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Labyrinths and Mazes—Why So Intriguing?Awake!—1999 | December 22
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Christendom’s Labyrinths and Mazes
Of the many remarkable labyrinths in Christendom’s religious buildings, one of the smallest must be the 15th-century circular carved wooden ornamentation high in the roof of St. Mary Redcliffe, a church in Bristol, England. Painted in gold and black, it has a diameter of only eight inches [20 cm]. The most famous labyrinth is in France’s Chartres Cathedral. Constructed in the year 1235, of blue and white stone, it is 40 feet [10 m] in diameter.
Large floor mazes were laid in other medieval French and Italian cathedrals and churches, including those at Amiens, Bayeux, Orléans, Ravenna, and Toulouse. The one at Reims was destroyed 200 years ago, and the Mirepoix Cathedral’s maze features a central Minotaur.
Regarding the incorporation of labyrinths into prominent religious buildings, one authority writes: “The pagan labyrinth was adopted by the medieval Christian church and adapted for its own use by including Christian symbolism in the design.” Thus, labyrinths were apparently used in Christendom’s churches to represent a Christian’s life, in keeping with the mythology established by the ancient Egyptians.
Church mazes were also used to enact journeys made by the crusaders to Jerusalem. Reaching the center symbolized reaching Jerusalem and attaining salvation. For some worshipers a maze was a penitential circuit either to be completed upon the knees to gain forgiveness of sins or to be ritualistically walked as a substitute for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
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Labyrinths and Mazes—Why So Intriguing?Awake!—1999 | December 22
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Are you surprised that mazes and labyrinths, although of pagan origin, are fixtures in Christendom? Can true Christianity be compatible with pagan superstition?
Compatible With Christian Faith?
Fascinating as the history of the labyrinth is, beliefs in connection with it are not compatible with Christian faith. Nowhere does the Bible teach that the human soul is separate and distinct from the body and that it lives on when a person dies. Rather, the Bible teaches that the human soul is mortal. It says: “The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.”—Ezekiel 18:4.
God’s Word, the Bible, is powerful and has been likened to a sword, “the sword of the spirit.” Christians skillfully use this weapon to overcome a real, superhuman, invisible spirit creature and his demons, not a mythical Minotaur. (Ephesians 6:12, 17) As a result, they have a faith that is invincible and a sure hope of salvation. This will carry them through the end of this present system of things into a new world of righteousness—something belief in mythology can never do.—2 Peter 3:13.
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Labyrinths and Mazes—Why So Intriguing?Awake!—1999 | December 22
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[Box/Picture on page 24]
Christendom’s Use of the Labyrinth
London’s Westminster Abbey has recently introduced this newly embroidered altar cloth. Note the labyrinth in the center flanked by “Α” (alpha, “THE BEGINNING”) and “Ω” (omega, “THE END”). At the center of this labyrinth design, note the “I AM,” which represents Jehovah, the great “I AM” referred to at Exodus 3:14, King James Version. This is an intriguing modern example of the close ties of the labyrinth with religion today.
[Credit Line]
Photo: David Johnson
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