Great “O” Antiphons – O Rex Gentium – Dec. 23rd

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

O-Antiphons-Slide55Join us for today’s Great “O” Antiphons observation for December 23rd, when the key words are O Rex Gentium, or King of Nations.  This presentation was adapted, with illustrations and music, from the original 12th C. office.

Today’s hymn is The Coming of Our God by Charles Coffin, circa 1736 A.D.  In the St. Chrysostom Hymnal the same hymn (Advent Hymn No. 4)  is titled The Advent of Our King.  The soloist is Mr. Jared Haselbarth, whose music catalogue is available at http://www.nabaudio.com.  This and other teaching and worship videos are linked from the Digital Library page on this site.

Tomorrow there will be links to both the office for Dec. 24th, O Emmanuel, and also the AIC Seasonal Video, Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve.

Watch the video.   Listen to the Podcast

The AIC urges you to attend a local Church for Holy Communion on Sunday, Dec. 24th, and, if available, a local Lessons and Carols service.  Our version of Lessons and Carols is available 24/7 via the Web.

Great “O” Antiphons – O Orien – Dec. 22nd

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

O-Antiphons-Slide44For December 22nd the key words are O Orien (Dayspring) in the 12th C. devotions known as the Great “O” Antiphons.   The hymn for today is Wake, Awake, the Night is Dying (Anglican translation is Awake, the Night is Flying), sung by Mr. Jared Haselbarth.  You can access all his beautiful Christian music at http://www.nabaudio.com.

This series will be followed by the AIC video Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve and, beginning Dec. 25th, The Twelve Days of Christmas.  These and other AIC teachings and worship programs are linked from the Digital Library page.

Watch the Video.     Listen to the Podcast.

 

Great “O” Antiphons – O Clavis David – Dec. 21st

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

O-Antiphons-Slide31The Great “O” Antiphon for December 21st is O Clavis David (Key of David).  This evocation from our joint Hebrew-Christian past is part of the 12th C. celebration of the last 7 days of Advent,  The hymn for the occasion is Come, Thou Long-expected Jesus, sung by soloist Jared Haselbarth.  The hymn was composed by Charles Wesley and is sung to the German-inspired tune, Stuttgart.  You can access much of Mr. Haselbarth’s Christian music at http://www.nabaudio.com.

The Great “O” Antiphons seasonal video series offers not only stirring music, including a wonderful, evocative Celtic-inspired playing of O Come, O Come Emmanuel, but also graphic images from the rich artistic tradition of Christianity.  Other episodes in the series are linked from the Digital Library page.

Watch the video.     Listen to the Podcast.

 

Great “O” Antiphons – O Radix Jesse – Dec. 20th

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

O-Antiphons-Slide23The key phrase for Dec. 20th in the 12th C. observation, The Great “O” Antiphons, is O Radix Jesse, or Key of Jesse.  It’s such a shame that the modern Church rarely uses these great teaching assets, but you can still enjoy and, hopefully, learn from them here.

Today’s hymn is Hear the Herald Voice Resounding, a Latin hymn from the 6th C. The Anglican version is Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding, an 1849 A.D. translation set to the tune Merton by W. H. Monk).  It is performed by Jared Haselbarth.  You can find this and other music by him at http://www.nabaudio.com.

The series was originally recorded in 2014 A.D. and revised with Jared Haselbarth’s great and uplifting solos and other modifications in 2015 A.D.  This program and other resources for traditional worship are available from the Digital Library page.

Watch the Video.        Listen to the Podcast.

 

Great “O” Antiphons – O Adonai – Dec. 19th

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

O-Antiphons-Slide12The key word for December 19th is Adonai, the Hebrew word for Lord, for which the Latin and Greek equivalent is Kyrie.  This is the second of seven presentations leading up to Christmas Eve based on the 12th C. celebration of the Roman Catholic Church augmented with pictures, music and Scripture readings.   It was recorded in 2015 A.D.

The hymn for today’s presentation is The King of Glory Comes, written by Willard Francis Jabusch in 1966 A.D.  Here it is sung by Mr. Jared Haselbarth, whose music is available at http://www.nabaudio.com.  The hymn is arranged to a Hebrew folk tune to which Fr. Jabusch set wonderful Christian lyrics.    I hope you like it.

Tomorrow’s key words will be O Radix Jesse (Root of Jesse).

Watch the video.       Listen to the Podcast version.

 

Great “O” Antiphons – O Sapienta – Dec. 18th

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

O-Antiphons-Slide4

Today is December 18th, the first day of the seven-day cycle of The Great “O” Antiphons, which date from the Roman Catholic Church in the 12th Century.

Today’s key word is O Sapienta, Latin for wisdom.  Episodes in the series run approximately 12 minutes each.  Both video and podcast versions are available.  Includes appropriate Scripture and music.  On this episode, On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry is sung by Mr. Jared Haselbarth.  His music is also available at http://www.nabaudio.com.  The song was written by Charles Coffin in 1736 A.D. and is still sung world-wide during Advent (as it was on Advent 3 at the Anglican Church I attended yesterday).  This version was recorded in 2015 A.D.

Watch the Video.      Listen to the Podcast

Stir-Up Sunday & the War on Christianity (continued)

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

My wife and I have just returned from a week’s vacation on Hatteras Island, so I thought to catch up with the various AIC web presences, including reading all the many email messages.

WOC-Title1-RevOne viewer raised a question concerning the current episode, Episode Five, in AIC’s Christian Education video series, The War on Christianity.   The question indicates the need for a clarification for those who my have not seen Episode One through Episode Four.   For those who have just joined in watching series, let me repeat some of the points I made in that first episode.

First, there is a vigorous War on Christianity that is literally going on each and every day all around the world.  In Episode One I included data about how many physical assaults there have been and highlighted five such events in 2016 and 2017 A.D.

Second, the ultimate objective of those leading, and/or encouraging, the War on Christianity is to eliminate Christianity from the public and private sphere.   The War on Christianity has nothing to do with fairness doctrines or equal treatment of all religions or cultural prejudices.   It is a fight for the survival of Christian belief, although many modern Christians are in a state of denial.  The objective is, just as it was for those who successfully suppressed the Church in the 2nd through the 15th C, is to make Christianity irrelevant in public, and, in my opinion, in private worship.

Third, the five incidents are a warning sign that, in spite of those who deny reality, the loss of majority status “can’t happen here,” such a loss has happened before and is happening now right before our eyes.

Self-imposed Limitations on the Format:  Because AIC video series usually are presented in episodes of under 25 minutes. I cannot summarize in each episode all that has been said in previous episodes.  The first effort to produce such a summary caused the initial version of Episode Two, the Summary History of the Church from Pentecost Until Now, to run about 34 minutes.  I retreated and instead presented the subject matter in two episodes.   The same problem reappeared in the first version of Episode Four, which ran even longer, with all three case studies of regional declines in a single episode.  As with the previous example, I retreated and rewrote the material into two episodes, with important events in the Holy Land and North Africa treated in one episode, leaving Asia Minor to be treated in its own separate episode.

I made many of the same points that I made in Episode One in Episode Five, but perhaps I did not make the following point strongly enough in the section on Lessons Learned.  Let me make it clearer now:  many of the players in the decline of Christianity in the Holy Land, North Africa, and Asia Minor still exist today.  They are Islamic fundamentalism plus international and Church politics. Additionally, in place of the greedy merchants of the Republic of Venice in the 13th through 15th C., whose objective was to destroy the Byzantine Empire and reap the benefits for themselves, are the international corporations and rich individuals with limitless wallets and atheistic values.

In future episodes I will offer ideas and practices which I think will make any Christian more able to defend the Christian Faith.  In Episode Six, subtitled The First Line of Defense, I will discuss how important it is for any Christian to understand traditional Christian doctrine.  Currently, I anticipate a total of 12 to 15 episodes.

All episodes of The War on Christianity series are linked from the Digital Library page (for the videos) and the Podcast Archive page (for the MP3 podcast versions.  Use the appropriate tabs above and below to reach these pages.

Sunday Next Before Advent:  On another topic of current interest:  If you attended Church today and did not hear a homily/sermon on what the concept of “stir-up” means, where it came from, and how important it is to the coming Advent celebration, you can listen to a my Homily for Sunday Next Before Advent on the Podcast Homilies page of this site.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.  You can help make our material more widely available by subscribing to this Blog or to our YouTube or Podbean pages.

May God bless you in all that you do in His Name!  Glory be to God for all things!  Amen!

 

 

The War on Christianity – Episode Three

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

Early this week I uploaded Episode Three in the AIC Christian Education video series, The War on Christianity.  Episode Three is Part Two (of Two) in A Summary History of the Church from Pentecost Until Now.  The episode takes up the narrative with the story of the Church in North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Western Hemisphere, plus Asia and the Pacific Islands; a quick summary of the impact of the Protestant Reformation, English Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation; and the growth of new denominations around the world.  The final one-third of the episode is focused on a census of the Christian population worldwide, as of 2010 A.D., and discussion of that population, region-by-region, with emphasis on where the largest concentrations of Christian populations exist.

Augustine_Lateran
Late 6th C. fresco of St. Augustine of Hippo, Lateran Palace, Rome.  Public Domain.

Given the media’s lack of attention to actual facts versus opinions, two such actual facts pointed out in Episode Three may surprise many readers.

First, if we exclude Russia, which is not really European, from the census for Europe, there are far more Christians, by a large margin, in the United States (246,780,000), Brazil (175,770,000), Mexico (107,780,000), the Philippines (89,790,000) and Nigeria (80,510,000) than in any country in Europe.  To be fair, the census estimate says that Russia is home to 105,220,000 Christians.

Second, a fact extrapolated from the data, there are almost twice as many Christians in Nigeria as there are in the United Kingdom, the home country of the Church of England, and the Protestant population in the home country of Martin Luther has declined, in percentage terms, by approximately 30% since the start of World War II, while the Roman Catholic population (again, as a percentage) has remained largely unchanged during the same time frame.  During the balance of the series I intend to discuss the implications of this data.

[Data Source: Regional Distribution of Christians, Pew Research Center, December 19, 2011 A.D.  http://www.PewForum.org/2011/12/19/global-christianity-regions]

Watch Episode Four          Listen to the Podcast version

Next time, in Episode Four, I will discuss Three Case Studies of regions in which Christianity has been marginalized in both absolute and percentage terms: the Holy Land (or Middle East), North Africa, and Asia Minor, the latter being the region in which the greatest growth of the early Church happened.

Please help us spread the news of the availability of the prayer, teaching, Bible Study and historical resources made available on-demand via the AIC Web site, and through our Virtual Bookstores (accessed using links at the bottom of our Home Page).  Further, you can “follow” this blog by clicking the “Follow Anglican Internet Church” tab in the right hand column.  And you can similarly subscribe to our YouTube videos and the Podcast versions (via our PodBean channel).

As always, thank you for your interest in and support of the Internet-based ministry of The Anglican Internet Church.  May God bless you in all that you do in His Name.  Amen.  Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

 

 

The War on Christianity – Episode Two

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

Early this week I uploaded Episode Two in our new video and podcast series, The War on Christianity.   This episode is part one (of 2) in A Summary History of the Church from the Day of Pentecost Until Now, in which I review the growth of the Church from its birthday at Pentecost (Acts 2) through its spread into Northern Europe in the 12th C.  There are 17 illustrations from the 6th to the 20th C.   The episode attempts to put the expansion of Christianity into context, giving credit to the major saints along the way, including the original Apostles and the bishops, archbishops, clergy and scholars who were the driving force, even in the face of the risk of death.

Ignatius of Antioch-Fresco-1870s-Macedonia.jpg
Public domain

One of the most interesting illustrations is a 19th C. fresco depicting the martyr’s death of St. Ignatius of Antioch from the Monastery of Elijah in Melnica, Republic of Macedonia.  It is attributed to artist Avram Dichov and was created in 1872 A.D. following the two-year-long construction of the building.   Viewers also get glimpses of later saints, such as Cyril and Methodius (7th C.) and the Venerable Bede (8th C.), plus a recent photograph of the Monastery of St. Michael, Kiev, Ukraine, opened in 1999 A.D. to replace the early 12th C. original building which was destroyed by the Soviet Union under Stalin’s rule in the late 1930s.  Both the Elijah Monastery and the rebuilt St. Michael’s are a tribute to Eastern Church Christians who maintained their faith through the terrible anti-Christian persecution after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 A.D. and the spread of Soviet-style Communism across eastern and southeastern Europe.   The survival or restoration of both buildings demonstrates the benefits derived when modern Christians stand up to the anti-religious forces from within and from outside their communities, a message which underpins The War on Christianity series.

Watch Episode Two      Listen to Episode Two

Early next week I will upload the completed Episode Three in which the Summary History is carried from the spread of the Church across North Africa, into Africa below the Sahara, across the Atlantic into the Western Hemisphere, and, since the 17th C. across the Pacific, extending the reach of Christianity to an estimated 2 billion-plus people worldwide (as of 2010 A.D.).

I thank those who have subscribed to this Blog and who follow the AIC on our YouTube and Podbean channels (links to which are always found on the Home page at http://www.AnglicanInternetChurch.net.  You can help us reach more people by letting others know how to find us on the Web.

As always, thank you for your interest in and support for The Anglican Internet Church electronic ministry.  May God bless you in all that you do in His Name.  Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

Gabriel, Michael & Raphael

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment
Gabriel_fresco_Georgia_14th_c).jpg
Wikipedia Commons

Earlier this week I uploaded a new video in The Lives of the Saints – Second Series.  Episode Twenty-three pays tribute to the three Archangels: Gabriel, Michael and Raphael using some of the most strikingly beautiful art work I could find from both the Western and Eastern Church traditions.   The episode is among the longest in the series, running around 26 minutes.

One of the images of St. Gabriel (left) is a fresco from the early 14th C. found at the Georgian Orthodox Cathedral Church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour, Tsalenjikha, Republic of Georgia.  The artist was Cyrus Emanuel Eugenicus, who was brought to Georgia from the imperial capital of Constantinople by the country’s royal family.  The style is described as late Byzantine, representing the beginning of the introduction of Western Church artistic styles into the Byzantine manner.     WATCH THE VIDEO         LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

canstockphoto29989546.jpg
Apse Mosaic, 1191 A.D., Church of St. George, Kurbinovo, Macedonia. Image Copyright Can Stock Photo/Nehru

But the best, to my untrained but appreciate eye, is an apse mosaic of St. Gabriel, the most famous of the three Archangels, by an unknown group of artists working in the Ohrid bishopric, one noted for the exceptional quality of its frescoes and icons, in what is now the Republic of Macedonia.  The location is the little stone Church of St. George, Kurbinovo, Macedonia.  I suspect that these traditional Christians could use some outside help in the restoration of the building, which was completed around 1191 A.D.    The celestial blues and whites are, pardon the pun, stellar.  In the original, St. Gabriel is at the left side of the image.  He leans toward the central figure, a seated Blessed Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus Christ.

I find this picture so intriguing because it shows us the high spirituality found in the Eastern Church tradition of that era, and to a lesser extent today, to fill virtually every inch of a Church building wit with art which is not only beautiful but emotionally and spiritually uplifting.  This stands in very sharp contrast to today’s Church buildings which, to my eye, look more like auto showrooms without the auto.  The building in which this astonishing work is found is a small stone chapel, not a great cathedral as you might imagine.  It is this kind of confident spirituality, representing unwavering faith in the face of adversity as well as prosperity, that the Western Church so badly needs today.

I can also report that The Writing Prophets of the Old Testament, published earlier this year, is now available in Kindle format at $9.99 from my Amazon Author Central page.  Those who purchase the print edition can purchase the electronic version for $2.99.  For pricing and ordering Kindle Editions and Paperbacks visit Fr. Ron’s Amazon Author page,

As always, thank you for your interest in and support of the Anglican Internet Church’s online ministry.