So, picking up from last time: Acts 15:1-2, 3-21, 22-29, RSV-CE But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way... Read more

The Synod of Jerusalem Map of Jerusalem (1472) by Pietro del Massaio and Hugo Comminelli. Our text here is the lesson from the Sixth Sunday in Easter, the Sunday before Ascension. It’s from Acts 15, and recounts the Church’s first-ever synod, or council, which is thought to have been held around the year 50. The First Council of Nicæa, the source of the Creed,1 took place two hundred and seventy-five years after this; to the Nicene bishops, the Synod of... Read more

Another Lengthy One This one is long not because it’s multiple lessons together, but because the lesson we have cut St. Paul’s … whole sermon. Which, I get it, it’s long, and we do get a lot of readings from the Pauline epistles all year—but it kinda bums me out, because St. Paul doing a homily sounds rather different from St. Paul writing a letter. The next will probably be lengthy too, for similar reasons. As before, I’m aiming for... Read more

In Hoc Paschali Gaudio1 The Sunday Gospel readings throughout Easter come mainly from the Gospel of John, and I translated the majority of them last year. I don’t flatter myself I exhausted their meaning; but, especially since it’s Year C,2 I want to spend this year rendering the Sunday lessons (more on that word in a moment). If you want to read the posts I wrote about the Gospels (mostly) during Eastertide last year, here they are: Gospel for Easter... Read more

The Gospel According to St. Luke: A Book Report Last time, we discussed the scholarly background of Luke, and why I personally find the academic consensus significantly less convincing than the traditional view. Yet I’m sure that the whole time you were waiting anxiously, wanting to interrupt me (save that modesty forbids) to insist, “Yes, but never mind all that! What are Luke’s THEMES?” Don’t worry, I got you. To begin with, Luke is the third and last of the... Read more

Or: A Belated Introduction to Luke I’ve at last gotten a bit of breathing room, and can return to a long-postponed duty: introducing what Luke’s deal even is! Here goes. The Tradition of Saint Luke A portrait of St. Luke in the St. Augustine Gospels, a 6th-c. evangeliary now housed in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University —one of the oldest extant European books. (Note: Here, as in a few other places, I’m using “tradition” in the small-t sense: ideas that... Read more

ARE WE? No. Here’s why the question comes up. Although we’re in Year C, which is devoted to Luke, the Gospel this past Sunday came from John 8 St. Luke the Evangelist as depicted in the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493). … except, not really. The passage we know as John 7:53-8:11, or “the adulteress pericope,” appears thus in Byzantine manuscripts; in the oldest manuscripts of John’s Gospel, these verses are absent. The Greek New Testatment text supported by the Society of... Read more

Go here for Part 1, which has textual notes a and b in it, and here for Part 2, which has notes c through n. I’ve posted the Scripture here a third time to save anybody any tabbing back and forth, but again in small type, and this time with only the verses actually used in the Mass reading. The Prodigal’s Father As we resume, I’d like to make a few remarks about this parable. It’s something of a commonplace... Read more

Go here for Part 1, which has textual notes a and b in it—they proved a lot heftier than I had expected! This post has notes c through n; o to z will hopefully all fit in Part 3. (Update: they did!) I’ve posted the Scripture here again, but in small type and without illustrations, to save a little space. Portrait of St. Luke the Evangelist from the Gospel of Charlemagne (ca. 800). Luke 15:1-3, 4-10, 11-32, RSV-CE Note: To... Read more

An Introduction Deferred Russian ikon of St. Luke writing the first ikon of the Mother of God. I’d hoped by now to be sufficiently on top of things to circle back around to introducing Luke, but actually what’s happened is that (big first for the blog) I have gotten through the whole alphabet with textual notes. So we’re postponing that intro once again for time! We have three parables here, the second and third of which are unique to Luke.... Read more