Mereja Forum

[Rtt]

Horus:

Please stop making-up stories. Let alone Gurages, the vast majority of orthodox priests don't even know how "mesqel" celebrates an ancient lie .. a made-up story by a deeply deluded old woman from Rome. Gurages or most followers of the habesha orthodox church are not equipped to provide the basics of their orthodoxy leave alone provide a deep-ish philosophical explanation about the meaning of "mesqel" as you keep on telling us.

Basically, "mesqel" or "the Greek+Roman festival of finding the true cross" is a celebration of an unproven lie, a dream &/or a voodoo that appeared to a Greek-born ex-prostitute-turned a Roman princess named 'Helena'. She was married to a christian Roman emperor.

The story goes: "Helena had a dream where she saw the true location of the cross on which a Jew named Jesus Christ was crucified more than 3 centuries earlier. On the basis of her "dream", she started her obsession of "finding the true cross" by traveling all the way to Jerusalem from Rome. When she got there, the site where Jesus was said to had been crucified had already been demolished by a series of Roman warlords-c^um-colonial governors of the Holy land (Israel). Note that a key phrase in her obsession was "the true cross" & this suggested that there were other crosses that, at least to her, were deemed not true ones.

Still, .. surprise! .. surprise! she managed to find the EXACT CROSS on which Jesus was crucified - thus starting a voodoo-like celebration around it.

Not surprisingly, this was another myth & most learned students of the bible & history had already reduced it to a lie born-out of a CREATIVE & WILD IMAGINATIONS of an obsessed Greek+Roman woman named "Helena".

Of course, most followers of the Ethiopian orthodox faith have NOT even been told of a Greek/Roman woman named Helena who started the whole story - rather a wild myth & a lie - that rationalised the celebration of "mesqel".

Here are two articles explaining the story behind "the finding of the true cross" aka "mesqel".

<<St. Helena and the True Cross.

By: Father WILLIAM SAUNDERS [Father William Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope parish in Potomac Falls, Virginia. He is dean of the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College].

In my parish, we have a stained glass window which shows St. Helena holding a cross. When I asked another parishioner "why?" she did not know. What is the reason?

St. Helena is often depicted holding a cross because tradition maintains she found the true cross in Jerusalem. Before delving into this matter further, some background information is necessary.



Because of Jewish insurrections, the Roman Emperor Hadrian (reign A.D. 117-38) abolished the name of Judea and renamed the area "Syria Palaestina." He also made Jerusalem a new capital, named "Aelia Capitolina," and forbade Jews from entering the immediate area. While Jerusalem remained mostly in ruins because of the revolt in A.D. 70 (when the Temple itself was razed), Hadrian demolished the rest. While regarding Judaism as insurrectionary, Hadrian regarded Christianity the same way. To eradicate the influence of Christianity, Hadrian leveled the top of Mount Calvary and erected a temple to the pagan goddess Venus. He also cut away and leveled the hillside where Jesus tomb stood and built a temple to the pagan god Jupiter Capitolinus. Ironically, this destruction actually preserved the sacred sites.

The Emperor Constantine seized power in the year 312, and in the following year, legalized Christianity with the Edict of Milan. About this time, Constantine’s mother, St. Helena, converted to Christianity. (She died in the year 330 at about the age of 80.) According to the early great Church historian Eusebius, she was about 63 at the time of her conversion. With the authority of her son, St. Helena went to Palestine in search of the sacred sites about the year 324. In the following years, St. Helena would build churches marking the place of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and the site of the Ascension.

True Christian zeal motivated St. Helena. Eusebius described her as follows: "Especially abundant were the gifts she bestowed on the naked and unprotected poor. To some she gave money, to others an ample supply of clothing; she liberated some from imprisonment, or from the bitter servitude of the mines; others she delivered from unjust oppression, and others again, she restored from exile. While, however, her character derived luster from such deeds ... , she was far from neglecting personal piety toward God. She might be seen continually frequenting His Church, while at the same time she adorned the houses of prayer with splendid offerings, not overlooking the churches of the smallest cities. In short, this admirable woman was to be seen, in simple and modest attire, mingling with the crowd of worshipers, and testifying her devotion to God by a uniform course of pious conduct" (The Life of Constantine, XLIV, XLV).

About the year 326, the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was demolished, and the workers began to excavate the area. They discovered the remains of the tomb that was reported to be that of our Lord Jesus. They built a new shrine over the tomb, which has been modified over the centuries, but today stands in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

. . . the essence of the story follows: The three crosses and the titulus were removed from the cistern. A woman, dying from a terminal disease, was brought to the spot. She touched the crosses, one by one. After she touched the third cross, she was cured, thereby identifying the true cross.

The temple of Venus was also demolished, thereby exposing the site where Christ was crucified. The Emperor Constantine himself wrote to St. Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, ordering him to make a search for the cross on Mount Calvary. A learned Jew named Judas seemed to have some knowledge of the whereabouts, and was pressed into service. Just east of the site, three crosses were found in a rock-cistern as well as the titulus (the wood plaque inscribed with Jesus Nazaranus Rex Iudaeorum). (With the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the Chapel of the Finding of the True Cross, marking the cistern.) The question then arose, "Which was the cross of Christ?"

While the details provided by St. John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, Rufinus, and Socrates (not the philosopher) are lacking and sometimes contradictory, the essence of the story follows: The three crosses and the titulus were removed from the cistern. A woman, dying from a terminal disease, was brought to the spot. She touched the crosses, one by one. After she touched the third cross, she was cured, thereby identifying the true cross. Other sources also relate the later finding of other instruments of the Passion. Most importantly, St. Ambrose preached that when St. Helena found the true cross, "she worshiped not the wood, but the King, Him who hung on the wood. She burned with an earnest desire of touching the guarantee of immortality."

St. Cyril of Jerusalem provides some corroboration. In his letter to the Emperor Constantius (Constantine’s son and successor), St. Cyril stated, "The saving wood of the cross was found at Jerusalem in the time of Constantine." In his fourth Catechetical Lecture, he wrote, "He was truly crucified for our sins. For if you would deny it, the place refutes you visibly, this blessed Golgotha, in which we are now assembled for the sake of Him who was here crucified; and the whole world has since been filled with pieces of the wood of the Cross."

Another point: A reader in Canada asked, "Why is there a skull and two crossed bones placed at the foot of the cross in paintings of the crucifixion?" Many of the older depictions of the crucifixion do show a skull with two crossed bones at the foot of the cross. The tradition is that Adam was buried at Calvary. When our Lord died, His Precious Blood dripped down onto His skull. Again, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, one finds the Chapel of Adam underneath the Chapel of Golgotha.

The Feast of the Triumph of the Cross was Sept. 14. Let us remember the words of St. Francis of Assisi: "We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee, because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Acknowledgement:

Saunders, Rev. William. "St. Helena and the True Cross." Arlington Catholic Herald.

This article is reprinted with permission from Arlington Catholic Herald.

The Author:

Father William Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope parish in Potomac Falls, Virginia. He is dean of the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College. The above article is a "Straight Answers" column he wrote for the Arlington Catholic Herald. Father Saunders is the author of Straight Answers, a book based on 100 of his columns, and Straight Answers II.
Copyright © 2005 Arlington Catholic Herald.>>

SOURCE: This article is reprinted with permission from Arlington Catholic Herald. https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/cu ... cross.html

ALSO:

Ethiopia: Festivals and Events.

Meskel (Finding of the True Cross).



Meskel is an annual religious holiday in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church commemorating the discovery of the True Cross by Queen Helena (saint Helena)in the fourth century. It occurs on the 17th day of Meskerem in the Ethiopian calendar (September 27 of the Gregorian calendar, or on 28 September in leap years). ‘Meskel’ is Ge’ez (the official language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church for ‘cross’.

The Meskel celebration includes the burning of a large bonfire, or Demera, based on the belief that Queen Helena had a revelation in a dream. She was told that she shall make a bonfire and that the smoke would show her where the true cross was buried. So she ordered the people of Jerusalem to bring wood and make a huge pile. After adding frankincense to it the bonfire was lit and the smoke raised high up to the sky and returned to the ground, exactly to the spot where the Cross had been buried.

According to local traditions, this Demera-procession takes place in the early evening the day before Meskel or on the day itself. The firewood is decorated with daisies prior to the celebration. Charcoal from the remains of the fire is afterwards collected and used by the faithful to mark their foreheads with the shape of a cross.

One explanation for the high rank this festival has in the church calendar is that it is believed that a part of the true Cross has been brought to Ethiopia from Egypt. It is said to be kept at Amba Geshen, which itself has a cross shape.

The most ancient meaning of these feasts – as was also the case in Europe – was no doubt seasonal: the month of Meskerem marked the end of the rains, the resumption of work, and the reopening of communications.>>

SOURCE: http://agapetourethiopia.com/festivals-and-events/

Our animal friend horse is a clown who like to claim everything as semetic and gurage. He loves inventing fairtale historical events, like his masters Amahra, to boost his low ego. If it weren't for sane people like you and others, he would have made people belive that gurage and South people are ancient Christian people who are the source for the meskel culture, which the Oromos are stealing because everything has a semetic /Habesha origin

[Degnet]

Horus:

Please stop making-up stories. Let alone Gurages, the vast majority of orthodox priests don't even know how "mesqel" celebrates an ancient lie .. a made-up story by a deeply deluded old woman from Rome. Gurages or most followers of the habesha orthodox church are not equipped to provide the basics of their orthodoxy leave alone provide a deep-ish philosophical explanation about the meaning of "mesqel" as you keep on telling us.

Basically, "mesqel" or "the Greek+Roman festival of finding the true cross" is a celebration of an unproven lie, a dream &/or a voodoo that appeared to a Greek-born ex-prostitute-turned a Roman princess named 'Helena'. She was married to a christian Roman emperor.

The story goes: "Helena had a dream where she saw the true location of the cross on which a Jew named Jesus Christ was crucified more than 3 centuries earlier. On the basis of her "dream", she started her obsession of "finding the true cross" by traveling all the way to Jerusalem from Rome. When she got there, the site where Jesus was said to had been crucified had already been demolished by a series of Roman warlords-c^um-colonial governors of the Holy land (Israel). Note that a key phrase in her obsession was "the true cross" & this suggested that there were other crosses that, at least to her, were deemed not true ones.

Still, .. surprise! .. surprise! she managed to find the EXACT CROSS on which Jesus was crucified - thus starting a voodoo-like celebration around it.

Not surprisingly, this was another myth & most learned students of the bible & history had already reduced it to a lie born-out of a CREATIVE & WILD IMAGINATIONS of an obsessed Greek+Roman woman named "Helena".

Of course, most followers of the Ethiopian orthodox faith have NOT even been told of a Greek/Roman woman named Helena who started the whole story - rather a wild myth & a lie - that rationalised the celebration of "mesqel".

Here are two articles explaining the story behind "the finding of the true cross" aka "mesqel".

<<St. Helena and the True Cross.

By: Father WILLIAM SAUNDERS [Father William Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope parish in Potomac Falls, Virginia. He is dean of the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College].

In my parish, we have a stained glass window which shows St. Helena holding a cross. When I asked another parishioner "why?" she did not know. What is the reason?

St. Helena is often depicted holding a cross because tradition maintains she found the true cross in Jerusalem. Before delving into this matter further, some background information is necessary.



Because of Jewish insurrections, the Roman Emperor Hadrian (reign A.D. 117-38) abolished the name of Judea and renamed the area "Syria Palaestina." He also made Jerusalem a new capital, named "Aelia Capitolina," and forbade Jews from entering the immediate area. While Jerusalem remained mostly in ruins because of the revolt in A.D. 70 (when the Temple itself was razed), Hadrian demolished the rest. While regarding Judaism as insurrectionary, Hadrian regarded Christianity the same way. To eradicate the influence of Christianity, Hadrian leveled the top of Mount Calvary and erected a temple to the pagan goddess Venus. He also cut away and leveled the hillside where Jesus tomb stood and built a temple to the pagan god Jupiter Capitolinus. Ironically, this destruction actually preserved the sacred sites.

The Emperor Constantine seized power in the year 312, and in the following year, legalized Christianity with the Edict of Milan. About this time, Constantine’s mother, St. Helena, converted to Christianity. (She died in the year 330 at about the age of 80.) According to the early great Church historian Eusebius, she was about 63 at the time of her conversion. With the authority of her son, St. Helena went to Palestine in search of the sacred sites about the year 324. In the following years, St. Helena would build churches marking the place of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and the site of the Ascension.

True Christian zeal motivated St. Helena. Eusebius described her as follows: "Especially abundant were the gifts she bestowed on the naked and unprotected poor. To some she gave money, to others an ample supply of clothing; she liberated some from imprisonment, or from the bitter servitude of the mines; others she delivered from unjust oppression, and others again, she restored from exile. While, however, her character derived luster from such deeds ... , she was far from neglecting personal piety toward God. She might be seen continually frequenting His Church, while at the same time she adorned the houses of prayer with splendid offerings, not overlooking the churches of the smallest cities. In short, this admirable woman was to be seen, in simple and modest attire, mingling with the crowd of worshipers, and testifying her devotion to God by a uniform course of pious conduct" (The Life of Constantine, XLIV, XLV).

About the year 326, the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was demolished, and the workers began to excavate the area. They discovered the remains of the tomb that was reported to be that of our Lord Jesus. They built a new shrine over the tomb, which has been modified over the centuries, but today stands in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

. . . the essence of the story follows: The three crosses and the titulus were removed from the cistern. A woman, dying from a terminal disease, was brought to the spot. She touched the crosses, one by one. After she touched the third cross, she was cured, thereby identifying the true cross.

The temple of Venus was also demolished, thereby exposing the site where Christ was crucified. The Emperor Constantine himself wrote to St. Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, ordering him to make a search for the cross on Mount Calvary. A learned Jew named Judas seemed to have some knowledge of the whereabouts, and was pressed into service. Just east of the site, three crosses were found in a rock-cistern as well as the titulus (the wood plaque inscribed with Jesus Nazaranus Rex Iudaeorum). (With the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the Chapel of the Finding of the True Cross, marking the cistern.) The question then arose, "Which was the cross of Christ?"

While the details provided by St. John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, Rufinus, and Socrates (not the philosopher) are lacking and sometimes contradictory, the essence of the story follows: The three crosses and the titulus were removed from the cistern. A woman, dying from a terminal disease, was brought to the spot. She touched the crosses, one by one. After she touched the third cross, she was cured, thereby identifying the true cross. Other sources also relate the later finding of other instruments of the Passion. Most importantly, St. Ambrose preached that when St. Helena found the true cross, "she worshiped not the wood, but the King, Him who hung on the wood. She burned with an earnest desire of touching the guarantee of immortality."

St. Cyril of Jerusalem provides some corroboration. In his letter to the Emperor Constantius (Constantine’s son and successor), St. Cyril stated, "The saving wood of the cross was found at Jerusalem in the time of Constantine." In his fourth Catechetical Lecture, he wrote, "He was truly crucified for our sins. For if you would deny it, the place refutes you visibly, this blessed Golgotha, in which we are now assembled for the sake of Him who was here crucified; and the whole world has since been filled with pieces of the wood of the Cross."

Another point: A reader in Canada asked, "Why is there a skull and two crossed bones placed at the foot of the cross in paintings of the crucifixion?" Many of the older depictions of the crucifixion do show a skull with two crossed bones at the foot of the cross. The tradition is that Adam was buried at Calvary. When our Lord died, His Precious Blood dripped down onto His skull. Again, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, one finds the Chapel of Adam underneath the Chapel of Golgotha.

The Feast of the Triumph of the Cross was Sept. 14. Let us remember the words of St. Francis of Assisi: "We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee, because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Acknowledgement:

Saunders, Rev. William. "St. Helena and the True Cross." Arlington Catholic Herald.

This article is reprinted with permission from Arlington Catholic Herald.

The Author:

Father William Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope parish in Potomac Falls, Virginia. He is dean of the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College. The above article is a "Straight Answers" column he wrote for the Arlington Catholic Herald. Father Saunders is the author of Straight Answers, a book based on 100 of his columns, and Straight Answers II.
Copyright © 2005 Arlington Catholic Herald.>>

SOURCE: This article is reprinted with permission from Arlington Catholic Herald. https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/cu ... cross.html

ALSO:

Ethiopia: Festivals and Events.

Meskel (Finding of the True Cross).



Meskel is an annual religious holiday in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church commemorating the discovery of the True Cross by Queen Helena (saint Helena)in the fourth century. It occurs on the 17th day of Meskerem in the Ethiopian calendar (September 27 of the Gregorian calendar, or on 28 September in leap years). ‘Meskel’ is Ge’ez (the official language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church for ‘cross’.

The Meskel celebration includes the burning of a large bonfire, or Demera, based on the belief that Queen Helena had a revelation in a dream. She was told that she shall make a bonfire and that the smoke would show her where the true cross was buried. So she ordered the people of Jerusalem to bring wood and make a huge pile. After adding frankincense to it the bonfire was lit and the smoke raised high up to the sky and returned to the ground, exactly to the spot where the Cross had been buried.

According to local traditions, this Demera-procession takes place in the early evening the day before Meskel or on the day itself. The firewood is decorated with daisies prior to the celebration. Charcoal from the remains of the fire is afterwards collected and used by the faithful to mark their foreheads with the shape of a cross.

One explanation for the high rank this festival has in the church calendar is that it is believed that a part of the true Cross has been brought to Ethiopia from Egypt. It is said to be kept at Amba Geshen, which itself has a cross shape.

The most ancient meaning of these feasts – as was also the case in Europe – was no doubt seasonal: the month of Meskerem marked the end of the rains, the resumption of work, and the reopening of communications.>>

SOURCE: http://agapetourethiopia.com/festivals-and-events/

Kezih atalfem,you are very cheap