Relics, Knights and Constellations

* THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM – an in depth study on CONSTELLATIONS and STARS as mentioned in the holy texts of the Bible  – http://www.bethlehemstar.com/

The trigger for writing this post was initiated by a documentary/show on RAI 2 – the Italian TV channel. The program was a well prepared visual dossier dealing with the topic of the Knight Templars, highlighting their association with Medieval Jerusalem and the recent earthquake-wrecked town of Aquila, Italy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L’Aquila .

The documentary presenter explained how L’Aquila’s geographical topography is similar to that of Jeruslem City, the Italian town’s construction was adjusted as to mimic Jerusalem’s landmarks. A detailed life-history of Pope Celestine V was examined and interesting points emerged such as the fact that the once secluded Benedictine hermit

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Celestine_V ) known as Pietro da Morrone (a Saint of the RCC) travelled all the way to Spain for the specific mission of saving his order from some impending doom. Pietro da Morrone was interrupted on his way back by a peculiar fellow, a member of the Knights Templar.

For a better understand on who the Knigthts Templar were (at least as regards to their original mission) please visit:-

http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-920-our-lady-the-crusades-and-the-knight-templars/

The RAI 2 presenter went on -  the Templar convinced the future Pope Celestine V to sojourn with the Order for a month or two, the hermit accepted. Understandably, the mission of the Templars was explained well to the hermit who quickly grasped the significance of the original charge of this Order. During their 200 year stay in Outremer the Templars (maybe alongside the Hospitallier Order and the Teutonic Order) were busy digging around the ruins of the former second temple of Jerusalem in the hope of discovering artifacts belonging to Solomon’s Temple, which was the first. It is very hard to understand what, if any, finds these military orders found at Solomon’s Temple site. This House of God was first destroyed by the Babylonians and later (when rebuilt) the second Temple was gutted by Titus, the Roman Caesar. To note though that many relics were indeed saved from this region by St Helen in 300 – 400 AD.

Solomon’s Temple – the first Temple of Adonai ever built, the blue-print of future Cathedrals. This Temple had two pillars at the entrance which were named Boaz and Joachim, the ancestors of King David. The image of two pillars joined with a rainbow occurs time and again in the bible. This symbol was later adopted by Christianity and Freemasonry alike. The Old Testament describes clearly how the House of God was filled with cloud during certain Jewish feast days. This cloud was not incense but is understood as being God Himself who dwelled within.

* Interestingly, the destruction of the second Temple was completed by Titus in 70 AD, exactly on September 8 – feast commemorating Our Lady’s Nativity (the birth of the living Ark and mother of God). A structure which was not destroyed and was left standing in Jerusalem was a Christian site later referred to as the Church of St Mary of Zion -http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/catholic-muslim-statement-on-dialogue/

The alleged relics recovered by the Templars are the following:-

The Holy Grail – cup of Jesus Christ’s last supper – this is very unlikely as the original one (or part) is found in Valencia, Spain and was taken there during St Lawrence’s days. This myth also initiated the absurd, ludicrous and blasphemous tale concocted by the creators of revolution, the Freemasons themselves, that whoever drinks from this cup is awarded eternal life on Earth. This was an absurd idea also investigated by Hitler’s paranormal police, who amongst other things held dear the spear of Destiny, thought to be the spear of Longinus which pierced Christ’s heart upon the Cross.

Spear of Destiny as confiscated from the Vienna Museum by a section of the Hitler’s SS based at the Wewelsburg Schloss in Westphalia. However, this is thought to be the spear of St Maurice which might have been Longinus spear but was found to be a Roman standard tip and is not part of the Longinus spear in Rome.

Saint Longinus, St Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Italy.

Longinus Spear is encased within one of the columns surrounding the altar at St Peter’s Basilica and whoever watched “Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark” would view in popular culture strange absurd ideas similar to Templar and Nazi paranormal ideology. The Freemasons also concocted the idea that another secret society – the Rosicrucians – are the descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalen – just another blasphemy!

Indiana Jones’ Last Supper Cup

Holy Grail of Valencia, Spain – saved by St Lawrence and his Spanish assistant.

The Ark of the Covenant – (the first or the second) – one of which was hidden by the Jews previous to the Babylonian invasion – from the point of view of the religious, this artifact doesn’t matter that much, but from an archaeological perspective (and historical) it would be great to find one. If we were to read Revelation and understand the original meaning regarding the Ark of the Covenant (which contained Aaron’s Staff, Manna, and the tablets of the Laws of Moses) we would conclude that this ‘box’ represents the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ who carried Him for 9 months. The manna, the priestly staff and the law are in fact representations of Jesus Christ Himself, we could start to appreciate the fact that this object, aka this box, is worthless. The incredible power of antiquity, victory in war and death to whoever touches it, belongs to the Blessed Virgin and her Son Jesus Christ, to God Himself.

Ark of the Covenant replica

The Blessed Virgin

The Holy Eucharist – Jesus Christ – the manna from Heaven which gives eternal life.

Dear Jews it is just a gilded box. I’ll however give you something worthwhile to contemplate about. As in modern times the Jewish race has intermingled with the many other people’s around the world,  do you not also think about the fact that many original Jews who  (before the great mix) converted to Christianity in the first century or two AD, are still the original forefathers of many Christians living in Christian Nations (or what is left of once Christian Nations)? Yes indeed many people who do not live in Israel today are in fact descendents of Jews. This would also include descendent’s living in Islamic North Africa and many Americans and Australians.

Anyway, the Templars were aided by Pope Celestine V who abdicated from his throne and when he died was buried at the Basilica di Collemagio in Aquila – here the RAI presenter nudges at the interrogative questions whether the basilica itself was built with Templar treasure found beneath Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. The Italian presenter also queries whether King Solomon’s relics are somehow hidden in this Italian basilica i.e. Solomon’s bones beneath Pope Celestine’s tomb ?

Well King David’s remains are known of being buried in Israel apparently in Bethlehem. The topic of relics is indeed very old. St. Catherine Emmerich described how Patriarch Joseph carried relics of Adam, the first man, tied around his belt. She also wrote that Adam’s skull was in a cave at Golgotha just beneath Jesus Christ’s Cross. Relics contain a holy power aka the Holy Spirit.

Golgotha – the place of the skull (Adam’s skull)

When speaking about power we are always understanding that it is God Himself, the One who the Templars would later reject for Satan. So the Templars became architects, adventurers, engineers and together with the masons, who would later become the Freemasons, built beautiful Cathedrals. What happened ? How did the fall occur ? It simply did. The Templars discovered the US circa 100 years before Colombus, however they weren’t the first. Earlier still there was Eric the Red, the Viking (and other North men) and surprise of surprises the Libyans had discovered the US (North American Indian DNA is similar to Libyan), the Greeks from Thera (Santorini) also colonised North America.

The RAI presenter went on – At Oak Island (Canada) the Templars dug a well, which allegedly holds Templar treasure retrieved from Solomon’s Temple, and in Iceland the Templars hid some more of it. LOL… The alleged treasure belonging to King Solomon, (which one could see how popular culture expounds – watch the movie National Treasure starring Nicholas Cage and read Dan Brown’s books) could have originated from a myth involving King Solomon’s mines. His father King David had copper mines found to the South of Israel, maybe Solomon had a gold mine ? who knows whether this idea is just as myth as El Dorado the City of Gold or the alleged modern day idea that gold bullion is found at Fort Knox – just kidding!!

King David wrote about God’s Loving Kindness and Mercy, best explained today by Sister Faustina’s Divine Mercy, while King Solomon (when still in his right senses) prayed to be capable to distinguish between good and evil, which God granted together with wisdom. This wisdom wasn’t the wisdom belonging to this world, not a wisdom of money and profit. I can see that the Jews association with money could have started with this distorted idea that being wise means being financially crafty. As King Solomon ceased to distinguish between good and evil  (marrying heathen wives, and ‘walking’ with their gods) he must have become quite a mess. Surely the Templars followed in his same footsteps both in his glory and his fall!!

Now a word regarding constellations.

Chartres

The Templars who were originally dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, built great Cathedrals in France, such as the Chartres Cathedral which holds her holy veil  -

Chartres Cathedral

http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-8-the-%e2%80%98maphorion%e2%80%99-belonging-to-the-%e2%80%98hodegitria%e2%80%99/

The Maphorion of the Hodegitria – Our Lady’s Holy Veil at Chartres.

The history of the Holy-Veil at Chartres – http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-8-the-%e2%80%98maphorion%e2%80%99-belonging-to-the-%e2%80%98hodegitria%e2%80%99/

The apparent cluster of Northern French Cathedrals form the Blessed Virgin’s celestial constellation (Virgo) – albeit the fact that her North Star, Polaris lies in Ursa Minor.

Virgo, Ursa Minor, Polaris, Vega, Orion, Sirius, Thuban and Draco.

The constellation of Virgo and the representation of Virgo in French Cathedral locations.

However, the RAI presenter explained that when the Cathedral in Chartres is joined with the Giza pyramids in a geographical straight line, apparently some Templar castle in Italy appears sitting snugly on this line.

The Giza pyramids built to mimic the celestial belt of Orion. The Nile was the representation of the Milky Way on Earth, while Isis and Osiris, could be born to eternal life from their King and Queen’s chambers and follow the shaft into the heavens and maybe become stars to shine forever. The shafts point towards Thuban in Draco, Orion’s belt and Sirius. The esotericists insist that many secrets and sacred geometry make up this place where initiates can achieve eternal life and astral projection. Little do they know that Jesus Christ promised his faithful followers that on the Resurrection they will shine like stars and receive true eternal life.

This Italian castle has an astronomical connection with Sirius – the dog-star of Canis Major.

Sirius in Canis Major – in relation with Orion’s belt

Sirius through the night sky – Egyptian tomb – and Osiris the night hare

The architecture of this Italian castle resembles greatly the labyrinth designs left by the Templar/Masons in the floors of the French Cathedrals which offer the initiates a rebirth of some sort. These designs represented the human gestation period and as Chartres was previously a pagan site called the ‘womb of the Earth’ these designs offered some form of initiation – what exactly this initiation was, if pagan or Christian, is uncertain !! Definitely however it shows that the Templars had a contradicting idea of female deity vs Blessed Virgin, esoteric eternal life vs. Christian eternal life and a complicated idea of the spiritual struggle between the forces of Adonai and Lucifer.

Chartres’ Labyrinth

Castel del Monte

Castel del Monte – aerial view

Chartres’ Labyrinth

Reims’ Labyrinth

The esoteric idea seems to reveal the initiate’s progress upwards along the supposed spiritual growth indicated by the stage of initiation starting from a triangular labyrinth, then square, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon until the spherical labyrinth in Chartres is reached.

This is esoteric theory which is further exposed by the direct link with the Giza Pyramids and the Castel del Monte which was surely used for ritual initiations into the esoteric mysteries of Lucifer.

In our modern age the New Age movement teaches similar knowledge referred to as sacred geometry, egg, fruit, and tree of life which is non other than the same Egyptian idea of resurrection through magical rituals and astral projection – a far cry from the true Resurrection offered by Jesus Christ the God-Man.

Ursa Minor with the North Star Polaris

The Giza pyramids were constructed as to represent the three stars of the belt of Orion and as the star Sirius is considered by Freemasons as being the dog-star representing the devil or Lucifer, why would Chartres be aligned with both the Blessed Virgin’ celestial symbol (Virgo) and the dog-star Sirius together with the belt of Orion? The Templars seemed to embody a mixture of contradicting topics, these matters represent on Earth (or in architecture) Revelation’s battle between the Virgin’s offspring and the dragon/devil.

Gizah Pyramids

I have earlier written the following in one of my posts:-

“Our Lady was the anti-thesis of both Lucifer’s vanity and the selfish act of our first parents. Vanity, pride, disobedience all were vanquished. It is clear now that ‘Tota Pulchra’ or the ‘all beautiful Virgin’ ignored her beauty (unlike Lucifer) and sealed her love for God which is beauty itself. The Dragon was represented by certain heavenly bodies which symbolised Lucifer’s perfection and status in Creation, Our Lady has eclipsed Lucifer, for as he was represented in Creation by both the Morning Star (Isaiah 14:12) and the North Star (Thuban in the constellation of Draco – in Egyptian times and Sirius – the dog-star today), her beauty surpassed his baneful fall and she became ever more fair. She now is represented by Polaris, the new North Star in Ursa Minor (Our Lady Star of the Sea) and Venus the Morning Star (Litany of Loreto). She has stripped him of his beauty, the perfect cherubim, who was so to speak ‘defrocked’ of his honour before Creation. The Immaculate Conception became ‘Queen of angels and mankind.’ All Hail Star of the Sea, Tota Pulchra!”

The fascinating fact about the North Star is that a north star is not permanently set in that position i.e. the star closest to the North Pole (not the brightest). The North Star changes with changing epochs due to precession. Above we can see how both Vega and later Thuban in Draco (North Star in Egyptian times) Polaris in Ursa Minor (today) and Gamma in Cepheus (THE KING) shall be the next North Star. In 23,000 years Draco will again be the North Star.

Thuban

Fleming suggests that this struggle is also depicted in the stars. At the North Pole the three constellations, the constellation of Ursa Minor (having Stella Maris, the North Star or Polaris), the constellation of Ursa Major and the third constellation of Draco. Mary being associated with Stella Maris is the central axis as the heavens revolves around her, while she constantly crushes the ‘Dragon’ beneath her heel. The renowned explorer Christopher Columbus, was especially aware of this stellar representation, and adopted a particular signature to mirror the central position of Polaris in the northern sky. Columbus and his crew commended themselves to Our Lady Star of the Sea. Fernando Columbus, the navigator’s son, wrote regarding his father, that the name ‘Christopher Columbus’ was particularly fitting. For it represents both ‘Christopher’ the military saint renowned for having carried the Christ Child across a river and the symbol of ‘the dove’ by way of the surname ‘Columbus.’ Christopher, “…carried the grace of the Holy Spirit to the New World.” Fernando also recalled the figure of the dove, as it left Noah’s ark bearing the olive branch, so was his father bearing the oil of baptism to the American Indios.

POLARIS – The North Star

Cepheus – THE KING – Gamma – the next North Star

The Woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet.

For a proper understanding of the biblical quote “a woman appeared clothed with the sun and the moon was under her feet” (Revelation) please see :-

http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/a-jewess-queen-of-israel-and-all-the-jews/

Morning Star – Venus

The Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe appears upon a moon similarly as in Fatima where she appeared after an unexpected thunderbolt clothed with the sun and with child.

At Fatima Our Lady appeared after an unexpected thunderbolt and lightning startled the children. Shining in a white garment and Rosary in hand, the young lady pleaded with the children to visit the Cova da Iria on the 13th day of the month, from May to October, six consecutive months. After instructing them in the Rosary, Our Lady revealed to them a vision of hell, where unrepentant sinners go.

The ‘Shulamite Woman’ in the Old Testament Book, Song of Songs 6:10, is indeed the ‘Woman’ of Revelation 12.

“Who is she that comes forth as the morning rising,

fair as the moon,

bright as the sun,

as terrible as an army set in full battle array?”

“The world in 1830 was experiencing its first industrial revolution and Charles Darwin was perfecting his theory on the evolution of species through natural selection. In the attempt to deny the existence of the Christian God, the theory was later misused by the worshippers of the ‘god of reason.’ In 1830, in a convent of the Sisters of Charity in Paris, France, twenty-four-year-old novice Catherine Laboure was awakened in the middle of the night, by a five year old child, who invited her to the chapel, for the Blessed Virgin was waiting. As Catherine descended towards the chapel the candles were lit. At midnight she heard the rustle of silk and gazed upwards to behold an apparition of Our Lady in a blaze of white light. The Blessed Mother warned Catherine on the future, she said: “The times are very evil. Sorrows will befall France; the throne will be overturned. The whole world will be plunged into every kind of misery.”(2) A second apparition of Our Lady occurred, the Blessed Virgin was holding an orb topped with a golden cross, she stood upon a white globe and crushed beneath her feet a green serpent with yellow spots. Surrounding the Virgin was an oval frame with the words: ‘O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.’ Our Lady desired that this image would be struck into a medal and on the other side, a large letter ‘M’ surmounted by a cross with two hearts below, one crowned with thorns, the other pierced by a sword. The medal is to be worn around the neck, worn with confidence, Our Lady pledged that whoever wears the medal will receive great and abundant graces.”

“Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm. Ch 12 – A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clohed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns of his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the Earth.The dragon stood infront of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”

REVELATION 11-12

In the Old Testament Isaiah describes Lucifer as being the morning star who dared challenge God, while the New Testament indicates that Jesus Christ is the morning star. Well Jesus Christ is not the devil, therefore, the morning star is a representation of the glory of creation i.e. the brightest creature. For the first few moments the brightest creature was Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12), at the creation of the Blesed Virgin (following Lucifer’s fall) it was she (Litany of Loreto). Later when Jesus Christ came into the world, the brightest was and still is Him, the God-Man (Revelation 22:16).

^“How did you come to fall from the heavens, Daystar, (morning star) son of Dawn? How did you come to be thrown to the ground, conqueror of nations?” (Isaiah 14:12)

^“So we have confirmation of the words of the prophets; and you will be right to pay attention to it as to a lamp for lighting a way through the dark, until the dawn comes and the morning star rises in your minds.” (2 Peter 1:19)

Litany of Loreto

V. Lord, have mercy.
R. Christ have mercy.
V. Lord have mercy. Christ hear us.
R. Christ graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, pray for us.
Holy Virgin of Virgins, [etc.]
Mother of Christ,
Mother of divine grace,
Mother most pure,
Mother most chaste,
Mother inviolate,
Mother undefiled,
Mother most amiable,
Mother most admirable,
Mother of good Counsel,
Mother of our Creator,
Mother of our Savior,
Virgin most prudent,
Virgin most venerable,
Virgin most renowned,
Virgin most powerful,
Virgin most merciful,
Virgin most faithful,
Mirror of justice,
Seat of wisdom,
Cause of our joy,
Spiritual vessel,
Vessel of honor,
Singular vessel of devotion,
Mystical rose,
Tower of David,
Tower of ivory,
House of gold,
Ark of the covenant,
Gate of heaven,
Morning star,
Health of the sick,
Refuge of sinners,
Comforter of the afflicted,
Help of Christians,
Queen of Angels,
Queen of Patriarchs,
Queen of Prophets,
Queen of Apostles,
Queen of Martyrs,
Queen of Confessors,
Queen of Virgins,
Queen of all Saints,
Queen conceived without original sin,
Queen assumed into heaven,
Queen of the most holy Rosary,
Queen of peace,

V. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
R. Spare us, O Lord.
V. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
R. Graciously hear us, O Lord.
V. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray. Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord God, that we thy servants may enjoy perpetual health of mind and body, and by the glorious intercession of blessed Mary, ever Virgin, may we be freed from present sorrow, and rejoice in eternal happiness. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

The versicle and prayer after the litany may be varied by season. Thus, during Advent (from the fourth Sunday before Christmas to Christmas Eve):

V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray. O God, who hast willed that by the message of an Angel, thy Word should receive flesh from the womb of the Virgin Mary: grant unto thy suppliants, that we who believe that she is truly the Mother of God, may be assisted by her intercession before Thee. Through the same Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” (Revelation 22:16)

The Star of Bethlehem

For a proper understanding of the original Star of Bethlehem as studied by ancient Babylonians, as appeared in Bethlehem and the meaning of the conjunction between Saturn, Jupiter in Pisces, please read on:-

A Time of Waiting Unique in World History (VII)

The astrologers’ expectancy

It now seems to be established scientifically that the astrologers from Babylon were also awaiting the birth of the “ruler of the world” from the year 7 B.C. Kepler, one of the fathers of modern astronomy, observed in December 1603 the very bright alignment of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces. With his calculations, he was able to establish that the same phenomenon (which produces an intense and dazzling light in the star-filled heavens) also must have occurred in the year 7 B.C. Then he discovered that an ancient commentary on the Scriptures by the Rabbi Abarbanel recalled that, according to Jewish belief, the Messiah was due to appear precisely at the time when the light from Jupiter and Saturn shone as a single beam in the constellation of Pisces.

Yet hardly any significance was attached to Kepler’s discovery simply because it had not been established with certainty that Jesus had been born before the traditional date, following a mistake by Denys Petau. More than two centuries later, the Danish scholar Munter was to discover and decipher a mediaeval Hebraic commentary on the “seventy seven-day periods” in the Book of Daniel which alluded to the belief referred to by Kepler. In 1902, the Planetary Table was published that is today preserved in Berlin: an Egyptian papyrus that contains the exact movements of the planets between 17 B.C. and 10 A.D. This draws attention to the alignment between Jupiter and Saturn in 7 B.C., visible in its entire splendor across the Mediterranean region.

Lastly, in 1925, a description of Sippar’s Stellar Calendar was published: a baked earth tablet with cuneiform inscriptions from the ancient settlement of Sippar, on the Euphrates, which was the center of an important school of astrology in Babylon. Remarkably, on this “calendar” are marked all of the heavenly movements and alignments of the year 7 B.C. Why was this? Because, according to the Babylonian astrologers, this alignment that can only be observed every 794 years occurred three times in 7 B.C. ? on May 29, October 1 and December 5. And they considered Jupiter to be the planet of the world’s rulers, Saturn as the planet of those who protect Israel and the constellation of Pisces as the sign of the end of time, that is, the beginning of the Messianic era. (…)

Indeed, it is now certain, that between the Tigris and the Euphrates, not only was a Messiah expected that would emerge from Israel, but that amazingly he would be born in an age and at a time that had been predetermined.

Source: Jesus Hypotheses by Vittorio Messori, Saint Paul Pubns. (1978)
Further Reading

Vittorio Messori and ‘The Mary Hypothesis’ – http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1528790/posts

The Knights Templar – http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-920-our-lady-the-crusades-and-the-knight-templars/

The history of the Holy-Veil at Chartres – http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-8-the-%e2%80%98maphorion%e2%80%99-belonging-to-the-%e2%80%98hodegitria%e2%80%99/

For a proper understanding of the biblical quote “a woman appeared clothed with the sun and the moon was under her feet” (Revelation) please see :- http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/a-jewess-queen-of-israel-and-all-the-jews/

‘Womb of the Earth’ – many Christian holy places are built upon ancient pagan sites – http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/a-goddess-you-say/

* It is an obvious matter that certain pagan sites were adopted for Christian worship – the basic reason for this is that the gentiles were pagan – there is no idolatry to Christianity.

* THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM – an in depth study on CONSTELLATIONS and STARS as mentioned in the holy texts of the Bible  – http://www.bethlehemstar.com/

Energy or the spirit ?

Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and Islam are  well respected, definitely all are not cults or sects but religions in their own right. The bone of contention arises when modern day New Age borrows from the Eastern mystic religions (Hinduism and Buddhism) and incorporates certain tenets into its own cult and sect organizations. Case in point the energy Chakra system.

The energy, (referred to as prana, chi, life-force, subtle energy) is said to emanate from the energy centres of the body and is also received through these same centres, these centres being the chakras. According to Prof. Madhavan http://www.scribd.com/people/view/310820-prof-madhavan this energy system is intimately related to the electromagnetic field surrounding the human body. In his leaflet which can be seen here  http://www.scribd.com/doc/11471706/Bio-Magnetism-Future-of-Health he includes Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings of the human body. I disagree that Leonardo’s work should be somehow linked with the Chakra system. If that was the Profs intention I do not know, however Leonardo being a Catholic and a man who lived 500 years ago did not make use of the Chakra system, nor do any of his writings prove otherwise.

Leonardo who was considered to be both a Catholic and a science genius, discovering the principles of flight and also, designing a helicopter and a mechanized robot 500 years ago, was at odds with the medical academia who, while the genius leaped ahead in his studies of anatomy, were still wallowing in the turbid pool of the medieval belief in the theory of the humor  http://www.sahha.gov.mt/showdoc.aspx?id=104&filesource=4&file=issue11.pdf

Allegedly an imbalance in this so called humor produced diseases. I guess that a vague similarity does exist between the theory of the humor and the Chakra system, ( in the latter an imbalance in the energy system is said to cause diseases and illnesses of mind and body).

In this world of globalisation both Western and Eastern medicine have met. An advantage of this mixing was the acquisition in the Western world of the therapy referred to as Acupuncture. This system also employs the mystic Eastern understanding of the balancing out of the Yin-Yan energies, however the acupuncture pins are placed along the meridians and dermatomes on the body and a mechanical stimulation occurs. A scientific basis exists http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture

Unlike Acupuncture, the Chakra therapies seem not to be based on any scientific fundamentals. I am trying to be objective and unbiased, does the Hindu and Buddhic view of the Chakras differ from the New Age therapies, such as Reiki and Universal Energy ? The Chakra system adherents and believers should help Western medical science, if anything, understand the topic of electromagnetic fields encompassing the body. I guess that Prof Madhavan might be chasing this avenue. In the far East it has been known for a long while that if an organ in the human body is sickly, infected, inflamed a change in the electromagnetic field of the body results. A device might be developed which can actually capture and distinguish between the various electromagnetic variations, evidently Kirlian photography is a step into this direction  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirlian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_(paranormal). Unfortunately these ideas were also victim of certain twists, in New Age and particularly in Blavatsky’s Theosophy, a man can apparently be trained to have his/her third eye opened to be able to see the aura. The third eye being a Chakra.

So what is the energy involved in the Chakra system ? Is it the aura ? Is it the electromagnetic field around a body ? To note that any field can be generated around a three dimensional system, this would include electrostatic, gravitational, magnetic, biomagnetic and electromagnetic. The latter being further subdivided into many other energy levels (electromagnetic spectrum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_spectrum) and if one is unlucky to eat a piece of radio-active sushi in some London restaurant, he would also radiate other particles and energies!!

If the Chakra system makes use of the bio-electromagnetic field surrounding the human body then we can safely say that it is a science, or makes use of physical laws, therefor Reiki and Universal Energy would be akin to a science as much as Acupuncture. Alas, I believe that it is not so. At least the New Age Chakra system does not employ pure scientific principles within its mechanism. As regards to the Buddhic and Hindu Chakra systems I wouldn’t know, however if the systems in question are all identical, then I fear for the latter systems to.

In New Age, the Theosophical branch, considers the aura as surrounding every living thing and inanimate object. In fact buildings are said to have new auras added onto the old ones every 100 years. We are now walking upon a slippery slope overlooking a precipice, for this particular aura is likened with the Christian halo. Error is evident here, the Christian halo is a measure of the spiritual holiness from a Christian perspective, i.e. Love of Adonai and neighbour and steadfast faithfulness to the 10 Commandments and the Catholic Faith and Magisterium. The aura has absolutely nothing to do with this. If the aura is the bio-electromagnetic field which surrounds the body it does not necessarily change with varying degrees of Christian holiness. So one cannot say, “let me have a look at your bio-electromagnetic field, so that I can determine your holiness”. That is quite pathetic!!! But your health – then that is something else!!!

The mind/brain has an electric field which resonates at a frequency of 8 Hz. The nervous system works purely with electric and chemical impulses and each cell has a magnetic and a distinct electric field. In fact modern science has discovered that both an extream low frequency field and a low pulsed magnetic field can influence the cellular electric field causing a cascade of physiological effects. There are two basic ideas which can be developed from this. The first being Nikola Tesla’s theory of adding miniscule amounts of energy, which would result in a huge change especially when the resonant frequency is reached. While the second states that all body cellular chemical reactions and synthesis can be created by way of the modulating external magnetic field which alters the cellular magnetic and electric fields. The first theory was used by Royal Raymond Rife in the 50’s successfully against cancer cells while the second was developed by NASA and CIA scientists to synthesize cellular chemicals by way of the cell’s natural MRNA, RRNA and DNA processes by use of external rotating magnetic fields http://eutilitariancommons.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/weapons-armageddon/

“you can induce virtually every effect that a chemical can cause in a living system with aaaa – pause – an external – pause – primarily low frequency magnetic field”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0vPfpMLfr0&feature=channel_page

The secret services also invented devices which can modulate a person’s behavior by way of stimulating remotely the nervous system with rotating magnetic fields set at various frequencies which stimulate various responses due to induced chemical changes and induced hormonal secretions. Computer screen and digital TV can also be remotely modulated to induce such changes on the viewer by stimulating the retina which is part of the nervous system. Other science carried out today involves the remote modulation of a person’s behavior by the aid of circuits in the brain. And on a more benign note sleep science and brain/heart electric wave patterns have been studied extensively – ecg/eeg.

When I was a New Age adherent I had my chakras opened 30 % this for me to be able to transmit the New Age energy, which was called universal energy. It was explained to me that this was a science like Acupuncture therapy, that it involved the same energies and that this energy is used for the healing of patients by the New Age version of the laying of hands. If my chakras were opened to 100% I could also transmit the energy mentally and restore the energy balance in the patient from a far off distance. But from all the energies mentioned, which energy is this ? I was silenced easily by the reply that electricity is also a mystery. But this might not be so. Science is attempting to discover the ‘god’ particle with the most expensive hadron collider ever built (at CERN, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN) in the world. The Higgs boson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson is a theory, so is the relativity theory and its mathematical absurd explanations of the interactions of gravity with light. But my preference is the Aether theory which has been kept in the dark for many a year (probably just to keep the oil industry profitable) http://eutilitariancommons.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/electropulsion-and-royal-rife/.

But is the Aether field the energy used by the Chakra System ? Very unlikely.

The Aether explains the absurd way light behaves – particles and wave patterns. The Aether field is made up of very fine energy particles which are everywhere, according to Tesla’s Dynamic Theory of Gravity, gravity is actually an effect created when matter passes through this field. Therefor, the aether carries the electromagnetic wave similarly to the manner how mechanical sound waves propagate. Therefor, in applying Megapulse therapy to a patient a physiotherapist is actually supplying energy in this manner by use of the Aether. The gross effects of the PEME machine are very indiscriminate and specific select energy direction for targeted changes (such as the ones mentioned above – ie. targeting glands for hormonal production e.g. insulin production in pancreas, neurotransmitters in the brain for Parkinsons reversal etc etc) is as yet unachievable with present ‘gross’ physiotherapeutic/radiological/radiotherapy machines.

My Chakras were opened by the secret invocation of the Universal Energy Master. The instructor placed his hands on my head and shoulder and invoked the name of his Master. He was therefor praying !!!

The spirit received was evidently not energy nor the Holy Spirit, who is received through the Catholic sacraments and the Christian/Catholic laying of hands. We Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit descends on us only due to the fact that Jesus Christ (Our Lord and God) has ascended to the Father. This makes us a UNIQUE race. This means that no other religion, has the Holy Spirit descending upon its followers!!!

A faint similarity exists between the Chakra opening and the Christian sacrament of Baptism. In Baptism a mark is placed upon the neophyte, but who knows how many different marks exist in various sect/cult invocations, what comes to mind is the satanist invocation of satan and the masonic invocation of the Great Architect of the Universe. Therefor, not all marks are the same, nor of the same spirit.

Therefor, in my opinion it is an obvious matter that the Chakras in New Age are opened by a spirit and this is no science but a spiritualistic medium.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/malta-considers-hinduism-a-cult-2_100260422.html

On another note, Mr Rajan Zed and a Jewish Rabbi are asking Malta to change its laws regarding the term ‘cults’ and the imprisonment sentence for offending the Maltese State’s Religion – the Catholic Faith. While it is true that both the Hindu religion and Judaism are not sects nor cults, we read..

“Malta Criminal Code reportedly makes one liable to imprisonment up to six months for publicly vilifying “Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion”, while committing such act against “any cult tolerated by law” makes one liable to imprisonment only up to three months.

Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu statesman; and Rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich, prominent Jewish leader in Nevada and California in USA; in a statement in Nevada, said that it seemed to imply that except Roman Catholic, other religions and denominations including Hinduism and Judaism were just one of the cults in the eyes of Malta……”

The fact that the Catholic Faith is an integral part of the Maltese Constitution doesn’t seem to bother these people who do not comment much regarding the Hindu killings of Christians which occurred in Orissa, India or the Talmudic claim that the Blessed Virgin was a whore.

But anyway, yet on another note http://www.di-ve.com/Default.aspx?ID=71&Action=1&NewsId=65238 I read that both the Shaolin monks and the Indian Kalari fighters are in Malta. The fact that they are performing feats which defy the laws of physics, what certain people might call mind over matter, doesnt seem to be bothering anyone. Could there be any energy / spiritic play in these performances ? Special powers from beyond ?

At the Mediterranean Conference Centre the Knights Hospitaller of St John the Baptist cared for the sick. They exposed the sick to the radiant Holy Eucharist, sprinkled Holy Water and nursed the sick as though the infirm were the Lord Himself, this provided ample help in the Knights’ daily necessities and war activities.

If a Maltese exorcist, trained by Father Gabriele Amorth in Rome, were to sprinkle holy water or exorcist’s salt on the stage before the Shaolin and Kalari performance, would you think that the Easternlings would perform feats of mind over matter and defy the laws of physics ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_Amorth

Cloning Jesus Christ

Apparently some ‘great’ scientist is attempting the unimaginable – cloning The Lord!!!

That is right, “ Their intention is to clone Jesus, utilizing techniques pioneered at the Roslin Institute in Scotland, by taking an incorrupt cell from one of the many Holy Relics of Jesus’ blood and body that are preserved in churches throughout the world, extracting its DNA, and inserting into an unfertilized human egg), through the now-proven biological process called nuclear transfer.”

http://www.rense.com/general3/jesusclone.htm

The Turin Shroud has thus been proved authentic and indeed not a forgery created by Leonardo Da Vinci (as professed by the adherents and followers of Scientism – false science). It is one of three ancient holy relics holding the Holy Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The other two relics are preserved in France and in Spain, (the Holy Tunic and a cloth which covered His head following His death on the Cross).

Red Blood cells where actually retrieved from the three holy relics (as for the Turin Shroud this was done secretly by the Italian scientist who investigated it in the 70s). All samples belonged to the same blood group.

The interesting issue which emerges from this science (apart from the sacrilegious, if not blasphemous scientific activity of the most dark and perverse nature) is that any cloned human being (from the Lord’s DNA) will not be Jesus Christ (or His Second Coming – as the fanatical Ralian Californian group claims)  but a human like you and me. If I were cloned this second person would not be me, but my twin. We all become part of His Body when we receive Him in the Holy Eucharist, (obviously when received by a properly confessed soul).

Also, the fact that such DNA containes both Y and X chromosones does not in any way disprove the Blessed Virgin’s Dogma on Virginity. The Lord can create anything from nothing, just like matter is created from the Ether http://netowne.com/technology/important/.

LONG LIVE THE REACTION, LET THE WALLS OF LIES FALL APART, THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!

Death of Constantinople

Donald M Nicol writes, “A most charming legend of Constantine’s death is contained in another of the many laments for the fall of the city. It tells how the wretched Emperor Constantine, when the Turks broke in at the Gate of St Romanos, was guarding the walls with some of his nobles.

«Οn his right was a church of the Virgin. He saw a Queen coming towards it with a number of eunuchs. They went in and the Emperor and his nobles hurried tο see who this Queen might be and went intο the church. [They saw her) opening the sanctuary gate and going inside. She sat οn the bishop’s throne and looked very mournful. Then she opened her holy mouth and addressed the Emperor: “This unhappy city was dedicated tο me and many a time have Ι saved it from divine wrath. Νοw too Ι have entreated Μy Son and Μy God. Βut, alas, he has decreed that this time yοu should be consigned tο the hands of your enemies because the sins of your people have inflamed the anger of God. So leave your imperial crown here for me to look after until such time as God will permit another tο come and take it.” When the Emperor heard this he became very sad. He took his crown and the sceptre which was in his hand and laid them οn the altar; and he stood in tears and said: “My Lady, since for my sins Ι have been bereft of my imperial majesty, Ι resign also my soul into your hands along with my crown.” The Lady of the Angels replied: “Μay the Lord God rest yοur soul in peace in the company οf His Saints.” The Emperor made obeisance and went tο kiss her knee; and she vanished and her eunuchs, who were her Angels, vanished with her. But neither the crown nοr the sceptre were found where they had been left; for the Lady, the Mother of God, took them with her to keep until such time as there would be mercy for the wretched race of Christians. This was reported later by some who had been there and witnessed the miracle. The Emperor with his nobles then went forth stripped of his majesty to look οn the enemy from the walls. They joined forces and gave battle to some Turks whom they encountered and were defeated. The Turks cut them down; and they took the head of the pitiful Emperor tο the Sultan who had great joy of it.” Donald M. Nicol

The Death Of Constantine

From: Donald M. Nicol, The Immortal Emperor, Cambridge Univ. Press, Canto edition, 1992. (ISBN 0 521 41456 3). © Cambridge U.P.

http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/nicol_condeath.html

Their Finest Hour

In a world where even the Catholic Faith has dwindled, all the more does this fact hold true for the Protestant world which carries but a memory of Christianity. It has abandoned the Catholic Sacraments for centuries now.

England is not a Catholic Nation http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1573549/Anglicans-England-is-not-a-Catholic-nation.html , we all definitely knew this fact

however, it seems that Britain is no longer a Christian Nation, as claimed by a Church of England Bishop http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2280998/posts

Should we be surprised ?

No

(well even the Us is not Christian as claimed by President Obama – http://onemom.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/obama-us-not-a-christian-nation/ )

Anti-Christian sentiments in the UK – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Christian_sentiment_in_the_United_Kingdom

However, the memory of Christianity still lingers in the oppressed heart of the Anglican Church, Mercy works are still done – http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2024953.ece

http://odeo.com/episodes/24617061-Vicar-of-Baghdad-Canon-Andrew-White-Anglican-Activist-Vicar

Catholic Order of Mercy – Mercederians

http://www.oxfordoratory.org.uk/our-lady-oxford.php - UK Catholic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercederians

History of Christianity in England

http://www.churchsociety.org/crossway/documents/Cway_057_ChristianEngland.pdf

http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-911-the-blessed-virgin-in-england-and-spain/

http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/a-few-implications-fatima-and-lourdes/

http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-918-our-lady-converts-the-vikings-in-england/

http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-951-our-lady-of-mercy-divine-mercy-and-votive-offerings/

http://www.oxfordoratory.org.uk/our-lady-oxford.php

Santiago Matamoros

Saint James, the one who symbolically brought St John the Baptist’s cockle (and Christian Baptism) to Spain and was interred there during the time of Queen Lupa’s reign – is known as the son of thunder (his voice was loud and clear carried far around when he preached) also known as the son of lightning – http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-912-our-lady-and-the-carolingian-dynasty/ - http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-916-the-new-world/ and Matamoros. He was considered to be a miraculous apparition which devoured Moors in Europe and Aztecs in South America!!! He appeared astride his horse during the Battle of Clavijo in 846 AD in Spain against the Moors and in 1506 AD against the Aztecs in Mexico City.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cross_Santiago.svg

Above: The Cross of St James’ Order of Santiago. The colour red represented the blood of the Moors.

Notre Dame de France

In 1855 AD  during the Crimean War at the taking of Sebastapol the Blessed Virgin interceded for the French.

http://www.britishbattles.com/crimean-war/sevastopol.htm

In 1860 AD, the French erected a statue ‘Notre Dame de France’ forged from the metal of 213 cannon captured from the Russians.

http://www.salvemariaregina.info/SalveMariaRegina/SMR-145%20files/notre%20dame%20de%20france.jpg

Smolensk, Kazan and Tikhvin

Hello everybody. Welcome to my blog exploring the miraculous, particularly the miraculous interventions of Our Lady during wartime throughout history. On your right do peruse through 60 chapters of such wartime miraculous interventions, and do note that many Nations are today still ‘Nations‘ and at least in part Christian only – solely – through Our Lady’s intervention before the Triune God.

Case in point – Russia, or rather the third Rome (Moscow).

If Russia has a strategic weakness (apart from its huge borders) it must be its Capital City. That’s right, if Moscow falls the entire Northern Euro-Asian Continent falls!

But that is not what happened throughout the Ages. As Constantinople’s Christian Icons were removed to Russia (following the end of Emperor Constantine Paleologos’ reign May 29, 1453 A.D.)

http://rumkatkilise.org/constantineXI.htm (the same chap whose quotes brought trouble to Pope Benedict)

The Icons were placed in strategic locations to protect Russia. Many were the battles fought (a few chapters on the right include such) however the following is new to me and here I would like to share with you fellows who are still comingto terms with the fact that the miraculous sustains our reality.

So at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Moscow we read that:-

“

The original blitzkrieg invasion plan, which the Axis called Operation Barbarossa, called for the capture of Moscow within four months. However, despite large initial advances, the Wehrmacht was slowed by Soviet resistance (in particular during the Battle of Smolensk, which lasted from July through September 1941 and delayed the German offensive towards Moscow for two months). Having secured Smolensk, the Wehrmacht chose to consolidate its lines around Leningrad and Kiev, further delaying the drive towards Moscow. The Axis advance was renewed on October 2, 1941, with an offensive codenamed Operation Typhoon, to complete the capture of Moscow before the onset of winter.

After an advance leading to the encirclement and destruction of several Soviet armies, the Soviets stopped the Germans at the Mozhaisk defensive line, just 120 km (75 mi) from the capital. Having penetrated the Soviet defenses, the Wehrmacht offensive was slowed by weather conditions, with autumn rains turning roads and fields into thick mud that significantly impeded Axis vehicles, horses, and soldiers. Although the onset of colder weather and the freezing of the ground allowed the Axis advance to continue, it continued to struggle against stiffening Soviet resistance.

By early December, the lead German Panzer Groups stood less than 30 kilometers (19 mi) from the Kremlin, and Wehrmacht officers were able to see some of Moscow’s buildings with binoculars; but the Axis forces were unable to make further advances. On December 5, 1941, fresh Soviet Siberian troops, prepared for winter warfare, attacked the German forces in front of Moscow; by January 1942, the Soviets had driven the Wehrmacht back 100 to 250 km (60 to 150 mi), ending the immediate threat to Moscow and marking the closest that Axis forces ever got to capturing the Soviet capital.

The Battle of Moscow was one of the most important battles of World War II, primarily because the Soviets were able to successfully prevent the most serious attempt to capture their capital. The battle was also one of the largest during the war, with more than a million total casualties. It marked a turning point as it was the first time since the Wehrmacht began its conquests in 1939 that it had been forced into a major retreat. The Wehrmacht had been forced to retreat earlier during the Yelnya Offensive in September 1941 and at the Battle of Rostov (which led to von Rundstedt losing command of German forces in the East), but these retreats were minor compared to the one at Moscow.

“

We know that the German Nazi’s were 30 kms away from the third Rome and the City’s skyline was atleast viewed through binoculars.

“

In August 1941, German forces captured the city of Smolensk, an important stronghold on the road to Moscow. Smolensk was historically considered as the “key” to Moscow because it controlled a landbridge located between the Dvina, Dnieper, and several other rivers, allowing for a fast advance by ground troops without the necessity of building major bridges across wide rivers. The desperate Soviet defense of the Smolensk region lasted for two months, from July 10, 1941 to September 10, 1941.^[6] This intense engagement, known as the Battle of Smolensk, delayed the German advance until mid-September, effectively disrupting the blitzkrieg and forcing Army Group Center to use almost half of its strategic reserves (10 divisions out of 24) during the battle.^[6]

“

We also know that the battle at Smolensk was particular :-http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-944-our-lady-of-smolensk/

“

Elsewhere, the German advance was also bogged down. Near Leningrad, Army Group North was held up by the Luga defense line for almost a month before eventually overrunning it. In the south, Army Group South, which included many Hungarian and Romanian units that were less well trained, equipped and experienced than the Wehrmacht, faced several serious counterattacks and was stopped. The Wehrmacht now faced a dilemma, as Army Group Center was still strong enough to reach Moscow — but such an advance would create a bulge in the German lines, leaving it vulnerable to Red Army flanking attacks. Moreover, according to Hitler, Germany needed the food and mineral resources located in the Ukraine.^[7] Thus, the Wehrmacht was ordered to first secure the Donbass region and to move towards Moscow afterwards.^[8] Heinz Guderian’s Panzer Army was turned south to support Gerd von Rundstedt’s attack on Kiev,^[7] which inflicted another significant defeat on the Red Army. On September 19, 1941, Soviet forces had to abandon Kiev after Stalin’s persistent refusal to withdraw forces from the Kiev salient, as recorded by Aleksandr Vasilevsky and Georgy Zhukov in their respective memoirs.^[9][10] This refusal cost Zhukov his post of Chief of the General Staff,^[11] but his prediction of German encirclement was correct. Several Soviet armies were encircled and annihilated by the Wehrmacht in a double pincer movement, allowing the German forces to advance in the south.^[12]

“

And we just posted that at Leningrad :-http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/2009/05/16/a-russian-madonna-is-the-same-as-the-catholic-one/

Therefor, what else do we learn regarding the Battle for Moscow (‘The Great Patriotic Battle’ as referred to by the Russians “Nasdarovje”) Well, Stalin had already ordered the purges throughout Russian society, however apparently even though the chap was a confirmed dictator he was advised by a holy monk (one of the few survivors of the purges and one who was never sent to the gulags) that an angel had appeared to him to thank Stalin for not leaving and abandoning the City. That is right the holy angel thanked the dictator for not abandoning the last shreds of Russian Christianity and heritage he had left within him and around. Stalin was also warned, by the holy monk, that if he had the salvation of physical Moscow at heart, he was to have the Icon of Tikhvin flown three times around the City. An act which the dictator carried out!!

The Tikhvin Icon was flown by plane around the Moscowite skies atleast for three laps.

Earlier on in Russian history the Tikhvin Icon was also known for having protected Russia from the Swedish invasions of 1614 A.D., http://members.tripod.com/~shtyetz_john/tikhvin-icon.html

THE REST IS HISTORY (actually consistant, constant and repetitive history of the salvation which comes directly from God)

Ahhh… Stalin’s Communist Party was finally defunct also thanks to Our lady, check :-

http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-945-russia-friend-or-foe/

http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-930-other-victories-of-our-lady-of-czestochowa/

http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-943-russian-icons/

http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-948-our-lady-protectress-of-austria-brazil-and-the-world/

‘Let it be known’ Is it a coincidence that such liberation fell on the ancient Christian Feast of St George April 23rd ?

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1945/apr45/f23apr45.htm

In Italy… Advance units of both US 5th and British 8th Armies reach the Po River. US 5th Army units manage to cross the river south of Mantua.On the Eastern Front… Both Soviet 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts continue to advance toward Berlin. In the rear of these advances, Frankfurt (on Oder) and Cottbus are captured by Soviet troops.

In Berlin… Hitler receives a message from Goring, offering to take over the leadership of the country should Hitler be unable to continue with that task while besieged in Berlin. Hitler is infuriated and orders Goring arrested.

In the Ryukyu Islands… On Okinawa, the attacks of US 24th Corps begin to achieve some gains, notably by US 96th Division.

In the Philippines… Units of US 37th Division reach the outskirts of Baguio

 

http://archives.cbc.ca/on_this_day/04/23/

‘Unspeakable’ prisoner-of-war camps liberated

Broadcast Date: April 23, 1945

Seasoned war reporter Matthew Halton of the CBC is staggered by the sight of prisoners — “bags of bones” — in liberated Nazi prison camps. In labour camps, prisoner-of-war camps and political prisons, enemies of the Nazi regime have been starved, tortured and murdered — atrocities that have shocked the rest of the world. Halton wonders whether Germans truly understand what has happened across their land.

A German woman blames the Nazis, but not ordinary citizens, for what happened in the camps. Three police officers say the Russians were rumoured to run death camps of their own. And when Halton describes the horrors he himself has witnessed, the officers are skeptical. Halton concludes that Germans haven’t yet accepted their country’s responsibility for the camps. “They don’t believe Germany has committed unspeakable crimes and their only regret is they’ve lost the war.”

‘Unspeakable’ prisoner-of-war camps liberated

• According to The Second World War: A People’s History (2001), rumours of Nazi concentration camps began to surface in 1942. Allied nations knew something terrible was happening but many people thought the stories were exaggerated, as had happened in the First World War.
• The term “concentration camp” is an umbrella term for all the types of camps run by the Nazis. They include labour camps, transit camps, prisoner-of-war camps and death camps.

• Russian troops began liberating concentration camps located in Poland in July 1944. The first was Majdanek, and it was soon followed by Belzec, Treblinka and Sobibor.
• Soviet reporter Roman Karman was one of the first journalists to report on Majdanek. He wrote: “I have never seen a more abominable sight than Majdanek…where more than half a million European men, women and children were massacred…This is not a concentration camp; it is a gigantic murder plant.”

• The Russians liberated more camps from January 1945 through the end of the war. American, British and Canadian troops didn’t begin liberating camps until April 1945.
• Canadians liberated a concentration camp near Zutphen, Holland in early April 1945. Listen to CBC correspondent Matthew Halton describe the “abominable crime” he witnessed there.

• According to Daniel Jonah Goldhagen’s book Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust, it would have been next to impossible for average Germans not to know about the camp system. The system was “the largest institutional creation of Germany during its Nazi period.”
• Goldhagen says there were over 10,000 camps of varying sizes and purposes throughout Europe, most of them in eastern Europe.

• Some liberators made sure that local Germans knew what had happened at the camps in their midst. According to BBC Online, British soldiers who liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany took nearby residents into the camp to show them what had happened there.

WW II vet held in Nazi slave camp breaks silence: ‘Let it be known’

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/11/11/acevedo.pow/index.html

By Wayne Drash, Thelma Gutierrez and Sara Weisfeldt
CNN

LOMA LINDA, California (CNN) — Anthony Acevedo thumbs through the worn, yellowed pages of his diary emblazoned with the words “A Wartime Log” on its cover. It’s a catalog of deaths and atrocities he says were carried out on U.S. soldiers held by Nazis at a slave labor camp during World War II — a largely forgotten legacy of the war.

 

Anthony Acevedo served as a medic during World War II. He was captured and sent into a Nazi forced labor camp.

 

Acevedo pauses when he comes across a soldier with the last name of Vogel.

“He died in my arms. He wouldn’t eat. He didn’t want to eat,” says Acevedo, now 84 years old. “He said, ‘I want to die! I want to die! I want to die!’ “

The memories are still fresh, some 60 years later. Acevedo keeps reading his entries, scrawled on the pages with a Sheaffer fountain pen he held dear.  See inside Acevedo’s diary »

He was one of 350 U.S. soldiers held at Berga an der Elster, a satellite camp of the Nazis’ notorious Buchenwald concentration camp. The soldiers, working 12-hour days, were used by the German army to dig tunnels and hide equipment in the final weeks of the war. Less than half of the soldiers survived their captivity and a subsequent death march, he says.

Acevedo shows few emotions as he scans the pages of his diary. But when he gets to one of his final entries, the decades of pent-up pain, the horror witnessed by a 20-year-old medic, are too much.

“We were liberated today, April the 23, 1945,” he reads.

His body shakes, and he begins sobbing. “Sorry,” he says, tears rolling down his face. “I’m sorry.” Watch Acevedo’s emotional account of being freed »

Acevedo’s story is one that was never supposed to be told. “We had to sign an affidavit … [saying] we never went through what we went through. We weren’t supposed to say a word,” he says.

The U.S. Army Center of Military History provided CNN a copy of the document signed by soldiers at the camp before they were sent back home. “You must be particularly on your guard with persons representing the press,” it says. “You must give no account of your experience in books, newspapers, periodicals, or in broadcasts or in lectures.”

The document ends with: “I understand that disclosure to anyone else will make me liable to disciplinary action.” Watch diary of a POW at slave camp »

The information was kept secret “to protect escape and evasion techniques and the names of personnel who helped POW escapees,” said Frank Shirer, the chief archivist at the U.S. Army Center for Military History.

Acevedo sees it differently. For a soldier who survived one of the worst atrocities of mankind, the military’s reaction is still painful to accept. “My stomach turned to acid, and the government didn’t care. They didn’t give a hullabaloo.”

It took more than 50 years, he says, before he received 100 percent disability benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Despite everything Acevedo endured during the war, little had prepared him for his own father’s attitude toward his capture. “My dad told me I was a coward,” he says.

“I turned around and got my duffel bag, my luggage, and said, ‘This is it, Father. I’m not coming back.’ So I took the train the following day, and I didn’t see my parents for years, because I didn’t want to see them. I felt belittled.”

 

For decades, Acevedo followed the rules and kept his mouth shut. His four children didn’t know the extent of his war experience. He says he felt stymied because of the document he signed. “You never gave it a thought because of that paper.”

Now, he says it’s too important to be forgotten. In recent years, he’s attended local high schools to tell his story to today’s generation.

“Let it be known,” he says. “People have to know what happened.”

Born July 31, 1924, in San Bernardino, California, Anthony C. Acevedo is what is known in today’s parlance as a “citizen child” — one who was born in the United States to parents from Mexico. iReport: Tell us your war stories

A Mexican-American, he was schooled in Pasadena, California, but couldn’t attend the same classes as his white peers. “We couldn’t mix with white people,” he says. Both of his parents were deported to Mexico in 1937, and he went with them.

Acevedo returned to the States when he was 17, he says, because he wanted to enlist in the U.S. Army. He received medical training in Illinois before being sent to the European theater.

A corporal, he served as a medic for the 275th Infantry Regiment of the 70th Infantry Division. Acevedo was captured at the Battle of the Bulge after days of brutal firefights with Nazis who surrounded them. He recalls seeing another medic, Murray Pruzan, being gunned down.

“When I saw him stretched out there in the snow, frozen,” Acevedo says, shaking his head. “God, that’s the only time I cried when I saw him. He was stretched out, just massacred by a machine gun with his Red Cross band.”

He pauses. “You see all of them dying out there in the fields. You have to build a thick wall.”

Acevedo was initially taken to a prison camp known as Stalag IX-B in Bad Orb, Germany, where thousands of American, French, Italian and Russian soldiers were held as prisoners of war. Acevedo’s diary entry reads simply: “Was captured the 6th of January 1945.”

For the next several months, he would be known by the Germans only as Prisoner Number 27016. One day while in Stalag IX-B, he says, a German commander gathered American soldiers and asked all Jews “to take one step forward.” Few willingly did so. Watch Acevedo describe being selected as an “undesirable” »

Jewish soldiers wearing Star of David necklaces began yanking them off, he says. About 90 Jewish soldiers and another 260 U.S. soldiers deemed “undesirables” — those who “looked like Jews” — were selected. Acevedo, who is not Jewish, was among them.

They were told they were being sent to “a beautiful camp” with a theater and live shows.

“It turned out to be the opposite,” he says. “They put us on a train, and we traveled six days and six nights. It was a boxcar that would fit heads of cattle. They had us 80 to a boxcar. You couldn’t squat. And there was little tiny windows that you could barely see through.”

It was February 8, 1945, when they arrived. The new camp was known as Berga an der Elster, a subcamp of Buchenwald, the Nazi concentration camp where tens of thousands of Jews and other political prisoners were killed under Adolf Hitler’s regime. See the horrors of Buchenwald »

Acevedo says he was one of six medics among the 350 U.S. soldiers at Berga. Political prisoners from other countries were held at Berga separate from the Americans. “We didn’t mingle with them at all,” he says, adding that the U.S. soldiers worked in the same tunnels as the other political prisoners.

“We were all just thin as a rail.”

The U.S. prisoners, Acevedo says, were given 100 grams of bread per week made of redwood sawdust, ground glass and barley. Soup was made from cats and rats, he says. Eating dandelion leaves was considered a “gourmet meal.”

If soldiers tried to escape, they would be shot and killed. If they were captured alive, they would be executed with gunshots to their foreheads, Acevedo says. Wooden bullets, he says, were used to shatter the inside of their brains. Medics were always asked to fill the execution holes with wax, he says.

“Prisoners were being murdered and tortured by the Nazis. Many of our men died, and I tried keeping track of who they were and how they died.”

The soldiers were forced to sleep naked, two to a bunk, with no blankets. As the days and weeks progressed, his diary catalogs it all. The names, prisoner numbers and causes of death are listed by the dozens in his diary. He felt it was his duty as a medic to keep track of everyone.

“I’m glad I did it,” he says.

As a medic, he says, he heard of other more horrific atrocities committed by the Nazis at camps around them. “We heard about experiments that they were doing — peeling the skins of people, humans, political prisoners, making lampshades.” Watch Acevedo talk about Nazi atrocities »

He and the other soldiers were once taken to what Acevedo believes was the main camp of Buchenwald, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Berga. They noticed large pipes coming from one building.

“We thought we were going to be gassed when we were told to take our clothes off,” he says. “We were scared. We were stripped.”

“Rumors were around that this was where the political prisoners would be suffocated with gas.” It turned out to be a shower, the only time during their captivity they were allowed to bathe.

The main Buchenwald camp was officially liberated on April 11, 1945. But the camp and its subcamps were emptied of tens of thousands of prisoners as American troops neared. The U.S. troops held at the Berga compound were no exception.

“Very definite that we are moving away from here and on foot. This isn’t very good for our sick men. No drinking water and no latrines,” Acevedo wrote in his diary on April 4, 1945.

He says they began a death march of 217 miles (349 kilometers) that would last three weeks. More than 300 U.S. soldiers were alive at the start of the march, he says; about 165 were left by the end, when they were finally liberated.

Lines of political prisoners in front of them during the march caught the full brunt of angry Nazi soldiers.

“We saw massacres of people being slaughtered off the highway. Women, children,” he says. “You could see people of all ages, hanging on barbed wire.”

One of his diary entries exemplifies an extraordinary patriotism among soldiers, even as they were being marched to their deaths. “Bad news for us. President Roosevelt’s death. We all felt bad about it. We held a prayer service for the repose of his soul,” Acevedo wrote on April 13, 1945.

It adds, “Burdeski died today.”

To this day, Acevedo still remembers that soldier. He wanted to perform a tracheotomy using his diary pen to save Burdeski, a 41-year-old father of six children. A German commander struck Acevedo in the jaw with a rifle when he asked.

“I’ll never forget,” he says.

On a recent day, about a dozen prisoners of war held during World War II and their liberators gathered at the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Medical Center in Loma Linda, California. Many applauded Acevedo for his heroics.

“Those of us in combat have our own heroes, and those are the medics. And that’s Antonio. Thank you, Antonio,” one of the men said.

The men gathered there nodded their heads. Two stood to shake Acevedo’s hand.

“The people that are in this room really are an endangered species,” another man said. “When they’re gone, they’re gone. … That is why they should be honored and put in history for generations to come, because there are not that many of them left.”

Donald George sat next to Acevedo. The two were captured about a half-mile apart during the Battle of the Bulge. “It’s hard to explain how it is to be sitting with a bunch of people that you know they’ve been through the same thing you’ve been through,” George said.

“Some of us want to talk about it, and some of us don’t. Some of us want to cry about it once in a while, and some of us won’t. But it’s all there,” he said.

“We still like to come and be together a couple times a month,” George added, before Acevedo finished his sentence: “To exchange what you are holding back inside.”

Acevedo says the world must never forget the atrocities of World War II and that for killing 6 million Jews, Hitler was the worst terrorist of all time. He doesn’t want the world to ever slide backward.

 

His message on this Veterans Day, he says, is never to hold animosity toward anybody.

“You only live once. Let’s keep trucking. If we don’t do that, who’s going to do it for us? We have to be happy. Why hate?” he says. “The world is full of hate, and yet they don’t know what they want.”

The Protestant Soldier and the Icon of Our Lady (II)

 

 

Once I had gathered my wits, I found that I was still holding the icon in my hands. I would never rid myself of it again. I later took it home with me as a souvenir of the great protection that I had had from it. So I put my treasure in the inside pocket of my jacket. That night, we counter attacked. Machine and submachine guns sowed death in our ranks. During a lull, I felt my chest for my icon. To my amazement I found a bullet imbedded in its back, which was covered with a fairly thick layer of copper. That bullet should have pierced my heart. I was so moved and full of gratitude that tears came to my eyes. Then I placed my dear Madonna back on my heart. This all took place many years ago. But I have never forgotten how the icon of the Mother of God saved my life. I told this story to my wife and my children. The whole family now lovingly venerates Our Lady who brought back a father safely to his children, and a husband safely to his wife. Today, the icon hangs in a niche in a place of honor in our home. Every day, my family and I gather around Our Lady, adorned with flowers and lit candles, to say our prayers. Why has devotion to Mary, Mother of Jesus, been deleted from our religion?

Saarbrucken (Germany), November 22, 1948 (by A. Dewald). Reported and translated by Brother Albert Plfeger, Marist, in his Recueil Marial 1980