Category Archives: Old Testament

David and Goliath and the Kiss of Peace

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Illumination of David and Goliath in Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus. The manuscript was made in the Netherlands in AD 1332.

“I love you, O Lord my strength, O Lord my stronghold, my crag, and my haven. My God, my rock, in whom I put my trust.” (Psalm 18:1-2)

When David was a teen, before he was made king of Israel, he volunteered to fight the giant Goliath in single combat (read the Old Testament story in 1 Samuel 17). Goliath was approximately 10 feet tall, had 6 fingers on each hand, and was rumored to be descended from the giants (these details are reported in 1 Chronicles 20:6). Goliath also had bronze armor and a 19 pound iron spear, which was unusual at that time. He was a formidable opponent. But, as the well known story reports, David selected 5 stones from a riverbed and was able to kill Goliath with a stone from his slingshot. He then cut off Goliath’s head to prove his victory and sang Psalm 18 in celebration (see also the report in 2 Samuel 22).

At the Kiss of Peace during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the Orthodox Church, the priest quietly recites the first verses of this psalm. The exchange of the Kiss, reconciling the participants and celebrating their mutual forgiveness before singing the consecration prayers and receiving Holy Communion, is like the stone David let fly from his slingshot: it slays the enemy of the People of God. The division and animosity of anger and holding grudges are among the most powerful weapons of Evil and Death; the fury and refusal to accept fellowship with others is a foretaste of Death and mutual forgiveness anticipates the Resurrection in which we experience the re-establishment of harmony between God and humanity, between God and the entire creation, between each of us with each other and the creation as well. The early preachers and teachers of the Church understood the power of the Antichrist to be precisely this division, animosity, and chaos.

Goliath is a personification of all that opposes God and His creation. The stone from David’s slingshot anticipates the Cross, the weapon by which the Enemy is slain. The Kiss of Peace reveals the power of the Cross in the live of the community assembled to celebrate the Eucharist. We are able to embrace one another, call even those who hate us “Brother!” and forgive all by the power and joy of the Resurrection. The Kiss of Peace, the stone in our slingshot in our battle with the Enemy, is more than a simple gesture or chance to greet our friends. It is one of our most effective weapons against Death and the Devil (“the divider” and “the adversary”).

During this time when we may not be able to exchange the Kiss of Peace during the liturgical celebration, it is especially important that we continue to forgive and metaphorically embrace those we may harbor animosity against. Now, more than ever, we must celebrate the Resurrection in every manner available to us.

Top Blog Posts of 2019

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Who doesn’t enjoy looking back over the highlights of the past year? These were my most popular blog posts during 2019. Click and revisit any of them or leave a comment to share which one–or any other post that didn’t make the “Most Popular” list–was your personal favorite.

Corpus Christi: Wafer vs. Bread … read it here

St. Panteleimon and His Liquid Blood … read it here

Bake an All Soul’s Cake … read it here

St. Agnes in Prague … read it here

Passiontide … read it here

Melchizedek, King of Salem … read it here

Conception of the Mother of God … read it here

Holy Week: The Death of Death … read it here

Resurrecting Easter … read it here

Dog Days, Part 2—with St. Roch … read it here

Which post was your favorite? What subject would you enjoy reading about in the upcoming year? Leave a comment below!

Maccabees and Moses and St. Peter

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Statue of Moses by Michelangelo, in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome. The relics of the Maccabees were kept in this same church.

The veneration of the Maccabean martyrs is unique in the Judeo-Christian tradition: they are the only martyrs commemorated by Jews and Christians alike. The seventh chapter of the Second Book of Maccabees (in the Old Testament) tells the story of seven faithful Jewish brothers who maintained their fidelity to the Law of God in the face of persecution during the tyranny of Antiochus IV in the second century B.C. The New Testament book of Hebrews commends these martyrs of Maccabees as exemplars of living faith (Heb 11:35).

These seven Jewish brothers and their mother were arrested and ordered to eat the un-kosher flesh of a pig. The horrific murder of these Maccabean martyrs was so terrible and gruesome that we derived an English word from it—-macabre.

The festival of Hanukkah in December celebrates the revolt led by the Maccabees against the Syrian emperor Antiochus IV. Christians have long commemorated the Maccabees on August 1 and the relics of the 7 Maccabee brothers, with their mother and teacher were long kept in the Church of St. Peter’s Chains (Rome). The relics were sent to Germany to be housed in a church in Cologne (the same city where the relics of the Magi are kept); evidently the Maccabean relics had been kept in Cologne before they had been sent to Rome.

By keeping the Maccabean relics and the statue of Moses in the Church of St. Peter’s Chains, we can see the connection between the Law of Moses and those Maccabean martyrs who died for refusing to abandon that Law. Even more, their memory is joined with the imprisonment and eventual martyrdom of the Apostle Peter. (We know that the festival of Hanukkah was still fairly new in the first century AD but that Jesus celebrated it with the apostles in John 10:22-23.)

You can find a very interesting article (in German!) here about the relics of the Maccabees that includes close-up photos of the golden reliquary which contains their bones. (If you open the page using Chrome, it will offer to translate the page for you–I want to thank my daughter Rebekah for teaching me that trick!)

The reliquary itself is fascinating. It was apparently made in 1500; it is a wooden box in the form of a church, covered with gilded copper plates. The walls of the shrine and top portions are composed of 40 scenes in which the story of the Maccabee brothers and their mother is placed in parallel with the suffering of Christ and His mother Mary. One of the most obvious examples is the contrast of the flagellation of the Maccabee brothers and the flagellation of Jesus. On the front of the shrine is the Coronation of Mary and the Coronation of the Maccabees, while on the back the Ascension of Christ is depicted with the heavenly glorification of the Maccabees.

The shrine for the Maccabees’ relics in St. Andrew’s Church (Cologne, Germany).