Trinity 19 & the AIC Bookstore, Part 2

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My Father Ron’s Blog posting for Trinity 19 was placed online on 10/4/2024. I commented upon the origin of the Collect (Gelasian w/amendment in the 1662 BCP, St. Paul’s discussion of Christian virtues in the Epistle reading (Ephesians 4:17-32) and the Gospel lesson (Matthew 9:1-8, the fifth of nine readings from St. Matthew in Trinitytide). The post is linked within the right column on the Fr. Ron’s Blog page.

This week’s post is focused on two related volumes from the AIC Bookstore. Both books grew out of my local ministry in Richmond, VA and surrounding area. Since our ministry received no financial support from any Anglican jurisdiction, we needed to find ways of reaching people at the lowest possible cost, with newspaper advertising, of doubtful value in any situation, being out of the question.

The original version of Prayers in the Christian Tradition was printed on my office laser printer on 8.5 x 11 letter paper, with four pages on each side. The paper was folded in half on the short axis, then folded again across the long axis, cut into four pages which were then collated and stapled together, with finished pages The completed book fit comfortable into a shirt or suit coat pocket, so that the prayers could be read anytime, anyplace, including lunch break at work, on a bus or subway, waiting in a doctor’s or lawyer’s waiting room. It sold for a mere $5.00, but was most often given to expressing an interest in Anglican worship. The version now available was reformatted into a size compatible with KDP Publishing’s standard book sizes. A new color cover was designed by Corkie Shibley. The volume includes prayers from the 1st to the 20th C. The index of sources include Saints & Blesseds, Bishops & Archbishops; Prayers and Offices (by Name and by Origin); Other People and Places; plus a complete Scripture index divided into Old Testament and New Testament sources.


The second book, Hear Us, O Lord: Daily Prayers for the Laity is divided into three sections: Awesome Prayers to Our Awesome God (which also traces to my earliest ministry in Richmond) which are offered in six sections, based on topic or focus: Praise & Thanksgiving; Protection & Deliverance; Penitence; Righteousness; Songs of Praise; and Other Prayers. Part Two, Little Prayers: Catenae on the Psalms, offers short prayers based on just one Psalm; catanae (meaning short prayers based on Scripture) on single Psalm, and Catanae based on multiple Psalms. Part Three, Daily Prayers for the Laity, was developed based on the traditional Church practice of prayers spoken at fixed times of the day, or the Hours: First Hour (sunrise or 6 AM); Third Hour (9 AM); Sixth Hour (Noon); Ninth Hour (3 PM); Vespers (traditionally 5 PM or local sunset); and Compline. Hours offices have a defined pattern: Invocation; First Prayer (from Scripture); the General Confession; the Lord’s Prayer; followed by a sequence of “Chapters” (two through six) based on a New Testament verse); Antiphons (or verse and response readings; a Psalm reading; and two closing verses and responses. Since no blessings is conferred, these can be said by anyone, layperson or clergy. In my household these said on Sundays when we do not attend for parish worship. This compilation includes a short explanation of the origin of “offices” and are based upon prayers from many Western and Eastern Church traditions including Anglican, Roman Catholic, Syrian Antiochian, and several Eastern European Orthodox traditions, including Russian. Should an ordained person be present, a text for an Absolution and Benediction are included.

Like all the AIC Bookstore Publications, these volumes are printed on demand and sold through my Amazon Author Central page, with all book royalties contributed to the AIC.

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

Liturgical Worship: Scripture-based – Part 2

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This week I continue my discussion about Liturgical Worship in the Anglican tradition using the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. The illustration below shows clergy officiating at Holy Communion using the Sarum Rite. Sarum is modern day Salisbury, England. The Sarum Rite in England is a predecessor of the 1549 Book of Common Prayer, the first England language liturgical prayer book produced under the supervision of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer.

Priests Celebrating at Altar, using the Sarum Rite, illumination, Book of Hours, circa 1400, Ms. Richardson 5-92, Folio 44v, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Public Domain.

One of the best commentaries on the 1928 Book of Common Prayer was written by Massey Shepherd. It includes an introductory commentary plus section-by-section commentary on the entire BCP. On the Holy Communion liturgy, pages 67-89, he observes that the words to be spoken by clergy and people before an after the Gospel reading (“Glory be to thee, O Lord” and “Praise be to thee, O Christ”) are “a reminder that liturgical worship is a corporate action of both minister and congregation, conducted under the inspirational judgment of the Lord.”

Shepherd also notes that the Sanctus prayer, spoken during the Preface, is a paraphrase which is derived from the prophet Isaiah’s vision of the heavenly throne, in which the seraphim sing (Isaiah 6:1-3). Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, Heaven and earth are full of thy glory: Glory be to thee, O Lord most high.”

Another interesting observation by Massey Shepherd concerns the opening words of the Prayer for the Whole State of Christ’s Church (BCP p. 74) is evidence of the Church’s acceptance of the understanding that God listens of the prayers/petitions of His faithful people and, further, that the text affirms that the people/congregation, in hearing the remainder of the prayer, acknowledge the obligation to be obedient unto His divine will: “all those who do confess thy holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy Word, and live in unity and godly love.” This understanding is more directly addressed in the preface to the General Confession (p. 75).

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


Liturgical Worship: Scripture-based – Part 1

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Earlier this month my Blog post promised additional commentary on the value of liturgical worship, specifically, worship using the 1928 Book of Common Prayer in the Anglican tradition. This is the first entry in the series. More will follow on an unpredictable schedule.

Liturgical worship is practiced in several denominations, especially the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and, to a lesser extent, among some jurisdictions with the Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian traditions. The origin of these traditions is derived from early Church worship, both in the Western and Eastern Church jurisdictions. For Anglicans, the “gold standard” is those liturgies derived from Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s preparation (with assistance from many whose names are not commonly noted) of the 1549 Book of Common Prayer, the first set of liturgies written in the English language. Cranmer found inspiration in liturgies developed on the European continent, especially in the Lutheran Church, but also from the liturgy named in honor of St. John Chrysostom. Prior to the production of the 1549 Book of Common Prayer, Cranmer also wrote the office known as The Litany, or General Supplication, which still appears on pages 54-59 in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.

Archbishop Cranmer did not compose something new but a working collection of liturgies for Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, the Litany & the Penitential Office for Ash Wednesday, as well as other offices and collections of prayers for specific occasions. All of these liturgies, offices and prayers have a common characteristic: They are based upon Holy Scripture, both of the Old Testament and the New Testament. For example, the Holy Communion liturgy begins with the Lord’s Prayer and a Collect, commonly called the Collect for Purity, written in the late 8th or early 9th C. by the Blessed Alcuin of York. The Collect sets the tone for the entire liturgy with understandings, both Jewish and Christian, concerning the nature of the God who sees all and knows all. It also serves as a warning against trivializing the meaning of the words that are to follow in the Holy Communion liturgy. It is useful to recall that Theos, a name of God, is the root word of “theology,” means The One Who Sees.

ALMIGHTY God, unto whom all hearts are open,
all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid;
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Alcuin of York, and his importance in the development of Christian doctrine since the 9th C., is discussed in the Blog posts for Lent 4 and Lent 5.

Other examples of the use of Holy Scripture are the responsive reading of the Ten Commandments, or Decalogue. The full text must be used at least once per month. On other occasions, the clergyman may read the “Summary of the Law,” which is a paraphase of Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, and to which Jesus referred on Mark 12:28-34. Christ cited the two Old Testament sources in response to the question by some Scribes regarding which is the most important Commandment.

Another example is the Comfortable Words, which are quotations Matthew 11:28; John 3:16; 1 Timothy 1:15 and 1 John 2:1, 2. These follow the General Confession and Absolution. Yet another is the selection of New Testament and Old Testament verses which may be used during the Offertory, although the most commonly used in the first in the sequence, “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive,” based on Acts 20:35.

In Part Two, I will focus on indirect or paraphrases of Scripture which appear in the offices of Morning and Evening Prayer, the Holy Communion liturgy and are provided in other offices for special occasions, ranging from baptisms to funerals.

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

Apophatic vs. Cataphatic Prayer

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One of the objectives of the Anglican Internet Church online ministry, as stated in the Our Mission statement on the back page of all our publications and on our Web Site, is “Eastern Church Teaching in Western Church Language.” The title of this week’s post, Apophatic vs. Cataphatic Prayer is a good example. In the Eastern Church since the 5th and 6th C. the concept that God can only be described by words that define what He is not (apophatic) vs. the Western style of positive statements (cataphatic). This same concept is reflected in the link which was part of my post for Whitsunday/Pentecost, June 8, A.D. 2025.

Here is an example of an apophatic prayer from the Eastern Church tradition which I have modified by substituting more commonly-understood terms from the Western Church. The proper word for somethings that is too complex to be rendered in plain language is “ineffable.” Here is have substituted: “whose love for men is above words.” The prayer is the Fourth Prayer in the Third Hour (9 AM) Office in Hear Us, O Lord: Daily Prayers for the Laity, a volume available through my Amazon Author Central page, with a summary found on the AIC Bookstore page. The original version is popular in both the Armenian and Russian Orthodox traditions. The prayer is found in Part Three of the book. Part One includes prayers of Praise and Thanksgiving; Penitence; Righteousness; Songs of Praise; and Other Prayers. Part Two is Little Prayers: Catanae on the Psalms.

O LORD, our God, whose power is unspeakable,
Whose glory is beyond imagining, Whose mercy
is measureless; Whose love for men is above words,
look down upon us, O Master, and bestow upon all
here present the riches of thy goodness and mercy,
for to thee belong all glory, honor and worship.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Another prayer which observes the apophatic tradition is not from an Eastern Church saint but was composed by the Blessed Alcuin of York, spiritual advisor to Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor in the West since the Vandals sacked from in the 3rd Qtr., 5th C. Charlemagne was coronated at Rome on Christmas Day, 800 A.D. I adapted this version from a recent history of Alcuin published in England. Alcuin is best known in the Anglican worship tradition for his Collect for Peace which is found in the opening prayer in the Holy Communion liturgy in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Alcuin’s collect reflects the ancient Hebrew understanding of God as the all-knowing, all-seeing Almighty.

O ETERNAL L:ight, shine into our hearts:
O ETERNAL Goodness, deliver us from evil;
O ETERNAL Power, be our support;
O ETERNAL Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance;
O ETERNAL Pity, have mercy on us;
That with all our hearts and minds and souls and strength
we may seek thy face and be brought by thine infinite mercy
to thy holy presence. Amen.

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

Whitsunday/Pentecost

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Welcome to this first entry in a new series of posts on topical themes. These themes may be focused on timely events of the week or upon details and further exposition on the Collect, Epistle or Gospel reading for any particular Sunday or on any topics that seems relevant, especially those which, in my view, are not receiving sufficient attention in the media.

For this first posting, I offer a selection of prayers from the Third Hour (9:00 A.M.) office in Part Three in the AIC Bookstore Publication, Hear Us, O Lord: Daily Prayers for the Laity. This 3-part volume is available in paperback through my Amazon Author Central page, with a summary on the AIC Bookstore page. Part One, Awesome Prayers to Our Awesome God, includes prayers on the themes of Praise & Thanksgiving; Protection & Deliverance; Penitence; Righteousness; Songs of Praise; and Other Prayers. Part Two includes a selection catnap, or short prayers, based upon Psalm verses.

Great is the day of Sunday;
And blessed is he who keeps it in faith;
Because on it Our Lord rose from the grave;
And the nations confessed the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.
Halleluia! Halleluia! Halleluia!
Source: Syrian Antiochian Orthodox Church

Creator of the morning, who drove out the darkness and brings light and joy to thy creation; create in us habits of virtue and drive from us all darkness of sin; give us light and joy by the glorious rays of thy grace, O Lord our God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Source: Syrian Jacobite prayer, 5th C. or earlier.

For this first posting I offer a link to an interesting article posted on May 26th in The Catholic Herald. I hope that the article gives us evidence on why the new Roman Catholic Pope whose the name, Leo XIV. In a later post I will explain and discuss the concepts of apophatic and cataphatic prayers which are implied in the article linked below.

https://thecatholicherald.com/for-monday-why-pope-leo-xivs-gentle-criticism-of-contemporary-western-liturgy-is-a-vital-wakeup-call/

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

Sunday after Ascension

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Anglican worship for the Sunday after Ascension marks the close of the prayer cycle focused on historical events, beginning with First Sunday in Advent and including the seasons of Advent, Christmas/Nativity of Our Lod, Epiphany, and Eastertide/Ascension. Next Sunday, Whitsunday/Pentecost, marks the start of what the AIC refers to as the “Teaching Season.” During this second half of the year, the collects and readings are focused on elements of doctrine rather than events.

For Sunday after Ascension, instead of another prayer adapted from one of three primary sources in the Western Church tradition, that is, the Leonine, Gregorian or Gelasian sacramentaries, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer turned to the traditions of the English Church. His Collect for Sunday after Ascension was adapted from a song which was sung for The Venerable Bede during Bede’s final illness in 735 A.D. In the English Church, the words of the song had been incorporated into a prayer in the Vespers office, usually celebrated around 5 P.M. or local sunset. The words of the Collect, very much like the Gospel reading from John 16 for Fourth Sunday after Easter, were intended to prepare worshippers for the transition from the celebration of Christ’s Ascension, celebrated on Ascension Day, the Thursday following Fifth Sunday after Easter, into the recognition of the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost/Whitsunday. In the King James Version and the Book of Common Prayer, the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, is referred to as “Comforter.” In the New King James Version He is called the “Helper.” Bede is also venerated in the Roman Catholic tradition, although he was not canonized by the Roman Church until the reign of Pope Leo XIII in 1899 A.D. The Venerable Bede was the author of the earliest history of the Church in England, Ecclesiastical History of England, covering the period up to 731 A.D., the year the book was published. An online version is available through CCEL.org.

The Ascension, the left panel of a triptych in tempera on wood, Andrea Mantegna, 1463-1464 A.D., Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. Image from The Yorck Project: 10,000 Masterworks. Public Domain.

O GOD, the King of glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph
into thy kingdom in heaven; We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost
to comfort us, and exalt us into the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before,
who liveth and reigneth with thee and same Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle reading, 1 Peter 4:7-11, begins with St. Peter’s advice concerning preparation for final judgment (verse 7), goes on to extol the Christian virtue of love (Verse 8, translated as “charity” in the King James Version and the Book of Common Prayer) and acknowledges that virtues come to mankind as a sovereign gift from God. The final verse (verse 11) includes words which have been incorporated into many Christian liturgies and prayers, here printed in the Prayer Book translation:

If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God;
If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth:
that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ,
to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

The Gospel reading, John 15:26 to John 16:4a, the fifth of five selections from the Gospel of John in the Sundays after Easter and Sunday after Ascension, includes a warning about the earthly dangers for followers of Jesus Christ, not only for those immediately within His hearing but also for those who would follow Him in the generations to come. Perhaps that is why the reading is presented in the Book of Common Prayer out of chronological order, with reference in verse 26 to an event already celebrated on Ascension Day.

But these things I have told you, that when the time comes,
you may remember that I told you of them.

The Ascension, illumination in tempera and gold on parchment, Rabbula Gospels, produced in the region of present-day Syria, then known as Mesopotamia, at the monastery of St. John of Zagba, 586 A.D. Codex Pluteus 1, 56, Folio 13v, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenzina, Florence, Italy. The document has been in Florence since the 16th C. The volume also includes the oldest surviving image of the Crucifixion. This version is from The Yorck Project: 10,000 Masterworks, published on a DVD and released into the Public Domain in 2002 A.D.

The actual descent of the Holy Spirit is celebrated annually on the Church Calendar on Whitsunday/Pentecost. The descent is described vividly by St. Luke in Acts 2:1-11, which is the Epistle reading for Whitsunday. The illustration displayed above the Collect for the Day represents the Western style of literalist interpretation of Christ’s Ascension. The illustration above this paragraph represents a more spiritual style. Both illustrations and twelve others were used in our publication, Easter: The Resurection of Our Lord in Scripture, Art & Christian Tradition, available through my Amazon Author Central page, with details of the volume found on the AIC Bookstore page. The Collect, Epistle and Gospel readings for Sunday after Ascension are discussed and illustrated in Episode Three in the AIC Christian Education Video series, Eastertide: From Resurrection to Ascension, linked from the Digital Library page and, in MP3 audio format, from the Podcast Archive page.

Next week I plan to begin a new series of topical Blog postings. Readers are reminded that Blog entries for the other Sundays on the Church Calendar are linked from the Fr. Ron’s Blog tab for the years from 2023 through 2025. The page includes links to all posts going back to the opening of this site in August 2014. The Blog includes topical links following the actual blog entries.

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

Fifth Sunday after Easter

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For Fifth Sunday after Easter, also known as Rogation Sunday, Archbishop Cranmer again turned to the Gelasian Sacramentary as the source for the Collect for the Day. The first line in the Collect is a paraphrase of James 1:17, which was part of the Epistle reading for Fourth Sunday after Easter. The Christian tradition of praying for bountiful harvests is traced to practices endorsed by Pope Leo the Great in the late 5th C. Rogation comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning to ask. In the English Church the first Rogation liturgy was used in the late 12th-early 13th C. in the Sarum Rite. Sarum is modern Salisbury in Wiltshire in southwest England.

O LORD, from whom all good things do come;
Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration
we may think those things that are good, and by thy
merciful guidance, may perform the same, through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle reading, James 1:22-27, another example of Christian “wisdom” writings during the Sundays after Easter, opens with the famous advice to Christians to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only and ends with other sage advice, to “keep oneself unspotted from the world.”

Christ Pantokrator, apse mosaic, Cathedral of Cefalu, Sicily, 11th C. with inscriptions in Greek and Latin. Christ offers a blessing with his right hand and hold the Gospel of John, open to the “I Am the Light of the world” (John 8:12) in his left hand. © Can Stock Photo, Inc./VLADJ55

The Gospel reading, John 16:23-33, is the third and last reading from the unique Gospel of John in Eastertide. Like the earlier readings for the Sundays after Easter, the words were spoken by Jesus after the Last Supper on the evening of Maundy Thursday. In verse 26, Jesus grants to the faithful the right to pray to the Father in HIs name and acknowledges that He came forth from the Father. Jesus closes with words that are both a forewarning and a comfort: “In Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (NKJV text). These readings along with the readings for Fourth Sunday after Easter, Ascension Day and Sunday after Ascension are discussed and illustrated in Episode Three in our video series, Eastertide: From Resurrection to Ascension, linked from the Bible Study: New Testament page. The audio version in MP3 format is linked from the Podcast Archive page. The readings from John 16, although unique to the Gospel of John, are not easily illustrated and therefore were not commonly represented in Christian art across the centuries. Instead, for this fifth and final of the numbered Sundays after Easter, I have used another Christ Pantokrator image, an Apse mosaic at the Cathedral at Cefalu on the northern coast of Sicily east of Palermo, created under commission from Roger II, the Norman king of Sicily. These Byzantine-style mosaics in the Cathedral were commissioned in the 11th C. but were not completed until the 13th C., with the Christ Pantokrator image completed around 1150 A.D. Under the Christ Pantokrator image is the Blessed Virgin Mary flanked by the Archangels Gabriel (left) and Michael (right). In a wider view of the area under the Apse mosaic, the Archangels Raphael and Uriel are shown.

During the Sundays after Easter there have been a number of new subscribers to these blog postings. I thank each of you, as well as earlier subscribers, and invite other viewers to “follow” this blog by clicking the “Follow Fr. Ron’s Blog” and the WordPress logo. You will receive an email from WordPress for each future posting. Next Sunday, Sunday after Ascension, will be the last in this series of postings based upon the Collect and appointed readings. All the other Sundays on the Church Calendar already have appropriate postings during the last two years. My focus in Fr. Ron’s Blog will shift to theme-based commentaries, some based on appointed readings, others based on interesting topics currently under-represented in earlier posts, and anything else that I believer would help site visitors better understand the Anglican worship tradition and Christian art over the centuries.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.

Fourth Sunday after Easter

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For Fourth Sunday after Easter Archbishop Cranmer adapted another prayer from the Gelasian Sacramentary, one of the three most important prayers sources in the Roman Catholic tradition. The Collect affirms the sovereignty of God and His only-begotten Son over all things, including the wide range of human emotions.

ALMIGHTY God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men;
Grant unto thy people, that they may love the thing which thou commandest, and
desire that which thou dost promise, that so, among the sundry and manifold changes
of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

James the Just, tempera and gold on panel Russian Orthodox icon in the Novgorod style, 1560 A.D. James holds a book, representing his epistle, in his left hand. Public Domain.

The Epistle reading, James 1:17-21, is one of foremost examples of New Testament “wisdom.” It illustrates concepts found in the “wisdom” books of the Septuagint Old Testament, which include the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon (also known as the Song of Songs). The selection is the first of two consecutive readings from the Book of James during Easter season, the other being the reading for Fifth Sunday after Easter. The author, traditionally said to have been the first “Bishop” of Jerusalem, includes themes from the Collect. St. James affirms the importance of the virtue of self-control: “…let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” (verses 19 and 20a). The great early Church Bishop, first of Antioch, then of Constantinople, John Chrysostom often used his homilies to counsel his listeners on the concept of the tongue as a weapon and the obligation of all men to “give it a rest,” especially during penitential seasons on the Church Calendar. A modern reproduction of the icon shown above is available online from the web site www.iconsofsaints.com. James is commonly called Brother of the Lord, based on the tradition that Joseph of Nazareth was his father from a marriage prior to his marriage to the Blessed Virgin Mary. James is traditionally thought to have been a “healer.”

The Gospel reading, John 16:5-11, is the fifth of six readings from the Gospel of John for the Sundays from Easter Day through Fifth Sunday after Easter. The account is unique to the Gospel of John and offers a link between the events of Easter Day and the coming of the Holy Spirit, or “Comforter” and “Spirit of truth” (King James Version) and “Helper”(New King James Version). Details of the Descent of the Holy Spirit is dramatically and uniquely told by St. Luke in Acts 2:1-4. The words of Jesus Christ in John 16 were spoken to the Apostles on the evening of Maundy Thursday after the Last Supper. Jesus offers words of comfort to His followers concerning His departure from them and the benefits to themselves of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus offered them assurance that the Spirit “will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will shew you things to come” (verse 13). The Descent of the Holy Spirit is described and illustrated in the AIC Bookstore Publication, The Acts of the Apostles: Annotated & Illustrated, available through my Amazon Author Central page, with details found on the AIC Bookstore page. The volume includes 77 illustrations and seven “special text” pages. In historic Christian art, at least in the surviving examples, The Acts of the Apostles was very rarely illustrated and even then included only one or two examples, usually of the scene in Acts 2:1-4. The volume also includes an 1888 map of the Mediterranean Sea with annotation concerning the origin of those present for the event and five examples of historic illustrations for Acts from circa 1100 A.D. to the late 19th C.

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

Sixth Sunday in Lent (Palm Sunday)

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The Sixth Sunday in Lent, the final Sunday in the season, is commonly known as Palm Sunday but officially is labelled as “the Sunday next Before Easter” in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. For the occasion, for the 1549 Book of Common Prayer, Archbishop Cranmer once again relied upon a prayer from the Gregorian Sacramentary. As notes in earlier posts, the Gregorian Sacramentary is one of the three primary sources in the Roman Catholic tradition.

The celebration of Palm Sunday began in the Western Church after the election of Constantine as Holy Roman Emperor, and his conversion to Christianity, in the early 4th C., the subsequent relocation of the center of gravity for the Church to Constantinople, and later still, the many good works of his mother, Helen. Her actions helped revive and expand the knowledge of Christianity’s history, but she also built many churches and basilicas in the Holy Land. It was her leadership that led to the beginning pilgrimage to the Holy Land as a Christian obligation, especially for those with the means to do so. Although known as Palm Sunday, it should be noted that New Testament Scriptural accounts of the Entry into Jerusalem refer to “tree branches” and to garments being thrown in Jesus’ path. The use of palms is of later origin and is based upon an Old Testament practice of palm usage in celebrations, especially those celebrating military victories. In regions where palm branches are not available other local flowers and branches of trees are used, such as willows, olive and yew trees. The final phrase in the Collect for Palm Sunday was written by Archbishop Cranmer.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love toward mankind,
hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh,
and to suffer death upon the Cross, that all mankind should follow the example of His great humility;
Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of His patience, and also be made partakers of His Resurrection;
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The epistle reading, Philippians 2:5-11, is another of Pauline authorship and is the Scriptural source for the many Christian doctrines and of the tradition of bowing and making the sign of the Cross when approaching the altar: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (verses 9-11).

The Crucifixion of Christ, illumination in tempera and gold on parchment, Rabula Gospels, the oldest surviving image of the Crucifixion, produced in present-day Syria in 586 A.D., from the collection of the Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Florence, Italy. The image is the upper of two scenes. This version is from The Yorck Project: 10,000 Masterworks. Public Domain.

The Gospel reading, Matthew 27:1-54, is the fourth, the last, and by far the longest reading, from the Gospel of Matthew in Lent. In the Anglican tradition, unlike in most other denominations, the reading is not the Scriptural/historical account of the Entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-13, which is read on the First Sunday in Advent). It is instead the Evangelist’s long form account of the trial, sentencing, Crucifixion and death of Christ upon the Cross. As noted by Massey Sheperd in his Commentary on the Book of Common Prayer, it is the first of the New Testament accounts of the Passion of our Lord which area printed in the BCP for the days between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. The central section of the image above is Illustration No. 82 in The Gospel of John: Annotated & Illustrated, available through my Amazon Author Central page. Many other versions of the Crucifixion, including illuminations, icons, mosaics and frescoes, are included in the publications in the same series covering the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, likewise available through my Amazon Author Central page. Summary information about all four volume, including pagination, price and content is found on the AIC Bookstore page.

These readings and the Collect are discussed and illustrated in Episode Three in our Christian Education Video series, Lent: the Season of Penitence, which is linked from the Digital Library page. The episode also includes discussion of the important part St. Helen played in the discovery of plaque upon the cross (THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS) and remnants of the Cross in the early 4th C. and the start of pilgrimages from the Western into the Holy Land. My podcast homily for Palm Sunday is linked from the Podcast Homilies page.

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

Fifth Sunday in Lent (Passion Sunday)

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For the Fifth Sunday in Lent, commonly known as Passion Sunday, the Collect is the fourth of five in Lent which Archbishop Cranmer adapted from the Gregorian Sacramentary, one of the three major collections of prayers in the Roman Catholic tradition. It is another in which God is given the title Almighty God. Passion Sunday marks a change in tone from the penitential focus of the season toward preparation for the Church’s celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

WE beseech thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon thy people;
that by thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore in body and soul;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Not Made with Hands, tempera and gold on panel icon in the Russian Orthodox tradition. Public Domain.

The Epistle lesson, Hebrews 9:11-15 is the only quotation in Lent from Hebrews, traditionally credited to the Apostle Paul. In the reading, Jesus is called “High priest of good things to come,” in verse 11, an allusion to the mysterious Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18, “King of Salem” and Psalm 110:4) and “Mediator of the new covenant” in verse 15. In the Anglican worship tradition Jesus is “our only Mediator and advocate” in the prayer for the whole state of Christ’s Church in Communion liturgy in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. The author of Hebrews adds another title for Christ in verse 11: “more perfect tabernacle not made with hands.” The illustration is a “Not Made with Hands” icon of Christ that became popular in the early Church in Syria around the 4th C. or 5th C. and continued in the Russian Orthodox worship tradition.

The Gospel lesson, John 8:46-49, is the second and last from the Gospel of John in Lent. It includes one of the best-known examples of the several “I Am” declarations which are unique to the Gospel of John: “Before Abraham was, I Am” (John 8:58), based on the Greek ego emi (Strong’s Greek words #1473 and #1510). The I AM declaration is the climax of a conflict between Jesus and a group of Temple leaders on the meaning of the word “Father.” The incident, as well as the Collect and Epistle reading is discussed in Episode Three in our video series, Lent: A Season of Penitence. All the “I AM” sayings are discussed in Episode Twenty-nine to Episode Thirty-five in our video series, The New Testament: Gospels. Episodes of both series are linked from the Digital Library page. The text box, “I Am in the Gospel of John” is printed on page 83 in The Gospel of John: Annotated & Illustrated, available through my Amazon Author Central page. A summary of the volume is included on the AIC Bookstore page. In the box is a quotation from the writings of the Venerable Bede equating the “I AM” in verse 58 with the words God spoke to Moses in Genesis 3:14.

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