According to three of the Gospels, a woven crown of thorns was placed on the head of Jesus during the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. It was one of the instruments of the Passion, employed by Jesus ' captors both to cause him pain and to mock his claim of authority. It is mentioned in the gospels of Matthew ("And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand : and they bowed the knee and mocked him, saying Hail, King of the Jews !" 27:29 KJV), Mark (15:17) and John (19:2, 5) and is often alluded to by the early Church Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen and others.
In later centuries, relics believed by many to be all or part of the Crown of Thorns have been venerated.
As a relic
Jerusalem
For the first four centuries there was no extra- biblical mention of the crown of thorns. A few writers of the fifth and sixth centuries AD speak of a relic known to be still in existence and venerated by the faithful. St. Paulinus of Nola, writing after 409, refers to "the thorns with which Our Saviour was crowned" as relics held in honour along with the cross to which he was nailed and the pillar at which he was scourged (Epistle Macarius in Migne, Patrologia Latina, LXI, 407). Cassiodorus (c. 570), when commenting on Psalm lxxxvi, speaks of the crown of thorns among the other relics which are the glory of the earthly Jerusalem.
Copyright 2024 puzzlefactory.com All rights reserved.
