So, basically There was a feud between the Governor of Alexandria named Oreste, who favored the Jews (even though on one occasion he claimed to be Christian), and Cyril the Bishop of Alexandria, a Christian. It all began about dancing , and the tendency for people to get out of hand from drink and fighting in public. This may be worth noting at this time that there was great anger between Jews and Christians (history often repeats itself..often repeats itself...often repeats it...). There were edicts put in place that angered both sides, but eventually a group of radical monks confronted Orestes and it ended up that a rock was thrown and hit Orestes, causing him to bleed profusely from the head wound. A leader of the group was seized and brutally tortured and later died. Tensions continued to rise and violence always followed. Cyril tried to persuade Orestes with his Christian philosophy, but it did not work. Here is where Hypatia comes in. She was educated in the Plato and Platonism schools. She had few equals in knowledge of all the arts and sciences. Because of this, and that she was a woman who had no equal among the other philosophers she was accused of using satanic Wiles in controlling Orestes. The murder was not just a criminal act against a person who wished to mitigate peace; her skin was stripped off the body, her limbs severed and burned, and some of this as she was still alive. Christians committed this satanic act, not others. The Jews retaliated by one night calling out that The church is on fire, and when the Christians ran out into the streets to come to its aid they were slaughtered by the Jews. Just lovely isnt it. One reason Cyril had Hypatia murdered, according to the English historian Edward Gibbon, was that Cyril thought Hypatia had the political ear of Alexandria’s chief magistrate, who vigorously opposed Cyril’s ambition to expel from the city those who held different religious views from his own. Cyril was also jealous of Hypatia because scholars from all over the world crowded into her lectures in Alexandria, Athens and elsewhere. Socrates (380–450), a church historian from Constantinople, says of Hypatia: [She] was so learned that she surpassed all contemporary philosophers. She carried on the Platonic tradition derived from Plotinus, and instructed those who desired to learn in…philosophic discipline. Wherefore all those wishing to work at philosophy streamed in from all parts of the world, collecting around her on account of her learned and courageous character. She maintained a dignified intercourse with the chief people of the city. She was not ashamed to spend time in the society of men, for all esteemed her highly, and admired her for her purity.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 23:32:16 +0000
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