reflections on vocation
St. John's Lateran Cathedral, Rome.
This is a view of the Nave of the Cathedral, looking East towards the Papal Altar with its Gothic baldacchino (canopy). The Lateran Cathedral is the Pope's Cathedral as he serves specifically in the office of Bishop of Rome. It is, then, truly the Cathedral of the City of Rome. The Church was commissioned by Emperor Constantine, and despite the fact that it has suffered much structural damage over the years, and has been substantially rebuilt and redecorated several times, It stands, with its ancient foundations, along with its Baptistry, essentially in the dimensions in which it was constructed in the Emperor's day. Here, I am facing the Cathedral's great bronze western doors, which were closed that day. The doors are even more ancient than the Church itself, as they were taken from the Curia, the meeting hall and offices of the Senate of Rome., which still stands more or less in tact in the Forum. The photo was taken is by my friend Jeffrey Baker, who toured with me as part of an excellent class in ancient church art and architecture of Rome, which was taught by Fr. John Kevern, who was then Dean of Bexley Hall Seminary.
This is a view of the Nave of the Cathedral, looking East towards the Papal Altar with its Gothic baldacchino (canopy). The Lateran Cathedral is the Pope's Cathedral as he serves specifically in the office of Bishop of Rome. It is, then, truly the Cathedral of the City of Rome. The Church was commissioned by Emperor Constantine, and despite the fact that it has suffered much structural damage over the years, and has been substantially rebuilt and redecorated several times, It stands, with its ancient foundations, along with its Baptistry, essentially in the dimensions in which it was constructed in the Emperor's day. Here, I am facing the Cathedral's great bronze western doors, which were closed that day. The doors are even more ancient than the Church itself, as they were taken from the Curia, the meeting hall and offices of the Senate of Rome., which still stands more or less in tact in the Forum. The photo was taken is by my friend Jeffrey Baker, who toured with me as part of an excellent class in ancient church art and architecture of Rome, which was taught by Fr. John Kevern, who was then Dean of Bexley Hall Seminary.
the call to vocation
The document below is a version of an essay that I submitted as part of my application to the Bishop for my Candidacy to Holy Orders, as per the Canons of The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Michigan. I believe that the essay serves well as a sincere and substantive expression of the larger content and courses of my own understanding and experiences of the Call to Vocation in Christ, as I have come to understand it within the context of God's calling to all of us spiritually and quite practically to live ever more fully into that Love of God which The Son has made possible for us to know in His Church and with His Holy Spirit. In all of this, I hope that those who might be interested enough to read my Candidacy Essay as it appears here would understand that for me, our Vocations, which are always at once special to each and every one of us who are made to be the Daughters and Sons of God in Christ, in the Blessings of the Holy Spirit, and yet are the same, as the all bring us into the Very Life of the Holy Trinity itself, as we become Christ to each other and to a very dark, exhausted, and hungry world, which is indeed desperate to know God's Love.
The Call to Vocation in Christ: Candidacy Essay | |
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Saint Paul's Cathedral "St. Paul's Outside the Walls," Rome.
Sometimes, it is also called "Old St. Paul's," even as that moniker refers also and more specifically to an earlier structure, which was, with St. Peter's Vatican and St. John's Lateran, commissioned by Emperor Constantine. In this case, however, the Basilica which Constantine commissioned was shortly thereafter razed by Emperor Theodosius, in 386 AD, and replaced by the present structure. You may notice some broad similarities in the general proportions of this basilica with those of Saint John's Lateran Cathedral, which is pictured above, and which was constructed on the Lateran Hill in the City of Rome, proper. With St. John's Lateran, St. Peter's, Vatican, and St. Mary Major, St. Paul's is one of the four Papal Basilica's of Rome. As such, the High Altar is reserved for the exclusive use of the Pope. St. Paul's is special, however, in two respects: It is located, literally, outside the walls, and the traditional bounds, of the City of Rome, properly speaking. That is because, like St. Peter's Basilica, it's altar is constructed above the tomb of the Apostle to whom the Church is dedicated. In late antiquity, all cemeteries were located outside of the City of Rome. However, the Vatican Hill was located just across the Tiber from the City, and has since been incorporated into the metropolis. The cemetery where St. Paul was buried, upon which the present Basilica is constructed, was located well outside of the City. Perhaps as a consequence of its relative isolation, St. Paul's escaped the numerous and substantial reconstruction and redecoration projects which accumulated to produce the present structures that we see today in St. Mary Major and St. John's Lateran Cathedrals. Old Saint Peter's Basilica, the Cathedral which was commissioned by Emperor Constantine as a shrine to the physical remains of the Saint, and a mark of the Church of the City's Apostolic Foundations, was, of course, demolished completely and replaced with the present late Renaissance structure, which bares essentially no resemblance to the original Imperial structure. On the other hand, the general floor plans of St. John's Lateran, and St. Paul's Outside the Walls, are original to those structures, and are roughly equivalent in proportions to Old St. Peter's. Additionally, St. Paul's, though it had to be partially reconstructed after a tremendous fire in the nineteenth century devastated much of Theodosius's commission, is very much of the clean, simple, august, and colossal proportions and aesthetics of Old St. Peter's and the earliest incarnation of St. John's Lateran. One can see, then, that this is very much an imperial structure, modeled after a typical civil basilica from Rome. The greatest of these structures, which constructed in more or less cookie cutter fashion throughout the greater cities of the Empire, were used for Imperial audiences. These, and less noble structures of similar style, were used for civil and criminal courts, and for the transaction of numerous other sorts of public deliberations, hearings, and communications. Often, one would enter through doors made to resemble triumphal arches, and proceed down the length of the hall, to reach the end, or the hed, of the hall, which in the greater of the structures, concluded, as this cathedral does, with a semi-circular apse. Here is where the Emperor, or his representatives, would be seated, to proclaim, hear, deliberate, or judge. In the absence of the Emperor, the apse would function as a shrine for an effigy of the Emperor. Now, translated into great Cathedrals and smaller Churches, the Basilican form became a place to hear the Word of God, and to worship and adore His Holy Name. And so, the effigy of the Emperor was replaced with a crucifix and related icons, while the seat of the Emperor was replaced with a Cathedra, or Bishop's Throne, with his Altar. The meaning of these tremendous structures, which appeared with the ascension of Constantine to the Imperial Throne, to Romans, must have been very clear. Christ, and His Catholic and Universal Church, and the Emperor, with his Empire, are one. As such, these Basilicae, cum Cathedrals, were unmistakable manifestations of the fundamental unity of person and Empire, Christian, and Christ, which Constantine undoubtedly hoped and believed would restore and magnify not only the strength and unity, but also and more fundamentally, the comprehensive universality of the Empire as Christendom. Source: Wiki Commons
Sometimes, it is also called "Old St. Paul's," even as that moniker refers also and more specifically to an earlier structure, which was, with St. Peter's Vatican and St. John's Lateran, commissioned by Emperor Constantine. In this case, however, the Basilica which Constantine commissioned was shortly thereafter razed by Emperor Theodosius, in 386 AD, and replaced by the present structure. You may notice some broad similarities in the general proportions of this basilica with those of Saint John's Lateran Cathedral, which is pictured above, and which was constructed on the Lateran Hill in the City of Rome, proper. With St. John's Lateran, St. Peter's, Vatican, and St. Mary Major, St. Paul's is one of the four Papal Basilica's of Rome. As such, the High Altar is reserved for the exclusive use of the Pope. St. Paul's is special, however, in two respects: It is located, literally, outside the walls, and the traditional bounds, of the City of Rome, properly speaking. That is because, like St. Peter's Basilica, it's altar is constructed above the tomb of the Apostle to whom the Church is dedicated. In late antiquity, all cemeteries were located outside of the City of Rome. However, the Vatican Hill was located just across the Tiber from the City, and has since been incorporated into the metropolis. The cemetery where St. Paul was buried, upon which the present Basilica is constructed, was located well outside of the City. Perhaps as a consequence of its relative isolation, St. Paul's escaped the numerous and substantial reconstruction and redecoration projects which accumulated to produce the present structures that we see today in St. Mary Major and St. John's Lateran Cathedrals. Old Saint Peter's Basilica, the Cathedral which was commissioned by Emperor Constantine as a shrine to the physical remains of the Saint, and a mark of the Church of the City's Apostolic Foundations, was, of course, demolished completely and replaced with the present late Renaissance structure, which bares essentially no resemblance to the original Imperial structure. On the other hand, the general floor plans of St. John's Lateran, and St. Paul's Outside the Walls, are original to those structures, and are roughly equivalent in proportions to Old St. Peter's. Additionally, St. Paul's, though it had to be partially reconstructed after a tremendous fire in the nineteenth century devastated much of Theodosius's commission, is very much of the clean, simple, august, and colossal proportions and aesthetics of Old St. Peter's and the earliest incarnation of St. John's Lateran. One can see, then, that this is very much an imperial structure, modeled after a typical civil basilica from Rome. The greatest of these structures, which constructed in more or less cookie cutter fashion throughout the greater cities of the Empire, were used for Imperial audiences. These, and less noble structures of similar style, were used for civil and criminal courts, and for the transaction of numerous other sorts of public deliberations, hearings, and communications. Often, one would enter through doors made to resemble triumphal arches, and proceed down the length of the hall, to reach the end, or the hed, of the hall, which in the greater of the structures, concluded, as this cathedral does, with a semi-circular apse. Here is where the Emperor, or his representatives, would be seated, to proclaim, hear, deliberate, or judge. In the absence of the Emperor, the apse would function as a shrine for an effigy of the Emperor. Now, translated into great Cathedrals and smaller Churches, the Basilican form became a place to hear the Word of God, and to worship and adore His Holy Name. And so, the effigy of the Emperor was replaced with a crucifix and related icons, while the seat of the Emperor was replaced with a Cathedra, or Bishop's Throne, with his Altar. The meaning of these tremendous structures, which appeared with the ascension of Constantine to the Imperial Throne, to Romans, must have been very clear. Christ, and His Catholic and Universal Church, and the Emperor, with his Empire, are one. As such, these Basilicae, cum Cathedrals, were unmistakable manifestations of the fundamental unity of person and Empire, Christian, and Christ, which Constantine undoubtedly hoped and believed would restore and magnify not only the strength and unity, but also and more fundamentally, the comprehensive universality of the Empire as Christendom. Source: Wiki Commons
Apse of St. Paul's Outside the Walls
Source: Wiki Commons
Source: Wiki Commons
Mosaic Detail from Ceiling of Apse, St. Paul's Outside the Walls (Old St. Saul's Cathedral, Rome)
Icon of Christos Pantocrator, "Christ the King," or, more literally, 'Christ, the Ruler Over All,' flanked as he is here by a coterie of icons of the Saints Luke, Paul, (Christ), Peter, and Andrew, respectively. I think that too often, when we reflect on the wold of antiquity at its monumental best, we see in our mind's eye places that are august to be sure, but also austere, not unlike the monumental neoclassical structures and spaces of central city London or Washington, D. C. In truth, although architects and designers of the ancient Greek and Latin world appreciated the reflective qualities and colors of fine stone surfaces, they were hardly strangers to paints and dies, and many public buildings were decorated within and without in a riot of colors. Thankfully, the glazed ceramics and other materials which were used in mosaics generally do not fade, and though this work was completed in 1220, it is very much made in the style of so many mosaics which do survive from Antiquity. As such, we can see here, as well as in so many surviving contemporary examples, glimpses of what must have been the vastly more brilliant and colorful decorative programs which adorned the greater civic buildings, structures, and monuments of late antiquity. Indeed, it was the unearthing of structures from that period, including some of the riotously colorful interiors of Nero's Palace in Rome, which inspired so many architects, artists, designers, and decorators of the Italian Renaissance. Here, we can see some of those brilliant colors put to the purposes of religious edification and inspiration. Note that the formal arrangement of Christ in his throne is very much in the form of Phidias's Statue of Zeus, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was a tremendous structure clad in almost incomprehensible quantities of ivory and other precious materials, and ensconced originally in the Temple of Zeus at Mount Olympia. Though the original was eventually removed by an art collector to his museum in Constantinople, where it was subsequently destroyed in a fire, the basic form has been reproduced repeatedly through the ages, and even more recently, in the Statue of Lincoln that is enshrined in the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, D. C., which, like the image of Christ here, was presented intentionally in that manner as a way of emphasizing the authority in a way that resonates to this day. Consider, for example, the Queen's appearance on her throne and annually, at her Throne Speech. Here, Christ also wears an Emperor's tunic and toga, as he presents the word recorded in Scripture, saying from St. John's Gospel: "I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, HE THAT FOLLOWETH ME SHALL NOT WALK IN DARKNESS BUT SHALL HAVE THE LIGHT OF LIFE." and symbolically proclaims his two natures, as fully human, and fully divine, with his right hand, in the same person of Christ. And yet, for all of that, he is shod in the simple sandals of a servant. Source Alberto Fernandez Fernandez, Wiki Commons.
Icon of Christos Pantocrator, "Christ the King," or, more literally, 'Christ, the Ruler Over All,' flanked as he is here by a coterie of icons of the Saints Luke, Paul, (Christ), Peter, and Andrew, respectively. I think that too often, when we reflect on the wold of antiquity at its monumental best, we see in our mind's eye places that are august to be sure, but also austere, not unlike the monumental neoclassical structures and spaces of central city London or Washington, D. C. In truth, although architects and designers of the ancient Greek and Latin world appreciated the reflective qualities and colors of fine stone surfaces, they were hardly strangers to paints and dies, and many public buildings were decorated within and without in a riot of colors. Thankfully, the glazed ceramics and other materials which were used in mosaics generally do not fade, and though this work was completed in 1220, it is very much made in the style of so many mosaics which do survive from Antiquity. As such, we can see here, as well as in so many surviving contemporary examples, glimpses of what must have been the vastly more brilliant and colorful decorative programs which adorned the greater civic buildings, structures, and monuments of late antiquity. Indeed, it was the unearthing of structures from that period, including some of the riotously colorful interiors of Nero's Palace in Rome, which inspired so many architects, artists, designers, and decorators of the Italian Renaissance. Here, we can see some of those brilliant colors put to the purposes of religious edification and inspiration. Note that the formal arrangement of Christ in his throne is very much in the form of Phidias's Statue of Zeus, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was a tremendous structure clad in almost incomprehensible quantities of ivory and other precious materials, and ensconced originally in the Temple of Zeus at Mount Olympia. Though the original was eventually removed by an art collector to his museum in Constantinople, where it was subsequently destroyed in a fire, the basic form has been reproduced repeatedly through the ages, and even more recently, in the Statue of Lincoln that is enshrined in the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, D. C., which, like the image of Christ here, was presented intentionally in that manner as a way of emphasizing the authority in a way that resonates to this day. Consider, for example, the Queen's appearance on her throne and annually, at her Throne Speech. Here, Christ also wears an Emperor's tunic and toga, as he presents the word recorded in Scripture, saying from St. John's Gospel: "I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, HE THAT FOLLOWETH ME SHALL NOT WALK IN DARKNESS BUT SHALL HAVE THE LIGHT OF LIFE." and symbolically proclaims his two natures, as fully human, and fully divine, with his right hand, in the same person of Christ. And yet, for all of that, he is shod in the simple sandals of a servant. Source Alberto Fernandez Fernandez, Wiki Commons.