In A.D. 2024, the First Sunday after Trinity is celebrated on June 2nd. In the 1928 Book of Comm0n Prayer, the readings are from the 1st Epistle of John (1 John 4:7-21) and the Gospel of Luke (Luke 21:19-13). Both readings are fairly long, appropriate for the concept of Trinity as the Teaching Season. This week’s Blog posting includes two outstanding examples of Christian art, one from the tradition of the Eastern Church and one from the traditions of the Western Church, although the. latter example was strongly influenced by Byzantine traditions.
In this example, the Preface to the First Epistle of John includes the phrase “Evangelic Theology of Christ,” and a likeness of the Apostle and Evangelist holding a book manuscript. The figure is painted in egg tempera on a gold background. The volume of one of several unique examples of Byzantine art. The lettering is Ancient Greek in the form used until about the 14th C. with a mixture of upper and lower case letters. This version is a 12th C. copy of an earlier illustrated manuscript created under the guiding hand of its compilier, Euthalius. Another illustration from this document, Jesus Blessing the Apostles, placed at the top of the opening page of The Acts of the Apostles, was used as Illustration No. 12 in the AIC Bookstore Publication, The Acts of the Apostles : Annotated & Illustrated.
The second example is an interpretation of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, the Gospel reading for First Sunday after Trinity, from the Codex Aureus of Echternach, one of the most spectacular examples of Christian art that survives today. The artist divided the narrative into three tiers, with Lazarus looking on at the feast in the top register; the concept of Abraham’s Bosum illustrated in the middle tier; and the Christian understanding of Hell/Hades vividly depicted in the lower register. I explore the meaning of the text and the illustration in Chapter 16 of the AIC Bookstore Publication, The Gospel of Luke: In Scripture, Art & Christian Tradition, in which the CAE image is Illustration No. 86. The reading is discussed in Episode Nineteen, in the AIC Bible Study Video series, New Testament: Gospel of Luke, linked from the Bible Study page, and in audio form in the Podcast Homily for First Sunday after Trinity, linked from the Podcast Homiles page.
As always, thank you for your interest and support. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!
Anglican Internet Church 
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