Three dates of note for the first day of June:
--Today is the
feast date of the early church father Justin Martyr, beheaded by the
urban prefect in Rome in 165. Justin stressed the link between Daniel's prophecies and Christianity by identifying "the son of man"
(Daniel 7) with Jesus. Justin was also an early proponent of the largely
extra-Biblical concept of the Antichrist.
--Marguerite
Porete was burned at the stake in Paris this day in 1310. A member of
the persecuted lay order of Beguines, her mystical book "Mirror of the
Simple Soul" was condemned for heresy. Preferring a direct, personal
relationship with God, elements of the Beguine movement had identified
the organized church with Antichrist. However, there may also have been a
political dimension to Porete's persecution, occurring four years
before Philip The Fair of France would also burn key members of the
Knights Templar at the stake in Paris.
--The "Doomsday Clock"
was introduced this month in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists. The clock symbolizes the immanency of nuclear disaster by a
minute-hand's proximity to midnight. Over time the count has ranged from
17 minutes (1991) to 2 (1953). The current Executive Director of the
"Bulletin", Kennette Benedict, has claimed the current odds of an act of
nuclear terrorism occurring in the next 15 years are at least 50%.
