Patrick Comerford
This week began with the First Sunday after Trinity, and tomorrow is the Second Sunday after Trinity (Trinity II, 9 June 2024). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers the life and ministry of Thomas Ken (1711), Bishop of Bath and Wells, Nonjuror and Hymn Writer.
In the week after Trinity Sunday, I illustrated my prayers and reflections with images and memories of six churches, chapels and monasteries in Greece I know that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity. I have continued that theme this week with images from churches, chapels or cathedral in England that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
StonyLive!, a celebration of the cultural talent in and around Stony Stratford, began on Saturday and continues until tomorrow (9 June). The StonyLive! Programme continues today with a number of creative events at venues throughout Stony Stratford.
We have been in Dublin and Bray for the last few days, and we are catching a flight back to Birmingham later today. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
3, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Mark 12: 35-37 (NRSVUE):
38 As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces 39 and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets! 40 They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
41 He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Ely:
My photographs this morning (8 June 2024) are from Ely Cathedral, whose formal title is the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Last year, Ely Cathedral marked 1,350 years since Saint Etheldreda first established a monastery in Ely in the year 673.
Ely Cathedral and its towers rise above the low-lying wetlands of the Fens, so that it has long been known as the ‘Ship of the Fens.’ It is said the cathedral can be seen from almost every parish in the Diocese of Ely, which includes most of Cambridgeshire, parts of Norfolk and Essex, and one parish in Bedfordshire.
Ely, with about 15,000 people, is the third smallest city in England and was only recognised as a city in a royal charter 50 years ago in 1974. The Isle of Ely remained a separate county until 1965. Saint Ethelreda (Audrey), an Anglo-Saxon princess and Fenland queen, founded an abbey on the Isle of Ely in the year 673. The Diocese of Ely was formed in 1108 out of the See of Lincoln, and the monastery became a cathedral in 1109.
Ely Cathedral is cruciform in shape and for its time was a model of symmetry. The nave, at 165.5 metres (537 ft) is the fourth longest cathedral nave in England. The Octagon or ‘Lantern Tower,’ which replaced the central tower, is a unique structure and the glory of Ely Cathedral.
The main transepts were built at an early stage, crossing the nave below a central tower, and are the oldest surviving parts of the cathedral. Building work continued throughout the 12th century, when the western transepts and tower were completed under Bishop Geoffrey Ridel (1174-1189) in an exuberant Romanesque style with a rich decoration of intersecting arches and complex mouldings.
The Galilee or entrance porch was added under Bishop Eustace (1198-1215) in the Early English Gothic style. Under Bishop Hugh of Northwold, a new east end was begun in 1234, with a grand 10-bay structure. His chancel was completed around 1252.
The free-standing Lady Chapel was built in 1321-1349 in an exuberant Decorated Gothic style. The niches were once filled with an extensive sculpted cycle illustrating the life-story of the Virgin Mary, but they were damaged during the Reformation and the Lady Chapel was stripped of all decoration.
The great Norman crossing tower collapsed in 1322, damaging the first four bays of the Early Gothic choir. These bays were rebuilt, and the tower was replaced by the Octagonal Lantern. Although it is supported on eight massive masonry piers, the lantern is built from oak timbers. When it was completed in 1340, the Octagon was the largest crossing span in northern Europe and it remains Ely Cathedral’s most distinctive feature, visible for miles across the Fens.
At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the cathedral suffered only minor damage, but Saint Etheldreda’s shrine was destroyed, many of the statues in the Lady Chapel were severely damaged, and Bishop Thomas Goodrich ordered the destruction of all the mediaeval statues, painting and stained glass.
Ely Cathedral has undergone several major restorations: under James Essex in the 18th century; under George Peacock in 1839; under George Gilbert Scott, when the painted wooden ceiling of the nave was decorated by Henry Styleman le Strange and Thomas Gambier Parry; and in 1986-2000.
The Victorian Gothic architect AWN Pugin was once found weeping in the Lady Chapel, disturbed by the destruction of its beauty. But he was inspired by the Octagonal Lantern Tower later when he was designing the chapel for the Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Dublin.
Modern works of art in the cathedral include Jonathan Clarke’s sculpture, ‘The Way of Life’, Hans Feibusch’s ‘Christus’ (1981), and David Wynne’s sculpture (1967) capturing the moment when the distraught Mary Magdalene meets the Risen Christ on Easter Morning. But Ely’s most controversial modern work is David Wynne’s statue of the Virgin Mary in the Lady Chapel. Robed in stark blue, she is rejoicing in the news that she is to be the mother of the Christ Child.
The Bishops of Ely include the Caroline divine Lancelot Andrewes (1609-1619), who oversaw the translation of the Authorised Version of the Bible, and Matthew Wren (1638-1667), uncle of Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London.
Stephen Sykes (1990-2000), one of the most eminent Anglican ecclesiologists, was Dean of Saint John’s College, Cambridge, Professor of Divinity at Durham and the Regius Professor of Divinity in Cambridge before becoming Bishop of Ely.
Many of the early monastic buildings survive to the south of Ely Cathedral, so that Ely has Europe’s largest collection of mediaeval monastic buildings still in domestic use. They include the Porta or great gateway to the monastery that now houses the library of the King’s School.
Today’s Prayers (Saturday 8 June 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Volunteers Week.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by Carol Miller, Church Engagement Manager, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (8 June 2024) invites us to pray:
Lord, accept these gifts, our labour for your kingdom. Let them bring glory and honour to you.
The Collect:
O God, from whom all blessings flow,
by whose providence we are kept
and by whose grace we are directed:
help us, through the example of your servant Thomas Ken,
faithfully to keep your word,
humbly to accept adversity
and steadfastly to worship you;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion Prayer:
God, shepherd of your people,
whose servant Thomas Ken revealed the loving service of Christ
in his ministry as a pastor of your people:
by this eucharist in which we share
awaken within us the love of Christ
and keep us faithful to our Christian calling;
through him who laid down his life for us,
but is alive and reigns with you, now and for ever.
Collect on the eve of Trinity II:
Lord, you have taught us
that all our doings without love are nothing worth:
send your Holy Spirit
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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