Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 43, Friday 19 June 2026

‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth’ (Matthew 6: 19) … ‘S. Laurence with the treasures of the Church’ … an illustration in Enid M Chadwick’s ‘My Book of the Church’s Year’

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time: this week began with Trinity Sunday (14 June 2026), and the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today recalls Sundar Singh (1929) of India, Sadhu (holy man), Evangelist, Teacher of the Faith (19 June). I stayed up late in the early hoursnight, waiting for the Makerfield byelection result to come in. Now, 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.

Saint Laurence with his gridiron above the south porch of Saint Laurence’s Church in Winslow, Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 6: 19-23 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 19 ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 ‘The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!’

Saint Lawrence with the gridiron depicted on the Saint Lawrence and Saint Mary Magdalene Fountain, Carter Lane Gardens near Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections

The Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 6: 19-23) continues the series of readings from the Sermon on the Mount. In today’s reading, we are challenged to consider once again to think about the things we treasure, to keep our eyes open to all around us, to the needs of the world, and to step out of the darkness.

In these dark days – dark days for the world politically and socially, and dark days for refugees, the poor, the marginalised and those who suffer – what do I treasure most? What should the Church treasure?

Saint Lawrence the Martyr, who lived in the third century, was one of seven deacons in charge of helping the poor and the needy in Rome. He was martyred during the persecution of Christians in the reign of the Emperor Valerian in the year 258.

When Pope Sixtus II became Pope in 257, he ordained Lawrence deacon and appointed him Archdeacon of Rome. Sixtus II was celebrating the liturgy on 6 August when he taken captive and was taken away to be beheaded, Lawrence followed him weeping: ‘Father, where are you going without your deacon?’ Pope Sixtus answered, ‘I am not leaving you, my son, in three days you will follow me.’

Lawrence proceeded to give to the poor the rest of the money he had with him, and sold treasured church vessels so he would have more money to give away.

The prefect of Rome searched for the hidden treasures of the Church, and ordered Lawrence to bring them to him. The deacon said he would, in three days. Then he went through the streets of Rome and gathered together all the poor and sick people supported by the Church. He showed them to the prefect and said: ‘Here are the treasures of the church. You see, the church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor!’

Ambrose of Milan says Lawrence told the prefect: ‘Behold in these poor persons the treasures which I promised to show you; to which I will add pearls and precious stones, those widows and consecrated virgins, which are the Church’s crown.’

The prefect was furious. In his anger he asked them to kill Lawrence slowly so he would suffer more. He was tied to an iron grill over a slow fire that roasted him. As he was dying on the grill, Lawrence is said to have said: ‘Turn me over’. Before he died, he prayed that the city of Rome might be converted and that Christianity would spread throughout the world.

Lawrence died on 10 August 258. His feast on 10 August spread throughout Italy and northern Africa. The Emperor Constantine built a basilica in his honour, and his name is among the saints named in the First Eucharistic Prayer at the Mass.

Where do we find the treasures of the Church? … a window ledge in the chapel in Dr Miley’s Hospital, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 19 June 2026):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 14 to 20 June 2026 (pp 10-11), is ‘Rooted in Compassion’. This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Ven Titus Oluwalusi, the Anglican Chaplain at Saint John’s Church in Casablanca, Morocco.

The USPG prayer diary today (Friday 19 June 2026) invites us to pray:

Loving God, open our hearts and minds to understand the experiences and emotions of others. Grant us empathy and compassion, that we may respond with care, patience, and love in all our relationships.

The Collect of the Day:

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. Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Loving Father,
we thank you for feeding us at the supper of your Son:
sustain us with your Spirit,
that we may serve you here on earth
until our joy is complete in heaven,
and we share in the eternal banquet
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Faithful Creator,
whose mercy never fails:
deepen our faithfulness to you
and to your living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘The eye is the lamp of the body’ (Matthew 6: 22) … the Tae Yang mural, street art on Lorong Kai Joo in Kuching (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

Aghia Kyriaki Chapel, with views across the Kourtaliotiko Gorge, between Rethymnon and Preveli

The Chapel of Aghia Kyriaki was built in the Kourtaliotiko Gorge in 1853, between Rethymnon and Preveli (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This year marks the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Crete, which began on the morning of 20 May 1941, with multiple German airborne landings on Crete, and lasted for 12 days.

During the German occupation of Crete in World War II, 5,000 stranded Greek, Australian, New Zealand and British troops who fought in the Battle of Crete in 1941, found shelter in Preveli until the Abbot, Agathangelos Lagouvardos, aided their escape to Egypt on two submarines on the nights of 31 May and 1 June 1941 and 20 and 21 August 1941.

As I was looking back in recent days on old photographs of churches, chapels and monasteries in Greece that I had not written about, I came across photographs of two chapels I had visited but not yet written about: the small Chapel of Saint Savvas near the beach below Preveli Monastery, and the Chapel of Aghia Kyriaki in the Kourtaliotiko Gorge.

I have visited Preveli Monatery a few times, and on the way there and back, between Preveli and Rethymnon, I usually passed through the Kourtaliotiko Gorge and visited the Chapel of Aghia Kyriaki.

The Chapel of Aghia Kyriaki was built into the side of the gorge, with the natural rock face serving as one of its main walls (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Kourtaliotiko Gorge (Κουρταλιώτικο Φαράγγι), also known as the Asomatos Gorge (Φαράγγι Ασώματου), is on the south side of the western part of Crete. It is located where the Kourtaliotiko River flows south between the mountains of Kouroupa and Xiron.

The village of Koxare is at the north end of the gorge. A road runs north to south through the gorge connecting Koxare to Asomatos; it then leads west, to the town of Plakias on the south coast of Crete. The cliffs on the side of the gorge provide a roosting site for the Lammergeier vulture.

At one point in the gorge, about 20 metres from the north entrance, some ‘claps’ can be heard, like hands coming together. These ‘claps’ are the kourtala that give the name ο Κουρταλιώτης (o Kourtaliotis, ‘the rattle’ and ‘the noisy’) to the gorge. They are caused by the wind being funnelled through the high caves of the gorge and breaking the sound barrier.

On the road between Asomatos and Koxare in the gorge, the Chapel of Aghia Kyriaki was built in 1853, with the natural rock face serving as one of its main walls. The chapel is about 10 km south of Armeni, just before the short path entry leading down into the gorge.

The chapel is on the side of the road and is easy to climb up to. Inside, its features include a rare stone iconostasis rather than one of the traditional wooden ones found in most Greek churches.

The chapel has a rare stone iconostasis rather than a traditional wooden icon screen … Saint Kyriaki is depicted first on the left (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Kyriaki (Αγία Κυριακή), also known as Saint Kyriaki the Great Martyr (Αγία Κυριακή η Μεγαλομάρτυς), was martyred during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian. She was born in Nicomedia to Greek parents Dorotheus and Eusebia, devout Christians. Because she was born on a Sunday, they named her Kyriaki, the Greek name for Sunday.

When Kyriaki rejected a would-be suitor’s proposal of marriage, he denounced both her and her parents as Christians to Emperor Diocletian. Dorotheus and Eusebia were exiled to Melitene in eastern Anatolia and Kyriaki was sent to Nicomedia to be interrogated by the emperor’s co-ruler, Maximian. When Kyriaki refused to renounce her faith, she was whipped and tortured.

She was thrown into a fire and to wild beasts, and then sentenced her to beheading by the sword; she was 21. Her feast day is marked on 7 July in the Greek Orthodox Church. Several places in Greece have the name Aghia Kyriaki (Αγία Κυριακή), including an island in the Dodecanese.

An icon of Saint John the Baptist in Aghia Kyriaki Chapel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

About 900 meters from the Chapel of Aghia Kyriaki, the trailhead leads down a carved staircase of 258 steps to the lower gorge, where I remember seeing a goatherd taking a large flock of belled goats through the gorge. Down there too is yet another small chapel, the Chapel of Aghios Nikolaos, and from there it is possible to hike through the freezing waters to see the magnificent 40-metre-high waterfall on the Kourtaliotis River waterfall.

The gorge leads eventually to the sandy beach at Preveli, and the natural life includes native palm trees. I am told an experienced hiker could follow the path across the river to reach the beach, and it takes about 2½ hours at an average pace. There is an alternative path, one parallel to the river, which easier and faster to walk through.

Each time I was travelling between Rethymnon and Preveli, I took the even easier option of travelling by coach. But each time I also managed to stop and climb the steps to visit the Chapel of Aghia Kyriaki.


Watching goats being herded through the Kourtaliotiko Gorge, below Aghia Kyriaki Chapel (Image: Patrick Comerford, YouTube)

Saint Savvas Chapel, a small, peaceful chapel on the beach that was part of the Battle of Crete

The small Chapel of Saint Savvas (Agios Savvas) is a 130-year-old monastic chapel below Preveli Monastery (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This year marks the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Crete, which began on the morning of 20 May 1941, with multiple German airborne landings on Crete, and lasted for 12 days.

During the German occupation of Crete in World War II, 5,000 stranded Greek, Australian, New Zealand and British troops who fought in the Battle of Crete in 1941, found shelter in Preveli until the Abbot, Agathangelos Lagouvardos, aided their escape to Egypt on two submarines on the nights of 31 May and 1 June 1941 and 20 and 21 August 1941.

As I was looking back in recent days on old photographs of churches, chapels and monasteries in Greece that I had not written about, poducing a new guide to church buildings in Crete yesterday (24 May 2026), I came across photographs of two chapels I had visited but not yet written about: the small Chapel of Saint Savvas near the beach below Preveli Monastery, and the Chapel of Aghia Kyriaki in the Kourtaliotiko Gorge.

The Chapel of Saint Savvas is on the east bank of the Preveli Gorge in southern Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The small Chapel of Saint Savvas (Agios Savvas) is a peaceful, picturesque 130-year-old monastic chapel below Preveli Monastery, which I have visited two or three times, near the mouth of the Megapotamos River and a famous palm forest.

The chapel is on the east bank of the Preveli Gorge in southern Crete, at the point where the river meets the Libyan Sea, close to the sandy shores of Preveli Beach and near the Kourtaliotiko Gorge. The chapel is framed by the lush Cretan palm trees that line the riverbank, offering a striking contrast against the dramatic canyon walls.

Tourists usually reach the chapel and the beach on the tour boats that leave from nearby coastal villages such as Plakias, or by taking the hiking trail from the Preveli Beach parking area and crossing the riverbed.

This is the beach where allied forces who were hiding in Preveli Monastery were rescued dramatically in 1941 as the Nazi occupation forces tightened their grip on Crete. At one time there had been a Byzantine church or chapel on the site.

The beach at Preveli is lined with the Cretan palms or Phoenix Theophrasti (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The chapel of Agios Savvas is close to Lake Preveli, south of Rethymno, on the east bank at the mouth of Kourtalioti Gorge.

The chapel owes its origins to Meletios Tziritakis a monk from the village of Kerame. Before coming to the Monastery of Prevelis, he was a monk in the Monastery of Aghios Savvas in Palestine. Because of this association, he gave the name Saint Savvas to the chapel he built in 1884 on the ruins of an earlier Byzantine chapel dedicated to Saint George. Beside the chapel, he built a cell to live in.

Around and to the left of the church there are traces of ancient, mediaeval and Byzanitne buildings. While the monk was digging the foundations for his chapel, he discovered old tombs, confirming the presence of an ancient settlement and a pottery at Lake Preveli. The chapel was completed and dedicated in 1898.

The chapel’s white stone walls and terracotta roof, picked out against the green palms and deep blue sea make it one of the most photographed spots along that part of the southern coast of Crete.

The small chapel is usually guarded by a family of geese, and after a number of incidents involving campers who tried to sleep in the chapel overnight, the chapel is now usually locked and closed to visitors.

The beach is lined with the Cretan palms, Phoenix theophrasti, and its surroundings are protected by nature reserves. This protection means the beach is not spoiled by sunbeds or sun umbrellas at Preveli beach, although there is a small taverna at the mouth of the river, under shady trees, offering drinks and snacks during the tourist season.

A heart-shaped rock near the chapel and just off the beach is often called the ‘Love Rock’ or the ‘stone of lovers’ because of its shape.

A heart-shaped rock near the Chapel of Saint Savvas is often called the ‘Love Rock’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Sabbas (439-532), or Saint Savvas the Sanctified (Σάββας ὁ Ἡγιασμένος), was a Greek monk and priest who was born at Moutalaske near Caesarea in Cappadocia and lived mainly in Palaestina Prima. He was the founder of several convents, most notably Mar Saba in Palestine.

At the age of eight, he entered the monastery of Bishop Flavian of Antioch, and became a monk at 17. For many years he lived alone and in isolation in a cave before founding a monastery in the Kidron Valley, south of Jerusalem, in the year 484.

As an advocate of the Chalcedonian creed and strenuous opponent of the Monophysites and the followers of Origen, he tried to influence the emperors against them and he called personally on Emperor Anastasios I at Constantinople in 511 and on Justinian I in 531.

Saint Sabbas founded several more monasteries and is said to have wrought many miracles. He composed the first monastic rule of church services, the so-called Jerusalem Typikon, for use in all the Byzantine monasteries. He died in the year 532.

Crusaders took is relics in the 12th century and they remained in the Church of Saint Anthony in Venice until Pope Paul VI returned them to the monastery in 1965 as a gesture of good will towards the Orthodox Church. His Great Lavra is now known as the monastery of Mar Saba.

Local people near Preveli in southern Crete celebrate the feast day of the chapel on 5 December, with a number of commemorative events in the area.

Local people near Preveli celebrate the feast day of the Chapel of Saint Savvas on 5 December (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 27, Friday 1 May 2026, Saint Philip and Saint James

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … colourful houses in the Cathedral Close in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

Our Easter celebrations continue in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Second Sunday of Easter (Easter II). Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost (24 May 2026), or Whit Sunday.

The Church calendar today celebrates the feast of Saint Philip and Saint James, Apostles. This is also May Day (1 May) in many European countries, although the Bank Holiday in Britain and Ireland is on Monday next (4 May 2026). Today is also Staffordshire Day. 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.

Saint Philip (left) and Saint James (right) in stained glass windows in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth (Photographs: Patrick Comerford)

John 14: 1-14 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 1 ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ 5 Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ 6 Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

8 Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ 9 Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.’

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … colourful houses and shopfront on the Main Bazaar in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Today’s Gospel reading (John 14: 1-14) is also the Gospel reading for net Sunday(John 14: 1-14, 3 May 2026, Easter V). This reading is set within the context of the Last Supper, Christ’s Passover meal with the Disciples, and introduces his ‘Farewell Discourse’ in Saint John’s Gospel, in which Christ responds to the disciples’ questions by telling them he is the way, the truth and the life.

Judas Iscariot has left the table and the upper room and has gone out into the dark (John 13: 30), about to betray Christ.

Christ then gives his disciples the new commandment, ‘that you love one another’ (John 13: 34). In response to questions from Peter, Thomas, Philip and Jude, Christ now prepares his disciples for his departure.

This Gospel reading includes some well-known sayings, including:

• ‘In my Father's house are many mansions’ (KJV), translated in the NRSV and NRSVA as ‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2)

• ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14: 6), the sixth of the seven ‘I AM’ (Ἐγώ εἰμι) sayings in Saint John’s Gospel

• ‘If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it’ (John 14: 14)

Saint Philip and Saint James have been associated since ancient times: an ancient inscription shows the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles in Rome had an earlier dedication to Philip and James.

In Shakespeare’s play Measure for Measure (III, ii, 204), a child’s age is given as ‘a year and a quarter old, come Philip and Jacob,’ meaning, ‘a year and a quarter old on the first of next May, the feast of Philip and James.’ This day has also given us the word ‘popinjay’ for a vain or conceited person or ‘fop.’

But, despite the cultural legacy they have left us, the Philip and James recalled on 1 May are, to a great degree, small-bit players – almost anonymous or forgotten – in the New Testament, and in the Church calendar.

The Western Church commemorates James the Greater on 25 July, and James the Brother of the Lord on 23 or 25 October. But James the Less has no day for himself, he shares it with Philip, on 1 May. Philip the Apostle who has to share that same commemoration is frequently confused with Philip the Deacon (Acts 6: 7; 8: 5-40; 21: 8 ff) – but Philip the Deacon has his own day on 6 June or 11 October.

The Saint James that the Church remembers on May Day is James, the Son of Alphaeus. We know nothing about this James, apart from the fact that Jesus called him to be one of the 12. He is not James, the Brother of the Lord, later Bishop of Jerusalem and the traditional author of the Letter of James. Nor is he James the son of Zebedee, also an apostle and known as James the Greater. He appears on lists of the 12 – usually in the ninth place – but is never mentioned otherwise.

Philip the Apostle, not Philip the Deacon, came from the same town as Peter and Andrew, Bethsaida in Galilee. When Jesus called him directly, he sought out Nathanael and told him about ‘him about whom Moses … wrote’ (John 1: 45).

Like the other apostles, Philip took a long time coming to realise who Jesus was. On one occasion, as we shall read tomorrow (John 6: 1-15), when Jesus sees the great multitude following him and wants to give them food, he asks Philip where they should buy bread for the people to eat. We are told Jesus says ‘this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do’ (John 6: 6). Philip answers unhelpfully, perhaps in a disbelieving way: ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little [bit]’ (John 6: 7).

When Christ says in today’s reading, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life … If you know me, then you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him’ (John 14: 6a, 7), Philip then says: ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied’ (John 14: 8).

Satisfied?

Enough?

Jesus answers: ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father’ (John 14: 9a).

Yet, despite the near-anonymity of James and the weaknesses of Philip, these two became foundational pillars in the Church. They display total human helplessness, yet they become apostles who bring the Good News into the world. Indeed, from the very beginning, Philip has an oft-forgotten role in bringing people to Christ. Perhaps because he had a Greek name, some Gentile proselytes came and asked him to introduce them to Jesus.

We see in James and Philip ordinary, weak, every-day, human, men who, nevertheless, become pillars of the Church at its very foundation. They show us that grace, holiness and the call to follow Christ come to us not on our own merits, or as special prizes to be achieved. They are entirely the gift of God, not a matter of human achieving.

We need not worry about questions and doubts … there are many dwelling places in God’s house, and faith grows and develops and matures, just as a child learns, through questions.

Questioning is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of willingness to learn.

It is OK not to have all the answers. It is OK not to have all the answers. For Christ is ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14: 6).

In following Christ, we need not worry about our human weakness or that others may even forget us. God sees us as we are, and loves us just as we are. It is just as we are that we are called to follow Christ.

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … street art seen in Iraklion at Easter last year (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 1 May 2026, Saint Philip and Saint James):

‘Prayer and Action in Pakistan’ provides the theme this week (26 April to 2 May 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), pp 50-51. This theme was introduced on Sunday with Reflections from the Revd Davidson Solanki, Senior Regional Manager for Asia and the Middle East.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 1 May 2026, Saint Philip and Saint James) invites us to pray:

Gracious God, we give thanks for the faithful witness of Philip and James. May we, inspired by this example, share your love through service, strengthen communities, and bear witness to your light in all we do.

The Collect:

Almighty Father,
whom truly to know is eternal life:
teach us to know your Son Jesus Christ
as the way, the truth, and the life;
that we may follow the steps
of your holy apostles Philip and James,
and walk steadfastly in the way that leads to your glory;
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:

Almighty God,
who on the day of Pentecost
sent your Holy Spirit to the apostles
with the wind from heaven and in tongues of flame,
filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel:
by the power of the same Spirit
strengthen us to witness to your truth
and to draw everyone to the fire of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

A return visit to Comberford yesterday … today (1 May) is also Staffordshire Day (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

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

Saint Bertelin’s Chapel is part of the story of early Stafford, but archaeologists disagree about interpreting the site

The site of Saint Bertelin’s Chapel, in front of Saint Mary’s Collegiate Church, Stafford, is said to date from the year 700 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

I was writing yesterday about my visit to Stafford last week and to Saint Mary’s Collegiate Church in the centre of the town. At the west end of the church is the site of a chapel associated with Saint Bertelin or Saint Beorhthelm, who is said to have established a hermitage ca 700 CE that is said to mark the beginnings of Stafford.

Saint Bertelin was an obscure Anglo Saxon saint. He is said to have established his hermitage ca 700 CE on the Isle of Bethnei in the marshes around the River Sow. Bertelin – whose name gradually took the form Bertram in some areas – later moved his hermitage to Ilam in Derbyshire, where his shrine and well made Ilam a popular place of pilgrimage.

The first building on the site in Stafford seems to have been a Late Saxon timber chapel, commemorating Saint Bertelin, although The first historical reference to Saint Bertelin at Stafford appears in a list of tombs of saints for pilgrims by Hugh Candidus of Peterbrough, who died ca 1175, in a reference ‘in Stefford sanctus Berthelmus martyr’.

Saint Mary’s Church was rebuilt in the late 12th and early 13th century, and was joined to Saint Bertelin’s chapel through a doorway in the west wall. The chapel became a shrine to Saint Bertelin, and was a place of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages.

The chapel was later used as a council chamber and a school, before it was pulled down in 1801 to allow more room for burials in the churchyard. Following the demolition, the site of Saint Bertelin’s Chapel was destroyed largely by burials in the 19th century and only patches of wall and floor and several early graves definable.

The blocked former west entrance into Saint Mary's was the only surviving evidence for the existence of the chapel until the local authority decided to clear the gravestones and create a garden of remembrance.

Saint Bertelin’s Chapel was pulled down in 1801 to provide more space for burials in Saint Mary’s churchyard (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Before the clearance work began, an archaeological investigation was carried out in 1954 at the site of Saint Bertelin’s Chapel by Adrian Oswald (1908-2001), curator of archaeology at Birmingham City Museum.

Oswald found a set of stone foundations interpreted as belonging to Saint Bertelin's mediaeval chapel. Beneath the stone was a set of post-holes with a central grave-shaped pit in the centre of the structure containing a large lump of oak with a cylindrical base that had been placed in a pit.

The archaeologist and historian CA Ralegh Radford (1900-1998) initially interpreted this as a 1,000-year-old a wooden cross of the Mercian period and a later reconstruction was put on the site.

In the popular retelling of these interpretations, it was said that the remains of a timber cross buried 5 ft below the surface, and from this it was deduced that ‘it is entirely possible that this cross was the one used by Saint Bertelin himself. Beneath the cross were the remains of a timber building, which it seems reasonable to assume was the one built by Bertelin.’

The site of Saint Bertelin’s Chapel at the west front of Saint Mary’s Church, Stafford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

However, a re-assessment of the site was made in in 1984 by Professor Martin Carver, who considered the finds in the context of other archaeological investigations at Stafford. Carver is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of York and director of the Sutton Hoo Research Project. He founded the Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit (BUFAU), later called Birmingham Archaeology, at the University of Birmingham, and is the author of The Birth of a Borough. Archaeological studies of Anglo-Saxon Stafford (2010).

Carver argues that the shape of the wood lump, with a cylindrical base, and the leather attached inside to the top, all suggest that this was a coffin, not a cross, resembling the tree-trunk coffins known from the seventh century onwards in East Anglia.

The general sequence reported by Oswald was largely endorsed, seeing the site as one of a timber structure succeeded by a later stone chapel. However, the earliest part of the sequence associated with the timber structure and coffin was found to be inverted in respect of the dates. A layer of ninth century charcoal (830-845 CE) lay above the layer containing a Saxon farthing of Athelred II (971-1016) lost before 1000 CE, which in turn lay above the 12th century log coffin.

From this evidence, it could be argued that the coffin was buried in a late 12th century stone chapel, and the coffin was simply part of a late 12th century foundation process.

Carver suggests the log coffin was buried within a timber structure dated to the period 800-1000, and so too late to be used to support legends of an eighth century foundation associated with an ‘Isle of Bethnei’.

The timber chapel, or possible mortuary house, may have burnt down in the ninth century, which would account for the charcoal layer. Carver rejected the date 1180 for the log coffin. The timber chapel was superseded by a stone chapel with a truer east-west alignment. The floor of this stone chapel would have sealed the log coffin and the layers above it.

This stone chapel appears to have fallen into disuse and was probably demolished around the time of the Conquest and then rebuilt in stone on an improved alignment. A layer of brown soil, interpreted as a layer of ‘disuse’ appears to separate the floor of the first stone chapel from the second, later stone chapel rebuilt on the same site, slightly offset to the south, laid out in dressed stone indicating a small nave and a narrower chancel, with a tiled floor laid in the 14th century.

The muddled evidence may suggest the first chapel was built of timber between 800 and 1000. A tree-trunk burial was placed centrally in this structure, and presumed to be an object of veneration. The date range of other finds allows the construction of the timber chapel to belong to the foundation of the burh by Æthelflæd in 913 CE, and it seems likely the chapel was built during the reconquest of English Mercia.

The plaque marking the site of Saint Bertelin’s Chapel at Saint Mary’s Church, Stafford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Still, local publications continue to maintain this was Saint Bertelin’s preaching cross and this is echoed on the plaque at the site:

‘Site of St. Bertelin’s Chapel

‘This site was excavated in 1954 AD. The foundation stones have been restored upon the exact plan of the chapel built about 1000 AD.

‘The wooden cross is a replica of the cross lying five feet below with indications of a wooden building of much earlier date. The position of the cross indicates that it was regarded with great sanctity and may be the preaching cross of St. Bertelin the founder of the town of Stafford circa 700 AD.’

Meanwhile, the name of the early hermit and saint is continued in Saint Bertelin’s Church, the parish church for the north end of Stafford, on the corner of Holmcroft Road and Eccleshall Road.

Saint Chad’s Church is the oldest surviving building in Stafford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

After visiting Saint Mary’s Church and Saint Bertelin’s Chapel, I went to see Saint Chad’s Church opposite the Ancient High House on Greengate Street. Saint Chad’s is the oldest surviving building in Stafford, with a story stretching back to the 12th century, and perhaps even back to the time of Saint Chad, the first Bishop of Lichfield (669-672).

Saint Chad’s was built ca 1150-1190 and an inscription names the founder as Orm: Orm vocatur qui me condidit (‘He who made me is called Orm’). Orm was a major landowner of Danish origin and the dragons in the carvings are a pun on his name ‘Orm’ or ‘Worm’.

Saint Chad’s was restored from a forgotten and ruinous state in the mid-19th century. The restoration was carried out by Henry Griffiths, Robert Ward and George Gilbert Scott, who also built the Norman-Romanesque front and donated the statue of Saint Chad in the central niche. At the same time, Scott was carrying out extensive restorations of Lichfield Cathedral.

Saint Paul’s Church, which I passed on the way to Rugeley and Lichfield, is a Grade II building on Lichfield Road. It was designed by Henry Ward and built in 1844. The steeple was added in 1887 by Robert Griffiths. The stained glass includes late 19th and early 20th century work by Hardman and Co, AJ Davies of Bromsgrove, and Smith of St John’s Wood, including a particularly good 19th century east window.

I had visited four churches and chapels in Stafford – Saint Mary’s, Saint Bertelin’s Chapel’s Chapel, Saint Chad’s Church and Saint Paul’s Church. But before leaving Stafford last week I also visited Sir Martin Noel’s Almshouses on Earl Street, which still has its chapel.

As for Saint Bertelin, his feast day is celebrated on 10 August.

Saint Paul’s Church on Lichfield Road, Stafford, was designed by Henry Ward and built in 1844 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Daily prayer in Lent 2026: 37, Thursday 26 March 2026

‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am’ (John 8: 58) … ‘Abraham, our Father in Faith’ by Sean Rice (1931-1997), in the west apse of the Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in the last two weeks of Lent, and this week began with the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Lent V), sometimes still known as Passion Sunday. The Church Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers the life and witness of Harriet (O’Brien) Monsell (1811-1883), the Limerick-born founder of and first Superior of the Community of Saint John the Baptist or Clewer Sisters.

I have been on a 24-hour fast in preparation for an appointment this morning for blood tests as part of the continuing monitoring of my post-stroke condition, my sarcoidosis and my low levels of Vitamin B12. But, before the day 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 Sacrifice of Abraham depicted in the East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 8: 51-58 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 51 ‘Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.’ 52 The Jews said to him, ‘Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, “Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.” 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?’ 54 Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, “He is our God”, 55 though you do not know him. But I know him; if I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.’ 57 Then the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ 58 Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.’ 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Abraham depicted in a stained glass window in Saint John’s Church, Wall, near Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders in Jerusalem continues in the Gospel reading at the Eucharist (John 8: 51-58) today. Today’s reading opens with Jesus promising that ‘whoever keeps my word will never see death’ (verse 51), but ends with him being threatened with death himself as his interlocutors picked up stones to throw at him (verse 59), threatening him with the very same form of execution that faced the woman who had been caught in adultery and was brought before Jesus by scribes and Pharisees at the beginning of this chapter (John 8: 1-11), which we read about on Monday (23 April 2026).

That woman escaped being stoned to death when Jesus challenged her accusers, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her’, and then wrote on the ground (verse 7-8).

Jesus escapes death this time, hiding himself and going out of the temple (verse 59). But we know his death is inevitable, and we shall focus on his passion and his death, not by stoning but on the Rock of Golgotha, next week throughout Holy Week.

Harriet Monsell (1811-1883), who is remembered today, is one of the few Irish-born women in the Calendar of Saints in Common Worship in the Church of England. She was the daughter of Sir Edward O’Brien (1773-1826) of Dromoland Castle, Co Clare, and a sister of the Irish patriot William Smith O’Brien (1803-1864).

Harriet and her Irish-born husband Canon Charles Henry Monsell (1815-1850) were closely identified with the Oxford Movement. After he died in 1850, she began working in the railroad and army village of Clewer among former prostitutes and unmarried mothers at a House of Mercy. The house had been founded some years earlier by Mrs Mariquita Tennant, who was a Spanish refugee, a convert to Anglicanism and a clergyman’s widow.

Harriet Monsell moved to Clewer with her sister Catherine and her husband, Canon Charles Harris, later Bishop of Gibraltar. Harriet Monsell professed religious vows with two other women, and became Mother Superior of one of the first Anglican religious orders since the Reformation 300 years earlier.

The women lived according to a rule attributed to Saint Augustine of Hippo. At first, they were called the Sisters of Mercy. They later changed their name to reflect their inspiration from Saint John the Baptist’s call to penitence. During the order’s first five years, it expanded from assisting about 30 marginalised women to dedicating a building to serve about 80 women.

The foundation of the sisterhood was viewed with alarm, but the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, despite his misgivings, acted as Visitor to the Community until he moved to Winchester in 1869.

As the Community of Saint John Baptist, the nuns were guided by Mother Harriet, with her energy and humour. They extended their original mission to running about 40 institutions, including mission houses in parishes, as well as orphanages, schools and hospitals. Mother Harriet retired to Folkestone, Kent, in 1875 for health reasons, although she was occasionally able to visit the communities she founded.

She died in Folkestone on the morning of 25 March 1883, which that year was both the Feast of the Annunciation and Easter Day. Because of this coincidence, her commemoration in the Calendar of the Church of England has been moved to the following day, 26 March.

So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself (John 8: 59) … stones and pebbles on the beach in Portrane, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 26 March 2026):

The theme this week (22-28 March 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Myanmar Earthquake: One Year On’ (pp 40-41). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update by the Revd Davidson Solanki, the USPG Senior Regional Manager for Asia and the Middle East.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 26 March 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord, we thank you for those who have provided support over the past year; church workers, volunteers, aid workers, and faithful supporters.

The Collect:

Most merciful God,
who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ
delivered and saved the world:
grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross
we may triumph in the power of his victory;
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 have taught us
that what we do for the least of our brothers and sisters
we do also for you:
give us the will to be the servant of others
as you were the servant of all,
and gave up your life and died for us,
but are alive and reign, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Gracious Father,
you gave up your Son
out of love for the world:
lead us to ponder the mysteries of his passion,
that we may know eternal peace
through the shedding of our Saviour’s blood,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Mother Harriet Monsell (1811-1883), founder of the Community of Saint John Baptist, the ‘Clewer Sisters’

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

Saint Tikhon of Mount Athos, a key figure in modern Orthodox spirituality, has been recognised as a saint

Alexandra Kauoki working on a new icon of Saint Tikhon in Retymnon in Crete

Patrick Comerford

The Ecumenical Patriarchate announced ;ast week that that the Holy and Sacred Synod under the presidency of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has decided unanimously to include two monks of Mount Athos in the canon of saints of the Church: Elder Tikhon, who lived an ascetic life at the Holy Stavronikita Cell of the Precious Cross in the Skete of Kapsala, attached to Stavronikita; and Father George, also known as Hadji-Georgis, who was from Cappadocia and died in Constantinople.

The two Athonite monks were canonised last week (11 February). I first learned of the life of the saintly Athonite monk Saint Tikhon on courses in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, organised by the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, which is now based at Jesus College, and during visits to Saint John’s Monastery in Tolleshunt Knights, Essex.

Saint Tikhon is one of the key influential thinkers in Orthodox spirituality in recent decades, and his biography by Saint Paisos has introduced him to theologians and spiritual writers far beyond the Orthodox world.

Saint Tikhon was born Timotheos Golenkov in 1884 in the village of Novaya Mikhailovka, in present-day Volgograd in Russia, into a devout family. From a young age he wanted to dedicate his life to God. Despite his parents’ concerns, he went on pilgrimages to more than 200 monasteries throughout Russia, then to Mount Sinai and the Holy Land, and finally settled on Mount Athos at the age of 24.

He received the monastic tonsure with the name Tikhon in the cell of Saint Nicholas at Burazeri, near Karyes. For 15 years, he lived an ascetic life in Karoulia, an area in the extreme south end of Mount Athos that is known for its wilderness, harsh conditions, and the austere life of its hermits.

He then moved to one of the cells of Stavronikita Monastery at Kapsala, where his humility and asceticism led many people to seek him out for advice and spiritual consolation. He eventually agreed to be ordained a priest so he could offer sacramental confession as a father-confessor. He continued to live a life of humility and prayer, especially the Jesus Prayer, and built a small church in honour of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

He usually celebrated the Divine Liturgy every Sunday, though he always kept the Precious Gifts in his cell and took Communion daily. It is said that during the Liturgy people would see the his face transformed, and his eyes seemed to be radiating light in the dark. He frequently visited Esphigmenou Monastery to hear the confessions of the monks there.

Some of Saint Tikhon’s sayings include:

‘Good habits are virtues, and bad habits are passions.’

‘Let a monk not connect with animals because they will win his mind and heart and the monk will waste his love on animals instead of giving it wholeheartedly to God.’

‘The prayer, Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me! is the pure wheat.’

‘A good, obedient monk will be able to acquire the habit of unceasingly repeating the Jesus Prayer.’

‘If you don’t exercise caution while reading the Gospel, you may fall into delusion like Origen.’

‘Better three prostrations with humility than 1,000 prostrations with arrogance. Only humility will save us! Few people have acquired humility of mind and it is almost impossible to find them!’

Saint Tikhon lived his final days lived in seclusion, alone and in complete devotion to prayer. He is known particularly as the spiritual father of Saint Paisios (1924-1994), and had a profound influence on his spiritual formation of his spiritual path.

Saint Paisios received the Great and Angelic Schema from Saint Tikhon at the Hermitage of the Holy Cross, of the monastery of Stavronikita on 11 January 1966. Saint Tikhon died on 10/23 September 1968. Saint Paisios, who was with Father Tikhon in his last days, buried him, became his successor in his hermitage cell, and later wrote his life, which was published after Saint Paisios’s death, emphasising Saint Tikhon’s humility and holiness.

Wider interest in Saint Tikhon has grown since the canonisation of Saint Paisios the Athonite, his most famous disciple, in 2015. But in recent years, Russian church and state authorities have tried to use the memory of Saint Tikhon in their continuing attacks on the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The Russian Justice Minister, Alexander Konovalov, supported an initiative within the Russian Church to canonise Saint Tikhon as a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. He claimed, ‘In 1,000 years of the presence of Russian monks on Mount Athos, only one of the Russian ascetics has been glorified by the Church of Constantinople – Saint Silouan the Athonite.’

However, the Ecumenical Patriarchate alone is responsible for canonising a monk of Mount Athos. Indeed, the Church and the Holy Mountain of Athos are not concerned whether someone is Greek, Romanian or Russian, and are concerned only whether someone is a saint, and has canonised Saint Silouan the Athonite, Saint Sophrony (Sakharov), who founded the monastic community of Saint John the Baptist in Essex, and now Sait Tikhon.

Saint Paisios of Mount Athos, who was born Arsenios Eznepides in Cappadocia, was canonised by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 13 January 2015. He was the biographer of Elder Hadji-Georgis the Athonite, who was also canonised last week (11 February 2026).

During the past week or so, my friend the iconographer Alexandra Kauoki has been working in Retymnon in Crete on a new icon of Saint Tikhon in advance of his canonisation, including the halo. On the day of his canonisation, she said: «Άγιε Τύχων, πρέσβευε υπέρ όλου του κόσμου», ‘Saint Tikhon, intercede for the whole world.’

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 12, Saturday 14 February 2026

Hearts in the window of Damn Fine Café on Bird Street, Lichfield … today is Saint Valetine’s Day (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar. Tomorrow is the Sunday before Lent (15 February 2026) and Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent are four days away (18 February 2026). The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Saint Cyril (869) and Saint Methodius (885), Missionaries to the Slavs, and Saint Valentine (ca 269), Martyr at Rome.

It looks like an afternoon of wall-to-wall rugby later today and I hope to find an appropriate place to watch Ireland’s match against Italy in the Six Nations Championship (2:10 pm) and England’s games against Scotland (4:40 pm). But, before today begins, before an afternoon of rugby, before any romantic thoughts for Saint Valentine’s Day begin, 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.

A variety of bread on the Isla Jane Bakery stall in Buckingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Mark 8: 1-10 (NRSVA):

1 In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, 2 ‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way – and some of them have come from a great distance.’ 4 His disciples replied, ‘How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?’ 5 He asked them, ‘How many loaves do you have?’ They said, ‘Seven.’ 6 Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. 7 They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. 8 They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

Five loaves and two fish in a motif on the railings of Saint Joseph’s Cathedral in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

There are six different accounts of two miracle stories associated with the Feeding of the Multitude. The first story, the feeding of 5,000, is found in all four Gospels (see Matthew 14: 13-21; Mark 6: 31-44; Luke 9:10-17; and John 6: 5-15). This is the only miracle – apart from the Resurrection – that is found in all three Synoptic Gospels and in Saint John’s Gospel. The second story, the feeding of 4,000, is told by both Mark in today’s reading (Mark 8: 1-10) and by Matthew (Matthew 15: 32-38), but not by either Luke or John.

In the Feeding of the 5,000, Jesus feed the multitude with five loaves and two fish shared by a boy. When Jesus hears that John the Baptist had been killed, he take a boat to a solitary place, near Bethsaida. The crowds follow him on foot from the towns, and when Jesus lands he sees a large crowd. He had compassion for them and heals their sick. As evening approaches, the disciples tell him it is a remote place, it is late, and urge him to send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy food.

Jesus says they do not need to go away, and asks the disciples to give them something to eat. They find five loaves and two fish, Jesus asks the people to sit on the grass in groups of 50 and 100, takes the five loaves and two fish, looks up to heaven, gives thanks, breaks them. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. Taking, blessing, breaking and giving are the four essential liturgical actions at the Eucharist identified by Dom Gregory Dix in The Shape of the Liturgy.

All eat and are satisfied, and the disciples pick up 12 baskets full of broken pieces that are left over. The number of those who ate was about 5,000 men, as well as women and children.

If there were 5,000 men there that day, one woman with each man and two children with each couple, then we are talking about the feeding of 20,000 people, or the population of a town like Wexford, Carlow or Sligo in Ireland, Berkhamsted, Brownhills, Truro or Wednesbury in England, Ierapetra or Agios Nikolaos in Crete.

The physicist Professor Sir Colin Humphreys of Selwyn College, Cambridge, challenges many early calculations and instead suggests the number of men, women and children at the Exodus was about 20,000. So, in feeding the multitude, Christ is bringing all our wanderings, all our journeys, all our searches for God, to their fulfilment when we meet him in sharing the good news and break bread together.

In Apocryphal writings, II Baruch 29: 8, a Jewish pseudepigraphical text thought to date from the late 1st century CE or early 2nd century CE, also connects the feeding in the wilderness in Exodus 16 with the Messianic age.

The feeding with the fish also looks forward to the Resurrection. The fish is an early symbol of faith in the Risen Christ: Ichthus (ἰχθύς, ΙΧΘΥC) is the Greek word for fish, and can be read as an acrostic, a word formed from the first letters of words, spelling out ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ (Iēsous Khristos Theou Huios, Sōtēr), ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.’

The story of the feeding of the 4,000 is told only by Matthew and Mark. A large crowd gathers and follows Jesus. He calls his disciples and tells them he has compassion for the people, who have followed him for three days and now have nothing to eat. He does not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way.

The disciples say they are in a remote place and ask where they could find enough bread to feed such a crowd. All they have is seven loaves and a few small fish.

Jesus tells the people to sit down on the ground, he takes the loaves and fish, gives thanks, breaks them and gives them to the disciples, who then give them to the people. All ate and were satisfied. Afterwards, the disciples collect seven basketfuls of broken pieces that are leftover. The number of those who eat is 4,000 men, with the number of women and children not counted. Jesus then sends the crowd away, gets into the boat and goes to the area of the district of Dalmanutha (Matthew names it as Magadan or Magdala).

There are differences in the details of the two feeding stories. Are they two distinct miracles?

The baskets used to collect the food that remains are 12 κόφινοι (kófinoi, hand baskets) in Matthew (14: 20) and Mark (6: 43). But they are seven σπυρίδες (spyrídes, large baskets) in Matthew 15: 37 and Mark 8: 8. A σπυρίς (spyrís) or large basket was double the size of a κόφινος (kófinos). An indication of the size of a spyrís is that the Apostle Paul was let out in one through a gap in the city wall in Damascus to escape a plot to kill him (Acts 9: 25).

The two feeding miracles – the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000 – show that Christ cares for all seek him and listen to his teaching, both Jew and Gentile.

At the feeding of the 5,000, the people were certainly almost all Jews. They came from the surrounding towns and were familiar with where Jesus was going with his apostles to get some time alone. Then, after he fed them, they were about to come and make him king (see John 6:15).

When Jesus makes the people sit in groups of hundreds and fifties (Mark 6: 40; Luke 9: 14), the numbers may recall the place in the Exodus story where the people had rulers over fifties and hundreds (Exodus 18: 25). When the 12 have fed the multitude, each gets a full basket back. Perhaps the 12 baskets of leftovers represent the 12 tribes of Israel.

The feeding of the 4,000, on the other hand, may take place in a Gentile setting. It takes place after Jesus goes to the region of Tyre and Sidon. This is Gentile territory, although there would have been some Jews that lived there, which is why he was able to stay in a house there (Mark 7: 24).

This is the area where Christ heals the daughter of the Greek-speaking Syro-Phoenician or Canaanite woman (see Matthew 15: 22, Mark 7: 26), the only miracle of Jesus recorded in that region, and which we read about on Thursday. Both may be seen as clear signs that the Messianic blessing now extends to all people through the Messiah, and a fulfilment of the prophecy that the Messiah is to be a ‘light to the Gentiles’ (Isaiah 42: 6, 49: 6), which is one of the Christmas promises at Candlemas two weeks ago (see Luke 2: 29-32, 2 February).

When Christ leaves the area, Saint Mark says, he goes to the Sea of Galilee and then to its east coast, ‘the region of the Decapolis’, populated by Gentiles (Mark 7: 31). There he heals a deaf man who has a speech impediment, and the people spread the word about him (Mark 7: 31-37, which we read yesterday, Friday 13 February 2026).

By now, a large number of Gentiles from the region of Tyre and Sidon and from the Decapolis are following Jesus. He goes up a mountain and does many healings (Matthew 15: 29-31), and ‘they praised the God of Israel’. This last phrase indicates that these people are not primarily Jews, for when Jesus does miracles among Jews, they ‘praised God’ (see Matthew 9: 8; Mark 2: 12; Luke 13: 13; 18: 43; etc.).

What is the significance in Mark 8: 8 of saying that there are seven large baskets of leftover bread? In the Gentile context of the feeding of the 4,000, perhaps the seven full baskets harken back to the seven Gentile nations in Canaan that had once been driven out God but that are now counted in by Christ.

All are invited to be healed and fed at the Eucharist. As were reminded at Candlemas two weeks ago,

‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’ (Luke 2: 29-32).

FBread in a shop window in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 14 February 2026):

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: ‘Safe Routes’ (pp 26-27). This theme was introduced last Sunday with a Programme Update by Bradon Muilenburg, Anglican Refugee Support Lead.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 14 February 2026) invites us to pray:

Pour your love on the exiled in supported accommodation. Let them feel the acceptance and care of the Church, even amid suffering.

The Collect of the Day:

Lord of all,
who gave to your servants Cyril and Methodius
the gift of tongues to proclaim the gospel to the Slavs:
make your whole Church one as you are one
that all Christians may honour one another,
and east and west acknowledge
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
and you, the God and Father of all;
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:

Holy Father,
who gathered us here around the table of your Son
to share this meal with the whole household of God:
in that new world where you reveal
the fullness of your peace,
gather people of every race and language
to share with Cyril, Methodius and all your saints
in the eternal banquet of Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Collect on the Eve of the Sunday before Lent:

Almighty Father,
whose Son was revealed in majesty
before he suffered death upon the cross:
give us grace to perceive his glory,
that we may be strengthened to suffer with him
and be changed into his likeness, from glory to glory;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Hearts for Saint Valentine’s Day in the window of Ivision’s florists shop on Bird Street, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

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