I kind of don’t think his beard would have been trimmed.
Wow I didn’t expect such an animated discussion, I’ll be honest I was playing a Victorian era world strategy game and the Byzantine Empire was ressurected (no pin intended) and I asked it to have Christ on the cross overlooking Constantinople, the middle 2 I literally just put in Jesus watching over my home city. No bias or asking him to be white lol. For context I’ll add the photo I got it to analyse
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Certainly!
Name for the Patriarch: Patriarch Nikolaos I of Constantinople
Celebration Mass in the Hagia Sophia led by Patriarch Nikolaos I
[The Hagia Sophia is adorned with golden banners and wreaths of olive branches. Thousands of candles illuminate the grand interior. The scent of frankincense fills the air as the choir sings Byzantine hymns in the background.]
Patriarch Nikolaos I, dressed in ornate liturgical vestments, steps forward to the ambo with a serene expression, raising his hands in blessing:
“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.”
Patriarch Nikolaos I: “Beloved in Christ, today marks a historic moment for our people and our faith. We gather in this sacred Hagia Sophia, not just as Greeks, but as faithful servants of the Lord, celebrating our shared heritage, history, and the blessings bestowed upon us.”
Choir: Chants the Trisagion hymn. “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.”
Patriarch Nikolaos I: “The journey to this day has been one of trials and triumphs. But through unwavering faith and the grace of God, Greece has realized the Megali Idea. Today, we stand united, our hearts filled with gratitude and hope.”
[He gently lifts the Gospel Book, blessing the congregation with it.]
“As the Scriptures remind us, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.’ Today, we pray for continued peace, unity, and prosperity for our nation and all nations.”
Choir: Sings Psalm 150. “Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the psaltery and harp.”
Patriarch Nikolaos I: “Let us also remember and honor those who sacrificed for our dream, those brave souls who believed in a brighter future for our nation. Their spirit lives on in our hearts and our actions.”
[The Holy Chalice is unveiled, and the Eucharistic prayer begins.]
“We offer to You, O Lord, the bread of life and the cup of salvation, beseeching Your mercy upon us and upon all Your children.”
Choir: Chants the Kyrie Eleison. “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.”
Patriarch Nikolaos I: “May the love of Christ guide us, the wisdom of the Holy Spirit inspire us, and the protection of the Father be with us, today and always.”
[The mass concludes with the choir singing “Τῇ Ὑπερμαχῷ Στρατηγῷ” (To the Champion Leader), a hymn dedicated to the Theotokos.]
“As we leave this sacred space, let us carry forth the light of Christ, spreading love, compassion, and unity in all we do. Peace be with you all.”
Congregation: “And also with you.”
[The bells of Hagia Sophia ring out, echoing across the city, symbolizing a new era of unity and faith for the Greek people.]
It was just to provide a narrative for my game haha.
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Interesting, that picture is being shown at a gallery in our sorta small town at the present time:
I plan on seeing it in the near future with a group from our church.
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No bias, it was just for a video game
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I remember debating that one late night after finals . . . can’t even recall if it was grad school or before, darn it, but anyway we were a sheet or two to the wind by then and ended with really stupid jokes, like Jesus would need to wear jeans if He could carry a wallet in the wound in His side?
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Hippy-haired and strikingly kitchy.
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I think the eyes are green. Rather Persian.
- As for Akiane Kramarik’s “Prince of Peace”. Akiane Kramarik was born on July 9, 1994, in Mount Morris, Illinois, to a Lithuanian mother and a non-practicing Catholic American father. Kramarik professed she saw the face of Jesus Christ in her visions. Her education began at a parochial school, but she was later homeschooled. Regarding her influences and motivation, she states:
- Religious art of sculptures, reliefs and paintings in one of the parochial schools I attended greatly influenced my later attraction to legendary figures. For the first time I got to encounter the world’s view of what divinity was supposed to be, but deep down I felt that I perceived everything in a much broader and deeper sense. It appeared to me as if most people were completely ignorant of other realities, or that the realities they perceived were seen only from a very narrow angle
- Kramarik has said Prince of Peace is her “favorite portrait” and one of her most memorable paintings. (Akiane - Wikipedia) At age eight she had long been seeking the right face to help her paint an image from her dreams and visions when a family friend brought to her a carpenter as a possible subject. The man’s face closely resembled what Kramarik remembered as the face of Jesus. She completed the portrait in 40 hours of intensive work. Not long after, it was shipped to her agent for exhibition, who then stole it and sold it without permission. For sixteen years the original painting was held locked in a bank vault, with the then-owner unwilling either to show or to sell it. At the age of four, Colton Burpo, whose story was featured in the best-selling book Heaven Is for Real and the film adaptation of the same name, underwent a critical operation after his appendix burst. Although it was not a near-death experience (his heart never stopped), he did say he had an experience of visiting Heaven and had visions of Jesus. Years later, when he saw Kramarik’s Prince of Peace on TV, he told his father “Dad, that one’s right.”
- In the movie “Heaven Is For Real”, loosely based on the book by the same name, written by Colton’s father, Todd Burpo, in 2009 and published in 2010, Colton describes Jesus’ eyes as “blue” or “green” like his father’s.
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- I was a blue-eyed hippie in the summer of 1971. Akiane’s model was fairly well groomed for a carpenter.
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Interesting details. I really have a pretty negative attitude towards artistic depictions of Jesus, and even have mixed emotions about a large abstract type depiction we have in our church, and that reinforces why I feel that way. It really borders on idolizing the image.
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- The issue of Jesus’ post-resurrection and ascension appearance that I encountered was back in the mid-1970s, I was involved with the Catholic Charismatics in San Francisco.
- At that time,someone asked: If and when Jesus appears in a vision in this world, how will we know that it’s Jesus and not Satan, and someone said: By his wounds; if he doesn’t have any, it’s not Jesus.
- Using that “rule of thumb”, another question is raised, … now that Arkiane’s Prince of Peace painting has been made public.
- Here’s the cover of a children’s book inspired by the “Heaven Is For Real” story involving 3.75 year old Colton Burpo who reported to his parents that when he went to heaven and saw Jesus, his father asked him how he knew it was Jesus, and his response–in both his father’s book and the movie loosely based on the book was: “because he had the marks on his hands”, i.e. the nail marks.
- I laughed when I heard that, in the movie. So when I came across the children’s book based on his experience and father’s book. I just had to see where the illustrator put those nail-marks.
- Here’s a copy of the cover of the children’s book:
- We Shroudies will never buy that!! Any Shroudie will tell you: "The nail-marks won’t be in the hands; they’ll be in the wrists!!!
- Another dubious feature of the story: …Angels don’t have wings. Wings and halos are a non-biblical invention.
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Did you hear that the boy’s story turned out to be a fraud? Tyndale house pulled “Heaven is for Real” when Malarkey admitted he lied about the whole thing…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/01/22/the-boy-who-didnt-go-to-heaven-and-how-heaven-tourism-conquered-the-publishing-world/
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- You have wrong story. The story that Tyndale pulled was Alexander Malarkey’s story: The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven
- Malarkey confessed that he had made up the story “to get attention”, when he was about 6, I think, and with his father’s help, the two got Tyndale to buy and sell it.
- Todd and Sonja Burpo, and Colton are still telling the same story: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Todd+and+Colton+Burpo
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ahh…sorry. Didn’t realize there were multiple such stories. thanks
- Not a problem. I only “know” because @marta and I hsd a wrestlin’ match over Colton Burpo’s story. I bought it hook, line and sinker when Father Robert Spitzer first brought his story to my attention. In the end, I got her to agree that 3.75 year old Colton had some kind of experience while he was anesthetized and lay on the surgery table, and his “consciousness” went somewhere, but ‘the jury’s still out’ on where he went.
- Meanwhile the poor blind Jesuit priest, Fr. Spitzer, may or may not have backed away from Colton’s story, and Colton’s sstill telling it and o are his parents. Beats H out of me …
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Though my post was mostly just kidding around it is something I’ve wondered. I have no opinion on the shroud. I think it could or that it could not be a shroud that Jesus wore in burial.
Same with wings. I don’t know if they do or if they don’t have wings. I’m not sure if I’m the visions of them with wings covered in eyes if some really appear like that or not. It’s another one of those things that just something I won’t ever know. I guess I land on them being something that does not have an actual form but can manifest in many ways.
When it comes to the supernatural, I mostly just set it to the side. I accept by faith something is there, and it’s just not relevant to my life outside of playing a role in the entertainment I consume.
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- Smart move. The hard-boiled YEC SDAs. on the other hand, take a stand and declare it ain’t authentic. And then go and take a stand on the literal 6-day creation. Go figure …
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