This Page Last Updated September 26th, 2009 (new style reckoning)
The Early Christian Attitude Towards Dogs
Matthew 7:6
“Give not what is holy unto the dogs...”
Matthew
Philippians
3:2 Beware of
dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of concision.
2 Peter
Revelation
and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Deut 23:18
Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the Lord
thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the Lord thy God.
The ancient Christian rule is that, “Should a dog happen to
find its way into a church building, any service must immediately stop, all
people are to depart (the animal being evacuated as well) and the doors locked
– till such time as the bishop can again consecrate the house of God [Old
Christian Council].” Inasmuch as the home is as it were a little pocket
of the Church, dogs are not to be allowed inside of them either. I do not see the need of a service dog, other cleaner animals can serve if there is a need. But in our home or church the need to keep animals does not exist.
Wolves are part
of the dog family, there is no need to explain the many other negative
connotations that the Lord gave in the Holy Gospels about wolves in
sheep’s clothing, etc. Good Christians should not allow dogs in the house, even though they might take the food that drops from outside tables. Dogs are dirty and spiritually defiling so we have no business making them our best friend or a member of the family, ect. In no way should we make a habit or practice of hugging or kissing or petting dogs. We certainly need help in understanding this here in America.
In the Fathers of the Church, volume 68, we find a reference in the section by St. John Chrysostom, that the doglike hyena is not only a wild beast, but “a filthy wild beast.”
From The Journey Beyond Death, Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1968, at the Twelfth Torment, it says of the accusing demons that, “they licked their chaps like dogs”.
Clerics from the heretical western churches proudly wear their Dog Collars, even neo-style Orthodox clergy are often known to be “Dog Collared”.
An expression given to the heartless society we live in today appropriates it as a “Dog-Eat-Dog Society”.
In the statute of Prince Vladimir the Great, at article 9, it specifies that Church courts have juristiction over crimes such as leading a dog (or anything else not fitting) into a Church.
There is a book titled Ways of Russian Theology. In Chapter 3, at footnote 88, it explains how the uncle of Tsar Aleksei mocked Patriarch Nikon by training his dog to mimic Nikon’s new style hand blessing. It reminds me of just how loathsome and disgusting dogs (and the corrupted form of the hand) truly are.
German Ambassador Baron Sigismund, in the account of his visits to Russia during the years 1517 and 1526, mentions that “a dog is regarded among them as an unclean animal, and it is a defilement to touch a dog with the naked hand”.
Orthodox Priest Fined For Barring Dog
The First Canonical Epistle of St. Basil, Canon VIII - He that kills another with a sword, or hurls an axe at his own wife and kills her, is guilty of willful murder; not he who throws a stone at a dog...
Some false Christianities go to great heights, or depths; see this Wall Street Journal article: Episcopalians Allow Dogs Communion
Beware of the false prophets,
who come to you in sheep’s clothing,
but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Above is an 18th century Russian Christian drawing portraying a demon as a dog.
From an article titled, A Look At The Early Church, we can see that Nero had the early Christians “torn by dogs”. Since the first Christians were left to the fury of wild dogs it is not a good practice to be keeping them very close to us, but we ought to shun them.
We can see from the link here that Saddam Hussein’s son Uday fed a christian woman to dogs--- still alive.
From a booklet called, A Brief History of the Old Believers, compiled in the fall of 1995, is an illustration on page 12 of how the Brazilian Old Believers kept dogs, seen below. Notice how they were kept in a pen, outside, rather far away from the home. Dogs might serve a purpose, as protection, for they were made to bark at intruders.
Free-ranging dogs survive largely on what people leave behind. In Russia today many drivers will go out of their way to run over stray dogs on the road. Dogs can be a menace. This does not mean that I condone using wheels or accept indiscriminate killing.
The strict Old Believers from Russia (the last Christians) do not make much use of Hebrew names. Caleb is of Hebrew origin and has come to mean dog, or one who remains steadfast to things even if it is unworthy, as a dog with its vomit. Robert Graves co-authored Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis where it speaks of the Sons of God and the Daughters of Men. It relates the story of how the Cainite women seduced some of the Sethites, saying, “These Sethites, after once succumbing to the Cainite women’s blandishments, became more unclean than dogs, and utterly forgot God’s laws.”
The Stoglav Council, which is very important to Old Believers, forbids having pets (animals kept inside the home).
Having lived in the east of the U.S., where the summertime is particularly hazy, hot and humid, I am reminded of the expression “The dawg days of August.” These times were always especially undesirable to me. Somehow I managed to bear with them though and worked to be thankful even in such circumstances. Sometimes people think of it as a time when the fruits are ripe for the picking, but I always dread the very thought of that miserable type of weather.
In the constellation of Canis Majoris (Big Dog) is Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Sirius is called the Dog Star because of its prominence in the constellation, also known as “Orion‘s dog.” The canicular days, or canine days, are when Sirius disappears into the Sun's glowing light. Ancient stargazers thought that the heat from Sirius, the brightest star in the heavens, combined with the heat of the Sun produced the hottest weather of the year! The ancient Egyptians saw Sirius as a giver of life, so we often see their wall paintings with dog figures. Robert Temple, author of The Sirius Mystery, says the body of the Sphinx is that of a dog. Freemasons have Sirius as their focus and their group for women, the Eastern Star, gets the name from it.
A Hindu gets at least one thing right in this area, as the quote
below offers:
“A dog goes here and there on four legs; we go around on
four wheels. Is that progress?”
Many Muslims believe dogs to be unclean: Seeing-eye Horse Guides Blind Muslim.
I do not hate animals, I just think they have their places.
I believe there will be a renewed example of every part of Creation in Eternity.
Eccl 3:21 Who knows if the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes downward?
