From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On the Royal Road of the Holy Cross [XI]   
      
   When you have arrived at that state when trouble seems sweet and   
   acceptable to you for Christ's sake, then all is well with you, for   
   you have found paradise upon earth. But so long as suffering is   
   grievous to you and you seek to escape it, so long will it go ill with   
   you, for the trouble you try to escape will pursue you everywhere.   
   --Thomas à Kempis--Imitation of Christ Bk 2, Ch 12   
      
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   December 26th - St. Dionysius   
   259 - 268 AD   
      
   The storm of persecution which had slain St. Sixtus and St. Lawrence   
   blew throughout Rome with such violence that for some time the   
   Christians could not elect a new pope. But by July of 259 Emperor   
   Valerian was too busy worrying about Persians to pay much attention to   
   Christians. On July 22, 259, the priest Dionysius was elected pope.   
      
   St. Dionysius was to have a peaceful pontificate. In 260 Valerian was   
   defeated by Sapor the Persian. He was made prisoner and then skinned.   
   His son and successor, Gallienus, though an incapable ruler, was   
   well-disposed to the Christians. Salonina, his wife, may well have   
   been a Christian herself. Gallienus issued a decree of toleration   
   which not only gave the Christians a breathing spell but even restored   
   confiscated Church property. It is interesting to note that the decree   
   dealt directly with the heads of the churches.   
      
   While there was peace at Rome, there was trouble in the East. The   
   Persians had ravaged Cappadocia, and the Christians had shared in the   
   general agony. Pope Dionysius sent the sufferers a letter of   
   consolation and a large sum of money to redeem such of the faithful as   
   had been captured and enslaved.   
      
   The Pope was on guard to defend the purity of Christian doctrine. His   
   namesake, Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, had gone astray in his   
   speculations on the Trinity. The Pope, alarmed, held a synod at Rome,   
   then sent a letter condemning the doctrinal vagaries of the good   
   Alexandrian. This letter is important for its dogmatic content. It is   
   a prelude to Nicaea. In it the Pope defends the true doctrine of the   
   Three Persons in one divine nature. Dionysius of Alexandria was less   
   than exact in his phraseology, but he was no heretic. The good old man   
   died at peace with the Church.   
      
   A real heretic, however, was troubling the Church in Asia at this   
   time. Paul of Samosata, who incongruously combined the offices of   
   bishop of Antioch and treasurer of the civil government, taught that   
   Jesus was not true God. To meet this threat, the Asiatic bishops held   
   a council at Antioch in 264 and condemned Paul's teaching. This   
   council sent a circular letter addressed to Dionysius and Maximus,   
   bishop of Alexandria, to inform the Christian world of its doings.   
      
   Pope Dionysius also seems to have done some organizing of new parishes   
   around Rome. Dionysius died in December 268 and was buried in the   
   Cemetery of Calixtus.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly to   
   heaven, saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of   
   God. And he said: Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man   
   standing on the right hand of God.   
   --St. Stephen from Acts 7:55   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and   
   His love is perfected in us.  (1 John 4-12)   
      
      
    Yesterday we celebrated the birth in time of our eternal King. Today   
   we celebrate the triumphant suffering of his soldier. Yesterday our   
   king, clothed in his robe of flesh, left his place in the virgin’s   
   womb and graciously visited the world. Today his soldier leaves the   
   tabernacle of his body and goes triumphantly to heaven.   
      
   Our king, despite his exalted majesty, came in humility for our sake;   
   yet he did not come empty-handed. He gave of his bounty, yet without   
   any loss to himself. In a marvelous way he changed into wealth the   
   poverty of his faithful followers while remaining in full possession   
   of his own inexhaustible riches. And so the love that brought Christ   
   from heaven to earth raised Stephen from earth to heaven; shown first   
   in the king, it later shone forth in his soldier. His love of God kept   
   him from yielding to the ferocious mob; his love for his neighbor made   
   him pray for those who were stoning him. Love inspired him to reprove   
   those who erred, to make them amend; love led him to pray for those   
   who stoned him, to save them from punishment.   
      
   Love, indeed, is the source of all good things; it is an impregnable   
   defense, and the way that leads to heaven. He who walks in love can   
   neither go astray nor be afraid: love guides him, protects him, and   
   brings him to his journey’s end.   
      
   My brothers, Christ made love the stairway that would enable all   
   Christians to climb to heaven. Hold fast to it, therefore, in all   
   sincerity, give one another practical proof of it, and by your   
   progress in it, make your ascent together.   
   -- Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe from a sermon   
      
      
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   When we don't pray, we quit the fight.   
   Prayer keeps the Christian's armor bright.   
   And Satan trembles when he sees   
   The weakest saint upon his knees.   
   --WILLIAM COWPER   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)