On Friday 21st February, we will have our first evening on persecution accounts from the early church. The Reverend Dr Jos Strengholt will be leading in study. The first evening on this subject, we will read and discuss the following together: The Martyrdom of Stephen – Luke, Acts of the Apostles 6:1-7:59 Persecution of Christians in Rome by Nero – Tacitus, Annals 15.38-44 Persecution of Christians in the provinces  -Pliny the Younger, Letters 10.96-97 It promises to be another interesting evening,…

Next week Friday, January 31st, the first Christian Classics Study Group of the year will take place. We will be looking at the role of translation in our Church life. Translation is at the heart of all missionary work.  Dr Joseph had a Fulbright Fellowship to study what happens to the Bible and to the language when it is translated for the first time into a new language, in this case, Wolof, a language of…

Our second evening of Christian Classics for this autumn takes place on Friday November 8th. Once again it will be led by Fr Strengholt. On the evening we will each receive a copy of the text. Fr Strengholt will give us a background on the work and then guide us in our reading of the text. The Epistle to Diognetus is an early document written between 130 to 200 AD, its writer is unknown. It…

The first of two evenings of Christian Classics this autumn is on Friday October 11th. “Aurelius Ambrosius (c. 340–397), better known in English as Ambrose, was a bishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century.” [Wikipedia] He was a staunch defender of orthodoxy (Nicene Christianity) against Arianism in the Church. He is one of the four Western “Doctors of the Church” (along with Augustine, Jerome and Gregory…

Saint Basil the Great (also called Basil of Caesarea) lived from 330 to 379 AD.  He was born into a wealthy family and with four siblings, all of whom were later declared saints in the Orthodox Church.  He, his brother, Gregory of Nyssa, and his lifelong friend Gregory of Nazianzus, were declared 3 of the 4 “Doctors of the Church” by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Basil was influential in the development of the doctrine of the…

8.00 pm Friday 3 May Saint Cyprian (Latin: Thaschus Cæcilius Cyprianus; c. 200 – September 14, 258 AD) was bishop of Carthage and a notable Early Christian writer. He was a pagan public speaker and teacher from Carthage in North Africa who converted to Christianity around the year 246 AD. He immediately set himself to the study of Scripture and the writings of the first great Latin theologian from North Africa, Tertullian. Saint Cyprian grew so rapidly in holiness and knowledge of the…

The Anglican Church follows the practice of most denominations in choosing a series of readings to be read on Sunday services in all of their churches. That series of readings is called a lectionary. In the Church of England there are two possible lectionaries for use at Sunday services of Holy Communion.  The first is called the Traditional Western Eucharistic Lectionary, found in the Book of Common Prayer, but whose origins are in the 5th…

  On Friday 7 December Anna van Laere has been invited to speak about the tradition of learning the bible by heart – in her case the Gospel According to Mark.  She will tell something about the group she is a part of that learns to memorize the texts together and to music. And she will sing a little part of Marc’s Gospel.  The evening will be in Dutch and English.   Anna will share with…

Irenaeus was born in Asia (Turkey) between 115-142 AD and he died ca. 202. While young, he had seen and heard bishop Polycarp (d. 155) at Smyrna. During persecutions under Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Irenaeus was a priest (maybe already the bishop?) in Lyon (France). His bishop Photinus (already in prison?) send him to Rome in 177/178 with a letter for Pope Eleutherius regarding Montanism, an excitable charismatic movement. Upon his return to Lyon, Irenaeus succeeded…

29th June The Martyrdom of Polycarp Friday, Dinner at 6:30pm, talk at 8:00pm After the first evening on Polycarp’s Letter to the Philippians, Christian Classics, continues in June with the second evening on the great 2nd bishop Polycarp (in Smyrna, modern day Izmir, Turkey). Polycarp is among the earliest Christians whose writings survived. His name ‘Polycarp’ means ‘much fruit’ in Greek. It is recorded by Irenaeus, who heard him speak in his youth, and by Tertullian, that…