Dr Paul Allen

Jesus helped by Simon of Cyrene, part of a series depicting the stations of the Cross. Chapel Nosso Senhor dos Passos, Santa Casa de Misericórdia of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Oil on canvas, XIXth century, unknown author. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 27:32 –34 “As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene , Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross” (v. 32). Having finished their scourging and mockery of Jesus in the governor’s headquarters (Matt. 27:26–31), the Roman soldiers take our Lord and begin His march toward the cross. Evidently, the physical beating Christ has suffered at the hands of the centurions has taken its toll, for He is not able to carry His cross on His own. Thus, the soldiers compel a man named Simon to bear the weight of the wooden crosspiece the condemned man would have to carry (v. 32), that is, the part to which Jesus’ arms will be nailed. The vertical beam of the cross is already put in the ground be...

Jesus helped by Simon of Cyrene, part of a series depicting the stations of the Cross. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 27:32–34 “As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene , Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross” ( v. 32 ). Having finished their scourging and mockery of Jesus in the governor’s headquarters ( Matt. 27:26–31 ), the Roman soldiers take our Lord and begin His march toward the cross. Evidently, the physical beating Christ has suffered at the hands of the centurions has taken its toll, for He is not able to carry His cross on His own. Thus, the soldiers compel a man named Simon to bear the weight of the wooden crosspiece the condemned man would have to carry ( v. 32 ), that is, the part to which Jesus’ arms will be nailed. The vertical beam of the cross is already put in the ground before the condemned arrives. Simon is from Cyrene, a Greek settlement in North Africa , and later church traditions depict him as a model of piety for carrying...

Image via Wikipedia Who we pal around with can shape our eternal destiny. Alipius found it so. From North Africa , he was a close friend of a teacher named Augustine in the fourth and fifth centuries. Augustine and Alipius sinned together and Alipius followed Augustine when he joined the Manichean religion. Alipius' father did not care for Augustine's influence over his son and told his son to stay away from Augustine. Alipius moved to Rome and became a magistrate there. After a while, Augustine followed his friend to Rome. Augustine, already a notable teacher of rhetoric in Carthage, tried his hand at teaching in Rome, but his students cheated him of his fees. Offered a teaching position in Milan , Augustine accepted. Alipius resigned his own position and the two friends headed north together. Their friendship continued. Milan's Bishop Ambrose was a skilled orator. Augustine went to hear h Image via Wikipedia im and was impressed not only by his power with words ...

Image via Wikipedia There were certainly atrocities committed as part of the Crusades : the sack of Jerusalem stands as one glaring example which we should lament as Christians .  However, to be fair the Crusades as a whole must be set against both the backdrop, and immediate context of Islamic expansion through warfare and conquest.  The Byzantine Empire, the great empire of eastern Christendom , was under continued assault and invasion.  North Africa had fallen to the Muslims ; Spain had been invaded.   While the French mainland invasions from Spain had been repelled prior, there were regular attacks by Muslim raiding parties along  Mediterranean coastal France, Italy, Greece, etc.  This is one reasons why medieval (and later!) Greek, Italian and French villages along the coasts sit atop fortified hills – Muslim raiding parties which killed the men, sexually assaulted/captured the women, and took the children as slaves back to North Africa/Pale...

Image via Wikipedia Vigellius Saturninus, the proconsul (Roman administrator) of North Africa in 180 A.D., spoke generously. "You can have the forgiveness of our Lord the Emperor if only you return to your senses," he said. Speratus, one of twelve Christians who faced him, replied for the rest. "We have never done evil; we have not lent ourselves to wrong; we have never spoken ill, but when ill-treated we have given thanks, for we pay heed to our Emperor." Evidently Saturninus was stung by that reply. "We too are religious, and our religion is simple," he said defensively. "We swear by the genius of our Lord the Emperor, and pray for his welfare, as you also ought to do." Speratus offered to instruct Saturninus in true simplicity of worship, but the proconsul brushed him off and turned to the other offenders. "Abandon this way of thinking," he commanded. Cittinus said, "We have no other to fear, save only our Lord God, ...