Having gauged modern science with science and found it wanting, let us look to our fathers and ancient Hebrew, and see what we might find there in the mist of days gone by. For the better things are preserved over time, and the banal things tend to be forgotten.
“Blessed is God who uses corporeal objects continually to draw us close in a symbolic way to a knowledge of God’s invisible nature. O name of Jesus, key to all gifts, open up for me the great door of your treasure-house, that I may enter and praise you with the praise that comes from the heart.”[1]
There is a great beauty in reading Iconography. For the pagans, iconography speaks of the fallen world, but proper Church iconography are picture bibles, like ancient Hebrew, speaking things of True God. The gift of reading these is made possible by the proliferation of knowledge. However it requires faith.
One cannot disregard lightly any of the Commandments. One does not violate the Commandments when reading the Bible. One does not violate the Commandments when properly reading a picture Bible. One does not dishonor the Bible by holding it in veneration. One does not dishonor picture bibles by venerating them. One neither worships the Bible, nor does one worship picture bibles. Worship is for God alone.
Iconography was absolutely necessary in the Church till the coming of the printing press in the late 14th century. Most people in the world could not read, and even the King of England and his nobility did not learn to read until around the 9th or 10th century. How else could the people receive the Word that makes them clean, and be reminded of it as we easily read today, without the beauty and truth of picture bibles?
From the beginning of John:
In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehends it not.
In the Beginning was the Logos, Ancient & Paleo Hebrew
God realized and the prophets taught that humanity’s root problem is idolatry. We sinners put everything ahead of God; creation, nation, money, luxury, passions, families and friends. And for those of us who can read, we put reading itself and intellectual communication in its various forms. For we are symbolically constructed in the Logos, and it is through doubt of the eternal Logos that the devil has weaved webs of deceit to take us off the path of faith, hope and love.[2]
“O my Hope, pour into my heart the inebriation that consists in the hope of you. O Jesus Christ, the resurrection and light of all worlds, place upon my soul’s head the crown of knowledge of you; open before me all of a sudden the door of mercies, cause the rays of your grace to shine out in my heart”[3]
God in His mercy has given us symbolic language which builds up to compose hymns of love to God who is Love. The beautiful iconographic lettered language of Hebrew is a language that takes icon upon icon, symbols upon symbols, logic upon logic and composes ever increasing layers of sophistication and beauty that indicate that God is beyond reduction – beyond death — for Love is irreducible, ever experiential, laudable and poetic while filling all creation.
The Hebrew language also has associations of letters with numbers. In an excellent and recommended book by a Jewish professor Haim Shore, “Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew”, numerical values for various scientific and religious words are correlated with logarithmic scales. The very word “Logarithm” comes from the Greek Logos. Here is a quick refresher for those interested using base 10 logarithm examples.
A Logarithm is a way of thinking in terms of powers of a base number, as above like 10. As when we multiply numbers to powers, we add the exponents, and when we divide numbers raised to powers we subtract denominator powers, we have a way of transforming multiplication and division into addition and subtraction. For example:
100 x 1000 = 102 x 103 = 100,000 = 105 2 + 3 = 5 adding powers is multiplying exponents
Log10(100) + Log10(1000) = 2 + 3 = 5 105, the antilog of 5 in base 10 = 100,000
Also, because multiplying logarithms with a number is as raising it to a power, we have a way of transforming raising numbers to powers using multiplication and find the nth roots of numbers using division.
It turns out that when reading the ancient Hebrew Bible, words which are associated with numbers, can be plotted on logarithmic scales, and these form associations that are physically meaningful. Like the names of planets and their masses, volumes and orbits. Or the atomic number of elements!
Paleo-Hebrew or Old Hebrew is the writing system from the region of biblical Israel and Judah prior to the Babylonian captivity. It derives from an ancient pictographic Hebrew, and below some of the important pictograms are presented. Each letter in the ancient Hebrew Alphabet (aleph bet)[4] corresponds to a picture, a number, and an alphabet letter.
There are many interesting and beautiful relationships between Paleo-Hebrew letters and Christian theology and history. These are recognizable and lead to ever more wonderful mysteries as one discovers them.
For example, Peter who opened his mouth[5] as first of the disciples, cut off the high-priest’s servant’s ear. Look at the letter Pei. It goes from being shaped as a mouth to look like an ear or a cut ear, in early history long before Christ and the Gospel.
It is the 17th number but numerically corresponds in the Hebrew today as 80[6]. “Peter” is explicitly named 2×17 times in the Gospel of John, and 97 times in the Gospels which is 17 more than 80. If you pray the western Rosary, 3 introductory beads, 5 decades three times around, you will pray 153 Hail Mary’s[7]; 17+16+15+…3+2+1 = 153, which is the great catch of fish at the end of John’s Gospel. If you pray an introductory Our Father, and an Our Father at each of the 15 points and one at the end, as the western Saint Padre Pio prayed, you will pray 17 Our Father’s.
Like most of us in our sinfulness, Peter had denied our Lord three times. From Octave 17, Pei, Wonderful things in Psalm 118 (119 KJV),
Thy testimonies are wonderful, therefore hath my soul search them out.[8] The manifestations of Thy words shall give light and understanding to the simple.[9] I opened my mouth and sighed, because I was longing for thy commandments.[10]
Oh look Thou upon me, and have mercy upon me, according to the judgment of them that love Thy Name. Direct my steps according to Thy word, and let not any wickedness have dominion over me. O deliver me from the calumny of men, and I shall keep thy statutes.[11]
Mine eyes gushed out streams of water, because I kept not Thy Law.[12]
This is an enjoyable repast for a Christian who enjoy symbolism, math and the consistent truth the Holy Scriptures reveal. These revelations are only found in Christ, in Church, in prayer and they are joyful and interesting. They might also be helpful in an age where people are taught great lies about religion.
So remembering, honoring and imitating the Rock of Repentance who is Peter, let us consider with John and Isaiah[13] say of “In the beginning.”
“In the Beginning” is one word in Hebrew with several possible English spellings but one Hebrew spelling,
In its iconography we can plainly see the logos of the plan of salvation.
Bet – the tent or house. Isaiah 40:21-31 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in: That brings the princes to nothing; he makes the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and He shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that He is strong in power; not one fails.
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speaks, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding. He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
We come to the tent of the presence in Holy Church. We come to the Holy Mountain which is the elevation on which the Altar and the crucifix are placed.
Resh – the head or prince. Bet Resh is bar or son. The Son of God is the first prince, and he is unlike all the other princes of the earth, for he is the prince who sits in the heavens and is in the beginning.
John 1:3-18 “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lightens every man that cometh into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spoke, He that comes after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”
Now when Resh precedes Pei, the mouth, and followed by Aleph the first, the Hebrew words formed are curative and gentle as a Hebrew language prefix. And so too they are in our life, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.” For we confess with our mouth Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father, Amen. And in so confessing we are bound in Him; He in us, we in Him. And He heals all our diseases so that the confession is the Rock and our repentance is our heartfelt entrance to Him. Peter is the Rock, the Mouth Pei through confession.
However, when the letter Pei, the mouth, is ahead of Resh and particularly Resh Aleph, the prefix is of words in Hebrew are violent and savage.[15] This should be a warning to those who place the vicarious, or Peter, ahead of the Savior. This should be a warning of those who boast among the branches. This should be a warning to the Frankish Papal Claims that Saint Gregory the Great himself warned against; Universal Patriarch! This is putting Pei ahead of the Universal man, Resh Aleph!
This speaks prophetically to the problem of the vicarious, or placing the prodigal Pope[16] ahead of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is First. Jesus Christ is the Living and Truly Present Head of the Church. We Orthodox appeal to a Living Man, Jesus Christ, as the Lord of His Church. We have no need for a vicarious and we have no need for violence. We have no need for a Swiss Guard, or a Vatican bank, or a science council or secular professors or “universities.” The world needs them, so our Roman Pontiff brother among the disciples has made his prodigal journey to the world.
When the Real Presence appears in unconsumable form in Orthodox Holy Communion, the normal liturgy stops! The Priest enters prayers of contrition and repentance for unbelief. If these are ineffective, the congregation enters prayers of contrition and repentance kneeling on Sunday, which is normally unorthodox, until the change is made back to consumable form, and then it is fully consumed.
But in the western Church, when such happens, being upside down in all things, the Lord’s flesh is delivered to the hands of secular laboratories, the world, for analysis. And this putting the Lord to the test is trumpeted about as some sort of bragging point to boast among the branches[17].
Our deceived poor Roman brothers and sisters don’t realize the beauty they have as the prodigal, and the responsibility they have to return.
How do you think the antichrist will come and have so much unnatural natural power? Cloning? It is already too late. Repent and rejoin Holy Orthodoxy as Fatima called you so to do with all of the Bishops.
Aleph – the first letter and the oxen yoke. Bet Resh Aleph is created. Jesus was a carpenter and his specialty, according to ancient Church tradition, was carving oxen yoke. Matthew 11:29-30 “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
And Ecclesiastes 12:11 “The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.” Further Aleph is the first letter in Hebrew, and is as the Alpha in Greek, Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
As the Alpha is Aleph, the Tav is as Omega. Resh followed by Aleph is the first prince, the prince of Salem, the prince of peace.
shin – Teeth, to eat or crush. We might think of this crushing as the finest wheat milled by Oxen that are yoked on the threshing floor where He gathers His wheat.
John 6:32 ”Then Jesus said to them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which comes down from heaven, and gives life unto the world.[18]
Then they said to him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst. But I said to you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which has sent me, that of all which he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which sees the Son, and believes on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
The Jews then murmured at Him, because He said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that He said, I came down from heaven?
Jesus therefore answered and said to them, Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes to me. Not that any man has seen the Father, save He which is of God, He has seen the Father.
Verily, verily, I say to you, he that believes on me has everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Then Jesus said to them, Verily, verily, I say to you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eats of this bread shall live forever.”
The finest wheat is crushed for the life of the world. We must follow the Holy Commandments to partake of the bread of heaven. And this is done in continuity with ordained Bishops and Priests. Jesus is not speaking of a representation, but verily, verily, truly, truly flesh and blood.
Matthew 5:17-19 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say to you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
And any who deny that Jesus IS COME in the flesh, which is to say the Holy Eucharist, misses the organic relationship we have with God the Father as joint heirs, as sons and daughters. And this organic relationship is taught in the Holy Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church as well as the high Anglicans. Saint John was very clear in the Holy Gospel recounting the words of our Lord, as all were very clear with respect to the Commandments.
II John 1:6-11 And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.[19]
Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresses, and abides not in the doctrine of Christ, has not God. He that abides in the doctrine of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son.
If there come any to you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that bids him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
As the flesh of the Son of the Father is inseparable from the Father and eternal, so too our eating His flesh and drinking His blood is inseparable from our life in the Holy Commandments. A person who rejects the Commandments rejects the living bread. A person who rejects the living bread rejects the plain sayings of Jesus Christ and receives another gospel. Our life after the Alpha, the Aleph, is organic, present, real and manifest in our behavior – in our living in accordance with the Commandments of God.
Further, on the Royal Doors, often shaped similar to the Hebrew letter Shin, often there is a picture of the annunciation. Often in this icon, the Mother of God is spinning, for in Church tradition it was the Mother of God, the Holy Theotokos who spun and knitted the temple curtain that would be torn in two. Further and literally within our bodies, we are spun and woven together in a process similar to Variegating, or in the Hebrew “Raqam.” Variegating is literally what happens in the human body as we are skillfully wrought. RNA provides a “variety” of threads and materials. DNA provides the “gating.” Therefore we are variegated literally together, and this is shown on the Shin, the teeth of the Royal Doors in Holy Orthodoxy.
For the Finest Wheat, the Divine Body and Precious Blood of Jesus Christ were woven together skillfully in the Holy Virgin’s womb. And this weaving is Chiral, that is to say it has an organic handedness and this is vitally important. However, the Chiral dance of the weaving projects to Ezekiel’s wheel which is pictured in domed Orthodox Churches following the pattern of the Byzantine Christ the Savior Cathedral. All of this imagery is purposeful, biblical, and interwoven with the ancient Hebrew.
Yod is the arm and the nail. Psalm 118/119:113 “I hated the law-breakers, but the Law have I loved. Thou art my helper and my defender; I have trusted in Thy words. Depart from me, ye wicked, and I will put the commandments of my God to the test. O stand up for me according to Thy word, that I may live, and let me not be disappointed of my hope. Help me, and I shall be saved, and I shall ever delight in Thy statutes. Thou hast despised all them that depart from Thy statutes, for their intent in iniquitous. All the sinners of the earth I accounted as transgressors, therefore have I loved Thy testimonies.
Nail my flesh to the fear of Thee, for I was afraid of Thy judgments.
Psalm 18/19:7-14 “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.”
Yod’s number is 10, like the 10 commandments. By symbol and by number it corresponds to the Commandments. By following the commandments and eating the flesh and drinking the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ, we enter into the depths of Holy Prayer[20]. Considering Yod then as the Holy Commandments, let us see how the prayer the Lord taught us, manifests these:
The Lord in His prayer has given us 10 phrases so we might remember the scroll and the 10 commandments to Our Father, symbolized by the 10th letter Yod. With our mouth, with our teeth, Shin, we eat the little scroll[23], yod.
We set our conduct aright in the Holy Scriptures and 10 commandments, and we partake of an organic real relationship with Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist, and in that relationship we enter true prayer which takes us to the Father. And this mill, the grinding of the finest wheat for consuming the Real Presence, this continuation is the way of Christian Orthodox laymen and women. The proper bounds lead to a proper life of continuous improvement and continuous prayer[24].
Our life is not complete in briefly accepting this or that proposition but living all things the Lord in love has given us. Living the commandments and extending them to the depth of our being and presenting ourselves unstained from the world is the cross of self-denial and as we are ever tempted we are ever beckoned to a deeper repentance.
Tav the mark, the sign, the Cross. The last letter of Beershite, “In the Beginning”, is the mark or sign that is the Cross. So “In the Beginning” the Cross was ordained by God as the sign of His eternal love for us, and His continuing presence. It is written in the Paleo and ancient Hebrew, and it is written in Christian Churches to this day.[25]
Then said Jesus to his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.[26]
The Cross is the sign of our discipleship. It was and is “In the Beginning” and it is the ending of our life. It is the sign of creation, and it is the sign of kinship with Christ and an inheritance by which we enter into His Kingdom forever. It was spoken literally in the heavens, “In the Beginning.”
Orthodox Christian Iconography
The ancient Saints, particularly Saint Gregory the Great, defended the use of Icons as Picture Bibles. Most people in the ancient world could not read. Therefore, to destroy icons was to destroy an important form of communication of the light of reason and faith to illiterate masses. If one wishes to be in communion with simple children, one must respect the simple images that are correctly used to teach and instruct the true faith to all simple children in all time.
Yet one says that one should not put a graven image before the Lord. Does this not include Bibles? No one worships Bibles, nor does one worship icons that are picture bibles. And in the Holy Bible, in Exodus, God commanded that paintings and statues adorn the Holy Temple, and these have and had meaning. They were not idly placed or chosen. For example we have the Ark of the Covenant, Exodus 25:18-22, then Exodus 26:1, Numbers 21:9, and other examples of matter being important Acts 19:12.
We venerate and honor bibles, and we venerate and honor sacred images of the bible. One can make abstract images of acts of God, and the Incarnation of the Logos who is Jesus Christ, and one can make discourses of biblical passages. The abuse of Iconography and worship of images is an abuse strictly taught against by the Ecumenical Councils. The abuse of Holy Scripture, emphasizing and reading into the Bible personal interpretations is heresy. Teaching personal interpretation with dangerous over emphases of this or that aspect of biblical scripture causes schism and is often heretical[27].
In the Seventh Ecumenical Council, the Church Fathers declared:
“Since this is the case, following the royal path and the teaching divinely inspired by our holy Fathers and the Tradition of the catholic Church—for we know that it is inspired by the Holy Spirit who lives in it—we decide in all correctness and after a thorough examination that, just as the holy and vivifying Cross, similarly the holy and precious Icons painted with colors, made with little stones or with any other matter serving this purpose (epitedeios), should be placed in the holy churches of God, on vases and sacred vestments, on walls and boards, in houses and on roads, whether these are Icons of our Lord God and Savior, Jesus Christ, or of our spotless Sovereign Lady, the holy Mother of God, or of the holy angels and of holy and venerable men. For each time that we see their representation in an image, each time, while gazing upon them, we are made to remember the prototypes, we grow to love them more, and we are more induced to worship them by kissing them and by witnessing our veneration (proskenesin), not the true adoration (latreian) which, according to our faith, is proper only to the one divine nature, but in the same way as we venerate the image of the precious and vivifying cross, the holy Gospel and other sacred objects which we honor with incense and candles according to the pious custom of our forefathers. For the honor rendered to the image goes to its prototype, and the person who venerates an Icon venerates the person represented in it. Indeed, such is the teaching of our holy Fathers and the Tradition of the holy catholic Church which propagated the Gospel from one end of the earth to the other.”
Of course we should not put graven images or any image before God, yet we can use images and use symbols, to communicate the beautiful things of God. And by symbolism and meaning in symbols, we enter into dialogue with one another, and with God through His Logos that is manifest to us in Creation, in art, in symbolism and in love in the way we live so as to enter unceasing prayer in the unceasing warfare of this world that is repentance.
When people speak sermons, they use images. The Lord Himself used mental pictures in parables in the Holy Gospels. The various and many forms of communication that teach truth are not precluded by the second commandment, but rather reducing God to something artificial. The ultimate form of reductionism is a materialist’s love of money.
[1] Saint Isaac the Syrian – “Though the nations compass me about, in the name of the Lord will I destroy them.” This goes to the ancient Jesus prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the Sinner.”
[2] Genesis 3:4-5 And the serpent said to the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God knows that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. [Does your scientific material atheism teach you this is but a fable? Do your “wise ones” teach you it is but allegory? Hold on. This happened and the evidence of its happening is everywhere. The entire Cosmos falls because of us. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am first” and “by my fault, by my fault, by my most grievous fault.”
[3] Saint Isaac Syrian
[4] Ancient Hebrew and ancient Greek are related, the Greek 27 symbols being oriented on the side compared to the Hebrew.
[5] Acts 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words…
[6] Should there be 10 natural Octaves in the Petrine Tradition?
[7] John 21:11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, and hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. To Eastern Orthodox, these fishes are the Psalms with the Thrice Holy, or Trisagion prayers. To Western Catholics these are the Rosary with Gospel mysteries.
[8] John 6:68-69 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
[9] John 13:33-35 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
[10] John 13:36-38 Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where do you go? Jesus answered him, Where I go, you cannot follow me now; but you shall follow me afterwards. Peter said to him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Will you lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say to thee, The cock shall not crow, till you have denied me thrice.
[11] John 18:25-27 And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said therefore to him, Are you not also one of his disciples? He denied it, and said, I am not. One of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, said, Did not I see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied again: and immediately the cock crew.
[12] Luke 22:61-62 And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly.
[13] Isaiah 46:10-13 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.
[14] Hebrew is read right to left, not left to right.
[15] “Coincidences in the Bible and Biblical Hebrew”, 2007, 2008, Haim Shore, ISBN 978-0-595-40779-8 see pages 15 and 16.
[16] The Ring, the Robe, the Sandals, the first place, and the fatted calf, Our Lady of Guadalupe – if only he embraced humility, “no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.” When the Pope humbles self, only then is he exalted.
[17] Romans 11:18
[18] Notice the PRESENT TENSE dear Protestants.
[19] “is come” and it is that way in the Greek, PRESENT TENSE – NOW. Not 2000 years ago, but NOW IS COME. Saint John is THE Theologian. Way beyond Saint Thomas Aquinas or any other, except Jesus the Logos and Mary, the mysterious “Q” author of much of the Holy Gospels. After all, Mom remembers best.
[20] Matthew 5:17-20 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say to you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
[21] See Luke 3:38
[22] From Psalm 50/51 Have mercy on me, Oh God, according to thy lovingkindness…
[23] Revelation 10:1-10
[24] 1 Thes. 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
[25] And if space-time vibrated as this author believes and alluded to earlier, generating photons for the plants created on the third day, the vibration would have manifested crosses upon crosses upon crosses, tav upon tav, as the Lord spoke creation into being and opened the curtain of the heavens, again by the Einstein tensor equation.
[26] Matthew 16:24-28
[27] Opinionated and outside the ancient apostolic teaching of the Church. Consistency with ancient Biblical texts and Church Fathers is the wiser path in prayer.
The Two Pillars 