認出四位聖史之瑪竇及瑪爾谷 (Identifying the Four Evangelists - Matthew and Mark)

在歐洲的教堂參觀，時常都會看見編寫福音四位聖史的畫像或雕塑，怎樣認出誰是誰呢？

意大利聖米尼亞托大殿祭衣房圓頂的畫像
(Vault of the Sacristy at Basilica et San Miniato al Monte; Wiki)

一次在旅行時，巧遇一位大學師兄，夫妻二人都是知識廣博又熱心的教友，解釋了怎樣解讀這些教會作品。其中一個方法，便是在作品內找出他們的代表符號或活物。這些活物，是來自默示錄第四章第六至九節：『在寶座前面周圍，有四個活物，前後都長滿了眼睛：第一個活物像獅子，第二個活物像牛犢，第三個活物面貌像人，第四個活物像飛鷹。那四個活物，個個都有六個翅膀，周圍內外都滿了眼睛，日夜不停的說：「聖！聖！聖！上主，全能的天主，是昔在、今在、及將來永在者。 」』

讓我們嘗試多了解一下四位聖史，他們的著作，是怎樣與四活物拉上關係？

第一部福音的作者是瑪竇。瑪竇是耶穌十二門徒之一，本是稅吏。在瑪竇福音第九章記載：當耶穌在加里肋亞省(Galilee)的葛法翁(Capernaum)治好一名癱子後前行，在稅關遇見瑪竇在那裏坐著，『對他說：「跟隨我！」他就起來跟隨了耶穌。』

耶穌在稅關召叫瑪竇
(By Caravaggio, 1600; Web Gallery of Art)

瑪竇福音著重耶穌人性方面的描寫，也詳細列出從阿巴郎傳下來的起源，內容針對耶穌的人性，也著重理性討論，因此，以人形或天使來代表他。

瑪爾谷是耶穌在往耶路撒冷的路上所派遣的七十二門徒往各城各地去傳教的其中之一。耶穌升天之後，當聖伯多祿忙著到處傳教時，叫瑪爾谷跟隨他，以伯多祿的教導編寫福音。瑪爾谷後來離開羅馬到亞歷山大成立亞歷山大教會。

聖路加跟據聖伯多祿的口述編寫福音
(Pasquale Ottino, 17th century, Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux; Wiki)

瑪爾谷福音一開場便引述依撒意亞先知書的記載：『「看，我派遣我的使者在你面前，預備了你的道路。曠野中有呼號者的聲音：你們當預備上主的道路，修直他的途徑。」』隨即從洗者若翰在曠野中的宣講開始，旨在展現基督為王的一面。因此代表瑪爾谷的活物是有翼的獅子，代表忠誠，勇氣，及救贖。

另兩位下一次再續。

References:

• Saint symbolism. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_symbolism
• Symbols of the Four Evangelists.  Sacred Destinations.  http://www.sacred-destinations.com/reference/symbols-of-four-evangelists
• Web Gallery of Art. http://www.wga.hu
• Mark the Evangelist. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_the_Evangelist

The Conversion of St Paul （聖保祿的歸化）

The conversion of St. Paul has been dramatically portrayed both in the Scriptures as well as in paintings.

In the Scriptures, this scene is set in somewhere near Damascus, where one from Jerusalem needs to pass through.  It is not stated clearly whether Saul is on a horse or just on foot when he falls.  There are, nonetheless, three key elements in this scene.

First, there is light from the sky.   Second, there is a conversation between God and Saul.  Mostly importantly, the voice identifies himself as Jesus.  Third, Saul becomes blind afterwards and has to be taken to Damascus by his companions.

The Italian artist Caravaggio (1517 - 1610) produced two paintings on the conversion of St Paul.

This painting, produced in 1601, depicts the light from above going straight into Saul's eyes.  Saul is immediately beneath his horse suggesting it a horrendous fall.  Another person standing beside the horse looks at Saul's terrified face seemingly no aware of any voice.  The light takes the middle seat in this painting.

Another painting by Caravaggio again highlighted the light shining upon Saul and his becoming blind afterwards.  This time, Saul is naked and in contrast to his three fellow men who are properly dressed and not able to be aware of what is causing the fall.  Saul holds his head covering his face with hands and his facial expression is not seen - is he confused, frustrated, feeling ashamed, or in pain?

Michelangelo (1475-1564) painted Saul as an old man with white beard when he converts.  There is less emphasis on the light but only reflects on the closed eyes of Saul - apparently closed because the light that shines on him is very strong.

According to google map, the distance between Jerusalem in Israel and Damascus in Syria is about 300km.  It is estimated requiring about 5 hours of drive or 60 hours of walk - assuming the contemporary traffic and current road conditions.

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In the Acts of the Apostles: "On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.  Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.”  The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could see no one. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing;* so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus."  Acts 9: 3-8. (http://www.usccb.org/bible/acts/9)

The Chinese version: 宗徒大事錄第九章第三至八節：『當他前行，快要臨近大馬士革的時候，忽然從天上有一道光，環射到他身上。他便跌倒在地，聽見有聲音向他說：「掃祿，掃祿，你為什麼迫害我？」他答說：「主，你是誰？」主說：「我就是你所迫害的耶穌。但是，你起來進城去，必有人告訴你當作什麼。」陪他同行的人站在那裏，說不出話來，只聽見聲音，卻看不見什麼人。掃祿從地上起來，睜開他的眼，什麼也看不見了。人們牽著他的手，領他進了大馬士革。』(思高聖經學會）

Picture credit:
The pictures are pasted for illustration purpose and are from the "Third Millenium Ministries" at the website: http://thirdmill.org/paul/art/image0.htm

保祿是誰？

聖保祿宗徒第一次在聖經裏出場，是在宗徒大事錄第七章五十八節。當時斯德望(Stephen)在耶路撒冷公議會演講，激怒了大司祭、經師、長老及百姓，被拉出城外，用石頭砸死後，『證人脫下自己的衣物，放在名叫掃祿的青年人腳前。』掃祿 (Saul) 就是後來歸化後改了名字的保祿。

這裏沒有提到掃祿為什麼會出現在現場，和他以什麼身份出現。在兩節之後，第八章第一節，則提到『掃祿也贊同殺死他。』並且，『就在那一日，發生了嚴厲迫害耶路撒冷教會的事』。而在第八章第三節則清楚指，『掃祿想摧毀教會，進入各家，連男帶女都拉去，押到監裏。』

掃祿再次現身，是在第九章，當斐理伯(Philip)下到撒瑪黎雅城(Samaria)宣講基督，『掃祿還是向主的門徒口出恐嚇和兇殺之氣，遂去見大司祭，求他發文書給大馬士革各會堂，凡他搜出的這道門的人，不拘男女，都綁起來，解送到耶路撒冷。』

緊接之後，便是有關掃祿在往大馬士革(Damascus)的路上，被耶穌召叫的經過。

在這裡，先看看保祿的身世。在宗徒大事錄第二十二章第一節，保祿以希伯來文發表演說，在打算拘捕他的猶太人面前，說明自己是猶太人，生於小亞細亞基里基雅省(Cilicia)的塔爾索城 (Tarsus)，在耶路撒冷長大，並曾隨當時著名的加瑪里耳經師(Gamaliel)學習。

這裏顯示，保祿屬於當時的精英份子。他父母均為本雅明支派猶太人，而他一出生便是羅馬公民。他從小受了良好教育，並到耶路撒冷深造，對猶太教律及神學造詣甚高，也或許因此而對猶太教和祖傳法律，充滿熱誠。

塔爾索城是基里基雅省的首府，位於現時土耳其中南部，在塔爾索河(Tarsus River)流出地中海的出口，離地中海岸約二公里，在耶路撒冷北面約九百三十公里。塔爾索是古羅馬時代的貿易中心及文化交匯點。歷史上除了是聖保祿宗徒的家鄉，也是古羅馬政治家安東尼首次與埃及女王(Queen Cleopatra of Egypt)見面的地方。

The Pearl of Great Price

"I serve you in the midst of the people whom you have chosen.  Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to distinguish right from wrong"

"Wonderful are your decrees; therefore I observe them.  The revelation of your words sheds light, giving understanding to the simple."

"All things work for good for those who love God."

"The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for find pearls.  When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it."

(17th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Mysticism

When we talk about mystics, reference is often made to people such as Saint John of the Cross, Saint Therese of Lisieux, and also the recently canonised Saint John Paul II.  But what is mystics?  What is mysticism? 

According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, mysticism refers to "the experience of mystical union or direct communion with ultimate reality reported by the mystics", or "the belief that direct knowledge of God, spiritual truth, ultimate reality can be attained through subjective experience as intuition or insights."

The online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy considered "mysticism" as "a constellation of distinctive practices, discourses, texts, institutions, traditions, and experiences aiming at human transformation, variously defined in different traditions."  As such, the study of mysticism covers the classification of mystical experiences, their nature in different religions and mystical traditions, and how they are modified by language and culture, as well as whether there is evidence for the truth of contents of the mystical experiences.

Mystical experience is therefore further defined in a wider sense as "a purportedly super sense-perceptual or sub sense-perceptual experience granting acquaintance of realities or states of affairs that are of a kind not accessible by way of sense perception, somatosensory modalities, or standard introspection."  However, more commonly, it refers to a subset of the above focusing on a "unitive" experience which involves a "de-emphasis, blurring, or eradication of multiplicity."

Examples of unitive experience are the "oneness of all nature", "union with God" of Christianity, Atman if Brahman (the the self/soul is identical with the eternal, absolute being) in Hinduism, and that in Buddhism.  Such unitive experience is in contrast with a dualistic experience of God when the subject and God remain strictly distinct.  On example quoted by the website for the latter is the Jewish tree of life kabbalistic experience.

Mystical experience is considered not equivalent to but a subset of "religious experience".  The latter refers to any experience having content or significance appropriate to a religious context, such as religious visions and auditions, non-mystical Zen experiences, various religious feelings, as well as the "feeling of absolute dependence".

Reference:

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mysticism/)

基督信仰中的崇拜和祭獻

傳統宗教一般認為崇拜和宇宙的關係，是根據一個上下「生發」(exitus) 和「回歸」(reditus) 的循環：非神體是由神聖的高處墮落及下墜；而當人類對自身墮落產生頓悟而感到懊悔時，便是朝著祂上升回去。崇拜就是瞻仰那在萬有之前及萬有之上的存有，也包含救贖的意向。

基督信仰內的神與人的關係，也是帶有「生發」和「回歸」兩個基本方向。 特別的是，「生發」是一個造物主自由的及積極意志下的創作行為；而「回歸」則是一個自主的受造物，以自由回應天主的愛，建立全新的契合。在這個獻祭中，受造物不但不被銷毀，反而獲得圓滿及成全。

基督信仰內的崇拜，有以下的強調：

首先，朝拜的對象必須是天主，而不是其它代替品。 這是相對於那些「認為唯一真神不能以牲祭來侍奉，便索性不去崇拜祂，而去以祭獻以取悅每天的『率領者和掌權者』」的人來說的。

在祭獻方面，舊約強調祭品只是一個代替品，是用從祂而來的恩物作為祭獻。在新約，祭品則是在基督身上看到天主所賜的「羔羊」，也因此藉著基督的祭獻，令替代性的禮儀成為不必要的。

本書引羅馬書第十二章第一節，指示了「合理的敬禮」：獻上你們的身體，當作生活、聖潔和悅樂天主的祭品。並指出「言」(logos), 祈禱內的說話，就是祭獻。「它由人發出，連同人的整個存在，一起上升到天主那裏，讓他自己成為言。當人使自己與言相符，並透過信仰而成為言後，他就成了祭品。」「希臘思想更把言提升至與「羅格思」(Logos), 即一切事物的意義，神秘結合的概念。」承接這些發展，教會將感恩祭視為「祈禱」(oratio)，即「以言舉行的祭獻」。

『「禮儀的真諦」閱讀筆記之三』

註：「禮儀的真諦」拉辛格樞機著(1999)，李子忠譯(2013)，良友之聲出版社

崇拜的意義

從宗教的角度看，崇拜和宇宙是緊密相連的。崇拜是一個循還授受的行動。神明保存及支持世界，人則藉世上的資源作祭品供應神明飲食，供奉神明。神明和人互相需要，成為一個循還。

在基督宗教舊約的創世紀，也點出了類此的思想，但被轉化了。「創造朝著安息日邁進，直至人與整個受造物都參與天主的休息。」在這一天，「一切從屬關係都要停止，暫時釋除一切工作的負累」。「安息日是天主與人立約的標記；歸納了盟約內涵的本質」。創世紀也帶出，萬物受造的原因就是盟約，天主與受造物人類的愛情故事，在這個盟約裏，天主與人建立關係，天主把自己賜與人，人對天主作出回應，以愛天主作為崇拜祂。而「人與天主建立盟約，才能享有真正自由，彰顯人的平等和尊嚴」。

那麼，崇拜是否就等同祭獻及毀滅，把寶貴的東西呈獻，並遭毀滅，從人的手中撤走？而是否東西的毀滅，便能取悅天主？

本書認為，祭獻是一種存在方式，是服屬於天主，與毀滅無關。引聖奧思定所說，真的祭獻就是「天主之城」(civitas dei)， 即「那把被愛所轉化的人類，受造物的神化，並把一切萬物呈奉給天主，讓天主在一切內成為一切」。


『「禮儀的真諦」閱讀筆記之二』

註：「禮儀的真諦」拉辛格樞機著(1999)，李子忠譯(2013)，良友之聲出版社

禮儀與遊戲的類比

到底教會禮儀，對我們有什麼意義？

最近在榮休主教 Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) 所著的 The Spirit of Liturgy (李子忠中譯本：禮儀的真諦）裏，看到了這個有趣的說法：禮儀與遊戲（play, game)有相似的特性，因此可按遊戲理解禮儀。

遊戲有自己的規則和意義，但無須意圖或成就，因而令我們從生活擔子暫時釋放出來。遊戲多是一種模擬生活，「一種日後生活的預習」，卻沒有後者的壓力和嚴肅態度。禮儀有它的規則，並作為未來生命「永生的另類預嘗，預習，序曲」，也表達一個對秩序和自由合而為一的不同世界的期待。

從這個類比上，可再從聖經理解天主教禮儀的具體內容和目的：即崇拜，敬拜天主。從舊約中，「出谷紀的唯一目的，就只有崇拜，而且只能按照天主的準則」。以色列人出埃及，是為了到一塊土地，成為崇拜天主的國度。他們並在西乃山接受崇拜的訓示，也接受包羅一切的法律和生活秩序，也因此成為一個民族。

『「禮儀的真諦」閱讀筆記之一』

註：「禮儀的真諦」拉辛格樞機著(1999)，李子忠譯(2013)，良友之聲出版社