The Catalog of Good Deeds

"Agony," I heard this word pronounced over me by the doctor.

Since I did not speak, being completely concentrated within myself, and my glance expressed a complete absence of affect in relation to the surrounding world, the doctors evidently decided that I was in an unconscious state and spoke about me audibly without restraint. But meanwhile, I not only excellently understood all, but it was impossible for me not to think and observe to a certain degree.

"Agony, death!" I thought, having heard the words of the doctor. "Am I really dying?" Turning to myself, I spoke out loud; but how? Why? I cannot explain this.

I suddenly remembered a learned discourse dealing with the question of whether or not death is painful, which I once read long ago, and, having closed my eyes, I examined myself with regard to what was taking place in me at the time.

No, I felt no physical pain whatsoever, but undoubtedly I was suffering. I felt heavy within and weary. What was this from? I knew of what sickness I was dying; what was the case here, was the edema choking me, or was it depressing the activity of the heart and this was making me weary? I do not know. Perhaps such was the explanation of my oncoming death according to the ideas of those people, of the world, which now was so alien and remote from me. I, however, only felt an insurmountable striving towards somewhere, an attraction towards something concerning which I already have spoken.

And I felt that this attraction increased with each moment, that I already had just, just about come very close, almost in contact with that magnet which was attracting me, which if I should touch, would cause me with my whole body to become fused with it, to grow into one with it in such a manner that no force would then be capable of separating me from it, and the more strongly I felt the proximity of this moment, the more fearful and depressed I became, and this was so because I simultaneously felt a resistance to this with increasing clarity, I felt more clearly that I as a whole could not unite, that something had to separate within me, and that this something was striving away from the unknown object of attraction with the same intensity that the something else in me was striving towards it. It was this struggle that caused me weariness, suffering.

XII

The meaning of the word "agony," which I heard, was entirely understood by me, but now everything in me somehow turned away from my relationships, feelings and extended to my conceptions inclusively.

Without doubt, if I had heard this word even at the time when the three doctors were examining me, I would have been frightened to an alarming degree. Likewise, if such a strange turn had not taken place in my sickness, if I remained in the ordinary state of a sick man, even at the present moment, knowing that death is approaching, I would have understood and explained all that had taken place with me differently; but in the present state the words of the doctor only surprised me, not having aroused that feeling of fear which is characteristic of people who are thinking about death, and I gave an entirely unexpected, in comparison with my previous conceptions, interpretation to that state which I was experiencing

"Well now, so that's what it is! It is the earth that is drawing me so," suddenly it dawned on me. "That is to say, not me, but that which belongs to her, that which she let me have for a period of time. And is the earth drawing it, or is matter itself trying to return to her?"

And that which previously seemed so natural and true, and namely, that after death I should turn completely to dust, now appeared unnatural and impossible.

"No, I as a whole shall not disappear, I cannot," I almost screamed out loud, and made an attempt to free myself, to tear myself from that force which was attracting me, and suddenly I felt a calm within myself.

I opened my eyes, and everything that I saw in the course of that minute, down to the slightest details, registered in my memory with complete clarity.

I saw that I was standing alone within a room; to the right of me, standing about something in a semi-circle, the whole medical staff was crowded together: having put his hands behind himself and gazing intently at something which I was unable to see due to their figures, stood the head physician; behind him, slightly bent forward — the younger physician; the old assistant doctor, holding a bag of oxygen in his hands, with indecision shifted from one leg to the other, evidently not knowing what to do with his apparatus, either to bear it away, or not to do so, since it could still be of use; and the young doctor, having bent down, was supporting something, but due to his shoulder, only the pillows were able to be seen by me.

This group struck me with surprise: at the place where they were standing there was a bed. What was it that drew the attention of these people, what were they looking at, when I already was not there, when I was standing in the midst of the room?

I moved forward and looked where they all were looking:

There on the bed I was lying.

XIII

I do not have any recollection of experiencing anything like fear when seeing my double; I only was perplexed: how can this be? I feel myself here, and at the same time I am there also.

I looked at myself standing in the midst of the room. Why this without doubt was me, exactly the same as I always knew myself to be.

I wanted to touch myself, to take the left hand by the right: my hand went right through; I tried to grasp myself at the waist — my hand again went through my body as through empty space.

Struck by such a strange phenomenon, I wanted that some one nearby should help me understand what I at was happening and, having made several steps, I extended my hand, desiring to touch the shoulder of the doctor; but I felt that I was walking strangely, not feeling contact with the floor; and my hand, no matter how I tried, could not reach the figure of the doctor. Only perhaps a few inches of space remained, but I was not able to touch him.

I made an effort to stand firmly on the floor, but, although my body obeyed my attempts and lowered itself, yet it could not reach the floor just as the figure of the doctor was not able to be reached before. Here also an insignificant amount of space remained, but I could in no way overcome it.

And I vividly remembered how several days ago the nurse of our ward, desiring to guard my medicine from becoming spoiled, lowered a vial containing it into a pitcher of cold water. However, there was much water in the jug and immediately the light vial was buoyed up; but the old nurse, not understanding what had taken place, persistently tried one, two, and three times to lower it down to the bottom of the pitcher and even held it down with her finger in the hope that it eventually would remain there. But hardly had she removed her finger, than it again would be carried upwards to the surface.

Evidently in a similar manner, the surrounding air must have become too dense for me, for present me.

XIV

What happened to me?

I called the doctor, but the atmosphere in which I was found turned out to be entirely unfit for me; it did not receive and transmit the sounds of my voice, and I understood myself to be in a state of utter dissociation from all that was about me. I understood my strange state of solitude, and a feeling of panic came over me. There really was something inexpressibly horrible in this extraordinary solitude. If a person becomes lost in a forest, is drowning in the depths of the sea, caught in a fire, sitting in solitary confinement — he never loses hope that he will be heard. He knows that he will be understood if his call for help is carried to somebody's hearing; he understands that another living being sees him, that the guard will walk into his casemate, and he will be able to start speaking with him, express what he desires and the other will understand him.

But to see people about oneself, to hear and understand their conversation, and at the same time know that no matter what happens to you, you have no opportunity whatsoever of informing them of your presence and of expecting help if in need — from such a state of solitude my hairs stood on end, the mind became torpid. It was worse than being on an uninhabited island, because there at least nature would have manifested positive signs of receptivity of one's individuality; but here, in this one deprivation of the capacity to associate with the surrounding world, as an unnatural experience for a human being, in it there was so much deathly fear, such a horrible acknowledgment of helplessness, which one is neither able to experience in any other situation nor convey in words.

I, of course, did not give in at once; I attempted in all possible ways and tried to make my presence known, but these attempts only brought me complete despair. Is it really possible that they don't see me? — I thought with despair and repeatedly approached the group of people standing over my bed, but none of them turned around or paid attention to me, and now I looked at myself with perplexity, not understanding how it was possible for them not to see me, when I was the same as I had always been. I made an attempt to touch myself, and my hand again only passed through air.

"But I am not a ghost. I feel and am conscious of myself, and my body is a real body, and not some kind of delusive ‘mirage,’" I thought, and again looked at myself intently and became convinced that my body really was a body, because I could observe it and see its minutest details, even a dot, with complete clarity. Its external appearance remained the same as it had been previously, but evidently its qualities changed. It became inaccessible to touch, and the surrounding air became too dense for it so that complete contact with objects was not possible.

"An astral body. It seems that is what it is called?" the thought flashed through my mind. "But why, what has happened to me?" I asked myself, trying to remember if I ever had heard descriptions of such states, of strange transfigurations in sickness.

"No, you cannot do anything here! Everything is finished," the young doctor said, waving his hand in a hopeless manner, and went away from the bed on which was lying the other me.

I felt inexpressibly vexed, that they continue to reason and fuss over that me which I completely did not feel, which did not exist for me, and were leaving without attention the other real me, which is conscious of everything and being tormented by the fear of obscurity, seeks, demands their help.

"Is it possible that they will not find out. Is it possible that they do not understand that I am not there?" With disappointment I thought and, walking up to the bed, I looked at that me, which at the expense of my real me, attracted the attention of the people in the ward.

I glanced, and here only for the first time the thought emerged: is it possible that that which has happened to me, in our language, in the language of living people, is defined by the word "death"?

This occurred to me because the body lying on the bed had all the appearances of a corpse: without any movement, not breathing, the face covered with a kind of pallor, with firmly compressed, slightly cyanotic lips, it vividly reminded me of all the deceased that I had ever seen. It may seem strange at first, that only in seeing my lifeless body I comprehended what really had happened to me, but if one carefully considers and thoroughly perceives that which I felt and experienced, such a strange, on first sight, perplexity on my part becomes understandable. With our understanding of the word "death" there is inextricably bound the idea of some kind of destruction, a cessation of life, how could I think that I died when I did not lose self-consciousness for one moment, when I felt myself just as alive, hearing all, seeing all, conscious of all, capable of movement, thought, speech? Of what deterioration could there be any consideration here, when I splendidly saw myself, and at the same time even acknowledged the strangeness of my state? Even the words of the doctor, that "all is over" did not draw my attention and did not call forth a guess concerning that which had taken place — to such a great extent did that which took place with me differ from our conceptions of death!

The dissociation from everything about me, the split in my personality more than anything could have made me understand that which had taken place, if I should have believed in the existence of a soul, if I were religious; but this was not the case and I was guided solely by that which I felt, and the sensation of life was so clear, that I only was perplexed with the strange phenomenon, being completely unable to link my feelings with the traditional conception of death, that is to say, while sensing and being conscious of myself, to think that I do not exist.

Subsequently I often had the opportunity of hearing from religious people, that is to say, those not negating the existence a soul and after-life, the following opinion or supposition: that as soon as the soul of man has shuffled off its corruptible flesh, it immediately becomes a kind of an all-knowing essence, that for it there is nothing unknown, and it is astonishing how in the new realm of reality, in the new form of existence, that it not only immediately enters into the field of new laws which are revealed to it by the new world and its own changed state of being, but that all this is so akin to it, that this transition is like a return to a real homeland, a return to its natural state. Such a supposition is founded mainly on the idea that the soul is a spirit, and those limitations do not present themselves for the spirit that exist for the physical part of man.

XVI

Such a hypothesis, of course, is entirely untrue.

From what has been described above, the reader sees that I arrived in this new world essentially the same as I had left it, that is to say, with practically the very same capacities, conceptions and knowledge which I had while living on earth.

For example, when I wanted somehow to make my presence known, I had recourse to those means which are commonly used in these cases by all live people; that is to say, I called, approached, tried to touch or push someone; having noticed a new quality of my body I felt it to be strange: consequently, my previous conceptions remained in me; otherwise it would not have seemed strange to me, — and desiring to become convinced in the existence of my body, I again had recourse to the usual method that I had been accustomed to in these cases as an earthly human.

Even after having understood that I had died, I did not grasp by means of some kind of new means the change which had taken place within me, and, being perplexed, I either called my body "astral," or before my attention there emerged the following idea, was not the first man ever to be created given such a body. And later, with the fall of his leathern sacerdotal vestment, which is mentioned in the Bible, is this not that corruptible body, which is now lying in bed and would in a short time change to dust? In short, desiring to understand what had taken place with me, I proposed such explanations which were known and accessible to me according to my mundane conceptions.

And this was to be expected. The soul of course is spirit, but spirit is created for life with the body; therefore in what way can the body be anything like a prison for it, some kind of bonds that chain it to some supposedly unrelated form of existence?

No, the body is a lawful dwelling place that has been, as it were, placed at the disposal of the spirit, and therefore it will appear in the other world at that level of its development and perfection, which it had attained during its joint existence with the body, in the lawfully established form of its existence. Of course, if during life a person was spiritually developed, spiritually disposed, then his soul will feel more related and things will therefore appear more understandable in this new world than that of the soul of the person who lived never thinking of the other world, and while the first will be in a position, so to say, of reading these, even though not rapidly and not without mistakes, the second, similar to my case, has to begin from the rudiments. Time is needed in order to understand both that fact which it never had thought about, and that actual realm in which it now finds itself and where it never drifted mentally during earthly existence.

Afterwards in recalling and thinking over my state of being at the time, I noticed only that my mental capacities functioned with such striking energy and swiftness, that it seemed not the slightest trace of time remained after I had made the exertion to comprehend, compare or remember something. Hardly had something appeared before me when my memory, immediately penetrating into the past, would dig up all the slightest bits of knowledge concerning a given subject which were carelessly lying about and forgotten; and that which at another time would doubtlessly have aroused a feeling of perplexity, now appeared as if it were quite apparent. At times, by virtue of some infusion of power, I even guessed beforehand that which was unknown to me; but this nevertheless not before it actually appeared before my eyes. And it was only this latter condition that turned out to be the outstanding quality of my capacities, besides those other, as it were, expected changes which resulted from my altered state of being.

XVII

I am now proceeding with the narration of the further circumstances in my unbelievable occurrence.

Unbelievable! But if up until now it has seemed unbelievable, then these further circumstances will appear as such "naive" stories before the eyes of my learned readers, that it would not be worth relating them; but perhaps for those who should want to view my narration differently, the naiveté itself and scantiness of the material presented will serve as proof of its veracity; because if I were making up this narration — imagining it — then such a wide field opens up for one's fantasia here that, of course, I could have thought up something more subtle and effective.

Now then, what further took place with me? The doctors, walked out of the ward, both assistant doctors were standing about and trying to explain the stages of my illness and death, and the old nurse turned to the ikon, crossed herself and audibly expressed the accepted wish in such cases:

"May he inherit the kingdom of heaven, eternal peace to him."

And hardly had she uttered these words, than two Angels appeared at my side; for some reason in one of them I recognized my Guardian Angel, but the other was unknown to me.**

Having taken me by the arms, the Angels carried me right through the wall of the ward into the street.

It already had grown dark. Snow was silently falling in large flakes. I saw this, but the cold and in general the difference in temperature between the room and outside I did not feel. Evidently these like phenomena lost their significance for my changed body. We began to quickly ascend. And the degree to which we had ascended, the increasingly greater became the expanse of space that was revealed before our eyes. And finally it took on such terrifyingly vast proportions that I was seized with a fear from the realization of my insignificance in comparison to this desert of infinity. Here also certain peculiarities of my vision became apparent to me. Firstly, it was dark and I saw everything clearly in the dark; consequently my vision received the capacity of seeing in the dark; secondly, I was able to include in the field of my vision such a vast expanse of space, which undoubtedly I would not have been able to do with my ordinary vision. And at the time I was not conscious of these peculiarities, but, that I did not see everything, that no matter how broad the field of my vision was. Nevertheless a limit existed for it. This I understood very clearly and was terrified by it. Yes, to what a great extent is it characteristic for man to give a permanent kind of value to his individuality: I recognized myself to be so very unimportant, a meaningless atom, the appearance and disappearance of which would of course remain unnoticed in this limitless space, but instead of finding some kind of consolation in this, a kind of security became frightened ... that I could get lost, that this unbounded vastness would swallow me up like a sorry particle of dust. A most wonderful rebuttal by an insignificant particle of the common (as some think) law of destruction, and an outstanding manifestation of man's acknowledgment of his immortality, of the eternal state of being of his individuality!

XIX

The conception of time was absent in my mental state at this time, and I do not know how long we were moving upwards, when suddenly there was heard at first an indistinct noise. And following this, having emerged from somewhere, with shrieks and rowdy laughter, a throng of some hideous beings began rapidly to approach us.

"Evil Spirits!" — I suddenly comprehended and appraised with unusual rapidity that resulted from the horror I experienced at that time, a horror of a special kind and until then never before experienced by me. Evil spirits! O, how much irony, how much of the most sincere kind of laughter this would have aroused in me but a few days ago. Even a few hours ago somebody's report, not only that he saw evil spirits with his own eyes, but only that he believed in their existence as in something fundamentally real, would have aroused a similar reaction! As was proper for an "educated" man at the close of the nineteenth century, I understood this to mean foolish inclinations, passions in a human being and that is why the very word itself had for me not the significance of a name, but a term which defined a certain abstracted conception. And suddenly this "certain abstracted conception" appeared before me as a living personification. Even up to the present time I am not able to say how and why at that time, without the slightest trace of doubt, I recognized evil spirits to be present in that ugly sight. Undoubtedly only because such a designation of it was completely outside of the normal order of things and logic, for if a similar hideous sight appeared before me at another time, undoubtedly I would have said that it was some kind of fiction personified, an abnormal caprice of one's imagination. In short, everything else but in no way, of course, would I have called it a name by which I would have meant something which cannot be seen. But at the time, this designation of its nature took place with such rapidity, that seemingly there was no need to think about it, as if I had seen that which already was well known to me long ago; and since, as I already have explained, at that time my mental capacities functioned with such incomprehensible intensity, I therefore comprehended just as rapidly that the ugly outward appearance of these beings was not their real exterior; that this was some kind of an abominable show which was probably conceived with the purpose of frightening me to a greater degree; and for a moment something similar to pride stirred within me. I then felt ashamed of myself, for man in general, because in order to arouse fear in man, a being who thinks so much of himself, other forms of being have recourse to such methods which we ourselves use with respect to small children.

Having surrounded us on all sides, with shrieks and rowdy sounds the evil spirits demanded that I be given over to them, they tried somehow to seize and tear me away from the Angels, but evidently did not dare to do this. In the midst of their rowdy howling, unimaginable and just as repugnant to one's hearing as their sight was for my eyes, I sometimes caught up words and whole phrases.

"He is ours: he has renounced God," they suddenly cried out almost in unison. And here they lunged at us with such boldness that for a moment fear froze the flow of all thought in my mind.

"That is a lie! That is untrue!" Coming to myself I wanted to shout, but an obliging memory bound my tongue. In some way unknown to me, I suddenly recalled such a slight, insignificant occurrence, which in addition was related to so remote a period of my youth that, it seems, I in no way could have been able to recall it to mind.

I recalled how during my years of study, once having gathered at my friend's, after having spoken about school studies, we passed over to discussing various abstract and elevated topics — conversations which often were carried on by us.

"Generally speaking, I don't like abstractions," says one of my comrades, "but here you already have absolute impossibility. I am able to believe in some kind of power of nature which, let us say, has not been investigated. That is to say, I can allow for its existence, even when not seeing its clear cut, definite manifestations, because it may be very insignificant or combined in its effects with other powers, and for this reason difficult to grasp; but to believe in God, as a Being, individual and omnipotent, to believe — when I do not anywhere see clear manifestations of this Individuality — this already becomes absurd. I am told: believe. But why must I believe, when I am equally able to believe that there is no God. Why, is it not true? Is it also not possible that He does not exist?" Now my comrade turned to me for support.

"Maybe not," I let escape from my lips.

This phrase was in the full sense of the word an "idle statement": the unreasonable talk of my friend could not have aroused within me a doubt in the existence of God. I did not particularly listen to his talking; and now it turned out that this idle statement of mine did not disappear without leaving a trace in the air, I had to justify myself, to defend myself from the accusation that was directed against me, and in such a manner the New Testament statement was verified in practice: We really shall have to give an account for all our idle words, if not by the Will of God, Who sees the secrets of man's heart, then by the anger of the enemy of salvation.

This accusation evidently was the strongest argument that the evil spirits had for my perdition. They seemed to derive new strength in this for the daring of their attacks on me, and now with furious bellowing they spun about us, preventing us from going any further.

I recalled a prayer and began praying, appealing for help to those Holy Ones whose names I knew and whose names came to mind. But this did not frighten my enemies. A sad ignorant Christian only in name, I now, it seems, almost for the first time in my life remembered Her, Who is called the Intercessor for Christians.

And evidently my appeal to Her was intense. Evidently my soul was filled with terror, that hardly had I remembered and pronounced Her name, when about us there suddenly appeared a kind of white mist which soon began to enfold within itself the ugly throng of evil spirits. It concealed them from my eyes before they could withdraw from us. Their bellowing and cackling was still heard for a long while, but according to how it gradually weakened in intensity and became more dull, I was able to judge that the terrible pursuit was gradually being left behind.

Source: https://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/unbelievable_but_true.htm

The archaeological examination by robotic camera of an intact first century tomb in Jerusalem has revealed a set of limestone Jewish ossuaries or “bone boxes” that are engraved with a rare Greek inscription and a unique iconographic image that the scholars involved identify as distinctly Christian.

The four-line Greek inscription on one ossuary refers to God “raising up” someone and a carved image found on an adjacent ossuary shows what appears to be a large fish with a human stick figure in its mouth, interpreted by the excavation team to be an image evoking the biblical story of Jonah.

In the earliest gospel materials the “sign of Jonah,” as mentioned by Jesus, has been interpreted as a symbol of his resurrection. Jonah images in later “early” Christian art, such as images found in the Roman catacombs, are the most common motif found on tombs as a symbol of Christian resurrection hope. In contrast, the story of Jonah is not depicted in any first century Jewish art and iconographic images on ossuaries are extremely rare, given the prohibition within Judaism of making images of people or animals.

The tomb in question is dated prior to 70 CE, when ossuary use in Jerusalem ceased due to the Roman destruction of the city. Accordingly, if the markings are Christian as the scholars involved believe, the engravings represent – by several centuries – the earliest archaeological record of Christians ever found. The engravings were most likely made by some of Jesus’ earliest followers, within decades of his death. Together, the inscription and the Jonah image testify to early Christian faith in resurrection. The tomb record thus predates the writing of the gospels.

The findings are detailed in a preliminary report by James D. Tabor, professor and chair of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, which is published online.

“If anyone had claimed to find either a statement about resurrection or a Jonah image in a Jewish tomb of this period I would have said impossible — until now,” Tabor said. “Our team was in a kind of ecstatic disbelief, but the evidence was clearly before our eyes, causing us to revise our prior assumptions.”

The publication of the academic article is concurrent with the publication of a book by Simon & Schuster entitled “The Jesus Discovery: The New Archaeological Find That Reveals the Birth of Christianity.” The book is co-authored by Professor James Tabor and filmmaker/professor Simcha Jacobovici. A documentary on the discovery will be aired by the Discovery Channel in spring 2012.

The findings and their interpretation are likely to be controversial, since most scholars are skeptical of any Christian archaeological remains from so early a period. Adding to the controversy is the tomb’s close proximity to a second tomb, discovered in 1980. This tomb, dubbed by some “The Jesus Family Tomb,” contained inscribed ossuaries that some scholars associate with Jesus and his family, including one that reads “Jesus, son of Joseph.”

“Context is everything in archaeology,” Tabor pointed out. “These two tombs, less than 200 feet apart, were part of an ancient estate, likely related to a rich family of the time. We chose to investigate this tomb because of its proximity to the so-called ‘Jesus tomb,’ not knowing if it would yield anything unusual.”

The tomb containing the new discoveries is a modest sized, carefully carved rock cut cave tomb typical of Jerusalem in the period from 20 BCE until 70 CE.

The tomb was exposed in 1981 by builders and is currently several meters under the basement level of a modern condominium building in East Talpiot, a neighborhood of Jerusalem less than two miles south of the Old City. Archaeologists entered the tomb at the time, were able to briefly examine it and its ossuaries, take preliminary photographs, and remove one pot and an ossuary, before they were forced to leave by Orthodox religious groups who oppose excavation of Jewish tombs.

The ossuary taken, that of a child, is now in the Israel State Collection. It is decorated but has no inscriptions. The archaeologists mention “two Greek names” but did not notice either the newly discovered Greek inscription or the Jonah image before they were forced to leave. The tomb was re-sealed and buried beneath the condominium complex on what is now Don Gruner Street in East Talpiot.

The adjacent “Jesus tomb,” was uncovered by the same construction company in 1980, just one year earlier. It was thoroughly excavated and its contents removed by the Israel Antiquities Authority. This tomb’s controversial ossuaries with their unusual cluster of names (that some have associated with Jesus and his family) are now part of the Israel State Collection and have been on display in various venues, including the Israel Museum. These ossuaries will be in an exhibit running from late February through April 15 at Discovery Times Square.

In 2009 and 2010, Tabor and Rami Arav, professor of archaeology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, working together with Jacobovici, obtained a license to excavate the current tomb from the Israel Antiquities Authority under the academic sponsorship of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Because of its physical location under a modern building (making direct access nearly impossible), along with the threat of Orthodox Jewish groups that would protest any such excavation, Tabor’s team determined to employ a minimally invasive procedure in examining the tomb.

Funding for the excavation was provided by the Discovery Channel/Vision Television/Associated Producers. Jacobovici’s team at the Toronto based Associated Producers developed a sophisticated robotic arm to carry high definition cameras, donated by General Electric. The robotic arm and a second “snake camera” were inserted through two drill holes in the basement floor of the building above the tomb. The probe was successful and the team was able to reach all the ossuaries and photograph them on all sides, thus revealing the new inscriptions.

Beyond the possible Christian connection, Tabor noted that the tomb’s assemblage of ossuaries stands out as clearly extraordinary in the context of other previously explored tombs in Jerusalem.

“Everything in this tomb seems unusual when contrasted with what one normally finds inscribed on ossuaries in Jewish tombs of this period,” Tabor said. “Of the seven ossuaries remaining in the tomb, four of them have unusual features.”

There are engravings on five of the seven ossuaries: an enigmatic symbol on ossuary 2 (possibly reading Yod Heh Vav Heh or “Yahweh” in stylized letters that can be read as Greek or Hebrew, though the team is uncertain); an inscription reading “MARA” in Greek letters (which Tabor translates as the feminine form of “lord” or “master” in Aramaic) on ossuary 3; an indecipherable word in Greek letters on ossuary 4 (possibly a name beginning with “JO…”); the remarkable four-line Greek inscription on ossuary 5; and finally, and most importantly, a series of images on ossuary 6, including the large image of a fish with a figure seeming to come out of its mouth.

Among the approximately 2000 ossuaries that have been recovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority, only 650 have any inscriptions on them, and none have inscriptions comparable to those on ossuaries 5 and 6.

Less than a dozen ossuaries from the period have epitaphs but, according to Tabor, these inscribed messages usually have to do with warnings not to disturb the bones of the dead. In contrast, the four-line Greek inscription contains some kind of statement of resurrection faith.

Tabor noted that the epitaph’s complete and final translation is uncertain. The first three lines are clear, but the last line, consisting of three Greek letters, is less sure, yielding several possible translations: “O Divine Jehovah, raise up, raise up,” or “The Divine Jehovah raises up to the Holy Place,” or “The Divine Jehovah raises up from [the dead].”

“This inscription has something to do with resurrection of the dead, either of the deceased in the ossuary, or perhaps, given the Jonah image nearby, an expression of faith in Jesus’ resurrection,” Tabor said.

The ossuary with the image that Tabor and his team understand to be representing Jonah also has other interesting engravings. These also may be connected to resurrection, Tabor notes. On one side is the tail of a fish disappearing off the edge of the box, as if it is diving into the water. There are small fish images around its border on the front facing, and on the other side is the image of a cross-like gate or entrance—which Tabor interprets as the notion of entering the “bars” of death, which are mentioned in the Jonah story in the Bible.

“This Jonah ossuary is most fascinating,” Tabor remarked. “It seems to represent a pictorial story with the fish diving under the water on one end, the bars or gates of death, the bones inside, and the image of the great fish spitting out a man representing, based on the words of Jesus, the ‘sign of Jonah’ – the ‘sign’ that he would escape the bonds of death.”

Source: http://www.bogoslov.ru/en/text/2505343/

Q: Can you tell me if, within the Orthodox Tradition, one can find the idea of the infallibility or inerrancy of Holy Scripture?

A: This is a more complicated question that you might imagine. First of all, Orthodox Tradition does hold the inerrancy of Scripture; it does not, however, vouch for all the interpretations of Scripture. One of the problems with understanding infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture is precisely the problem with interpretation. The Scripture is not always literal in the modern fundamentalist understanding. The Bible is rich in metaphor and poetic imagery, especially in the Old Testament. Aspects of the Scripture become better understood with the advance of science and archaeology. As an example, the statement that "the sun knoweth his going down" (Ps.) personifies the sun in the way that those who believed the sun to be a god would view it. This occurs because that formula for referring to the sun had become merely a commonplace of language. Secondly, the sun does not "go down," let alone know about it. What is meant by the statement is simply that the sun behaves in the way God intended for it to.

Sunset occurs in the natural order of things because that is the way God has ordained matters. If the statement was more than a commonplace of language and metaphor, then it would strongly hint at a shadow of sun god worship in Israel. This kind of metaphorical statement is much more lovely, poetic and pleasing than saying, for example, "the earth rotates on its axis so that the sun appears to go down, and this happens because that is the God-created normal order of things." The same is true of the time frame in the creation narrative and the details given of the creation. The Scripture gives us the meaning of the events, not the complete details. The earth is about four billion years old, and the process of creation lasted many billions of years more than that. Scripture is not concerned with giving us the fine details of the process of creation, but with explaining to us in clear terms the meaning of it so that we can understand the nature of our relationship with God, Who did the creating.

Scripture is unerring, our understanding of it is not always so. This is why we depend on the holy and God bearing fathers to explain to us the meaning of the words of Christ and the Apostles, and of the Old Testament. One has only to read St Gregory of Nyssa's On The Life of the Prophet Moses to see how far off the mark many non-Orthodox interpretations of Scripture actually are. Remember that the Arians used the same Scripture to prove that Christ is not God as the Orthodox did to prove that He is. Ultimately, the question was resolved by other Sacred Tradition, in addition to Scripture, by which the Scripture could be correctly understood. There are statements in Scripture which were understood in terms of the science and philosophy of a given period which would clearly have to be understood differently when science had clarified the matter more accurately.

You see, John, that the question is not simply a "yes or no" one, and is more complex than first meets the eye. Scripture is inerrant, our understanding of it is not always so. Contradiction which appear to occur in Scripture are often the result of the natural dissonance of metaphorical language. This must be born in mind when understanding the meaning of the inerrancy of Scripture.

By Archbishop Lazar

Source: http://www.orthodoxcanada.org/qa_archives/question7.html

From the Unpublished Collection of Letters

by St. Theophan the Recluse

With great pleasure, I am ready to tell you a word or two to dispel your misunderstandings.

You are sure that all the celestial bodies are inhabited with sentient beings and that these beings tend to do evil just like us (we can even say they are fallen).Thus, they have a need in certain means for their salvation, and that this entails a wonderful arrangement of death and the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It follows that you have an intractable problem: how could Jesus Christ be the Savior for them? Could it be so that He was Incarnate, suffered and died in every of those worlds? You cannot solve this problem and this situation bothers you and shakes your faith in the Divine Economy of our salvation.

The fact that such thoughts bother you is your own fault, for it happens not because of the character of these thoughts. They are just a chain of dreams, which cannot be true at all, while the Divine Economy is true. There is no way we can let these thoughts shatter your faith.

Although you keep the idea about the beings from the other worlds in mind for a long time, and there are many arguments for it, it is still just a probable assumption. It is very unlikely that there are inhabitants – yet still somewhat likely. You have no right to state firmly “yes, there are” until you personally make sure that there are certain beings. To be more accurate I should say it is possible that they exist, but it is also possible that they do not. Think about navigators. A navigator comes to an island, and everything points to the fact that there must be some inhabitants. However, when he gets ashore, he sees nothing. Alternatively, just think about the ancient times when people have not multiplied yet. At every turn, you could meet the signs of undeniable habitability, while there were no inhabitants at all. The same is with the celestial bodies – there are plenty of hints that they are inhabited. What is more interesting is that whether they are still waiting for their inhabitants or there will be none at all: who knows what is the Lord’s will concerning them! We need to visit these worlds and make sure before to say firmly “there are”. Otherwise, we cannot say more than “probably”.

To protect the truth from assumptions is like fighting with ghosts. This is why you will not find a denial of your theory in any respectable theological book. Theologians do not think that denial of dreams is reasonable. Imagine that a Polish rebellion is taking place. You are in a command of a squad. You are approaching a forest, hear a noise and see people with axes in smoke. It seems these are the rebels. However, should you command to fire, you could make an unforgivable mistake. These people can be the civilians who are cutting wood. You should make sure in advance whether they are rebels, how many of them there are and what is their position – only then can you retaliate against them. Why to engage if there is no obvious danger?

The same is with your thoughts: make it obvious that there are inhabitants on celestial bodies, and then we will begin to deny any oppositions to our holy faith.

Since the existence of the inhabitants on other planets is just a probability, the field of probabilities is limitless; dreamers have a broad scope to work with. Perhaps, the same happened to you; as soon as you began to assume something, your dreams enslaved you. Assuming that there are certain beings on other worlds you begin to imagine their life although you have no data for this. You had to limit your thinking to assumptions of their existence on which there are certain hints and tell yourself that you should dig deeper because of the lack of information. But you did. An enquiring spirit haunted you and enslaved you. But let it be so.

There is nothing wrong with dreaming. However, it is rather dangerous to fall under the influence of dreams. You should dream carefully at the very least. For example, you could say so: it is possible that there are certain beings on other planets, but what can they be and how can their life be organized? Trying to solve this question, you should have thought about different options, but not focused on one particular variant because there is no reason to focus on one idea. Instead, you have picked up one assumption, borrowed from our world and focused on it. We had the falling (in regards to sin), and so did they. We tend to sin, and so do they. The Son of God became incarnate in our world, and consequently only this way of salvation can be possible on other worlds.

You should have argued in the following way: let us say there are sentient beings in other worlds. What did they do? Did they follow the commandments and the will of God, or did they violate the commandment and were disobedient? You can say neither. At the same time, I think that they could either sin or not, because in case of our ancestors sin was not a necessity but depended on their freedom. They fell, but they may not have fallen. The same concerns the inhabitants of other planets: they might either preserve the commandment, or not. If they did preserve the Lord’s commandment, then any further dreams regarding the ways of their salvation are senseless.

In this case, the beings are in the state of the primal communion with God and Holy Angels. They enjoy living in a condition in which we all will be after the universal Resurrection. However, you recognized their falling as doubtless and continued to develop that idea. Well, let us say that they also fell. However, can we say anything about the way of their salvation without knowing the extent of their sin? Maybe, their sin was so small that it was possible to limit their salvation to the measure of correcting one’s self. Otherwise, the sin could be so serious that it excluded such possibility. The dark spirits are the example in this case. You should have kept in mind all such conditions and not focused on one of them because all of them are probable.

Finally, you have only one way of restoring yourself – the incarnation of God, His death on the Cross and Resurrection. We believe that the Divine Economy was the free act of God, but not the act of necessity. The exceptional character of restoration in our world is adapted to our circumstances. However, we still cannot say that it was necessary. The Church sings, “From a Virgin didst Thou come, not as an Ambassador, nor as an Angel, but the very Lord Himself incarnate”. Thus, it was possible for a mediator or an angel to become a savior. In case of our world, the Lord Himself wanted to incarnate, while on other worlds a mediator or an angel or someone else could be the one who performed the act of salvation.

If you trace the entire chain of these dreams, you will certainly face the next question: how could there be a possibility of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it possible that He became incarnate there too? If it is difficult to answer this question, then why not to recognize another way of salvation for the fallen there? There is no reason to stand on your own. You are free to decide which idea to choose. At the same time, you should keep in mind that all these assumptions are nothing but dreams in which nothing can be entirely true. Therefore, any objections against the Holy Faith, which come from such dreams, are unsustainable. At first, you should learn about the life and condition of beings from other worlds and tell us all about it. Then we will solve the question of their salvation, and if you manage to form your objections against our teachings, it will be sustainable and worth denial. Until then – why should we bother about this?

You have accepted one point of view, while there can be plenty of them. Assuming that other worlds are inhabited by sentient beings, you state that they were also created. But what if they were not created, but came there from Earth? What if Earth is aimed to become the spot of life for other planets? People could spread and settle on other worlds, just like they have spread all over the Earth from one place. The Lord said, “In my Father's house are many mansions” (John 14:2). Why can we not recognize other planets as these “mansions”? Why can we not assume that people after their death live on this or that planet, on this or that sun, and will settle there with their bodies after the universal Resurrection? Tell me, why our small Earth is honored so much? God does not divide His creatures into big and small ones. He loves them all and cares about all of them equally. If He decided to make one planet the hotbed of people, then it did not matter which one exactly to choose for this purpose. No matter which planet to take, there is still the question: why is it chosen? Any of them will mean nothing in comparison with the whole universe. There is nothing to say against such an assumption.

Furthermore, if we assume there are inhabitants on other planets, nothing prevents us from saying that they live according to God’s will: they preserved their holiness and purity, did not violate God’s commandments and did not rebel against God, just as it happened on our planet. Only Earth rebelled, while other planets remained quiet. However, God, Who cares about any creature, did not abandon us. He organized the way for our restoration, which we accept with faith and through which we find salvation. If the parable, a shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep and goes to look for the one, which is lost… We should not think that while the Lord cares a lot about the Earth, other worlds are forgotten, and that after what was done on our planet, there is nothing He can do for other planets. The main goal of creation is God’s glory and to show God’s infinite perfection. In our world, they are expressed through the Divine Economy, while in other worlds they can be expressed in a different way. If we assume that these sentient beings have a different way of life and blessing, it would be wiser to assume that they continuously live in a bright state of the blessed.

Now, let us assume they are fallen. There is no reason to think that they needed the incarnation, and that it had to occur on every planet. The power of incarnation and the sacrificial victim to save us through accepting them with faith. Why can we not say that the sacrifice made on earth affected other worlds as well? Why not to assume that the inhabitants of other planets find salvation in the same way? When it comes to faith the Lord is infallible. There are even Angels sent to those who want to inherit salvation. All the planets have a connection and affect each other, and we know nothing about this bond. We cannot assume that one of them can be excluded from this union. And if there is a physical connection, then why can we not say that there can be a moral one? If a celestial body affects other bodies physically, why can we not assume they affect each other morally too?

This is all that came to mind and I could say to comfort you. However, do not forget that all of these ideas are just probable assumptions, which we can live without, and should continue to live without such assumptions:

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

“Seek not out things that are too hard for thee, neither search the things that are above thy strength. But what is commanded thee, think thereupon with reverence, for it is not needful for thee to see with thine eyes the things that are in secret. For many are deceived by their own vain opinion; and an evil suspicion hath overthrown their judgment” (Sirach 3:21, 22, 24).

Translated from: http://rushill.ru/stati/pravoslavie-i-inoplanetyane.html

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