King Theseus

St George the Dragon Slayer, From the Golden Legend and Butler’s Lives of the Saints
Lives of Saints

St George the Dragon Slayer, From the Golden Legend and Butler’s Lives of the Saints

05/23/2025 Bruce Strom 0

Dacian then sought to trick St George with persuasion, and our saint played along. St George was led into a pagan temple where the people expected he would sacrifice to the gods. “But instead of sacrificing, St George knelt and prayed for the Lord to destroy the temple and all its idols, and destroy it so completely that, for the glory of God and the conversion of the people, absolutely nothing was to be left. At once fire fell from heaven and burnt the temple, its idols and priests, to a cinder, and the earth gaped open and swallowed up the remains.” […]

Book Reviews: Golden Legend, Butler’s, OCA, and Pope Benedict XVI’s Lives of Saints
Book Reviews and Miscellaneous

Book Reviews: Golden Legend, Butler’s, OCA, and Pope Benedict XVI’s Lives of Saints

05/23/2025 Bruce Strom 1

The compiler of the Golden Legend was the Dominican friar Jacobus de Voragine. The Dominicans historically have been concerned about historical accuracy to guard the faith against heresy. He lists as his three primary sources the lives from Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius, bishop and advisor to Emperor Constantine; the Tripartite History by Cassiodorus; and the Scholastic History by Peter Comestor. In addition, he refers to more than 120 other sources. He was also influenced by earlier collections of lives of the saints by two other Dominican scholars. When his sources were apocryphal and not trustworthy, he points this out. When possible, he tries to reconcile dates and details, but is more concerned with the spiritual lessons than historical accuracy. […]

Bible Stories and Parables

Elisha Cures Naaman of Leprosy, Not With Mighty Deeds, But By Simply Washing in the Jordan

07/27/2022 Bruce Strom 0

Naaman, in the story, is not asked to perform mighty deeds by Elisha, as befits an ancient warrior and hero, but rather to perform the rather simple task of washing in the shallow, muddy Jordan River.

Ancient readers living in their ancient warrior culture would pick up on this contrast immediately, but modern readers often totally miss it. Which makes this one of my favorite stories, since one of the themes of this channel is that, when interpreting the Old Testament stories, you must always remember that most ancient peoples lived in a warrior culture much like that of the Iliad, where life was uncertain, when armies could appear over the horizon, slaughter all the men of military age, and enslave the women and children. […]

Greek and Roman History

Mighty Deeds of Theseus, First King of Athens, in Plutarch’s Lives

03/16/2022 Bruce Strom 0

Theseus and Romulus both built mighty cities, Athens and Rome, both are warriors sprung from the gods, “both stand charged with the rape of women, neither could avoid domestic misfortunes nor jealousy at home.” Youtube video for this blog: https://youtu.be/jOgNKSf9IT4 YouTube script with book links: https://www.slideshare.net/BruceStrom1/mighty-deeds-of-theseus-first-king-of-athens-in-plutarchs-lives Plutarch passes down us […]