Tenth Sunday after Trinity, A.D. 2024

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This week’s Collect and the Epistle reading offer excellent opportunities for understanding doctrines of the Christian Faith. The Gospel reading provides opportunity for increasing onw’s knowledge of historical events described in the Gospel of Luke. I am going to depart somewhat from the usual format by offering interpretation of both the Collect and the Epistle by Anglican clergyman and scholar Massey Shepherd, from his Commentary on the 1928 Book of Common Prayer published in 1950.

The Collect was adapted by Archbishop Cranmer from the Gelasian Sacramentary:

Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servants; and, that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Shepherd offers the following helpful interpretation, in comparing it to another earlier Collect from the Leonine Sacramentary:

“It says in a somewhat different way [than the Leonine Collect], that God answers our prayers when we ask of Him according to His will. Put in other words, when our wills are conformed to His will, our prayers and petitions are acceptable to Him.”

The Epistle reading, 1st Corinthians 12:1-11, is St. Paul’s detailed lesson on the meaning of “spiritual gifts,” which he offered to help the formerly-pagan Corinthians understand the different between things which happen according to the true will of the Holy Spirit, one of the three divine persons of the Holy Trinity we celebrate during Trinitytide and the often impulsive and self-serving passions of the gods of the pagan era. Much of Paul’s correspondence with the congregation he founded at Corinth in similarly involved in corrections of incorrect pagan thinking and interpretation of events.

The Gospel reading, Luke 19:41-47a, as noted earlier the seventh reading during the period beginning on Whitsunday, includes two parts, The first is Jesus’ prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem, also commonly known as Jesus weeping over the fate of Jerusalem. It differs from the earlier reference in Luke 13:34, which describes events which had already happened. The second is part is Luke’s short account of Jesus driving out the money-changers from the Temple, including the famous line, “My house is the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” (KJV text; see also Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17). Jesus’ account accurately describes the method of the systematic destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D. The prophecy was vividly illustrated in the Gospels of Otto III, produced at Reichenau, Germany, around 998 A.D. The image was used as Illustration No. 93 in the AIC Bookstore Publication, The Gospel of Luke: Annotated & Illustrated. The book is available through my Amazon Author Central page, with more information on the AIC Bookstore page. The Gospels of Otto III also includes a image of the driving out of the money-changers. The Gospel reading was discussed in Episode Five in our Bible Study video series on the Gospel of Luke, linked from the Digital Library page. The homily for the occasion is linked from the Podcast Homilies page.

Christ Weeps Over Jerusalem, illumination in tempera and gold on parchment, produced at Reichenau Monastery, Reichenau, Germany, circa 998. Clm 4453, Image 80, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich, Germany. CC by NC-SA 4.0.

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

Seventh Sunday after Trinity

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Unlike the Epistle and Gospel reading for Sixth Sunday after Trinity, the Gospel reading for Seventh Sunday after Trinity (Mark 8:1-9) was a favorite subject for Christian artists, clergy, theologians and illustrators. The reading is Mark’s account of the second miraculous feeding of a multitude, commonly known as the Feeding of the 4,000. The location was somewhere along the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis (Ten Cities in Greek) that is southeast of Bethsaida (near where the Jordan River flows into the Sea of Galilee) and north of the region of Gergasa (the setting of the encounter with the Gadarene Demonic which Mark described in Mark 5:1-20). In the verses just before this week’s reading, Mark records Jesus healing the deaf man with a speech impediment (Mark 7:31-37, the famous incident in which Jesus put his fingers in the man’s ears, spat and touched the man’s tongue) and, in the verses just afterward, he records an encounter with disbelieving Pharisees demanding a “sign from heaven.” In that account Jesus scolds the Pharisees for their obsession with signs and wonders and denial of His divine origin and identity.

Mark’s account is the second and final reading from his Gospel during Trinitytide. The third and final example does not occur until the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (Mark 7:31-37, mentioned above). Mark’s account gives readers no names of the Disciples he quotes in verses 4 and 5 and describes a compassionate Jesus concerned for the many who had been following him for three days and who had “nothing to eat.” (verse 2). The account includes three examples of Hebrew and early Christian numerology: 3 (# of days following Jesus in verse 2), 4 (# of men present in thousands in verse 9) and 7 (# of loaves of bread, # of large baskets holding the remaining bread in verses 6 & 8). The illustration is from the Codex Egberti, the first illustrated Gospel to contain scenes in the Life of Christ. Trier is located on the banks of the Moselle River in the Rhineland-Palatine state of Germany near its western border with the tiny state of Luxembourg. It is near the heart of the empire of Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, who was crowned at Rome on Christmas Day, 800 A.D. (more in the blog postings about Alcuin and Charlemagne, posted on March 16th, and Fourth Sunday after Trinity). The example is small because the AIC does not have it in high enough resolution for a full page view.

Feeding the Multitude, illumination in tempera and gold on parchment, Codex Egberti, circa 967-984, produced for Egbert, Archbishop of Trier, Trier, Germany. Codex 24, Wissenschaftliche Bibliothek der Stadt Trier, Trier, Germany. Public domain.

Early Christians, especially those in the Byzantine tradition, interpreted the disciples’ skeptical question in verse 4 (“How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?”) as a reference to a messianic prophecy and its fulfillment in Psalm 78: 20b and 21b: “Shall God prepare a table in the wilderness?” and “can he give bread also? The answers were given in Psalm 79:24 and 25: “…he commanded the clouds above * and opened the doors of heaven. He rained down manna also upon them for to eat, * and gave them food from heaven.”

Last week I shared with you my personal favorite image of Paul. Since again this week, the Epistle reading is from the writings of Paul, I offer a different portrait of the “Apostle to the Gentiles,” In this oil on panel painted by a Dutch artist, we see an image of Paul that is softer, both in color and tone, and, perhaps, suggestive of a more thoughtful, contemplative Paul than last week’s rather fierce image by Bartholomeo Mantagna.

St. Paul, oil on panel, Lucas van Leyden, circa 1520, Yale University Gallery of Art, New Haven, CT. Public domain.

For more about St. Paul and St. Mark, watch the AIC Christian Education Video series, The Lives of the Saints, First Series, episodes 5 & 7 respectively. both linked from the Digital Library page. The readings are discussed in the Podcast Homily for Seventh Sunday after Trinity, linked from the Podcast Homilies page, and in Episode 4 in the video series Trinitytide: the Teaching Season, linked from the Digital Library page. You can find many more illustrations of St. Mark in our publication, The Gospel of Mark: In Scripture, Art & Christian Tradition, available through my Amazon Author Central page.

As always, thank you for your interest and support for this site, which has been bringing traditional interpretations and understandings to the web sincc our first live Internet broadcast of Sunday morning Holy Communion in the summer of A.D. 2010. We get offers from many vendors for a different format, but this current one, focused on our WATCH-LISTEN-READ formula still manages to find an audience.

Glory be to God for all things! Amen!


Trinity-the Anglican Church’s Teaching Season

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Sunday, May 26th, A.D. 2024, is Trinity Sunday, marking the start of the longest season on the Anglican Church Calendar. I explain how many or how few Sundays after Trinity there can be, dependent upon the date of Easter and the date of First Sunday in Advent, in Episode One of the AIC Christian Education Video Series, Trinitytide: The Teaching Season. In the series, I also discuss the Gospel and Epistle readings for all the Trinity Sundays. There is also an MP3 Podcast version for those who prefer to listen rather than watch. These are linked, respectively, from the Digital Library and Podcast Archive pages. For non-Anglicans Protestants, Whitsunday and Trinity season are combined into a single season based on the date of Pentecost. For example: First Sunday after Trinity is Second Second “in” or “after” Pentecost.

Obviously, the basis for these “Teachings” is found in the Gospels, the Epistles, the “For the Epistle” readings from the Old Testament, and the Church’s two Creeds, the Nicene and Apostles creeds. For Trinity Sunday I offer viewers two exceptional “illuminations.” The first is Christ in Majesty (or Maiestas Domini in Latin), from the Vivian Bible (also called the First Bible of Charles the Bald), produced by Haregarius of Tours (or Aregarius, depending upon language preferences). The name Vivian honors Vivian, the Lay Abbot of St. Martin of Tours, who commissioned the work in 845. It was prepared beginning in 845. The volume, a large book measuring 13.59″ x 19.49,” was presented to the 22-year old monarch, Charles the Bald, grandson of Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne (Charles the Great). Other sources says 844-851, which seems more likely, given the complexity and detail of the images. The Scriptorium at St. Martin of Tours was previously under the supervision of the Blessed Alcuin of York, who created the Carolingian miniscule script used in the books produced at St. Martin of Tours. The original is at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris, France (BNF Ms. Lat.1, Folio 239v). This version is from the Yorck Project: 10,000 Masterworks (2002). In the Eastern Church tradition, the same image is commonly called Christ Pantokrator, The four evangelists are pictured, each holding a Gospel books, in the outside corners, with their traditional symbols placed inside the central diamond which surrounds the modified mandorla within which Christ is enthroned. I have found no definite explanation of the four Old Testament figures in the North, East, South and West circles. The figure at the south end is making the traditional sign of a blessing with his right hand.

Christ in Majesty, surrounded by the four Evangelists, Vivian Bible (or First Bible of Charles the Bald), 2nd Qtr., 9th C., Abbey of St. Martin of Tours, Ms. Lat.1, f. 239v, Bibliotheque National de France, Paris, France. Public Domain.
The Four Evangelists, Aachen Gospels or Vienna Coronation Gospels, circa 820, Aachen Cathedral Treasury, Aachen Cathedral, Aachen, Germany. Image: Yorck Project: 10,000 Masterworks (2002). Public Domain.

The second image was also produced during the Carolingian period, around 820 A.D. Here the focus is on the four evangelists and the message they delivered in their respective Gospels. The image is ususual in that the four men are depicted in an outdoor setting with a skyline at the top. Wearing saintly white robes and white halos (versus the golden halo typically used in images of Jesus Christ), they are facing away from each other, with each in a separate section, suggesting different rooms in a house or perhaps different locations altogether. Each is engaged in a different act. At upper left, is Matthew, whose symbol, a Man or Angel, is above him, as he writes. At upper right, Mark, and his symbol, a Lion, is putting the nib of his pen into an inkwell, as if preparing to put his thoughts on paper. At lower right, Luke, whose symbol is a Ox and whose work is based on several years of research among those who could offer firsthand evidence, likely including the Blessed Virgin Many, is reading a document or manuscript. Finally, at lower left, John, with the symbol, an Eagle, is said to be meditating on the words he has already put on paper.

The cover of the Aachen Gospels is thought to have been made by goldsmiths at Fulda, Germany, another major site for the production of illuminated works, both during the lifetime of Charlemagne and his later successors, the Ottonians. The finished book, with 280 parchment pages (or leaves), measures only 9.5″ x 11.9.”

This full page image of the Four Evangelists is placed immediately after 12 pages of canon tables (folios 8v to 14r),which follow a prelude by Jerome and other material.

In coming weeks, I will post material related to individual readings for the Sundays after Trinity.

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

Fourth Sunday after Easter & the Palatine Chapel at Aachen

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This week’s focus shifts from Byzantine mosaics to the Palatine Chapel at Aachen, Germany, built in the late 700s and early 800s by the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne (Carolus Magnus, or Charles the Great). The first Holy Roman Emperor since sack of Rome in 455 A.D., Charlemagne sought to extend the reach of Christianity into the lands which formerly lived in fear of attacks by Vikings. By the end of his reign at his death in 814 A.D., his empire extended from the English Channel, the North Sea, nearly all of Spain, more than half of Italy, and southeast into what is now Austria and beyond.

The Palace was designed by Odo of Metz, the same Armenian designer whose work in France was illustrated earlier in this series. The Palace was consecrated by Pope Leo III in 805 A.D. The mosaic is Illustration No. 36 in our publication, Angels: In Scripture, Art & Christian Tradition. The influence of Byzantine styles from the age of Constantine and Justinian is clear. Damage to the structure during bombing in World War II was repaired between 1986 and 2011. The building was used for coronations for several centuries after the death of Charlemagne.

The Four Angels, the Holy Spirit and the Throne of God. Photo by Horst J. Meutler, Wikipedia Commons.

In this crazy time in the decline of Western Civilization and attacks upon Christianity around the world, it seems appropriate to close with these words from the Te Deum Laudamus canticle, presented in verse-and-response format as used in First Hour in our publication, Hear Us, O Lord: Daily Prayers for the Laity:

O Lord, save thy people, and bless thine heritage
Govern them and lift them up forever
Day by day we magnify thee
And we worship thy Name ever, world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy be upon us, as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded.

Thank you for your interest in these splendid examples of Christian art across the centures.

Glory be to God for all things! Amen!