by
Damien F. Mackey
“An
official named Antiochus denounced them to the emperor Hadrian … who ordered
that they be brought to Rome. Realizing that they would be taken before the
emperor, the holy virgins prayed fervently to the Lord Jesus Christ, asking
that He give them the strength not to fear torture and death. When the holy
virgins and their mother came before the emperor, everyone present was amazed
at their composure. They looked as though they had been brought to some happy
festival, rather than to torture”.
This story bears
remarkable parallels to that of the widow-martyr, Hannah, in 2 Maccabees,
especially in my revised context according to which Antiochus IV ‘Epiphanes’
was Hadrian:
Antiochus
'Epiphanes' and Emperor Hadrian. Part One: "… a mirror image"
and:
For one,
an “Antiochus” denounces the mother and her daughters to the emperor Hadrian.
In 2 Maccabees 7 it is Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ who
tortures the victims, but who is named in Jewish legends, “Hadrian”.
In the Christian tale the mother has only
daughters.
In the Maccabean account the mother has only sons.
St. Sophia is, as Hannah is (according to Jewish
tradition), a widow.
In both
tales the children remain composed even whilst being tortured.
In both tales the pious mother, who encourages her
children, outlives them all, but soon dies (St. Sophia 3 days later).
Here is my account of the Jewish widow-martyr, according
to my revised history, with the Herodian and Maccabean ages now contemporary,
and Hannah tentatively suggested as the New Testament widow, Anna the
prophetess:
A
New Timetable for the Nativity of Jesus Christ
Anna
was a widow - and, appropriately, the woman-martyr in Maccabees has no husband
with her but only sons. Soon we shall read that she was, according to rabbinic
tradition, “a widow”.
And
she was indeed very wise and prophetic, as would befit an Anna the prophetess.
Moreover,
Anna had had the inestimable privilege of witnessing the future hope of Israel
and she accordingly “gave thanks to God and spoke about the Child to all who
were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).
If
Anna were also the woman of Maccabees, then her experience of meeting the Holy
Family would have greatly fortified her in her worthy task of urging her seven
sons not to apostatise. Her hope had become their hope.
And
so the youngest of the sons can hopefully proclaim to the king (2 Maccabees
7:32-35):
‘It
is true that our living Lord is angry with us and is making us suffer because
of our sins, in order to correct and discipline us. But this will last only a
short while, for we are still his servants, and he will forgive us.
But
you are the cruelest and most disgusting thing that ever lived. So don’t fool
yourself with illusions of greatness while you punish God’s people.
There
is no way for you to escape punishment at the hands of the almighty and
all-seeing God’.
The wise mother also manages to
‘shatter the theory of evolution’ with her ex
nihilo remark (7:28): ‘God did not make them out of existing things’: http://www.usccb.org/bible/2mc/7 “that is, all things were made solely by God’s omnipotent
will and creative word; cf. Heb 11:3. This statement has often been taken as a basis for
“creation out of nothing” (Latin creatio ex nihilo)”.
Hannah’s (Anna’s) martyrdom, along with her seven sons, we estimate to have
occurred very soon after the Presentation. The Holy Family was now safe from
“the king”, in Egypt.
Now, a traditional Jewish
interpretation of this dramatic account of martyrdom may have great import for
our revised Maccabean-Herodian history and for the ‘shaving off’ of Romans.
Very early in this article we
followed up our question about the relationship of Antiochus to Herod with: And who is Caesar Augustus?
… whilst Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’
was the king present during the martyrdom of the woman and her seven sons,
there are accounts in the Jewish Talmud and
Midrash according to which the king
in the story was “Caesar” (e.g. Talmud, Gittin
57b and Midrash Eicha Rabba 1:50).
Even more shockingly (in standard historical terms) the cruel king overseeing
the martyrdom is sometimes named “Hadrian”. Stephen D.
Moore, in The Bible in Theory: Critical and Postcritical Essays, p. 196,
when discussing the famous incident in the Maccabees of the mother and her
seven martyred sons, adds this intriguing footnote (51) according to which
Antiochus was replaced in rabbinic tradition by Hadrian:
Nameless in 4 Maccabees, the mother
is dubbed … Hannah … in the rabbinic tradition …. The tyrant in the
rabbinic versions, however, is not Antiochus Epiphanes but
Hadrian: “Hadrian
came and seized upon a widow …” (S. Eliyahu Rab. 30); “In the days of
the shemad [the Hadrianic persecutions]…” (Pesiq. R. 43). ….
As said, this is ‘shocking’ in a
conventional context which would have Antiochus (c. 170 BC) separated in time from
the reign of the emperor Hadrian (c. 117-138 AD) by some three centuries. But
it accords perfectly with the descriptions of Hadrian as “a second Antiochus”
and “a mirror-image of Antiochus”.
[End of quote]
Now, here is the story of the
Christian saint and her daughters - all so marvellously named:
Martyr Love with her mother and sisters at Rome
The Holy
Martyrs Saint Sophia and her Daughters Faith, Hope and Love were born in Italy.
Their mother was a pious Christian widow who named her daughters for the three
Christian virtues. Faith was twelve, Hope was ten, and Love was nine. Saint
Sophia raised them in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Saint Sophia and her
daughters did not hide their faith in Christ, but openly confessed it before
everyone.
An official
named Antiochus denounced them to the emperor Hadrian … who ordered that they
be brought to Rome. Realizing that they would be taken before the emperor, the
holy virgins prayed fervently to the Lord Jesus Christ, asking that He give
them the strength not to fear torture and death. When the holy virgins and
their mother came before the emperor, everyone present was amazed at their
composure. They looked as though they had been brought to some happy festival,
rather than to torture. Summoning each of the sisters in turn, Hadrian urged
them to offer sacrifice to the goddess Artemis. The young girls remained
unyielding.
Then the
emperor ordered them to be tortured. They burned the holy virgins over an iron
grating, then threw them into a red-hot oven, and finally into a cauldron with
boiling tar, but the Lord preserved them.
The youngest
child, Love, was tied to a wheel and they beat her with rods until her body was
covered all over with bloody welts. After undergoing unspeakable torments, the
holy virgins glorified their Heavenly Bridegroom and remained steadfast in the
Faith.
They
subjected Saint Sophia to another grievous torture: the mother was forced to
watch the suffering of her daughters. She displayed adamant courage, and urged
her daughters to endure their torments for the sake of the Heavenly Bridegroom.
All three maidens were beheaded, and joyfully bent their necks beneath the
sword.
In order to
intensify Saint Sophia’s inner suffering, the emperor permitted her to take the
bodies of her daughters. She placed their remains in coffins and loaded them on
a wagon. She drove beyond the city limits and reverently buried them on a high
hill. Saint Sophia sat there by the graves of her daughters for three days, and
finally she gave up her soul to the Lord. Even though she did not suffer for
Christ in the flesh, she was not deprived of a martyr’s crown. Instead, she
suffered in her heart. Believers buried her body there beside her daughters.
The relics
of the holy martyrs have rested at El’zasa, in the church of Esho since the
year 777.
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