Interpreting the Year So! Last time, we discussed the basic mechanics of the calendar (mostly solar, with a soupçon of lunacy1). Then—and I realize this may have seemed like a bit of a sharp turn!—had a run-down of the fourfold method of interpreting Scripture: literary, allegorical, moral, and mystical. What does that add up to? The short answer is, I think the liturgical year operates on the same four interpretive levels as the Bible. The long answer is the rest... Read more

The Sacred Year Alright. We have discussed the basic idea of sacred time; we have reviewed the daily cycle of the hours; and we have reviewed the origin of the week, the original significance of the Sabbath, and the significance of the new Sunday Sabbath and the Christian week as a whole. There is no basic structure of the “Christian month,”1 so the next step up is the annual cycle. The Christian calendar differs from one place to another; for... Read more

Do — Re — Mi – Fa — So — La — Ti – Square notation1 of the first phrase of the Kyrie in the Missa Orbis Factor (“Mass of the Maker of the World”), one of several traditional plainchant2 forms of the Mass. This post is pretty dependent on my last, so if you haven’t read that one yet, do go back and do that first. If you have, and you’re a musical person, then let us return to... Read more

The Primordial Week So! To review: We have introduced sacred time as a concept; we’ve discussed the canonical hours; and we’ve done some background on the seven-day week. You may have noticed, it was mostly non-Biblical background. One of the small ironies here is how little the background will directly impinge on the foreground. The myth of the Dying and Rising God seems to have been enacted in real life among the one Mediterranean nation, the Jews, who were not... Read more

“Or a Table to Play Scrabble On,” So! We have discussed the liturgical hours and what they’re for. The next step up in time is from hours of the day to days of the week. I’m going to start by laying out some background that’s primarily mythological, before moving on to a more properly theological analysis in my next. That background will take us to some weird places—though fitting, in a way, since we’re about to celebrate a holiday famously... Read more

Sunset to Sunset In our exploration of sacred time, a natural place to begin is with the individual day. Since the second or third century, Christians have observed set times of prayer every day, known as the canonical1 hours or the divine office. In most rites, African, Asian, or European,2 there are normally seven or eight hours, or occasionally three. In the eightfold schema, they traditionally map—rather inexactly—onto our clock like this: The colors aren’t from anywhere —I just thought... Read more

Divide and eat the lingering hours, Consume that nourishment of light; Drink the nectar of evening flowers, And water from the wells of night. —Epigraph, Wells of Night Weary Se’n-nights Nine Times Nine Since I revamped the blog last autumn, I’ve more or less followed the liturgical year in my content. However, I haven’t touched much on Christianity’s relationship to time. Here, near the beginning of liturgical year 2025, I’d like to take a little while to do so. Originally,... Read more

The Olivet Discourse Vision of the Lamb among the cherubim (Revelation 5) from Beatus of Liébana‘s commentary on the Apocalypse The Olivet Discourse is associated more with the Gospel of Matthew than that of Mark, or Luke’s for that matter. Matthew’s version, to which four apocalyptic parables are appended (those of the servant who does not expect his master’s return, the wise and foolish bridesmaids, the talents, and the sheep and the goats), is by far the longest. This address... Read more

Prolegomenon As discussed in my last, this is the next-to-last reading from the Gospel of Mark this year, and falls during the teaching in the Temple that took place in Holy Week. Let’s jump in! Mark 12.38-44, RSV-CE Russian ikon of St. Mark (16th c.) And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes,a who like to go about in long robes, and to have salutationsb in the market places and the best seatsc in the synagoguesd and the... Read more