TEST OF FAITH: Father Antonio Paglia in Capranica's church, its walls empty after thieves stole the Stations of the Cross
Posted on 01/14/2008 6:40:14 AM PST by NYer
Getting into the church was easy. The thieves probably walked in through the front door, posing as a few more of the faithful who come to bow their heads in St. John the Evangelist, the most important church in Capranica, 35 miles (56 km) north of Rome. They hid, waited to be locked in after the last people left, then went to work. They ignored the candlesticks, the alms box and the communion chalice: those are for amateurs — easy to grab, easy to sell. These were professionals, and they were after something specific: the Via Crucis, or Stations of the Cross, 14 paintings each depicting a moment in Jesus' final hours. Painted in oil by an anonymous 18th century artist, these scenes were the church's most glorious features, its aesthetic soul. And on the black market, they could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The thieves removed the framed canvases from the walls and lowered them through a window to the side street below. When they were done, they left the church through a tunnel that only a few people knew about. Once outside, they vanished, along with the paintings.
That was November 2006, and Capranica's Stations of the Cross are still missing. During pre-Easter celebrations, when parishioners would traditionally recite all 14 stations using the paintings as their guide, they had to pray before 14 small wooden crosses instead. The theft has left Capranica's small community with a sense of loss that is deep and personal, as if an old friend had disappeared. "We grew up with those paintings," says Marina, who owns a card shop across from St. John. "Yesterday," adds her mother Maria, "I was looking at those nude walls and I felt as if someone had broken into my own home."
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
The small painting is one of Greece's most sacred icons. So when, one morning in August 2006, the monastery's Mother Superior followed a breeze to the back of the church and discovered that the painting was missing — its pine-and-resin cradle empty, climbing ropes dangling outside a broken window — she fell to her knees and prayed.
The icon was recovered a month later, after one of the thieves called with a $1.7 million demand and the police tracked him down. But the theft sent a chilling message that nothing is sacred. Greece is known as a tomb raider's paradise, with thieves plucking archaeological treasures straight from the ground. And while this looting is still one of the biggest challenges for the country's art squad, the theft of religious art is eclipsing it. In 2005, 333 liturgical items were reported stolen in Greece, compared with only eight archaeological artifacts. "There's a fresh fad for Byzantine icons," says Giorgos Gligoris, head of Greece's art squad. "We expect the severity of these robberies to increase."
Many miracles have been attributed to the stolen icon
Norther Cyprus has had ALL the holy churches raided.
In fact the Famous “Kanakaria Moasics” case was litigated here in the USA in the 1990’s and they were returned to the church.
Many of these items are worth MULTI-millions.
“...that nothing is sacred.”...except Jesus, and His spirit that lives within each of us.
We need no “icons”.
if someone violated your father’s house, even to steal the insignificant tea cup, you would still have a violation of your father’s house.
It is not the material issue, lets not rehash a 1700 year debate.
How said that people would have to dip so low.
Guess they need our prayers.
Especially in the Greek church, there is the tradition of the Icons demonstrating examples and virtues from lives of the saints to a population tha could not read. These are historic and spiritual artifacts of worth unimaginable to these people, and not so lightly dismissed. Even many “New-Agers” insist that objects take on the imprint of emotions surrounding them. Why be surprised if the power of prayer and the holiness of the subject suffuse these objects?
A cultural and religious genocide is taking place.
Belief in God is not limited to those that have been taught to read.
All we have to do is accept God’s grace for our sins, and Jesus spirit into our hearts. Then, that spirit is with us always.
There is nothing between us and God. No icons, medallions, treasures or idols. We need only search our hearts for the truth, and follow the path where that truth leads.
You make a good point.
How does one who cannot read know the Word of God or the inspired word? The icons were practical, and unfortunately, following one’s heart can lead to Jihad.
This is part of one continuum that began with the iconoclastic John Calvin, continued with the French Revolution's destruction and plundering, and now culminates in today's secularism.
We learn through the actions and words of Christians. We do not just decide to pick up the Bible and read it, we are inspired by God through others, and through our own hearts.
God calls us, not through icons or idols, but by our own pain and remorse. Once we decide that we no longer can live our prior sinful lives, we accept God’s grace and live as Jesus did.
The Apostle Paul was a Jewish scholar, well learned in the laws that God had previously established. However, he believed that Christianity was a sect of unlearned people
following some dead healer.
He aided in hunting down and persecuting Christians, until he was intercepted by the spirit of Christ on the road to Damascus. Paul life was changed. He became one of the persecuted. (Read Acts, Chapter 9)
Paul was touched by Christ on the road to Damascus. We, too, can have Christ in our daily lives, if we just open our hearts and listen to what God is trying to tell us.
It can be as simple as knowing what is right from what is wrong, or as complex as the words of the Bible. But, the spirit helps us to understand, not just reading.
Yes, we need to read the Bible, if we are able. But, we must have a personal walk with God, on a daily basis, to know how much He loves each of us.
God is love. God is freedom. God does not inspire us to hate each other. Men do, as satan wishes. We each have the freedom to follow our own will, or to follow in the footsteps of Christ, who brought only love and mercy into this world.
Every Jihadi in AQ has a personal walk with his god every day. What does that benefit him, or anyone? And, you can bet they’re pretty good at listening to their hearts when carrying out an honor killing, burning a Serbian church, or beheading an infidel.
Done.
***we are inspired by God through others***
If we are inspired by another person, then that person has functioned as an icon. They are imaging Christ to us.
“And Philip ran thither to him [the Ethiopian eunich], and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me?” Acts 8:30-31a
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” Isaiah 52:7
An icon written on wood shows us Christ in the image of His servants. They did what Christ commanded: Loved God and neighbor, fed and clothed the poor, visited the sick and prisoners, denied themselves and took up their cross daily, sold all their treasure and followed Him.
there’s a warm spot in hell for folks who’d do something like this...
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