The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

John the Baptist was born into a priestly Jewish family several months before the birth of Jesus. Events of his life and teaching are known from accounts in all four Gospels and in the writings of the first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. John’s birth was predicted miraculously to Zechariah and Elizabeth, as is recorded in the Gospel according to Saint Luke. At his birth the aged Zechariah sang the hymn of praise, the Benedictus, the traditional Gospel canticle at Morning Prayer (at Lauds in the medieval Daily Office).

John lived in the wilderness of Judea, near the Jordan River, and about the year 29 John began to preach a call to repentance and baptismal washing to enact that repentance. He gathered a group of disciples about him, from whom Jesus drew his first disciples: Andrew, and probably Simon Peter and John.

In the course of his preaching, John the Baptist denounced the immoral life of the Herodian rulers, and Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, had him arrested an imprisoned, perhaps in the huge fortress of Machaerus, which Herod the Great had built in the wilderness east of the Dead Sea. It was there that herod Antipas had John beheaded. The narrative of his death has been told many times over in music, art, and drama as well as in the lessons and devotions of the Church.

Saint John the Baptist was highly regarded by the early Christians, and the Eastern Churches especially have accorded him an important place in their prayers and worship. The Eastern Churches commemorate the Old Testament prophets, of whom John was the last and greatest. In the West, the preparatory proclamation of John is a focus of the Second and Third Sundays in Advent, and he is also honored on the First Sunday after the Epiphany as the baptizer of Jesus. The commemoration of his death is observed in many sanctoral calendars on August 29. At the time of the Reformation, the Lutheran churches and the Church of England retained the feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist in their sanctoral calendars, and a few (as also the 1662 Prayer Book) retained the day of his martyrdom.

Saint Augustine in the fourth century noted John’s declaration about himself and Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30) and related it to this midsummer feast after which the days decrease in length.

adapted from the New Book of Festivals and Commemorations

The Collect

Almighty God, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Savior by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent, boldly rebuke vice, patiently suffer for the sake of truth, and proclaim the coming of Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The First Lesson
Isaiah 40:1-11

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.

A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.

Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.

Psalm 85
Benedixisti, Domine

Lord, you have been gracious to your land; *

         you have turned away the captivity of Jacob.

You have forgiven the offence of your people *

         and covered all their sins.

You have taken away all your displeasure *

         and turned yourself from your wrathful indignation.

Restore us then, O God our Savior, *

         and let your anger cease from us.

Will you be displeased at us for ever, *

         and will you stretch out your wrath from one generation to another?

Will you not turn again and quicken us, *

         that your people may rejoice in you?

Show us your mercy, O Lord, *

         and grant us your salvation.

I will hearken to what the Lord God will say, *

         for he shall speak peace unto his people, and to his saints, that they turn not again.

For his salvation is near to those who fear him, *

         that glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth have met together; *

         righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall flourish out of the earth, *

         and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Indeed, the Lord shall show goodness, *

         and our land shall give its increase.

Righteousness shall go before him, *

         and he shall direct his going in the way.

The Second Lesson
Acts 13:14b-26

On the Sabbath day [Paul and his companions] went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.” So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:

“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.

The Gospel
Luke 1:57-80

Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.

And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
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The Lessons and Gospel are taken from the English Standard Version Bible. The Collect and Psalm are taken from the Book of Common Prayer (2019).

The icon of Saint John the Baptist is taken from Aidan Hart’s gallery of icons and is reproduced here with his generous permission.

Alban, First Martyr of Britain, c. 250

Alban, the earliest Christian in Britain who is known to us by name, is according to tradition the first British martyr to the faith. He was a citizen of Verulamium, a city about twenty miles northeast of London, now known as St. Alban’s. (He may have been a soldier of the Roman army stationed at Verulamium, hence his iconographic depiction as a Roman soldier.) He gave shelter to a Christian presbyter who was fleeing persecution, hiding him in his house for several days. Influenced by the presbyter’s devotion in prayer, Alban was converted to faith in Christ. When the presbyter’s hiding place was discovered, Alban dressed himself in the presbyter’s cloak and was arrested in his place. Refusing to sacrifice to pagan gods, Alban was sentenced to death. After the conversion of one executioner, Alban was beheaded on the 22nd of June by another executioner, traditionally about the year 304, although later scholarship suggests a date of around 254, during the persecution under the emperor Decius.

Alban is the only saint in Britain whose veneration is continuous from Roman times. A church was built on the site of his martyrdom, and the shrine was frequented at least up to the time of Bede. The first mention of veneration at this shrine come in the late fifth-century Life of Germanus of Auxerre. This work recounts the visit to Alban’s tomb at Verulamium by the Gallic bishops Germanus and Lupus in 429, when they removed some dust from it and gave relics of apostles and martyrs in its place. King Offa of Mercia established a monastery at the shrine about the year 793, and by the thirteenth century St. Alban’s ranked as the greatest abbey in England. Alban’s relics were venerated there until the Reformation. The great Norman abbey church, begun in 1077, now serves as the cathedral of the diocese of St. Alban’s, created by act of Parliament in 1877. The remains of a fourteenth century marble shrine of Saint Alban are contained in a chapel within the cathedral.

taken from Lesser Feasts and Fasts (1980), Celebrating the Saints,
and The Oxford Dictionary of Saints

The Collect

Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyr Alban triumphed over suffering and was faithful even to death: Grant us, who now remember him in thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world, that we may receive with him the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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The icon of Saint Alban, Protomartyr of Britain, is taken from Aidan Hart’s gallery of icons of Western saints and is reproduced here with his generous permission.

The Venerable Bede’s account of the martyrdom of Saint Alban and his companions is found in Chapter VII of Book I of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People.

Sundar Singh, Evangelist in India and Teacher of the Faith, 1929

Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889 – 1929), born in Patiala State, India, became an Indian Christian missionary whose life and message had a far ranging impact. Born into a Sikh family, Sundar grew up a faithful Sikh. When a boy, he converted to Christianity, incurring the rejection by his father. Sundar withdrew from a Christian seminary after refusing to cast off his Sikh clothing and wear Western clothing. That set the direction of his ministry, seeking to wear the clothing and speak the terminology of the Sikh while conveying the Christian message. Sundar’s impact went far and wide, influencing important spiritual leaders, such as Mohandas Ghandi and C.S. Lewis. He is believed to have died in the foothills of the Himalayas in 1929, although his body was never found.

His writings being widely published, the international Christian missionary press focused on Sundar Singh’s Christian message, even giving some attention to his Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist terminology. He preached a universalist message, believing that Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs will go to heaven as surely as a faithful Christian. Reflecting on an international trip he made to the West during the 1920s, Sundar shared his view that many more Indian and Asian people have profound faith than those in the West.

During Sundar’s lifetime, the United Kingdom ruled India, but he paid little attention to the political situation. He focused his mission on reaching Indian and Tibetan people with the life example and message of Jesus Christ. His way of life reflected his belief that if Jesus Christ could have sent his disciples to India during Jesus’ lifetime, they would have lived and worked as Sadhu Sundar Singh had. His life displayed how the lifestyle and message of the New Testament can integrate seamlessly into the life style of a Sikh, Hindu, Jain, or Buddhist holy person.

extract from “Sadhu Sundar Singh” (with slight amendments) in the New World Encyclopedia series on Protestantism in India

The Collect

Almighty and everlasting God, you called your servant Sundar Singh to preach the Gospel to the people of India: Raise up in this and every land evangelists and heralds of your kingdom, that your Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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While Sundar Singh is commemorated in the sanctoral calendar of the Anglican Church in North America and in the calendars of some other Anglican Churches, there are some heterodox elements in his theology, including his universalism, his possible endorsement of reincarnation, and his claim to have spoken with and learned from the heterodox eighteenth-century Swedish mystic, religious writer, and scientist Emanuel Swedenborg in his visions. (For this reason, I have used the Collect of a Missionary or Evangelist from the 2019 Common of Commemorations rather than the Collect of a Teacher of the Faith.) There are also questions that scholars have raised about the reliability of his biography, particularly the details of his early life as recounted by Sundar and subsequently disseminated by reporters and biographers. Some of the controverted theology and biography is discussed in the New World Encyclopedia article to which I have linked above. All this being recognized, it is nevertheless arguably true, as that article summarizes, that Sundar Singh “had done more than any man in the first half of the twentieth century to establish that ‘Jesus belongs to India.’ He made it clear that Christianity constitutes not an imported, alien, foreign religion but is indigenous to Indian needs, aspirations, and faith. He remains one of the permanently significant figures of Indian Christianity.”

The image is a detail from a stained glass window entitled, Prophet Isaiah, Apostle St Peter, Sundar Singh, created in 1936 by Christian Waller (1894-1954) and now in the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Bernard Mizeki, Catechist and Martyr in Mashonaland, 1896

Bernard Mizeki was born about the year 1861 near Inhambane in Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique). His parents, who were of Shangaan origin, named him Mamiyeli Mitseki Gwambe. He received no formal education during the early part of his life, there being no local school. He left his native land in adolescence when he accompanied a European hunter to Cape Town as a servant, and he found employment as a domestic servant in a Cape Town suburb.

Mizeki attended a night school run by an Anglican mission when he was able, showing himself a quick learner. Befriended by Anglican missionaries, he was baptized on March 9, 1886, receiving the name Bernard. He later enrolled at Zonnebloem College to train as a catechist. In 1891 Bernard volunteered as a catechist for the pioneer mission in Mashonaland, and was stationed at Nhowe (in present-day Zimbabwe).

Five years later, in June 1896, during the Mashona rebellion led by priests of the Mwari religion against the British and their African friends and allies, Bernard was especially marked out, in part because he had offended the local witch doctor. On a Sunday that June the witch doctor ordered the people in Nhowe not to attend Bernard’s morning service, though Evensong that day was well attended. Upon hearing of this, the witch doctor threatened to kill Bernard and to punish the people who had attended the Christian service against his orders. Though warned to flee, Bernard would not desert his converts at the mission station.

On June 17, Bernard was dragged from his hut and mortally wounded by rebel warriors from the village. He managed to crawl to a nearby hillside, where his wife bathed his wounds. Leaving him for a short time to fetch blankets, she returned with another woman. They reported being frightened by an unearthly sound “like many wings of great birds” and by a dazzling light that moved toward the spot where Bernard lay. When the women had summoned the courage to go to the place where Bernard lay, his body had disappeared. His body was never found, and the exact site of his burial is unknown.

A shrine near the place of his martyrdom attracts pilgrims to this day. Every year, on the Saturday nearest June 18, a special liturgy of Holy Communion in held to commemorate the Anglican protomartyr of Central and Southern Africa.

prepared from Lesser Feasts and Fasts (1980) and other sources

The Collect

Almighty God, you gave your servant Bernard Mizeki boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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The tapestry depicted above was embroidered by the Marandellas Women’s Institute. The central panel depicts Bernard catechizing. The upper border depicts the scene of his martyrdom, while the lower border depicts pilgrims coming to the shrine later erected on the site of his hut. The motif to the left depicts the triumph of the Cross over the witch doctor’s divinatory bones. The image is taken from the Rhodesian Tapestry website.

Joseph Butler, Bishop of Durham and Teacher of the Faith, 1752

Joseph Butler, once called “the greatest of all the thinkers of the English Church,” was born at Wantage, Berkshire, in 1692, into a Dissenting (Presbyterian) family. He received his education at dissenting academies, first at Gloucester and then at Tewkesbury. While at Tewkesbury, he undertook an “Examination of the Principles of Nonconformity”, which led him to the Church of England. In spite of his father’s attempts at dissuasion, Butler entered Oriel College, Oxford, in 1715, as a Commoner. He was ordained to the ministry of the Church of England in 1718.

As preacher at the Rolls Chapel for eight years he made his mark, especially for his sermons on human nature. He served as rector of Houghton-le-Skerne and of Stanhope, and as prebendary of Rochester, before his appointment as Bishop of Bristol, and in 1740 he was made Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, when he resigned the living of Stanhope. He declined the offer of the primacy of Canterbury in 1747, saying according to family tradition, that it was “too late to try to support a falling Church”. He accepted the see of Durham in 1750, where he set about repairing the two episcopal residences, appointed three days in every week for public hospitalities, and was munificent in the distribution of his large income. He died at Bath on June 16, 1752, and was buried in Bristol Cathedral.

Butler’s reputation rests chiefly on his incisive apology for orthodox Christianity against the Deist thought prevalent in England at the time. In The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature, published in 1736, he maintained by careful argument the “reasonable probability” of Christianity, with action upon that probability as a basis of faith. His rationalism was grounded in a deep personal piety, although he had little sympathy for the enthusiasm of the Wesleyan revival movement. Yet, in their different ways, Bishop Butler and John Wesley both contributed to the renewal of the Church in eighteenth century England.

from Lesser Feasts and Fasts (1980), with additions

The Collect

Almighty God, you gave your servant Joseph Butler special gifts of grace to understand and teach the truth revealed in Christ Jesus: Grant that by this teaching we may know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Evelyn Underhill, Teacher of the Faith, 1941

Evelyn Underhill, who by her prolific writing, lectures, retreats, and publications made the life and literary utterances of the mystics of every denomination or none accessible to a wide readership, was born in England in 1875 and educated at King’s College, London. She was already well on her way to a promising literary career in London, when in 1907 she married Hubert Stuart Moore, who, like her father, was a lawyer, and underwent and experience of religious conversion. She was drawn to the Roman Catholic Church, but after its condemnation of modernism, she felt unable to join it and turned to the study of the mystics.

The resulting huge volume Mysticism (1911), which revealed her immense acquaintance with the Christian mystics and saints, was completed with translations of some of the classic accounts of the spiritual life, making them available in English. The following decade of her life was devoted to translations and critical editions and introductory essays to devotional writers. She had a remarkable ability to make these men and women come alive again for her century.

From 1911 she was under the influence of Baron Friedrich von Hügel (1852-1925), a Roman Catholic, who became her spiritual director in 1921 and taught her to accept gladly the little things of each day. In 1927 Concerning the Inner Life moved beyond quotation from spiritual masters; and to her intimate familiarity with the saints and the though and writings of the spiritual guides throughout the sweep of Christian history is added a new series of concerns, a new realization of the power of the redemptive sufferings of Christ. There appears a new clarity in her witness to the besieging love of God that draws us to respond and a new appreciation of the worship of the church in its many forms. Her most mature and lasting work is Worship, published in 1936.

An honest and earnest inquirer, her religious life moved in stages, including her long interest in Roman Catholicism, but eventually she concluded that Anglicanism was the place of her to be, and she became a communicant in the Church of England. Her own progress in the spiritual life made her a compelling leader of retreats, conducted most of all at the little Anglican retreat house at Pleshy. The Letters of Evelyn Underhill, published posthumously in 1943, indicates the extent of her “after care” of those she had led in retreat. “A certain wise Prioress said, ‘Most books on religion have thousands of words—we need only one word, GOD—and that surrounded not by many words but by silence” (cf. Evelyn Underhill, Light of Christ, 1945).

Evelyn Underhill died in London in 1941.

Philip H. Pfatteicher, New Book of Festivals and Commemorations (2008)

The Collect

O God, the Origin, Sustainer, and End of all your creatures: Grant that your Church, taught by your servant Evelyn Underhill, guarded evermore by your power, and guided by your Spirit into the light of truth, may continually offer you all glory and thanksgiving and attain with your saints to the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have promised in our Savior Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, on God, now and forever. Amen.

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For a somewhat more in-depth biographical sketch of Underhill’s life and examination of her work, see Todd E. Johnson’s essay on the Fuller Studio website, “Life as Prayer: The Development of Evelyn Underhill’s Spirituality.”

Basil the Great, Bishop of Caesarea and Teacher of the Faith, 379

Basil was born about 329 in Caesarea of Cappadocia into a Christian family of wealth and distinction, seven of whose members (including Basil himself) are venerated as saints of the Church: his grandmother, Macrina (the Elder); his father Basil and his mother Emmelia; his older sister Macrina (the Younger); and his younger brothers, Gregory of Nyssa and Peter of Sebaste. Basil enjoyed the best education available, at Caesarea, Constantinople, and Athens. Here he became a close friend of Gregory Nazianzus, with whom Basil and his brother Gregory of Nyssa would later become known as the Cappadocian Fathers for their theological defense of the Nicene faith. Basil might have continued in the academic life, had it not been for the death of a beloved younger brother and the faith of his older sister, Macrina. Basil was baptized at the age of twenty-eight and was ordained a deacon soon after.

Macrina had founded the first monastic order for women at Annesi. Inspired by her example, Basil made a journey to study the life of anchorites in Egypt and Syria, and in 358 he returned to Cappadocia and founded the first monastery for men at Ibora. There he enjoyed the company of Gregory Nazianzus. Together they preached to the people and practiced a life of contemplation. Assisted by Gregory, Basil compiled The Longer and Shorter Rules, which transformed the solitary anchorites into a disciplined community of prayer and work. The Rules became the foundation for all Eastern monastic discipline.

The emperor Julian the Apostate, another friend from university days in Athens, invited Basil to the court, but he declined. Basil did not leave the isolation of the monastic life until 364, when his bishop, Eusebius of Caesarea, called him to defend the Church against the persecution of the Arian emperor Valens. In this same year he was ordained a presbyter. In the conflict with the Arians and Semi-Arians, Basil became convinced that he should become bishop of Caesarea, succeeding Eusebius. By a narrow margin he was elected to the see. As bishop of Caesarea, he was also the metropolitan of Cappadocia and exarch of Pontus, with fifty suffragan bishops. Basil was relentless in his efforts to restore the faith and discipline of the clergy and in defense of the Nicene faith. When the emperor Valens sought to undercut Basil’s power by dividing the see of Cappadocia, Basil forced his brother Gregory to become bishop of Nyssa.

In his treatise, On the Holy Spirit, Basil maintained that both the language of Scripture and the faith of the Church require that the same honor, glory, and worship are to be paid to the Spirit as to the Father and to the Son. It was entirely proper, he asserted, to adore God in liturgical prayer, not only with the traditional words, “Glory to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit”; but also with the formula, “Glory to the Father with the Son together with the Holy Spirit.”

Basil also showed concern for the poor and dispossessed, and when he died, he willed to Caesarea a complete new town, built on his own estate, with housing, a hospital and staff, a church for the poor, and a hospice for travelers.

He died at fifty in 379, just two years before the ecumenical Council of Constantinople, which authoritatively affirmed the Nicene faith for which he and many others (including Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory Nazianzus) had contended against the Arian and Semi-Arian heresies.

prepared from Lesser Feasts and Fasts (1980)
and The Oxford Dictionary of Saints

The Collect

Almighty God, you have revealed to your Church your eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like your bishop Basil of Caesarea, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; for you live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.

Enmegahbowh, Presbyter and Missionary, 1902

John Johnson Enmegahbowh, an Odawa (Ottawa) Indian from Canada, was raised in the Midewiwin traditional healing way of his grandfather and the Christian religion of his mother. He came into the United States as a Methodist missionary in 1832. At one point Enmegahbowh attempted to abandon missionary work and return to Canada, but the boat was turned back by storms on Lake Superior, providing him a vision: “Here Mr. Jonah came before me and said, ‘Ah, my friend Enmegahbowh, I know you. You are a fugitive. You have sinned and disobeyed God. Instead of going to the city of Nineveh, where God sent you to spread his word to the people, you started to go, and then turned aside. You are now on your way to the city of Tarsish….’”

Enmegahbowh invited James Lloyd Breck to Gull Lake, where together they founded St. Columba’s Mission in 1852. The mission was later moved to White Earth, where Enmegahbowh served until his death in 1902. Unwelcome for a time among some Ojibway groups because he warned the community at Fort Ripley about the 1862 uprising, Enmegahbowh was consistent as a man of peace, inspiring the Waubanaquot (Chief White Cloud) mission, which obtained a lasting peace between the Ojibway and the Dakota peoples.

Enmegahbowh (“The One who Stands Before his People”) is the first recognized Native American priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Jackson Kemper in 1859 and presbyter by Bishop Whipple in the cathedral at Faribault in 1867. Enmegahbowh helped train many others to serve as deacons throughout northern Minnesota. The powerful tradition of Ojibway hymn singing is a living testimony to their ministry. His understanding of Native tradition enabled him to enculturate Christianity in the language and traditions of the Ojibway. He tirelessly traveled throughout Minnesota and beyond, actively participating in the development of mission strategy and policy for the Protestant Episcopal Church.

adapted from Lesser Feasts and Fasts

The Collect

Almighty God, you led your pilgrim people of old with fire and cloud: Grant that the ministers of your Church, following the example of blessed Enmegahbowh, may stand before your holy people, leading them with fiery zeal and gentle humility. This we ask through Jesus, the Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.

Saint Barnabas the Apostle

“Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet” (Acts 4:36-37). Thus we are introduced in the New Testament to Barnabas, whose missionary calling and work would lead him, like the Twelve and Paul, to be called an apostle. Like Paul, he was a Jew of the Diaspora, “a native of Cyprus.” When Paul came to Jerusalem after his conversion, the disciples were afraid to receive him. But Barnabas brought Paul to the Twelve and declared to them how, on the road to Damascus, Paul had seen the Lord, and how Paul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus (Acts 10:27). Later, having settled in Antioch, Barnabas sent for Paul to join him in leading the community of believers (where they were first called, Christians) in that city.

Barnabas and Paul were sent by the church in Antioch to carry famine relief to the church in Jerusalem. Upon their return, the church in Antioch commissioned and sent them on their first missionary journey, which began in Cyprus. At Lystra in Asia Minor, the superstitious inhabitants mistook them for gods, supposing Paul to be Hermes, the messenger of the gods, and Barnabas to be Zeus, the ruler of the gods, a testimony to what must have been his commanding presence. The missionary association between Paul and Barnabas was broken, after this first journey, by a disagreement over Mark, who had prematurely left the mission to return to Jerusalem. After attending the council of apostles and elders in Jerusalem with Barnabas, Paul made a return visit to the churches that he and Barnabas had founded in Asia Minor. Barnabas and Mark went to Cyprus, where Barnabas is traditionally honored as the founder of the Church in that place.

Judging from evidence in Paul’s letters to the Galatians, the Corinthians, and the Colossians, Barnabas continued his evangelistic journeys after the Cypriot mission. According to tradition, Barnabas was martyred at Salamis in Cyprus.

prepared from Lesser Feasts and Fasts (1980), with amendments

The Collect

Grant, O God, that we may follow the example of your faithful servant Barnabas, who, seeking not his own renown but the well-being of your Church, gave generously of his life and substance for the relief of the poor, and went forth courageously in mission for the spread of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

The First Lesson
Isaiah 42:5-12

Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
Behold, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them.”

Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,
the coastlands and their inhabitants.
Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the habitants of Sela sing for joy,
let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Let them give glory to the Lord,
and declare his praise in the coastlands.

Psalm 112
Beatus vir

Praise the Lord! Blessed is the one who fears the Lord, * who has great delight in his commandments.

His seed shall be mighty in the land; * the generation of the faithful shall be blessed.

Riches and plenteousness shall be in his house, * and his righteousness shall endure for ever.

For the upright, there rises light in the darkness; * he is merciful, loving, and righteous.

It is good for him to be generous in lending * and to guide his words with discretion.

For he shall never be moved, * and the righteous shall be kept in everlasting remembrance.

He will not be afraid of any evil tidings, * for his heart is steadfast and trusts in the Lord.

His heart is established, and will not fear; * at the last he shall see his desire upon his enemies.

He has given freely to the poor, * and his righteousness endures for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honor.

The ungodly shall see it, and shall be angry; * he shall gnash his teeth, and waste away; the desire of the ungodly shall perish.

The Second Lesson
Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3

Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). So the disciples determined, everyone according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

The Gospel
Matthew 10:7-16

And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

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The Lessons and Gospel are taken from the English Standard Version Bible. The Collect and Psalm are taken from the Book of Common Prayer (2019).

The icon of Saint Barnabas is taken from the website of the Holy Transfiguration Monastery.

Ephrem of Edessa, Deacon and Hymnodist, Teacher of the Faith, 373

Ephrem of Edessa was a teacher, poet, orator, and defender of the faith. His was a voice of Aramaic Christianity, speaking the language Jesus spoke, using imagery that Jesus used. Edessa, a Syrian city, was a center for the spread of Christianity in the East long before the conversion of the western Roman empire.

The Syrians called Ephrem “the harp of the Holy Spirit,” and his hymns enriched the liturgy of the Syrian Church. Ephrem’s writings were influential in the development of Church doctrine. Jerome wrote that he had read in Greek of volume written by Ephrem on the Holy Spirit, and “though it was only a translation, I recognized therein the sublime genius of the man.”

Ephrem was born around 306 at Nisibis in Mesopotamia. At eighteen, he was baptized by James (Jacob), the bishop of Nisibis. It is thought that Ephrem accompanied Jacob to the first Council of Nicaea in 325. He lived at Nisibis until 363, when the Persians captured the city and drove out the Christians.

Ephrem thereafter retired to a cave in the hills above the city of Edessa, where he wrote most of his spiritual works. He lived an austere life, eating barley bread and dried herbs, a diet sometimes varied by the addition of greens. He drank only water. His clothing was a mass of patches. But despite this life he was not a recluse, and he frequently went into Edessa to preach. Discovering that hymns could be of great value in teaching the orthodox catholic faith, he opposed Gnostic hymns with his own, sung by a choir of women.

During a famine in 372 and 373, he distributed food and money to the poor and organized a sort of ambulance service for the sick. He died in 373 of exhaustion, brought on by his long hours of relief work.

Some seventy-two hymns, commentaries on the Old and New Testaments, and numerous homilies are among his extant writings. In his commentary on the Passion, he wrote: “No one has seen or shall see the things which you have seen. The Lord himself has become the altar, priest, and bread, and the chalice of salvation. He alone suffices for all, yet none suffices him. He is Altar and Lamb, victim and sacrifice, priest as well as food.”

from Lesser Feasts and Fasts (1980), with amendments

The Collect

Pour out upon us, O Lord, that same Spirit by which your deacon Ephrem rejoiced to proclaim in sacred song the mysteries of faith; and so gladden our hearts that we, like him, may be devoted to you alone; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.