PICTURE 01" CHRIST

Southland Times, Issue 18938, 11 May 1923, Page 8

PICTURE 01" CHRIST

THE STORY OF THE WRITTEN DESCRIPTION. The earliest personal description of Christ, according to a cablegram from Paris recently, has been discovered in an old Latin text in the Vatican Library. Mr P. J. O’Regan, however (says the Wellington Post), draws attention to a passage on much the same lines from Lecky’s “Rise and Influence of Rationalism in Europe.” In the book appears a statement that it was a Greek Church that most fostered the tradition of the deformity of Christ “which was as fatal to religious art as it was offensive to religous feeling.” To this statement is given the following footnote: — “Of which Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Cyril of Alexandria were the principal advocates. The last declared that Christ had been ‘the ugliest of men This theory furnished Celsus with one of his arguments against Christianity. The opposite view was taken by Jerome, Ambrose, Chrysostom, and John Damascene. With a view of supporting the latter opinion there was forged a singularly beautiful letter, alleged to have been written to the Roman Senate by Lentulus (who was mentioned in the cablegram), who was pro-consul in Judaea before Herod, and in which the following passage occurs; ‘At this time there appeared a man, who is still living—a man endowed with wonderful power —His name is Jesus Christ. Men say that He is a mighty prophet; but His disciples call Him the Son of God. He calls the dead to life, and frees the sick from every kind of disease. He is tall of stature, and His aspect is sweet and full of power, so that they who look upon Him may at once love Him and fear Him. The hair of His head is of the colour of wine; as far as the ears it is straight and without glitter, from the ears to the shoulders it is curled and glossy, and from the shoulders it descends over the back, divided into two parts after the manner of the Nazarenes. His brow’ is pure and even; His countenance without a spot, but adorned with a gentle glow; His expression bland and open; His nose and mouth are of perfect beauty; His beard is copious, forked, and of the colour of His hair; His eyes are blue and very bright. In reproving and threatening He is terrible; in teaching and exhorting gentle and loving. The grace and majesty of his appearance are marvellous. No one had ever seen Him laugh, but rather weeping. His carriage is erect; His hands well formed and straight; His arms of passing beauty. Weighty and grave in speech, He is sparing of words. He is the most beautiful of the sons of men.’ Nearly all archaeologists have inferred from the representations of the fourth century that this description was then in existence. Dean Milman, however, argues from the silence of St. John Damascene and of the disputants at the Second Council of Nice that it is of much later date.”