The Early Church Fathers on the Scriptures: The Four Gospels [Ecumenical]

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[Salvation]

The Early Church Fathers on the Scriptures

 
The Four Gospels
by Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 2nd century

             
There are four gospels and only four, neither more nor less: four like the points of the compass, four like the chief directions of the wind. The Church, spread all over the world, has in the gospels four pillars and four winds blowing wherever people live.

These four gospels are in actual fact one single Gospel,  a fourfold Gospel inspired by the one Spirit, a Gospel which has four aspects representing the work of the Son of God.

These aspects are like the four cherubs described by Ezekiel. In the prophet's words: `The first had the like ness of a lion,' symbolizing the masterly and kingly role of Christ in priesthood; `the second had the appearance of an ox,' the beast of sacrifice, recalling the perfect sacrifice of Christ; `the third had the face of a man,'  undoubtedly referring to the coming of the Lord in human nature; `and the fourth had the aspect of a flying eagle,' with a clear allusion to the grace of the Spirit hovering over the Church. [cf. Ezek. 1:10; Rev. 4:7]

The four Gospels correspond to these symbols. Christ is at the center of them.

John actually speaks of his kingly and glorious Sonship to the Father in his opening words: `In the beginning was the Word.' [John 1:1] Luke begins with Zaccharias offering sacrifice. Matthew chooses first of all the Lord's human genealogy. And Mark leads off by calling on the prophetic Spirit which invests humanity from on high.

(Translation by Thomas Spidlik, Drinking from the Hidden Fountain: A Patristic Breviary, Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, MI - Spencer, MASS, 1994) 

[RonF]

I’ve watched a few Austrailian Rules Football matches on late-night TV. My first reaction was “Liars! There obviously ARE no rules!” But after I figured out a few things it certainly looks like a fun game.

Now, if you want to see a lively American game try checking out lacrosse. The ball is a solid hard rubber ball about the size of a tennis ball. The players have meter or 1.5 meter (depending on position) sticks with small shallow baskets on the end. You can shoot the ball about 160 Km/hour - or more - at a goal that’s a 2 meter square. The goalie has a stick with a basket about 30 cm in diameter that he can use to catch shots. Everyone wears a helmet with a wire mask. The man with the ball can be checked from the front and side, but not from the rear.

The man with the ball can also be struck by an opposing player’s stick anywhere from the shoulder on down as hard as the opposing player can swing it. I’ve seen an arm broken (to the point that it was apparent and somewhat nauseating to every onlooker within 100 feet). If the ball is dropped, any player can knock down any other player with 2 meters of the ball until someone picks the ball up and gains possession. Play only stops on penalties or scores. Balls thrown out of bounds are immediately brought back in, like soccer. Balls that go out of bounds on a missed shot on goal goes to the team with a player nearest to the point that the ball left, which in practice means that the ball goes back to the shooting team and you therefore get lots of shots. Player substitutions are made on the fly, like hockey, and like hockey players can freely leave and re-enter any number of times during the game.

If you manage to figure out how to do something that’s actually forbidden (checking from the back IS a no-no; so is *deliberately* striking someone on the head with a stick) you’ll be sent off for 2 minutes while your team plays short-handed.

So, lots of action, lots of contact, lots of speed and manuevering.

[MarkBsnr]

I’ve watched a few Austrailian Rules Football matches on late-night TV. My first reaction was “Liars! There obviously ARE no rules!” But after I figured out a few things it certainly looks like a fun game.

I've tried my hand at rugby a few times. Tough, tough game.

Now, if you want to see a lively American game try checking out lacrosse.

I've played it as a kid. Another rather tough game. And it is manifestly Canadian, derived from the Indians and played in hockey arenas. Yankees are copying Canadians, yet again. :)

I even caught a Little Brown Bat that got into my parents' house some years ago with my old stick.

[RonF]

I believe that you’ll find that the Indians (specifically Iroquois) played lacrosse on both sides of the New York/Quebec border. It was the French who gave it the name - at the time they would have not recognized the appellation “Canadian”.

[RonF]

As a matter of fact there was a diplomatic flap about that. The world championships were held somewhere in Europe a couple of years ago. The Iroquois always attend, even though they don’t often do well, as they are recognized as the originators of the game. They travel on self-administered passports identifying them as members of the Iroquois nation, not as American citizens. This had been accepted practice until the last time, when the State department stepped in and ruled that they couldn’t get on domestic airplanes with anything but a U.S. passport. The Iroquois apparently don’t recognize American sovereignty over their persons to that extent and refused to travel on U.S. passports. Then the State Department relented, only to see the Europeans decide they weren’t going to accept the Iroquois Nation’s passports. They stayed home rather than travel on U.S. passports.

[MarkBsnr]

I believe that you’ll find that the Indians (specifically Iroquois) played lacrosse on both sides of the New York/Quebec border. It was the French who gave it the name - at the time they would have not recognized the appellation “Canadian”.

It was concentrated in the St. Lawrence Valley. Actually, while I normally detest Wikipedia, it does treat lacrosse rather well. The legend is that Fr. Brebeuf, the legendary missionary, first named it lacrosse, or a version of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_lacrosse says that:

In 1856, William George Beers, a Canadian dentist, founded Montreal Lacrosse Club. He codified the game in 1867 to shorten the length of each game, reduce the number of players, use a redesigned stick, and use a rubber ball. The first game played under Beers' rules was at Upper Canada College in 1867. During the 1860s lacrosse became Canada's national game.

So, while it did percolate across the border, it was predominantly Canadian. Interestingly enough, Canadian football preceded American football, in case you didn't know!!!! McGill University played Harvard in the first cross border game.