ancient rome

St Basil on Social Justice: Assisting the Poor During a Famine in a Roman Province
Cappodocian Church Fathers

St Basil on Social Justice: Assisting the Poor During a Famine in a Roman Province

10/04/2024 Bruce Strom 0

St Basil teaches us: “If you also give from your lack, you will have the vessel of oil ever flowing by the gift of mercy and the inexhaustible jar of flour. For the faithful, the grace of God zealously imitates these vessels, ever poured out yet never exhausted, returning double for what is given. Lend, you who lack, to the rich God. Have faith in the one who always personally undertakes the cause of the oppressed and makes recompense from his own resources.” […]

Was St Basil WOKE? St Basil the Great On Social Justice, Parable of the Rich Fool
Cappodocian Church Fathers

Was St Basil WOKE? St Basil the Great On Social Justice, Parable of the Rich Fool

10/03/2024 Bruce Strom 0

St Basil teaches us that whether we receive sufferings or blessings, both these should increase our two-fold Love of God and love of neighbor. St Basil teaches us:
“Temptations come in two forms. Sometimes affliction proves the heart like gold in a furnace, testing its purity by means of suffering. But for many, it is prosperity of life that is the greatest trial. For it is equally difficult to preserve one’s soul from despair in hard times, and to prevent it from becoming arrogant in prosperous circumstances.”
Who benefits more, those who contribute, or those who receive? St Basil teaches us, Through the fruits of your good works, “you produce for yourself, since the grace of good works redounds to those who perform them. You gave to the poor, and in so doing not only did you make what you gave truly your own, but you received back even more. For just as grain, when it falls upon the ground, brings forth an increase for the one who scatters it, thus also bread cast to the hungry yields considerable profit at a later time.” […]

St Basil On Social Justice To the Rich SMALL
Cappodocian Church Fathers

St Basil the Great, On Social Justice, His Homily to the Rich

09/29/2024 Bruce Strom 2

St Basil speaks to the Rich Young Man: “It is thus evident that you are far from fulfilling the commandment, and that you bear false witness within your own soul that you have loved your neighbor as yourself. Look, the Lord’s offer shows just how distant you are from true love! For it what you say is true, that you have kept from your youth the commandment of love and have given to everyone the same as to yourself, then how did you come by this abundance of wealth?”
“The more you abound in wealth, the more you lack in love. If you had truly loved your neighbor, it would have occurred to you long ago to divest yourself of this wealth. But now your possessions are more a part of you than the members of your own body, and separation from them is as painful as the amputation of one of your limbs.”
St Basis warns the wealthy: If you have “sound judgment, you should should recognize that you have received wealth as a stewardship, and not for your own enjoyment; thus, when you are parted from it, you rejoice as those who relinquish what is not really theirs, instead of becoming downcast like those who are stripped of their own.” […]

Summary of Mere Christianity, WWII Ecumenical Broadcast: Morality, Not Polemics
CS Lewis

Summary of CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity, WWII Ecumenical Broadcast: Morality Not Polemics

06/14/2024 Bruce Strom 0

Many scholars speculate on whether CS Lewis was inspired by the writings of Richard Baxter, a Puritan and prolific author who first coined the phrase “Mere Christianity.” Baxter lived during the intense religious struggle in the late 1600’s, a century after Henry VIII split from the Catholic Church to form the Anglican Church. Baxter was appointed to the royal chaplaincy, but he left his post after the passage of the Act of Uniformity in 1662, which required that all pastors exclusively use the Book of Common Prayer and be ordained as Anglican ministers. Baxter was reluctant to adopt a denomination, proclaiming that “I am a Christian, a MEER CHRISTIAN, of no other religion,” and “I am against all sects and dividing parties.” He did not want to identify either with Catholics, or Anglicans, or Presbyterians. […]

Was St Paul a Former Slave
Biblical Interpretation

Was St Paul a Former Slave? Were His Parents Enslaved by the Romans?

06/05/2024 Bruce Strom 0

Our authors in Christianity Today note that several prominent Biblical scholars in past 150 years have speculated that Paul’s parents were enslaved, perhaps in “the uprising in 4 BC, when Varus, Roman governor of Syria, burned entire cities and crucified 2,000 people. In Galilean cities like Sepphoris, Josephus wrote in Antiquities of the Jews, ‘troops made its inhabitants slaves.’” Furthermore, in St Jerome’s commentary on Philemon, written around the end of the fourth century, likely using Origen’s commentary as a source, states St Paul’s parents were Gischala in Judea, and were among the Jews exiled to Tarsus by the Romans. A few centuries later, St Photius, the scholarly bishop of Constantinople, confirms this, adding that St Paul was born to enslaved parents in Tarsus. These ancient sources are highly regarded by modern scholars. […]

The Cruel Roman Emperor Commodus, Son of the Good Stoic Emperor Marcus Aurelius
Greek and Roman History

The Cruel Roman Emperor Commodus, Son of the Good Stoic Emperor Marcus Aurelius

11/17/2023 Bruce Strom 0

The wise stoic reign of Marcus Aurelius, beloved by all, was followed by the murderous reign of Commodus, hated and feared by all, who would be assassinated by his closest companions. The disastrously reckless cruelty of Commodus, and his neglectful reign, which nearly caused the disintegration of the Roman Empire, colors the opinion of both ancient and modern historians. What historians mention, but do not emphasize, are the similarities between the soldier Hadrian and Commodus. Both liked to fight in the ring as gladiators. Both decided to halt the Roman policy of expansion, seeking strategic withdrawal. And Marcus Aurelius was as wary of his adoptive grandfather Hadrian as he was of his wayward son Commodus. […]

Were the Christians Actively Persecuted by Marcus Aurelius, Stoic Philosopher and Good Roman Emperor?
Greek and Roman History

Were the Christians Actively Persecuted by Marcus Aurelius, Stoic Philosopher and Good Roman Emperor?

10/13/2023 Bruce Strom 0

Today we will reflect on this question: Did the good Roman Emperor and Stoic Philosopher Marcus Aurelius actively persecute Christians? Why wasn’t Marcus Aurelius and other stoics impressed by the martyrdom of Christians in the arena? How could Marcus Aurelius espouse Christian values in his Stoic Meditations, while also including […]

History of Christian Persecutions, New Testament Through Marcus Aurelius
Greek and Roman History

History of Christian Persecutions, New Testament Through Marcus Aurelius

09/22/2023 Bruce Strom 2

How widespread was the Christian persecution under the Roman Empire? Usually, it was a local affair, not until the reign of Diocletian was an empire-wide systematic persecution of Christians undertaken. The persecution under Nero was limited to Rome itself. The extent of the local persecution depended on the enthusiasm or cruelty of the local officials, many local officials had no enthusiasm for persecuting the local Christians, turning a blind eye. Overall, the number of persecutions was not huge, rarely were the Christian persecutions systematic, targeting all Christians. Indeed, the Christian martyrs in the twentieth century alone, mostly in Russia, dwarfed the number of Christian martyrs from the preceding nineteen centuries combined. […]

Marcus Aurelius Biography
Greek and Roman History

Biography of Marcus Aurelius, Stoic Philosopher and Roman Emperor

09/20/2023 Bruce Strom 3

Summarizing his life, Cassius Dio tells us that Marcus Aurelius “did not display many feats of physical prowess; yet he had developed his body from a very weak one to one capable of the greatest endurance. Most of his life he devoted to beneficence, and that was the reason, perhaps, for his erecting a temple to Beneficence on the Capitol.” […]

Roman Emperors before Marcus Aurelius
Greek and Roman History

Roman Emperors Before Marcus Aurelius

09/15/2023 Bruce Strom 5

Hadrian’s peace policy was controversial, he abandoned Trajan’s conquests in Dacian Romania and Parthian Persia to concentrate on consolidating the Roman Empire. The problem was that the Roman Empire needed continual expansion, including war booty and slaves, to fund the empire and feed the growing populace of Rome. This policy certainly did not prevent future conflict with Parthian Persia.
Historians debate whether Hadrian’s defensive posture was wise. Were there prosperous provinces left to conquer on the frontiers? On the other hand, the successful expansion of the empire by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian several centuries later nearly bankrupted his Empire. […]