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Sustaining and Defending the LDS Temple

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Anointing Rite in the Orthodox Church

November 6, 2009 by Bryce Haymond 2 Comments
The Anointing of David

The Anointing of David

David Larsen at Heavenly Ascents continues to provide excellent notes from his attendance at the Temple Studies Group Symposium in London last weekend.  Recently he posted his notes on Archimandrite Ephrem‘s presentation about the Holy Oil in the Orthodox Church.  Father Ephrem gave out a handout which included detailed notes on the anointing rite in the Orthodox Church, which includes this portion:

The one to be baptized is brought forward. The Priest takes some of the oil and makes the sign of the Cross on the forehead, breast and back of the candidate, saying: The servant of God, N., is anointed with the oil of gladness, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As he signs their breast and back he says: For healing of soul and body. On the ears: For the hearing of faith. On the feet: For your feet to walk. On the hands: Your hands made me and fashioned me. And when the whole body has been anointed the Priest baptizes the person, holding them upright and facing East, as he says: The servant of God N. is baptized, in the name of the Father. Amen. And of the Son. Amen. And of the Holy Spirit. Amen. At each invocation the Priest immerses them and raises them again [three-fold immersion]. ((Handout from Archimandrite Ephrem in notes on Heavenly Ascents blog.  Notes in brackets are mine.))

Check out David Larsen’s Heavenly Ascents blog for more details from Father Ephrem’s presentation.

Posted in: Practices, Scholarship Tagged: anointing, david, david larsen, eastern orthodox, hands, heavenly ascents, oil, priest, rite, signs, symposium, temple studies

The Apotheosis of Washington

June 27, 2009 by Bryce Haymond 8 Comments
The Apotheosis of Washington (detail), Constantino Brumidi, 1865, United States Capitol Building rotunda.

The Apotheosis of Washington (detail), Constantino Brumidi, 1865, United States Capitol Building rotunda.

I watched an interesting show last night, Secret America on Discovery, and learned some interesting things.  One of them was that there is a large fresco painted on the inside of the dome of the rotunda of the United States Capitol Building.  It is called “The Apotheosis of Washington” and was painted by an Italian Painter, Constantino Brumidi, in 1865 for the sum of $40,000.

What is interesting is what was painted in this profound location.   [Read more…]

Posted in: Artifacts Tagged: art, building, celestial, exaltation, fathers, government, hands, heaven, immortality, ordinances, president, signs, vicarious

The Wolf, The Goat, And The Kid

October 13, 2008 by Bryce Haymond 6 Comments
Woodcut. Author unknown. From "The book of pictures and parables, fables." 1859. Oxford University.

Woodcut. Author unknown. From "The book of pictures and parables, fables." Oxford University. 1859.

One of our readers, Walt, emailed me a link to a fable that is intriguing.  It is entitled “The Wolf, The Goat, And The Kid,” and was originally penned by the popular 17th century French poet and fabulist Jean de la Fontaine.

THE WOLF, THE GOAT, AND THE KID
by Jean de la Fontaine

As went the goat her pendent dugs to fill,
And browse the herbage of a distant hill,
She latched her door, and bid,
With matron care, her kid; —
‘My daughter, as you live,
This portal don’t undo
To any creature who
This watchword does not give:
“Deuce take the wolf and all his race!”‘
The wolf was passing near the place
By chance, and heard the words with pleasure,
And laid them up as useful treasure;
And, hardly need we mention,
Escaped the goat’s attention.
No sooner did he see
The matron off, than he,
With hypocritic tone and face,
Cried out before the place,
‘Deuce take the wolf and all his race!’
Not doubting thus to gain admission.
The kid, not void of all suspicion,
Peer’d through a crack, and cried,
‘Show me white paw before
You ask me to undo the door.’
The wolf could not, if he had died,
For wolves have no connection
With paws of that complexion.
So, much surprised, our gormandizer
Retired to fast till he was wiser.

How would the kid have been undone
Had she but trusted to the word
The wolf by chance had overheard!
Two sureties better are than one;
And caution’s worth its cost,
Though sometimes seeming lost.
((Jean de la Fontaine, translated by Elizur Wright, Jr., Fables of La Fontaine, University of California, 1860, link.  The original French version, “Le Loup, La Chèvre et le Chevreau,” can be read here.))

Comments?

Posted in: Texts Tagged: keys, knocking, parable, passwords, poetry, signs, tokens, veil

The Rainbow – A Token of the Covenant

September 12, 2008 by Bryce Haymond 14 Comments
Noah's Thanksoffering (c.1803) by Joseph Anton Koch. Noah builds an altar to the Lord after being delivered from the Flood; God sends the rainbow as a sign of his covenant (Genesis 8-9). (click for larger view)

Noah's Thanksoffering (c.1803) by Joseph Anton Koch. (click image for larger view)

This morning I was listening to the ABC News report on the incoming hurricane Ike, which is heading straight towards the Galveston/Houston area of Texas, and the forecast of widespread destruction that it is provoking.  The news anchor was reporting from Galveston Island, Texas, where the brunt of the storm is said to be bearing down quickly.  The reporter ended his news clip by saying that there was a rainbow directly over Galveston Island.

It is destructive times like these that cause us to reflect on God, and His place in our world.  It seems like cruel irony that the rainbow was placed as a sign of the covenant that God made with man that He would not flood the earth again.  But then again, that was surely a deliberate decision, that each time we witness these horrific natural events like hurricanes we remember God is still there, and that He knows our trials and tribulations (cf. Hel. 12:3).  Yes, even “if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (D&C 122:7).  Events like these turn us back to God, and remind us to worship Him who is the Creator of heaven and earth.  It is only by obeying God’s commandments and enduring trying times such as these that we can “triumph over all [our] foes” (D&C 121:7-8):  [Read more…]

Posted in: Artifacts, Church History, Texts Tagged: abraham, adam and eve, altar, blessing, burnt offerings, covenant, fall, heaven, hebrew, isaac, jacob, joseph smith, noah, oath, offerings, promises, rainbow, rituals, sacrifice, signs, tokens

The Seal of Melchizedek – Part 2

September 9, 2008 by Bryce Haymond 6 Comments
Detail from a mosaic in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.

Detail from a 6th century mosaic in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.

(Continued from Part 1)

As you might have imagined, the first thing I did when my parents told me the story of the “seal of Melchizedek” on the San Diego temple, and of the connection with Hugh Nibley, I immediately did some searches to see if I could find if it was referenced in LDS literature.  The only reference I found was an image caption in the article “Sacred Vestments” in the book Temple and Cosmos:

Another Ravenna mosaic, c. A.D. 520, shows the priest-king Melchizedek in a purple cloak, offering bread and wine at the altar (Genesis 14:18-20).  The white altar cloth is decorated with two sets of gammadia, as well as the so-called “seal of Melchizedek,” two interlocked squares in gold.  Abel offers his lamb as Abraham gently pushes Isaac forward.  The hand of God reaches down to this sacred meeting through the red veils adorned with golden gammadia on either side.  The theme is the great sacrifice of Christ, which brings together the righteous prophets from the past as well as the four corners of the present world, thereby uniting all time and space. (Nibley, “Sacred Vestments,” Temple and Cosmos, 109.)

The drawing of the mosaic by Michael Lyon shown in Temple and Cosmos is from a basilica in Ravenna, Italy, called Sant’Apollinare in Classe.  This is the best color photograph of this mosaic I could find:  [Read more…]

Posted in: Artifacts, Scholarship Tagged: altar, book, BYU, design, gammadia, hugh nibley, melchizedek, non-lds, offerings, photos, sacrifice, san diego temple, scholar, seal, signs, symbols
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