Triumph of Bacchus Luigi Frullini Italian, On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 556 The central scene of this relief shows the Triumph of Bacchus. The wine god symbolizes the unrestrained life force that is also made manifest in the spiraling fruit and flowering branches. The presence of hounds, hare, and stag, refers to the hunt symbolizing a darker side of nature and death.
First Sunday of Advent
St. Paul writes his letter to the Roman instructing Christians to put off the 'works of darkness' and put on 'the armor of light.' Probably he was referring to dark and twisted pagan rituals such as the Cult of Dionysius and Lupercalia. Donna Tartt's 1992 novel "The Secret History" plays with these understandings in her murder mystery at an Ivy League school. In OVC this week, Fr. John explores St. Paul, Euripides' play "The Bacchae" and Tartt's novel. The Secret History by Donna Tartt Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality.
Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Revealing the Jewish Roots of ChristianityDr. John Bergsma, Ph.D From award-winning scholar John Bergsma comes an intriguing book that reveals new insights on the Essenes, a radical Jewish community predating Christianity, whose existence, beliefs, and practices are often overlooked in the annuls of history. Bergsma reveals how this Jewish sect directly influenced the beliefs, sacraments, and practices of early Christianity and offers new information on how Christians lived their lives, worshipped, and eventually went on to influence the Roman Empire and Western civilization.
The Bacchae and Other Plays (Penguin Classics) New Ed Edition, Kindle Edition
In the Bacchae, a king mistreats a newcomer to his land, little knowing that he is the god Dionysus disguised as a mortal.
“He (Dionysius) is life's liberating force. He is release of limbs and communion through dance. He is laughter, and music in flutes. He is repose from all cares -- he is sleep! When his blood bursts from the grape and flows across tables laid in his honor to fuse with our blood, he gently, gradually, wraps us in shadows of ivy-cool sleep.” ― Euripides, The Bacchae
Readings for the First Sunday of Advent: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112722.cfm