Dear Catholicos,
Yes, it seems that He had to be
Antonios is termed "fanatic" in the pseudepigrapha and who wanted to actually disrupt the funeral of the Mother of God!
He wanted to commit the ultimate sacrilege and had both hands cut off by an angel for his trouble (in response to the other thread on angels, I guess this angel took it PERSONALLY!).
The apostles then returned his hands and they reattached themselves, much like with the miracle of St John Damascus and his hand.
Antonios was converted and dedicated himself to the Gospel ever after.
(Is this where the original, "Look, no hands!" came from? Or the "Give me a hand, will you?" or even, giving it a contemporary twist, "What is the sound of NO hands clapping?")
In any case, he should have been happy he didn't have his head handed to him by the Apostles . . .
O.K., let's go on to the next point, shall we?
The Dormition/Translation of St John the Theologian is liturgically celebrated and reflects, again, the pseudepigraphical and liturgical tradition that understood St John to have been bodily taken to heaven.
Let me quote you from the Akathist to St John the Theologian, Ekos 11:
". . .Thou didst order thy disciples to bury thee alive, but when they came to thy grave in the morning and dug it out, they found it empty. Only then they realized that thou hadst accomplished thy transition by an unusual human death or falling asleep . . ."
Kontakion 12:
"Grace is given by God to the place where thy body was committed to the earth, so that on the day of thy burial it emitteth a fine dust for the healing of the sick . . ."
And although the Conception of John the Theologian is not a feast, as is that of the Conception of St John the Baptist, mention of a special grace given to St John the Theologian is made in some places in the liturgical services, but since I have my Akathistnyk (Jordanville edition) in front of me (never leave home without it!), Kontakion 2 has this to say: "Seeing the spotless purity of thy heart, undarkened by carnal pleasures, Christ the Lord judged thee to be worthy of the vision of mystic revelations . . ."
John the Theologian is especially feted by the Eastern Church as its special Evangelical Patron and his translation to Heaven is honoured highly.
St Nicholas is one other saint whose liturgical services suggest he too was conceived in holiness along with John the Baptist, although there is no feast for his conception.
There are Western Catholic devotions to the (Immaculate) Conception of St Joseph, especially in Spain (Spain declared the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God to be normative throughout its empire years before it was proclaimed a doctrine by Rome).
St Joseph's immaculate conception and also his dormition and bodily translation to heaven were honoured as private theological opinions and devotions in some Latin countries.
This also led to the devotion to the "Three Holy Hearts:" The Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Admirable Heart of Joseph.
One Pope even had his papal arms decorated with the picture of the Three Holy Hearts.
And yes it is a slow afternoon for me . . .
Alex
[ 08-01-2002: Message edited by: Orthodox Catholic ]
