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There has recently been a question regarding the Papa Stronsay Calendar, which you can purchase at the bottom of this post.
The question regards the signs of the Zodiac which are marked on the calendar. The Zodiac does not mean astrology. Astrology is a superstitious system of divining which is condemned by the church. With the signs of the Zodiac we simply track the sun through the constellations of the Zodiac during the year. The sun takes very nearly one month exactly to transit one constellation. Thus it is simply marking the months. Nothing whatever to do with predicting the future.
It is a venerable method of time-keeping and has been used by the Church since the beginning.
"In the fifth century there was a controversy between Rome and Alexandria about what the latest possible date for Easter could be. According to Alexandrian tradition, it was April 25. Pope St. Leo the Great (440-461) criticized this very late date by pointing out that, according to the Bible, Easter should fall in the first month, and the first month did not mean April, but the time when the sun is passing through the first part of the Zodiac — the sign of Aries. The constellation in the heavens seemed to speak, in advance and for all time, of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (Jn I:29), the one who sums up in himself all the sacrifices of the innocent and gives them their meaning. The mysterious story of the ram, caught in the thicket and taking the place of Isaac as the sacrifice decreed by God himself, was now seen as the pre-history of Christ. The fork of the tree in which the ram was hanging was seen as a replica of the sign of Aries, which in turn was the celestial foreshadowing of the crucified Christ." - Pope Benedict XVI, The Spirit of the Liturgy, p. 99-100
The question regards the signs of the Zodiac which are marked on the calendar. The Zodiac does not mean astrology. Astrology is a superstitious system of divining which is condemned by the church. With the signs of the Zodiac we simply track the sun through the constellations of the Zodiac during the year. The sun takes very nearly one month exactly to transit one constellation. Thus it is simply marking the months. Nothing whatever to do with predicting the future.
It is a venerable method of time-keeping and has been used by the Church since the beginning.
"In the fifth century there was a controversy between Rome and Alexandria about what the latest possible date for Easter could be. According to Alexandrian tradition, it was April 25. Pope St. Leo the Great (440-461) criticized this very late date by pointing out that, according to the Bible, Easter should fall in the first month, and the first month did not mean April, but the time when the sun is passing through the first part of the Zodiac — the sign of Aries. The constellation in the heavens seemed to speak, in advance and for all time, of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (Jn I:29), the one who sums up in himself all the sacrifices of the innocent and gives them their meaning. The mysterious story of the ram, caught in the thicket and taking the place of Isaac as the sacrifice decreed by God himself, was now seen as the pre-history of Christ. The fork of the tree in which the ram was hanging was seen as a replica of the sign of Aries, which in turn was the celestial foreshadowing of the crucified Christ." - Pope Benedict XVI, The Spirit of the Liturgy, p. 99-100
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Scholars show Pope Gregory XIII a chart of the Sun against the Zodiac to indicate the location of the Sun throughout a year. This great pontiff was responsible for the reform of the calendar into form we have today.
The Zodiac is profoundly bound up with Catholicism.
More to come, so watch this space!
"And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." Gen. 1:14
You can order the Calendar right here and now:
The Zodiac is profoundly bound up with Catholicism.
More to come, so watch this space!
"And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." Gen. 1:14
You can order the Calendar right here and now:
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1 comment:
What will become of the effort to make the date the same for Easter in Catholic and Orthodox Calendar alike? We must needs stay with Pope St Leo the Great and Pope Gregory XIII!
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