Extracts from Christian Literature
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘Extracts from Christian Literature’
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘Extracts from Christian Literature’
Anglo-Saxon abbot Elfric tentatively likened the new-born Jesus to an egg.
In a Sermon for Christmas Day, Anglo-Saxon abbot Elfric of Eynsham likened the new-born baby in the manger to an egg. His purpose was serious: he wanted his congregation to understand that Jesus Christ was the incarnate Son, Word and Wisdom of God, not merely a prophet or good man that God loved like a son.
Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf wonders at the mystery of the Bethlehem manger, where all the light of heaven was shining.
Cynewulf (possibly the 8th century bishop Cynewulf of Lindisfarne) reflects on Christmas and the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, and praises God for sending his Son, God of God and Light of Light, to earth as one of us, to bring his dazzling sunrise into the night of this life.
Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf paints a word-picture of heaven and the seraph-band that swoops and soars before the throne.
Cynewulf (possibly the 8th century bishop Cynewulf of Lindisfarne) lets his raptures flow on the Seraphim, the angels described by Isaiah, Ezekiel and St John the Divine; the singing angels, who surround the throne of God in heaven.
St Bede says that Christ’s Transfiguration should remind us that we live in two worlds at the same time.
One day, Jesus took three of his closest disciples up a mountain, and there briefly revealed himself to them as he truly is. For St Bede, the 8th century Northumbrian monk, it was a reminder that the light of heaven comes to those whose hearts are in heaven.
St Bede explains how the Exodus and the Ten Commandments are related to Easter and Whitsuntide.
Just as the Jewish festival of Passover commemorated the Israelites’ escape from slavery in Egypt, so the Feast of Weeks fifty days later commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. St Bede explains how these two feasts are taken up in the Christian year as Easter and Whit Sunday or Pentecost.
In the fourth century, Britain’s Christians acquired a taste for watering down the mystery of their message.
When the Roman Emperor Constantine ended decades of persecution for Christians in February 313, those in Britain returned to their churches with simple joy. Yet missionaries to Anglo-Saxon Britain in 597 found a church scattered and plagued by alien beliefs. St Bede blamed a priest from Egypt, Arius, for the startling change.