Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of

unchanging truth.

For the Colston Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Back in AD 325, the Council of Nicia decided that Easter should be celebrated on the Sunday following

the first full moon, either on or after the spring equinox.

In other words, without going into too much detail here, the date upon which Christians celebrate the resurrection is the result of a sort of astronomical convergence.

Well this year there's another fascinating religious and cultural convergence on the calendar.

It's today, which is both Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday.

Could there be two more culturally different days than these?

Valentine's Day is associated with flowers and candy.

On Ash Wednesday people receive dark smudges on their foreheads.

On Valentine's Day people expect romance.

On Ash Wednesday people expect to hear about repentance and self-denial.

The words to remember on Valentine's Day are I Love You.

On Ash Wednesday, the words are, Remember your dust and to dust you will return.

And one reason that these days seem to not fit together is that we've completely forgotten the real history of Valentine's Day.

Before it was the corporate creation of greeting card companies, it was a day to remember third century Christian martyr, Valentinus of Rome.

Not a lot is known about Valentinus, but the most widely accepted version of his martyrdom

is that he ran afoul of Emperor Claudius II who had prohibited

marriage in Rome because of his belief that Roman men would be unwilling to join the army

because of their strong attachment to their wives and

families. So Valentinus defied the emperor by marrying couples in secret.

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