Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 02-15-2009, 08:38 PM

The United Church of God is sure that Valentine's Day is pagan:

Quote:

First, we should understand that Valentine's Day began when the early Roman Catholic Church tried to Christianize an ancient pagan Roman holiday called Lupercalia. That celebration was a licentious festival that honored Lupercus, the hero-hunter of wolves. This festival was so immensely popular among the Roman people that church leaders included it in their calendar, hoping to retain their new parishioners and turn them from sexual licentiousness to morality by linking it to a saint.

. . .

In fact, what was overlooked in the adoption of pagan holidays was God's true Holy Days and what they mean. We can find all of God's Holy Days or festivals listed in Leviticus 23. And you can also find in the New Testament that Jesus Christ, the apostles and the entire early Church all kept those exact same festivals. Jude is apparently referring to these when he writes of "your love feasts" in Jude 12.

This seems to be an idiosyncratic interpretation of the Love Feasts:

The true account of the matter is probably that given by Chrysostom, who says that after the early community of goods had ceased the richer members brought to the church contributions of food and drink, of which, after the conclusion of the services and the celebration of the Lord?s Supper, all partook together, by this means helping to promote the principle of love among Christians. The intimate connection especially in early times, between the Eucharist itself and the love feasts has led some to speak of them as identical. The love feasts were forbidden to be held in churches by the Council of Laudicea, A.D. 320; but in some form or other they continued to a much later period

A more modern commentator notes

Quote:

Saint Valentinus. It was a common enough name in the Roman Empire, deriving as it did from the Latin word for worthiness (valens). There are no fewer than seven distinct saints bearing this name on various Christian saints and martyrs rolls, primarily Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox lists.

There was also an important early Christian teacher in Rome by the same name, a heretical teacher of Christian esoteric wisdom who left a movement called “Valentinian” behind; naturally enough, there is no feast day for this renegade Christian teacher. . . .

Has anyone connected the gnostic, ascetic Valentinus with Valentine's Day? A central sacrament of the Valentinians was the Bridal Chamber (the Nymphon). From here:

Quote:

The chief sacrament of the Valentinians seems to have been that of the bridal chamber (nymphon). The Gospel of Philip, a probable Valentinian text, reads:

There were three buildings specifically for sacrifice in Jerusalem. The one facing the west was called "The Holy". Another, facing south, was called "The Holy of the Holy". The third, facing east, was called "The Holy of the Holies", the place where only the high priest enters. Baptism is "the Holy" building. Redemption is the "Holy of the Holy". "The Holy of the Holies" is the bridal chamber. Baptism includes the resurrection and the redemption; the redemption (takes place) in the bridal chamber.

As Sophia was united with the Saviour, her bridegroom, so the faithful would experience a union with their angel in the Pleroma (cf. the "Higher Self" or "Holy Guardian Angel"). The ritual of this sacrament is briefly indicated: "A few of them prepare a bridal chamber and in it go through a form of consecration, employing certain fixed formulae, which are repeated over the person to be initiated, and stating that a spiritual marriage is to be performed after the pattern of the higher Syzygia."

Valentinians were still active in the 4th century. Could naming a feast day connected with pagan fertility rites after their founder be a little Catholic joke? :constern01:

mountainman · 02-17-2009, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

The United Church of God is sure that Valentine's Day is pagan:

...[trimmed]...

Valentinians were still active in the 4th century. Could naming a feast day connected with pagan fertility rites after their founder be a little Catholic joke? :constern01:

Dear Toto,

Of course, like Saints Cosmas and Damien, and St. Etc Etc Etc, none of these flaming christian saints existed in the historical sense in which they are described. We are dealing with a process of "christianisation". Renaming public holidays was reserved for the political parties in power. In the fourth century, christianity assumed such power. No longer were the feast days the subject of discussion by the astrologers and astronomers and mathematics of the old schools.

Such naming of things "christian" could by one be considered a joke if one considered the process of Christianisation to be a joke, or had a licence to go out and change the world in the ways that they thought fit at that time. Valentine was a pagan, but Saint Valentine was a sainted christian. Valentinians and Gnostics etc may have last been active in the fourth century, after which time they were "christianized" by imperial decree, or suffered the consequences. To the Gnostics and Hellenistic academics, who lost their heritage and traditions to a "new world power", the process of christianisation was not a joke. So I guess whether or not one thinks it a joke depends on where one places one's focus.

Best wishes,

Pete

Toto · 02-17-2009, 05:53 PM

Pete - nothing you say makes much sense here.

Valentinius was a Christian - not an orthodox or protoorthodox, but a powerful leader of a faction of Christians.

Quote:

Valentinus's followers in Alexandria later reported that he had claimed a kind of apostolic sanction for his teaching by maintaining that he had received lessons in Christian religion from a certain Theudas, who—he said— had been a student of St. Paul.

Tertullian reported that Valentinius almost became a Bishop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by earlychristianwritings.com

Also like Marcion, Valentinus was active in Rome in the late 130s. Both Marcion and Valentinus provide us with a perspective on "Christianity as it could have been." As it turned out, the Roman church developed doctrines that were more along the lines of apologist Justin Martyr, who arrived in Rome in 140 CE and may have had some responsibility for the fact that Valentinus never became a bishop in Rome.

mountainman · 02-18-2009, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

Pete - nothing you say makes much sense here.

Toto,

I responsed to your many fourth century references.

Quote:

Valentinius was a Christian - not an orthodox or protoorthodox, but a powerful leader of a faction of Christians.

Quote:

Valentinus's followers in Alexandria later reported that he had claimed a kind of apostolic sanction for his teaching by maintaining that he had received lessons in Christian religion from a certain Theudas, who—he said— had been a student of St. Paul.

Tertullian reported that Valentinius almost became a Bishop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by earlychristianwritings.com

Also like Marcion, Valentinus was active in Rome in the late 130s. Both Marcion and Valentinus provide us with a perspective on "Christianity as it could have been." As it turned out, the Roman church developed doctrines that were more along the lines of apologist Justin Martyr, who arrived in Rome in 140 CE and may have had some responsibility for the fact that Valentinus never became a bishop in Rome.

Do you mean to infer from the above that it is your belief that that the search for the historical St. Valentine is over: that the heretic Valentinius and Saint Valentine are one and the same historical person? Why was Valentinius not known to Tertullian (and Eusebius) as Mr. Saint Valentinius from these early centuries? These epic tales of "Saintification" are a very late embellishment to history.

Isn't it simply amazing how so many searches for the historical existence of Saint << INSERT-NAME-OF-CHRISTIAN-SAINT-HERE >> resolve themselves to a mass of literature named Eusebius? Perhaps the search for the historical Jesus and the search for the innumerable christian saints are related?

Best wishes,

Pete

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.