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On the Feast of Stephen

In the carol “Good King Wenceslas“, we sing that the good king went out to serve a peasant gathering firewood “on the feast of Stephen”. The feast of Stephen is the day after Christmas in the Western calendar [two days after Christmas on the Eastern calendar] and celebrates St. Stephen, the first martyr for Christ (and my Patron Saint). In Acts, chapters 6 and 7, we read that Stephen was chosen to be a special servant of the Church in Jerusalem because he was full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. It was in the context of his role as a servant that he was enabled to do miracles among the people, and this drew attention to him both among those open to the Truth of Christ and among those opposed to it. The enemies of the Church soon had Stephen arraigned before a hostile court that threw him out of the city and put to death by stoning.

The proximity of the feast of St. Stephen to Christmas reminds us that the coming of the Prince of Peace is no guarantee of an untroubled life for his followers. Just the opposite in fact: Jesus promised his followers that they would have struggles, that they would have to pick up and carry crosses, just like him. St. Stephen’s example shows us that the way of martyrdom is the prototypical way of the Christian.

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The Great O Antiphons

One of the oldest and most enduring features of Advent in the Western tradition of the Church is the special set of antiphons sung with the Magnificat at Vespers in the days leading up to Christmas Eve. Usually called the “Greater Antiphons” in liturgical books, they’re more colloquially called the “O Antiphons” because each begins with the interjection “O” (O Emmanuel…, etc.).

The oldest and most traditional set of O Antiphons address Christ by seven titles, in this order: Sapientia (Wisdom), Adonai (Lord), Radix Jesse (Root of Jesse), Clavis David (Key of David), Oriens (Dayspring/Dawn), Rex Gentium (King of the Nations/Gentiles), and Emmanuel (God-with-us). The first letters of each title going back from Emmanuel (Dec 24) to Sapientia (Dec 17) form the Latin words Ero cras, meaning “Tomorrow I come.” The content of these antiphons was paraphrased as the verses to the Latin hymn Veni Emmanuel, translated into our familiar English hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel. While the history of the antiphons and their use is fascinating in itself, the most wonderful thing about them is the theology and spiritual learning that can be unpacked from these pithy poems.

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Advent Music

The season of Advent has arrived. But nothing kicks the legs out from under our observance of Advent like premature Christmas songs. Advent, of course, is the season leading up to Christmas, designed to focus us on the hope and expectation of Christ’s future advent (arrival) and the celebration of his first advent. The spirit of Advent, then, is of watchfulness and waiting. Because of this, Christmas songs are inappropriate to the spirit of the Advent season. They don’t jive; they’re incongruous.

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The Human Need for Liturgy

I’m not the biggest college football fan in the world, but I had the privilege of attending the Georgia vs. Georgia Tech game recently with my dad, uncle, and cousin with free tickets from a friend of the family. It’s only the second game I’ve ever been to in person, and the experience is definitely very immersive. And this game just happened to be a rivalry game in UGA’s 80,000 person stadium that was packed out. It was a lot to take in.

But something occurred just before the two teams ran out onto the field that gave me pause and made me experience the whole thing in a different frame of mind: on the giant screen a dramatic video of home team highlights played while an audio clip of the late Larry Munson, legendary Georgia football radio announcer, boomed through the stadium proclaiming boldly that, “There is no tradition more worthy of envy, no institution worthy of such loyalty, as the University of Georgia.” Continue reading “The Human Need for Liturgy”

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Western Rite Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Crisis

The Roman Catholic Church is currently in the midst of some very serious scandals. Voices from within that communion are calling it a crisis. Voices from outside that communion are also weighing in on what’s going on, but outsiders’ voices should always be more cautious. And we, as Orthodox Christians, are outsiders. The following advice, like many things that “ought to go without saying,” is something that probably needs to be stated clearly, for the record. Continue reading “Western Rite Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Crisis”

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The Glory of that Perfect Rest

In the Western Rite there’s room for what may be termed ‘paraliturgical’ hymns in our services. These are hymns or anthems or carols that are not prescribed as part of the official liturgical texts (as is the case for the Ordinary and Propers of the Mass), but rather serve to accompany actions like processions or the distribution of Communion, etc. And because these hymns are not part of the prescribed texts, there is some latitude that can be exercised regarding their source. The rules governing what songs can be used are not dogmatical, but they are very sensical. In a word, the Orthodox phronema is employed to choose.

I’ll return to the broader theme of hymnody in the Western Rite in the future, but at present I’d like to briefly introduce a set of general criteria for appropriate hymnody, and provide an example of a hymn that I think meets these criteria, a hymn especially appropriate both for the Feast of the Holy Name and for the Feast of the Ascension. Continue reading “The Glory of that Perfect Rest”

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Have a Very Mary May

In many parts of the world, among Roman Catholic and Anglo-Catholic communities, the month of May is specially dedicated to the honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is a relatively late innovation in devotional practice, most likely only manifesting in explicit form in Rome some time around 1700. The concept quickly spread though, probably because of the deep cultural predilections for recognizing in May the maternal blossoming of new life in nature. Continue reading “Have a Very Mary May”

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What Is It About Saint George?

Saint George: martyr, hero. After the Mother of God and the Apostles, is there another Saint that has attained to such universal fame and veneration? He is the Patron of England, of Georgia, of the city of Moscow, of the island nation Malta, of at least one branch of virtually everyone’s military, and even of the Boy Scouts of America. His iconographic depiction is instantly recognizable, and his name is called out in mottoes, battle cries, and anthems. Continue reading “What Is It About Saint George?”