Christians

All of the persons listed below lived to be over 100 years old.

Pope Agatho: (possibly born in Sicily - d. 681, aged 103 or 104)  Agatho was Pope from 678 until 681. He is recognized by both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.

Christopher Evans: B. 1909, England - d. 2012) English chaplain, theologian, and university lecturer. He was a recognized expert on the New Testament.

Nguyen Van Thien: b. 1906, Vietnam - d. 2012) Vietnamese Roman Catholic bishop.

Halvor Midtbo: (b. 1883, Norway - d. 1985) Norwegian priest and temperance activist.

John the Silent: (b. 454, Armenia - d. 558, aka: John the Hesychast) Religious hermit who lived aline for 76 years even though he was an ordained bishop. He is recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Some of those listed may surprise you.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Dinesh D’Souza: (b. 1961, India) American author and public speaker, political commentator.  Roman Catholic.

Abundias: (b. Spain - d. 854) Martyr. Roman Catholic parish priest in the village of Ananelos, Spain, near Cordoba.  He was beheaded and his body was thrown to hungry dogs.

Nicola Gruevski: (b. 1970, Macedonia) Banker, elected Prime Minister of Macedonia in 2006. Macedonian Orthodox.

Hassan Sharif Lubenga (b. ca 1958, Uganda) Former Muslim extremist who converted to Christianity after having dreams and visions of Jesus.  He fled to Kenya for his personal safety. He was a sheikh of Buk Haram, a violent group similar to the Nigerian Boko Haram (Hausa = “western education is sinful”).

Isidora Barankis (d. ca. 369, Egypt) One of the first “holy fools.”  A nun at the convent in Tabenissi (on the upper Nile River) in Egypt.  She lived a life of absolute humility and pretended to be insane.  Eventually she left the convent to live in the desert. Eastern Orthodox.

Assumption

Today, August 15, is the day of the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin. The feast was first celebrated in the 6th Century as the feast of the Dormition (Falling Asleep) and was defined as an article of faith and a day of obligation by Pope Pius XII in 1950 in his encyclical, Munificentissimus Deus. It is celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the Anglican Communion.

The dogma of the Assumption says that at her death, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was assumed body and soul directly into Heaven, with no need to wait on the Resurrection. Since she was God's privileged Ark, the mother of God, and is held to have been utterly sinless, and since the corruption of the grave is a punishment for original sin, she could not have decayed in the ground.

The Roman Catholic Church cites as scriptural basis for this doctrine the following verses: 2 Kings 1:11, Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5, John 14:3, Psalm 132:8, and Revelation 12:1-5. An interesting point to Protestants is that Mary's death is not mentioned in the Bible at all. Many of the references which Catholics say speak of Mary are interpreted by Protestants as references to the Church or to Israel.

Protestants do not accept the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary and do not believe that there is any scriptural basis for doing so. We believe that this doctrine is a logical sequela of the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, both of which we believe to be unscriptural. We believe that all three come from a very forced, convoluted, "twisty-turny" interpretation of scripture used to justify non-blblical man-made doctrines. This is eisogesis (forcing ideas from outside into the Bible) instead of exogesis (deriving doctrines from and consistent with the totality of scripture).

For further reading:
"The Biblical Basis for Praying to Mary and for Catholic Teachings on Mary," http://www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com/Articles/the_bible_on_the_blessed_virgin_Mary.pdf

Pope Benedict XVI and the Anglicans, Comment Two

      Pope Benedict XVI’s recent invitation to disaffected Anglicans to join in union with the Roman Catholic Church has been criticized as “fishing.”  Of course it is.  The Church (the ekklhsia, not just the Roman Catholic Church) should always seek to include those who wish to remain loyal to the truth while others drift away.

     The invitation by the pope is nothing new.  Anglicans would be able to establish communion with Rome while retaining their own traditions.  The one absolute requirement would be recognition of the primacy of the pope. 

     Other churches, such as the Maronites, have done it.  They do not consider themselves to be Roman Catholic (in many ways they more resemble Eastern Orthodoxy) but they accept the pope as the head of the church.