Author: Anglican Internet Church

I want to thank our newest followers of this Blog as well as those who have been with us for a long time. Owing to recent and pending surgeries related to Carpal Tunnel issues, I will be unable to post regularly until the 2nd week of August. Presently, the left hand is restricted, then the right hand’s turn is next week. As I am completely right-handed the use of a keyboard will be next to impossible. I have already recorded the Podcast Homilies for Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Sundays after Trinity, uploaded them to our Podcast vendor site and linked them to the Podcast Homilies-Morning Prayer and the Welcome page.

Thank you for your patience during this three-week absence from the Web. During this period I am hopeful that the final two images needed for Angels: The Book will arrive from the British Library. I have already placed nine other high-resolutions images from the same source into the body of the book.

Podcast Homily for T-6 now available. Short msg owing to Carpal tunnel surgery. 100 dpi from Stuttgart Psalter (circa 820) illustrating Ps. 16:11. Cod. Bibl. Fol.23.Wurttembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart, Germany.

The Podcast Homily for Fifth Sunday after Trinity in our new series of Podcast Homilies for Morning Prayer focused on the appointed Psalm was uploaded to our Podbean site and linked from the Welcome and Morning Prayer H0milies pages. The appointed readins for the day are Psalm 62 and Psalm 63. Since Psalm 62 was read and commented upon earlier in this series on the First Sunday in Lent, only Psalm 63 is discussed in the Podcast. In addition to the actual reading, I discuss commentary upon Psalm 63 from three great saints of the early Church. From the Eastern Church tradition is Basil of Caesarea (also known as Basil the Great) and his brother Gregory of Nyssa. From the Western Church tradition I quote commentary by Augustine of Hippo. The illustration for Psalm 63 in the companion volume, The Prayer Book Psalter: Picture Book Edition. A 100 dpi version is posted below. The version used in the PBP-PBE is 300 dpi. I thank Wurttembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart, Germany, for its cooperation in the production of the book (which is available using the Virtual Bookstore link on the Welcome page of this site).

I thought to share with you a brief story about the production of our project, Angels: the Book. I was confident that I was nearing the end of the preparation cycle when, for whatever reason, I expanded the scope of the book to include more images of Satan, the Fallen Angel. I had placed the text of the God-Satan dialogue concerning Job from Job 1 into the book, but had no image to go with it. My search of the resources of the British Library, London, using the words Satan, God and Job revealed 83 possible sources, each with multiple possible images. When I do these these searches I review the miniature images, which can be none to hundreds of images. After hours and hours of looking at material that could not be used owing to lack of relevance or poor picture quality or content, I was on item number 83 of 83 without success when I found a page from the start of Job from an early edition of a book I had used in other publications. The volume, Bible Historiale, is a French production from the 15th C. based upon the earlier work of Guyart des Moulins in the 13th C. in France. After editing the image for alignment, brightness and clarity of content, I added it as Illustration No. 49, which meant that Illustrations No. 50 to 146 had to be renumbered, plus adding the image required the addition of two pages, which action meant that all the pages from Page 60 to Page 226 had to be renumbered, all the pages numbers in the Table of Contents and all the cross-references adjusted for Illustration number and page number. Two days later, thanks to the book designer’s system of searching for a specific word, phrase or number, the necessary changes were made. The current version is now complete through the final chapter, Angels in Popular Culture. The volume now has 236 pages with 147 images from the 3rd to the 21st C. About a dozen images will need to be photographed again in high-resolution format before the final layout of the book can begin.

As always, thank you for your interest and support. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

I’ve just uploaded the Podcast Homily for Morning Prayer in our ongoing Psalter Series for Fourth Sunday after Trinity. The appointed Psalm readings are Psalm 22:23-32 and Psalm 67, both attributed to David. Since Psalm 22 was read in full on Palm Sunday (Sixth Sunday in Lent), in the podcast I comment on only verses 23, 27 and 29. The image used in The Prayer Book Psalter: Picture Book Edition for Psalm 67 is a detail from the start of Psalm 67 (Deus miserateur) from the Bohun Psalter (Ms. Egerton 3277, Folio 44v, British Library, London, England). It shows David defeating the Philistines at Baal Pharim from 2 Samuel 5:20.

I’m hopeful of being able to start updating our various books, including the Psalter volume, and other productions once I complete the draft version of Angels: the Book, which is nearing completion.

As always, thank you for your interest and support. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

My Podcast Homily for Third Sunday after Trinity in the Psalter Series is now available, with the focus being Psalm 27, a Psalm attributed to David. The illustration is a detail from the Luttrell Psalter, produced in northern England in the 15th C., from Ms. Additional 42130, Folio 51, British Library, London, England.

In the upper left, Christ points to His own face inside a capital D[ominus illuminatio]. At bottom is a scene from 2nd Samuel 16:8 concerning the subject of filthy garments. The lively colors and suggestions of movement by the characters are typical of English Psalters in the 15th C. I thank the British Library for providing access to its digital collection.

Work continues on Angels: the Book, which could be available before the end of the year. In its present state, there will be about 224 pages with about 145 to 150 illustrations. I am currently working on the chapter focused on Angels in Popular Culture, with references to books, movies and made-for-television programs in which angels figure prominently. Our publisher, KDP Publishing, has announced price changes, especially for large format books such as the AIC Bookstore Publications, so the volume will be priced slightly higher than our earlier books. The prices for nearly all these will have to be adjusted upward to reflect these higher costs. All royalties from these books are donated to the AIC. These books are being published to made historic Christian art available at reasonable priee as a counterbalance to the blatant anti-Christian practices in the world.

Thank you for your interest and support. Glory be to God for all things! Amen.

The new Podcast Homily for Second Sunday after Trinity was recorded yesterday and is now live on the Podcast Homilies-Morning Prayer and Welcome pages. For this episode the three BCP selections were ignored and Psalm 148 selected because those three readings will be used later in Trinity Season (11th, 2oth & 24th Sundays after Trinity). The substitution is being made to avoid duplicate readings during the important new series of homilies.

Psalm 148 is one of the six doxologies that close out the Psalter. Each of them includes one or more variations of the phrase Praise to the Lord. The Vulgate Latin title of Psalm 148 is Laudate Dominum. Psalm 148 is one of four Psalms with those opening words (Ps. 117, 147, 148, 150). For this episode I chose an image from bottom half of a page in the Stuttgart Psalter. In the AIC Bookstore Publication, The Prayer Book Psalter: Picture Book Edition, the illustration on page 414 is a wonderfully-detailed illumination depicting Christ with two angels looking down upon several of those named in the Psalm offering praise to the Lord. There is nothing else like it in the world’s archives, with colors mostly not seen again until the 19th C. The Stuttgart copy, bought by a member of the German nobility around 1889, is the only surviving edition (if anyone knows of another, please let me know) of this amazing work.

Thank you so much for your interest in this site. We continue to look for ways to provide Christians with easy access to traditional teachings. On this site, readers can click to the teaching media of their choice: in print, in audio form and in video form. No software is required. Just click and the selected video or audo file will open and play. The books, of course, have to be ordered through my Amazon Author Central page.

Work continues on our next Bookstore Publication, Angels: the Book, which will be published later this year with about 224 pages and somewhere around 150 images, most of them rarely seen by the general public. The sources includes frescoes, icons, illuminations, mosaics, paintings, engravings, etchings and a map. There is still a lot of work to be done in the editing and in the composition of the final two chapters, the last of which includes 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st C. examples of angels in popular media. Other chapters are focused on angels in Christian worship and Christian music.

Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

In the new AIC series of Podcast Homilies for Morning Prayer in our Psalter Series, the Podcast Homily for First Sunday after Trinity is focused on Psalm 73. The Psalm is credited to the Sons of Asaph and is the first Psalm in Book Three in the traditional organization of the Psalter. The main theme is the Psalmist’s lament that the ungodly appear to prosper at the expense of the godly. The “godly” vs “ungodly” conflict echoes Psalm 1, the “Two Ways” Psalm. The Psalmist sees the error in his thinking in verse 17. In the AIC Bookstore Publication, The Prayer Book Psalter: Picture Book Edition, the illustration for Psalm 73 is from the Stuttgart Psalter shows a righteous man playing his harp.

In other news, work continues on Angels: the Book. I am proof-reading all the picture credits and updating the list of Sources of Illusrations and the list of illustrations before attempting to complete the final chapter on Angels in popular culture.

As always, thank you for our interest and support in purchasing AIC Bookstore Publications. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

My Podcast Homily for Morning Prayer on Trinity Sunday in our new Psalter Series is now online. The Psalm reading is Psalm 150, the final Psalm in Book Five and the last of six doxologies which close the Book of Psalms. The illustration is an edited version of the illumination for Psalm 150 formatted in 100 dpi for ease of downloading. The title is All Creations Praises Three. The artists include many musical instruments of the 9th C. The range of colors is unlike anything ever seen before and unlikely to be repeated in the 21st C. There are blues, reds and yellows not seen again until the late 19th C. . Readers will want to know that, as far as I know, there is only one surviving copy of the book.

In other news, work continues on Angels: the Book. As of 6/1/2023, the book has 141 illustrations from the early 3rd C. to the 20th C. I am currently working of the final two chapters. Many libraries in Europe, the United States and England have provided high-resolution images, most of which are not often seen. The final version likely will end up with about 150 images.

As always, thank you for your interest and support. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

This week’s Podcast Homily for Morning Prayer in our new Psalter series is focused on Psalm 118, a Psalm of David. Psalm 118, one of the most-qu0ted Psalms is a highly-Christological Psalm with many phrases understood as references to Jesus Christ. The illumination used. in the companion book, The Prayer Book Psalter: Picture Book Edition, is Psalm 118, below trimmed and formatted at 150 dpi for easier transmission on the Internet. The illustration is from the Stuttgart Psalter (Cod. Bibl. Fol.23-Folio 131r, Wurttembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart, Germany).

Work continues on Angels: the Book, with all images selected through the chapter on Revelation.

As always, thank you for your interest and support. Glory be to God for all things1 Amen!

The new Podcast Homily for Fourth Sunday after Easter in the new Psalter Series is now online, linked from the Welcome and Podcast Homilies-Morning Prayer pages. The focus is on Psalm 116, a Psalm of David. For this episode the illustration is detail Folio 130r from the Stuttgart Psalter, produced at the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, Paris, circa 820. The artist offers a literal intepretation of Psalm 116:2 (Because he hath inclined his ear unto me…).

Work continues on the newest book project: Angels: the Book. At this time, with most of the text completed up to the “Angels in Revelation” chapter, there are 226 pages with over 120 illustrations. I’m working on the final selection of images for Revelation, choosing among five sources from the 8th to the 14th C.

I remain thankful for our followers of AIC videos, podcasts and books and remind viewers that we offer ways to WATCH-READ-LISTEN to teaching materials for lay audiences in whatever format they prefer.

Glory be to God for all things! Amen!