Monday, August 11, 2008

The Ancient Pantheon (Πάνθειον)


I was privileged to visit Italy this summer to attend a wedding. And while there, I made it to Rome. I got to walk into the ancient Pantheon (Πάνθειον), the pagan temple built by Marcus Agrippa during his 3rd proconsulship in about 27 B.C. I was here, standing where idolotrous Romans practiced their syncretistic religion. The current building seen here dates to a reconstruction dating to Emperor Hadrian's reign c. 125 A.D. Eventually it was used as a Roman Catholic place of worship. Eventually it was used as a Roman Catholic place of worship.
I was impressed by the sight of this standing structure of ancient history as I walked around. I remember touching the large stone pillars feeling like I was touching the past. Nevertheless, I am a Christian in this now-Catholicised Roman temple of "all the gods". And as a Christian I know only one, true God. And in the spirit of the 115th Psalm I can only draw a final thought, "But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. Their idols are silver & gold, the works of men's hands.They have mouths, but they do not speak;they have ears ,but do not hear...Those who make them are like them, so is everyone who trusts in them." (Psalm 115:3-8)

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