Slovakian 2-Euro coin is showing Saint Cyril and Methodius – two Christian Saints and cross which is also the coat of arms of Slovakia.
From Euractiv.com
Slovakia, responding to requests from some fellow eurozone countries, has removed the halos from a €2 coin commemorating the 1,150th anniversary of the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Moravia.
Coat of Arms of Slovakian Republic
Slovakia, a eurozone member since 2009, will start circulating the coin next year to mark the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia and Panonia, which was part of modern Slovakia.
Eurozone countries are allowed to mint commemorative coins once every year under EU rules. The image on the back of the commemorative coin, however, must be accepted by the remaining eurozone members and the European Commission.
Cyril and Methodius were brothers, born in Thessaloniki at the beginning of the 9th century, who created the Glagolitic and then the Cyrillic alphabets with the aim to have the Bible and other texts translated into Slavic languages.
Cyril died in 869 and Methodius in 885. They were soon canonised as saints, with Saints Cyril and Methodius Day being celebrated on 24 May to mark the anniversary of Cyril’s death (see background).
Cyril and Methodius were also declared patrons of Europe in 1980 by Pope John Paul II. In Bulgaria, the only EU country at present to use the Cyrillic alphabet, 24 May is a public holiday, called “Bulgarian Education and Culture, and Slavonic Literature Day”.
And no religion?
Slovakia agreed to remove the halo despite Cyril and Methodius’ undisputed status as saints.
“Under EU rules, when designing the national side of a euro coin, Member States are required to take into account that the coins will circulate throughout the whole eurozone, and in that context, proposed designs are shared in advance with other Member States so that they can provide any comments they deem appropriate,” the Commission said in a statement.
The Commission acknowledged that some members states objected to the coin, adding that Slovakia submitted a slightly amended design, “which has now been approved by the [EU] Council of Ministers.”
If the motivation of the unnamed member states was to remove religious symbols from the design, they did not entirely succeed. Cyril and Methodius hold a Christian double cross, standing on the middle peak of a mountain with three peaks.
The double cross and the three peaks are the main elements of the coat of arms of Slovakia and feature on the regular Slovak euro coins.
The revamped design has been met with unease by the Bulgarian press. During Communism, painters and sculptors were requested by the authorities to portray Cyril and Methodius without sanctity halos.
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
.
Good grief.
We’ll be taking Darwin’s head off ten pound notes next.
Is nothing sacred? (No.)
(Toad thinks they took off Cyril and Methodious – not for reasons of religious “persecution” but they both looked so Grumpy! Quite right, too!)
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Oops! Only the “halos” got nixed!
Not worth getting all bent out of shape over really, was it?
And Charles, The Second Greatest Englishman, is laughing, because he hasn’t got one. (a halo, that is.)
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Yet another reason to quit the EU. It has to be remembered that Europe is (or was) a Christian continent & the majority of its members (poor fools) were Christian countries before we were watered down by sceptics & unbelievers
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Reblogged this on 1catholicsalmon and commented:
Another sign of our times…
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My goodness, David is spot on, isn’t he? A halo here, a halo there, and there goes the whole of the European Political Union down the Swannee! (Or should that be The Rhine?)
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Yes, I quite agree with David and 1catholicsalmon. This is the beginning of the chipping away of our Christian heritage with incomprehensible and stupid EU rules like this one – removing the saints’ halos from the coin – and we must stand out against them.
“First they came for the Jews and I said nothing…… etc.”
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Toad didn’t realise they were halos.
He thought the bros were wearing cowboy hats tilted far back on their heads.
Maybe it’s as simple as that?
No.
Thought not.
Still, it’s not the end of the world, is it?
It is?
Oh.
(Toad has a special fondness for people called Cyril. Because of Connolly.)
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Am glad to have this coin issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2005:
…because I was confirmed one week before JPII passed away on April 2nd, 2005.
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….What a great idea…render unto caesar what is his…after all st. Francis referred to money as the devil’s’dung… 🙂
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…but even Our Lord was not adverse to using money. Matt. 17:27
Would you rather use coins bearing the likeness of St Francis of Assisi or Sir Francis Drake?
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[Note to Self] The right word here (^) is averse, not “adverse”.
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Don’t know why WordPress added a j to the end of my name in that last comment. I may have typed it in accidentally, but one would think an invalid username would be automatically rejected. I see they still won’t let me say I have liked something, but I’m not complaining.
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..Matthew 17:27 refers to the temple tithe…well if you take this in the mystical sense which is what is implied here you will see Jesus is not talking about money rather he is talking about payment or justification…. when he mentions strangers and children he is talking about spiritual children (virtuous) and strangers(sinners) sinners must pay the price of sin the children will go free …now he tells peter to go to the sea ..the sea is a metaphor for the spiritual life with its storms and rough tides if one is not careful they will drown…Jesus stood on the sea was symbolic in other instances in scripture of him being Lord over the spiritual life… so too after the resurrection Jesus no longer stood on the sea but he was always on shore meaning he traversed the great divide and arrived on God’s golden shore (heaven) …he tells peter to throw his line and hook..the line are his charisms… the straight line to heaven… the hook is wisdom or teaching… the first fish will be the first convert… in his mouth will be a testimony …the wage they receive will be twice the tax because peter and Jesus don’t work… their job is fishers of men.. there wage will be testimony and conversion…. the testimony that peter receives from the first convert will be very great since it is worth twice the temple tax and it will justify Jesus and peter both as payment so they will see these are men of God…. you see?.
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What patristic sources do you cite in support of your (apparent) belief that Matthew 17:27 is only to be understood mystically and / or metaphorically, but not literally? The Bible doesn’t say that. What’s your authority? Are the miracles of the loaves and fishes also not to be literally believed, even though, granted, they have a mystical / metaphorical aspect as well? Jesus told Peter to go fish, to take the shekel out of the fish’s mouth, and use it to pay tax for Himself and for Peter. End of.
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“Would you rather use coins bearing the likeness of St Francis of Assisi or Sir Francis Drake?”
…asks JH.…or even those bearing the likeness of a grumpy, haloless Cyril?
Toad will opt for lots of the coin with the most buying power.
No matter how ugly it is. Or whose head is on it.
But coinage is certainly becoming increasingly debased – aesthetically as well as monetarily.
Look at how beautiful British Victorian coins and notes were.
But that is beside the point.
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Toad will opt for lots of the coin with the most buying power.
I guess you didn’t mean these (^) coins, despite whatever buying power they might once have had, or their present numismatic values, hmm?
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I’m off to dreamland now, Toad, with the lady down the street from me, so I won’t be responding to your next bon mot.
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It is sad your wife will not sleep with you under your own roof, JH. Still, no doubt – as Pascal might say – she has her reasons.
Goodness though, aren’t you spot on about Uncle Joe and Adolf!
Even uglier and grumpier than Saint Cyril! No halos, though…that’s a blessing!.
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Now WordPress has cloned toadtoad!
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….From the new advent bible study….As Jesus is traveling to Capernaum, Peter is asked to pay tribute. Jesus explains to Peter His concept of tribute. Other parts of this parable can also be studied. This study will concentrate on only verse 27.
Jesus does not want to offend their traditions, so He tells Peter to go to the sea, cast in a hook and catch a fish. The fish has a coin in its mouth. Jesus tells Peter to give to them for Him and Peter.
It’s unusual for a fish to have a coin in its mouth. When a verse is beyond the physical characteristics of nature, it must also have a spiritual meaning. To find the spiritual meaning, the key words must be compared with other scripture.
Fish
Habakkuk 1:14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
Matthew 4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
The Bible uses a physical fish to spiritually represent people.
Mouth
Exodus 13:9 And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.
Numbers 23:12 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth?
Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Deuteronomy 30:14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
A physical mouth is used to carry, and spiritually represent God’s word.
Jesus is teaching Peter a spiritual lesson. Not only Jesus, but His followers are to take the word of God, and give it to others, for Him and for us.
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“A physical mouth is used to carry, and spiritually represent God’s word.”
Well, if you say so, John K.
As opposed, I suppose, to a spiritual mouth. However, a mouth can be used for a great many other things, not all of them relevant to the Bible – as a repository for false teeth for one. What would be the significance of that?
Your post here – strikes me as a case of studying a story that was alive practically to death – and drawing conclusions that could be equally applied to “Alice in Wonderland,” as to the Bible, probably to greater profit.
This kind of analysis puts Toad in mind of a child taking a clockwork car to bits to see how it works – and then finding that it doesn’t any more.
Might be wrong, of course.
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Toad,
This latest comment of yours reminds me of why you should be marking the exam papers at the seminaries.
Examens of anything other than conscience, should be performed by the possibly damned.
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..not denying the tax was paid in a literal sense… and that the strater came from the fishes mouth ..however just trying to emphasize the importance of taking both senses of scripture into account…thanks for the posts… 🙂 if interested can read the patristic take on this link…. http://dhspriory.org/thomas/CAMatthew.htm#17
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“This latest comment of yours reminds me of why you should be marking the exam papers at the seminaries.”
Burruissimo admiringly tells Toad.
Well, I’d be doing that very thing, Bro, if I hadn’t failed the medical. “Too butch” apparently.
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