stephan huller's observations: The Cross [part 3]

So when we come full circle to the central question in all of Christianity - how the community learned to love the instrument of God's execution - it is difficult to imagine that such a thing could have occurred naturally. Yes, the (Ethiopian) Copts venerate Pilate as a saint. Yet this doesn't approach the unlikeliness of it ending up worshiping the ancient equivalent of the electric chair. Even amor fati has its limits.

The only explanation that I can come up with is that the Christian Mark developed the veneration of the Cross along arguments we see emerge in the first hymn of Marqe in the Samaritan canon. The martyr embodies both a blessing (of resurrection) and a curse (of suffering the same fate) upon all who witness it.

I find it impossible to get over the underlying symbolism of a 'crucified one' as embodiment of the primitive symbolism employed by all conquerers. We read of armies killing a number of males and raising them up as 'warnings' against any in the general populace who might think of joining sides with the rebels.

I know that this isn't what we have come to think of when we view the Cross. This certainly wasn't what our European ancestors told us was its sacred mystery. However when we return the Cross back to its native setting in first century Palestine the real question is - how could it escape this significance given the contemporary political culture?

Indeed it is easy to imagine the doctrines of our existing Church orthodoxy flourishing in a historical void or in Europe (the same thing I think for all intents and purposes). Yet can anyone really imagine that the disciples of Jesus promoted a Cross in ancient Palestine in the lead up to the War? Can anyone imagine anything more ridiculous? It would be like white people encouraging the 'worship of the hanging noose' in the Deep South in the last century and claiming 'we don't understand what everyone is so upset about ...'

Jews are still revolted by the Cross and it isn't because they are related to vampires. They recognize its original symbolism even if contemporary European experts do not.

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