Paul the Apostle
Paul the Apostle, commonly known as Saint Paul, and known by his native name Saul of Tarsus was an apostle who taught the gospel of the Christ to the first century world. He is generally considered one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age, in the mid-30s to the mid-50s AD, he founded several churches in Asia Minor and Europe. Paul took advantage of his status as both a Jew and a Roman citizen to minister to both Jewish and Roman audiences, according to writings in the New Testament, Paul was dedicated to the persecution of the early disciples of Jesus in the area of Jerusalem. He was struck blind but, after three days, his sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus, and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah, approximately half of the book of Acts deals with Pauls life and works. Fourteen of the books in the New Testament have traditionally been attributed to Paul. Seven of the epistles are undisputed by scholars as being authentic, Pauline authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews is not asserted in the Epistle itself and was already doubted in the 2nd and 3rd centuries.
It was almost unquestioningly accepted from the 5th to the 16th centuries that Paul was the author of Hebrews, but that view is now almost universally rejected by scholars. The other six are believed by scholars to have come from followers writing in his name. Other scholars argue that the idea of an author for the disputed epistles raises many problems. Today, Pauls epistles continue to be roots of the theology and pastoral life in the Catholic and Protestant traditions of the West. Augustine of Hippo developed Pauls idea that salvation is based on faith, martin Luthers interpretation of Pauls writings influenced Luthers doctrine of sola fide. The main source for information about Pauls life is the material found in his epistles, the epistles contain little information about Pauls past. The book of Acts recounts more information but leaves several parts of Pauls life out of its narrative, such as his probable, some scholars believe Acts contradicts Pauls epistles on multiple accounts, in particular concerning the frequency of Pauls visits to the church in Jerusalem.
It has been assumed that Sauls name was changed when he converted from Judaism to Christianity. His Jewish name was Saul, perhaps after the biblical King Saul, a fellow Benjamite, according to the Book of Acts, he inherited Roman citizenship from his father. As a Roman citizen, he bore the Latin name of Paul—in biblical Greek, Παῦλος. It was quite usual for the Jews of that time to have two names, one Hebrew, the other Latin or Greek. Jesus called him Saul, Saul in the Hebrew tongue in the book of Acts, later, in a vision to Ananias of Damascus, the Lord referred to him as Saul, of Tarsus
Romanesque art
Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is known as the Pre-Romanesque period, Romanesque art was greatly influenced by Byzantine art, especially in painting, and by the anti-classical energy of the decoration of the Insular art of the British Isles. From these elements was forged a highly innovative and coherent style, outside Romanesque architecture, the art of the period was characterised by a very vigorous style in both sculpture and painting. In illuminated manuscripts, for which the most lavishly decorated manuscripts of the period were mostly bibles or psalters, more originality is seen, as new scenes needed to be depicted. The same applied to the capitals of columns, never more exciting than in this period, which can be seen as bright in the 21st century only in stained glass and well-preserved manuscripts, tended to be very striking, and mostly primary. Stained glass became widely used, although survivals are sadly few, monasteries continued to be extremely important, especially those of the expansionist new orders of the period, the Cistercian and Carthusian, which spread across Europe.
No Romanesque royal palace has really survived, the lay artist was becoming a valued figure – Nicholas of Verdun seems to have been known across the continent. Most masons and goldsmiths were now lay, and lay painters such as Master Hugo seem to have been in the majority, at least of those doing the best work, the iconography of their church work was no doubt arrived at in consultation with clerical advisors. Metalwork, including decoration in enamel, became very sophisticated, many spectacular shrines made to hold relics have survived, of which the best known is the Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral by Nicholas of Verdun and others. The Stavelot Triptych and Reliquary of St. Maurus are other examples of Mosan enamelwork, large reliquaries and altar frontals were built around a wooden frame, but smaller caskets were all metal and enamel. A few secular pieces, such as cases and clasps have survived. The bronze Gloucester candlestick and the font of 1108–17 now in Liège are superb examples, very different in style.
The former is highly intricate and energetic, drawing on manuscript painting, while the font shows the Mosan style at its most classical and majestic. The bronze doors, a column and other fittings at Hildesheim Cathedral, the Gniezno Doors. The aquamanile, a container for water to wash with, appears to have introduced to Europe in the 11th century. Artisans often gave the pieces fantastic zoomorphic forms, surviving examples are mostly in brass, many wax impressions from impressive seals survive on charters and documents, although Romanesque coins are generally not of great aesthetic interest. Like many pieces it was partly coloured. The Lewis chessmen are well-preserved examples of small ivories, of many pieces or fragments remain from croziers, pectoral crosses
Evangelist portrait
Evangelist portraits are a specific type of miniature included in ancient and mediaeval illuminated manuscript Gospel Books, and in Bibles and other books, as well as other media. Each Gospel of the Four Evangelists, the books of Matthew, Mark and their symbols may be shown with them, or separately. Often they are the only illumination in the manuscript. They originate in the secular tradition of the author portrait. A very few examples of Late Antique secular author portraits survive, some examples draw on the conventions of the Late Antique consular portrait, much used for the Emperors, who were consuls. Examples of these, copied from the original, can be seen in the Chronography of 354. The Evangelist may be holding a book, but is not writing in it and these frameworks are thought to draw from the style of the Scaenae frons, or elaborate proscenium structures of Roman theatres. The symbols are, the Lion of Mark, the Eagle of John, the Ox or Calf of Luke, often all are shown with wings, as in the familiar winged lion used in the coat of arms of Venice, whose patron saint was Mark.
Sometimes, as in the example from Lorsch, the symbols are shown dictating the text to the evangelist. These were derived from unknown classical prototypes, similar to those in the Codex Amiatinus and Saint Augustine Gospels, usually a setting is provided for the figure. Perhaps because of the origins of the typology, haloes are less likely to be worn than in other types of image. The level of detail shown in the furniture and fittings is unusual for Early Medieval art, an arch behind the author, often with curtains hanging across it, in some examples close to the classical models, gradually is turned into a decorative framing device for the whole scene. Early Gospel Books often had an elaborate and costly treasure binding or cover in metalwork, often with jewels. These most often featured a panel with Christ in Majesty. Versions of the same composition appear in all media used for Early Medieval religious art, the Tassilo Chalice is an 8th-century example of pure metalwork with five oval medallion portraits of Christ and the Evangelists round the cup.
Later Insular depictions seem to show figures without chairs, who are standing, most of Europe continued to use the seated model however, usually seen in a three-quarters on view, and usually with a cushion behind. Sometimes all four evangelists were combined on a page, sometimes around a Christ in Majesty, standing portraits were usual, for wall and panel paintings with the Evangelists often treated as, and mixed with, other saints. The Gospel book as a medium for heavily illustrated manuscripts declined in the West from the Romanesque period, in the West the portraits continued to be found in Bibles, more often as the picture within a historiated initial at the start of each Gospel
John the Evangelist
John the Evangelist is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John. Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle, John of Patmos, the Gospel of John refers to an otherwise unnamed disciple whom Jesus loved, who bore witness to and wrote the Gospels message. Christian tradition says that John the Evangelist was John the Apostle, the Apostle John was a historical figure, one of the pillars of the Jerusalem church after Jesus death. He was one of the twelve apostles and is thought to be the only one to have lived into old age. John is associated with the city of Ephesus, where he is said to have lived, some believe that he was exiled to the Aegean island of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation. However, this is a matter of debate, with some attributing the authorship of Revelation to another man, the authorship of the Johannine works has been debated by scholars since at least the 2nd century AD. The main debate centers on who authored the writings, and which of the writings, if any, orthodox tradition attributes all the books to John the Apostle.
In the 6th century, the Decretum Gelasianum argued that Second and Third John have an author known as John. Historical criticism rejects the view that John the Apostle authored any of these works, many modern scholars conclude that the apostle John wrote none of these works, although others, notably J. A. T. Robinson, F. F. Bruce, Leon Morris, and Martin Hengel hold the apostle to be behind at least some, there may have been a single author for the gospel and the three epistles. Some scholars conclude the author of the epistles was different from that of the gospel, the gospel and epistles traditionally and plausibly came from Ephesus, c. 90-110, although some argue for an origin in Syria. In the case of Revelation, many scholars agree that it was written by a separate author, John of Patmos. In the Tridentine Calendar he was commemorated on each of the days up to and including 3 January. This Octave was abolished by Pope Pius XII in 1955, the traditional liturgical color is white. John the Evangelist is usually depicted as a young man, in Christian art, John is symbolically represented by an eagle, one of the creatures envisioned by Ezekiel and in the Revelation to John.
The use of the chalice as a symbol for John is sometimes interpreted with reference to the Last Supper, another explanation is to be found in the words of Christ to John and James, My chalice indeed you shall drink. According to some authorities, this symbol was not adopted until the 13th century, the painting Saint John the Evangelist by Domenico Zampieri was auctioned in London in December 2009, for an estimated US$16.5 million
Jesus
In Christology, the Person of Christ refers to the study of the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ as they co-exist within one person. There is no discussion in the New Testament regarding the dual nature of the Person of Christ as both divine and human. Hence, since the days of Christianity theologians have debated various approaches to the understanding of these natures. In the period following the Apostolic Age, specific beliefs such as Arianism and Docetism were criticized. On the other end of the spectrum, Docetism argued that Jesus physical body was an illusion, docetic teachings were attacked by St. Ignatius of Antioch and were eventually abandoned by proto-orthodox Christians. However, after the First Council of Nicaea in 325 the Logos, historically in the Alexandrian school of christology, Jesus Christ is the eternal Logos paradoxically humanized in history, a divine Person who became enfleshed, uniting himself to the human nature. The views of these schools can be summarized as follows, Antioch, Logos assumes a specific human being The First Council of Ephesus in 431 debated a number of views regarding the Person of Christ.
At the same gathering the council debated the doctrines of monophysitism or miaphysitism. The council rejected Nestorianism and adopted the term hypostatic union, referring to divine, the language used in the 431 declaration was further refined at the 451 Council of Chalcedon. However, the Chalcedon creed was not accepted by all Christians, because Saint Augustine died in 430 he did not participate in the Council of Ephesus in 431 or Chalcedon in 451, but his ideas had some impact on both councils. On the other hand, the major theological figure of the Middle Ages. The Third Council of Constantinople in 680 held that both divine and human wills exist in Jesus, with the divine will having precedence and guiding the human will. John Calvin maintained that there was no element in the Person of Christ which could be separated from the person of The Word. Calvin emphasized the importance of the Work of Christ in any attempt at understanding the Person of Christ, the study of the Person of Christ continued into the 20th century, with modern theologians such as Karl Rahner and Hans von Balthasar.
Balthasar argued that the union of the human and divine natures of Christ was achieved not by the absorption of human attributes, thus in his view the divine nature of Christ was not affected by the human attributes and remained forever divine
Jacob Jordaens
Jacob Jordaens was a Flemish painter and tapestry designer known for his history paintings, genre scenes and portraits. After Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, he was the leading Flemish Baroque painter of his day, unlike those contemporaries he never travelled abroad to study Italian painting, and his career is marked by an indifference to their intellectual and courtly aspirations. In fact, except for a few trips to locations in the Low Countries. As well as being a painter, he was a prominent designer of tapestries. Jordaens main artistic influences, besides Rubens and the Brueghel family, were northern Italian painters such as Jacopo Bassano, Paolo Veronese, and Caravaggio. Jacob Jordaens was born on 19 May 1593, the first of eleven children, to the wealthy linen merchant Jacob Jordaens Sr. little is known about Jordaens early education. It can be assumed that he received the advantages of the education provided for children of his social class. This assumption is supported by his handwriting, his competence in French.
Like Rubens, he studied under Adam van Noort, who was his only teacher, during this time Jordaens lived in Van Noorts house in the Everdijstraat and became very close to the rest of the family. After eight years of training with Van Noort, he enrolled in the Guild of St. Luke as a waterschilder and this medium was often used for preparing tapestry cartoons in the seventeenth century. Although examples of his earliest watercolour works are no longer extant, in the same year as his entry into the guild,1616, he married his teachers eldest daughter, Anna Catharina van Noort, with whom he had three children. In 1618, Jordaens bought a house in Hoogstraat and he would later buy the adjoining house to expand his household and workspace in 1639, mimicking Rubens house built two decades earlier. He lived and worked here until his death in 1678, Jordaens never made the traditional trip to Italy to study classical and Renaissance art. Despite this, he made efforts to study prints or works of Italian masters available in northern Europe.
For example, Jordaens is known to have studied Titian, Veronese and his commissions frequently came from wealthy local Flemish patrons and clergy, although in his career he worked for courts and governments across Europe. Besides a large output of oil paintings he was a prolific tapestry designer. Jordaens importance can be seen by his number of pupils, among them were his cousin and his son Jacob. Like Rubens and other artists at that time, Jordaens studio relied on his assistants, not many of these pupils went on to fame themselves, however a position in Jordaens studio was highly desirable for young artists from across Europe
Merkabah mysticism
For the modern Israeli main battle tank see Merkava. Merkabah/Merkavah mysticism is a school of early Jewish mysticism, c, a major text in this tradition is the Maaseh Merkabah. The noun merkabah thing to ride in, cart is derived from the consonantal root r-k-b with the meaning to ride. However, when left untranslated, in English the Hebrew term merkabah relates to the throne-chariot of God in prophetic visions. It is most closely associated with the vision in Ezekiel chapter 1 of the vehicle driven by four hayyot, each of which has four wings and the four faces of a man, lion, ox. According to the verses in Ezekiel and its attendant commentaries, his vision consists of a made of many heavenly beings driven by the Likeness of a Man. The base structure of the chariot is composed of four beings and these beings are called the living creatures. The bodies of the creatures are like that of a human being, the faces are that of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. Since there are four angels and each has four faces, there are a total of sixteen faces, each Hayyot angel has four wings.
Two of these wings spread across the length of the chariot and this creates a sort of box of wings that forms the perimeter of the chariot. With the remaining two wings, each angel covers its own body, but not attached to, the feet of the Hayyot angels are other angels that are shaped like wheels. These wheel angels, which are described as a wheel inside of a wheel, are called Ophanim אופנים and these wheels are not directly under the chariot but are nearby and along its perimeter. The angel with the face of the man is always on the east side, the Likeness of a Man sits on a throne made of sapphire. The Bible makes mention of a type of angel found in the Merkabah called Seraphim angels. These angels appear like flashes of fire continuously ascending and descending and these Seraphim angels power the movement of the chariot. In the hierarchy of angels, Seraphim are the highest, that is, closest to God, followed by the Hayyot. The chariot is in a constant state of motion, and the energy behind this movement runs according to this hierarchy, the movement of the Ophanim is controlled by the Living creatures, or Hayyot, while the movement of the Hayyot is controlled by the Seraphim.
The movement of all the angels of the chariot is controlled by the Likeness of a Man on the Throne
Monarch
A monarch is the sovereign head of state in a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power in the state, alternatively, an individual may become monarch by conquest, acclamation or a combination of means. A monarch usually reigns for life or until abdication, if a young child is crowned the monarch, a regent is often appointed to govern until the monarch reaches the requisite adult age to rule. A monarch can reign in multiple monarchies simultaneously, for example, the monarchy of Canada and the monarchy of the United Kingdom are separate states, but they share the same monarch through personal union. Monarchs, as such, bear a variety of titles — king or queen, prince or princess, emperor or empress, duke or grand duke, Prince is sometimes used as a generic term to refer to any monarch regardless of title, especially in older texts. A king can be a husband and a queen can be a kings wife. If both people in a reign, neither person is generally considered to be a consort.
Monarchy is political or sociocultural in nature, and is associated with hereditary rule. Most monarchs, both historically and in the present day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, agnatic seniority, Salic law, etc. In an elective monarchy, the monarch is elected but otherwise serves as any other monarch, historical examples of elective monarchy include the Holy Roman Emperors and the free election of kings of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In recent centuries, many states have abolished the monarchy and become republics, advocacy of government by a republic is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchy is called monarchism. A principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of national leadership. In cases where the monarch serves mostly as a ceremonial figure real leadership does not depend on the monarch, a form of government may in fact be hereditary without being considered monarchy, such as a family dictatorship.
Monarchies take a variety of forms, such as the two co-princes of Andorra, positions held simultaneously by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Urgel and the elected President of France. Similarly, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia is considered a monarch despite only holding the position for five years at a time, hereditary succession within one patrilineal family has been most common, with preference for children over siblings, sons over daughters. Other European realms practice one form or another of primogeniture, whereunder a lord was succeeded by his eldest son or, if he had none, by his brother, the system of tanistry was semi-elective and gave weight to ability and merit. The Salic law, practiced in France and in the Italian territories of the House of Savoy, in most fiefs, in the event of the demise of all legitimate male members of the patrilineage, a female of the family could succeed. Spain today continues this model of succession law, in the form of cognatic primogeniture, in more complex medieval cases, the sometimes conflicting principles of proximity and primogeniture battled, and outcomes were often idiosyncratic
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity, Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world and it reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Both extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are incorporated into the various Christian liturgies, the New Testament has influenced religious and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature and music. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books, John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. Others give a date of 80 AD, or at 96 AD. Over time, some disputed books, such as the Book of Revelation, other works earlier held to be Scripture, such as 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Diatessaron, were excluded from the New Testament.
However, the canon of the New Testament, at least since Late Antiquity, has been almost universally recognized within Christianity. The term new testament, or new covenant first occurs in Jeremiah 31,31, the same Greek phrase for new covenant is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Modern English, like Latin, distinguishes testament and covenant as alternative translations, John Wycliffes 1395 version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate and so follows different terms in Jeremiah and Hebrews, Lo. Days shall come, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel, for he reproving him saith, Lo. Days come, saith the Lord, when I shall establish a new testament on the house of Israel, use of the term New Testament to describe a collection of first and second-century Christian Greek Scriptures can be traced back to Tertullian. In Against Marcion, written circa 208 AD, he writes of the Divine Word, by the 4th century, the existence—even if not the exact contents—of both an Old and New Testament had been established.
Lactantius, a 3rd–4th century Christian author wrote in his early-4th-century Latin Institutiones Divinae and that which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old, but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The canon of the New Testament is the collection of books that most Christians regard as divinely inspired, several of these writings sought to extend and apply apostolic teaching to meet the needs of Christians in a given locality. The book order is the same in the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, the Slavonic and Ethiopian traditions have different New Testament book orders. Each of the four gospels in the New Testament narrates the life, the word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings. The gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and the redemption through the life and death of Jesus, Gospel is a calque of the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion
Matthew the Apostle
Matthew the Apostle was, according to the Christian Bible, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and, according to Christian tradition, one of the four Evangelists. Matthew may have collected taxes from the Hebrew people for Herod Antipas, Matthew is listed among the twelve, but without identification of his background, in Mark 3,18, Luke 6,15 and Acts 1,13. Matthew was a 1st-century Galilean, the son of Alpheus, as a tax collector he would have been literate in Aramaic and Greek. His fellow Jews would have despised him for what was seen as collaborating with the Roman occupation force, after his call, Matthew invited Jesus home for a feast. On seeing this, the Scribes and the Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners and this prompted Jesus to answer, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The New Testament records that as a disciple, he followed Jesus, and was one of the witnesses of the Resurrection, the disciples withdrew to an upper room in Jerusalem.
The disciples remained in and about Jerusalem and proclaimed that Jesus was the promised Messiah, in the Babylonian Talmud Mattai is one of five disciples of Jeshu. Later Church fathers such as Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria claim that Matthew preached the Gospel to the Jewish community in Judea, ancient writers are not agreed as to what these other countries are. The Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church each hold the tradition that Matthew died as a martyr, the Gospel of Matthew is anonymous, the author is not named within the text, and the superscription according to Matthew was added some time in the second century. The consensus is that Papias does not describe the Gospel of Matthew as we know it, in the 3rd-century Jewish–Christian gospels attributed to Matthew were used by Jewish–Christian groups such as the Nazarenes and Ebionites. Fragments of these survive in quotations by Jerome, Epiphanius. Most academic study follows the distinction of Gospel of the Nazarenes, Gospel of the Ebionites, critical commentators generally regard these texts as having been composed in Greek and related to Greek Matthew.
A minority of commentators consider them to be fragments of a lost Aramaic or Hebrew language original, the Infancy Gospel of Matthew is a 7th-century compilation of three other texts, the Protevangelium of James, the Flight into Egypt, and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Origen said the first Gospel was written by Matthew and this Gospel was composed in Hebrew near Jerusalem for Hebrew Christians and translated into Greek, but the Greek copy was lost. The Hebrew original was kept at the Library of Caesarea, the Nazarene Community transcribed a copy for Jerome which he used in his work. Matthews Gospel was called the Gospel according to the Hebrews or sometimes the Gospel of the Apostles, this has been challenged by modern biblical scholars such as Bart Ehrman and James R. Edwards. This Gospel has been preserved in the writings of the Church Fathers. Epiphanius does not make his own the claim about a Gospel of the Hebrews written by Matthew, Matthew is recognized as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Anglican churches
Abraham
Abraham, originally Abram, is the first of the three patriarchs of Judaism. His story features in the texts of all the Abrahamic religions and Abraham plays a prominent role as an example of faith in Judaism, Christianity. The biblical narrative revolves around the themes of posterity and land, Abraham is called by God to leave the house of his father Terah and settle in the land originally given to Canaan, but which God now promises to Abraham and his progeny. Various candidates are put forward who might inherit the land after Abraham, Abraham marries Keturah and has six more sons, but on his death, when he is buried beside Sarah, it is Isaac who receives all Abrahams goods, while the other sons receive only gifts. Terah, the ninth in descent from Noah, was the father of three sons, Abram and Haran, Haran was the father of Lot, and died in his native city, Ur of the Chaldees. Abram married Sarah, who was barren, with Abram and Lot, departed for Canaan, but settled in a place named Haran, where Terah died at the age of 205.
Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and the substance and souls that they had acquired, and traveled to Shechem in Canaan. There was a famine in the land of Canaan, so that Abram and Lot and their households. On the way Abram told his wife Sarai to say that she was his sister, God afflicted Pharaoh and his household with great plagues, for which he tried to find the reason. Upon discovering that Sarai was a woman, Pharaoh demanded that they and their household leave immediately. When they came back to the Bethel and Hai area and this became a problem for the herdsmen who were assigned to each familys cattle. But Lot chose to go east to the plain of Jordan where the land was well watered everywhere as far as Zoar, Abram went south to Hebron and settled in the plain of Mamre, where he built another altar to worship God. During the rebellion of the Jordan River cities against Elam, Abrams nephew, the Elamite army came to collect the spoils of war, after having just defeated the king of Sodoms armies.
Lot and his family, at the time, were settled on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Sodom which made them a visible target, one person who escaped capture came and told Abram what happened. Once Abram received this news, he immediately assembled 318 trained servants, Abrams force headed north in pursuit of the Elamite army, who were already worn down from the Battle of Siddim. When they caught up with them at Dan, Abram devised a plan by splitting his group into more than one unit. Not only were able to free the captives, Abrams unit chased and slaughtered the Elamite King Chedorlaomer at Hobah. They freed Lot, as well as his household and possessions, upon Abrams return, Sodoms king came out to meet with him in the Valley of Shaveh, the kings dale
Tetramorph
A tetramorph is a symbolic arrangement of four differing elements, or the combination of four disparate elements in one unit. The term is derived from the Greek tetra, meaning four, such composite creatures are found in many mythologies. Each of the four Evangelists is associated with one of the living creatures, the most common association, but not the original or only, is, Matthew the man, Mark the lion, Luke the ox, and John the eagle. In Christian art and iconography, Evangelist portraits are often accompanied by tetramorphs, Evangelist portraits that depict them in their human forms are often accompanied by their symbolic creatures, and Christ in Majesty is often shown surrounded by the four symbols. The word comes from the Greek for four forms or shapes, in English usage each symbol may be described as a tetramorph in the singular, and a group as the tetramorphs, but usually only in contexts where all four are included. The tetramorphs were especially common in Early Medieval art, above all in illuminated Gospel books, images of unions of different elements into one symbol were originally used by the Ancient Egyptians and Greeks.
The image of the sphinx, found in Egypt and Babylon, depicted the body of a lion, the prophet Ezekiel was among the Jews who were exiled to Babylon in the 6th century BC. The creatures in his vision, from which the images of the tetramorph are derived, are reminiscent of ancient Assyria art, in Western astrology the four symbols are associated with the elements of, respectively Earth, Fire and Air. The creatures of the Christian tetramorph were common in Egyptian, the association of the four living creatures with the four evangelists originated with Irenaeus in the 2nd century, the interpretation of each creature has varied through church history. The most common interpretation, first laid out by Victorinus and adopted by Jerome, St Gregory, and the Book of Kells is that the man is Matthew, the lion Mark, the ox Luke, and the eagle John. The creatures of the tetramorph, just like the four gospels of the Evangelists and it is clear from the table that various interpretive schemes have been followed through church history.
The four main schemes are summarized below with their most well-known proponent, the given rationale usually has to do with how each Gospel begins, major themes in each Gospel, or the aspect of Christ emphasized in each Gospel. Irenaeus originates this connection between the four living creatures and the four evangelists because he is looking for an answer to the question Why four Gospels, 2nd scheme —Jerome The rationale given for this scheme is how each Gospel narrative begins. It must be said that at a point, once enough interpretive authorities in the church backed this scheme. The creatures of the tetramorph, as they appear in their forms, are predominantly shown as winged figures. The wings, an ancient symbol of divinity, represent the divinity of the Evangelists, the nature of Christ. In regards to the depiction of St Mark in particular, the use of wings distinguish him from images of St Jerome, the perfect human body of Christ was originally represented as a winged man, and was adapted for St Matthew in order to symbolise Christ’s humanity.
In the context of the tetramorphs, the man indicates Christ’s humanity and reason
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