Anglican Mystical Theology of the East
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Anglican mystical theology of the East.
"For as the lightnyng commeth out of the east, and appeareth into the West, so shall the commyng of the sonne of man be."
-Matthew 24:27
A 🧵. 
Richard Smith, A brief treatyse settynge forth diuers truthes
(1547)
-“We pray toward the east, not by chance but because God is light that may be understood and the sun of righteousness, & Christ is called ‘oriens’. The east must be dedicated to him for worshipping of him”
1559 Elizabethan Injunctions
-“the holy table in every church be decently made, and set in the place where the altar stood, and there commonly covered, as thereto belongs”
John Jewel, Apology
(1563)
-“the Ancient Christians our Forefathers, were wont to turn their Faces to the East when they offered up their Prayers to God [Tertullian, Apologia c.16.]”
Matthew Parker, Book of Advertisements
(1566)
-“they shall decently cover with carpet, silk, or other decent covering, and with a fair linen cloth (at the time of the ministration) the Communion Table, and to set the Ten Commandments upon the east wall over the said table.”
Thomas Bridges, A defence of the ecclesiastical gouernment (1587)
John King, Lectures upon Jonas
(1594)
-“Many religious actions we rather do towards the East, than any other point of heaven. We bury our dead commonly, … their faces laid and as it were looking Eastward. And for the most part, especially in our temples, we pray Eastward”
John King, Lectures upon Jonas
(1594)
-“Many religious actions we rather do towards the East, than any other point of heaven. We bury our dead commonly, … their faces laid and as it were looking Eastward. And for the most part, especially in our temples, we pray Eastward”
Robert Abbot, The second part of the Defence
(1607)
-"as we are wont to say, to kneele to the East, that is, towards the East: or to lift vp his eyes to heauen, that is, towards heauen: so they are thereby taught to bend and direct themselues in their worship and deuotion”
John Boys, Exposition Of The Festivall Epistles & Gospels, Vsed in our Liturgy
(1613)
-“whereas the Moors pray toward the South, and sectaries to the West: the orthodox Christians (and that from the very time of the Apostles) use to pray toward the East”
books.google.com/books?id=2u5JE…
Table of Contents:
-“East. Why we pray toward the East.”
John Donne, “Goodfriday, 1613. Riding Westward”
“Hence is’t, that I am carried towards the West
This day, when my Soul’s form bends toward the East,
There I should see a Sun, by rising set,
And by that setting endless day beget”
Walter Raleigh, History of the World
(1614)
-"Now because Paradise was seated by Moses toward the East, thence came the custome of praying towards the East… and therefore all our Churches are built East and West… affirming, that we alwayes pray towards the East, as looking towards Paradise, whence we were cast out"
“in those parts of the office which were directed to God immediately, as Prayers, Hymns, Lauds, Confessions of Faith, or Sins, he turn’d from the people ; and for that purpose in many Parish-Churches of late, the Reading-Pew had one Desk for the Bible, looking towards the people to the Body of the Church, another for the Prayer-Book looking towards the East or upper end of the Chancel”
-Anthony Sparrow, Rationale upon Common Prayer
William Austin, 𝐷𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑠 𝐴𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑎, 𝑜𝑟, 𝐶𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑡, 𝑔𝑜𝑑𝑙𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠
(1635)
-“in all our churches, by ancient custome, derived from the apostles' time, we turn our faces into the east, when we adore and make our prayers unto him”quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A23279.…
Charles Wheatley, 𝐴 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐼𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑 (1710)
-“[The church building] was always divided into two principal parts, viz. the nave or body of the church, and the sacrarium, since called chancel, from its being divided from the body of the church by neat rails, called in Latin 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖. The nave was common to all the people, and represented the visible world; the chancel was peculiar to the priests and sacred persons, and typified heaven: for which reason they always stood at the east end of the church, towards which part of the world they paid a more than ordinary reverence in their worship…”
“If the Customs be such as are derived from the primitive times, and continue in practice, there is no Reason to oppose, but rather to comply with them; or if they tend to promote a Delight in God’s Service. As for instance:
1: Worshipping towards the East, was a very ancient Custom in the Christian
Church.”
-Bishop Edward Stillingfleet, 𝐸𝑐𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 … 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦
(1702)
books.google.com/books?id=3nVjA… 
“It was an ancient custom, and is still practised, to bury the Dead with their Faces turning towards the East, to shew that they were as sure of an uprise, as the Sun that comes forth of his Eastern Chamber, and that they lie waiting for that Sun of Righteousness, Malach. 4.2. who shall at the last day return… These and the like Ceremonies the Church hath practised in her Funerals, to be as so many significant emblems to strengthen and confirm her living Children in the hopes of a joyful resurrection.”
Edward Stillingfleet, “Ecclesiastical Cases Relating to … Parochial Clergy”
(1702)
books.google.com/books?id=3nVjA…
Charles Wheatley, “Rational Illustration of the Book of Common Prayer” (1710)
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Apr 8
🧵 Anglican theology of “facing towards the East” (“ad orientem”)
-which way have Anglican ministers historically faced during the Divine Service?
-what theology underpins this?
-are there statistics that demonstrate the common practice?
Let’s explore 👇
Image source: Thomas Cranmer, “Catechismus” (1548)
At the English Reformation, Anglican clerics celebrated the Divine Service facing eastward (see images above). This was in common with the Lutheran and medieval practice.
Lutheran Medieval
The Anglican directionality stemmed from a particular theology of the East, which informed which way the congregation and the minister faced, how burials were conducted and how the corpses were oriented, and even from which direction the people expected Christ’s Second Coming:
Read 6 tweets
Aug 10, 2023
🧵Prayers for Faithful Departed
-key spiritual practice, rooted in the 1552 Prayerbook
-embodies the “Communion of Saints”
-connects the living & the dead into one
-purged of any links w/ Purgatory
-avoids continental Protestant mistakes
—
Image: “The Judde Memorial” (1560). Wikimedia Commons.
Did you know that the 1552 BCP, and other official texts, contain prayers for the dead?
How did the faithful use this practice, in the absence of Purgatory?
What does its omission from recent books on Anglicanism say about the reliability of modern scholarship?
Let’s dive in👇 
When the 1552 BCP appeared, the following texts were found within it:
Read 25 tweets
Jul 30, 2023
🧵Roman Catholic doctrine on Holy Orders
-one of worst corruptions in church history
-priests allowed to do ordinations; bishops just a bonus
-presbyterianism w/ a Pope; inspiration for Calvin etc
-in 20th c. quietly changed and covered up, like it never existed
What’s missing from the above diagram of holy orders? The BISHOP!
How did it happen that scenes like the one below became a normal part of the Middle Ages?
Let’s find out-
Read 24 tweets
Jul 26, 2023
🧵Does Roman Catholicism “follow the Church Fathers”?
This is a common meme, grounded in the notion that at least the RCs are “more patristic” than tshirt-wearing smoke-&-mirrors US evangelicals.
Which, true enough. But they fall off, beyond that lowest of bars.
Let’s explore:
Table of Conftents:
1. Nature of a Sacrament
Icons, Images, & Apostolic Piety
Mary
Purgatory
“Development of Doctrine”
“The Chair of Peter”
Papacy (as defined by Vatican I)
“Aerian Heresy”
Nature of a Sacrament
Read 32 tweets
Jul 22, 2023
🧵The Anglican Doctrine of Justification
-righteousness is not only imputed, but infused (ie. transforms us)
-we’re not only reckoned but actually BECOME righteous
Let’s take a look 👇 
Homily of Salvation
-“no man by his own acts [can] be justified, and MADE righteous before God”
-“What is the true and justifying faith[:] not only to believe that holy Scripture, … but also to have a sure TRUST and confidence in God’s merciful promises, … whereof doth follow a LOVING heart to obey his commandments”
-“[Faith moves] us to render our selves unto God wholly with all our WILL, HEARTS, MIGHT, and POWER, to serve him in all good deeds, obeying his commandments during our lives”
Homily on the True and Lively Faith
-“true, liuely, and Christian faith, is … a thing of perfect vertue, of wonderfull operation or working, and strength, bringing foorth all good motions, and good workes.”anglicanlibrary.org/homilies/bk1ho…
Alexander Nowell, “The Middle Catechism”
(1572)
-denies that justification is only imputation
-teaches that justification transforms us
Read 7 tweets
Jul 5, 2023
“English Liberty”
-a unique concept, unprecedented in world history
-a thousand-years old tradition focusing on individual liberty and justice
-derives from ancient English traditions of personal rights and duties
-enshrines the liberties & sanctity of individual, contrasted… https://t.co/plhMJa3bhK
Jordan Peterson, “Why I Love Great Britain”
-The freedoms Britain granted the world are the most precious gift of all. We must preserve them
-That gift is the political expression of the sanctification of the word — freedom in speech, imagination and thought: freedom to engage in… https://t.co/R8AZmjW4Th
https://twitter.com/stephenblackwd/status/1478551369313357825
C.S. Lewis:
-"The State exists simply to promote & to protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life... Unless they are helping to increase & prolong & protect such moments, all the laws, parliaments, armies, courts, police, economics, etc, are simply a waste of… https://t.co/k9vckfuC45 https://t.co/Xgk5wbr4cP
Read 4 tweets