Above:  The Flag of The Episcopal Church

Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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DANIEL GEE CHING WU (OCTOBER 19, 1883-APRIL 6, 1956)

Chinese-American Episcopal Priest and Missionary

Born Wu Gee Ching

Sometimes listed as Daniel G. Ng Ping in contemporary sources

Father Daniel G. C. Wu comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Episcopal Church.  His propers are present in Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010) and A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  A Calendar of Commemorations (2016).

Wu Gee Ching came to Christian faith via Episcopal deaconess Emma Drant, who went on to become his mentor in ministry.  Our saint, born in China on October 19, 1883, was working in Hawaii when he met Deaconess Drant.  She taught him English.  In return, he taught her Chinese.  Drant’s evangelism of Wu led him to baptism, as Daniel.

An especially nasty blend of racism, xenophobia, and nativism resulted in the Chinese becoming one of the most despised groups in the United States of America.  Many Chinese men had proven invaluable to the construction of the western portion of the first Transcontinental Railroad (completed in 1869).  Chinese immigrants did much to build the United States, literally.  Yet a series of Chinese Exclusion Acts severely curtailed Chinese immigration from 1882 to World War II.  Drant and Wu ministered to Chinese-Americans in the San Francisco Bay area in this cultural milieu.

Drant left for San Francisco, California, in 1905, to become a missionary to Chinese immigrants.  The Episcopal Church had been conducting missionary work among Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans for about a half-century by 1905.  Drant founded the True Sunshine Episcopal Mission (now Church) in 1905.  After the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, many Chinese Americans moved across the bay, to Oakland.  Drant founded a second mission, Our Saviour, in that city.  She asked Wu to join her in the San Francisco Bay area, to assist in the missions.

Wu arrived in 1907.  He stayed.  Our saint worked in the two missions as a layman, a seminarian (1909-1912), a deacon (1912-1913), and a priest (1913-1942).  Wu, a graduate of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, California, spent 36 years tending faithfully to the two flocks.  He also met new arrivals at docks and at ports of entry then helped them to adjust to life in North America.  Our saint, who rejected the “melting pot,” affirmed Chinese culture.  He taught English to immigrants so they could adapt to life in the United States.  He also taught Chinese to U.S.-born Chinese-American children.  Wu helped to build up and maintain the communities in which he served.  He also understood that the destruction of one’s culture harmed one.

Wu retired in 1942.

Our saint, aged 72 years, died in Colma, California, on April 6, 1956.  His wife, King Yoak Won Wu (1890-1982), and his daughter, Mary L. Wu Yue (1914-2006), survived him.

I have only one regret related to this post.  I wish I could find enough information about Deaconess Emma Drant to add her to this Ecumenical Calendar, too.

May we, as a society, and each of us, individually, welcome our neighbors from near, far away, and places in-between.  They bear the image of God.  Furthermore, hospitality to strangers is a biblical mandate.  May we banish racism, xenophobia, and nativism from the political and cultural mainstream forever and go about the work of loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.  May we remember that all people are our neighbors, as Jesus, our Lord and Savior, taught.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 17, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF AUGUST CRULL, GERMAN-AMERICAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, POET, PROFESSOR, HYMNODIST, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTONI LESZCZEWICZ, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS, 1943

THE FEAST OF JANINI LUWUM, UGANDAN ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP AND MARTYR, 1977

THE FEAST OF JOHANN HEERMANN, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOHN MEYENDORFF, RUSSIAN-FRENCH-AMERICAN ORTHODOX PRIEST, SCHOLAR, AND ECUMENIST

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We give you thanks, loving God, for the ministry of Daniel Wu,

priest and pioneer church planter among Asian Americans,

and for the stable worshiping communities he established,

easing many immigrants’ passage into a confusing new world.

By the power of your Holy Spirit, raise up other inspired leaders,

that today’s newcomers may find leaders from their diverse communities faithful to our Savior Jesus Christ;

who with you and the same Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

Psalm 147:13-20

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

Mark 8:1-91

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 311

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Loving God, we give thanks for Daniel Wu and his work

among Chinese immigrants whose lives he touched in his day:

By the power of your Holy Spirit give to your Church compassion and respect for all people,

wherever they reside, that, inspired by your love,

every community might be filled with your wisdom

and call forth leaders to guide your flock in faithfulness to the Eternal Word, Jesus Christ;

who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

—A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  A Calendar of Commemorations (2016)

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the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.

Above:  Icon of the Raising of Lazarus

Image in the Public Domain

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A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days is one of my hobbies, not a calendar of observances with any force or a popular following.  It does, however, constitute a forum to which to propose proper additions to church calendars.

Much of the Western Church observes January 18 as the Feast of the Confession of St. Peter the Apostle, the rock upon which Christ built the Church.  (Just think, O reader; I used to be a Protestant boy!  My Catholic tendencies must be inherent.)  The celebration of that feast is appropriate.  The Church does not neglect St. Martha of Bethany, either.  In The Episcopal Church, for example, she shares a feast with her sister (St. Mary) and her brother (St. Lazarus) on July 29.

There is no Feast of the Confession of St. Martha of Bethany, corresponding to the Petrine feast, however.  That constitutes an omission.  I correct that omission somewhat here at my Ecumenical Calendar as of today.  I hereby define the Sunday immediately prior to Palm/Passion Sunday as the Feast of the Confession of St. Martha of Bethany.  The reason for the temporal definition is the chronology inside the Gospel of John.

This post rests primarily on John 11:20-27, St. Martha’s confession of faith in her friend, Jesus, as

The combination of grief, confidence, and faith is striking.  It is one with which many people identify.  It is one that has become increasingly relevant in my life during the last few months, as I have dealt with two deaths.

Faith frequently shines brightly in the spiritual darkness and exists alongside grief.  Faith enables people to cope with their grief and helps them to see the path through the darkness.  We need to grieve, but we also need to move forward.  We will not move forward alone, for God is with us.  If we are fortunate, so are other people, as well as at least one pet.

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Loving God, who became incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth

and enjoyed the friendship of Saints Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany:

We thank you for the faith of St. Martha, who understood that

you were the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who was coming into the world.

May we confess with our lips and our lives our faith in you,

the Incarnate, crucified, and resurrected Son of God, and draw others to you;

In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Jeremiah 8:18-23

Psalm 142

1 Corinthians 15:12-28

John 11:1-44

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 18, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE CONFESSION OF SAINT PETER THE APOSTLE

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Above:  Dr. Emil Brunner

Image in the Public Domain

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HEINRICH EMIL BRUNNER (DECEMBER 23, 1889-APRIL 6, 1966)

Swiss Reformed Theologian

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The Protestant theology of our day is in a state of rapid dissolution….The substance of Christian theology, the content of Christian faith, is in a state of compete decomposition.  Christianity is either faith in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, or it is nothing.

–Emil Brunner, in The Theology of Crisis (1930); quoted in Martin E. Marty and Dean G. Peerman, editors, A Handbook of Christian Theologians–Enlarged Edition (1984) page 410

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Emil Brunner and Karl Barth were the most influential Protestant theologians of the twentieth century.  The latter, however, has become more famous than the former.  Furthermore, Willard Learoyd Sperry was openly critical of their Neo-orthodox theology.  Coincidence has caused the feasts of Brunner and Sperry to fall on the same date on my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days.  This project of mine has sufficient breadth to include theologians who criticized each other.

Brunner was Swiss, as was his contemporary and critic, Barth.  Brunner, born on December 23, 1889, at Winterthur, drew from a variety of influences.  One early influence was pastor Christoph Blumhardt (1842-1919), of southern Germany.  Another influence was Hermann Kutter (1863-1931), a student of Blumhardt.  Brunner studied theology at the University of Zurich.  His professor, Leonhard Ragaz (1868-1945), taught him the works of Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), who influenced our saint profoundly.

Brunner traveled and lectured around the world.  He studied in Berlin for a semester in 1911; he found both the city and Adolf von Harnack 1865-1923) unimpressive.  Our saint visited England in 1913-1914 and quickly became fluent in English.  He was back home, serving in the Swiss army, in 1914-1916, before becoming the pastor at a church in Obstalden, in the canton of Glarus, in 1916.  Brunner studied at Union Theological Seminary, New York, New York, in 1919-1920.  In 1924 he became Professor of Systematic and Practical Theology at the University of Zurich.  He also continued to preach in churches.  Throughout the 1920s Brunner lectured in the United States and in the United Kingdom.  The Third Reich banned his books and forbade him to teach in Germany, but he did not slow down.  From 1938 to 1939 Brunner was a visiting professor at Princeton Theological Seminary.  He was also active in the Faith and Order Movement and the Life and Work Movement, forerunners of the World Council of Churches, organized in 1948.  After World War II Brunner became a theological advisor to the Y.M.C.A.  In 1949, for the Y.M.C.A., he traveled and lectured in Asia.  From 1953 to 1955 our saint was a professor at the International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan.  There he engaged in ecumenical and interfaith dialogues.  In 1955, on the way back to Switzerland, Brunner suffered a stroke, which slowed the previously vigorous pace of his scholarly work.

In 1916 Brunner married Margret Lauterberg, niece of his mentor, Hermann Kutter.  Our saint was a loving husband and father.  The couple raised four sons, two of whom they buried.

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A person literate in Christian theology can understand why one can find criticisms of Brunner from both the right and the left on the Internet.  According to certain critics from the left, he was much too traditional.  Yet, according to those who condemn our saint from the right, he was a heretic and a destroyer of faith whose insidious influence remains.

Brunner, who considered himself neither a traditionalist nor an innovator, held to a theology based to two related factors:  love and the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.  He rejected fundamentalism and dogmatism on the right  and vague religious values on the left.  Brunner was, simply put, in the middle, with many critics from both his right and his left.  For example, as our saint stressed the primacy of Jesus as the Word of God and insisted upon the unique and unrepeatable nature of the Incarnation, he remained skeptical regarding the Virgin Birth.  The miracle of the Incarnation, Brunner wrote, was greater with a human father.  Furthermore, our saint insisted, one need not affirm the Virgin Birth as being essential to accepting the divinity of Jesus.

Brunner also pondered how God and mere mortals can relate to each other.  Our saint, being himself, rejected the extremes of literalism and dogmatism on the right and of experience and feeling on the left.  He wrote that God and people meet in Jesus Christ and that only God can take the initiative to bridge the gap.  People, he argued, have the ability to reject God or to accept God.  Furthermore, the revelation of God is ongoing–via the Holy Spirit, including in the scriptures at the present time.  The reign of God on earth will become a reality also.  In the meantime, Brunner argued, there must be a point of contact in sinful human nature for one to perceive the divine revelation.  This assertion prompted Barth too write his famous rebuttal Nein! (1934), in which he argued that divine revelation creates its own point of contact ex niliho.  Brunner referred to Nein! as “that terrible book” as late as the 1950s.

For Brunner the definitive Christian virtue was love–self-sacrificing love, the kind Jesus had.  This love, our saint wrote, Christianizing Martin Buber‘s I-Thou theology, binds people to God and to each other in relationships.  The responsibility to live in community with each other and with God, Brunner wrote, is inherent in us.  Furthermore, we might be unaware of this duty or even reject it, but we can never escape it, he argued.  The basis of this responsibility, according to Brunner, was the image of God.  He criticized violations of this responsibility, wherever he saw them–in capitalism, communism, Christian congregations and denominations, et cetera.  Worse than the scandal of schisms, Brunner wrote, was the lack of spiritual brotherhood in Christian community.

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Brunner, a man well-informed in matters of theology, science, music, and painting, died at Zurich, Switzerland, on April 6, 1966.  He was 76 years old.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 15, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ZACHARY OF ROME, POPE

THE FEAST OF SAINTS JAN ADALBERT BALICKI AND LADISLAUS FINDYSZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS IN POLAND

THE FEAST OF OZORA STEARNS DAVIS, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF VETHAPPAN SOLOMON, APOSTLE TO THE SOLOMON ISLANDS

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Almighty God, your Holy Spirit gives to one the word of knowledge,

and to another the insight of wisdom,

and to another the steadfastness of faith.

We praise you for the gifts of grace imparted by your servant Emil Brunner,

and we pray that by his teaching we may be led to a fuller knowledge of the truth

we have seen in your Son Jesus, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Proverbs 3:1-7 or Wisdom 7:7-14

Psalm 119:89-104

1 Corinthians 2:6-10, 13-16 or 1 Corinthians 3:5-11

John 17:18-23 or Matthew 13:47-52

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 61

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…a man of brilliant scholarship and vast and accurate learning, a telling speaker, and an original Latin poet.

Above:  Benjamin Hall Kennedy, by William Walter Ouless

Image in the public domain

Confirmed here

BENJAMIN HALL KENNEDY (NOVEMBER 6, 1804-APRIL 6, 1889)

Greek and Latin Scholar, Bible Translator, and Anglican Priest

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–James Moffatt, Handbook to The Church Hymnary (London:  Oxford University Press, 1927), pages 392-393

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Benjamin Hall Kennedy (1804-1889) was a man of God and the academy, a master of the classics, and a Bible translator.  His legacy merits more attention than it receives in some circles.

Kennedy, ordained a priest in The Church of England, held church positions yet was best known for the academic career.  He taught at Harrow School before becoming the Headmaster of Shrewsbury School in 1836.  Kennedy made that institution of learning a famous center of classical scholarship.  In 1867 he became a Professor of Greek at Cambridge.  And Kennedy wrote influential Greek and Latin textbooks and translated editions of Greek and Latin classics–works by figures such as Philo, Virgil, Sophocles, and Aeschylus.  One aspect of his legacy was a Latin professorship named for him at Cambridge.

Kennedy also worked on the Revised Version of the Bible (1881), published a translation of the Psalter, published sermons, and edited Hymnologia Christiana (1863), a volume which contained thousands of hymns.  Among them was his translation of Johann Christian Schwedler‘s text, “Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know.”

Ask ye what great thing I know

That delights and stirs me so?

What the high reward I win?

Whose the name I glory in?

Jesus Christ the Crucified.

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Who defeats my fiercest foes?

Who consoles my saddest woes?

Who revives my fainting heart,

Healing all its hidden smart?

Jesus Christ the Crucified.

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Who is life in life to me?

Who the death of death will be?

Who will place me on His right,

With the countless hosts of light?

Jesus Christ the Crucified.

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This is that great thing I know;

This delights and stirs me so:

Faith in Him who died to save,

Him who triumphed o’er the grave,

Jesus Christ the Crucified.

Unfortunately, Christian history contains chapters of anti-intellectualism, especially regarding the Greek and Latin classics.  Gerbert of  Aurillac, who served as Pope Sylvester II (999-1003), incurred much suspicion and opposition because of his openness to knowledge wherever he found it, for example.  And I have encountered many Evangelical and Fundamentalist anti-intellectuals.  Fortunately, I have also met many Christian intellectuals of varying stripes and their written work.  (N. T. Wright, for example, is no intellectual slouch.)  My intellectualism predisposes me to my denominational choice (The Episcopal Church) and to a fondness for Christian intellectuals, such as Benjamin Hall Kennedy.  I thank God for them.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 9, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT SOPHRONIUS OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC PATRIARCH

THE FEAST OF SAINT GREGORY OF NYSSA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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For Further Reading:

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Kennedy%2c%20Benjamin%20Hall%2c%201804-1889

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Proper for Scholars:

O God, you have endowed us with memory, reason, and skill.

We thank you for the faithful legacy of Benjamin Hall Kennedy and all others

who have dedicated their lives to you and to the intellectual pursuits.

May we, like them, respect your gift of intelligence fully and to your glory.

In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Psalm 103

Philippians 4:8-9

Mark 12:28-34

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 6, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CHRODEGANG OF METZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF EDMUND KING, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN

Image Source = University of Georgia Law School Tribute Page

(Link located in this post)

MILNER SHIVERS BALL (APRIL 10-1936-APRIL 6, 2011)

Presbyterian Minister, Law Professor, Witness for Civil Rights, Humanitarian

From time to time one finds one’s self in the company of greatness.  The greatest of people are those who improve the lives of others, often facing scorn for part or much of their efforts.  Years and decades later, admirers speak of how courageous these great people were, but such high praise was scarce at the time.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1936, and educated in Georgia and Tennessee public schools, Milner Ball earned his A.B. degree from Princeton University and his Master of Divinity from Harvard University.  A man possessed of a keen intellect and deep Christian faith, he studied with Karl Barth and became a Presbyterian minister.  Lifelong concerns for social justice led Ball to support causes usually described as liberal.  In the 1960s, for example he was openly pro-civil rights.  After a stint as pastor in Manchester, Tennessee, he became the Presbyterian campus minister at The University of Georgia (UGA).  There his demonstrated belief in racial equality aroused much opposition at the recently (1962) integrated campus.  The last straw, however, came when Ball became a delegate to the 1968 Democratic National Convention, but not as a member of the Lester Maddox-approved delegation.  Ball, joined the Julian Bond-led delegation instead.

Ball, fired from his position, entered law school and commenced a career of public service via the law.  Graduating first in his class from the UGA Law School, Ball served as former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk’s representative to the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1971 and 1972.  Then he taught law at Rutgers University from 1972 to 1978 before returning to UGA as a law professor.  He retired in 2006.

A prolific scholar, Ball wrote many law review articles and four books:  The Promise of American Law:  A Theological, Humanistic View of Legal Process (1981), Lying Down Together:  Law, Metaphor, and Theology (1985), The Word and the Law (1993), and Called by Stories:  Biblical Sagas and Their Challenge for Law (2000).  A specialist in environmental law, tribal law, constitutional law, and the intersection of theology and law, Ball challenged his students and readers to improve the lives of the less fortunate and to work for justice.  Law, he wrote, ought to be a force which transfigures society and builds up human community.

Ball’s work extended far beyond Athens, Georgia.  He taught overseas (in Argentina, France, Belgium, England, and Iceland) over the years and served as a judge on the International People’s Tribunal in Hawaii (1993).  Ball was also a member of the Theological Anthropology Project at the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton University.  And his influence continues through the careers of his law students.

Locally in Athens, Ball was instrumental in the Athens Justice Project, which, in the words of its website, “assists low income individuals with pending criminal charges in achieving a fair legal outcome and in becoming productive, law-abiding community members.”  Such work, truly a living memorial to Ball’s commitment to social justice, reflects his active belief in helping the disadvantaged and building up human community.  The Athens Justice Project was just one of Ball’s many community-building activities, with others including a soup kitchen and a homeless shelter.

Ball received many civil rights and public service honors.  It is appropriate then that the Working in the Public Interest (WIPI) Law Conference established the Milner S. Ball Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.

Our love for our neighbors, Jesus said, must be active.  The obligation to love our neighbors as ourselves requires us to reach out to those who need the assistance we can offer.  Following our Lord in this way will cause us to cross lines some of our neighbors consider improper, for we human beings cling to social injustices which benefit us, if only psychologically.  But crossing these lines is part of God’s mandate upon our lives.  Jesus disregarded such barriers, as the canonical Gospels record.  He was (and is) the Master; a servant is not above his or her master.

Milner Ball followed his master faithfully.  He and I participated in the life of the same parish, crossing paths.  Knowing him, even casually, was a great honor.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 6, 2011 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION

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For More Information:

UGA Law School Tribute Page

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A collect and the readings for a Renewer of Society, according to Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), the hymnal and worship book of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:

Holy and righteous God, you created us in your image.  Grant us grace to contend fearlessly against evil and to make no peace with oppression.  Help us, like your servant Milner Ball, to work for justice among people and nations, to the glory of your name, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Hosea 2:18-23

Psalm 94:1-15

Romans 12:9-21

Luke 6:20-36

Daisies

Image Source = WiZZiK

1 (Frederick Denison Maurice, Anglican Priest and Theologian)

• Giuseppe Girotti, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1945
• John Gray, Scottish Presbyterian Minister, Mythologist, Biblical Scholar, and Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages
• Ludovico Pavoni, Roman Catholic Priest and Educator
• Syragius of Autun and Anarcharius of Auxerre, Roman Catholic Bishops; and Valery of Leucone and Eustace of Luxeuit, Roman Catholic Abbots

2 (James Lloyd Breck, “The Apostle of the Wilderness”)

• Carlo Carretto, Spiritual Writer
• John Payne and Cuthbert Mayne, Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs, 1582 and 1577
• Joseph Bernardin, Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago
• Mykolai Charnetskyi, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Titular Bishop of Lebed, and Martyr, 1959
• Sidonius Apollinaris, Eustace of Lyon, and His Descendants, Roman Catholic Bishops

3 (Luther D. Reed, U.S. Lutheran Minister and Liturgist)

• Burgendofara and Sadalberga, Roman Catholic Abbesses, and Their Relatives
• Marc Sangnier, Founder of the Sillon Movement
• Mary of Egypt, Hermit and Penitent
• Reginald Heber, Anglican Bishop of Calcutta, and Hymn Writer
• Sidney Lovett, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Chaplain of Yale University

4 (Benedict the African, Franciscan Friar and Hermit)

• Alfred C. Marble, Jr., Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi then Assisting Bishop of North Carolina
• Ernest W. Shurtleff, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
• Gaetano Catanoso, Founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of Saint Veronica (Missionaries of the Holy Face)
• Martin Luther King, Jr., U.S. Civil Rights Leader, and Martyr, 1968 (also January 15)
• Ndue Serreqi, Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1954

5 (Emily Ayckbowm, Founder of the Community of the Sisters of the Church)

• Mariano de la Mata Aparicio, Roman Catholic Missionary and Educator in Brazil
• Pauline Sperry, Mathematician, Philanthropist, and Activist; and her brother, Willard Learoyd Sperry, Congregationalist Minister, Ethicist, Theologian, and Dean of Harvard Law School
• Ruth Youngdahl Nelson, U.S. Lutheran Renewer of Society
• William Derham, Anglican Priest and Scientist

6 (Marcellinus of Carthage, Roman Catholic Martyr, 413)

• Benjamin Hall Kennedy, Greek and Latin Scholar, Bible Translator, and Anglican Priest
• Daniel G. C. Wu, Chinese-American Episcopal Priest and Missionary
• Emil Brunner, Swiss Reformed Theologian
• Milner Ball, Presbyterian Minister, Law Professor, Witness for Civil Rights, Humanitarian
• Nokter Balbulus, Roman Catholic Monk

7 (Tikhon of Moscow, Russian Orthodox Patriach)

• André Trocmé, Magda Trocmé, and Daniel Trocmé, Righteous Gentiles
• George the Younger, Greek Orthodox Bishop of Mitylene
• Jay Thomas Stocking, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
• Montford Scott, Edmund Gennings, Henry Walpole, and Their Fellow Martyrs, 1591 and 1595
• Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury

8 (Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Patriarch of American Lutheranism; his great-grandson, William Augustus Muhlenberg, Episcopal Priest, Hymn Writer, and Liturgical Pioneer; and his colleague, Anne Ayres, Founder of the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion)

• Dionysius of Corinth, Roman Catholic Bishop
• Godfrey Diekmann, U.S. Roman Catholic Monk, Priest, Ecumenist, Theologian, and Liturgical Scholar
• Hugh of Rouen, Roman Catholic Bishop, Abbot, and Monk
• Julie Billiart, Founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame
• Timothy Lull, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Scholar, Theologian, and Ecumenist

9 (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Lutheran Martyr, 1945

• Johann Cruger, German Lutheran Organist, Composer, and Hymnal Editor
• John Samuel Bewley Monsell, Anglican Priest and Poet; and Richard Mant, Anglican Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore
• Lydia Emilie Gruchy, First Female Minister in the United Church of Canada
• Mikael Agricola, Finnish Lutheran Liturgist, Bishop of Turku, and “Father of Finnish Literary Language”
• William Law, Anglican Priest, Mystic, and Spiritual Writer

10 (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Roman Catholic Priest, Scientist, and Theologian)

• Bademus, Persian Martyr, 376
• Bonifacy Zukowski, Polish Roman Catholic Friar and Martyr, 1942
• Fulbert of Chartres, Roman Catholic Bishop
• Henry Van Dyke, U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Liturgist
• Howard Thurman, Protestant Theologian

11 (Heinrich Theobald Schenck, German Lutheran Pastor and Hymn Writer)

• Charles Stedman Newhall, U.S. Naturalist, Hymn Writer, and Congregationalist and Presbyterian Minister
• George Augustus Selwyn, Anglican Bishop of New Zealand, Primate of New Zealand, and Bishop of Lichfield; Missionary
• George Zabelka, U.S. Roman Catholic Priest, Military Chaplain, and Advocate for Christian Nonviolence
• Henry Hallam Tweedy, U.S. Congregationalist Minister, Liturgist, and Hymn Writer
• Symforian Ducki, Polish Roman Catholic Friar and Martyr, 1942

12 (Henry Sloane Coffin, U.S. Presbyterian Minister, Theologian, and Hymn Translator; and his nephew, William Sloane Coffin, Jr., U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Social Activist)

• Carl F. Price, U.S. Methodist Hymnologist and Composer
• David Uribe-Velasco, Mexican Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1927
• Julius I, Bishop of Rome
• Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, Chilean Roman Catholic Nun
• Zeno of Verona, Bishop

13 (Joseph Barber Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham)

• Henri Perrin, French Roman Catholic Worker Priest
• John Gloucester, First African-American Presbyterian Minister
• Lucy Craft Laney, African-American Presbyterian Educator and Civil Rights Activist
• Martin I, Bishop of Rome, and Martyr, 655; and Maximus the Confessor, Eastern Orthodox Monk, Abbot, and Martyr, 662
• Rolando Rivi, Roman Catholic Seminarian and Martyr, 1945

14 (Edward Thomas Demby and Henry Beard Delany, Episcopal Suffragan Bishops for Colored Work)

• Anthony, John, and Eustathius of Vilnius, Martyrs in Lithuania, 1347
• George Frederick Handel, Composer
• Lucien Botovasoa, Malagasy Roman Catholic Martyr, 1947
• Wandregisilus of Normandy, Roman Catholic Abbot; and Lambert of Lyons, Roman Catholic Abbot and Bishop
• Zenaida of Tarsus and her sister, Philonella of Tarsus; and Hermione of Ephesus; Unmercenary Physicians

15 (Olga of Kiev, Regent of Kievan Russia; Adalbert of Magdeburg, Roman Catholic Bishop; Adalbert of Prague, Roman Catholic Bishop and Martyr, 997; and Benedict and Gaudentius of Pomerania, Roman Catholic Martyrs, 997)

• Damien and Marianne of Molokai, Workers Among Lepers
• Flavia Domitilla, Roman Christian Noblewoman; and Maro, Eutyches, and Victorinus of Rome, Priests and Martyrs, Circa 99
• Hunna of Alsace, the “Holy Washerwoman”

16 (Bernadette of Lourdes, Roman Catholic Visionary)

• Calvin Weiss Laufer, U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Hymnodist
• Isabella Gilmore, Anglican Deaconess
• Mikel Suma, Albanian Roman Catholic Priest, Friar, and Martyr, 1950
• Peter Williams Cassey, African-American Episcopal Deacon; and his wife, Annie Besant Cassey, African-American Episcopal Educator

17 (Daniel Sylvester Tuttle, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church)

• Emily Cooper, Episcopal Deaconess
• Lucy Larcom, U.S. Academic, Journalist, Poet, Editor, and Hymn Writer
• Max Josef Metzger, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1944
• Wilbur Kenneth Howard, Moderator of The United Church of Canada

18 (Roger Williams, Founder of Rhode Island; and Anne Hutchinson, Rebellious Puritan)

• Cornelia Connelly, Founder of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus
• Maria Anna Blondin, Founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Anne
• Mary C. Collins, U.S. Congregationalist Missionary and Minister
• Murin of Fahan, Laserian of Leighlin, Goban of Picardie, Foillan of Fosses, and Ultan of Peronne, Abbots; Fursey of Peronne and Blitharius of Seganne, Monks
• Roman Archutowski, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1943

19 (Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Martyr, 1012)

• Emma of Lesum, Benefactor
• Olavus Petri, Swedish Lutheran Theologian, Historian, Liturgist, Minister, Hymn Writer, Hymn Translator, and “Father of Swedish Literature;” and his brother, Laurentius Petri, Swedish Lutheran Archbishop of Uppsala, Bible Translator, and “Father of Swedish Hymnody”
• Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Anglican Organist and Composer

20 (Johannes Bugenhagen, German Lutheran Theologian, Minister, Liturgist, and “Pastor of the Reformation”)

• Amator of Auxerre and Germanus of Auxerre, Roman Catholic Bishops; Mamertinus of Auxerre, Roman Catholic Abbot; and Marcian of Auxerre, Roman Catholic Monk
• Chiara Bosatta, Co-Founder of the Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence
• Christian X, King of Denmark and Iceland; and his brother, Haakon VII, King of Norway
• Marion MacDonald Kelleran, Episcopal Seminary Professor and Lay Leader
• Robert Seymour Bridges, Anglican Hymn Writer and Hymn Translator

21 (Roman Adame Rosales, Mexican Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1927)

• Conrad of Parzham, Capuchin Friar
• David Brainerd, American Congregationalist then Presbyterian Missionary and Minister
• George B. Caird, English Congregationalist then United Reformed Minister, Biblical Scholar, and Hymn Writer and Translator
• Georgia Harkness, U.S. Methodist Minister, Theologian, Ethicist, and Hymn Writer
• Simeon Barsabae, Bishop; and His Companions, Martyrs, 341

22 (Gene Britton, Episcopal Priest)

• Donald S. Armentrout, U.S. Lutheran Minister and Scholar
• Hadewijch of Brabert, Roman Catholic Mystic
• Kathe Kollwitz, German Lutheran Artist and Pacifist
• Ndoc Suma, Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1958
• Vitalis of Gaza, Monk, Hermit, and Martyr, Circa 625

23 (Toyohiko Kagawa, Renewer of Society and Prophetic Witness in Japan)

• Maria Gabriella Sagheddu, Italian Roman Catholic Nun
• Martin Rinckart, German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer
• Teresa Maria of the Cross, Founder of the Carmelite Sisters of Saint Teresa of Florence
• Walter Russell Bowie, Episcopal Priest, Seminary Professor, and Hymn Writer

24 (Genocide Remembrance)

• Egbert of Lindisfarne, Roman Catholic Monk; and Adalbert of Egmont, Roman Catholic Missionary
• Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Capuchin Friar and Martyr, 1622
• Frank von Christierson, Finnish-American Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer
• Jakob Böhme, German Lutheran Mystic
• Johann Walter, “First Cantor of the Lutheran Church”
• Mellitus, Bishop of London, and Archbishop of Canterbury

25 (MARK THE EVANGELIST, MARTYR, 68)

26 (William Cowper, Anglican Hymn Writer)

• Adelard of Corbie, Frankish Roman Catholic Monk and Abbot; and his protégé, Paschasius Radbertus, Frankish Roman Catholic Monk, Abbot, and Theologian
• Robert Hunt, First Anglican Chaplain at Jamestown, Virginia
• Ruth Byllesby, Episcopal Deaconess in Georgia
• Stanislaw Kubista, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1940; and Wladyslaw Goral, Polish Roman Catholic Bishop and Martyr, 1945
• William Stringfellow, Episcopal Attorney, Theologian, and Social Activist

27 (George Washington Doane, Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey; and his son, William Croswell Doane, Episcopal Bishop of Albany; Hymn Writers)

• Antony and Theodosius of Kiev, Founders of Russian Orthodox Monasticism; Barlaam of Kiev, Russian Orthodox Abbot; and Stephen of Kiev, Russian Orthodox Abbot and Bishop
• Christina Rossetti, Poet and Religious Writer
• Remaclus of Maastricht, Theodore of Maastricht, Lambert of Maastricht, Hubert of Maastricht and Liege, and Floribert of Liege, Roman Catholic Bishops; Landrada of Munsterbilsen, Roman Catholic Abbess; and Otger of Utrecht, Plechelm of Guelderland, and Wiro, Roman Catholic Missionaries
• Zita of Tuscany, Worker of Charity

28 (Jaroslav Vajda, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Hymn Translator, and Hymn Writer)

• Jozef Cebula, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1941
• Louis de Montfort, Founder of the Company of Mary (the Montfort Missionaries) and Co-Founder of the Daughters of Wisdom; and Marie-Louise Trichet, Co-Founder of the Daughters of Wisdom
• Pamphilius of Sulmona, Roman Catholic Bishop and Almsgiver
• Peter Chanel, Protomartyr of Oceania, 1841

29 (Catherine of Siena, Roman Catholic Mystic and Religious)

• Bosa of York, John of Beverley, Wilfrid the Younger, and Acca of Hexham, Roman Catholic Bishops
• Hanna Helena Chrzanowska, Polish Roman Catholic Nurse
• James Edward Walsh, Roman Catholic Missionary Bishop and Political Prisoner in China
• Simon B. Parker, United Methodist Biblical Scholar
• Timothy Rees, Welsh Anglican Hymn Writer and Bishop of Llandaff

30 (James Montgomery, Anglican and Moravian Hymn Writer)

• Diet Eman; her fiancé, Hein Sietsma, Martyr, 1945; and his brother, Hendrik “Henk” Sietsma; Righteous Among the Nations
• Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo, Founder of the Little House of Divine Providence
• James Russell Woodford, Anglican Bishop of Ely, Hymn Translator, and Hymn Writer
• John Ross MacDuff and George Matheson, Scottish Presbyterian Ministers and Authors
• Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, Poet, Author, Editor, and Prophetic Witness

 

Floating

• The Confession of Saint Martha of Bethany (the Sunday immediately prior to Palm Sunday; March 8-April 11)

 

Lowercase boldface on a date with two or more commemorations indicates a primary feast.

Abbey of St. Gall, St. Gallen, Switzerland

Image Source = picswiss

BLESSED NOKTER OF ST. GALL, A.K.A. NOKTER THE STAMMERER, NOKTER OF ST. GALL, NOKTER THE POET, NOTKER, AND NOTKAR (CIRCA 840-912)

Roman Catholic Monk

Blessed Nokter possessed a brilliant and trained mind, as well as a deep love of God and great spiritual wisdom.  Eloquent speech was not one of his gifts, but profundity was.

Born to a prominent Swiss family, Nokter studied under St. Tutilo (Feast Day = March 28) at the Abbey of St. Gall.  The Blessed became a monk at that monastery, where he served as a librarian, a teacher, a chronicler of martyrs, an author of chant sequences, and a poet.  According to  his biographer, Ekkehard IV, Nokter was “delicate of body, but not of mind, stuttering of tongue but not of intellect, pushing boldly forward in things Divine, a vessel of the Holy Spirit without equal in his time.”

Partition of the Carolingian Empire, 843 C.E.

During Blessed Nokter’s lifetime the political map shifted around St. Gallen.  Keeping up with all these changes and several ephemeral kingdoms requires great patience, and more than one king named Charles reigned in the region.  One of these Charleses visited the Abbey of St. Gall from time to time to seek Nokter’s advice.  (The king chose not to follow much of this counsel, so why did he make the trips?)  One piece of Nokter’s advice was this:  “Take care of your garden as I am taking care of mine.”  In other words, take care of your kingdom and your spiritual life.  The royal chaplain objected to Nokter’s counsel.  One day he challenged the monk, saying, “Since you are so intelligent, tell me what God is doing right now.”  The Blessed replied, “God is doing right now what he has always done.  He is pushing down those who are proud and raising up the lowly.”

The Roman Catholic Church beatified Nokter Balbulus in 1512.

Blessed Nokter was able to achieve his potential and compensate for his deficiencies because of the combination of his efforts and the support of his faith community, which benefited from his spiritual gifts.  May you, O reader, help others do their best for God and their fellow human beings, including you.  And may others do the same for you.

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Loving God, we thank you for the example of the holy life of your servant, Blessed Nokter Balbulus.  May we, supported by each other, likewise fulfill our vocations, to your glory and the benefit of many.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Exodus 6:26-7:7

Psalm 98

1 Corinthians 12:12-26

Luke 1:46-56

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 6, 2011 COMMON ERA

THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF MARCUS AURELIUS CLEMENS PRUDENTIUS, POET AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF GEORGE VI, KING OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND (Another Stammerer)

Lamb Altarpiece, Ghent, by Jan van Eyck (circa 1395-1441)

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April 6, 2023

Collect and lections from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer

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Follow the assigned readings with me this Lent….

Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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Exodus 12:1-14a (New Revised Standard Version):

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:  This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.  Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household.  If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.  You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.  They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.  They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.  Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs.  You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.  This is how you shall eat it; your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly.  It is the passover of the LORD.  For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.  The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This day shall be a day of remembrance for you.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (New Revised Standard Version):

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Psalm 78:14-20, 23-25 (New Revised Standard Version):

In the daytime he [God] led them with a cloud,

and all night long with a fiery light.

He split rocks open in the wilderness,

and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.

He made streams come out of the rock,

and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

Yet they sinned still more against him,

rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

They tested God in their heart

by demanding the food they craved.

They spoke against God, saying,

“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?

Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out

and torrents overflowed,

can he also give bread,

or provide meat for his people?”

Yet he commanded the skies above,

and opened the doors of heaven;

he rained down on them manna to eat,

and gave them the grain of heaven.

Mortals ate the bread of angels;

he sent them food in abundance.

John 13:1-17 (New Revised Standard Version):

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father.  Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.  The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him.  And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.  Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.  He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  Jesus answered, “You do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.”  Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”  Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”  Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”  Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean.  And you are clean, though not all of you.”  For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?  You call me Teacher and Lord–and you are right, for that is what I am.  So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done for you.  Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.  If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them….”

OR

Luke 22:14-30 (New Revised Standard Version):

When the hour came, he [Jesus] took his place at the table, and the apostles with him.  He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”  Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”  Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”  And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.  But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table.  For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!”  Then they began to ask one another which one of them it could be who would do this.

A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest.  But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors.  But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves.  For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves?  Is it not the one at the table?  But I am among you as one who serves.

You are those who have stood by me in my trials, and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

The Collect:

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

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The Kingdom of God stands in stark contrast to human political and economic systems.  Political systems, even the most benign ones, rely partially on coercion.  And economic systems stand partially on artificial scarcity.  With God, however, there is always enough for everyone to have what he or she needs, and servanthood is the path to leadership.

These are radical ideas.  In the 1960s Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini made the landmark movie, The Gospel According Matthew, with most dialogue lifted from the Gospel of Matthew.  Spanish Fascist dictator Francisco Franco labeled the movie “Marxist.”  An old maxim states that the purpose of the Gospel is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.  That is what the Gospel does when one presents it properly, without diluting it.

Jesus demonstrated service, becoming the Passover lamb.  This point becomes especially clear in the Gospel of John, which places the crucifixion on Thursday, as the priests sacrifice lambs at the Temple.  Thus the Last Supper was a Passover meal in the Synoptic Gospels, but not the Johannine Gospel.  In John, Jesus was the Passover meal. And today, in the Holy Eucharist (one of seven sacraments), we Christians can partake of his body and blood–not in a symbolic sense, not as a memorial meal, not as an ordinance–but via Transubstantiation.  Thanks be to God!

The purpose of the Passover lamb’s blood smeared on the household door frame was to spare the life of the firstborn son in that household.  In other words, the blood of the lamb saved one ‘s life from the consequences of other people’s sins.  This is vital to understand.  If Jesus, then, is the ultimate Passover lamb, he saves us from consequences of the sins of others, not ourselves.  So St. Anselm’s theology of the Atonement cannot rest upon the Passover lamb analogy.  Thus the nature of Jesus’ sacrifice must work another way, assuming the veracity of the Passover lamb analogy.  (Think about it.)

KRT

Above:  Roman Province of Africa (highlighted)

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT MARCELLINUS OF CARTHAGE (DIED IN 413)

Martyr

One of the more extended and unpleasant schisms in Western Christianity involved the Donatists.  At the end of the reign of the Emperor Diocletian, who retired in 305 C.E., the Imperium launched an empire-wide persecution of Christians.  Many Christians, faced with the prospect of imprisonment or painful death, renounced the faith and gave up Bibles for burning.  Others, however, went to prison or their deaths.  Some of the northern African survivors of the Diocletian persecution developed a holier-than-thou attitude with regard to the repentant apostates who sought to return to the fold.  The Roman Catholic Church forgave the penitents; the schismatic Donatists did not.  The Donatist sect survived until the 700s, when the Muslims, conquering northern Africa, extinguished that group.

The Donatists were moral perfectionists, the purest of the self-proclaimed pure.  The main problem with a purity test, of course, is that it affirms its author as pure and condemns as impure those with whom the author disagrees.  A purity test is inherently exclusionary.  And how many among us are pure enough to pass such a test?  Fortunately, God shows mercy to penitents.  We who claim to follow God should emulate that example.

Marcellinus was a a friend of St. Augustine of Hippo, the great bishop and theologian.  He was also the Secretary of State of the Western Roman Empire during the reign of the Emperor Honorius, who held that office 395-423.  Marcellinus, in his imperial capacity, granted the Donatists freedom of worship in 409.  Two years later, when the Donatists had become powerful and begun to oppress Roman Catholics, the latter petitioned Honorius for protection from the former.  The Emperor sent Marcellinus to preside over a conference at Carthage.  The Secretary of State declared the Donatists heretics and ordered them to surrender their buildings to Roman Catholic bishops and priests.  The Western Roman Army executed this order brutally.

Two years later, in 413, some Donatists, blaming Marcellinus for army brutality, accused the Secretary of State and his brother, Apringus, who had also been active in the Donatist matter in 411, of having been complicit in a recent rebellion against the Emperor.  Heraclion, an African count, had led an insurrection against Honorius in the wake of Alaric’s 410 Sack of Rome.  The Western Roman Army had suppressed the revolt and executed Heraclion.  General Marcius, a Donatist sympathizer who had suppressed the recent rebellion, ordered the arrest and imprisonment of Marcellinus and Apringus.  Their deaths on the false charge constituted judicial murder.

KRT

Gracious God, in every age you have sent men and women who have given their lives in witness to your love and truth.  Inspire us with the memory of St. Marcellinus, whose faithfulness led to the way of the cross, and give us courage to bear full witness with our lives to your Son’s victory over sin and death, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.   Amen.

Ezekiel 20:40-42

Psalm 5

Revelation 6:9-11

Mark 8:34-38

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 59