Month: December 2016

It’s that time again.  Tomorrow, December 18th, marks the first of seven presentations in the 12th C. classic The Great “O” Antiphons, based upon the seven key words in the Advent hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.  I updated all seven programs in A.D. 2015 using the piano version of the hymn performed by English artist Rob Stroh as the program theme.  For each of the seven programs, the music solo is performed by Mr. Jared Haselbarth.

I invite you to enjoy an encore of these seven inspiring programs as we head toward the end of Advent season this year. Click on the program title to watch the video.  Podcast versions are available using links on the Home Page at our Web Site (www.anglicaninternetchurch.net)

December 18th – O Sapientia (Wisdom)  11:06
December 19th – O Adonai (Lord) 10:38
December 20th – O Radix Jesse (Root of Jesse)  10:11
December 21st – O Clavis David (Key of David)  10:23
December 22nd – O Oriens (Dayspring) 11:20
December 23rd – O Rex Gentium (King of the Nations) 8:00
December 24th – O Emmanuel (God With Us) 9:24

I also invite you to watch or listen to Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve, a virtual carol program with for Christmas Eve.  It begins where the final program in the Great “O” Antiphons series ended, with the Christmas Eve Antiphons.

Lessons & Carols for Christmas Eve

May God bless you all this Advent and Christmas Season!

This week I have uploaded two new episodes in The Lives of the Saints – Second Series.   Both series are linked from the Digital Library page at the AIC’s newly-redesigned Web Site.  (use the link at the bottom of the page).  The music for the series was created for us by Richard Irwin at hymnswithoutwords.com.

Episode 3 celebrates the life of the real man who inspired the modern Santa Claus, Nicholas of Myra, whose Feast Day is December 6th.  In the episode I explain how and when the legend of Nicholas of Myra migrated from present day Turkey to Italy, then Germany and finally to England, Ireland and the United States.   The illustration is a 16th C. fresco at Ferapontov Monastery, northern Russia, possibly by the celebrated artist Dionysius, whose spiritually-minded style strongly influenced the greatest icon painter in Russia, Andrei Rublev.     Watch Episode 3                  Listen to Episode 3

Episode 4 celebrates one of the most under-appreciated saints in the Western Church’s list of saints:  Ambrose of Milan, whose Feast Day is Dec. 7th.  St. Ambrose was one of the most spiritually-minded of the early leaders of the Church in the West.  He was also a gifted writer of hymns.  The newly-published St. Chrysostom Hymnal includes ten hymns attributed to him, including my personal favorite, Come, Holy Ghost, Who Ever One, which I read in the video with the tune Lasst uns erfreuen, best known for its use with All Creatures of Our God and King, in the background.  The illustration is an 11th C. mosaic of Ambrose at the Capella Palatina, or royal palace chapel of the Norman kings of Sicily, Palermo, Sicily.   I revere Ambrose for many other reasons, primarily because, of the saints recognized in the Western Church, he was the last whose theology was not significantly different from that of his contemporary bishops in Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria, the other great Sees of the early Church.  He is best known to most Western Christians as the mentor of St. Augustine of Hippo, whose fame far eclipsed that of Ambrose in later years.

Watch Episode 4                       Listen to Episode 4

My proofreader assures me that he will finish with The 1928 Book of Common Prayer – Service Book Edition later this week or early next week.  As soon as I can incorporate any changes or corrections, I will make the book available via both our Virtual Bookstores:  with CreateSpace and with Amazon.com.  Both sites will be linked from the Virtual Bookstore section at the bottom of the home page at the AIC Web Site (www.AnglicanInternetChurch.net).  I’ve asked him to proofread the Revised Edition of The Prayer Book Psalter, which I hope to make available early in January 2017 A.D.   I have continued to work on the design for the new cover for the Revised Edition, which will make the design compatible with most of our other bookstore publications.

Work continues on The Writing Prophets of the Old Testament, a companion book to a new series of Bible Study videos on the Major and Minor Prophets which will start appearing via our YouTube channel around the middle of February 2017 A.D.  The graphic offers a glimpse of the revised version of the proposed cover.   The images on the cover are, from left to right, an 11th C. mosaic of Isaiah at Neo-Moni Monastery, Chios, Greece; 18th C. icons of Jeremiah and Ezekiel at the summer chapel, Kizhi Monastery, Karelia, Russia; and a 19th C. fresco of Daniel at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Rome, Italy.  I have completed the text and pictures for Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, am working on the Daniel section, and have roughed out the design, text and illustrations for the twelve Minor Prophets.  There will be about 50-60 illustrations from the 11th through the 20th Century.

As always, thank you for your interest in and support for this Internet-based ministry.  May God bless you in all that you do in His Name during this Advent season and the coming Nativity feast.

Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

The first two episodes in The Lives of the Saints – Second Series have been uploaded to our YouTube channel, with Podcast versions also available.   St. Clement of Alexandria and St. John of Damascus are both celebrated on December 4th.   Once again, the theme music was provided by Richard Irwin at http://www.hymnswithoutwords.com.

Watch Episode 1 – St. Clement of Alexandria               Listen to the Podcast version

Watch Episode 2 – St. John of Damascus.            Listen to the Podcast version

During the week of December 5th, I will release the two remaining December installments in the same series, honoring St. Nicholas of Myra and St. Ambrose of Milan.

In other news, I’ve almost completed a major upgrade of The Prayer Book Psalter: History, Text and Commentary.  The book will have a new cover that looks more like the covers of our other publications, a revised interior design, a revised Commentary section for each Psalm, with built-in cross references to other AIC Bookstore publications with similar or related content.   The front cover illustration is a stained glass window at the Collegiate Church of Notre Dame, Dinant, Belgium.  Image copyright Jorisvo/Dreamstime.com.   The back cover (not shown) includes a stained glass window based on Psalm 23 at Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel, Brooklyn, NY, dating to about 1911 A.D.

Other books undergoing editing for revised editions is Christian Spirituality: An Anglican Perspective, which is getting a revised Part Five that reflects the dramatic changes made to the AIC Web Site in September.  There are a couple of minor changes but the page count and the cover remain the same.

Thanks so much for your continued support and interest.  I’m getting a significant increase in friend requests on Facebook, probably as a result of our ad campaign on Amazon.com.