Third Sunday in Lent

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Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s choice for the Collect for Third Sunday in Lent is the second five Collects in Lent which he sourced from the Gregorian Sacramentary, one of the three primary sacramentaries in the Roman Catholic tradition. Its most memorable phrase, “the right hand of Thy majesty,” is based on the Hebrew understanding of the “right hand” of God being the most honored position. The understanding was incorporated into Christian theology at the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. In the Nicene Creed, written at that First Ecumenical Council and amended at the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. (Second Ecumenical Council, Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the the Father. There is much more information about the Creeds of the Church in our eight-episode video series, The Nicene Creed, linked from the Digital Library page.

WE beseech thee, Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of thy humble servants,
and stretch forth the right hand of thy Majesty, to be our defense against all our enemies;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Epistle reading, Ephesians 5:1-14, continues past practice in Lent with another Pauline epistle focused on the concept of guidance for leading a Christian life, later known as the Christian Virtues. These virtues were fully developed by in the 6th through 8th C. in the Western Church. In this reading, the subject is the need for the mastery of passions, here meaning both physical and emotional. These include sexual impropriety and covetousness (verses 3 & 5); intemperate language (verse 4); and idolatry (verse 5). Other themes in the reading include “light” vs. “darkness,” with Christ as the symbol of light who countered the “darkness” of the world before His coming as Saviour. In verse 14, based on Isaiah 60:1, the Evangelist to the Gentiles calls out: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” The phrase was immortalized into a hymn, Sleepers Awake!, written in 1599 A.D. by German composer, Philipp Nicolai, and later a cantata of the same name by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach’s cantata was sung for the first time at Leipzig in 1731 for the Twenty-seventh Sunday after Trinity.

Christ Healing the Mute Man, opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, James Tissot, 1886-1894, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY. Image based upon the less-detailed account in Matthew 12:22-24. Public Domain.

The Gospel reading, Luke 11:14-28, is the first and only reading from St. Luke’s Gospel in Lent. For whatever reason, probably its complexity of its imagery, this encounter was not often illustrated in mosaics, frescoes or icons in the first millennium of Christianity. Numerous commercial examples were produced in the 20th and 21st C. As noted above, the reading is complex. I have divided it into four parts. The first (verse 14) is St. Luke’s brief record of Jesus driving out a demon, or evil spirit, from a mute man and the result: an immediate healing. The event is pictured above as interpreted by French artist James Tissot based on St. Matthew’s account (Matthew 12:22-24). In part two (verse 15) St. Luke records the criticism of Jesus by Temple authorities that He has used “demonic” powers in the manner of Beelzebub. The name roughly means “Lord of the Flies” in Hebrew. In part three (verses 17-26), Jesus offers a demonstration of His divinity: proving that He knew their thoughts (verse 17a) and offers a short sermon on spiritual warfare (verses 17b-26), referring to the possible return of demons that are driven out. Here Jesus uses the Hebrew magical number 7, referring to their return with seven other, even more powerful, spirits. In the final section, part four (verses 27-28), St. Luke offers an account of a woman from the crowd of observers, quoting her beatitude concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You” (NKJV text). Jesus replied: “Rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, a keep it” (NKJV text). Eastern Church scholars contend that Jesus is here stating a principle and is not commenting upon the relative worthiness of His mother. For an approximately 15 minute discussion of the important Greek words which appear in this dialogue, listen to my Podcast Homily for Third Sunday in Lent, which is linked from the Podcast Homilies page. One of these important words is “menounge” (Strong’s Greek word # 3304 in verse 28), which the King James Version translates as “rather” and the New King James Version renders as “more than that.” In The Gospel of Luke: Annotated & Illustrated I noted that Jesus made a similar declaration to the Pharisees in John 8:47. Like all our AIC Bookstore Publications, the book is available through my Amazon Author Central page. A summary of the volume is found on the AIC Bookstore page.

F.Y.I: The previously-promised soundtracks for the two new episodes in our video series, The War on Christianity, have not been recorded. Tax-filing preparation, getting my garden ready for Spring, and many other items competing for time have gotten in the way. The new target date is early April. Apologies for the delay.

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

Quinquagesima Sunday

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Last week I let readers know of the on-going work on new episodes in The War on Christianity, a video series that began in A.D. 2020 as part of what became a continuing celebration of the AIC’s tenth year on the Web. In Episode One of the series I offered a glimpse of news coverage of attacks upon Christianity in the United States and Europe. In Episode Two and Episode Three I offered “A Summary History of the Church from the Day of Pentecost until Now.” The subject of Episodes Four and Five included three case studies of the decline of Christianity in three parts of the world where it had once been dominant: the Holy Land, North Africa and Asia Minor. Which brings us to the episodes-in-progress: Episode Six and Episode Seven. I have now completed and uploaded to iMovie all the slides for both episodes under the heading “The First Line of Defense: the Te Deum Laudamus.” My plan is to record the voice track in the next two weeks, with the objective of uploading completed episodes in mid-to-late March. Episodes Eight and Nine will continue the focus on the “First Line of Defense” theme with discussion and illustration of the Creeds of the Church. Links to Episode One through Episode Five are found on the Digital Library page.

The name of the last of the three Sundays in the season, Quinquasesima Sunday, always celebrated on the seventh Sunday before Easter, is derived from a Latin word meaning “fifty.” It is actually forty-nine days before Easter and not fifty; I discuss the reasons for the disparity in Episode One of our video series, Gesima: the Pre-Lenten Season. In England, Quinquagesima Sunday is also known as Shrove Sunday, presumably because it is the last Sunday before Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. For the Collect, composed by Archbishop Cranmer for the 1549 Book of Common Prayer, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer did not adapt something from the historic prayers in the Roman Catholic tradition, as printed in the Leonine, Gregorian, and Gelasian models, but turned, as he did for other Sundays in the Church Year, to the Epistles of St. Paul. The source is 1 Corinthians 13:11, part of the Epistle reading for the day. The themes are grace, faith and love. In the King James Version a key word is “charity,” which is translated in the New King James Version and other modern translations as “love,” from the Greek agape (Strong’s Greek word # 26), which was translated in Jerome’s Vulgate Bible using the Latin, caritas.

O LORD, who hast taught us our doings without charity are nothing worth;
Send thy Holy Ghost and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity,
the very bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whomsoever liveth it counted dead before thee.
Grant this to thine only Son Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.

The Epistle reading, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, is one of the most-quoted lines among all the writings of the Apostle to the Gentiles. St. Paul’s lessons clearly states that agape/love/charity is superior to either the gift of prophecy or the hypothetical ability to move mountains. For more on all the Greek words which can be translated as “love,” See the Love/Loving entry in Layman’s Lexicon: a Handbook of Scriptural, Theological & Liturgical Terms, available through my Amazon Author Central page. Full information about the book can be found on the AIC Bookstore page.

The Gospel reading, Luke 18:31-43, has two parts. The first, verses 31b-33, includes Jesus’ prophecy of His own death and resurrection in three days. The second part is a record of the Healing of the Blind Man of Jericho. My Podcast Homily for Quinquagesima Sunday is linked from the Podcast Homilies page. The illustration is a page from our Bookstore Publication, The Gospel of Luke: Annotated & Illustrated, available through my Amazon Author Central page. A summary of the content of the book and pricing is found on the AIC Bookstore page.

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

Sexagesima Sunday

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Sexagesima Sunday is the second of three pre-Lent Sundays, which are now unique to the Anglican worship tradition. For more historical and other detail on the season watch Episode One in our video series. Gesima: the Pre-Lenten Season or listen to the audio Podcast version, which its linked from the Podcast Archive page. This week I offer site visitors two remarkable examples from our nearly 3000-item library of historic art.

The Collect for Sexagesima Sunday was adapted by Archbishop Cranmer from the Gregorian Sacramentary, which was also the source for the Collect for Septuagesima Sunday. It was used for the first time in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer and was read by Archbishop Cranmer himself on Whitsunday/Pentecost, June 9, A.D. 1549. The prayer book also may have been used earlier in the same year at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. Like the Epistle and Gospel reading for the day, the themes are the “mercies” of God and the Christian virtues. Sexagesima Sunday is actually 57 days before Easter and not the sixty which its name suggests. Readers should remember that the Greek word for God, Theos, (Strong’s Greek Word #2316) is often translated as The One Who Sees.

O LORD God, who sees that we put not our trust in any thing that we do;
Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all adversity;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Paul, unfinished icon in tempera and gold on wood panel, Andre Rublev, circa 1410-1420, made for the Deesis tier in a Russian church at Zvenigorod, 33 miles west of Moscow, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia. Wikipedia Commons/Public Domain.

The Epistle reading, 2nd Corinthians 11:13-21, St. Paul’s letter to the formerly pagan congregation he established at Corinth on his Second Missionary Journey accompanied by Silas. The verses are discussed and illustrated in Episode Two of our video series, Gesima: the Pre-Lenten Season, linked from the Digital Library page and in audio form from the Podcast Homilies page. In this epistle to congregation most resistant to his teachings, he mentions the Christian virtue of diligence and names forms of suffering he endured on his journey, including stoning, beatings, shipwreck, followed by a list of more general adversities, including hunger, thirst and robbery. The image of St. Paul was painted by one of the world’s most gifted icon painters. As the credit line suggests, the image is no longer mounted in the church for which it was being made, having become an “historic” object rather than a religious one. Even in its unfinished form it is an exceptional example of art put to use for Christian purposes. Frequent visitors to this site may have noticed that another image of this icon has a blue background, which was the result of studio lighting. This one is the real thing and will be used in all future AIC Publications and updates to existing books and videos.

The Sower, opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, James Tissot, 1886-1894, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY. Public Domain.

The Gospel reading, Luke 8:4-15, is the evangelist’s account of the Parable of the Sower. The watercolor above appears as Illustration No. 71 in our publication, The Gospel of Matthew: Annotated and Illustrated and Illustration 71 in The Gospel of Mark: Annotated and Illustrated. In the comparable volume on the Gospel of Luke I used an oil on canvas by Vincent Van Gogh. These books are available through my Amazon Author Central page. A summary of the book, including price and pagination, is found on the AIC Bookstore page. The image is from a collection of around 300 images in James Tissot’s Life of Christ series, the largest collection of which is now held at the Brooklyn Museum.

As noted in previous posts late last year, I am working on Episode Six and Episode Seven in our video series, The War on Christianity. I expect to finish the text and slides before the end of this weekend. Each of the 24 slides in Episode Six and 33 in Episode Seven is produced by clipping from a sheet with six slides each and some single image pages in Adobe Photoshop. Afterward, each slide must be inset into a video and the sound track recorded using Apple’s iMovie software. The completed episodes probably will not be ready for publication before the middle to the end of March. It will be linked from the Digital Library page and the voice track, converted into an MP3 file, linked from the Podcast Archive page. In other news, I’ve had.a request from an Anglican clergyman in northern Italy to use some material from this site. I have given permission with the condition that the material contains a link to this site.

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

Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity

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Apologies to followers of this site for absence from Fr. Ron’s Blog last week. My wife and I were travelling to visit our son and his family, an 8+ hours trip down and 8+ more on the way back. Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity is the final Sunday with a unique appointed Collect, Epistle and Gospel reading. Since this year there are more than twenty-four Sundays after Trinity it is not the last set of readings. The 1928 B.C.P. has provisions for transferring readings from the final Sundays after Epiphany in years when the calendar has fewer Sundays leading up to Easter. I discuss the complicated rules in Episode Nine in the AIC video series, Trinitytide: The Teaching Season. These will be discussed next week.

The Collect for Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity was adapted Archbishop Thomas Cranmer for the first Anglican Book of Common Prayer, published in 1549 A.D. in time for Whitsunday and Trinitytide. The collect was assembled from the collection of prayers for Morning and Evening prayers in the Leonine and Gregorian Sacramentaries, two of the three primary Sacramentaries of the Roman Catholic Church. The common theme continues to be the merciful nature of God the Father and the need for his continual presence in the lives of sinful mankind. A similar prayer was used as the Sixth Prayer in the office of Sixth Hour in our publication. Hear Us, O Lord: Daily Prayers for the Laity, available through my Amazon Author Central page.

LORD, we beseech thee, absolve thy people from their offences;
that through thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins,
which by our frailty we have committed. Grant this O heavenly Father,
for the sake of Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

The Epistle reading, Colossians 1:3-12, an advance to the next in the canonical epistles of St. Paul, is a letter to the congregation at Colossae in Asia Minor. The church at Colossae was founded not by St. Paul himself but by his associate, Epaphras. There is no record of St. Paul having visited Colossae. The Apostle to the Gentiles uses spiritual-minded language to both congratulate the Christians at Colossae for their confession of faith and reminds them always of “giving thanks to the Father who has qualifed us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”

Raising the Daughter of Jairus, opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, part of a series of Scenes in the Life of Christ, James Tissot, 1886-1894, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY. Tissot’s historical-style visualizations of Scriptural scenes followed several years of research into clothing styles of the 1st C. and his many visits to the Holy Land.

The Gospel reading, Matthew 9:18-26, the final reading from the Gospel of Matthew, is a record of the Raising of the Daughter of Jairus and the healing of a woman with a blood disorder, also recounted, with different detail, in Mark 5:21-43 and Luke 8:40-50. The scene was one of the favorite Gospel accounts for use in illuminated Gospels and pericope books (which contain only verses used in a liturgy) in the 8th to 12th C. and later in stained glass windows and, even later, in a famous late 19th C. watercolor by James Tissot. The Tissot watercolor was used as Illustration No. 60 in our publication, The Gospel of Matthew: Annotated & Illustrated. A 12th C. illumination and a 20th C. stained glass window by Franz Mayer of Munich, both based on St. Luke’s account are, respestively, Illustration N0. 33 and Illustration No. 34 in The Gospel of Luke: Annotated & Illustrated. The stained glass window is also used in Paintings on Light: the Stained Glass Windows of St. Joseph’s Villa Chapel. As noted above, all AIC Bookstore Publications are available through my Amazon Author Central page.

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


Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

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The Collect for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity is another adaptation by Archbishop Cranmer from the 1549 Book of Common Prayer, which the Archbishop adapted from the Gelasian Sacramentary. As noted in earlier posts, the Gelasian Sacramentary is named after Pope Gelasius (ruled at Rome, 492-496), but the document did not appear until the mid-8th C. at Paris, France. The Gelasian document was widely used in the English Church before the separation from Rome during the reign of Henry XVIII. In Western Europe, the Gregorian Sacramentary, which is derived from an an early 9th C. initiative by Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, influenced by his spiritual advisor, the Blessed Alcuin of York. A fuller version of the Gregorian Sacramentary was completed around the 10th C. I saved the Gelasian image below from the Wikipedia Commons version of The Yorck Project, commonly called 10,000 Masterworks, which was distributed on a DVD and entered into the public domain in 2002 A.D. The original document measures 10.2″ high and 13.1″ wide. In order to improve the resolution for this usage. I reduced its size and raised the resolution to 300 dpi..

Gelasian Sacramentary, Title page (left) and 1st page (right), colors and gold on parchment, 8th C., The Yorck Project, or 10,000 Masterworks, DVD 2002. Public Domain.

The preamble to the Collect was reworded for the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. It includes the iconic phrase, “the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil.” The same words also appear as part of the third phrase of the deliverance requests in The Litany, or General Supplication, published in 1544 A.D., the first English language liturgy of the Church 0f England.

LORD, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil;
and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee, the only God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle reading, 1st Corinthians 1:4-9, is one of the shortest readings in the Book of Common Prayer. On this occasion, the canonical order of the Pauline epistles is interrupted, leaping backward from Ephesians 4 on the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity to a point earlier in the epistle than the first reading from 1st Corinthians 10:1-13 (Ninth Sunday after Trinity) and other readings on the Tenth and Eleventh Sundays after Trinity. The epistle includes closing reference to “the day of our Lord,” an allusion to Jesus coming again.

The Gospel reading, Matthew 22:34-46, includes two important dialogues, the first also recorded in Mark 12:28-37 and the second in Luke 20:41-44. The event is thought to have happened on Tuesday, 30 A.D., three days before Good Friday. The background of the two dialogues is the continuing rivalry between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. In verse 35, one of their number, a lawyer, asks Jesus, “Master, which is the great commandment?” Some context is needed to understand fully the question. Both the Sadducees and the Pharisees had their own answer to the question, with the Pharisees having calculated that there were 613 commandments in Hebrew Scripture and not just the ten in the Decalogue. In this context, the “lawyer” in verse 35 thought that any answer would offend someone. A cardinal rule for all modern-era lawyers is that a lawyer should never ask a question unless he or she already know the answer. In the reading, Jesus replied, as He often did (most famously in His dialogue with Satan in Matthew 4), with verses from Scripture. Here the verses are Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. His answer, in verses 37-40, was incorporated into the Anglican Holy Communion liturgy in the 1714 and the 1764 versions. It is commonly known as the Summary of the Law. The Summary of the Law was incorporated into the Holy Communion liturgy in the first American prayer book, published in 1789 A.D.

Jesus continued to befuddle His inquisitors with a second citation of Scripture regarding David. He quoted Psalm 110:1, the most-quoted verse in all the Psalms. As Matthew recorded in the closing verse, no one thereafter asked Him any more questions. In Christian art, the Gospel reading is generally depicted by a graphic displaying the words quoted by Jesus. For this blog post, I offer you a graphic which I adapted from a Christ Pantokrator mosaic (literally: Ruler of the Universe) from the Basilica of St. Ambrose, Milan, Italy. Because this Byzantine-style mosaic is very high above the floor level any photographs are distorted by sightlines diminishing toward top center. In the mosaic, Jesus is seated on a throne with the Archangels Michael (left) and Gabriel (right) and several saints. I used this image in the AIC Bookstore Publications, The Gospel of Mark: Annotated & Illustrated (Illus. # 66), Angels: In Scripture, Art & Christian Tradition (Illus. # 13) and Christmas: In Scripture, Art & Christian Tradition (Illus. No. 58). All books are available through my Amazon Author Central page. The image was also used in several AIC Video series, including The Great “O” Antiphons, Episode Two – O Adonai; The Twelve Days of Christmas, 2nd Day – Dec. 26th, 11th Day – Jan. 4th & 12th Day – Jan. 5th; In the Cross of Christ I Glory, 3rd Word, 6th Word, 7th Word; Eastertide, Episode 1; The War on Christianity, Episode 6; Trinitytide: the Teaching Season, Episode 7; and New Testament: Gospels, Episode 2.

Christ Enthroned, mosaic, 13th C. Basilica of St. Ambrose of Milan, Milan, Italy. Image copyright Can Stock Photo, Inc./Tupugato. The original basilica was built in the 6th C., with additions made in the 11th C. Perspective correction, image cropping and image rotation applied. The original image is displayed below. Traditionally, the image is also known in the Western Church as Christ in Majesty and Christ Pantokrator (literally, Ruler of the Universe) in the Eastern Church tradition.

I hope viewers find these resources inspiring and comforting, especially in the current anti-Christian age. We aim to make documents from the 2000 year history of the Church more easily accessible across the spectrum of print, audio or video media.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.

Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity A.D. 2024

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For the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity the Collect is a composition by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer based upon the Gregorian Sacramentary, named in honor of Pope Gregory the Great, who led the Roman Catholic Church from 590 A.D. until his death in 604 A.D. Illuminations depicting Gregory, acknowledging his profound influence on the liturgy of the Church, often show him with the Holy Spirit whispering into his ear. Note that the word “prevent” has a different meaning than the modern usage. In the 16th-17th C it meant “stand before.”

Gregory the Great, illumination in colors and gold on parchment, placed between Book 3 and Book 4, Dialogues, Gregory the Great, Germany, 1st Qtr., 12th C. Ms. Harley 3011, f. 69v, British Library, London, England. Copyright British Library Board.

LORD, we pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us,
and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In the Epistle reading, Ephesians 4:1-6, St. Paul also emphases the presence of the Holy Spirit in the faithful in his message concerning the unity of the faith. The reading includes two ic0nic phrases important to St. Paul’s theology: “one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” and “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The recipient of the letter, the church at Ephesus, was another congregation visited by St. Paul on his second missionary journey (described in Acts 18). According to tradition, St. John served for a time as the functional equivalent of a bishop at Ephesus, where he had taken the Blessed Virgin after the Crucixion. The House of Mary at Ephesus, traditionally said to be the house St. John built for Mary, remains a popular tourist site and is a designated holy place for Roman Catholics. It was visited by three Popes: Paul VI (1967), John Paul II (1979) and Benedict XVI (Nov 2006 during his historic visit to Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) which included celebration of Holy Communion with the Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew II.

The Gospel reading, Luke 14:1-11, is the twelfth and last reading from St. Luke during Trinitytide: the Teaching Season (in which calculation I include the Sunday next before Advent). All the remaining Gospel readings are from the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of John. The reading includes two separate but related scenes. The first scene simply sets the stage for the second and illustrates the strained relationship between Jesus and the Pharisees. Both scenes, the Healing of the Man with Dropsy and the Parable of the Chief Seats, are unique to the Gospel of Luke. Dropsy, technically known as edema, is a disease which results in extreme fluid retention, usually in the legs and feet. In the mosaic below, the swelling is shown in young man’s lower torso. The mosaic is in the upper walls of the Apse, Monreale Cathedral (Cattedrale di Santa Maria Nuovo de Monreale in Italian). The cathedral was dedicated to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1182 A.D., eight years after the structure was begun in the reign of the Norman King of Sicily, William II. The full legend above the image is in Latin (only the final three words are visible in the image): “Jesus in domo cujusdam principis fariseorum sanat hydropicum die sabbati” (literally: “Jesus heals the man with dropsy in the house of the leader of the Pharisees on the Sabbath day”). The mosiac, presented in red, white, silver, blue is set into a gold background, with Jesus’ followers at left with two Pharisees and members of the household at right. Look closely at the fine detail in the background buildings and, especially, at the suggestion of flow of the robes of the figures in the foreground. The silver-haired figure, whose face is only partially visible at the left of the image, is consistent with traditional imagery of St. Peter. The halo around Jesus’ head includes the traditional Eastern Church symbology of Christ, always shown with two vertical and two horizontal lines. The “X” above Jesus’ head is a traditional symbol identifying Christ. Every part of the mosaic is made from varying sizes of glass tile. For more details about this ancient method, typical of Byzantine Christian art, see the Fr. Ron’s Blog post, Deesis Mosaic-Hagia Sophia & Other Images, dated April 6, A.D. 2024 (linked from the Archive column at right). In that post I include enlarged sections which reveal more about the “how” of creating mosaics. My Podcast Homily for Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity is linked from the Podcast Homilies page. The readings are discussed in the AIC Christian Education Video series, Trinitytide: the Teaching Season in Episode Seven.

Christ Healing a Man with Dropsy, Byzantine-style mosaic, north wall, apse, Monreale Cathedral, Palermo, Sicily, late 12th-early 13th C. Photo, June 2010, by Sibeaster. Public Domain.

Finally, I offer you one piece of advice for survival in our anti-Christian world of the 21st C. Instead of allowing such thoughts to negatively influence your daily life follow this mantra “Turn it off and tune it out.” The mantra is easy to apply not only to media but also to enterprises which, directly or indirectly, are hostile to the Christian faith. To fill the void, use web resources to create your own list of trusted resources in video, print and electronic and bookmark them for ease of daily use.

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

Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

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The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity, celebrated on September 15th in A.D. 2024, marks the first reading from Ephesians during Trinitytide: the Teaching Season. The Collect for the day is another composition by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer made for the 1549 Book of C0mmon Prayer. It is another which was drawn from the “Gelasian” Sacramentary, named after the 5th C. pope although the volume was not published until circa 750. As you have undoubtedly noticed, the Gelasian liturgy, the second oldest in the Roman Catholic tradition, was highly-favored in the English Church both before and after the Church of England separated from the Church of Rome. The word “Church” was substituted for the original “congregation” in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

O LORD, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church;
and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour,
preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle reading, Ephesians 3:13-21, as noted above, is the first in Trinitytide from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, a congregation he established in Asia Minor on his Second Missionary journey. This selection includes St. Paul’s colorful and vivid language which later became popular parts of Christian prayer. These verses are the source of the Christian understanding of the Church as the earthly body of the faithful (as reflected in the previously mentioned insertion of “Church” in place of “congregation”) and the necessity of the Holy Spirit “in” the “inner man” and Christ “dwelling” in the heart (v. 16b-19a). He also uses another term which became part of Christian belief: fulness. I discuss the meaning of “heart” (used 826 times in the King James Version) in the AIC Bookstore Publication, Layman’s Lexicon: a Handbook of Scriptural, Liturgical & Theological Terms, available through my Amazon Author Central page.

The Gospel reading, Luke 7:11-17, the eleventh reading from Luke’s Gospel in Trinitytide: the Teaching Season, is Luke’s account of Jesus “raising” the son of the Widow of Nain, an event which took place around 28 A.D. in western Judea in the second year of Jesus’ public ministry. Fortunately for Christians, the event was featured often in illuminated Gospels, pericope books and other media. For this post I offer three examples from the AIC’s image archive. The first two, in the spiritual style, are Byzantine/Ottonian illuminations from the late 10th and early 11th C. and the third is an example in the historical style in the form of a last quarter 19th. C. watercolor. All three examples were used in one or more episodes Episode Twenty and Episode Twenty-five in the AIC Bible Study Video series, The New Testament, and in Episode Seven in our Christian Education Video series, Trinitytide: the Teaching Season. The spectacularly detailed image from the Gospels of Otto III was used as Illustration No. 56 in the AIC Bookstore Publication, The Gospel of Luke: Annotated & Illustrated, available through my Amazon Author Central page.

Raising the Son of the Widow of Nain, illumination in tempera and gold on parchment, Gospels of Otto III, circa 998 A.D., Clm 4453, Image 60, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich, Germany. CC by-NC-SA-4.0

This first example was produced at Reichenau Monastery, Lake Constance, Reichenau, Germany, for Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, whose mother was a Byzantine princess. Using that family connection, artists from Constantinople were brought to Reichenau to aid the already-experienced local artists in producing illustrated Bibles and other liturgical books in the Byzantine style of illumination. During the Ottonian era of Holy Roman Emperors, successors to Charlemagne, coronated at Rome, Christmas Day, 800 A.D., developed their own distinctive style, often labelled after the monk Liuthar, the chief of the artists who began in the Scriptorium at Reichenau around 1000 A.D. The art they produced there remains unequalled in the range of detail, including facial expressions, the use of gold as a background, elaborate foliage and flora patterns as borners (see the example above), and scenes often framed between classical architectural features, such as the columns shown above.

The second example is from the Hitda Codex, an illuminated liturgical book produced for Hitda, the Abbess of Meschede, Germany, circa 1020 A.D. The Codex is the only surviving example of Christian art produced at or near Cologne, the center of the empire created by Charlemagne, a Frankish monarch whose kingdom stretched from the southern half of presentday Denmark into most of Spain, a large part of northern Italy and eastward into the edge of the Balkans. Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor at Rome on Christmas Day, 800 A.D., becoming the first Christian emperor in the West since the Vandals sacked Rome in 455 A.D. In earlier posts, I have explained the important part which Charlemagne and his spiritual advisor, the Blessed Alcuin of York, played in the spread of Christianity into western Europe.

Raising the Son of the Widow of Nain, illumination in colors and gold on parchment, Hitda Codex, produced for Hitda, Abbess of Meschede, Germany, circa 1020 A.D., Hs. 1640, Universitats- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany. CC0 license.

The third and final example is another watercolor created in the historical style by James Tissot, part of his Life of Christ series produced between 1886 and 1896 and now part of the collection of the Brooklyn Museum. In the watercolor, Tissot’s mastery of architectural detail, costume and a wide range of facial expressions is evident, as is his capture of the details of the central scene in St. Luke’s account.

Raising the Son of the Widow of Nain, opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, James Tissot, 1886-1896, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY.

As always, I thank you for your interest and support. Especial thanks is owed to those who have signed on as followers of this Blog. The AIC’s online presence is intended to make these and other amazing examples of Christian more widely available in a variety of media. Most of our material is available free of charge. Author royalties from all the AIC Bookstore Publications are donated to the AIC. I encourage readers/viewers to visit the host sites for all these images, where these and many more are available in the public domain. They are owed a great debt of gratitude for preserving, archiving and, especially, digitizing the original art and making it available for research and education.

Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

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!

New Testament: Gospels – Episodes 24 and 25

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Luke-Writing His Gospel-Byzantine-Ms Additional 28815-f76v-BritLibr-PCA
St. Luke Writing His Gospel  Byzantine illumination in tempera and gold on parchment, 10th C. A.D., Constantinople.  From the Yorck Project (10000 Masterworks of Painting).  Original image is Ms. Additional 28815, Folio 76v, British Library, London, England.

Once again this week I have “doubled up” and uploaded two new episodes in the revised and extended version of our Bible Study Video series, New Testament: Gospels.  In Episode Twenty-four and Episode Twenty-five I complete my discussion of the Gospel of St. Luke.  Both episodes are focused on Unique Content in the Gospel of St. Luke.  Episode Twenty-four is focused on the Kingdom Lectures and the Restoration of Zaccheus.  Episode Twenty-five is focused on three topics, Jesus Before Herod, the Prayer Habits of Jesus, and the important roles for women in St. Luke’s Gospel.   The featured image is a 10th C. A.D. Byzantine illumination in tempera and gold on parchment made at Constantinople, showing St. Luke seated in an upholstered chair with a platform for his feet and in front of a large desk writing his Gospel.  The desk is filled with quills and what looks like a paper knife.  There are scrolls and a inkpot at his feet.  This version does not include the traditional image of an ox, the symbol of Luke.  The original is from Ms. Additional 28815, Folio 76v, British Library, London, England.  The British Library has not yet digitized much of the Additional Ms collection, including No. 28815.  This version is sourced from the Yorck Project, a DVD published in 2002 A.D. as 10,000 Masterworks of Painting.  The entire set of more than 10,000 images can be viewed on line.

Watch the Video of Episode 24.        Listen to the Podcast of Episode 24.

Watch the Video of Episode 25.        Listen to the Podcast of Episode 25.

I have recorded the first two of twenty revised and extended versions focused on the Gospel of St. John, these being episodes twenty-six to forty-five.  Episode Twenty-six and Episode Twenty-seven will be released during the week of October 20th. Episode Twenty-five is focused on a general introduction to the Gospel of St. John and a reading of St. John’s unique Prelude in verses 1-5.  Episode Twenty-seven begins with a discussion of John 1:1-5 and moves on to reading and discussion of John 1:5-18.  Later today I will record the next two episodes which will be released during the week of October 27th.   The slides and script for all remaining episodes have been completed but lack sound tracks and picture-to-sound correlation in iMovie.  The final slide in the series, in Episode Forty-five, will be No. 1560 (vs. No. 885 in the original series).  It has been a great and enjoyable adventure finding and editing the great Christian tradition of spiritually-minded images (vs. the modern representational forms in which the meaning often gets lost in the details and backgrounds).  I hope and pray that viewers find them spiritually enriching and helpful in understanding Scripture.

I have started work on a new series of Podcast Homilies based upon the appointed readings from Psalms and Lessons for Morning Prayer in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, using the alternative which includes a Gospel reading for the Second Lesson.  These will be linked from the Podcast Homilies page and posted in the order of the Church Calendar beginning with First Sunday in Advent.  I hope to have the four Advent podcasts complete before the start of the new Church Year 2019-2020 on December 1st.

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

New Testament: Gospels – Episode Twenty-one

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Harley 2799 f 173vI’m pleased to announce the uploading for another revised episode, Episode Twenty-one in the AIC Bible Study Video series, The New Testament: Gospels.  Content is Part 2 of 6 in Unique Content in the Gospel of St. Luke, including Sending the Return of the Seventy and Jesus’ encounter with Mary and Martha at Bethany.

This week’s featured illustration is a miniature illumination in gold and colored inks on parchment of St. Luke writing his Gospel from the Arnstein Bible, produced at Arnstein, Germany around 1172 A.D. from Ms. Harley 2799, Folio 173bv, British Library, London, England.  The image has to be shown quite small because the original image is also very small.  Any larger and the image would break up and the sheen on the gold would be reduced.  It was originally housed at the Monastery of St. Mary and St. Nicholas and was sold to Edward Harley in 1720/21.  The scribe’s name was Lunandus, a monk at the monastery.

Watch the video.        Listen to the Podcast version.

This uplink brings me very close to completing the rebuild of the episodes on St. Luke’s Gospel.  I have recorded and edited Episode Twenty-two and expect to upload it plus Episode Twenty-three during the week of October 7th, with the final two episodes coming the week of October 14th.  All the slides and text for all the episodes (26 to 45) on the Gospel of St. John are complete, but no episodes have yet been recorded.   These final episodes include many more examples of Church art that are rarely seen in public, including a Gospel book written in Germany between 778 and 820 A.D. at the start of the Carolingian era that began with the coronation at Rome of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in 800 A.D.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.  Please consider subscribing by clicking the Follow Anglican Internet Church legend in the righthand column.  You will receive a link to each new posting.