Salaam al-Maseeh,

The below is of course my site on Christian profession of faith in Christ in love of our fellow believers in the true God, Muslims. Contained therein is reference to the Triad. A little history is appropriate. In the 19th century, the Triad was a Zio-Marxist-Communist network between Jews in three cities for the purpose of invading Palestine and bringing forth the evil reign of their ‘ha maschiach’ in total opposition to the true Messiah professed by both Christians and Muslims who is Our Lord Jesus Christ. Those cities were Moscow (Tsarist Russia), New York City (Freemasonic America) and Tel Aviv (Ottoman Palestine). This network brought forth Communism in Russia (financed by New York Jewry at the time of the beginning of the mythic 6,000,000). At the same time the Federal Reserve and the Jews’ Tax system was started in the United States to collectivize America under their thumb and give them the power to control politics in the United States, particularly to get the United States to act as their Bully Boy in three (sic) World Wars and many conflicts in between. The third has just begun in 2001 at the infamous beginning of 911. The Triad was morphed by the Jews into the United States, Russia and Red China during the cold war which was between WWII and the current WWIII. That was all explained to me over forty years ago by a Russian-Canadian Jew operative of the Triad transnationalist Intelligence service of the KGB, shadow CIA (not regular lawful CIA) and Red Chinese Military Intelligence while that operative was conducting operations for them from the United States in the Caribbean with their long time operative Fidel Castro.

Current events and the near future:

The Triad is Russia, China and the United States until Israel replaces the United States, then it is Russia, China and Israel – then there were two, Russia and Israel and then there was one: ISRAEL THE HOME OF THE DAJJAL, ANTICHRIST – that last move is the real reason that Yamantau exists

Beware and all of us get the word out to warn God’s faithful.

Baarakul laahu fiik,

Ma’ assalaamah

Steve in Vista

The Triad is Russia, China and the United States until Israel replaces the United States, then it is  Russia, China and Israel – then there were two, Russia and Israel and then there was one: ISRAEL THE HOME OF THE DAJJAL, ANTICHRIST – that last move is the real reason that Yamantau exists

Follow this through.

We must always Be Prepared for Christ will return to Judgement at the end of this age, so stay in Confession of Faith in the True God in Eternal Faith & Beliefs in Him, Christians always in Eucharistic Thanksgiving always having nothing to do with Gnosticism and the Occult for they produce Gog and Magog at the end of the age, and these are always opposed to the true Messiah who is ‘Isa al-Maseeh for he Jesus Christ is the Truth; and always staying in Prayer to the True God and professing The birth of Jesus Christ from a virgin and praying The Psalms for all Godly purposes and always professing The Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, for The Testimony of the The Revelation of The Lord God Jesus Christ is God’s True and Holy Word, and ours is to oppose The War of Antichrist against the Church and Christian Civilization being waged by the Triad and understanding what seeing the purposes of the Antichrist’s Plan revealed in the Triad Revisited – A Brief Look and knowing this is why the ZioNazi Antichrist who is the Dajjal is causing WORLD WAR III AND THE FALSE PEACE.

True and a proven fact. Very unfortunately, many in the region don’t understand what fascism is all about, as in this example.

Leila Hussein: Speigel Online International – The Führer Cult Germans Cringe at Hitler’s Popularity in Pakistan

The Sun Religion of the Nazis and Its Purpose should instead be understood for the ancient tribal pagan abomination to God that it is.

Continue here:

• The Nazi Connection with Shambhala and Tibet
• THE UNDERGROUND NAZI INVASION OF THE UNITED STATES
• The Nazi Party, the Thule Society, the Occult, and Freemasonry

The Muslim Brotherhood is part of this. The New World Order as perceived in the West, is just the tip of the iceberg. Neo-Fascism in America of course led to Dollars for Terror.

While a raving demented cold blooded murderer rambles on vaguely sounding at times like CNN, decent scholarly folks who tell the truth for the sake of a Godly understanding and peace could be penalized by proposed legislation that ostensibly is for preventing wrongdoing but seems more like it will go toward censorship. The First Amendment is still the law of the land and should remain that. Meanwhile, the results of the catastrophic lie of 911 and the resulting cold blooded murder in the Middle East by the war machine engendered by this staged demolition is first the murder and pillage and overthrow of nations in the region and secondly the economic destruction of the United States in stages. At the same time as NATO is becoming increasingly the partner of Russia, it is more and more linking the United States to the concerns of Europe in disregard of actual U.S. security interests.

Those European concerns are as evil and invalid morally as their real purpose is that of the Atheist Secularist Socialist Europeans, which is the Goal of Communism.

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/secretsoc_20century/secretsoc_20century.htm#Contents

Contents

• Foreword
• To The Reader
• Preface
• Introduction

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_sociopol_blacknobil.htm

Contents
	-  All The Queen’s Forces and All The Queen’s Men – from ‘The Biggest Secret’ – the Book
	-  Ancient  History of The Black Nobility
	-  A New Aristocracy - from “The Gods Of Eden”
	-  Black Nobility – from ‘Secret Societies and Their Power in The 20th Century’ by Jan Van Helsing
	-  Bluebloods! – extracted from ‘Blue Blood, True Blood, Conflict and Creation’
	-  Britain’s Royal Wedding - A Big Day For The Global Oligarchy
	-  Britain’s Royal Wedding Fiasco and Its “Dirty little Secret” in Bahrain
	-  David Icke - Main File
	-  El Príncipe Carlos Implicado en el Asesinato de La Princesa Diana
	-  Hail Caesar! – Queen Gives Marching Orders to The United Nations
	-  La Diosa y el Rey – El Asesinato de Diana, Princesa de Gales – from ‘The Biggest Secret’, by David Icke
	-  Merovingian Bloodline and The Black Nobility
	-  Monarchy – The Dragon Society – Real History, Dragon Philosophy and The Importance of Royal Bloodlines
	- ”My Duty is To ‘Save The World‘” – Prince Charles Believes He Was ‘Born For a Purpose’
	-  Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands – Personal Background and His Part in Starting the Bilderberg Conferences
	-  Prince Charles Implicated in Murder of Princess Diana
	-  Prince Charles Labeled Eco-Hypocrite As He Arrives in The U.S. to Lecture on ‘Sustainability’
	-  Prince William is The Antichrist, Future King of One World Government
	-  Que Rija Britannia  - de ‘El Mayor Secreto’, por David Icke
	-  Rule Britannia – from ‘The Biggest Secret’, by David Icke
	-  Salve Cesare! La Regina Dà Direttive alle Nazioni Unite
	-  ¡Salve César! – La Reina le da Órdenes de Marcha a Las Naciones Unidas
	-  The Biological Basis of Elitism and “The Divine Right” Rule
	-  The Black Nobility
	-  The English Royal Family And The Opium Trade In The 18th Century – from ‘Secret Societies’ by Jan Van Helsing
	-  The Goddess and The King – The Murder of Diana, Princess of Wales – from ‘The Biggest Secret’, by David Icke
	-  The Largest Landowner on Earth – Queen Elizabeth II
	-  The London-Rome Beltane Ritual
	-  The Nazi Roots of The House of Windsor
	- ”The Queen” – Why Movies Lie
	-  The Windsor-Bush Bloodline
	-  The Windsors’ Global Food Cartel – Instrument for Starvation
	-  Una Nueva Aristocracia – de “Los Dioses del Eden“
	-  We Need To ‘Cull’ The Surplus Population – Prince Philip, In His Own Words
	-  Who Are The Black Nobility?
	Additional Information
	-  All in The Family – The Real Syndicate – from ‘Dope, Inc. – Britain’s Opium War Against the U.S.’
	-  Blue Blood, True Blood – Conflict and Creation – Selected Excerpts
	-  Children of The Matrix – Excerpts
	-  Commonwealth Games – Commonwealth Glory
	-  Dialogo Con Un Autoproclamado Illuminati – “Hidden Hand”
	-  Dialogue With a Self-Proclaimed Illuminati Insider – “Hidden Hand”
	-  El Caballo de Troya de Iberoamérica – Anglo-Venecianos Detrás de Santander
	-  El Jaque Mate – Informaciones Para Materializar Un Mundo Nuevo
	-  Fight The New World Order with Global Non Compliance
	-  Frenzy Around Britain’s Royal Wedding “Should Embarrass Us All“ – Johann Hari
	-  Human Blood Types and Human Evolution
	-  La Última Ilusión
	-  Mass Depopulation, Genocide, WW-3?
	-  MI-6 Are The Lords of The Global Drug Trade
	-  Pax Europa – The United States of Europe and the Merovingian Master Plan
	-  Prince Philip’s Flu Is On The March
	-  Princes of Plunder - The Shape of Treachery and the Bridge at Arnhem
	-  Revelaciones de Un ‘Insider’ de Una Familia Elite
	-  Revelations of An Elite Family Insider
	-  Royals and Nobles Believe in Dragon Genes?
	-  The 1001 Club – Bankers, Intelligence Agents, and Raw Materials Executives Striving for A Sustainable Future
	-  The Atlantean Conspiracy – Exposing the Illuminati – from Atlantis to 2012
	-  The Dragon Court - Main File
	-  The First Corporation
	-  The Royal Wedding – What Will It Cost?
	-  The United States Remains a British Colony
	-  The Vatican and The Jesuits
	-  Tipos de Sangre Humana y la Evolución Humana
	-  Western Royal Families and Illuminati to Hold Emergency Summit Meeting in Vienna
	-  Who’s Controlling Who? - An Interview With David Icke
	Books-Treaties
	-  Dope, Inc. – Britain’s Opium War Against the U.S. – by a U.S. Labor Party Investigating Team
	-  The Curse of Canaan – A Demonology of History – by Eustace Mullins
	-  The Empire of “The City” (World Superstate) - The Jekyll/Hyde Nature of the British Government – by E. C. Knuth
	-  The Coming Fall of The House of Windsor – by Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.
	-  The Thirteenth Tribe – The Khazar Empire And Its Heritage – by Arthur Koestler
	Multimedia
	-  Como Hizo Su Fortuna Juan Carlos I de España
	-  NARCO S.A. - El Grupo Bilderberg
	-  Revelations of A Mother Goddess – David Icke 2006
	-  Ring of Power – The Empire of “The City” – World Superstate
	-  Royalty’s Drug Running Kingpins – from ‘The Secret Rulers of The World’
	-  Ruled by “The Gods“
	-  The Black Nobility – The Freemasonic Order The Jesuit/Illuminati Connections
	-  The London-Rome Beltane Ritual 2011 - David Icke
	-  Tony Blair and British Freemasonry
	-  Vatican/Jesuit/Illuminati-Black Nobility – Occults Control The World
	-  What Happened to Strauss-Kahn, Was No Accident – New Political Shift in Progress…
	Related Reports
	-  13 Bloodlines of The Illuminati
	-  Los lluminati - Main File
	-  Merovingios, Los Reyes Perdidos - Main File
	-  Most Noble Order of the Garter - Main File
	-  New World Order - Main File
	-  Occult Reptilian Saga - Main File
	-  Orion Technology and Other Secret Projects
	-  The Bilderberg Group - Main File
	-  The Committee of 300 - Main File
	-  The Dark History of The Vatican - Main File
	-  The Dragon Court - Main File
	-  The Elite’s Drug Management - Main File
	-  The Khazars - Main File
	-  The Sovereign Military Order of Malta - Main File
		Return to Brotherhoods-Secret Societies
		Return to Temas / Sociopolitica
		Return to The Merovingians
		Return to The Global Elite

From:

Knowing by oneself,
knowing with the other

Some reflections on the theme of “conscience”
in modern Egyptian Islam
and in Christian-Muslim dialogue

Oddbjørn Leirvik,

Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo

In the article on “conscience” inThe Encyclopedia of Religion,Michel Despland writes:

On the interreligious scene today, it is to be wished that dialogue and encounter shall proceed from conscience. And the notion of conscience may well be – or become – part of the account that each will give to the other of his or her own humanity. Such meeting of consciences cannot occur without the labor of consciousness: each trying to communicate over a period of time what he is aware of.[1]

Could “conscience” have any role to fulfil in a dialogue between religions? The notion of conscience is moulded in Christian tradition and European philosophy – beginning with the Greeksyneídêsisand the Latinconscientia. Attempts have been made to identify a notion of conscience in other traditions as well. In James Hasting’sEncyclopedia of Religion and Ethicsfrom 1911, one will find articles on “conscience” in Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek-Roman, Jewish and Islamic religion. Such an approach, however, presupposes that some conceptual essence in the notion of conscience – like internalisation of morality or personal responsibility – is distilled in advance. Both in ancient Egyptian religion, in Jewish tradition and in Islam, the metaphor of the “heart” expresses the inner centre of man – capable of moral judgements and self-evaluation as well as of personal communication with God, and in need of purification.

However, the Greek-Roman, and later Christian notion of conscience, involves something more than moral and religious internalisation. What appears to be specific for the notion of conscience, is rather the tension between the turn inwards (towards the Self) and the orientation outwards (towards the Others) – between knowing by oneself and knowing with Others. The prefixessyn-,con-andsam-(in Norwegiansamvit) might indicate that etymologically, conscience is knowing with someone. It might be Oneself, but just as well the Other. And maybe the two cannot be separated.[2]

Some perspectives on the notion of conscience in European/Christian tradition

If one sets out to examine the rhetorical function of conscience-centred discourses in Christian tradition and in European philosophy, it becomes clear that conscience most often refers to intimate knowing by oneself, and with God as the transcendent other. The human other is not that visibly present. Having “a good conscience” for doing something, often implies an element of distancing from the others. One withdraws into oneself, in order to ascertain that one can stand for something from oneself, and if necessary, in contradiction to what the community might stand for. As expressed by the old Stoic Cicero: “there is no audience for virtue of higher authority than the approval of conscience”.[3]

At the roots of the Christian tradition, however, Paul maintains the tension between knowing by oneself and knowing with others. When unfolding the notion of conscience in 1. Corinthians (ch. 8 and 10), he faces two groups in the Christian community. The one party know with themselves – from theirgnôsis –that they may eat meat consecrated to the idols (in connection with Roman temple cult) with a good conscience. The others – those with a “weak conscience” – do not think they can do so, and get their conscience “polluted” when eating meat consecrated to idols. In this conflict, Paul argues that thegnôsisof the strong ones should give way to what could be known together in the community. What the strong (and rich?) know with themselves, must yield to that what Christians inCorinth may know together – in a practice of solidarity. In the influential (in terms of the history of ideas) passage in Romans (2.14-16), knowing together even transcends the Christian community. The conscience of the heathens testify to knowledge shared by Jews, Christians, Greeks and Romans, namely that the divine law is written in the heart of every human being.

In Early Modernity, parallel with the new emphasis on the moral autonomy of the individual, the inward direction of conscience acquires fresh importance. InReligion innerhalb der bloßen Vernunft(1793), Kant characterises “das Gewissen” as “die sich selbst richtende moralische Urteilskraft”.[4]InMetaphysik der Sitten(1797), he writes that conscience is one of the moral faculties (“moralische Beschaffenheiten”) that must be taken for granted in every human being, if the notion of moral obligation shall make any sense at all. Fichte gives Kant’s rational-autonomous conscience a Romantic bend, and speaks of conscience as “das unmittelbare Bewußtsein unseres reinen ursrprunglichen Ich”.[5]Hegel, on the other hand, returns to conscience its social character. He regards Kant’s formal and individualised understanding of conscience as insufficient, and emphasises that conscience is first of all knowing with others:

Das Gewissen hat die reine Pflicht oder das abstrakte Ansich nicht aufgegeben, sondern sie ist das wesentliche Moment, als Allgemeinheit sich zu andern zu verhalten. Es ist das gemeinschaftliche Element des Selbstbewusstsein … das Moment des Anerkanntwerdens von den anderen.[6]

With Feuerbach, the orientation of conscience towards others becomes a critical insight: “Das Gewissen is dasalter ego,das Andere Ich im Ich”.[7]Feuerbach sees conscience basically as “bad conscience”, expressing the wounded other: “Mein Gewissen ist nichts anderes, als mein an die Stelle des verletzten Du sich setzendes Ich”.[8]Feuerbach unambiguously returns conscience to its etymological origin, as an expression of something known with others:

Gewissen ist Mitwissen. So sehr ist das Bild der Anderen in mein Selbstbewusstsein, mein Selbstbild eingewoben, dass selbst der Ausdruck des Allereigensten und Allerinnerlichsten, das Gewissen, ein Ausdruck des Socialismus, der Gemeinschaftlichkeit ist.[9]

In French Enlightenment and Romanticism, partly in English Enlightenment philosophy as well, the basic tension between conscience as self-consciousness and conscience as shared knowledge can easily be traced. In French, there is no parallel to the English distinction between “consciousness” and “conscience”. The French “conscience” often has a strong inward orientation, towards moral self-consciousness. Nevertheless, it is in French Enlightenment and Romanticism one can find the strongest expressions of conscience as a social and political right. In hisCommentaire Philosophique ou Traité de la Tolérance Universelle(1686), Pierre Bayle contends that conscience is the voice of God in every human being, and correspondingly, that going against conscience is equal to disobeying the law of God. Hence he can also speak of the rights of conscience (“les Droits de la Conscience”) as something directly related to God himself.[10]With Rousseau, the notion of conscience figures prominently in that part ofÉmile(1762) which is called “The Creed of a Savoyard Priest”. Here, conscience is referred to as “an innate principle of justice and virtue”, as “divine instinct”, “sure guide” and “infallible judge of good and evil”. According to Rousseau and his Savoyard priest, it is to conscience everyone owes “the excellence of man’s nature and the morality of his acts”.[11]

Rousseau’s notion of conscience is often referred to as the classical modern expression of individual “authenticity”. It should be noted, however, that authenticity with Rousseau is not solipsistic, but inextricably linked to the idea of a binding social contract into which humans freely enter (cf.Du Contrat Social,published in the same year asÉmile).In his bookThe Ethics of Authenticity[12], Charles Taylor characterises the idea of authenticity as a child of the Romantic period, which was utterly critical of a disengaged rationality that neglected the bonds of community.[13]The idea of authenticity gives birth to a new vision of community. Nevertheless, its origin lies in the notion of an inner voice:

Morality has, in a sense, a voice within. … This is part of the massive subjective turn of modern culture, a new form of inwardness, where we come to think of ourselves as beings with inner depths.[14]

Conscience in Islam?

Is the discourse of conscience a specifically Western/Christian discourse, then, or can parallel ideas of conscience be traced in other traditions – making an intercultural or interreligious dialogue on conscience meaningful (cf. Despland)?

Classical Islam lacks a proper word for conscience. In modern standard Arabic,damîrhas become the central word for conscience. From old,damîrstands for “the inner, hidden”. In classical Sufî psychology (like with al-Hallâj, d. 922, and with Ibn ‘Arabi, d. 1240),damîrsignifies “the inner conscious”; different fromsirr,“the inner unconscious”. In classical Arabic grammar,damîris the name of the personal pronoun. Only from the latter part of the 19th century, the word can be found in the sense of “moral self-consciousness” or “conscience”. New Arabic Bible translations from 1860 onwards seem to have influenced the process, by translatingsyneídêsisasdamîrinstead ofniyya(“intention”), which had prevailed in Bible translations from the 9th century until then. At the beginning of the 20th century,damîris found in this sense also in Arabic translations and Egyptian reception of European philosophy, as can be seen from a book on Rousseau from 1923 of the well-known literate Muhammad Husayn Haykal.

In the following, I will present three Egyptian authors from this century who have all put the notion ofdamîrat the centre of their works on religion, philosophy and ethics. They may also have prepared the ground for a possible Muslim-Christian dialogue on conscience. The authors are ‘Abbâs Mahmûd al- ‘Aqqâd (1889-1964), Muhammad Kâmil Husayn (1901-1977) and Khâlid Muhammad Khâlid (1920-1996). All of them are regarded as outstanding men of letters in their generation. They are prolific writers covering a wide field of topics, most of them dealt with in an essayist and popularised manner. The works of al-‘Aqqâd and Khâlid are widely read in Arabic, whereas Husayn (through translations into English by Kenneth Cragg) is better known internationally.

Common for them all is that they wrote books on Christ in the 50s. These books have rightly been regarded as landmarks in Muslim-Christian dialogue. Different from prevailing tendencies in Muslim apologetics, they base their reflections on Christ on the Christian sources, relying for the most part on the Biblical gospels. They also highlight the universal features in the message of Christ, making it relevant and challenging for a Muslim reader. They are, as both Western and Coptic Christians have seen it, dialogical in their approach to Christ, not merely apologetic. A second uniting feature between these authors is their strong focus on the notion of conscience (damîr) – both in their books on Christ and Christian tradition, and in their exposition of the Islamic faith and philosophical heritage.

By the interrelation of the themes mentioned, Christ appears a forerunner of conscience-based religion and ethics. But their philosophy of conscience turns out to be quite central also to their vision of Islam, their general anthropological outlook, and their view on the relation between individual and community in modernity. From one side, their conscience-based ethics may be seen as just another version of an internalised ethics, bent towards virtue ethics and ideals of personal formation. As such, their ethics of conscience may be said render to the individual more ethical autonomy than what has been the rule in Islamic ethics. On the other side, their ethics of conscience is also an ethics with obvious political implications – with obvious anti-authoritarian features, social radicalism (especially in Khâlid) and elements of a philosophy of non-violence (in Khâlid and Husayn).

As for the context of their writings, all the authors are well within the tradition of reformist Islam, and their works are heavily marked by modern Islam’s departure from rigorous traditionalism. But at mid-century, reformist Islam or “modern Islam” in Egyptis not at all a uniform phenomenon. The tension between liberal Islam, Islamic socialism and Islamism as competing programs of modernisation in Egyptis part of their immediate context. Their writings also reflect an Egyptian context marked by a distinct “dia-practice”[15]between Muslims and Christians, namely their co-operation in the modern Egyptian nation building, and joint efforts from Muslim and Christians to establish social justice.

Damirin al-‘Aqqâd: a key term in apologetics as well as dialogue

In a book from 1961, on “Thinking – an Islamic duty” (Al-tafkîr – farîda islâmiyya), ‘Abbâs Mahmûd al-‘ Aqqâd maintains that Islam is the only religion that fully authorises a free and independent relation between the creatures and their Creator, so that humans may approach God by means of their conscience – theirdamîr.[16]Already in his book from 1947 on “The Qur’ânic philosophy” (Al-falsafa al-qur’âniyya), he claims that the philosophy of the Qur’ân contains the only doctrine that can really vitalise conscience, and disperse the clouds that otherwise stand in the light of reason.[17]

Much of what al-‘Aqqâd writes on conscience, is flavoured by an outspoken apologetic interest. But also in his books on Christ and Christian tradition, the notion of conscience is strikingly central. His biography of Christ from 1953 (“The Genius of Christ”) appeared in the wake of corresponding biographies on Muhammad and Islamic heroes, most of them under the heading ‘Abqariyyat, “the genius”.

In a book from 1947 on the development of the notion of God (“Allâh“), al-‘Aqqâd presents Christianity as the first religion to base the service of God on human conscience.[18]In his Christ-biography from 1953, al-‘Aqqâd focuses on the universalism, the law of love and the pre-eminence of conscience in Christ’s message. When summarising Christ message in one expression, he speaks of “the law of love and conscience” (shari‘at al-hubb aw/wa-sharî‘at al-damîr).[19]

Another central motive in al-‘Aqqâd is the Sufî-based distinction between the outer and the inner. The law of love and conscience is contrasted by what al-‘Aqqâd terms “the law of outward forms and appearances” (sharî‘at al-ashkâl wa-l-zawâhir).Conscience is the warrant that actions are based on right intentions (niyyât)and ideals. The important thing is the reform of souls, and the change of motives and incentives (islâh al-nafsi, taghyîr al-bawâ’ith).[20]

One sometimes gets the expression that al-‘Aqqâd should primarily be read in the Romantic tradition of equalising religion with innermost emotion – cf. expressions like “in the secrets of conscience”[21]an “the innermost thoughts of his conscience”[22], and his frequent paralleling of “conscience” with “soul” and “heart”.[23]Still, it is obvious that his use ofdamîris related to some kind of social vision. “Freedom of conscience” is a central term for al-‘Aqqâd. Although he gives it a peculiar Romantic or Mystical flavour in expressions like “the freedom of conscience is the secret of all secrets in the life of man”[24], the concept of freedom of conscience has – of course – obvious ethical and political implications.

The project of Christ – apparently identical with that of al-‘Aqqâd – is aimed at refinement of the human character (tahdhîb al-âdâb al-insâniyya).Al-‘Aqqâd’s virtue ethics approach to moral questions rests upon a long tradition of philosophical ethics in Islam.[25]According to al-‘Aqqâd, it is only through character formation that the conscience of the individual, and the conscience of the community (damîr al-umma), can be safeguarded.As al-‘Aqqâd sees it, such formation can only happen through a reform of consciences (bi-islâh al-damâ’ir).He has far less confidence in reform or reinterpretation of outward laws and regulations. His focal point is ethics (akhlâq) and the formation of a moral character.

Al-‘Aqqâd’s interest in Christ is apparently not restricted to a historical presentation of Christ as a law reformer in Judaism, neither to a sympathetic exposition of basic Christian tenets. There are many indications that his writings about Christ should also be read as a critique of rigorous attitudes and outwardness in parts of contemporary Islam – cf. his employment of traditional Islamic offices likefuqahâ’[26],‘ulamâ’andhuffâz[27]when denoting the adversaries of Christ.

Damirin Kâmil Husayn: at the heart of a universal, human drama

Kâmil Husayn is known in the West for two books translated by Kenneth Cragg. His most famous book isQarya zâlimafrom 1954 (in English:City of Wrong), that was awarded with the Egyptian State Prize of Literature in 1957, and has attracted much attention in the international dialogue between Muslims and Christians. Kenneth Cragg has also translated a meditative work on philosophy (or psychology) of religion from 1968, entitledAl-wâdi al-muqaddas(in English:The Hallowed Valley).[28]

InThe Hallowed Valley,Husayn speaks of the voice of conscience as the very voice of God, with rather strong Sûfî connotations:

The hallowed valley is the place on earth, the point in time, the state of mind, where you reach upward beyond the form of external things, beyond your own nature and the necessities of life, and even beyond the bounds of your intellect … In the hallowed valley you hear the voice of conscience, clear and plain, enjoining upon you unconfusedly the obligations of the good, and leading you undeviatingly towards the truth – conscience as the very voice of God.[29]

As a prerequisite of abiding in the hallowed valley, Husayn speaks of the necessity of to fight against evil of all kinds, and its seductive power. This can only be done through exercise of “the hidden and passive virtues of resistance”.[30]Correspondingly, in an appendix to his novel of conscience, he emphasises that the main function of conscience is that of curbing and warning (râdi‘an wa-nadhîran):

Although it is possible to be positively guided by conscience, the main power for conscience being inhibitive and prohibitive, it is mainly a guide to us in avoiding wrong.[31]

Husayn relates his concept ofdamîrto general insights derived from psychology and the natural sciences. But he unfolds it in a literary fiction, in a drama of conscience based on the events of Good Friday as recorded in the New Testament Gospels. The book presents itself as a moral philosophical dramatisation of the events of Good Friday, which is indeed a controversial issue to approach for Muslim author. Instead of directly challenging the classical Islamic claim that Christ was in fact not crucified, Husayn enters the drama of crucifixion from the perspective of the intentions of those involved. As the Qur’ân confirms, the adversaries of Christ intended to crucify him (although, according to a conventional Muslim interpretation, their plans were thwarted). The intention of Husayn is to expose the universal importance of the drama of Good Friday, the central themes of which is the crucifixion of human conscience:

When they resolved to crucify him it was a decision to crucify the human conscience and extinguish its light. They considered that reason and religion alike laid upon them obligations that transcended the dictates of conscience.[32]

In his book, Husayn dramatises the inner conflicts that can be traced or surmised among Jewish leaders and the representatives of the Roman occupation force. Out of different motives, they all denied their voice within, when they resolved to have Christ crucified. Husayn also unfolds the moral drama of the disciples. For the disciples, being true to conscience was a question of being faithful towards the obligation of non-violence, as expressed by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount.

According to Husayn, the drama of Good Friday has a universal relevance. In Husayn – as in al-‘Aqqâd – conscience is clearly interrelated with personal virtue. Even more than al-‘Aqqâd, he stresses that religion (anchored in conscience) can only influence society indirectly. In Husayn, there is also more emphasis on the right of resistance than in al-‘Aqqâd’s more romantically flavoured project of renewal. It is all about the will and ability of the individual to obey his inner voice, and on this foundation, to venture non-violent resistance to the religious and political collective when necessary.

What would have been the contemporary impetus for making the crucifixion of conscience his crucial theme? According to Harold Vogelaar,City of Wrongshould first of all be read in the light of the shattering experience of World War II, as “an emotional, literary reaction to that catastrophic event”, movingly depicting “the utter failure of traditional religion to prevent it”.[33]Kenneth Cragg, on the other hand[34], focuses on the fact that Husayn relates his concept of conscience to central teachings of the Qur’ân, and to a contemporary context which is just as much Muslim as Christian. InCity of Wrong, he names the head of lawyers among the Jews – the one responsible for issuing religiousfatwas –amuftî.He alludes to controversial issues related to the interpretation ofsharî‘a;like imposing lashes for drunkenness[35]and the question of death penalty for adultery or alleged blasphemy/apostasy.[36]Likewise, he displays the ambiguity of the conceptijmâ‘(consensus of the religio-political community) when it comes to the question of the individual being true to conscience.[37]He frequently alludes to Qur’ânic expressions (like the concept ofzulm– “wrong, iniquity” – underlying the title of the book). Sometimes his allusions are made in astonishing ways, displaying a profound will of self-criticism as to how Qur’ânic concepts may be misused for suppression in the name of religion or society.[38]

Damirin Khâlid Muhammad Khâlid:
conscience unites the history of religions, but is best safeguarded by Islam

In a contextual perspective, the personal development of Khâlid Muhammad Khâlid is of special interest, particularly with regard to the tension between liberal Islam and Islamism. In his bookMin hunâ nabda’(in English:From here we start) from 1950, he advocated the separation of religion and state, vehemently attacking the political ambitions of the Islamic “priesthood” (traditional‘ulamâ’as well as secretly organised Muslims Brothers). During the 50s, Khâlid produced a whole series of books propounding democratic values combined with a vision of Islamic socialism, and simultaneously, a commitment to Christian-Muslim dialogue. From the 60s, however, he turns more and more to the Islamic heritage, publishing several books on Muhammad and the men around him. At the end of the 70s, he seemed to have “converted” to a moderate Islamism. In contrast to his positions from the 50s, he now emphasises the Islamic foundation of the state. His book from 1981 on “The State in Islam” (Al-dawla fî-l-islâm)sets out with a critical reassessment of the secularist ideas he had been voicing in the 50s. Nevertheless, the book testifies to the fact that also in the latter part of his authorship, he strongly maintains his advocacy of the democratic rights of freedom – as a “good Islamic democrat”.

In this way, Khâlid embodies a general trend among several Egyptian intellectuals: From a social democratic commitment in the 50s, he becomes an advocate of “Islamic democracy” in the 70s and 80s. In a parallel development, he also moves from a general discourse of values (like social justice and democracy) towards a more specifically Islamic discourse – which deals with Islamic authenticity more than the authentic human being in general.

Khâlid’s best known contribution to inter-religious dialogue would be his book from 1958 entitled “Together on the road – Muhammad and Christ”(Ma‘an ‘alâ-l-tariq – Muhammad wa-l-Masîh).[39]In this books, he searches for what might be termed common ethical values between Christ and Muhammad. Both Christ and Muhammad are presented at human beings with an honest conscience (mustaqîm /istiqâmat al-damîr).Although they are merely humans, both of them embody very special “energies”(tâqât), and their spiritual nobility is linked with a shared commitment for “ordinary people” (al-rajul al-‘âdî).Both defend the fundamental human rights of subsistence, as well as the right to freedom of conscience. Christ liberated human conscience from its captivity of outwards laws and oppressing regulations. The same did Muhammad: By preaching social responsibility and challenging suppressive power, by spiritually subverting all institutions of religious mediation and defending the integrity of the individual person, he set human conscience free.

As Khâlid sees it, this prophetic mission rooted in the inner authority of Muhammad’s conscience. On the first page of his book on the human qualities of Muhammad (Insâniyyât Muhammad, from 1960), Khâlid claims that

If Muhammad had not been a messenger of God he would surely have been a human being on the same level as a messenger of God! And if he had not received the command from his Lord: ‘Oh messenger, proclaim what is revealed to you’ he would surely have received it from his very nature (min dhât nafsihi): ‘Oh human being, proclaim what is at work in your conscience.’[40]

Khâlid is utterly critical of all religiosity marked by blind compliance with tradition, and of a religious ethics based on formalistic rules “devoid of spirit”. As brothers in prophethood, Christ and Muhammad both focus on the inner meaning of the laws, and both of them are anchoring religion as well as ethics in human conscience.

In Khâlid, the notion of conscience apparently refers to something more than morality and ethics. In “Together on the road”, he defines conscience as “the human being in its true existence” (al-insân fî wujûdihi al-haqîqî).[41]By this repeated expression, he seems to link his ethics of conscience to the more general question of human authenticity: it is all about – as he puts it – opening up for the energies and potentials of the human being. Concretely, this can be expressed both through resistance to everything than binds conscience, and in creative, constructive work for a world of freedom. His aim is always the agreement between out outward conduct and our hidden inner (bayna zâhirinâ wa-bâtininâ)– a classical Sufî distinction that Khâlid links up with, but also transcends.

Five years after his book on Muhammad and Christ, Khâlid publishes a book that is entirely dedicated to the theme of human conscience – “on its journey towards its destiny” (Ma‘a l-damîr al-insânî fî masîrihi wa-masîrihi).In this book, he presents the history of religion and philosophy from the perspective of “development of human conscience”. He traces human conscience, on its journey from old Egypt via Chinese religion, the Old Testament scriptures, Christ, Muhammad and the Islamic revelation, all the way up to Mahatma Gandhi as the most prominent spokesman of conscience in our time. Khâlid highlights the interaction between conscience and reflective reason (‘aql), but also underlines that conscience cannot dispense of divine guidance through the prophets.

His reading of the history of philosophy reveals (among other things) interest in Rousseau’s coupling of a Romantic ethics of authenticity with the idea of a social contract based on the common will. By his endorsement of wide-ranging human rights of freedom, Khâlid draws a demarcation line against authoritarian version of the idea of a social contract. Among the rights of freedom, the right of “enlightened doubt” (al-shakk al-mustanîr)appears to be the most central of them all.[42]Khâlid presents the right of doubt as an integral part of the legacy of European philosophy, but also endeavours to link the idea of doubt as a positive human faculty to words of Muhammad.

As for the relation between individual and society, Khâlid claims that Muhammad’s ethics of conscience is more political than that of Christ. Whereas Christ persistently focused on intention (niyya), Muhammad recognised the need to reinforce intentions with social laws. Intentions must be implanted “in the depths of human nature and in the nature of society likewise”.[43]Christ focused on individual conduct, and according to Khâlid, he gave no directions for the social order (nizâm)that can never be dispensed of if human rights shall be effectively safeguarded.

These formulations from the early 60s could perhaps be taken as an indication of Khâlid’s later attraction to a moderate Islamism. In his book “The State in Islam” (1981), he maintains his advocacy of democracy and freedom rights, but unfolds his commitment within a purely Islamic discourse, and with no references to conscience or shared ethical values between Muslims and Christians. Has he moved from calling on the authentic human being, towards the proclamation of a specifically Islamic authenticity?

Conscience in the dialogue between religions:
knowing by oneself and with others

The turn to the other

In the formation of an integral human personality, self-consciousness and “knowing with others” must clearly be regarded as two sides of the same coin.[44]Also in a communal perspective, knowing by oneself (one’s own religious community) is always interrelated with knowing together with (or against) distinctive others. Those who belong to adifferentreligious community, might either be regarded as adversaries, as companions on the road, as members of an extended spiritual family, or simply neighbours with whom you will have to cope in one way or another. How can the interrelation of self-consciousness and other-directedness be conceived of in a dialogue between religions? Perhaps even more important: How can the twin experiences on the communal level, of a possibly shared commitment and the still ineradicable pain of difference, be conceptualised and lived with?

In recent philosophies of dialogue, “the turn towards the Other” has emerged as a central topic among prominent representatives of the Abrahamic family. Much of the inspiration has come from the Jewish philosophers Martin Buber (“I and Thou”) and Emmanuel Lévinas, who bases his ethics of proximity on the notion of “the Other’s face”.[45]

The recognition of the constitutive role of “the Other” in the formation of a religious self-consciousness is a most central theme with thinkers like Paul Ricoeur and David Tracy on the Christian side[46], and with Muslim writers like Hasan Askari (India) and Farid Esack (South Africa).[47]

The background of the new discourse on the inviolability of the Other is dramatic: the entire philosophy of Lévinas may be read as a reflection on the extinction of the Other in holocaust – resulting in an entirely ethical philosophy centred around the human face’s silent call for respected difference. For Lévinas, the Other can never be simply more of the same, from the point of view of the Self. The Other is essentially difference. The encounter with the Other’s face subverts subjectivity, as subjectivity has been conceived of in idealist or existentialist philosophy: It places the subject in the accusative, “by substituting me for the Other as a hostage”.[48]

Similarly, when David Tracy reflects upon the “the Divine Other of Liberation” as “the Hidden God”, he focuses on thedisturbingdifference of the marginalised Other:

Rather history will now be seen as the focus of God’s self-disclosure in the survival, struggle, conflict of oppressed and forgotten people, living and dead: in otherness, difference, marginality.[49]

Others (like Ricoeur) treat the question of selfhood and otherness in a more general perspective, investigating the conditions of moral character formation. Traumas as well as ordinary everyday experience give impetus to reflections on the how we define self and other, sameness and difference – at the personal as well as at the communal level.

Selfhood and otherness in conscience:
Ricoeur, Heidegger and Lévinas

Is the notion ofconsciencecapable of containing selfhood as well as otherness, analogical likeness as well as radical difference? Paul Ricoeur concludes his reflections onOneself as Anotherwith a discussion of the notion of conscience.[50]He is critical of purely existentialist notions of conscience, that tend to blur the constitutive role of others in the formation of human conscience. The same point is repeatedly made by Charles Taylor in the exposure of his “ethics of authenticity”, when he underlines the fundamentally dialogical character of human life, and the “inescapable horizons” of significant others in any search for human authenticity.[51]

As for Ricoeur, he takes Martin Heidegger’s notion of conscience to task. Heidegger’s philosophy may be read as a search for “eigentliches Selbstsein” – a human existence that is truly authentic. In this search, conscience (“Gewissen”) has a role to fulfil: “An authentic potentiality-for-Being is attested by conscience”.[52]Heidegger sees conscience essentially as a call to the individual from the depths of human existence (“Dasein”); a call to realise “its ownmost potentiality for Being-its-Self”.[53]For Heidegger, inauthentic being is loosing one’s Self in the multitude of “they” (“das Man”). Although becoming authentic includes the possibility of seeing others with new eyes, as individual beings with potentials for authentic existence, the other has no constitutive role to play in the formation of conscience . According to Heidegger, listening to conscience implies an element of radical distancing from others: too much identification with others leads to the danger of loosing oneself.

Against Heidegger, Ricoeur recalls the insight of Hegel “that conscience is the voice of the Other in the sense of others …”.[54]Ricoeur agrees with the contention forcefully put forward by Lévinas, that the call of Other is constitutive of the formation of self-consciousness and conscience.[55]But he is discontent with Lévinas’ insistence on the pure externality of the Other. Ricoeur looks for a notion of the Self and the Other thatintegratesSelfhood and Otherness. By use of the notion of conscience, Ricoeur sets out to reconcile Selfhood and Otherness in one final move.

To these alternatives – either Heidegger’s strange(r)ness or Lévinas’ externality – I shall stubbornly oppose the original and originary character of what appears to me to constitute the third modality of otherness, namelybeing enjoined as the structure of selfhood …if the injunction coming from the other is not part and parcel of self-attestation, it loses its character of injunction … If one eliminates this dimension of auto-affection, one ultimately renders the metacategory of conscience superfluous; the category of the other suffices.[56]

Existentialism and visions of community:
Muslim perspectives on sameness and otherness

In the perspective of Ricoeur, self-affection implies the ability of being touched and obliged by others, and results in a sensitive conscience. With our Egyptian authors, both being touched and being obliged appears to be central for their notion of conscience. In al-‘Aqqâd, the affective notion of love (hubb) and the moral notion of divine injunction (taklîf) both appear to be firmly within the conceptual field of conscience(damîr).[57]

What about the question of our Egyptian authors and the possible shortcomings of an existentialist notion of conscience? Should their notion of conscience be regarded as predominantly existentialist, in the sense of individual self-injunction and personal authenticity? Or is it rather sociable, in the sense of recognising and welcoming others as integral to the constitution of authentic selfhood? A consecutive question is just as crucial: if conscience is recognised as sociable, how should the others included in conscience be conceived of? Only as more of the same, like me and my community? Or as others with a potentially painful difference? Could it be that an existentialist quest for individual authenticity, coupled with a predominantly idealist and univeralist interpretation of Islam, obscures differences that will anyhow return with a revenge at some stage or other?

Khâlid comes close to existentialist notions of conscience when definingdamîras “the human being in its true existence”, and he combines his quest for authenticity with a universalist reading of Islamic fundamentals. Al-‘Aqqâd addresses existentialism in his book “Thinking – an Islamic duty”.[58]He apparently admires existentialism (which he callsmadhâhibal-wujûdiyya, without specifying his references) for its emphasis on the irreducible responsibility of the individual, and its stress on the unlimited authority of conscience. Nevertheless, he is wary of what he sees as its potential anti-social consequences. He seems to equate modern Western existentialism with the monasticism of ancient times:

In old times, the man with a vigilant conscience (al-damîr al-yaqzân) used to become tired with his society, and emigrated from it to the hermitage of religion. In present times, in the West, likewise tired with his societies, man clings to the ideologies of existentialism to which the individual resorts whenever the yoke of social convention(‘urf)becomes unbearable for him. He is released of his shackles – sometimes to licentiousness, and sometimes [taking resort in] the privacy of his emotional perception (al-wijdân).[59]

According to al-‘Aqqâd, Islam does offer a hermitage to which the conscience of the individual may resort – in the depth of his soul. But al-‘Aqqâd is emphatic that Islam does not allow any seclusion of conscience from its communal duties: “individual consciences must not separate their work from participation in social life”.[60]

However, in the constitution of the moral Self, man clearly sits in the hermitage of his soul, being enjoined only by God. Coming out of his hermitage, he seeks another kind of religious community, beyond that of blind adherence to traditions. In al-‘Aqqâd, this is clearly conceived of as a reformed society imbued with the essential (and universally valid) Islamic values. For all his interest in Christ and Christian tradition, one may ask whether Christians at any point are allowed to play the role as distinctive or even disturbing others, or whether Christ (with his appeal to individual consciences) is only brought to the front as an ally in al-‘Aqqâd’s project of establishing Islamic values in the depth of human conscience. Is Christ ever allowed to be distinctively “Christian”, or is he only seen as “more of the same” in al-‘Aqqâd’s reformed vision of Islam?

In Husayn, the encounter with the traditions of the Other is apparently a more shattering experience. The Christian gospels reveal the depths of human folly, and man’s ineradicable tendency to crucify his conscience. The drama of Good Friday leave Christians and Muslims alike naked and bare.

In Khâlid, like in al-‘Aqqâd, the discourse of conscience strikes a more optimistic note. The phenomenon of human conscience as seen by Khâlid clearly points to experiences and values shared by Christians and Muslims. He recognises Christian tradition as a religious resource in its own right, just as much capable of inspiring Muslims as the contemporary witness of love and non-violent resistance to evil offered by Gandhi. Like Husayn, he may use the symbolism of the crucifixion of Christ to express the repeated crucifixion of love and peace in this world. He may even speak of the return of Christ as the final victory of peace, love, truth, goodness and beauty.[61]But his outlook is unitary: he wants to present Christians and Muslims (and other people guided by conscience) as brothers “together on the road”. His meditations on “Muhammad and Christ – together on the road” could probably be read as a celebration of a shared practice between Muslims in Christians in modernity: their co-operation in the struggle for national independence and social justice in modernEgypt. He does not really address the wounded experiences in Christian-Muslim coexistence. When differences are addressed, also Khâlid turns out to be apologetic on behalf of his own Islamic faith – of which he can hardly be blamed. But to what extent does his outlook allow for differences with a permanent challenge?

Two Muslim voices with a difference

Similar to Khâlid, the South African Muslim Farid Esack (1997) reflects theologically on the shared experience between Christians and Muslims in confronting apartheid. But he adds two important dimensions: first, the recognition that confronting apartheid not only united Muslims and Christians. Muslims and Christians were also divided, within their own camps – between those who benefited from apartheid or silently complied with it (like the majority of white Christians, and many “coloured” Muslims), and those who decided to fight it. Secondly, and even more important: Esack realises that the experience that the real dividing lines did not coincide with those of the religious communities, but rather cut painfully across them, necessitates a critical reassessment of the Qur’ânic notion of the Other. What was true of some Jewish and Christian groups then (on the Arabic peninsula of the 7th century), in a historical conflict with specific social and political characteristics, is not necessarily true in a different context. Instead, one should look for the deeper content of the Qur’ânic message, which calls for faithful confrontation of any injustice and oppression. According to Esack, faith (imân)andislâmin the Qur’ânic sense, can never be entrenched within the confines of a specific religious community carrying its name. It cuts deeper.[62]

It might be argued that only when the encounter with the Other is recognised as a painful experience that shatters one’s own identity, otherness can make a real difference in the (re)formation of the religious Self. With the Indian-British Shi‘ite Muslim Hassan Askari, pain is clearly a part of “the dialogical relationship between Christianity and Islam”.[63]Askari displays considerable optimism on behalf of what he sees as a divinely intended dialogical relationship between the two religions, and he even speaks of Christ as a common sign for Christians and Muslims. Nevertheless, he concludes his meditations with the recognition that if differences are taken seriously, true dialogue will always be painful:

The discovery of the other, of our own being, is both soothing and painful, more the latter. The other is pain, a sting, a bite, but a pain in our very being, of it. It is right in the middle of this pain that a Divine sign is known.[64]

Knowing together is vulnerable experience

Knowing with others is a vulnerable experience. What has been positively known and lived as shared values and commitments, cannot easily be maintained in a changed context. In Egypt, the 50s and early 60s were still marked by the shared Egyptian identity felt by Muslims and Christians alike. From then, the event have taken a different turn. Muslim as well as Christian revivalism has shifted the emphasis from knowing together towards knowing by oneself – as Christians and Muslims, without being inspired or disturbed by foreign voices.[65]In Arabic, the modern term for authenticity –asâla –is not oriented towards any shared humanness, but rather towards the specific features of the Arab-Islamic heritage.[66]

Those who still endeavour to know something obliging together with others, and who are ready to share the pain of the distinctive other, are on the defensive in many places, not only in Egypt. Because of this rather disturbing fact, the voices who testify to a close past of more inclusive discourses, are worthy of listening to.

In late modernity, however, particularism and distinctive identities seem to have come to stay, and there might be no return to the universalistic discourses of the typically modern projects of reform. If dialogue shall be able to carry the weight of difference, knowing together must imply the readiness to live well with potentially painful otherness at close hand.

Only a conscience capable of containing pain and respecting difference, can furnish Christians and Muslims with a hope of becomingoneself as another– without violating either of the two.

Postscript:
What about conscience and “the reproaching soul”?

In Christian discourses of human conscience, the capability of self-reproach (and its emotional equivalent: remorse) is much focused upon – cf. Paul’s classical formulation in Romans 2.15:

Their conscience is called as witness, and their own thoughts argue the case on either side, against them or even for them, on the day that God judges the secrets of human hearts through Christ Jesus.

Also with Paul’s contemporary Jewish-Stoic philosopher Philo, who influenced later Christian developments as well, conscience is defined by its reproaching (elenchos)function:

there are some who … proved to be guilty of highly reprehensible conduct, convicted, if not by any other judge, at any rate by their conscience.[67]

Commenting on Romans 2, Martin Luther radicalises this judging aspect of conscience, and makes it the foundation of his speech of a conscience truly liberated by grace:

For conscience is not the power to do works, but to judge them. The proper work of conscience (as Paul says in Romans 2), is to accuse or excuse, to make guilty or guiltless, uncertain or certain. Its purpose is not to do, but to pass judgment on what has been done and what should be done, and this judgment makes us stand accused or saved in God’s sight. Christ has freed this conscience from works through the gospel and teaches this conscience not to trust in works, but to rely on his mercy.[68]

As we have noted, also Kant focused on the judging aspect of conscience, definingGewissenprimarily as man’s inner court in which the actions of man are either acquitted or convicted. In Protestant theology as well as in Idealist philosophy, the reproaching function of conscience might appear as a solitary affair of each and one individual – surveyed by God according to classical positions, expressing human autonomy according to modern reinterpretations. In his critique of theology as well as of Idealist philosophy, Feuerbach returns to judging conscience its inescapable social dimensions. As we have seen, he insists that the phenomenon of “good” or “bad” conscience gives no sense without the recognition of “oneself as another”: bad conscience is essentially the internalised pain of the wounded Other.

In Christian tradition, the judging function of conscience is conceptually linked with the exercise of self-reproach and the emotion of remorse. Among our Egyptian authors, the reproaching function of conscience is apparently not at the centre of their interest when employing the termdamîr. Their deliberations on conscience do not reflect common usage in the modern Arabic (Standard and Egyptian colloquial) lexicon liketabkît al-damîr(“remorse”) orta’nîb al-damîr(“pangs of conscience”). When Khâlid defines conscience as “the human being in his true existence”, he makes it clear that his definition of conscience is different from definitions that see in conscience primarily “the spiritual function which makes the human being regret the evil he has committed”.[69]

As for al-‘Aqqâd, he touches upon the faculty of self-reproach when exposing the Qur’ânic psychology of the soul in his book “The human being in Islam” (Al-insân fî-l-Qur’ân,1961). He cites notions of the soul that can be found in the Qur’ân, and especially the triadic image of the soul to which Sufism has paid so much attention: the soul that commands evil, the soul that reproaches itself, and the soul that has eventually achieved peace and confidence.[70]Al-‘Aqqâd does in fact relate the image of the self-reproaching soul (an-nafs al-lawwâma,Qur’ân 75.2) to the power of conscience. But only in passing, and his main point is that conscience reflects the human condition of being enjoined and accountable.[71]

In general, it might be argued that both in Khâlid and al-‘Aqqâd, conscience is primarily conceived ofin terms of its creative potentials– as the seat of human responsibility; as the anchoring ground of moral judgements; as the faculty of formulating new moral insights in the light of divine revelation; and as the warrant of human authenticity. Their discourse of conscience aims at freeing humans from the shackles of tradition and releasing human potentials.

In Husayn, there is clearly more negativity and pain in his discourse of conscience. Conscience is not only subject to suppression by external tyrants, but often enough liable to crucifixion and extinction by its own bearer. Also Husayn, however, finds the typical Christian sense of self-reproach a little obsessive, as shown by his ironic remark in the annexes to his novel of conscience: “The best Christian in his or her most sublime moments is a sad person”.[72]

In a dialogical perspective, the question arises whether conscience can only be the anchor of some shared ideals positively known together by Christians and Muslims, or whether it may also integrate negativity and pain. Is it possible that a Christian-Muslim discourse of conscience might even integrate a sense of remorse – resulting from the recognition that the integrity and anxiety of the Other has been neglected?

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Notes:

[1]Despland 1987, p. 51.

[2]Cf. Ricoeur 1992:Oneself as Another.

[3]“Nullum theatrum virtuti conscientia maius est”;Tusculan DisputationsII, 26.64.

[4]Kant:Werke,band 7, p. 860.

[5]fichte:System der Sittenlehre(1798), 1963, p. 170.

[6]Hegel:Phänomenologie des Geistes(1807),cited fromSämtliche Werkeband 5, p. 450.

[7]Feuerbach:Theogonie(1851-57),cited fromSämliche Werke, band IX, p. 135.

[8]Feuerbach:Der Eudämonismus,cited fromSämtliche Werke, band X, p. 279f.

[9]Feuerbach:Theogonie,cited fromSämtliche Werke, band IX, p. 282.

[10]Bayle 1948, p. 138. Cf.Theologische Realenzyclopädie,band 13 (1984), p. 203.

[11]Cited from Rousseau 1974, p. 252 and 254.

[12]Taylor 1991. Cf. the references to Rousseau inTaylor 1989.

[13]Taylor 1991, p. 25.

[14]Ibid., p. 26. Cf. Allesandro Ferrara 1993.

[15]As for the notion of “dia-practice”, see Rasmussen 1997.

[16]al-‘Aqqâd n.d. [1961], p. 111.

[17]al-‘Aqqâd n.d. [1947], p. 167.

[18]al-‘Aqqâd 1994 [1947], p. 109.

[18]al-‘Aqqâd n.d. [1953], p. 101, 102, 105, 106, 107.

[20]Ibid., p. 95.

[21]Ibid., p. 122:fî sarâ’ir al-damîr.

[22]Ibid., p. 159:fî tawiyat damîrihi.

[23]Nafs(ibid,. p. 78),sudûr(p. 98),qalb(p. 106).

[24]al-damîr hiyya sirr al-asrâr,ibid. p. 171.

[25]Cf. the classical book of Miskawayh (d. 1030)Tahdhîb al-akhlâq(“Refinement of the character”).

[26]al-‘Aqqâd n.d. [1953], p. 142.

[27]ibid., p. 113-114.

[28]al-wâdi al-muqaddasis a qur’ânic metaphor for the place where Moses encountered the burning bush, cf. Qur’ân 20.10-16.

[29]Husain 1977, p. 12.

[30]Husain 1977, p. 89.

[31]Hussein 1994, p. 231.

[32]Hussein 1994, p. 21f.

[33]Vogelaar 1995, p. 414.

[34]In his Introduction toCity of Wrong(Hussein 1994).

[35]Ibid., p. 150.

[36]Ibid., p. 107 and 125.

[37]Ibid., p. 186 and 227.

[38]See ibid., p. 226f., and Kenneth Cragg’s “Introduction”, p. 17-19.

[39]Khâlid n.d. [1958].

[40]Khâlid 1994, p. 9 (my translation).

[41]Khâlid n.d. [1958], p. 96, 98 and 99.

[42]Khâlid 1971, p. 170-172.

[43]Ibid., p. 123, cf. pp. 135 and 137.

[44]Cf. Ricoeur 1992.

[45]Lévinas 1991 (Totality and Infinity,especially the chapter “Ethics and the face”).

[46]Ricoeur 1992, and Tracy 1990 and 1996.

[47]Askari 1972 and Esack 1997.

[48]Lévinas 1981, p. 111.

[49]Tracy 1996, p. 14.

[50]Ricoeur 1992, p. 341-356.

[51]Cf. Taylor 1991, pp. 31-42.

[52]Ibid., p. 277.

[53]Heidegger 1973, p. 314.

[54]Ricoeur 1992, p. 353.

[55]Cf. Lévinas 1981 (Otherwise than Being), that may be read as a critique of Heidegger’s notion of selfhood and being.

[56]Ibid., p. 354f.

[57]For the interrelation of conscience and love, see especially al-‘Aqqâd n.d. [1953]. For conscience andtaklif,see al-‘Aqqâd n.d. [1961b].

[58]al-‘Aqqâd n.d. [1961], pp. 119-120 and 138-139.

Ibid., pp. 119-120 (my translation).

[60]Ibid., p. 130.

[61]Khâlid n.d. [1958], pp. 187-189.

[62]See the chapters “Redefining Self and Other”, and “The Qur’ân and the Other” (in Esack 1997).

[63]Askari 1972.

[64]Ibid., p. 486.

[65]For Coptic developments, see van Doors-Harder and Kari Vogt (eds.) 1997.

[66]Jf. al-Azmeh 1993.

[67]On the virtues206 (cited from Loeb Classical Library).

[68]De votis monasticis, WA 8,60630-39. Cited fromLuther’s worksvol. 44, p. 298.

[69]Khâlid n.d. [1958], p. 96.

[70]al-nafs la-ammâra bi-s-sû’(Qur’ân 12.53),al-nafs al-lawwâma(Qur’ân 75.2) andal-nafs al-mutma’inna(Qur’ân 89.27).

[71]al-‘Aqqâd n.d. [1961 b], p. 30.

[72]Hussein 1994, p. 233.

]]> http://steveinvista.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/knowing-by-oneself-knowing-with-the-other/feed/ 0 mikofurura http://steveinvista.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/baptism-the-12-prophecies/ http://steveinvista.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/baptism-the-12-prophecies/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:43:02 +0000 steveinvista http://steveinvista.wordpress.com/?p=531 ]]> Short Lessons

THE TWELVE PROPHECIES
The deacon now lays aside his festival robes and, with the subdeacon, attends the officiating priest who reads he following twelve prophecies in a low voice: while they are chanted by others of the clergy:
The First Prophesy: Genesis 1: 1-31; 2: 1-2
The creation of the world. – The man created after the Image of God and His likeness had dominion over all living creatures.

In princípio creávit Deus cælum, et terram. Terra autem erat inánis, et vácua, et ténebræ erant super fáciem abyssi: et Spíritus Dei ferebátur super aquas. Dixítque Deus: Fiat lux. Et facta est lux. Et vidit Deus lucem quod esset bona: et divísit lucem a ténebris. Appellavítque lucem Diem, et ténebras Noctem: factúmque est véspere, et mane, dies unus, Dixit quoque Deus: Fiat firmaméntum in médio aquárum: et dívidat aquas ab aquis. Et fecit Deus firmaméntum, divisítque aquas, qua erant sub firmaménto, ab his quæ erant super firmaméntum. Et factum est ita. Vocavítque Deus firmaméntum Cælum: et factum est véspere, et mane, dies secúndus. Dixit vero Deus: Congregéntur aqua, qua sub cælo sunt, in locum unum: et appáreat árida. Et factum est ita. Et vocávit Deus áridam, Terram: congregation-ésque aquárum appellávit Mária. Et vidit Deus quod esset bonum. Et ait: Gérminet terra herbam viréntem, et faciéntem semen, et lignum pomíferum fáciens fructum juxta genus suum, cujus semen in semetípso sit super terram. Et factum est ita. Et prótulit terra herbam viréntem, et faciéntem semen juxta genus suum, lignúmque fáciens fructum, et habens unumquódque seméntem secúndum spéciem suam. Et vidit Deus quod esset bonum. Et factum est véspere et mane, dies tértius. Dixit autem Deus: Fiant lumináris in firmaménto cæli, et dívidant diem ac noctem, et sint in signa et témpora, et dies et annos: ut lúceant in firmaménto cæli et llúminent terram. Et factum est ita. Fecítque Deus duo luminária magna: lumináre majus, ut præésset diéi: et lumináre minus, ut præésset nocti: et stellas. Et pósuit eas in firmaménto cæli, ut lucérent super terram, et præéssent diéi ac nocti, et divíderent lucem, ac ténebras. Et vidit Deus quod esset bonus. Et factum est véspere et mane, dies quartus. Dixit étiam Deus: Prodúcant aquæ réptileá nimæ vivéntis, et volátile super terram sub firmaménto Cæli. Creavítque Deus cete grándia, et omnem ánimam vivéntem atque motábilem, quam prodúxerant aquæ in spécies suas, et omne volátile secúndum genus suum. Et vidit Deus quod esset bonum. Benedixítque eis, dicens: Créscite, et multiplicámini, et repléte aquas maris: avésque multiplicéntur super terram. Et factum est véspere, et mane, dies quintus. Dixit quoque Deus: Prodúcat terraá nimam vivéntum in génere silo: juménta, et reptília, et béstias terræ secúndum spécies suas. Factúmque est ita. Et fecit Deus béstias terra? juxta spécies suas, et juménta, et omne réptile terror in génere silo. Et vidit Deus quod esset bonum, et ait: Faciámus hóminem ad imáginem, et similitúdinem nostram: et præsit píscibus maris, et volatílibus cæli, et béstiis, universæque terra, omníque réptili, quod movétur in terra. Et creávit Deus hóminem ad imáginemi, et suam: ad imáginem Dei creávit illum, másculum et féminam creávit eos. Benedixítque illis Deus, et ait: Créscite, et multiplicámini, et repléte terram, et subjícite eum, et dominámini píscibus maris, et volatílibus cæli, et univérsis animántibus, quæ movéntur super terram. Dixítque Deus: Ecce dedi vobis omnem herbam afferéntem semen super terram, et univérsa ligna qua habent in semetípsis seméntem géneris sui, ut sint vobis in escam: et cunctis animántibus terra, omnique vólucri cæli et univérsis, qua movéntur in terra, et in quibus est ánima vivens, ut habeant ad vescéndum. Et factum est ita. Vidítque Deus cuncta, quæ fécerat: et erant valde bona. Et factum est véspere, et mane, dies sextus. Igitur perfécti sunt cæli, et terra, et ómnia ornátus eórum. Complevítque Deus die séptimo opus suum quod fécerat: et requiévit die séptimo ab univérso ópere quod patrárat.

In the beginning God created Heaven and earth: and the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the waters. And God said, Be light made; and light was made. And God saw the light that it was good: and He divided the light from the darkness; and He called the light day and the darkness night: and there was evening and morning, one day. And God said, Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament from those that were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven; and the evening and morning were the second day. God also said, Let the waters that are under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so done. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas: and God saw that it was good. And He said, Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth; and it was so done. And the earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yielded seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit, having seed each one according to its kind: and God saw that it was good; and the evening and the morning were the third day. And God said, Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years; to shine in the firmament of heaven, and to give light upon the earth: and it was so done. And God made two great lights, a greater light to rule the day, and a lesser light to rule the night; and the stars; and He set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth, and to rule the day and the night, and to divide the light and the darkness; and God saw that it was good; and the evening and the morning were the fourth day. God also said, Let the waters bring forth the creeping creature having life, and the fowl that may fly over the earth under the firmament of Heaven. And God created the great whales, and every living and moving creature, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind: and God saw that it was good. And He blessed them, saying, Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea, and let the birds be multiplied upon the earth: and the evening and morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature in its kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, according to their kinds: and it was so done. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and cattle, and every thing that creepeth on the earth after its kind: and God saw that it was good. And He said, Let us make man to our image and likeness: and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth. And God created man to His own image; to the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them, saying, increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed upon the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind, to be your meat; and to all the beasts of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to all that move upon the earth and wherein there is life, that they may have to feed upon: and it was so done. And God saw all the things that He had made, and they were very good: and the evening and morning were the sixth day. So the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the furniture of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

COLLECT

P. Oremus.
D. Flectamus genua.
S. Levate.
Deus qui mirabíliter creásti hóminem, et mirabílius redemísti: da nobis, quæsumus, contra oblectaménta peccáti, mentis ratióne persístere; ut mereámur ad ætérna gáudia perveníre. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum. S. Amen.

P. Let us pray.
D. Let us kneel.
S. Arise.
O God, Who hast wonderfully created man and more wonderfully redeemed him, grant us, we beseech Thee, to withstand by strength of spirit the allurements of sin, that we may be worthy to reach everlasting joys. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. S. Amen.

________________________________________
The Second Prophesy: Genesis 5: 32; 6; 7: 6: 11-14, 18-21, 23-24; 8: 1-3, 6-12, 15-21
The deluge.-The ark is the prefigure of the true Church,which is the Ark of Salvation.

Noë vero cum quingentórum esset annórum, génuit Sem, Cham, et Japheth. Cumque cæpíssent hómines multiplicari super terram, et fílias procreássent, vidéntes fílii Dei fílias hóminum, quod essent pulchræ, accepérunt sibi uxóres ex ómnibus, quas elégerant. Dixítque Deus: Non permanébit spíritus meus in hómine in ætérnum, quia taro est: erúntque dies illíus centum vigínti annórum. Gigántes autem erant super terram in diébus illis. Postquam enim ingréssi sunt fílii Dei ad fílias hóminum, illæque genuérunt, isti sunt poténtes a sæculo viri famósi. Videns autem Deus, quod multa malítia hóminum esset in terra, et cuncta cogitátio cordis inténta esset ad malum omnitémpore, pœnítuit eum quod hóminem fecísset in terra. Et factus dolóre cordis intrínsecus: Delébo, inquit, hóminem, quem creavi, a facie terræ, ab hómine usque ad animántia, a réptili usque ad vólucres cæli: pœnítet enim me fecísse eos. Noë vero invénit grátiam coram Dómino. Hæ sunt generatiónes Noë: Noë vir justus atque perféctus fuit in generatiónibus suis, cum Deo ambulávit. Et génuit tres fílios, Sem, Cham et Japheth. Corrúpta est autem terra coram Deo, et repléta est iniquitáte. Cumque vidísset Deus terram esse corrúptam (omnis quippe caro occúperat viam suam super terram), dixit a Noë: Finis univérsæ carnis venit coram me: repléta est terra iniquitáte a facie eórum, et ego dispérdam eos cum terra. Fac tibi arcam de lignis lævigátis: mansiúnculas in arca fácies, et bitúmine línies intrínsecus, et extrínsecus. Et sic fácies eam: Trecentórum cubitórum erit longitúdo arcæ, quinquagínta cubítorum latitúdo, et trigínta cubitórum altitúdo illius. Fenéstram in area fácies, et in cúbito consummábis summitátem ejus: óstium autem arca pones ex látere: deórsum cœnácula, et trístega fácies in ea. Ecce ego addúcam aquas dilúvii super terram, ut interfíciam omnem carnem, in qua spíritus vitæ est subter cælum. Univérsa quæ in terra sunt, consuméntur. Ponámque fœdus meum tecum: et ingrediéris arcam tu, et fílii tui, uxor tua, et uxóres Fíliórum tuórum tecum. Et ex cunctis animántibus univérsa carnis bina indúces in arcam, ut vivant tecum: masculíni sexus, et feminíni. De volúcribus juxta genus suum et de juméntis in génere suo, et ex omni réptili terra secúndum genus suum: bina de ómnibus ingrediéntur tecum, ut possint vívere. Tolles ígitur tecum ex ómnibus escis, quæ mandi possunt, et comportábis apud te: et erunt tam tibi, quam illis in cibum. Fecit igitur Noë ómnia, qua pracéperat illi Deus. Erátque sexcentórum annórum, quando dilúvii aqua inundavérunt super terram. Rupti sunt ómnes fontes abyssi magna, et catarácta cæli apértie sunt: et facta est plúvia super terram quadragínta diébus et quadragínta nóctibus. In artículo diéi illius ingréssus eat Noë, et Sem, et Cham, et Japheth Fílii ejus, uxor illíus, et tres uxores filiórum ejus cum eis in arcam: ipsi, et omne ánimal secúndum genus suum, universáque juménta in génere suo, et omne, quod movétur super terram in génere suo, cunctúmque volátile secúndum genus suum. Porro area ferebátur super aquas. Et aquæ prævaluérunt nimis super terram: opertíque sunt ómnes montes excélsi sub univérso cælo. Quindecim cúbitis áltior fuit aqua super montes, quos operúerat. Consúmptaque est omnis caro quæ movebátur super terram, vúlucrum, animántium, bestiárum, omniúmque reptílium, quæ reptant super terram. Remánsit autem solus Noë, et qui cum eo erant in arca. Obtinuerúntque aquæ terram centum quinquagínta diébus. Recordátus autem Deus Noë, cunctorúmque animántium, et ómnium jumentórum, quæ erant cum eo in arca, addúxit spíritum super terram, et imminútæ sunt aquæ. Et clausi sunt fontes abyssi et cataráctæ cæli: et prohíbitæ sunt plúviæ de cælo. Reversæque sunt aquæ de terra eúntes, et redeúntes: et cœpérunt mínue post centum quinquagínta dies. Cumque transíssent quadragínta dies, apériens Noë fenéstram arcæ, quam fécerat, dimísit corvum: qui egrediebátur, et non revertebátur, donec siccaréntur aquæ super terram. Emísit quoque colúmbam post eum, ut vidéret si jam cessássent aquæ super fáciem terræ. Quæ cum non invenísset ubi requiésceret pes ejus, revérsa est ad eum in arcam: aquæ enim erant super univérsam terram: extendítque manum, et apprehénsam íntulit in arcam. Exspectáre autem ultra septum diébus áliis, rursum dimísit colúmbam ex arca. At illa venit ad eum ad vésperam, portans ramum olívæ viréntibus fóliis in ore suo. Intelléxit ergo Noë, quod cessássent aqua super terram. Exspectavítque nihilóminus septem alios dies: et emísit colúmbam, quæ non est revérsa ultra ad eum. Locútus est autem Deus ad Noë, dicens: Egrédere de arca, tu et uxor tua, fílii tui, et uxóres fíliórum tuórum tecum cuncta animántia, qua sunt apud te, ex omni carne, tam in volatílibus, quam in béstiis, et univérsis reptílibus, qua reptant super terram, edu: tecum, et ingredímini super terram: créscite, et multiplicámini super eam. Egréssus est ergo Noë, et fílii ejus, uxor illíus, et uxóres fíliórum ejus cum eo. Sed et ómnia animántia, juménta, et reptília, qua reptant super terram, sécundum genus suum, egréssa sunt de arca. Ædificávit autem Noë altáre Dómino: et tollens de cunctis pecóribus, et volúcribus mundis, óbtulit holocáusta super altáre. Odoratúsque est Dóminus odórem suavitátis.

And Noe, when he was five hundred years old, begot Sem, Cham, and Japheth. And after that men began to be multiplied upon the earth, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God seeing the daughters of men, that they were fair, took to themselves wives of all which they chose. And God said, My spirit shall not remain in man forever, because he is flesh; and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. Now giants were upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and they brought forth children, these are the mighty men of old, men of renown. And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, it repented Him that He had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them. But Noe found grace before the Lord. These are the generations of Noe; Noe was a just and perfect man in his generations, he walked with God. And he begot three sons, Sem, Cham, and Japheth. And the earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity. And when God had seen that the earth was corrupted (for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth), He said to Noe, the end of all flesh is come before Me; the earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of timber planks: thou shalt make little rooms in the ark, and thou shalt pitch it within and without. And thus shalt thou make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. Thou shalt make a window in the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish the top of it; and the door of the ark thou shalt set in the side; with lower, middle chambers, and third stories, shalt thou make it. Behold I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the earth, to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life under heaven: all things that are in the earth shall be consumed. And I will establish My covenant with thee: and thou shalt enter into the ark; thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and the wives of thy sons, with thee. And of every living creature of all flesh, thou shalt bring two of a sort into the ark, that they may live with thee, of the male sex and the female. Of fowls according to their kind, and of beasts in their kind, and of every thing that creepeth on the earth according to its kind; two of every sort shall go in with thee that they may live. Thou shalt take unto thee of all food that may be eaten, and thou shalt lay it up with thee: and it shall be food for thee and them. And Noe did all things which God had commanded him. And he was six hundred years old when the waters of the flood overflowed the earth. All the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the floodgates of heaven were opened, and the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day Noe, and Sem and Chain and Japheth, his sons, his wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, went into the ark; they and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle in their kind, and every thing that moveth upon the earth according to its kind, and every fowl according to its kind. And the ark was carried upon the waters: and the waters prevailed beyond measure upon the earth, and all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; the water was fifteen cubits higher than the mountains which it covered. And all flesh was destroyed that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beasts, and of all creeping things that creep upon the earth. And Noe only remained, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days. And God remembered Noe, and all the living creatures, and all the cattle which were with him in the ark, and brought a wind upon the earth, and the waters were abated; the fountains also of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were shut up, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters returned from off the earth, going and coming; and they began to be abated after a hundred and fifty days. And after that forty days were passed, Noe opened the window of the ark, which he had made, sent forth a raven, which went forth, and did not return till the waters were dried up upon the earth. He sent forth also a dove after him, to see if the waters had ceased upon the face of the earth: but she not finding where her foot might rest, returned to him into the ark, for the waters were upon the whole earth; and he put forth his hand, and caught her, and brought her into the ark. And having waited yet seven other days, he again sent forth the dove out of the ark. And she came to him in the evening carrying a bough of an olive tree with green leaves in her mouth. Noe therefore understood that the waters were ceased upon the earth. And he stayed yet another seven days; and he sent forth the dove, which returned not any more unto him. And God spake to Noe, saying, Go out of the ark, thou and thy wife, thy sons, and the wives of thy sons with thee. All living things that are with thee of all flesh, as well in fowls as in beasts, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, bring out with thee, and go ye upon the earth; increase and multiply upon it. So Noe went out, he and his sons, his wife, and the wives of his sons with him. And all living things, and cattle, and creeping things that creep upon the earth, according to their kinds, went out of the ark. And Noe built an altar unto the Lord, and taking of all cattle and fowls that were clean, offered holocausts upon the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor.

COLLECT

P. Oremus.
D. Flectamus genua.
S. Levate.
Deus, incommutábilis virtus, et lumen atérnum: respíce propítius ad totíus Ecclésiæ tuæ mirábile sacraméntum, et opus salútis humánæ, perpétua dispositiónis efféctu tranquíllius operáre; totúsque mundus experiátur et vídeat, dejécta érigi, inveteráta renovári, et per ipsum redíre ómnia in íntegrum, a quo sumpsére princípium: Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum: Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum. S. Amen.

P. Let us pray.
D. Let us kneel.
S. Arise.
O God, unchangeable virtue and light eternal, look mercifully upon the wonderful sacrament of Thy whole Church, and perform in peace the work of human salvation, and let the whole world feel and see the things lifted up that were cast down, the worn out things renewed, and that all things are made whole through Him from Whom they had their origin, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who with Thee livest and reignest, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. S. Amen.

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The Third Prophesy: Genesis 22: 1-19
The offering of Abraham is a figure of the Sacrifice of the Cross. Faith and obedience of Abraham.

In diébus illis: Tentávit Deus Abraham, et dixit ad eum: Abraham, Abraham. At ille respóndit: Adsum. At illi: Tolle fílium tuum unigénitum, quem díligis, Isaac, et vade in terram visiónis: atque ibi ófferes eum in holocáustum super unum móntium, quem monstrávero tibi. Igitur Abraham de nocte consúrgens, stravitá sinum suum: ducens secum duos júvenes, et Isaac fílium suum. Cumque concidísset ligna in holocáustum, ábiit ad locum, quem præcéperat ei Deus. Die autem tértio, elevátis óculis, vidit locum procul: dixítque ad pueros sues: Exspectáte hic cumá sino: ego, et puer illuc usque properántes, postquam adoravérimus, revertémur ad vos. Tulit quoque ligna holocáusti, et impósuit super Isaac fílium suum: ipse vero portábat in mánibus ignem, et gládium. Cumque duo pérgerent simul, dixit Isaac patri sue: Pater mi. At ille respóndit: Quid vis, fíli? Ecce, inquit, ignis, et ligna: ubi est víctima holocáusti? Dixit autem Abraham: Deus providébit sibi víctimam holocáusti, fíli mi. Pergébant ergo páriter: et venérunt ad locum, quem osténderat ei Deus, in quo ædificávit altáre, et désuper ligna compósuit: cumque alligásset Isaac fílium suum, pósuit eum in altáre super struem lignórum. Extendítque manum, et arrípuit gládium, ut immoláret fílium suum. Et ecce Angelus Dómini de cælo clamávit, dicens: Abraham, Abraham. Qui respóndit: Adsum. Dixítque ei: Non exténdas manum tuum super púerum, neque fácias illi quidquam: nunc cognóvi quod times Deum, et non pepercísti unigénito fílio tuo propter me. Levávit Abraham óculos suos, vidítque post tergum aríetem inter vepres hæréntem córnibus, quem assúmens óbtulit holocáustum pro fílio. Aprellavítque nomen loci illíus, Dóminus Videt. Unde usque hódie dícitur: In monte Dóminus vidébit. Vocávit autem Angelus Dómini Abraham secúndo de cæla, dicens: Per memetípsum jurávi, dicit Dóminus: quia fecísti hanc rem, et non pepercísti fílio tuo unigénito propter me: benedícam tibi, et multiplicábo semen tuum sicut stellas cæli, et velut arénam, quæ est in líttore maris: possidébit semen tuum portas inimicórum suórum, et benedicéntur in sémine tuo omnes gentes terræ, quia obedísti voci mesa. Revérsus est Abraham ad púeros suos, abierúntque Bersabée simul, et habitávit ibi.

In those days, God tempted Abraham, and said to him, Abraham, Abraham: and he answered, Here I am. He said to him, Take thy only-begotten son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of vision; and there thou shalt offer him for an holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will show thee. So Abraham rising up in the night, saddled his ass, and took with him two young men, and Isaac his son; and when he had cut wood for the holocaust, he went his way to the place which God had commanded him. And on the third day, lifting up his eyes he saw the place afar off; and he said to his young men, Stay you here with the ass: I and the boy will go with speed as far as yonder, and, after we have worshipped will return to you. And he took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son: and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword. And as they two went on together, Isaac said to his father, My father; and he answered, What wilt thou, son? Behold, saith he, fire and wood; where is the victim for the holocaust? And Abraham said, God will provide Himself a victim for a holocaust, my son. So they went on together; and they came to the place which God had showed him, where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it; and when he had bound Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood; and he put forth his hand, and took the sword to sacrifice his son. And behold an angel of the Lord from heaven called to him, saying, Abraham, Abraham;and he answered, Here I am. And he said to him, Lay not thy hand upon the boy, neither do thou anything to him; now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy only-begotten son for My sake. Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram amongst the briars, sticking fast by the horns, which he took and offered for a holocaust instead of his son. And he called the name of that place, The Lord Seeth. Whereupon even to this day it is said, in the mountain the Lord will see. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, saying, By My own self have I sworn, saith the Lord; because thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thy only-begotten son for My sake, I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the seashore; thy seed shall possess the gates of their enemies, and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed My voice. Abraham returned to his young men, and they went to Bersabee together, and he dwelt there.

COLLECT

P. Oremus.
D. Flectamus genua.
S. Levate.
Deus, fidélium Pater summe, qui in toto orbe terrárum, promissiónis tuæ Fílios diffúsa adoptiónis grátia multíplicas: et per paschæ sacraméntum, Abraham púerum tuum universárum, sicut jurásti, géntium éfficis patrem; da pópulis tuis digne ad grátiam tuæ vocatiónis introíre. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum. S. Amen.

P. Let us pray.
D. Let us kneel.
S. Arise.
O God, the supreme Father of the faithful, Who dost multiply Thy children throughout the world by spreading abroad the grace of adoption, and Who, through the paschal sacrament, dost make Thy servant Abraham the father of all the nations, as Thou didst swear, grant that Thy people may worthily enter into the grace of Thy vocation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. S. Amen.

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The Fourth Prophesy: Exodus 14: 24-31; 15: 1
As Moses freed the Israelites from the captivity ofEgypt, so Christ by baptism reserves the catechumens from the yoke of satan.

In diébus illis: Factum est in vígilia matutína, et ecce respíciens Dóminus super castra Ægyptiórum per colúmnam ignis, et nubis, interfécit Exércitum eórum: et subvértit rotas cúrruum, ferebantúrque in profúndum. Dixérunt ergo Ægypti: Fugiámus Isr?lem: Dóminus enim pugnat pro eis contra nos. Et ait Dóminus ad Móysen: Extende manum tuam super mare, ut revertántur aqua ad Ægyptios super currus, et équites eórum. Cumque extendísset Móyses manum contra mare, revérsum est primo dilúculo ad priórem locum: fugientibúsque Ægyptiis occurrérunt aquæ, et invólvit eos Dóminus in médiis flúctibus. Reversæque sunt aqua, et operuérunt currus, et équites cuncti exércitus Pharaónis, qui sequéntes ingréssi fúerant mare: nec unus quidem supérfuit ex eis. Fílii autem Israël perrexérunt per médium sicci maris, et aquæ eis erant quasi pro muro a dextris et a sinístris: liberavítque Dóminus in die illa Israël de manu Ægyptiórum. Et vidérunt Ægyptios mórtuos super littus maris, et manum magnum, quam exercúerat Dóminus contra eos: timuítque pópulus Dóminum, et credidérunt Dómino, et Móysi servo ejus. Tunc cécinit Móyses et Fílii Israël carmen hoc Dómino, et dixérunt:

In those days, the morning watch was come, and behold the Lord, looking upon the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, slew their host, and overthrew the wheels of the chariots, and they were carried into the deep. And the Egyptians said, Let us flee fromIsrael, for the Lord fighteth for them against us. And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch forth thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and horsemen. And when Moses had stretched forth his hand toward the sea, it returned, at the first break of day, to the former place; and as the Egyptians were fleeing away, the waters came upon them, and the Lord shut them up in the middle of the waves. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharao, who had come into the sea after them, neither did there so much as one of them remain. But the children ofIsraelmarched through the midst of the sea upon dry land, and the waters were to them as a wall on the right hand and on the left: and the Lord deliveredIsraelin that day out of the hand of the Egyptians. And they saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore, and the mighty hand that the Lord had used against them: and the people feared the Lord, andthey believed the Lord, and Moses His servant. Then Moses and the children ofIsraelsung this canticle to the Lord and said:

TRACT: Exodus 15: 1, 2

Cantémus Dómino: glorióse enim honorificátus est: equum, et ascensórem projécit in mare: adjútor et protéctor factus est mihi in salútem. V. Hic Deus meus, et honorificábo eum: Deus patris mei, et exaltábo eum. V. Dóminus cónterens bella: Dóminus nomen est illi.

Let us sing to the Lord, for He is gloriously magnified: the horse and the rider He hath thrown into the sea: He is become my helper and protector unto salvation. V. He is my God, and I will glorify Him: the God of my Father, and I will exalt Him. V. The Lord crushing wars; the Lord is His name.

COLLECT

P. Oremus.
D. Flectamus genua.
S. Levate.
Deus, cujus antíqua mirácula étiam nostris sæculis coruscáre sentímus: dum quod uni pópulo, a persecutióne Ægyptíaca liberándo, déxteræ tuæ poténtia contulísti, id in salútem géntium per aquam regeneratiónis operáris: præsta; ut in Abrahæ fílios, et in Israëlíticam dignitátem, totíus mundi tránseat plenitúdo. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum. S. Amen.

P. Let us pray.
D. Let us kneel.
S. Arise.
O God of Whose wondrous works of old we feel the splendor even in our days, when Thou dost perform for the salvation of all peoples, through the water of regeneration, that which Thou didst for one people, delivering it from the Egyptian persecution by the power of Thy right hand, grant that the fulness of all the world be shared by the sons of Abraham and with the dignity of Israel. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. S. Amen.

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The Fifth Prophesy: Isaias 54: 17; 55: 1-11
We are through the Sacrament of Baptism incorporated into the new nation: the Church, which with God enters into a covenant superior to the covenant of Sinai.

Hæc est heréditas servórum Dómini: et justítia eórum apud me, dicit Dóminus. Omnes sitiéntes veníte ac aquas: et qui non habétis argéntum, properáte, émite, et comédite: veníte, emíte absque argénto, et absque ulla commutatióne, vinum, et lac. Quare appénditis argéntum non in pánibus, et labórem vestrum non in saturitáte? Audíte audiéntes me, et comédite bonum, et delectábitur in crassitúdine ánima vestra. Inclináte autem vestram, et veníte ad me: audíte, et vivet ánima vestra, et fériam vobíscum pactum sempitérnum, misericórdias David fidéles. Ecce testem pópulis dedi eum, ducem, ac præceptórum géntibus. Ecce gentem, quam nesciébas, vocábis: et gentes, quæ te non cognovérunt, ad te current propter Dóminum Deum tuum, et sanctum Israël, quia glorificávit te. Quæríte Dóminum, dum inveníri potest: invocáte eum, dum prope est. Derelínquat ímpius viam suam, et vir iníquus cogitatiónes suas, et revertátur ad Dóminum et miserébitur ejus, et ad Deum nostrum: quóniam multus est ad ignoscéndum. Non enim cogitatiónes meæ, cogitatiónes vestræ: neque viæ vestræ, viæ meæ, dicit Dóminus. Quia sicut exaltántur cæli a terra, sic exaltátæ sunt viæ meæ a viis vestris, et cogitatiónes meæ a cogitatiónibus vestris. Et quómodo descéndit imber, et nix de cælo, et illuc ultra non revértitur, sed inébriat terram, et infúndit eam, et germináre eam facit, et dat semen serénti, et panem comedénti: sic erit verbum meum, quod egrediétur de ore meo: non revertétur ad me vácuum, sed fáciet quæcúmque vúlui, et prosperábitur in his, ad quæ misi illud: dicit Dóminus omnípotens.

This is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their justice with Me, saith the Lord. All you that thirst, come to the waters: and you that have no money, make haste, buy and eat; come ye, buy wine and milk without money, and without any price. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doth not satisfy you? Harken diligently to Me, and eat that which is good, and your soul shall be delighted in fatness. Incline your ear, and come to Me: hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the faithful mercies of David. Behold I have given him for a witness to the people, for a leader and a master to the gentiles. Behold thou shalt call a nation, which thou knewest not; and the nations that knew not thee, shall run to thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the holy One of Israel, for He hath glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He is bountiful to forgive. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts. And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the earth, and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall My word be, which shall go forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it; saith the Lord almighty.

COLLECT

P. Oremus.
D. Flectamus genua.
S. Levate.
Omnípotens sempitérne Deus, multíplica in honórem nóminis tui, quod patrum fídei spopondisti: et promissíonis fílios sacra adoptióne diláta; ut, quod prióres sancti non dubitavérunt futúrum, Ecclésia tua magna jam ex parte cognóscat implétum. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum. S. Amen.

P. Let us pray.
D. Let us kneel.
S. Arise.
Almighty, eternal God, for the honor of Thy name multiply what Thou didst promise to the faith of the fathers, and increase by holy adoption the sons of promise, that, what the saints of old did not doubt would be, Thy Church may know to have been already in great part fulfilled. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. S. Amen.

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The Sixth Prophesy: Baruch 3: 9-38
We shall enjoy everlasting peace in heaven, if we observe the lessons of life and wisdom which the prophet (the Church) teaches us.

Audi Israël mandáta vita: áuribus pércipe, ut scias prudéntiam. Quid est, Israël, quod in terra inimicórum es? Inveterásti in terra aliéna, coinquinátus es cum mórtuis; deputátus es cum descendéntibus in inférnum. Dereliquísti fontem sapiéntiæ. Nam si in via Dei ambulásses, habitásses útique in pace sempitérna. Disce ubi sit prudéntia, ubi sit virtus, ubi sit intelléctus: ut scias simul ubi sit longitúrnitas vita, et victus, ubi sit lumen oculórum et pax. Quis invénit locum ejus? et quis intrávit in thesáuros ejus? Ubi sunt principes géntium, et qui dominántur super béstias, quæ sunt super terram? qui inávibus cæli ludunt, qui argéntum thesaurízant, et aurum, in quo confídunt hómines, et non est finis acquisitiónis eórum? qui argéntum fábricant et sollíciti sunt, nec est invéntio óperum illórum? Extermináti sunt, et ad inferos descendérunt, et álii loco córum surrexérunt. Júvenes vidérunt lumen, et habitavérunt super terram: viam autem disciplínæ ignoravérunt, neque intellexérunt sémitas ejus, neque fílii eórum, suscepérunt eam, a facie ipsórum longe facta est: non est audíta in terra Chánaan, neque visa est in Theman. Fílii quoque Agar, qui exquírunt prudéntiam, quæ de terra est, negotiatóres Merrhæ, et Theman, et fabulatóres, et exquisitóres prudéntiæ, et intelligéntiæ: viam autem sapiéntiæ nesciérunt, neque comemoráti sunt sémitas ejus. O Israël, quam magna. est domus Dei, et ingens locus possessiónis ejus! Magnus est, et non habet finem: excélsus, et imménsus. Ibi fuérunt gigántes nomináti illi, qui ab initio fuérunt, státura magna, sciéntes bellum. Non hos elégit Dóminus, neque viam discíplinæ invenérunt: proptérea periérunt. Et quóniam non habuérunt sapiéntiam, interiérunt propter suam insipiéntiam. Quis ascéndit in cælum, et accépit eam, et edúxit eam de núbibus? Quis transfretávit mare, et invénit illam? Et áttulit illam super aurum eléctum? Non est qui possit scire vias ejus, neque qui exquírat sémitas ejus: sed qui scit univérsa, novit eam, et adinvénit eam prudéntia sua: qui præparávit terram in ætérno témpore, et replévit eam pecúdibus, et quadrupédibus: qui emíttit lumen, et vadit: et vocávit illud, et obédit illi in tremóre. Stellæ autem dedérunt lumen in custódiis suis, et lætátæ sunt: vocátæ sunt, et dixérunt: Adsumus: et luxérunt ei cum jucunditáte, qui fecit illas. Hic est Deus noster, et non æstimábitur álius advérsus eum. Hic adinvénit omnem viam disciplinæ, et trádidit illam Jacob púero suo, et Israël dilécto suo. Post hæc in terris visus est, et cum homínibus conversátus est.

Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: give ear, that thou mayest learn wisdom. How happeneth it, O Israel, that thou art in thy enemies’ land? Thou art grown old in a strange country: thou art defiled with the dead; thou art counted with them that go down into hell. Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom; for if thou hadst walked in the way of God thou hadst surely dwelt in peace forever. Learn where is wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding, that thou mayest know also where is length of days and life, where is the light of the eyes, and peace. Who hath found out her place? and who hath gone into her treasures? Where are the princes of the nations and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the earth? that take their pastime with the birds of the air, that hoard up silver and gold, wherein men trust; and there is no end of their getting? who work in silver and are solicitous, and their works are unsearchable? They are cut off, and are gone down to hell, and others are risen up in their place. Young men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the earth, but the way of knowledge they have not known; nor have they understood the paths thereof, neither have their children received it; it is far from their face. It hath not been heard of in thelandofChanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman. The children of Agar also, that search after the wisdom that is of the earth, the merchants of Merrha, and of Theman, and the tellers of fables, and searchers of prudence and understanding; but the way of wisdom they have not known, neither have they remembered her paths. O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of His possession! It is great, and hath no end; it is high and immense. There were the giants, those renowned men that were from the beginning, of great stature, expert in war. The Lord chose not them, neither did they find the way of knowledge; therefore did they perish. And because they had not wisdom they perished through their folly. Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds? Who hath passed over the sea, and found her, and brought her preferably to chosen gold? There is none that is able to know her ways, nor that can search out her paths. But He that knoweth all things knoweth her, and hath found her out with His understanding: He that prepared the earth forevermore, and filled it with cattle and four-footed beasts: He that sendeth forth light, and it goeth, and hath called it, and it obeyeth Him with trembling. And the stars have given light in their watches, and rejoiced. They were called, and they said, Here we are; and with cheerfulness they have shined forth to Him that made them. This is our God, and there shall no other be accounted of in comparison with Him. He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it toIsraelHis servant, and toIsraelHis beloved. Afterwards He was seen upon earth and conversed with men.

COLLECT

P. Oremus.
D. Flectamus genua.
S. Levate.
Deus, qui Ecclésiam tuam semper géntium vocatióne multíplicas: concéde propítius: ut, quos aqua baptísmatis ábluis, continua protectióne tueáris. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum. S. Amen.

P. Let us pray.
D. Let us kneel.
S. Arise.
O God, Who dost ever multiply Thy Church by the calling of the nations, mercifully grant that those whom Thou dost wash with the water of baptism may be guarded by Thy continual protection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. S. Amen.

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The Seventh Prophesy: Ezechiel 37: 1-14
The prophet tells us if the resurrection of men. The Sacrament of Baptism infuses new life into our souls.

In diébus illis: Facta est super me manus Dómini, et edúxit me in spíritu Dómini: et dimísit me in médio campi, qui erat plenus óssibus: et circumdúxit me per ea in gyro: erant autem multa valde super fáciem campi, síccaque veheménter. Et dixit ad me: Fíli hóminis, putásne vivent ossa ista! Et dixi: Dómine Deus, tu nosti. Et Dixit ad me: Vaticináre de óssibus istis: et dices eis: Ossa árida audíte verbum Dómini. Hæc dicit Dóminus Deus óssibus his: Ecce ego intromíttam in vos spíritum, et vivétis. Et dabo super vos nervos, et succréscere fáciam super vos carnes, et superexténdam in vobis cutem: et dabo vobis spíritum, et vivétis, et sciétis quia ego Dóminus. Et prophetávi sicut præcéperat mihi: factus est autem sónitus, prophetánte me, et ecce commótio: et accessérunt ossa ad ossa, unumquódque ad junctúram suam. Et vidi, et ecce supper ea nervi et carnes ascendérunt: et exténta est in eis cutis désuper, et spíritum non habébant. Et dixit ad me: Vaticináre ad spíritum, vaticináre fíli hóminis, et dices ad spíritum: Hæc dicit Dóminus Deus: A quátuor ventis veni spíritus, et insúffa super interféctos istos, et revivíscant. Et prophetávi sicut præcéperat mihi: et ingréssus est in ea spíritus, et vixérunt: steterúntque super pedes suos exércitus grandis nimis valde. Et dixit ad me: Fíli hóminis, ossa hæc univérso, domus Israël est: ipsi dicunt: Aruérunt ossa nostra, et périit spes nostra, et abscíssi sumus, Proptérea vaticináre, et dices ad eos: Hæc dicit Dóminus Deus: Ecce ego apériam túmulos vestros, et edúcam vos de sepúlcris vestris, pópulus meus: et indúcam vos in terram Israël. Et sciétis, quia ego Dóminus, cum aperúero sepúlcra vestra, et edúxero vos de túmulis vestris, pópule meus: et dédero spíritum meum in vobis, et vixéritis, et requiéscere vos fáciam super humum vestram: dicit Dóminus omnípotens.

In those days, the hand of the Lord was upon me, anti brought me forth in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of a plain that was full of bones; and He led me about through them on every side: now there were very many upon the face of the plain, and they were exceeding dry. And He said to me, Son of man, dost thou think these bones shall live? And I answered, O Lord God, Thou knowest. And He said to me, Prophesy concerning these bones, and say to them, Ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God to these bones, Behold, I will send spirit into you, and you shall live, and I will lay sinews upon you, arid will cause flesh to grow over you, and will cover you with skin; and I will give you spirit, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. And I prophesied as He had commanded me; and as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold a commotion; and the bones came together, each one to its joint. And I saw, and behold the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin was stretched out over them, but there was no spirit in them:And He said to me, Prophesy to the spirit; prophesy, O son of man, and say to the spirit, Thus saith the Lord God, Come, spirit from the four winds, and blow upon these slain, and let them live again. And I prophesied as He had commanded me; and the spirit came into them; and they lived; and they stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. And He said to me, Son of man, all these bones are the house ofIsrael. They say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we are cut off. Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus saith the Lord God, I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sepulchres, O My people, and will bring you out into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have opened your sepulchres, and shall have brought you out of your graves, O My people; and shall have put My spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall make you rest upon your own land; saith the Lord almighty.

COLLECT

P. Oremus.
D. Flectamus genua.
S. Levate.
Deus , qui nos ad celebrándum paschále sacraméntum, utriúsque testaménti páginis ínstruis: da nobis intellígere misericórdiam tuam; ut ex perceptióne præséntium múnerum, firma sit exspectátio futurórum. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum. S. Amen.

P. Let us pray.
D. Let us kneel.
S. Arise.
O God, Who dost instruct us in the pages of both testaments how to celebrate the paschal sacrament, grant us to understand Thy mercy, that by the reception of the present gifts, our expectation of those to come may be confirmed. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. S. Amen.

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The Eighth Prophesy: Isaias 4: 1-6
Our Lord Jesus Christ, after cleansing our souls in Baptism, will take us under His protection.

Apprehéndent septem mulíeres virum unum in die illa, dicéntes: Panem nostrum comedémus, et vestiméntis nostris operiémur: tantúmmodo invocétur nomen tuum super nos, aufer oppróbrium nostrum. In die illa erit germen Dómini in magnificéntia, et glória, et fructus terræ sublímis, et exsultátio his, qui salváti fúerint de Israël. Et erit: Omnis qui relíctus fúerit in Sion, et resíduus in Jerúsalem, sanctus vocábitur, omnis qui scriptus est in vita in Jerúsalem. Si ablúerit Dóminus sordes filiárum Sion, et sánguinem Jerúsalem láverit de médio ejus, in spíritu judícii, et spíritu ardóris. Et creábit Dóminus super omnem locum montis Sion, et ubi invocátus est, nubem per diem, et fumum et spendórem ignis flammántis in nocte: super omnem enim glóriam protéctio. Et tabernáculum erit in umbráculum diéi ab æstu, et in securitátem, et absconsiónem a túrbine, et a plúvia.

In that day, seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel only let us be called by thy name; take away our reproach. In that day, the bud of the Lord shall be in magnificence and glory, and the fruit of the earth shall be high, and a great joy to them that shall have escaped ofIsrael. And it shall come to pass, that every one that shall be left in Sion, and that shall remain inJerusalem, shall be called holy, every one that is written in life inJerusalem. If the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Sion, and shall wash away the blood ofJerusalemout of the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every place ofMountSion, and where He is called upon, a cloud by day, and a smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire in the night; for over all the glory shall be a protection. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a security and covert from the whirlwind and from rain.

TRACT: Isaias 5: 1,2

Vínea facta est dilécto in cornu, in loco úberi. V. Et macériam circúmdedit, et circumfódit: et plantávit víneam Sorec, et ædificávit turrim in médio ejus. V. et Tórcular fodit in ea: vínea enim Dómini Sábaoth, domus Israël est.

The beloved had a vineyard on a hill in a fruitful place. V. And he surrounded it with a wall, and dug round about it, and he planted the vine of Sorec, and built a tower in the midst of it. V. And he dug a wine-press therein: for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house ofIsrael.

COLLECT

P. Oremus.
D. Flectamus genua.
S. Levate.
Deus qui in ómnibus Ecclésiæ tuæ fíliis, sanctórum prophetárum voce manifestásti, in omni loco dominatiónis tuæ, satórem te bonórum séminum, et electórum pálmitum esse cultórem: tríbue pópulis tuis, qui et vineárum apud to nómine censéntur, et ségetum; ut, spinárum, et tribulórum squalóre resecáto, digna efficiántur fruge fæcúndi. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum. S. Amen.

P. Let us pray.
D. Let us kneel.
S. Arise.
O God, Who by the voice of the holy prophets hast manifested, in all the sons of the Church and in every region where Thou dost hold sway that Thou art a sower of good seed and dost make choice branches to grow, grant unto Thy peoples, who are reckoned before Thee both as vines and as cornfields, that, the disorder of thorns and brambles being cleared away, they may be made to bring forth worthy fruit. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. S. Amen.

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The Ninth Prophesy: Exodus 1-11
The children ofIsrael are to sacrifice the Paschal Lamb; the Israelites will put the Lamb of God to death on the Cross.

In diébus illis: Dixit Dóminus ad Móysen, et Aaron in terra Ægypti: Mensis iste, vobis princípium ménsium: primus erit in ménsibus anni. Loquímini ad univérsum cœtum flliórum Israël, et dicite eis: Décima die mensis hujus tollat unusquísque agnum per familias, et domos suas. Sin autem minor est númerus, ut suffícere possit ad vescéndum agnum, assúmet vicínum suum, qui junctus est dómui suæ, juxta númerum animárum quæ suffícere possunt ad esum agni. Erit autem agnus absque mácula, másculus, annículus: juxta quem ritum tollétis et hædum. Et servábitis eum usque ad quartam décimam diem mensis hujus: immolabítque eum univérsa multitúdo filiórum Israël ad vésperam. Et sument de sánguine ejus, ac ponent super utrúmque postem, et in superlimináribus domórum, In quibus cómedent illum. Et edent carnes nocte illa assas igni, et ázymos panes cum lactúcis agréstibus. Non comedétis ex eo crudum quid, nec coctum aqua, sed tantum assum igni: caput cum pédibus ejus, et intestínis vorabitis. Nec remanébit quidquam ex eo usque mane. Si quid resíduum fúerit, igne comburétis. Sic autem comedétis illum: Renes vestros accingétis, et calceaménta habébitis in pédibus, tenéntes baculos in mánibus, et comedétis festinánter: est enim Phase (id est tránsitus) Dómini.

In those days, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in thelandofEgypt, This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it shall be the first in the months of the year. Speak ye to the whole assembly of the children ofIsrael, and say to them, On the tenth day of this month let every man take a lamb by their families and houses. But if the number be less than may suffice to eat the lamb, he shall take unto him his neighbor that joineth to his house, according to the number of souls which may be enough to eat the lamb. And it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male of one year; according to which rite also you shall take a kid. And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; and the whole multitude of the children ofIsraelshall sacrifice it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood thereof, and put it upon both the side-posts and on the upper door-posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh that night roasted at the fire, and unleavened bread, with wild lettuce. You shall not eat thereof any thing raw, nor boiled in water, but only roasted at the fire; you shall eat the head with the feet and entrails thereof. Neither shall there remain any thing of it until the morning. If there be any thing left, you shall burn it with fire. And thus you shall eat it: you shall gird your reins, and you shall have shoes on your feet, holding staves in your hands, and you shall eat in haste: for it is the Phase (that is the passage) of the Lord.

COLLECT

P. Oremus.
D. Flectamus genua.
S. Levate.
Omnípotens sempiterne Deus qui in ómnium óperum tuórum dispensatióne mirábilis es: intélligant redémpti tui, non fuísse excelléntius quod inítio factus est mundus, quam quod in fine sæculórum Pascha nostrum immolátus est Christus: Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum. S. Amen.

P. Let us pray.
D. Let us kneel.
S. Arise.
Almighty, eternal God, Who art wonderful in the ordering of all Thy works, let them Thou hast redeemed understand that to have made the world in the beginning was no greater work that to have immolated in the end of the ages Christ, our pasch, Who with Thee livest and reignest, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. S. Amen.

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The Tenth Prophesy: Jonas 3: 1-1O
Pardon granted to the Ninivites, who, moved by the exhortations of Jonas, fasted and covered themselves with ashes for forty days.

In diébus illis: Factum est verbum Dómini ad Jonam prophétam secúndo, dicens: Surge, et vade in Níniven civitátem magnam: et prædica in ea prædicatiónem, quam ego loquor ad te. Et surréxit Jonas, et ábiit in Níniven juxta verbum Dómini. Et Nínive erat cívitas magna itínere diérum trium. Et cœpit Jonas introíre in civitátem itínere diéi unius: et clamávit, et dixit: Adhuc quadragínta dies, et Nínive subvertétur. Et credidérunt viri Nínivitæ in Deum: et prædicavérunt jejúnium, et vestiti sunt saccis a majóre usque ad minórem Et pervénit verbum ad regem Nínive: et surréxit de sólio suo, et abjécit vestiméntum suum a se, et indútus est sacco, et sedit in cínere. Et clamávit, et dixit in Nínive ex ore regis, et príncipum ejus, dicens: Hómines, et juménta, et boves, et pécora non gustent quidquam: nec pascántur et aquam non bibant. Et operiántur saccis hómines, et juménta, et clament ad Dóminum in fortitúdine, et convertátur vir a via sua mala, et ab iniquitáte, quæ est in mánibus eórum. Quis scit si convertátur etignoscat Deus: et revertátur a furóre iræ sua; et non períbimus? Et vidit Deus ópera eórum, quia convérsi sunt de via sua mala: et misértus est pópulo suo, Dóminus Deus noster.

In those days the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time, saying, Arise, and go to Ninive the great city, and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee. And Jonas arose, and went to Ninive according to the word of the Lord. Now Ninive was a great city of three days’ journey. And Jonas began to enter into the city one day’s journey; and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Ninive shall be destroyed. And the men of Ninive believed in God, and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the word came to the king of Ninive: and he arose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed with sackcloth, and sat in ashes; and he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Ninive from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying, Let neither men, nor beasts, nor oxen, nor sheep, taste any thing; let them not feed, nor drink water, and let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and forgive, and will turn away from his fierce anger, and we shall not perish? And God saw their works, and they were turned from their evil way; and the Lord our God had mercy upon His people.

COLLECT

P. Oremus.
D. Flectamus genua.
S. Levate.
Deus, qui diversitátem géntium in confessióne tui nóminis adunásti: da nobis, et velle, et posse quæ præcípis; ut pópulo ad æternitátem vocáto, una sit fides méntium, et piétas actiónum. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum. S. Amen.

P. Let us pray.
D. Let us kneel.
S. Arise.
O God, Who hast joined together the diversity of the peoples in the confession of Thy name, grant us both to desire what Thou commandest and the power to perform it, that there may be one faith in the hearts, and one piety in the deeds, of the people called to eternal life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. S. Amen.

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The Eleventh Prophesy: Deuteronomy 31: 22-3O
We who have been baptized must, like the Israelites led by Moses, recall to mind the precepts of God and His munificence.

In diébus illis: Scripsit Móyses cánticum, et dócuit fílios Israël. Præcepítque Dóminus Jósue fílio Nun, et ait: Confortáre, et esto robústus: tu enim introdúces Fílios Israël in terram quam pollícitus sum, et ego ero tecum. Postquam ergo scripsit Móyses verba legis hujus in volúmine, atque complévit: præcépit Levítis, qui portábant arcam fœderis Dómini, dicens: Tóllite librum istum, et pónite eum in látere arcæ fœderis Dómini Dei vestri: ut sit ibi contra te in testimónium. Ego enim scio contentiónem tuam, et cervicem tuam duríssimam. Adhuc vivénte me, et ingrediénte vobíscum, semper contentióse egístis contra Dóminum: quanto magis cum mórtuus fúero? Congregáte ad me omnes majóres natu per tribus vestras, atque doctóres, et loquar audiéntibus eis sermónes istos, et invocábo contra eos cœlum et terram. Novi enim quod post mortem meam iníque agétis, et declinábitis cito de via, quam præcépi vobis: et occúrrent vobis mala in extrémo témpore, quando fecéritis malam in conspéctu Dómini, ut irritétis eum per ópera mánuum vestrárum. Locútus est ergo Móyses, audiénte univérso cœtu Israël, verba cárminis hujus, et ad fínem usque complévit.

In those days, Moses wrote the canticle and taught it the children ofIsrael. And theLord commanded Josue the son of Nun, and said, Take courage, and be valiant; for thou shalt bring the children ofIsraelinto the land which I have promised, and I will be with thee. Therefore after Moses had wrote the words of this law in a volume, and finished it; he commanded the levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, Take this book, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a testimony against thee. For I know thy obstinacy, and thy most stiff neck. While I am yet living, and going in with you, you have always been rebellious against the Lord; how much more when I shall be dead? Gather unto me all the ancients of your tribes, and your doctors, and I will speak these words in their hearing, and will call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that, after my death, you will do wickedly, and will quickly turn aside from the way that I have commanded you: and evils shall come upon you in the latter times, when you shall do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him by the works of your hands. Moses therefore spoke, in the hearing of the whole assembly ofIsrael, the words of this canticle, and finished it even to the end.

TRACT: Deuteronomy 32: 1-4

Atténde cœlum et loquar: et áudiat terra verba ex ore meo. V. Exspectétur sicut plúvia elóquium meum: et descéndant sicut ros verba mea. V. Sicut imber super gramen, et sicut nix super fœnum: quia nomen Dómini invocábo. V. Date magnitúdinem Deo nostro: Deus, vera ópera ejus, et omnes viæ ejus judícia. V. Deus fidélis, in quo non est iníquitas: justus, et sanctus Dóminus.

Hear, O Heaven, and I will speak: and let the earth give ear to the words out of my mouth. V. Let my speech be expected like rain; and my words descend like dew. V. As a shower upon the grass, and like snow upon hay: because I will invoke the name of the Lord. V. Give ye magnificence to our God: God’s works are true, and all His ways are judgments. V.God is faithful, in whom there is no iniquity: the Lord is just and holy.

COLLECT

P. Oremus.
D. Flectamus genua.
S. Levate.
Deus, celsitúdo humílium, et fortitúdo rectórum, qui per sanctum Móysen púerum tuum, ita erudire pópulum tuum sacri cárminis tui decantatióne voluísti, ut illa legis iterátio fíeret étiam nostra diréctio: éxcita in omnem justificatárum géntium plenitúdinem poténtiam tuam, et da lætítiam, mitigándo terrórem; ut ómnium peccátis tua remissióne delétis, quod denuntiátum est in ultiónem, tránseat in salútem. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum. S. Amen.

P. Let us pray.
D. Let us kneel.
S. Arise.
O God, the exaltation of the lowly and the strength of the just, Who wast pleased so to teach Thy people, through Moses, Thy holy servant, by the chanting of Thy sacred hymn, that this repetition of the law might become our instruction also, put forth Thy power upon the whole body of the justified nations, and give them joy by allaying their fear, so that ail their sins being wiped out by Thy forgiveness, that which was proclaimed for vengeance may turn into salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. S. Amen.

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The Twelfth Prophesy: Daniel 3: 1-24
We are, after Baptism, protected by God in the midst of all adversities, as were the three young men in the furnace.

In diébus illis: Nabuchodónosor rex fecit státuam áuream, altitúdine cubitórum sexagínta, latitúdine cubitórum sex, et státuit eam in campo Dura provínciæ Babylónis. Itaque Nabuchodón-osor rex misit ad congregándos sátrapas, magistrátus, et júdices, duces, et tyránnos, et præféctos, omnésque príncipes regiónum, ut convenírent ad dedicatiónem státuæ, quam eréxerat Nabuchodónosor rex. Tunc congregáti sunt sátrapæ, magistrátus, et júdices, duces, et tyránni, et optimátes, qui erant in potestátibus constitúti, et univérsi príncipes regiónum, ut convenírent ad dedicatiónem státuæ, quam eréxerat Nabuchodónosor rex. Stabant autem in conspéctu státuæ, quam posúerat Nabuchodónosor rex, et præco clamábat valénter: Vobis dicitur pópulis, tríbubus, et linguis: In hora, qua audiéritis sónitum tubæ, et fístulæ, et citharæ, sambúcæ, et psaltérii, et symphóniæ, et univérsi génerís musicórum, cadéntes adoráte státuam áuream, quam constítuit Nabuchodónosor rex. Si quis autem non prostrátus adoráverit, eádem hora mittétur in fornácem ignis ardéntis. Post hæc ígitur statim ut audiérunt omnes pópuli sónitum tubæ, fístulæ, et cítharæ, sambúcæ, et psaltérii, et symphóniæ, et omnis géneris musicórum, cadéntes omnes pópuli, tribus, et linguæ, adoravérunt státuam áuream, quam constitúerat Nabuchodón-osor rex. Statimque in ipso témpore accedéntes viri Chaldæi accusavérunt Judos, dixerúntque Nabuchodónosor regi: Rex in ætérnum vive: tu rex posuísti decrétum, ut omnis homo, qui audíerit sónitum tuba, fístulæ, et citharæ, sambúcæ, et psaltérii, et symphóniæ, et univérsi géneris musicórum, prostérnat se, et adóret státuamá uream: si quis autem non prócidens adoráverit, mittátur in fornácem ignis ardéntis. Sunt ergo viri Judæi, quos constituísti super ópera regiónis Babylónis, Sidrach, Misach, et Abdénago: viri isti contempsérunt, rex, decrétum tuum: deos tuos non colunt, et státuam áuream, quam erexísti, non adórant. Tunc Nabuchodónosor in furóre et in ira præcépit ut adduceréntur Sidrach, Misach, et Abdénago: qui conféstim addúcti sunt in conspéctu regis. Pronuntiánsque Nabuchodónosor rex, ait eis: Veréne Sidrach, Misach, et Abdénago deos meos non cólitis, et státuam áuream, quam constítui, non adorátis? Nunc ergo si estis paráti, quacúmque hora audiéritis sónitum tuba, fístulæ, cítharæ, sambúcæ, et psaltérii, et symphóniæ, omnísque géneris musicórum, prostérnite vos, et adoráte státuam quam feci: quod si non adoravéritis, eádem hora mittémini in fornácem ignis ardéntis; et quis est Deus, qui erípiet vos de manu mea? Respondéntes Sidrach, Misach, et Abdénago, dixérunt regi Nabuchodónosor: Non opórtet nos de hac re respondére tibi. Ecce enim Deus noster, quem cólimus, potest erípere nos de camino ignis ardéntis, et de mánibus tuis, o rex, liberáre. Quod si nolúerit, notum sit tibi, rex quia deos tuos non cólimus, et státuam áuream, quam erexisti, non adorámus. Tunc Nabuchodónosor replétus est furóre, et aspéctus faciéi illíus immutátus est super Sidrach, Misach, et Abdénago, et præcépit ut succenderétur fornax séptuplum, quam succéndi consuéverat. Et viris fortíssimis de exércitu suo jussit, ut ligátis pédibus Sidrach, Misach, et Abdénago, mítterent eos in fornácem ignis ardéntis. Et conféstim viri illi vincti, cum braccis suis, et tiáris, et calceaméntis, et véstibus, missi sunt in médium fornácis ignis ardéntis: nam jússio regis urgébat: fornax autem succénsa erat nimis. Porro viros illos, qui miserant Sidrach, Misach, et Abdénago, interfécit flamma ignis. Viri autem hi tres, id est, Sidrach, Misach, et Abdénago, cecidérunt in médio carmino ignis ardéntis colligáti. Et ambulábant in médio flammæ laudéntes Deum, et benedicéntes Dómino.

In those days, King Nabuchodonosor made a statue of gold, of sixty cubits high, and sixty cubits broad, and he set it up in the plain of Dura, in theprovinceofBabylon. Then Nabuchodonosor the king sent to call together the nobles, the magistrates, and the judges, the captains, the rulers, and governors, and all the chief men of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the statue, which King Nabuchodonosor had set up. Then the nobles, the magistrates, and the judges, the captains, and rulers, and the great men that were placed in authority, and all the princes of the provinces were gathered together to come to the dedication of the statue which King Nabuchodonosor had set up. And they stood before the statue which King Nabuchodonosor had set up. Then a herald cried with a strong voice, To you it is commanded, O nations, tribes, and languages, that in the hour that you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, and of the flute, and of the harp, of the sackbut, and of the psaltery, and of the symphony, and of all kind of music, ye fall down and adore the golden statue which King Nabuchodonosor hath set up. But if any man shall not fall down and adore, he shall the same hour be cast into a furnace of burning fire. Upon this, therefore, at the time when all the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the flute, and the harp, of the sackbut and the psaltery, of the symphony, and of all kind of music, all the nations, tribes, and languages, fell down and adored the golden statue which King Nabuchodonosor had set up. And presently, at that very time, some Chaldeans came, and accused the Jews; and said to King Nabuchodonosor, O king, live forever. Thou, O king, hast made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of the trumpet, the flute, and the harp, of the sackbut, and the psaltery, of the symphony, and of all kind of music, shall prostrate himself, and adore the golden statue; and that if any man shall not fall down and adore, he should be cast into a furnace of burning fire. Now there are certain Jews, whom thou hast set over the works of theprovinceofBabylon; Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago; these men, O king, have slighted thy decree: they worship not thy gods; nor do they adore thy gold statue which thou hast set up. Then Nabuchodonosor in fury and in wrath commanded that Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, should be brought; who immediately were brought before the king. And Nabuchodonosor the king spoke to them, and said, It it true, O Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, that you do not worship my gods, nor adore the golden statue that I have set up? Now therefore if you be ready, at what hour soever you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, flute, harp, sackbut, and psaltery, and symphony, and of all kind of music, prostrate yourselves and adore the statue which I have made; but if you do not adore you shall be cast in the same hour into the furnace of burning fire: and who is the god that shall deliver you out of my hand? Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago answered, and said to King Nabuehodonosor, We have no occasion to answer thee concerning this matter; for behold our God, Whom we worship, is able to save us from the furnace of burning fire, and to deliver us out of thy hands, O king. But if He will not, be it known to thee, O king, that we will not worship thy gods, nor adore the golden statue which thou hast set up. Then was Nabuchodonosor filled with fury; and the countenance of his face was changed against Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago; and he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it had been accustomed to be heated. And he commanded the strongest men that were in his army, to bind the feet of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and to cast them into the furnace of burning fire. And immediately these men were bound, and were cast into the furnace of burning fire, with their coats, and their caps, and their shoes, and their garments. For the kings commandment was urgent: and the furnace was heated exceedingly. And the flame of the fire slew those men that had cast in Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago. But these three men, that is, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, fell down, bound, in the midst of the furnace of burning fire. And they walked in the midst of the flame, praising God, and blessing the Lord.

COLLECT

P. Oremus.
D. Flectamus genua.
S. Levate.
Omnípotens sempitérne Deus spes única mundi, qui prophetárum tuórum præcónio, præséntium témporum declarásti mystéria: auge pópuli tui vota placátus; quia in nullo fidélium, nisi ex tua inspiratióne, provéniunt quarúmlibet increménta virtútum. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum. S. Amen.

P. Let us pray.
D. Let us kneel.
S. Arise.
Almighty, eternal God, only hope of the world, Who, by the mouth of Thy prophets hast shown forth the mysteries of the present time, be pleased to give increase to the desires of Thy people, for in none of the faithful do any virtues bear fruit but by Thy inspiration. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. S. Amen.

See these links:

I. The Church[: all true Loving Catholic Apostolic Orthodox true brethren and benefactors each of us holding You Christ Jesus Our Only Lord and Saviour the Head directly], though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith; in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator, Framer, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents and the birth from a virgin, and the passion and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His [future] parousia from heaven in the same flesh in which he suffered, in the glory of the Father, “to gather all things in one,” and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, “every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess” to Him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all; that He may send “spiritual wickednesses,” and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and have persevered in His love, some from the beginning of their Christian course and others from their repentance, and may surround them with everlasting glory.

2. As I have already observed, the Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house, carefully, preserves it. She also believes these points of doctrine just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth. For, although the languages of the world are dissimilar, yet the import of the tradition is one and the same. For the Churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those which have been established in the central regions of the world { Jerusalem, the mother of all the Churches is here referred to }. But as the sun, that creature of God, is one and the same throughout the whole world, so also the preaching of the truth shineth everywhere, and enlightens all men that are willing to come to a knowledge of the truth. Nor will anyone of, the rulers in the Churches, however highly gifted he may be in point of eloquence, teach doctrines different from these (for no one is greater than the Master); nor, on the other hand, will he who is deficient in power of expression inflict injury on the tradition. For the faith being ever one and the same, neither does one who is able at great length to discourse regarding it, make any addition to it, nor does one, who can say but little, diminish it.

3. It does not follow because men are endowed with greater and less degrees of intelligence, that they should therefore change the subject-matter of the faith itself, and should conceive of some other God, besides Him who is the Creator, Framer, Maker, and Preserver of this universe ( as if He were not sufficient for them ), or of another Christ, or another Only-begotten while the Catholic Church possesses one and the same faith throughout the whole world, as we have already said.

(Pg.) 332

(Pg.) 497

Book 4 Chapter XXVI Section 4.

(Concerning how we act towards heretics — the evolutionary Gnostics)
From all such persons, therefore, it behoves its to keep aloof,.. .but to adhere to…the doctrine of the Apostles.

President John F. Kennedy was against involving the U.S. in the war in Vietnam, he knew what it would lead to – toppling Democratic rule and paving the way for the Communists to take over.

Ho Chi Minh was a puppet of Mao Tse Tung. Ho was responsible for murdering 5% of the entire population of Vietnam AFTER the United States left. He did it on purpose to steal their lands from them. Viet Communists still brag about this today. The people Ho murdered were innocent people – the only reason they were killed was to take their lands; it was called an ‘anti-Capitalist necessity’ by the murdering bastard Communists. Today Iraq is being murdered and some people claiming to represent the Iraqis are actually siding with Communists, who if they had the chance, would kill far more Iraqis. My Iraqi friend, nearly 20 years ago, told me the U.S. should stay out of Iraq and let Iraqis handle Iraq. He was absolutely right. The only way to make it worse would be if the Communists got in. Get the U.S. out and KEEP both of them, the U.S. and the Communists out. Give Iraq back to the only people it belongs to: THE IRAQIS.

The exact crux of the whole matter is the criminal invasion and destruction of the Holy Land by the Zionist entity. Before they came to Palestine they, the Zionist Kahal who comprised the ruling class of the Communists, were the plotters and saboteurs that destroyed the Russian Nation and the Czar and the Russian Orthodox Church. That is why the “formerly soviet countries” rank the worst in treatment of Christians.

Via the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the influence of the Zionist neo-Fascists for several decades, the Zionist-Communists have destroyed Constitutionality and true National Republicanism throughout the world. They are all under the aegis of the ruling Illuminati Black Nobility Elite.

The Houses of the Dragon are what promoted the Roman aligned religion of Saturn, read Satan, in Europe. These were the houses of nobility in Medieval Europe that continued the secret power of the dragon, that serpent of old (Revelation 20, verse 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. [a thousand years is not literal]) This was the same Satan worship that was part and parcel of the Ancient Cretan Double Eagles of the Mediterranean, embedded in the ancient Graeco-Egyptian religion from 3,500 years ago to the present. That, in turn was based on the Mesopotamian religion of Ur and Babel and Nimrud in Chaldaea of Mesopotamia, the land of Shinar, from twenty five centuries before that, in other words 6,000 years ago. The Haburah of the Jews is a recent version of this, which is only 2,500 years old. The Haburah is the basis for Zionism and the Jew form of Freemasonry (which is the arm of Talmudic Judaism into Gentile religion and government).

The Talmudic Judaists are used and controlled by the Illuminati, both are utterly evil.

The houses of the Dragon are the European controlling nobility of the Illuminati. The Illluminati are throughout all of Eurasia. The arms of the Illuminati to pollute all other religions and political bodies are Freemasonry and Zionism.

The ancient Mesopotamian Satanism is the ancient religion of Gnosticism which opposed the Old Testament Patriarchs and Prophets and the Church. This ancient religion of Gnosticism is that which seeks to pervert Islam as well. Some of the current forms of this Gnosticism are Communism, Zionism, Christian Zionism, Vatican Ecumenism and Evolution.

The Habara is a small cultic sect of Jews during the Babylonian exile (6th century B.C. – aproximately 2,500+) years ago. They rearranged certain belief systems they encountered and made up a religion out of it. At the core of what they invented is their own racist self worship.

The Habara invented the Mishnah or “oral teachings” that Jesus Christ condemned repeatedly and totally. During the time of the Rabbinic Palestinian academies in the first and second centuries A.D., the Jews began the composition of the Gemara. When that was combined with the Mishnah it became the Talmud. The companion to that is the Zohar. The Zohar is a book of sorcery. Both utterly blaspheme God and His Christ. There have been several Jew false Messiahs, since the true Messiah, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ walked the earth. And he did walk the earth. He also walked on water and raised the dead and, as the Noble Qu’ran says, God made him to die but raised him up and he lives and he ascended into heaven and at the Sayyidah, his Parousia – his second coming, he will raise and judge all men.

The false Messiahs that have come include Bar Kochba in the second century A.D., Sabatai Zvi in the 17th century A.D. and Theodore Herzl in the 19th century A.D. All three were Jews. All three were imbued with the Pharisaism of the Habara and the Talmudic teachings of the Mishnah, Gemara and Zohar – all three of which have their roots in the Harbara’s original blasphemous, racist, self worshipping religion of the Jews who apostasized from the true God. Today these are the Talmudists and Herzl is the Antichrist that used this blasphemous system to create political Zionism.

Political Zionism has as its core Lurianic (from Ari Luria) Caballistic Talmudism, which is the mainstay of the Likkud’s “religion” of “Israel’s” genocide and pillage against the Palestinians and, by the proxy of the United States and Iran, against Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan. The gentile arm of all of this is the Freemasonic Illuminati Black Nobility who today own the Banks and the Vatican and The World’s  Capitals amongst other groups and people. The Kahal is the progenitor of Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist-Maoist Communism and its Gramscian-Gorbachevian revitalized 4th International. The Kahal is the Jews’ older organized form of Zionism and is responsible for hundreds of millions of dead gentiles due to Zionist Judaist Communist and Nazi organized owned and operated genocides committed against the gentiles.

Today, this Illuminati-Judaist wanton murdering of vast numbers of peoples by the Zionists and their puppet American War Machine is taking place against Palestine and Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Communism and Nazism are both totalitarian and both Socialist inventions, and both are opposed to Islam and Arab civilization and true Catholicism and the Religion of the Old Testament Prophets.

Socialism is racist. Communism is racist. Nazism is racist. All three are inventions of Apostate Jews. Marx, Bakunin, Herzl, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin etc. are the Jews behind Communism. Herzl is one of the main founding fathers of Zionism. Herzl is also one the main founders of German Socialism, out of which sprang National Socialism which is Nazism. Socialists are Communists and Communists are Socialists. All three of these hate the true God.

Both Muslims and Christians worship the true God. This secular socialist nonsense is the complete domain and developement of an Anti-God Illuminati Judaist dialectic which was used to disrupt European society and furnish the means to invade the Holy Land and brutally and savagely oppress the Palestinians. Socialism will never be anything more than an instrument of oppression by Judaists and their masters, the Black Nobility. In reality it is nothing more than Totalitarian Diabolic Tyrannical Collectivism.

Here is the last 3,000 years of the Illuminati Terrorism

The First Amendment: Terrorism and the Illuminati – A Three Thousand Year History – Index

Saturday, January 9, 2010