Praying with the ‘in-between’ people caught in these ‘in-between’ times of uncertainty and unrest

The Ascension depicted in a window in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

In this week, we find ourselves in an ‘in-between’ time, between the Ascension and Pentecost, between the Son ascending to the Father and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

But this is also an ‘in-between’ time, with uncertainty at the top of government, and with uncertainty on the streets, with open expressions of hatred and racism and threats of violence.

In a poem he posted on his Facebook page this morning, the priest poet Jon Swales of Leeds prayed:

Christ, show us a unity
not crafted in statements,
not shouted in streets,
but broken in bread,
poured in wine,
birthed at your table.

In preparing the intercessions for the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, this morning(Easter VII, 17 May 2026), I adapted a well-known prayer by Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711) that seems so appropriate at this time of marches, tension and the deliberate hijacking of Christian symbols and language:

O God, make the door of this house
wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship,
and a heavenly Father’s care;
and narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and hate.
Make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling block to children,
nor to straying feet,
but rugged enough to turn back the tempter’s power:
make it a gateway to thine eternal kingdom.

His prayer was inscribed on the door of Saint Stephen’s Church, Walbrook, in London, which I have visited a number of times, and it is found inside the doors of many churches in the Church of England. The prayer is found in many sources, including the King’s Chapel Prayer Book at King’s Chapel, one of the oldest churches in Boston, and The Oxford Book of Prayer, edited by George Appleton.

Bishop Thomas Ken is one of the founding figures in Anglican hymnody. He had an often-fraught relationship with the Church of England and was one of the Non-Juring bishops at the time of the Williamite Revolution.

Thomas Ken was born in 1637 at Little Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. His father was Thomas Ken of Furnival’s Inn; his mother was the daughter of the poet John Chalkhill; and his step-sister Anne married Izaak Walton, author of The Compleat Angler and biographer of some of the key Caroline divines and poets, including George Herbert and John Donne.

Ken was educated at Winchester College, Hart Hall, Oxford, and New College, Oxford. He was ordained in 1662, and was the rector of parishes in Essex, the Isle of Wight and Hampshire, before returning to Winchester in 1672 as a prebendary of the cathedral, chaplain to the bishop and a fellow of Winchester College. There he prepared manuals on prayer and wrote many of his hymns, including ‘Awake, my soul, and with the sun,’ ‘Glory to thee, my God, this night’ and ‘Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.’

Ken visited to Rome with Izaak Walton in 1674, and the journey seems to have confirmed him in his commitment to Anglicanism.

King Charles II appointed Ken chaplain to Princess Mary, wife of William of Orange, in 1679. However, he incurred William’s displeasure at the court in The Hague, and when he returned to England in 1680 he was appointed one of the king’s chaplains.

When Charles II visited Winchester with his court in 1683, Ken refused to provide lodgings for Nell Gwynne, the king’s mistress. Later that year, he accompanied Lord Dartmouth to Tangier as chaplain to the fleet.

When the fleet returned, Charles II appointed Ken as Bishop of Bath and Wells. He was consecrated at Lambeth on 25 January 1685, and one of his first duties was to attend the king on his deathbed. That year he also published The Practice of Divine Love.

When James II issued the Declaration of Indulgence in 1688, Ken was one of the seven bishops who refused to publish it. Ken and the other his six bishops were sent to the Tower of London on charges of high misdemeanour, but were acquitted at their trial.

When the Williamite Revolution followed, however, Ken believed his sworn allegiance to James II prevented him from taking an oath of loyalty to William of Orange. He became one the Non-Jurors, and in 1691 he was replaced as Bishop of Bath and Wells by the Dean of Peterborough, Richard Kidder.

For the next 20 years, he lived in retirement as a guest of Lord Weymouth at Longleat in Wiltshire. There he wrote many of his famous hymns, including ‘Awake my soul.’

Queen Anne failed to persuade him to return to Bath and Wells when Bishop Kidder died in 1703, but he persuaded George Hooper to accept the vacant see. At Hooper’s request, Queen Anne granted Ken a pension of £200. He died at Longleat on 19 March 1711.

One of Ken’s last sayings was, ‘I am dying in the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith professed by the whole Church before the disunion of East and West; and, more particularly, in the Communion of the Church of England, as it stands distinguished from both Papal and Protestant innovation, and adheres to the Doctrine of the Cross.’

At dawn on 20 March 1711, while his friends sang ‘Awake, my soul,’ he was buried below the East Window of Saint John’s Church in Frome, Somerset, the nearest parish in the Diocese of Bath and Wells.

Thomas Ken is remembered in the Church of England with on 8 June and in the Episcopal Church on 20 March. He is also commemorated with a statue in a niche on the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral.

‘O God, make the door of this house wide enough to receive all’ … Bishop Thomas Ken’s prayer was inscribed on the doors of Saint Stephen’s Walbrook (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Lent 2026: 43, Wednesday 1 April 2026 Wednesday of Holy Week (‘Spy Wednesday’)

‘The Taking of Christ in the Garden’ by Caravaggio (1598), the National Gallery of Ireland … the betrayal of Christ is a major theme for the Wednesday of Holy Week

Patrick Comerford

We are half-way through Holy Week, the last week in Lent, as we prepare for Good Friday and Easte. Today is the Wednesday of Holy Week (16 April 2025), known in many places as ‘Spy Wednesday’, and in some places 1 April is also ‘April Fools’ Day’. Passover also begins this evening (1 April 2026) and continues until Thursday next week (9 April 2026).

I hope to sing with the choir of Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church today at the funeral of Dave King, who gave so much and so cheerfully to the life of the parish and the community in Stony Stratford. Later in the evening, the choir continues its rehearsals for the rest of Holy Week and for Easter.

But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘The Betrayal by Judas’ by Giotto (ca 1304-1306)

John 13: 21-32 (NRSVA):

21 After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, ‘Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. 23 One of his disciples – the one whom Jesus loved – was reclining next to him; 24 Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25 So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ 26 Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. 27 After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘Do quickly what you are going to do.’ 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival’; or, that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.

‘The Ship of Fools’ by Hieronymus Bosch (ca 1450–1516)

Today’s Reflections

Today [1 April] is marked throughout much of the English-speaking world and in many parts of Europe as April Fools’ Day, a day for people play practical jokes and hoaxes on each other, so that victim becomes the April fools.

My long-time friend and former colleague in journalism and history projects in Wexford, the late Nicky Furlong (1929-2022), managed to make me the victim of his April Fool’s prank in the Echo group of newspapers in Co Wexford – the Wexford Echo, the Enniscorthy Echo and the New Ross Echo – back in 2009.

On their front pages on 1 April 2009, the Echo newspapers carried reports and photographs of sharks spotted variously in Wexford Harbour, in the Slaney at Enniscorthy and in the Barrow near New Ross. The sightings were confirmed by no less an expert in large fish than one Mr Ray Whiting.

But I had to turn to page 36 inside the 1 April editions to find a report by Nicky that the Pugin churches of Co Wexford were suffering a unique infestation that threatened the demolition of the Pugin churches – and only the Pugin churches. And right beneath the dateline on the page, Nicky also carried the following preposterous report: ‘Wexford man’s church promotion’, claiming, quite preposterously, that I was to ‘become Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin’.

He gilded the lily, saying I had spent ‘holidays in Greece, Armenia, Ethiopia and even Soviet Russia when religion of any kind was forbidden’, and that I was the author of a whimsical work The Tower that ‘was a comic delight in Wexford associations’.

Two of my all-time April Fool pranks were the work of the BBC and the Guardian.

In 1957, the BBC staged the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest prank, with a fake news report of Swiss farmers picking freshly-grown spaghetti. The BBC was later flooded with questions about buying spaghetti plants.

The Guardian’s successful April Fool joke was a seven-page travel supplement on the tiny tropical republic of San Serriffe on 1 April 1977. San Serriffe was ‘a small archipelago, its main islands grouped roughly in the shape of a semicolon, in the Indian Ocean,’ and was celebrating 10 years of independence.

The name San Serriffe and the shape of the islands were concocted from printing and typesetting terms. The two main islands were Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse, the indigenous islanders were Flongs, and the Republic is ruled by a dictator General MJ Pica. School subjects included A-level pearl-diving.

The supplement was designed by Philip Davies, the editorial was the work of the Foreign Editor, Geoffrey Taylor, and the advertising agency J Walter Thompson filled the advertising space on four of the seven pages, including one from Kodak running a competition for photographs of San Serriffe,

My mother, who could hold some unusual evangelical opinions, would have nothing to do with April Fool’s Day, insisting it was a continuation of the Gospel stories of Christ being mocked during his sufferings and passion before the crucifixion (see Matthew 27, Mark 15, John 19) and on the Cross (see Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke: 23).

So, how did 1 April become April Fool’s Day?

The earliest record may be in an ambiguous reference in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (1392). The ‘Nun’s Priest’s Tale’ is set Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two. However, many scholars now believe that there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts and that Chaucer actually wrote ‘Syn March was gon.’ If so, then this passage meant 32 days after April, or 2 May, which was the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II to Anne of Bohemia in 1381.

Readers apparently misunderstood Chaucer’s line to mean ‘32 March,’ or 1 April. In Chaucer’s tale, the vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox.

For centuries, the mediaeval Christian Feast of Fools took place in January. In the opening passages of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Victor Hugo describes ‘rowdy theatricals and underworld parades of lay Parisians ... on the sixth of January 1482’ as a combined celebration ‘of the day of the kings and the Feast of Fools.’

The actual feast was developed in the late 12th and early 13th centuries and was finally forbidden by the Council of Basle in 1435, despite its fictional survival in Victor Hugo’s novel.

‘The Ship of Fools’ by Hieronymus Bosch (ca 1450-1516) is a fragment of the left wing of a triptych, painted ca 1490-1500 in oil on an oak panel. It measures 58 cm x 33 cm, and was given to the Musée du Louvre, Paris, by Camille Benoît of Paris in 1918.

This painting is rich with symbolism and is probably a satirical comment on Albrecht Dürer’s frontispiece of Sebastian Brant’s book of the same name. As it is seen today in the Louvre, it is a fragment of a triptych that was cut into several parts. ‘The Ship of Fools’ was painted on one of the wings of the altarpiece, and is about two thirds of its original length. The bottom third of the panel belongs to Yale University Art Gallery and is exhibited under the title ‘Allegory of Gluttony’.

The wing on the other side, which has more or less retained its full length, is the ‘Death and the Miser’, now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington. The two panels together would have represented the two extremes of the prodigal who is condemned and the miser who is caricatured.

Sebastian Brant’s The Ship of Fools (Das Narrenschiff) is a book of satire published in 1494 in Basel, Switzerland. Brant was a conservative German theologian. In a prologue, 112 brief satires, and an epilogue, all illustrated with woodcuts, the book includes the first commissioned work by Dürer, a great Renaissance artist and engraver. Much of the work was critical of the state of the Church at the time. Brant tackles the weaknesses and vices of his time, and creates the fictional Saint Grobian, who becomes the patron saint of vulgar and coarse people.

The Ship of Fools was inspired by a frequent motif in mediaeval art and literature, particularly in religious satire, due to a pun on the Latin word navis, which means both a boat and the nave of a church.

The theme of foolishness is a frequent literary device for criticism before the Reformation. Examples are provided by Erasmus in his In Praise of Folly, by Martin Luther in his Address to the Christian Nobility, and by the role of court jesters or fools. By writing in the voice of the fool, Brant found an acceptable literary device for his criticism of the Church. Dürer carved many of the woodcuts for the first edition, and the book found immediate popularity. However, it is still debated whether The Ship of Fools is a humanist work or just a late example of this mediaeval genre.

But the association of foolishness, pranks and 1 April may not have developed until the 16th century, after Pope Gregory XIII restored 1 January as New Year’s Day in the Gregorian Calendar. The change was important because the Julian calendar meant the March equinox was occurring well before 21 March, and the date is important to the Church because it is fundamental to the calculation of the date of Easter. To reinstate the association, the reform advanced the date by 10 days: Thursday 4 October 1582 was followed by Friday 15 October 1582.

Before the Gregorian Calendar was introduced, New Year’s Day was celebrated on 25 March, the Feast of the Annunciation, in many parts of Europe. It developed in some places into a week-long holiday ending on 1 April. Perhaps those Catholics who celebrated the New Year on 1 January made fun of those Protestants who continued to celebrate it from 25 March to 1 April. They were seen as foolish, and so became April Fools.

The change was widespread throughout Europe – although Britain, Ireland and what became Canada and the US did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752.

The first unambiguous British reference to April Fools’ Day is by the diarist John Aubrey to ‘Fooles holy day’ in 1686 – although he might have been referring to Germany: ‘We observe it on ye first of April … And so it is kept in Germany everywhere.’

More recently, Ship of Fools has been adapted as the name of a satirical, church-related website that has its roots in a student print magazine, Ship of Fools, first launched in 1977. The print magazine, folded in 1983 after ten issues. It was revived again on April Fools’ Day 1998 as a website, and has quickly grown into an online community as well as a webzine.

‘We’re here for people who prefer their religion disorganised,’ according to Simon Jenkins, editor and designer of the website. ‘Our aim is to help Christians be self-critical and honest about the failings of Christianity, as we believe honesty can only strengthen faith.’

Ship of Fools describes itself as iconoclastic and debunking but also committed to the ultimate value of faith, and aims to attract readers more interested in searching questions than simplistic answers. Regular features include the Mystery Worshipper.

The co-editor of Ship of Fools is Stephen Goddard, who met Simon Jenkins at theological college in London in the late 1970s. ‘As committed Christians ourselves, we can’t help laughing at the crazy things that go wrong with the church, and we’re also drawn to those questions which take us beyond easy believing. In the end, we want to make sense of the Christian faith in today’s complex world.’

The notion of ‘holy fools’ has a long, respected place in Jewish and Christian traditions. Hebrew prophets were often scorned as mad or eccentric for pronouncing unwelcome or uncomfortable truths, the Apostle Paul talked to the Corinthians about becoming ‘fools for Christ’ (I Corinthians 4: 10). Eastern Orthodoxy still sees the ‘holy fool’ as a type of Christian martyr or wise paradoxically and saintly.

The Catholic theologian and priest Professor John Saward is a Senior Research Fellow at Blackfriars in the University of Oxford and the author of Perfect Fools: Folly for Christ's Sake in Catholic and Orthodox Spirituality (1980). He writes: ‘If the wisdom of the world is folly to God, and God’s own foolishness is the only true wisdom, it follows that the worldly wise, to become truly wise, must become foolish and renounce their worldly wisdom.’

The Yale theologian Jaroslav Pelikan (1923-2006) was a Lutheran pastor who joined the Orthodox Church in later life. In Fools for Christ (2001), he looks at various ‘fools’ and explores the motif of fool-for-Christ in relationship to the problem of understanding the numinous: ‘The Holy is too great and too terrible when encountered directly for men of normal sanity to be able to contemplate it comfortably. Only those who cannot care for the consequences run the risk of the direct confrontation of the Holy.’

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways!
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.
– John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)

The Guardian’s seven-page travel supplement on the tiny tropical republic of San Serriffe was a successful April Fool joke on 1 April 1977

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 1 April 2026, Wednesday of Holy Week, ‘Spy Wednesday’):

The theme this week (29 March-4 April 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is a ‘Holy Week’ reflection’ (pp 42-43). This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections by the Revd Kenson Li, Assistant Curate of Manchester Cathedral and a Trustee of USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 1 April 2026, Wednesday of Holy Week, ‘Spy Wednesday’) invites us to pray:

Generous God, we remember how Judas betrayed you for silver. Transform hearts ruled by love of wealth rather than love of you and your people. Give us generous hearts to know that to give is to receive, and to love our neighbour is to love you.

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
who in your tender love towards the human race
sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ
to take upon him our flesh
and to suffer death upon the cross:
grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility,
and also be made partakers of his resurrection;
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.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ,
you humbled yourself in taking the form of a servant,
and in obedience died on the cross for our salvation:
give us the mind to follow you
and to proclaim you as Lord and King,
to the glory of God the Father.

Additional Collect:

True and humble king,
hailed by the crowd as Messiah:
grant us the faith to know you and love you,
that we may be found beside you
on the way of the cross,
which is the path of glory.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘the fools, the fools, the fools!’ … street art depicting O’Donovan Rossa in Skibbereen, Co Cork (Photograph, Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Two experiences of Orthodox Lenten traditions in Walsingham with the Akathist Hymn and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

Father Stephen Platt serves the Akathist Hymn before the icon of the Theotokos Hodogetria in the Shrine Church in Walsingham last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

I have spent the last three or four days staying at the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk, where I was speaking at the Ecumenical Pilgrimage to Walsingham yesterday on ‘A Priest along the Way of a Pilgrim’.

This ecumenical pilgrimage was organised with the support of the Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius and the Society of Saint John Chrysostom and yesterday’s programme included interesting experiences of Lenten liturgical observances during in Lent.

In the morning, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the Shrine Church was served by Father Stephen Platt of Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, Oxford, and of the Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius, assisted by Father Ian Graham, Parish Priest of the Greek Orthodox Community of the Holy Trinity in Oxford.

Then, at the end of the day, Father Stephen and Father Ian led us in the Akathist Hymn, an experience unique to the Orthodox Church. Introducing the Akathist Hymn in the Shrine Church, Father Stephen explained how the Akathist Hymn and Small Compline are two services which are sung on the first five Fridays during Great Lent. The Small Compline, and the canon, is sung on each of the five Fridays. This is also true of the prayers beginning with Holy God and continuing to the end of the service with the exception that the Holy Gospel is read only on the First Friday.

The canon is sung on each of the first four Fridays. At the same time, one of the four stases is also chanted by the priest on each successive Friday.

The late Metropolitan Kallistos has written about the Akathistos Hymn as one of the greatest marvels of Greek religious poetry, with a richness of imagery that is the despair of any translator, the Akathistos Hymn has 24 main stanzas, alternatively long and short: each long stanza bears the title ‘Ikos’ and ends with the refrain ‘Hail, Bride without bridegroom’, while each short stanza is termed ‘kontakion’ and ends with the refrain ‘Alleluia’.

The title ‘Akathistos’ means literally ‘not sitting’, because while the hymn is sung all remain standing. The greater part of the hymn is made up of praises addressed to the Holy Virgin, each beginning with the salutation of the Archangel Gabriel, ‘Hail’ or ‘Rejoice’ (Luke 1: 28). Theh hymn recalls the main events connected with the Incarnation, starting with the Annunciation (first ikos) and ending with the Flight into Egypt (sixth ikos) and the Presentation in the Temple (seventh kontakion).

The Akathistos Hymn was originally composed at an epoch when the Annunciation was still celebrated together with Christmas and had not yet become a separate festival. The Annunciation probably first began to be celebrated on 25 March during the reign of the Emperor Justinian (527-565), and the Akathistos Hymn was appointed to be sung on 25 March. Later, after the fall of Constantinople (1453), the hymn was transferred from the fixed to the movable calendar, and instead of being sung on 25 March it was appointed for Saturday in the fifth week. The custom of singing a portion of thehHymn at Compline on the first four Fridays of Lent is more recent still among Greeks.

Most of the texts at Friday Vespers before the Vigil of the Akathistos are taken directly from the office for 25 March. The Annunciation almost always falls within the period of the Great Fast, and that is why this special office of praise to the Mother of God has found a place in the Lenten Triodion.

A Kontakion greatly loved by Orthodox people is sung at the beginning of the Akathistos Hymn, ‘To thee, our leader in battle and defender …’. It celebrates the deliverance of the city of Constantinople from its enemies through the aid of the Mother of God. The Kontakion was written most probablyn by Patriarch Sergios to celebrate the escape of the Byzantine capital from the attack of the Persians and Avars in 626; it may also have been sung at the thanksgiving celebrations after Constantinople was saved from the Arabs in the mid-670s and in 717–718, and from the Russians in 860. The Kontakion expresses the Orthodox faithful sense of continuing dependence on the protecting intercession of the Holy Virgin at all moments of crisis and peril.

The Akathist Hymn is one of the most well-loved services of devotion in the Orthodox Church. Many scholars agreethat the Akathist was composed by Saint Romanos the Melodist, who reposed in the year 556. It has also been suggested that the Kontakion ‘To thee, our leader in battle and defender …’ was written in 532, to celebrate the safe escape of the city from the Nika riots. On such a hypothesis the Kontakion could be contemporary with the rest of the Akathistos Hymn, and might even be the work of Romanos.

The majority of the hymn is made up of praises directed to the Mother of God, always beginning with the salutation of the Archangel Gabriel: ‘Rejoice.’ In each of them, one after the other, all the events related to the incarnation are contemplated. The Archangel Gabriel (in Ikos 1) marvels at the Divine self-emptying and the renewal of creation which will occur when Christ comes to dwell in the Virgin’s womb.

The unborn John the Baptist (Ikos 3) prophetically rejoices. The shepherds (Ikos 4) recognise Christ as a blameless Lamb, and rejoice that in the Virgin ‘things on earth rejoice with the heavens.’ The Magi (Kontakion 5), following the light of the star, praise her for revealing the light of the world.

As the hymn progresses, various individuals and groups encounter Christ and his mother. Each has his own need; each his own desire or expectation, and each finds his or her own particular spiritual need satisfied and fulfilled in Our Lord and in the Mother of God. So too, each generation of Orthodox, and each particular person who has prayed the Akathist, has found in this hymn an inspired means of expressing gratitude and praise to the Mother of God for what she has accomplished for their salvation.

The authorship of the Akathist Hymn to the Mother of God is the subject of much discussion, though many reputable scholars attribute it to Saint Romanos the Melodist. The poem defies every translator and it is virtually impossibleto translate all the rhetorical devices that are such a striking feature of the Greek original. The original has an alphabetical acrostic for the first word of each Kontakion and Ikos and the lines begining ‘Hail!’ are marked by many internal rhymes.

The Greek ‘Chaire!’ is translated by Metroplitan Kallistos as ‘Rejoice’ as the most natural meaning of the Greek. Even though etymologically it means ‘Rejoice!’, it is a standard greeting, like the Latin ‘Ave!’, which is what the Roman soldiers presumably said to the Lord as they mocked him. In the New Testament it often translates the Hebrew ‘Shalom!’

Liturgically the hymn forms part of Matins on the Saturday of the Akathist, and in the monasteries of the the Holy Mountain it is read each night at Compline. In Greek use, it is chanted solemnly in four sections at Compline on the first four Fridays of Lent, the whole being chanted at Compline on the fifth, the eve of Akathist Saturday.

The Akathist hymn to the Theotokos is the original of all Akathists. It is a type of Kontakion. In a regular Kontakion, There is one (or more) Proëmion or opening hymn (now called confusingly ‘the Kontakion’ of the hymn) followed by several Ikos hymns. All the hymns have the same or nearly the same refrain. The acrostics vary, and therefore, so do the number of Ikos hymns. In the Akathist, the acrostic is the Greek alphabet, so there are 24 hymns. All akathists follow this number, even if they do not produce an Alphabetical acrostic. These 24 hymns vary between long hymns, called Ikos hymns, that have the same refrain as the Proëmion, and shorter hymns with the refrain ‘Alleluia’, (also, confusingly, called ‘Kontakia’).

On the Fifth Saturday of Great Lent, the Saturday of the Akathist, the Orthodox commemorate the ‘Laudation of the Virgin” icon of the Theotokos.

Father Stephen Platt introduces the Akathist Hymn in the Shrine Church in Walsingham last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Akathist to the Theotokos:

Troparion

Taking knowledge of the secret command, the bodiless Archangel went with haste to Joseph’s dwelling and said to her that knew not wedlock: ‘He who in his self-abasement bowed the heavens and came down is housed wholly and unchanged in thee. I see him take the form of a servant in thy womb and in wonder cry to thee: Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom.

Kontakion 1

To thee, our leader in battle and defender, O Mother of God, we thy servants, delivered from calamity, offer hymns of victory and thankgiving. Since those are invincible in power, set us free from every peril that we may cry out to thee: Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom. Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom.

Ikos 1

A prince of the angels was sent from heaven, to say to the Mother of God, Rejoice! And seeing Thee, O Lord, take bodily form at the sound of his bodiless voice, filled with amazement he stood still and cried aloud to her:

Rejoice, for through thee joy shall shine forth:
Rejoice, for through thee the curse shall cease.
Rejoice, recalling of fallen Adam:
Rejoice, deliverance from the tears of Eve.
Rejoice, height hard to climb for the thoughts of men:
Rejoice, depth hard to scan even for the eyes of angels.
Rejoice, for thou art the throne of the King:
Rejoice, for thou holdest Him who upholds all.
Rejoice, star causing the sun to shine:
Rejoice, womb of the divine Incarnation.
Rejoice, for through thee creation is made new:
Rejoice, for through thee the Creator becomes a newborn child.
Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!

Kontakion 2

The Holy Maiden, seeing herself in all her purity, said boldly unto Gabriel: ‘Strange seem thy words and hard for my soul to accept. From a conception without seed how dost thou speak of childbirth crying: Alleluia! Alleluia.

Ikos 2

Seeking to know what passes knowledge, the Virgin said to the ministering Angel: ‘From a maiden womb how can a Son be born? Tell me.’ And to her in fear he answered, crying:

Rejoice, initiate of God’s secret counsel:
Rejoice, faith in that which must be guarded by silence.
Rejoice, beginning of Christ’s wonders:
Rejoice, crown and fulfillment of His teachings.
Rejoice, heavenly ladder by which God came down:
Rejoice, bridge leading men from earth to heaven.
Rejoice, marvel greatly renowned among the angels:
Rejoice, wound bitterly lamented by the demons.
Rejoice, for ineffably thou shalt bear the Light:
Rejoice, for thou hast revealed the mystery to none.
Rejoice, wisdom surpassing the knowledge of the wise:
Rejoice, dawn that illumines the minds of the faithful.
Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!

Kontakion 3

Then the power of the Most High overshadowed her that knew no wedlock, so that she might conceive: and He made her fruitful womb as a fertile field for all who long to reap the harvest of salvation, singing: Alleluia! Alleluia.

Ikos 3

Bearing God within her womb, the Virgin hastened to Elizabeth; whose unborn child, knowing at once the salutation of the Theotokos, rejoiced, and, leaping up as if in song, cried out to her:

Rejoice, vine whence springs a never-withering branch:
Rejoice, orchard of pure fruit.
Rejoice, for thou tendest the Husband-man who loves mankind:
Rejoice, for thou hast borne the Gardener who cultivates our life.
Rejoice, earth yielding a rich harvest of compassion:
Rejoice, table laden with mercy in abundance.
Rejoice, for through thee the fields of Eden flower again:
Rejoice, for thou makest ready a haven for our souls.
Rejoice, acceptable incense of intercession:
Rejoice, propitiation for the whole world.
Rejoice, loving-kindness of God unto mortal man:
Rejoice, freedom of approach for mortals unto God.
Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!

Kontakion 4

Tossed inwardly by a storm of doubts, prudent Joseph was troubled: knowing thee to be unwedded, O blameless Virgin, he feared a stolen union. But when he learnt that thy conceiving was from the Holy Spirit, he said: Alleluia! Alleluia.

Ikos 4

The shepherds heard the angels glorify Christ’s coming in the flesh.

Quickly they ran to the Shepherd, and beheld Him as a lamb without spot, that had been pastured in the womb of Mary; and they sang praises to her, saying:

Rejoice, Mother of the Lamb and Shepherd:
Rejoice, fold of spiritual sheep.
Rejoice, protection against unseen enemies:
Rejoice, key to the door of Paradise.
Rejoice, for heaven exults with earth:
Rejoice, for things on earth rejoice with the heavens.
Rejoice, never-silent voice of the apostles:
Rejoice, unconquered courage of the victorious martyrs.
Rejoice, firm foundation of the faith:
Rejoice, shining revelation of grace.
Rejoice, for through thee hell is stripped bare:
Rejoice, for through thee we are clothed in glory.
Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!

Kontakion 5

Seeing the star pointing to God, the Magi followed its radiance. Keeping it before them as a beacon, with its help they sought the mighty King; and attaining the Unattainable, they rejoiced and cried to Him: Alleluia! Alleluia.

Ikos 5

The children of the Chaldaens saw the Virgin holding in her hands Him who with His hands fashioned mankind. Though He had taken the form of a servant, yet they knew Him as their Master. In haste they knelt before Him with their gifts and cried out to the Blessed Virgin:

Rejoice, Mother of the Star that never sets:
Rejoice, bright dawn of the mystical day.
Rejoice, for thou hast quenched the furnace of deception:
Rejoice, for thou dost illumine all who love the mystery of the Trinity.
Rejoice, for thou hast cast down from his dominion the tyrant that hates man:
Rejoice, for thou hast made known the Lord Christ who loves mankind.
Rejoice, deliverance from the worship of pagan idols:
Rejoice, liberation from the filth of sin.
Rejoice, for thou hast quenched the worship of fire:
Rejoice, for thou hast released us from the flames of passion.
Rejoice, guide of the faithful to chastity:
Rejoice, joy of all generations.
Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!

Kontakion 6

Becoming God’s messengers, the Magi returned to Babylon. Having fulfilled the prophecy concerning Thee, and preaching Thee to all as Christ, they left Herod to his raving, for he knew not how to sing: Alleluia! Alleluia.

Ikos 6

Shining upon Egypt with the light of truth, Thou hast dispelled the darkness of falsehood; for the idols of that land fell down, unable to endure Thy power, O Saviour, and all who were delivered from them cried unto the Theotokos:

Rejoice, restoration of men:
Rejoice, downfall of demons.
Rejoice, for thou hast trampled on the delusion of error:
Rejoice, for thou hast exposed the snares of the idols.
Rejoice, sea that has drowned the invisible Pharoah:
Rejoice, rock that gives drink to all who thirst for life.
Rejoice, pillar of fire, guiding those in darkness:
Rejoice, protection of the world, wider than the cloud in the wilderness.
Rejoice, food that takes the place of manna:
Rejoice, minister of holy joy.
Rejoice, promised land:
Rejoice, source of milk and honey.
Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!

Kontakion 7

As Simeon drew near to the time of his departure from this world of error, he received Thee as an infant in his arms, but he knew Thee to be perfect God; and struck with wonder at Thine ineffable wisdom, he cried: Alleluia! Alleluia.

Ikos 7

A new creation has the Creator revealed, manifesting Himself unto us His creatures. From a Virgin’s womb He came, preserving it inviolate as it was before: that, beholding the miracle, we might sing her praises, crying:

Rejoice, flower of incorruption:
Rejoice, crown of chastity.
Rejoice, bright foreshadowing of the resurrection glory:
Rejoice, mirror of the angels’ life.
Rejoice, tree of glorious fruit on which the faithful feed:
Rejoice, wood of shady leaves where many shelter.
Rejoice, for thou hast conceived a Guide for the wanderers:
Rejoice, for thou hast borne a Deliverer for the captives.
Rejoice, intercessor with the Righteous Judge:
Rejoice, forgiveness for many who have stumbled.
Rejoice, robe for the naked and bereft of hope:
Rejoice, love surpassing desire.
Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!

Kontakion 8

Seeing this strange birth, let us become strangers to the world, fixing our minds in heaven. To this end has the most high God appeared on earth as a lowly man, because He wishes to draw heaven-ward all who cry aloud to Him: Alleluia! Alleluia.

Ikos 8

The boundless Word was wholly present here below, yet in no wise absent from the realm on high: God descended to earth yet underwent no change of place. He was born of a Virgin, over-shadowed by divine power, and unto her we sing:

Rejoice, enclosure of the God whom nothing can enclose:
Rejoice, gate of the hallowed mystery.
Rejoice, tidings doubted by unbelievers:
Rejoice, undoubted glory of the faithful.
Rejoice, most holy chariot of Him who rides upon the cherubim:
Rejoice, best of all dwellings for Him who is above the seraphim.
Rejoice, for thou bringest opposites to harmony:
Rejoice, for thou hast joined in one childbirth and virginity.
Rejoice, for through thee our sin is remitted:
Rejoice, for through thee Paradise is opened.
Rejoice, key of Christ’s Kingdom:
Rejoice, hope of eternal blessings.
Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!

Kontakion 9

All the ranks of angels marveled at the great work of Thine incarnation. For they saw God, whom none can approach, as a man approachable by all, dwelling in our midst, and hearing from our lips: Alleluia! Alleluia.

Ikos 9

Eloquent orators we see dumb as the fishes in thy presence, O Theotokos, for they are at a loss to say how thou remainest virgin and yet hast power to bear a child. But we, marvelling at the mystery, cry aloud in faith:

Rejoice, vessel of God’s wisdom:
Rejoice, treasury of His providence.
Rejoice, for thou revealest lack of wisdom in the lovers of wisdom:
Rejoice, for thou provest devoid of reason those skilled in reason’s art.
Rejoice, for the cunning disputants are shown to be fools:
Rejoice, for the myth-makers have withered into silence.
Rejoice, for thou hast torn asunder the tangled webs of the Athenians:
Rejoice, for thou hast filled the nets of the fishermen.
Rejoice, for thou dost draw men from the depths of ignorance:
Rejoice, for thou dost illumine multitudes with knowledge.
Rejoice, ship of all who would be saved:
Rejoice, haven for the seafarers of life.
Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!

Kontakion 10

Wishing to save the world, the Fashioner of all things came to it of His own free choice. As God, He is our Shepherd, yet has He appeared for our sake as a man like us; and calling like by means of like, as God, He hears our cry: Alleluia! Alleluia.

Ikos 10

For virgins and all who flee to thee thou art a wall, O Virgin Theotokos undefiled: for the Creator of heaven and earth has made thee ready and adorned thee, dwelling in thy womb, and teaching all to sing to her:

Rejoice, pillar of virginity:
Rejoice, gate of salvation.
Rejoice, beginning of the new and spiritual creation:
Rejoice, provider of God’s mercy.
Rejoice, for thou hast given birth to those conceived in shame:
Rejoice, for thou hast given good counsel to those robbed of understanding.
Rejoice, for thou bringest to naught the corrupter of man’s mind:
Rejoice, for thou bringest to birth the Sower of purity.
Rejoice, bridal chamber of a marriage without seed:
Rejoice, for thou joinest in union the faithful to their Lord.
Rejoice, fair nursing-mother of virgins:
Rejoice, bridal escort of holy souls.
Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!

Kontakion 11

No hymn can recount the multitude of Thy many mercies. For though we offer unto Thee, O holy King, songs numberless as the sand upon the seashore, yet we do nothing worthy of the blessings Thou hast given us, who cry unto Thee: Alleluia! Alleluia.

Ikos 11

We see the Holy Virgin as a lamp to those in darkness. Kindling the immaterial Fire, she guides all men to divine knowledge; she illumines our mind with radiance, and we sing these praises in her honour:

Rejoice, beam of the spiritual Sun:
Rejoice, ray of the Moon that never wanes.
Rejoice, lightning flash that shines upon our souls:
Rejoice, thunder that brings terror to our enemies.
Rejoice, dawn that makest the manifold Splendor to arise:
Rejoice, spring that makest the River with many streams to flow.
Rejoice, for thou dost prefigure the baptismal font:
Rejoice, for thou takest away the filth of sin.
Rejoice, water washing clean the conscience:
Rejoice, cup wherein is mixed the wine of mighty joy.
Rejoice, scent of Christ’s fragrance:
Rejoice, life of mystical feasting.
Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!

Kontakion 12

Wishing to release from ancient debts, the Redeemer of all men came of His own will to those who were exiled from His grace; He has torn up the record of our sins, and from all He hears the cry: Alleluia! Alleluia.

Ikos 12

We all sing in honour of thy Son, O Theotokos, and praise thee as a living temple. For the Lord who holds all things in His hand made His dwelling in thy womb; He hallowed and He glorified thee, teaching all to cry to thee:

Rejoice, tabernacle of God the Word:
Rejoice, greater Holy of Holies.
Rejoice, ark made golden by the Spirit:
Rejoice, never-empty treasure-house of life.
Rejoice, precious crown of orthodox kings:
Rejoice, honored boast of godly priests.
Rejoice, unshaken fortress of the Church:
Rejoice, unconquered rampart of the Kingdom.
Rejoice, for through thee the standards of victory are raised on high:
Rejoice, for through thee our enemies are cast down.
Rejoice, healing of my body:
Rejoice, salvation of my soul.
Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!

Kontakion 13

O Mother worthy of all praise, who hast borne the Word, the Holiest of all Holies accepting this our offering, deliver from every ill and from the punishment to come, all those who cry aloud to thee: Alleluia! Alleluia. Alleluia! Alleluia

Kontakion 13 is read three times, and then Ikos One is read again:

Ikos 1

A prince of the angels was sent from heaven, to say to the Theotokos, Rejoice! And seeing Thee, O Lord, take bodily form at the sound of his bodiless voice, filled with amazement he stood still and cried aloud to her:

Rejoice, for through thee joy shall shine forth:
Rejoice, for through thee the curse shall cease.
Rejoice, recalling of fallen Adam:
Rejoice, deliverance from the tears of Eve.
Rejoice, height hard to climb for the thoughts of men:
Rejoice, depth hard to scan even for the eyes of angels.
Rejoice, for thou art the throne of the King:
Rejoice, for thou holdest Him who upholds all.
Rejoice, star causing the sun to shine:
Rejoice, womb of the divine Incarnation.
Rejoice, for through thee creation is made new:
Rejoice, for through thee the Creator becomes a newborn child.
Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!

And then again the First Kontakion:

O Victorious Leader of triumphant hosts, we, thy servants, delivered from evil, sing our grateful thanks to thee, O Theotokos. As thou dost possess invincible might set us free from every calamity so that we may sing: Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!

Priest: Glory to thee, O Christ our God, and our hope, glory to thee.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord have mercy. Father give the blessing in the name of the Lord.

Priest: May Christ our true God, at the prayers of his most pure and holy, Mother, by the power of the precious and life-giving Cross, and the protection of the honoured, spiritual powers of heaven, at the intercession of the honoured and glorious prophet, forerunner and Baptist, John, of the holy, glorious and righteous forebears of God, Joachim and Anna and of all the saints, have mercy upon us and save us, for he is good and he loves mankind. Amen.

Priest: Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

We were all then invited to venerate the icon of the Mother of God and receive the priest’s blessing.

Father Stephen Platt serves the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the Shrine Church in Walsingham earlier yesterday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Daily prayer in Christmas 2025-2026: 40, Monday 2 February 2026, the Presentation (Candlemas)

The Presentation depicted in a window in Saint Olave’s Church, York (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the last day in the 40-day season of Christmas, which concludes today with the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Monday 2 February 2026), also known as Candlemas, although most parishes and churches probably transferred this celebration to yesterday, which was also the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany IV, 1 February 2026) and Septuagesima.

Later today, I may visit the exhibition of Icons by the traditional Byzantine iconographer Hanna-Leena Ward in Lichfield Cathedral, which opened on Friday (30 January) and continues for three weeks until 19 February. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

The Presentation depicted in a window in Saint Peter’s Church, Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 2: 22-40 (NRSVA):

22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), 24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

29 ‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’

33 And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’

36 There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, 37 then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

39 When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.

The Presentation depicted in a window in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, or Candlemas [2 February 2026]. This feast falls 40 days after Christmas when, according to traditional religious law, the Virgin Mary, the mother of the Christ-Child, presents her first-born to the priest in the Temple in Jerusalem. Because the Holy Family was poor, they offered a turtle dove and two pigeons as a submission and a sacrifice.

This is a feast rich in meaning, with several related themes running through it – presentation, purification, meeting, and light for the world. The several names by which this day has been known throughout Christian history illustrate just how much this feast has to teach and to celebrate. These names include the Presentation, and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, although today we talk more commonly of the Feast of Candlemas.

The true meaning of Candlemas is found in its ‘bitter-sweet’ nature. It is a feast day, and the revelation of the Christ Child in the Temple, greeted by Simeon and Anna, calls for rejoicing. Nevertheless, the prophetic words of Simeon, which speak of the falling and rising of many and the sword that will piece Mary’s heart, lead on to the Passion and Easter, as the Gospel according to Saint Luke makes clear:

‘… This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’

Candlemas is the climax of the Christmas and Epiphany season, the last great festival of the Christmas cycle. It brings Christmas celebrations to a close, and is a real pivotal day in the Christian year. The focus shifts from the cradle to the cross, from Christmas to Passiontide – Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent are little more than a fortnight away (18 February 2026).

At times, instead of a sermon, I read TS Eliot’s poem, ‘A Song for Simeon’, based on the canticle Nunc Dimittis.

This is one of two poems written about the time of Eliot’s conversion in 1927. He titles his poem ‘A Song for Simeon’ rather than ‘A Song of Simeon’, the English sub-title of the canticle in The Book of Common Prayer, and it is one of four poems he published between 1927 and 1930 known as the Ariel Poems.

A Song for Simeon, by TS Eliot:

Lord, the Roman hyacinths are blooming in bowls and
The winter sun creeps by the snow hills;
The stubborn season had made stand.
My life is light, waiting for the death wind,
Like a feather on the back of my hand.
Dust in sunlight and memory in corners
Wait for the wind that chills towards the dead land.

Grant us thy peace.
I have walked many years in this city,
Kept faith and fast, provided for the poor,
Have given and taken honour and ease.
There went never any rejected from my door.
Who shall remember my house, where shall live my children’s children
When the time of sorrow is come?
They will take to the goat’s path, and the fox’s home,
Fleeing from the foreign faces and the foreign swords.

Before the time of cords and scourges and lamentation
Grant us thy peace.
Before the stations of the mountain of desolation,
Before the certain hour of maternal sorrow,
Now at this birth season of decease,
Let the Infant, the still unspeaking and unspoken Word,
Grant Israel’s consolation
To one who has eighty years and no to-morrow.

According to thy word.
They shall praise Thee and suffer in every generation
With glory and derision,
Light upon light, mounting the saints’ stair.
Not for me the martyrdom, the ecstasy of thought and prayer,
Not for me the ultimate vision.
Grant me thy peace.
(And a sword shall pierce thy heart,
Thine also).
I am tired with my own life and the lives of those after me,
I am dying in my own death and the deaths of those after me.
Let thy servant depart,
Having seen thy salvation.

A hymn often sung on this day is ‘In his temple now behold him’, by Canon Henry John Pye (1827-1903), who was the Rector of Clifton Campville, Staffordshire, where he was also Lord of the Manor, and a canon of Lichfield Cathedral.

Henry John Pye was born Henry James Pye in Chacombe Banbury Priory, Northamptonshire, on 31 January 1827. His father, Henry John Pye (1802-1884), lived at Clifton Hall, Staffordshire, close to Comberford, and 10 miles east of Lichfield and seven miles north of Tamworth. He was the lord of the manor and the patron of the local living; his grandfather was Henry James Pye (1745-1813), the Poet Laureate (1790-1813).

The Pye family was also related to the Willington family of Colehill and Tamworth.

The younger Henry John Pye was educated at Eton and Trinity College Cambridge (BA, 1848; MA 1852). He was ordained deacon in 1850, and priest in 1851. He first served as curate of Cuddesdon, outside Oxford (1850-1851), where Bishop Samuel Wilberforce lived. He married the bishop’s daughter, Emily Charlotte Wilberforce, on 21 October 1851.

Pye’s father appointed him the Rector of Clifton Campville in the Diocese of Lichfield in 1851, and he remained rector until 1868. Pye also became the Prebendary of Handsacre (1865-1868) in Lichfield Cathedral.

While he was the Rector of Clifton Campville, Pye compiled a collection of hymns for use in the parish, including the hymn ‘In his temple now behold him,’ intended for use on the feast of the Presentation or Candlemas today.

Pye also commissioned George Edmund Street, the Gothic Revival architect, to restore Saint Andrew’s, the parish church in Clifton Campville. Street, who is known for his restoration of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and the Law Courts in London, had also designed Wilberforce’s new theological college in Cuddesdon.

Henry, his wife Emily, and his brother and sister joined the Roman Catholic Church in 1868. Pye later turned to the law: he was admitted at the Inner Temple in 1873 and was called to the bar in 1876.

Pye died in Tamworth on 3 January 1903, and the Manor of Clifton Campville and Clifton Hall, which had been in the Pye family since 1700, were sold in 1906.

In his temple now behold him;
See the long-expected Lord!
Ancient prophets had foretold him;
God hath now fulfilled his word.
Now to praise him, his redeemèd
Shall break forth with one accord.

In the arms of her who bore him,
Virgin pure, behold him lie,
While his aged saints adore him,
Ere in perfect faith they die:
Alleluia! Alleluia!

Lo, the incarnate God most high!
Jesus, by thy Presentation,
Thou, who didst for us endure,
Make us see thy great salvation,
Seal us with thy promise sure;
And present us in thy glory
To thy Father cleansed and pure.

Prince and author of salvation,
Be thy boundless love our theme!
Jesus, praise to thee be given
By the world thou didst redeem,
With the Father and the Spirit,
Lord of majesty supreme!

The Presentation depicted in a window in Saint Giles Church, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 2 February 2025, the Presentation):

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), is: ‘Serving the Lord with Dignity’ (pp 24-25). This theme was introduced yesterday with a Programme Update by the Revd Mauricio Mugunhe, Executive Director of Acção Social Anglicana, Igreja Anglicana de Moçambique e Angola.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 2 February 2026, the Presentation) invites us to pray reflecting on these words:

Lord, as Simeon held the Christ Child, we long to see your promise fulfilled in our lives. Help us to trust in your guidance and walk in faith each day.

The Collect:

Almighty and ever–living God,
clothed in majesty,
whose beloved Son was this day presented in the Temple,
in substance of our flesh:
grant that we may be presented to you
with pure and clean hearts,
by your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord, you fulfilled the hope of Simeon and Anna,
who lived to welcome the Messiah:
may we, who have received these gifts beyond words,
prepare to meet Christ Jesus when he comes
to bring us to eternal life;
for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Lord Jesus Christ,
light of the nations and glory of Israel:
make your home among us,
and present us pure and holy
to your heavenly Father,
your God, and our God.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The Presentation (centre) depicted in a window in Lichfield Cathedral … Henry John Pye was the Prebendary of Handsacre in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The Presentation depicted in a window in Peterborough Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

An Advent Calendar with Patrick Comerford: 25, 24 December 2025

A Nativity image in Saint Laurence’s Church, Winslow, Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

We have come to the last day of Advent, and today is Christmas Eve. At noon each day throughout Advent this year, I have been offering an image or two as part of my own ‘Advent Calendar’ for 2025, and an Advent or Christmas carol, hymn or song.

My images for my Advent Calendar at noon today, Christmas Eve, are of a Nativity image on the south wall in Saint Laurence’s Church, Winslow, Buckinghamshire, and of the Nativity scenes on the triptych in the Lady Chapel in Lichfield Cathedral.

The carved wooden reredos in the Lady Chapel in Lichfield Cathedral dates from 1895. The triptych or three-part altarpiece with high relief scenes was carved by Oskar Zwink in Oberammergau, the Bavarian town that is better known for its Passion Play. The carvings were designed in England by the Tractarian artist Charles Eamer Kempe (1837-1907), best known for his stained-glass windows, some of which can also be seen in the cathedral. The Church Historian, Owen Chadwick, says Kempe’s work represents ‘the Victorian zenith’ of church decoration and stained glass windows.

My choice of a carol or hymn today, on Christmas Eve, is ‘O Holy Night’, a song about the night of the birth of ‘the dear Saviour’ and frequently sung on Christmas Evel. It is based on the French poem Minuit, chrétiens, written in 1847 by Placide Cappeau and set to music by composer Adolphe Adam.

Cappeau’s poem reflects his socialist and abolitionist views. The most popular English version was translated in 1855 by an American music critic and Unitarian minister, the Revd John Sullivan Dwight (1813-1893), in 1855, with some small changes to the initial melody.

For many years, the song was excluded from Catholic hymnals while critics derided Cappeau as a socialist and a drunk, and spread rumours that he was Jewish.

In the version I am sharing today, the choir of King’s College, Cambridge, sings John Rutter’s arrangement of ‘O Holy Night’.

The Nativity scene on the triptych in the Lady Chapel, Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford / Lichfield Gazette)

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!
Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night divine! O night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by his cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from the orient land.
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,
In all our trials born to be our friend.
He knows our need, to our weakness no stranger.
Behold your King, before him lowly bend!
Behold your King, your King, before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and his gospel is peace.
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother;
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we;
Let all within us praise his holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we!
His power and glory evermore proclaim!
His power and glory evermore proclaim!

An Advent Calendar with Patrick Comerford: 24, 23 December 2025

‘Snow had fallen, snow on snow … in the bleak midwinter’ … snow in Cloister Court, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, some years ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in the last days of Advent, and tomorrow is Christmas Eve. At noon each day this Advent, I am offering an image or two as part of my own ‘Advent Calendar’ for 2025, and an Advent or Christmas carol, hymn or song.

I have been involved all morning with Santa's visit to the Christmas Market in Stony Stratford. It is great fun, and I am thankful it is not snowing. But in this cold winter weather and this costume, it feels like the bleak mid-winter despite all the warm responses of children and adults alike. So, my images for my Advent Calendar at noon today are of snow some years ago in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, on a bleak mid-winter morning during a weekend when I had been invited to preach in the college chapel.

My choice of a carol or hymn today is ‘In the Bleak Mid-Winter,’ by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894). For many it is closely associated with the Service of Nine Lessons with Carols, broadcast each Christmas Eve from the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge.

Christina Rossetti’s poem, ‘In the Bleak Mid-Winter,’ became popular among choirs after it was included it in the BBC broadcasts of the Service of Nine Lessons with Carols by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, using the 1911 setting by Harold Edwin Darke (1888-1976). He had once been the conductor of the choir, and his setting of the poem as a carol included his beautiful and delicate organ accompaniment.

But the tune most often associated with ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ is Cranham, composed in 1906 by Gustav Holst (1874-1934).

The poem had been published for the first time seven years earlier in Christina Rossetti’s Poetic Works, 10 years after her death. It was republished in 1906 The English Hymnal, edited by Percy Dearmer and Ralph Vaughan Williams, with Holst’s setting, and it quickly became a popular Christmas carol. Today ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ is one of the most popular and best-loved carols.

Christina Rossetti was part of the Victorian arts-and-crafts movement and the pre-Raphaelite movement. She was a leading advocate of women’s rights, a campaigner against slavery and war, and a prominent member of the Anglo-Catholic movement. She wrote ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ in 1872 in answer to a request from a magazine. But, like a lot of writers, she must have been frustrated that she never saw its publication.

So it took over 30 years, more than a generation, before this poem was first sung as a Christmas carol. Ever since then, though, it has been a firm Christmas favourite, and has been recorded by the King’s Singers, Julie Andrews, the Moody Blues, the Pet Shop Boys, James Taylor, Alison Crowe, Moya Brennan, Celtic Woman, Sarah McLachlan, Sarah Brightman and Loreena McKennitt.

But I still find this popularity surprising, because this is no popular, cosy, comfortable Christmas carol. Instead its images are harsh and bleak, and in the uncomfortable political climate in the world today tey are challenging and demanding once again.

‘In the bleak midwinter … snow had fallen, snow on snow’ … snow on Sidney Street, Cambridge, in front of the chapel of Sidney Sussex College (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In the bleak midwinter
frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron,
water like a stone:
snow had fallen, snow on snow,
snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter,
long ago.

Our God, heav’n cannot hold him,
nor earth sustain;
heav’n and earth shall flee away
when he comes to reign:
in the bleak midwinter
a stable place sufficed
the Lord God almighty,
Jesus Christ.

Enough for him, whom cherubim
worship night and day,
a breast full of milk
and a manger-ful of hay;
enough for him, whom angels
fall down before,
the ox and ass and camel
which adore.

Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
cherubim and seraphim
thronged the air;
but his mother only,
in her maiden bliss,
worshipped the beloved
with a kiss.

What can I give him,
poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb;
if I were a wise man
I would do my part;
yet what I can I give him —
give my heart.

An Advent Calendar with Patrick Comerford: 23, 22 December 2025

Snow some years ago at the Moat House, the former Comberford family home on Lichfield Street in Tamworth

Patrick Comerford

We are in the last days of Advent, and Christmas Day is next Thursday. At noon each day this Advent, I am offering an image or two as part of my own ‘Advent Calendar’ for 2025, and an Advent or Christmas carol, hymn or song.

My images for my Advent Calendar today is of snow some years ago at the Moat House, the former Comberford family home on Lichfield Street in Tamworth and a Christmas card with the former Church of Saint Mary and Saint George in Comberford, near Lichfield and Tamworth in a watercolour by Freda Morgan (2008).

My choice of a carol or hymn today is ‘While shepherds watched their flocks’, a traditional Christmas carol said to have been written by the Irish hymn-writer and England’s Poet Laureate, the Dublin-born Nahum Tate (1652-1715). It is one of the carols we sang yesterday afternoon at the Carol Service in Saunt Mary and Saint Giles Church in Stony Stratford.

The words were first published by Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady in 1700 in their supplement to their New Version of the Psalms of David of 1696. It is based on the Gospel story of the angels appearing to the shepherds (see Luke 2: 8-14).

A Christmas card with the Church of Saint Mary and Saint George, Comberford, in a watercolour by Freda Morgan (2008)

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
all seated on the ground,
the angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.

‘Fear not,’ said he (for mighty dread
had seized their troubled mind);
‘Glad tidings of great joy I bring
to you and all mankind.

‘To you in David’s town this day
is born of David’s line
a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord;
And this shall be the sign:

‘The heav’nly Babe you there shall find
to human view displayed,
all meanly wrapped in swathing bands,
and in a manger laid.’

Thus spake the seraph; and forthwith
appeared a shining throng
of angels praising God, who thus
addressed their joyful song:

‘All glory be to God on high,
and to the earth be peace;
Goodwill henceforth from heav’n to men
begin and never cease.

An Advent Calendar with Patrick Comerford: 22, 21 December 2025

Christmas lights in the churchyard at Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

We are in the last week of Advent, and Christmas Day is next Thursday. At noon each day this Advent, I am offering an image as part of my own ‘Advent Calendar’ for 2025, and an Advent or Christmas carol, hymn or song.

My image for my Advent Calendar today is of the Christmas lights in the churchyard at Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church in Stony Stratford.

My choice of a carol or hymn today is ‘O come all ye faithful’, our closing carol at the Carol Service in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, this afternoon (4 pm, Sunday 21 December 2025).

This is one of the best-loved Christmas carols, and is sometimes known by its Latin name (Adeste Fideles), and this probably explains why it is often described as a mediaeval hymn. But while, the original author is unknown, the writer who made it popular in English was Frederick Oakeley (1802-1880), a priest in the Church of England, a canon of Lichfield Cathedral and an Oxford don for many years before following John Henry Newman into the Roman Catholic Church and becoming a canon of Westminster Cathedral.

O come, all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him
Born the King of Angels:

O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord.

God of God,
Light of Light,
Lo! he abhors not the Virgin’s womb;
Very God,
Begotten, not created:

Refrain

Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above;
Glory to God
In the highest:

Refrain

Yea, Lord, we greet thee,
Born that happy morning,
Jesu, to thee be glory giv’n!
Word of the Father,
Now in flesh appearing:

Refrain

An Advent Calendar with Patrick Comerford: 21, 20 December 2025

The Christmas decorations in the window of Peggy’s Sweet Shop on the High Street in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

There is less than a week to go to Christmas Day. At noon each day this Advent, I am offering an image as part of my own ‘Advent Calendar’ for 2025, and an Advent or Christmas carol, hymn or song.

My image for my Advent Calendar today is the decorations in the window of Peggy’s Sweet Shop at 75 High Street in Stony Stratford.

My choice of a carol or hymn today is ‘Christmas Lullaby’ by John Rutter, one of the carols or hymns being sung by the choir at the Carol Service in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, tomorrow afternoon (4 pm, Sunday 21 December 2025).

Rutter wrote both ‘Christmas Lullaby’ (1989) and ‘Star Carol’ (1972) for the Bach Choir and its then conductor, Sir David Willcocks, for performance at the choir’s popular Christmas concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, London.

These events had been part of Rutter’s life since his childhood, when he attended as a member of the audience. He later became involved in making last-minute musical arrangements backstage. He composed ‘Christmas Lullaby’ as part of a commission from the Bach Choir in 1989 for the 70th birthday of their conductor Sir David Willcocks.

Clear in the darkness a light shines in Bethlehem:
Angels are singing, their sound fills the air.
Wise men have journeyed to greet their Messiah;
But only a mother and baby lie there.

‘Ave Maria, ave Maria’:
Hear the soft lullaby the angel hosts sing.
‘Ave Maria, ave Maria,
Maiden, and mother of Jesus our King’.

Where are his courtiers, and who are his people?
Why does he bear neither sceptre nor crown?
Shepherds his courtiers, the poor for his people,
with peace as his sceptre and love for his crown.

What though your treasures are not gold or incense?
Lay them before him with hearts full of love.
Praise to the Christ child, and praise to his mother
who bore us a Saviour by grace from above.