Your essay is a valuable addition to the Alexandrian restoration. I might add to your thoughts that for all the qualities the Protestant Reformation have had an appreciation for the creative arts is not one of them.
It's refreshing to be in the presence of such generous and broad-minded thoughts. Over on another blog, I recently had the misfortune of learning about what Evangelicals think—and I think they are quite mad: the sense of claustrophobic neurosis is palpable. I had only been dimly aware of them before, and now it seems to me that they are pretty much their own religion. Also, it is a type of idolatry to refer to the Bible as the Word of God, isn't it? Only Jesus Himself, the Logos, is the Word of God.
I have looked into the practices of Little Gidding and not much is recorded in terms of things they actually did, sadly. It seems like you have a pretty good idea of what a good church would look like in terms of feasts/festivals/fasts and what those involve based on a variety of sources. Have you considered writing a kind of guide for how to run a church like that?
You're not the first to ask. In fact, it was my intention to work on just such a book. But then I decided I should finish my poetry manuscript first. It's been taking longer than I'd hoped. But...I'm almost done and will start on that project as soon as it is. Might even host a conference on the topic at the farm sometime in Spring.
I am in Devonshire today (visiting one of my two surviving aunts.) Was in St. Mary's (Totnes) for All Saint's -- no service but prayed and lit a candle. Spent the evening in a delightful pub that got its license in the 1320's -- the day was punctuated by community. Herrick would have approved of it all.
Thank you Michael. I am rarely checking out social media/substack etc. these days but I still read a few . . . .
for me, as a Byzantine Catholic Deacon, Communitas is best expressed in the fact that we can't celebrate a liturgy in the Byzantine tradition if there are no people present. No people on Sunday means the Byzantine clergy go home. The clerics are in persona ecclesia, which if by far the most superior model of what we should see in the Church.
Your essay is a valuable addition to the Alexandrian restoration. I might add to your thoughts that for all the qualities the Protestant Reformation have had an appreciation for the creative arts is not one of them.
I've still gotta pick up this book of yours.
It's refreshing to be in the presence of such generous and broad-minded thoughts. Over on another blog, I recently had the misfortune of learning about what Evangelicals think—and I think they are quite mad: the sense of claustrophobic neurosis is palpable. I had only been dimly aware of them before, and now it seems to me that they are pretty much their own religion. Also, it is a type of idolatry to refer to the Bible as the Word of God, isn't it? Only Jesus Himself, the Logos, is the Word of God.
Just wait for the Orthobros
I keep hearing about these guys, but the Orthodox folk I know are more like Paul Kingsnorth and Martin Shaw. Perhaps I have been fortunate thus far.
I have looked into the practices of Little Gidding and not much is recorded in terms of things they actually did, sadly. It seems like you have a pretty good idea of what a good church would look like in terms of feasts/festivals/fasts and what those involve based on a variety of sources. Have you considered writing a kind of guide for how to run a church like that?
You're not the first to ask. In fact, it was my intention to work on just such a book. But then I decided I should finish my poetry manuscript first. It's been taking longer than I'd hoped. But...I'm almost done and will start on that project as soon as it is. Might even host a conference on the topic at the farm sometime in Spring.
I am in Devonshire today (visiting one of my two surviving aunts.) Was in St. Mary's (Totnes) for All Saint's -- no service but prayed and lit a candle. Spent the evening in a delightful pub that got its license in the 1320's -- the day was punctuated by community. Herrick would have approved of it all.
Thank you Michael. I am rarely checking out social media/substack etc. these days but I still read a few . . . .
Herrick was vicar at St George the Martyr in nearby Dean Prior. What a coincidence!
Was it a coincidence . . .
for me, as a Byzantine Catholic Deacon, Communitas is best expressed in the fact that we can't celebrate a liturgy in the Byzantine tradition if there are no people present. No people on Sunday means the Byzantine clergy go home. The clerics are in persona ecclesia, which if by far the most superior model of what we should see in the Church.