Catacombele romane: cel mai vechi portret al Sf. Pavel (sec. IV)

Sf. Pavel (fresca romana), sec. IV

Vatican archaeologists have uncovered what they say is the oldest known portrait of St Paul. The portrait, which was found two weeks ago but has been made public only after restoration, shows St Paul with a high domed forehead, deep-set eyes and a long pointed beard, confirming the image familiar from later depictions.

Cincizecimea (Pogorârea Sfântului Duh)

Cincizecimea

Βασιλεῦ οὐράνιε

Παράκλητε

τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας

ὁ πανταχοῦ παρὼν καὶ τὰ πάντα πληρῶν

ὁ θησαυρός τῶν ἀγαθῶν

καὶ ζωῆς χορηγός,

ἐλθὲ καὶ σκήνωσον ἐν ἡμῖν

καὶ καθάρισον ἡμᾶς ἀπὸπάσης κ

ηλῖδος καὶ σῶσον ἀγαθέ,

τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν.

St Benedict’s relics discovered at the British Museum (The Guardian)

The new medieval gallery at the British Museum is full of beautiful images of saints in ivory, stone, gold and wood – but invisible to visitors, it also holds the bones of 39 real saints, whose discovery came as a shock to their curator.

The relics, packed in tiny bundles of cloth including one scrap of fabric over 1,000 years old, were found when a 12th-century German portable altar was opened for the first time since it came into the British Museum collection in 1902.

It was in for a condition check and cleaning, before going on display in the gallery that opens tomorrow – but to the amazement of James Robinson, curator of medieval antiquities, when it was opened a linen cloth was revealed, and inside it dozens of tiny bundles of cloth, each neatly labelled on little pieces of vellum.

The most precious was the relic of St Benedict, an Italian who in the early 6th century was credited as the father of the western monastic tradition, founding monasteries and establishing guiding principles still followed at many monasteries.

Daniel Cristea Enache, despre botezul lui Nicolae Steinhardt

Nicolae Steinhardt, călugărul scriitor de la mănăstirea Rohia, care a avut una dintre cele mai spectaculoase convertiri de la iudaism la creştinism, îşi descrie botezul în pagini cutremurătoare din „Jurnalul fericirii”.

URÂŢENIE ŞI NEORÂNDUIALĂ versus FRUMUSΕŢE ŞI RÂNDUIALĂ ÎN ARTA BISERICEASCĂ (XV)

Icoana Sfintei Treimi

FRUMUSΕŢE ŞI RÂNDUIALĂ versus URÂŢENIE ŞI NEORÂNDUIALĂ ÎN ARTA BISERICEASCĂ (XIV)

CASE DE OASPEŢI: NOU ŞI VECHI

FRUMUSΕŢE ŞI RÂNDUIALĂ versus URÂŢENIE ŞI NEORÂNDUIALĂ ÎN ARTA BISERICEASCĂ (XIII)

MAICA DOMNULUI, DREPTUL IOSIF ŞI PRUNCUL IISUS versus

SF. IOACHIM ŞI ANA