Malverne Street Renamed

*Note: This post is in response to reader question 2. “Re: Rename of 661 Saint Paul St. From Saint Vincent Ferrer to Saint George’s Church (see links below for explanation)”

Recently, I was approached by a few members of the RiverPark community in Bayonne whose own parishes were given the nickname “Saint George’s.” However, they have no church, or formal naming ceremony relating to their parish; nor do they pay tithes to the church. They left the decision to the individual parish, based solely on whom they like to see involved in the building of the church buildings themselves.

Now, when we consider the Latin verb iconar, literally “to show, reveal, etc.,” the name “Saint George’s” only makes sense in regards to the patron saint of Christendom. However, the earliest churches in our Western world – with references to what we now call pagan temple worship – actually featured pagans. Saints generally had the title “George,” which just further points up that they were simply called George.

What's not clear is where this all started. Jesus began his ministry under the guidance of an Israelite prophet named Moses. The first five of Jesus' disciples became the priests of Levi, the priests of the tabernacle, who served at the entrance of the holy city of Jerusalem to enter.

These founders of Christianity could look down on the Pharisees and Scribes who hated Jesus, and Jesus' wife Mary. In fact, Jesus' first three acts of ministry were performed in a public prison.

Jesus teaches regularly in temples; the central message of the early church was to baptize in a common bathtub, God willing. Jesus' relationship with Judas (the brother of James and John) was the first conflict between the two, and it was from there that Judas became involved in Christian involvement.

The very first gospel (second century), where Jesus predicts how Jesus' followers will break into the temple and separate Jesus from his followers, has Jesus promising the crowds that if they act as Jesus told, they will see the kingdom of heaven. Some of the earliest Christians had their statues of Jesus partially erected outside the sanctuary, separated by the sea.