1-35 A.D. - Rome & Jerusalem

by Deborah Marino Gibl 11, 2022

Welcome to the first century!

First, let's talk dating methods...

In ancient Rome, they didn't use numbered years, but rather denoted a year by saying which two men were consuls that year, so instead of saying, "I was born in 50 A.D," you'd say "I was born when Servianus (for the third time) and Varus were consuls." Seems like a pain, especially if you didn't pay attention to politics that much!

(Feature photo: The first century steps on the south side of the Temple Mount, often called the "Teaching Steps" as this area would've been a popular spot for teachers to gain the ear of worshipers entering and exiting the temple complex)

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Augustus is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China

Denarius coins (each one is worth a day's wages) are being struck with Caesar Augustus' head on the front and a temple to Jupiter on the obverse (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Sometime in the 1st century, a Roman temple is built in the colony of Barcino (modern day Barcelona, Spain; The columns are now housed in a building behind the Barcelona cathedral in the Gothic Quarter) Tradition holds the temple is dedicated to Caesar Augustus (Photo: What is left of the temple)

Jesus turns four years old

In China, “By AD 1 the Han dynasty had been in power for over two hundred years” and “Han Gaozu (the ‘Great Progenitor’) had reunited the empire, and under Han Wudi, its borders had been so extended as to negate any immediate threat of incursion.” (China, A History, pg. 6)

In Korea, the Goguryeo, a federation of warrior tribes, are living just north of the Yalu River; Skilled horsemen and archers, they were culturally related to the nomads of the great Eurasian steppe, from whom they may be descended; They first appear in Chinese records around in 75 BC as a group engaged in peaceful trade; However, from the first century AD, they began to gradually move south, raiding northern Korea and stirring up trouble for the Chinese in the process, “Not surprisingly, Chinese records speak negatively of the Goguryeo, describing them as volatile, emotional, difficult, and dangerous folk” (A Brief History of Korea, pg. 19)

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Augustus is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China

Jesus turns five years old

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Augustus is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China

Jesus turns six years old

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Augustus is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China

The death of Gaius forces Augustus to recall his stepson, Tiberius, from exile on Rhodes (Tiberius becomes Roman Emperor in 14 A.D.)

Jesus turns seven years old

Herod the Great (72 B.C. - 4 A.D.), the Roman Jewish client king of Judea, dies in Jericho, Judea; He had been reigning since 37 B.C., during which time, he completely remodeled the Temple and the Temple Mount complex in Jerusalem, where he also built a large palace for himself

(Photo: A scale model of Jerusalem and its Temple complex built by Herod; You are looking westward, with the Temple Steps (seen in the feature photo, but looking east) can be seen on the left hand side of the complex; Do you see the red-roofed houses? That was the "upper city" where the rich dwelt; Herod's palace is on the far end to the left, barely in the picture, but you can see there's a wall that also acts as a bridge from the palace complex to the Temple Mount complex so he didn't have to walk through the city)

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Augustus is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China

Jesus turns eight years old

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Augustus is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China

Archelaus is deposed as ruler of Judea

Judea (an area in modern-day Israel) becomes a Roman Province (Roman Empire, Pg. 16)

Germania (what the Romans called the land between the Rhine and the Elbe rivers) is still independent from Rome and not entirely pacified; Tiberius, a Roman commander, has his army make a pincer movement on the powerful Marcomanni tribe, but just as his two armies began to see each other, news comes to Tiberius of a revolt in Dalmatia and Pannonia, so he quickly makes terms with the Marcomanni, and leaves for Pannonia, where he will spend the next three years quelling the revolt, which becomes known as the The Great Pannonian revolt (lasting until 9 A.D.), It distracts Tiberius from all his planned campaigns in Germany (Augustus, pg. 303-304)

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The Family

Annas become high priest of the Jewish religion, and though he will be deposed by Rome in 15, the Jews will still revere him as high priest; He will be followed by his son Eleazar, then his son-in-law, Caiaphas, and then four more sons; It seems this family called all the shots during this time

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Jesus turns nine years old

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Augustus is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China

Jesus turns ten years old

Tiberius, a Roman commander--and one day, Caesar of Rome--is fighting a rebellion in the Roman province of Pannonia

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Augustus is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China

The poet Ovid is exiled to Tomis on the Black Sea

Tiberius, a Roman commander--and one day, Caesar of Rome--finally ends the rebellion in the Roman province of Pannonia; Now he turns to where the rebellion still lives in the Roman province in Dalmatia

Jesus turns eleven years old

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Augustus is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China

Jesus turns twelve years old, He visits the temple when His family is in Jerusalem for the Passover feast, which is in the spring; It is required by Jewish law for all adult Jewish males to attend three feasts a year in Jerusalem: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles; Distance prevents many from attending all three, but most Jews try to be in Jerusalem for Passover (Archaeological Study Bible, pg. 1671, footnote)

“After three days, they (Mary & Joseph) found Him in the temple courts sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at His understanding and His answers” (Luke 2:41-51)

In September, the rain is falling as three Roman legioins march toward Germania to take it once and for all,

"The territory west of the river Weser through which the Romans marched was a mix of wetlands, woods, and fields. Oak mingled with birch, beech, and alder. In the [Teutoburg's] forest's densest densest parts there was little direct light and the pathways were narrow. In other places the soldiers passed cultivated fields and meadows with the occasional farmhouse or barn."

(Augustus, pg. 306)

However, the three legions (about 15,000 men) are led into a trap through the betrayal of men within their own army and are defeated by the Germanic tribes; The Roman officers commit suicide after being pinned down with no escape and it's every man for himself (Augustus, pg. 307)

Tiberius, a Roman commander--and one day, Caesar of Rome--finally ends the rebellion in the Roman province in Dalmatia; After three years of fighting rebellions, Tiberius heads back to Rome for victory celebrations, but the Triumph is never held, because within a few days, dispatches arrive from Germany, bearing disastrous tidings: the "province" of Germania had been lost; Rome will never again expand beyond the Rhine (Augustus, pg. 306)

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Augustus is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China

Jesus turns thirteen years old, most likely by now He’s learning carpentry from His father

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Augustus is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China

Jesus turns fourteen years old, He’s probably still learning carpentry from His father

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Augustus is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China

August 31, Future Roman Emperor, Caligula, is born (he will reign from 37 - 42 A.D.)

Jesus turns fifteen years old; He’s probably becoming quite good at carpentry by now

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Augustus is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China

Jesus turns sixteen years old; He’s working as a carpenter (most likely in his father's shop) in the small town of Nazareth

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Augustus is Caesar of Rome, but dies on September 14 and Tiberius becomes Caesar of Rome – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China

Jesus turns seventeen years old; He’s working as a carpenter (most likely in his father's shop) in the small town of Nazareth

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Tiberius is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty rules in China

Jesus turns eighteen years old; He’s working as a carpenter right now, most likely in his father’s shop

Annas is deposed as Jerusalem’s high priest

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Tiberius is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty rules in China

Jesus turns nineteen years old

John the apostle is born (it is believed he was 16 years old at time of the resurrection)

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Tiberius is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty rules in China

Jesus turns twenty years old

Strabo, the Greek historian and Stoic philosopher, attends the triumph of the Roman general Germanicas Caesar in Rome (Encyclopedia Britannica)

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Tiberius is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty rules in China

Jesus turns twenty-one years old

Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great and governor of Galilee, founds the city of Tiberius in Galilee in honor of the emperor; It is located on the site of the hot springs on the southern end of the Sea of Galilee and remains there as a spa to this day

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Tiberius is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty rules in China

Jesus turns twenty-two years old

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Tiberius is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty rules in China

Jesus turns twenty-three years old

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Tiberius is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty rules in China

Jesus turns twenty-four years old

Strabo, the Greek philosopher and historian, finishes his last book Geographia (or Geographical Sketches), and dies soon after; Strabo was born c. 64 B.C., and wrote many histories, and held the Stoic philosophy, "The precepts of which included the view that one unique principle ceaselessly pervading the whole universe causes all phenomena" (Encyclopedia Britannica) In Geographia, Strabo states that there are three intellectual classes in Gaul (the Gauls are known to us as Celts, but the Romans called them Gauls); He says of the them,

"Among all the tribes, generally speaking, there are three classes of men held in special honor: the Bards, the Vates and the Druids. The Bards are singers and poets; the Vates interpreters of sacrifice and natural philosophers; while the Druids, in addition to the science of nature, study also moral philosophy. They are believed to be the most just of men, and are therefore entrusted with the decision of cases affecting either individuals or the public; indeed in former times they arbitrated in war and brought to a standstill the opponents when about to draw up in line for battle; and murder cases have been mostly entrusted to their decision...these men, as well as other authorities, have pronounced that men's souls and the universe are indestructible, although at times fire or water may (temporarily) prevail."

(The Druids, pg. 51)

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Tiberius is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty rules in China

Jesus turns twenty-five years old

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Tiberius is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty rules in China

Jesus turns twenty-six years old

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Tiberius is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty rules in China

Jesus turns twenty-seven years old

Strabo, Greek geographer, philosopher and historian, dies, aged about 87

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Tiberius is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty rules in China, Gengshi is emperor until August – The Second Gonanda Dynasty begins its rule over Kashmir (part of present day India), Meghavahana is its first king

Jesus turns twenty-eight years old

August 5, China's Emperor Gengshi is deposed, and Guangwu takes over as Emperor of China and the Han Dynasty (Photo: 7th century painting of Guangwu)

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RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Tiberius is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty rules in China, Guangwu is emperor – The Second Gonanda Dynasty rules over Kashmir (part of present day India), Meghavahana is its first king

Emperor Tiberius appoints Pontius Pilate as governor of Judea, a position he will hold until Tiberius removes him in 36

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitus, and Lysanius tetrarch of Abilene—during the priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation.’”

(Luke 3:1-6)

Jesus turns twenty-nine years old

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Jesus turns twenty-three years old; He has not yet begun His ministry and is living in the Galilee (in present day Israel)

John "the Baptist," Jesus’ cousin, is preaching the Kingdom of God, gaining disciples, and baptizing at town called Bethany "beyond the Jordan" River in (in present day Jordan)

Caesar Tiberius retires to Villa Jovis (Villa of Jupiter) on the island of Capri of the coast of Southern Italy; He had commissioned the building of the villa and it is completed this year; When he retires to this villa, it fuels rumors of his depravities there; Sejanus, Commander of the Praetorian Guard, is now acting as his sole minister in Rome (Sejanus will be executed in 31 A.D. for conspiracy) (Roman Empire, pg. 16) (Photos below: Ruins of Tiberius' Villa Jovis, Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

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Jesus turns twenty-nine years old, He has not yet begun His ministry

John "the Baptist," is continues to preach the Kingdom of God and baptizing at Bethany "beyond the Jordan"

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Jesus begins His ministry, he turns thirty years old

John the Baptist continues his ministry preparing the way of the Lord, preaching the Kingdom of God, gaining disciples and baptizing, but when he sees Jesus coming toward him, he says,

“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A Man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know Him, except that the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The Man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen Him and I testify that this is the Son of God.”

(John 1:32-34)

By the time of Jesus’ first year of ministry:

The Terra Cotta Army in China has been buried for over 200 years, and the Great Wall of China has been built since ____
Confucius lived almost 500 years ago
There are tribes and chiefdoms living in England (Julius Caesar tried conquering them 79 years ago, but they freaked him out so bad that he left)
India has already had two Empires of its own, and is now in the beginnings of their second Gonanda dynasty (began in 25AD)
The Silk Road is thriving
Just northeast of present day Mexico City, the city of Teotihuacán in Mesoamerica has been thriving for over 300 years as a multicultural center of intense agriculture and polytheism (which includes human sacrifice), this city has multistory buildings and large pyramids (History of the World, Map by Map, pg. 78)

Jesus goes into the Judean desert right after being baptized by John, and is tempted for forty days (I wonder what all the other temptations were? We only have record of three temptations, not enough to fill forty days), the second temptation is this...

“The devil led Him up to a high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world (China, Rome, India, Gaul, Persia, Egypt…), And he said to Him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, (because Mankind put the world into his hands by being tempted themselves and giving in) and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if You will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

(Luke 4:5-8)

Jesus returns to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spreads through the whole countryside, He teaches in their synagogues, and everyone is praising Him (Luke 4:14-15)

Jesus goes to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and on a Sabbath day, he goes into the synagogue, as is His custom, and He stands up to read.

“The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ [see 700 B.C. when Isaiah wrote down. It had been held for centuries to be a prophecy of the Messiah and what He will do when He comes. Jesus knew exactly what He was doing when He read this aloud to them] Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him, and He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’”

(Luke 4:16-20)

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A Caesar Tiberius denarius coin (obverse and reverse); This coin is struck sometime between 18 - 35 A.D. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Jesus is in the second year of His ministry; He turns thirty-one years old

John "The Baptist" is still preaching

Queen Helena of Adiabene (modern-day Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan) and also queen of Edessa (modern-day Urfa, Turkey) converts to Judaism, Adiabene is a Persian province on the northern extremities of the Tigris River, and is at the times a vassal kingdom to the Parthian Empire; Queen Helena will later move to Jerusalem with her sons and help the Jewish population in their war against Rome (she is later buried in the city when she dies sometime between 50-56)

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Year Three

Jesus is in His third year of ministry; He turns thirty-two years old this year – Most likely at some point during this year is when Jesus is...

“…asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is’ or ‘There it is,’ because the Kingdom of God is within you.’ Then He said to His disciples, ‘The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Men will tell you, ‘There He is!” or “Here He is!” Do not go running off after them. For the Son of Man in His day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to another. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.’” (Luke 17:20-22)

This happened before the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem in the book of Luke, though Matthew records a similar conversation on the Temple Mount during Jesus’ last week on Earth

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At this point, Gallia Aquitania is now a Roman province in what is now France, it will later become the Duchy of Aquitaine where Eleanor of Aquitaine (mother of Richard the Li is from, it’s called Aquitania because it is intersected by several rivers

Caligula (future Roman Emperor) joins Caesar Tiberius at his Villa Jovis on the island of Capri; Tiberius withdrew from public life and retired to the island back in 26, and Caligula will remain there with him until 37, when Tiberius dies and he becomes emperor

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Year Four

April 6, Jesus enters Jerusalem as the Anointed One on Palm Sunday (according to Daniel’s 70-week prophecy in Dan. 9)

April 6 - 12, Jesus spends a week coming into the Temple area to both preach and teach (Luke 19:45-21)

April 12, Jesus celebrates Passover with His disciples in the upper room, then they walk to the Mount of Olives, east of the city, to pray; That night, He is betrayed by Judas Iscariot and stands trial before both the High Priest, Caiaphas, and the Roman governor, Pontus Pilate, throughout the night and into the early morning hours

April 13, Jesus is crucified by 9am by the Romans outside of Jerusalem at a place called "The Skull," just north of the city; At 12pm, He gives up His spirit with the words...

"My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

The Trinity is separated

The veil is torn

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Caesar Tiberius is still retired on the island of Capri in the Villa Jovis (Photo: Ruins of Villa Jovis, with a view of the promenade looking out at the Tyrrhenian Sea, Credit: Wikimedia Commons) Deb's Note: I've always wondered, when Jesus died in Jerusalem, where was Tiberius? Did he have any idea what had taken place in his own empire? Could he have been walking down this very promenade, looking out at this sea?

April 16, News of Jesus having resurrected spreads through the city

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Jesus has been gone for a year now, and his disciples (now called apostles) are spreading the gospel to mainly Jewish people, the stories of the book of Acts are happening (though Luke doesn’t sit down to gather all the stories and write them “in an orderly account” until later

According to Wikipedia and the Catholic Church, Jesus ordained Peter to be the first pope in this year (not sure how as Jesus had already ascended into heaven? Maybe they’re just a year off, most people still say he died in 33 even though it was 32)

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Stephen gives his testimony before the Sanhedrin and is stoned (possibly, it seems right that is would be in this year, since it was before Paul converted, but after the church had gotten large enough that they needed to choose seven men to direct the daily distribution of food),

“On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.”

(Acts 8:1-3)

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Paul the Apostle meets Jesus on the road to Damascus, Syria (ASB 1764)

In China, “Ma himself began grappling with the proto-Tibetan Quiang people. Between 35-39 he subdued the region from modern Xining to Kokonor and settled vast numbers of Qiang along and within this sector of frontier.” (China, a History pg. 169)

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1-35 A.D. - Rome & Jerusalem

Welcome to the first century!

First, let's talk dating methods...

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The Family

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Year Three

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Year Four

"My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

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