NatlGeo:"Jesus" special issue

[Barbara]

This is the 1454th topic in this Forum - good work, everyone !

I wanted to describe a National Geographic special edition likely out since Western Easter, and on the store racks until July 2024.

On the cover is the famous 6th century Pantocrator Icon of the Savior from St Catherine's Monastery on Mt Sinai.

I will not ruin Pascha today by enumerating some of the monstrosities included in this heavily modernist interpretation of the Savior's life.

On the nice side of the balance scales is a full page "Jesus' Entry into Jerusalem", a 16th century Icon  from the Kremlin Museum, Moscow.

Also full page is "Jesus Before the High Priest", a wall painting by Symeon Asanti in the Church of Archangel Michael in Galata, Cyprus.

A Byzantine mosaic is included from the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Nuova in Monreale, Sicily. This full page illustration is of Jesus healing a leper.

The issue has 3 excellent - National Geographic, of course - maps of the entire region where the Savior lived. traveled. The 1st is called "Division of the Kingdom of Herod the Great." Gaza is included. It helps to see the layout of Palestine at that time. And of course, to think about current events...

The 2nd, a 2-page map, shows in great detail "The Ministry of Jesus in Lower Galilee."

The 3rd is "Key Sites of the Passion".

The start of that chapter, The Story of the Passion, is a double-page picture of the Mount of Olives garden. Here, a very likely Rocor-MP nun from the St Mary Magdalene Convent strides through the ancient wide-trunked trees.

Though no attribution is given, nor even mention of the nun's presence in the picture's description,
one could think that it's just the way a nun is supposed to be : quiet and unobtrusive.
 
 
 

[eish]

This is a well-known and even well-documented phenomenon. Every year, like clockwork, soyens channels bring out blasphemous shows at Easter and Christmas (Gregorian, because that's the audience and because they themselves are in the West).

If you can imagine it, they have aired it. Something like how soyentists just dug up the body of Jesus, or anything like that. Presenting gnostic rubbish as lost books of the bible. Long-disproven enlightenment nonsense about Christ being copied from Horus or Mytrha. It's worse than ancient aliens and with less evidence but they'll push it anyway.

It's because their demons make them seethe.

[Barbara]

That's funny ! But you are quite right - now that I think about it. I don't watch TV but one always hears of programs like you described. Ridiculous. And you're RIGHT - they always bring these out at the two major holidays, so as to throw cold water on the Feasts.

Extremely good remark about the demons being the force that is so anti-God that they get after their human agents to produce more of this trash in order to lure weak humans away from belief.

PS You mean, Mithra, sometimes spelled Mithras. 
Notice how they focus on the Egyptian in general more often, though. It has more cachet with a Western audience inculcated with a fascination with ancient Egyptian culture - with tales of pyramids, King Tutenkhamun's tomb, even the cat goddess Bastet - than the early Persian sun god Mithra. Despite being the object of a cult amongst the Roman Army, Mithra - and early Iranian civilization in general - are hardly ever mentioned in the education system or in Western popular culture.
 

[Barbara]

Today is the day of Apostle Mark, so it's occasion to mention another feature of this National Geographic publication. It describes the Evangelists as "Mark, John, Luke" etc. Instead of using Saint before the name.

eish, would you say that's typical anyway these days, like it's never done by anyone beyond the Orthodox and Catholic Churches any more ? Or, is this kind of a dismissive approach by the author, one Jean-Pierre Isbouts ?
 

[eish]

Yes, it was Mithra.

Protestants and heathens/Jews don't refer to the saints as saints. This would be normal usage even in their churches.

[Barbara]

All right, thanks. For some reason, I was under the impression that even protestants wrote "St Matthew" etc. Perhaps, though, it's only Anglicans who copied the Catholic Church most closely of all the rebels.
Well, I thought I had seen Lutheran writings just in passing which applied the title of Saint to the Apostles.
Am i correct, or not ?

[Barbara]

Here is one of the dreadful images that the National Geographic edition used, showing the supposed Heavenly Queen in the garb of a Thai dancer holding the Child.
This one was full page on the inside of the bac cover, so it was given special pride of place.

But the artwork is not actually from Thailand. Instead, it's one of a number of mosaics at the Basilica of the Annunciation at Nazareth, Palestine.
The National Geographic description did not mention this fact [maybe for fear that viewers would get inspired to make a pilgrimage there.] instead, the attribution was quite vague.