'" But even if
any disparaging sense could be eliminated from this particular word,
Jerome's opinion is otherwise expressed.
The only possible reference to Susanna observable, I think, in the N.T.
is in Matt, xxvii. 24, unless the name of Susanna in St. Luke viii. 3 be
taken from our heroine's. It is of course emblematic of lily-like
purity, and therefore very suitable for a woman. The story, with some
omissions, forms the Epistle for Saturday after the third Sunday in Lent
in the Sarum and Roman Missals.
Luther says that this and Bel are "beautiful and spiritual compositions,
just as Judith and Tobias " (Bleek, _O.T._, Venables' transl., 1869, II.
339).
In the Greek Church the Synods of Constantinople and Jerusalem in 1672
expressly decided, in opposition to Cyril Lucar and the Calvinists, that
Susanna and Bel (with some other apocryphal books) were genuine elements
of Divine Scripture, and denounced Cyril Lucar's conduct in styling them
Apocrypha as ignorance or wickedness (Bleek, II. 343; Loisy, _O.T._ p.
243).
Pages:
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188