Xmas greetings

Today is Childermas in my time zone. The 12 days of Christmas continue until Epiphany. Normal if thats the right word posting resumes next week.

Dec 16 2016 while I finish this year's ecards I'm bumping a few older posts

House of Sand House of Rock

#Gospel #Biblestudy

Matthew Chapter 7 Verses 24 - 29

literal translation

everyone therefore whoever hears  my the words  these
(notice how greek uses both a definite article and a demonstrative for emphasis)
and does them I will liken (say compare in modern english for homoioosoo ) him
to a man prudent who built his home upon the rock.
(the origin of the rock of faith metaphor also claimed by catholics to be a reference to Peter )

and came down the rain
and came the rivers (ie like a  flash  flood )
and blew the winds falling upon that house
and not it fell
for it was founded on rock

Note the parallelism

and everyone who hears (pas means each or every  here) my the words these
parallelism again
and not doing them he shall / should be compared to a man foolish
who built the house his upon sand
and came down the rain
and came the rivers
andblew the winds
and striking that house
and it fell and was the fall of it great

Now a foolish person or a desperate farmer probably sometimes in low sandy valleys thinking it safe since floods and rain was rare but sensible people do not build on flood plains

what did his audience think of his preaching?

and it happened when had completely finished the  jesus the words those astonished the crowds at his teaching
he was for teaching them as power having and kai not as the scribes

remember your "crowd" or mob are not scribes or scholars but "everyman"

This is the end of my hopefully helpful notes on the Sermon on the Mount.

Next Year I'll start by repeating  some older grammar notes for beginners before moving onto a different section of the Gospels in Greek.

Catching Cerberos

CATCHING and CLEANSING
THE FINAL #hercworks

#Heracles and #Cerberos

This myth seemed to have been used to promote the Eleusinian Mysteries and justify the rites expansion to include non Athenians.

Heracles was ordered to descend to the Underworld and return with

Cerberos Hades' pet.

Before he could do so he had to be ritually cleansed of blood pollution.

Now Hades told his nephew he could borrow the dog if he could restrain and control it without using his club or arrows. Most versions of the story claim he wrestled or throttled the monstrous giant hound into submission and once again terrified his cousin but one Attic vase painter seems to have thought he took a gentler approach.

Have an excellent mid winter feast whatever mysteries rites and myths you honour!

I did not know you!

#gospel #biblestudy #whatjesusaid #greeknewtestament

Matthew Chapter 7 21-23

Paraphrase and notes first

Not all who say to me Lord! Lord! will enter into the realm of the heavens

note eiseleusetai erkhomai future stem eleuso

but he who the will of the father mine in the heavens (will)

many will say ero future of lego to me in (during / on) that day Lord Lord
not in the your name / in your note did we not prophetize
and by / in your name demons cast out
and ny your name works of power many do ?

and then I will declare / state / to them

Never I knew you!

Get away from me
those working lawlessness

note not merely sinners but people who claim and think they are doing things in the name of the divine but actually work against divine law !

Anomia is the final word in greek and if there was such a word in english you could translate it as UNLAW ?

And what is the LAW ?

remember Jesus said the Law could be summed up as
Love the Divine and love your neighbour!

Poor Ladon Poor Heracles

#hercworks #heracles #hercules #hesperides #greekmythology

Poor #Heracles 

He gets back to Greece from that cattle raid and gets sent back to the farthest reaches of the world and beyond to retrieve the golden apples of the Hesperides!

Some people think these were oranges tho since apples in ancient Greece seem to have been red they may have been some variant with yellow coloring?

Now these apples came from an orchard tended by the daughters of Atlas and guarded by a creature described as a dragon but usually depicted as a rather friendly looking snake ? 

Being Heracles he has several adventures on the way, killing a son of Ares, catching and interrogating Nereus, wrestling Antaios, slaying a tyrant called Busiris,  freeing Prometheus, and then he cons his cousin Atlas into picking and fetching the apples for him or in some versions killing the serpent whose name was Ladon. Hera created the constellation Serpens in memory of the faithful guardian of the tree.  

No stories record how the Hesperides felt about all this!

False Prophets and Bad fruit

#gospel #biblestudy

Matthew Chapter 7 15 - 20

literal translation

15  beware of false prophets

(bear in mind prophets were also teachers not just seers or wonder workers )
who(ever)  its hostis in greek ! comes towards you in clothing  dative of enduma used of sheep probatoon  inside but they are wolves ravagers

16  from the fruit of them you should know them!

future form of epiginooskoo

 not you gather from thorns bunches of grapes or from nettles figs?


17 likewise  so each good tree fine fruit makes
and the bad tree wretched fruit makes

note new word sapron

18 not it is possible tree good fruit bad to make
nor tree bad fruit fine to make

19 each tree not to make fruit fine it is cut up and into fire throw

20  surely from the fruit of them you will know them

Something to consider ?

Sick or poor quality trees can sometimes be improved  of coppicing
removing dead or diseased wood and branches and old growth ?

Its late afternoon in my time zone and we've had yet another violent storm sweep over the city. Pray and HELP storm victims and bear in mind the Phillipines too where its hurricane season !

Geryon

#hercules #geryon #HERACLES
Good morning metousia followers !
I took a break over thanksgiving and then local storms and other problems disrupted my blogging schedule.

I simply couldnt find one good image I liked of the Geryon stories.
Its a odd one with a Celtic flaviur. Heracles shoots arrows at the sun and gets given a cup that can be used as a boat a kind of magical size changing coracle.
Coracles are NOT greek.
He also journeys to the mysterious West and steals cattle from a sacred guardian his dog. he guardian has 3 bodies and the dog 2 heads.

The Greeks seemed to have used this story to support colonization and trade with Spain and Southern France. A three bodied warrior suggests some kind of ritual combat and while most versions claim this took place in spain it could have been in a Celtiberian area!