Ecclesiasticus 44:1-10,13-14

1 Let us now sing the praises of famous men,    
          our ancestors in their generations.
2 The Lord apportioned to them great glory,
          his majesty from the beginning.
3 There were those who ruled in their kingdoms,
          and made a name for themselves by their valour;
          those who gave counsel because they were intelligent;
          those who spoke in prophetic oracles;
4 those who led the people by their counsels
          and by their knowledge of the people’s lore;
          they were wise in their words of instruction;
5 those who composed musical tunes,
          or put verses in writing;
6 rich men endowed with resources,
          living peacefully in their homes—
7 all these were honoured in their generations,
          and were the pride of their times.
8 Some of them have left behind a name,
          so that others declare their praise.
9 But of others there is no memory;
          they have perished as though they had never existed;
          they have become as though they had never been born,
          they and their children after them.
10 But these also were godly men,
          whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten;
13 Their offspring will continue for ever,
          and their glory will never be blotted out.
14 Their bodies are buried in peace,
          but their name lives on generation after generation.

[Antiphon:]
Remember your servants, Lord,
when you come in your kingly power.

1 Blessed are the poor in spirit;
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
2 Blessed are those who mourn;
for they shall be comforted.
3 Blessed are the meek;
for they shall inherit the earth.
4 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness;
for they shall be satisfied.
5 Blessed are the merciful;
for they shall obtain mercy.
6 Blessed are the pure in heart;
for they shall see God.
7 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God.
8 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake;
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
9 Blessed are you when the world reviles you and persecutes you;
and utters all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake:
Rejoice and be exceeding glad;
for great is your reward in heaven.

[Antiphon:]
Remember your servants, Lord,
when you come in your kingly power.

Source: Hymnal 1982: according to the use of the Episcopal Church #560

The Beatitudes were pronounced by Jesus during his Sermon on the Mount and were recorded by St. Matthew. ........In the Gospel writings, the beatitudes introduce the teachings of Jesus and are traditionally considered to contain the most concise summary of the spiritual life of man. In the Orthodox Divine Liturgy, the beatitudes are chanted when the Book of the Gospels is carried in solemn procession to the sanctuary to be proclaimed as the Word of God to the faithful. Thus it is the clear teaching of the Gospel and the Church that one enters into the mysteries of Christ and the Kingdom of God only by way of following the Lord's teachings in the beatitudes. And He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for your reward is great in heaven (Matthew 5:2-12; Cf Luke 6:20-26)

Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

This collect was composed for the 1549 Book.  The 1662 revision substituted "blessed" for "holy," and "in all virtuous and godly living" for "in all virtues, and godly living."  The present revision replaces "unspeakable" with "ineffable" since "unspeakable" has so changed and negative a connotation in modern English.  The collect expresses in an admirable way Saint Paul's conception of the church as the Body of Christ.

Holy is the True Light,
and passing wonderful,
lending radiance to them that endured
in the heat of the conflict.
From Christ they inherit
a home of unfading splendour,
wherein they rejoice with gladness evermore.
Alleluia!

Words from the Salisbury Diurnal by G.H. Palmer

Hallo again to all.

Happy Hallowmas! Yes, that is easier to say than 'Have a happy triduum of All Hallows'.

Hallowmas, the Triduum of All Saints, the Triduum of All Hallows. Whatever it might be called, it's a time to remember the dead. Its three days are All Hallows Eve, All Hallows Day (All Saints Day), and the Day of All Souls. In countries that were once British colonies, the general public is very aware of All Hallows Eve, has probably heard of All Saints Day, and usually conflate All Saints Day with All Souls Day if they find the need to mention either.

We like to conflate the three days of the Hallowmas Triduum, even though we have carefully educated ourselves on the theological and historical nuances of each. The silly celebrations of Hallowe'en, the church service celebrating All Saints, the somber reflections on All Souls. While no child is likely to go guising on All Hallows Day itself, adults can remember and pray for the souls of the departed even while waiting for the next disguised child to say 'trick or treat'.

In Mexico, the entire Triduum is called 'Día de los Muertos' (Day of the Dead), though there are day-to-day nuances embodied more in local tradition than in formal scholarship. Mexican celebrations prominently feature skulls and skeletons as decor, not to scare children but to help remember and celebrate the dead.

It is nice to have time set aside each year for remembrance of the dead. But the mechanics of such remembrance have become more complex through the centuries. Once there were churchyards, and friends and family were actually interred there. One could stop at their headstones on the way to church each Sunday, to remember and pray. No more. There are now so many choices for final resting places that one can not make assumptions.

What to do? Can technology help? We at AO often reflect on the many ways that communication technology has enabled change to longstanding traditions. The internet might well have killed newspapers, but it didn't kill churchyard burials and Sunday visitations thereto. Those practices died a natural death, quite unaware of bits and bytes and bauds.

We claim that the answer is 'Yes, technology can help make up for our inabiity to remember our dead by visiting churchyards.'

Two characteristics of the internet come into play here. If you are going to look at something online, then it doesn't matter where it is. Distance and location don't matter. And the internet enables anyone and everyone to broadcast information in a manner once available only to owners of radio stations and publishing companies. No one is obligated to read what you write or say, but anyone can, and those who can might tell their friends about it. These two characteristics combine to enable a process widely known as 'crowdsourcing'.

When distance doesn't matter and crowdsourcing works, then something like Find a Grave can exist and flourish. And flourish it does. The server computers that sustain it can be anywhere*.   Crowdsourcing technology enables thousands of people all over the world to enter information and photographs. You can in a twinkling visit the gravesites of C S Lewis, St Augustine of Canterbury, Frederick Temple, Thomas Tallis, George Herbert, or Omar Khayyam.

Now that Find a Grave exists and has done its flourishing for a while, the notion of virtual churchyards becomes entirely practical. You can make a virtual churchyard that contains links to the grave records of a geographically diverse set of people. While viewing online a photograph of a gravestone is not at all the same experience as touching it and smelling it and kneeling in front of it to pray, it is certainly better than nothing and is a good way to remember, to keep alive the memory of the dead. Maybe someday in the future some kind soul might make a virtual churchyard of all of us who work on Anglicans Online.

We'll probably submit to Find a Grave a better picture of the Portland Stone marker at the grave of former Anglicans Online worker Frederic McFarland. But that marker, designed by Lida Kindersley and hand chiseled by one of her lettercutters, is something that must be seen and touched and walked around in order to understand fully.** The virtual world is better than isolation, but there is not any substitute for being there.

See you next week. Right here, which, um, is online and virtual.

 

All of us at Anglicans Online

3 November 2013

http://anglicansonline.org

*Not that it matters, but the Find A Grave server is in Salt Lake City.
**Frederic McFarland's headsone is the only Kindersley work installed in North America.

Daily throughout the year, except on Double Feasts & from the 1st Sunday in Lent until Trinity Sunday inclusive :-

Te lucis ante terminum

(1) On Sundays& when the Choir has Rulers ... ... 14

(2) On Ferias& Simple Feasts of the lowest class ...11


On Double Feasts during Advent & daily from Xmas Eve to the 8ve of Epiphany, & on all Double Feasts from thence until the 1st Sunday in Lent, on the Vigil of Pentecost, on the Thursday, Friday, & Saturday in the 8ve of the same, & on all Double Feasts from Trinity Sunday until Advent, except on the Feast of the Holy Name :

Salvator mundi Domine ... ... 8

[At Christmas-tide (York): Corde natus ex Parentis ... 73]

On the First Sunday in Lent & daily until Passion Sunday :

Christe, qui Lux es et Dies ... ... 12

On Passion Sunday & daily until Wednesday in Holy-Week inclusive:

Cultor Dei, memento ... ... 13

From Maundy Thursday to Low Sunday no Hymns are sung.

On Low Sunday & daily until Ascension Day :

Jesu, Salvator seculi, Verbum ... 14

On Ascension Day & daily until Whitsun Day :

Jesu, nostra Redempcio ... ... 34

On Whitsun Day, (but not on the Vigil, see above) & on the three days following, & on the Feast of the Holy Name :

Alma chorus Domini ... Sequence p. (xxiij)

[On Monday & Wednesday in Whitsun Week (York):

Laudes Deo devotas ... Sequence p. (x)]

Alma chorus Domini nunc pangat nomina summi.
Messias, Soter, Emmanuel, Sabaoth Adonai,
Est Unigenitus, Via, Vita, Manus, Homoousion,
Principium, Primogenitus, Sapientia, Virtus,
Alpha, Caput, Finisque simul vocitatur et est Omega ;
Fons et Origo boni, Paraclitus, et Mediator ;
Agnus, Ovis, Vitulus, Serpens, Aries, Leo, Vermis ;
Os, Verbum, Splendor, Sol, Gloria, Lux, et Imago,
Panis, Flos, Vitis, Mons, Janua, Petra, Lapisque ;
Angelus, et Sponsus, Pastorque, Propheta, Sacerdos ;
Athanatos, Kyrios, Theos, Pantocraton et Iesus,
Salvificet nos, sit tui saecla per omnia doxa.

Now let our voices rehearse our Lord's dear titles in order:
King, Messais, Emmanuel, Savior, and Lord of Sabbaoth;
Consubstantial, the Way and the Life, the Hand, Only-begotten,
Wisdom and might, Beginning, the First-born of every creature,
Alpha and O we name him; at once both the Head, and the Ending,
Fountain and Source of all Good, our Advocate and Mediator,
He is the Heifer, the Lamb, Sheep, Ram, the Worm, Serpent, and Lion;
Mouth and Word of God, Light, Sun, Glory, Splendor, and Image ;
Blossom, Bread, Vine, Door, Rock, Mountain, and Stone of the Corner ;
Angel and Spouse of His Church, the Shepherd, the Priest, and the  Prophet;
Mighty, Immortal, Supreme, the Lord God, Omnipotent, Jesus ;
These be Thy titles, Jesu, to Thee be all honor and glory
O may he save us, [to Whom] be the glory through ages of ages.  Amen.

Alma chorus domini is the sequence for a Nuptial Mass of the Sarum Use (MS, 52; MPE 22*), and is given as such in a missal of Norwich Diocese, Cambridge University Library MS Ff.ii.31, which is dated 1397.

The nuptial mass is not included in British Library MS Egerton 3759 (a Crowland gradual), and it is unfortunately lost from the thirteenth-century Ely missal, Cambridge University MS Ii.iv.20.  In a fifteenth-century Norwich Diocese missal, British Library Add. MS 25588, however, Alma chorus domini is set for the Mass of the Trinity on the day of a marriage. 

Deus creator omnium tu theos ymon nostri pie eleyson.

Tibi laudes coniubilantes regum rex Christe oramus te eleyson.

Laus virtus pax et imperium cui est semper sine fine eleyson.

Christe rex unice Patris almi nate coeterne eleyson.

Qui perditum hominem salvasti de morte reddens vite eleyson.

Ne pereant pascue oves tue Jesu pastor bone eleyson.

Consolator Spiritus supplices ymas te exoramus eleyson.

Virtus nostra Domine atque salus nostra in eternum eleyson.

Summe Deus et une vite dona nobis tribue misertus nostrique tu digneris eleyson.

O God, creator of all things, most benevolent God: have mercy upon us.

To you, Christ, King of Kings, we pray and rejoice together: have mercy.

Praise, strength, peace and power are given to him always and without end: have mercy.

Christ, king coeternal and only-begotten of the father: have mercy.

Who saved lost man from death and restored him to life: have mercy.

Jesus, good shepherd, let not your sheep perish: have mercy.

Holy Spirit, the Comforter, we implore you to pray for us: have mercy.

Lord God our strength and salvation in eternity: have mercy.

Great and ever-living God, you have had pity on us. Grant your gifts to those whom you deem worthy: have mercy.

[In the York Breviary the Sequence Alma Chorus is only said on the Day of Pentecost and on the Tuesday, but on Monday and Thursday the following—

Laudes Deo devotas
Dulci voce ac sonora,

Plebs resultet Catholica;

Spiritus Sancti gratia
Apostolis die hodierna,

In igneis linguis est infusa.

Paraded præsentia,
Emundet nos a peccati macula,
Pura Sibi aptans habitacula;

Charismatum et munera
Pectoribus nostris pius infundat,
Vita nostra ut £i complaceat.

Per scculorum secula,
Conclamemus Alleluya,
Sit Deo Laus, Potestas,
Honor, Virtus, et Gloria!

All laud and worship o'er the Earth,
Let the Church Catholic pour forth,

With sweet and solemn voice to God ;

This day to the Apostles given,
The Holy Spirit's grace from Heaven,

In tongues of fire was flied abroad.

Now present be the Paraclete, 

To cleanse our souls from every stain of fin, 

And fit us for his mansion pure within,

And gifts and graces ever meet,
May He unto our bosoms kindly pour,
That so our lives may please Him evermore.

Now for eternal ages long,
Alleluya be our song,
To God all Praise and Majesty,
Honour, and Might, and Glory be.]

Officium defunctorum
(sex vocibus, in obitu et obsequiis sacrae imperatricis, Madrid, 1605)
by Tomás Luis de Victoria (c. 1548-1611)

Performed by University of North Texas Collegium Singers, directed by Richard Sparks.

Soloists: Laurissa Backlin, Julianna Emanski, Fiona Gillespie, sopranos; Holly Dalrymple (chant incipits); Fabiana Gonzalez, Rachael Hardy, Alyssa Narum, altos; Tucker Bilodeau, Aaron Harp, tenors; Christopher Jackson, bass.

00:50 - Taedet animam meam
04:15 - Introitus
09:45 - Kyrie
12:07 - Graduale
14:45 - Offertorium
18:15 - Sanctus y Benedictus
21:18 - Agnus Dei
24:00 - Communio
27:30 - Motet: Versa est in luctum
30:41 - Libera me

Performance from program "Victoria Requiem" as part of Early Music America's Young Performers Festival June 6, 2012, 2:30 PM, St. Mark's Episcopal Church (Berkeley, CA).

UNT Collegium Singers
Cantus 1 -- Laurissa Backlin, Julianna Emanski, Fiona Gillespie
Cantus 2 -- Holly Dalrymple, Fabiana Gonzalez, Oneyda Padierna
Altus -- Rachael Hardy, Alyssa Narum
Tenor 1 -- Tucker Bilodeau, Aaron Harp
Tenor 2 -- Bradley King, Jonathan Sauceda
Bass -- Christopher Jackson, Nathaniel Mattingly

Performance from program "Victoria Requiem" as part of Early Music America's Young Performers Festival June 6, 2012, 2:30 PM, St. Mark's Episcopal Church (Berkeley, CA).

The name

The name Prime (prima hora) belongs with those of Terce, Sext, None, to the short offices recited at the different hours of the day, called by these names among the Romans, that is, prima towards 6 a.m.; tertia, towards 9 a.m.; sexta, towards noon; nona towards 3 p.m. At first Prime was termed matitutina (hora), morning hour; later, in order to distinguish it from the nocturnal hours of Matins and Lauds, and to include it among hours of the day, it was called prima. The name is first met with in the Rule of St. Benedict. In the Bangor Antiphonary it is called secunda.

Origin

This short office is one of those whose origin is best known. Cassian, speaking of Prime, says expressly "sciendum . . . hanc matitutinam canonicam functionem [i.e. Prime] nostro tempore in nostro quoque monasterio primitus institutam" (Instit., III, IV).

As the chronology of Cassian's works has recently been established fairly accurately, the institution ofPrime must be placed towards 382 (see Pargoire, op. cit. below, 288). Apropos of this monastery, of which Cassian speaks as the cradle of Prime, it has now been proved that it was not St. Jerome'smonastery at Bethlehem, but another, perhaps one established beyond the Tower of Ader (or of theFlock) beyond the village of the Shepherds, and consequently beyond the modern Beth-saour; it has been identified either with Deïr-er-Raouat (convent of the shepherds) or with Seiar-er-Ganhem (enclosure of the sheep).

We learn further from Cassian the reason that led to the institution of this office. The office of the night, comprising Matins and Lauds, ended then at sunrise, so that Lauds corresponded to the dawn. After the night offices at Bethlehem, as in the other Palestinian monasteries, the monks might retire to rest. As no other office called them together before Terce, those who were lazy seized the opportunity of prolonging their sleep till nine in the morning, instead of applying themselves to manual work or spiritual reading. To end this abuse, it was decided, in the above monastery, to continue thecustom of reposing after the night office, but, to prevent an undue prolongation of sleep, the monkswere recalled to choir at the hour of Prime, and after the recital of a few psalms they were to work until Terce (Cassian, "Instit.", III, iv). All this is established by authentic texts. The only difficulty is that some contemporaries of Cassian or even his predecessors, as Eusebius of Cæsarea, St. Jerome,St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, speak of an office recited at sunrise, and which therefore would seem to be identical with Prime. But it must be noted that they are speaking of Lauds, which in some communities was recited later, and so was identified with the hour but not with the subject matter ofPrime.

Contents

The matter composing the new hour was drawn from the office of Lauds; or rather Prime, as an office, was a repetition of part of Lauds, and added nothing to the ensemble of the psalmody, only Psalms i, lxii, and lxxxix, which were formerly part of Lauds, were recited at this hour. Such at least was the original composition of Prime; but the monasteries which gradually adopted it in the East and in theWest changed its constitution as they liked. It is impossible to describe here all the variations this office underwent in the different liturgies. We need only remark that one of the most characteristic features of Prime is the recitation of the famous symbol "Quicumque vult salvus esse", called theAthanasian Creed, which has recently been the subject of much controversy in the Anglican Church. St. Benedict orders to be recited at Prime on Sundays four groups of eight verses of Psalm 118; on week-days, three psalms, beginning with the first and continuing to Psalm 19, taking three psalms each day (Psalms 9 and 17 being divided into two). In that way Prime is symmetrical, like the other short hours of the day. It resembles these also in composition, the psalmody being accompanied by a hymn, anantiphon, capitulum, versicle, and prayer. In the Roman Liturgy the office of Prime is not composed so symmetrically. Usually it consists of Psalm 53 and 107, the first four groups of eight verses of Psalm 117, and during the week Psalms 53, 23, 25, 24, 22 and 21. The capitulum and other elements are after the model of the short hours (cf. NONE).

The office of the chapter

So far we have spoken only of the office of Prime properly so called, which ends like the other short hours. It is followed by some prayers which are called the office of the chapter, and are composed in the Roman Liturgy of the reading of the martyrology, of a prayer, "Sancta Maria et omnes sancti", a prayer concerning work, "Respice in servos tuos . . . Dirigere et sanctificare", and a blessing. This addition to Prime is a legacy bequeathed by the monks to the secular clergy. As has been said above, originally after Prime the monks had to betake themselves to manual work or reading. The office therefore ended with a prayer for their work ". . . et opera manuum nostrarum dirige super nos et opus manuum nostrarum dirige", and the prayer "Dirigere". Later the reading of the martyrology, thenecrology, the rule, and a prayer for the dead were added (see Baümer-Biron, loc. cit., I, 361-62).

In view of its origin and constitution, Prime is to be considered as the prayer of the beginning of the day, whereas Lauds is devoted to recalling with the dawn the memory of Christ's Resurrection, Prime is the morning hour which consecrates all the work of the day. Its institution has made the liturgical day more regular and symmetrical. Prime, until then without an office, received its psalmody like Terce, Sext, None, Vespers. With Complin and Lauds, the liturgical day reached the sacred septenary, "septies in die laudem dixi tibi". While for the night office there was the text: "media nocte surgebam ad confitendum tibi".

Funeral Ikos (1981)

Why these bitter words of the dying,
O brethren, which they utter
as they go hence?

I am parted from my brethren.
All my friends do I abandon,
and go hence.

But whither I go, that understand I not,
neither what shall become of me yonder;
only God who hath summoned me knoweth.

But make commemoration of me with the song:
Alleluia.

But whither now go the souls?
How dwell they now together there?
This mystery have I desired to learn,
but none can impart aright.

Do they call to mind their own people,
as we do them?
Or have they forgotten all those
who mourn them and make the song:
Alleluia.

We go forth on the path eternal,
and as condemned, with downcast faces,
present ouselves before the only God eternal.
Where then is comeliness?
Where then is wealth?
Where then is the glory of this world?
There shall none of these things aid us,
but only to say oft the psalm:
Alleluia.

If thou hast shown mercy
unto man, o man,
that same mercy
shall be shown thee there;
and if on an orphan
thou hast shown compassion,
that same shall there
deliver thee from want.
If in this life
the naked thou hast clothed,
the same shall give thee
shelter there,
and sing the psalm:
Alleluia.

Youth and the beauty of the body
fade at the hour of death,
and the tongue then burneth fiercely,
and the parched throat is inflamed.

The beauty of the eyes is quenched then,
the comeliness of the face all altered,
the shapeliness of the neck destroyed;
And the other parts have become numb,
nor often say:
Alleluia.

With ecstasy are we inflamed
if we but hear
that there is light eternal yonder;
That there is Paradise, wherein
every soul of Righteous Ones rejoiceth.
Let us all, also, enter into Christ,
that all we may cry aloud thus unto God:
Alleluia. 

"As one who has slept the Lord has risen
And rising he has saved us. Alleluia."

Tavener's is an essentially spiritual music, but in a much more intellectually fearless way than his detractors think. He wanted his music to tap into a region beyond conventional understanding – "I wanted to produce music that was the sound of God. That's what I have always tried to do"– but increasingly, his music offered doubt and darkness in its evocation of that unknowable vastness instead of a comforting musical palliative.

In 2007, Tavener suffered a heart attack in Switzerland that almost killed him. When he recovered, he was living in a new world of constant pain and shortness of breath. He found himself responding instinctively to music of terse difficulty that had previously not attracted him – late Beethoven, Karlheinz Stockhausen – and rediscovering the music that had inspired him to become a composer as a child, Stravinsky and Mozart.

When I last saw him, Tavener spoke of his recent music, such as his version of Tolstoy's nihilistic The Death of Ivan Ilyich, which was premiered at this year's Manchester Festival, as epiphanies of pain transfigured into music.

"Suffering is a kind of ecstasy, in a way. Having pain all the time makes me terribly, terribly grateful for every moment I've got," he said. But Tavener seemed to find a joy in that difficult truth.

At its best, Tavener's music is a cathartic confrontation with the biggest of all life's questions. Yet, like the man who wrote it, the music invites you into its world with charm, gentleness, humility, and a twinkle in the eye.

"Song for Athene", which has a performance time of about four minutes,^[4] is an elegy consisting of the Hebrewword alleluia ("let us praise the LORD") sung monophonically six times as an introduction to texts excerpted and modified from the funeral service of the Eastern Orthodox Church and from Shakespeare's Hamlet (probably 1599–1601).^[4] The lyrics were written by Mother Thekla (18 July 1918 – 7 August 2011), an Orthodox nun who co-founded the Orthodox Monastery of the Assumption near Whitby, North Yorkshire, and whom Tavener called his "spiritual mother". Tavener had come away from the funeral of Athene Hariades with the music of Song for Athene fully formed in his mind. He called Mother Thekla the same day, and said to her: "I want words." She sent him the lyrics by post, which arrived the next day.^[6]

The music reaches a climax after the sixth intonation of alleluia with the lines "Weeping at the grave creates the song: Alleluia. Come, enjoy rewards and crowns I have prepared for you." Alleluia is then sung a seventh time as a coda. Following the example of traditional Byzantine music, a continuous ison^[7] or drone underlies the work.^[4]

Lyrics	Original texts	Source
Alleluia. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.	Horatio: Now cracks a noble heart. – Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!	Hamlet, Act V Scene ii,[8]c. f. In paradisum
Alleluia. Remember me, O Lord, when you come into your kingdom.	O thou who reignest over life and death, in the courts of thy Saints grant rest unto him [her] whom thou hast removed from temporal things. And remember me also, when thou comest into thy kingdom.	Orthodox funeral service,[9]Luke 23:42
Alleluia. Give rest, O Lord, to your handmaid, who has fallen asleep.	Where the choirs of the Saints, O Lord, and of the Just, shine like the stars of heaven, give rest to thy servant who hath fallen asleep, regarding not all his [her] transgressions.	Orthodox funeral service
Alleluia. The Choir of Saints have found the well-spring of life and door of Paradise.	The Choir of the Saints have found the Fountain of Lifeand the Door of Paradise. May I also find the right way, through repentance. I am a lost sheep. Call me, O Saviour, and save me.	Orthodox funeral service
Alleluia. Life: a shadow and a dream.	Guildenstern: Which dreams, indeed, are ambition; for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream. Hamlet: A dream itself is but a shadow.	Hamlet, Act II scene ii
Alleluia. Weeping at the grave creates the song: Alleluia. Come, enjoy rewards and crowns I have prepared for you.	Thou only art immortal, who hast created and fashioned man. For out of the earth were we mortals made, and unto the earth shall we return again, as thou didst command when thou madest me, saying unto me: For earth thou art, and unto the earth shalt thou return. Whither, also, all we mortals wend our way, making of our funeral dirge the song: Alleluia.... Ye who have trod the narrow way most sad; all ye who, in life, have taken upon you the Cross as a yoke, and have followed Me through faith, draw near: Enjoy ye the honours and the crowns which I have prepared for you.	Orthodox funeral service
Alleluia.

"Song for Athene is another elegiac tribute, not, as one might suppose, to the mythological goddess Athene, but to a young family friend, Athene Hariades, half Greek, a talented actress who was tragically killed in a cycling accident. "Her beauty," write Tavener, "both outward and inner, was reflected in her love of acting, poetry, music and of the Orthodox Church." Tavener had heard Athene reading Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey and, rather as in the case of the Little Requiem, conceived the piece after her funeral, lighting on the effective ideas, so touchingly realized, of combining words from the Orthodox liturgy with lines from Hamlet. Between each is a monodic "Alleluia", and, following the example of traditional Byzantine music, the whole piece unfolds over a continuous "ison" or drone.

Song for Athene perfectly exemplifies that inner serenity, purity and radiance which gives Tavener's music its consolatory attraction in troubled times. " Richard Steinitz

Iam lucis orto sidere (saec. VIII ?)
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Melody: e c d f ef g f e

•   H.IV, p. 233

I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow
And I'm left in this whole wide world
I'm left in this world alone
I have no hope for tomorrow, Lord
But I'm trying to make heaven, Lord, my home, my home

Well, sometimes, I am gonna fall, Lord
And sometimes I'm driven, sometimes, I'm your child
I don't know which way I can run, yes I can run
But I've heard of a city called heaven
And I'm striving to make heaven my home

Deus, creator omnium (Ambrosius)

Meter: 8.8.8.8

•   H.IV, p. 181

Joel Connelly writes for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website:

The pews at St. Mark’s Cathedral fill as 9:30 approaches on a Sunday night, and soon young people are lying on the floors of the cavernous “Holy Box” high atop Capitol Hill.

They are coming, and have been for half-a-century, to hear the chanting of an ancient monastic “office” and fulfill the desire of people to experience the sacred and divine. The crowd is, as always, predominantly young.

“Compline is proof that we are spiritual in this region,” said Austin Rickel, a 17-year-old Center School student who recently completed a video on the service.

Read the rest. The Rt. Rev. Gregory Rickel, Bishop of Olympia and father of Austin, writes briefly about the service on his weblog.

Iam lucis orto sidere (saec. VIII ?)
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Melody: e c d f ef g f e

•   H.IV, p. 233

Veni Redemptor gentium - Andrew Smith (b. 1970)
Performed by New York Polyphony
Images from Robert Greene's "Snow Study/Weather Control"
© 2010 Prewar Cinema http://www.prewarcinema.com

This track is featured on the Avie Records release 'I sing the birth'Ⓟ & ©

New York Polyphony Available on:

Amazon - http://amzn.to/1g9qrdI
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and most other online music retailers

For more information, please visit:

http://www.newyorkpolyphony.com
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Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Luke 23:33-43

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. The people stood by, watching Jesus on the cross; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Crown Him With Many Crowns

Crown him with many crowns,
the Lamb upon his throne;
Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns
all music but its own;
awake, my soul, and sing of him
who died for thee,
and hail him as thy matchless King
through all eternity.

Crown him the Son of God
before the worlds began,
and ye, who tread where he hath trod,
crown him the Son of man;
who every grief hath known
that wrings the human breast,
and takes and bears them for his own,
that all in him may rest.

Crown him the Lord of life,
who triumphed over the grave,
and rose victorious in the strife
for those he came to save;
his glories now we sing,
who died, and rose on high,
who died, eternal life to bring,
and lives that death may die.

Crown him of lords the Lord,
who over all doth reign,
who once on earth, the incarnate Word,
for ransomed sinners slain,
now lives in realms of light,
where saints with angels sing
their songs before him day and night,
their God, Redeemer, King.

Crown him the Lord of heaven,
enthroned in worlds above;
crown him the King,to whom is given,
the wondrous name of Love.
Crown him with many crowns,
as thrones before him fall,
crown him, ye kings, with many crowns,
for he is King of all.

1. King Jesus hath a garden, full of divers flowers,
Where I go culling posies gay, all times and hours.

Refrain:
There naught is heard but Paradise bird,
Harp, dulcimer, lute,
With cymbal, trump and tymbal,
And the tender, soothing flute.

2. The Lily, white in blossom there, is Chastity:
The Violet, with sweet perfume, Humility. Refrain


3. The bonny Damask-rose is known as Patience:
The blithe and thrifty Marygold, Obedience. Refrain


4. The Crown Imperial bloometh too in yonder place,
'Tis Charity, of stock divine, the flower of grace. Refrain


5. Yet, 'mid the brave, the bravest prize of all may claim
The Star of Bethlem-Jesus-bless'd be his Name! Refrain


6. Ah! Jesu Lord, my heal and weal, my bliss complete,
Make thou my heart thy garden-plot, fair, trim and neat. Refrain

The lifetime of every reader of Anglicans Online has been a period in which every sort of ideology has been substituted for the kingdom of God, by Christians no less than by others. We have seen capitalism, communism, racism, sexism, absolutism, bullionism (our favourite), spiritualism, nationalism and even mechanism fail to meet completely the needs of the human soul. Our Christian faith is that the reign of Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God does meet every need of our souls and our societies; the reign of Christ is in our hearts and in our actions, not in our forebears' misunderstanding of a King Jesus who would overthrow the Romans. This instead is the kingdom of God described by our Lord:

Then the king will say [...], 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.'

This parable teaches us that Christ the King reigns when he reigns within us.

Christ reigns in weakness from the Cross itself, in weakness transformed into power and beauty through forgiveness and self-offering.

Christ reigns in joy from the time of his first miracle, in joy made ever new through food and wine and song.

Christ reigns in poverty begun in his childhood in Nazareth, in poverty without earthly power but with dignity and honor and kin.

Christ reigns in service from the time of his last supper, in service like the washing of feet and the clothing of the naked and the feeding of the poor.

Christ reigns in teaching from the beginning of his ministry, in teaching that nourishes every mind and heart open to it.

Christ reigns in learning from his childhood, in learning through which he grew and changed, and we do, too.

Christ reigns in sorrow, in sorrow so deep that no pain of ours is beyond his sympathy and empathy.

Christ reigns in quiet and calm, in 'the silence of eternity, interpreted by love'.

Christ reigns in love itself, in love made perfect in every firm and gentle act of a father for his daughter, of a priest for a penitent, of a friend for a friend, of a labourer for her family, of a professor for his students, of a cook for them who will eat, of a doctor for such as need care, of a poet who feeds our hearts, of a builder who keeps rain and snow from our mortal frames, of an altar guild member who has washed and ironed linens for 50 years, of a human feeding an animal, of a farmer who tends the plants that give us nutrition, of a cleaner who keeps us safe from infection of mind or body. Christ reigns in love as care takes place and increases among all of God's creatures, and as wickedness and selfishness and confusion are banished from our motives.

Christ is king when he reigns in our hearts.

See you next week. Advent is upon us!

One LP of a two LP collection issued in the early 1960s on the RCA Victor Red Seal Collector's Issue label, catalogue number LCT-6011.

Images of the slipcase covers of what I believe are the original Decca recordings can be seen here: https://plus.google.com/108298623225603793041/posts/9bawRyCtPg8


Solesmes Abbey or St. Peter's Abbey, Solesmes (Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes) is a Benedictine monastery in Solesmes (Sarthe, France), famous as the source of the restoration of Benedictine monastic life in the country under Dom Prosper Guéranger after the French Revolution. It was originally founded in 1010 as a priory of the Benedictine Le Mans abbey. The abbey is noted for its crucial contribution to the advancement of the Roman Catholic liturgy and the revival of Gregorian chant. A documentary film on life at Solesmes was made in 2009 and focuses on the tradition of the chant at the monastery.

Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour forth righteousness: let the earth be fruitful, and bring forth a Saviour.

Be not very angry, O Lord, neither remember our iniquity for ever:
thy holy cities are a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation:
our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee.

Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour forth righteousness: let the earth be fruitful, and bring forth a Saviour.

We have sinned, and are as an unclean thing,
and we all do fade as a leaf:
our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away;
thou hast hid thy face from us:
and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour forth righteousness: let the earth be fruitful, and bring forth a Saviour.

Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen;
that ye may know me and believe me:
I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Saviour:
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour forth righteousness: let the earth be fruitful, and bring forth a Saviour.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, my salvation shall not tarry:
I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions:
fear not for I will save thee:
for I am the Lord thy god, the holy one of Israel, thy Redeemer.

The Advent Prose is a series of texts adapted from the book of the prophet Isaiah, and said, or more usually sung, in churches during the season of Advent. In its Latin form, it is attributed to Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, who lived in the fourth century. The English translation is traditional. It is most common in high church Anglican or Roman Catholic churches, but no doubt known elsewhere as well. There are several ways of singing it, but a common one is for the Rorate section, shown here with emphasis to be sung as a chorus, and for the choir to take the verses, with the chorus alternating. Although the English text says 'Drop down, ye heavens...', the Latin verb rorare actually means 'to make or deposit dewdrops', a fact which evaded me when I first came to the piece. Similarly, justum in the second line means 'the just man', rather than 'righteousness'.