The Podcast Homilies Rebuild

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Just a little bit of introspection today.  I thought readers might want to know what’s in store for 2019 A.D. at the AIC web site.  With the coming completion of the Seasonal Video series (with Christmas: The Nativity of Our Lord‘s Episode Two in late October), attention turns to restructuring the Podcast Homilies platform, last changed early in 2015 A.D.

The Podcast Homilies page grew out of the 12-15 minutes homilies I delivered before my retirement from pulpit ministry.  The PH series is primarily focused on the Epistle and Gospel readings for the Sundays in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.   The restructuring will involved integrating the Podcast Homilies into the inventory of teaching material available through Other AIC Resources.    For each of the Podcast Homilies I will add mentions of where the verses cited in the script are used in the 1928 B.C.P. liturgies and also cross-referencing each homily to where the same words, phrases, concepts, subjects are treated in Other AIC materials.

When the project is complete, hopefully by late Winter 2018-2019 A,D., readers and listeners will be able to take full advantage of the greatly-enlarged library of materials available on or through the AIC Web Site.  For example: in a homily which includes a reading from the Gospel of St. Luke, there will be cross-references to where the same reading appears in our Bible Study video series New Testament: Gospels; the appropriate Seasonal Video series with episode number; appropriate Christian Education series (Nicene Creed; Lord’s Prayer; Lives of the Saints; The War on Christianity); appropriate AIC Bookstore Publications, especially Layman’s Lexicon.

As always, thank you for your interest and support for this online ministry.  May God bless you in all that you do in His Name!  Amen!  Glory be to God for all things!  Amen!

Christmas: The Nativity of Our Lord – Episode One

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Christ-Nativity & Annun-Egbert_codex-Detail1-PCAI’ve completed and uploaded Episode One in Christmas: The Nativity of Our Lord, part of the final link in our chain of teaching videos for all the seasons in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  The series will have two episodes.  Episode One offers discussion of the evolution of the Christmas tradition; Anglican traditions of Christmas; and discussion and reading of both the first and second set of Collect, Epistle and Gospel readings for Christmas Day.   The series is illustrated with material from the 10th through the 20th C.  The oldest is a Byzantine-style illumination of the Nativity and the Annunciation to the Shepherds from the Codex Egberti, a Gospel book prepared in the Scriptorium of the Reichenau Monastery, Reichenau, Germany, between 980 and 993 A.D. for the incumbent bishop of Trier.  I applied perspective correction to the original file.  The Codex is part of the collection at the Trier Library, Trier, Germany.

Watch the video.     Listen to the Podcast.

Other illustrations include an early 11th C. illumination from the Bamberg Apocalypse; a 14th C. French depiction of the coronation of Charlesmagne at Rome in 800 A.D.; a 14th C. oil on panel of Malachi by Duccio di Buoninsegna; a 10th C. depiction of St. John writing his Gospel from the Ottonian era of the Holy Roman Empire; a 13th C. mosaic at the Basilica of St. Mark, Venice; a circa 1420 A.D. Nativity scene in colored inks on parchment made in the Netherlands; F. X. Zettler’s elegant and beautiful stained glass window of the Nativity at St. Gertrude’s Church, Stockholm, Sweden; and Nativity murals from St. Joseph’s Villa Chapel, Richmond, Va from the AIC Bookstore publication, Paintings on Light.

Episode Two has been recorded but not yet place into video format.  It is focused on First Sunday after Christmas Day, Second Sunday after Christmas Day; the AIC Seasonal Video series, The Twelve Days of Christmas, soon to be available in a new edition; and, finally, the fourteen hymns in The St. Chrysostom Hymnal that are either not in the venerable 1940 Hymnal or are used by different, more easily-sung tunes.

I will also be recording new versions of The Great “O” Antiphons and Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve in late October and early November.  I spoke yesterday at a Clericus of the Orthodox Anglican Church, meeting at St. Joseph’s Villa Chapel, on the topic, The Mistaken Quest for Relevance.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.  Please consider clicking on the “Follow Anglican Internet Church” legend.  You’ll be asked for your email address and will receive automatic notice fro of all future Blog postings.   We do not share email addresses with any other organization.

 

 

Advent – Episode Two

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Add. 42497
4th Quarter 12th C. frieze on parchment of Jesus meeting John the Baptist and a group of John’s followers.  Source: Additional MSS 42497, British Library, London, England.  

This week I got back in the swing of things.  First, I uploaded Episode Two in Advent: a Season of Penitence & Preparation.  Episode Two is the final episode in this Seasonal Video series and it brings me closer to achieving my post-retirement objective of a teaching video for every season on the Anglican Church Calendar.

Episode Two is focused on the Third Sunday in Advent, Fourth Sunday in Advent, and other traditions of Advent, including the Great “O” Antiphons for the final seven days in Advent and Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve.  The illustration at left is one of nine scenes in the life of John the Baptist, five on the front side and four on the back.  Another scene from the same source included in Episode Two depicts St. John the Baptist baptizing a man in a wooden tub.

Watch the Video

Listen to the Podcast

The final missing piece in the AIC Seasonal Video series, Christmas: The Nativity of Our Lord, is also nearing completion.  The script and slides are complete, awaiting  its soundtrack and final video editing.  I hope to finish both episodes in September or early October.  The series will be available in two episodes, each with historic art, much of which viewers may not have seen before.  Episode One will cover the evolution of the Christmas tradition in the Western Church, Anglican traditions of Christmas, the two Collect, Epistle and Gospel readings for Christmas Day, plus the changes made for Morning and Evening Prayer and the Proper Preface for the Octave of Christmas.  Episode Two will cover the First Sunday after Christmas Day, Second Sunday after Christmas Day and include discussion of the Twelve Days of Christmas tradition and information on the fourteen hymns or carols of Christmas in the St. Chrysostom Hymnal that are either not found in the venerable 1940 Hymnal or are arranged to different tunes.  The Twelve Days of Christmas video series, with one episode for each day of the twelve days from Dec. 25th through Jan. 5th, will be reissued with new content and many new illustrations in December 2018 A.D.  The changes will make the Twelve Days program consistent with the style and content of all the other Seasonal Video series.  Episodes are, or will be, linked from the Digital Library page (with Podcasts linked from the Podcast Archive page).

Please consider “following” the blog by clicking the Follow Anglican Internet Church legend in the right column.  You’ll be asked to enter your email address to which our site host, WordPress.com, will send notice of each new posting.  We do not share email addresses with any other entity.

As always, thank you for your interest in and support for this Internet-based ministry this is consistent reaching traditional Christian in many parts of the world.  We are solely supported by contributions and by royalties from sales of AIC Bookstore Publications (see the Virtual Bookstore link at the bottom of the Home Page).

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

Advent – Episode One

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Advent-2018-Mini-TitleThis morning I uploaded to our YouTube channel Episode One in a new AIC Seasonal Video series, Advent: A Season of Penitence & Preparation.  Episode One is focused on the history and purpose of Advent Season; Anglican traditions of Advent; the Collects, Epistles, Gospels, Canticles, and Opening Sentences for Advent in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer for First Sunday in Advent and Second Sunday in Advent; plus music for Advent Season in The St. Chrysostom Hymnal that is not found in the venerable 1940 Hymnal.

Episode Two (of two) in the series will cover the two remaining Sundays in Advent, plus my discussion of The Great “O” Antiphons, a 12th C. office created to celebrate the last seven days in Advent, and the AIC video series, Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve, with music and contemplation in the English style made popular by Trinity College, Cambridge, to which I have added art work from historic archives.  Episode Two is currently in production, with completion anticipated in September.   I hope to produce new 2018 A.D editions, with new voice responses and some new or updated illustrations, for both these series in time for Advent and Christmas.

The Advent series bring me a step closer to completing my post-retirement objective of offering viewers teaching videos and other materials on all the seasons in the Anglican Church Calendar.  The final missing piece is an entirely new series, Christmas: The Nativity of Our Lord, also to be presented in two episodes.   These two new series will be added, placed in Anglican Calendar order, to the Digital Library and, for the podcast versions, the Podcast Archive pages on this site.

Watch the Video       Listen to the Podcast

Christ-In Majesty-Codex Amiatinus.jpg
Cover, Codex Amiatinus, a Vulgate Bible made 700 A.D., Laurentian Library, Florence (since 1787 A.D.).  Public Domain.

Observant viewers will realize that this new series on Advent does not have the customary historical art.  That is because there is no single image that can effectively symbolize a season meant to prepare Christians for two different but related events:  the Incarnation celebrated on Christmas Day and His promised Second Coming in judgment.  I have reserved the Nativity scenes for the Christmas series.   That does not mean that the episode is without historical art from both the Western and Eastern Church traditions.  An example is the image at left, Christ in Majesty, a symbolic image of the Second Coming from the Codex Amiatinus, an early 8th C. edition of St. Jerome’s Vulgate Bible.  Made in northeast England around 700 A.D., when the area was still under threat from Viking invaders, it has been in the collection of the Laurentian Library, Florence, Italy, since 1786 A.D.  The style is Byzantine, in the spiritual-minded manner preferred everywhere before the Renaissance.  The images were hand painted on vellum in tempera and gilt.

As always, I thank viewers, readers and listeners for their interest in and support for this online ministry.   With your support the site, and its related bookstore, is reaching people all around the world.   Just as a reminder, all royalties from AIC Bookstore Publications are contributed monthly to the AIC.

August is a special month for me and for my family.  Corkie and I celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary early in the month with a trip to Southwest Virginia and the region from Roanoke to Charlottesville.  Tomorrow will be my 76th birthday and we plan to celebrate with dinner at my favorite Richmond restaurant, The Rappahannock.

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

Trinitytide-2018-Episode Nine

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Feeding the 5000-loaves-fishes-Tissot-300dpi-Detail1
The Feeding of the 5,000 – a detail from a watercolor by James Tissot, painted between 1886 and 1894 A.D. as part of his Life of Christ series.  From the collection of the Brooklyn Museum.

The final episode in our Seasonal Video series, Trinitytide: The Teaching Season, is now available in video and podcast versions.  Episode Nine is focused on the Collect, Epistle and Gospel readings for Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity and Sunday Next before Advent, plus discussion of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer‘s complex rules for transferring surplus Sundays from Epiphany Season for years with 26 or 27 Sundays after Trinity.   I hope I have succeeded in explaining in layman’s terms the system which insures that Sunday Next before Advent, called Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity until the 1892 Book of Common Prayer, will always end up as the final Sunday in Trinity season, no matter how many or how few Sundays there are “After Trinity.”

Watch the Video of Episode Nine       Listen to the Podcast of Episode Nine

Many changes have been made in the details of the format of the Seasonal Video series since I started them in 2011 A.D.  I’ve incorporated more historic art – our archive now includes about 800 images – and also added slides which explain “Other AIC Resources” containing information on the same topics and readings within a given episode.  I am pleased to let you know that the change has resulted in greater sales of AIC Bookstore Publications, including both paperback and Kindle editions.   100% of all book royalties are contributed to the AIC ministry on a monthly basis as they are received.   This income helps offset the cost of annual fees for our various web presences, including WordPress, where this Blog is hosted and which expects to be paid the next 12-month fee in August.

When I started doing the Seasonal Videos after my retirement from pulpit ministry, my intention was to offer programs on all the seasons in the Church Year.  The first series, focused on Epiphany, was incomplete.   It was edited and re-released in a full length version in time for Epiphany Season earlier in 2018 A.D.  I chose to focus on getting the AIC Bookstore Publications edited and ready for uploading instead of launching new programs.

Earlier in 2018 A.D. I produced series for the Gesima Sundays (pre-Lent) and the seasons of Lent and Easter and an updated version of In the Cross of Christ I Glory for Good Friday.  With the completion of the Trinitytide series, only Advent and Christmas remain without a teaching video/podcast series.    These last two series (Advent in two episodes; Christmas in one episode) are on schedule for release later in the year.  I anticipate releasing Advent: A Season of Penitence and Preparation in mid-September and early October.   I also plan to produce updated versions of the Great “O” Antiphons and The Twelve Days of Christmas series, with updated graphics.  Changes to the Great “O” Antiphons depend upon finding enough volunteers to speak the Voice and Response lines.

As always, I thank you for your interest in and support for this Internet-based ministry that is reaching people around the world daily.  Please consider becoming a follower by clicking the Follow Anglican Internet Church legend in the righthand column.  You’ll receive a request for your email address so that our site host (WordPress.com) can notify you of all new postings.  We do not share such information with any other organization.

May God bless you in all that you do in His Name.  Amen.

Glory be to God for all things!  Amen!

 

Trinitytide: The Teaching Season – Episode Six

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GoodSamaritan-RossanoGospels-Folio007-Detail1
Detail, the Parable of the Good Samaritan, an illumination in colored inks and gilt on parchment,the Rossano Gospels, Cathedral of Rossano, Rossano, Italy, 6th C.  Public Domain.

I just finished uploading Episode Six in our Seasonal Video series Trinitytide: The Teaching Season.  The focus this time is on the Collect, Epistle and Gospel readings for Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Sundays after Trinity.  There are sixteen illustrations, ranging from a 6th C. illumination from Byzantine-controlled Italy to an early 20th C. oil on canvas of Mammon depicted as a sitting deity.   The four Gospel pericopes include the Healing of the Deaf Man, the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the Healing of the Ten Lepers, and God vs. Mammon (or Two Masters).  Of course, there are four new readings from the pen of St. Paul, of whom I have included four images which I have not used previously: two 19th C. stained glass windows in England (one in East Anglia, the other in Kensington/London); and two oil on canvas works in the European tradition.

Watch the video.               Listen to the Podcast.

My favorite this week, shown above left, is a detail of the Parable of the Good Samaritan which I extracted from the Rossano Gospels,  a colored ink and gilt illumination on purple-dyed parchment, one of oldest to survive to the present day.  It was made in Italy in the 6th C., after the army of the Byzantine Empire at Constantinople conquered much of Italy.  Of course, its style is clearly Byzantine.  The Byzantine artist inserted an angel as a suggestion of the presence of Christ in the heart of the Good Samaritan.  The dying of parchment in purple was a very popular thing in the first Millennium and into the early part of the second.

In my research for these episodes I’ve discovered some new archives I had not known about and who resources I will be mining in future months, especially for images of St. Paul and the four Gospel authors, plus individual page illuminations from Gospels, Lectionaries and other works intended for personal devotions.  I think the lives of Christians would be immensely enriched if these were currently available for home devotions.  Perhaps the AIC will produce one in 2019 A.D.  I was thinking along the lines of introducing color introductions into Hear Us, O Lord: Daily Prayers for the Laity.  Unfortunately, the price would have to double if not triple (more color, more pages equals higher printing costs).

The slides and script for Episode Seven, covering the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Sundays after Trinity, are nearly complete.  I hope viewers will be as amazed as I am at the illustrations for Episode Seven and pleased with the longer treatment of several of the Gospel lessons.  The episode probably will not be finished until the following week owing to some personal obligations next week and the 4th of July holiday.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.  Adding yourself to the list of followers either on the AIC web site, especially the Fr. Ron’s blog page; our Podbean channel and our YouTube channel, is very helpful in assisting me in reaching more people with the traditional Christian message and interpretation.

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

Images of St. Paul

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In working on Trinitytide: The Teaching Season I realized that readings from St. Paul’s work occupy 80+% of all the Epistle/For the Epistle readings for Trinity Season.  My inventory of historical images had only 4 or 5 representations of St. Paul and I had often fallen back to Andrei Rublev’s tempera and silver on panel unfinished icon, which dates to the 1st decade of the 15th C.   The search for more images took me through a lot of terrible art but, in the end, I found about 15 additional images of the prolific Evangelist to the Gentiles and who is often substituted for Matthias in imagery of the Twelve. especially in the Eastern Church tradition.

dreamstime_l_43347360-Paul-PCA
St.Paul, 11th C. mosaic at Chora Church (Church of the Holy Savior), Istanbul, Turkey, now a museum.  Image copyright Andrey Andronov|Dreamstime.com).  Perspective correction applied.

Not wanting to give away too much, I have included here only one of the new impressions.  As Trinity season progresses, and I release more episodes in the Trinitytide series, all 15 of the new images will appear in slides.

In the example at left the 11th C. artist captured three historical understandings about images of St. Paul:  receding hair line, full bear, intense facial expression.   He hold a book, representing either the Gospels or, more likely, the Pauline Epistles.  Since this is a Byzantine image and not one from the Western Church tradition, he does not hold an object which symbolizes the manner of his martyrdom.  In nearly all Western Church icon, painting, mosaic or statue  St. Paul holds a sword or a broken sword.  I applied perspective correction to the original image to make it more closely resemble the frontal view of the same mosaic by another photographer.  Apologies to the Dreamstime photographer.  As always, I am impressed by the way the Byzantine mosaic-maker managed to give the sense of flowing robes with lapis blue and the suggestion of indirect light.  Based on the colors and the pose, I wonder whether this mosaic was the inspiration for Rublev’s unfinished work.  Perhaps, but perhaps not, since other sources date the mosaic to a later century, before the Moslem conquest of Constantinople.

Next week I will upload Episode Four in the series, which covers the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Sundays after Trinity, plus three more of the eleven Trinitarian hymns in the AIC Bookstore publication, The St. Chrysostom Hymnal.  To learn more about the Hymnal, visit my Amazon Author Central page.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.

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

Trinitytide: The Teaching Season – Episode Three

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Luke-with Symbol-2nd Version- Gospel of Otto III
Luke the Evangelist with his traditional symbol, the Ox,an illumination strongly influenced by the Byzantine-style, from The Gospels of Otto III,, painted in tempera and gilt on parchment at the Benedictine Monastery on Reichenau Island, Lake Constance, Southern Germany, in the mid-11th C. The original is at the Bavarian State Library, Munich, Germany. Public Domain.

Episode Three in our newest Seasonal Video series, Trinitytide: The Teaching Season is now available in both video and podcast version.  There are thirteen illustrations which, I hope, help increase understanding of the Collect, Epistle and Gospel reading for Third Fourth and Fifth Sundays after Trinity.   The one chosen for this Blog entry is from the late Ottonian Empire, successor to the revived Holy Roman Empire started by Charlesmagne.  AIC regulars will remember that Otto III was responsible for the production of the Bamberg Apocalypse, now at the Bamberg State Library, Bamberg, Germany and used in the AIC Bookstore publication, Revelation: An Idealist Interpretation.

Watch the video version.

Listen to the Podcast version

The episode includes the only two readings from the writings of St. Peter during Trinity Season.  The Gospel readings jump back and forth on the historical timeline and include the Parables of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin (Luke 15:1-10); the Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (Luke 6:36-42); and the calling of the first four Disciples (Luke 5:1-11).   In my related Podcast Homily (linked from the Podcast Homilies page) for Fifth Sunday after Trinity I explain the early Church understanding of why Jesus was seated while the people stood and the spiritual meaning of “Launch out into the deep” (Luke 5:4).  For those who like a dose of Church history, I offer an interesting observation on a change in wording of the Collect for the same Sunday made in the 1662 B.C.P.

I also include mention the next three of 11 Trinitarian hymns not in the venerable 1940 Hymnal from the AIC Bookstore publication, The St. Chrysostom Hymnal.  The theme music for the video is again Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, played by Richard M. S. Irwin from his dedicated web page: https://play.hymnswithoutwords.com.  I thank Richard for granting permission of its use.  The hymn is always inspirational, but played by Richard on his church organ, it truly represents the majesty of Reginald Huber’s original scoring.

I have started work on Episode Four in the series, which will be available in late June, will feature the Collect, Epistle and Gospel readings for the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Sundays after Trinity and the next three of 11 hymns to the Trinity.   The readings will require more research in suitable illustrations readers/viewers might not have seen.

As always, thank you for your interest in and support of this online ministry dedicated to traditional teaching of the ancient Christian Faith.  Please consider clicking the “Follow Anglican Internet Church” tab in the far right column.  You’ll be asked to enter your email address if you wish to receive notice of each new posting.

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

;

Mea culpa, mea culpa

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AGreat Supper-Jan Lukyen-Bowyer Biblepologies to readers/viewers for the incorrect attribution of a scene in Episode Two of Trinitytide: The Teaching Season.  The credit line for Jan Luyken’s etching of the Invitation to the Great Supper should have read:

Invitation to the Great Supper  Late 17th-early 18th C. etching by Dutch artist Jan Luyken, The Bowyer Bible, Bolton Library, Bolton, England, published, London, 1840 A.D. Public Domain photography by Harry Kossuth and text by Phillip Medhurst, Early Life of Christ in the Bowyer Bible, 2018 A.D. electronic edition.

There are several other examples from The Bowyer Bible which will be used in remaining episodes in the series.  These will bear the correct credit line.   Again, thanks for your interest and support.

 

Trinitytide – Episode Two

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Somehow, with all the other issues which needed attention this week, I completed and uploaded Episode Two in the AIC Seasonal Video series, Trinitytide: The Teaching Season.  This episode is focused on the Collects and readings for Trinity Sunday, First Sunday after Trinity and Second Sunday after Trinity, plus seasonal music.

As a teaching season it should be no surprise that major doctrinal issues are covered through both the Collects and the Epistle-Gospel combinations.  The season starts with a rare liturgical reading from Revelation (Revelation 4:1-11), with the heavenly voice like a trumpet inviting St. John to “come up here” for a view of events to come from a heavenly perspective and the iconic pericope from the Gospel of St. John (John 3:1-15) recounting the nighttime visit of Nicodemus.

Rich Man and Lazarus-Codex_Aureus
Codex Aureus of Echternach, Folio 78, 1035-1040 A.D., Benedictine Abbey, Reichenau Island, Lake Constance, Germany; National Library of Germany, Nuremberg, Germany.  Public domain.

Week Two moves along to St. John’s essay on Love (Greek: agape) (1 John 4:7-21), which is paired with St. Luke’s account of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.  For the latter I chose a strikingly Byzantine-style representation painted in three panels at the Benedictine Monastery on Reichenau Island in southern Germany during the mid-11th C.   The dinner is shown in the top row; the fate of Lazarus (in the “Bosom of Abraham”) in the second; and the Rich Man in, fittingly, the lower tier.

 

In week three, the final set of readings are another of St. John’s essays on love, plus the need for putting it into action, and St. Luke’s version of the Parable of the Great Supper, delivered much earlier that the Wedding Supper account in St. Matthew’s Gospel.

I’ve also included mention of the first three of 11 hymns to the Holy Trinity in The St. Chrysostom Hymnal which are not in the venerable 1940 Hymnal.  The remaining hymns will be mentioned in remaining episodes in the series.

The series continues in Episode Three with discussion of the next three Sundays after Trinity.

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