Pope Benedict XVI is greeted by believers in front of 'Mary's House' near Ephesus November 29, 2006, where the Virgin Mary is reputed to have lived and died.
Posted on 11/29/2006 6:01:29 AM PST by NYer
Pope Benedict XVI is greeted by believers in front of 'Mary's House' near Ephesus November 29, 2006, where the Virgin Mary is reputed to have lived and died.
This morning, the Pope celebrated what John Allen called the "smallest crowd in recent memory for a papal Mass," swinging through Ephesus on pilgrimage to the original "Mary's House":
In a fitting pastoral touch, Benedict XVI spoke the opening collect of the Mass in Turkish, drawing appreciative nods from the assembly.Predictably, the pope’s message centered on Mary. The Sanctuary of Meryem Ana Evì (the “House of Mary”) was founded by the Lazarist Fathers in the 19th century, based on the visions of the German mystic Anna Katherine Emmerick, who identified this spot as the place where Mary died.
Though even the official Vatican Radio trip book notes that there’s no archaeological evidence to support the claim, the sanctuary nevertheless boasts a unique distinction, in that it’s perhaps the only Marian shrine on earth which draws as many Muslim pilgrims as Christians. Inside are votive reliefs with quotations from seven passages of the Qu’ran praising Mary.
Invoking the reverence which Muslims have for Mary, Benedict implored the small crowd to “lift up a prayer to the Lord, a special prayer for peace between peoples.” He referred to the Anatolian peninsula as “a natural bridge between continents.”
The only other public moment of today's schedule is Benedict XVI's brief visit to the church at the Phanar, the compound of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, following which his private meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew I will take place. Tomorrow morning, Benedict will join Bartholomew for a divine liturgy in the Phanar church as the patriarchate marks St Andrew's Day, its patronal feast.
Surprising it hasn't been destroyed yet, Turkey having so many muslims.
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
Pope Benedict XVI is greeted by believers in front of 'Mary's House' near Ephesus
After watching so many Papal Masses over the years, the small group of Catholics assembled for this Mass, was truly a shock to the system. The Holy Father distributed communion to nearly ALL of them. Considering that Turkey was once a christian country, the image of a tiny Catholic community, viewed as 'exotic' by the Muslims, should be a wake up call to christians in western Europe.
I guess you've either forgotten, or never knew, that there is a surprising amount of devotion to the Virgin Mary among Muslims.
They insist on the virgin birth of Jesus, and a whole sura of the Koran is devoted to Mary.
According to CNN, the area was cordoned off and only 250 people were present for the Mass, making it one of the lowest attended outdoor papal Masses ever.
Thank you.
"I guess you've either forgotten, or never knew, that there is a surprising amount of devotion to the Virgin Mary among Muslims.
They insist on the virgin birth of Jesus, and a whole sura of the Koran is devoted to Mary."
That would astonish many Christians simply because of the overall hatred for non-Muslims. Wonder how the Muslims can justify their devotion to the Queen of Peace with their intent to convert the entire world to Islam.
Owl_Eagle, this shrine will never be distroyed because of the high regards for Mary by the Muslims. This is why Catholics pray for her intercesion that the Muslims come to faith in Christ via her.
This suprises me too, because there is so much contradictions in the Koran and Muslims, saying both Jews and Christians are "people of the book", and yet the latter is subjected to all kinds of abuses. Strange.
He looks so happy. He's positively beaming.
The Virgins and the Grapes: the Christian Origins of the Koran
He was filled with joy at meeting this small community of Catholics, many from the various Eastern Churches.
I think that is because Islam, IMHO, is not a true religion.
Quite an interesting read.
The "Christian" part of the Koran is based on Arianism. This of course was a heretical version of Christianity that circulated in the ME at that time and which, in fact, had been one of the things responsible for destroying the unity of the Church and leaving many ME communities isolated and defenseless against the agression of the syncretist heresy of Islam.
Arianism was essentially non-Trinitarian and really regarded Jesus as little more than a prophet, ultimately, and it was easy for Mohammed and his followers to build on this basis and combine Jewish ritual law - or a distorted version thereof - and pagan practices (combined with Mohammed's desire for world domination for himself and his clan) to create the bizarre thing that is Islam.
Curiously, Arianism is a heresy that pops up again and again, in various forms (many Protestant groups and individual liberal Catholics are essentially Arians), and it always leads to even worse heresies or to total unbelief. The Trinity is the foundation of orthodox Christian belief, and if you let go of the Trinity, the whole thing slips away.
I think it rather ought be a wake-up call to those who consider it "exotic."
Yes, especially if you have any experience with dialects. Many years ago, I spent some time in Italy. Each town has its own dialect (one nearby village spoke an Albanian dialect!) These dialects often bear little resemblance to each other, much less than to the Italian language. The dialect in one town I visited on a regular basis, was derived from Etruscan.
That said, imagine how language was processed by nomadic tribes. It probably was quite different from one caravan to another. Imagine someone trying to spread the "good news". It would have to be in the dialect of the tribe, each tribe.
We've all played the game 'Pass it on' where one person tells something to another who passes it on to the next person. You can see how the bedouins would have 'passed on' what they heard in their dialect to another tribe which 'interpreted' it. All that remained was for Mohammed to compile it all into one book and call it 'holy'.
My pastor is a polyglot; he speaks 8 languages, including Aramaic and Arabic. I speak 3 languages. Language fascinates us but, it can be one of the worst forms of communication.
Yep... and there's nothing like being at mom's house.
Especially after going through the meeting with the religious leader.
In other words, Islam is simply the most overt verson of Arianism.
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