Why don’t you think Nicodemus is the origin? Are there earlier references?
As opposed to the careful, precise historical accuracy inherent in medieval myth. 
We can’t even confirm if there was a Roman centurion, or anyone else, who stabbed Jesus in the side with a spear – let alone that this hypothetical person still walks the Earth.
The story of Jesus being pierced in the side with a spear only appears in the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John was written a good deal later than the other 3 Gospels. There’s a very good chance the story was just made up as a means of spicing up the Crucifixion scene.
Some discussion here.
http://www1.linkclub.or.jp/~clubey/SoD%20Legend/sod.legend1.html
And then it looks like Barry Sadler glommed onto it for his Casca–the Mercenary series of novels, too.
There was a series of 24 “Casca” novels by the late Barry Sadler about Casca Rufio Longinus, Roman soldier cursed with life as a soldier until the Second Coming.
They were a light but entertaining read.
AmbushBug
[sub]try adding Hitler to the Longinus spear google search[/sub]
Not to mention that the Wandering Jew is also often conflated with the story of Lazarus–since Jesus doesn’t do a half-assed job of things, when he raised Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus couldn’t die again. Couple of SF classics, Lazarus Long and A Canticle for Liebowitz, take this tack.
[sub]500th post–wow, I’m motoring[/sub]
The story of Longinus appears to have been conflated with that of Ahasuerus, the Wandering Jew:
The two characters appear to have been rolled into one for the benefit of screenwriters (I’ve seen Roar, and I can assure you it’s not historically accurate…)
Oh, I think modern advances in media technology and narrative forms allow media scriptwriters to be even more inaccurate than mediaeval scribes. The march of progress cannot be halted.
That’s all the New testament has to say about him but the other gospels do mention that a centurion witnessed the death of Christ and they are usually considered to be the same person.
The soldier (I think you’re meaning to say either sentry or centurion) was identified in the apochryphal Gospel of Nicodemus (Chapter 7) as Longinus and he is sometimes called Gaius Cassius Longinus
I’m not aware of a legend that he became immortal. According to Catholic tradition the outpouring of fluid from Christ’s side cured his partial blindess and he converted to Christianity and was eventually martyred in Caesarea, Cappadocia.
I’m a bit reluctant to link to it because it’s pretty out of date and because it’s very dogmatic but the Catholic Encyclopedia has an article on the spear
You could try doing a google search on Longinus spear
Where did the story about the immortal Roman centurion come from? I’ve seen it in various programs and have always wondered about it. One such production was a short-lived FOX show that I forgot the name of( think it was set in Ireland, ROAR I think it was called) and another was “The seventh sign” with Demi Moore in it. The legend goes when it was agreed that Jesus’ body be taken taken down early and placed in Joseph’s tomb a centurion speared the body through the side of Jesus to ensure his death and was therefore cursed to walk the Earth until the apocalypse. Any smart people out there? Help me out please, thanks
UPDATE: I have since learned his name is Gaius Cassius Longinus from the book of Nicodemus. But… where did this story originate?
Hi, I’ve done some digging on my question and with the cassius longinus name I was able to pull up the TV series FOX put out in 1997…it was only a few episodes before they pulled it. So my guess is this is the name of the fellow I was trying to find… now I only need to figure out how this story got started. Thanks for the Nicodemus reference L! I guess I can try posting this question in the culture section as well and see what turns up. If you guys find anything else and feel bored enough to write in to me, give it a try (my question). Thanks again.
BTW-the series was called “ROAR!”
So there are no historical accuracies in either account? My mind likes to wander in fantasy but understand what’s real… is there any documented fact of either person act-ually cursed with immortality? Or like many stories…just a story…facts build into something else retelling after retelling of it?
The only Lazarus Long I know of is Heinlein’s; there’s no book or story by that name, only a character’s pseudonym, and this character doesn’t bear any particular resemblance to any of the legends discussed so far (for one thing, he’s not immortal, or even close to it). I’m not sure about Canticle, but I don’t think it’s close either. Of course, if all you’re talking about is characters who live a long time, there’s no shortage of those.
The “Canticle” never clearly states who’s this Jew living forever who appears several times in the story. I vaguely remember he says once that he used to be a tent-maker.
Since the story revolves essentially around a new catholic church in a post-apocalyptic world where Jews apparently have dissapeared, I think that perhaps this character was introduced because there has to be a representant of the chosen people from a theological point of view, or somesuch…this character is elusive and mysterious, anyway…
By the way, does the tent maker part rings a bell for someone?
In response to tracers comment, I take the bible as truth in self-evidence. To be a Christian, it’s mandatory that you believe the Bible is the very word of God (although written by a bunch of other people =) ) Regardless, my point is that If the gospel of John says it, than that’s truth/proof enough for me that there was a Cassius Longinus. He was however unnamed in the Bible, it was suggested I dig around for info on the spear that stabbed Jesus’ side…this was also a centering point in the Roar series with some “extra” added for effect.
Their story went, that that Cassius was a wealthy man now and was blinded and became immortal at the same instant so that he could never again locate the spear. (This was the centerpoint of their story)- if Cassius was able to reclaim the same spear he stabbed Jesus with (I think) it was the only weapon that could take his own life. Anyway, I knew the story was augmented. I just wonder if it was a slice of truth when it started. I personally wouldn’t take a chapter of the bible that is not included in the present version as hard evidence as it greatly contrasts the philosophies of Christ whereas there are Jews who have heard the descriptions of Christ in the old testiment and when asked who was being described, guess what? … “oops, I forgot I don’t belive in Jesus” right? haha…
Anyway, the Lazarus bit was interesting, I never thought so far that he may still be living… immortality in my opinion is not really a “good job” on Jesus’ part (in my opinion), but I’m sure he knows what he’s doing, :). As for this wandering Jew that I’ve never heard of, maybe it is him, but it’s too hard for me to believe this mainly cuz I like the soldier story better, lol. Besides, Everyone was scared for their lives the day Christ was being crucified, why would Jesus punish a man so severely for telling christ to get off his steps? Whereas a little fresh air in the guts of Christ is more plausible in my mind anyway, Trinity or not I would think God doesn’t like to see many of us folks rough up his boy. "Yo-yo-yo JC booooy-Peace-out: =P sorry… it’s hard to imagine him in this hip-hop culture but heh, he might be here already, lol. BEbox Jesus, BEEBOOX… =P… to get back on track… I’m looking for what we do know on Cassius and related stories of the same era… Don’t be shy people… God knows I need lots more help than is possible hahaha… later ya’ll
I’m not quite sure what you’re asking here. The story I related above comes from the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus (also known as the Acts of Pilate). The Gospel of Nicodemus was very popular during the Middle Ages and has affected a lot of the christian traditions about the Passion but is thought to have been written no earlier than about 400AD.
The cult of Longinus was very big in the Catholic church from about the 12th Century and there is several statues of him in the Vatican including a very prominent one in St Peter’s Basilica.
I don’t know where the story of the immortal centruion came from but I suspect it was just a Hollywood creation or, as others have said, a conflation of the story of the Wandering Jew with the story of Longinus.
For a description of the origin of the Wandering Jew legend see this site
I’m afraid I’m not following your position. If we start from the assumption that the Bible is self-evidently true, then:
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We do not know if the soldier who stabbed Christ was the centurion. John does not say that was the case. The other Gospels say there was a centurion, but that’s all we are told.
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None of the Gospels mention the name of the centurion or the soldier. Therefore, there is no proof that the individual was named Cassius Longinus.
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The source for the story seems to be the Gospel of Nicodemus, as Motog notes. However, that Gospel is not part of the accepted canon of the Bible - the early church rejected it, presumably on the basis that it was not part of the Word of God and therefore not reliable.
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There is nothing in any of the New Testament which suggests that certain individuals have immortality. In my opinion, such assertions run contrary to basic Christian theology.
In summary, you’ve stumbled over one of the many Christian stories that have grown up in the Christian tradition, without any basis in the New Testament. In my opinion, such stories are at best myths, and some of them, like the “immortality” myths, run contrary to Christian theology. Why do you sound like you want to believe these myths, which the Christian church historically has rejected, and which have no basis in the Bible?
::ahem:: let me amend the reference to Lazarus Long to be some story or other of Heinlein’s (maybe Time Enough for Love?) with Lazarus Long in it. Lazarus himself is of course not THE Lazarus, but faces many of the same issues and his very name evokes the myth. (I should know better than to do a half-assed cite from memory in the presence of the SDMB’s Heinlein enthusiast cadre–mea culpa.)
In Canticle, the Benjamin character has features of both the Wandering Jew and Lazarus. The “Come Forth” phrase used to call Lazarus from his tomb is specifically quoted, but he is also deeply Jewish. (Which may have to do with Paul’s insistence that people didn’t have to first become Jews to become Christians–clair’s reference to tent maker is a reference to Paul, but Benjamin is a “tent-mender”–so is his Jewishness Lazarus’ honest disagreement with (“mending” of) Paul’s de-Jewishing of Christianity, or is it the Wandering Jew’s stubborn rejection of Christianity despite his “mortal immortality?”) Or he could just be an archetype of the Jewish people–there’s some imagery of him as scapegoat too.
[Didyano that, despite the insistence on the ban on suicide/mercy killling (even in the worst-case scenario of radiation-poisoned chidren) at the end of Canticle, Walter Miller killed himself? I learned that right here on the SDMB (with a link to his obit).]
Thinktank: I think these 3 myths are cool too because they can be manipulated and combined to evoke connections and contrasts that convey edge of the consciousness-type ideas. They can help us think about Christianity and Judaism. However, these myths, like the Rapture books, are NOT Christian doctrine.
In John 21, Peter asks Jesus if “the Beloved Disciple” would live to see His return. Jesus doesn’t answer & TBD/the author himself does not affirm it, but the idea of SOMONE in Jesus’s day living until the Second Coming has excited Christian AND non-C’tian imagination. It has been suggested btw that TBD was not really John, BUT Lazarus. Of course, Mary Magdalene & quite a few others have also been suggested. I have no problem believing many of them helped contribute but that John of Zebedee had the main task of compiling their contributions into one Gospel (in the same way Luke notes that his Gospel came from interviews with others who did encounter Jesus).