Mary, Sister of Aaron: Difference between revisions

There exists in Palestine a Byzantine Church dedicated to the virgin Mary, the church of the Kathesima or Holy Throne of the virgin Mary. Around the time of Muhammad, this church was a center of the Christian cult of the virgin Mary. Unlike modern Catholic and Orthodox church where only the Bible is ready from the lectionary during the mass, at this time it was not unusual for reading to be done from the apocrypha and other non-canonized works. The Kathesima was built upon the site of the palm miracle mentioned in Pseudo Matthew chapter 20 and surat Maryam verse 23-25. According to the lectionary found for this church, the miracle of the palm, the virgin conception of Jesus, the immaculate (sin-free, virgin) conception of Mary, and the dormition (assumption into heaven alive) of Mary were all celebrated at this church. The Marian stational liturgy of the Dormition was celebrated here from the 13th of August to the 17th of August in the church calendar. In addition, in the middle of this celebration there were also reading on the 14th of August from the ''Life of Jeremiah''. The ''Life'' purports to tell how the prophet Jeremiah saved the Ark of the Covenant and concealed it after the destruction of the 1st temple by the Babylonians. A text from the Kathesima, preserved in Georgian, one of the languages of mass celebration at the church, adds an extra prophecy to the story in the ''Life of Jeremiah''.