Restore

8.20

Restore
Fortune
恢复财富 
Huīfù cáifù
回復フォーチュン 
Kaifuku fōchun
ps126
Restituere fortuna

When leadership restored fortune,
we were like those who received our portion.

We felt like those who dream while still awake.
There was the distinct feeling that this fortune wasn't fake.

Our mouth was filled with laughter.
It was like starting again after a climatic chapter.

The rider and the fighter were twins in the sky.
They fought for the standard to know how and why.

They released many captives from the burden of plight.
The captives were freed with the capacity for flight.

Courage watched leadership rise with his word.
Reason was challenged to struggle with the absurd.

The hunter drank in the storm faint though it had been.
He stalked the prey that he had yet to win.

The rider rested with his horse
in the investigation of the state of the forest.

Wildness preceded the primitive me.
Food and water have been granted to proceed.

Our tongues lifted sound above vocal cords.
Our joy was profound. Our bliss was adored.

Restore fortune with the cosmic sorter for order.
Grow us flowers plentiful as stars in the heavenly quarters.

Give us fertility instead of ashes.
Let water pour down while the lightening crashes.

Let oil be squeezed from olives or vegetables.
Let want be appeased, not made palid or miserable.

Let the mantle of praise lift up the weakness of spirit.
Feel the energy of love before you hear or go near it.

Augurs of chance read spirits instead of birds.
Test your statements for the truth of the words.

Righteousness is based on faith with grace.
Redemption with Christ places destiny over fate.

Great things have been done for us in the strength of this time.
The length of light grows as sublimely prime.

Let love be as genuine
as lessons drawn from the benign within.

Hate what is evil
as the retrieval 
of the primevally penal.

Love one another with mutual affection.
Let the joy of your smile show for detection.

Outdo one another in showing honor. 
The proper offer can win a sponsor. 

Those who managed labor throughout the last year
made a memory to transcend the feeling of fear.

Celebrate the presence of the essential essence.
Gratitude for service beats sacrifice as penance.

Those who sowed seed with the toil of their tears
will reap joy with the music of love in the heavenly spheres.

The deluge washed the mass of seashells.
Polish was added to the shine of cells
and bells.

Those who went weeping to water their seeds
will return with shoulders of sheaves to fulfill basic needs.

This voice is like that of the cry in the darkness
unbroken in facing the strength of the starkness.

You bear fruit when you glorify our Father
in a way that shows your sense of honor.

Give as you have made up your mind to afford.
Cheerful giving is benefit that you define for accord.

God provides blessing in cheerfulness.
The feeling reproduces peer coolness. 

You are loved by the Son
when your will is aligned with the divine one.

The Father will honor the production of value
in accord with benefit for the public cachou.

Abide in this love by the power of the Spirit.
The real presence of the divine essence will let you draw near it.  

Restore our fortune. Transform the harm of the past.
Let us have our portion. Give us confidence to last.

Making continual reparation for misdeeds from the past
isn't a policy that will make fortune last.

Liberals made the public pay for legal reform,
then they make us pay for damage caused by the storm
from the reform.

----------------------------

Psalm 126
In convertendo
When

1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
then were we like those who dream.
2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy.
3 Then they said among the nations,
"The Lord has done great things for them."
4 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are glad indeed.
5 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses of the Negev.
6 Those who sowed with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
7 Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed,
will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.

-------------------------

2 Corinth. 9:7-8

Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver.  He is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance that by always having enough of everything you may share abundantly in every good work.

-------------------------

Give as you have made up your mind to afford.
Cheerful giving is benefit that you define for accord.

God provides blessing in cheerfulness.
The feeling reproduces peer coolness.

==================

John 12:26

Whoever serves me must follow me. Where I am, there will my servant be. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

-------------------------

The Father will honor the production of value
in accord with benefit for the public cachou.

==================

Accountability

The second letter of Valerian to Rome in 258 CE allows for the execution of Laurence to be dated.

The events that preceded the report of the persecution shed light on the historical situation. There was a crisis in leadership in the third century that contributed to the persecution of Christians as an anti-Roman sect in Rome.

Septimus Severus
(193-211 CE)

The Severan Dynasty ruled the Roman Empire between 193 and 235. The dynasty was founded by the general, Septimus Severus. He rose to power as the victor of the 193-7 Civil War.

Severus increased the pay and benefits for the military. A soldier’s pay was raised from 300 to 500 denarii annually. The increase in pay was overdue, but the size of the armed force was increased to meet the challenges from beyond the borders of the empire.

The value of the currency was debased by adding less precious metal to the coinage to pay for the change. This was an initial debasement. It set a precedent for later emperors.

Roman forts were primarily military bases, but they were also home to the troops who garrisoned them. The forts also housed a retinue of dependents and camp-followers.

All had to be fed and clothed. Since the soldiers’ relatively high rates of pay gave them considerable purchasing power, the forts were provided with a wide range of goods and services.

Severus weakened the role of the emperor by playing to the military. He had almost doubled the pay. The position increased dependence on the loyalty of the army.

The emperor had always relied on the support of the military to one degree or another, but courting the military became more pronounced.

The right of succession would be replaced by a competition among military leaders after the end of the Severan Dynasty. The danger didn’t become apparent until  after the death of the last emperor of the dynasty, Alexander.

The Severan dynasty was disturbed by unstable family relations and constant political turmoil. Each of the Severan emperors was killed during a campaign or was assassinated.

Septimius Severus had his Praetorian Prefect executed in 205. He was killed in a campaign in Britain in 211. He was succeeded by his sons Caracalla and Geta.

They had been appointed as Caesars when Septimius was Augustus. His sons reigned under the influence of their mother, Julia Domna.

Geta was assassinated by order of Caracalla in 211. Caracalla became the Augustus. He was assassinated by a Praetorian Guard while enroute to campaign against the Parthians in 217. 

Macrinus was the Prefect of the Guard who conspired to assassinate Caracalla. He was not Severan. He was declared Augustus after the assassination. His reign was short. He was executed after he lost a battle with Elagabalus in 218.

Elagabalus was persuaded to accept his young cousin Severus as Caesar. Alexander was popular with the troops.

Elagabalus behaved as a transgender. Objections to his behavior increased. Elagabalus removed the title of Caesar from his cousin. The Praetorian Guard staged a mutiny to assassinate him in 222.

Severus Alexander
(207-235 CE)

When Alexander had just turned thirteen on March 6, 222, a rumor went around the city among the troops that he had been killed.

The eighteen year old Elagabalus and his mother were both taken from the palace, dragged through the streets, killed and thrown in the Tiber river by the Praetorian Guard. Alexander Severus was proclaimed the Augustus.

He ruled from the age of fourteen under the influence of his mother, Julia Avita Mamaea. Alexander restored the moderation that characterized the rule of Septimius Severus to an extent.

The rising strength of the Sasanian Empire (226-651) heralded the greatest challenge that Rome faced in the 3d century, but German tribes invaded Gaul. This created a different front to fight.
Alexander had lost the respect of his troops at twenty seven years of age. He was overthrown during the war in 235.

The troubles of the Severan Dynasty foreshadowed the Crisis of the Third Century. It was one of the last lineages of the Principate founded by Augustus. The death of Alexander was the epochal event that started the crisis.

A number of rebellious generals and counter-claimants created a succession of short reigns by military emperors who presided over governmental chaos, civil war, general instability and economic disruption. Maximiunus Thrax was the first of a series of emperors who ruled on average only 2 to 3 years.

The “Barracks Emperors” is a term coined by later historians referring to the Roman emperors who came from and were raised to power by the army.

The system of hereditary succession was displaced by the choice of an emperor by the military based on his popularity with the troops, generosity toward the military and his ability to produce immediate and discernible results. When any of these criteria were not met, especially the last, he was assassinated and replaced by another.

Between the reign of Alexander Severus and that of Diocletian, there were over 20 emperors who rose and fell in fairly swift succession. This type of rule ended fifty years later when the Emperor Diocletian split the Eastern and Western Empires.

Valerian
(253-260)

Valerian had a longer than average rule. His lasted about seven years. He made his son Gallienus Caesar and co-emperor.  Fighting on northern and eastern fronts generated internal strife. Affairs in Europe went from bad to worse early in his reign. The whole west fell into disorder.

Relations with the northern tribesmen had never been stable enough to remove their being called barbari. The relations weren’t always violent either.

Rome maintained the upper hand over hostility by a combination of diplomacy and warfare. They promoted leadership among the various tribes by means of gifts and subsidies. Sometimes food supplies and military aid were offered.

Climate changes and a rise in sea levels ruined the agriculture of what is now the Low Countries. Tribes were forced to relocate to find food.

Archaeological evidence shows that vigorous, warlike tribesmen moved into the more peaceful lands to the north-west of the empire at about the same time. The abandonment of a wide area that was previously settled and agricultural wealth was precipitated.

Antioch had fallen into the hands of a Sassanid vassal in the east. Armenia was occupied by Shapur I. Valerian and Gallienus split the problems of the empire between them. The son took the northwest. The father went east to face the Persian threat.

Valerian was elected Consul Ordinarius in 254, 255 and 257. He had recovered Antioch and returned the province of Syria to Roman control. The following year the Goths ravaged Asia Minor.

Shapur I
(240-270)

Ardashir was an Iranian prince descended from Sasan. It is from Sasan that the Sassanids took their name. He had established himself as Shahanshah, 'king of kings' by 226 CE

His declared intention was to restore the ancient Persian empire to its former glory. He was willing to push his borders westwards into Roman-controlled territories.  His son and successor, Shapur, followed these aggressive expansionist policies. This meant trouble for Rome.

Shapur was the second Shanhanshah of the Sasanian Empire. His rule was marked by successful military and political struggles in the northeastern regions and the Caucasus.

Monotheism grew in popularity during his reign. His support for Zoroastrianism caused a rise in the position of the clergy. His religious tolerance accelerated the spread of Manichaeanism and Christianity in Persia. He is also noted in Jewish tradition.

Persecution of Christians under Valerian
(257-260)

Valerian sent two letters to the Senate while fighting the Persians. The letters ordered that firm steps be taken against Christians. The first was sent in 257. It commanded that Christian clergy perform sacrifices to the Roman gods or face banishment.

The second was sent the following year. It ordered that all senators and equites perform acts of worship to the Roman gods. The penalty for failure to do so was the loss of title and property. The letter stipulated that any who refused would be executed.

Matrons would also lose property and suffer banishment. Civil servants and members of the Imperial household who would not burn incense to worship the gods would be reduced to slavery and sent to work on the Imperial estates. The letter indicates that Christians were well established at the time. Some held high positions.

Prudent was executed at Narbonne in 257. Others were executed in Rome in 258. These included Pope Sixtus II (Aug 6), Romanus Ostiarius (Aug 9), Lawrence (Aug 10) and Eugenia (Dec 25).

Others were executed in different locations. Denis was killed in Paris.  Pontius was killed in Cimiez (near Nice, France). Patroclus was executed at Troyes. Fructuosus was martyred at Tarragona. The decree was rescinded in 260 when Valerian’s son, Gallienus became Emperor in 260. 

The life of Deacon Lawrence claims that he was tortured on an iron grid in the third century. Was he tortured in an effort to force capitulation to the emperor’s decree? The answer depends upon whether he was a Roman citizen or not.

Social Class in Ancient Rome

Status was hierarchical. There were multiple social hierarchies that overlapped. An individual’s position was relative. One might be higher or lower than others.

The status of freeborn Romans during the Republic was established by ancestry.

A citizen was born a plebian or a patrician. The Optimates wanted to retain status according to birth. The Populares wanted to allow plebians to move up. Julius Caesar came from a family that had been plebian.

Census counted rank (ordo) based on wealth and political privilege. The senatorial and equestrian ranks were elevated above the ordinary citizen.  Honor was ascribed for effort. A self-made man established his family as nobilis (noble). There were noble plebians.

The different grades of citizenship had varying rights and privileges. Men who lived in towns outside of Rome in municipia or colonies might hold citizenship, but lack the right to vote. Free born Roman women were citizens, but could not vote or hold political office.

Peregini were distinguished from barbari (the barbarians) and slaves. Slaves were often enslaved as a spoil of war. They were taken from a conquered tribe and put in a position of servitude. They were legally defined as property.

Peregrinus was the term used during the early Roman empire from 30 BCE to 212 CE. The subject was free and provincial insofar as he was not regarded as a hostile non-citizen. These were the largest number in the census of the Empire’s inhabitants in the 1st and 2d centuries CE.

Slaves were considered property and had no rights under Roman law. There were rights that offered slaves more protection than an animal. Slaves who had been manumitted were freedmen (liberti). They enjoyed the same legal rights and protections as free born citizens.

Roman society was patriarchal. The male head of the household (paterfamilias) held legal power and privilege. He was given jurisdiction (patria potestas) over all the members of his familia. His wife, adult sons, married daughters, dependent relatives and slaves were regarded as family.

The word patronus is derived from pater (father). It was another way in which Roman society was organized into hierarchical groups.

Clientela also functioned in the system of overlapping social networks. A patron could be the client of a socially superior or more powerful patron. A client could have multiple patrons. 

Laurence

The name Laurence is derived from the Latin Laurentius. This literally means laurelled. The name suggests a type of person who excelled in competition. He could have been one of any number who were executed for refusal to worship Roman gods.

Laurence (or Lawrence) was chief of the seven deacons of the congregation at Rome. These seven men were like Stephen and his companions (Acts 6:1-6). They were put in charge of administering the church budget, particularly with regard to the care of the poor.

The emperor Valerian began a persecution aimed chiefly at the clergy and the laity of the upper classes in 257. Church property was confiscated and meetings of Christians were forbidden.

The bishop of Rome, Sixtus II, and most of his clergy were executed on 7 August 258. There is early testimony that Bishop Sixtus and his deacons were not led away to execution, but were summarily beheaded on the scene of their arrest.

Laurence was the archdeacon of Rome. He was the distributor of alms and the “keeper of the treasuries of the church.”  When Pope Sixtus II and four deacons were beheaded on August 6, Laurence was left as the ranking Church official in Rome.

When he was summoned to bring the treasure of the Church to the tribunal, he placed all the money at his disposal in the hands of trustworthy stewards.

He assembled the sick, the aged, the poor, the widows and orphans of the congregation. He presented them to the prefect and said, "These are the treasures of the Church." The enraged prefect ordered him to be roasted alive on a gridiron.

The detail is significant with respect for authenticity. Stories of martyrdom were circulated to celebrate the bravery of Christians who refused to worship the gods of antiquity. Certain details were included in order to question the literal truth.

If it was generally known that that were no iron grids in Rome large enough for the task of torturing a person by placing him on it, the message was intended to suggest that non-citizens could be tortured for failing to comply with an imperial edict to worship the gods in a public ceremony.

The story about Pope Sixtus was an indication that the letter from Valerian stated that the Senate could execute anyone and to take the property of those who failed to offer sacrifice in accordance with the edict.

The execution of Laurence is commemorated on the 10th of August.

The meteor shower that follows the passage of the Swift-Tuttle comet was known in the middle ages as the ‘burning tears of St. Lawrence’ because they appear at the same time as his feast.

Was the deacon Laurence tortured on a grid of iron prior to his execution?

Modern Iron Grid for Bar-B-Que Cooking

 
Roman Pots and Iron Grid 1st c. CE Scotland

Roman Pot, Utensils and Iron Grid

The images available on Google don’t indicate that there was a grill large enough to torture a human. The case for the literal frying of Laurence doesn’t look good.

One author has proposed that the story about his being roasted was an error in transcription. The usual phrase to describe a martyr’s death in Latin had dropped the ‘p.’

The phrase ‘passus est’ means ‘he suffered.’  When the first letter is dropped, it reads ‘assus est’. It means ‘he roasted.’

------------------------

The speedy retreat of Shapur's troops from Antioch caused Valerian to pursue the Persians to Edessa, but they were defeated by the Persians.  Valerian, along with the Roman army that was left, was captured by Shapur and sent away into Pars.

Valerian was the first Roman emperor to be captured as a prisoner of war. This caused shock and disillusionment. He died as their prisoner. His body was stuffed after his death and displayed in the Persian court for visiting dignitaries according to some reports.

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When Septimius Severus almost doubled the wage for the common soldier at the same time that he increased the size of armed force, it stressed the Roman treasury. The soldiers circulated more coin into the economy, but they also felt an empowerment to assassinate any emperor who did not meet their demands.

The authority of the emperor was not officially acknowledged by the Senate unless he was elected consul. Consuls had a one year non-repeatable term limit during the period of the Republic.
Septimius imperiled imperial authority for his dynasty and Barracks emperors who followed them. He reduced the ability to command to a concession to popularity among the troops.

This situation contributed to the resolve of Valerian to designate leading Christians as non-Roman in order to take their property after execution. The imperial Polytheistic faith was reduced to fatalism by the precipitation of war and the death penalty.

When Christian monotheism threatened to do the same thing with the reintroduction of the slave trade after the Renaissance, the association of fate with the Roman faith was increased. The Protestant Reformation protested indulgences as a core deficiency in the intent to expand the Roman Empire around the globe with slavery.

Salvation by faith in the grace of God with the authority of sola scriptura was promoted as an implicit renunciation of the papal support for the slave trade in the alliance with the Spanish Hapsburgs. Slavery was not explicitly protested due to the threat from the expansion of the Ottoman empire.

The Peace of Westphalia supported the selection of the Protestant or Catholic denominations by the princes to oppose the expansion of the empire with the slave trade. German kingdoms would eventually unite into the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The empire became a functional republic with Bismarck. It became a socialist republic after World War I had been lost to the British and her allies. It wasn’t declared as an atheist state as with the Soviet Republic, but it was characterized by anti-Semitic policy.

The economy was not capitalist. It was socialist with concession to the demands of industry that served the purpose of imperial republican expansion. An intent to conquer the whole globe was indicated. It was a totalitarian intent.

Valerian
wiki Emperor Valerian
Social Class in Ancient Rome
wiki Social Class in Ancient Rome
Third Century Crisis
wiki Third Century Crisis
Ancient History: Third Century Crisis
Shapur I
wiki Shapur Roman POW's
Sasanian Empire
wiki Sasanian Empire
Second Roman War
wiki Shapur Second Roman War
St. Lawrence of Rome
Roman Catholic St. Lawrence
Lectionary Laurence
wiki St. Lawrence
Roman Religion
Oxford Roman Religion
Capitalism
Huffpost: Capitalism and Socialism
Covey Respons-ability
Socialism
Socialism Culture War