition to this work, has led to the press in 1976 under the name of Christmas Ruina, a valuable book entitled "The light of the heart, then revised and republished with the author's real name and the title 'Ethics love "The prize" Martin Luther King "and. 1979.
In 1986 and 1991, his output in two successive editions of the collection of poems "In the Valley of the Sun" and in 1989 the work of fiction "Remember the shadow of the Rock "Award Capitol AIS" the first book of a trilogy, which will be completed with two successive volumes of environmental and historical narrative, and in 1995 a new book of poems entitled "The Guiding Light Backlight" that confirms his talent as an artist researcher of intense poetic atmosphere and evocative. Human reality is there immersed in the mystery against the backdrop of a living Christianity, although not clearly expressed.
GA RIZZI
Many thanks to the joint and close friend Sandro Bellovin for their valuable advice, which I have often exercised in the review of this work.
Angelo Vincenzo Russo
