Posted on 03/27/2009 8:41:35 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
The Vatican has dismissed as a heretic a mystical medieval monk apparently cited by Barack Obama as a moral authority and visionary.
According to Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the Pontifical Household, the US President referred in campaign speeches to Gioacchino da Fiore, or Joachim of Fiore, as a ''master of contemporary civilisation'' who had sought to create a better world. Drawing on the Book of Revelation, Gioacchino envisaged a "new age of the Holy Spirit" in which the Church hierarchy would cease to exist and Christians would unite with infidels in an "Order of the Just".
--snip--
He said that Mr Obama had quoted Gioacchino three times during his Presidential campaign, thus "reviving interest in his doctrines", not least on the internet. But Gioacchino's theory that a "third age" would follow that of God the Father in the Old Testament and Jesus Christ in the New Testament was heretical, because it "strikes at the heart" of Christian belief in the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, St Matthew and St Paul, he said the accepted Christian doctrine was that the Holy Spirit existed at the same time as the period of the Old and New Testaments, inspiring both the ancient prophets and Jesus Christ.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
“Obama love’s Heretics” there fixed the title!
Obama is about tearing down every underlying foundational value (including our spiritual ones) that our liberty and republic rests upon. He is an abject marxist ideolog.
THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA IN HIS OWN WORDS
NOW WE KNOW WHAT A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER DOES
OBAMA, THE STOCK MARKET, AND ENERGY
THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA'S UPBRINGING
Isn’t this a muslim view also? Total control.
More Communist doublethink from O’Bambi!
Sounds like da Fiore was a modalist.
Too bad Christianity isn’t more reactionary like Islam.
Obama wouldn’t be anywhere near the whitehouse today if it was, and they’d still be putting out the fires from the things Obama and his Life long friend and mentor have said.
Of course O agrees. He thinks he's the leader of that Third Age.
With that logic, Obama can hail al Qaeda’s Zawahiri when he pushes for National Healthcare.
Maybe he IS THE anti-christ! And here I thought it was Tony Blair.
Figured Obama would love heretics: if Obama were a Christian, he too would be a heretic.
I thought Putin was, and Iran's Amadjihadi thinks he is.
I bet the NYT and all the MSM will get this news out fast./s
Yep. Bill Clinton is only a false Antichrist...Obama is the real thing.
Many candidates, indeed. But I don’t think that A-mad thinks he is. he’s waiting for the Maidi (sp)
I have always thought that BHO was the Muslim equivalent of a 'Manchurian Candidate'.
Tell Obama that Joachim of Fiore was a white man with blue eyes and he’ll stop quoting him.
Obama is truly the devil’s creation.
Has anyone found any of the speeches in question? This seems a little strange -- why would any candidate be reopening 13th century Catholic theological disputes?
The very best analysis of the influence of John of Flora is contained in the book, The New Science of Politics by Eric Voegelin (University of Chicago). Voegelin was one of the greatest, if not the greatest conservative scholar of the 20th century. He defines John of Flora’s thinking as a very dangerous form of Gnosticism, and he traces the origins of modern totolitarian creeds to him, creeds such as Marxism, National Socialism, Fascism and sectarian Liberalism. If Barrack Obama is a deciple of this man, then we are in more trouble than we think. The essential characteristic of Gnostic creeds to the beief held by a self appointed ‘Elect’ in dreamworld detached from the reality of the human condition.
He sure fits the definitions in the writings of John -
mostly that he speaks from the world’s point of view and the world listens to him.
Voegelin also wrote “Science, Politics and Gnosticism”. Worth a read IMO. It’s available at Amazon.com...might give us insight into the “real” Zero.
Gnosticism and elitism go hand-in-hand.
Yokum!! For a second I figured that could be Obama. But without the pig.
Science, Gnosticism and Politics is a brilliant book, as are all of Voegelin’s works.
In the seminal “The New Science of Politics,” Voegelin demonstrated that modern totalitarianism is based on gnostic doctrines that the obscure heretical monk Joachim of Fiore transmitted from ancient sources to the Renaissance and modern times.
In brief, gnosticism posits that the world can be transformed by an elite, a man-god, or supermen who possess special knowledge of how to perfect humanity. This belief is common to fascism, communism, socialism, and modern liberalism. Since humanity is stubbornly imperfect, individuals and movements driven by gnostic beliefs tend toward extremism and force when their efforts falter.
In praising Joachim of Fiore, Obama has revealed himself as an adherent of doctrines and beliefs with profound subversive and destructive power.
Joachim of Fiore
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Joachim of Flora, in a 15th century woodcutJoachim of Fiore, also known as Joachim of Flora and in Italian Gioacchino da Fiore (c. 1135 – March 30, 1202), was the founder of the monastic order of San Giovanni in Fiore (now Jure Vetere). He was a mystic, a theologian and an esoterist. His followers are called Joachimites.
Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Books
3 Theory of the three ages
4 Condemnation
5 Further reading
6 See also
7 Notes
8 External links
[edit] Biography
Born in the small village of Celico near Cosenza, in Calabria, at the time part of the Kingdom of Sicily, Joachim was the son of Mauro the notary, who was well placed, and Gemma, his wife. He was educated at Cosenza, where he became first a clerk in the courts, and then a notary himself, and worked in 1166-1167 for Etienne du Perche, archbishop of Palermo and chancellor of Marguerite, regent for the young William II of Sicily.
About 1159 he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, an episode about which very little is known, save that he underwent a spiritual crisis and conversion in Jerusalem that turned him from the worldly life. When he returned, he lived as a hermit for several years, wandering and preaching before joining the ascetic Cistercian abbey of Sambucina near Luzzi, Calabria, as a lay brother, where he devoted his time to lay preaching. Under pressure from the ecclesiastical authorities, he joined the monks of the Abbey of Corazzo, and was ordained priest, apparently in 1168. He applied himself entirely to Biblical study, with a special view to uncovering the arcane meaning concealed in the Scriptures, above all in Revelation. To his dismay, he was acclaimed abbot by the monks of Corazzo (c. 1177). He then attempted to join the monastery to the Cistercian Order, but was refused because of the community’s poverty. In the winter of 1178, he appealed in person to William II, who granted the monks some lands.
In 1182 Joachim appealed to Pope Lucius III, who relieved him of the temporal care of his abbey, and warmly approved of his work, bidding him continue it in whatever monastery he thought best. He spent the following year and a half at the Cistercian Abbey of Casamari, engaged upon his three great books, his dictations keeping three scribes busy night and day; there the young monk, Lucas (afterwards Archbishop of Cosenza), who acted as his secretary, was amazed to see so famous and eloquent a man wearing such rags, and the wonderful devotion with which he preached and said Mass.
In 1184 he was in Rome, interpreting an obscure prophecy found among the papers of Cardinal Matthew of Angers, and was encouraged by Pope Lucius III. Succeeding popes confirmed the papal approbation, though his manuscripts had not begun to circulate. Joachim retired first to the hermitage of Pietralata, writing all the while, and then founded the Abbey of Fiore (or Flora) in the mountains of Calabria; Flora became the center of a new and stricter branch of the Cistercian Order, approved by Celestine III in 1198.
In 1200 Joachim publicly submitted all his writings to the examination of Innocent III, but died before any judgment was passed. The holiness of his life was widely known: Dante affirmed that miracles were said to have been wrought at his tomb, and, though never officially beatified, he is still venerated as a beatus on May 29.
He theorized the dawn of a new age, based on his interpretation of verses in the Book of Revelation, in which the hierarchy of the church would be unnecessary and infidels would unite with Christians. The most spiritual Franciscan monks acclaimed him as a prophet.
His popularity was enormous in the period, and some sources hold that Richard the Lionheart wished to meet him to discuss the Book of Revelation before leaving for the Third Crusade.
His famous Trinitarian “IEUE” interlaced circles diagram was influenced by the different 3-circles Tetragrammaton-Trinity diagram of Petrus Alphonsi, and in turn led to the use of the Borromean rings as a symbol of the Christian Trinity (and possibly also influenced the development of the Shield of the Trinity diagram).[1]
[edit] Books
“Liber Concordiae Novi ac Veteris Testamenti (”Harmony of the Old and New Testaments”): his most important work.
Expositio in Apocalipsim (”Exposition of the Book of Revelation”)
Psalterium Decem Cordarum (”Psaltery of Ten Strings”)
Treatise on the four Gospels
The late thirteenth-century set of pseudo-prophecies, united with a later series under the title Vaticinia de Summis Pontificibus was attached to his name without any basis in truth.[1]
[edit] Theory of the three ages
The mystical basis of his teaching is his doctrine of the “Eternal Gospel,” founded on an interpretation of the text in Revelation xiv, 6.
His theories can be considered millenarist; he believed that history, by analogy with the Trinity, was divided into three fundamental epochs:
The Age of the Father, corresponding to the Old Testament, characterized by obedience of mankind to the Rules of God;
The Age of the Son, between the advent of Christ and 1260, represented by the New Testament, when Man became the son of God;
The Age of the Holy Spirit, impending (in 1260), when mankind was to come in direct contact with God, reaching the total freedom preached by the Christian message. The Kingdom of the Holy Spirit, a new dispensation of universal love, would proceed from the Gospel of Christ, but transcend the letter of it. In this new Age the ecclesiastical organization would be replaced and the Order of the Just would rule the Church. This Order of the Just was later identified with the Franciscan order by his follower Gerardo of Borgo San Donnino.
According to Joachim, only in this third Age will it be possible to really understand the words of God in its deepest meanings, and not merely literally. He concluded that this age would begin in 1260 based on the Book of Revelation (verses 11:3 and 12:6, which mention “one thousand two hundred and sixty days”).[2] In this year, instead of the parousia (second Advent of Christ), a new Epoch of peace and concord would begin, thus making the hierarchy of the Church unnecessary.
Joachim distinguished between the “reign of justice” or of “law”, in an imperfect society, and the “reign of freedom” in a perfect society[3].
[edit] Condemnation
Main article: Joachimites.
Thomas Aquinas confuted his theories in his Summa Theologica, but in The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri placed him in paradise. Among the more spiritually-inclined of the Franciscans, a “Joachist” group arose, many of whom saw Antichrist already in the world in the person of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (who died, however, in 1250). The ‘Doctor Mirabilis’, Roger Bacon, was one of their number.
As the appointed year approached, spurious works began to circulate under Joachim’s name: De Oneribus Prophetarum, an Expositio Sybillae et Merlini (”Exposition of the Sibyl and Merlin”) and commentaries on the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah. The Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215 condemned some of his ideas about the nature of the Trinity, without taking any action, Finally Pope Alexander IV condemned his writings and those of his follower Gerardo of Borgo San Donnino and set up a commission that in 1263 in Synod of Arles eventually declared his theories heretical.
His theories inspired also subsequent heresies like Dulcinians and Brethren of the Free Spirit.
Exactly my point.
Clearly he missed his calling.
mark for self
I missed your post as I was composing. I am pleased to see that at least two of us here have read Strauss to lasting benefit.
I am pleased to see that at least two of us here have read Strauss to lasting benefit.
I read Strauss just before I put them on.
Wow, and I thought all that lunacy about this being time that the waters would recede etc, was just bluster!! So there is actually some considered thought behind this lunacy. Unbelievable.
I'm glad to see some Straus-Voegelin fans here on FR. They both figure large in my overall view of the world.
A quick personal story (if I may indulge): In Oct 1991, I took part in the last official border trace of the East German-West German border. Our patrols had long since become formalities--after all, the Wall had been open in Berlin for almost 2 years and the next day the two Germanys would reunite. I remember thinking, "Thank God all this madness of communism is gone, we don't have to defend ourselves against it anymore." I was always curious to know how all that "madness" came about in the first place. It was during my random readings that I came accross Voegelin and Straus. Voegelin was especially good on the inherent gnosticism at the heart of totalitarian political movements. I had always thought that one of America's greatest blessings was to be spared the onslaughts of modern political gnosticism. To think that within 20 years of the fall of the Berlin Wall we would have neo-gnostic Marxist in the oval office....I'm dumbfounded. Oh well, every great nation in the modern age has been tested by gnostic revolutionaries. I guess it is our turn. May we acquit ourselves better than the Europeans did and may God preserve our country in this trial.
I read “The New Science of Politics” in high school in 1970. The depth of knowledge and sophistication of analysis were stunning and rarely equaled in later college courses.
On a serious note, there was an obscure Czech emmigre named Rio Preisner who had a huge influence on me. I never met him, but I read a lot of his works. He was a philosopher/cultural historian who fled after the invasion in '68. After the communist takeover in '48 he had spent some time in a concentration camp because he was a prominent Catholic student at Charles University in Prague. (Yes, they had concentration camps for "class enemies" after WWII, not that you'd ever hear about them from our cultural elites.) It's a pity his works aren't translated into English because he's full of wise observations. Anyway, Preiser too was apprehensive about our prospects in the Cold War. He had seen so many things go wrong that it was hard for him to imagine that things could somehow change in our favor. He thought the general cultural drift of our country was leftward and that we Americans had few of the "anti-bodies" needed to combat Leftism at a high level. He noted that while our instincts were very solid, over time they would be worn down and we too could succumb to gnostic Leftism. It's hard to say that his prediction was without basis, given what's happened.
Although he may have been off the end of the Cold War, I think he was dead-on right about our cultural drift. It does seem that we are caught in leftward-moving undertow, and I'm not sure what can stop it. The culture wars are where the action is now; it is clear, also, that the healthy instincts of the American people have been eroded and confused by the non-stop bombardment of Leftism over the past few decades. Now we've got to meet our "gnostic" challenger with whatever spiritual resources we have left. I do think at some point we're going to need divine intervention (as we did in the Cold War when John Paul II was elected Pope.) I don't know what form that would take here in the U.S. I am heartened by the new solidarity of the Catholic bishops in speaking out for life. They should have been doing this in more concerted fashion for decades now. Oh well, better late than never I guess. It wouldn't be an exclusively Catholic thing either; all men and women of good will will have to be mobilized to defeat the barbarians in our midst. Let's hope our beloved USA still has time.
Interesting comments. The leftward tug of the media and the educational system are constantly eroding traditional values and ideas, much like the forces of gravity and erosion wear down mountains. The impending financial crisis of the welfare state in the coming years though may discredit its advocates and ideological premises.
I'd like to see Obama's references to Joachim di Fiore. Anybody have them handy?
And I'd like to see somebody favorably quote Savonarola and get away with it.
There were some good early FR threads on Voegelin and Thomas Molnar, some of them are still accessible through a simple web search.
Another ping...
I tried to find links to the Utopia threads and I’ve had no luck. The one link one I had on Voegelin on my FR homepage is also defunct.
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