Benefice Eucharist for the Feast of the Epiphany

for 1 hour
Cavendish, St Mary the Virgin
Peacocks Road / The Green Cavendish Sudbury, CO10 8BA, United Kingdom

The second of 2 Benefices Services today to mark the Feast of the Epiphany

The subtitle in the Book of Common Prayer of this, one of the principal feasts of the Church, is ‘The Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles’. This emphasizes that, from the moment of the incarnation, the good news of Jesus Christ is for all: Jew and Gentile, the wise and the simple, male and female.

Nothing in the Greek text of the gospels indicates that the Magi were all male: even the idea that there were three and they were kings is a much later, non-scriptural, tradition.

The date of this feast goes back to the tradition of the Eastern Church, which celebrated both the Nativity and the Baptism of Christ on 6 January, whilst the West celebrated the Nativity on 25 December. As often happens, the two dates merged into a beginning and an end of the same celebration. The Western Church adopted ‘the twelve days of Christmas’ climaxing on 5 January, the eve of Epiphany, or ‘Twelfth Night’. The implication by the fifth century was that this was the night on which the Magi arrived.

Hundon, All Saints

This is a large, Perpendicular building, finished not long before the Reformation. No doubt it enjoyed all the ups and downs of the 17th Century religious wars, the long 18th Century sleep of the Church of England, and the vibrancy and energy of the 19th Century revival. But it is hard to tell now, because the church was completely destroyed by fire one night in February 1914, shortly before the outbreak of the Great War. 

The interior successfully retains a sense of the past, and heavens be praised the windows are all full of clear glass. There is plenty of open space of course, but intriguing little details - a wheatsheaf salvaged from an 18th Century memorial, the south chancel aisle panelled with dark wood from the vicarage, surviving roof timbers forming a cross in the south aisle.

A wide, light, simple interior, then, ideally suited for modern Anglican spirituality.

(With thanks to Simon Knott - http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/hundon.htm)


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The Revd Mark Woodrow

The Vicarage
14 High Street
Clare

CO10 8NY
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01787 277515
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01440 786629

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Benefice Eucharist for the Feast of the Epiphany

for 1 hour
Cavendish, St Mary the Virgin
Peacocks Road / The Green Cavendish Sudbury, CO10 8BA, United Kingdom

The second of 2 Benefices Services today to mark the Feast of the Epiphany

The subtitle in the Book of Common Prayer of this, one of the principal feasts of the Church, is ‘The Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles’. This emphasizes that, from the moment of the incarnation, the good news of Jesus Christ is for all: Jew and Gentile, the wise and the simple, male and female.

Nothing in the Greek text of the gospels indicates that the Magi were all male: even the idea that there were three and they were kings is a much later, non-scriptural, tradition.

The date of this feast goes back to the tradition of the Eastern Church, which celebrated both the Nativity and the Baptism of Christ on 6 January, whilst the West celebrated the Nativity on 25 December. As often happens, the two dates merged into a beginning and an end of the same celebration. The Western Church adopted ‘the twelve days of Christmas’ climaxing on 5 January, the eve of Epiphany, or ‘Twelfth Night’. The implication by the fifth century was that this was the night on which the Magi arrived.

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