Communicating with Patron Saints..

Alright, this might be a bit out there, but I am always out there. Or else id be in here. And i certainly don't want to be in here. Anyways..

So when I converted, and began practicing, when I was saved, I took a fondness to a few patron saints. I really like John the Beloved of course, because of his wicked rendition of the end of the world, but I also am fond of Nahum, an ill-known Old Testament prophet who's book, which is present in the Bible, in my opinion accurately depicts today's conflict in Iraq. Nineveh to be exact. Look thru my old threads and find the 'burden of nineveh' for more on that.

Anyways, I took a fondness to Saint Arius immediately, as I was window shopping for a denomination that most closely fit my beliefs. I dont need a denomination, but it makes it easier to explain myself and beliefs to other theists that know alot about the early church.

To keep it utterly brief, and refer to arius on wiki for more info, Arius was a Libyan who learned under the tutelage of a Gnostic Christian Saint Lucian, who's ideas were much different from those of Constantine and the like. One could say Lucian, Arius, and Eusebius were the first pioneers of alternative Christianity, or even eastern orthodoxy in a way. Regardless..

Arius had been deemed a heretic because he does not believe that Jesus and the Father, God, were of the same essence, or the same being. He thinks that Jesus was created by God and seperate to God, an extension of God, attached, but not the literal same, an appendage, to sit at the right hand of God. God's right hand man! The high executer of Heaven, the most powerful Angel of them all, Yeshua the Christ, the Messiah in flesh! How the wonders of God are strange indeed!

So when he got his sentence repelled by some high Church official, perhaps Constantine, he paraded proudly out of Constantine's Chambers in Constantinople, circa 3rd Century AD, and as he was parading through the streets for all the people to see, surrounded by Eusebian Guards (Men of Eusebius, Arius fellow student under Lucian, and ally in the Church), being boastful, something terrible happened to him.

The surviving accounts, only from enemies of Arius looking to slander, said that as he paraded through the street, a dreadful terror came over him, and he began having terrible stomach pains. He ran off into some hall where he had a "copious hemorrhage" from his rectum, at which point the lower intestine and portions of the liver also hemorrhaged out of his bum, and he died instantly.

Opponents of Arius, anyone who follows the Catholic Trinity, and all those who voted against him at the Councils of Nicea (of which there were 3), basically the vast majority of the Church who was against him, claimed that he was instantly struck down righteously by God in vengeance. Why do you think he needed Eusebius' Guards? This guy wasn't popular in certain parts of town.

The more logical explanation was that he was poisoned with a drink or food which he was undoubtably given that day multiple times while he was in the care of Constantine's Men, the Church in Constantinople, and the Clergy. So what kind of poison can do this to a man, make their intestines come out of their rectum?

So speaking of rectum, i truly apologize for the topics but im not trying to be gross, this is all historic facts and recollections here. We're all adults and this is a serious topic. Speaking of rectum, when I was on the toilet earlier I was thinking about Arius, and I was pondering to myself, because here I was thinking "i wonder what it feels like to die like Arius and have my colon come out of my rectum", then I immediately thought "I wonder what poison they gave him to cause such a terrible sudden death?"

So then, in my head, without me thinking it up, I was not brainstorming poisons, I was just thinking about what a way to go you know, and all of a sudden the words Hemlock entered my conscious. you know how you can think words to yourself silently? Like that, except I did not tell myself to think of the word Hemlock, it just popped right in. As if Arius was communicating with me on the toilet to tell me that they killed him with Hemlock poison.

So I looked into Hemlock. And sure enough, its what they used to execute Socrates. It causes nervous system reaction and is related to chemical weaponry. death occurs rapidly as the person stops breathing, their cardio system instantly breaks down and they die. So this does not explain the copious blood from his rectum. Solanine, found in Nightshade, causes diarehea vomiting and death! So .. Hemlock and Nightshade combo.

So I'm thinking perhaps it was a combination poison, Hemlock to induce rapid and surefire death, and another poison, a digestive system disrupter, an internal bleed agent, to make it look like he was struck down by the divine God, because bleeding of the rectum isn't a common pre-death thing right as you are poisoned.

So my question to you guys is, first off, for the Christians and Jews, are there any Saints or Prophets you hold close to your heart and/or pray through?

And to the Muslims, is there any Islamic Champion of the olden days you look up to, who severed the most Jew's heads than any other in the record books? Now theres someone to follow. I love poking at a silent, nearly non-existent community. Theres no one to offend! I'm joking, really, peaceful Muslims are a-okay in my book, and my brothers in Abraham.

[edit on 10/14/2007 by runetang]

Here's some tidbits on Lucian and Arianism history from Wiki:

During the persecution of Maximinus, Lucian was arrested at Antioch and sent to Nicomedia, where he endured many tortures over nine years of imprisonment. He was twice brought up for examination, and both times defended himself ably and refused to renounce his Christian beliefs.

His death is uncertain. He might have been starved to death. Another, more likely, possibility is that he was executed by the sword. The traditional date ascribed to his execution is January 7, 312, in Nicomedia. He was buried at Drepanum on the Gulf of Nicomedia, which was later renamed Helenopolis to honour the mother of Constantine.

Despite, or perhaps because of his heterodoxy, Lucian was a man of the most unexceptionable virtue: Eusebius of Caesarea, (H.E., VIII, xiii, 2) notes his martyrdom but does not remark on his theology. Later, at the height of the Arian controversy, his fame for sanctity was not less than his reputation as a scholar.

There is a late tradition that he had been drowned in the sea and that his body was returned to land by a dolphin. No one knows exactly how this tradition originated. [2]

Few men have left such a deep imprint on the history of Christianity. The opposition to the allegorizing tendencies of the Alexandrines centred in him. He rejected this system entirely and propounded a system of literal interpretation which dominated the Eastern Church for a long period. In the minds of nearly all theological writers, based on an encyclical of 321 promulgated by Alexander of Alexandria, that associates Lucian with Paul of Samosata, (Schaff) he is said to be the real author of the opinions which manifested themselves in Arianism, in denying the eternity of the Logos and the human soul of Christ. A notable exception to this view was expressed by Henry Melvill Gwatkin, in his Studies of Arianism, London, 1900. "The contradictory reports are easily reconciled by the assumption that Lucian was a critical scholar with some peculiar views on the Trinity and Christology which were not in harmony with the later Nicene orthodoxy, but that he wiped out all stains by his heroic confession and martyrdom," wrote Philip Schaff in his History of the Christian Church.

In his Christological system, Christ, though himself the creator of all subsequent beings was a creature, and though superior to all other created things, was separated from God by the wide gulf between Creator and creature. The great leaders in the Arian movement (Arius himself, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Maris and Theognis) received their training under him and always venerated him as their master and the founder of their system.

Here's my beef. Why they gotta kill every Saint that had something unique and different, and in my opinion more sensible, than the Trinity Doctrine?

They killed Lucian .. they killed Arius.. they killed the Templars, and they tried to kill Copernicus and Martin Luther. Drunk on the blood of the martyrs indeed..

[edit on 10/14/2007 by runetang]

Personally I always liked St. Jude, patron saint of the hopleess and downtrodden, and St. Francis of Assisi patron saint of animals.