Wednesday, July 26, 2023

It is the 26th of July 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Today we head back to the early church, to the 2nd century, and if I may, I’d like to begin with a quick word about theology and mythology, and philosophy. All three can be useful for learning and understanding the past. I would explain philosophy as the use of the mind to understand the world, mythology as the use of stories to understand the world and theology as the use of revelation to understand the world. Christian theology is the revelation of Jesus in history and his Word. There is a Christian philosophy, or Christian philosophers who use the mind to make sense of the world within the confines of Christian revelation, and then those Christian mythologists who tell stories that give us an insight into the faith. These could be C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Madeline L’engle, and the like.

I would like to suggest that there is, in the study of some of the earliest saints, more mythology than theology. It doesn’t make it wrong or not useful, it just means we have to read it under the right category. Such is the curious story of 2 women, or one woman, or more remembered on the 26th of July in various parts of the church.

She is called Venera, or Veneranda, or Paraskevi… she was born in Rome, or perhaps in Gaul. For purposes of the story, she needs to be born during a time of persecution, and various decades in the 100s can be used for that. In some tellings, her parents are both devout Christians, but in others, one of the parents names her Venera, and the other, a Christian not wanting their child to be named after the god Venus, changed it to Veneranda- which is a Latinized version of Paraskevi- which was the 6th day of the week- it meant “the day of Preparation”- what we call Friday.

Paraskevi, amongst the Eastern church and Veneranda in the West her story has different contours, but in all of them, she is a pious girl who preaches the Gospel, converts many, and is persecuted. In various stories, she has a red hot iron helmet put on her head, is crucified, is put in hot oil but is never harmed. In this, she wins converts. One common story has her once again tortured with hot oil by the emperor Antoninus Pius- a real Roman emperor from 138 to 161 (the same years some give to the saint). She throws the hot oil into his eyes, and he is blinded. She then cures him, and he becomes a Christian. The blinding trope is seen in many saints' stories (see St. Christopher yesterday), but a curious element of this story is that Antoninus Pius never became a Christian. It is as if the hagiographers are comfortable with a counterfactual story in order to make a point- to create a hero suitable for Christians. In some stories, she is challenged by one Asclepius- this is both the name of the Greek God of healing and common in other Greek myths. In one version of her story, the saint- Venera, Veneranda, or Paraskevi slays a dragon- a key to understanding how we are to understand the story- it is a myth. Not a silly myth or a “made-up story” but rather one to make a point. Here is the story of a nobody in the empire- a young girl who, in her devotion to the Gospel, leaves behind whatever wealth she might have to preach in the face of persecution. She is tortured but unharmed. She puts to shame the wisdom of the world. She reveals the blindness of the rulers and, like the Great Physician, is able to heal blindness, both literal and spiritual. In Venera on the island of Malta and in various cities of which she is the patron saint, there are processions and festivals today to this mysterious young girl- most certainly a myth but one told with pious intentions, in its best form to point beyond herself to the Gospel to which she was said to have devoted her life. So, cheers, Venera, Veneranda, Paraskevi, in whichever version is told in various places on this, the 26th of July.

The last word for today comes from Matthew 12:

Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill.

He warned them not to tell others about him.

This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
    the one I love, in whom I delight;


I will put my Spirit on him,
    and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

He will not quarrel or cry out;
    no one will hear his voice in the streets.

A bruised reed he will not break,
    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,


till he has brought justice through to victory.

    In his name the nations will put their hope.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 26th of July 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who wonders if Paraskevi would qualify as the first “girl Friday.” He is  Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man referencing a 1940 Cary Grant movie… I try to come up with something for this every day… I’m Dan van Voorhis

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.