Unusual theophoric names:

 The Hebrew Bible has several theophoric names. Names like Michael, Mi-ka-el (Who is like God?) which reference God are theophoric. Some of the names the Old Testament has are very unusual. Most of the names appear in the times of the Jewish kings.

One of the oddest is Ahijah.

Ahijah (Ahiyah) אֲחִיָּה means "brother of the LORD" or "my brother is Yah," which was the name of a lesser known prophet. This is odd considering this is before the incarnation when relatives of Christ were called "brother of the Lord."

A few instances where Ahijah appears:

And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah [אֲחִיָּה] the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two [were] alone in the field--1st Kings 11:29 

וַיְהִי בָּעֵת הַהִיא, וְיָרָבְעָם יָצָא מִירוּשָׁלִָם; וַיִּמְצָא אֹתוֹ אֲחִיָּה הַשִּׁילֹנִי הַנָּבִיא בַּדֶּרֶךְ, וְהוּא מִתְכַּסֶּה בְּשַׂלְמָה חֲדָשָׁה, וּשְׁנֵיהֶם לְבַדָּם, בַּשָּׂדֶה.-- First Kings 11:29

His family is mentioned, also with interesting names:

And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD'S priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone.--1 Samuel 14:3 

וַאֲחִיָּה בֶן-אֲחִטוּב אֲחִי אִיכָבוֹד בֶּן-פִּינְחָס בֶּן-עֵלִי כֹּהֵן יְהוָה, בְּשִׁלוֹ--נֹשֵׂא אֵפוֹד; וְהָעָם לֹא יָדַע, כִּי הָלַךְ יוֹנָתָן. -- 1Samuel 14:3

The last verse is a bit absurd to read, when translating the names as:

And Yah's-my-brother, son of My-Brother-Is-Good(ness), brother of.... 

Sometimes Ahijah is spelled with a vav at the end--Ahiyahu:

And the LORD said unto Ahijahu [אֲחִיָּהוּ], Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he [is] sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself [to be] another [woman].--1 Kings 14:5 

וַיהוָה אָמַר אֶל-אֲחִיָּהוּ, הִנֵּה אֵשֶׁת יָרָבְעָם בָּאָה לִדְרֹשׁ דָּבָר מֵעִמְּךָ אֶל-בְּנָהּ כִּי-חֹלֶה הוּא--כָּזֹה וְכָזֶה, תְּדַבֵּר אֵלֶיהָ; וִיהִי כְבֹאָהּ, וְהִיא מִתְנַכֵּרָה.

Another possible variant of the name is Ahi אֲחִי (brother of):

Ahi (אֲחִי) the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, chief of the house of their fathers.--1 Chronicles 5:15 

 אֲחִי בֶּן-עַבְדִּיאֵל בֶּן-גּוּנִי, רֹאשׁ לְבֵית אֲבוֹתָם. --1st Chronicles 5:15

In addition to this name, the time of the kings of Israel, there seems to be plenty of names with "brother" in it:

and Ahishar [אֲחִישָׁר] was over the household--1 Kings 4:6

Baana the son of Ahilud[אֲחִילוּד], in Taanach and Megiddo--1 Kings 4:12

Ahinadab [אֲחִינָדָב] the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; Ahimaaz, in Naphtali; he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon to wife--1 Kings 4:14-15

The book 'Dictionary of Deities, and Demons in the Bible' under the entry Brother states:

"In Hebrew theophoric personal names known from the Bible and from inscriptions (Zadok 1988:178-187), the most common elements, apart from 'el, 'god', and variants of yhwh are 'ab, 'father' (more than 30), 'ah , 'brother' (more than 25), and amm-, 'paternal uncle/kinsman' (more than 12). Note names such as Ahijah, 'Yah(u) is My (divine) Brother' (8 men. one woman?: STAMM 1980:111), Ahinadab 'My (divine) Brother is Generous' (one man), and Ahisamach, 'My (divine) Brother Has Helped' (one man), as well as Ahinoam, 'My (divine?) Brother is Gracious' (one man [Samarian ostraca], two women; STAMM 1980:133). Probably substitute names, such as Ahitub, 'My Brother is Goodness' (two men), also occur (STAMM 1939:279, 295; 1980:67, 69). In societies that rely heavily on the extended patriarchal family, as illustrated especially in the Books of Genesis and Ruth in the case of Israel, a brother or an uncle is commonly a primary authority figure, one whose protection is essential....As such the epithet 'brother' can be used of a deity, even if only in the popular or family piety reflected in personal names (ALBERTZ 1978). --'Dictionary of Deities, and Demons in the Bible' Entry for Brother, page 179

Bithiah בִּתְיָה

The daughter of a Pharoah is named "Bityah" which can be interpreted "Daughter of Yah":

And his wife Jehudijah bare Jered the father of Gedor, and Heber the father of Socho, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah. And these [are] the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered took.--1 Chronicles 4:18

וְאִשְׁתּוֹ הַיְהֻדִיָּה, יָלְדָה אֶת-יֶרֶד אֲבִי גְדוֹר וְאֶת-חֶבֶר אֲבִי שׂוֹכוֹ, וְאֶת-יְקוּתִיאֵל, אֲבִי זָנוֹחַ; וְאֵלֶּה, בְּנֵי בִּתְיָה בַת-פַּרְעֹה, אֲשֶׁר לָקַח, מָרֶד.

Bealiah בעליה

The name Bealiah בעליה resembles בעל ba'al which means either "husband", "lord", or the pagan god Ba'al.

Eluzai, and Jerimoth, and Bealiah, and Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Hariphite--1 Chronicles 12:6

אֶלְעוּזַי וִירִימוֹת וּבְעַלְיָה וּשְׁמַרְיָהוּ, וּשְׁפַטְיָהוּ החריפי --First Chronicles 12:6

Some have interpreted this as "Baal is Yah", whereas others seeing it less sacrilegious to interpret it as "Yah is master."

Benaiah בְּנָיָה 

"Son of Yah"

Benaiah [בְּנָיָה]the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many acts; he slew two lionlike men of Moab: also he went down and slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day.--1 Chronicles 11:22

בְּנָיָה בֶן-יְהוֹיָדָע בֶּן-אִישׁ-חַיִל רַב-פְּעָלִים, מִן-קַבְצְאֵל; הוּא הִכָּה, אֵת שְׁנֵי אֲרִיאֵל מוֹאָב, וְהוּא יָרַד וְהִכָּה אֶת-הָאֲרִי בְּתוֹךְ הַבּוֹר, בְּיוֹם הַשָּׁלֶג.-First Chronicles 11:22

 

Partial list of Papal claims at the first 7 ecumenical councils

 As some have done before, a list of times in the 7 ecumenical council that the papacy asserted its claims:

Philip, presbyter and legate of the Apostolic See said: We offer our thanks to the holy and venerable Synod, that when the writings of our holy and blessed pope had been read to you, the holy members by our [or your] holy voices, ye joined yourselves to the holy head also by your holy acclamations. For your blessedness is not ignorant that the head of the whole faith, the head of the Apostles, is blessed Peter the Apostle. And since now our mediocrity, after having been tempest-tossed and much vexed, has arrived, we ask that ye give order that there be laid before us what things were done in this holy Synod before our arrival; in order that according to the opinion of our blessed pope and of this present holy assembly, we likewise may ratify their determination.--Council of Ephesus, Acts of Session II

Philip the presbyter and legate of the Apostolic See said: There is no doubt, and in fact it has been known in all ages, that the holy and most blessed Peter, prince and head of the Apostles, pillar of the faith, and foundation of the Catholic Church, received the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of the human race, and that to him was given the power of loosing and binding sins: who down even to to-day and forever both lives and judges in his successors. The holy and most blessed pope Coelestine, according to due order, is his successor and holds his place, and us he sent to supply his place m this holy synod, which the most humane and Christian Emperors have commanded to assemble, bearing in mind and continually watching over the Catholic faith. For they both have kept and are now keeping intact the apostolic doctrine handed down to them from their most pious and humane grandfathers and fathers of holy memory down to the present time --Council of Ephesus, Acts of Session III

Wherefore the most holy and blessed Leo, archbishop of the great and elder Rome, through us, and through this present most holy synod together with the thrice blessed and all-glorious Peter the Apostle, who is the rock and foundation of the Catholic Church, and the foundation of the orthodox faith, hath stripped him of the episcopate, and hath alienated from him all hieratic worthiness. Therefore let this most holy and great synod sentence the before mentioned Dioscorus to the canonical penalties. --Council of Chalcedon, Session III (spoken by the papal legates)

and besides all this he stretched forth his fury even against him who had been charged with the custody of the vine by the Saviour, we mean of course your holiness, and purposed excommunication against one who had at heart the unifying of the Church. And instead of showing penitence for this, instead of begging mercy with tears, he exulted as if over virtuous actions, rejecting your holiness' letter and resisting all the dogmas of the Truth. --Council of Chalcedon, Letter to Pope Leo the Great

Therefore to thee, as to the bishop of the first see of the Universal Church, we leave what must be done, since you willingly take for your standing ground the firm rock of the faith, as we know from having read your true confession in the letter sent by your fatherly beatitude to the most pious emperor: and we acknowledge that this letter was divinely written as by the Chief of the Apostles....Up to now grief, sorrow, and many tears have been our portion. For we cannot laugh at the fall of our neighbours, nor exult with joy at their unbridled madness, nor have we been elated that we might fall all the more grievously because of this thing; not thus, O venerable and sacred head, have we been taught, we who hold Christ, the Lord of the universe, to be both benign and man-loving in the highest degree; for he exhorts us to be imitators of him in his priesthood so far as is possible, as becometh the good, and to obtain the pattern of his pastoral and conciliatory government.--Constantinople III, Letter to Pope Agatho 

For this is the rule of the true faith, which this spiritual mother of your most tranquil empire, the Apostolic Church of Christ, has both in prosperity and in adversity always held and defended with energy; which, it will be proved, by the grace of Almighty God, has never erred from the path of the apostolic tradition, nor has she been depraved by yielding to heretical innovations, but from the beginning she has received the Christian faith from her founders, the princes of the Apostles of Christ, and remains undefiled unto the end, according to the divine promise of the Lord and Saviour himself, which he uttered in the holy Gospels to the prince of his disciples: saying, "Peter, Peter, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he might sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for you, that (your) faith fail not. And when you are converted, strengthen your brethren." Let your tranquil Clemency therefore consider, since it is the Lord and Saviour of all, whose faith it is, that promised that Peter's faith should not fail and exhorted him to strengthen his brethren, how it is known to all that the Apostolic pontiffs, the predecessors of my littleness, have always confidently done this very thing: of whom also our littleness, since I have received this ministry by divine designation, wishes to be the follower, although unequal to them and the least of all. --Constantinople III, Letter of Pope Agatho to the Emperor, read at Constantinople III 

If the ancient orthodoxy be perfected and restored by your means in those regions, and the venerable icons be placed in their original state, you will be partakers with the Lord Constantine, Emperor of old, now in the Divine keeping, and the Empress Helena, who made conspicuous and confirmed the orthodox Faith, and exalted still more your holy mother, the Catholic and Roman and spiritual Church, and with the orthodox Emperors who ruled after them, and so your most pious and heaven-protected name likewise will be set forth as that of another Constantine and another Helena, being renowned and praised through the whole world, by whom the holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is restored. And especially if you follow the tradition of the orthodox Faith of the Church of the holy Peter and Paul, the chief Apostles, and embrace their Vicar, as the Emperors who reigned before you of old both honoured their Vicar, and loved him with all their heart: and if your sacred majesty honour the most holy Roman Church of the chief Apostles, to whom was given power by God the Word himself to loose and to bind sins in heaven and earth. For they will extend their shield over your power, and all barbarous nations shall be put under your feet: and wherever you go they will make you conquerors. For the holy and chief Apostles themselves, who set up the Catholic and orthodox Faith, have laid it down as a written law that all who after them are to be successors of their seats, should hold their Faith and remain in it to the end of the kingdom of heaven as chief over all, and by Him is he honoured with this privilege, by which the keys of the kingdom of heaven are entrusted to him. He, therefore, that was preferred with so exalted an honour was thought worthy to confess that Faith on which the Church of Christ is rounded. A blessed reward followed that blessed confession, by the preaching of which the holy universal Church was illumined, and from it the other Churches of God have derived the proofs of Faith. For the blessed Peter himself, the chief of the Apostles, who first sat in the Apostolic See, left the chiefship of his Apostolate, and pastoral care, to his successors, who are to sit in his most holy seat forever. And that power of authority, which he received from the Lord God our Saviour, he too bestowed and delivered by divine command to the Pontiffs, his successors, etc. --Nicea II, Session II, Letter of Pope Adrian to the Emperor and Empress

 

 

EO priest argues in favor of Immaculate conception/existence

 Not my article. EO priest, Fr. Lev Gillet argues in favor of Immaculate conception/existence, citing even post schism fathers https://afkimel.wordpress.com/2021/09/23/the-immaculate-conception-and-the-orthodox-church-2/

An excerpt:

First of all – the patriarch Photius. In his first homily on the Annunciation, he says that Mary was sanctified ek Brephous. This is not an easy term to translate; the primary meaning of Brephos is that of a child in the embryonic state. Ek means origin or starting point. The phrase seems to me to mean not that Mary was sanctified in the embryonic state, that is to say, during her existence in her mother’s womb, but that she was sanctified from the moment of her existence as an embryo, from the very first moment of her formation – therefore – from the moment of her conception.¹

A contemporary and opponent of Photius, the monk Theognostes, wrote in a homily for the feast of the Dormition, that Mary was conceived by “a sanctifying action”, ex arches – from the beginning. It seems to me that this ex arches exactly corresponds to the “in primo instanti“ of Roman theology.³

St Euthymes, patriarch of Constantinople (+917), in the course of a homily on the conception of St Anne (that is to say, on Mary’s conception by Anne and Joachim) said that it was on this very day (touto semerou) that the Father fashioned a tabernacle (Mary) for his Son, and that this tabernacle was “fully sanctified” (kathagiazei). There again we find the idea of Mary’s sanctification in primo instanti conceptionis.³

Let us now turn to more explicit evidence.

(St) Gregory Palamas, archbishop of Thessalonica and doctor of the hesychasm (+1360) in his 65 published Mariological homilies, developed an entirely original theory about her sanctification. On the one hand, Palamas does not use the formula “immaculate conception” because he believes that Mary was sanctified long before the “primus instans conceptionis“, and on the other, he states quite as categorically as any Roman theologian that Mary was never at any moment sullied by the stain of original sin. Palamas’ solution to the problem, of which as far as we know, he has been the sole supporter, is that God progressively purified all Mary’s ancestors, one after the other and each to a greater degree than his predecessor so that at the end, eis telos, Mary was able to grow, from a completely purified root, like a spotless stem “on the limits between created and uncreated”.⁴

The Emperor Manuel II Paleologus (+1425) also pronounced a homily on the Dormition. In it, he affirms in precise terms Mary’s sanctification in primo instanti. He says that Mary was full of grace “from the moment of her conception” and that as soon as she began to exist … there was no time when Jesus was not united to her”. We must note that Manuel was no mere amateur in theology. He had written at great length on the procession of the Holy Spirit and had taken part in doctrinal debates during his journeys in the West. One can, therefore, consider him as a qualified representative of the Byzantine theology of his time.⁵

George Scholarios (+1456), the last Patriarch of the Byzantine Empire, has also left us a homily on the Dormition and an explicit affirmation of the Immaculate Conception. He says that Mary was “all pure from the first moment of her existence” (gegne theion euthus).⁶

 I plan on showing the primary sources here when I find them.

St Jerome and the Deuterocanonicals

Often some Protestant will provide statements by St Jerome where he questions or rejects the deuterocanonical books,

See the following site on examples of when St Jerome calls the books scripture (they also address many Protestant arguments by the Church Fathers) and St Jerome many times quotes the books Protestants call apocrypha.

The examples are as follows:

Does not the SCRIPTURE say: 'Burden not thyself above thy power' [SIRACH 13:2]—St  Jerome, To Eustochium, Epistle 108 (A.D. 404), in NPNF2, VI:207

Do not, my dearest brother, estimate my worth by the number of my years. Gray hairs are not wisdom; it is wisdom which is as good as gray hairs At least that is what Solomon says: "wisdom is the gray hair unto men.’ [Wisdom 4:9]" Moses too in choosing the seventy elders is told to take those whom he knows to be elders indeed, and to select them not for their years but for their discretion (Num. 11:16)? And, as a boy, Daniel judges old men and in the flower of youth condemns the incontinence of age [Daniel 13:55-59 aka Story of Susannah 55-59, only found in the Catholic Bibles)—St Jerome, To Paulinus, Epistle 58 (A.D. 395), in NPNF2, VI:119

"I would cite the words of the psalmist: 'the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,’ [Ps 51:17] and those of Ezekiel 'I prefer the repentance of a sinner rather than his death,’ [Ez 18:23] AND THOSE OF BARUCH, 'Arise, arise, O Jerusalem,’ [Baruch 5:5] AND MANY OTHER PROCLAMATIONS MADE BY THE TRUMPETS OF THE PROPHETS."—St Jerome, To Oceanus, Epistle 77:4 (A.D. 399), in NPNF2, VI:159

still our merriment must not forget the limit set by Scripture, and we must not stray too far from the boundary of our wrestling-ground. Your presents, indeed, remind me of the sacred volume, for in it Ezekiel decks Jerusalem with bracelets, (Eze. 16:11) Baruch receives letters from Jeremiah,(Jer. 36, Bar. 6) and the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove at the baptism of Christ.(Mt. 3:16)—St Jerome, To Eustochium, Epistle 31:2 (A.D. 384), in NPNF2, VI:45

For the lion lurks in ambush to slay the innocent. [Sir. 27:5] "Potters' vessels are proved by the furnace, and just men by the trial of tribulation." And in another place it is written: [Sir. 2:1] "My son, when thou comest to serve the Lord, prepare thyself for temptation."—St Jerome, Against Jovinianus,, Book 2, 3 NPNF2, VI:390

"Yet the Holy Spirit in the thirty-ninth(9) psalm, while lamenting that all men walk in a vain show, and that they are subject to sins, speaks thus: "For all that every man walketh in the image."(Psalm 39:6) Also after David's time, in the reign of Solomon his son, we read a somewhat similar reference to the divine likeness. For in the book of Wisdom, which is inscribed with his name, Solomon says: "God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity."[Wisdom 2:23] And again, about eleven hundred and eleven years afterwards, we read in the New Testament that men have not lost the image of God. For James, an apostle and brother of the Lord, whom I have mentioned above--that we may not be entangled in the snares of Origen--teaches us that man does possess God's image and likeness. For, after a somewhat discursive account of the human tongue, he has gone on to say of it: "It is an unruly evil ... therewith bless we God, even the Father and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God."(James 3:8-9) Paul, too, the "chosen vessel,"(Acts 9:15) who in his preaching has fully maintained the doctrine of the gospel, instructs us that man is made in the image and after the likeness of God. "A man," he says, "ought not to wear long hair, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God."(1 Cor. 11:7) He speaks of "the image" simply, but explains the nature of the likeness by the word "glory." Instead of THE THREE PROOFS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE which you said would satisfy you if I could produce them, BEHOLD I HAVE GIVEN YOU SEVEN"—St Jerome, Letter 51, 6, 7, NPNF2, VI:87-8

Here is another example of St Jerome calling the alleged “apocrypha” scripture: 

 Holy scripture says: ""a tale out of season is as music in mourning."" [Sirach 22:6]—St Jerome Letter 118 Section 1, Paragraph 2 To Julian