Sunday, 21 April 2019

Easter


I've never been to the British Museum, oddly. But I learn today, Easter Sunday, that it contains a series of ivory plaques from a casket which comprise the earliest surviving narrative depiction of the Easter story. Here's the one showing the scene of the empty tomb, with two snoozing soldiers and two rapt women:


It's believed to come from a Roman workshop and was made in around 420-30 AD and is rather lovely.

Alas, as I was reading this first thing today, I saw the horrific news from Sri Lanka. 

Easter does seem to have been become a particular target for Islamic terrorists in recent years, from Egypt to Nigeria, from Pakistan to Kenya, etc. And here we are again on the most joyous day of the year for Christians, with Christian worshippers being specifically targeted for massacre. 

When will this end?