Pyramid memorial in Pittsburg vandalized and taken down

[Semer]

I wasn't sure in which forum to post this, but here it goes.

Some of you may know that in 1920, the brothers built a monument in the plot they used as a cemetery for Betheites, in Rosemont United Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County. That monument, not far from Russell's tombstone, had the shape of a pyramid, as an homage to what was mentioned here in the book Proclaimers:

 

Well, some months ago, the monument was severely vandalized.

The cross and crown motifs were hacked out.

The capstone that held the four heavy granite pieces together was gone, and the sides appear to have been partly prized open. 

These are some pictures taken a couple of weeks ago:

 

Such a heavy monument in this weakened state, with its very structure compromised, may be a danger to the public.

Finally, on September 1st, the pyramid was carefully taken down.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2021 by Semer

[carlos]

Thanks, Sergio!

 

That's a shame, it was a beautiful piece of our history. I always wanted to take a selfie by that pyramid but I'm afraid it won't happen now.

 

 

[Sheep]

2 hours ago, Semer said:

I wasn't sure in which forum to post this, but here it goes.

Some of you may know that in 1920, the brothers built a monument in the plot they used as a cemetery for Betheites, in Rosemont United Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County. That monument, not far from Russell's tombstone, had the shape of a pyramid, as an homage to what was mentioned here in the book Proclaimers:

 

 

Well, some months ago, the monument was severely vandalized.

The cross and crown motifs were hacked out.

The capstone that held the four heavy granite pieces together was gone, and the sides appear to have been partly prized open. 

These are some pictures taken a couple of weeks ago:

 

 

 

Such a heavy monument in this weakened state, with its very structure compromised, may be a danger to the public.

Finally, on September 1st, the pyramid was carefully taken down.

Is there a reputable link for this story? The only reference I can find is an apostate website.

[Dages]

I don't really care about this pyramid built by Russell brother fans of his theories.

We aren't and haven't been for a century.

[Semer]

1 hour ago, Sheep said:

Is there a reputable link for this story? The only reference I can find is an apostate website.

Yes, I read about it on a blog by brother Bruce W. Schulz, a historian. But I'm not sure he wants any publicity for his blog, that's why I didn't include the link.

[jwhess]

19 minutes ago, Dages said:

I don't really care about this pyramid built by Russell brother fans of his theories.

We aren't and haven't been for a century.

It is just historical settings and events.  Some go to Jerusalem to see the temple site.  Jehovah's people don't care which religion claims it now.  God's favor and presence has long been removed.  But it is nice to put the scene into perspective.  Our modern organization has been around about 140 years and for about 50 of those years we believed in the "message in stone" of the pyramids.  That is more than a third of our modern day existence..

 

Clarification and discontinuation of this belief came in November 1928.

[jwhess]

The pyramid was not Br. Russell's tombstone.  It was erected after he died in accordance with a provision or request in his will. There is more information about this in that year's annual meeting report.

 

As to whether we can go to see such markers, I should point out that those of us who attended the Centennial Convention of the Watchtower Society in Pittsburg in 1984 received a souvenir booklet for the program with pictures and a history.  On the next to last page (30) is a tour map provided by the Watchtower Society and it includes a tour guide stop #9 at the United Cemetery at Br. Russell's grave.

 

The pyramid was added later at a little distance away.  I have included pictures.

 

 

[Doug]

I'll bet Bro. Russell is glad to see it gone   

[jwhess]

18 minutes ago, Doug said:

I'll bet Bro. Russell is glad to see it gone   

When you are perfect and immortal, you can remember every mistake you ever made as a human.  Jehovah can refuse to bring it to his mind, but as an individual we see the video, audio and printed results anytime you look...😀

[M.J.]

I imagine he got teased a lot by his brothers when this got torn down 🙂 

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by M.J.

[Doug]

20 minutes ago, jwhess said:

When you are perfect and immortal, you can remember every mistake you ever made as a human.  

Whenever the Watchtower lesson focuses on Peter , his denial of Jesus , slicing off the ear of Malchus etc, etc,

 

I always wonder how he feels about our rehashing his mistakes  .  .  .  lol.

[Semer]

12 hours ago, Doug said:

I'll bet Bro. Russell is glad to see it gone   

Annointed ones in heaven would not materialize on earth, would they? So, we can safely assume that the vandalism was not on brother Russell... Or, was it? 

[Dustparticle]

On 9/4/2021 at 11:46 AM, Semer said:

Annointed ones in heaven would not materialize on earth, would they? So, we can safely assume that the vandalism was not on brother Russell... Or, was it? 

Personally I can care less about the Pyramid, yet we live in a sick world and we cannot rule out it was an attack on Russell. Plus, Russell can less since he is in a better place.

[Lee49]

2 hours ago, Dustparticle said:

and we cannot rule out it was an attack on Russell

Yet his headstone wasn't defaced.  

[Todd komaniak]

 When my mom was alive about 5 years ago her and my sister visited there

[Ishaya]

May be Jehovah wanted it taken down to prevent someone giving it undue attention.same reason why he disappeared moses resting place-Deut 34:5,6.

Jehovah doesn't much like humans setting up monuments.

[Dustparticle]

4 hours ago, Ishaya said:

May be Jehovah wanted it taken down to prevent someone giving it undue attention.same reason why he disappeared moses resting place-Deut 34:5,6.

Jehovah doesn't much like humans setting up monuments.

 I do not thinks so, since there is undue attention on apostate web sites that is a lot worse than this stupid pyramid.

[Ishaya]

1 hour ago, Dustparticle said:

 I do not thinks so, since there is undue attention on apostate web sites that is a lot worse than this stupid pyramid.

I get the point.

but,since we dont know who carried out the vandalism and what the motive is,so i am just assuming that the person may probably have done Jehovah a favour -Exodus 20:4-5.

 

[jwhess]

There are several points we (as JWs) should be aware of concerning the "Pyramid" marker.

 

This was the "Bethel Graveyard" purchased by our Society to bury Bethel volunteers and their wives plus traveling overseers.

This marker was located in the center of all of the plots.

Brother Russell had selected the design before his death.

It is officially noted in the Watchtower and in the Annual Meeting report.

The AM was held on the anniversary of Russell's death (so pushed back to October 31, 1921).

The AM report document (brochure) had the pyramid and gravestone printed on the covers.

 

It is true that we no longer place any importance on this "pyramid" message, it was a central feature of our ministry for 40 years.  It is also worth noting that at the end of next month, it will be 100th anniversary of this particular Annual Meeting.

 

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by jwhess

[rbrown1205]

My former husband and I went to the Three River Stadium in Pittsburgh for the International Convention - not sure of the year, but it was likely in the late 70's.  We were also shown around Pittsburgh  on a bus tour and saw the building where they first began to print the literature - Bible House, I think it was called. 

 

And we stopped to see the pyramid gravestone.  I may still have a picture, I seem to accumulate a lot of souvenirs over the years.Many of the brothers of that time practically idolized Brother Russell, calling him the Laodicean Messenger, and some other scriptural names that made them imagine that he personally was fulfilling Bible prophecy   This caused a lot of turmoil, and led to the separation of a large number of brothers from the organization in protest of Brother Rutherford's appointment as the new president (an appointment that was made by Russell before his death)   

 

At the convention that we attended in the 1970's, we saw some people holding up signs outside of the stadium in protest of our being there, and an airplane  was circling with a sign behind it saying Jesus is Jehovah, and one young man in a religious leader's suit even tried to take the podium.  The brother who was the speaker at the time asked the audience if they wanted to hear what he had to say, and we all said NO!! - and three brothers escorted him out of the stadium.

 

There was a book that came out from the Watchtower Society that outlined the turmoil of that time after Brother Russell's death.   Rutherford and some seven others were imprisoned over the neutrality issue during World War 1, and Brother Rutherford suffered physically from the incarceration with ailments that eventually caused his death, but when they were released in 1918, he kept on  with the work   And, after thousands of Bible Students left and made their own groups, the ones who were left worked very hard to continue with the work to advertise the King and his Kingdom, and the organization began to grow again.

 

Seeing that gravestone brought all of these memories back to me.  I am so glad that the light continues to get brighter as the day draws near.

[jwhess]

1 hour ago, rbrown1205 said:

My former husband and I went to the Three River Stadium in Pittsburgh for the International Convention - not sure of the year, but it was likely in the late 70's.  We were also shown around Pittsburgh  on a bus tour and saw the building where they first began to print the literature - Bible House, I think it was called. 

 

And we stopped to see the pyramid gravestone.  I may still have a picture, I seem to accumulate a lot of souvenirs over the years.Many of the brothers of that time practically idolized Brother Russell, calling him the Laodicean Messenger, and some other scriptural names that made them imagine that he personally was fulfilling Bible prophecy   This caused a lot of turmoil, and led to the separation of a large number of brothers from the organization in protest of Brother Rutherford's appointment as the new president (an appointment that was made by Russell before his death)   

 

At the convention that we attended in the 1970's, we saw some people holding up signs outside of the stadium in protest of our being there, and an airplane  was circling with a sign behind it saying Jesus is Jehovah, and one young man in a religious leader's suit even tried to take the podium.  The brother who was the speaker at the time asked the audience if they wanted to hear what he had to say, and we all said NO!! - and three brothers escorted him out of the stadium.

 

There was a book that came out from the Watchtower Society that outlined the turmoil of that time after Brother Russell's death.   Rutherford and some seven others were imprisoned over the neutrality issue during World War 1, and Brother Rutherford suffered physically from the incarceration with ailments that eventually caused his death, but when they were released in 1918, he kept on  with the work   And, after thousands of Bible Students left and made their own groups, the ones who were left worked very hard to continue with the work to advertise the King and his Kingdom, and the organization began to grow again.

 

Seeing that gravestone brought all of these memories back to me.  I am so glad that the light continues to get brighter as the day draws near.

Sr. Roberta, you cover a lot of history in just a couple of paragraphs.  Well done.  Many of the modern day servants of Jehovah do not understand the "Laodicean Messenger" title.  This is in reference to the Revelation to John.  In Rev 1:20 Jesus says he has "seven angels" or "seven messengers" (since the word ANGEL literally means messenger in both Hebrew and Greek).  So the bible Students felt that Jesus had assigned 7 periods or 'epochs' with a messenger for each one.  The messenger would be the leader or main speaker for Christianity for that period.  They started with the apostle Peter as #1, showed the apostle Joh as #2, and continued down through history. Arius, Waldo, Wycliffe and Luther.  That made a total of six.  then as the work opened up and blossomed in the "time of the end" the seventh and last messenger appeared to lead and direct the work.  That seventh messenger was CT Russell.

 

Since each of the seven congregation in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 were named, the assigned leader was given the name of the congregation.  The seventh and last one was Laodicea.  So Br. Russell was the "Messenger of Laodicea".  Their focus was not on a period that extended another 100 years and it focused too much on the man being used by God.  But the effort they put into using the scriptures to analyze the times in which they lived was understandable 

 

 

[rbrown1205]

Similarly, one can note that later summaries of theocratic history on film and in print no longer teach that about Brother Russell or that these people in religious history are associated with the cities that were addressed by Jesus to John in Revelation.  Nothing wrong with the light getting brighter about such things.  Even our understanding about some aspects of Ezekiel's prophecy have been clarified in our latest study book on it.

[Honeybarrel]

On 9/3/2021 at 6:33 PM, Semer said:

Yes, I read about it on a blog by brother Bruce W. Schulz, a historian. But I'm not sure he wants any publicity for his blog, that's why I didn't include the link.

I am glad it’s down aswell. There are many negative connotations these days regarding symbolism especially the pyramid. Even though mature brothers know it was most likely erected in respect and with a good motive, neither would WE ever want to stumble one of the “little ones” who may not appreciate that it has no link to the great many Masonic symbols around the world that do include the pyramid. Like one of the comments said, this might be a good thing after all. 

[Loje]

I know of someone studying and they just sent me a link to this very post.  Apostates are posting it.

As Josephine mentioned, we know why it came to be erected but new ones don't.  On a positive note, I'm glad this thread is here.  Better to get the accurate information through us rather than apostates - since this has been a hot topic for years.

[retroHelen]

On 10/19/2021 at 5:01 PM, Honeybarrel said:

Even though mature brothers know it was most likely erected in respect and with a good motive, neither would WE ever want to stumble one of the “little ones” who may not appreciate that it has no link to the great many Masonic symbols around the world that do include the pyramid. Like one of the comments said, this might be a good thing after all. 

I have been in the Truth since the mid 1960s and I always knew that the gravemarker was for all who served at Bethel and Russell had his own separate one.

 

I was also told that it was pyramid shaped because it had 4 faces looking throughout all sides of the graveyard - over the burial areas of all the Bethelites and the pyramid shape would stand up to weather better than 4 straight sides with hollow or filled area atop of it. It seems pretty irrelevant that it may resemble a shape  in an older book called the Divine Plan of the Ages. If anything - re: their beliefs back then - it more resembles an arrow pointing to heaven where they all regarded themselves as going at that time.