Joachim

The reader will observe that there are in this document two distinct legends, somewhat clumsily joined together, that of Nathan's Embassy and that of Veronica.

End of Introduction Section 1 of the Anti-Nicene Christian Library Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325 Alexander Roberts, Editor This LibriVox recording is in the public domain The Proto-Evangelium of James The Birth of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, and Very Glorious Mother of Jesus Christ In the records of the twelve tribes of Israel was Joachim, a man rich exceedingly.

And he brought his offerings double, saying, There shall be of my superabundance to all people, and there shall be the offering of my forgiveness to the Lord, for a propitiation for me.

For the great day of the Lord was at hand, and the sons of Israel were bringing their offerings.

And there stood over against him Reuben, saying, It is not meet for thee first to bring thine offerings, because thou hast not made seed in Israel.

And Joachim was exceedingly grieved, and went away to the registers of the twelve tribes of the people, saying, I shall see the registers of the twelve tribes of Israel, as to whether I alone have not made seed in Israel.

And he searched and found that all the righteous had raised up seed in Israel.

And he called to mind the patriarch Abraham, that in the last day God gave him a son, Isaac.

This is the immaculate conception, and it says, "Not Jesus's birth.

Many people confuse this term, the immaculate conception, with the virgin birth of Jesus, but it actually refers to the conception of Mary herself by her parents, traditionally named Saint Anne and Saint Joachim.

Mary was conceived by normal biological means, but God intervened to preserve her soul from the stain of original sin in anticipation of Jesus Christ's future sacrifice." I believe that in the Catholic Church, when you're born, you have original sin until you're baptized, and God waived that with Mary.

Now let's get back to, uh, uh...

The nurse is waiting to put the little one in its cradle.

Saint Joachim is coming into the room.

A dove is hovering over the babe's head.

Angels are looking on.

Point one.

The angels.

What does it all mean? Why are the angels so full of interest? Was the birth of this little one so different from any other? It was indeed miraculous, but Joachim and Anne were by no means the only ones thus favored.

No, there is something beyond this which is engaging the interest of the angels.

Elijah fasted 40 days and 40 nights on Mount Horeb.

Joachim, in shame at being childless, retired to the wilderness for a fast of 40 days and 40 nights.

Buddha fasted and held his breath until he became extremely weak, when Mara, prince of evil, appeared and tempted him to break his fast by offering to make him emperor of the world.

Quetzalcoatl was also tempted by the devil during a 40 days fast, and the temptation of Zoroaster forms the subject of many legends.

If you go back to the second century, you already have the pious retelling in the Proto-Evangelium of James of the virgin birth of Our Lady.

of her Immaculate Conception from Joachim and Anna with the same themes of Abraham and Sarah, etc.

We're going to get into this today.

And I'm going to put this cheat sheet available to the ACT Insider.

So this document, Proto-Evangelium of James, was not written by James, which is why the church decided it was not included in the canon of Scripture.

And it was attributed to James, but it wasn't written by him.

But again, it comes from about 140, 150, 160 A.D. And it is a pious retelling of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Joachim and Anne.

It's great.