eChurch Blog

I haven’t noticed anyone else mentioning this today, so thought I’d pick up the slack.

The Google Doodle of the day is this:

This logo is to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the iconic Russian Orthodox St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow.

Although it’s known to everyone as St. Basil’s, this legendary building is officially called “The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin by the Moat”. The popular alternative refers to Basil the Blessed, a Muscovite ‘holy fool’ who was buried on the site (in the Trinity Cathedral that once stood here) a few years before the present building was erected.

The Cathedral was ordered by Ivan the Terrible to mark the 1552 capture of Kazan from Mongol forces. It was completed in 1560. That’s pretty much all the genuine history that’s known about this celebrated landmark. There, however, scores of legends. Nothing is known about the builders, Barma and Postnik Yakovlev, except their names and the dubious legend that Ivan had them blinded so that they could not create anything to compare. Historians unanimously state that this is nothing but urban folklore.

SOURCE

It’s nice to see Google celebrating Christianity…..

This beautiful image is the Church of Primus and St. Felician, which sits atop a mountain near Jamnik, Slovenia.

Some may have noticed that blogging is a little light for me recently. This is just to let you know that I’m taking a short breather, to get myself back on track spiritually and mentally. Normal service will resume shortly, with a refreshed me.

In the meantime, I can’t help but mention this coincidence.

A week or so ago, I asked the following question at the end of a post entitled: Israel: Jewish Ultra-Orthodox group launch campaign against Christian missionaries and Messianic Jews

What is it exactly that groups such as Yad L’Achim are so terrified of?

Well, Gev over at the Rosh Pina Project has just put up a blog post entitled:

What Yad L’Achim are so frightened of!

As Gev says, what a spooky coincidence.

Anyway, why not hop over to Gev’s blog to see for yourself just how terrifying and sinister Messianic Jewish congregations in Israel really are.

That was irony by the way.

I’ve been having something of a spiritual crisis recently, a real rocking of my faith, which has caused me to be a miserable dark heart.

As a consequence, I knew I had to turn off the laptop this past weekend and dedicate to other things. As part of this I went on the annual Diocesan pilgrimage to Glastonbury. It’s not quite the pilgrimage of old, as it used to comprise walking and praying for a week, each way. Yesterday’s pilgrimage involved me snoring on a coach for an hour or so.

In the first glorious sunshine for weeks, as coaches piled into Glastonbury Abbey from around the Diocese, Wifey noticed a small BBC camera crew. And standing behind a large furry microphone was none other than the world’s leading church historian; Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch.

I’ve written on MacCulloch’s seminal work, ‘A History of Christianity.’, here on this blog and am a huge fan of his BBC work of the same name.

Wifey went into groupie mode and casually ambled over to MacCulloch to say Hi and let him know how much she enjoyed his work. He seemed genuinely pleased and surprised. Perhaps he’s not recognised as often as I’d suppose.

After the procession, Wifey had a chat with the BBC director, or possibly the producer. They were filming a new series, based on Professor MacCulloch’s thesis on what it means to be English. Called the ‘Making of the English’, or something similar, this will be aired on prime time BBC2.

The premise of the programme revolves around the concept of what it means to be English today. The backdrop is that for almost 1500 years, being English was shaped by Christianity, but this is now changing. With factors such as immigration creating a melting pot of religious belief, what does this mean in terms of being English today?

During the outdoor Service held in the Abbey ruins, I found myself sitting on the grass, amongst a couple of thousand of the faithful, and just a few metres away from Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch.

His film crew had gone home but MacCulloch remained for the Mass Service.

For the first time ever, I allowed myself to take part in the Sacrament of Anointing the Sick, and it was shortly after this, during a lull in proceedings, that wifey coaxed me to have a quick word with MacCulloch.

And so I did.

I began by apologising for accosting him unsolicited and said that I imagined this happened to him all the time. He just listened.

I continued that I wouldn’t be at this Catholic service if it wasn’t for his work. Now he seemed genuinely surprised.

Here’s what I wrote on this blog back in November, to give you some background on what I meant by saying this:

A couple of other factors have contributed to my decision [to convert to Catholicism]. Reading Diarmaid MacCulloch’s seminal work, ‘A History of Christianity.’ has given me a deep appreciation for all things prior reformation. The wonderful history and tradition of our ancient faith is something I greatly desire to ‘plug’ into.

I explained that I felt that modern Protestantism had sundered itself from this wonderful heritage. Again, he just listened.

I went on to say that through his work I saw the Catholic and Orthodox Church as two lungs of the ‘original’ and ‘true’ Church. Again he just listened without comment.

It’s worth noting at this point that I’m a quick-fire manic type of personality, and MacCulloch appears to be the opposite. I tend to fire off at the mouth, whereas he comes across as a measured and calm man, given to pondering and thinking.

It was then I dropped the clanger.

I said that I understood he himself wasn’t a believer, he responded saying that it was complex. I apologised and explained this is what the media portray, and he simply smiled.

Once upon a time I viewed faith as ‘cut and dried’ and ‘black and white’, there was absolutely no place for grey areas or complexities. Now it’s different and I completely understand when someone tells me ‘it’s complex’. My own faith is somewhat complex now.

As we shook hands, he genuinely and warmly thanked me for telling him the impact his work had on me. I thanked him for his work and left him in peace.

Diarmaid left shortly before the Eucharist.

So this is my new claim to fame, which happily replaces the previous one, which involved a high profile cast member of EastEnders asking me in a pub if I could access amphetamines for him.

Following the collapse of the News of the World and James Murdoch’s announcement that this Sunday will be the final issue with all advertising space donated to charity, I do wonder if any Christian organisations will take up this offer.

Interestingly, the Institute of Fundraising has issued caution and CharitiesDirect go as far as to say:

Once again charities find themselves having to resist the temptation of being lured into what could backfire as damaging brand alignment.

[.....]

But even the skills of this seasoned PR czar would be unlikely to turn around any knock-on negative associations if charities were to go ahead and take the free advertising space. Before the decision was taken to close the 168-year old newspaper yesterday, 20 leading companies confirmed they were suspending their advertising with it over the weekend of 9/10 July. At the same time the Royal British Legion confirmed it had dropped the newspaper as its campaigning partner because bereaved relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan may have had their phones hacked by a private investigator working for The News of the World.

It must surely be a strong temptation for charities to be forever immortalised in the final ever issue of the News of the World.

But aside from the potential negative associations, are there ethical considerations? Should Christian charities take the risk?

Some better news:

Methodist Church members took part in a mock Seder this week as efforts continued to repair relations between the church and the Jewish community.

A year after Methodists passed a policy calling for a boycott of goods from “illegal” Israeli West Bank settlements, relations thawed sufficiently for more than 100 Methodist conference delegates to join the event.

There has been “clear movement in the right direction,” according to Board of Deputies senior vice-president Jonathan Arkush, who has been among those working to repair the damage.

He added: “After the painful resolutions last year, our communities are demonstrating a commitment to bridge-building that is bearing real fruit.”

The Board sent a delegation to the Methodist conference taking place this week in Southport, Lancashire.

…..continue

There’s a plethora of sad news out there, as there always is, and like many I have become somewhat hardened. But for some reason the news that the Codex Calixtinus is missing – presumed stolen – from the Cathedral at Santiago de Compostela in Spain, has particularly saddened me.

I often read of thefts from churches and get the feeling that nothing is sacred to some. I’m not pretending this is a new phenomenon, churches are soft targets. And of course it’s not solely about the thieves themselves, but the fact that there is obviously a black market for such objects, that fuel these thefts.

I do wonder how the thieves and buyers can live with themselves.

A priceless 12th-century Catholic manuscript is missing from the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela in Spain and is presumed to be stolen.

The Codex Calixtinus is a medieval guidebook written for those on pilgrimage to the historic Galician town where the apostle St. James is traditionally believed to be buried.

Fr. Jose Maria Diaz Fernandez, the dean and archivist of the cathedral, told a July 7 press conference that “The Codex is so much part of Santiago that around the world people do not cite one without mentioning the other.”

Fr. Fernandez says he was first alerted to the loss on Tuesday evening. He called the police to the scene on Wednesday.

“We do not know if it’s been stolen by a collector or a band of professionals. What we can do is offer our full cooperation to the police.”

“It is the first time that such a thing has happened in this archive. Pray to the Apostle (St. James) to help us to recover the book as soon as possible.”

…..continue

I don’t normally link to the atheistic website The Freethinker, but I will do so in this instance.

They alert us of a new campaign launched today by Islamic Group Muslims Against the Crusades. The campaign is called, The Islamic Emirates Project and this is the gumpf:

In the last 50 years, the United Kingdom has transformed beyond recognition. What was once a predominantly Christian country has now been overwhelmed by a rising Muslim population, which seeks to preserve its Islamic identity, and protect itself from the satanic values of the tyrannical British government.

There are now over 2.8 million Muslims living in the United Kingdom – which is a staggering 5% of the population – but in truth, it is more than just numbers, indeed the entire infrastructure of Britain is changing; Mosques, Islamic Schools, Shari’ah Courts and Muslim owned businesses, have now become an integral part of the British landscape.

In light of this glaring fact, Muslims Against Crusades have decided to launch ‘The Islamic Emirates Project’, that will see high profile campaigns launch in Muslim enclaves all over Britain, with the objective to gradually transform Muslim communities into Islamic Emirates operating under Shari’ah law.

With several Islamic emirates already well established across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, including Iraq and Afghanistan, we see this as a radical, but very realistic step in the heart of Western Europe, that will inshaa’allah (God willing), pave the way for the worldwide domination of Islam.

Forgive my cynicism, but I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that they have chosen the 7th July to launch this campaign, which coincides with the anniversary of the London bombings six years ago, that killed 52 and injured 800.

This is obviously a fringe extremist group which includes Anjem Choudary and so I’m hoping for swift condemnation from the Muslim community.

This is when I get all nostalgic for the Middle Ages. Yes, I know it was smelly and they didn’t have proper health care and it was cold and they didn’t have orthodontics or iPhones or proper sewers. But they had Gothic churches and Gregorian chant and folk religion and I know I would have been quite happy as a monk in a scriptorium somewhere sauntering off to the divine office eighteen times a day and eating turnips, (except during Lent when I would only eat dirt) and I won’t be convinced otherwise.

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This is just for a bit of levity: