I got a little behind in my production schedule and neglected to upload two new episodes in The Lives of the Saints – Second Series. The first is focused on St. Thomas Aquinas, whose Feast Day is March 8th. The episode includes five illustrations, from the 15th, 17th and 20th Centuries. St. Thomas is best known for his Summa Theologica. In the series I avoided comment on whether systematic theology has been a plus or a minus for Christianity.
The illustration at left is one of nine scenes in the Valle Romita polyptych in tempera and gold on panel by the Renaissance artist Gentile da Fabriano from the collection of the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Italy, painted circa 1400 A.D. In the original, there are eight scenes in two rows surrounding a larger ninth central image of the Blessed Virgin and Holy Child. St. Thomas appears in the far right side of the top row.
Watch Episode 13 Listen to Episode 13
The second presentation celebrates the life of St. Gregory the Great,
Bishop of Rome, 590-604 A.D. I include three illustrations, one of which is a 19th C. stained glass window at Stabroek, Belgium. Gregory’s accomplishments are almost legendary in scope: ambassador to Constantinople; first monastic to be Pope; sponsor of revised liturgies, including the Presanctified Gifts still in use; founder of monastery; author of one of the earliest lists of Christian virtues in the Western Church; and advocate of the style of chanting of the Psalms at Alexandria, now known as the Gregorian chant. The illustration is the top section of the 19th C. stained glass window referenced above, showing the Holy Spirit, depicted as a dove, whispering into Gregory’s ear as the wrote his Dialogues. The image is based on the contemporary account by Deacon Peter of Rome.
Watch Episode 14 Listen to Episode 14
The next episode in the series, Episode 15, celebrating St. John Climacus, whose Feast Day is March 30th, will be uploaded next week. The newest AIC Bookstore publication, The Writing Prophets of the Old Testament is now available in both paperback and Kindle editions. Use the Virtual Bookstore links at the bottom of our Home Page at http://www.AnglicanInternetChurch.net.
As always, thank you for your intestest and support.
The newest AIC Bookstore Publication, The Writing Prophets of the Old Testament, is now available through our Virtual Bookstore at CreateSpace.com and, by special order, from retail bookstores. A Kindle edition will be available in the coming weeks.
Saturday, February 18th, is the Feast Day of St. Simeon of Jerusalem. Episode Twelve in The Lives of the Saints – Second Series honors his devoted work in leading the church in the 1st Century. The illustration is a Russian Orthodox icon showing him in bishop’s garb against gold background. The location and date was not specified by the public domain source. This is a short episode, owing to the lack of material about St. Simeon.
I have uploaded two new videos this week. The first, Episode Ten, is Part Two of the celebration of the remarkable life of St. John Chrysostom, 4th-5th C. Bishop of Antioch, then Constantinople. Episode Ten includes a reading of the Seven Nocturne Prayers which caused so much distress among the Constantinople clergy called to return for evening worship instead of sumptuous dinners! In addition to the Nocturnes are four quotations from his writings.
Two new episodes in The Lives of the Saints (Second Series) were uploaded this week. Episode Nine celebrates the life and contributions to the Church Universal of St. Gregory Nazianzen, whose Feast Day is Jan. 25th. St. Gregory is also known by two other names: St. Gregory the Theologian and Gregory Nazianzus, which recognizes the name of his jurisdiction as Bishop in Asia Minor (now southeastern Turkey).
Episode Nine celebrates the life of the AIC’s patron saint, John Chrysostom, which literally means John the Golden Mouth. He was perhaps the most gifted pulpit orator of the Church in the first 1,000 years of Christianity. He left behind an enormous legacy of homilies on Genesis and the Psalms as well as the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, all the epistles of St. Paul, and St. Luke’s Acts of the Apostles. He served the Church first at Antioch, the second See of the early Church, and later as the 12th Bishop of Constantinople, the last of the five early Sees of the Church. St. John was forced from office by Empress Eudoxia in 403 A.D. He returned briefly, owing to the strong public outcry against his expulsion, but was exiled a second and final time around 405 A.D. He died in exile in 407 A.D. HIs last words were: “Glory be to God for all things!” His remains, along with those of Gregory Nazainzen, were stolen in 1204 A.D. during the Fourth Crusade. For centuries, they remained in St. Peter’s Basilica (first the old one and then the current one). They were returned by Pope Benedict XVI in time for the Feast of St. Andrew in November 2006 A.D.
For Christmas Eve, a modern version of the evocative traditional English style of carols and lessons can be watched using the link below. It picks up where the Great “O” Antiphons ended with a series of prayers and responses for Christmas Eve:
One of the best programs the AIC has created is the series devoted to key theme words for each of the days from Christmas Day to Epiphany Eve. Below are the links for Dec. 25th through December 31st. Next week I will post the remaining links. The series has nothing whatsoever to do with the silly song of the same name.
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 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.
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