Medieval Crozier and Ring Excavated in Britain

While the archaeological charter of this blog is usually of the Syro-palestinian kind, this is way too cool to pass by.

Unexpected medieval treasures have been discovered in a grave at one of the UK’s most beautiful abbeys along with the bones of the abbot they belonged to – probably a well-fed, little exercised man in his 40s who suffered from arthritis and type 2 diabetes.

The discoveries were made at Furness Abbey, on the outskirts of Barrow in Cumbria, a place that in its day was one of the most powerful and richest Cistercian abbeys in the country.

Archaeologists found a silver-gilt crozier (a kind of staff of office) and a jewelled ring in remarkable condition. “This is a very rare find which underlines the abbey’s status as one of the great power bases of the middle ages,” said Kevin Booth, senior curator at English Heritage.

The discoveries were only made because stabilisation work was needed at the abbey, with wooden foundations giving way and cracks appearing in the walls.

During excavations by Oxford Archeology North to investigate the seriousness of the problem, members of the team came across the undisturbed grave of the abbot together with his personal paraphernalia.

Curator Susan Harrison said it was particularly surprising because the grave had not been disturbed by 16th-century post-dissolution robbers, nor Victorian and Edwardian gentlemen antiquarians. Everyone had missed it until now.

The crozier is unusual and the first to be excavated in this country for 50 years. It has a central gilded silver plaque which shows the archangel Michael slaying a dragon with his sword.

The ring – quite large, probably for a man with big or chubby fingers – is likely to have been given to the abbot on his consecration. “It is an unusual ring,” said Harrison. “The bezel is a pyramid shape and is pointed – it would stick in to your finger. You would have felt it when you wore it and it might have been a reminder of the piety of the office.”

It is also possible that the ring might have held a relic in place on the abbot’s finger.

An examination of the skeleton has shown he was big, overweight, probably aged between 40 and 50, arthritic and “had a decent way of living”, said Harrison. There is also evidence that he had later-onset diabetes.

Harrison said the finds were exciting and would help us learn more about Cistercian burial practices in general and Furness Abbey in particular.

The abbey, an inspiration for both Wordsworth and Turner, was founded in the early 12th century by Stephen, later king of England. By the time Henry VIII ordered its dissolution in 1537 it was the second richest in England. The crozier and ring will now go on display at the  abbey over the spring bank holiday.

See? Told you. Very cool.

 

Ordinariate Priest Slams ‘Pick and Mix’ Anglicanism

In The Tablet:

A Croydon priest who has joined the ordinariate with almost half of his Anglican congregation has criticised the Church of England as being “a bit like a buffet, where you can pick and choose which commandments and doctrines you follow”.

Revd Donald Minchew, 63, who led St Michael’s and All Angels church for 16 years, said efforts to make the Church of England more relevant such as the introduction of women priests and modern hymns had only led to a “haemorrhage in congregation numbers”.

Speaking of his reception into the Catholic Church earlier this month he said: “I finally know where I am. I am not on shifting sand for the first time in 30 years.”

 

Millstones Work Better than Concrete Shoes

Ferrell Jenkins writes on his great travel blog:

Jesus used the common millstone in one of his teaching illustrations.

And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!  It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. (Luke 17:1-2; cf. Matthew 18:6; Mark 9:42 ESV)

The photo below shows a collection of millstones at the Roman ruins of Bosra in southern Syria, a few miles north of the border with Jordan, in a region known as Hauran. The area has seen much volcanic action in the past. These dark millstones are made of basalt. The region is described by Ulrich Hübner this way.

Bozrah lies on one of the fruitful and water-rich plains of S Haurān at the important intersection of the N–S route, which leads from Damascus through the Transjordan to the Hejaz, with the E–W route, on which one could travel from the Mediterranean to Mesopotamia. (The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary)

This Bosra is not to be confused with Bozrah in Edom (Genesis 36:33) or Bozrah in Moab (Jeremiah 48:21-24).

Millstones were significant in Bible times.

• Used for grinding grain (even manna) (Numbers 11:8; Isaiah 47:2).
• The work might be done by a slave girl (Exodus 11:5), or two women working together (Matthew 24:41).
• Taking a person’s upper millstone as a pledge would deprive the person of his livelihood (Deuteronomy 24:6).
• A woman at Shechem “threw an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, crushing his skull” (Judges 9:53; 2 Samuel 11:21).
• In the LORD’S challenge to Job, He describes Leviathan with a heart as hard as stone, “Even as hard as a lower millstone” (Job 41:24).
• The sinking of a great millstone is used in the Apocalypse to describe the fall of Babylon (Revelation 18:21).

 

Lest We Forget…

Yom Hashoah.

“If we wish to live and to bequeath life to our offspring, if we believe that we are to pave the way to the future, then we must first of all not forget.”

- Prof. Ben Zion Dinur, Yad Vashem, 1956

Anglicanism in Canada… Dying?

Church becomes a Taoist temple.

The diocese [BC] has been busy selling churches in order to replenish its dwindling coffers.

St. John the Divine is now a Taoist temple and in place of the altar is a painted dome representing general Guan-Gong who was deified and is worshipped by those who attend the temple.

So nothing much has changed.

From here:

What was once the St. John the Divine Anglican Church at 3426 Smith Ave. in west Burnaby was a tired-looking, A-framed structure with glass blocks next to the main entrance.

After renovations by the Chinese Taoism Kuan-Kung Association in Canada, which purchased the property in the fall of 2010, the building has been transformed. It retains the original structure but the front wall has been replaced with large panes of glass, with a natural-coloured wooden archway flanking the new entrance.

The property had sat vacant for over a year and the ultra-modern design was chosen after the association spoke with neighbours about what they wanted to see, said project manager Kevin Chen. The association wanted to put its own stamp on the building while recognizing its past as a Christian church by not completely changing the look of the structure.

Inside, where the altar once stood, a full-height elliptical dome has been added and a mural painted on it.

Now known as the Tian-Jin Temple, it is the first Taoist temple in Canada to worship Guan-Gong, an ancient general.

 

Behold! The Lego Rosary

And don’t forget that Lego does Advent calenders in both Regular and Star Wars flavors, with a small self-contained thing for each day. (I have seen these Advent calendars sell out, so if you really want one don’t wait until December.)

Source

HT