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Scientist Uncovers Hidden 1,750-Year-Old New Testament Translation with Ultraviolet Imaging

...ce in the desert during the Middle Ages and frequently reused. Kessel explains that Syriac Christianity encompasses multiple translations of the Old and New Testaments. Until recently, only two manuscripts containing the Old Syriac translation of the Gospels were known. The fragment of the translation of the New Testament is visible under UV light © Vatican Library   One of these fragments is housed at the British Library in London, while the second fragment, a "palimpsest" or reused manuscript that retains traces of its original form, was discovered at St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai. Kessel's identified fragment offers a "unique gateway" in...

Great Lent: The Season of Fasting

...st in the desert. His letters are useful as they show quite clearly that the time of Lent and Easter have been established for many centuries in the Church and are nothing to do with paganism! The beginning of the fast of forty days is on the fifth of the month Phamenoth [Ash Wednesday]; and when, as I have said, we have first been purified and prepared by those days, we begin the holy week of the great Easter on the tenth of the month Pharmuthi [Palm Sunday], in which, my beloved brethren, we should use more prolonged prayers, and fastings... –Athanasius, Letter III I won't go into much more detail on the history of Lent and Easter (or pascha), but I...

Does Easter Have Pagan Origins?

...st in the desert. His letters are useful as they show quite clearly that the time of Lent and Easter has been established for many centuries in the Church, and have nothing to do with paganism as they predate any Anglo-Saxon or German goddess by about 600 years (if they even existed)! The beginning of the fast of forty days is on the fifth of the month Phamenoth [Ash Wednesday]; and when, as I have said, we have first been purified and prepared by those days, we begin the holy week of the great Easter on the tenth of the month Pharmuthi [Palm Sunday], in which, my beloved brethren, we should use more prolonged prayers, and fastings…–Athanasius, Letter III...