Author Archives: Markham Shaw Pyle

The means of Grace and the hope of Glory: praying the Daily Offices

Today is the Sunday after Christmas Day. It is also, this year, New Year’s Eve, in the civil calendar; which means it is the Eve, the Vigil, of the Feast of the Circumcision. From that, it should be obvious that this is a post of limited interest—as regards, at least, its likely audience, if any.Continue reading “The means of Grace and the hope of Glory: praying the Daily Offices”

Remember, remember

Another Guy Fawkes Night: Bonfire Night. ‘The only man who ever went into Parliament with honest intentions.’ V-for-interminable-comic-book-and-cinema-preachiness. Fireworks. 1605 and All That. (Or, as I privately call it, that time when a bunch of my second through sixth cousins, against the urgings of various fifth cousins, tried to blow up my first cousin andContinue reading “Remember, remember”

For all the saints, who from their labours rest

Today is the Eve of All Hallows’ Day, Hallowe’en, the first day of the three days of Allhallowtide, the Fast before tomorrow’s Feast which begins with the Vigil this night, with the First Evensong of All Saints’ Day, Hallowmas. Allhallowtide shall then conclude, as ever it does in the eternal cycle of the Church Year,Continue reading “For all the saints, who from their labours rest”

Forty years long was I grieved with this generation

Sunday the 22d October was the 20th Sunday after Trinity. That workaday Season of the Church is hasting to its yearly end: soon enough, it shall be Advent-tide, and then Christmas, the birthday and New Year of the Church. But you’ll not be interested in that, and are perhaps doubtful of its relevance. (O thatContinue reading “Forty years long was I grieved with this generation”

The secret utility of mist and fog: observations on observing

This morning was a morning of mist and fog. Some should no doubt casually label it autumnal. I do not, quite, because I do not particularly measure by weather or by equinox: to me, Autumn has come when first I hear the geese overhead. Fog and mist are not commonly welcome in history or lawContinue reading “The secret utility of mist and fog: observations on observing”

Luke, geese, and Anglican humor: a miscellany in times of trouble

Briefly tearing my eyes, at once enraged and horrified, from the spectacle of barbarism that is Hamas, I note that today is the Feast of Saint Luke. In a world in dire need of spiritual physic, not to say an emetic of the soul, and of Greek logic and learning, that is no bad thing.Continue reading “Luke, geese, and Anglican humor: a miscellany in times of trouble”

Finis Palæstinæ. Delenda est.

It is impressed upon me that those with close personal ties to the region, or with family present in the warzone, particularly but by no means exclusively Jews or Israelis, may find my necessary afterword too much to read as they mourn or wait in dreadful suspense for news of their families, friends, and neighbors.Continue reading “Finis Palæstinæ. Delenda est.”

The end of the beginning

Well. That was an amusing and instructive four-and-twenty hours. And the lessons appointed for the feast of Saint John Baptist were remarkably apt to it. This is going to be a very quick and no-frills commentary. Let us rehearse what happened. Gruppa Vagnera pulled out of the line, and, led by its proprietor, Yevgeny ViktorovichContinue reading “The end of the beginning”