DrugFree Greenville calling on community, businesses in fight against substance abuse
DrugFree Greenville plays a vital role in educating the community and providing programs that target local youth, schools and families through events such as Red Ribbon Week, Kite Fly, No Thanks I'll Pass, Shattered Dreams and others.
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Fox News
4 days ago
- Fox News
2,000-year-old Jewish rebel coin, minted decades after Jesus, unearthed in Jerusalem
A coin minted by Jewish rebels just before the destruction of the Second Temple – an event Jesus predicted in the Gospels – has been unearthed in Jerusalem. The 2,000-year-old artifact was found at the Jerusalem Archaeological Park, located in the Old City and just a stone's throw away from the Temple Mount. The discovery was announced by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) on July 31, just days before Tisha B'Av – the Jewish day of mourning that marks the Romans' destruction of the Temple, near where the coin was found. "The obverse side of the coin carries the inscription in ancient Hebrew script: 'For the Redemption of Zion' – expressing the heartfelt desire of Jerusalem's Jews, toward the end of the revolt," the IAA noted. The bronze coin was minted by ancient Jews between 69 and 70 A.D. The IAA said it was found near the southwest corner of the Temple Mount. The coin was discovered by Yaniv David Levy, a coin specialist with the IAA, who described its state of preservation as "quite good." "From the looks of it, [we thought] it might be a rare coin." "On its reverse is a lulav, a palm frond used in the Sukkot festival ritual," Levy said. "Next to it are two etrogs, the citron used in that same ritual." He noted, "The [Year Four] inscription denotes the number of years since the outbreak of the rebellion and allows us to accurately date the coin to the period between the Hebrew month of Nissan (March-April) of the year 69 CE, and the month of Adar (February-March) of the year 70 CE." Speaking about her experience during the excavation, archaeologist Esther Rakow-Mellet told the IAA she had a feeling it was an unusual discovery. "From the looks of it, [we thought] it might be a rare coin," Rakow-Mellet recalled. "We waited anxiously for several days until it came back from cleaning, and it turned out that it was a greeting from the Jewish rebels in Year Four of the Great Revolt." She also noted the striking timing of the discovery, just days before Tisha B'Av. "Two thousand years after the minting of this coin … [we found] such a moving testimony to that great destruction, and I think there is nothing more symbolic," said Rakow-Mellet. The IAA noted that Year Four coins are "relatively rare," since they were minted toward the end of the revolt when rebels had reduced production capabilities. Excavation director Yuval Baruch said the coin's inscription "indicates a profound change of identity and mindset, and perhaps also reflects the desperate situation of the rebel forces." "It would seem that in the rebellion's fourth year, the mood of the rebels now besieged in Jerusalem changed from euphoria and anticipation of freedom at hand, to a dispirited mood and a yearning for redemption," the archaeologist observed. The coin will be put on display at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem. The recent discovery is one of many archaeological finds made in Jerusalem this year: an ancient garden was recently found at the holiest site in Christianity, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In the Room of the Last Supper, located on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, centuries-old inscriptions have also recently resurfaced. Fox News Digital's Ashley DiMella contributed reporting.
National Geographic
17-07-2025
- National Geographic
Nun's skeleton reveals that some ancient women were extreme hermits
Head of a holy woman, from a mosaic in Turkey. Photograph By Bridgeman Images Today the most extreme forms of devotion to God in Christianity involve tithing, abstaining from meat on Fridays and during Lent, taking religious orders and devoting oneself to a life of celibacy, and, perhaps, taking vows of poverty or even silence. All of these practices pale next to the forms of asceticism practiced in the Byzantine period, when the most dedicated monks isolated themselves from human contact in the desert, restricted their food and sleep, wrapped themselves in uncomfortable sore-inducing chains, and lived their lives on top of small pillars. Traditionally, the most hardcore ascetics were believed to have been men, but recent scholarly and archeological research has revealed that female monastics were equally devoted to self-mortification. In 1924, excavations at Khirbat el-Masaniʾ near Ramat Shlomo (in Israel) uncovered a Byzantine monastery dating to approximately 350–650 CE. Located just three kilometers northwest of Old Jerusalem, the monastery stood along one of the main roads leading from Jaffa and Lydda to the city. Among the tombs discovered at the site were the remains of an unidentified individual unusually wrapped in a metal chain. During the fifth century CE, as Christian monasticism was on the rise, the practice of self-chaining gained popularity among ascetics in Syria. Asceticism and bodily self-denial was seen as a way of emulating the suffering of Christ and drawing closer to God. At the time the tombs were excavated, it was widely believed that such ascetic practices were exclusive to men. So for nearly a century, scholars assumed this person had been male. However, a recent study employing advanced DNA analysis has revealed that the remains belonged to a woman. This would make this one of the first-ever archaeological finds of extreme asceticism among Byzantine women. (Eight things people get wrong about ancient Rome) Byzantine-style mosaic of the Garden of Eden, part of the Old Testament cycle from the Monreale Cathedral Mosaics in Palermo, Siciliy. The Latin inscription reads, MULIER SUGGESTIONI SERPENTIS TULIT DE FRUCTU ET COMEDIT DEDITQUE VIRO SUO ('At the serpent's suggestion, the woman picked the fruit and ate it, and gave it to the man.') Photograph By Ghigo Roli / Bridgeman Images Byzantine churches were often decorated with shimmering mosaics, portraying events from the life of Christ on their upper walls. This fragmentary head of Christ, with its caring expression, is probably from such a scene. Photograph By Gift of Mary Jaharis, in memory of her late husband, Michael, 2017, The Metropolitan Museum of Art A self-tormenting nun During the original excavation of Khirbat el-Masaniʾ, archaeologists uncovered two crypts containing scattered skeletal remains of multiple individuals—including children, women, and men. Based on the grave goods, burial context, and stratigraphy, these interments were dated to the fifth century CE. A third tomb, which held the highly fragmentary remains of the chained individual, was also discovered. At the time, the bones were too incomplete to determine the individual's sex or age at death. But this spring, a team of Israeli researchers, led by archeological scientists Dr. Paula Kotli from the Weizmann Institute of Science, finally pinned down an identity. By conducting a proteomic analysis on enamel obtained from the only tooth recovered from the tomb, the team determined that burial belonged to an adult aged between 30 and 60 years old at the time of their death. The results, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, proved that the individual buried in chains in tomb three was actually a woman. As the authors note, 'the ascetic nun symbolizes a phenomenon of isolation, perhaps enclosure, and in extreme cases self-torment. This is the first evidence showing that the Byzantine self-torment ritual was performed by women and not exclusively by men.' The discovery marks a significant advance in the methods used to determine sex in fragmentary remains. Yet, evidence for asceticism among late antique women is more widespread than one might assume. (Christianity struggled to grow—until this skeptic became a believer) Detail of the 'Procession of Virgins' mosaics from the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Byzantine School, 6th century. Photograph By Leemage/Corbis/Getty Images Dr. Caroline Schroeder, Professor of Women's and Gender Studies and Professor of Data Scholarship at the University of Oklahoma and author of several pioneering studies on monasticism, told National Geographic, 'in late antiquity and Byzantium, people of all genders engaged in a wide variety of ascetic practices. In Egypt in the fourth and fifth centuries we have irrefutable evidence from papyri, monastic letters, and episcopal writings for women who practiced asceticism in their family homes, in homes they themselves owned or rented, and in communities of women [monasteries].' In general, asceticism meant abstaining from sex (even if married), limiting one's food intake, withdrawing from the world, rigorous engagement with prayer, and a life of discomfort and seclusion. These practices were not limited to Egypt. In Syria, we have copious evidence documenting what might be considered more extreme forms of asceticism. Schroeder mentioned a ninth-century male monk who described a women's monastery he encountered where residents lived in seclusion as stylites. Stylites 'were monks who lived for years atop a tall pillar, often exposed to nature's elements and totally dependent upon people on the ground to provide them with food and water,' Schroeder explained. 'The most famous is the original stylite, Symeon the Elder, who lived on his pillar for 36 years, praying, doing prostrations and other exercises, and experiencing physical decay. People came from all over for his blessings, to hear his preaching, and also to request his judgments in disputes between individuals and political leaders.' Stylites were physically constrained by the pillars—they were not able to stretch out fully, there were no bathroom breaks (which caused quite a stench), and they were exposed to the elements—and they also survived on limited sustenance and without the comfort of companionship. Schroeder pointed out that 'a monastery with women stylites is evidence that some women practiced as physically rigorous and severe asceticism as men.' With respect to the new study of the chained woman from outside Jerusalem, Schroeder pointed to an example recorded by fifth-century CE theologian Theodoret of Cyrrhus in his Religious History. In this collection of saint's lives, Theodoret describes visiting two Syriac sisters, Marana and Cyra, who wore heavy iron rings and chains as a form of extreme self-denial. According to Theodoret, these women lived in a roofless house—that exposed them to the unforgiving elements—the door of which had been sealed with mud and stones so that they were shut off from the world and unable to leave. Small windows allowed for food and water to be passed to the women. (Schroeder told me that Theodoret says that, since he was a bishop, they allowed him to dig through the door to see them.) The women wore iron collars, iron belts, and chains on their hands and feet. Even though the two women were secluded from the world, they, like Symeon the Stylite, became ancient Christian celebrities. They attracted pilgrims who travelled to receive their blessing. Saint Donatus, priest and anchorite, from "Les Images De Tous Les Saincts et Saintes de L'Année" (Images of All of the Saints and Religious Events of the Year.) Print By Jacques Callot , The Metropolitan Museum of Art Gender is a complicating question when it comes to asceticism because some women dressed as men when they entered monasteries. Dr. Christine Luckritz Marquis, Associate Professor of Church History at Union Presbyterian Seminary and author of 'Better Off Dead? Violence, Women, and Late Ancient Asceticism,' said 'the reality is that we have many individuals who were trans saints. While some women might merely dress as male monks to safely practice asceticism among men, there is no reason to believe that others did not truly feel themselves trans monks. And some men were castrated, becoming eunuchs for God, so they too did not fit into a simple two-sex binary.' The more fluid gender categories were complicated by the ambivalent attitude that male religious leaders had toward women in general. For commentators like Theodoret, Schroeder added, ascetic women were 'a bit of a paradox… On the one hand, women were viewed as inherently weaker than men and also the gender that carried the guilt of Eve for breaking God's command in the Garden of Eden. But on the other hand, they were capable of such strenuous devotions and, when they achieved them, were seen as even extra holy for going beyond the expectations of their gender.' An anchorhold against the south wall of All Saints church in Norfolk, United Kingdom. Built circa 1500 CE, it would have housed an anchorite devoted to solitary prayer. Photograph By UrbanImages/ Alamy From late antiquity onwards, into the medieval period, women's asceticism persisted. Anchorites—men and women who walled themselves up in permanent enclosures in lifelong solitary confinement—became more common among European women. Many of them lived in small cells, known as anchorholds, that were attached to local churches. In German-speaking regions, bishops would say the office for the dead as the anchorite entered their cell as a symbol of the ascetic's death to the world. Though small windows allowed them a limited view of the church's altar and access to food, water and the Eucharist, anchorites took vows to remain in their cells. The eleventh-century hagiographer Goscelin of Saint-Bertin refers to several anchorites who burned—or came close to burning—alive when the towns in which they lived in were sacked or looted. Other women embraced physical suffering an illness. In her book Holy Feast and Holy Fast, Caroline Walker Bynum documents the centrality of pain and illness to the spiritual lives of late medieval women. For those women even self-inflicted illness was a way of drawing near to God. Bynum writes that 'some Italian saints drank pus or scabs from lepers' sores.' In the German Nonnenbücher, a fourteenth-century collection of inspirational spiritual biographies of nuns authored by women, the desire for illness was so strong that the sisters exposed themselves 'to bitter cold' and prayed 'to be afflicted with leprosy.' The late fourteenth century, French anchoress Jane Mary of Maillé, 'stuck a thorn into her head in remembrance of Christ's crown of thorns.' As late as the sixteenth century, an account of the life of St. Alda of Siena recalled that she slept on a bed of paving stones, whipped herself with chains, and wore a crown of thorns. 'Among the more bizarre female behaviors' in this period, writes Bynum, 'were rolling in broken glass, jumping into ovens, hanging from a gibbet, and praying upside down.' For modern readers the critical question is why late antique people would want to engage in these practices of self-punishment and self-effacement at all. Theodoret characterizes Marana and Cyra's ascetic devotion as a kind of spiritual athleticism. Schroeder explained that the women took on these goals 'on these challenging practices with joy, knowing that the 'goal' or prize of their contests is a 'crown of victory' and eternity with Christ their 'beloved.'' Luckritz Marquis agreed, saying that while there were many reasons that people practiced asceticism, the goal was 'ultimately to be closer to God.'
Los Angeles Times
16-07-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Dog caught up in ICE raid where owner was seized is found
Some animal advocates feared that a dog featured in a Times story about the pets of people being deported would be euthanized, after he was taken to an undisclosed L.A. County shelter. But 3-year-old pit bull Chuco has been located at the county's Baldwin Park animal shelter, preserving the chance that he could still be adopted. Chuco was with his owner when immigration agents raided a Home Depot in Barstow a little over two weeks ago, animal advocates said. His owner was arrested, but a friend at the scene managed to grab the dog and take him home. Not long after, his landlord seized the pet and took him to a shelter. She didn't take note of the shelter's name, but snapped a photo of the place. Chuco's owner was deported. Esther Ruurda, who co-founded the SPAY(CE) Project, which provides spay and neuter services — and sought to help Chuco find a home — texted the photo to a shelter volunteer, Rita Earl Blackwell, asking if she could identify the location. Blackwell investigated with the help of a shelter employee and they found Chuco. He can be viewed on the county's public database of available animals. But 'it's tough for a pit bull in L.A. in our current shelter crisis,' said Blackwell, a veteran volunteer. County shelters are more crowded than she has seen them in 15 years, she said. Advocates point to people having abandoned animals they got during the COVID-19 pandemic, the rising cost of veterinary care — including spay and neuter procedures — and now the increased immigration arrests as reasons for the high numbers. Dogs — large ones in particular — can be hard to find homes for, according to some advocates. More than twice as many dogs were relinquished by their owners at L.A. County's Palmdale shelter in June than in the same month last year, according to data obtained by The Times. At the county's Downey shelter, the count jumped by nearly 50%. But Chuco has an engaging back story and Blackwell is hopeful that, even though he is 'in a sea of unwanted dogs,' that will give him an edge that leads to his adoption.
