Candle burning at Ayios Charolambos.
Yesterday, I found Ayios Charolambos closed. Today I was lucky, it was open, but closed as I left.
Archive for the ‘Christianity’ Category
Candle at Ayios Charolambos
May 12, 2013Ayios Charolambos
May 11, 2013
After freddo cappuccino at patisserie amelie, I walked around to Ayios Charolambos, but sadly I found it not to be open.
Happy Easter
May 5, 2013
Easter eggs
Easter eggs
Easter eggs
Happy Easter to all my Greek and Greek-Cypriot friends.
Seven Stanzas at Easter
April 29, 2013
The Sun – Edvard Munch
Make no mistake: if he rose at all
It was as His body;
If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit,
The amino acids rekindle,
The Church will fall.
It was not as the flowers,
Each soft spring recurrent;
It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the
Eleven apostles;
It was as His flesh; ours.
The same hinged thumbs and toes
The same valved heart
That-pierced-died, withered, paused, and then regathered
Out of enduring Might
New strength to enclose.
Let us not mock God with metaphor,
Analogy, sidestepping, transcendence,
Making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded
Credulity of earlier ages:
Let us walk through the door.
The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
Not a stone in a story,
But the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of
Time will eclipse for each of us
The wide light of day.
And if we have an angel at the tomb,
Make it a real angel,
Weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in
The dawn light, robed in real linen
Spun on a definite loom.
Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
For our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
Lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed
By the miracle,
And crushed by remonstrance.
– John Updike
Resurrection and beyond
April 29, 2013A detailed look at the various passages according to St Paul. A series of post-Easter talks by Canon Robert Cotton of Holy Trinity and St Mary’s.
Week III Paul and four paintings.
For both the Greeks and Jews, resurrection represents a paradigm shift.
For Greeks, death was a one way journey of no return. Not annihilation, a shadowy existence as shades. A few eminent persons, heroes and the like, may have a temporary earthly existence as shades.
For Jews, it was a developing concept. Pharisees had the concept of martyrs, fighting the enemy, a glorious death, to be resurrected to join the final victors. Not so the Sadducees, they were content as the ruling class, and the last thing they wished to see or encourage were martyrs to overthrow the existing order, they dismissed the idea of martyrdom, and victory as a shared experience.
the empty tomb
An empty tomb. Shock at finding it empty. Where was the body? But to then simply go home!
Greek icon resurrection of the dead
A Greek icon. Jesus resurrecting the dead at the end of time.
The Resurrection, Cookham (1924-1927) – Sir Stanley Spencer (1891-1959)
As Jesus died on the Cross, the skies turned black, the Temple curtain was torn in two. Or does it signify the end of time? Very Gothic, very Victorian.
The Gospels speak of the Resurrection of Christ, Paul takes this further, the resurrection of everyone.
John Updike, in Seven Stanzas at Easter, asks us to not mock God with metaphor, in other words, accept the harsh reality.
A little girl asked: How does God make people real? Then she answered her own question: First he draws them, then he colours them in.
- The Cross
- The Resurrection
- The Risen Existence: The Spirit of Easter
- ‘I Thirst’
The Resurrection
April 22, 2013A detailed look at the various passages in the Gospels. A series of post-Easter talks by Canon Robert Cotton of Holy Trinity and St Mary’s.
Week II John and four paintings.
Anyone who knows God cannot describe Him. Anyone who can describe God does not know Him. — Paulo Coelho
If you can’t find god in the next person you meet, it’s a waste of time looking for him anywhere else —- Gandhi
When we look at painting of the resurrection, we have to ask ourselves: Did they read the Biblical passages, did they comprehend, how did they interpret?
Resurrection – Piero Della Francesca
A fresco, that when seen in situ, appears to leap out at you. Christ depicted rising, soldiers either asleep or looking fearful. The dress of Christ could be that of a Roman Senator, indicating someone of importance.
Noli me tangere – Alexander Ivanov (1835)
Noli me tangere, meaning “don’t touch me” or “touch me not”, is the Latin version of words spoken, according to John 20:17, by Jesus to Mary Magdalene when she recognised him after his resurrection. The original Koine Greek phrase, Μή μου ἅπτου (mē mou haptou), is better represented in translation as “cease holding on to me” or “stop clinging to me”.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church the Gospel lesson on Noli me tangere is one of the Twelve Matins Gospels read during the All Night Vigil on Sunday mornings.
Supper at Emmaus – Caravaggio (1606)
Two of the disciples are looking at the bread. Know me by how I break bread. The third is looking at Christ with a puzzled expression. Christ female?
Emmaus – Emmanuel Garibay
A seedy Filipino bar, lots of fun, the risen Christ a woman. Much focus on on pain, suffering, but here the focus is on joy. The painting formed part of an exhibition called Jesus Laughing and Loving.
an empty tomb
An empty tomb, the grave garments cast to one side.
In the first passage in John, we have the tomb found empty Mary Magdalene arrives first, then the men, a slight squabble between the men as to who got there first saw what.
But the men they arrive they see they go home. Is this not something of a let down? They find the tomb empty then simply go home!
Mary sees angels, has a chat with who she assumes to be a gardener. Do you not know who I am Mary?
Is there some significance in gardener? Is it not natural to assume the gardener, or a groundsman looking after the grounds?
Jesus appears before the men who are locked away in hiding. Thomas is not there, but when he is told, he wants to see some evidence. Is it fair to call Thomas doubting? He has been told an incredible story, is it not reasonable to ask for some hard evidence, to see with his own eyes?
The Gospel accounts differ on detail, which makes them more credible.
That it is women who are the first witnesses, also makes more credible, as they could not have given testimony in court. If wished to fabricate a story would have had men first on the scene.
Emphasises the importance of women, especial of Mary Magdalene.
In the beginning was the word. The word has no gender.
In the Koran the first word is read, all on its own. That it is all on its own, it is interpreted as a command. But it does not say only men read. To read you need an education.
His friends, his comrades, do not recognise Him. They know Jesus the Man, but do not know the Risen Christ, the Christos. They walk with him, sit down to eat, it is only when he breaks the bread, they recognise who he is. Mary Magdalene was the closest, and she does not recognise, she mistook for the gardener.
has there been so much change? Or maybe they were in a state of shock. They have seen a close friend, comrade, travelling companion brutally executed. Why would they recognise a few days later, if approached by someone they knew to be dead? It is something the mind would not accept.
Men and Women were created equal in his image. What is that image? Is it like one of those strange images that flips between two states as you look at it? If created equal in the same image, can the Risen Christ not be female?
Jesus the Man v the Risen Christ, a dichotomy that was to spilt the Ancient Church over the next few hundred years and much blood shed.
When he was alive, Jesus asked of his disciples: Who do they say I am?
Doubt, as expressed by Thomas, is to question. We should always question. Those who do not are bigots and fundamentalist, who kill and maim others because they do not share the same world view.
Last year BBC Radio 4 had an excellent series on doubt presented by a former Scottish Bishop, but sadly like many good programmes, they did not keep on-line, though I believe there may have been an accompanying book.
The Gospels speak of the Resurrection of Jesus, not of us.
Relevant Biblical passages: Mark 16:1-8, Matthew 28:1-20, Luke 24:13-35 and John 20.
- The Cross
- Resurrection and beyond
- The Risen Existence: The Spirit of Easter
- ‘I Thirst’
St George’s Church in Baghdad
April 18, 2013A brief glimpse of the work of Canon Andrew White at St George’s in Baghdad.
Canon Andrew White is author of Faith Under Fire, President of FRRME, the Anglican priest of St George’s in Baghdad and a Middle East Peacemaker.
- Under siege but vicar of Baghdad is still spreading the word
- Canon Andrew White at Guildford Baptist Church
- Candles in Lincoln Cathedral
On the day the Boston Marathon was bombed, far worse bombings took place in Iraq. The curate of St George’s narrowly escaped with his life.
Synchronicity: Only recently was I telling my lovely friend Annie of St George’s in Baghdad and the work of Canon Andrew White. This morning I received from Andrew this video. In the post an in-house newsletter of Lincoln Cathedral, with highlighted a thank you from FRRME on behalf of Canon Andrew White for their generous donation of £1,000 to their important work of peace and reconciliation in the Middle East. I may, in part, had something to do with this, as I gave Lincoln Cathedral a DVD of a talk Andrew White gave in Guildford. From little seeds grow great things.
Paulo Coelho: Manuscript Found in Accra
April 10, 2013Paulo Coelho discussing his latest book, Manuscript Found in Accra.
Set on the eve of the invasion of Jerusalem by the Crusaders. The action takes place in a square.
Godalming Parish Church
April 8, 2013
Godalming Parish Church
prayer cards writ for Paulo and Annie
candles lit for Paulo and Annie
a beautiful old illustrated Bible
Godalming Parish Church has an Anglo-Saxon font.
It has a memorial to Jack Phillips, but this I could not find.
Jack Phillips was the wireless operator on board the Titanic. He remained at his post and went down with the ship. His body has never been found.
Candles lit, prayer cards writ for Paulo Coelho and Annie.
I came across what I had never seen before, a beautiful old illustrated Bible. Sadly I did not take note of the passage to which it was open.
Easter paintings in Farnham Parish Church
March 30, 2013
carrying the cross
taken down from the cross
I came across these painting last week, but the church was too dark to see them properly.
Today it was much lighter.
They were not originals, which I would love to see. There was no information on them, or if there was, I did not see any.
I suspect they are Stations of the Cross, but if so I only saw eleven and there should be twelve, but I may have missed one.
Note: There are twelve, one is of the Last Supper.
I have always been impressed by Stations of the Cross in churches, as in each church, they are different.
Today there was a large wooden cross, which is not usually in the church. I assume it appeared yesterday, Good Friday.
