Misuse of Use of Numbers in the Church

No attentive reader of the Old Testament can fail to notice that a
certain sacredness seems to attach to particular numbers, for example,
seven, forty, twelve, etc. It is not merely the frequent recurrence of
these numbers, but their ritual or ceremonial use which is so
significant. Take, for example, the swearing of Abraham (Genesis 21:28
sqq.) after setting apart (for sacrifice) seven ewe lambs, especially
when we remember the etymological connexion of the word nishba, to
take an oath, with sheba seven. Traces of the same mystical employment
of numbers lie much upon the surface of the New Testament also,
particularly in the Apocalypse. Even so early a writer as St. Irenæus
(Haer., V, xxx) does not hesitate to explain the number of the beast
666 (Revelation 13:18) by the word "Lateinos" since the numerical
value of its constituent [Greek] letters yields the same total
(30+1+330+5+10+50+70+200=666); while sober critics of our own day are
inclined to solve the mystery upon the same principles by simply
substituting for Latinus the words Nero Caesar written in Hebrew
characters which give the same result. Of the ultimate origin of the
mystical significance attached to numbers something will be said under
SYMBOLISM. Suffice it to note here that although the Fathers
repeatedly condemned the magical use of numbers which had descended
from Babylonian sources to the Pythagoreans and Gnostics of their
times, and although they denounced any system of their philosophy
which rested upon an exclusively numerical basis, still they almost
unanimously regarded the numbers of Holy Writ as full of mystical
meaning, and they considered the interpretation of these mystical
meanings as an important branch of exegesis. To illustrate the caution
with which they proceeded it will be sufficient to refer to one or two
notable examples. St. Irenæus (Haer., I, viii, 5 and 12, and II,
xxxiv, 4) discusses at length the Gnostic numerical interpretation of
the holy name Jesus as the equivalent of 888, and he claims that by
writing the name in Hebrew characters an entirely different
interpretation is necessitated. Again St. Ambrose commenting upon the
days of creation and the Sabbath remarks, "The number seven is good,
but we do not explain it after the doctrine of Pythagoras and the
other philosophers, but rather according to the manifestation and
division of the grace of the Spirit; for the prophet Isaias has
enumerated the principal gifts of the Holy Spirit as seven" (Letter to
Horontianus). Similarly St. Augustine, replying to Tichonius the
Donatist, observes that "if Tichonius had said that these mystical
rules open out some of the hidden recesses of the law, instead of
saying that they reveal all the mysteries of the law, he would have
spoken truth" (De Doctrina Christiana, III, xlii). Many passages from
St. Chrysostom and other Fathers might be cited as displaying the same
caution and showing the reluctance of the great Christian teachers of
the early centuries to push this recognition of the mystical
significance of numbers to extremes.
On the other hand there can be no doubt that influenced mainly by
Biblical precepts, but also in part by the prevalence of this
philosophy of numbers all around them, the Fathers down to the time of
Bede and even later gave much attention to the sacredness and mystical
significance not only of certain numerals in themselves but also of
the numerical totals given by the constituent letters with which words
were written. A conspicuous example is supplied by one of the earliest
of Christian documents not included in the canon of Scripture, i.e.,
the so-called Epistle of Barnabas, which Lightfoot is inclined to
place as early as A.D. 70-79. This document appeals to Genesis 14:14
and 17:23, as mystically pointing to the name and self-oblation of the
coming Messias. "Learn, therefore," says the writer, "that Abraham who
first appointed circumcision, looked forward in spirit unto Jesus when
he circumcised, having received the ordinances of three letters. For
the Scripture saith, And Abraham circumcised of his household eighteen
males and three hundred.' What then was the knowledge given unto him?
Understand ye that He saith the eighteen' first, and then after an
interval three hundred.' In the [number] eighteen [the Greek IOTA]
stands for 10, [the Greek ETA] for eight. Here thou hast Jesus ([in
Greek] IESOUS). And because the cross in the [Greek TAU] was to have
grace, he saith also three hundred.' So he revealeth Jesus in two
letters and in the remaining one the cross" (Ep. Barnabas, ix). It
will, of course, be understood that the numerical value of the Greek
letters iota and eta, the first letters of the Holy Name, is 10 and 8
18, while Tau, which stands for the form of the cross, represents 300.
At a period, then, when the Church was forming her liturgy and when
Christian teachers so readily saw mystical meanings underlying
everything which had to do with numbers, it can hardly be doubted that
a symbolical purpose must constantly have guided the repetition of
acts and prayers in the ceremonial of the Holy Sacrifice and indeed in
all public worship. Even in the formulae of the prayers themselves we
meet unmistakable traces of this kind of symbolism. In the Gregorian
Sacramentary (Muratori, "Liturgia Romana Vetus," II, 364) we find a
form of Benediction in some codices (it is contained also in the
Leofric Missal), assigned to the Circumcision or Octave of the
Nativity, which concludes with the following words: "Quo sic in
senarii numeri perfectione in hoc saeculo vivatis, et in septenario
inter beatorum spirituum aginina requiescatis quatenus in octavo
resurrectione renovati; jubilaei remissione ditati, ad gaudia sine
fine mansura perveniatis. Amen."

We are fairly justified then when we read of the three-fold,
five-fold, and seven-fold litanies, of the number of the repetitions
of Kyrie eleison and Christe eleison, of the number of the crosses
made over the oblata in the canon of the Mass, of the number of the
unctions used in administering the last sacraments, or the prayers in
the coronation of a king (in the ancient form in the so-called Egbert
Pontifical these prayers have been carefully numbered), of the
intervals assigned for the saying of Masses for the dead, of the
number of the lessons or the prophecies read at certain seasons of the
year, or of the absolutions pronounced over the remains of bishops and
prelates, or again of the number of subdeacons that accompany the pope
and of the acolytes who bear candles before him — we are justified, we
say, in assigning some mystical meaning to all those things, which may
not perhaps have been very closely conceived by those who instituted
these ceremonies, but which nevertheless had an influence in
determining their choice why the ceremony should be performed in this
particular way and not otherwise. (For explanation of the mystical
significance commonly attached to the use of numbers see SYMBOLISM.)

--
President of The United States
Guy Ralph Perea Sr President of The United States
Weatherdata Weatherdata http://groups.google.com/group/weatherdata1046am0426
USFMSC
http://www.cityfreq.com/ca/avalon/
QUALIFY QICP
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?call=EW4078
Int'l http://wow.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/view?siteID=353766276
http://www.wetter.com/wetter_aktuell/wetternetzwerk/station/13156/wetterdaten/
OCCUPS
http://www.occupationalinfo.org/02/025062010.html
NAS BLYND http://weather.weatherbug.com/CA/Modesto-weather.html?zcode=z6286&stat=p19133
goldlandabstracts; link check
own search engine
http://lnk.ms/8d5gl aol
http://groups.google.com/group/united-states-of-american
http://twitter.com/ptusss Federal Communication Commission
http://columbiabroadcast.spaces.live.com/ Ambassador Chevy Chase;
Kevin Corcran; Jack Nickolas; Cher; Shirley Temple
Black; Liza Minnille; Ansari; Ernest Tascoe; Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act
Agent Jodie Foster; Department of Veterans Affairs Director George H.W. Bush
Title 22 USCS section 1928 (b) The e-mail
transmission may contain legally privileged information that
is intended only for the individual or entity recipient, you are hereby,
notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or reliance upon the
contents of this E-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
E-mail transmission in error, please reply to the sender, so arrangements
can be made for proper delivery. Title 42
USCS section 192 etseq Margie Paxton Chief of Childrens Bureau
Director of The United States Department of Human Services; Defendant
Article IV General Provisions Section 2
(Supreme Law of The Land) The Constitution of The United States "Any thing
in The Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary Notwithstanding"
Contrary to Law (of an act or omission) illegal;
https://twitter.com/ptusss to email guyperea1@hpeprint.com