tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83066242893994954852024-03-17T22:04:15.928-05:00Θησαυρος της εκκλησιας (Treasures of the Church)"Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is liked the householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old" (Mt 13:52).Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.comBlogger249125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-7726140348691077452024-03-16T14:56:00.002-05:002024-03-16T14:57:33.020-05:00St. Maximus of Turin: On the Forty-Day Fast I (Homily 37)<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <b>Introduction</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Little is known of St. Maximus, besides his writings and the fact that he was Bishop of Turin.
It is thought he was a native of Rhaetia, in modern northern Italy, possibly born in the town of Vercelli. Some
think he is the same Maximus who attended a few local synods and councils—the Synod of Milan in 451 and the Council
of Rome in 465 (thus giving him a much longer life), but there is no certainty. What has truly cemented his legacy
is a large collection of homilies and sermons, along with a few treatises.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This homily is the first in a series of 8 on "the Forty-Day Fast" (<i>De jejunio Quadragesimæ</i>), that is, Lent. I have previously translated his <a href="https://bpotto.github.io/Undusted-Texts/homilies/maximust_2.html" target="_blank">Sermon on the Nativity II (Sermon 4)</a>, and his <a href="https://bpotto.github.io/Undusted-Texts/homilies/maximust_1.html" target="_blank">Sermon on Epiphany (Sermon 7)</a>. It should be noted that Maximus' "sermons" and "homilies" are two complete separate sets of writings, with separate numberings. Paragraph divisions below are my own; the Latin text I used prints the whole homily in one block.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Homily XXXVII</b></p>
<p align="center" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>On the Forty-Day Fast I</i></p><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"> You have heard, beloved, as the
evangelical trumpet sounds it, that our Lord and Redeemer, against
the temptations of the devil, indeed fought with words, but strove
with the spirit; for He waged the struggle in speech, but He executed
victory in majesty. Nor should we deem the conflict to be without a
great mystery in this way, the conflict in which either the
approaching devil overcomes in words, or the Lord of things,
nevertheless, deigns to respond to His tempter with words. But in
all this things, our salvation is the reason. For us the Savior went
hungry; for us He spoke; we conquered in Him, since we were the cause
of His fighting. For who would doubt that the Only-Begotten of the
Father, Whom no creature could oppose, took up the struggle on behalf
of those in whose flesh He dressed Himself? Therefore, the form of
the human body persuaded the shrewdest enemy to approach, whom the
true Son of God confused through a true man’s response. Because of
which, wandering and uncertain, the tempter seeks out </span><span style="font-style: normal;">tender
and terrible temptations, for, since he beheld the appearance of
fleshly man in Christ, yet the presence of His divinity was hidden,
he took up arms against He Who is more than man. Therefore, the
feminine birth-giving animated him to presume sexual congress, but
the virginity of the birth-giver terrified him, since Mary—certainly
Eve’s daughter—gave birth to Christ, yet she did not conceive
from Adam. </span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"> Therefore, when the enemy saw God’s
Son procreated through such a miracle, he turned back on himself, so
that he would deliberate, and, wondering, he said, “Who is this
who, without my knowledge, entered this world? For I know that he is
born of a woman, but I don’t know whence he was conceived. Behold,
the mother is present, but I can’t figure out the father. I see
the birth, but I don’t know the one who is born; and—what
increases my stupor—the mother, though she has given forth a son,
exults like a virgin, which is not customary to the law of
birth-giving. The little one lies in swaddling clothes, he soaks the
swaddle with his tears, and he seems to be like mortals in </span><span style="font-style: normal;">his
crie</span><span style="font-style: normal;">s, and, though nothing of
infancy is lacking n him, yet no corruption is in him, as in an
infant. Bound up, he soils the rags, but heaven smiles at him with
the ray of a more joyful star, and angels run between the stars and
the lands in his honor, ministering to him, and, exulting, they
announce a newness I don’t understand. What is this miracle? I see
what I can’t turn away from, I hear what I can’t bear: that a
new-born man is honored as God. Never, from the ages, have I
encountered this, that someone is born a man and has nothing of human
vices. What is this so new and powerful generation? Born among
sinners and impious men, and coming forth from a mortal mother, he
appears, to me, more purified than all those who are born and purer
than heaven itself. No root of avarice rises up in him, no envy
beats upon his heart, his tongue does not know lies, his eyes accept
no concupiscence, neither ear is softened by lust; certainly, luxury,
through which I subjected the human race to me, cannot penetrated his
breast; no boasting is in him, no malice. And what more? I find in
him nothing which delights me; he casts out all of my urges. What
will I do? To whom shall I turn? I feel something stronger; I think
he wants to reign in my kingdom—</span><span style="font-style: normal;">perhaps
this is God, Whom no offense can stain. But if it is God, how does
he bear the indignities of a woman’s birth-giving? How is content
in cradles and rags? Who could believe an infant’s cry in God? To
what listener is it not ridiculous that God would be nourished by a
woman’s milk? Behold, after everyt8ing, he is hungry, when,
certainly, no reason would persuade God to go hungry.” </span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"> The devil was excessively ignorant,
since the fact that Christ preferred an infant’s food, and that He
was hungry like a man, was not due to the body’s weakness, but to
the sacrament of heavenly grace. For God’s Son, Whom timeless
eternity befits, alongside the sempiternal Father, Who, with His
begetter, naturally impassible, reigns in the incorrupt empire,
performs the saving mystery in our flesh; and, for this reason, He
submits to the common passion of mortals, so that He would triumph
over the enemy of the human race in a contest, wherefore that
reckless one, blinded by his rage, said to the Lord, </span><i>If you
are the Son of God, speak, so that this stones would become bread</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
(Mt 4:3). </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Most stupid and
empty is this ambush of his: through bread he means to tempt Him Who
is bread, thinking that He would work for food-money, He Who
preferred voluntary hunger! To which the Lord responded: </span><i>It
is written: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word of
God”</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (Mt 4:4; Dt 8:3). That
is to say: “In vain, devil, do you again strive to supplant through
food; it was sufficient for you to persuade Adam with illicit foods
in paradise for him to be deceived by you. Hunger does not conquer
me, nor do I yield to your persuasions, for the will of God is My
food: the word of God is my perfect refection.” Beaten back by
this sentence, again, so I think, the devil said: “What is this
thing? I see him hungering, and I don’t find a need for eating; he
suffers everything like a man, and he conquers everything like God.
That Adam, certainly made by God’s hands, once yield to my snares;
this one, born of a women, is not bowed by his needs nor does he
acquiesce to my counsels; I overcame that one by the serpent’s
mouth, this one condemns me even when I myself speak.” Again,
setting the Lord upon the pinnacle of the temple, he said:</span><i>
If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
(Mt 4:6). Troubled, he spoke these things to Him Whom he thought he
could persuade to a fall, Him Whom no bread could convince. To which
Christ responded, </span><i>It is written: “You shall not tempt the
Lord your God”</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (Mt 4:7; Dt
6:16). That is, “what you are suggesting, devil, is the
presumption of temptation, not the counsel of </span><span style="font-style: normal;">sanity</span><span style="font-style: normal;">,
the vanity of leaping forth, not the example of virtue; for empty is
every miracle which is not performed for the purpose of man’s
salvation.” And, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">foiled by
this response of the Lord, he showed Him all the kingdoms of the
world and their honors, saying: </span><i>All these things I will
give you, if, falling down, you adore me</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
(Mt 4:9). To which, again, He responded: </span><i> It is written:
“You shall adore the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve”</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
(Mt 4:10; Dt 6:13). That is, “he who adores you, devil, is not
owed kingdoms, but hell. For to adore the true God and to serve Him
is the prerogative of ruling; but you, who promise the honors of the
world in exchange for the expected transgression, you do not know how
to give yourself rule.” Behold, tempter, now a three-fold
interrogation has profited nothing; uncertain he came, more uncertain
he returned; he assaulted so to prove, reproved, he drew back. </span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"> Therefore, now, beloved brethren,
since, having recalled the victories of the Lord’s fasting, we have
come to know the triumph of our salvation, let us sanctify our fast
with religious services. But what else is “sanctifying the fast”
but wanting to fast for a holy cause, doing just deeds, avoiding
iniquities? He sanctifies the fast whose heart the adulation of
powerful friends and the graces of relatives, and the little and
great gift-lefts of clients do not turn away from the right path. He
sanctifies his fast whose heart does not revile justice. He
sanctifies the fast who extinguishes the flames of ferocious wrath
with the placability of a meek mind. He sanctifies the fast who
turns lusting eyes away form the filthy sight through the reins of
chastity. He sanctifies the fast who scatters the darts of </span><span style="font-style: normal;">revilers,
beating them back with the shield of patience. He sanctifies the
fast who calms the tumult of lawyers with speech of peaceful sanity</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">and a tongue of more prudent
art. He sanctifies the fast who cuts out the thorns of vain thoughts
rising up within him, throwing them up with the plough of the Gospel,
like some ploughman of his own breast. He sanctifies the fast who
aids the poverty of the needy according to the amount of his goods,
with a hand of pitying humanity. He most of all sanctifies the fast
who, focused on the precepts of the divine law, spits the diabolical
temptations out of his heart. And, therefore, beloved brethren, if
we want to show God an appeasing fast, let us be strong in heart,
just in judgments, faithful in friendship, patient in injuries,
moderate in contentions, let us flee foul speech, standing against
iniquities, sober in feasts, simple in charity, cautious among
crafty, consoling the mournful, resisting arrogance, sparing in
suspicions, hold-tongued among ill-speakers, coequal among the
humble. If we want to sanctify our fast through such virtues, giving
tribute to the Lord, we will come to the festival of Paschal grace
and to the joys of the heavenly promises with undoubting trust and a
more joyful conscience.</span></p><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></p><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Source: </b>PL 57:303D-308B. <br /></span></span></p><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©202</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">4</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the translator.</span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a:link { color: #000080; text-decoration: underline }</style><span style="font-style: normal;"> <br /></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-50375002974622608262024-03-05T00:09:00.002-06:002024-03-05T00:25:16.143-06:00St. John of Ávila: Sermon 65.1 on the Annunciation / Treatise 1 on Mary: Part II<p> <i>For an introduction to St. John and this text, as well as Part I of the text, see my previous post here: <a href="https://thesaurostesekklesias.blogspot.com/2024/01/st-john-of-avila-sermon-651-on.html">https://thesaurostesekklesias.blogspot.com/2024/01/st-john-of-avila-sermon-651-on.html</a></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>
</p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>What Bush Is This, Which
Burns and Is Not Consumed?</b></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> Who
will speak?<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"><sup>1</sup></a>
Who will speak the powerful deeds of the Lord </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">(Ps
106:2)</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">? Who will
understand His mercies? Have you encountered any book in which you
have read the mercies of God? Have you see</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">n</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
a book which tells them?</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> Moses
wandered, pasturing his herd, and set it there in the deepest part of
the desert, and, wandering, he, very careless, saw a bramble which
burned and was not consumed; he was frightened at how it burned and
was not consumed. “Certainly, I have to go there and see this
great marvel.” Is there not more, Moses? Is there not more? He
goes there, and, as soon as he draws near, he finds that God was in
the bramble. See, through your life, he who saw God in the bramble,
and </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">[God]</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
spoke to him from there: “Moses, do not come here; </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">you
are coming very close; </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">see
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">how</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
the earth where you are is holy.” Is there nothing more except
coming to see? “Unshod yourself.” Was he holier by becoming
unshod? “Unshod yourself, do not bring your sense, nor your
reason, nor your force, nor your knowledge; </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">set
aside</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> what avails
nothing</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">;</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
you have need of another spirit, another force, another
understanding: unshod yourself; you are nothing, you avail nothing;
did you think that there would not be more? Glean that you are near
God, near H</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">im</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
at Whose Majesty the angels tremble.” God speaks from the bramble:
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Ego sum Deus
Abraham, Deus Isaac, Deus Jacob [I am the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, the God of Jacob]</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
(Ex 3:6). “Marvelous God, and you are in the bramble? What does
Your Majesty command?” “I have ears to hear and eyes to see the
pains which My people suffer: I have heard the voices which they make
to Me in Egypt: I have seen their affliction, and, come what may, I
have descended here to free them. Glean that I command you to go to
Pharaoh, and tell him this, and this on My behalf.” Admirable is
the vision, certainly, but marvelous is its completion. Who will
understand the mercies of the Lord </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">(Ps
107:43)</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">? Who His
counsel? What is this? What is this? If we enter into the desert,
if we take our sheep to the most secret </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">[place]</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
if we retreat to the deepest interior of our hearts, we will see the
vision of God, that He is near, that He burns and is not consumed,
that our eyes see a pregnant maiden; God is in her, and she is not
consumed; she is pregnant and a maide</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">n:</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
if we do not approach to see this mystery, they will say that we </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">g</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">o
about like fools; remove your reasons and natures, unshod yourselves
of your shoes of animal leather, </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">set
aside</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> the knowledge
and understanding of flesh: </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Go
forth, daughters of Sion, and you will see King Solomon crowned with
the crown, with which his mother crowned him on the day of his
</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>betrothal</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
(Sgs 3:11). Let us ask our Lady for the grace to know how to
receive, and to delight in, and to understand something of this
mystery.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> Do
not come with a profane and dishonest heart: denude your reason, come
with feet unshod, untrusting in yourself, separated from yourself,
closer to and asking help from God. What is this? Approach a
little: what does this Maiden have? What fire is this which she has
within her? They will respond to you: “Not an angel nor an angel,
but the Lord Himself Who is in her.”<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote2sym" name="sdfootnote2anc"><sup>2</sup></a>
“I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, God of Jacob.” O
blessed be You, Lord, and glorified forever, and may the angels adore
and </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">revere</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
You forever! What does the great God do, enclosed in a maiden? The
name of the city of God: </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Dominus
ibidem [the Lord </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>is
there]</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
(Ez 48:35)</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">:
the name of the Son of the Virgin and of God: </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Em</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>m</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>anuel
</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">(Is
7:14)</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">. </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">Y</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">ou
call the city, you come to the Virgin thinking that there is nothing
more; God will respond to you in her: “Behold.” What are You
doing, Lord, here, in a maiden? “I saw the work and pains of My
people, and the labors and anguishes which they suffer, and I have
descended to free them Myself.” O marvelous God! </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">M</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">en
and the Prophets, give voices, </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">so
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">that He Who is to
come would come already!</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> The
world was captive </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">to</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
the power of the demon, and in great anguish; great were the forces
of the demon, and great sorrow was it to see what sin worked in the
hearts of men, with efficacy. “There is no other remedy,” says
God, “I know what My people suffer, I know their anguishes, I have
had compassion on men, on the Holy Fathers in limbo, </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">on</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
the seats which are to be repaired: I have descended and come to free
them.” O, glorified be You, Lord, Who comes from one to the other!
He sent Moses over there so that His people would be freed by him
from their captivity by Pharaoh, and God remained Himself without
costing Himself anything: is He here </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">in
the same way</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">? No.
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Descendi ut
liberarem populum meum [I descended so that I might liberate My
people]</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> (Ex 3:8).
“I descended to liberate My people.” What will it cost </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">Y</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">ou?
When Moses liberated </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">Yo</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">ur
people, </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">Y</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">ou
threw many plagues at Pharaoh: </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">Y</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">ou
throw dog flies at him, then frogs, then other things which give them
great pain and labor: but what must it cost </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">Y</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">ou?
What thing is this, Lord? </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Propter
nos homines, </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>et</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>
propter nostram salutem descendit de cœlis, </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>et</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>
incarnat</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>u</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>s
est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>et</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>
homo factus est [For us men, </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>and</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>
for our salvation, He descended from the heavens, </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>and
He</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i> was
incarnate of the Holy Spirit from Mary the Virgin, </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>and</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>
became man]</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote3sym" name="sdfootnote3anc"><sup>3</sup></a>
Men, there is a reason to no longer have a heart of stones instead
of flesh </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">(Ez 36:26)</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
since the Word of God is become flesh for us men, and for our
salvation. God incarnated and became man: over there He remains in
the bramble, and they do not touch Him</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">;</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
here, He descends from the heavens, and has become man. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>There
Is No More; It Was a Marriage For Love</b></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> What
does God have </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">[in
common] </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">with man?
Join those extremes for me.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> Give
me the desire today (</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">if
it were not [already] with him who knows so much</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">)
to say to Him: “Lord, do You know what You are doing?” What
thing </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">is</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
higher than God? What thing lower than man? God and man! Since
Adam sinned, “man” is a name of dishonor, since man and sinner
are one and the same thing. And when Saint Paul wants to rebuke
someone, he calls him “man”:<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote4sym" name="sdfootnote4anc"><sup>4</sup></a>
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Non ne homines
estis [Are you not men]?</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
(1 Cor 3:4). And the Psalmist: </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Ut
sciant gentes, quoniam homines sunt [That the nations may know that
they are men]</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> (Ps
9:20). May they know that they are men, that they are sinners, and
miserable. Who could ever think such</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
a thing</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">? That heave</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">n
is</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">with the
ground? That the high </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">is</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
with the low? That the rich </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">is</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
with the poor? That the pure </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">is</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
with the dirty? That the gold </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">is</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
with the mud of man? What is this, Lord, that you have so truly
joined with man? </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Erunt
duo in carne una</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>[The two will be
one flesh]</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> (Mk
10:8). What is it to become man? He becomes man, and He does not
leave off being God; two natures and one person; in such a manner
that He is called God, God man, and man God, and that which is said
of the one, is said of the other. They are married. </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>O
mira Dei usque ad hominem exinanitio! O mira hominis usque ad Deum
exaltatio! [O </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>marvelous</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>
emptying of God towards man! O </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>marvelous</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>
exaltation of man towards God!]<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote5sym" name="sdfootnote5anc"><sup>5</sup></a></i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
God descends unto becoming man, and raises man towards God: how low,
and how high!</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> So
that you </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">might </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">know
how much God and His goodness can do, God is abased to become man, as
far as joining with humanity, and </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">[as
far as] giving </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">it the
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">hypostasis</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote6sym" name="sdfootnote6anc"><sup>6</sup></a>
and personality of God, and there are not two </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">hypostaseis</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
but two natures joined, human and divine nature; and the human is
impersonal, it is </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">hypostasized</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
and joined to the divine Word, not two persons, but one, </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">in
order </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">to </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">make
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">you understand that
the goodness of God could, without any reward, raise that humanity to
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">hypostasize</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
it in God, and to adorn it with so many excellences and graces; and
that He Who had goodness for this, will have it to raise you yourself
from the dung, so that you </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">might
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">be a son of God by
participation; that He did this for this </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">[</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">reaso</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">n]</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
so that you </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">would </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">see
in the head that which was to pass in the members. That, as He thus
came to it without rewards, so He will come to you yourself without
yours: </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Præclarissimum
nobis proponitur exemplar prædestinationis nostræ Dominus Jesus
[The Lord Jesus is proposed to us as a clearest exemplar of our
predestination]</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote7sym" name="sdfootnote7anc"><sup>7</sup></a>
The example of predestination—if you are predestined, if God calls
you—</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">i</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">s
justifying and saving, because it is predestined by grace.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> Today
the Word is wedded with that holy soul and body. Wedded, Lord? For
this </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">reason</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
He </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">said [it]</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">so </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">that
I would tell it to you if you did not know it: “wedded.” Take
that equality </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">away
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">from me! Are there
those here who understand marriage? Take that equality </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">away
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">from me in the manner
of lineage! Are they equal in one? What </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">goes</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
from lineage to lineage? From knowledge to knowledge? From riches
to riches? A greatest difference, which all the angels are terrified
to hear of. Who sees God descend today and abase Himself? (I say
God abases Himself, not by changing place, but </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">rather,
I mean</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> to say, by
taking that humanity.) It was an unequal thing; but, to the end,
that soul and body were most clean and holy: Your love, Lord,
undergoes all of it, suffers all of it, enriches all of it in
exchange for performing mercies. O great good, O great honor! Do
you think that there is nothing else </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">[to
do] except</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> wedding
Yourself with that humanity? O my King, even the relatives of the
Spouse are very unequal, poor and disobedient! If one would come
from the Indies with much money, if they knew that he gave alms, what
would the poor relatives do </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">in
order </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">to demand it
and take it from him! Then see, Lord, that Your Spouse owes nothing,
never sinned, was most clean in her conception: then see how much we,
the relatives, owe, how weighted with debts we are, how infirm,
exiled, condemned to death, unraveled, and enemies of God, with a
thousand debts and traps, and all would be laid upon You. If You
were not, Lord, Who You are, I would tell You: “Lord, do You know
what You are doing? All the sins of men would be laid upon Your
shoulders: You would have to pay it, upon You would all fall, since
nothing would be remitted You.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> “Do
You know with whom You are wedded? Do You not dishonor Yourself with
the relatives of the betrothed? Son of the Father, so rich in
heaven, do You come here, to earth, to wed Yourself, and to live
among so poor a people? If You were, Lord, some avaricious man whom
the </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">needs</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
of others would not move, there would not be much in it; but, being
Yourself, Lord, so amorous, so merciful, and You Who gives Your
heart<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote8sym" name="sdfootnote8anc"><sup>8</sup></a>to
him whom You see in </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">need</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
how do You place Yourself among such poor men? What have You done?
That the </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">needs</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
of all would be laid upon Your shoulders, and that which the other
sinned in his flesh, and that which the other sinned in his madness,
and the other in his adulterizing and in his blaspheming. What have
You done, Lord? I have to say it, Lord. Blessing the hea</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">ven</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">s
and the earth: I will d</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">o
it,</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> since You love
the ugly, and he appears handsome to You.” There is nothing more;
it was a wedding for love, the Father well loved, </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">so
that </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">He gave even the
Son to us in such </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">a
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">marriage: </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Sic
Deus dilexit mundum, ut Filium suum unigenitum daret [God so loved
the world, that He would give His only-begotten Son]</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
(Jn 3:16). The Father well loved us, the Son well loved us, </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">He
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">Who consented to
such, the Holy Spirit well loved us, </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">He
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">Who ordered such.
Why did the Father give Him? So that He would die and they would
skin Him, so that they would wed Him with the slave. Here I am, the
slave of the Lord. He who is born of a slave woman is a slave,
although He be the son of a free man, because birth follows the womb.
Is it not so? The Virgin calls herself a slave, and He Who is born
of her calls Himself a slave: </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>O
Domine quia ego servus tuus sum, </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>et</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>
filius ancillæ tuæ [O Lord, </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>for</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>
I am Your servant, </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>and</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>
the son of Your handmaid]</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
(Ps 116:16). O Father, I am Your slave, and the son of Your slave!
You were a slave, Lord; who shackled You to that cross with nails?
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>The Son of God did
not come to be served, but to serve</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
(cf. Mt 20:28). You were a slave of men, since You served them, and
they want to thank You for it with hard pains.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> O
blessed </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">[</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">be</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">]
</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">Your goodness,
and cursed our illness! That God </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">would
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">send His Son to the
world to heal men! What </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">was
it</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">, Lord, which moved
You? </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Quæ te
vicit clementia, ut ferres nostra crimina ]What clemency conquered
You, that You would bear our crimes]</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">?<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote9sym" name="sdfootnote9anc"><sup>9</sup></a>
Would it not be enough to send a Moses? </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Non
angelus, non legatus, ego feci, ego feram, ego portabo, ego salvabo
[Not an angel, not a legate, I Myself </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>did</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>,
I will bear, I will carry, I will save]</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
(cf. Is 63:9, 46:4).<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote10sym" name="sdfootnote10anc"><sup>10</sup></a>
“Hear Me, My people, those whom I bring, reared in My womb,”
says the Lord: “I </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">did</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
I will suffer you, I will carry you, I will save you, I will carry
you between My shoulders; because I made You, I will carry you, and I
will save you unto old age, unto your canes I will give you hope.”
Blessed be You, </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">L</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">ord,
since He Who made the vase came to solder it, and He in Whose mold it
was made, He Himself came to remedy and mold it! “I want to
descend,” says God—what was this? God </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">guard</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
you with love! The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit well
loved us. This matter is all love. You do not ask for equality, You
do not place Yourself in that work, You do not ask a reason for love:
it is love; will there be eyes to see this, that, </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">because
of</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> the grand love
which He had, He abased Himself and enclosed Himself in the womb of
the Virgin, determined to pay and suffer and die for men, and to pay
all his debts, even though it costs Him His life? </span></span>
</p>
<div id="sdfootnote1"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a>Here
the “treatise” version of this sermon cuts out numerous lines.
The original sermon reads: “<i>Ecce ancilla Domini, etc. ubi supra
[Behold the handmaid of the Lord, etc., as above]</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.
The words which, through the mediation of divine favor, will give
our sermon a base, the holy Gospel says them in the Mass that is
said today, as you have heard. </span><i>Quis loquetur potentias
Domini, auditas faciet omnes laudes eius; quis sapiens custodiet hoc
[Who will tell the powerful deeds of the Lord, will make all of His
praises heard; which wise man will guard this]?</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
(cf. Ps 106:2)”</span></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote2"><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote2anc" name="sdfootnote2sym">2</a>
This line is based on Is 63:9, as found in the Septuagint, which
reads (in part), “Not an elder nor an angel, but the Lord Himself
saved them.”</span></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote3"><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote3anc" name="sdfootnote3sym">3</a>
A quote from the Nicene (Niceno-Constantinopolitan) Creed.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote4"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote4anc" name="sdfootnote4sym">4</a>The
sermon version adds another Pauline quote: “<i>Contentiones et
rixae [Contentions and strifes]</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
(Gal 5:20), etc.”</span></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote5"><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote5anc" name="sdfootnote5sym">5</a>
See St. Thomas of Villanova, <i>Conferences on the Lord’s Natal
Day</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> IV.12, in St. Thomas of
Villanova, </span><i>Opera Omnia, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">Volume
IV, </span><i>Conciones Omnes in D.N. Jesuchristi ac B.V. Mariæ
Festa Complectens</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (Manila:
Amigos del Pais, 1883), 47: “Marvelous emptying of God towards
flesh, marvelous, too, exaltation of flesh towards God.”</span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote6"><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote6anc" name="sdfootnote6sym">6</a>
In this paragraph, St. John seems to use the word <i>supuesto</i> as
a literal translation of the Greek <i>hypostasis, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">with
the related verb </span><i>supositar</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
meaning “to hypostasize</span>.” Among the older Fathers, the
term was used to refer to a nature, substance, or essence, but it
later developed the meaning of “person”; where the older Fathers
might have spoken of two <i>hypostaseis</i>, the later ones would
speak of two <i>ousiai</i> (singular <i>ousia</i>, “essence”),
with a single <i>hypostasis</i>, hence the term “hypostatic
union.” Since <i>hypostasis</i> literally means “standing”
(<i>stasis</i>) “beneath” (<i>hypo</i>), it lent itself to the
understanding of the base substance, essence, or nature, but that
meaning was changed; it is the later meaning, equivalent to
“individual” or “person,” which St. John is referring to
with his translation of <i>supuest</i><i>o</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
(from the Latin</span><i> suppositus</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,
literally “placed” (</span><i>positus</i><span style="font-style: normal;">)
“under” (</span><i>sub</i><span style="font-style: normal;">),
etymologically identical to</span><i> hypostasis</i><span style="font-style: normal;">).</span><i>
</i>The DRAE gives a philosophical meaning of <i>supuesto</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
as “every being which is the principle of its own actions,”
which also applies to a hypostasis in the later sense. See Real
Academia Española, </span><i>Diccionario de la lengua española</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,
22</span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;">nd</span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;">
ed. (Madrid: Espasa Calpe, S.A., 2001), 2112. “Hypostasize”
means, at least here, “to unite with a hypostasis,” or “to
form a hypostatic union.” </span></span>
</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote7"><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote7anc" name="sdfootnote7sym">7</a>
See St. Augustine, <i>On the Predestination of the Saints</i>, XV.30
(PL 44:981): <i>Est etiam præclarissimum lumen prædestinationis et
gratiæ, ipse Salvator, ipse Mediator Dei et hominum homo Christus
Jesus [For a clearest light of predestination and grace is the
Savior Himself, the Mediator of God and men Himself, the man Christ
Jesus]. </i><span style="font-style: normal;">See also St.
Augustine, </span><i>On the Gift of Perseverance</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
XXIV.67 (PL 45:1033): “There is no more illustrious example of
predestination than Jesus Himself, wherefore I also argued this in
the first book, and I have decided to recall it at the end of this
one: there is, I say, no more illustrious example of predestination
than the Mediator Himself.”</span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote8"><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote8anc" name="sdfootnote8sym">8</a>
Literally “innards” (<i>entrañas</i>).</span></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote9"><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote9anc" name="sdfootnote9sym">9</a>
Two lines from the hymn <i>Jesu, nostra redemptio</i>, the Office
Hymn for the Feast of the Ascension, dating from the 9<sup>th</sup>
or 10<sup>th</sup> century.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote10"><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote10anc" name="sdfootnote10sym">10</a>
See n. 6 above on the quote from Is 63:9.</span></p><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span><b>Sources: </b><i>Tercera parte de las obras del padre maestro Juan de Ávila...</i> (Madrid: Pedro Madrigal, 1596), II:161-185.<br /><i>Obras completas del B. Mtro. Juan de Ávila</i>, ed. Luis Sala Balust (Madrid: La Editorial Católica, S.A., 1953), II:1004-1019.</span> </span></p><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(References given are for the full sermon.)</span></p><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></p><p class="sdfootnote">
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation and Notes </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2024</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the translator.</span>
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p class="sdfootnote"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a:link { color: #000080; text-decoration: underline }</style></p>
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<p><style type="text/css">p.sdfootnote { font-size: 10pt; line-height: 100%; margin-left: 0.24in; text-indent: -0.24in; margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent }p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57% }</style></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-49199996499553179592024-02-19T01:43:00.008-06:002024-03-05T00:24:55.919-06:00Hymn: Longest Night of Earthly Vigil<p>Here is another Lenten hymn, to pair with my recent setting of my old hymn text <a href=" https://thesaurostesekklesias.blogspot.com/2024/02/hymn-when-time-had-come-for-christ-to.html" target="_blank">"When Time Had Come for Christ to Die."</a> Whereas that hymn is fitting for commemorating Christ's death on Good Friday, this hymn is a hymn of the myrrh-bearers, who came to anoint Christ's tomb. It is a hymn of abandonment, a hymn of Holy Saturday. I first wrote it almost a decade ago, with some adjustments throughout the years, and I'm happy to finally share it.</p><p>The tune is "Picardy," a French carol tune. It is best-known through Ralph Vaughan Williams' arrangement of "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence." That is certainly the inspiration for my use of it here, as the text of that hymn is used as the Cherubikon for Holy Saturday. <br /></p><p>Have a blessed Fast.</p><p><br /></p><p style="-x-system-font: none; display: block; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px auto 6px;"> <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/706723610/Longest-Night-of-Earthly-Vigil#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Longest Night of Earthly Vigil on Scribd">Longest Night of Earthly Vigil</a> by <a href="https://www.scribd.com/user/440538202/Brandon-P-Otto#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Brandon P. Otto's profile on Scribd">Brandon P. Otto</a> on Scribd</p><p><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_78815" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/706723610/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-hzAR8QFcR73yj8BuhKLe" title="Longest Night of Earthly Vigil" width="100%"></iframe></p><p><br /></p><p>Scribd link:<a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/706723610/Longest-Night-of-Earthly-Vigil">https://www.scribd.com/document/706723610/Longest-Night-of-Earthly-Vigil</a></p><p>Internet Archive mirror: <a href="https://archive.org/details/longest-night-of-earthly-vigil">https://archive.org/details/longest-night-of-earthly-vigil</a></p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Text:</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>1. Longest night of earthly vigil,<br />'fore the rock now keeps the Bride.<br />Taken from the bloody sigil<br />In the Tomb He'll e'er abide.</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>R: Christ the Lord to earth descended,<br />O black earth, release Him now!</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>2. Rank on rank the hosts of heaven<br />Took their leave so silently.<br />Hast Thou lost that holy leaven<br />Which would raise Thee gloriously?</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>3. Moon and stars of night are fading<br />And the sun no more will rise.<br />Yet, departing, some faint shading<br />In the darkness piques our eyes.</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>4. All the night we've kept in sorrow,<br />Yet the dark has just begun.<br />Return shall we on the morrow<br />And each night till time has run.</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>5. On the morrow we anoint Thee<br />If the rock will bend away.<br />For myrrh makes the dead smell sweetly<br />But can God redeem death's prey?</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>6. Farewell, O our Friend and Master!<br />Now we take our bitter leave!<br />Farewell, O our wolf-maimed Pastor!<br />At the blood of dawn, we grieve!</i><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Lyrics </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2023</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the lyricist.</span>
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a:link { color: #000080; text-decoration: underline }</style></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-18335264482444891842024-02-19T00:49:00.001-06:002024-03-05T00:24:30.522-06:00On Sampling and Scripture<p></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The front matter of my Vulgate for pleasure-reading—the
Colunga-Turrado edition from the <i>Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
series—includes a selection of Magisterial documents relating to
Sacred Scripture. One section includes the responses and
declarations of the Pontifical Biblical Commission (or, as it was
once known, “the Pontifical Commission on Biblical Things,”
</span><i>Pontifica Commissio de Re Biblica</i><span style="font-style: normal;">), instituted by Pope Leo XIII on October 30, 1902. A number of the early responses are </span><span style="font-style: normal;">considered
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">infamous in exegetical
circles for their </span><span style="font-style: normal;">rejection
of historical-critical methods of exegesis; such methods later
received an allowance in Pope Pius XII’s</span><i> <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_30091943_divino-afflante-spiritu.html" target="_blank">Divino Afflante Spiritu</a></i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (1943). </span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> Amidst
the more famous responses, such as “On the Mosaic Authorship of the
Pentateuch” (1906), and “On the Historical Character of the First
Three Chapters of Genesis” (1909), I noticed one I hadn’t heard
of before, the very first response given by the Commission, which I
translate below <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/pcb_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19050213_cit-implicitas_lt.html" target="_blank">(Latin original here)</a>:</span></p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Regarding
Implicit Citations Contained in Sacred Scripture</b></p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(February
13, 1905)</span></p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Acta
Sanctae Sedis</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
37 (1904-1905), p. 666</span></span></p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">When,
in order to have a directive norm for those studying Sacred
Scripture, the following question was proposed to the Pontifical
Commission on Biblical Things, namely:</span></i></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Whether,
in order to clarify the difficulties which occur in some texts of
Sacred Scripture, which are seen to refer to historical facts, it is
permitted for the Catholic exegete to assert that one is dealing, in
these [texts], with tacit or implicit citations of documents written
by an un-inspired author, all of whose assertions the inspired author
by no means intends to approve or make his own, which, therefore,
cannot be held to be immune from error?</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
aforesaid Commission, in response, decreed:</span></i></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Negative<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
except in the case in which, the sense and judgment of the Church
being preserved, it is proved by solid arguments: 1) that the sacred
writer has truly cited the sayings or documents of another; and 2)
that he did not approve or make them his own, wherefore it is
lawfully decreed that he did not speak in his own name.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">What
interested me about this response is how it relates to the modern
idea of the “remix” or “mashup.” I recently read Lawrence
Lessig’s </span></span><a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/47089238/Remix" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Remix</span></i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
which discusses this concept and how remix creators should be legally
protected from copyright strikes. What Lessig has in mind is
something like the music sampling, as used (most prominently) in
hip-hop music. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Typically,
in sampling, the source of the sample, or citation, is obvious.
Think of how Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” sampled the bass line
of the David Bowie and Queen collaboration “Under Pressure,” or
how M.C. Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” sampled the riff of
Rick James’ “Super Freak.” Theoretically, a musical sample
need not be so obvious: Lessig gives the example of a sampler
plucking out the particular playing of a single chord in a unique
orchestral recording—quite subtle, if used on its own. A short
enough sample, or a heavy enough layering of samples, can make it
hard to pick out sources. So it is in the album </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Paul’s
Boutique</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
by the Beastie Boys and the Dust Brothers, or in the work of Lessig’s
particular favorite, the mash-up artist Girl Talk. Such heavy
sampling is often done without copyright clearance (thus being a form
of “<a href="https://www.plunderphonics.com/xhtml/xplunder.html" target="_blank">plunderphonics</a>,” to use John Oswald’s term).</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> But
what I am focused on here is not the copyright issues, but the
concept of sampling or citation in itself. As I said, in modern
sampling or mash-ups, the original source is often quite easily
distinguishable. This is because modern audio technology makes it
very easy to sample, not just the rhythm or melody of chords, but the
original recording itself. </span></span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Sampling
need not be so obvious, though: one can sample the </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">structure</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
of the word, the </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">script</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
and not just the </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">performance</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
itself. This has long been the case in music</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">:
classical music has often sample folk melodies, such as the Shaker
tune “Simple Gifts” found in Aaron Copland’s </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Appalachian
Spring</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
or most of the melodies from Johannes Brahms’ </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Hungarian
Dances</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
A particular favorite of mine is Ralph Vaughan Williams’ </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Five
Variants of Dives and Lazarus</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
based on a melody best-known for its pairing with the hymn, “I
Heard the Voice of Jesus Say.” These are clear-cut examples:
others are less so. Did Antonin Dvořák actually sample the
melodies of African-American spirituals in </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Symphony
No. 9</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
or was he simply inspired by their rhythm and melodical tendencies,
as in his </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Slavonic
Dances</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">?
Even in the cases where melodical samplings are obvious, there is
still an abstraction here compared to modern digital samplin</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">g.
It is easier to incorporate a textual citation (and I consider sheet
music a text) than a recorded citation, a performance: it is easier
to make the former one’s own.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> And,
of course, citations like this go far beyond music. Visual art can
cite and sample, sometimes by including literal copies of an entire
artwork (Van Gogh included miniatures of some of his portraits in his
</span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Bedroom at Arles</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">),
sometimes by incorporating fragments of a work, or color schemes, or
shapes and framing (as in some of Kehinde Wiley’s paintings,
replicating the stance and arrangement of famous portraits, often
regal or noble). And, in text, sampling is even </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">more</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
prevalent. Think of the poets’ proverb: “Immature poets imitate;
mature poets steal.” (This is T.S. Eliot’s version, though many
others have their own spin on it, often applying to artists in
general, not just poets in particular.)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Text
is (typically) clearly structured and laid out; it is easy to
dissect, to cut up, sometimes literally, as William S. Burroughs did.
A clear example is seen in Raymond Queneau’s </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">A
Hundred Thousand Billion Poems</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">:
ten sonnets with each line printed on separate strips, and each line
having the same ending rhyme, so that any fourteen lines, from any
source sonnet, can be rearranged into a new sonnet, with the title of
the work giving the possible number of permutations (10</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">14</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">).
Most textual sampling is more judicious, though, with the writer
writing much of his own material, and then garnishing it with select
quotations; even if the quotations are more integral to the core of
the work, it is typical for the majority of the writing to be
original to the writer.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Yet
even this “original” writing is not free from sampling. Every
writer unknowingly samples as he writes: as he reads and listens to
those around him, his mind unwittingly snips phrases and sayings and
hides them away in the treasure-house of the mind. When he pulls
them out later, in the course of his writing, he often doesn’t even
know he’s doing it. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Unconscious
plagiarism is commonplace. And when we broaden beyond mere identical
strings of words to structures, to arrangements of phrases, the
borrowing becomes even more frequent.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> But
is sampling—voluntary or involuntary—merely plagiarization, a
copying of another’s work and claiming it as one’s own?
Absolutely not.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> When
the “mature poet steals,” he is not doing so in order to pawn off
stolen goods. He is no mere forger. (Though some would even argue
that forgery can be artistic and original: see the interesting
discussions in Byung-Chul Han’s </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Shanzai:
Deconstruction in Chinese</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.)
Where a mature artist steals a jewel, he does so to put it in his
own setting; even if he stole the setting as well, by selecting those
two distinct pieces and joining them together, he has made his own
piece of art. That selection is itself an artistic process. That is
why Francis Palgrave’s </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Golden
Treasury</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
is more than just a </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">pile
of stolen poems: it is a </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">curated
treasury</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
and that curation is itself an original work. (Whether Palgrave’s
curation was good or not is a separate issue.)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> The
citing artist is thus making the citation part of his work. If the
citation is clearly framed, he could be using it as a counterpoint,
and not necessarily part of his own view; if the citation is subtler,
maybe even unwitting, then the citer is often </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">making
it his own</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Thus,
after this journey of a thousand steps, we are back to the stodgy
Vatican document with which I began. For the question that was asked
of the Commission was—reworded—this: “When the sacred author
cites, do the words become his own, or do they remain another’s?”
The Commission declares that the presumption should be, “The words
are his own”: “owned until proven quoted.” The sacred authors
were men: we do not believe in dictated inspiration, the Holy Spirit
whispering the exact words in the author’s ear, as He does with
chant in many icons of St. Gregory the Great. We believe in dual
authorship: Scripture is truly God-inspired and God-written, but it
was written </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">by</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
(or </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">through</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
as Scripture itself often says) the human authors as well. These men
wrote in their own, distinct ways (hence why Julius Wellhausen and
his descendants have some rationale for their attempts to divide up
the Pentateuch by various author); they used their own wits to write.
This means that, like all writers, they will have some citations,
voluntary or involuntary. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
Book of Proverbs, for instance, has many passages that are
startlingly close to an ancient Egyptian work, the </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Instruction
of Amenemope</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
(c. 13</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">-11</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
centuries BC). Did the sacred author (traditionally Solomon)
knowingly copy down parts of this text, thinking them worthy of Godly
wisdom? Or did these old proverbs he’d heard in his youth hide in
his mind and come forth when he began to write out proverbs of his
own? </span></span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> The
Commission says that citations can only be considered as citations
proper if they are 1) directly known to be the words of another and
2) set in contradistinction by the sacred author. Nietzsche says,
“God is dead.” </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">My
citation makes it clear </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">that
the words belong to another (#1); but have I made the
contradistinction clear? </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
Commission said that “it must be proved...that [the author] did not
approve or make them his own (</span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">sua
facere</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">).”
An unwitting citation is a case where the author “makes them his
own”; if he declares the author that he’s citing from, then we
should generally assume the words have not “been made his own.”
Yet that is not enough to exempt them from inerrancy: if the sacred
author cites </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">without
disapproving</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
then the citations are covered under inerrancy. Jude’s Epistle
references some apocryphal work discussing a debate between Michael
the Archangel and the devil over the body of Moses (v. 9): though St.
Jude is clearly citing someone else (“Michael the
archangel...</span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">said</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">”),
thus fulfilling #1, and, since the citation is distinct, I would say
he is clearly not making the words his own (#2.2), </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">yet
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">there
is no indication that he </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">disapproves</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
(#2.1); thus, per the Commission’s criteria, it seems this
quotation would still fall under inerrancy.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> (Interestingly,
scholars aren’t sure </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">which</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
apocryphal book Jude is citing: Origen said he was quoting the
</span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Assumption of
Moses</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
but we only have a partial Latin translation of the work. Other
scholars think he is conflating or misremembering episodes from the
</span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Apocalypse of
Moses</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
the </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Book of Enoch</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
or Zechariah 3.)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">To
try to wrap all this up, I think the Commission’s response
translated above is a recognition of the ubiquity of sampling, of
citation, in artistry. (And Scripture is a collection of sacred
artworks.) The artist often so merges the sample—frequently
through unwittingness—into his work that he truly “makes it his
own”: the sample becomes part of his own artwork. Even a clear,
distinct sample, though, is not because of that a negation of
artistry. The Commission says that if the author does not clearly
</span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">disapprove</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
of a sample, then it is such a part of the artwork that it acquires
the work’s inerrancy. Inerrancy is what the Commission is
focused on, so, if a sample is distinct and disapproved, then the
sample in itself is not inerrant. Yet </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">that
does not exempt it from being part of the artwork</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
The disapproval itself is incorporated into the work; the
oppositional structure is part of the artist’s artistry. The
manifesto of the ungodly men in Wis 2 is part of the artwork; it is
included so that it can be refuted: “Thus they reasoned, but they
were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, and they did not
know the secret purposes of God, nor hope for the wages of holiness,
nor discern the prize for blameless souls” (Wis 2:21-22 RSV-CE). A
similar case is found in the friends’ speeches in the Book of Job;
so, too, is the nihilism found in much of the Book of Ecclesiastes. </span></span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span><i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sampling
is not always approval, but sampling is always artistry</span></span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
in the secular as in the Scriptural.</span></span></span></p><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span></p><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Note: Fr. E.F. Sutcliffe's English translations of the early responses of the Pontifical Biblical Commission can be found at </i><a href="http://catholicapologetics.info/scripture/oldtestament/commission.htm" target="_blank">Catholic Apologetics Information</a>. </span></span></span></span></p><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Text </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2024</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the author.</span>
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a:link { color: #000080; text-decoration: underline }</style></p>
<p><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-69760109809959604042024-02-07T15:42:00.004-06:002024-03-05T00:24:13.197-06:00Hymn: When Time Had Come for Christ to Die<p>In a <a href="https://thesaurostesekklesias.blogspot.com/2014/04/rejoice-rabbi.html" target="_blank">blog post from 2014</a>, reflecting on Good Friday, I included a hymn I had written, to be set to the tune JESU DULCIS MEMORIA. Almost ten years later, I have finally prepared this musical setting:</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="800" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://archive.org/embed/when-time-had-come-for-christ-to-die_202402" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="100%"></iframe></p>
<p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Scribd mirror: <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/706718005/When-Time-Had-Come-for-Christ-to-Die">https://www.scribd.com/document/706718005/When-Time-Had-Come-for-Christ-to-Die</a></span> <br /></p><p> </p><p>The bare text of the hymn is here:</p><p> </p><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>When time had come for Christ to die,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>and Judas had betrayed Him by</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>a twisted kiss for silver's gain,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>the sky did not hold back its rain.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>His Blood upon the ground did fall</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>as guards brought Him the bitter gall.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The sun did darken in that hour</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>for sorrow did it overpower.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>In two spots did blood run that day,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>from the betrayer, from betrayed,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>in Akeldama's soiled field,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>on Golgotha where thunder pealed.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Sixth hour passed when He was nailed,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Ninth hour now the One who's hailed</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>as He Who comes in the Lord's name</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>will die the death of the infame.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>One thief to Heaven, one to Hell:</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>the Psalm is now the Lord's death knell.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>And letting out His final breath,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>the Christ has fin'lly come to death.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Silence now reigns upon the earth,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>soaked by the blood of countless worth.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>In sorrow is now sealed the Tomb,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>of glorious birth the second womb.</i></span></div><p> </p><p>
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Hymn Text </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2014</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the author.</span>
</p>
<p><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a:link { color: #000080; text-decoration: underline }</style></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-60271509380621744592024-02-06T00:06:00.005-06:002024-02-19T01:03:23.934-06:00Repack: "Sermons on the Transfiguration of the Lord" by Peter of Celle<p>Included in this repack are Peter of Celle's two sermons (Sermons <a href="https://thesaurostesekklesias.blogspot.com/2023/08/peter-of-celle-sermon-65-on.html" target="_blank">65</a> and <a href="https://thesaurostesekklesias.blogspot.com/2023/08/peter-of-celle-sermon-66-on.html" target="_blank">66</a>) on the Transfiguration of the Lord. See the links above for the original posts.</p><p>As I have been having trouble with my Scribd documents being inexplicably unavailable for download for anyone but me (though, oddly, they are still readable when embedded in a blog-post), I am switching to the Internet Archive for document sharing. If issues with Scribd continue, I will switch my previous documents to Internet Archive as well.</p><p></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="800" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://archive.org/embed/peter-of-celle-sermons-on-the-transfiguration-of-the-lord_202402" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="100%"></iframe></p><p></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Link to Internet Archive: <a href="https://archive.org/details/peter-of-celle-sermons-on-the-transfiguration-of-the-lord_202402">https://archive.org/details/peter-of-celle-sermons-on-the-transfiguration-of-the-lord_202402</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Scribd mirror: <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/706718672/Peter-of-Celle-Sermons-on-the-Transfiguration-of-the-Lord">https://www.scribd.com/document/706718672/Peter-of-Celle-Sermons-on-the-Transfiguration-of-the-Lord</a> <br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p>
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation ©2024. Licensed via <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the translator.</span>
</p>
<p><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a:link { color: #000080; text-decoration: underline }</style></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-64874426114195095032024-02-05T00:41:00.002-06:002024-02-05T22:54:34.716-06:00Repack Release: Charles de Foucauld -- Meditations on Genesis<p>I am going to begin to repackage my longer translations and groups of translations as handsome PDFs, released on Scribd. These will provide for easy downloading and reading. The first such release is a repack of my two-part translation of St. Charles de Foucauld's <i>Meditations on Genesis</i>. The original posts can be found here: <a href="https://thesaurostesekklesias.blogspot.com/2023/09/st-charles-de-foucauld-meditations-on.html" target="_blank">Part I</a>, <a href="https://thesaurostesekklesias.blogspot.com/2023/09/st-charles-de-foucauld-meditations-on_24.html" target="_blank">Part II</a>.</p><p><br /></p>
<p style="-x-system-font: none; display: block; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px auto 6px;"> <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/703670637/Charles-de-Foucauld-Meditations-on-Genesis#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Charles de Foucauld -- Meditations on Genesis on Scribd">Charles de Foucauld -- Meditations on Genesis</a> by <a href="https://www.scribd.com/user/440538202/Brandon-P-Otto#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Brandon P. Otto's profile on Scribd">Brandon P. Otto</a> on Scribd</p><p><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_6536" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/703670637/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-C4LtaqFweRftbUrYOdhP" title="Charles de Foucauld -- Meditations on Genesis" width="100%"></iframe></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Scribd link: <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/703670637/Charles-de-Foucauld-Meditations-on-Genesis">https://www.scribd.com/document/703670637/Charles-de-Foucauld-Meditations-on-Genesis</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Internet Archive mirror: <a href="https://archive.org/details/charles-de-foucauld-meditations-on-genesis">https://archive.org/details/charles-de-foucauld-meditations-on-genesis</a></span></p><p> </p><p>
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation ©2024. Licensed via <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the translator.</span>
</p>
<p><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a:link { color: #000080; text-decoration: underline }</style></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-81341648698193342822024-02-04T14:46:00.004-06:002024-03-05T00:23:39.315-06:00O Heart of Jesus, Save the World: Hymn of the Society of the Sacred Heart<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <b>Introduction</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As an alumnus of a Sacred Heart school, I have fond memories of the anonymous French hymn, "Coeur de Jésus, sauvez le monde," one of the anthems of Sacred Heart schools. When the song popped into my head recently--particularly the bit in the chorus where "vous soit soumis" is repeated--I decided to look up the text and provide my own translation. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The melody in the version below is based on the four-part transcription by Laura Becker (found at <a href="https://aash.org/files/resource/attachment/coeur_de_jesus.pdf">https://aash.org/files/resource/attachment/coeur_de_jesus.pdf</a>). However, my memory--which, being decades old at this point, might be faulty--included a dotted eighth note rhythm in the antepenultimate bar of the verse, where Becker's transcription has strict eighth notes (as in the final two bars of the verse). Thus I've adjusted my rendition to match my memory.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">For purposes of sonic pleasure, I translated that "vous soit soumis" repetition as "is bowed to Thee" rather than "is bowed to You." I just couldn't get myself to remove that "-ee" sound from the chorus. That meant, though, that, for consistency's sake, the rest of the hymn had to be translated with Thee-Thy-Thou pronouns rather than You-Yours-You.<b> </b>I have also given myself a little leeway in translation and in matching the text to music: specifically, there are many bars in the verses where a pair of notes might cover either two syllables or one, depending on the verse. I think I will claim the looseness of folk music as my sanction for this. A few times, as well, I added an additional word or two because a strict word-for-word translation left far too few syllables for a line.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-auto-height="true" frameborder="0" height="600" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/703583688/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-Kx12yEfPNQpgnFeBiOSI" tabindex="0" title="O Heart of Jesus, Save the World" width="100%"></iframe></p><p style="-x-system-font: none; display: block; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px auto 6px;"><a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/703583688/O-Heart-of-Jesus-Save-the-World#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View O Heart of Jesus, Save the World on Scribd">O Heart of Jesus, Save the ...</a> by <a href="https://www.scribd.com/user/440538202/Brandon-P-Otto#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Brandon P. Otto's profile on Scribd">Brandon P. Otto</a></p><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Scribd link: <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/703583688/O-Heart-of-Jesus-Save-the-World">https://www.scribd.com/document/703583688/O-Heart-of-Jesus-Save-the-World</a></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Internet Archive mirror: <a href="https://archive.org/details/o-heart-of-jesus-save-the-world">https://archive.org/details/o-heart-of-jesus-save-the-world</a> <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Translation</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>O Heart of Jesus, save the world,<br />may th'universe be bowed to Thee, be bowed to Thee.<br />In Thee alone our hope is founded!<br />O Lord, O Lord, this promise we've from Thee.</i></p><p style="text-align: left;">1. This Thou hast said: Thy faithful promise<br />Shall be our hope, our joyful part:<br />"Thus I shall bless in my tenderness<br />All the children of My Sacred Heart!"</p><p style="text-align: left;">2. This Thou hast said: O faithful Savior,<br />Thus has Thy Love to us revealed:<br />"My burning Heart shall console<br />The heart hat burns for Me with zeal!"</p><p style="text-align: left;">3. This Thou hast said: our mortal weakness<br />Shall find in Thee its Protector<br />And in Thy Love be ever ceaseless,<br />O Jesus our only Redeemer!</p><p style="text-align: left;">4. This Thou hast said: the living blazings<br />Of grace and love conquering the dark<br />Shall give their aid in soul saving<br />To the apostles of Thy Sacred Heart! </p><p style="text-align: left;">5. This Thou hast said: source of all graces,<br />Thy Love shall open widely,<br />Heaping with Your gifts efficacious<br />The fervent Heart which honors Thee!</p><p style="text-align: left;">6. This Thou hast said: when Your image<br />Brims o'er with honor, glory, lauds,<br />This, this alone shall be our gauge<br />Of the blessings of Thy Sacred Heart!</p><p style="text-align: left;">7. This Thou hast said: the heart that loves Me<br />May lay to rest upon Mine<br />All-peacefully until the ending<br />Of a day that lacks a midnight!</p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Final refrain:</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>What does it matter if a storm rage?<br />For our hearts are firm in Thee, are firm in Thee.<br />Jesus the world's King to the ages,<br />Reign, reign despite all of our enemies!</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i> </i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i> </i><b>French Original</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Coeur de Jésus sauvez le monde,<br />Que l’univers vous soit soumis<br />En Vous seul notre espoir se fonde<br />Seigneur, Seigneur, Vous nous l’avez promis. </i></p><p style="text-align: left;">1. Vous l’avez dit: Votre promesse<br />Fait notr’espoir, notre bonheur:<br />« Je bénirai dans ma tendresse<br />Les enfants de mon Sacré Coeur. </p><p style="text-align: left;">2. Vous l’avez dit: Sauveur fidèle,<br />Votr’ amour nous l’a révélé:<br />« Le coeur brulant pour Moi de zèle<br />Par le Mien sera consolé ! » </p><p style="text-align: left;">3. Vous l’avez dit: notre faiblesse<br />En Vous trouve son Protecteur,<br />Dans votr’amour soyez sans cesse<br />Jésus notre Réparateur!</p><p style="text-align: left;">4. Vous l'avez dit: les vies flammes<br />De grace et de l'maour vain-queur<br />Aideront au salut des âmes,<br />Les apôtres de votre Coeur.</p><p style="text-align: left;">5. Vous l'avez dit: Source de grâces,<br />Votr'Amour se delatera,<br />Comblant de ses dons efficaces<br />Le Coeur qui vous honorera.</p><p style="text-align: left;">6. Vous l'avez dit: quand votr'image<br />Meuvra la gloire et l'honneur<br />Parmi nous ce sera le gage<br />Des bien-faits de votre grand Coeur.</p><p style="text-align: left;">7. Vous l'avez dit: le coeur qui M'aime<br />Sur le Mien pourra s'endormir<br />Dans la paiz, à l'instant suprème<br />D'un jour qui ne doit plus finir.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Final refrain:</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Qu'importe si l'orage grande<br />Ça Vous nos coeurs sont affermis<br />Jésus, Vous êtes Roi du monde,<br />Régnez, malgré nos ennemis! </i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i> </i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Source: </b>AASH (Associated Alumnae & Alumni of the Sacred Heart), "Coeur de Jésus," at <a href="https://aash.org/about-aash/sacred-heart-traditions/coeur-de-jesus">https://aash.org/about-aash/sacred-heart-traditions/coeur-de-jesus</a> (accessed February 4, 2024). </p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2024</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the translator.</span>
</p><p style="text-align: left;"><i> </i></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-68227046661158105282024-01-28T23:59:00.005-06:002024-01-28T23:59:51.549-06:00Readings for Common Classes of Saints According to the Ruthenians<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <b>Introduction</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Along with the unique liturgical readings given for some feasts, the Byzantine tradition (like most, if not all, liturgical traditions) also prescribes common sets of readings to be used for various classes of saints or general festal themes. The readings and numbering arrangement given below are those of the Ruthenian practice, as found in David M. Petras, <i>Common Typicon</i> (Pittsburgh, PA: Byzantine Seminary Press, 2017), 90-101. In Orthodox practice, these common readings are often found in the <i>General Menaion</i>, a few versions of which can be found online: <a href="https://www.ponomar.net/data/orloff_general_menaion.pdf" target="_blank">Nicholas Orloff's 1862 version</a>, <a href="https://www.ponomar.net/data/general_menaion.pdf" target="_blank">John Peck's 2011 version</a>, or the Russian Orthodox version found at <a href="http://st-sergius.org/services/services1.html">St-Sergius.org</a>. Though the <i>Common Typikon</i> also provides Prokeimena and Alleluia verses, among other notes, I have simply recorded the main Scriptural readings here.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Regarding the Commons of each day of the week (Commons 18-23), these are related to the hymns of the Oktoechos, the 8-week cycle of basic hymns. In the Oktoechos, each day of the week has its own theme (Sunday's, of course, being the Resurrection), which themes are consistent across all eight weeks. The readings of these Commons relate to each theme from the Oktoechos.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Certain readings--either common or unique--are composed of verses scattered across multiple chapters of a book, and sometimes across multiple books. These were deemed "Composite Readings" in the Basilian Sisters' <i>Festal Menaion</i> (Uniontown, PA: Sisters of St. Basil the Great, 1985). (Note that this is distinct from the more popular <i>Festal Menaion</i> translated by Mother Mary and Archimandrite Kallistos Ware (London: Faber and Faber, 1969).) A list of the Composite Readings can be found at the end of this post. Please note that the exact numbering of included verses can vary across sources, especially because some sources only include partial verses. I hope to do a deeper examination of the Composite Readings in the future.<br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p>
</p><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Common 1: Theotokos</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
Gen 28:10-17; Ez 43:27-44:4; Prv 9:1-11</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Matins: Lk 1:39-49, 56</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Liturgy: Phil 2:5-11 (or Heb 9:1-7); Lk 10:38-42, 11:27-28</p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
2: Holy Cross</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Vespers: Ex 15:22-16:1; Prv 3:11-18; Is 60:11-16</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Matins: Jn 12:28-36</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Liturgy: 1 Cor 1:18-24; Jn 19:6-11, 13-20, 25-28, 30b-35a</p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
3: Angels</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
Jos 5:13-15; Jgs 6:2, 7, 11-24; Is 14:7-20</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins:
Mt 13:24-30, 36b-43</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
Heb 2:2-10; Lk 10:16-21</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
4: Prophets</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
Wis 3:1-9; Wis 5:15-6:3; Wis 4:7, 16-17, 4:19-5:7</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins:
Mt 23:29-39</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
1 Cor 14:20-25; Lk 11:47-12:1</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
5: Apostles</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">For
One Apostle:</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
1 Jn 3:21-4:6; 1 Jn 4:11-16; 1 Jn 4:20-5:5</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins:
Jn 21:15-25 (or Mt 9:36-10:8)</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
1 Cor 4:9-16; Mt 9:36-10:8</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">For
Two or More Apostles:</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
1 Pet 1:3-9; 1 Pet 1:13-19; 1 Pet 2:11-24</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins:
Jn 21:15-25 (or Lk 10:1-15)</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
1 Cor 4:9-16; Lk 10:1-15 (or Lk 10:16-21)</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
6: One Bishop (Hierarch)</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
Prv 10:7, 6, 3:13-16, 8:6, 34-35, 4:12, 14, 17, 5-9, 1:23, 15:4
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Composite I)</span><b>;</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Prv 10:31-32, 11:2, 10:2, 11:7, 13:2, 9, 15:2, 14:33, 22:12, Wis
6:12-16, 7:30, 8:2-4, 7-9, 17-18, 21, 9:1-5, 10-11, 14 </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Composite
II)</span><b>;</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Prv 29:2, Wis
4:1, 14, 6:11, 17-18, 21-23, 7:15-16, 21-22, 26-27, 29, 10:9-10, 12,
7:30, 2:1, 10-17, 19-22, 15:1, 16:13, Prv 3:34 </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Composite
IV)</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins:
Jn 10:1-9</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
Heb 7:26-8:2; Jn 10:9-16</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
7: Two or More Bishops (Hierarchs)</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
Prv 10:7, 6, 3:13-16, 8:6, 34-35, 4:12, 14, 17, 5-9, 1:23, 15:4
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Composite I)</span><b>;</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Prv 10:31-32, 11:1, 2, 4, 3, 5-12 </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Composite
VI)</span><b>;</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Wis 4:7-15</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins:
Mt 5:14-19</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
Heb 13:17-21; Jn 10:1-9</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
8: Venerables and Fools for Christ</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
Wis 3:1-9; Wis 5:15-6:3; Wis 4:7-15</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins:
Mt 11:27-30</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
Gal 5:22-6:2; Lk 6:17-23</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
9: One Martyr</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
Is 43:9-14; Wis 3:1-9; Wis 4:7-15</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins;
Lk 12:2-12</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
2 Tim 2:1-10; Jn 15:17-16:2</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
10: Two or More Martyrs</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
Is 43:9-14; Wis 3:1-9; Wis 5:15-6:3</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins:
Mt 10:16-22</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
Eph 6:10-17; Lk 21:12-19</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
11: One Bishop-Martyr</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
Is 43:9-14; Wis 3:1-9; Wis 5:15-6:3</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins;
Lk 12:32-40</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
Heb 13:7-16; Lk 12:32-40</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
12: Two or More Bishop-Martyrs</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
Is 43:9-14; Wis 3:1-9; Wis 5:15-6:3</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins:
Lk 12:32-40</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
Heb 5:4-10; Lk 6:17-23 (or Lk 10:22-24; or Lk 14:25-35)</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
13: Venerable Martyrs</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
Wis 3:1-9; Wis 5:15-6:3; Wis 4:7-15</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins:
Mk 8:34b-38</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">One
Venerable Martyr: 2 Tim 1:8-18; Mk 8:34b-38</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Two
or More Venerable Martyrs: Rom 8:28-39; Mt 10:32-33, 37-39,
19:27-30 (or Lk 12:8-12)</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
14: Women Martyrs</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
Is 43:9-14; Wis 3:1-9; Wis 5:15-6:3</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins:
Mt 15:21-28</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
2 Cor 6:1-10 (or Gal 3:23-29); Mt 15:21-28 (or Mk 5:24-34)</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
15: Venerable Women</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">One
Venerable Woman: Wis 3:1-9; Wis 5:15-6:3; Wis 4:7-15</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Two
or More Venerable Women: Is 43:9-14; Wis 3:1-9; Wis 5:15-6:3</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins:
Mt 25:1-13</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">For
Venerable Women Martyrs: Mt 15:21-28</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
Gal 3:23-29; Mt 25:1-13 (or Lk 7:36-50)</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
16: Confessors</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Vespers: Wis 3:1-9; Wis 5:15-6:3; Wis 4:7-15</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Matins: Lk 12:8-12</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Liturgy: Eph 6:10-17; Lk 12:8-12</p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
17: Unmercenary Healers</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
Is 43:9-14; Wis 3:1-9; Wis 5:15-6:3</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Matins:
Mt 10:1, 5-8</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
1 Cor 12:27-13:8; Mt 10:1, 5-8</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
18: Mondays (cf. Common 3: Angels)</b></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
19: Tuesday: John the Forerunner</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers:
Is 40:1-3, 9, 41:17-18, 45:8, 48:20-21, 54:1 (Composite IX); </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Mal
3:1, Mk 1:2, Mal 3:1-3, 5-7, 12, 18, 17, 4:4-6 (Composite X); </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Wis
4:7, 16-17, 4:19-5:7 (Composite III)</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">M</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">atins:
Mt 11:2-15 (or Lk 7:17-30)</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
Acts 13:25-32; Jn 1:29-34</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
20: Wednesday (cf. Common 1: Theotokos)</b></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
21: Thursday (cf. Common 5: Apostles)</b></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
22: Friday (cf. Common 2: Holy Cross)</b></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
23: Saturday: Faithful Departed and All Saints</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Liturgy:
1 Thes 4:13-17; Jn 5:24-30</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Common
24: For the Departed</b></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Monday
Liturgy: Rom 14:6-9; Jn 5:17-24</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Tuesday
Liturgy: 1 Cor 15:39-45; Jn 5:24-30</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Wednesday
Liturgy: 2 Cor 5:1-10a; Jn 6:35-39</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Thursday
Liturgy: 1 Cor 15:20-28; Jn 6:40-44</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Friday
Liturgy: 1 Cor 15:47-57; Jn 6:48-54</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Saturday
Liturgy: 1 Thes 4:13-17; Jn 5:24-30</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a:link { color: #000080; text-decoration: underline }</style></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>
</p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-style: normal;">Composite Readings from the
</span><i>Festal Menaion</i></b></p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Composite I: </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Prv
10:7, 6, 3:13-16, 8:6, 34-35, 4:12, 14, 17, 5-9, 1:23, 15:4</span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">C</span><span style="font-style: normal;">omposite
II: </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Prv 10:31-32, 11:2,
10:2, 11:7, 13:2, 9, 15:2, 14:33, 22:12, Wis 6:12-16, 7:30, 8:2-4,
7-9, 17-18, 21, 9:1-5, 10-11, 14</span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">C</span><span style="font-style: normal;">omposite
III: Wis 4:7, 16-17, 4:19-5:7</span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">C</span><span style="font-style: normal;">omposite
IV: P</span><span style="font-style: normal;">rv 29:2, Wis 4:1, 14,
6:11, 17-18, 21-23, 7:15-16, 21-22, 26-27, 29, 10:9-10, 12, 7:30,
2:1, 10-17, 19-22, 15:1, 16:13, Prv 3:34</span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">C</span><span style="font-style: normal;">omposite
V: Ex </span><span style="font-style: normal;">12:51, 13:1-3, 10-16,
22:29, Lev 12:</span><span style="font-style: normal;">1</span><span style="font-style: normal;">-4,
6</span><span style="font-style: normal;">, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">8,
Num 8:16-17<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"></a></span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">C</span><span style="font-style: normal;">omposite
VI: </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Prv 10:31-32, 11:1, 2, 4,
3, 5-12</span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">C</span><span style="font-style: normal;">omposite
VII: Gen </span><span style="font-style: normal;">17:15-17, 19,
18:11-14, 21:1-2, 4-8</span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Composite VIII: Jgs 13:2-8, 13-14,
17-18, 21</span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">C</span><span style="font-style: normal;">omposite
IX: Is 40:1-3, 9, 41:17-18, 45:8, 48:20-21, 54:1</span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Composite X: Mal 3:1, Mk 1:2, Mal
3:1-3, 5-7, 12, 18, 17, 4:4-6</span></p><br /><p><br /></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-42665853890454724232024-01-22T16:06:00.005-06:002024-01-28T23:32:05.963-06:00Byzantine Old Testament Readings for Sunday Vespers<p>
</p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Introduction</b></p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> In
the Byzantine Rite, the Old Testament is only liturgically read at
Vespers and (on a few major feasts) Royal Hours. The traditional
calendar only gives Vespers readings for feasts and for the Great
Fast: on days outside the Fast when no feasts are being celebrated,
there are no readings at Vespers. In an attempt to remedy this, Fr.
Theodore Pulcini of the Antiochian Orthodox Church arranged sets of
Old Testament readings to be read at Sunday Vespers throughout the
year, with the readings chosen due to their relation to the selected
Gospel reading for </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">each
Sunday</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"> (though, oddly, he
typically selected only two readings, whereas Byzantine festal
Vespers readings come in sets of three). These readings have been
incorporated—as optional—in Fr. David Petras’ yearly Typikon
for the Ruthenians; in addition, Fr. Petras has listed readings from
the Syrian tradition. Below, I have transcribed these citations for
ease of reference. As in Fr. Petras’ Typika, P stands for Fr.
Pulcini’s proposed readings, and S stands for readings from the
Syrian tradition.</span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> On
the rare Sundays that have Vespers readings on the traditional
Byzantine calendar, these readings are included here and italicized.</span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">It
should be noted that Fr. Pulcini’s proposed readings are tied to
specific Gospel readings, rather than to specific Sundays after
Pentecost. (In fact, Fr. Pulcini's original book of proposals groups the readings by Evangelist rather than by the typical divisions of the liturgical year: thus he has the "Sundays of Matthew," "Sundays of Mark," "Sundays of Luke," and "Sundays of John.") Thus, after the “Lukan Jump” following the Exaltation
of the Cross—when the Epistle and Gospel readings often become
disconnected—the Old Testament reading is tied solely to the
Gospel. For instance, if, on the 20</span><sup><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></sup><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost, the prescribed Gospel reading is from the
23</span><sup><span style="font-weight: normal;">rd</span></sup><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost, then the proposed Old Testament reading is
the reading for </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">23</span><sup><span style="font-weight: normal;">rd</span></sup><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday, not for the 20</span><sup><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></sup><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunda</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">y. </span>
</p><p> <br /></p><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> I
am also unsure as to how the Syrian calendar of readings changes
after the Exaltation of the Cross. For now, I have omitted them from
this list beginning with the 15</span><sup><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></sup><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost. Once again, if I am able to determine the
proper order of the Syrian readings, I will update this list.</span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Fr.
Pulcini’s proposed readings were originally published in: Theodore
Pulcini, </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Old Testament
Lectionary for Use in the Byzantine Tradition at Great Vespers on
Saturday Evening</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
(2005)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> These
readings were reprinted in: </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Book
of Thematic Readings</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
(Fairfax, VA: Eastern Christian Publications, 2020)</span></span></p><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>Edit (1/28/2024): I was able to briefly glance a copy of Fr. Pulcini's 2005 book; thus I was able to add his proposed readings for the 15th and 16th Sundays After Pentecost, as well as give a brief description of his division of readings.</i> <br /></span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-style: normal;">Triodion</span></b></p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sunday
of the Publican and the Pharisee </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">2
Tim 3:10-15; Lk 18:10-14</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Sir 3:17-27; Sir 10:7-18</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Ex 16:12-20; Jer 50:20-27; Is 43:11-21</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sunday
of the Prodigal Son </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1
Cor 6:12-20; Lk 15:11-32</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Is 55:1-7; Hos 14:1-9</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">2
Sam 1:17-27; Job 14:1-2; Dan 9:1-11</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Meatfare
Sunday </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(1
Cor 8:8-9:2; Mt 25:31-46)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Is 26:20-27:13; Joel 1:13-2:13</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Dt 34:1-12; 2 Sam 12:15-25; Ez 37:1-14</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Cheesefare
Sunday </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Rom
13:11b-14:4; Mt 6:14-21)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Sir 28:1-7; Is 58:1-11</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Gen 1:1-5; Job 20:1-23; Prv 20:1-20</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sunday
of Orthodoxy </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Heb
11:24-26, 32-12:2a; Jn 1:43-51)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Dt 5:1-5, 18:15-19; Is 42:1-12</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Num 12:1-16; Job 19:1-27 (or Jos 4:15-24); Hab 2:6-20</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sunday
of St. Gregory Palamas </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Heb
1:10-2:3; Mk 2:1-12)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"><sup>1</sup></a></span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Jer 31:27-34; Jon 3:1-10; Is 49:1-6</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Ex 8:1-15; Job 12:1-15 (or Prv 11:17-26); Is 58:1-11</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sunday
of the Holy Cross </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Heb
4:14-5:6; Mk 8:34b-9:1)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Sir 2:1-9; Is 50:4-9</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Gen 37:12-28; 1 Sam 17:2-9, 32, 37, 40, 42, 49-51; Job 21:17-26</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sunday
of St. John Climacus </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Heb
6:13-20; Mk 9:17-31)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote2sym" name="sdfootnote2anc"><sup>2</sup></a></span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
1 Sam 17:1-11, 32-51; Is 52:13-53:6</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Gen 41:14-31; Jgs 16:4-21 (or Jgs 16:23-30); Hos 14:1-9</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sunday
of St. Mary of Egypt </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Heb
9:11-14; Mk 10:32b-45)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote3sym" name="sdfootnote3anc"><sup>3</sup></a></span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Jgs 9::1-25, 50-56; Is 53:7-12</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Gen 48:8-22; Dan 3:13-28; Lam 1:1-11</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Palm
Sunday </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Phil 4:4-9; Jn
12:1-8)</span></i></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Gen
49:1-2, 8-12; Zeph 3:14-19; Zec 9:9-15</span></i></p>
</li></ul>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Pentecostarion</b></p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Pascha
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Acts 1:1-8; Jn 1:1-17)</span></i></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Gen
1:1-13; Is 60:1-16; Ex 12:1-11; Jon 1:1-4:11; Jos 5:10-15; Ex
13:20-15:19; Zeph 3:8-15; 1 Kgs 17:8-24; Is 61:10-62:5; Gen
22:1-18; Is 61:1-9; 2 Kgs 4:8-37; Is 63:11-64:5; Jer 31:31-34; Dan
3:1-90</span></i></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Thomas Sunday </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Acts
5:12-20; Jn 20:19-31)</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">P: Ex 4:1-9; Num 14:2-24</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">S: Ex 19:3-9; Amos 9:11-15; Is
26:1-8</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Acts
6:1-7; Mk 15:43-16:8</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">P: Ex 40:1-15; 1 Sam 16:1-13</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">S: Lev 19:1-4, 9-15; Wis
1:12-2:6, 21-24; Is 63:7-9</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Sunday of the Paralytic </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Acts
9:32-42; Jn 5:1-15</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">P: Mic 4:1-7; Zeph 3:11-20</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">S: Ex 17:8-13; Jgs 5:1-7; Is
49:8-13</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Sunday of the Samaritan Woman
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">(A</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">cts
11:19-26,29-30; Jn 4:5-42</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">P: Gen 24:1-4, 9-51; Ez 47:1-9</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">S: Ex 18:1-10; Wis 7:1-11; Hab
3:1-13</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Sunday of the Man Born Blind </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Acts
16:16-34; Jn 9:1-38</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">P: Is 42:5-18; Is 29:13-19</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">S: Dt 11:1-8; Wis 4:15-20; Zec
8:1-8</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sunday
of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Acts
20:16-18a, 28-3</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">6; </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jn
17:1-13</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></i></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Gen
14:14-20; Dt 1:8-11, 15-17; Dt 10:14-21</span></i></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Pentecost
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Acts
2:1-11; Jn 7:37-52, 8:12</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></i></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Num
11:16-17, 24-29; Joel 2:23-32; Ez 36:24-28</span></i></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sunday
of All Saints </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Heb
11:33-12:2</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">a</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">;
Mt 10:32-33,37-38, 19:27-30</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Gen 12:1-9; Sir 44:1-15</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-style: normal;">Weeks
After Pentecost</span></b></p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">2</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Rom
2:10-16; Mt 4:18-23</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Ex 3:1-15; Is 6:1-8</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Gen 18:1-8; Ex 3:1-8; Is 6:1-4</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">3</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Rom
5:1-10; Mt 6:22-3</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">4</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Dt 11:1-15; 1 Kgs 10:1-10, 13-23</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Num 10:-18; 1 Kgs 17:1-6; Ez 34:1-2, 9-10, 22-29</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">4</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Rom
6:18-23; Mt 8:</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">5-13</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
1 Kgs 17:8-24; Mal 1:6-11</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Num 5:5-10; Sir 8:1-10; Is 48:12-22</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">5</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote4sym" name="sdfootnote4anc"><sup>4</sup></a>
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Rom
10:1-10; Mt 8:28-9:1</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
2 Kgs 4:38-44; Is 40:1-11 </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">[2017]</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
1 Sam 16:14-23; Zec 12:10, 13:1-2 [2022]</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Ex 32:7-14; Sir 9:1-15; Is 14:1-11</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">6</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote5sym" name="sdfootnote5anc"><sup>5</sup></a>
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Rom
12:6-14; Mt 9:1-8</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Jer 31:27-34; Jon 3:1-10</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Ex 32:30-35; Sir 11:1-14; Jer 10:1-7</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">7</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Rom
15:1-7; Mt 9:27-35</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Ex 3:4-10, 4:10-16; Is 35:1-10</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Ex 32:30-35; Sir 11:1-4; Jer 10:1-7</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">8</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1
Cor 1:10-1</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">8</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">;
Mt 14:14-22</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
2 Kgs 4:38-44; Is 40:1-11</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Num 15:32-36; Sir 13:1-21; Jer 2:26-62</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">9</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1
Cor 3:9-17; Mt 14:22-34</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Ps
106 (107):1-30; Ps 88 (89):1-13<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote6sym" name="sdfootnote6anc"><sup>6</sup></a></span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Num 16:25-33; Sir 18:19-23; Jer 3:12-17</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">10</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1
Cor 4:9-16; Mt 17:14-23a</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Num 14:2-11; Dan 6:1-23</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Num 22:2-13; Sir 25:1-4, 9-10; Jer 5:1-6</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">11</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1
Cor 9:2-12; Mt 18:23-35</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Dt
15:1-11; Jer 5:1-3</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Num 22:20-31; 1 Sam 10:17-25; Is 5:1-7</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">12</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1
Cor 15:1-11; Mt 19:16-26</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Dt 5:1-22; Sir 31:1-7</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Num 24:1-9; 1 Sam 12:1-8; Sir 26:13-19a, 27:14-22</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">13</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1
Cor 16:13-24; Mt 21:33-42</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Gen 37:1-28, 39:1-4; Is 28:14-22</span></span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Num 25:1-9; 1 Sam 16:12-23; Is 28:14-22</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">14</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1
Cor 1:21-2:4; Mt 22:</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">-14</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jgs
13:1-5, 24-25, 14:1-20 Is 25:1-9 </span></span>
</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S:
Num 27:1-11; 1 Sam 18:1-9; Is 29:13-24</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li></ul>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">15</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost (</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">2
Cor 4:6-15; Mt 22:35-46</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
P: Dt 6:1-9; 2 Sam 7:8-16</p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">16</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost (</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">2
Cor 6:1-10; Mt 25:14-30</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
P: Gen 29:13-30, 30:25-43; Gen 39:1-23</p>
</li></ul>
</li></ul>
<style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style><ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">7</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote7sym" name="sdfootnote7anc"><sup>7</sup></a>
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">2
Cor 6:16b-7:1; Mt 15:21-28</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Is 60:18-23; Is 66:18-23</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">8</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">2
Cor 9:6-11; Lk 5:1-11</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jgs
6:7-24, 33-40; 1 Sam 3:1-18</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">19</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">2
Cor 11:31-12:9; Lk 6:31-36</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Dt
10:12-22; 1 Sam 24:1-13</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">20</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Gal
1:11-19; Lk 7:11-16</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">2
Kgs 4:8-37; Is 57:14</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">[17]-2</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote8sym" name="sdfootnote8anc"><sup>8</sup></a></span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">21</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">st</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Gal
2:16-20; Lk 8:5-15</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Is
55:6-11; Ez 2:1-3:11</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">22</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Gal
6:11-18; Lk 16:19-31</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Wis
3:1-9; Ez 18:20-32</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">23</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Eph
2:4-10; Lk 8:26-39</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1
Sam 16:14-23; Zec 12;10, 13:1-2 (or Tob 6:1-7, 13, 8:1-3)</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">24</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Eph
2:14-22; Lk 8:41-56</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1
Kgs 17:8-24; 2 Kgs 4:8-37 (or Is 38:1-20)</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">25</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Eph
4:1-6; Lk 10:25-37</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Lev
19:13-18; Prv 3:21-35</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">26</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Eph
5:8b-19; Lk 12:16-21</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Eccl
2:1-11; Sir 11:10-27</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">27</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Eph
6:10-17; Lk 13:10-17</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sir
18:1-14; Is 29:13-24</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">28</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Col
1:12-18; Lk 14:16-24</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jgs
13:1-5, 24-25, 14:1-20; Is 25:1-9</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">29</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Col
3:4-11; Lk 17:12-19</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Num
12:1-15; 2 Kgs 5:1-19 </span></span>
</p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">30</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost (</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Col
3:12-16; Lk 18:18-27</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Dt 5:1-22; Sir 31:1-7</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">31</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">st</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sunday After Pentecost </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1
Tim 1:15-17; Lk 18:35-43</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jgs
16:1-30; 2 Kgs 6:18-23</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Z</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">acchaeus
Sunday (</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1
Tim 4:9-15;</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Lk
19:1-10</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">P:
Gen 18:1-14; Ex 33:7-23</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
</li></ul>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">S</span><span style="font-style: normal;">unday
Before the Exaltation of the Cross </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(Gal
6:11-18; Jn 3:13-17)</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">P: </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Num
21:4-9; Wis 16:5-13</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">S</span><span style="font-style: normal;">unday
After the Exaltation of the Cross </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(Gal
2:16-20; Mk 8:34-9:1)</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">P: </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Sir
2:1-9; Is 50:4-9</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">S</span><span style="font-style: normal;">unday
Before Nativity </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(Heb
11:9-10, 17-23, 32-40; Mt 1:1-25)</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Gen 14:14-20; Dt 1:8-11, 15-17; Dt 10:14-21</i></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">P: </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Sir
4:1-15; Is 11:1-9</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">S: Gen 46:8-27; 1 Kgs 9:3-7; Is
7:14-15, 11:1-9</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Sunday Before Theophany </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(2
Tim 4:5-8; Mk 1:1-8)</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">P: Is 40:1-11; Mal 3:1-5 </span>
</p>
</li></ul>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Sunday After Theophany </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(Eph
4:7-13; Mt 4:12-17)</span></p>
<ul><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">P: Is 9:1-7; Jon 3:1-10</span></p><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></p><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></p>
</li></ul>
</li></ul>
<div id="sdfootnote1"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a>These
are the readings for the Sunday; St. Gregory also has his own
readings: Heb 7:26-8:2; Jn 10:9-16.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote2"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote2anc" name="sdfootnote2sym">2</a>These
are the readings for the Sunday: St. John also has his own readings:
Eph 5:8b-18; Mt 4:25-5:12a.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote3"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote3anc" name="sdfootnote3sym">3</a>These
are the readings for the Sunday: St. Mary also has her own readings:
Gal 3:23-29; Lk 7:36-50.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote4"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote4anc" name="sdfootnote4sym">4</a>Note:
different years of the Typikon list two different sets of Pulcini
readings for this Sunday. The 2023 Typikon lists both sets as
options.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote5"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote5anc" name="sdfootnote5sym">5</a>Generally,
the Feast of the Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical Councils
(Sunday between July 13 and 19) will fall on either the 6<sup>th</sup>
or 7<sup>th</sup> Sunday After Pentecost. No Syrian readings are
listed for whichever Sunday that feast falls on; the other of the
two Sundays has the set of readings that appears repeated here.
</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote6"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote6anc" name="sdfootnote6sym">6</a>The
Septuagint numbering of the Psalms—which the Vulgate also
follows—differs from the numbering used by the Masoretic Text, the
the main form of the Hebrew Old Testament used today. Modern Bible
translations—beginning in the 20<sup>th</sup> century,
generally—follow the Hebrew numbering, while older translations,
as well as most Orthodox Bibles, use the Greek numbering. The first
number is the Greek numbering, while the second is the Hebrew
numbering.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote7"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote7anc" name="sdfootnote7sym">7</a>The
Sundays Before and After the Exaltation of the Cross overwrite the
Sundays After Pentecost readings, and, after the Sunday After the
Exaltation, in most years, the Epistle and Gospel readings become
disconnected (the “Lukan Jump”). Due to this, a few of the
Gospel readings around the 15<sup>th</sup>-18<sup>th</sup> Sundays
After Pentecost are often skipped during the liturgical year. None
of the Typika I have (2017, 2022, 2023) include these readings, so I
do not know what Pulcini’s suggested Vesper readings are for those
days (since his Vespers readings are tied to the Gospel reading, not
the number of Sundays after Pentecost). The Syriac readings also
change their ordering after the Exaltation of the Cross, and I have
not yet figured out the criteria for their arrangement, so they are
not listed here.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote8"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote8anc" name="sdfootnote8sym">8</a>Different
years of the Typikon give different starting verses for this
reading.</p>
</div>
<p><style type="text/css">p.sdfootnote { font-size: 10pt; line-height: 100%; margin-left: 0.24in; text-indent: -0.24in; margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent }p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57% }</style></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-21311696687143907482024-01-11T13:03:00.007-06:002024-03-05T00:22:59.505-06:00A Critique of the Current Ruthenian Epistle Book and Suggestions for Improvement<p>
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<i>Note: Further review is finding other issues with extraneous verses in the Epistles as printed in the book. Once I finish my review, I will provide a more complete update.</i><b> <br /></b></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Introduction</b></p>
<p align="center" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> In
the Byzantine tradition, Scriptural texts for liturgical use are
split into </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">three
volumes: the Gospel Book, the Epistles Book (or </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Apostol</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">),
and the Prophetologion (Old Testament readings for Vespers).
Ideally, each volume would contain the prescribed texts for every
feast </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">with
unique readings</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
however minor, as well as the common texts prescribed for various
classes of saints (martyrs, bishops, virgins, apostles, etc.). In
current Ruthenian practice, the Apostol and the Prophetologion are
joined together, in truncated form, in a single volume: </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
Epistles and Old Testament Readings for the Liturgical Year</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
ed. William Levkulic with John Opalenick (Pittsburgh, PA: The
Byzantine Seminary Press, 1979, rev. 2011). </span></span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-style: normal;">Purpose
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">and Contents </span><span style="font-style: normal;">of
the Text</span></b></p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> A
text should not be critiqued for not being what it wasn’t intended
to be. The Ruthenian Epistle book was not intended to be a complete
Apostol and Prophetologion combined: instead, it was intended to
include the necessary texts for common parish use. Thus it has the
Epistle readings </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">for
every day in the temporal cycle<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"><sup>1</sup></a>
(the Triodion, the Pentecostarion, and the weeks after Pentecost)</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
as well as for the major and minor feasts commonly celebrated </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">in
parishes</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
(primarily those marked as “Obligation,” “Solemn,” or
“Simple” in the Byzantine Seminary Press’ yearly calendar).
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
Epistles section is rounded out with the texts for the common classes
of saints, as well as texts for various votive Liturgies: “For
Thanksgiving,” “In Time of Drought,” “For the Consecration of
an Altar,” etc. </span></span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In addition, the volume intends to provide the portions of the
Prophetologion necessary for typical parish use. Thus it has the Old
Testament readings for Wednesdays and Fridays during the Great Fast
(the typical days a Presanctified Liturgy is celebrated), for the
Royal Hours on Nativity, Theophany, and Good Friday, for the Vigils
of Nativity, Theophany, and Pascha, as well as for the various major
and minor feasts found on the calendar.
</p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Translation</b></p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The translation used is that of the original 1970 version of the New
American Bible (NAB), copyrighted (at that time) by the Confraternity
of Christian Doctrine. As far as I am aware, the translation was not
altered during the 2011 revision. Today, the copyrights for the New
American Bible, as well as for the Grail Psalter (used in Ruthenian
liturgical texts), are owned by the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> A
discussion of the merits of the NAB translation—either the original
1970 version or one of the various revisions throughout the
decades—is outside the scope of this critique, and without purpose.
The New American Bible is the only currently-approved translation
for liturgical use in the Metropolia of Pittsburgh (the Ruthenians).
Unless a different translation were approved, any new edition of the
Ruthenian Apostol or Prophetologion would need to use the NAB;
however, since “permission is no longer granted to reproduce the
1970 New Testament” (<a href="https://www.usccb.org/offices/new-american-bible/permissions">per
the USCCB</a>), the </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Epistle
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">texts
would need to be updated to a newer version, presumably the version
of the NAB used in the current Roman lectionary. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Possibly
the Old Testament texts would be similarly updated.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Cross-Referenced Readings</b></p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
If a parish solely celebrates Divine Liturgy on Sundays and on major
feasts, then the Ruthenian Epistle book is easy to use. The Epistles
section of the volume has not only Sunday readings, but also the
weekday and Saturday readings throughout the year, in case a parish
celebrates daily Divine Liturgies. The major feasts also have their
epistles printed, with the sanctoral cycle (the cycle of fixed
feasts) printed in order according to the Byzantine liturgical
calendar, beginning with September 1. </p><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">One minor issue with the Epistles section: the very first reading, the Epistle reading for Pascha, has an extra verse. As the Typikon states, the reading should be only Acts 1:1-8; however, the Epistle book erroneously includes Acts 1:9, the description of Jesus' Ascension. That error should be corrected in a new edition.<br /></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Once
you move to the minor feasts, though, the book starts to switch to
cross-referencing. If the reading for a minor feast is also used for
a Sunday or weekday reading, or for a major feast, then, instead of
reprinting the text of the reading, the book simply tells you where
to turn. For a single epistle, this might be a slight annoyance, but
it’s not too much of a hassle. It also saves on bulk, so that the
book can stay slimmer and easier to handle.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Where
the cross-references become more difficult is </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">in
the case of</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
the readings for Vespers. Since Vespers has three readings (except
for the Great Fast, when the first reading is chanted at the Sixth
Hour instead), having </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">c</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">ross-referenced
reading</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">s</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
means the reader must flip through the book in the middle of the
reading, sometimes multiple times. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Though
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">in
some cases, such as</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
for Marian </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">most
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">feasts,
the same three readings are </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">re-</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">used,
so there is a single cross-reference: </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">e.g.,
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">turn
to the readings for September 8</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.)
An example of the highest complication is the Feast of St. George,
on April 23 (p. 322). The 1</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">st</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading is on p. 305 (1</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">st</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading for All Saint Sunday), the 2</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
is on pp. 319-320 (3</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading for January 30</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">),
and the 3</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
is on p. 311 (3</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading for December 6</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">).
The reader will have to flip to each of these pages for the reading,
then flip back to p. 322 to find the next page to flip to. This is
an extreme case, of course; All Saints Sunday, for instance, only has
a cross-reference on the 2</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading, while the 1</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">st</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
and 3</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
readings are both printed in that feast’s entry.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Though I understand the goal of slimness, I feel that printing
redundant texts, so that all the readings for one feast were printed
in one place, would give better ease of use. Cross-references should
be reserved for when the full set of readings is repeated elsewhere,
such as the common Marian readings, or the Sunday Before Nativity (p.
312), which uses all the readings from the Sunday of the Holy Fathers
of the First Ecumenical Council (pp. 302-303). This would also mean
that a cross-referenced epistle would be acceptable, since it only
requires reading from a single entry, without flipping pages.</p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Missing Readings</b></p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> The
larger issue with the </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vespers
portion of the </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">volume
is the lack of many readings. This lack can come in two forms: 1) a
lack of simple citation (giving book, chapter, and verse for a
reading, without reprinting the text) and 2) a lack of the printed
text itself. If the book intends to remain incomplete, giving only
the readings for feasts that are commonly celebrated in parishes,
then I think it worthwhile to at least give a chart of citations for
feasts and commons not included in the text. (This is how the
readings for Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays of the Great Fast are
given: citations only. Only texts for Wednesdays and Fridays—the
usual days of celebration of the Presanctified—are printed, </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">plus
the Thursday of the Fifth Week, the day when the Great Canon is
recited</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.)
But the bigger issue, I think, is when only a </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">partial</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
set of readings is printed, and giving simply citations for the rest,
without even a cross-reference.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Once
again, the issue is practicality and ease of use</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
Generally, the Old Testament readings are chanted back-to-back.
(Exceptions are the sung responsories at the great Vigils and the
brief break for the blessing of light during the Presanctified.) The
goal should be for the reader to have all the necessary texts lined
up, so that he can read without flipping pages. Cross-references
already complicate this, but at least the flipping is confined to a
single book. When a reading is found </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">nowhere</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
in the Epistle book, then the reader will have to switch books and
flip to the needed reading in a Bible, or on a printout. It would be
easier for the reader, in that circumstance, to forgo the Epistle
book entirely, and simply mark the pages in a Bible. He will still
have to flip around the book, but at least it will be confined to one
book.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> There
is one instance where I can begrudgingly see a good reason for
skipping some readings: the Vigils. The readings at the great
Vigils, particularly Theophany and Pascha, are excessive for general
parish use. The original purpose of the length of readings was to
give the bishop enough time to baptize all the catechumens (since
Theophany was a more prominent baptismal day than the Nativity,
that’s probably why the readings at the Vigil of the Nativity are
comparatively shorter). I think it would be exceedingly rare to find
a parish that has </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">that</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
many catechumens to baptize. Thus the Typikon gives only three
required readings for each Vigil. The Epistle book’s intention is
to print the text of solely these </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">required
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">readings,
and then give citations for the rest. This is the case with the
Nativity and Pascha, but there appears to be a serious error at
Theophany. The required readings for the Vigil of Theophany </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(pp.
317-319)</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
are #3 (Ex 15:22-16:1), #6 (2 Kgs 5:9-14), and #13 (Is 49:8-15);
however, the book prints the texts of only #4 (Jos 3:7-8,15-17), #7
(Is 1:16-20), and #13. I suspect it is either an error (the editor
mixed up which readings were required), or a change in </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">the</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
rubrics specifying which readings are required. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
have never heard of the latter being the case, but I have not
researched yet to see if there is any evidence of such a change</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> If
the Vigil of Theophany’s missing readings are an error, as I
suspect, </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">it
seems less likely that such would be the case for all the other
missing readings. Certainly the lack of texts for Mondays, Tuesdays,
and Thursdays of the Great Fast was a conscious choice, as is the
lack of text</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">s</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
for the Sixth Hour throughout the Great Fast. I see the reasoning
for these, though: parishes rarely celebrate Lenten Vespers or
Presanctified on days other than Wednesdays and Fridays, and parishes
celebrating the Sixth Hour would be even rarer. </span></span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> What
makes no sense to me are the occasions—excepting the Vigils—where
some readings are included, and others are not. If, perhaps, at the
time this volume was arranged, there was a tradition or rubric
allowing the truncating of readings during a normal Vespers, then
there might be some reasoning (with only the required or recommended
readings being printed, as is the case with the Vigils); however, I
know of no such tradition. Instead, we have gaps in major feasts:
Holy Thursday is missing its second reading, Transfiguration is
missing its second and third readings. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Below
is the full list of missing readings:</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Holy
Thursday: 2</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Job 38:1-23, 42:1-5)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Holy
Friday: 1</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">st</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Ex 33:11-23), 2</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Job 42:12-17)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Mid-Pentecost:
1</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">st</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Mic 4:2-3, 5; 6:2-5, 8; 5:4), 2</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Is 55:1; 12:3-4; 55:2-3, 6-13), 3</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Prv 9:1-11)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> November
8: 2</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Jgs 6:2, 7, 11-24), 3</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Is 14:7-20)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> December
6: 1</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">st</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Prv 10:7,6; 3:13-16; 8:34-35, 4, 12, 14, 17, 5-9; 1:23; 5:4)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> January
6, Blessing of Water: 1</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">st</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Is 35:1-10), 2</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Is 55:1-13)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> February
2: 2</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Is 6:1-12), 3</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Is 19:1, 3-5, 12, 16, 19-21)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> June
24: 2</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Jgs 13:2-8, 13-14, 17-18, 21)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> July
20: 1</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">st</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (1 Kgs 17:1-23), 2</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (1 Kgs 18:1, 17-41, 44, 42, 45-46; 19:1-16)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> August
6: 2</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Ex 33:11-23; 34:4-6, 8), 3</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (1 Kgs 19:3-9, 11-13, 15-16)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> August
29: 3</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rd</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
reading (Wis 4:7, 16-17, 19-20; 5:1-7)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Again,
this list omits the cases of the Vigils, as well as the Mondays,
Tuesdays, and Thursdays of the Great Fast. The Sixth Hour texts for
the Great Fast are also omitted.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Possible Additions</b></p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
most complete</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
ideal would be to have two volumes—one Apostol, and one
Prophetologion—with the </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">fu</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">ll
text of each feast </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">on
the calendar</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
in order. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">What
is most practical, however, is to follow the current volume’s
selection of feasts and expand on the texts provided.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> In
that case, once again, the easiest-to-use arrangement would be to
print the full text of each reading of each selected feast;</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
however, in the case of an Epistle reading being repeated, or of the
</span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">full set</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
of Vespers readings being repeated, I can see the benefit of a
cross-reference in slimming down the book. What I think should </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">not</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
remain is the case is when the reader has to flip through the pages
multiple times for the different Vespers readings. The set of
Vespers readings for a single feast should be in the same place. If
that full set is repeated (as is the case with most Marian feasts),
then a cross-reference is sufficient: however, if the feast uses only
</span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">one</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
of the readings from another feast, I think it better to reprint the
text rather than force the reader to flip around in the middle of the
readings.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I would recommend printing the full texts of the readings for the
Vigils. Yes, it will be a rare case for any parish to use the full
set (though my parish has done so a handful of times). However,
having the readings easily accessible might encourage a parish to use
more of the readings than the bare minimum. The size is an issue, of
course (especially with the Book of Jonah during the Paschal Vigil),
but I think it’s worthwhile.</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> The
common Vespers readings for the various classes of saints should be
included, </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">alongside
the Epistle readings already printed in the book</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
This will take care of most occasions when a parish might want to
celebrate another saint, other than those designated “solemn” or
“simple” holy days. It would also give the chance to possibly
add readings to a Sunday Vespers, since we have no prescribed Vespers
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">readings
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">other
than those for feasts and saints.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">A
useful appendix, I think, would be </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">a
full calendar of all</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
the saints and feasts for each day of the year, with citations of the
readings. If the saint simply uses one of the common sets of
readings, a note of that would suffice, rather than reprinting the
full citations. This would be an aid for the reader, in case he does
not have easy access to a Typikon, and a less-common feast is
celebrated. For the more obscure feasts that have their own
readings, or the saints with their own particular readings, this
would let the reader know about those, even if the texts are not
printed in the book.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A final recommendation: printing the texts of the Prokeimenon and
Alleluia in the entry for each feast. The reader is the one who
chants the verses for both: in current practice, he has to turn to
another book or handout to find these texts. Printing them will only
take a few lines for each feast, but it will make it enormously
helpful for the reader. The tone should be noted, but I think music
is unnecessary and overly bulky. The texts from the Oktoechos, for
Sundays and weekdays, should be printed as well, though it
will—unavoidably—require some page-turning from the reader: at
least the texts will be all in one volume. This practice was
followed in Deacon Peter Gardner’s <a href="https://www.lulu.com/shop/rdr-peter-gardner-ed/the-prophetologion/hardcover/product-21776016.html?page=1&pageSize=4">Prophetologion</a>
(2014, self-published) for the ROCOR.</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Though
all these additions sound bulky, and they are certainly an increase
from the current text, I think they are not too unreasonable. As an
example, Bishop Demetri H. Khoury has arranged a Prophetologion for
the Antiochian Orthodox (Miami, 2012). His volume—which includes
full Sixth Hour and Vespers readings for the Great Fast, full Vespers
readings for the Vigils, common readings for the classes of saints,
and readings for more feasts than the Ruthenian book—runs to only
360 pages in <a href="https://almoutran.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/FINAL-07-28-2012-BDK-Prophetologion.pdf">PDF
format</a>. A <a href="https://cherubimpress.com/shop/ols/products/bp-demetri-khoury-prophetologion-hdm-press">hardcover
copy</a> runs to 450 pages. The Epistles section of the Ruthenian
book currently runs to 258 pages. Just as a theoretical, if the two
were combined, the result would be a volume of roughly 700 pages.
This is large, but, if printed on thin paper, </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">it
can still be very usable. As an example, the <a href="https://store.melkite.org/product/horologion/">Horologion</a>
of the Melkite Church (Boston, MA: Sophia Press, 2009) is 1028 pages,
but, because it is on thin paper, it is still a comfortable size,
fairly light, and easy-to-use. (And, based on current pricing
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(<a href="https://www.byzantineseminarypress.com/the-epistles-and-old-testament-readings-hardcover/">$110.00
as of this writing</a>)</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
one could buy both the Antiochian Prophetologion </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">and
</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">the
Melkite Horologion for less than the current Ruthenian Epistle book.
So, even if all of what I propose were added in one book, I think it
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">would</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
still end up cheaper than the current, smaller book.)</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Another
edition to compare would be an interesting joint collection, published by Eastern Christian Publications in 2020. Fr. Mark Shuey (Ukrainian Catholic) and Fr.
Theodore Pulcini (Antiochian Orthodox) edited a three-volume set: an Apostol
(</span></span><a href="https://ecpubs.com/product/book-of-apostolic-readings/"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Book
of Apostolic Readings</span></i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">),
a festal Prophetologion (</span></span><a href="https://ecpubs.com/product/book-of-prophetic-readings/"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Book
of Prophetic Readings</span></i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">),
and a book of Old Testament readings for Sunday Vespers (</span></span><a href="https://ecpubs.com/product/book-of-thematic-readings/"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Book
of Thematic Readings</span></i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">).
The last volume, edited by Fr. Pulcini, is a novelty for the Byzantine Rite, as far as I am aware; it is based off of his 2005 volume, <i>Old Testament Lectionary for Use in the Byzantine Tradition at Great Vespers on Saturday Evening</i>. Citations for these readings, as well as similar Old Testament readings from the Syriac tradition, are given in Fr. David Petras' annual Ruthenian Typicon.<br /></span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-style: normal;">C</span><span style="font-style: normal;">onclusion
and Suggestions</span></b></p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> In
conclusion, the Epistles section of the book is quite good and needs
no real revisions, except for the removal of the extra verse in the reading for Pascha, and the translation update a new printing
would require. I would always prefer to have redundant full texts,
rather than needing to follow cross-references, but, for a singular
Epistle reading, it is a minor hassle, and it does reduce the bulk of
the book a little. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">My
one suggestion would be adding in the Prokeimenon and Alleluia verses
for the the feast days and commons, as well as the verses from the
Oktoechos. Without redundant texts, this would require flipping
through the book for any days with cross-referenced readings, but at
least the reader’s necessary texts would all be in the same volume.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">For
the Vespers section, though, numerous revisions and additions are
needed, and I would suggest others as well. My greatest ideal would
be an absolutely complete Prophetologion, with full texts for every
feast with unique readings, and no cross-references for individual
readings, only for full sets. What is more practical is to build off
of the current selection of feasts. To that end, my suggestions
would be, in general order of priority:</span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<ol><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Remove the extra verse from the Pascha Epistle reading, and correct the Theophany Vespers readings so that the full texts of the
required readings (Readings #3 and #6) are printed.</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Add the texts of the missing Vespers readings listed above.</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Add redundant copies of texts whenever individual texts are
cross-referenced for Vespers: cross-references can remain whenever a
full set of readings is repeated.</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Add Prokeimenon and Alleluia texts before the Epistle readings for
feasts, and the texts from the Oktoechos, as a separate section.
The Prokeimenon texts for feasts should be included before Vespers
readings as well.</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Add the common Vespers readings for various classes of saints, to
pair with the common Epistle readings already included.</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Add a calendar chart providing citations for Vespers and Liturgy
readings for every feast of the year. If a saint’s feast uses one
of the common sets of readings, a reference to them is sufficient.</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Add the texts for the full sets of Vespers readings for the three
Vigils (Nativity, Theophany, Pascha).</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Add entries and full texts for any feast with unique readings (i.e.,
which does not use one of the common sets).</p>
</li></ol>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
If all these suggestions were implemented, I think the result would
be a substantially-complete and easy-to-use volume for readers. With
the continued use of cross-references whenever an Epistle reading or
a full set of Vespers readings is repeated, the size of the volume
will be reined in, compared to an absolutely complete edition, with
full redundancies and no cross-references. I think it’s even
possible to keep all of this in a single volume, though certainly
quite a bit bigger than the current edition; especially if the last
two suggestions are dropped, there shouldn’t be a reason to split
the text into separate Apostol and Prophetologion volumes. With
those suggestions added, the bulk <i>might</i> lend itself to
splitting, but there’s also a good chance a single volume would
still be plausible, especially with thinner paper à la the Melkite
Horologion. The final size, though, can’t really be determined
until a draft is put together.</p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Such are my suggestions for an improved, more complete, and
easier-to-use Epistle and Old Testament book for the Ruthenians. I
hope that a new edition happens sooner rather than later, especially
due to the high price of the current edition, but liturgical books
always have, unfortunately, a very slow editing and approval process.</p><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<div id="sdfootnote1"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a>The
terms “temporal cycle” and “sanctoral cycle” are used in
Roman Catholic liturgics, but they could be applied to Byzantine use
as well. The sanctoral cycle (“cycle of the saints”) covers any
feast with a fixed calendar date: we might also include the
Byzantine feasts that are relative to fixed dates (i.e., Sunday
After Theophany, Sunday Before Exaltation of the Cross, etc.). The
temporal cycle (“cycle of time”) relates to any feast or
memorial whose time of celebration is based on the changeable date
of Pascha. Thus the entire Triodion and Pentecostarion are relative
to the date of Pascha, as is the general cycle of Sundays and
weekday readings: they are based off on the Sundays After Pentecost,
and Pentecost itself, of course, is based on the changeable date of
Pascha.</p><p class="sdfootnote"> </p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Text </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2024</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the author.</span>
</p><p class="sdfootnote"> </p>
</div>
<p><style type="text/css">p.sdfootnote { font-size: 10pt; line-height: 100%; margin-left: 0.24in; text-indent: -0.24in; margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent }p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a:link { color: #000080; text-decoration: underline }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57% }</style></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-22539037253604166732024-01-05T14:50:00.003-06:002024-03-05T00:22:43.298-06:00St. John of Ávila: Sermon 65.1 on the Annunciation / Treatise 1 on Mary: Part I<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <b>Introduction</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">St. Juan de Ávila (1499-1569) was an Andalusian priest and preacher, brought to new prominence upon being named a Doctor of the Church by the late Pope Benedict XVI on October 7, 2012. Though he tried to arrange a fraternal community of priests, little came of it outside his immediate circle, and, towards the end of his life, he started sending his interested disciples to the Jesuits. The majority of his work was focused on being a preacher, for which he was nicknamed the "Apostle of Andalusia." He was also the first rector of the University of Baeza, which became a model for Jesuit seminaries. His process of veneration was slow: declared Venerable in 1759 (during the investigation for which the Vatican misplaced manuscripts for dozens of his works), he was not beatified until 1894 and not canonized until 1970.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Being primarily a preacher, it is fitting that a large portion of his writings consists of sermons. Oddly, when many of these were originally published, shortly after his death, they were instead labelled "Treatises" (<i>tratados</i>). The most well-known of these is the set of "Treatises on the Most Holy Sacrament," consisting of many, many sermons given around the Feast of Corpus Christi. There were also groups of "treatises" related to Mary and the Coming of the Holy Spirit. The sermon begun below was originally published as the first treatise of a set of 10 on the feasts of Mary; in the critical edition of St. John's works, it is labelled Sermon 65.1. (There is another partial draft of this sermon, which is given the number 65.2.) I originally translated this sermon from an early edition, where it was labelled a "treatise": there are many textual differences between this and the critical edition of the text, which is taken from a manuscript. The version I have given below is the text of the original "treatise" edition, though I have broken it up with subheadings borrowed from the critical edition. Sources for both versions are given at the end.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>First Treatise: On the Incarnation of the Son of God</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Sermon 65.1: "This Business Is Full of Love"</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Ecce ancilla Domini, fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. </i>(Lk 1:38)</p><p style="text-align: center;">[Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to your word.]</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">
</p><h1 style="font-style: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Exordium:
A Day of Good News</span></span></h1>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> T</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">oday
is the day of good news: if we are silent, a great fault will be
ours. </span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">oday
God became man for men; if He became a stone, what would the stones
do today? What thanks they would give Him for such a great mercy and
compassion! </span></span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> The
good news that such a day as today brought into the world was first
made known to the most sacred Virgin Our Lady, and the true Mother of
God. And because</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
each day that we preach, we say the salutation, asking grace for the
Virgin, it is good that we </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">should
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">say it today, since,
on such a day as today, it was said.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Gospel
of the Annunciation</b></span></p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> The
holy Gospel recounts today this holy salutation and happy news.
</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Missus
est Angelus Gabriel a Deo [The Angel Gabriel was sent by God]</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
(Lk 1:26). When God willed to perform mercy for the world, when He
willed to show how far His love reached, I wandered, looking for what
day it was, how to name it, and I could not find or know how to give
a name to the day which is today. A day of such news, let us call it
the day of the mercies of God. </span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Bless
the Lord, all His works</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
(Dan 3:57). If we call it the day of the mercies of the world, it is
so: if the day of the redemption of captives, it is so; if we call it
the day of dispensation, it is so: if the day of giving great alms,
it is so too. He Who knew and performed mercy, He knows what </span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">will
make</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
us understand the day which is today, and He </span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">makes</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
us understand how great is the grace which the world received today,
and He places it in our hearts, so that we </span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">would
</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">recognize
it and give thanks. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> When
the time came for God to </span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">unfold</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
His mercies in the world, the time </span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">t</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">o
teach men how far it reached, when His mercy was extended—</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">how
far?—</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">St.
Ambrose says: “You who read this, see the letter and note the most
holy mystery; married and pregnant, married with a man, and pregnant
with God: married, and pregnant by the Holy Spirit: note so high a
mystery.”<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"><sup>1</sup></a>
Each one of our Christian Churches is married with one, and pregnant
with other: married with the Prelate, with the Pastor, and pregnant
with the other, Who is God eternal: married with man, and pregnant
with God, Who is the Prelate, and the Preacher. Souls are married
with Him, but there, within, Jesus Christ enters into his innards,
and makes them fecund with His virtue and with His word</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">,</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
so that they produce salutary fruits. I do not know how to speak
this holy mystery. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a name="_GoBack"></a>
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> “</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>I
will hide” </i></span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(says
God) “</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>this
from your eyes, this which I do, this great secret no one will know
how to speak, no understandi</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>ng
of </i></span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
flesh will reach it</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">(cf.
Is 6:10).</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
know it well, that, </span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">on</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
that day, I will remove the ill of the earth, I will remove the sins
of the world, I will wash all your stains </span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(cf.
Zac 3:9).</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">”
Glory be to You, Lord, forever.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> The
Prophet Daniel said the same thing about today: </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Consummetur
prævaricatio, & finem accipiat peccatum, et deleatur iniquitas,
& adducatur justitia sempiterna, & impleatur visio, &
prophetia, & ungatur Sanctus Sanctorum </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">(Dan
9:24): he said, that, </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">at</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
this time, the prevarication would be finished, sin would be removed,
sempiternal justice would be brought, visions would be completed,
when the Holy of Holies were anointed. Today, sin is removed and
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">will</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
be removed, and justice is given. </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">Thus
if, in every sermon, we say the salutation to the Virgin, today there
is much more reason for it to be there than at any other time.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> Since
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">the time came in
which God willed to give His mercy, and to teach how far the love
which He has for men reached, God sent His messenger, an Archangel,
with the embassy, </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">so
that</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> he </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">would
go</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> bring it to the
Virgin. Thus Abraham did when he sent for a spouse for his son Isaac
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">(Gen 24)</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">.
God calls a Great One of His house, an Archangel, gives Him an
embassy, which he goes to bring to a maiden betrothed with a man,
whose name was Joseph, and her name was Mary. O</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">h,</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
blessed be God, </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">that
there is a Nazareth, a province </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">very
low according to the world’s honor; there God sets His eyes, there
the Archangel came, and knew well the house! He takes the figure of
a man, enters into the house, finds the Virgin alone and in prayer,
falls before her on </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">his
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">knees, there, very
close to her, where there are signs unto today: a little marble where
the Virgin was, and another were the Archangel was.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote2sym" name="sdfootnote2anc"><sup>2</sup></a>
He speaks to the Virgin, proposes his embassy to her, and says: </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Ave
gratia plena, Dominus tecum</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
(Lk 1:28): “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, the Lord be
with you (since all is good).” He greeted her as it was </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">usual</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
to greet </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">at that
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">time</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">:
“Peace be with you.” The Lord commanded him thus: “When you
enter into another house, say: ‘Peace be in this house’” (cf.
Lk 10:5). The Gloss says afterwards: “Whoever says peace, let him
desire peace, and say all the goods together.”<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote3sym" name="sdfootnote3anc"><sup>3</sup></a>
Peace be to you, Lady. Saint Luke says, “delight”: all is good.
Delight be with you, peace be with you, since He Who will pacify,
rejoice, and give delight to the world is coming to you. It is the
reason that you should delight, it is the reason, Lady, that you
should taste of the fruit that you </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">will</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
give to the world. May God maintain you, God hail you, full of
grace, the Lord be with you. A great salutation was that, good news
was it. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> The
blessed maiden was not fickle in belief, like Eve: she raised her
eyes and her heart to God, and did not respond. She who is later
troubled </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">has virginal
modesty</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">. The Virgin
saw a man before her, he said to her that she was full of grace, and
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">that </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">she
was gracious, and he, praising, troubled her. There is nothing that
so troubles the humble, and sounds more ill to her eyes, than to see
herself praised. “What will this be? Is it of God, or is it not
of God?” Good counsel. What fresh deceit will it be to think that
the Holy Spirit comes to one, and for the evil spirit to come
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>instead</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">?
And, for this </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">reason</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
when you see yourself in doubt, ask for light from Our Lord so that
you can recognize if that which comes to you is a good spirit, or an
evil spirit; and so the Virgin responds nothing. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> And
as the Archangel </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">s</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">aw
her so troubled, he provided for her trouble, and said to her: “</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Ne
timeas Maria, invenisti enim graciam apud Deum [Do not fear, Mary,
for you have found grace with God] </i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">(Lk
1:30). This grace which I tell you is not here, in the eyes of men;
I do not bring an embassy of men, I do not come on an ill behalf; the
grace which I bring you is not of men, but of God.” Then God
assured her. The Angel proposes his embassy: the greatest embassy,
the greatest and highest which was ever given. Blessed the woman who
thus heard, and the womb which thus received!</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> “Be
attentive, maiden</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">”—t</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">he
Lord commands you to s</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">ay—</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">“</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>E</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>cce
concipies, & paries [Behold, you will conceive, & you will
</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>give birth</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>]</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
(Lk 1:31). Hear, Lady, these greatnesses: you will conceive and you
will bear a Son, and He will be called Jesus, which is to say,
‘Savior.’ He will be great, and will be called Son of the Most
High, and He will reign, and His kingdom will not have an end,
forever.” O</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">h,</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
blessed be she who gave us such a Son! He will be Great, and He will
have, not that small kingdom of Judea, of a hundred leagues: see what
a great kingdom, see what a kingdom of a hundred leagues will be
given Him, the seat of David His Father, not that kingdom, but the
one figured by it; </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">for</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
that kingdom of David was very small, thi</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">s
one [is]</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">very large:
that</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> [kingdom] of
David [was] temporal</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
this </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">one [is]</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
spiritual: that </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">[kingdom]
o</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">f David was ended,
the other will never be ended. “The kingdom of David will be given
Him, and He will reign </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">in</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
the house of Jacob forever.” </span></span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> W</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">hy
did he say “in the house of Jacob,” instead of in that of Abraham
or of Isaac? Because</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
of those who descended from Abraham, Isaac was faithful, Ishmael
unfaithful. </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">Among</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
those from Isaac, Jacob was faithful and a great friend of God, and
Esau was evil: in the house and family of Jacob, all were faithful
and believing. He will reign in the house of Jacob, to wit, among
those who know God, among the good, and His kingdom will not be
ended. What a gentle Messiah we </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">were
to</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> have, who would
reign a hundred years, and his </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">kingdom</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
would be ended, and then another would come! Our King and our
Messiah </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">will </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">reign
forever, and His kingdom will not be ended; </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">just
like</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> there, where He
is in heaven, here, He reigns and rules; here He maintains you, and
defends you, and sustains, and raises grace and pardon of sins, and
frees you from demons, consoles you in your labors, and, finally,
gives you all goods. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> The
embassy of the Archangel continues, and says: “This One, your Son,
will be called Son of the </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">M</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">ost
High.” “He will be called”: </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>frasis
Hebrea es [it is a Hebrew phrase]</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">which intends to </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">say
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">the same as “He
will be</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">.” </span></span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> What
woman would not receive such a Son gladly, without asking nor
doubting? Such is the content</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">ment</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
which the most holy Virgin has </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">with
regards to</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> her
virginity and purity that she responds to the Archangel: “How will
this be? This frightens me.” O purity, how loved are you by the
Virgin! O purest innards, how sealed in your heart is the love of
virginity! Not without cause do you ask: “Angel, how will this be,
since I do not know man?” It is not a word of incredulity. See
that the Virgin has such love for her purity, that she does not
truncate her virginity to become Mother of the Son of God. She does
not say if she will or not, since she does not doubt it, but she
says: “Teach me how it will be, since I have proposed and
determined to not know man.” I have already said this other times,
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">that this is worth as</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">much as when we say
here, “I do not eat meat,” I mean to say, “</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">I
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">have</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">the intention</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
to not eat </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">meat</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
for all my life.” “How am I to conceive? Has is this to be?
Since I would not want to lose my purity, nor would I want to disobey
God. Declare to me what I ask you, if my purity will be guarded,
since I well know that for God all will be possible.” What an
example for maidens! In all, she wants to do God’s pleasure. O
blessed maiden, who does not dare to truncate her virginity to become
Mother of the Son of God! How will this be? </span></span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> The
Angel responds that he does not know, that </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">he
is not the one who has to</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
understand in </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">this</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">affair</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
that he comes as a messenger to negotiate, he comes on the part of
God, since He Who </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">will
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">do it is the Holy
Spirit, since He alone is Holy; “but the </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">power</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
and force of the Most High will overshadow you, will strain you, will
teach you, will sustain you: since this matter is not so low that
your forces would be enough for it; but the </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">power</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
and forces of the Most High will overshadow you.” </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">(</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">This
is a Hebrew phrase.</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">)</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
“And, for this </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">reason</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
that which will be born of you </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">w</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">ill
be called Holy.” Not masculine, but </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">neuter</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
so that you will know that He did not take </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">on</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
a person, but our nature. He will be the Son, not of Joseph, not of
man, </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">[but] </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">the
Son of the Most High, conceived by the Holy Spirit. As He is Holy,
He cannot do anything which is not holy: He will be called Son of
God. See, maiden, so that you </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">would
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">praise God, so that
you </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">would </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">give
Him many thanks and see His mercies,” says the Angel, “your
relative Elizabeth, since she is old and wise (because you do not
fear what I have told you), in her old age has conceived a son, so
that you </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">would </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">know
that there is nothing impossible with God, and, for this </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">reason</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
I </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">reveal</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
it to you: since that is possible, this </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">too
[is possible]</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">. This
is the Embassy; I hope for your response, and the Most Holy Trinity
hopes for your consent: what do you respond?”</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> When
the sacred Virgin hears the great mercies which the Angel promises
her on behalf of God, assured by God that what He promises her will
be done, on His part: knees bent, her eyes and heart fixed on heaven,
she says humbly and with reverence: </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i>Ecce
ancilla Domini, fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum [Behold the handmaid
of the Lord, be it done to me according to Your word]</i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
(Lk 1:38). Here is the slave of the Lord, be it done in me according
to Your word. In that moment, the divine Word entered into her
innards, and the greatest work which was done, and will ever be done,
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">was</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
done. Then, why does she call herself a slave and abase herself?
Thus </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">God wills it</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
and </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">this</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">
is </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">t</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">he
reason why men and angels, and archangels, exalt and confess her, who
received such a Son and so abased herself, as Lady, and honor her,
and hold her as such, and reverence her in the heavens and on earth:
she who knew so well how to abase herself, and to receive the embassy
on behalf of God. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> The
greatest delight did the Virgin receive today with this embassy, and
</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">so</span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">,
now, each time that we say it to her, she is delighted: and, so that
we </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">would </span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;">know
how to greet her and recount these mysteries, we ask her that the
spirit with which she heard it might raise us, so that we can know
how to please her. </span></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"> </span></span>
</p>
<div id="sdfootnote1"><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a>The
first publication of this sermon had no quotation marks; the
critical edition ends the quote here. St. John seems to be very
loosely paraphrasing St. Ambrose, <i>Exposition of the Gospel of
Luke</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> II.1: “Indeed, divine
mysteries lie hidden, nor is it easy, in accord with the Prophetic
saying, for any man to be able to know the counsel of God, and yet,
from certain facts and precepts of the Lord of Salvation, we can
understand and be closer to this counsel, that she who was betrothed
to a man was most powerfully chosen, so that she would give birth to
God” (PL 15:1551D-1552D).</span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote2"><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote2anc" name="sdfootnote2sym">2</a>
St. John never visited the Holy Land, as far as we know; he is
probably reporting what he has heard about it. </span>
</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote3"><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote3anc" name="sdfootnote3sym">3</a>
The <i>Glossa Ordinaria</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> says,
“Having described the various hospitalities of the house, He also
teaches the pious what they should do in the cities: share in
everything, separate from all society with the impious.” See
</span><i>Blblia sacra cum glossis interlineari et ordinaria et
Nicolai Lyrani Postilla…</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
(Venice, 1588), V:152.</span></span></p>
</div>
<p style="text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">p.sdfootnote { font-size: 10pt; line-height: 100%; margin-left: 0.24in; text-indent: -0.24in; margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent }h1 { font-style: italic; text-align: center; background: transparent; page-break-after: avoid }p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57% }</style><b> <br /></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">p.sdfootnote { font-size: 10pt; line-height: 100%; margin-left: 0.24in; text-indent: -0.24in; margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent }h1 { font-style: italic; text-align: center; background: transparent; page-break-after: avoid }p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57% }</style><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Sources: </b><i>Tercera parte de las obras del padre maestro Juan de Ávila...</i> (Madrid: Pedro Madrigal, 1596), II:161-185.<br /><i>Obras completas del B. Mtro. Juan de Ávila</i>, ed. Luis Sala Balust (Madrid: La Editorial Católica, S.A., 1953), II:1004-1019.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation and Notes </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2024</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the translator.</span>
</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-41698604587090117522023-12-26T16:05:00.002-06:002024-03-05T00:21:43.764-06:00Jesus Christ Is Born Today: Christmas Hymn<p style="text-align: center;"> <b>Introduction</b></p><p>Christ is born! Glorify Him!</p><p>Today I have a Christmas hymn I wrote years ago, though I did some adjustments to the text today. The inspiration, of course, is the famous Paschal hymn, "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today": originally, my first verse was simply a Christmas-themed rewrite of that hymn's first verse. With further work, though, my hymn drifted away from a strict "parody" of the Paschal hymn. Like it, though, my hymn is set to the tune "Lyra Davidica," taken from the 1708 hymn collection of the same name.</p><p><br /></p><p><br />
</p><p style="-x-system-font: none; display: block; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px auto 6px;"> <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/694949503/Jesus-Christ-is-Born-Today#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Jesus Christ is Born Today on Scribd">Jesus Christ is Born Today</a> by <a href="https://www.scribd.com/user/440538202/Brandon-P-Otto#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Brandon P. Otto's profile on Scribd">Brandon P. Otto</a> on Scribd</p><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_44175" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/694949503/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-6se179cWJ1gZwehI2S3p" title="Jesus Christ is Born Today" width="100%"></iframe>
<p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Scribd link for the above document: <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/694949503/Jesus-Christ-is-Born-Today" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Internet Archive mirror: <a href="https://archive.org/details/jesus-christ-is-born-today">https://archive.org/details/jesus-christ-is-born-today</a> <br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Text</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b> </b>1. Jesus Christ is born today, (Alleluia!)<br />in a starlit earthen cave, (Alleluia!)<br />When He once in Bedlam town (Alleluia!)<br />Donned our flesh and doffed His crown! (Alleluia!)</p><p style="text-align: left;">2. Born of Mary, virgin pure, (Alleluia!)<br />who was virgin did endure, (Alleluia!)<br />Mother-Queen of heaven's court, (Alleluia!)<br />Godhead's boat's own human port! (Alleluia!)</p><p style="text-align: left;">3. Adam's flesh by sin was stained; (Alleluia!)<br />now all-cleansing grace is rained. (Alleluia!)<br />Hail the Second Adam's birth! (Alleluia!)<br />Greet the Saviour full of mirth! (Alleluia!)</p><p style="text-align: left;">4. Ox and ass, now come and play; (Alleluia!)<br />lamb and kid, come join the fray; (Alleluia!)<br />Men and angels, join and sing; (Alleluia!)<br />Earth and Heav'n, all praise your King! (Alleluia!)</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Commentary</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">1. In the Byzantine tradition, Jesus was born in a cave, rather than a manger attached to a house. In icons, the cave is usually seen on a mountain, away from town, though I've seen some commentators say that it could have been a cave with a house built nearby: the householders might have used the nearby cave as a pre-built stable or manger. In this case, the Byzantine and Roman traditions could be reconciled. The star that lights the cave could be the Star of Bethlehem, though most commentators say that the Star appeared later, over wherever the Holy Family was living at the time. The argument is that, after Herod is deceived by the Magi, he orders the killing of all boys two and under: that would imply that the Magi came through Jerusalem sometime closer to the two-year point than to immediately after Jesus' birth. The star in this hymn could also be a representation of the divine light, of the light of the angels, or of the light of the Holy Spirit. "Bedlam" is an old English contraction of "Bethlehem," most commonly used to refer to the Bethlehem Royal Hospital in London, established in 1247 by the Bishop-elect of Bethlehem (a diocese there was erected during the Crusades). A century or two after its founding, the hospital began to specialize in care for the mentally-ill, hence the term "Bedlam" for wildness, craziness, insanity, etc. This is the origin of the pseudonym "Tom o' Bedlam" used by Edgar in Shakespeare's <i>King Lear.</i></p><p style="text-align: left;">2. The Queen Mother was an important personage in the Old Testament (a notable example being Bathsheba's intercessory role in 1 Kings 2); the concept clearly applies to Mary, Queen of Heaven and Mother of Christ the King. The Byzantine tradition also loves the image of Mary as a port or harbor for the storm-tossed: here, I have expanded<i> </i>on that image to make her the harbor for the boat of human flesh which carries the Godhead of the Son.</p><p style="text-align: left;">3. The Greek Fathers commonly described original sin as a stain on a mirror: our nature is meant to be a mirror of God (we being made in His image and likeness). Through grace, that stain, that muck, that mire, is washed away. The "Second Adam" language is Pauline.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Text </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2023</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the author.</span>
</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-50472677547084121112023-12-25T16:04:00.004-06:002024-03-05T00:21:30.180-06:00Ben Jonson: I Sing the Birth Was Borne to Night: Hymn<p> Christ is born! Glorify Him!</p><p>As a supplement to my typical translations, I am beginning to post music as well. Some of it includes simple transcriptions of hymns (such as my recent transcription of the chant <i><a href="https://thesaurostesekklesias.blogspot.com/2023/12/oratory-of-jesus-humani-generis-cessent.html" target="_blank">Humani Generis Cessent Suspiria</a></i>); others will be translations of hymns set to old melodies. Some may be original poems of mine set to old melodies; still others will be poems (my own or others') set to music I have composed. I have no delusions of grandeur regarding my own musical ability, but I think some of the choices of texts, at least, might warrant my meager attempts. The hymn included here is an example.</p><p>The poem set here is by Ben Jonson (1572-1637), one of the most important poets and playwrights of the English Renaissance. This poem--originally entitled "A Hymne on the Nativitie of My Saviour"--was included by Jonson in a proposed collection of verse entitled <i>Under-wood</i> (the title being a sequel to an earlier collection, <i>The Forrest</i>, published in 1616). The collection was arranged but left to languish until Jonson's death; it was first published in the posthumous <i>Works</i> of 1640-1641, edited by Jonson's friend Sir Kenelm Digby. </p><p>For my setting, I replaced the title with the first line of the poem, as is common for hymns. I have left the spelling unmodernized, in true 17th-century style. Perhaps I might prepare a modernized version in the future.</p><p><br />
</p><p style="-x-system-font: none; display: block; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px auto 6px;"> <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/694754993/Ben-Jonson-I-Sing-the-Birth-Was-Borne-to-Night#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Ben Jonson: I Sing the Birth Was Borne to Night on Scribd">Ben Jonson: I Sing the Birth Was Borne to Night</a> by <a href="https://www.scribd.com/user/440538202/Brandon-P-Otto#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Brandon P. Otto's profile on Scribd">Brandon P. Otto</a> on Scribd</p><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_74191" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/694754993/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-5EH2LgasTd8UyQmFmrId" title="Ben Jonson: I Sing the Birth Was Borne to Night" width="100%"></iframe>
<p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Scribd link to the document embedded above: <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/694754993/Ben-Jonson-I-Sing-the-Birth-Was-Borne-to-Night" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Internet Archive mirror: <a href="https://archive.org/details/i-sing-the-birth-was-borne-to-night">https://archive.org/details/i-sing-the-birth-was-borne-to-night</a></span> <br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Source:</b> Ben Jonson, "A Hymne on the Nativitie of My Saviour," in <i>The Complete Poetry of Ben Jonson</i>, ed. Willliam B. Hunter, Jr. (New York: Norton, 1968), 120-121.</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Melody </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2023</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the composer.</span>
</p><p></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-4509224328501258302023-12-22T14:15:00.003-06:002024-03-05T00:21:07.663-06:00Oratory of Jesus: Humani Generis Cessent Suspiria: Transcribed Chant<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <b>Introduction</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Oratory of Jesus was founded by Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (1575-1629). Famous members include St. John Eudes (1601-1680)--before forming his own congregation--and Jean-Jacques Olier (1608-1657). The French school of spirituality, founded by Bérulle and perpetuated by the Oratory, was a major force in the spiritual formation of St. Louis Marie de Montfort (1673-1716). The Oratory is a society of priests, not a traditional religious order, and their emphasis is on Jesus and His humility in the Incarnation. Their liturgical calendar has a few peculiar feasts, most notably the Solemnity of Jesus (January 28), as well as a special commemoration of the Incarnation on the 25th of every month. However, the hymn transcribed here is simply a special sequence for the Feast of the Annunciation, taken from a book of hymns for the use of the Oratory.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I posted a translation of this sequence to my old website, <a href="https://bpotto.github.io/Undusted-Texts/poems/humani_generis.html" target="_blank">"Undusted Texts,"</a> back in 2017. What I've done here is simply transcribe the Gregorian chant melody for the sequence to modern Western musical notation, along with a transcription of the Latin text. I've working on adapting my translation to this melody, and I hope to post a version of that soon. The guide I used for transcribing the chant melody is the introduction of <i>Kyriale seu Ordinarium Missarum in Recentioris Musicæ Notulas Translatum</i>, Editio Altera (Rome/Tournay: Desclée, Lefebvre & Soc., 1904); a scan of this book can be found <a href="https://archive.ccwatershed.org/media/pdfs/13/07/11/16-04-12_0.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br />
</p><p style="-x-system-font: none; display: block; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px auto 6px;"> <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/694293672/Humani-Generis-Cessent-Suspiria#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Humani Generis Cessent Suspiria on Scribd">Humani Generis Cessent Suspiria</a> by <a href="https://www.scribd.com/user/440538202/Brandon-P-Otto#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Brandon P. Otto's profile on Scribd">Brandon P. Otto</a> on Scribd</p><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_76506" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/694293672/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-0uqdxCGgVfDmiXxiVCvW" title="Humani Generis Cessent Suspiria" width="100%"></iframe>
<p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Scribd link for the above document: <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/694293672/Humani-Generis-Cessent-Suspiria">https://www.scribd.com/document/694293672/Humani-Generis-Cessent-Suspiria</a></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Internet archive mirror: <a href="https://archive.org/details/humani-generis-cessent-suspiria">https://archive.org/details/humani-generis-cessent-suspiria</a></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Text:</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">1. Humani generis <br />Cessent suspiria;<br />Beata miseris<br />Affert hic nuntia<br />Dies mortalibus.</p><p style="text-align: left;">2. Unicus scelere<br />Cuncti cecidimus;<br />Lapsos erigere<br />Venit altissimus,<br />De cœli sedibus.</p><p style="text-align: left;">3. Delectæ Virgini<br />Quæ Deum pariat,<br />Angelus Domini<br />Salutis nuntiat<br />Nostræ mysterium.</p><p style="text-align: left;">4. O beatissima<br />Præ mulieribus,<br />Virgo castissima,<br />Deum visceribus<br />Suscipe filium.</p><p style="text-align: left;">5. Virtute Spiritus<br />In sinu Virginis,<br />Innocens penitus<br />A labe criminis<br />Caro compingitur.</p><p style="text-align: left;">6. Per hanc infantibus<br />Lactescit teneris,<br />Ille qui mentibus<br />Panis a superis<br />In cœlis editur.</p><p style="text-align: left;">7. Quod siine tempore<br />De Patre nascitur,<br />Mortali corpore<br />Verbum induitur<br />Ut salvet hominem.</p><p style="text-align: left;">8. Corpus hoc offeret<br />In sacrificium:<br />Servos ut liberet,<br />Totum in pretium<br />Effundet sanguinem.</p><p style="text-align: left;">9. Errabam devius<br />Exul a patria,<br />Semitæ nescius<br />Ad vera gaudia<br />Per quam regrediar.</p><p style="text-align: left;">10. In mea Dominus<br />Venit exilia,<br />Viæque terminus<br />Ipse fit et via;<br />Tutus hac gradiar.</p><p style="text-align: left;">11. O veritas latens<br />Sub velo corporis,<br />Sed oculis patens<br />Mundati corporis,<br />Tu nos illumina.</p><p style="text-align: left;">12. Et tu promiseris<br />Supplica Numini,<br />Quæ te dum asseris<br />Ancillam Domini,<br />Fis mundi Domina.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Amen.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Source:</b> <i>Cantus varii, ad usum Congregationis Oratorii
Domini Jesu et Mariae Immaculatae</i> (Paris: Carolum Poussielgue, 1892), 24-25.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Transcription </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2023</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the transcriber.</span>
</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-40116404607139278332023-12-20T09:39:00.010-06:002024-03-05T00:20:52.581-06:00Charles de Condren: Litany in Honor of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Priest and Victim<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <b>Introduction</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The odd litany translated below is found in a collection of chants, songs, and hymns used by the Oratory of Jesus, founded by Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (1575-1629). This litany is provided in an appendix, and it is said to be the work of Charles de Condren (1588-1641), the second Superior General of the Oratory, following Bérulle's death. He was also the confessor of Jean-Jacques Olier (1608-1657), founder of the Sulpicians (Society of the Priests of Saint-Sulpice). The petitions in this litany are quite unwieldy, being mostly passages from St. Paul--predominantly the Letter to the Hebrews--awkwardly stuffed into the format of a litany. The theme of the litany is still an interesting one, though, so I have translated it here. <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><p style="text-align: center;"> <b>Litany in Honor of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Priest and Victim</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Extracted from the Epistles of St. Paul by Charles de Condren)</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;">Kyrie eleison.<br />Christ eleison. Kyrie eleison.<br />Jesus, Priest and High Priest Most High, hear us.<br />Jesus, Lamb of God, hearken to us.<br />God the Father, from the heavens, have mercy on us.<br />God the Son, redeemer of the world,<br />Holy Spirit, God,<br />Holy Trinity, One God,<br />Jesus, Son of God and Great High Priest,<br />Jesus, high priest taken from among men,<br />Jesus, great priest over the house of God,<br />Jesus, high priest appointed for men in the things pertaining to God,<br />Jesus, high priest, author and consummator of the faith,<br />Jesus, high priest of our confession,<br />Jesus Who did not glorify Yourself so as to become a high priest,<br />Jesus, having become a high priest because it was said to You: “You are My Son, You are a priest unto eternity, according to the order of Melchizedek,”<br />Jesus, Who did not become high priest according to the law of the fleshy mandate, but according to the power of an indissoluble life,<br />Jesus, high priest Whom not the law, but the word of the oath, which is after the law, appointed unto perfect eternity,<br />Jesus, high priest Whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit and power,<br />Jesus, high priest, called by God according to the order of Melchizedek,<br />Jesus, high priest Who, coming into the world, says: “Holocausts for sin have not pleased You; behold, I come that I may do Your will, God,”<br />Jesus, high priest Who were tempted in everything, by likeness, except sin,<br />Jesus, high priest Who can suffer with our infirmities,<br />Jesus, high priest Who have the Priesthood because You remain unto sempiternal eternity,<br />Jesus, high priest Who have no necessity, like the priests, to offer sacrifices for Your own offenses,<br />Jesus, high priest Who have no necessity to offer daily sacrifices for the offenses of the people, but You did this once, offering Yourself: have mercy on us.<br />Jesus, minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle, which God, and not man, erected,<br />Jesus, Who are not Priest upon earth, but were allotted to a greater ministry, inasmuch as You are the mediator of a greater covenant, which is sanctioned with greater promises.<br />Jesus, high priest Who, through the Holy Spirit, offered Yourself, immaculate, to God,<br />Jesus, high priest Who offered Yourself that You might cleanse our consciences from dead works, in order to serve the living God, <br />Jesus, high priest, mediator of the New Covenant, by Whose death, interceding unto the redemption of the trespasses of those who were under the old covenant, those who were called received the promise of eternal inheritance,<br />Jesus, high priest Who, in the days of Your flesh, offered prayers and supplications, with strong shout and tears, to Him Who could save You from death,<br />Jesus, high priest Who were heard because of Your reverence,<br />Jesus, Who penetrated the heavens that we might have confession,<br />Jesus Who, sitting as the High Priest of the goods to come, entered once into the Holy Places through the wider and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hands, that is, not of this creation,<br />Jesus, high priest Who entered into the Holy Places, having found eternal redemption, not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own Blood,<br />Jesus, high priest Who entered not into the hand-made holy places, exemplars of the true ones, but into heaven itself, that You might approach the face of God for our sakes,<br />Jesus, high priest Who sat on the right of the throne of greatness in the heights,<br />Jesus, high priest, holy, innocent, unpolluted, segregated from sinners, and become higher than the heavens,<br />Jesus, high priest Who, forerunner, entered within the veil for us, having become High Priest unto eternity,<br />Jesus, high priest Who did not offer Yourself often, but approached once, in the consummation of the ages, for the destitution of sins through Your sacrifice,<br />Jesus, high priest Who were once offered to empty the sins of many,<br />Jesus, high priest Who will appear a second time, without sin, to those awaiting You unto salvation,<br />Jesus, high priest Who can save unto perpetuity those approaching God through You,<br />Jesus, high priest always living to intercede for us,<br />Jesus, high priest Who were consummated for those obeying You, for the cause of eternal salvation,<br />Jesus high priest, through whose Body’s oblation, once alone, by God’s will, we were sanctified,<br />Jesus, high priest Who suffered so that You might sanctify, through Your blood, the people beyond the gate,<br />Jesus, high priest Who consummated, in one oblation, those sanctified unto sempiternity,<br />Jesus, high priest through Whom the way to the holy places was revealed,<br />Jesus, high priest, in Whose blood we have confidence when entering into the holy places,<br />Jesus, high priest Who began for us the new and living way through the veil, that is, Your flesh,<br />Jesus, high priest by Whose blood the heavenly things were cleansed, as much as by better sacrifices,<br />Jesus, high priest by Whose blood the new covenant was dedicated and confirmed by death,<br />Jesus, high priest through Whom we always offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips confessing His Name,<br />Jesus, high priest Who, offering one sacrifice for sins, sit unto sempiternity at the right hand of God, have mercy on us.<br />Jesus, high priest Who, on the night on which You were handed over, took bread and the chalice and, giving thanks, broke and said: “This is My Body, which is handed over for us,”<br />Jesus, high priest Who likewise, taking the chalice, said, “This chalice is the new covenant in My Blood,”<br />Jesus, high priest Who said: “Do this in memory of Me.”<br />Jesus, high priest Who made us a kingdom and priests for God and Father,<br />Jesus, high priest Who, for the sake of those whom the Father gave You, sanctify Yourself, that they, too, might be sanctified in truth,<br />Jesus, high priest Who, by Your priesthood, glorified Your Father upon earth,<br />Jesus, high priest Who, by Your priesthood, consummated the work which the Father gave You to do,<br />Jesus, high priest Who loved us and handed Yourself over to God for us as an oblation and sacrifice in the scent of sweetness,<br />Jesus, high priest Who loved the Church and handed Yourself over for her,<br />Jesus, high priest Who sanctified the Church, washing her with the laver of water in the word of life,<br />Jesus, high priest through Whom we can approach the throne of grace with confidence,<br />Jesus, high priest through Whom we obtain mercy and we find grace in opportune aid,<br />Jesus, priest and victim, yesterday and today and unto the ages,<br />Jesus, high priest and lamb of God, about Whom there is a great and understandable speech to say to us,<br />Priest and Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, pardon us, Jesus.<br />Priest and Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, hearken to us, Jesus.<br />Priest and Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, Jesus.<br />Jesus, most high Priest, hear us.<br />Jesus, Lamb of God, hearken to us.<br /><br />Let us pray:<br /><br />Lord Jesus, Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Who, when You were in the form of God, emptied Yourself and willed to be like the brothers in everything, so that You might be a merciful and faithful High Priest before God and might make propitiation for the people’s offenses: have compassion, we beseech You, on our infirmities; by Your Blood, wash our conscience from dead works in order to serve the living God, and bestow it that, approaching the throne of grace with confidence, we might obtain mercy and might find grace in opportune aid. Who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all the ages of ages.<br /><br />℟. Amen.<br /><br />℣. May Jesus, Priest and Lamb of God, hearken to us.<br />℟. Now and always. Amen.<b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Source:</b> <i>Cantus varii, ad usum Congregationis Oratorii Domini Jesu et Mariae Immaculatae</i> (Paris: Carolum Poussielgue, 1892), 51-53.</span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2023</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the translator.</span>
</p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-69338142183753996272023-12-17T15:42:00.004-06:002024-03-05T00:20:47.089-06:00St. Romanos the Melodist: First Kontakion on the Nativity<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <b>Introduction</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">St. Romanos (d. 6th century) is one of the most famous figures in Byzantine hymnody. Though the majority of the Byzantine liturgical hymns are ascribed to St. John of Damascus (675-749) and his foster-brother St. Cosmas the Hymnographer (8th c.), St. Romanos' works are a foundational element of Byzantine hymnody. Specifically, he is considered the Greek popularizer of the <i>kontakion</i> format, a long hymn consisting of metrically-identical stanzas (<i>oikoi</i>) preceded by a distinct introductory stanza (<i>prooimoion </i>or <i>koukoulion</i>), with an identical refrain shared by both types of stanza. The full hymns used to be used in the liturgy: now all that usually remains is the <i>koukoulion</i> (renamed "kontakion") and the first <i>oikos</i>. The Akathist Hymn is a memorable example of a full kontakion still in use. (The Akathist is often attributed to St. Romanos, but scholars typically think it is a later imitation of his work.)</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Legend states that St. Romanos was a bumbling lector whose incompetence forced him to be replaced during the chanting of Psalms during the Vigil of the Nativity. While he slept that night, the Theotokos came to him bearing a scroll, and she commanded him to eat it, which he did. The next day, the Feast of the Nativity, he received a blessing from the Patriarch and, without any preparation, recited the following Kontakion. His hymn-writing ability remained past that singular instance, and he wrote an enormous number of kontakia: tradition claims he wrote over a thousand hymns. A modern critical edition gives him 59 surviving genuine hymns, as well as a number of dubious ones.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The following translation aims to balance accuracy with a bit of poetic élan, though I have let accuracy trump matching metrical forms.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>First Kontakion on the Nativity</b></p><p style="text-align: center;">St. Romanos the Melodist</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Today the Virgin bears the One exceeding essence,<br /> and earth a cave brings to the Unapproachable:<br />the angels with the shepherds sing in glory,<br /> the magi with the star now make their way:<br />for for us has been begotten<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Bethlehem has opened Eden; come let us see:<br /> delight in hiding we have found, come let us grasp<br /> the things of Paradise within the cave:<br />here was revealed unwatered root blossoming forgiveness,<br /> here was found unexcavated well,<br /> from which to drink David before had yearned:<br />here the Virgin, giving birth unto an Infant,<br /> quenched at once the thirst of Adam and of David:<br />therefore, towards this, let us approach, where there was born<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.</p><p style="text-align: center;">II <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">The Father of the mother became Son by will;<br /> the Savior of infants, as infant, in a manger lay:<br /> contemplating Whom, she who gave birth said:<br />“Tell me, Son, how were You sown, how grown in me?<br /> I see You, swaddled, and I am astounded,<br /> for I give milk, and I have never been a bride:<br />and now I see You with the swaddling bands,<br /> but my virginity exactly sealed I find:<br />for, guarding this, You were begotten, while well-pleased,<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.</p><p style="text-align: center;">III <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">"Exalted King, what is between You and the poor?<br /> Heaven’s Master, why to earthly have You come?<br /> A cave have You desired, or to manger turned?<br />Behold, Your handmaid has no place in upper room:<br /><span> </span>'no place' I say, but not [no] 'cave,'<br /><span> </span>for that and this are differing:<br />and though to Sarah, giving birth unto an infant,<br /><span> </span>was given lot of many lands, to me, not a hole:<br />I had need of a den where You would dwell by will,<br /><span> </span>a new-born child, God before the ages.”</p><p style="text-align: center;">IV <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Sayings such as these in speechless manner saying<br /> and knowledge of the things unseen in earnest pleading,<br /> she hears the magi seeking for the Infant:<br />at once to them, “Who are you?” the maiden cried:<br /> but they to her, “And you, from whence have you descended,<br /> that to such a One you’ve given birth?<br />Who is your father, who the woman bearing,<br /> that you’ve become the fatherless Son’s mother and nurse,<br />to Whom, seeing the star, we’ve come, for He’s appeared,<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.</p><p style="text-align: center;">V</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;">“For Balaam precisely handed down to us<br /><span> </span>the meaning of the sayings which he’d prophesied,<br /><span> </span>saying that a star was to arise,<br />a star quenching all sooth-sayings and auguries:<br /><span> </span>a star unloosing parables and sages,<br /><span> </span>their utterances and their enigmas:<br />a star come from that star which shines<br /><span> </span>much more exceeding radiant, as all stars’ Maker,<br />about which he forewrote, that out of Jacob arises<br /><span> </span>a new-born child, God before the ages.”</p><p style="text-align: center;">VI</p><p style="text-align: left;">As sayings paradoxical she—Maryam—heard,<br /><span> </span>the One out of her bowels, bowing, she venerated,<br /><span> </span>and crying out, she said, “Great for me, Child,<br />great all the things You’ve done through my own purity:<br /><span> </span>for, behold, the magi from afar seek You,<br /><span> </span>those reigning over eastern lands:<br />Your face they come to seek,<br /><span> </span>and they beseech to see the riches of Your people:<br />for truly they’re Your people, to whom You were made known,<br /><span> </span>a new-born child, God before the ages. </p><p style="text-align: center;">VII</p><p style="text-align: left;">“Since this is Your people, Child, therefore, command<br /><span> </span>that beneath Your roof they be, that they may see<br /><span> </span>the wealthy wretchedness, the precious poverty:<br />You I have for glory and boast: thus I’m not ashamed:<br /><span> </span>You Yourself are grace and comeliness<br /><span> </span>of tent for me: nod that they may come:<br />nothing of paltriness troubles me:<br /><span> </span>for I hold as treasure You, Whom kings come to see,<br />the kings and magi knowing that You had appeared<br /><span> </span>a new-born child, God before the ages.”</p><p style="text-align: center;">VIII</p><p style="text-align: left;">Jesus the Christ, truly being our God,<br /><span> </span>the innards of His mother touched, unseen,<br /><span> </span>while saying, “Introduce those I have led by word:<br />for My word, which lightened those who hope in me,<br /><span> </span>is at once a star in its appearance,<br /><span> </span>and a certain power to intelligence:<br />it travelled with the magi as My minister<br /><span> </span>and still it stands, its ministry fulfilling<br />and showing, by its rays, the place where there was born<br /><span> </span>a new-born child, God before the ages. </p><p style="text-align: center;">IX</p><p style="text-align: left;">"Now, then, receive, August one, receive those who’ve received Me:<br /><span> </span>for in them I am, as in your cradling arms:<br /><span> </span>and, without having left you, I have come with them.”<br />She then opens the door and receives the magi’s court:<br /><span> </span>she opens the door, the never-opened<br /><span> </span>gate (cf. Ez 44:2-3), through which Christ alone has passed:<br />she opens the door, she who opened<br /><span> </span>and has never closed purity’s treasury:<br />she has opened the door, through whose door was born<br /><span> </span>a new-born child, God before the ages. </p><p style="text-align: center;">X</p><p style="text-align: left;">The magi, then, at once, entered the inner room<br /> and, seeing Christ, they shuddered, for they saw<br /> this One’s mother, and that one’s betrothed:<br />and said, in fear, “This is the genealogy-less Son (cf. Heb 7:3):<br /> and how, O Virgin, a man who’s been betrothed<br /> do we now see, within your very home?<br />Your pregnancy has not a spot:<br /> let dwelling not be false, Joseph being with you:<br />you have a horde of envious, seeking where was born<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.”</p><p style="text-align: center;">XI</p><p style="text-align: left;">“I shall remind you,” Mary said unto the magi,<br /><span> </span>“for what reason I took Joseph into my home:<br /><span> </span>as a condemnation of all the back-biters:<br />for he will say what he has heard about my child:<br /><span> </span>for, sleeping, he a holy angel saw<br /><span> </span>saying to him from whence I had conceived:<br />a fiery sight the thorny bush<br /><span> </span>filled full at night, around those putting it to grief:<br />wherefore Joseph is with me, revealing how He is<br /><span> </span>a new-born child, God before the ages.</p><p style="text-align: center;">XII</p><p style="text-align: left;">"He plainly speaks in public of all he has heard:<br /> he announces clearly what he has beheld<br /> amidst the heavenly and midst the earthly:<br />of shepherds’ tales, how with the clay-born flamed ones hymned:<br /> of you, the magi, since we ran before<br /> the star enlightening and guiding you:<br />therefore, leaving the things uttered before,<br /> now describe to us what has occurred with you:<br />whence have you come, and how’d you know that there appeared<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages?”</p><p style="text-align: center;">XIII</p><p style="text-align: left;">And as these things to them the light-filled one had said,<br /> they, the lights out of the East, now said to her:<br /> “You wish to know, from whence we have come unto here?<br />From Chaldees’ land, where they don’t say, ‘The God of gods is Lord,’<br /> out of Babylon, where they don’t know<br /> who’s the Maker of the things they worship:<br />from there it came, and it led us forth,<br /> the spark of your Child, from the Persian flame:<br />all-eating flame we left, bedewing flame we saw,<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.</p><p style="text-align: center;">XIV</p><p style="text-align: left;">"Vanity of vanities are all things,<br /> but none among us is there found who thinks them such:<br /> for some do go astray and some are led astray:<br />Virgin, thus, thanks to your Birth, through which we’re freed<br /> not just from error, but also from distress<br /> suffered in all the towns through which we passed,<br />from nations unperceived and tongues unknown,<br /> going about the earth and strict examining it<br />with the light of the Star, seeking where was born<br /><span> </span>a new-born child, God before the ages.</p><p style="text-align: center;">XV<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">“But as, of yet, we still had it, this light,<br /> though all Jerusalem we wandered about,<br /> willingly fulfilling, then, things of prophecy:<br />for we had heard that God threatened to study her,<br /> and, with the Light, we went all about,<br /> working to find the great justification:<br />but it was not found there, for it had been removed,<br /> her ark, with all it held before, calling out:<br />‘the old has passed away, and all He has renewed—<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.’”</p><p style="text-align: center;">XVI</p><p style="text-align: left;">"Truly,” she said, said Mary to those faithful magi,<br /> “all Jerusalem have you wandered about,<br /> that very city, the prophet-slaying one (cf. Mt 23:37)?<br />And how have you, griefless, passed through her who slanders all?<br /> Again, unharmed, how did you pass by Herod<br /> who, instead of laws, breathes simply slaughters?”<br />Then they unto her did say, “O Virgin,<br /> we did not sneak past him, instead, we tricked him:<br />we were there, asking all where there was born<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.”</p><p style="text-align: center;">XVII</p><p style="text-align: left;">When to these, their words, the Theotokos hearkened,<br /> then she said to them, “What did he ask of you,<br /> Herod the ruling lord, and all the Pharisees?”<br />“First Herod, then, as you have said, the first ones among your nation,<br /> about the time in which there now appeared<br /> the star to us, earnestly inquired:<br />and, knowing this, as those who do not learn,<br /> they wanted not to see Him of Whom they had sought to learn,<br />for to the seekers, it behooves to contemplate<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.</p><p style="text-align: center;">XVIII</p><p style="text-align: left;">"The senseless ones considered us as thoughtless ones,<br /> and, asking said, ‘From whence and when did you come here?’<br /> How the unillumined paths have you traversed?’<br />Then we, about what they had known, asked them back:<br /> ‘How did you, in times long past, traverse<br /> the desert vast through which you passed?’”<br />The One Who guided them from Egypt<br /> now also guided those from Chaldee unto Him,<br />then, by a fiery pillar, but now, by star which shows<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.</p><p style="text-align: center;">XIX</p><p style="text-align: left;">"The star it was which went before us everywhere,<br /> as Moses went, bearing the staff, for you,<br /> shining about the light of Godly knowledge:<br />of old the manna fed you and the stone gave drink:<br /> us the hope of Him fulfilled:<br /> fed and nourished by His grace<br />so that to Persia we would not return<br /> along the untrod way we had to pass in mind,<br />yearning to behold, worship, and glorify<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages."</p><p style="text-align: center;">XX</p><p style="text-align: left;">By unerring magi were these things declared:<br /> and by the august Virgin all these things were sealed,<br /> the Infant ratifying what was said by both,<br />the One Who made His mother stainless after birth,<br /> and the One showing, after their coming,<br /> their minds to be untroubled as their steps:<br />for not a one of them suffered in toil,<br /> as Habbakuk untroubled stayed, coming to Daniel:<br />for He, revealed to prophets, revealed Himself to magi,<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.</p><p style="text-align: center;">XXI</p><p style="text-align: left;">After all of these, their full accounts,<br /> the magi brought their gifts in hand and prostrate fell<br /> before the Gift of Gifts, before the Myrrh of Myrrhs:<br />then gold and myrrh and frankincense to Christ they gave<br /> crying out: “Receive the triple-mattered gift,<br /> as the Seraphim’s thrice-holy hymn:<br />turn not away from them as once from Cain’s,<br /> but embrace them tight, as Abel’s offering,<br />through her who bore You, through whom was born to us<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.”</p><p style="text-align: center;">XXII</p><p style="text-align: left;">Now new and radiant things the spotless woman seeing,<br /> the magi bearing gifts in hand and falling down,<br /> the star revealing, and the shepherds hymning,<br />the Lord and Maker of all of these she pleaded, saying:<br /> “This triad of gifts, O child, receiving,<br /> give these three pleas to she who gave You birth:<br />for the winds I now beseech You<br /> and for the fruits of earth and those dwelling in her:<br />give all these in exchange, through me, for You were born<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.</p><p style="text-align: center;">XXIII</p><p style="text-align: left;">"For I am not simply Your mother, compassioned Savior:<br /> not in vain do I give milk to milk’s Bestower,<br /> but on behalf of all I pray to You:<br />You have made me all my race’s mouth and boast:<br /> for me Your universe now holds <br /> as mighty shelter, as a wall and fortress:<br />me they see, those once cast out<br /> of paradise’s joy, for I shall turn them back<br />to grasp the sense of all for, through me, You were born<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.</p><p style="text-align: center;">XXIV</p><p style="text-align: left;"> "Save the world, O Savior: for this cause You came:<br /> make firm all Yours: for for this cause You shone<br /> on me and on the magi and on all creation:<br />for, behold the magi, to whom Your face’s light You showed,<br /> falling down, they offer gifts to You,<br /> very good and sought-for implements:<br />for I have need of them, since I’m about<br /> to go to Egypt and to flee with You, because of You,<br />my Guide, my Son, my Maker, my Enricher,<br /> a new-born child, God before the ages.”</p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Notes</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>On III:4:</i> This the best I can make out of the Greek phrase here: the intent seems to be that Mary is (as the next line declares) making a distinction between "place" (τόπον) and "cave" (σπήλαιον), so that when she says she has no "place," she is not thereby contradicting the fact that she has a "cave" in which to give birth. The exact Greek is οὑ λέγω τόπον, ὰλλ´ οὑδὲ σπήλαιον.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>On VII:6: </i>The modern Italian editor of the Greek text, Maisano, uses a variant reading, making these lines read: “In You is grace and truth / of tent: and now: nod that they may come.” As he rightfully notes, this variant more exactly references Jn 1:14, and perhaps the substitution of “truth” (αληθεια) for “comeliness” (ευπρεπεια) might fit better, by the “for me” (καμου) seems more needed for the sense than “and now” (και νυν).</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>On XV:4</i>: The “her” in this strophe refers to Jerusalem, which is a feminine noun in Greek.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>On XX:8:</i> In the story of Bel and the Dragon, at the end of the Book of Daniel, it recounts how Daniel was thrown into a lions’ den, and, to give him food, an angel of the Lord took Habbakuk the prophet from Judea to Babylon so that he would toss his breakfast to Daniel in the den. Habbakuk was untroubled (though he questioned the angel at first, not knowing where Babylon or the lions’ den was), it seems, since he was not touched by the lions either, and since he was easily conveyed from Judea to Babylon and back by an angel grasping his head.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>On XXI:3</i>: More exactly, “Ointment of Ointments,” but this flows better, poetically. The Greek word for ointment or perfumed oil (μυρον) is similar to the word for myrrh (σμυρνα), both having the sound “myr,” as found in the English “myrrh,” so they are frequently conflated in English translation: hence the “myrrh-bearers” who came to Christ’s tomb were more precisely “ointment-bearers” or “perfume-bearers."</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>On XXII:8: </i>Probably a reference to the petitions commonly found in Greek liturgies; such petitions are worked into the main litanies. Other traditions show this focus on agriculture more strongly, as in the Coptic tradition, where the rite of the Offering of Incense (somewhat equivalent to Matins and Vespers) ends with a special agricultural prayer keyed to the time of the year: prayer for seeds and herbs from October to January, prayer for winds and fruits from January to June, and prayer for the rivers’ water from June to October. (Of course, these are keyed to the growing seasons in Egypt, and the prayer for the proper rising of the Nile is especially important there.) See <i>Service of the Deacons: Rites and Hymns of the Liturgies and Services of the Coptic Orthodox Church</i> (Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States, 2010), 46-47.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>On XXIV:6:</i> It is worth noting that this is the same Greek phrase (καλα λιαν) used at the end of the first Creation Narrative (Gen 1:31). </span><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Source:
</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Sancti
Romani Melodi Cantica: Cantica Genuina</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">,
ed. Paul Maas and C.A. Trypanis (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997
[1963]), 1-9.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2023</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the translator.</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; text-align: left; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; background: transparent }</style></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-61793455930178221112023-11-07T15:01:00.002-06:002023-11-07T15:01:28.634-06:00New Page: Publications and Unpublications<p>In order to make this blog a better hub for all of my work, I have added a new page with links to my <a href="https://thesaurostesekklesias.blogspot.com/p/publications-and-unpublications.html" target="_blank">Publications and Unpublications</a>, that is, draft papers. Most of these publications are articles at the <i><a href="https://www.hprweb.com/author/brandon-otto/" target="_blank">Homiletic & Pastoral Review</a></i>; a few are conference papers, which I have uploaded to <a href="https://independent.academia.edu/BrandonPOtto">Academia.edu.</a> I have also begun uploading some draft papers, or papers for which I don't think I'll ever find a publisher. Each paper will be added to my Publications and Unpublications page once I have linked it.</p><p>In my slow process of revising the layout of this blog, I have added this new page to the main navigation bar, and I have removed links to two prominent blog posts: <a href="https://thesaurostesekklesias.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-discuss-eastern-church.html" target="_blank">"How to Discuss the Eastern Church: A Grammatical Primer,"</a> and the <a href="https://thesaurostesekklesias.blogspot.com/2011/12/church-documents-table-of-contents.html" target="_blank">Table of Contents</a> to my Church Documents Index. The grammatical primer was written over a decade ago, and--though I have not yet taken time to review it--I assume I made some errors in it. The Church Documents Index has not been updated since 2013, I think, so it is missing any newer documents, and many of the links have probably succumbed to link rot. If it turns out the latter index is actually popular, I could work on revising it, but, for the moment, I am archiving it. Links to both of these prominent pages have been removed from the main navigation bar, but they have been added to the bottom of the new "Publications and Unpublications" page. Unfortunately, the main navigation bar now looks a bit sparse, at least on a widescreen desktop, with only three links, but perhaps I'll come up with a new page to add in the future. For now, I'll work adding new translations, as well as uploading various draft papers to Academia.edu.<br /></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-10224214734083425932023-11-06T09:28:00.004-06:002024-03-05T00:20:34.872-06:00Pseudo-Augustine: The Biting and Slaying of Hell (Sermon CLX)<p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Introduction</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It was long a tradition for unknown writers to sign a famous author's names to their works; sometimes, the work was half by the purported author anyway. The homily translated below is nominally attributed to St. Augustine, but scholars reject it as spurious. Some pieces of it can be traced to other writers: a large portion of §1 is copied from St. Gregory the Great's <i>Homilies on the Gospels</i> XXII.6 (PL76:1177B-D). The editor of the Latin text claims portions of §§2-3 are taken, respectively, from the homilies on Pascha and on the Ascension by a certain Eusebius, but I have not yet located the source. <b></b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Sermon CLX</b></p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">On
Pascha</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
II</span></span></p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Biting and Slaying of Hell</p><p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p><p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><ol><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Passion or resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
beloved brethren, all of the volumes of the Old Testament spoke of
beforehand in many ways, so that, even through the mouth of David
the prophet, the Holy Spirit clearly shows this, saying, <i>A God of
vengeance is the Lord, the God of vengeance acts to free</i> (Ps
94:1). For He alone acts to free, He Who shows us today what He
did. For He acts to free, about which there were many prophecies
beforehand, since <i>He became like a man without help, free among
the dead</i> (Ps 88:4-5). But do you want to know what He did?
Hear what He did. Without any necessity, but by His own will, He
permitted Himself to be hanged on the wood, He did not forbid nails
to pierce His body, He allowed the putting of His soul to death, He
rested His flesh in the sepulchre, and, His soul accompanying Him,
He descended into hell. Through this, the elect, who, although they
were in the bosom of tranquility, were yet held in the cloisters of
hell, were led back to the pleasant plains of paradise. What He said
before His Passion, the Lord fulfilled in His resurrection: <i>If I
am raised up</i>, He said, <i>from </i><i>the </i><i>earth, I </i><i>will
</i><i>draw all unto Me</i> (Jn 12:32). For He drew all, He Who
left none of His elect in hell: He took all away, namely, the elect.
For the Lord, arising, did not bring to pardon the unfaithful and
those given over to eternal tortures due to their crimes, but he
snatched from the cloisters of hell those whom He recognized as His
own in faith and acts. Wherefore it is rightly said by Hosea too: <i>I
will be your death, O death; I will be your </i><i>bite</i><i>, hell
</i>(Hos 13:14). For what we slay, we act so that it will not be at
all; but, out of that which we bite, we take out a part and we leave
a part: therefore, since, among His elect, He completely slew death,
there was the death of death; but, since He took a part out of hell
and left a part, He did not completely slay, but bit, hell.
Therefore He says, <i>I will be your death, O death</i>, as if He
openly said, “Since I will completely destroy you in My elect.”
<i>I will be your bite, hell</i>, “since, taking away My own, I
will cut you into parts.” For, at that time, our Lord Jesus
Christ tied up that prince of darkness and death, troubled his
legions, shattered the iron bars of hell’s gates, loosed all of
the just, who had been tightly held by original sin, called the
captives back to pristine liberty, infused with splendid light those
blinded by the darkness of sins.</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Behold, you have heard described how our defender, the Lord of
vengeance, acted to free. For, after He was exalted, that is, hung
on the Cross by the Jews—so that I might briefly smush everything
together—immediately, when He handed over His spirit, His soul,
united to his divinity, descended into hell’s depths. And when,
like some splendid and terrible despoiler, He reached the end of the
darkness, the impious and Tartarean legions, spying Him, terrified
and trembling, began to inquire, saying, “Who is this one,
terrible and flashing with snowy splendor? Never has our Tartarus
received such a one, never has the world vomited such a one into our
cavern. He is an invader, not a debtor; He is an demander, not a
pleader; we see a judge, not a supplicant. He comes to command, not
to succumb, to rip out, not to remain. Why did our porters sleep
when this warrior vexed our cloisters? If he were guilty, he would
not be so powerful. If any sin had darkened him, never would our
Tartarus have scattered at his shining. If he is God, why did he
come? If man, how does he presume so? If God, what is he doing in
a sepulchre? If man, why does he loose sinners? Did he make a pact
with our author, or, perhaps, fight and conquer him, and so ascend
to our kingdoms? Certainly he is dead, certainly he is conquered.
Our fighter was ridiculed; he didn’t know that this one would
obtain the overthrow of hell, that Cross deceiving our joy, giving
birth to our damnation. Through wood, we were made rich, through
wood, we were overthrown; that power, always formidable to the
people, perishes. No living one has entered here, no one has
terrified the torturers, never has a joyful light appeared in this
filthy and black place, always blinded by fog. Or perhaps the sun
has come over from the world? But neither heaven nor stars appear
to us, and yet hell shines. We cannot defend the custody of our
prison against him. Badly did we enter the contest; we didn’t
know how to darken such a light, and, moreover, we are terrified of
our downfall.</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Wherefore is he so splendid, so strong, so brilliant, and so
terrible? That world that was subject to us, and always offered
tributes of the dead for our uses, never sent such a one to us,
never destined such gifts for hell. Therefore, who is this, who so
intrepidously enters our bounds, and not only does not respect our
tortures, but even frees others from our chains? Perhaps he is the
one of whom our prince spoke a little time ago, who, by his death,
would receive power over the whole world? But if this is he, the
sentence of our warrior is turned backwards, and, while he saw
himself as having conquered, rather was he himself conquered and
made prostrate. O our prince, is this the one about whose future
death you always congratulated yourself? Is he the one by whose
cross you thought the whole world would be subjected to you? Is he
the one from whose death you promised such spoils for us? What is
it that you’ve done? What is it that you wanted to do? Behold,
now he has set all of your darkness to flight by his splendor, and
he has shattered all your prisons, cast off the captives, loosed the
bound, changed their sorrow into joy. Behold, those who were wont
to sigh beneath our torments insult us, having received salvation,
and now they not only fear nothing, but they even make threats.
Never have captives thus been proud over death, nor at any time been
able to be so joyous. Why did you want to lead this one here, he by
whose coming all who before were despairing are returned to joy? No
one now hears their usual bellowing, no groans resound. But the
transaction of the redemption of the captive has been accomplished.
O our prince, those riches of yours, which you first acquired
through the loss of paradise, you have now lost through the Cross;
all your joy perishes, your joys are turned into sorrow. While you
hang Christ on the wood, you don’t know how many injuries you
suffer in hell. Could you not foresee that you were leading the
overthrower of your kingdom into death, without any charge? If you
attend to the cause, you require a fault. Him in whom you found no
evil, why did you lead him into our fatherland? You brought him
free, and you lost all the damned.”</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
After these cries from the cruel infernal ministers, without any
delay, at the command of our Lord and Savior, all the iron bars were
broken, and, behold, at once innumerable peoples of the saints, who
were held captive in death, swarming about the Savior’s knees,
with tearful plea, demanded of Him, saying: “You have come,
Redeemer of the world; You have come, Whom we, desiring, have daily
hoped for; You have come, Whom the Law and Prophets announced to us
would come; You have come, giving indulgence to the sinners of the
world, living in flesh: loose the dead and captives of hell. You
have come after long tears; pull us out, You Who alone suffered for
us. Maker of the heavens, You deigned to enter hell; for our sighs
called to You, long laments demanded You, wherefore there is hope
for the hopeless, wherefore consolation for the tormented. In Your
coming, our chains fell, night fled away. At the coming of life,
death dies, nor does torturer nor beater remain. The prayers of the
damned have succeeded: the Creator rules, not the invader. Chains
are wrapped around the tyrant, and our torturer squirms with pain.
Loose, Redeemer of the world, the dead and captives of hell. You
have descended to hell for us; do not leave us when You return to
the realms above. You placed the title of glory in the world; place
the sign of victory in hell.”</p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
No delay: after He heard the request and discussion of the
innumerable captives, at once all the ancient just, at the Lord’s
command, received the rights of power, and they immediately turned
the torments against their torturers, with humble supplication, with
ineffable joy, crying out to the Lord, and saying, “Ascend, Lord
Jesus, having despoiled hell, and, having wrapped the author of
death in chains, return joy to the world now. Let Your faithful
rejoice in Your ascension, beholding the scars on Your body.”
Christ did this, as it was said above. Having taken spoils in hell,
alive, He departed from the sepulchre; He arose by His own power,
and again dressed Himself in immaculate flesh. He appeared to His
disciples, so to take doubt away from the unbelieving; He showed the
wounds of the nails, so that He would leave no suspicion for the
Manichees.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"><sup>1</sup></a>
Publicly He ate and drank; afterwards, then, He appeared in the
sight of many. He ascended into the heavens on a cloud, and set
Himself in His seat at the right hand of the Father, from which the
Word had never separated. Therefore, let the Christian people
exalt, for whom Christ’s blood was shed. Let all rejoice in the
Lord, we who solemnly celebrate the resurrection of the flesh in
Christ. Let the whole Catholic Church through all the world be
glad, since Christ the Lord both diminished nothing of His divinity
and freed man whom He had made. Wherefore, exulting, with humble
voice, let us supplicate Him, so that He might deign to take us, for
whom He did these things, freed from the hand of hell, with Him,
when He comes into the world: to Him is honor and glory with the
Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.</p>
</li></ol>
<div id="sdfootnote1"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a>The
Manichees (or Manicheans) believed that Jesus’ Passion, death, and
Resurrection were only in appearance, not in reality, similar to the
Docetists, who taught that Jesus’ body, as a whole, was merely an
illusion and not real flesh.</p>
</div>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><style type="text/css">p.sdfootnote { font-size: 10pt; line-height: 100%; margin-left: 0.24in; text-indent: -0.24in; margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent }p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57% }</style></p><p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><style type="text/css"> </style></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">p.sdfootnote { font-size: 10pt; line-height: 100%; margin-left: 0.24in; text-indent: -0.24in; margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent }p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57% }</style><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> </b></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Source:</b> PL 39:2059-2061.</span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2023</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the translator.</span>
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a:link { color: #000080; text-decoration: underline }</style><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <br /></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-58182267758484779892023-10-19T09:38:00.006-05:002024-03-05T00:20:29.092-06:00St. Bernard of Clairvaux: On the Pilgrim, Dead and Crucified<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <b>Introduction</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) needs<b> </b>little introduction. Famous for his zeal for the Cistercian reform and his mystical writings, particularly those on Mary, as well as his long series of homilies on the Song of Songs, and perhaps a little more infamous for his fervent preaching of the Crusades, he has often been given the title "Last of the Fathers." He is also known by the more extravagant title of <i>Doctor Mellifluus</i>, "Honey-Flowing Doctor." The sermon translated below is the last in a series of Lenten sermons.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><i>Lenten Sermons</i> VII</b></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<i>On the Pilgrim, Dead and Crucified</i></p><p align="center" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i> </i></p><p align="center" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><ol><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Happy are those who show themselves
as worthless strangers and pilgrims to the present </span><span style="font-style: normal;">world</span><span style="font-style: normal;">,
keeping themselves unspotted by it! For we do not have an enduring
city here, but we look to a future one (Heb 13:14). Therefore, let
us abstain from carnal desires, which fight against the soul, as
strangers and pilgrims. A pilgrim, indeed, walks along the royal
way; he does not turn to the right nor to the left. If, perhaps, he
sees men quarreling, he does not attend to them; if getting married,
or leading dances, or doing anything else whatsoever, he
nevertheless passes by, since he is a pilgrim, and such things do
not pertain to him. He sighs after the fatherland, he tends towards
the fatherland; having clothing and food, he doesn’t want to be
burdened with anything else. Clearly blessed is he who thus knows
his own, thus deplores a dwelling, saying to the Lord: </span><i>For
I have come before You as a pilgrim, like all my fathers</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
(Ps 39:12). Great is this indeed, but perhaps another </span><span style="font-style: normal;">grade</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
is higher. For the pilgrim, even if he doesn’t mingle with the
townspeople, yet sometimes delights to see what </span><span style="font-style: normal;">is
there, or to listen to others, or to himself tell what he has </span><span style="font-style: normal;">seen</span><span style="font-style: normal;">;
and, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">by these things and in
this way, even if he is not wholly held back, yet he is detained and
slowed, as long as the desire for lesser things, and less the memory
of the fatherland, drives him on. For he can also delight in these
things so strongly that he is now not only detained, and comes less
quickly, but he even </span><span style="font-style: normal;">stays</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
completely </span><span style="font-style: normal;">still</span><span style="font-style: normal;">,
not even arriving late.</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Therefore, who is a greater
stranger to the deeds of the world than the pilgrim? Certainly the
Apostle said to them: </span><i>For you are dead, and your life is
hidden with Christ in God</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (Col
3:3). A pilgrim can, through an excessively easy time on the way,
more than behooves, be both detained by wanting and burdened by
carrying; the dead, even if he leaves his own tomb, does not feel
it. He hears insults like praises, adulations like detractions—or,
rather, he does not hear them, since he is dead. In every way,
death is happy, since it thus preserves him immaculate; rather, it
makes him wholly a stranger to this world. But it is necessary
that, for him who does not live in himself, Christ lives in him.
For this is what the Apostle says: </span><i>But I live, not now I,
but Christ lives in me</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (Gal
2:20). As if he said: “To everything else I am indeed dead, I do
not feel, I do not attend, I do not care; </span><span style="font-style: normal;">but,
if they are Christ’s things, they find me alive and ready. For,
if I can do nothing else, I feel a leap; it pleases me to see what
is done in His honor: </span><span style="font-style: normal;">t</span><span style="font-style: normal;">hings
done otherwise displease me.” Truly, this is a great grade.</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Yet perhaps something higher than
this can be found. In whom, then, do we find it? In whom do you
think, except in him of whom we are now speaking, who was rapt up to
the third heaven? For who would </span><span style="font-style: normal;">stop
by saying</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> “third heaven,”
if you could find some grade higher than these? Therefore, I heard
him, not boasting in himself in regards to such a height, but
saying: </span><i>Yet far it be from me to boast except in the Cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world is crucified to
me, and I to the world</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (Gal
6:14). He not only says “dead to the world,” but even
</span><i>crucified</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, which is
the most ignominious kind of death. I to it, and likewise it to me.
Everything that the world loves is a cross to me: delight of the
flesh, honors, riches, the vain praises of men. Those things, then,
which the world considers a cross, I am affixed to them, I adhere to
them, I embrace them with full feeling. Isn’t this greater than
the second and first grades? The pilgrim, if he is prudent, also
does not forget his pilgrimage, although </span><span style="font-style: normal;">he</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
pass through it with labor, and he is not in any way implicated in
worldly things. The dead man equally spurns the sweetness of this
world and its bitterness. He who is truly rapt up to the third
heaven, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">everything that
sticks the world to him is a cross to him, and he sticks to those
things which the world sees to be a cross. Furthermore, in these
words of the Apostle, it can also be underst</span><span style="font-style: normal;">oo</span><span style="font-style: normal;">d,
not incongruously, that the world is crucified to him through
reputation, and he is crucified to the world through compassion.
For he saw the world crucified by the obligations of vices, and he
was crucified to it through the affection of compassion.</span></p>
</li><li><p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Now let us each think of which
grade we are in, and let us be eager to advance from day to day,
since “from strength to strength the God of gods will be seen in
Sion” (Ps 84:7). And especially in this holy time, I beseech you,
let us be eager to live in all purity, where, too, a certain and
brief number of days is set down, lest human fragility despair. For
if it is said to us, “Be solicitous at every time, in every way,
to protect the purity of your way of life,” who would not despair?
But now we are admonished to, for a brief number of days, amend the
negligences of all other times, so that we might thus taste the
sweetness of perfect purity and, at every time henceforth, let the
clear footsteps of this holy Lent shine forth in our way of life.
Therefore, let us strive, brothers, to receive this holy time with
all devotion, and now better recover the spiritual arms. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">For
now the Savior, with His general army from all the world, heads to
battle against the devil; the blessed who are under such a leader
will strenuously fight. Indeed, all year long, the king’s
household family wages war and is assiduous in the girding for
battles; but, all at once, and at a certain time, the general army
of the whole empire gathers together. Happy are you who have
merited to be householders, to whom the Apostle says: </span><i>Now
you are not guests and visitors, but you are citizens of the saints
and householders of God</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (Eph
2:19). Therefore, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">what</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
will they who take up the task of fighting all year long </span><span style="font-style: normal;">do,</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
when even those who are rude and formerly idle take up spiritual
arms? Certainly, it is even more customary to take up the task of
the customary fight, so that a certain great victory for our king
would lead us to glory, to salvation.</span></p>
</li></ol>
<p align="center" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style><i> <br /></i></p><p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Source:</b> PL 183:183C-186A.</span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2023</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the translator.</span>
</p><p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-49084212842670403952023-10-15T23:17:00.005-05:002024-03-05T00:20:23.808-06:00Antonio de Guevara: "Let Them Descend into Hell Alive"<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <b>Introduction</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Antonio de Guevara (1481-1545) was born in Treceño, Cantabria, to a noble family. Thanks to the influence of his uncle, he was educated in the royal court of Castille, where--so he claimed--he served as page to Queen Isabella I (r. 1474-1504), <i>la Reina Católica</i>. Following her death, he entered the Franciscan Order, in 1505. After some official roles in the order, he returned to court, becoming court preacher to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (1500-1558), also known as Charles I of Spain, in 1521. He served the emperor in many capacities, including becoming his chronicler beginning in 1527. In 1528, he was named Bishop of Guadix, and then Bishop of Mondoñedo in 1537. He died in his diocese in 1545 and was buried in the cathedral of Mondoñedo.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">De Guevara was a prolific writer, especially during his time in court. Many of his books were about the courtly life, with his famous being the <i>Dial of Princes (Reloj de príncipes)</i> (1529), an expanded version of the previous year's <i>Golden Book of Marcus Aurelius</i>. (His interest in Roman history also involved his own book of <i>A Decade of Caesars </i>(1539), inspired by Suetonius, detailing the lives of the Roman Emperors surrounding Marcus Aurelius.) Near the end of his life, though, he turned his pen towards religious writing as well, including a two-part work entitled <i>Mount Calvary</i>. The letter translated below comes from his 1539 collection of <i>Familiar Letters (Epistolas familiares).</i></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i> </i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i> </i><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><b>Letter for the Guardian
of Alcalà, in which is expounded that verse of the Psalm which says,
<i>Descendant in infernum viventes </i><span style="font-style: normal;">(Ps
55:15)</span></b></span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></i></span></p><p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Brother
Antonio de Guevara, preacher and chronicler of Caesar, sends many
greetings to his beloved father , the Guardian of Alcalà, Although
I have not thus far written to your fatherhood, </span></i></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"><sup>1</sup></a></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">my
debt and affection to you were not less. But the cause of my
taciturnity, your singular prudence assuredly knows by itself. We
have received your letters, which were to our delight and pleasure,
for there is no other man whose writings we have more freely read
than yours; for in them there is both ornament of speech and
garnishment of due salt. We delight to wish you well, certainly, and
that you always be so. And thus far about these things.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote2sym" name="sdfootnote2anc"><sup>2</sup></a></span></i></span></p>
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">During
the </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">General
Chapter</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote3sym" name="sdfootnote3anc"><sup>3</sup></a></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
all of our order being present, </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
preached, </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">and, among other authorities of the Sacred Scripture, I expounded that
sentence of the Psalmist, which says, </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Descendant
in infernum viventes [Let them descend into hell alive] </span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Ps
55:15). Your fatherhood now says, then, that he<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote4sym" name="sdfootnote4anc"><sup>4</sup></a>
begs me to consider it good, since he did not hear it then, to
recount to </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">him</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
what I said there. </span></span></span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
preacher</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">who
gives as written what he said on the pulpit is so obliged that he is
obligated to lose his good credit, because, in the mouth of a great
preacher, what the Spirit gives him to say is more to be seen than
all that he tells us himself. Aeschines the philosopher, being in
Rhodes, having been exiled by the Athenians, as the oration which
Demosthenes made and wrote against the </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Palace,<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote5sym" name="sdfootnote5anc"><sup>5</sup></a>
said to them, “Did you see that beast of Demosthenes blazoning his
words, and the spirit he had in saying them?” Among the thirty
most famous tyrants who destroyed the republic of Athens, one of them
was Philostratus, in whose time the Philosopher Damonidas flourished,
a man certainly very correct in his living, and most eloquent in
speaking. Of this philosopher Damonidas, the tyrant Pisistratus said
one day to those of the Senate of Athens: “All those in Athens and
Greece may freely come to negotiate with me, and say what they wish,
except the philosopher Damonidas, who may write to me, but not come
speak with me, because he has a rare efficacy in what he says, which
persuades me to</span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></i><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">accept</span></i><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">whatever
he wants.” </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">King
Philip, who was the father of Alexander the Great, laying siege to a
city in Greece, came to an agreement with those within that, if they
let the philosopher Teomastes enter </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">in
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">to
speak certain words to them, he would leave, and the siege would be
lifted. The philosopher Teomastes had great eloquence in what he
said, and very great persuasion to what he willed, and it is so
recounted here that, when he entered into the city alone and spoke in
the Senate, they not only surrendered and opened the gates, but they
kissed the hands of King Philip as king, in such a way that that
philosopher was more powerful with words than King Philip was with
arms. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
say this, reverend father, because it </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">matters
greatly, and very greatly,</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
to hear a thing said </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rather
than</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
to read it, and to read it </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rather
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">than
to hear it, as the Apostle says: </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Littera
occidit, spiritus autem vivificat [The letter slays, but the spirit
gives life]</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
(2 Cor 3:6). The authority of the prophet </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">is
certainly there when written,</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
as it was </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">when
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">preached,
but I am </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">letting</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
you know that it is despirited and </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">unsaucy</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote6sym" name="sdfootnote6anc"><sup>6</sup></a>
</span></span></span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Coming,
then, to the </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">matter</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
of what the Prophet says, to wit, </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Descendant
in infernum viventes [Let them descend into hell alive]</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
(Ps 55:15), there is a doubt as to how this could happen, that they
would descend into hell, being alive, and, being alive, how they
could be in hell. Saying, as the Prophet says in another Psalm, </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Non
mortui laudabunt te Domine, nec omnes qui descendant inferni [</span></i><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
dead will not praise You, Lord, nor all who descend into hell]</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
(Ps 115:17), if those who go into hell will not praise God there, but
rather will blaspheme, why does the Prophet command us to descend
there? To say that Orestes entered hell as prey of the nymphs, and
that Aeneas descended there to seek his father, and that the musician
Orpheus took his wife from there, and the valiant Hercules shattered
its gates, and the Giant Etna tied up the jailer—but these are
poetic fictions, which are not true, because the unfortunate one who
one time spends the night in hell will forever stay buried there. He
who dawns in glory will never more see the light, and he who spend
the night in hell will never more see day, because the elect have day
without night there, and the damned will have night without day.
Being who we ought to be, we can avoid the path to hell, but, after
we enter there, it is not in our hand to leave, because there is
nothing more in harmony with reason than that he who comes to fault
by his own will does not suffer the punishment against his will. </span></span></span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">For
the Prophet to say, then, </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Descendant
in infernum viventes</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
seems to me that—I dare to say—his end was to </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">persuade</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
us and to admonish us, </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">quod
descendamus in infernum viventes, ut non descendamus postea morientes
[that we should descend into hell alive, that we would not descend
later, dead]</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
Let us descend to hell now through contemplation, so that we </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">will
not</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
descend later through eternal damnation; let us descend to it through
fear, so that we will not be carried off to it through rigor; let us
descend to it by steps, so that we will not later be carried off </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">to
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">it
by force; let us descend by day, so that we will not be carried off
by night; let us descend alone, so that we will not later be
compelled to go with many; let us descend for a time before we cannot
return, so that we won’t be carried off to be left there. Finally,
I say that it is a very holy thing to descend into hell in life, so
that we do not descend, later, in death. </span></span></span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">They
descend into hell every day who think of the grave punishments that
are given there for sin, </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">because
there is no such saffron poultice to separate us from sin as always
bring</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">ing</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">that</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
punishment to our memory. Oh, how holy a thing it is to go on
pilgrimage to Rome, to Santiago, to Jerusalem, and to the other holy
places! And no less holy is it to descend to hell </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">to
see</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
the punishments of the damned, because, if seeing the bodies of the
Saints invites me to be virtuous, certainly the punishments of the
damned will draw us back from vices. A pilgrim wants to go to
Montserrat, to go gain the indulgence of Santiago, to make vows to
our Lady of Guadalupe, to see </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">San</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Lazaro
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">in</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Sevilla, </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">to
give alms at the Holy House, to say novenas at the Crucifix of
Burgos,<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote7sym" name="sdfootnote7anc"><sup>7</sup></a>
and to offer his estate to Sa</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">n
Anton </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">in</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Castro, but I want no other station but that of hell. He who takes a
trip to hell every day does not understand little, nor concern
himself with little, nor wander a little, nor take on a little, nor
even do a little pilgrimage. The Hebrews visited their temple once a
year, the Samnites celebrated their Lustrums every five years, the
Greeks celebrated their Olympics every four years, the Egyptians
renovated the temple of Isis every seven years, the Romans sent
presents to the Oracle of Delphi every ten years, but he who is a
faithful and true Christian should come and go from hell, not from
time to time, but rather every hour and every moment, so that he
would have perpetual memory of perpetual punishment. In pilgrimages
to the Holy House, there is cost, </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">there</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
is labor, and there is even danger, but those who visit hell in
thought every day neither have cost nor expend labor nor run risk,
because it is a pilgrimage that is taken with dry foot and is visited
with firm foot.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote8sym" name="sdfootnote8anc"><sup>8</sup></a>
</span></span></span>
</p>
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">O</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">h</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
blessed is the soul who each day takes a trip through the stations of
hell, in which he contemplates how beaten down the proud are there,
how castigated are the envious, how hungry are the gluttonous, how
meek are the wrathful, how consumed are the carnal: </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Descendant
ergo in infernum viventes [Therefore, let them descend into hell
alive]</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
Weakness cannot excuse one from walking this so holy journey, nor
poverty impede, because He neither commands us to fatigue our persons
nor spend our estates, but rather that we guard our money and employ
our thoughts in this: </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Ergo
descendant infernum viventes.</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
It doesn’t seem to me that he has a bad </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">altarpiece</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote9sym" name="sdfootnote9anc"><sup>9</sup></a>
he who has a painted hell in his oratory, because there are many more
who abstain from sinning for fear of the punishment than from love of
the glory. This, then, is what I feel about that saying of the
Psalmist, about which he pleads to the King of Heaven; </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">for
just as my pen writes, so my soul always ruminates, </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">for,</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
as the Apostle said: </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Non
auditores sed factores justificabuntur [Not hearers, but doers ,will
be justified] </span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(1
Cor 2:13).</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vale,
iterum, vale [Farewell, again, farewell]</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">. <br /></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From
Madrid, on the eighth of January of 1524.</span></span></span></p><p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span></p>
<div id="sdfootnote1"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a>An
honorific term of address, such as “Your Majesty.”
</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote2"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote2anc" name="sdfootnote2sym">2</a>This
opening, italicized passage was in Latin in the original, while the
remainder of the letter is in Spanish, besides the occasional phrase
and quotation.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote3"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote3anc" name="sdfootnote3sym">3</a>De
Guevara attended the Franciscan General Chapter in Burgos in May
1523, the year before this letter is dated.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote4"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote4anc" name="sdfootnote4sym">4</a>Grammatically,
the honorific “Your Fatherhood” is in the third-person singular.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote5"><p class="sdfootnote"><i><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote5anc" name="sdfootnote5sym">5</a>Aula</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
typically means “hall” or “classroom,” but it can also mean
“palace.” The orations in which Demosthenes (384-322 BC)
mentioned Aeschines (389-314 BC) are usually titled, in English, “On
the False Embassy.”</span></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote6"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote6anc" name="sdfootnote6sym">6</a>The
word here is <i>insalsugena</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,
which seems to appear nowhere else but in this letter </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(a
</span><i>hapax legomena</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, “said
once-and-only”)</span><span style="font-style: normal;">. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">My
conjectural understanding is that the word is formed from </span><i>in-</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
(“not”), </span><i>salsa</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
(“sauce”), and </span><i>-gena</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
(“produces”), combined to mean “which does not produce sauce.”
</span><i>Salsa</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> can also mean,
more generally, “something that animates or delights” (DRAE).</span></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote7"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote7anc" name="sdfootnote7sym">7</a>All
of these are popular pilgrimage spots in Spain, most along <i>El
Camino</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (“The Way”), the
famous pilgrimage route to the shrine of Santiago (St. James) in
Compostela. Montserrat and Guadalupe were both famous for their
Black Madonnas; </span><span style="font-style: normal;">San Lazaro
in Sevilla and San Anton in Castro (a.k.a. Castrojeriz) were
hospitals, the latter named after the Antonians who ran it; Burgos
has a renowned Gothic cathedral. The ”Holy House” (“Casa
Santa”) might refer to the Basilica della Santa Casa in Loreto,
Italy, where the house of Mary is believed to have been carried by
angels; perhaps a different “Holy House” along </span><i>El
Camino—</i><span style="font-style: normal;">maybe another
hospital—is being referred to instead.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote8"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote8anc" name="sdfootnote8sym">8</a>“With
dry foot” (<i>a pie enjuto</i><span style="font-style: normal;">)
is an idiom meaning “without danger”; “firm foot” (</span><i>a
pie quedo</i><span style="font-style: normal;">), or “remaining
foot,” means “without moving.”</span></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote9"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote9anc" name="sdfootnote9sym">9</a>Literally,
a <i>retablo</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, which can refer
to a large painting behind an altar, or to a smaller devotional
picture.</span></p><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></p><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Source: </b><i>Epistolas familiares de Don Antonio de Guevara...Primera y segunda parte</i> (Madrid: Matheo de Espinosa y Arteaga, 1668), 94-98.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2023</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the translator.</span>
</p><p class="sdfootnote"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></p>
</div>
<p style="text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">p.sdfootnote { font-size: 10pt; line-height: 100%; text-align: left; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin-left: 0.07in; text-indent: -0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in; direction: ltr; background: transparent }p { line-height: 115%; text-align: left; orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; background: transparent }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57% }</style></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-63301916375466893752023-09-24T14:37:00.000-05:002023-09-24T14:37:36.771-05:00St. Charles de Foucauld: Meditations on Genesis (Part II)<p> </p><p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Introduction</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">St. Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916)<b> </b>was
a French cavalry soldier before deciding to resign from the military in
order to go explore Morocco. After publishing a well-received book
about his travels, he returned to France and rekindled his childhood
Catholic faith, deciding to join the Trappists in 1890. His time with
the Trappists led him to Syria, but he eventually left the order in
order to become a hermit, in 1897. After being a porter for Poor Clares
in Nazareth and Jerusalem, he returned to France for ordination in
1901, then headed back to Africa, this time Algeria, to continue this
eremitic life. Though he hoped to attract others and form a community,
none came. Instead, he remained a hermit, living among the Tuareg
people of Algeria, collecting their poems and writing a dictionary of
their language. A bandit raid on his hermitage--considered a
martyrdom--claimed his life. After his death, his writings and example
inspired communities like the one he hoped to create. He was beatified
by Pope Benedict XVI on November 13, 2005, and canonized by Pope Francis
on May 15, 2022.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Besides
his travelogues and books on the Tuareg people, he wrote many
meditations of various kinds, which are the main vehicle of his
spirituality. Translated here is the second part of an incomplete set of
meditations on Genesis; they were written at the end of his time with
the Trappists, roughly between November 1896 and January 1897: their incomplete state is due to his departure for
Nazareth. The first part can be found <a href="https://thesaurostesekklesias.blogspot.com/2023/09/st-charles-de-foucauld-meditations-on.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Meditations on Genesis</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>(Part II)</b></p><p style="text-align: center;">St. Charles de Foucauld</p><p style="text-align: center;">(1858-1916)</p><p style="text-align: center;"> </p><p style="text-align: center;">
</p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Genesis</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
21:1-14</span></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> How
marvelous is the obedience of Abraham! What an example You give us
here, my God!… It is so much more admirable since it is not merely
against the inclination of his heart that Your servant acts: this
would already be a great merit, for, in the end, it is nearly the
sacrifice of His first son that You demand of him as You will demand
of him the sacrifice of the second… But here there is more than a
sacrifice of heart: it is against this that his conscience told him
what You tell him to do! You tell him to do the opposite of what
seemed just to him… But he has faith in You and, knowing that it is
You Who speak to him, he obeys, with reason, for You are justice and
holiness itself… How faith and obedience are united! Faith is the
beginning of all good, and obedience is its consummation, for
obedience is the consummation of love… When one disobeys, this is
always a lack of faith, for who would disobey before the certitude
that God speaks…? When one does not want to obey, one makes his
ear deaf, one does not listen to the voice of grace, one objects a
thousand reasons to it, one does not listen to those who are changed
with telling us the truth, one finds motives for challenging them,
one remains in an eternal obscurity because one blocks up his eyes
himself, and one ends by not obeying, because one hasn’t believed
in the order of God when it was made understood…My Lord and my God,
preserve me from this misfortune. It is not only from my mouth but
from the depth of my heart that I want to do Your will, Your entire
will, Your will alone, Your will and not mine; make me know it, my
God, and make me do it… Give me the faith and obedience of Abraham;
make me hear Your voice…Your interior voice, the voice of those
through whom You speak to me… Give me faith, my God. And give me
obedience, the obedience which sacrifices the dearest affections of
the heart and the most resolved persuasions of the spirit to attach
itself uniquely to Your holy and blessed will. My God, I ask this of
You with all my heart, through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Genesis</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
22:1-12</span></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Before
such an obedience, which supposes such a faith and which proves such
love, it is more worthwhile to be silent than to speak… Let us be
silent, let us admire, let us pray… Saint Abraham, be blessed!
Saint Isaac, you who let yourself be tied upon the altar so sweetly,
be blessed! My God Who makes such virtues germinate among men, be
blessed unto the ages of ages! Love is to obey You, to obey You with
this promptitude, this faith, in that which breaks the heart and
overthrows the spirit, in that which overturns all the ideas that had
been made; love is the immediate, absolute sacrifice of what is most
dear to one, for Your will, that is to say, for Your glory (for,
necessarily, You always will Your glory): the sacrifice of the
only-begotten son, of that which is most dear, most cherished by our
heart… Love is to exchange all goods for all sorrows for love of
the Lord… It is this that you marvelously do in rousing yourself
at the start of the night to go sacrifice your son, Saint Abraham!
It is this that You do, O Son of God, in coming from heaven to earth
to live such a life and to die such a death!… My Lord and my God,
make me do this too, according to Your most holy will. Saint
Abraham, Saint Isaac, pray for me!</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Genesis</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
25:1-18</span></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> My
God,</span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">among
the teachings that You give us here, there is one above all that
springs up, it seems to me, which is that of the union there ought to
be among brothers. We see the union of the sons of Abraham manifest
itself at the death of their father, then at the death of Ishmael…
And yet these brothers were from mothers of different conditions,
they lived apart, the ones from the others, and they had received
very unequal portions from their father… Yet, how united they are!…
And we too, we ought to be united with our brothers, even the
farthest separated, even those given a different portion by God…
Sons of Isaac by faith, we are the heirs of all the goods of the
heavenly Father… But we ought to love, to invite to be united to
ourselves, to regard as brothers, to make profit from our riches,
these less favored brothers who are dispersed by all the winds of
heaven: let us call them to ourselves, let us fraternize with them,
and, since our riches are so great that, more fortunate than Isaac,
we can give to infinity without ever being impoverished; on the
contrary, the more we give, the more we enrich ourselves (and, in
sum, the only means by which we can enrich ourselves is by giving);
let us give, let us fully share our riches with our brothers, with
these sons of Ishmael, so poor; the more we share, the more we will
become rich… Let us regard these sons of Ishmael as our brothers:
let us imitate our Father Isaac, let us love them fraternally, and
let us share with them all our goods, let us run to offer them to
them and to plead them to accept them.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><i>Genesis</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
28:11-end</span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> […]
It is at the moment when Jacob is on the road, poor, alone, when he
lies down upon bare earth in the desert to take his repose, after a
long journey by foot, it is at the moment when he is in this dolorous
situation of an isolated traveller in the midst of a long voyage to a
strange and savage country, without shelter, it is at the moment when
he finds himself in this sad condition that God heaps him with
incomparable favors.</span><i> </i><span style="font-style: normal;">He
appears to him in a magnificent vision where, after having shown him
the angels ceaselessly occupied with guarding men, going ceaselessly
from earth to heaven and from heaven to earth to give them all that
they need, He promises him to protect him during all his voyage, to
fill him with graces during his life and after his death, to bless,
in one of his descendants, all the peoples of the earth, to make the
divine Savior be born from among his small children…He so envelopes
him in clarity and goodness that Jacob, that poor traveller, so
broken and so sad in his lying down, relieves himself in crying out:
“This place is none other than the house of God and the gate of
heaven.”…Who would henceforth be afraid of making—especially if
it is to follow You, my God, to love You better, and to serve You
better—who would be afraid of making long journeys by foot, through
unknown peoples, alone and poor? Who would be afraid, when You flood
with such delights those who seem destined for so many sorrows? O my
God, how easy it is for You to change sorrow into joy, to flatten the
mountains (Is 40:4), to make what seems nearly impossible easy…“Seek
the kingdom of God and all the rest will be given through as well”
(Mt 6:33)…Let us do the most perfect, let us undertake it, and God
will make it succeed…And let us not fear long journeys by foot,
alone, begging our bread with Saint Peter, Saint Paul, so many other
saints, since we see that it is most perfect to undertake them; we
are never alone; our guardian angel covers us with his wings, Jesus
is in our heart, God envelops us, the holy Virgin has her eyes upon
us, and it is on journeys that appear so sad to us that God forces us
to cry out: “This place is the house of God and the gate of
heaven.”</span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><i>Genesis </i><span style="font-style: normal;">29:20</span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> The
last words of this passage are a very remarkable note: Jacob loves
Rachel and labors seven years to obtain her, “and these days seemed
little to him because of the grandeur of his love”…We, too, we
labor seven years to obtain the possession of our heavenly Spouse:
what ought our sentiments to be during this time? Ah, doubtless, it
is permitted us to sigh after His possession, to desire, with a great
desire, to see the end of our testing, but, despite this haste to see
the end of the seven years, the days ought to pass quickly for
us…Why? Because, when one is hot, when one burns, one does all
with such zest, with such zeal, that one does not feel the times pass
by. Thus ought it to be with us…in all ardently desiring the end
of our exile, we ought to see the days, and the months, and the
years, pass by like a dream, since, if we love, our moments will all
be employed, without exception, in thinking of our Beloved and in
laboring for Him: and how many moments full of thought, of service of
the Beloved, will pass by like a flash for the heart consumed with
love?…Let us receive this lesson from Jacob! And if we find the
daily labors long, if sadness, or boredom, or discouragement,
threaten to enter into our souls, let us recall Jacob, let us say:
“You do not love…If you loved, you would think of your Beloved,
and the time would pass quickly by, you would labor for your Beloved,
and the time would pass quickly by. Think night and day of your
Beloved, and in the means of serving Him, think of Him with a heart
burning with love, and the years will seem to you like </span><i>they
did</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> to Jacob, shorter than the
days”…</span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> Thank
You, my God, for having given me, through Your holy Patriarch, this
great lesson of love…But how sad it is, my God, that human love
could so often </span><span style="font-style: normal;">give this
lesson to the love we have for You…O my God, inflame me, change my
heart, make me love You!</span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><i>Genesis</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
37:1-17</span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> […]
Let us greet this person of Joseph, one of the most perfect figures
of Our Lord. From here, he begins to be His figure: he is an
extraordinary child: “His father considers the thing in silence,”
as will one day be said of Mary (Lk 2:19). He sees, in a dream, the
sun, the moon, and eleven stars adore him; could one not say “Mary,
Joseph, and the eleven faithful apostles”? A day will come when
his father and his brothers will be at his feet: to what altar did
this happen, except at Jesus? He is a prodigy of sweetness, and he
is persecuted…He will be cruelly persecuted for a long time; so
many characteristics of Our Lord…</span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> My
God, how good You are in making all the pages of the Old Testament
thus speak of You! How good You are for Your having been announced
in so many ways! For our fathers having spoken so much of You before
Your coming, for their having so well shown what You would be, what
Your Spirit, Your Life would be! How good You were for them, my God,
and how </span><i>good</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> You are
for us, for You make </span><i>us</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
profit now from all these goods, making us read the Gospel, not only
in the New Testament, but in all the pages of the Old!</span></span></p><p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></p><p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Source</b></span><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">: </span></b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Œuvres spirituelles de Charles de Jésus pẽre de Foucauld </i>(Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1958), 61-67.</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> <br /></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><style type="text/css">p { color: #000000; line-height: 115%; text-align: left; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; background: transparent }p.western { font-family: "Liberation Serif", serif; font-size: 12pt; so-language: en-US }p.cjk { font-family: "Noto Serif CJK SC"; font-size: 12pt; so-language: zh-CN }p.ctl { font-family: "Lohit Devanagari"; font-size: 12pt; so-language: hi-</style><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-47087550626616615502023-09-15T23:56:00.002-05:002024-02-05T00:29:21.523-06:00Deus Mundi Conditor: Paschal Candle Blessing from the Gelasian Sacramentary<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <b>Introduction</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">The prayers of the Latin Rite Paschal Vigil are ancient, but they were not the only options. The 8th-century <i>Gelasian Sacramentary</i> from Paris is another source of--often quite different--ancient liturgical prayers. Among them is the prayer <i>Deus Mundi Conditor</i>, the prayer for the blessing of the Paschal Candle during the Paschal Vigil, somewhat equivalent to the <i>Exultet</i>. Indeed, the <i>Deus Mundi Conditor</i> may have influenced the <i>Exultet</i> with its "praise of the bee" section, reflected in the <i>Exultet</i>'s description of the candle as "the work of bees" and the wax as "drawn out by the mother bees." Below is a translation of the <i>Deus Mundi Conditor</i>, as well as the original Latin text.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Deus Mundi Conditor </b> </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Prayer for the Blessing of the Paschal Candle from the Gelasian Sacramentary</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>God, the world’s creator, author of light, the stars’ maker, God Who perspicuously rewove with light the world fallen into darkness, God through Whom, by ineffable power, the clarity of all takes its beginning, invoking You in Your works, in this most sacred vigil of the night, we, in supplication, offer Your majesty, from Your gifts, a candle, not polluted by beesflesh, not vitiated by profane unction, not touched by sacrilegious fire, but constructed of wax, oil, and papyrus, kindled in honor of Your Name: as an offering of religious devotion we offer it. Therefore, the great mystery and miraculous sacrament of this night must needs be heaped with worthy praises. In which, by the miracle of the Lord’s Resurrection, the inveterate shades felt the day introduced to them, and death, which was once in eternal damned night, the light of true blazing being introduced, was stunned to be dragged captive among the Lord’s triumphs, and what, by the dark, prevaricating presumption of the first-formed, was damned in servitude, by the miracle of this night, shone with the splendor of liberty. Therefore, descending with fervor of spirit, as much as human devotion requires, unto the reverence of this festivity, we display to You, God, lights pleasing with the blazing of flames, so that, while they dissolve, with this faith <i>still</i> whole, they may yet be extolled by the praises of Your creatures. The flame’s light is indeed to be spoken of, by which the power of Deity deigned to appear to Moses, which revealed, with salvation-bearing light, the path to the people departing the land of servitude, which, by softer caresses, preserved the life of the three boys cast into the furnace by the sentence of the tyrant. For as, with the grace of this light preceding, the horror of darkness is excluded, so, Lord, by the light-shedding rule of Your majesty, the burdens of sins are dissolved. Therefore, as we see the beginning of this substance, it is needful that we praise the origin of bees. For bees are frugal in eating, most chaste in procreation. They build cells of wax soaked with liquor which the magistral art of human excellence does not equal. They pick flowers with their feet, and no harm is found on the flowers. They do not eat their offspring, but, picking up the conceptions by mouth, a swarm of offspring comes out, as, in a miraculous example, Christ proceeds from the paternal mouth. Virginity is fruitful in them without childbirth, which the Lord, indeed, deigned to follow, <i>who</i> arranged to have a fleshy mother by a love of virginity. Such gifts, therefore, Lord, are worthily offered on Your sacred altars, by which the Christian religion does not waver in praising You.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span> </span>Deus, mundi conditor, auctor luminis, siderum fabricator, Deus qui iacentem mundum in tenebris luce perspicua retexisti, Deus per quem ineffabili potentia omnium claritas sumpsit exordium, te in tuis operibus invocantes, in hac sacratissima noctis vigilia de donis tuis cereum tuae suppliciter offerimus maiestati, non adipe carnis pollutum, non profana unctione vitiatum, non sacrilego igne contactum, sed cera, oleo, atque papyro constructum, in tui nominis honore succensum, obsequio religiosae devotionis offerimus. Magnum igitur mysterium, et noctis huius mirabile sacramentum, dignis necesse est laudibus cumulari. In quo Dominicae resurrectionis miraculo diem sibi introductum tenebrae inveteratae senserunt, et mors quae olim fuerat aeterna nocte damnata, inserto veri fulgoris lumine, captivam se trahi Dominicis triumphis obstupuit, et quod praevaricante primoplasto tenebrosa praesumptione fuerat in servitute damnatum, huius noctis miraculo splendore libertatis irradiat. Ad huius ergo festivitatis reverentiam fervore spiritus descendentes, quantum devotio humana exigit, tibi Deo fulgore flammarum placita luminaria exhibemus, ut dum haec fide integra persolvuntur, creaturae tuae etiam praeconia extollantur. Flammae lux quippe dicenda est per quam potestas Deitatis Moysi apparere dignata est, quae de terra servitutis populo exeunti salutifero lumine ducatum exhibuit, quae tribus pueris in camino sententia tyranni depositis vitam blandimentis mollioribus reservavit. Nam ut, praecedente huius luminis gratia, tenebrarum horror excluditur, ita, Domine, lucescente maiestatis tuae imperio, peccatorum sarcinae diluuntur. Quum igitur huius substantiae miramur exordium, apum necesse est laudemus originem. Apes vero sunt frugales in sumptibus, in procreatione castissimae. Aedificant cellulas cereo liquore fundatas quarum humanae peritiae ars magistra non coaequat. Legunt pedibus flores, et nullum damnum in floribus invenitur. Partus non edunt, sed ore legentes concepti fetus reddunt examina, sicut exemplo mirabili Christus ore paterno processit. Fecunda est in his sine partu virginitas, quam utique Dominus sequi dignatus carnalem se matrem habere virginitatis amore constituit. Talia igitur, Domine, digne sacris altaribus tuis munera offeruntur, quibus te laetari religio Christiana non ambigit.<br /></i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Source: </b><i>The Gelasian Sacramentary: Liber Sacramentorum Romanae Ecclesiae</i>, ed. H.A. Wilson (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1894), 80-81</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation ©2023. Licensed via <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the translator.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <br /></span></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-6913832120870992022023-09-04T01:28:00.005-05:002024-03-05T00:20:12.150-06:00St. Charles de Foucauld: Meditations on Genesis (Part I)<p> </p><p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Introduction</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">St. Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916)<b> </b>was
a French cavalry soldier before deciding to resign from the military in
order to go explore Morocco. After publishing a well-received book
about his travels, he returned to France and rekindled his childhood
Catholic faith, deciding to join the Trappists in 1890. His time with
the Trappists led him to Syria, but he eventually left the order in
order to become a hermit, in 1897. After being a porter for Poor Clares
in Nazareth and Jerusalem, he returned to France for ordination in
1901, then headed back to Africa, this time Algeria, to continue this
eremitic life. Though he hoped to attract others and form a community,
none came. Instead, he remained a hermit, living among the Tuareg
people of Algeria, collecting their poems and writing a dictionary of
their language. A bandit raid on his hermitage--considered a
martyrdom--claimed his life. After his death, his writings and example
inspired communities like the one he hoped to create. He was beatified
by Pope Benedict XVI on November 13, 2005, and canonized by Pope Francis
on May 15, 2022.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Besides
his travelogues and books on the Tuareg people, he wrote many
meditations of various kinds, which are the main vehicle of his
spirituality. Translated here is the first part of an incomplete set of
meditations on Genesis; they were written at the end of his time with
the Trappists, roughly between November 1896 and January 1897: their incomplete state is due to his departure for
Nazareth. The second part of these meditations can be found <a href="https://thesaurostesekklesias.blogspot.com/2023/09/st-charles-de-foucauld-meditations-on_24.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Meditations on Genesis</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>(Part I)</b></p><p style="text-align: center;">St. Charles de Foucauld</p><p style="text-align: center;">(1858-1916)</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p align="center" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><i>Genesis 1:1-19</i></span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"> My God, how much I ought to love
all creatures, animate and inanimate, since all have departed from
Your hands: one cherishes, one kisses, one adores the work of him
whom one loves, it’s something of his: how much more ought one to
cherish Your works, which are made such as You will them, while those
of men are always beneath their will…Your works, which You “find
good,” while those of men are so imperfect! The work of Your
beloved will, of Your power, of Your love, of You, finally, God
blessed and loved in all the ages! With what love, with what
respect, ought He be surrounded! With what moved eyes ought He to be
regarded! With what respectful, trembling hands ought He to be
touched! How much ought our indignity be felt before each of them,
not an indignity from nature, but an indignity from our sins! How
much ought I to respect myself, body and soul; “this would be to
kiss one’s own hand,” says Mgr. Gay! How much ought one’s
neighbor be respected! How much ought our brothers the animals, our
sisters the inanimate creatures, all departed from your blessed and
adored hands, be respected! With what an atmosphere of love have You
enwrapped us, my God, and how much ought my heart to love, I who live
in my Beloved, penetrated, co-penetrated by Him, and enwrapped by His
cherished works! How good You are! How blessed am I! What kind of
fortune is mine! How much ought I to melt with love! How good You
are! Saint Francis of Assisi, in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
pray for me, so that I might love God, His Christ, and His works with
you! Amen.</span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><i>Genesis 3:13-end</i></span></p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> My
God, how good You are! At the very moment when You punish Adam, You
give him hope, and the hope of the greatest glory and of the greatest
blessedness: You let him see, from afar, that “seed” and that
blessed women through whom the head of the serpent will be
crushed…How good You are, my God! How You are always the same!
How You are always He Who “does not crush the half-split reed, and
Who does not quench the yet-smoking wick” (Mt 12:20). And do You
not still do the same every day? Do You not cry out, through the
voice of Your Church, that, whatever our crimes, however long our
infidelity, we have but to return to You, to repent, to be saved, to
be, not merely delivered from evil, but rendered heirs of all glory
and of all blessedness? My God, how good You are!</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
There is no sinner so great, no criminal so old, to whom You do not
offer Paradise with a loud voice, as You gave it to the good thief,
for the price of a moment of good will. And this truth, You proclaim
it, You cry it out through all the world, from all the pulpits of all
the Churches, in all the books of Your doctors, in all the
catechisms. My God, how good You are!…O my God, render us
recognizing, we to whom You offer this infinite favor which You gave
to the good thief; </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">and
make it that we imitate You, in never despairing of ourselves, nor of
our neighbor, but in always hoping, with all our soul, that he will
be saved; and in never despairing our neighbor, that is to say,
when, for the good of souls, we punish him, in making him see how he
can, how he ought to correct himself, for this punishment is not a
sign which forever marks him as evil, but a means for him to re-enter
into the good, and making him see that, however culpable he be, he
can, despite the chastisement and the grace of the chastisement,
re-enter into the good, into perfection, and become a saint; he can
do it, he ought to do it, we hope for him, God opens His arms to him
for this. The Heart of Jesus, which has so suffered for him, desires
him, hopes for him, thirsts for him, and makes it easy for him.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><i>Genesis 8:13</i></span></p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"> My God, how good You are! That
You would do good upon good, grace upon grace, for us, does this not
suffice? Why do You still engage Yourself in doing this for us, in
doing such and such a benefit for us? My God, how paternal is Your
Heart, how divinely good It is, how It overflows with infinite love!
If it were still in the face of our acts of adoration, of
recognition, of obedience, that You made these promises to us: but,
no, it is to Adam, at the very moment when he sinned; how good You
are! How gratuitous are Your benefits! All Your Scriptures are full
of nothing but benefits and promises, even greater than Your
benefits: You take please in engaging Yourself in a thousand ways:
promises of the Messiah to Adam, promise of not sending a deluge
again to Noah, Messianic promises without number and material
promises to the patriarchs and to the prophets…Your joy is to bind
Yourself with multiplied promises: there, indeed, is love: it does
not suffice it to give the present, it is necessary that it give the
future, it is necessary that it give, as much as possible, all that
it has and all that it is and that it is engaged in, through the
strongest bonds, for a time whose end it does not wish to see… It
is this that You do: You give, You promise, You give Yourself
Yourself, You promise Yourself Yourself, even with Your kingdom, and
this for entire eternity. My God, how good You are! And is there
not a practical conclusion to draw from this, beyond that of the
infinite gratitude and of the infinite love that we owe You? That
conclusion is the excellence of vows, the excellence of perpetual
engagements: to take on these engagements, to bind oneself by such
chains, is a need of love, a pledge of love that every loving heart
has need to give, to such a point that You Yourself willed to bind
Yourself to us with a thousand engagements, a thousand promises:
thus, let us hold vows in great esteem, let us regard making them as
a great blessedness, let us desire to make them, and let us make,
when our directors permit us, all those which would more tightly
unite us to God, all those which we know are agreeable to Him… O
my God, make me make the vows to You that You will that I make to
You, and make me be faithful to them!</span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><i>Genesis 14:1-12</i></span></p>
<p align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"> My God, why do You recall to us
those kings, those wars of times past?</span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> My
child, they have been, and they are no more: they seemed great, and
you see their nothingness…such are the great ones of today: power,
birth, fortune, these are the equivalent of those poor ancient kings
who are, you see, a bit of dust; all the goods, all the consolations,
all the beauties that pass away are so…All is equally small,
equally nothing, the equal of those poor kings who fell asleep so
long ago…One single hard thing, God and souls…Hold, then, as
nothing, as absolutely nothing, all the grandeurs, all the contempts,
all the elevations, all the abasements, all the consolations, all the
sorrows, all the delights, all the sufferings that pass away. Attach
yourself to Me alone, to loving Me, to doing that which pleases Me,
and to the souls in My sight, desiring their salvation and laboring
with all your forces…You see here, among other things, how much you
ought to throw your body into mortification, since, on the one hand,
you ought to fear nothing in it, since it passes away, and, on the
other hand, you ought to seek it with ardor, unto folly, since it
pleases Me, since it consoles Me: I see in it an act of love for Me,
and a sacrifice in view of the salvation of neighbor…To mortify
yourself is to obey My word, to follow My example, to make Me a
declaration of love, to aid Me in bearing My Cross, to labor with Me
for the salvation of My children, to tell Me that you want to truly
be My faithful spouse, to share all My pains and to bear the crown of
thorns with Me. Do you think that this pleases Me?…If you doubt
this, ask it of Saint Magdalene and of Saint John the Baptist: they
had My spirit; they loved Me enough, glorified Me enough, they have
the grace to answer you…Or, better, ask it of Me: My cr</span></span><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">è</span></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">che,
Nazareth, the Forty Days, the journeys without a stone on which to
lay My head, the praetorium and the Cross will answer you: they will
tell you what I think of mortification.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><i>Genesis 17:1-16</i></span></p>
<p align="center" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">It
is to all of us, my God, that You say, as to Abraham: “Walk in My
presenc</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">e,
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">and
be perfect.” To keep oneself in Your presence is the means, the
cause: to be perfect is the result, the effect, the end. “Be
perfect as Your heavenly Father is perfect” (</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Mt
5:48). You tell us to be perfect and, at the same time, You show us
the means to become so, which is to keep oneself ceaselessly in Your
presence…When one is under the eyes of him whom one loves, can one
do otherwise than tending, with all the powers of one’s being,
towards pleasing him in everything?…If we constantly dream that we
are under the eyes of God, before Him, with Him, could we do
otherwise than constantly trying to please Him as much as possible?
And to please Him as much as possible, what else is this but being
the most perfect as possible? One is so hot, so courageous, so
strong, so attentive, so careful to do all that which will please,
all that which will be agreeable, approved, one keeps such a watch
over one’s words and one’s actions; as to thoughts, they are so
suspended, so sunk into contemplation of the beloved being, when one
is under the eyes of him whom one loves. And, at all the moments of
our life, we are under Your eyes, my God, much closely, much more
intimately, than we can be with it matters not which human being, in
the most intimate tête-à-tête…You, You are not only near us, You
are around us, and You are in us; You envelop us and You fill us,
You, You do not only know our words and our actions, but even our
most secret, our most fleeting thoughts…O my God, make me think,
without cease, on this blessed truth: if one moment in the company of
him whom one loves seems so sweet and has a higher price than the
entire earth, which, with all that it contains, is nothing and is
less than nothing beside one look from the beloved being, beside one
moment in his presence, what is our infinite felicity, we, who, all
the moments of our life, enjoy the presence of our Beloved? O my
God, make me feel this presence, make me enjoy it, and think without
cease, and be perfect through it! </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Amen.</span></i></span></p><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></i></span></p><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Source</b></span><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">: </span></b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Œuvres spirituelles de Charles de Jésus pẽre de Foucauld </i>(Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1958), 55-61.</span></span></p><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></p><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2023</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the translator.</span>
</p><p align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Plantagenet Cherokee;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></i></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style></p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306624289399495485.post-78696457864567332642023-08-22T09:42:00.003-05:002024-03-05T00:20:02.478-06:00Ven. Madeleine Delbrel: Our Deserts/Solitude/Voices That Pray in the Desert<p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Introduction</span></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Madeleine Delbrêl (1904-1964), though baptized and communed as a child, started her life as a strident atheist and student of philosophy; when her fiancé suddenly joined the Dominicans and her father went blind, she rethought the problem of God and embraced Catholicism. She dedicated her life to social work, through Scouting and through creating a community of young women (called "the Charity") in Ivry, a small factory town in France, at the time Communist-run. Through her conjunction of social work and deep Catholicism, she is often compared to Dorothy Day. Her spirituality can be summarized by her saying, near the end of her life: "I have been and I remain dazzled by God." Her cause for canonization was opened in 1993, and Pope Francis declared her Venerable on January 26, 2018.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Delbrêl wrote a number of works, including <i>The Holiness of Ordinary People; Humor in Love: Meditations and Fantasies; Missionaries Without Boats; Marxist Town, Mission Field; Woman, Priest, and God; </i>and <i>We Others, People of the Streets.</i> (The last book has been translated into English as <i>We, the Ordinary People of the Streets.</i>) The following passages are excerpted from a French anthology of her writings, fittingly entitled <i>The Dazzle of God</i>.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"> <b>Our Deserts</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">When one is in love, one loves to be together,</p><p style="text-align: left;">and when one is together, one loves to speak together.</p><p style="text-align: left;">When one is in love, it is annoying to always have lots of people around.</p><p style="text-align: left;">When one is in love, one loves to listen to the other</p><p style="text-align: left;">all alone,</p><p style="text-align: left;">without other voices that come to bother us.</p><p style="text-align: left;">This is why those who love God</p><p style="text-align: left;">have always cherished the desert, and this is why to those whom He loves</p><p style="text-align: left;">God cannot refuse it.</p><p style="text-align: left;">And I am sure, my God, that You love me</p><p style="text-align: left;">and that, in this so encumbered life,</p><p style="text-align: left;">touched, on all sides,</p><p style="text-align: left;">by family,</p><p style="text-align: left;">friends,</p><p style="text-align: left;">and all the others,</p><p style="text-align: left;">it cannot be absent, this Desert where one meets You.</p><p style="text-align: left;">One never goes into the Desert without passing through many things,</p><p style="text-align: left;">without being worn out by a long road,</p><p style="text-align: left;">without tearing one's eyes away from that which is</p><p style="text-align: left;">their horizon, all the time.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Deserts gain for themselves, they do not give themselves.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The deserts of our life,</p><p style="text-align: left;">we do not rip them out of the secret of our human hours</p><p style="text-align: left;">except by doing violence to our habits, our laziness.</p><p style="text-align: left;">This is difficult, but essential to our love.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Long hours of sleepiness</p><p style="text-align: left;">are not worth ten minutes of true sleep.</p><p style="text-align: left;">So, too, with solitude with You.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Hours of almost solitude are, for the soul, a less grand repose</p><p style="text-align: left;">than an instant plunged into Your presence.</p><p style="text-align: left;">It's not about learning to go for a stroll.</p><p style="text-align: left;">One must learn to be alone every time life gives us a pause.</p><p style="text-align: left;">And life is full of pauses that we can either discover or waste.</p><p style="text-align: left;">On the heaviest, the greyest of days,</p><p style="text-align: left;">what a dazzle for us, to foresee</p><p style="text-align: left;">all these back-to-back pearls.<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1">[1]</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">What joy to know</p><p style="text-align: left;">that we can, towards Your face alone,</p><p style="text-align: left;">lift our eyes</p><p style="text-align: left;">while the porridge thickens,</p><p style="text-align: left;">while the telephone's busy signal buzzes,</p><p style="text-align: left;">while, at the stop, we wait for the bus that's not coming,</p><p style="text-align: left;">while we walk up the stairs,</p><p style="text-align: left;">while we go looking for some chervil leaves at the end of the garden path, to finish the salad.</p><p style="text-align: left;">What an extraordinary stroll will be our return on the metro this evening</p><p style="text-align: left;">when one can no longer see well</p><p style="text-align: left;">the people crossing the sidewalk.</p><p style="text-align: left;">What advances towards You are the delays when one is waiting for a husband, friends, children.</p><p style="text-align: left;">But our deserts have rude defenses, if only just our impatience.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Every impatience over what's not coming is very often the sign of a desert.</p><p style="text-align: left;">If only just our wandering daydreams.</p><p style="text-align: left;">If only just our sluggishness in looking out for empty places.</p><p style="text-align: left;">For we are so beaten </p><p style="text-align: left;">that we cannot prefer You</p><p style="text-align: left;">without a little fight, and so You,</p><p style="text-align: left;">our Beloved,</p><p style="text-align: left;">will always be set on a scale by us, weighed against that well-worn fascination, that well-worn obsession, with our trinkets.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Solitude</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">To us, people of the street, it seems that solitude is not the absence of the world but the presence of God.</p><p style="text-align: left;">It is meeting Him everywhere that makes our solitude.</p><p style="text-align: left;">To be truly alone is, for us, to participate in the solitude of God. He is so great that He leaves no place for any other except Himself. The whole world is, for us, like a vast face-to-face with God, which we cannot avoid. An encounter with His living causality in the hectic crossroads of movement.</p><p style="text-align: left;">An encounter with His imprint upon earth.</p><p style="text-align: left;">An encounter with His providence in scientific laws.</p><p style="text-align: left;">An encounter with Christ in all those "little ones who are His," those who suffer in their bodies, those who are troubled, those who are disquieted, those who lack something.</p><p style="text-align: left;">An encounter with the rejected Christ, in the sin in a thousand faces. How will we have the heart to mock them or to hate them, these many sinners whom we rub shoulders with?</p><p style="text-align: left;">The solitude of God in fraternal charity: Christ serving Christ. Christ in he who serves, Christ in he who is served.</p><p style="text-align: left;">How could the apostolate be, for us, a distraction or a noise?</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Voices That Pray in the Desert</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">Many of those who leave in a boat land in deserts, to pray there.</p><p style="text-align: left;">In those stretches without human steps, they feel themselves in the heart of their task.</p><p style="text-align: left;">This silence is like the guarantee of their prayer, like the transmitter of their prayer to the door of all far-away hearts.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Solitude confers upon them, as it were, an omnipotence in the midst of all the lives that they want to touch.</p><p style="text-align: left;">There where there is no person, one truly speaks on behalf of all.</p><p style="text-align: left;">There where no human being breathes, one is as if alone, to receive the weight of the presence, of the grace, of the Redemption of God.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The desert gives men the size of the Church.</p><p style="text-align: left;">They speak of the "Desert of love." Love aspires to the Desert, for the desert delivers to God a man stripped of his homeland, of his friendships, of his fields, of his house.</p><p style="text-align: left;">In the desert, man is dispossessed of that which he loves, free of those who love him, submitted to God in a gigantic tete-a-tete.</p><p style="text-align: left;">This is why, at all times, the spirit has pushed those who love into the Desert.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1">[1]</a> The French is <i>égrenés,</i> "things that have been shelled." The image seems to be of removing the "shell" of the bland day in order to find the "pearls" or "nuts" of desert hidden within. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Sources: </b>"Our Deserts": <i>Humour dans l'amour, méditations et fantaisies</i> (Nouvelle Cité, 2005), 76ff.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Solitude": <i>La Sainteté des gens ordinaires, Textes missionnaires, Volume 1</i> (Nouvelle Cité, 2009), 25-26.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Voices That Pray in the Desert": <i>La Sainteté des gens ordinaires</i>, 84.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">All texts as reprinted in <i>L'eblouie de Dieu: Les plus beau textes de Madeleine Delbrel </i>(Nouvelle Cité, 2019).</span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2023</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon P. Otto</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.
Licensed via <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC
BY-NC.</a> Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long
as credit is given to the translator.</span>
</p>Brandon P. Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890809467464256151noreply@blogger.com0