Extracts from Christian Literature

Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘Extracts from Christian Literature’

37
The Dove and the Flame Elfric of Eynsham

Elfric, Abbot of Eynsham in the reign of Æthelred the Unready, reflects on two appearances of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.

Elfric was Abbot of Eynsham near Oxford during the reign of Æthelred the Unready. Here, he reflects on the Baptism of Christ and on Pentecost, explaining why the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus as a dove, but on the Apostles as tongues of fire.

Read

38
How Benedict Biscop brought Byzantium to Britain St Bede of Jarrow

The chapel of Bede’s monastery in Sunderland was full of the colours and sounds of the far-off Mediterranean world.

In 678, the new Pope, a Sicilian Greek named Agatho, decided to continue a recent trend of introducing Greek elements into Roman worship. St Benedict Biscop, an English abbot who visited Rome for the fifth and final time the following year, brought the sights and sounds of the eastern Mediterranean back home.

Read