In a week full of lopsided battles, yesterday's matchup took the A to Z prize as Zenaida routed Apollonia 81% to 19%. She'll advance to the Saintly Sixteen where she'll take on the winner of Nicholas of Myra vs. Rudolph of Gubbio.
Today, we round out the second full week of Lent Madness with another Biblical bracket buster as Ananias faces Photini.
In other news, the Supreme Executive Committee was shocked to learn this week that there is another bracket-style tournament making the rounds. But instead of saints, this one features college basketball teams. What is this...madness?! Fear not, friends. The Lent Madness Legal Team is looking into all of our available options. Stay tuned.
Next week, we'll finish up the Round of 32 and kick off the Saintly Sixteen on Thursday. But first, enjoy some sabbath time as we collectively rest from our voting labors through the weekend. Don't worry, though, we'll be back first thing Monday morning as Damien of Molokai faces Pandita Ramabai.
Ananias
As a general rule, if we find that our lives of prayer and discipleship only lead to places of personal comfort and safety, then it’s quite likely we aren’t listening to God as closely as we should. In heeding the call of Jesus, Ananias of Damascus abandoned his own safety to receive, heal, and instruct the man who can be called Christianity’s most significant convert: Saul of Tarsus–Saint Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.
The Acts of the Apostles records the call of Ananias. Jesus appears to him in a vision, calling Ananias to leave the safety of his home in Damascus and “look for a man of Tarsus named Saul.” Ananias knows of Saul’s vigorous persecution of the church in Jerusalem and argues with God: “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” But Jesus tells Ananias to go anyway, “for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel” (Acts 9:11-15).
Ananias does as he is told. He finds Saul of Tarsus, blinded from his own encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road, at the home of a man named Judas in Damascus, just as Jesus has told him. Ananias recounts his own call to seek out Saul so that Saul may regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul’s sight is restored—“something like scales” fall from his eyes—and almost immediately thereafter Saul is baptized. Within days, Saul preaches with great eloquence to the power of Jesus in the Damascus synagogue, raising more than a few eyebrows among those who knew of his former life.
The story of Paul’s ministry occupies the majority of the Acts of the Apostles; Paul’s letters to the church communities constitute the bulk of the New Testament. Today’s church would not exist in its current form without Paul. But Paul’s journey as an apostle begins with the courage and faithfulness of Ananias, a disciple and follower of Jesus who heeds a call to go and pray with a man he only knows as a danger and a threat. Ananias’s extraordinary witness and courage commends him as an example for us to follow nearly two millennia later.
Collect for Ananias
Almighty God, whose will it is to be glorified in your saints, and who raised up your servant Ananias of Damascus to be a light in the world; Shine, we pray, in our hearts, that we also in our generation may show forth your praise, who called us out of darkness into your marvelous light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Photini
“So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’” (John 4:5-7).
These words begin the longest conversation Jesus has with another person in the gospels. The woman at the well isn’t named in the Gospel of John; we are given her gender (woman), her ethnicity (Samaritan), and her personal information (not what we’d call an upstanding citizen).
All the labels are warnings: This is not a person with whom Jesus should be talking. Yet Jesus does speak with her, and in response, she becomes a disciple and evangelist. We read in the Gospel of John that many Samaritans from that city believe in Jesus because of her testimony.
We don’t encounter her again in the gospels, but the early church continues her story. Baptized on Pentecost with her sisters and given the name Photini (luminous or enlightened one), she travels to Samaria and eventually Carthage, where her witness founds a vibrant Christian community.
Photini encounters Jesus in a vision, and subsequently travels from Carthage to Rome to bolster the courage of the persecuted community of Christians and share the gospel with Nero, the emperor. Instead of being converted, Nero orders Photini and the Christians beaten on the hands with iron rods. During the torture, Photini sings psalms. Seeing their hands unharmed, Nero throws the men into jail and invites Photini and her sisters to a grand banquet, hoping the display will entice Photini to rebuke her Christian faith. Photini shares the gospel with Nero’s daughter and converts her. Enraged even more, Nero further tortures Photini, then throws her into a well, where she praises God until she dies.
Sermons in the early church refer to her as an apostle and evangelist, standing equal to the twelve who go forth after the resurrection. Her faith is commemorated in many ancient hymns, including this verse from one associated with Ephrem:
Blessed are you, O Woman, drawer of ordinary water, who turned out to be a drawer of living water. You found the treasure, the Source from whom a flood of mercies flow.
Collect for Photini
O Almighty God, whose most blessed Son revealed to the Samaritan woman that He is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the World; grant us to drink of the well that springs up to everlasting life that we may worship you in spirit and in truth through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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175 comments on “Ananias vs. Photini”
Since I just visited St. Photini’s Orthodox Church this morning and drank water from Jacob’s Well, she has my vote today. Samaria is amazing!
I have learned from LM to appreciate these fantastical stories of saints/"saints." But I prefer the story of the woman at the well to the accreted history attached to her. I prefer to let her go and not plaster on a long addendum that usefully martyrs her. It's Ananias for me. He took a risk and followed an inner prompt to go meet an enemy. There he made a small gesture that assisted history to go the right way. His small act of faithfulness and courage made a huge difference. So I vote for Ananias today. Speaking of fantastical saints, I want to know when we get to vote for St. Guinefort.
Agreed. But for my personal experience at the well, I too would have oted for Ananias
Like!! Thank you!
I too tend to choose the Biblical over the legendary, but the Johannine account is really all we need for Photina to see that she was one who evangelized for Christ. Several comments above (mine among them) question David Sibley's view that she was 'not an outstanding citizen.'
Photini’s well is one of the better-identified sites in the Gospels, since it already was and continued to be a Samaritan holy place. You can go there (it’s now inside a church), lower a bucket into the well, and drink of the same water that Jesus drank. You can be pretty sure that you are sitting and standing exactly where our Lord did. It’s a quiet spot, and you can imagine yourself in conversation with him.
Fifteen months ago I sat by the well and, because of that physical sense of Jesus’s presence, found it one of the most moving stops on a tour that included most all of the usual sites mentioned in the Gospels. It’s in honor of that place and moment in my life, rather than all those pious legends, that I’m voting for Photini, or rather for whoever she was in real life.
Davis, my experience at the Well echoes yours. It is a truly awe-some place.
Was a very hard descision the conversion of Paul or the Woman at the well and her conversion after speaking to Jesus. Both spread the message of Jesus but the Photini is whom I voted for in the end.
Characterizing the woman at the well as "not exactly an upstanding citizen" completely misses the political overtones that her country had been occupied by 5 foreign powers. It's not about her moral failings - it's about her social and sexual victimization. Jesus liberates her from all if it. Go Photini!
Flower turning toward the sun, which emits photons of light energy,....hence the perfect name, Photini, who turned toward the Son, ...and was filled with His energy..... and spread the Word.
Photini: victimized, marginalized, probably very lonely. And Jesus found her. Saved by the living water.
Yes.
Hard decision, but I voted for Ananias because his name means YHWH has given and my name means <God's gracious gift. So for that connection in meaning he gets my vote.
As for his "craft cocktail" I'd suggest that it is the hair of the dog that you drink to open you eyes the next morning after having one to many glasses of Photini.
There's no photini, but the batini is the official drink of Austin, TX.
Tito's Vodka mixed with Chambord and blue Curacao, Sangria, and half a cup of red wine. All that is shaken and served with a cherry garnish.
A well that dispensed that would be the end (in more than one sense) of many pilgrimages.
Whoa, instant blackout!
I should point out that "bat" means "daughter" in Hebrew. The Samaritan woman may not be a "daughter of the law," but she is a true daughter of the gospel. Not only did Jesus turn water into wine, but it seems he turned it into a cocktail as well. "Eau de vie" indeed.
Hard choice, especially with two (count 'em TWO) songs going through my head: "Jesus met the woman at the well" as sung by Peter, Paul, and Mary; and hymn 673 in Hymnal 1982, "The first one ever", second verse, with the refrain "and blessed is she who perceives."
But I have to go with the person who was brave enough to minister to the enemy of his faith.
The year for very obscure saints!
There's a whole brotherhood named for St. Andrew because he brought his brother to Jesus. Photini brought a whole village, and John didn't even bother to get her name.
BTW, I've been told that her name is "Photini" in modern Greek but would have been "Photina" her own time and in Byzantine Greek. To the Orthodox Churches, she's still "Photina."
Plus, she's just about the only female martyr that comes to mind as managing to keep her clothes on during her passion.
I’m sorry so many of this year’s saints are so obscure and have stories which based on mere pious legends with barely a shred of historical information, if that. Let’s instead celebrate some of the saints about whose lives and devotion we actually have some evidence for. There are plenty of those. I don’t find silly and fantastic stories like those about “Photini” the least bit edifying.
As the 10th year of LM, the more easily found saints have participated. The saints that don't win the Golden Halo in any given year have to wait a few years to be "recycled". Just stick with it and you'll see them again!
“Lent Madness Seasonal Craft Cocktails” Another fabulous possibility for a book! Now, between the Song book and the Cocktail book, not to mention the Limerick & Short Poem book, you could start a Lent Madness Library. All of which could be for sale - with supplemental editions available each year. These creations are all too good not to preserve for posterity!
And a cookbook and hymnal, too!
Bad!
If only there was a member of the Supreme Executive Council of Lent Madness who was the Executive Director of a publisher. If only. 😉
There used to be recipes inspired by various contenders in the Lent Madness book each year. I miss those. Still have a few years' worth of books on my cookbook shelf!
Another saintly bracket you should know about! The Catholic Balm Co is having a "March Madness: Holy Beards Edition" bracket on their Facebook page! Who had the most saintly 'stache? Vote for the most blessed beard! https://www.facebook.com/catholicbalmco/
A hymn about Photini from Ephrem! Love the Lent Madness crossover!
I have wondered why a woman of Photini's time might have multiple marriages. Was she infertile, and cast aside by a string of husbands for not providing offspring? Or a victim of rape early on, and taken on begrudgingly as a spare wife by these men but never truly loved or respected? We don't know -- and Jesus doesn't judge her, and neither do I. Nevertheless, she persevered. And I have always loved this dreamlike story. Photini -- survivor, evangelist, apostle, martyr -- gets my vote.
I am thinking that "nevertheless, she persisted" will be the mantra of every woman saint from now on. Never let it be said that the US Senate produced no words worth remembering.
Why is it if a woman is a centerpiece in a gospel story she must be of ill repute. For me, this social and cultural bias deeply undermines the truth and value of the Bible. We know the Bible is a product of edits and revisions. Is it not time to edit and revise the Bible to reflect the spiritual growth the past 2000 has produced? Thank you for indulging my Friday soapboxing.
But there are many women at the center of gospel stories who are definitely not of ill repute, starting with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her cousin Elizabeth.
It took a lot of guts for Ananius to risk life and limb just because he heard a voice ordering him to go to the enemy. And we know his story while Photini's story may just be embellished. I've been selecting a lot of the "losers" in this year's contest. But for me, that is a sign that I am seeing my life as a Christian in a different light---or I am just getting old and cranky. My grandfather told me that if I drowned, I would be found upstream.
Best curse ever! And from your grandfather! I’m going to remember that one. Thanks!
And in spite of the fabulosity of her extended story, I’ll vote for the Woman at the Well, who bravely kept exploring what Jesus challenged her with.
Bit of a disagreement today. Mother was stumping for Ananias, but Son was super-impressed with anyone who would take on Nero. In the end, Photini won the day. It was a hard decision. In all honesty, we will be glad for either saint who wins.
I've always loved the story of the woman at the well and how Jesus spoke with her out of all custom. She then got the courage to go back to the village where she was probably ostracized and share the news about Jesus. That said, the rest of her story seems a bit implausible, so I had to go with Ananias who obeyed God even against his own wishes.
Again I seem to have voted for the loser. Great comments everyone!
I recently read "Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist," by Eli Saslow, and was so impressed by the college kids who reached out to the protagonist to work at changing his mind, although they hated what he stood for. In their honor I'm voting for Ananias.
I admire Ananias for his strength and complete faith, but had to go with Photini. Happy Weekend, everyone!
Such a tough vote today! Either one winning will please me. I wanted to go with Ananias because his obedience in the face of danger had such an important outcome for Christianity. But I voted for Photini because I just returned from Jerusalem and the Holy Land, where I had the opportunity to drink from Jacob’s well myself, one of many simply overwhelming experiences. So in sisterhood with another who was, like myself, “undeserving” of grace, I cast my vote.
Denise
See a doctor immediately. I have a friend who drank from Jacob’s Well and got very sick. It was a life-changing event, and not a good one.
I went for Photini because of her immediate acceptance of Jesus’ message. She is definitely one of the first apostles!
How long after drinking didyour friend get sick??? We had an entire group partaking. No symptoms from anyone yet, and it was about a week and a half ago.
Photini gets my vote , I am touched deeply by the words in that hymn about drawer of living water and the source of life.
Jesus speaks the truth about the political, social, religious, sexual, psychological, personal, communal meanings and mores and the immediate circumstances (with him at Jacob's well) in which the un-named woman finds herself, and where he finds and embraces all of us who are otherwise busy being occupied by the powers and principalities of this world but who, nevertheless, go there too - and yet we want to reduce it to anything less powerful as quickly as we can, or so it seems to me this morning. He "forgave" her? For what? Internalizing the disqualifying definitions heaped upon her and her kinspeople? Let the Living Water of liberation continue to flow!
Toughest choice yet. Wow. Going for the "outsider" who engaged with Jesus, ignoring the cultural proscriptions, and also did not remind Jesus that he had not said "Please"
Here's a message for David Sibley: I have been nominating Ananias for Lent Madness ever since I started participating; I was so excited to see he made the bracket this year. Looks like he won't be going on to the Saintly Sixteen, but I wanted to tell you I think you gave him a great write-up. Thanks. Guess we can drown our disappointment tonight in a couple of Photinis.
Peter, Paul and Mary had a song about Jesus meeting the woman at the well..
I and others have already commented on/questioned the blogger's suggestion that Photina was of ill repute; I should also note that Paul's epistles do not make up the bulk of the NT. If bulk means majority then there is no bulk of the NT; if it means plurality then that honor goes to Luke-Acts.
I love the allegorical reading that her "husbands" were foreign colonizers. That adds a dimension to the reading that I had never considered.