Retired Emperor Gomizunoo (1596 - 1680) established this temple in 1654 and gave it the name Enjosan Reikan-ji. His daughter princess Johosshin-in-no-miya was the first abbess of this temple. In 1686 princess Fugen-in-no-miya moved the temple to its current place. The gate, entrance and shoin were donated by her father Emperor Go-Sai (1638 - 1685). In 1795 shogun Tokugawa Ienari (1773 - 1841) donated the main hall (Hondo). It became a tradition that princesses and granddaughters of Emperors served as priestesses at Reikan-ji.

For that reason, this temple was also called 'The Royal Palace in valley'.

Until 1890 nuns of Fushimi Palace worked at the temple as Monzeki (priests of aristocratic or imperial lineage).

 

This temple is famous for its camellia.

 

Kyoto, Japan.

Moon rising from the waves brings the influence of the Goddess to this place

 

This fella is suppossed to help me keep calm. Does he have a job going on here. .

It has been suggested that Christian-Voodoo relations be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

(French pronunciation: [vodu], usually Voodoo in English) is a syncretic[1] religion that originates in the Caribbean country of Haiti. It is based upon a merging of the beliefs and practices of West African peoples (mainly the Fon and Ewe; see West African Vodun), with Arawakian religious beliefs, and Roman Catholic Christianity. Vodou was created by African

slaves who were brought to Haiti in the 16th century and still followed their traditional African beliefs, but were forced to convert to the religion of their slavers.[2] Practitioners are commonly described as Vodouisants.

    

[edit] Overview

The principal belief in Haitian Vodou is that deities called Lwa (or Loa) are subordinates to a god called Bondyè, This supreme being does not intercede in human affairs, and it is to the Lwa that Vodou worship is directed.[3] Other characteristics of Vodou include veneration of the dead and protection against evil witchcraft.[4]

 

Haitian Vodou shares many similarities with other faiths of the African diaspora, including the Louisiana Voodoo of New Orleans, Santería and Arará of Cuba, and Candomblé and Umbanda of Brazil. A Haitian Vodou temple is called an Hounfour.[5]

  

Vodou paraphernalia, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.In Haitian Vodou Sèvis Lwa in Creole ("Service to the Lwa"), there are strong elements from the Bakongo of Central Africa and the Igbo and Yoruba of Nigeria, although many other African nations have contributed to the liturgy of the Sèvis Lwa. A significant portion of Haitian Vodou often overlooked by scholars until recently is the input from the Kongo. The entire northern area of Haiti is heavily influenced by Kongo practices. In northern Haiti, it is often called the Kongo Rite or Lemba, from the Lemba rituals of the Loango area and Mayombe. In the south, Kongo influence is called Petwo (Petro). Many lwa (a Kikongo term) are of Kongo origin, such as Basimbi, Lemba, etc.

 

Haitian creole forms of Vodou exist in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, eastern Cuba,[1] some of the outer islands of the Bahamas, the United States, and anywhere that Haitians have emigrated to. However, it is important to note that the Vodun religion (separate from Haitian Vodou) already existed in the United States, having been brought by enslaved West Africans, specifically from the Ewe, Fon, Mina, Kabaye, and Nago groups. Some of the more enduring forms survive in the Gullah Islands. There has been a re-emergence of the Vodun traditions in the United States, maintaining the same ritual and cosmological elements as in West Africa. These and other African-diasporic religions such as Lukumi or Regla de Ocha (also known as Santería) in Cuba, Candomblé and Umbanda in Brazil, all religions that evolved among descendants of transplanted Africans in the Americas.

    

A large sequined Vodou "drapo" or flag by the artist George Valris, depicting the veve, or symbol, of the loa Loko Atison.Haitian Vodou or Vaudou (French pronunciation: [vodu], usually Voodoo in English) is a syncretic[1] religion that originates in the Caribbean country of Haiti. It is based upon a merging of the beliefs and practices of West African peoples (mainly the Fon and Ewe; see West African Vodun), with Arawakian religious beliefs, and Roman Catholic Christianity. Vodou was created by African slaves who were brought to Haiti in the 16th century and still followed their traditional African beliefs, but were forced to convert to the religion of their slavers.[2] Practitioners are commonly described as Vodouisants.

    

[edit] Overview

The principal belief in Haitian Vodou is that deities called Lwa (or Loa) are subordinates to a god called Bondyè, This supreme being does not intercede in human affairs, and it is to the Lwa that Vodou worship is directed.[3] Other characteristics of Vodou include veneration of the dead and protection against evil witchcraft.[4]

 

Haitian Vodou shares many similarities with other faiths of the African diaspora, including the Louisiana Voodoo of New Orleans, Santería and Arará of Cuba, and Candomblé and Umbanda of Brazil. A Haitian Vodou temple is called an Hounfour.[5]

  

Vodou paraphernalia, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.In Haitian Vodou Sèvis Lwa in Creole ("Service to the Lwa"), there are strong elements from the Bakongo of Central Africa and the Igbo and Yoruba of Nigeria, although many other African nations have contributed to the liturgy of the Sèvis Lwa. A significant portion of Haitian Vodou often overlooked by scholars until recently is the input from the Kongo. The entire northern area of Haiti is heavily influenced by Kongo practices. In northern Haiti, it is often called the Kongo Rite or Lemba, from the Lemba rituals of the Loango area and Mayombe. In the south, Kongo influence is called Petwo (Petro). Many lwa (a Kikongo term) are of Kongo origin, such as Basimbi, Lemba, etc.

 

Haitian creole forms of Vodou exist in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, eastern Cuba,[1] some of the outer islands of the Bahamas, the United States, and anywhere that Haitians have emigrated to. However, it is important to note that the Vodun religion (separate from Haitian Vodou) already existed in the United States, having been brought by enslaved West Africans, specifically from the Ewe, Fon, Mina, Kabaye, and Nago groups. Some of the more enduring forms survive in the Gullah Islands. There has been a re-emergence of the Vodun traditions in the United States, maintaining the same ritual and cosmological elements as in West Africa. These and other African-diasporic religions such as Lukumi or Regla de Ocha (also known as Santería) in Cuba, Candomblé and Umbanda in Brazil, all religions that evolved among descendants of transplanted Africans in the Americas.

  

Vodouisants believe in a supreme being called Bondye, but also worship many lesser spirits, as the loa. This belief is held in several West African religions, such as that of the Yoruba, Odinani, and Vodun. When it came in contact with Roman Catholicism, the supreme being was associated with the Judeo-Christian God, the loa becoming the saints.

 

Bondye

Bondye is the supreme god in Haitian Vodou. The word is derived from the French bon Dieu (good God).[3] Vodouisants regard Bondye as the creator of everything. Bondye is distant from its creation, being a pandeist deity. Because of this, he is aloof from every day affairs and Vodouisants don't believe they can contact Him for help.

 

] Loa

Because Bondye is unreachable, Vodouisants aim their prayers to lesser entities, the spirits known as loa, or mistè. The most notable loa include Papa Legba (guardian of the crossroads), Erzulie Freda (the spirit of love), Simbi (the spirit of rain and magicians), Kouzin Zaka (the spirit of agriculture), and The Marasa, divine twins considered to be the first children of Bondye.[6]

 

These loa can be divided into 21 nations, which include the Petro, Rada, Congo and Nago [7] The Petro and the Rada contrast most with one another, because the Petro are hot or aggressive and restless, whereas the Rada are cool or calm and peaceful.[citation needed]

 

The loa also fall into family groups, who share a surname, such as Ogou, Ezili, Azaka or Ghede. For instance, "Ezili" is a family, Ezili Danto and Ezili Freda are two individual spirits in that family. Each family is associated with a specific aspect, for instance the Ogou family are soldiers, the Ezili govern the feminine spheres of life, the Azaka govern agriculture, the Ghede govern the sphere of death and fertility. Each of the loa is associated with a particular Roman Catholic saint.

 

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A large sequined Vodou "drapo" or flag by the artist George Valris, depicting the veve, or symbol, of the loa Loko Atison.Haitian Vodou or Vaudou (French pronunciation: [vodu], usually Voodoo in English) is a syncretic[1] religion that originates in the Caribbean country of Haiti. It is based upon a merging of the beliefs and practices of West African peoples (mainly the Fon and Ewe; see West African Vodun), with Arawakian religious beliefs, and Roman Catholic Christianity. Vodou was created by African slaves who were brought to Haiti in the 16th century and still followed their traditional African beliefs, but were forced to convert to the religion of their slavers.[2] Practitioners are commonly described as Vodouisants.

 

Contents [hide]

   

[edit] Overview

The principal belief in Haitian Vodou is that deities called Lwa (or Loa) are subordinates to a god called Bondyè, This supreme being does not intercede in human affairs, and it is to the Lwa that Vodou worship is directed.[3] Other characteristics of Vodou include veneration of the dead and protection against evil witchcraft.[4]

 

Haitian Vodou shares many similarities with other faiths of the African diaspora, including the Louisiana Voodoo of New Orleans, Santería and Arará of Cuba, and Candomblé and Umbanda of Brazil. A Haitian Vodou temple is called an Hounfour.[5]

  

Vodou paraphernalia, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.In Haitian Vodou Sèvis Lwa in Creole ("Service to the Lwa"), there are strong elements from the Bakongo of Central Africa and the Igbo and Yoruba of Nigeria, although many other African nations have contributed to the liturgy of the Sèvis Lwa. A significant portion of Haitian Vodou often overlooked by scholars until recently is the input from the Kongo. The entire northern area of Haiti is heavily influenced by Kongo practices. In northern Haiti, it is often called the Kongo Rite or Lemba, from the Lemba rituals of the Loango area and Mayombe. In the south, Kongo influence is called Petwo (Petro). Many lwa (a Kikongo term) are of Kongo origin, such as Basimbi, Lemba, etc.

 

Haitian creole forms of Vodou exist in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, eastern Cuba,[1] some of the outer islands of the Bahamas, the United States, and anywhere that Haitians have emigrated to. However, it is important to note that the Vodun religion (separate from Haitian Vodou) already existed in the United States, having been brought by enslaved West Africans, specifically from the Ewe, Fon, Mina, Kabaye, and Nago groups. Some of the more enduring forms survive in the Gullah Islands. There has been a re-emergence of the Vodun traditions in the United States, maintaining the same ritual and cosmological elements as in West Africa. These and other African-diasporic religions such as Lukumi or Regla de Ocha (also known as Santería) in Cuba, Candomblé and Umbanda in Brazil, all religions that evolved among descendants of transplanted Africans in the Americas.

 

[edit] Beliefs

[edit] Deities

Vodouisants believe in a supreme being called Bondye, but also worship many lesser spirits, as the loa. This belief is held in several West African religions, such as that of the Yoruba, Odinani, and Vodun. When it came in contact with Roman Catholicism, the supreme being was associated with the Judeo-Christian God, the loa becoming the saints.

 

[edit] Bondye

Bondye is the supreme god in Haitian Vodou. The word is derived from the French bon Dieu (good God).[3] Vodouisants regard Bondye as the creator of everything. Bondye is distant from its creation, being a pandeist deity. Because of this, he is aloof from every day affairs and Vodouisants don't believe they can contact Him for help.

 

[edit] Loa

Because Bondye is unreachable, Vodouisants aim their prayers to lesser entities, the spirits known as loa, or mistè. The most notable loa include Papa Legba (guardian of the crossroads), Erzulie Freda (the spirit of love), Simbi (the spirit of rain and magicians), Kouzin Zaka (the spirit of agriculture), and The Marasa, divine twins considered to be the first children of Bondye.[6]

 

These loa can be divided into 21 nations, which include the Petro, Rada, Congo and Nago [7] The Petro and the Rada contrast most with one another, because the Petro are hot or aggressive and restless, whereas the Rada are cool or calm and peaceful.[citation needed]

 

The loa also fall into family groups, who share a surname, such as Ogou, Ezili, Azaka or Ghede. For instance, "Ezili" is a family, Ezili Danto and Ezili Freda are two individual spirits in that family. Each family is associated with a specific aspect, for instance the Ogou family are soldiers, the Ezili govern the feminine spheres of life, the Azaka govern agriculture, the Ghede govern the sphere of death and fertility. Each of the loa is associated with a particular Roman Catholic saint.

    

Vodou's moral code focuses on the vices of dishonour and greed. There is also a notion of relative propriety—and what is appropriate to someone with Dambala Wedo as their head may be different from someone with Ogou Feray as their head. For example, one spirit is very cool and the other is very hot. Coolness overall is valued, and so is the ability and inclination to protect oneself and one's own if necessary. Love and support within the family of the Vodou society seem to be the most important considerations. Generosity in giving to the community and to the poor is also an important value. One's blessings come through the community, and one should be willing to give back. There are no "solitaries" in Vodou—only people separated geographically from their elders and house. A person without a relationship of some kind with elders does not practice Vodou as it is understood in Haiti and among Haitians.

 

Vodou is an ecstatic rather than a fertility based religion

  

[edit] Orthodoxy and diversity

There is a diversity of practice in Vodou across the country of Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. For instance in the north of Haiti the lave tèt ("head washing") or kanzwe may be the only initiation, as it is in the Dominican Republic and Cuba, whereas in Port-au-Prince and the south they practice the kanzo rites with three grades of initiation – kanzo senp, si pwen, and asogwe – and the latter is the most familiar mode of practice outside of Haiti. Some lineages combine both, as Manbo Katherine Dunham reports from her personal experience in her book Island Possessed.

 

While the overall tendency in Vodou is very conservative in accord with its African roots, there is no singular, definitive form, only what is right in a particular house or lineage. Small details of service and the spirits served vary from house to house, and information in books or on the internet therefore may seem contradictory. There is no central authority or "pope" in Haitian Vodou, since "every manbo and houngan is the head of their own house," as a popular saying in Haiti goes. Another consideration in terms of Haitian diversity are the many sects besides the Sèvi Gine in Haiti such as the Makaya, Rara, and other secret societies, each of which has its own distinct pantheon of spirits

 

Liturgy and practice

 

Vodou ceremony, Jacmel, Haiti.After a day or two of preparation setting up altars, ritually preparing and cooking fowl and other foods, etc., a Haitian Vodou service begins with a series of Catholic prayers and songs in French, then a litany in Kreyòl and African "langaj" that goes through all the European and African saints and lwa honored by the house, and then a series of verses for all the main spirits of the house. This is called the "Priyè Gine" or the African Prayer. After more introductory songs, beginning with saluting Hounto, the spirit of the drums, the songs for all the individual spirits are sung, starting with the Legba family through all the Rada spirits, then there is a break and the Petwo part of the service begins, which ends with the songs for the Gede family.

 

As the songs are sung, participants believe that spirits come to visit the ceremony, by taking possession of individuals and speaking and acting through them. When a ceremony is made, only the family of those possessed is benefited. At this time it is believed that devious mambo or houngan can take away the luck of the worshippers through particular actions. For instance, if a priest asks for a drink of champagne, a wise participant refuses. Sometimes these ceremonies may include dispute among the singers as to how a hymn is to be sung. In Haiti, these Vodou ceremonies, depending on the Priest or Priestess, may be more organized. But in the United States, many Vodou practitioners and clergy take it as a sort of non-serious party or "folly".

 

In a serious rite, each spirit is saluted and greeted by the initiates present and gives readings, advice, and cures to those who ask for help. Many hours later, as morning dawns, the last song is sung, the guests leave, and the exhausted hounsis, houngans, and manbos can go to sleep.

 

On the individual's household level, a Vodouisant or "sèvitè"/"serviteur" may have one or more tables set out for their ancestors and the spirit or spirits that they serve with pictures or statues of the spirits, perfumes, foods, and other things favored by their spirits. The most basic set up is just a white candle and a clear glass of water and perhaps flowers. On a particular spirit's day, one lights a candle and says an Our Father and Hail Mary, salutes Papa Legba and asks him to open the gate, and then one salutes and speaks to the particular spirit as an elder family member. Ancestors are approached directly, without the mediating of Papa Legba, since they are said to be "in the blood".

 

[edit] Priests

Houngans (Male Voodoo Priest) or Mambos (Female Voodoo Priest) are usually people who were chosen by the dead ancestors (loas) and received the divination from the deities while he or she was possessed. His or her tendency is to do good by helping and protecting others from spells, however they sometimes use their supernatural power to hurt or kill people. They also conduct ceremonies that usually take place "Amba Peristil" (under a Voodoo Temple). However, non-Houngan or non-Mambo as Vodouisants are not initiated, and are referred to as being "bossale"; it is not a requirement to be an initiate to serve one's spirits. There are clergy in Haitian Vodou whose responsibility it is to preserve the rituals and songs and maintain the relationship between the spirits and the community as a whole (though some of this is the responsibility of the whole community as well). They are entrusted with leading the service of all of the spirits of their lineage. Sometimes they are "called" to serve in a process called "being reclaimed," which they may resist at first.[8] Below the houngans and mambos are the hounsis, who are initiates who act as assistants during ceremonies and who are dedicated to their own personal mysteries.

 

[edit] History

[edit] African origins

 

Vodou original areaThe word vodou derives from vodũ, which in Fon, Ewe, and related language (distributed from contemporary Ghana to Benin) means spirit or divine creature (in the sense of divine creation).

 

The cultural area of the Fon, Ewe, and Yoruba peoples share common metaphysical conceptions around a dual cosmological divine principle Nana Buluku, the God-Creator, and the vodou(s) or God-Actor(s), daughters and sons of the Creator's twin children Mawu (goddess of the moon) and Lisa (god of the sun). The God-Creator is the cosmogonical principle and does not trifle with the mundane; the vodou(s) are the God-Actor(s) who actually govern earthly issues.

 

The pantheon of vodoun is quite large and complex. In one version, there are seven male and female twins of Mawu, interethnic and related to natural phenomena or historical or mythical individuals, and dozens of ethnic vodous, defenders of a certain clan or tribe.[citation needed]

 

West African Vodun has its primary emphasis on ancestors, with each family of spirits having its own specialized priest and priestess, which are often hereditary. In many African clans, deities might include Mami Wata, who are gods and goddesses of the waters; Legba, who in some clans is virile and young in contrast to the old man form he takes in Haiti and in many parts of Togo; Gu (or Ogoun), ruling iron and smithcraft; Sakpata, who rules diseases; and many other spirits distinct in their own way to West Africa.

 

European colonialism, followed by totalitarian regimes in West Africa, suppressed Vodun as well as other forms of the religion. However, because the Vodou deities are born to each African clan-group, and its clergy is central to maintaining the moral, social, and political order and ancestral foundation of its villagers, it proved to be impossible to eradicate the religion. Though permitted by Haiti's 1987 constitution, which recognizes religious equality, many books and films have sensationalized voodoo as black magic based on animal and human sacrifices to summon zombies and evil spirits.

 

[edit] Haitian Revolution

The majority of the Africans who were brought as slaves to Haiti were from Western and Central Africa. The Vodun practitioners brought over and enslaved in the United States primarily descend from the Ewe, Anlo-Ewe, and other West African groups.[citation needed] The survival of the belief systems in the New World is remarkable, although the traditions have changed with time and have even taken on some Catholic forms of worship.[1] Two important factors, however, characterize the uniqueness of Haitian Vodou as compared to African Vodun; the transplanted Africans of Haiti, similar to those of Cuba and Brazil, were obliged to disguise their loa (sometimes spelled lwa) or spirits as Roman Catholic saints, an element of a process called syncretism.

 

Roman Catholicism was mixed into the religion to hide their "pagan" religion from their masters, who had forbidden them to practice it. Thus, Haitian Vodou has roots in several West African religions, and incorporates some Roman Catholic and Arawak Amerindian influences. It is common for Haitians followers of the Vodou religion to integrate Roman Catholic practices by including Catholic prayers in Vodou worship. Thus Vodou incorporated some formal elements of Roman Catholicism, while remaining totally unChristian in its essence. Throughout the history of the island from independence in 1804 to the present, missionaries repeatedly came to the island to convert the Haitians back to the Christian religion previously forced on them. This missionary influence—as well as experience with abusive practitioners—has made many Haitians regard Voudu as evil.

 

Vodou, as it is known in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora, is the result of the pressures of many different cultures and ethnicities of people who were uprooted from Africa and imported to Hispaniola during the African slave trade. Under slavery, African culture and religion was suppressed, lineages were fragmented, and people pooled their religious knowledge and from this fragmentation became culturally unified. In addition to combining the spirits of many different African and Amerindian nations, Vodou has incorporated pieces of Roman Catholic liturgy to replace lost prayers or elements. Images of Catholic saints are used to represent various spirits or "mistè" ("mysteries", actually the preferred term in Haiti), and many saints themselves are honored in Vodou in their own right. This syncretism allows Vodou to encompass the African, the Indian, and the European ancestors in a whole and complete way. It is truly a Kreyòl religion.

 

The most historically important Vodou ceremony in Haitian history was the Bwa Kayiman or Bois Caïman ceremony of August 1791 that began the Haitian Revolution, in which the spirit Ezili Dantor possessed a priestess and received a black pig as an offering, and all those present pledged themselves to the fight for freedom.[9] This ceremony ultimately resulted in the liberation of the Haitian people from French colonial rule in 1804, and the establishment of the first black people's republic in the history of the world and the second independent nation in the Americas.

 

[edit] Contemporary

Today Vodou is practiced not only by Haitians but by Americans and people of many other nations who have been exposed to Haitian culture. However (as may occur within other religions), because of the loyalty and demand many have imposed on vodou, some high priests and priestesses have taken the opportunity to exploit their followers, asking large sums of money for work that brings no result. It has been asserted that Vodou as a religion is dying because of the greed of many who practice it.

 

Many Haitians involved in the practice of Vodou have been initiated as Houngans or Mambos. In Haiti, a houngan or mambo is considered a person of possible high power and status who acquire much money; it now is a growing occupation in Haiti, attracting many an impoverished citizen to its practice, not only to gain power but to gain money as well. Some Vodou practitioners with a hunger to live a life of wealth and power became practitioners so they could exploit foreigners and Haitians who are uneducated about vodou, bringing them into a web of deceptions to collect large incomes in exchange for poor quality work.

 

In January 2010, after the Haiti earthquake there was an outburst of solidarity prayers in Benin with the victims. Traditional ceremonies were organized to appease the spirits and seek the blessing of ancestors for the Haitians. Also a "purification ceremony" was planned for Haiti.[10]

 

[edit] Myths and misconceptions

Vodou has come to be associated in popular culture with the lore of Satanism, zombies and "voodoo dolls". While there is evidence of zombie creation,[11] it is a minor phenomenon within rural Haitian culture and not a part of the Vodou religion proper. Such manifestations fall under the auspices of the bokor or sorcerer rather than the priest of the Loa.

 

The practice of sticking pins in dolls has history in folk magic, but its exact origins are unclear. How it became known as a method of cursing an individual by some followers of what has come to be called New Orleans Voodoo, but more appropriately Hoodoo (folk magic), is unknown. This practice is not unique to Vodou or Hoodoo, however, and has as much basis in magical devices such as the poppet and the nkisi or bocio of West and Central Africa. These are in fact power objects, what in Haiti is called pwen, rather than magical surrogates for an intended target of sorcery whether for boon or for bane. Such Vodou dolls are not a feature of Haitian religion, although dolls intended for tourists may be found in the Iron Market in Port au Prince. The practice became closely associated with the Vodou religions in the public mind through the vehicle of horror movies and popular novels.

 

There is a practice in Haiti of nailing crude poppets with a discarded shoe on trees near the cemetery to act as messengers to the otherworld, which is very different in function from how poppets are portrayed as being used by Vodou worshippers in popular media and imagination, i.e. for purposes of sympathetic magic towards another person. Another use of dolls in authentic Vodou practice is the incorporation of plastic doll babies in altars and objects used to represent or honor the spirits, or in pwen, which recalls the aforementioned use of bocio and nkisi figures in Africa.[citation needed]

 

Although Vodou is often associated with Satanism, Satan is rarely incorporated in Vodou tradition. Mississippi Delta folksongs mix references to Vodou and to Satan.[citation needed]

 

Further adding to the dark reputation of Vodou were films such as The Serpent and the Rainbow and Live and Let Die (part of Ian Fleming's widely successful James Bond series). Fleming's depiction of the schemings of a fiendish Soviet agent (see Mr. Big, Baron Samedi) using Vodou to intimidate and control a vast network of submissive black followers reached an incomparably greater audience than any careful scholarly work on the subject of Vodou.[citation needed]

 

To address the myths and misconceptions that have historically maligned the practice and present a more constructive view of the religion, in April 1997, fifteen scholars gathered at UCSB for a colloquium on Haitian Vodou, The Spirit and The Reality: Vodou and Haiti created a new association under the name, the Congress of Santa Barbara also known as KOSANBA.[12]

 

[edit] Organizations

In the aftermath of the Duvalier dictatorship, a number of individuals, including many houngan, sought to organize means of defense for Haitian Vodou from defamation by evangelical Christian missionaries and congregations. One of the first leading houngan to formally organize other houngan in solidarity was Wesner Morency (1959-2007), who established the Vodou Church of Haiti in 1998 (registered in 2001 by the Ministry of Justice) and the Commission Nationale de Structuration du Vodou (CONAVO). Another individual who has pursued the organization of houngan is Max Beauvoir, who established and heads the National Confederation of Haitian Vodou.

 

However, the ability to organize and speak on behalf of most, if not all Vodouisants is hampered by the spirituality's historically-decentralized nature.

     

Myths and legends

 

For a long time there have been mysterious myths and legends about the former meaning of the "Frauensteine", which are also called "Witte Wiewerkes" (White Women), "Weise Frauen" (Wise Women) or "Siebenstein" (Seven Stones).

 

According to a legend, the Rhine River had overflowed its banks and flooded the whole country. The people fled to the heights of the Aaper Forest and built an altar with stones. On this altar a priestess sacrificed her favorite snow-white horse in order to persuade Wotan to banish the floods.

 

According to another legend, white-clad priestesses of the Germanic tribes prophesied and formulated spells at pagan sacrificial feasts. The sacrificial altar and the stones are said to have been torn apart during Christianization.

 

Another legend tells that seven women were turned into stone there after being judged.

 

However, it is not proven whether there really was a cultic site here in the past and how this concentrated accumulation of stones came about. There are no archaeological findings.

 

Geology

 

The red-yellow sands that make up the heights of the Aaper and Grafenberg Forests are marine sediments that were deposited in the Oligocene, a geological period of the lignite era, about 35 million years ago. When the sea retreated in the following time stage, the Miocene, this became mainland. A subtropical climate with high average temperatures and large precipitations triggered chemical processes in the upper soil layers, which resulted in a cementation of the quartz bodies by silicic acid. A solid rock was formed, which is called cement quartzite. Such larger rocks can be found several times in the Grafenberg and Aaper Forests.

 

Source: Information Board at the Site of the Sight

 

The Aaper Forest has a size of about 200 hectares. It is used as a local recreation area by hikers, cyclists and horseback riders. One can find a diverse mixed deciduous forest here. The predominant species are pedunculate oaks and copper beeches. Furthermore, maples, black locust trees, ash trees and birches can be found.

 

Source: wikipedia.de

Grandiorite

Karnak, Temple of Amun, Late Period, 25th Dynasty, Reign of Shabitko (705-690 BCE).

 

The Ethiopian kings appointed a female relative to the important religious position, "God's Wife of Amun", to help secure royal power. Her costume and regalia relate to those worn by queens and priestesses of the title, "Devine Votaress".

The Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove is a UNESCO World Heritage SIte:

 

"Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove

 

The dense forest of the Osun Sacred Grove, on the outskirts of the city of Osogbo, is one of the last remnants of primary high forest in southern Nigeria. Regarded as the abode of the goddess of fertility Osun, one of the pantheon of Yoruba gods, the landscape of the grove and its meandering river is dotted with sanctuaries and shrines, sculptures and art works in honour of Osun and other deities. The sacred grove, which is now seen as a symbol of identity for all Yoruba people, is probably the last in Yoruba culture. It testifies to the once widespread practice of establishing sacred groves outside all settlements.

 

A century ago there were many sacred groves in Yorubaland: every town had one. Most of these groves have now been abandoned or have shrunk to quite small areas. Osun-Osogbo, in the heart of Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, founded some 400 years ago in southwest Nigeria, at a distance of 250 km from Lagos is the largest sacred grove to have survived and one that is still revered.

 

The dense forest of the Osun Sacred Grove is some of the last remnants of primary high forest in southern Nigeria. Through the forest meanders the river Osun, the spiritual abode of the river goddess Osun. Set within the forest sanctuary are forty shrines, sculptures and art works erected in honour of Osun and other Yoruba deities, many created in the past forty years, two palaces, five sacred places and nine worship points strung along the river banks with designated priests and priestesses.

 

The new art installed in the grove has also differentiated it from other groves: Osogbo is now unique in having a large component of 20th century sculpture created to reinforce the links between people and the Yoruba pantheon, and the way in which Yoruba towns linked their establishment and growth to the spirits of the forest.

 

The restoration of the grove by artists has given the grove a new importance: it has become a sacred place for the whole of Yorubaland and a symbol of identity for the wider Yoruba Diaspora.

 

The Grove is an active religious site where daily, weekly and monthly worship takes place. In addition, an annual processional festival to re-establish the mystic bonds between the goddess and the people of the town occurs every year over twelve days in July and August and thus sustains the living cultural traditions of the Yoruba people.

 

The Grove is also a natural herbal pharmacy containing over 400 species of plants, some endemic, of which more than 200 species are known for their medicinal uses."

 

See: whc.unesco.org/en/list/1118/

 

Many of the sculptural artworks in the sacred grove were produced in the 1960s by Austrian artist Suzanne Wenger and her team. She had moved to NIgeria in the 1950s and was a leader in pushing for the grove to be protected. She obtained NIgerian citizenship and also was awarded a chieftancy title in Osogbo.

La donna, probabilmente, una sacerdotessa voodoo.

Controlla l'andamento dei riti, aiuta gli uomini a terra, guida il canto delle donne e si muove al ritmo dei tamburi.

Mambo è il termine utilizzato per descrivere una donna (in opposizione all'oungan, che indica un uomo) che svolge il ruolo di sacerdote nella religione vuduista.

Quello di mambo è la principale carica religiosa del Vudù e la sua responsabilità è quella di conservare e tramandare rituali e canzoni e di mantenere le relazioni tra gli spiriti (i loa) e l'intera comunità (sebbene questa sia responsabilità anche della stessa comunità).

lle sacerdotesse in questione è affidato il compito di comunicare con tutti gli spiriti del loro lignaggio.

 

The woman, probably, a voodoo priestess.

She controls the progress of the rites, helps the men on the ground, leads the women's singing and moves to the rhythm of the drums.

Mambo is the term used to describe a woman (as opposed to oungan, which indicates a man) who plays the role of priest in the voodoo religion.

That of mambo is the main religious office of Voodoo and her responsibility is to preserve and pass on rituals and songs and to maintain relationships between the spirits (the loa) and the entire community (although this is also the responsibility of the community itself).

these priestesses are entrusted with the task of communicating with all the spirits of their lineage.

 

IMG20250220170745m

Leap brazenly, my priestesses of grace!

From the dance you gain a rareness in our eyes,

An air heroic, the dance instills in you something that sets you apart,

One knows that in your world,

Queens are made of distance and disguise."

 

"Sonnet V"

Edgar Degas

1889

Miko - Shinto priestesses at Meiji Jingū, Tokyo, Japan

I must say, dear man, that you are a wonderful inspiration to me in my writing endeavours. I might take that inspiration in all sorts of unhealthy, and regrettable, directions, but that’s my problem, and obviously you ain’t to blame at all, at all. Yes, ‘twas a strange serendipity, that ‘Barking Dogge’ conjunction.

 

I hope this finds you with Thoth Baboonhead, having reasserted his position, perched, squatting and squitting even, on your shoulder, pouring that Hamlety stuff into your ear portals, that poisonous inspiration. Coincidentally we (Me and Hem Binnen) were watching Konshu, just last night, in ‘Moon Knight’. Everything seems to be coming up Egypt, as opposed to Roses, at the moment.

 

I have been looking at the nuns, those rather dog-eared, Clondalkin based, somewhat sadistic, wimpled vestal virgins of my youth. I think of the nuns as sort of the BVM with pubic hair. I don't hate pubes, though rather do hate this current depilation craze, so that would not mean to suggest that they are dirty or besmirched in any way. I just cannot imagine the BVM having the same, no matter how hard I try. I had looked at the vestals before, through Goya actually, and some fairly unknown paintings of his, or at least as unknown as Goya's paintings are capable of being. I would guess that Egypt must have had its vestals too, somewhere around Isis, I suspect. Somethings never change, those Goddess/Mother/Whore tropes being one of those wonderful humdingers.

 

Goya’s output of Mythological subject matter is quite small. However, there are three paintings which I would like to discuss which introduce us to the ‘Virgin’ in her progress to the autonomous ‘Bride’. They are not well-known paintings and therefore the illustrations leave something to be desired. However, it is the myth behind the subjects chosen rather than the treatment which fascinates. The first is entitled ‘Sacrifice to Vesta’, painted in 1771. Vesta was a virgin goddess and custodian of the sacred flame. It was believed that if the flame was extinguished, calamity would befall the country. Vesta, although a virgin, was also a fertility goddess because of the nourishing qualities of fire. The vestal virgins were her high priestesses. They took vows of absolute chastity and any deviation from this was punishable by death. They also had the power of imparting life, and if a man condemned to death chanced to meet a vestal, he was immediately reprieved. I think the parallels with Duchamp's virgins are obvious. This ability to impart life, or autonomy, is common to both, but there is another aspect which is even more fascinating. When a vestral virgin was accused of dalliance, to prove her intact state, she would have to bring water back to the temple from the Tiber in a "sacred sieve". The vestal had also, at all times, to wear a veil. So, basically, what we have is an autonomous veiled virgin whose maidenhead intactness depends on the non-porosity of the sacred sieve. In the "Green Box" Duchamp tells us that "the sieves of the bachelor apparatus are a reversed image of porosity"

 

Imagine that the "sacred sieve" and the "bachelor sieves" are one and the same thing. This Bachelor sieve which is a "reversed image of porosity" serves to turn the gaseous particles or "spangles" into a liquid (gas to liquid). It would therefore follow that if the initial component was a liquid, and this was passed into the sieve, it would then become a solid (liquid to solid). The water from the Tiber would become ice, thus saving the reputation and life of the vestal virgin by its '"reversed image of porosity". The quote, in parentheses, are from Duchamp's 'Notes' for his 'Large Glass'.

 

It is of some interest that the officiator at the "sacrifice" in Goya’s painting is a man. This would never have been the case, as Vesta’s sanctuary was entered only by her priestesses, the Vestal Virgins, except on the festival day, the Vestalia, on the seventh of June, when mothers of families were allowed to make offerings. This might however represent Tarquin the Elder, who eventually modified the ruling about the death sentence imposed on wayward vestals. Initially they would be flogged to death, but on Tarquin’s instigation they were whipped and walled up alive in a tomb (shades of the Anchorite there) which was sealed after a few provisions had been deposited therein. Perhaps the pyramid in the background could be considered as such a tomb, and maybe the "unveiled" female standing to the left could be the sacrificial victim. I believe that an intentional ambiguity has been set up between the Myth and the depiction of the event.

 

The second ‘virgin’ aspect is that of ‘Susanna and the Elders’.

The Story of Susanna, one of the books of the Old Testament apocrypha, tells how she was accused of adultery by certain Jewish elders who had unsuccessfully made overtures on her chastity. Her innocence was defended and proven by Daniel, resulting in the Elders being put to death.

 

The particular painting to which I refer was painted in 1824/25, just three years before Goya's death. It is executed on ivory and is part of a series of 22 miniatures including a re-working of ‘Judith and Holofernes’ which had previously manifested itself amongst the ‘Black Paintings’ of the Quinta del Sordo.

 

The ‘Susanna’ shows an almost naked plump woman, in downcast profile, facing away from her tormentors, but the question arises as to who torments whom. The image of a group (perhaps 3, as some report to see, but I only see 2) of desperately lustful men is seen to her left. They appear more as shadows or dissoluble reflections, in comparison to the solidity of the earthy and sexual Susanna. It is the coy presentation of such innocent nakedness which excites the men to attempt to part Susanna from her innocence. She holds her hands between her legs as if to protect herself, but she could just as easily be masturbating. She looks down dejectedly, or is she actually observing her own deft fingering? The tormentors become the tormented. Their impotent desperation achieves a form of release in death and Susanna achieves fulfilment in herself.

 

It is Goya’ s re-working of this myth which make all this conjecture possible. ‘Susanna’ and the ‘Naked Maja’ are cousins, once removed.

 

In the final mythological scene to be considered we encounter the ‘Bride’. The painting is that of ‘Hercules and Omphale’ The legend goes that Hercules was sold to Omphale, the Queen of Lydia, as a slave. He is ordered to rid Lydia of its robbers and despoilers and so impresses Omphale by his accomplishing this task in such an exemplary masculine fashion, that she takes him as her husband. She then dons his Lion’s skin and has him dress in woman’s clothing to wait upon her needs. The ‘Bride’ here consummates herself, by reversing roles, turning the ‘Bachelor’ into a reflection of herself. She has total autonomy. This episode forms only a very small aspect of the complete Hercules myth and I believe it to be of some significance that Goya would choose it. Hercules epitomised, for the Greeks, all that was strong and manly, He is depicted by them as a glorious hero and invincible athlete to whom the foundation of the Olympic games was ascribed. He was the son of Alcmene (woman of might) who had been impregnated by Zeus, who had assumed the guise of her husband Amphitryon, hence his demi-god like strength. Being thus engendered we can trace his ancestry back to Chronos and Uranus. It was due to the action of the furies, who were created from the blood of Uranus, that the Hercules legendry wanderings began. This legend remains one of the most potent of all Greek myths. Its dominating image is one of aggressive manliness and yet Goya, ignoring these exploits, chooses to reveal to us the slightly obscure tale of the androgynous Hercules forced into submission to a domineering woman. This is a tale of male impotence and, however temporary the situation, this was the aspect of the legend which obviously fascinated Goya.

 

Perhaps there has always been this confused, shared, and switched pronoun thing going on. I suspect that its present manifestation might eventually generate its own myths, as empires crumble and new 'creeds' assert themselves.

 

Other names :- evergreen bugloss, Alkanet

 

Green alkanet was imported into Britain for use as a dye. It was cultivated by monasteries because the roots of the plant produce a rich red that is ideal for ecclesiastical cloth. Its religious connections may go back as far as ancient Egypt where priestesses are said to have used it as a hair dye.

“Invoke the gods”

(ask the help of the gods)

 

-This my moc for the Gricks.gr contest..

«MOC EPIC FANTASY»

 

In Greek mythology, Poseidon is the god of the land and the sea, rivers, sources and drinking water ..

With his trident could both create rough seas and calm waters..

His symbols were the trident, fish and occasionally the horse or the bull..

According to legend.. the Poseidon seduced Medusa in the temple of Athena..

the goddess was so furious with it.. so she transformed Medusa into monster..

The ugliness was such.. that whoever looked at her face.. turned into stone ..

Medusa wanted to revenge Poseidon now.. so she kills the priestesses and the soldiers who guard the temple ..

Their only hope now is to seek the help of the gods..

But to be heard by the gods, they need a sacrifice..

Hermes.. the messenger of the Gods, is there and waiting to hear the invocation to the gods and to carry the message ..

 

“Χρῲ τοις Θεοίς..”

(Να επικαλείσαι τους θεούς.)

 

Στην Ελληνική μυθολογία ο Ποσειδώνας είναι ο θεός της στεριάς και της θάλασσας , των ποταμών, των πηγών και των πόσιμων νερών..

Με την τρίαινά του μπορούσε τόσο να δημιουργεί τρικυμίες όσο και να ηρεμεί τα νερά..

Σύμβολά του ήταν η τρίαινα, το ψάρι και σπανιότερα το άλογο ή ο ταύρος..

Σύμφωνα με τον μύθο.. ο Ποσειδώνας αποπλάνησε την Μέδουσα στον ναό της Αθηνάς.. και η θεά εξοργισμένη με το γεγονός.. ξέσπασε πάνω στη Μέδουσα μεταμορφώνοντας τη σε τέρας, που αντί για μαλλιά είχε φίδια..

Η ασχήμια της ήταν τέτοια.. που όποιος την κοιτούσε στο πρόσωπο πέτρωνε..

Η Μέδουσα για να εκδικηθεί τον Ποσειδώνα τώρα.. σκοτώνει τις ιέρειες και τους στρατιώτες που φυλάνε τον ναό του..

Μοναδική τους ελπίδα είναι πλέον να ζητήσουν την βοήθεια των θεών..

Για να εισακουστούν βέβαια χρειάζεται μια θυσία..

Ο Ερμής.. Ο Αγγελιοφόρος των θεών είναι εκεί και περιμένει να ακούσει την επίκληση στους θεούς και να μεταβιβάσει το μήνυμα..

Leonor Fini, Buenos Aires 1907 - Paris 1996

Incomparable Narcissus -Narcisse incomparable (1971)

 

Talented, glamorous and ambitious, Leonor Fini was one of the most influential female artists of the 1930s. From her opulent, bohemian childhood in Italy to her debut in a group exhibition at the age of seventeen and her rise in the international art world, Fini was legendary for both her vivacious personality and her ethereal subjects. Fini’s figures—sphinxes, felines, nymphs, priestesses, nudes— are bold proclamations of female sexuality that convey a powerful feminine subconscious. Also renowned for her theatrical set-design, costumes and posters, the artist developed close relationships with other avant-garde Surrealists including Andre Breton, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, and Max Ernst, who became her lover.

Source: Widewalls

Ludovisi Throne, actually the upper part of an altar. Front portrays birth of Aphrodite from the sea-foam, held by two Horai, divinities of nature and seasons. Figures on each end identified as priestesses of Aphrodite. Greek, 460-450 BC (Some believe the frontal figure os Persephone, who returns every spring to the Earth from the Underworld)

Nymphaeum

 

Nymphaeum, Apollo tapınağının önündeki kutsal alanın içinde bulunur. MS 2. yüzyıldan kalmadır. Perileri bir türbe, ustaca bir boru ağı aracılığıyla suyu şehir evlerine dağıtan anıtsal bir çeşmedir. Nymphaeum 5. yüzyılda Bizans döneminde onarılmıştır. Apollon tapınağının peribollarından unsurlarla bir istinat duvarı inşa edildi. Bunu yaparak, ilk Hıristiyanlar pagan tapınağının görüşünü kesti. Bizans kapısı 6. yüzyılda inşa edilmiştir. Şimdi sadece arka duvar ve iki yan duvar kaldı. Duvarlar ve duvarlardaki nişler heykellerle süslenmiştir. İtalyan arkeoloji ekibi şu anda yerel müzede sergilenen iki rahip heykelini kazdı.

Nymphaeum'un U şeklinde bir planı vardır ve ana sütunlu yolun devamında oturur. Taş döşeme sütunları ve diğer mimari kalıntılar, kentin kuzey-güney yönünde uzanan sütunlu yolun büyük bir bölümünü oluşturmaktadır. Altında kanallar geçen heykeller ve dükkanlar var. Yolun, şimdi Özel Yönetim havuzunun altında, taş bloklarla kaplı bir tabanı vardı. MS 1. yüzyılın sonunda inşa edilmiş ve surların dışında kalan iki büyük kapı vardır.

 

The Nymphaeum is located inside the sacred area in front of the Apollo temple. It dates from the 2nd century AD. It was a shrine of the nymphs, a monumental fountain distributing water to the houses of the city via an ingenious network of pipes. The Nymphaeum was repaired in the 5th century during the Byzantine era. A retaining wall was built with elements from the peribolos of the Apollonian temple. By doing so, the early Christians cut off the view of the pagan temple. The Byzantine gate was constructed in the 6th century. Now only the back wall and the two side walls remain. The walls and the niches in the walls were decorated with statues. The Italian archaeological team has excavated two statues of priestesses, which are now on display at the local museum.

The Nymphaeum has a U-shaped plan and sits on the continuation of the main colonnaded road. The stone pavement columns and other architectural remains mark a great part of the colonnaded road which ran through the city in a north-south direction. It has statues and shops around it, underneath which passed canals. The road had a base covered with stone blocks, now under the pool of the Private Administration. There are two huge doors which were constructed at the end of the 1st century AD and left outside the city walls.

 

© Eric Lafforgue

www.ericlafforgue.com

Musée du Pays Châtillonnais, or Trésor de Vix.

---

In Greek mythology, a Gorgon (/ˈɡɔːrɡən/; plural: Gorgons, Ancient Greek: Γοργών/Γοργώ Gorgon/Gorgo) is a female creature. The name derives from the ancient Greek word gorgós, which means "dreadful", and appears to come from the same root as the Sanskrit word "garğ" which is defined as a guttural sound, similar to the growling of a beast, thus possibly originating as an onomatopoeia. While descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature and occur in the earliest examples of Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair made of living, venomous snakes, as well as a horrifying visage that turned those who beheld her to stone. Traditionally, while two of the Gorgons were immortal, Stheno and Euryale, their sister Medusa was not, and she was slain by the demigod and hero Perseus.

 

Gorgons were a popular image in Greek mythology, appearing in the earliest of written records of Ancient Greek religious beliefs such as those of Homer, which may date to as early as 1194–1184 BC. Because of their legendary and powerful gaze that could turn one to stone, images of the Gorgons were put upon objects and buildings for protection. An image of a Gorgon holds the primary location at the pediment of the temple at Corfu, which is the oldest stone pediment in Greece, and is dated to c. 600 BC.

Minoan gold ring of Mochlos, 1600–1500 BC, depicts a sea-goddess with a monstrous head in a boat (Heraklion Archaeological Museum)

 

The concept of the Gorgon is at least as old in classical Greek mythology as Perseus and Zeus. The name is Greek, being derived from "gorgos" and translating as terrible or dreadful. Gorgoneia (figures depicting a Gorgon head, see below) first appear in Greek art at the turn of the eighth century BC. One of the earliest representations is on an electrum stater discovered during excavations at Parium. Other early eighth-century examples were found at Tiryns. Going even further back into history, there is a similar image from the Knossos palace, datable to the fifteenth century BC. Marija Gimbutas even argues that "the Gorgon extends back to at least 6000 BC, as a ceramic mask from the Sesklo culture...". In her book, Language of the Goddess, she also identifies the prototype of the Gorgoneion in Neolithic art motifs, especially in anthropomorphic vases and terracotta masks inlaid with gold.

 

The large Gorgon eyes, as well as Athena's "flashing" eyes, are symbols termed "the divine eyes" by Gimbutas (who did not originate the perception); they appear also in Athena's sacred bird, the owl. They may be represented by spirals, wheels, concentric circles, swastikas, firewheels, and other images. The awkward stance of the gorgon, with arms and legs at angles is closely associated with these symbols as well.

 

Possibly related, a female figure, probably a sea-goddess is depicted on a Minoan gold ring from the island Mochlos in Crete. The goddess has a monstrous head and she is sitting in a boat. A holy tree is depicted, probably related to the Minoan cult of the tree.

 

Some Gorgons are shown with fangs, consisting of wild boar tusks, while other representations lack fangs and show a forced smile displaying large teeth and sometimes a protruding tongue. In some cruder representations, stylized hair or blood flowing under the severed head of the Gorgon has been mistaken for a beard or wings.

 

Some reptilian attributes such as a belt made of snakes and snakes emanating from the head or entwined in the hair, as in the temple of Artemis in Corfu, are symbols likely derived from the guardians closely associated with early Greek religious concepts at the centers such as Delphi where the dragon Delphyne lived and the priestess Pythia delivered oracles. The skin of the dragon was said to be made of impenetrable scales.

 

While seeking origins others have suggested examination of some similarities to the Babylonian creature, Humbaba, in the Gilgamesh epic.

 

A number of early classics scholars interpreted the myth of the Medusa as a quasi-historical, or "sublimated", memory of an actual invasion.

 

The legend of Perseus beheading Medusa means, specifically, that "the Hellenes overran the goddess's chief shrines" and "stripped her priestesses of their Gorgon masks", the latter being apotropaic faces worn to frighten away the profane.

 

That is to say, there occurred in the early thirteenth century B.C. an actual historic rupture, a sort of sociological trauma, which has been registered in this myth, much as what Freud terms the latent content of a neurosis is registered in the manifest content of a dream: registered yet hidden, registered in the unconscious yet unknown or misconstrued by the conscious mind.

 

Classical tradition

 

Transitions in religious traditions over such long periods of time may make some strange turns. Gorgons are often depicted as having wings, brazen claws, the tusks of boars, and scaly skin. The oldest oracles were said to be protected by serpents and a Gorgon image was often associated with those temples. Lionesses or sphinxes are frequently associated with the Gorgon as well. The powerful image of the Gorgon was adopted for the classical images and myths of Athena and Zeus, perhaps being worn in continuation of a more ancient religious imagery. In late myths, the Gorgons were said to be the daughters of sea deities, Ceto the sea monster and Phorcys (her brother-husband).

 

Homer, the author of the oldest known work of European literature, speaks only of one Gorgon, whose head is represented in the Iliad as fixed in the centre of the aegis of Athena:

 

About her shoulders she flung the tasselled aegis, fraught with terror ... and therein is the head of the dread monster, the Gorgon, dread and awful...

 

Its earthly counterpart is a device on the shield of Agamemnon:

 

...and therein was set as a crown the Gorgon, grim of aspect, glaring terribly, and about her were Terror and Rout.[11]

 

In the Odyssey, the Gorgon is a monster of the underworld into which the earliest Greek deities were cast:

 

...and pale fear seized me, lest august Persephone might send forth upon me from out of the house of Hades the head of the Gorgon, that awful monster...

 

Around 700 BC, Hesiod (Theogony, Shield of Heracles) imagines the Gorgons as sea daemons and increases the number of them to three – Stheno (the mighty), Euryale (the far-springer, or of the wide sea), and Medusa (the queen), and makes them the daughters of the sea deities Keto and Phorcys. Their home is on the farthest side of the western ocean; according to later authorities, in Libya. Ancient Libya is identified as a possible source of the deity, Neith, who also was a creation deity in Ancient Egypt and, when the Greeks occupied Egypt, they said that Neith was called Athene in Greece.

 

The Attic tradition, reproduced in Euripides (Ion), regarded the Gorgon as a monster, produced by Gaia to aid her children, the Titans, against the new Olympian deities. Classical interpretations suggest that Gorgon was slain by Athena, who wore her skin thereafter.

 

Of the three Gorgons of classical Greek mythology, only Medusa is mortal.

 

The Bibliotheca (2.2.6, 2.4.1, 2.4.2) provides a good summary of the Gorgon myth. Much later stories claim that each of three Gorgon sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, had snakes for hair, and that they had the power to turn anyone who looked at them to stone. According to Ovid (Metamorphoses), a Roman poet writing in 8 AD, who was noted for accuracy regarding the Greek myths, Medusa alone had serpents in her hair, and he explained that this was due to Athena (Roman Minerva) cursing her. Medusa had copulated with Poseidon (Roman Neptune) in a temple of Athena after he was aroused by the golden color of Medusa's hair. Athena therefore changed the enticing golden locks into serpents. Diodorus and Palaephatus mention that the Gorgons lived in the Gorgades, islands in the Aethiopian Sea. The main island was called Cerna and, according to Henry T. Riley, these islands may correspond to Cape Verde. According to Pseudo-Hyginus the "Gorgo Aix", daughter of Helios, was killed by Zeus during the Titanomachy. From her skin, a goat-like hide rimmed with serpents, he made his famous aegis, and placed her fearsome visage upon it. This he gave to Athena. Then Aix became the goat Capra (Greek: Aix), on the left shoulder of the constellation Auriga. A primeval Gorgon was sometimes said to be the father of Medusa and her sister Gorgons by the sea Goddess Ceto. This figure may have been the same as Gorgo Aix as the primal Gorgon was of an indeterminable gender.

 

In the Aeneid, it is mentioned that the Gorgons lived in the entrance of the Underworld.

 

Pausanias (5.10.4, 8.47.5, many other places), a geographer of the second century AD, supplies the details of where and how the Gorgons were represented in Greek art and architecture (Wikipedia).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnak#Temple_of_Amenhotep_IV_(deliberately_dismantled)

 

The Karnak Temple Complex, comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BCE) in the Middle Kingdom (around 2000–1700 BCE) and continued into the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305–30 BCE), although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom. The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places") and the main place of worship of the 18th Dynastic Theban Triad, with the god Amun as its head. It is part of the monumental city of Thebes, and in 1979 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with the rest of the city. The Karnak complex gives its name to the nearby, and partly surrounded, modern village of El-Karnak, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) north of Luxor.

 

Name

The original name of the temple was Nesut-Tawy, meaning "Throne of the Two Lands". Other names included Ipet-Iset, meaning "The Finest of Seats", as well as Ipt-Swt, meaning "Selected Spot", or Ipetsut, meaning "The Most Select of Places".

 

Some believe that the modern name of Karnak is derived from Arabic: خورنق Khurnaq meaning "fortified village". However, this speculation is not supported by any historical evidence.

 

The complex is a vast open site and includes the Karnak Open Air Museum. It is believed to be the second[citation needed] most visited historical site in Egypt; only the Giza pyramid complex near Cairo receives more visits. It consists of four main parts, of which only the largest is currently open to the general public. The term Karnak often is understood as being the Precinct of Amun-Re only, because this is the only part most visitors see. The three other parts, the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Montu, and the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV, are closed to the public. There also are a few smaller temples and sanctuaries connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amun-Re, and the Luxor Temple. The Precinct of Mut is very ancient, being dedicated to an Earth and creation deity, but not yet restored. The original temple was destroyed and partially restored by Hatshepsut, although another pharaoh built around it in order to change the focus or orientation of the sacred area. Many portions of it may have been carried away for use in other buildings.

 

The key difference between Karnak and most of the other temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was developed and used. Construction of temples started in the Middle Kingdom and continued into Ptolemaic times. Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere. Few of the individual features of Karnak are unique, but the size and number of features are overwhelming. The deities represented range from some of the earliest worshipped to those worshipped much later in the history of the Ancient Egyptian culture. Although destroyed, it also contained an early temple built by Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten), the pharaoh who later would celebrate a near monotheistic religion he established that prompted him to move his court and religious center away from Thebes. It also contains evidence of adaptations, where the buildings of the ancient Egyptians were used by later cultures for their own religious purposes.

 

One famous aspect of Karnak is the Great Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re, a hall area of 50,000 sq ft (5,000 m2) with 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows. One hundred and twenty-two of these columns are 10 metres (33 ft) tall, and the other 12 are 21 metres (69 ft) tall with a diameter of over 3 metres (9.8 ft). The architraves on top of these columns are estimated to weigh 70 tons. These architraves may have been lifted to these heights using levers. This would be an extremely time-consuming process and also would require great balance to get to such great heights. A common alternative theory regarding how they were moved is that large ramps were constructed of sand, mud, brick or stone and that the stones were then towed up the ramps. If stone had been used for the ramps, they would have been able to use much less material. The top of the ramps presumably would have employed either wooden tracks or cobblestones for towing the megaliths.

 

There is an unfinished pillar in an out-of-the-way location that indicates how it would have been finished. Final carving was executed after the drums were put in place so that it was not damaged while being placed. Several experiments moving megaliths with ancient technology were made at other locations – some of which are amongst the largest monoliths in the world.

 

In 2009 UCLA launched a website dedicated to virtual reality digital reconstructions of the Karnak complex and other resources.The sun god's shrine has light focused upon it during the winter solstic

 

The history of the Karnak complex is largely the history of Thebes and its changing role in the culture. Religious centers varied by region, and when a new capital of the unified culture was established, the religious centers in that area gained prominence. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the Eleventh Dynasty and previous temple building there would have been relatively small, with shrines being dedicated to the early deities of Thebes, the Earth goddess Mut and Montu. Early building was destroyed by invaders. The earliest known artifact found in the area of the temple is a small, eight-sided column from the Eleventh Dynasty, which mentions Amun-Re. Amun (sometimes called Amen) was long the local tutelary deity of Thebes. He was identified with the ram and the goose. The Egyptian meaning of Amun is "hidden" or the "hidden god".

 

Major construction work in the Precinct of Amun-Re took place during the Eighteenth Dynasty, when Thebes became the capital of the unified Ancient Egypt. Almost every pharaoh of that dynasty added something to the temple site. Thutmose I erected an enclosure wall connecting the Fourth and Fifth pylons, which comprise the earliest part of the temple still standing in situ. Hatshepsut had monuments constructed and also restored the original Precinct of Mut, that had been ravaged by the foreign rulers during the Hyksos occupation. She had twin obelisks, at the time the tallest in the world, erected at the entrance to the temple. One still stands, as the second-tallest ancient obelisk still standing on Earth; the other has broken in two and toppled. Another of her projects at the site, Karnak's Red Chapel or Chapelle Rouge, was intended as a barque shrine and originally may have stood between her two obelisks. She later ordered the construction of two more obelisks to celebrate her sixteenth year as pharaoh; one of the obelisks broke during construction, and thus, a third was constructed to replace it. The broken obelisk was left at its quarrying site in Aswan, where it still remains. Known as the unfinished obelisk, it provides evidence of how obelisks were quarried.

 

Construction of the Great Hypostyle Hall also may have begun during the Eighteenth Dynasty (although most new building was undertaken under Seti I and Ramesses II in the Nineteenth). Merneptah, also of the Nineteenth Dynasty, commemorated his victories over the Sea Peoples on the walls of the Cachette Court, the start of the processional route (also known as the Avenue of Sphinxes) to the Luxor Temple. The last major change to the Precinct of Amun-Re's layout was the addition of the First Pylon and the massive enclosure walls that surround the whole precinct, both constructed by Nectanebo I of the Thirtieth Dynasty.

 

In 323 AD, Roman emperor Constantine the Great recognised the Christian religion, and in 356 Constantius II ordered the closing of pagan temples throughout the Roman empire, into which Egypt had been annexed in 30 BC. Karnak was by this time mostly abandoned, and Christian churches were founded among the ruins, the most famous example of this is the reuse of the Festival Hall of Thutmose III's central hall, where painted decorations of saints and Coptic inscriptions can still be seen.

 

Thebes' exact placement was unknown in medieval Europe, though both Herodotus and Strabo give the exact location of Thebes and how long up the Nile one must travel to reach it. Maps of Egypt, based on the 2nd century Claudius Ptolemaeus' mammoth work Geographia, had been circulating in Europe since the late 14th century, all of them showing Thebes' (Diospolis) location. Despite this, several European authors of the 15th and 16th centuries who visited only Lower Egypt and published their travel accounts, such as Joos van Ghistele and André Thévet, put Thebes in or close to Memphis.

 

The Karnak temple complex is first described by an unknown Venetian in 1589, although his account gives no name for the complex. This account, housed in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, is the first known European mention, since ancient Greek and Roman writers, about a whole range of monuments in Upper Egypt and Nubia, including Karnak, Luxor temple, the Colossi of Memnon, Esna, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Philae, and others.

 

Karnak ("Carnac") as a village name, and name of the complex, is first attested in 1668, when two capuchin missionary brothers, Protais and Charles François d'Orléans, travelled though the area. Protais' writing about their travel was published by Melchisédech Thévenot (Relations de divers voyages curieux, 1670s–1696 editions) and Johann Michael Vansleb (The Present State of Egypt, 1678).

 

The first drawing of Karnak is found in Paul Lucas' travel account of 1704, (Voyage du Sieur Paul Lucas au Levant). It is rather inaccurate, and can be quite confusing to modern eyes. Lucas travelled in Egypt during 1699–1703. The drawing shows a mixture of the Precinct of Amun-Re and the Precinct of Montu, based on a complex confined by the three huge Ptolemaic gateways of Ptolemy III Euergetes / Ptolemy IV Philopator, and the massive 113 m long, 43 m high and 15 m thick, First Pylon of the Precinct of Amun-Re.

 

Karnak was visited and described in succession by Claude Sicard and his travel companion Pierre Laurent Pincia (1718 and 1720–21), Granger (1731), Frederick Louis Norden (1737–38), Richard Pococke (1738), James Bruce (1769), Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt (1777), William George Browne (1792–93), and finally by a number of scientists of the Napoleon expedition, including Vivant Denon, during 1798–1799. Claude-Étienne Savary describes the complex in rather great detail in his work of 1785; especially in light of the fact that it is a fictional account of a pretend journey to Upper Egypt, composed out of information from other travellers. Savary did visit Lower Egypt in 1777–78, and published a work about that too.

 

This is the largest of the precincts of the temple complex, and is dedicated to Amun-Re, the chief deity of the Theban Triad. There are several colossal statues, including the figure of Pinedjem I which is 10.5 metres (34 ft) tall. The sandstone for this temple, including all of the columns, was transported from Gebel Silsila 100 miles (161 km) south on the Nile river. It also has one of the largest obelisks, weighing 328 tonnes and standing 29 metres (95 ft) tall.

 

Located to the south of the newer Amen-Re complex, this precinct was dedicated to the mother goddess, Mut, who became identified as the wife of Amun-Re in the Eighteenth Dynasty Theban Triad. It has several smaller temples associated with it and has its own sacred lake, constructed in a crescent shape. This temple has been ravaged, many portions having been used in other structures. Following excavation and restoration works by the Johns Hopkins University team, led by Betsy Bryan (see below) the Precinct of Mut has been opened to the public. Six hundred black granite statues were found in the courtyard to her temple. It may be the oldest portion of the site.

 

In 2006, Betsy Bryan presented her findings of one festival that included apparent intentional overindulgence in alcohol. Participation in the festival was great, including the priestesses and the population. Historical records of tens of thousands attending the festival exist. These findings were made in the temple of Mut because when Thebes rose to greater prominence, Mut absorbed the warrior goddesses, Sekhmet and Bast, as some of her aspects. First, Mut became Mut-Wadjet-Bast, then Mut-Sekhmet-Bast (Wadjet having merged into Bast), then Mut also assimilated Menhit, another lioness goddess, and her adopted son's wife, becoming Mut-Sekhmet-Bast-Menhit, and finally becoming Mut-Nekhbet. Temple excavations at Luxor discovered a "porch of drunkenness" built onto the temple by the pharaoh Hatshepsut, during the height of her twenty-year reign. In a later myth developed around the annual drunken Sekhmet festival, Ra, by then the sun god of Upper Egypt, created her from a fiery eye gained from his mother, to destroy mortals who conspired against him (Lower Egypt). In the myth, Sekhmet's blood-lust was not quelled at the end of the battle and led to her destroying almost all of humanity, so Ra had tricked her by turning the Nile as red as blood (the Nile turns red every year when filled with silt during inundation) so that Sekhmet would drink it. The trick, however, was that the red liquid was not blood, but beer mixed with pomegranate juice so that it resembled blood, making her so drunk that she gave up slaughter and became an aspect of the gentle Hathor. The complex interweaving of deities occurred over the thousands of years of the culture.

 

The temple that Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) constructed on the site was located east of the main complex, outside the walls of the Amun-Re precinct. It was destroyed immediately after the death of its builder, who had attempted to overcome the powerful priesthood who had gained control over Egypt before his reign. It was so thoroughly demolished that its full extent and layout is currently unknown. The priesthood of that temple regained their powerful position as soon as Akhenaten died, and were instrumental in destroying many records of his existence.

The Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove is a UNESCO World Heritage SIte:

 

"Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove

 

The dense forest of the Osun Sacred Grove, on the outskirts of the city of Osogbo, is one of the last remnants of primary high forest in southern Nigeria. Regarded as the abode of the goddess of fertility Osun, one of the pantheon of Yoruba gods, the landscape of the grove and its meandering river is dotted with sanctuaries and shrines, sculptures and art works in honour of Osun and other deities. The sacred grove, which is now seen as a symbol of identity for all Yoruba people, is probably the last in Yoruba culture. It testifies to the once widespread practice of establishing sacred groves outside all settlements.

 

A century ago there were many sacred groves in Yorubaland: every town had one. Most of these groves have now been abandoned or have shrunk to quite small areas. Osun-Osogbo, in the heart of Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, founded some 400 years ago in southwest Nigeria, at a distance of 250 km from Lagos is the largest sacred grove to have survived and one that is still revered.

 

The dense forest of the Osun Sacred Grove is some of the last remnants of primary high forest in southern Nigeria. Through the forest meanders the river Osun, the spiritual abode of the river goddess Osun. Set within the forest sanctuary are forty shrines, sculptures and art works erected in honour of Osun and other Yoruba deities, many created in the past forty years, two palaces, five sacred places and nine worship points strung along the river banks with designated priests and priestesses.

 

The new art installed in the grove has also differentiated it from other groves: Osogbo is now unique in having a large component of 20th century sculpture created to reinforce the links between people and the Yoruba pantheon, and the way in which Yoruba towns linked their establishment and growth to the spirits of the forest.

 

The restoration of the grove by artists has given the grove a new importance: it has become a sacred place for the whole of Yorubaland and a symbol of identity for the wider Yoruba Diaspora.

 

The Grove is an active religious site where daily, weekly and monthly worship takes place. In addition, an annual processional festival to re-establish the mystic bonds between the goddess and the people of the town occurs every year over twelve days in July and August and thus sustains the living cultural traditions of the Yoruba people.

 

The Grove is also a natural herbal pharmacy containing over 400 species of plants, some endemic, of which more than 200 species are known for their medicinal uses."

 

See: whc.unesco.org/en/list/1118/

 

Many of the sculptural artworks in the sacred grove were produced in the 1960s by Austrian artist Suzanne Wenger and her team. She had moved to NIgeria in the 1950s and was a leader in pushing for the grove to be protected. She obtained NIgerian citizenship and also was awarded a chieftancy title in Osogbo.

SOLD. Gabriel Studios handmade one-of-a-kind polymer clay tree pendant; African turquoise jasper wire-wraped with argentium silver wire; ss beads; ss closed rings; ss s-clasp & findings.

 

Dodona, an ancient city in northwestern Greece, is the site of the earliest Greek oracle, dedicated to Zeus, and administered by priests and priestesses known as peleiai (doves). Ancient people traveled great distances in order to consult the peleia. Peleia gathered under the Sacred Oak tree to foretell the future by interpreting the sound of rustling leaves in the breeze and sometimes the cooing of doves in its branches.

St.Clair & Rushton area on St.Clair

 

Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

⊙

ИN

Deflowering Eyes

Igigi

 

www.saatchiart.com/print/New-Media-Deflowering-Eyes-Inna-...

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igigi

Igigi are the gods of heaven in the mythology of Mesopotamia.

The name has unknown origin. The signs for the names, and one of the options for the etymology of the igigi are i2-gi3-gi3, which are the same signs for 5-1-1 or 5-60-60 5*(60+60)=600 which are by some traditions All the gods.

Another option is to try to interpret the words themselves. Igi means (eye) in the Sumerian language, and it used as logogram in the Akkadian language, gi stands for (penetrate sexually). Therefore, Igigi could be translated to (Eyes in the sky, the watchers, who deflower).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

 

Igigi/Igigu (a group of gods)

This Semitic term describes a group of possibly seven or eight gods. It is likely that the god Marduk was one of them, but the total membership in this group is unclear and likely changed over time.

Functions

Like the term Anunna, the term Igigu is equally complicated and in need of a comprehensive new study. Igigu, which is likely of Semitic origin, indicates a group of gods in the Mesopotamian pantheon. It is, however, not entirely clear what distinguishes the Igigu from the Anunna.

The story of Atrahasis, the Babylonian story of the Flood and a precursor to the flood story in the Gilgameš Epic (Tablet XI), offers some evidence on the relationship between the Annunaki and the Igigu. The poem begins with the lines "When the gods like men bore the work and suffered the toil, the toil of the gods was great, the work was heavy, the distress was much" (lines 1-4) (Lambert and Millard 1999 [1969]: 43). The composition continues: "The Seven great Anunnaki were making the Igigu suffer the work" (lines 5-6) (Lambert and Millard 1969 [1999]: 43). What follows is partly fragmentary, but seems to indicate that the Igigu gods did not want to work any more and therefore the Anunnaki had to find a solution. Ultimately, this led to the creation of humans, who from then on had to bear the gods' work. In this story it appears that the Igigu were subordinate to the Anunnaki (von Soden 1989: 341-2). It is unclear which deities were included in the Igigu group.

In the prologue to the famous Code of Hammurabi it is indicated that the Anunnaki elevated the god Marduk among the Igigu gods (for a translation see Roth 1997: 76-142; also see von Soden 1966: 144), but it is difficult to assess the significance of this passage.

Some mythological texts, such as the Anzu myth, speak of an assembly of the Igigu gods, but whether this might be an institutionalized assembly, as suggested by Kienast 1965: 146, remains doubtful.

Divine Genealogy and Syncretisms

As mentioned above, it is not clear how many and which gods belonged to the Igigu, although the god Marduk appears to belong to this group for certain. It is possible that the group included only seven (von Soden 1966), eight (Kienast 1965: 144) or ten (Black and Green 1998: 106) gods, but this is uncertain as well.

Other gods who may belong to this group are Ištar, Asarluhi, Naramṣit, Ninurta, Nuska, and Šamaš (Kienast 1965: 149). Some gods seem to belong to both the Anunnaki and the Igigu (Kienast 1965: 152), yet more research is needed to gain a better understanding of this situation in the first millennium BCE.

Cult Place(s)

We currently know of no cult places for the Igigu. Kienast (1965; 1976-80) has repeatedly suggested that the Igigu are only attested in literary and mythological texts. However, von Soden (1966) has brought forth some evidence that might indicate that there are very few theophoric personal names TT which invoke the Igigu, thus offering some evidence for their veneration.

Time Periods Attested

The term Igigu is first attested in texts from the Old Babylonian period (Kienast 1976-80: 40; von Soden 1989: 340) and only occurs in Akkadian contexts (Edzard 1976-80: 37). A Sumerian logographic equivalent of the term Igigu is nun-gal-e-ne, to be translated as "the great princes/sovereigns." This term is mentioned in a literary text that has been ascribed to the princess Enheduanna, daughter of king Sargon, the founder of the Old Akkadian dynasty (Inana C, ETCSL 4.7.3 l. 2). This particular composition is only attested in Old Babylonian manuscripts and it is unclear whether an older date can be proven. According to Edzard (1976-80: 39) it is possible that nun-gal-e-ne was originally an epithet of the Anunna gods that later became identified with the Igigu under influence from Akkadian.

The Igigu and Anunnaki are frequently attested in literary, mythological, and religious (incantations and prayers) texts until the end of the cuneiform tradition. The Igigu are mentioned, among others, in the Anzu myth (Foster 2005: 555-578), in Enāma eliš TT (Foster 2005: 436-486), and the Erra poem (Foster 2005: 880-913), all of which are attested in manuscripts of the first millennium BCE.

Iconography

Because this term describes a group of gods, there are no known images of the Igigu.

Name and Spellings

The etymology of this term is unclear. It has been suggested the term is of Old Akkadian (Kienast 1965: 157; 1976-80: 40) or of (Old) Amorite (von Soden 1966: 144) or possibly Arabic origins (von Soden 1989: 340). For the various spellings see Kienast 1965: 142.

Written forms:

logographic: dnun gal-e-ne, dnun-gal-meš;

syllabic and pseudo-logographic: i-gi-gu, i-gi-gi, di-gi4-gi4, di-gi4-gi4-ne, i-gi4-gu, dí-gì-gì (the latter appears first in ninth century BCE);

cryptographic: dgéš-u

Normalized forms:

Igigu, Igigi

Igigu in Online Corpora

The Corpus of Ancient Mesopotamian Scholarship

Nungalene in Online Corpora

The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature

Further Reading

Edzard 1976-80, "[Igigu], Anunna und."

Kienast 1965, "Igigu und Anunnakku nach den akkadischen Quellen."

Kienast 1976-80, "Igigu, Anunnakku und."

von Soden 1966, "Die Igigu-Götter."

von Soden 1989, "Die Igigu-Götter in altbabylonischer Zeit."

Nicole Brisch

Nicole Brisch, 'Igigi/Igigu (a group of gods)', Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses, Oracc and the UK Higher Education Academy, 2012 [oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/igigi/]

Released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0, 2011.

The Pennsylvania

Sumerian Dictionary

igi [EYE] (1133x: ED IIIb, Old Akkadian, Lagash II, Ur III, Early Old Babylonian, Old Babylonian, unknown) wr. igi; i-bi2; i-gi "eye; carved eye (for statues)" Akk. īnu

psd.museum.upenn.edu/epsd/epsd/e2510.html

The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary Project is carried out in the Babylonian Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology. It is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and private contributions.

____________________________________

Cycles of the earth, winds, Igigi it's all here and no wonder the church has been hiding the text. The smoke sedates the Elohim (judges) they have their Territories, Not demons nor angels but IGIGI; the Watchers the little big eyed guys who have been stealing my eggs while I sleep 1-4.

archive.org/details/bookofenochproph00laur

ia802707.us.archive.org/10/items/bookofenochproph00laur/b...

The book of Enoch the prophet

by Laurence, Richard, 1760-1838

Publication date 1883

Publisher London : Kegan Paul, Trench

Collection Princeton; americana

Digitizing sponsor Internet Archive

Contributor Princeton Theological Seminary Library

Language English.

Addeddate 2008-11-12 13:13:18

Call number 185459

Camera Canon 5D

External-identifier urn:oclc:record:1041620576[WorldCat (this item)]

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watcher_(angel)#Grigori

Philo

According to PrEv 1.10.1-2 of Philo of Byblos, Sanchuniathon mentioned "some living beings who had no perception, out of whom intelligent beings came into existence, and they were called Zophasemin (Heb. șōpē-šāmayim, that is, 'Watchers of Heaven'). And they were formed like the shape of an egg."

The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, volume 1, Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments

EDITED BY JAMES H. CHARLES WORTH, DUKE UNIVERSITY

DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, INC. GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: ISBN: 0-385-09630-5 Copyright © 1983 by James H. Charlesworth All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America Designed by Joseph P. Ascherl Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Old Testament pseudepigrapha.

eclass.uoa.gr/modules/document/file.php/THEOL264/James%20...

____________________________________

Livius.org Articles on ancient history

www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/104-106-the-epic-of-a...

The Epic of Atraḥasis

The Epic of Atraḥasis is the fullest Mesopotamian account of the Great Flood, with Atraḥasis in the role of Noah. It was written in the seventeenth century BCE

The text is known from several versions: two were written by Assyrian scribes (one in the Assyrian, one in the Babylonian dialect), a third one (on three tablets) was written during the reign of king Ammi-saduqa of Babylonia (1647-1626 BCE). Parts are quoted in Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgameš; other influences are in the Babylonian History by Berossus (quote). These texts can be used to reconstruct the lost parts of the Epic of Atraḥasis, while the overall structure is, of course, known from the Bible.

Summary

The conditions immediately after the Creation: the Lower Gods have to work very hard and start to complain

Revolt of the Lower Gods

Negotiations with the Great Gods

Proposal to create humans, to relieve the Lower Gods from their labor

Creation of the Man

Man's noisy behavior; new complaints from the gods

The supreme god Enlil's decision to extinguish mankind by a Great Flood

Atraḥasis is warned in a dream

Enki explains the dream to Atraḥasis (and betrays the plan)

Construction of the Ark

Boarding of the Ark

Departure

The Great Flood

The gods are hungry because there are no farmers left to bring sacrifices, and decide to spare Atraḥasis, even though he is a rebel

Regulations to cut down the noise: childbirth, infant mortality, and celibacy

The translation offered here is adapted from the one by B.R. Foster.

Translation

Complaints of the Lower Gods

[1] When the gods were man

they did forced labor, they bore drudgery.

Great indeed was the drudgery of the gods,

the forced labor was heavy, the misery too much:

[5] the seven great Anunna-gods were burdening

the Igigi-godsnote with forced labor.

[Lacuna]

[21] The gods were digging watercourses,

canals they opened, the life of the land.

The Igigi-gods were digging watercourses

canals they opened, the life of the land.

[25] The Igigi-gods dug the Tigris river

and the Euphrates thereafter.

Springs they opened from the depths,

wells ... they established.

...

They heaped up all the mountains.

[Several lines missing]

[34] ... years of drudgery.

[35] ... the vast marsh.

They counted years of drudgery,

... and forty years, too much!

... forced labor they bore night and day.

They were complaining, denouncing,

[40] muttering down in the ditch:

"Let us face up to our foreman the prefect,

he must take off our heavy burden upon us!

Enlil, counsellor of the gods, the warrior,

come, let us remove him from his dwelling;

[45] Enlil, counsellor of the gods, the warrior,

come, let us remove him from his dwelling!"

[Several lines missing]

[61] "Now them, call for battle,

battle let us join, warfare!"

The gods heard his words:

they set fire to their tools,

[65] they put fire to their spaces,

and flame to their workbaskets.

Off they went, one and all,

to the gate of the warrior Enlil's abode.

...

Insurrection of the Lower Gods

[70] It was night, half-way through the watch,

the house was surrounded, but the god did not know.

It was night, half-way through the watch,

Ekur was surrounded, but Enlil did not know!

[Several lines missing; the great gods send a messenger]

The Great Gods Send a Messenger

[132] Nusku opened his gate,

took his weapons and went ... Enlil.

In the assembly of all the gods,

[135] he knelt, stood up, expounded the command,

"Anu, your father,

your counsellor, the warrior Enlil,

your prefect, Ninurta,

and your bailiff Ennugi have sent me to say:

[140] 'Who is the instigator of this battle?

Who is the instigator of these hostilities?

Who declared war,

that battle has run up to the gate of Enlil?

In ...

[145] he transgressed the command of Enlil.'"

Reply by the Lower Gods

"Everyone of us gods has declared war;

...

We have set ... un the excvation,

excessive drudgery has killed us,

[150] our forced labor was heavy, the misery too much!

Now, everyone of us gods

has resolved on a reckoning with Enlil."

[The great gods decide to create man, to relieve the lower gods from their misery.]

Proposals by Ea, Belet-ili, and Enki

[a1] Ea made ready to speak,

and said to the gods, his brothers:

"What calumny do we lay to their charge?

Their forced labor was heavy, their misery too much!

[a5] Every day ...

the outcry was loud, we could hear the clamor.

There is ...

Belet-ili, the midwife, is present.note

Let her create, then, a human, a man,

[a10] Let him bear the yoke!

Let him bear the yoke!

Let man assume the drudgery of the god."

Belet-ili, the midwife, is present.

[190] Let the midwife create a human being!

Let man assume the drudgery of the god."

They summoned and asked the goddess

the midwife of the gods, wise Mami:note

"Will you be the birth goddess, creatress of mankind?

[195] Create a human being, that he bear the yoke,

let him bear the yoke, the task of Enlil,

let man assume the drudgery of the god."

Nintu made ready to speak,note

and said to the great gods:

[200] "It is not for me to do it,

the task is Enki's.

He it is that cleanses all,

let him provide me the clay so I can do the making."

Enki made ready to speak,

[205] and said to the great gods:

"On the first, seventh, and fifteenth days of the month,

let me establish a purification, a bath.

Let one god be slaughtered,

then let the gods be cleansed by immersion.

[210] Let Nintu mix clay with his flesh and blood.

Let that same god and man be thoroughly mixed in the clay.

Let us hear the drum for the rest of the time.

[215] From the flesh of the god let a spirit remain,

let it make the living know its sign,

lest he be allowed to be forgotten, let the spirit remain."

The great Anunna-gods, who administer destinies,

[220] answered "yes!" in the assembly.

The Creation of Man

On the first, seventh, and fifteenth days of the month,note

he established a purification, a bath.

They slaughtered Aw-ilu, who had the inspiration, in their assembly.

[225] Nintu mixed clay with his flesh and blood.

That same god and man were thoroughly mixed in the clay.

For the rest of the time they would hear the drum.

From the flesh of the god the spirit remained.

It would make the living know its sign.

[230] Lest he be allowed to be forgotten, the spirit remained.

After she had mixed the clay,

she summoned the Anunna, the great gods.

The Igigi, the great gods, spat upon the clay.

[235] Mami made rady to speak,

and said to the great gods:

"You ordered me the task and I have completed it!

You have slaughtered the god, along with his inspiration.

[240] I have done away with your heavy forced labor,

I have imposed your drudgery on man.

You have bestowed clamor upon mankind.

I have released the yoke, I have made restoration."

They heard this speech of hers,

[245] they ran, free of care, and kissed her feet, saying:

"Formerly we used to call you Mami,

now let your name be Belet-kala-ili:"note

[The human population increases and their noise disturbs the gods, who decide to wipe out mankind. The god Enki, however, sends a dream to Atrahasis. When the text resumes, Enki is still speaking.]

Enki explains Atraḥasis' dream

[i.b35] "Enlil committed an evil deed against the people."

[i.c11] Atraḥasis made ready to speak,

and said to his lord:

"Make me know the meaning of the dream.

let me know, that I may look out for its consequence."

[i.c15] Enki made ready to speak,

and said to his servant:

"You might say, 'Am I to be looking out while in the bedroom?'

Do you pay attention to message that I speak for your:

[i.c20] 'Wall, listen to me!

Reed wall, pay attention to all my words!

Flee the house, build a boat,

forsake possessions, and save life.

[i.c25] The boat which you build

... be equal ...

...

...

Roof her over like the depth,

[i.c30] so that the sun shall not see inside her.

Let her be roofed over fore and aft.

The gear should be very strong,

the pitch should be firm, and so give the boat strength.

I will shower down upon you later

[i.c35] a windfall of birds, a spate of fishes.'"

He opened the water clock and filled it,

he told it of the coming of the seven-day deluge.

Atraḥasis and the Elders

Atraḥasis received the command.

He assembled the Elders at his gate.

[i.c40] Atraḥasis made ready to speak,

and said to the Elders:

"My god does not agree with your god,

Enki and Enlil are constantly angry with each other.

They have expelled me from the land.

[i.c45] Since I have always reverenced Enki,

he told me this.

I can not live in ...

Nor can I set my feet on the earth of Enlil.

I will dwell with my god in the depths.

[i.c50] This he told me: ..."

Construction of the Ark

[ii.10] The Elders ...

The carpenter carried his axe,

the reedworker carried his stone,

the rich man carried the pitch,

the poor man brought the materials needed.

[Lacuna of about fifteen lines; the word Atraḥasis can be discerned.]

Boarding of the Ark

[ii.29] Bringing ...

[ii.30] whatever he had ...

Whatever he had ...

Pure animals he slaughtered, cattle ...

Fat animals he killed. Sheep ...

he choose and and brought on board.

[ii.35] The birds flying in the heavens,

the cattle and the ... of the cattle god,

the creatures of the steppe,

... he brought on board

...

[ii.40] he invited his people

... to a feast

... his family was brought on board.

While one was eating an another was drinking,

[ii.45] he went in and out; he could not sit, could not kneel,

for his heart was broken, he was retching gall.

Departure

The outlook of the weather changed.

Adadnote began to roar in the clouds.

[ii.50] The god they heard, his clamor.

He brought pitch to seal his door.

By the time he had bolted his door,

Adad was roaring in the clouds.

The winds were furious as he set forth,

[ii.55] He cut the mooring rope and released the boat.

[Lacuna]

The Great Flood

[iii.5] ... the storm

... were yoked

Anzu rent the sky with his talons,

He ... the land

[iii.10] and broke its clamor like a pot.

... the flood came forth.

Its power came upn the peoples like a battle,

one person did not see another,

they could not recognize each other in the catastrophe.

[iii.15] The deluge belowed like a bull,

The wind resounded like a screaming eagle.

The darkness was dense, the sun was gone,

... like flies.

[iii.20] the clamor of the deluge.

[Lacuna. The gods find themselves hungry because there are no farmers left and sacrifices are no longer brought. When they discover that Atrahasis has survived, they make a plan to make sure that the noise will remain within limits: they invent childbirth, infant mortality, and celibacy.]

Mankind Punished

[iii.45] Enki made ready to speak,

and said to Nintu the birth goddess:

"You, birth goddess, creatress of destinies,

establish death for all peoples!

[iii.d1] "Now then, let there be a third woman among the people,

among the people are the woman who has borne

and the woman who has not borne.

Let there be also among the people the pasittu (she-demon):

[iii.d5] Let her snatch the baby from the lap who bore it.

And etablish high priestesses and priestesses,

let them be taboo,note and so cut down childbirth."

This page was created in 2007; last modified on 12 October 2020.

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Brain Magick: Exercises in Meta-Magick and Invocation by Philip H. Farber

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"Satana-il was the supreme leader of an extraterrestrial race that accompanied the Anunnaki in their second landing on earth.

This galactic race was physically and genetically different from the An unna ki and the Igigi. Their duty was to serve the Anu nna ki.

They rebelled against the An unna ki and broke the laws of their leader by breeding with the women of the Earth.

Contrary to the general belief, the An unna ki were not the first extraterrestrial race to marry, or the have sexual relations with the women of earth."

____________________________________

archive.org/details/img20190908220021901

Ancient Creation Myths

by Alberta Parish

Publication date 2019-09-08

Topics Enlil, Enki, Anunnaki, Sumerians, ancient myths, Babylonians, Enuma Elish, Atrahasis, Noah, Genesis Flood, Sumerian flood myth

God: The Original Slavemaster by Alberta Parish

Ever since I was a child, I have always believed in a benevolent God called Yahweh and Jehovah that biblical writers claimed created mankind for the express purpose of his will. In a Christianized Western culture, I was taught that only through Jesus Christ could I have eternal life with him and Yahweh. The epic of Atrahasis, an Akkadian tablet dating from the 18th Century BCE, gives a completely different account of mankind's creation and how the universe was formed beginning with the primordial waters.

Atrahasis was the last Sumerian king before the Great Deluge who was saved from the flood by the Anunnaki god Enki who had rulership of the great deep. According to Atrahasis, Homo Sapiens were created to serve the Anunnaki, which were extraterrestrials that landed in the Persian Gulf region about 450,000 years ago in search of gold to repair their home planet Nibiru's ozone.They made the Igigi gods, who were lower gods, mine for gold. Enlil, the ruler of earth and sky, who is also the equivalent of the biblical God Yahweh, also made the Igigi build canals, reedbeds, rivers and mountains. They built the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and after 3,600 years, rebelled against their oppressor, Enlil.

Atrahasis had recorded that the Igigi cast off their work tools and surrounded Enlil's temple demanding to be relieved of their hard labor. It was later decided that the Anunnaki would make a species that were intelligent enough to do the work that the Igigi had refused to do. This was mankind's original purpose for being created by these extraterrestrials. It was also decided that an Anunnaki had to be sacrificed to make mankind.

The epic of Atrahasis states, "They slaughtered Aw-ilu, who had the inspiration, in their assembly.

Nintu mixed clay with his flesh and blood.

That same god and man were thoroughly mixed in the clay...After she had mixed the clay, she summoned the Anunna, the great gods.

The Igigi, the great gods, spat upon the clay.

Mami made ready to speak, and said to the great gods: "You ordered me the task and I have completed it!

You have slaughtered the god, along with his inspiration.

I have done away with your heavy forced labor,

I have imposed your drudgery on man.

You have bestowed clamor upon mankind."

With the help of Enki, half-brother of Enlil, the mother goddess Nintu (i.e., Mami) formed seven males and seven females from fourteen pieces of clay. It was also after this event that the human population grew, because the first seven males and females were given the ability to reproduce. When the human population grew, Enlil complained of their noise. He then set about to reduce the population. First, he caused a drought and mankind was destroyed. But it did nothing to reduce the population. Then, pestilence followed. Still, the population continued to grow. Lastly, Enlil caused a great famine. Eventually, the people turned cannibal as a result of the famine. Finally, Enlil proposed a solution to destroy the human population through a flood.

Read the remainder of my essay at www.ancientcreationmyths.com.

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ETCSLtranslation

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© Copyright 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 The ETCSL project, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford

Updated 2006-12-19 by JE

Igigi Search the English translations

Result: 3 paragraph(s)

 

A hymn to Marduk for Abī-Ešuḫ (Abī-Ešuḫ A): c.2.8.5.1

King who gathers up the divine powers of heaven and earth, foremost son of Enki, Marduk, mighty lord, perfect hero, foremost of the Great Princes (a name for the Igigi gods), strong one of the Anuna, the great gods who have given him justice and judgment! Great prince, descendant of holy An, lord who decides destinies, who has everything in his grasp (?), wise, august knower of hearts, whose divinity is manifest, who shows concern for all that he looks upon! Your ancestor An, king of the gods, has made your lordship effective against the armies of heaven and earth.

 

A hymn to Inana (Inana C): c.4.07.3

The great-hearted mistress, the impetuous lady, proud among the Anuna gods and pre-eminent in all lands, the great daughter of Suen, exalted among the Great Princes (a name of the Igigi gods), the magnificent lady who gathers up the divine powers of heaven and earth and rivals great An, is mightiest among the great gods -- she makes their verdicts final. The Anuna gods crawl before her august word whose course she does not let An know; he dare not proceed against her command. She changes her own action, and no one knows how it will occur. She makes perfect the great divine powers, she holds a shepherd's crook, and she is their magnificent pre-eminent one. She is a huge shackle clamping down upon the gods of the Land. Her great awesomeness covers the great mountain and levels the roads.

 

The debate between Bird and Fish: c.5.3.5

"You are like a watchman living on the walls (?), ……! Fish, you kindled fire against me, you planted henbane. In your stupidity you caused devastation; you have spattered your hands with blood! Your arrogant heart will destroy itself by its own deeds! But I am Bird, flying in the heavens and walking on the earth. Wherever I travel to, I am there for the joy of its …… named. ……, O Fish, …… bestowed by the Great Princes (a name for the Igigi). I am of first-class seed, and my young are first-born young! …… went with uplifted head …… to the lustrous E-kur. …… until distant days. …… the numerous people say. How can you not recognise my pre-eminence? Bow your neck to the ground."

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A song to Ninimma (Ninimma A): translation

web.archive.org/web/20060925024833/http://www-etcsl.orien...

SEGMENT A

1-18You are the seal-holder of the treasury of the ....... You are the caretaker of the great gods, you are ....... Ninimma, you are the lady of all the great rites in the E-kur. Lady, you are the ...... of Enlil, you are the heavenly scribe. You ...... the tablet of life.

1 line fragmentary

You, who bring the best corn, are the lady of the E-sara. The surveyor's gleaming line and the measuring rod suit you perfectly. You can hold your head high among the great princes. You are ....... You are ......, the cherished one.

1 line fragmentary

......; you are exceptional in wisdom. ...... joy ....... My lady, you were exalted already in the womb; you are resplendent like the sunlight. You are suited to the lapis-lazuli crown (?); you are the heavenly ....... ...... adorned with loveliness .......

1 line fragmentary

approx. 10 lines missing

 

SEGMENT B

1-11...... like a strong (?) ....... ...... of the E-kur ...... lady ....... ...... the forceful one of Nanna ....... You are profoundly intelligent, one who knows everything. You are the shining light which fills the exalted sanctuary. You are she who ...... by Enlil. You are ....... You are ....... You are most apt for the holy susbu rites and lustration rites.

1 line unclear

Ninimma of the holy divine plans, it is sweet to praise you!

 

SEGMENT C

1You are .......

 

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Inly, Bohdan

 

about.me/chekanart

 

Taken in 1975.

 

The Vestal Virgins (the priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth and the eternal flame), lived in a palatial residence adjacent to this temple.

The Mothra twin priestesses

Beautiful Hawthorn blossom is filling the hedgerows with it's delicious little blooms...

the hawthorn was one of, if not the, most likely tree to be inhabited or protected by the Wee Folk. so-called 'lone bushes', found in the landscape were said to be inhabited by faeries. Such trees could not be cut down or damaged in any way without incurring the often fatal wrath of their supernatural guardians. The Faery Queen by her hawthorn can also be seen as a representation of an earlier pre-Christian archetype, reminding us of a Goddess-centred worship, practised by priestesses in sacred groves of hawthorn, planted in the round. The site of Westminster Abbey was once called Thorney Island after the sacred stand of thorn trees there.

The Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove is a UNESCO World Heritage SIte:

 

"Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove

 

The dense forest of the Osun Sacred Grove, on the outskirts of the city of Osogbo, is one of the last remnants of primary high forest in southern Nigeria. Regarded as the abode of the goddess of fertility Osun, one of the pantheon of Yoruba gods, the landscape of the grove and its meandering river is dotted with sanctuaries and shrines, sculptures and art works in honour of Osun and other deities. The sacred grove, which is now seen as a symbol of identity for all Yoruba people, is probably the last in Yoruba culture. It testifies to the once widespread practice of establishing sacred groves outside all settlements.

 

A century ago there were many sacred groves in Yorubaland: every town had one. Most of these groves have now been abandoned or have shrunk to quite small areas. Osun-Osogbo, in the heart of Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, founded some 400 years ago in southwest Nigeria, at a distance of 250 km from Lagos is the largest sacred grove to have survived and one that is still revered.

 

The dense forest of the Osun Sacred Grove is some of the last remnants of primary high forest in southern Nigeria. Through the forest meanders the river Osun, the spiritual abode of the river goddess Osun. Set within the forest sanctuary are forty shrines, sculptures and art works erected in honour of Osun and other Yoruba deities, many created in the past forty years, two palaces, five sacred places and nine worship points strung along the river banks with designated priests and priestesses.

 

The new art installed in the grove has also differentiated it from other groves: Osogbo is now unique in having a large component of 20th century sculpture created to reinforce the links between people and the Yoruba pantheon, and the way in which Yoruba towns linked their establishment and growth to the spirits of the forest.

 

The restoration of the grove by artists has given the grove a new importance: it has become a sacred place for the whole of Yorubaland and a symbol of identity for the wider Yoruba Diaspora.

 

The Grove is an active religious site where daily, weekly and monthly worship takes place. In addition, an annual processional festival to re-establish the mystic bonds between the goddess and the people of the town occurs every year over twelve days in July and August and thus sustains the living cultural traditions of the Yoruba people.

 

The Grove is also a natural herbal pharmacy containing over 400 species of plants, some endemic, of which more than 200 species are known for their medicinal uses."

 

See: whc.unesco.org/en/list/1118/

 

Many of the sculptural artworks in the sacred grove were produced in the 1960s by Austrian artist Suzanne Wenger and her team. She had moved to NIgeria in the 1950s and was a leader in pushing for the grove to be protected. She obtained NIgerian citizenship and also was awarded a chieftancy title in Osogbo.

Alma-Tadema based his 1887 painting on a story by Plutarch, according to which a group of priestesses of Dionysos, called the Thyiades, once traveled from Delphi to the town of Amphissa ten miles away, during one of their nocturnal rites. Exhausted and disoriented, they lay down in the marketplace of Amphissa to sleep. The local townswomen, when they discovered the visitors the next morning, were concerned for the Thyiades safety, fearing that they might be assaulted by the soldiers stationed in the town. Therefore, they formed a protective ring around the Thyiades, gave them something to eat and escorted them safely out of town. In the collection of the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA.

 

The painting is vintage A-T: the marbles, the architectural detail, the multiple folds of the dresses and lots of pretty young women. Unfortunately for me, when I look at this picture, the first I see is the head of the ginger-haired Thyiade, whose neck seems to have been attached to the body through some poorly executed Photoshop procedure...

Dodona in Epirus in northwestern Greece was the oldest Hellenic oracle, possibly dating to the second millennium BCE according to Herodotus. The earliest accounts in Homer describe Dodona as an oracle of Zeus. Situated in a remote region away from the main Greek poleis, it was considered second only to the oracle of Delphi in prestige.

 

Aristotle considered the region around Dodona to have been part of Hellas and the region where the Hellenes originated. The oracle was first under the control of the Thesprotians before it passed into the hands of the Molossians. It remained an important religious sanctuary until the rise of Christianity during the Late Roman era.

 

During classical antiquity, according to various accounts, priestesses and priests in the sacred grove interpreted the rustling of the oak (or beech) leaves to determine the correct actions to be taken. According to a new interpretation, the oracular sound originated from bronze objects hanging from oak branches and sounded with the wind blowing, similar to a wind chime.

 

According to Nicholas Hammond, Dodona was an oracle devoted to a Mother Goddess (identified at other sites with Rhea or Gaia, but here called Dione) who was joined and partly supplanted in historical times by the Greek deity Zeus.

 

Although the earliest inscriptions at the site date to c. 550–500 BCE, archaeological excavations conducted for more than a century have recovered artifacts as early as the Mycenaean era, many now at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, and some in the archaeological museum at nearby Ioannina. There was an ancient tradition that Dodona was founded as a colony from the city, also named Dodona, in Thessaly.

 

Cult activity at Dodona was already established in some form during the Late Bronze Age (or Mycenaean period). During the post-Mycenaean period (or "Greek Dark Ages"), evidence of activity at Dodona is scant, but there is a resumption of contact between Dodona and southern Greece during the Archaic period (8th century BCE) with the presence of bronze votive offerings (i.e. tripods) from southern Greek cities. Archaeologists also have found Illyrian dedications and objects that were received by the oracle during the 7th century BCE. Until 650 BCE, Dodona was a religious and oracular centre mainly for northern tribes: only after 650 BCE did it become important for the southern tribes.

 

Zeus was worshipped at Dodona as "Zeus Naios" or "Naos" (god of the spring below the oak in the temenos or sanctuary, cf. Naiads) and as "Zeus Bouleus" (Counsellor). According to Plutarch, the worship of Jupiter (Zeus) at Dodona was set up by Deucalion and Pyrrha.

 

The earliest mention of Dodona is in Homer, and only Zeus is mentioned in this account. In the Iliad (circa 750 BCE), Achilles prays to "High Zeus, Lord of Dodona, Pelasgian, living afar off, brooding over wintry Dodona" (thus demonstrating that Zeus also could be invoked from a distance).[16] No buildings are mentioned, and the priests (called Selloi) slept on the ground with unwashed feet. No priestesses are mentioned in Homer.

 

The oracle also features in another passage involving Odysseus, giving a story of his visit to Dodona. Odysseus's words "bespeak a familiarity with Dodona, a realization of its importance, and an understanding that it was normal to consult Zeus there on a problem of personal conduct."

 

The details of this story are as follows. Odysseus says to the swineherd Eumaeus (possibly giving him a fictive account) that he (Odysseus) was seen among the Thesprotians, having gone to inquire of the oracle at Dodona whether he should return to Ithaca openly or in secret (as the disguised Odysseus is doing). Odysseus later repeats the same tale to Penelope, who may not yet have seen through his disguise.

 

According to some scholars, Dodona was originally an oracle of the Mother Goddess attended by priestesses. She was identified at other sites as Rhea or Gaia. The oracle also was shared by Dione (whose name simply means "deity"). By classical times, Dione was relegated to a minor role elsewhere in classical Greece, being made into an aspect of Zeus's more usual consort, Hera — but never at Dodona.

 

Many dedicatory inscriptions recovered from the site mention both "Dione" and "Zeus Naios".

 

According to some archaeologists, not until the 4th century BCE, was a small stone temple to Dione added to the site. By the time Euripides mentioned Dodona (fragmentary play Melanippe) and Herodotus wrote about the oracle, the priestesses appeared at the site.

 

Though it never eclipsed the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi, Dodona gained a reputation far beyond Greece. In the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, a retelling of an older story of Jason and the Argonauts, Jason's ship, the "Argo", had the gift of prophecy, because it contained an oak timber spirited from Dodona.

 

In c. 290 BCE, King Pyrrhus made Dodona the religious capital of his domain and beautified it by implementing a series of construction projects (i.e. grandly rebuilt the Temple of Zeus, developed many other buildings, added a festival featuring athletic games, musical contests, and drama enacted in a theatre). A wall was built around the oracle itself and the holy tree, as well as temples to Dione and Heracles.

 

In 219 BCE, the Aetolians, under the leadership of General Dorimachus, invaded and burned the temple to the ground. During the late 3rd century BCE, King Philip V of Macedon (along with the Epirotes) reconstructed all the buildings at Dodona. In 167 BCE, Dodona was destroyed by the Romans (led by Aemilius Paulus), but was later rebuilt by Emperor Augustus in 31 BCE. By the time the traveller Pausanias visited Dodona in the 2nd century CE, the sacred grove had been reduced to a single oak. In 241 CE, a priest named Poplius Memmius Leon organized the Naia festival of Dodona. In 362 CE, Emperor Julian consulted the oracle prior to his military campaigns against the Persians.

 

Pilgrims still consulted the oracle until 391-392 CE when Emperor Theodosius closed all pagan temples, banned all pagan religious activities, and cut down the ancient oak tree at the sanctuary of Zeus. Although the surviving town was insignificant, the long-hallowed pagan site must have retained significance for Christians given that a Bishop Theodorus of Dodona attended the First Council of Ephesus in 431 CE (Wikipedia).

I have a friend that lives in Mendlesham, and we have talked about visiting St Mary several times. But I decided come what may, this would be the day when I would do it.

 

You can see the tower of St Mary from the A140, two miles off, a shallow valley lies between, meaning as you get closer, St Mary disappears. But then as you enter the village, it is standing on Chapel Street, towering over the timber framed houses of the village.

 

I approached the church, but found the south door locked. The door under the tower was locked too, but the north door, in another porch was open, and inside I could tell I wasn't going to be disappointed, this is a high church on a grand scale, where nothing was done in half measures.

 

----------------------------------------

 

2009: Ten years ago, I set out to visit all the churches of Suffolk, and managed it, on and off, over the next four years. Revisiting them all now, I have found changes, some for the worse but many for the better. At Mendlesham, there had been almost no change at all since my previous visit, which seemed entirely appropriate, and so I reproduce word-for-word what I wrote then.

2003: I often get asked which is my favourite Suffolk church. It is easy to make the case for Thornham Parva and Flowton, both of which are beautiful, and always open. Westhall and Denston are perhaps the most interesting, and it is hard to beat the special atmosphere of Kettlebaston and Blythburgh. For grandness, take me to Southwold or Eye, although there are those who swear by Lavenham, Long Melford and Clare, and for sheer magical presence I’d argue for the haunting Ramsholt and Withersdale. As for architecture, or medieval survivals – well, it is probably best not to get me started.

 

But there is one church that fits into pretty much all these categories, and it is here, not far from the main Ipswich to Norwich road. Not only is St Mary of Mendlesham architecturally and historically fascinating, it is also magical, grand, interesting, beautiful and open. What more could you want in a church? St Mary has a special place in the hearts of one particular strand of the Church of England; for here in this busy little working village among the barley plains is the last surviving thorough-going Anglo-Catholic parish church in all Suffolk. For well over a quarter of a century, Father Philip Gray has kept the flame of the Faith alive here. No Affirming Catholicism pussyfooting for Mendlesham. Here, Mass is still celebrated daily, the sacraments are administered, and the great Feast of the Assumption still kept as the highest Saint’s day of the year, as it once was all over Suffolk.

 

I remember attending the Assumption Day Mass here in the mid-1990s. There were nearly as many Priests concelebrating as there were people in the congregation, but you had to count them quickly before they disappeared in clouds of incense. Nobody can swing a thurible as energetically as an Anglo-Catholic Priest, and Father Philip is more energetic than most. At the time, I was rather more used to the post-Vatican II simplicity of what Anglo-Catholics call the ‘Roman’ Church, so to say that I was impressed is an understatement.

 

As you’ve probably realised if you have travelled extensively around this site, I am utterly fascinated by the Anglo-Catholic movement. I think it quite the most interesting thing about the Church of England. What fascinates me most is the mindset of a movement that was born in the fire of the great 19th century sacramental revival, and is now the last remaining memory of that extraordinary epoch. It is as if, as Larkin says, it finds itself out on the end of an event, having survived it.

 

It is easy to think of the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Anglican Church as a movement besieged. In its Forward in Faith incarnation in particular, it comes in for a great deal of stick, and rarely for theological reasons. It is accused of being misogynist, separatist, and authoritarian.

 

The first of these is because it has not only declined to recognise the orders of ordained female ministers, but also refused to accept the authority of those who ordain them. Indeed, the FiF movement goes as far as to use the concept of ‘taint’ to describe a male priest who has concelebrated with what are dismissively referred to as ‘priestesses’.

 

In its defence, the FiF Anglo-Catholics argue that, if the Church of England is a true part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, as they believe it to be, then a decision to ordain women cannot be taken in isolation from this worldwide Church – that is to say, the Catholic Church. Because of this, they argue that the ordination of women is actually invalid. Several Anglo-Catholics have told me that if the Pope in Rome started ordaining women, they would accept them with open arms at once, although this was obviously said in the safe knowledge that it isn’t going to happen.

The perceived separatism of the movement is a direct by-product of this position. FiF churches are effectively carving out a separate communion within the Anglican Church. By steadfastly defending their altars, accepting the authority of the so-called flying Bishops, and using the concept of taint to keep non-sympathetic male Priests at arms length, they have created a situation where, while accepting the authority of Canterbury, their congregations are no longer in communion with the rest of that church.

 

While this situation appears untenable to many outsiders, FiF claims it has been done to safeguard the handing on of the Faith to future generations. It looks like they are settling in for a long siege. While I find myself more sympathetic to the Anglo-Catholics than to their accusers, I can’t help but be reminded of Sellar and Yeatman’s famous analysis of the English Civil War in 1066 and all that – that the Cavaliers were wrong, but romantic, while the Roundheads were right, but revolting. I think the Anglo-Catholics are the Cavaliers of the Church of England, although I fear that the dull-minded Roundheads will win in the end.

 

But the liturgical character of the church will not be your first impression, or possibly even your second. The main thing that will strike you as you approach it is quite how big it is, and how ornate; an imposing presence, which is partly a result of it being placed flush to the road, where two street signs show that the road against the tower is called Church Street, and the one leading away from it Chapel Street. This must have seemed more symbolic in the 19th century than it does now, and I wondered if the 21st Century might more appropriately demand a DIY Superstore Street, or a Recovering From a Hangover Street, or even a Too Bloody Lazy To Get Up On A Sunday Morning Street. Like a modern Pilgrim’s Progress, perhaps.

 

Next, there’s the porches. Suffolk has some amazing late 15/early 16th century porches – Cautley thought Woolpit’s the best in England – so it is always a pleasure to come across one. Mendlesham has two. The ornate southern one is now blocked off as a chapel, so don’t miss it – you’ll need to go right around the east end of the building to get to it. But the northern porch is the most remarkable.

 

For a start, it is huge. It is crowned with quite the biggest grotesques in the county – even Bramford can’t compete. You’ll spot Suffolk’s finest woodwose; nothing symbolic about him, he looks ready to step down and belt you over the head with his club.

 

If you are used to the ultramontane exotica of London's Anglo-Catholic citadels, it may surprise you to find that Mendlesham is, well, so very English.

 

One of the charges levelled against Anglo-Catholic churches is that they are somehow foreign to English tradition – all those tacky continental statues, pictures of Mary, and even candles burning, are enough to turn the stomach of a thoroughgoing protestant Englishman. While the aesthetic qualities of some statues leave a lot to be desired (not at Mendlesham, I hasten to add) this charge is ridiculous. Before the Reformation, England was considered Our Lady’s Dowry, the most faithfully Catholic country in Europe. The putting down of a sacramental life was a symptom of the Reformation as much as a cause of it. There’s nothing unpatriotic about the Hail Mary. The imposition of Protestantism was the most remarkable sleight of hand on the part of the Tudors, and one from which some parts of the British Isles are still suffering violent consequences. It is just my opinion, but I do not feel that the English are natural protestants.

 

Each age constructs its own sense of Englishness, depending on who is in a position to impose it. For Anglicans, being the state church with the reigning monarch at its head has meant it has been continually buffeted by the winds of change. Even worse, there is the strain of the complex relationship between a spiritual kind of Englishness, which is much to be desired, and the more shady concept of Britishness and the Union. Why Anglican churches persist in displaying the Union flag instead of the English flag of St George is beyond me. I imagine it is a legacy of the First World War. At the time, the Church of England was in the most powerfully strong cultural position, and shamefully sanctified the slaughter. Several Vicars have told me how much they’d like to take the flags down. But they never do.

 

So it was, on a Spring day in 2003, when our brave lads were away bringing death and destruction to a country of which we still appear to have learned nothing, I came to Mendlesham again. I am not an Anglican, but this church feels to me like a touchstone of what it means to be English, and to be a Suffolker, with a sense of a past, present and future.

 

The church was open - it is always open. From the wide graveyard, an old lady passed me on her way into the church - as it turned out, to light a candle. This seemed to me such a beautiful, natural thing to do if you were visiting your dead family. I followed her into the porch.

 

The upper part of the porch contains Mendlesham’s famous armoury, which can be visited by appointment. It is well worth the detour, and if you doubt the wisdom of having a weapons museum in a church, you might be relieved to learn that it is was quite common in the late Tudor and early Stuart periods for church porches and towers to host the Parish armoury. Some of the arms here date back to the 16th century, but more interesting perhaps is the Civil War stuff. Some of this was carried at the famous muster on Mellis Common which resulted in Suffolk’s only two Civil War deaths, when a musket went off by accident. Which just goes to show that ‘friendly fire’ is nothing new.

 

I mention the upper room of the porch before we go inside, because I want nothing to distract us from the impact of St Mary’s interior. A clue that we are about to leave the mundane world behind is in the porch itself; pressed into service as a holy water stoup is one of the loveliest fonts in the county. It came from Rishangles, when the church there was made redundant and sold off by the money-changers. It has had various claims made for its age, Mortlock unaccountably dating it as 1600; but it must surely be late 19th century. Whatever, it is stunning, and a mark that this church has always found a home for orphans of elsewhere, and that some of these orphans are beautiful.

 

So, we step through into the devotional interior. If you were expecting a grimy gloom overlooked by kitschy statues, you are going to be disappointed. St Mary is full of light. And yet, from all corners there are glimpses of flickering candles, the gleam of icons and images.

 

The church had a fairly early restoration, in 1860, at the hands of a major architect, Ewan Christian. You find yourself standing in a large space, much of the west end of the church devoted to the font, the organ, and some fascinating medieval benches. I spotted a cockerel and a wyvern, and a woman at a prayerdesk which might once have been part of an Annunciation scene. Among them are some slightly later benches, probably early 17th century, that came from Rishangles. The font cover is also 17th century, dated 1630, at the height of Laudian piety. It is nice to think that, given this church's modern tradition, it took a similar line back then. It was made locally, but contains Renaissance imagery rarely seen in this country; it would be quite at home at St Eustache in Paris.

 

St Mary has two major brasses; but it didn't. The biggest is up at the east end of the nave (the placing of a nave altar turns this into a crossing) and is to John Knyvet. He died in 1417, and isn't far short of life-size. He's very typical of the period, in his armour, with the dragon head crest behind him. There's no inscription. There is one, however, on the other brass, which is mounted on the wall in the south aisle. This is the one that should really be at Southolt, and is to Margaret Armiger, a typical post-reformation sentiment of the 1580s.

 

It really shouldn't be on the wall. If there was a fire, it would melt; floor-mounted brasses don't melt. It would be nice if it was still at Southolt, where the local people are extraordinarily caring about the little church. Unfortunately, at the time of its redundancy, the church was very badly vandalised, and we have Mendlesham to thank for rescuing this and other priceless art objects. Indeed, at Southolt it was actually mounted on a pew, fuel to the fire if there'd been one. I am sure that the nice people at Southolt today would do their best to look after it if they had it now, but it wouldn't have survived if it had been left there.

 

Also from Southolt are the panels of medieval glass in the north aisle. They were angels and Apostles - you can easily spot fragments of St Andrew, St Bartholomew and St Thomas. The figure of St Thomas has been given the head of a lion. I loved this.

 

St Mary has more altars in use than any other church in Suffolk. There are five of them. I have already mentioned the nave altar, used for Mass. There is a very simple, typically rural high altar, dignified only by the big six candlesticks. At the east end of the south aisle is an extraordinary thing; an altar made of pieces of medieval mensas. A reliquary is set in the front. It is the only one of its kind in an Anglican church anywhere in Suffolk. The Stuart table imposed on the church by the prayer book liturgy has been turned into an altar in the north aisle. This is rather beautiful, with the image of the Mother of God in the central alcove above, and other Marian imagery. It was originally restored as a chapel as a memorial to the First World War. Finally, in the converted south porch, there is a Holy Cross chapel, dating from the 1970s. The wall paintings are quite, quite extraordinary. One of them is of St Helen finding the true cross. In another, as far as I can make out, a group of Celts are watching the raising of Lazarus.

 

Above the chancel arch, a rather restrained rood group reminds us of the glory that once was pre-Reformation Suffolk. Up in the chancel itself, you'll find the shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham. Not on sale in the church, but generally available in Walsingham, is a lovely book by Father Philip, the Rector here, about the churches of Walsingham. I recommend it. There is also a place where you can light a candle for the work of Forward in Faith.

 

If I have one criticism of this splendidly welcoming, interesting and devotional church, it is that there is no guide book.

 

Over the course of the following week, I attended Mass in two Irish churches; one in South Armagh, the other on the Falls Road in Belfast. Neither was as ornate as St Mary of Mendlesham, neither was as filled with a sense of prayer and awe. I am sure that a time-traveller from the 15th century would have recognised Mendlesham as the real Catholic church, not the two Irish ones. Obviously, I believe they’d be wrong to think this, but I could understand it.

 

So is Anglo-Catholicism anything more than a historical re-enactment? Are its churches merely liturgical museums? Is there life in the old movement yet?

 

Come here, and look around. Everything is neat and clean, obviously much loved. This is not just a shrine; it is a living centre of its community. Here, the local people come for their baptisms, weddings and funerals; but they also come for private prayer, for the sacraments of Holy Mother Church as they understand them.

As I said earlier, it always disturbs me seeing the Union Flag in a church; but there is something rather striking about seeing it draped beside an ikon of the Holy Mother of God. Also, there is something moving about a place that encourages candles to be lit, about corners that draw the eye and reveal unrealised paths to God. This is undoubtedly an English Parish Church of the 21st century; and yet, it has recaptured some of the mystery of its past, and is filled with a deep spirituality and sense of the numinous. For this alone, it is one of the most significant of all Suffolk churches, and one of my favourites.

  

Simon Knott, 2003, updated July 2009

 

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/mendlesham.htm

 

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The magnificent 15th century tower of St Mary's, stands as a beacon for those travelling on the A140 between Ipswich and Norwich.

The church is predominantly Early English and contains a wealth of interest. The unusual and elaborate font cover was carved in 1630 by John Turner, who also carved the pulpit. There is a wonderful collection of mediaeval pews and a 14th Century brass to John Knyvet.

The South Aisle contains the stone altar which was raised from the floor in 1981. It is now the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.

The church has two porches. The upper floor of the North porch, originally a priest’s room, contains a unique armoury - “the most complete armoury of any English parish church” (Pevsner). As well as the parish collection of armour, assembled at the time of the Armada, it contains part of an Elizabethan longbow, several parish chests, a ‘Vinegar’ Bible and other artefacts. It is open on the afternoon of the first bank holiday in May (Mendlesham Street Fayre day) and by appointment with Fr Philip.

The South Porch is now the Chapel of the Holy Cross, designated especially for prayer for the dead, where candles are lit for the departed and there are to be found two chantry books; one for the parish and the other containing the names of the 190 American servicemen based at Mendlesham airfield who died in action in WW2.

 

www.stmarysmendlesham.org.uk/the-church-building.html

 

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The Suffolk village of Mendlesham is a picturesque place, with timber-framed buildings and that quiet air of timelessness that Suffolk seems to specialise in. At the heart of the village is the 13th century church of St Mary the Virgin, punctuated with a superb 15th century west tower.

 

In the north aisle are 15th century benches that were brought here from Rishangles church. The benches in the nave a re slightly younger, dating to the mid-16th century. The bench ends sport a wonderful array of carved figures, including a dragon biting its own tail.

 

There are fragments of medieval glass in the north aisle windows, including a figure of a lion sticking its tongue out.

 

The Lady Chapel stands at the east end of the north aisle. the altar table is 16th century, and if you look closely you can see that one of the table legs has ben carved the wrong way around. In the north wall of the chapel is 14th century glass from Rishangles church, including a likeness of a horse's head and bridle and a figure of St John holding a cup.

 

There are several very interesting memorials in the chancel including a wall monument to William Cuthbert, who served a a doctor in Mendlesham for over 50 years. The altar rails date to around 1660.

 

The beautifully carved pulpit was installed in 1620 and was carved by a local craftsman named John Turner, who also made the wooden font cover at the same time. Nearby is a memorial brass to John Knyvet (d. 1417), showing him clad in armour. One very odd feature about the Knyvet brass is that he is shown with his beard outside his armour.

 

At the back of the nave are two biers for carrying coffins. One is a rare child bier, a scaled down version of the normal adult bier. Both biers have their original straps.

 

In the south porch is the Chapel of the Holy Cross with vivid modern wall paintings adding a rather odd touch under the beautifully carved 15th century porch roof. In the chapel is a memorial to the American Airmen of the 34th Bomber Group, who were stationed near Mendlesham in WWII. A memorial to American servicemen stands in the churchyard to the south of the church.

 

In the south aisle is a royal coat of arms to George III and a memorial brass to Margaret Arminger. The aisle roof is at least 16th century and one of the beams at the east end has traces of late medieval paintings. The altar stone at the east end of the aisle is late medieval as well, and on the aisle wall is a funeral hatchment. There are medieval glass fragments in the east window.

 

One unusual feature at Mendlesham church, and one that is not normally on display to visitors, is a rare armoury in the chamber above the north porch. Church armouries are not unique, but it is rare to find one as complete as this. The parvise, or chamber over the porch entrance, has been used as the parish armoury since 1593. The armoury has a collection of Elizabethan armour brought together at the time of the Spanish Armada invasion.

 

There are breastplates, helmets, a crossbow, and one of only 4 original Elizabethan longbows in existence. Another rarity is a 'pauldron', a piece of shoulder armour which is pone of the very few complete specimens in existence. The armoury also holds three parish chests, as well as a copy of the 1717 'Vinegar Bible' and a 17th century book of sermons.

 

The armoury is open only on special church open days or by special appointment with the rector.

 

www.britainexpress.com/counties/suffolk/churches/mendlesh...

The Roman Forum is an amazing archeological site with so many areas to explore. I especially like this section devoted to the Vestal Virgins where this photo was taken. Here’s the description from the Forum:

 

The priestly order of Vestals dates back to Romulus or Numa (8th - 7th centuries BC). Priestesses had to be young aristocratic virgins, and were chosen by the Pontifex Maximus when they were between the ages of 6 and 10. Their service as priestess lasted for 30 years and brought them wealth and privilege, but also required chastity and observation of rituals. The Vestals kept alight the public fire that burned in the temple of Vesta, looked after sacred objects and celebrated annual festivals. On these occasions the Vestals prepared the mola salsa, a mixture of flour and salt, which was sprinkled on sacrificial victims.

I have a friend that lives in Mendlesham, and we have talked about visiting St Mary several times. But I decided come what may, this would be the day when I would do it.

 

You can see the tower of St Mary from the A140, two miles off, a shallow valley lies between, meaning as you get closer, St Mary disappears. But then as you enter the village, it is standing on Chapel Street, towering over the timber framed houses of the village.

 

I approached the church, but found the south door locked. The door under the tower was locked too, but the north door, in another porch was open, and inside I could tell I wasn't going to be disappointed, this is a high church on a grand scale, where nothing was done in half measures.

 

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2009: Ten years ago, I set out to visit all the churches of Suffolk, and managed it, on and off, over the next four years. Revisiting them all now, I have found changes, some for the worse but many for the better. At Mendlesham, there had been almost no change at all since my previous visit, which seemed entirely appropriate, and so I reproduce word-for-word what I wrote then.

2003: I often get asked which is my favourite Suffolk church. It is easy to make the case for Thornham Parva and Flowton, both of which are beautiful, and always open. Westhall and Denston are perhaps the most interesting, and it is hard to beat the special atmosphere of Kettlebaston and Blythburgh. For grandness, take me to Southwold or Eye, although there are those who swear by Lavenham, Long Melford and Clare, and for sheer magical presence I’d argue for the haunting Ramsholt and Withersdale. As for architecture, or medieval survivals – well, it is probably best not to get me started.

 

But there is one church that fits into pretty much all these categories, and it is here, not far from the main Ipswich to Norwich road. Not only is St Mary of Mendlesham architecturally and historically fascinating, it is also magical, grand, interesting, beautiful and open. What more could you want in a church? St Mary has a special place in the hearts of one particular strand of the Church of England; for here in this busy little working village among the barley plains is the last surviving thorough-going Anglo-Catholic parish church in all Suffolk. For well over a quarter of a century, Father Philip Gray has kept the flame of the Faith alive here. No Affirming Catholicism pussyfooting for Mendlesham. Here, Mass is still celebrated daily, the sacraments are administered, and the great Feast of the Assumption still kept as the highest Saint’s day of the year, as it once was all over Suffolk.

 

I remember attending the Assumption Day Mass here in the mid-1990s. There were nearly as many Priests concelebrating as there were people in the congregation, but you had to count them quickly before they disappeared in clouds of incense. Nobody can swing a thurible as energetically as an Anglo-Catholic Priest, and Father Philip is more energetic than most. At the time, I was rather more used to the post-Vatican II simplicity of what Anglo-Catholics call the ‘Roman’ Church, so to say that I was impressed is an understatement.

 

As you’ve probably realised if you have travelled extensively around this site, I am utterly fascinated by the Anglo-Catholic movement. I think it quite the most interesting thing about the Church of England. What fascinates me most is the mindset of a movement that was born in the fire of the great 19th century sacramental revival, and is now the last remaining memory of that extraordinary epoch. It is as if, as Larkin says, it finds itself out on the end of an event, having survived it.

 

It is easy to think of the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Anglican Church as a movement besieged. In its Forward in Faith incarnation in particular, it comes in for a great deal of stick, and rarely for theological reasons. It is accused of being misogynist, separatist, and authoritarian.

 

The first of these is because it has not only declined to recognise the orders of ordained female ministers, but also refused to accept the authority of those who ordain them. Indeed, the FiF movement goes as far as to use the concept of ‘taint’ to describe a male priest who has concelebrated with what are dismissively referred to as ‘priestesses’.

 

In its defence, the FiF Anglo-Catholics argue that, if the Church of England is a true part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, as they believe it to be, then a decision to ordain women cannot be taken in isolation from this worldwide Church – that is to say, the Catholic Church. Because of this, they argue that the ordination of women is actually invalid. Several Anglo-Catholics have told me that if the Pope in Rome started ordaining women, they would accept them with open arms at once, although this was obviously said in the safe knowledge that it isn’t going to happen.

The perceived separatism of the movement is a direct by-product of this position. FiF churches are effectively carving out a separate communion within the Anglican Church. By steadfastly defending their altars, accepting the authority of the so-called flying Bishops, and using the concept of taint to keep non-sympathetic male Priests at arms length, they have created a situation where, while accepting the authority of Canterbury, their congregations are no longer in communion with the rest of that church.

 

While this situation appears untenable to many outsiders, FiF claims it has been done to safeguard the handing on of the Faith to future generations. It looks like they are settling in for a long siege. While I find myself more sympathetic to the Anglo-Catholics than to their accusers, I can’t help but be reminded of Sellar and Yeatman’s famous analysis of the English Civil War in 1066 and all that – that the Cavaliers were wrong, but romantic, while the Roundheads were right, but revolting. I think the Anglo-Catholics are the Cavaliers of the Church of England, although I fear that the dull-minded Roundheads will win in the end.

 

But the liturgical character of the church will not be your first impression, or possibly even your second. The main thing that will strike you as you approach it is quite how big it is, and how ornate; an imposing presence, which is partly a result of it being placed flush to the road, where two street signs show that the road against the tower is called Church Street, and the one leading away from it Chapel Street. This must have seemed more symbolic in the 19th century than it does now, and I wondered if the 21st Century might more appropriately demand a DIY Superstore Street, or a Recovering From a Hangover Street, or even a Too Bloody Lazy To Get Up On A Sunday Morning Street. Like a modern Pilgrim’s Progress, perhaps.

 

Next, there’s the porches. Suffolk has some amazing late 15/early 16th century porches – Cautley thought Woolpit’s the best in England – so it is always a pleasure to come across one. Mendlesham has two. The ornate southern one is now blocked off as a chapel, so don’t miss it – you’ll need to go right around the east end of the building to get to it. But the northern porch is the most remarkable.

 

For a start, it is huge. It is crowned with quite the biggest grotesques in the county – even Bramford can’t compete. You’ll spot Suffolk’s finest woodwose; nothing symbolic about him, he looks ready to step down and belt you over the head with his club.

 

If you are used to the ultramontane exotica of London's Anglo-Catholic citadels, it may surprise you to find that Mendlesham is, well, so very English.

 

One of the charges levelled against Anglo-Catholic churches is that they are somehow foreign to English tradition – all those tacky continental statues, pictures of Mary, and even candles burning, are enough to turn the stomach of a thoroughgoing protestant Englishman. While the aesthetic qualities of some statues leave a lot to be desired (not at Mendlesham, I hasten to add) this charge is ridiculous. Before the Reformation, England was considered Our Lady’s Dowry, the most faithfully Catholic country in Europe. The putting down of a sacramental life was a symptom of the Reformation as much as a cause of it. There’s nothing unpatriotic about the Hail Mary. The imposition of Protestantism was the most remarkable sleight of hand on the part of the Tudors, and one from which some parts of the British Isles are still suffering violent consequences. It is just my opinion, but I do not feel that the English are natural protestants.

 

Each age constructs its own sense of Englishness, depending on who is in a position to impose it. For Anglicans, being the state church with the reigning monarch at its head has meant it has been continually buffeted by the winds of change. Even worse, there is the strain of the complex relationship between a spiritual kind of Englishness, which is much to be desired, and the more shady concept of Britishness and the Union. Why Anglican churches persist in displaying the Union flag instead of the English flag of St George is beyond me. I imagine it is a legacy of the First World War. At the time, the Church of England was in the most powerfully strong cultural position, and shamefully sanctified the slaughter. Several Vicars have told me how much they’d like to take the flags down. But they never do.

 

So it was, on a Spring day in 2003, when our brave lads were away bringing death and destruction to a country of which we still appear to have learned nothing, I came to Mendlesham again. I am not an Anglican, but this church feels to me like a touchstone of what it means to be English, and to be a Suffolker, with a sense of a past, present and future.

 

The church was open - it is always open. From the wide graveyard, an old lady passed me on her way into the church - as it turned out, to light a candle. This seemed to me such a beautiful, natural thing to do if you were visiting your dead family. I followed her into the porch.

 

The upper part of the porch contains Mendlesham’s famous armoury, which can be visited by appointment. It is well worth the detour, and if you doubt the wisdom of having a weapons museum in a church, you might be relieved to learn that it is was quite common in the late Tudor and early Stuart periods for church porches and towers to host the Parish armoury. Some of the arms here date back to the 16th century, but more interesting perhaps is the Civil War stuff. Some of this was carried at the famous muster on Mellis Common which resulted in Suffolk’s only two Civil War deaths, when a musket went off by accident. Which just goes to show that ‘friendly fire’ is nothing new.

 

I mention the upper room of the porch before we go inside, because I want nothing to distract us from the impact of St Mary’s interior. A clue that we are about to leave the mundane world behind is in the porch itself; pressed into service as a holy water stoup is one of the loveliest fonts in the county. It came from Rishangles, when the church there was made redundant and sold off by the money-changers. It has had various claims made for its age, Mortlock unaccountably dating it as 1600; but it must surely be late 19th century. Whatever, it is stunning, and a mark that this church has always found a home for orphans of elsewhere, and that some of these orphans are beautiful.

 

So, we step through into the devotional interior. If you were expecting a grimy gloom overlooked by kitschy statues, you are going to be disappointed. St Mary is full of light. And yet, from all corners there are glimpses of flickering candles, the gleam of icons and images.

 

The church had a fairly early restoration, in 1860, at the hands of a major architect, Ewan Christian. You find yourself standing in a large space, much of the west end of the church devoted to the font, the organ, and some fascinating medieval benches. I spotted a cockerel and a wyvern, and a woman at a prayerdesk which might once have been part of an Annunciation scene. Among them are some slightly later benches, probably early 17th century, that came from Rishangles. The font cover is also 17th century, dated 1630, at the height of Laudian piety. It is nice to think that, given this church's modern tradition, it took a similar line back then. It was made locally, but contains Renaissance imagery rarely seen in this country; it would be quite at home at St Eustache in Paris.

 

St Mary has two major brasses; but it didn't. The biggest is up at the east end of the nave (the placing of a nave altar turns this into a crossing) and is to John Knyvet. He died in 1417, and isn't far short of life-size. He's very typical of the period, in his armour, with the dragon head crest behind him. There's no inscription. There is one, however, on the other brass, which is mounted on the wall in the south aisle. This is the one that should really be at Southolt, and is to Margaret Armiger, a typical post-reformation sentiment of the 1580s.

 

It really shouldn't be on the wall. If there was a fire, it would melt; floor-mounted brasses don't melt. It would be nice if it was still at Southolt, where the local people are extraordinarily caring about the little church. Unfortunately, at the time of its redundancy, the church was very badly vandalised, and we have Mendlesham to thank for rescuing this and other priceless art objects. Indeed, at Southolt it was actually mounted on a pew, fuel to the fire if there'd been one. I am sure that the nice people at Southolt today would do their best to look after it if they had it now, but it wouldn't have survived if it had been left there.

 

Also from Southolt are the panels of medieval glass in the north aisle. They were angels and Apostles - you can easily spot fragments of St Andrew, St Bartholomew and St Thomas. The figure of St Thomas has been given the head of a lion. I loved this.

 

St Mary has more altars in use than any other church in Suffolk. There are five of them. I have already mentioned the nave altar, used for Mass. There is a very simple, typically rural high altar, dignified only by the big six candlesticks. At the east end of the south aisle is an extraordinary thing; an altar made of pieces of medieval mensas. A reliquary is set in the front. It is the only one of its kind in an Anglican church anywhere in Suffolk. The Stuart table imposed on the church by the prayer book liturgy has been turned into an altar in the north aisle. This is rather beautiful, with the image of the Mother of God in the central alcove above, and other Marian imagery. It was originally restored as a chapel as a memorial to the First World War. Finally, in the converted south porch, there is a Holy Cross chapel, dating from the 1970s. The wall paintings are quite, quite extraordinary. One of them is of St Helen finding the true cross. In another, as far as I can make out, a group of Celts are watching the raising of Lazarus.

 

Above the chancel arch, a rather restrained rood group reminds us of the glory that once was pre-Reformation Suffolk. Up in the chancel itself, you'll find the shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham. Not on sale in the church, but generally available in Walsingham, is a lovely book by Father Philip, the Rector here, about the churches of Walsingham. I recommend it. There is also a place where you can light a candle for the work of Forward in Faith.

 

If I have one criticism of this splendidly welcoming, interesting and devotional church, it is that there is no guide book.

 

Over the course of the following week, I attended Mass in two Irish churches; one in South Armagh, the other on the Falls Road in Belfast. Neither was as ornate as St Mary of Mendlesham, neither was as filled with a sense of prayer and awe. I am sure that a time-traveller from the 15th century would have recognised Mendlesham as the real Catholic church, not the two Irish ones. Obviously, I believe they’d be wrong to think this, but I could understand it.

 

So is Anglo-Catholicism anything more than a historical re-enactment? Are its churches merely liturgical museums? Is there life in the old movement yet?

 

Come here, and look around. Everything is neat and clean, obviously much loved. This is not just a shrine; it is a living centre of its community. Here, the local people come for their baptisms, weddings and funerals; but they also come for private prayer, for the sacraments of Holy Mother Church as they understand them.

As I said earlier, it always disturbs me seeing the Union Flag in a church; but there is something rather striking about seeing it draped beside an ikon of the Holy Mother of God. Also, there is something moving about a place that encourages candles to be lit, about corners that draw the eye and reveal unrealised paths to God. This is undoubtedly an English Parish Church of the 21st century; and yet, it has recaptured some of the mystery of its past, and is filled with a deep spirituality and sense of the numinous. For this alone, it is one of the most significant of all Suffolk churches, and one of my favourites.

  

Simon Knott, 2003, updated July 2009

 

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/mendlesham.htm

 

-------------------------------------------

 

The magnificent 15th century tower of St Mary's, stands as a beacon for those travelling on the A140 between Ipswich and Norwich.

The church is predominantly Early English and contains a wealth of interest. The unusual and elaborate font cover was carved in 1630 by John Turner, who also carved the pulpit. There is a wonderful collection of mediaeval pews and a 14th Century brass to John Knyvet.

The South Aisle contains the stone altar which was raised from the floor in 1981. It is now the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.

The church has two porches. The upper floor of the North porch, originally a priest’s room, contains a unique armoury - “the most complete armoury of any English parish church” (Pevsner). As well as the parish collection of armour, assembled at the time of the Armada, it contains part of an Elizabethan longbow, several parish chests, a ‘Vinegar’ Bible and other artefacts. It is open on the afternoon of the first bank holiday in May (Mendlesham Street Fayre day) and by appointment with Fr Philip.

The South Porch is now the Chapel of the Holy Cross, designated especially for prayer for the dead, where candles are lit for the departed and there are to be found two chantry books; one for the parish and the other containing the names of the 190 American servicemen based at Mendlesham airfield who died in action in WW2.

 

www.stmarysmendlesham.org.uk/the-church-building.html

 

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The Suffolk village of Mendlesham is a picturesque place, with timber-framed buildings and that quiet air of timelessness that Suffolk seems to specialise in. At the heart of the village is the 13th century church of St Mary the Virgin, punctuated with a superb 15th century west tower.

 

In the north aisle are 15th century benches that were brought here from Rishangles church. The benches in the nave a re slightly younger, dating to the mid-16th century. The bench ends sport a wonderful array of carved figures, including a dragon biting its own tail.

 

There are fragments of medieval glass in the north aisle windows, including a figure of a lion sticking its tongue out.

 

The Lady Chapel stands at the east end of the north aisle. the altar table is 16th century, and if you look closely you can see that one of the table legs has ben carved the wrong way around. In the north wall of the chapel is 14th century glass from Rishangles church, including a likeness of a horse's head and bridle and a figure of St John holding a cup.

 

There are several very interesting memorials in the chancel including a wall monument to William Cuthbert, who served a a doctor in Mendlesham for over 50 years. The altar rails date to around 1660.

 

The beautifully carved pulpit was installed in 1620 and was carved by a local craftsman named John Turner, who also made the wooden font cover at the same time. Nearby is a memorial brass to John Knyvet (d. 1417), showing him clad in armour. One very odd feature about the Knyvet brass is that he is shown with his beard outside his armour.

 

At the back of the nave are two biers for carrying coffins. One is a rare child bier, a scaled down version of the normal adult bier. Both biers have their original straps.

 

In the south porch is the Chapel of the Holy Cross with vivid modern wall paintings adding a rather odd touch under the beautifully carved 15th century porch roof. In the chapel is a memorial to the American Airmen of the 34th Bomber Group, who were stationed near Mendlesham in WWII. A memorial to American servicemen stands in the churchyard to the south of the church.

 

In the south aisle is a royal coat of arms to George III and a memorial brass to Margaret Arminger. The aisle roof is at least 16th century and one of the beams at the east end has traces of late medieval paintings. The altar stone at the east end of the aisle is late medieval as well, and on the aisle wall is a funeral hatchment. There are medieval glass fragments in the east window.

 

One unusual feature at Mendlesham church, and one that is not normally on display to visitors, is a rare armoury in the chamber above the north porch. Church armouries are not unique, but it is rare to find one as complete as this. The parvise, or chamber over the porch entrance, has been used as the parish armoury since 1593. The armoury has a collection of Elizabethan armour brought together at the time of the Spanish Armada invasion.

 

There are breastplates, helmets, a crossbow, and one of only 4 original Elizabethan longbows in existence. Another rarity is a 'pauldron', a piece of shoulder armour which is pone of the very few complete specimens in existence. The armoury also holds three parish chests, as well as a copy of the 1717 'Vinegar Bible' and a 17th century book of sermons.

 

The armoury is open only on special church open days or by special appointment with the rector.

 

www.britainexpress.com/counties/suffolk/churches/mendlesh...

Limestone sarcophagus depicting ritual ceremonies in honour of the dead, and transcendental scenes associated with afterlife beliefs regarding the deceased.

The scene is painted on plaster using the fresco technique.

On the longs side, on the right the dead man is depicted wearing a long tunic in front of a building, perhaps the tomb itself.

On the left, priestesses accompanied by a lyre are pouring libations into a bucket between columns, surmounted by double axes, on which perch birds, symoblising the presence of the deity. On the other long side a bull sacrifice. The animal, trussed to a table is sacrificed to the accompaniment of a double flute and offerings are made by a priestess in front of a sanctuary covered with the horns of consecration and enclosing a tree. Between the sanctuary and the tree is a pole with a double axe on which sits a bird, indicating the epiphany of the deity. On the two narrow sides are depicted godesses in chariots drawn by giraffes and horses or wild goats and a procession of men.

The sarcophagus was found in a rectangular built tomb and belonging to a ruler, who, as the images narrate, was splenditly honoured after his death by the palatial priesthood and the gods, on earth and in the hereafter. Hagia Triada 1370-1300BC

I have a friend that lives in Mendlesham, and we have talked about visiting St Mary several times. But I decided come what may, this would be the day when I would do it.

 

You can see the tower of St Mary from the A140, two miles off, a shallow valley lies between, meaning as you get closer, St Mary disappears. But then as you enter the village, it is standing on Chapel Street, towering over the timber framed houses of the village.

 

I approached the church, but found the south door locked. The door under the tower was locked too, but the north door, in another porch was open, and inside I could tell I wasn't going to be disappointed, this is a high church on a grand scale, where nothing was done in half measures.

 

----------------------------------------

 

2009: Ten years ago, I set out to visit all the churches of Suffolk, and managed it, on and off, over the next four years. Revisiting them all now, I have found changes, some for the worse but many for the better. At Mendlesham, there had been almost no change at all since my previous visit, which seemed entirely appropriate, and so I reproduce word-for-word what I wrote then.

2003: I often get asked which is my favourite Suffolk church. It is easy to make the case for Thornham Parva and Flowton, both of which are beautiful, and always open. Westhall and Denston are perhaps the most interesting, and it is hard to beat the special atmosphere of Kettlebaston and Blythburgh. For grandness, take me to Southwold or Eye, although there are those who swear by Lavenham, Long Melford and Clare, and for sheer magical presence I’d argue for the haunting Ramsholt and Withersdale. As for architecture, or medieval survivals – well, it is probably best not to get me started.

 

But there is one church that fits into pretty much all these categories, and it is here, not far from the main Ipswich to Norwich road. Not only is St Mary of Mendlesham architecturally and historically fascinating, it is also magical, grand, interesting, beautiful and open. What more could you want in a church? St Mary has a special place in the hearts of one particular strand of the Church of England; for here in this busy little working village among the barley plains is the last surviving thorough-going Anglo-Catholic parish church in all Suffolk. For well over a quarter of a century, Father Philip Gray has kept the flame of the Faith alive here. No Affirming Catholicism pussyfooting for Mendlesham. Here, Mass is still celebrated daily, the sacraments are administered, and the great Feast of the Assumption still kept as the highest Saint’s day of the year, as it once was all over Suffolk.

 

I remember attending the Assumption Day Mass here in the mid-1990s. There were nearly as many Priests concelebrating as there were people in the congregation, but you had to count them quickly before they disappeared in clouds of incense. Nobody can swing a thurible as energetically as an Anglo-Catholic Priest, and Father Philip is more energetic than most. At the time, I was rather more used to the post-Vatican II simplicity of what Anglo-Catholics call the ‘Roman’ Church, so to say that I was impressed is an understatement.

 

As you’ve probably realised if you have travelled extensively around this site, I am utterly fascinated by the Anglo-Catholic movement. I think it quite the most interesting thing about the Church of England. What fascinates me most is the mindset of a movement that was born in the fire of the great 19th century sacramental revival, and is now the last remaining memory of that extraordinary epoch. It is as if, as Larkin says, it finds itself out on the end of an event, having survived it.

 

It is easy to think of the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Anglican Church as a movement besieged. In its Forward in Faith incarnation in particular, it comes in for a great deal of stick, and rarely for theological reasons. It is accused of being misogynist, separatist, and authoritarian.

 

The first of these is because it has not only declined to recognise the orders of ordained female ministers, but also refused to accept the authority of those who ordain them. Indeed, the FiF movement goes as far as to use the concept of ‘taint’ to describe a male priest who has concelebrated with what are dismissively referred to as ‘priestesses’.

 

In its defence, the FiF Anglo-Catholics argue that, if the Church of England is a true part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, as they believe it to be, then a decision to ordain women cannot be taken in isolation from this worldwide Church – that is to say, the Catholic Church. Because of this, they argue that the ordination of women is actually invalid. Several Anglo-Catholics have told me that if the Pope in Rome started ordaining women, they would accept them with open arms at once, although this was obviously said in the safe knowledge that it isn’t going to happen.

The perceived separatism of the movement is a direct by-product of this position. FiF churches are effectively carving out a separate communion within the Anglican Church. By steadfastly defending their altars, accepting the authority of the so-called flying Bishops, and using the concept of taint to keep non-sympathetic male Priests at arms length, they have created a situation where, while accepting the authority of Canterbury, their congregations are no longer in communion with the rest of that church.

 

While this situation appears untenable to many outsiders, FiF claims it has been done to safeguard the handing on of the Faith to future generations. It looks like they are settling in for a long siege. While I find myself more sympathetic to the Anglo-Catholics than to their accusers, I can’t help but be reminded of Sellar and Yeatman’s famous analysis of the English Civil War in 1066 and all that – that the Cavaliers were wrong, but romantic, while the Roundheads were right, but revolting. I think the Anglo-Catholics are the Cavaliers of the Church of England, although I fear that the dull-minded Roundheads will win in the end.

 

But the liturgical character of the church will not be your first impression, or possibly even your second. The main thing that will strike you as you approach it is quite how big it is, and how ornate; an imposing presence, which is partly a result of it being placed flush to the road, where two street signs show that the road against the tower is called Church Street, and the one leading away from it Chapel Street. This must have seemed more symbolic in the 19th century than it does now, and I wondered if the 21st Century might more appropriately demand a DIY Superstore Street, or a Recovering From a Hangover Street, or even a Too Bloody Lazy To Get Up On A Sunday Morning Street. Like a modern Pilgrim’s Progress, perhaps.

 

Next, there’s the porches. Suffolk has some amazing late 15/early 16th century porches – Cautley thought Woolpit’s the best in England – so it is always a pleasure to come across one. Mendlesham has two. The ornate southern one is now blocked off as a chapel, so don’t miss it – you’ll need to go right around the east end of the building to get to it. But the northern porch is the most remarkable.

 

For a start, it is huge. It is crowned with quite the biggest grotesques in the county – even Bramford can’t compete. You’ll spot Suffolk’s finest woodwose; nothing symbolic about him, he looks ready to step down and belt you over the head with his club.

 

If you are used to the ultramontane exotica of London's Anglo-Catholic citadels, it may surprise you to find that Mendlesham is, well, so very English.

 

One of the charges levelled against Anglo-Catholic churches is that they are somehow foreign to English tradition – all those tacky continental statues, pictures of Mary, and even candles burning, are enough to turn the stomach of a thoroughgoing protestant Englishman. While the aesthetic qualities of some statues leave a lot to be desired (not at Mendlesham, I hasten to add) this charge is ridiculous. Before the Reformation, England was considered Our Lady’s Dowry, the most faithfully Catholic country in Europe. The putting down of a sacramental life was a symptom of the Reformation as much as a cause of it. There’s nothing unpatriotic about the Hail Mary. The imposition of Protestantism was the most remarkable sleight of hand on the part of the Tudors, and one from which some parts of the British Isles are still suffering violent consequences. It is just my opinion, but I do not feel that the English are natural protestants.

 

Each age constructs its own sense of Englishness, depending on who is in a position to impose it. For Anglicans, being the state church with the reigning monarch at its head has meant it has been continually buffeted by the winds of change. Even worse, there is the strain of the complex relationship between a spiritual kind of Englishness, which is much to be desired, and the more shady concept of Britishness and the Union. Why Anglican churches persist in displaying the Union flag instead of the English flag of St George is beyond me. I imagine it is a legacy of the First World War. At the time, the Church of England was in the most powerfully strong cultural position, and shamefully sanctified the slaughter. Several Vicars have told me how much they’d like to take the flags down. But they never do.

 

So it was, on a Spring day in 2003, when our brave lads were away bringing death and destruction to a country of which we still appear to have learned nothing, I came to Mendlesham again. I am not an Anglican, but this church feels to me like a touchstone of what it means to be English, and to be a Suffolker, with a sense of a past, present and future.

 

The church was open - it is always open. From the wide graveyard, an old lady passed me on her way into the church - as it turned out, to light a candle. This seemed to me such a beautiful, natural thing to do if you were visiting your dead family. I followed her into the porch.

 

The upper part of the porch contains Mendlesham’s famous armoury, which can be visited by appointment. It is well worth the detour, and if you doubt the wisdom of having a weapons museum in a church, you might be relieved to learn that it is was quite common in the late Tudor and early Stuart periods for church porches and towers to host the Parish armoury. Some of the arms here date back to the 16th century, but more interesting perhaps is the Civil War stuff. Some of this was carried at the famous muster on Mellis Common which resulted in Suffolk’s only two Civil War deaths, when a musket went off by accident. Which just goes to show that ‘friendly fire’ is nothing new.

 

I mention the upper room of the porch before we go inside, because I want nothing to distract us from the impact of St Mary’s interior. A clue that we are about to leave the mundane world behind is in the porch itself; pressed into service as a holy water stoup is one of the loveliest fonts in the county. It came from Rishangles, when the church there was made redundant and sold off by the money-changers. It has had various claims made for its age, Mortlock unaccountably dating it as 1600; but it must surely be late 19th century. Whatever, it is stunning, and a mark that this church has always found a home for orphans of elsewhere, and that some of these orphans are beautiful.

 

So, we step through into the devotional interior. If you were expecting a grimy gloom overlooked by kitschy statues, you are going to be disappointed. St Mary is full of light. And yet, from all corners there are glimpses of flickering candles, the gleam of icons and images.

 

The church had a fairly early restoration, in 1860, at the hands of a major architect, Ewan Christian. You find yourself standing in a large space, much of the west end of the church devoted to the font, the organ, and some fascinating medieval benches. I spotted a cockerel and a wyvern, and a woman at a prayerdesk which might once have been part of an Annunciation scene. Among them are some slightly later benches, probably early 17th century, that came from Rishangles. The font cover is also 17th century, dated 1630, at the height of Laudian piety. It is nice to think that, given this church's modern tradition, it took a similar line back then. It was made locally, but contains Renaissance imagery rarely seen in this country; it would be quite at home at St Eustache in Paris.

 

St Mary has two major brasses; but it didn't. The biggest is up at the east end of the nave (the placing of a nave altar turns this into a crossing) and is to John Knyvet. He died in 1417, and isn't far short of life-size. He's very typical of the period, in his armour, with the dragon head crest behind him. There's no inscription. There is one, however, on the other brass, which is mounted on the wall in the south aisle. This is the one that should really be at Southolt, and is to Margaret Armiger, a typical post-reformation sentiment of the 1580s.

 

It really shouldn't be on the wall. If there was a fire, it would melt; floor-mounted brasses don't melt. It would be nice if it was still at Southolt, where the local people are extraordinarily caring about the little church. Unfortunately, at the time of its redundancy, the church was very badly vandalised, and we have Mendlesham to thank for rescuing this and other priceless art objects. Indeed, at Southolt it was actually mounted on a pew, fuel to the fire if there'd been one. I am sure that the nice people at Southolt today would do their best to look after it if they had it now, but it wouldn't have survived if it had been left there.

 

Also from Southolt are the panels of medieval glass in the north aisle. They were angels and Apostles - you can easily spot fragments of St Andrew, St Bartholomew and St Thomas. The figure of St Thomas has been given the head of a lion. I loved this.

 

St Mary has more altars in use than any other church in Suffolk. There are five of them. I have already mentioned the nave altar, used for Mass. There is a very simple, typically rural high altar, dignified only by the big six candlesticks. At the east end of the south aisle is an extraordinary thing; an altar made of pieces of medieval mensas. A reliquary is set in the front. It is the only one of its kind in an Anglican church anywhere in Suffolk. The Stuart table imposed on the church by the prayer book liturgy has been turned into an altar in the north aisle. This is rather beautiful, with the image of the Mother of God in the central alcove above, and other Marian imagery. It was originally restored as a chapel as a memorial to the First World War. Finally, in the converted south porch, there is a Holy Cross chapel, dating from the 1970s. The wall paintings are quite, quite extraordinary. One of them is of St Helen finding the true cross. In another, as far as I can make out, a group of Celts are watching the raising of Lazarus.

 

Above the chancel arch, a rather restrained rood group reminds us of the glory that once was pre-Reformation Suffolk. Up in the chancel itself, you'll find the shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham. Not on sale in the church, but generally available in Walsingham, is a lovely book by Father Philip, the Rector here, about the churches of Walsingham. I recommend it. There is also a place where you can light a candle for the work of Forward in Faith.

 

If I have one criticism of this splendidly welcoming, interesting and devotional church, it is that there is no guide book.

 

Over the course of the following week, I attended Mass in two Irish churches; one in South Armagh, the other on the Falls Road in Belfast. Neither was as ornate as St Mary of Mendlesham, neither was as filled with a sense of prayer and awe. I am sure that a time-traveller from the 15th century would have recognised Mendlesham as the real Catholic church, not the two Irish ones. Obviously, I believe they’d be wrong to think this, but I could understand it.

 

So is Anglo-Catholicism anything more than a historical re-enactment? Are its churches merely liturgical museums? Is there life in the old movement yet?

 

Come here, and look around. Everything is neat and clean, obviously much loved. This is not just a shrine; it is a living centre of its community. Here, the local people come for their baptisms, weddings and funerals; but they also come for private prayer, for the sacraments of Holy Mother Church as they understand them.

As I said earlier, it always disturbs me seeing the Union Flag in a church; but there is something rather striking about seeing it draped beside an ikon of the Holy Mother of God. Also, there is something moving about a place that encourages candles to be lit, about corners that draw the eye and reveal unrealised paths to God. This is undoubtedly an English Parish Church of the 21st century; and yet, it has recaptured some of the mystery of its past, and is filled with a deep spirituality and sense of the numinous. For this alone, it is one of the most significant of all Suffolk churches, and one of my favourites.

  

Simon Knott, 2003, updated July 2009

 

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/mendlesham.htm

 

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The magnificent 15th century tower of St Mary's, stands as a beacon for those travelling on the A140 between Ipswich and Norwich.

The church is predominantly Early English and contains a wealth of interest. The unusual and elaborate font cover was carved in 1630 by John Turner, who also carved the pulpit. There is a wonderful collection of mediaeval pews and a 14th Century brass to John Knyvet.

The South Aisle contains the stone altar which was raised from the floor in 1981. It is now the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.

The church has two porches. The upper floor of the North porch, originally a priest’s room, contains a unique armoury - “the most complete armoury of any English parish church” (Pevsner). As well as the parish collection of armour, assembled at the time of the Armada, it contains part of an Elizabethan longbow, several parish chests, a ‘Vinegar’ Bible and other artefacts. It is open on the afternoon of the first bank holiday in May (Mendlesham Street Fayre day) and by appointment with Fr Philip.

The South Porch is now the Chapel of the Holy Cross, designated especially for prayer for the dead, where candles are lit for the departed and there are to be found two chantry books; one for the parish and the other containing the names of the 190 American servicemen based at Mendlesham airfield who died in action in WW2.

 

www.stmarysmendlesham.org.uk/the-church-building.html

 

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The Suffolk village of Mendlesham is a picturesque place, with timber-framed buildings and that quiet air of timelessness that Suffolk seems to specialise in. At the heart of the village is the 13th century church of St Mary the Virgin, punctuated with a superb 15th century west tower.

 

In the north aisle are 15th century benches that were brought here from Rishangles church. The benches in the nave a re slightly younger, dating to the mid-16th century. The bench ends sport a wonderful array of carved figures, including a dragon biting its own tail.

 

There are fragments of medieval glass in the north aisle windows, including a figure of a lion sticking its tongue out.

 

The Lady Chapel stands at the east end of the north aisle. the altar table is 16th century, and if you look closely you can see that one of the table legs has ben carved the wrong way around. In the north wall of the chapel is 14th century glass from Rishangles church, including a likeness of a horse's head and bridle and a figure of St John holding a cup.

 

There are several very interesting memorials in the chancel including a wall monument to William Cuthbert, who served a a doctor in Mendlesham for over 50 years. The altar rails date to around 1660.

 

The beautifully carved pulpit was installed in 1620 and was carved by a local craftsman named John Turner, who also made the wooden font cover at the same time. Nearby is a memorial brass to John Knyvet (d. 1417), showing him clad in armour. One very odd feature about the Knyvet brass is that he is shown with his beard outside his armour.

 

At the back of the nave are two biers for carrying coffins. One is a rare child bier, a scaled down version of the normal adult bier. Both biers have their original straps.

 

In the south porch is the Chapel of the Holy Cross with vivid modern wall paintings adding a rather odd touch under the beautifully carved 15th century porch roof. In the chapel is a memorial to the American Airmen of the 34th Bomber Group, who were stationed near Mendlesham in WWII. A memorial to American servicemen stands in the churchyard to the south of the church.

 

In the south aisle is a royal coat of arms to George III and a memorial brass to Margaret Arminger. The aisle roof is at least 16th century and one of the beams at the east end has traces of late medieval paintings. The altar stone at the east end of the aisle is late medieval as well, and on the aisle wall is a funeral hatchment. There are medieval glass fragments in the east window.

 

One unusual feature at Mendlesham church, and one that is not normally on display to visitors, is a rare armoury in the chamber above the north porch. Church armouries are not unique, but it is rare to find one as complete as this. The parvise, or chamber over the porch entrance, has been used as the parish armoury since 1593. The armoury has a collection of Elizabethan armour brought together at the time of the Spanish Armada invasion.

 

There are breastplates, helmets, a crossbow, and one of only 4 original Elizabethan longbows in existence. Another rarity is a 'pauldron', a piece of shoulder armour which is pone of the very few complete specimens in existence. The armoury also holds three parish chests, as well as a copy of the 1717 'Vinegar Bible' and a 17th century book of sermons.

 

The armoury is open only on special church open days or by special appointment with the rector.

 

www.britainexpress.com/counties/suffolk/churches/mendlesh...

I have a friend that lives in Mendlesham, and we have talked about visiting St Mary several times. But I decided come what may, this would be the day when I would do it.

 

You can see the tower of St Mary from the A140, two miles off, a shallow valley lies between, meaning as you get closer, St Mary disappears. But then as you enter the village, it is standing on Chapel Street, towering over the timber framed houses of the village.

 

I approached the church, but found the south door locked. The door under the tower was locked too, but the north door, in another porch was open, and inside I could tell I wasn't going to be disappointed, this is a high church on a grand scale, where nothing was done in half measures.

 

----------------------------------------

 

2009: Ten years ago, I set out to visit all the churches of Suffolk, and managed it, on and off, over the next four years. Revisiting them all now, I have found changes, some for the worse but many for the better. At Mendlesham, there had been almost no change at all since my previous visit, which seemed entirely appropriate, and so I reproduce word-for-word what I wrote then.

2003: I often get asked which is my favourite Suffolk church. It is easy to make the case for Thornham Parva and Flowton, both of which are beautiful, and always open. Westhall and Denston are perhaps the most interesting, and it is hard to beat the special atmosphere of Kettlebaston and Blythburgh. For grandness, take me to Southwold or Eye, although there are those who swear by Lavenham, Long Melford and Clare, and for sheer magical presence I’d argue for the haunting Ramsholt and Withersdale. As for architecture, or medieval survivals – well, it is probably best not to get me started.

 

But there is one church that fits into pretty much all these categories, and it is here, not far from the main Ipswich to Norwich road. Not only is St Mary of Mendlesham architecturally and historically fascinating, it is also magical, grand, interesting, beautiful and open. What more could you want in a church? St Mary has a special place in the hearts of one particular strand of the Church of England; for here in this busy little working village among the barley plains is the last surviving thorough-going Anglo-Catholic parish church in all Suffolk. For well over a quarter of a century, Father Philip Gray has kept the flame of the Faith alive here. No Affirming Catholicism pussyfooting for Mendlesham. Here, Mass is still celebrated daily, the sacraments are administered, and the great Feast of the Assumption still kept as the highest Saint’s day of the year, as it once was all over Suffolk.

 

I remember attending the Assumption Day Mass here in the mid-1990s. There were nearly as many Priests concelebrating as there were people in the congregation, but you had to count them quickly before they disappeared in clouds of incense. Nobody can swing a thurible as energetically as an Anglo-Catholic Priest, and Father Philip is more energetic than most. At the time, I was rather more used to the post-Vatican II simplicity of what Anglo-Catholics call the ‘Roman’ Church, so to say that I was impressed is an understatement.

 

As you’ve probably realised if you have travelled extensively around this site, I am utterly fascinated by the Anglo-Catholic movement. I think it quite the most interesting thing about the Church of England. What fascinates me most is the mindset of a movement that was born in the fire of the great 19th century sacramental revival, and is now the last remaining memory of that extraordinary epoch. It is as if, as Larkin says, it finds itself out on the end of an event, having survived it.

 

It is easy to think of the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Anglican Church as a movement besieged. In its Forward in Faith incarnation in particular, it comes in for a great deal of stick, and rarely for theological reasons. It is accused of being misogynist, separatist, and authoritarian.

 

The first of these is because it has not only declined to recognise the orders of ordained female ministers, but also refused to accept the authority of those who ordain them. Indeed, the FiF movement goes as far as to use the concept of ‘taint’ to describe a male priest who has concelebrated with what are dismissively referred to as ‘priestesses’.

 

In its defence, the FiF Anglo-Catholics argue that, if the Church of England is a true part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, as they believe it to be, then a decision to ordain women cannot be taken in isolation from this worldwide Church – that is to say, the Catholic Church. Because of this, they argue that the ordination of women is actually invalid. Several Anglo-Catholics have told me that if the Pope in Rome started ordaining women, they would accept them with open arms at once, although this was obviously said in the safe knowledge that it isn’t going to happen.

The perceived separatism of the movement is a direct by-product of this position. FiF churches are effectively carving out a separate communion within the Anglican Church. By steadfastly defending their altars, accepting the authority of the so-called flying Bishops, and using the concept of taint to keep non-sympathetic male Priests at arms length, they have created a situation where, while accepting the authority of Canterbury, their congregations are no longer in communion with the rest of that church.

 

While this situation appears untenable to many outsiders, FiF claims it has been done to safeguard the handing on of the Faith to future generations. It looks like they are settling in for a long siege. While I find myself more sympathetic to the Anglo-Catholics than to their accusers, I can’t help but be reminded of Sellar and Yeatman’s famous analysis of the English Civil War in 1066 and all that – that the Cavaliers were wrong, but romantic, while the Roundheads were right, but revolting. I think the Anglo-Catholics are the Cavaliers of the Church of England, although I fear that the dull-minded Roundheads will win in the end.

 

But the liturgical character of the church will not be your first impression, or possibly even your second. The main thing that will strike you as you approach it is quite how big it is, and how ornate; an imposing presence, which is partly a result of it being placed flush to the road, where two street signs show that the road against the tower is called Church Street, and the one leading away from it Chapel Street. This must have seemed more symbolic in the 19th century than it does now, and I wondered if the 21st Century might more appropriately demand a DIY Superstore Street, or a Recovering From a Hangover Street, or even a Too Bloody Lazy To Get Up On A Sunday Morning Street. Like a modern Pilgrim’s Progress, perhaps.

 

Next, there’s the porches. Suffolk has some amazing late 15/early 16th century porches – Cautley thought Woolpit’s the best in England – so it is always a pleasure to come across one. Mendlesham has two. The ornate southern one is now blocked off as a chapel, so don’t miss it – you’ll need to go right around the east end of the building to get to it. But the northern porch is the most remarkable.

 

For a start, it is huge. It is crowned with quite the biggest grotesques in the county – even Bramford can’t compete. You’ll spot Suffolk’s finest woodwose; nothing symbolic about him, he looks ready to step down and belt you over the head with his club.

 

If you are used to the ultramontane exotica of London's Anglo-Catholic citadels, it may surprise you to find that Mendlesham is, well, so very English.

 

One of the charges levelled against Anglo-Catholic churches is that they are somehow foreign to English tradition – all those tacky continental statues, pictures of Mary, and even candles burning, are enough to turn the stomach of a thoroughgoing protestant Englishman. While the aesthetic qualities of some statues leave a lot to be desired (not at Mendlesham, I hasten to add) this charge is ridiculous. Before the Reformation, England was considered Our Lady’s Dowry, the most faithfully Catholic country in Europe. The putting down of a sacramental life was a symptom of the Reformation as much as a cause of it. There’s nothing unpatriotic about the Hail Mary. The imposition of Protestantism was the most remarkable sleight of hand on the part of the Tudors, and one from which some parts of the British Isles are still suffering violent consequences. It is just my opinion, but I do not feel that the English are natural protestants.

 

Each age constructs its own sense of Englishness, depending on who is in a position to impose it. For Anglicans, being the state church with the reigning monarch at its head has meant it has been continually buffeted by the winds of change. Even worse, there is the strain of the complex relationship between a spiritual kind of Englishness, which is much to be desired, and the more shady concept of Britishness and the Union. Why Anglican churches persist in displaying the Union flag instead of the English flag of St George is beyond me. I imagine it is a legacy of the First World War. At the time, the Church of England was in the most powerfully strong cultural position, and shamefully sanctified the slaughter. Several Vicars have told me how much they’d like to take the flags down. But they never do.

 

So it was, on a Spring day in 2003, when our brave lads were away bringing death and destruction to a country of which we still appear to have learned nothing, I came to Mendlesham again. I am not an Anglican, but this church feels to me like a touchstone of what it means to be English, and to be a Suffolker, with a sense of a past, present and future.

 

The church was open - it is always open. From the wide graveyard, an old lady passed me on her way into the church - as it turned out, to light a candle. This seemed to me such a beautiful, natural thing to do if you were visiting your dead family. I followed her into the porch.

 

The upper part of the porch contains Mendlesham’s famous armoury, which can be visited by appointment. It is well worth the detour, and if you doubt the wisdom of having a weapons museum in a church, you might be relieved to learn that it is was quite common in the late Tudor and early Stuart periods for church porches and towers to host the Parish armoury. Some of the arms here date back to the 16th century, but more interesting perhaps is the Civil War stuff. Some of this was carried at the famous muster on Mellis Common which resulted in Suffolk’s only two Civil War deaths, when a musket went off by accident. Which just goes to show that ‘friendly fire’ is nothing new.

 

I mention the upper room of the porch before we go inside, because I want nothing to distract us from the impact of St Mary’s interior. A clue that we are about to leave the mundane world behind is in the porch itself; pressed into service as a holy water stoup is one of the loveliest fonts in the county. It came from Rishangles, when the church there was made redundant and sold off by the money-changers. It has had various claims made for its age, Mortlock unaccountably dating it as 1600; but it must surely be late 19th century. Whatever, it is stunning, and a mark that this church has always found a home for orphans of elsewhere, and that some of these orphans are beautiful.

 

So, we step through into the devotional interior. If you were expecting a grimy gloom overlooked by kitschy statues, you are going to be disappointed. St Mary is full of light. And yet, from all corners there are glimpses of flickering candles, the gleam of icons and images.

 

The church had a fairly early restoration, in 1860, at the hands of a major architect, Ewan Christian. You find yourself standing in a large space, much of the west end of the church devoted to the font, the organ, and some fascinating medieval benches. I spotted a cockerel and a wyvern, and a woman at a prayerdesk which might once have been part of an Annunciation scene. Among them are some slightly later benches, probably early 17th century, that came from Rishangles. The font cover is also 17th century, dated 1630, at the height of Laudian piety. It is nice to think that, given this church's modern tradition, it took a similar line back then. It was made locally, but contains Renaissance imagery rarely seen in this country; it would be quite at home at St Eustache in Paris.

 

St Mary has two major brasses; but it didn't. The biggest is up at the east end of the nave (the placing of a nave altar turns this into a crossing) and is to John Knyvet. He died in 1417, and isn't far short of life-size. He's very typical of the period, in his armour, with the dragon head crest behind him. There's no inscription. There is one, however, on the other brass, which is mounted on the wall in the south aisle. This is the one that should really be at Southolt, and is to Margaret Armiger, a typical post-reformation sentiment of the 1580s.

 

It really shouldn't be on the wall. If there was a fire, it would melt; floor-mounted brasses don't melt. It would be nice if it was still at Southolt, where the local people are extraordinarily caring about the little church. Unfortunately, at the time of its redundancy, the church was very badly vandalised, and we have Mendlesham to thank for rescuing this and other priceless art objects. Indeed, at Southolt it was actually mounted on a pew, fuel to the fire if there'd been one. I am sure that the nice people at Southolt today would do their best to look after it if they had it now, but it wouldn't have survived if it had been left there.

 

Also from Southolt are the panels of medieval glass in the north aisle. They were angels and Apostles - you can easily spot fragments of St Andrew, St Bartholomew and St Thomas. The figure of St Thomas has been given the head of a lion. I loved this.

 

St Mary has more altars in use than any other church in Suffolk. There are five of them. I have already mentioned the nave altar, used for Mass. There is a very simple, typically rural high altar, dignified only by the big six candlesticks. At the east end of the south aisle is an extraordinary thing; an altar made of pieces of medieval mensas. A reliquary is set in the front. It is the only one of its kind in an Anglican church anywhere in Suffolk. The Stuart table imposed on the church by the prayer book liturgy has been turned into an altar in the north aisle. This is rather beautiful, with the image of the Mother of God in the central alcove above, and other Marian imagery. It was originally restored as a chapel as a memorial to the First World War. Finally, in the converted south porch, there is a Holy Cross chapel, dating from the 1970s. The wall paintings are quite, quite extraordinary. One of them is of St Helen finding the true cross. In another, as far as I can make out, a group of Celts are watching the raising of Lazarus.

 

Above the chancel arch, a rather restrained rood group reminds us of the glory that once was pre-Reformation Suffolk. Up in the chancel itself, you'll find the shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham. Not on sale in the church, but generally available in Walsingham, is a lovely book by Father Philip, the Rector here, about the churches of Walsingham. I recommend it. There is also a place where you can light a candle for the work of Forward in Faith.

 

If I have one criticism of this splendidly welcoming, interesting and devotional church, it is that there is no guide book.

 

Over the course of the following week, I attended Mass in two Irish churches; one in South Armagh, the other on the Falls Road in Belfast. Neither was as ornate as St Mary of Mendlesham, neither was as filled with a sense of prayer and awe. I am sure that a time-traveller from the 15th century would have recognised Mendlesham as the real Catholic church, not the two Irish ones. Obviously, I believe they’d be wrong to think this, but I could understand it.

 

So is Anglo-Catholicism anything more than a historical re-enactment? Are its churches merely liturgical museums? Is there life in the old movement yet?

 

Come here, and look around. Everything is neat and clean, obviously much loved. This is not just a shrine; it is a living centre of its community. Here, the local people come for their baptisms, weddings and funerals; but they also come for private prayer, for the sacraments of Holy Mother Church as they understand them.

As I said earlier, it always disturbs me seeing the Union Flag in a church; but there is something rather striking about seeing it draped beside an ikon of the Holy Mother of God. Also, there is something moving about a place that encourages candles to be lit, about corners that draw the eye and reveal unrealised paths to God. This is undoubtedly an English Parish Church of the 21st century; and yet, it has recaptured some of the mystery of its past, and is filled with a deep spirituality and sense of the numinous. For this alone, it is one of the most significant of all Suffolk churches, and one of my favourites.

  

Simon Knott, 2003, updated July 2009

 

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/mendlesham.htm

 

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The magnificent 15th century tower of St Mary's, stands as a beacon for those travelling on the A140 between Ipswich and Norwich.

The church is predominantly Early English and contains a wealth of interest. The unusual and elaborate font cover was carved in 1630 by John Turner, who also carved the pulpit. There is a wonderful collection of mediaeval pews and a 14th Century brass to John Knyvet.

The South Aisle contains the stone altar which was raised from the floor in 1981. It is now the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.

The church has two porches. The upper floor of the North porch, originally a priest’s room, contains a unique armoury - “the most complete armoury of any English parish church” (Pevsner). As well as the parish collection of armour, assembled at the time of the Armada, it contains part of an Elizabethan longbow, several parish chests, a ‘Vinegar’ Bible and other artefacts. It is open on the afternoon of the first bank holiday in May (Mendlesham Street Fayre day) and by appointment with Fr Philip.

The South Porch is now the Chapel of the Holy Cross, designated especially for prayer for the dead, where candles are lit for the departed and there are to be found two chantry books; one for the parish and the other containing the names of the 190 American servicemen based at Mendlesham airfield who died in action in WW2.

 

www.stmarysmendlesham.org.uk/the-church-building.html

 

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The Suffolk village of Mendlesham is a picturesque place, with timber-framed buildings and that quiet air of timelessness that Suffolk seems to specialise in. At the heart of the village is the 13th century church of St Mary the Virgin, punctuated with a superb 15th century west tower.

 

In the north aisle are 15th century benches that were brought here from Rishangles church. The benches in the nave a re slightly younger, dating to the mid-16th century. The bench ends sport a wonderful array of carved figures, including a dragon biting its own tail.

 

There are fragments of medieval glass in the north aisle windows, including a figure of a lion sticking its tongue out.

 

The Lady Chapel stands at the east end of the north aisle. the altar table is 16th century, and if you look closely you can see that one of the table legs has ben carved the wrong way around. In the north wall of the chapel is 14th century glass from Rishangles church, including a likeness of a horse's head and bridle and a figure of St John holding a cup.

 

There are several very interesting memorials in the chancel including a wall monument to William Cuthbert, who served a a doctor in Mendlesham for over 50 years. The altar rails date to around 1660.

 

The beautifully carved pulpit was installed in 1620 and was carved by a local craftsman named John Turner, who also made the wooden font cover at the same time. Nearby is a memorial brass to John Knyvet (d. 1417), showing him clad in armour. One very odd feature about the Knyvet brass is that he is shown with his beard outside his armour.

 

At the back of the nave are two biers for carrying coffins. One is a rare child bier, a scaled down version of the normal adult bier. Both biers have their original straps.

 

In the south porch is the Chapel of the Holy Cross with vivid modern wall paintings adding a rather odd touch under the beautifully carved 15th century porch roof. In the chapel is a memorial to the American Airmen of the 34th Bomber Group, who were stationed near Mendlesham in WWII. A memorial to American servicemen stands in the churchyard to the south of the church.

 

In the south aisle is a royal coat of arms to George III and a memorial brass to Margaret Arminger. The aisle roof is at least 16th century and one of the beams at the east end has traces of late medieval paintings. The altar stone at the east end of the aisle is late medieval as well, and on the aisle wall is a funeral hatchment. There are medieval glass fragments in the east window.

 

One unusual feature at Mendlesham church, and one that is not normally on display to visitors, is a rare armoury in the chamber above the north porch. Church armouries are not unique, but it is rare to find one as complete as this. The parvise, or chamber over the porch entrance, has been used as the parish armoury since 1593. The armoury has a collection of Elizabethan armour brought together at the time of the Spanish Armada invasion.

 

There are breastplates, helmets, a crossbow, and one of only 4 original Elizabethan longbows in existence. Another rarity is a 'pauldron', a piece of shoulder armour which is pone of the very few complete specimens in existence. The armoury also holds three parish chests, as well as a copy of the 1717 'Vinegar Bible' and a 17th century book of sermons.

 

The armoury is open only on special church open days or by special appointment with the rector.

 

www.britainexpress.com/counties/suffolk/churches/mendlesh...

I have a friend that lives in Mendlesham, and we have talked about visiting St Mary several times. But I decided come what may, this would be the day when I would do it.

 

You can see the tower of St Mary from the A140, two miles off, a shallow valley lies between, meaning as you get closer, St Mary disappears. But then as you enter the village, it is standing on Chapel Street, towering over the timber framed houses of the village.

 

I approached the church, but found the south door locked. The door under the tower was locked too, but the north door, in another porch was open, and inside I could tell I wasn't going to be disappointed, this is a high church on a grand scale, where nothing was done in half measures.

 

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2009: Ten years ago, I set out to visit all the churches of Suffolk, and managed it, on and off, over the next four years. Revisiting them all now, I have found changes, some for the worse but many for the better. At Mendlesham, there had been almost no change at all since my previous visit, which seemed entirely appropriate, and so I reproduce word-for-word what I wrote then.

2003: I often get asked which is my favourite Suffolk church. It is easy to make the case for Thornham Parva and Flowton, both of which are beautiful, and always open. Westhall and Denston are perhaps the most interesting, and it is hard to beat the special atmosphere of Kettlebaston and Blythburgh. For grandness, take me to Southwold or Eye, although there are those who swear by Lavenham, Long Melford and Clare, and for sheer magical presence I’d argue for the haunting Ramsholt and Withersdale. As for architecture, or medieval survivals – well, it is probably best not to get me started.

 

But there is one church that fits into pretty much all these categories, and it is here, not far from the main Ipswich to Norwich road. Not only is St Mary of Mendlesham architecturally and historically fascinating, it is also magical, grand, interesting, beautiful and open. What more could you want in a church? St Mary has a special place in the hearts of one particular strand of the Church of England; for here in this busy little working village among the barley plains is the last surviving thorough-going Anglo-Catholic parish church in all Suffolk. For well over a quarter of a century, Father Philip Gray has kept the flame of the Faith alive here. No Affirming Catholicism pussyfooting for Mendlesham. Here, Mass is still celebrated daily, the sacraments are administered, and the great Feast of the Assumption still kept as the highest Saint’s day of the year, as it once was all over Suffolk.

 

I remember attending the Assumption Day Mass here in the mid-1990s. There were nearly as many Priests concelebrating as there were people in the congregation, but you had to count them quickly before they disappeared in clouds of incense. Nobody can swing a thurible as energetically as an Anglo-Catholic Priest, and Father Philip is more energetic than most. At the time, I was rather more used to the post-Vatican II simplicity of what Anglo-Catholics call the ‘Roman’ Church, so to say that I was impressed is an understatement.

 

As you’ve probably realised if you have travelled extensively around this site, I am utterly fascinated by the Anglo-Catholic movement. I think it quite the most interesting thing about the Church of England. What fascinates me most is the mindset of a movement that was born in the fire of the great 19th century sacramental revival, and is now the last remaining memory of that extraordinary epoch. It is as if, as Larkin says, it finds itself out on the end of an event, having survived it.

 

It is easy to think of the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Anglican Church as a movement besieged. In its Forward in Faith incarnation in particular, it comes in for a great deal of stick, and rarely for theological reasons. It is accused of being misogynist, separatist, and authoritarian.

 

The first of these is because it has not only declined to recognise the orders of ordained female ministers, but also refused to accept the authority of those who ordain them. Indeed, the FiF movement goes as far as to use the concept of ‘taint’ to describe a male priest who has concelebrated with what are dismissively referred to as ‘priestesses’.

 

In its defence, the FiF Anglo-Catholics argue that, if the Church of England is a true part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, as they believe it to be, then a decision to ordain women cannot be taken in isolation from this worldwide Church – that is to say, the Catholic Church. Because of this, they argue that the ordination of women is actually invalid. Several Anglo-Catholics have told me that if the Pope in Rome started ordaining women, they would accept them with open arms at once, although this was obviously said in the safe knowledge that it isn’t going to happen.

The perceived separatism of the movement is a direct by-product of this position. FiF churches are effectively carving out a separate communion within the Anglican Church. By steadfastly defending their altars, accepting the authority of the so-called flying Bishops, and using the concept of taint to keep non-sympathetic male Priests at arms length, they have created a situation where, while accepting the authority of Canterbury, their congregations are no longer in communion with the rest of that church.

 

While this situation appears untenable to many outsiders, FiF claims it has been done to safeguard the handing on of the Faith to future generations. It looks like they are settling in for a long siege. While I find myself more sympathetic to the Anglo-Catholics than to their accusers, I can’t help but be reminded of Sellar and Yeatman’s famous analysis of the English Civil War in 1066 and all that – that the Cavaliers were wrong, but romantic, while the Roundheads were right, but revolting. I think the Anglo-Catholics are the Cavaliers of the Church of England, although I fear that the dull-minded Roundheads will win in the end.

 

But the liturgical character of the church will not be your first impression, or possibly even your second. The main thing that will strike you as you approach it is quite how big it is, and how ornate; an imposing presence, which is partly a result of it being placed flush to the road, where two street signs show that the road against the tower is called Church Street, and the one leading away from it Chapel Street. This must have seemed more symbolic in the 19th century than it does now, and I wondered if the 21st Century might more appropriately demand a DIY Superstore Street, or a Recovering From a Hangover Street, or even a Too Bloody Lazy To Get Up On A Sunday Morning Street. Like a modern Pilgrim’s Progress, perhaps.

 

Next, there’s the porches. Suffolk has some amazing late 15/early 16th century porches – Cautley thought Woolpit’s the best in England – so it is always a pleasure to come across one. Mendlesham has two. The ornate southern one is now blocked off as a chapel, so don’t miss it – you’ll need to go right around the east end of the building to get to it. But the northern porch is the most remarkable.

 

For a start, it is huge. It is crowned with quite the biggest grotesques in the county – even Bramford can’t compete. You’ll spot Suffolk’s finest woodwose; nothing symbolic about him, he looks ready to step down and belt you over the head with his club.

 

If you are used to the ultramontane exotica of London's Anglo-Catholic citadels, it may surprise you to find that Mendlesham is, well, so very English.

 

One of the charges levelled against Anglo-Catholic churches is that they are somehow foreign to English tradition – all those tacky continental statues, pictures of Mary, and even candles burning, are enough to turn the stomach of a thoroughgoing protestant Englishman. While the aesthetic qualities of some statues leave a lot to be desired (not at Mendlesham, I hasten to add) this charge is ridiculous. Before the Reformation, England was considered Our Lady’s Dowry, the most faithfully Catholic country in Europe. The putting down of a sacramental life was a symptom of the Reformation as much as a cause of it. There’s nothing unpatriotic about the Hail Mary. The imposition of Protestantism was the most remarkable sleight of hand on the part of the Tudors, and one from which some parts of the British Isles are still suffering violent consequences. It is just my opinion, but I do not feel that the English are natural protestants.

 

Each age constructs its own sense of Englishness, depending on who is in a position to impose it. For Anglicans, being the state church with the reigning monarch at its head has meant it has been continually buffeted by the winds of change. Even worse, there is the strain of the complex relationship between a spiritual kind of Englishness, which is much to be desired, and the more shady concept of Britishness and the Union. Why Anglican churches persist in displaying the Union flag instead of the English flag of St George is beyond me. I imagine it is a legacy of the First World War. At the time, the Church of England was in the most powerfully strong cultural position, and shamefully sanctified the slaughter. Several Vicars have told me how much they’d like to take the flags down. But they never do.

 

So it was, on a Spring day in 2003, when our brave lads were away bringing death and destruction to a country of which we still appear to have learned nothing, I came to Mendlesham again. I am not an Anglican, but this church feels to me like a touchstone of what it means to be English, and to be a Suffolker, with a sense of a past, present and future.

 

The church was open - it is always open. From the wide graveyard, an old lady passed me on her way into the church - as it turned out, to light a candle. This seemed to me such a beautiful, natural thing to do if you were visiting your dead family. I followed her into the porch.

 

The upper part of the porch contains Mendlesham’s famous armoury, which can be visited by appointment. It is well worth the detour, and if you doubt the wisdom of having a weapons museum in a church, you might be relieved to learn that it is was quite common in the late Tudor and early Stuart periods for church porches and towers to host the Parish armoury. Some of the arms here date back to the 16th century, but more interesting perhaps is the Civil War stuff. Some of this was carried at the famous muster on Mellis Common which resulted in Suffolk’s only two Civil War deaths, when a musket went off by accident. Which just goes to show that ‘friendly fire’ is nothing new.

 

I mention the upper room of the porch before we go inside, because I want nothing to distract us from the impact of St Mary’s interior. A clue that we are about to leave the mundane world behind is in the porch itself; pressed into service as a holy water stoup is one of the loveliest fonts in the county. It came from Rishangles, when the church there was made redundant and sold off by the money-changers. It has had various claims made for its age, Mortlock unaccountably dating it as 1600; but it must surely be late 19th century. Whatever, it is stunning, and a mark that this church has always found a home for orphans of elsewhere, and that some of these orphans are beautiful.

 

So, we step through into the devotional interior. If you were expecting a grimy gloom overlooked by kitschy statues, you are going to be disappointed. St Mary is full of light. And yet, from all corners there are glimpses of flickering candles, the gleam of icons and images.

 

The church had a fairly early restoration, in 1860, at the hands of a major architect, Ewan Christian. You find yourself standing in a large space, much of the west end of the church devoted to the font, the organ, and some fascinating medieval benches. I spotted a cockerel and a wyvern, and a woman at a prayerdesk which might once have been part of an Annunciation scene. Among them are some slightly later benches, probably early 17th century, that came from Rishangles. The font cover is also 17th century, dated 1630, at the height of Laudian piety. It is nice to think that, given this church's modern tradition, it took a similar line back then. It was made locally, but contains Renaissance imagery rarely seen in this country; it would be quite at home at St Eustache in Paris.

 

St Mary has two major brasses; but it didn't. The biggest is up at the east end of the nave (the placing of a nave altar turns this into a crossing) and is to John Knyvet. He died in 1417, and isn't far short of life-size. He's very typical of the period, in his armour, with the dragon head crest behind him. There's no inscription. There is one, however, on the other brass, which is mounted on the wall in the south aisle. This is the one that should really be at Southolt, and is to Margaret Armiger, a typical post-reformation sentiment of the 1580s.

 

It really shouldn't be on the wall. If there was a fire, it would melt; floor-mounted brasses don't melt. It would be nice if it was still at Southolt, where the local people are extraordinarily caring about the little church. Unfortunately, at the time of its redundancy, the church was very badly vandalised, and we have Mendlesham to thank for rescuing this and other priceless art objects. Indeed, at Southolt it was actually mounted on a pew, fuel to the fire if there'd been one. I am sure that the nice people at Southolt today would do their best to look after it if they had it now, but it wouldn't have survived if it had been left there.

 

Also from Southolt are the panels of medieval glass in the north aisle. They were angels and Apostles - you can easily spot fragments of St Andrew, St Bartholomew and St Thomas. The figure of St Thomas has been given the head of a lion. I loved this.

 

St Mary has more altars in use than any other church in Suffolk. There are five of them. I have already mentioned the nave altar, used for Mass. There is a very simple, typically rural high altar, dignified only by the big six candlesticks. At the east end of the south aisle is an extraordinary thing; an altar made of pieces of medieval mensas. A reliquary is set in the front. It is the only one of its kind in an Anglican church anywhere in Suffolk. The Stuart table imposed on the church by the prayer book liturgy has been turned into an altar in the north aisle. This is rather beautiful, with the image of the Mother of God in the central alcove above, and other Marian imagery. It was originally restored as a chapel as a memorial to the First World War. Finally, in the converted south porch, there is a Holy Cross chapel, dating from the 1970s. The wall paintings are quite, quite extraordinary. One of them is of St Helen finding the true cross. In another, as far as I can make out, a group of Celts are watching the raising of Lazarus.

 

Above the chancel arch, a rather restrained rood group reminds us of the glory that once was pre-Reformation Suffolk. Up in the chancel itself, you'll find the shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham. Not on sale in the church, but generally available in Walsingham, is a lovely book by Father Philip, the Rector here, about the churches of Walsingham. I recommend it. There is also a place where you can light a candle for the work of Forward in Faith.

 

If I have one criticism of this splendidly welcoming, interesting and devotional church, it is that there is no guide book.

 

Over the course of the following week, I attended Mass in two Irish churches; one in South Armagh, the other on the Falls Road in Belfast. Neither was as ornate as St Mary of Mendlesham, neither was as filled with a sense of prayer and awe. I am sure that a time-traveller from the 15th century would have recognised Mendlesham as the real Catholic church, not the two Irish ones. Obviously, I believe they’d be wrong to think this, but I could understand it.

 

So is Anglo-Catholicism anything more than a historical re-enactment? Are its churches merely liturgical museums? Is there life in the old movement yet?

 

Come here, and look around. Everything is neat and clean, obviously much loved. This is not just a shrine; it is a living centre of its community. Here, the local people come for their baptisms, weddings and funerals; but they also come for private prayer, for the sacraments of Holy Mother Church as they understand them.

As I said earlier, it always disturbs me seeing the Union Flag in a church; but there is something rather striking about seeing it draped beside an ikon of the Holy Mother of God. Also, there is something moving about a place that encourages candles to be lit, about corners that draw the eye and reveal unrealised paths to God. This is undoubtedly an English Parish Church of the 21st century; and yet, it has recaptured some of the mystery of its past, and is filled with a deep spirituality and sense of the numinous. For this alone, it is one of the most significant of all Suffolk churches, and one of my favourites.

  

Simon Knott, 2003, updated July 2009

 

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/mendlesham.htm

 

-------------------------------------------

 

The magnificent 15th century tower of St Mary's, stands as a beacon for those travelling on the A140 between Ipswich and Norwich.

The church is predominantly Early English and contains a wealth of interest. The unusual and elaborate font cover was carved in 1630 by John Turner, who also carved the pulpit. There is a wonderful collection of mediaeval pews and a 14th Century brass to John Knyvet.

The South Aisle contains the stone altar which was raised from the floor in 1981. It is now the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.

The church has two porches. The upper floor of the North porch, originally a priest’s room, contains a unique armoury - “the most complete armoury of any English parish church” (Pevsner). As well as the parish collection of armour, assembled at the time of the Armada, it contains part of an Elizabethan longbow, several parish chests, a ‘Vinegar’ Bible and other artefacts. It is open on the afternoon of the first bank holiday in May (Mendlesham Street Fayre day) and by appointment with Fr Philip.

The South Porch is now the Chapel of the Holy Cross, designated especially for prayer for the dead, where candles are lit for the departed and there are to be found two chantry books; one for the parish and the other containing the names of the 190 American servicemen based at Mendlesham airfield who died in action in WW2.

 

www.stmarysmendlesham.org.uk/the-church-building.html

 

----------------------------------------

 

The Suffolk village of Mendlesham is a picturesque place, with timber-framed buildings and that quiet air of timelessness that Suffolk seems to specialise in. At the heart of the village is the 13th century church of St Mary the Virgin, punctuated with a superb 15th century west tower.

 

In the north aisle are 15th century benches that were brought here from Rishangles church. The benches in the nave a re slightly younger, dating to the mid-16th century. The bench ends sport a wonderful array of carved figures, including a dragon biting its own tail.

 

There are fragments of medieval glass in the north aisle windows, including a figure of a lion sticking its tongue out.

 

The Lady Chapel stands at the east end of the north aisle. the altar table is 16th century, and if you look closely you can see that one of the table legs has ben carved the wrong way around. In the north wall of the chapel is 14th century glass from Rishangles church, including a likeness of a horse's head and bridle and a figure of St John holding a cup.

 

There are several very interesting memorials in the chancel including a wall monument to William Cuthbert, who served a a doctor in Mendlesham for over 50 years. The altar rails date to around 1660.

 

The beautifully carved pulpit was installed in 1620 and was carved by a local craftsman named John Turner, who also made the wooden font cover at the same time. Nearby is a memorial brass to John Knyvet (d. 1417), showing him clad in armour. One very odd feature about the Knyvet brass is that he is shown with his beard outside his armour.

 

At the back of the nave are two biers for carrying coffins. One is a rare child bier, a scaled down version of the normal adult bier. Both biers have their original straps.

 

In the south porch is the Chapel of the Holy Cross with vivid modern wall paintings adding a rather odd touch under the beautifully carved 15th century porch roof. In the chapel is a memorial to the American Airmen of the 34th Bomber Group, who were stationed near Mendlesham in WWII. A memorial to American servicemen stands in the churchyard to the south of the church.

 

In the south aisle is a royal coat of arms to George III and a memorial brass to Margaret Arminger. The aisle roof is at least 16th century and one of the beams at the east end has traces of late medieval paintings. The altar stone at the east end of the aisle is late medieval as well, and on the aisle wall is a funeral hatchment. There are medieval glass fragments in the east window.

 

One unusual feature at Mendlesham church, and one that is not normally on display to visitors, is a rare armoury in the chamber above the north porch. Church armouries are not unique, but it is rare to find one as complete as this. The parvise, or chamber over the porch entrance, has been used as the parish armoury since 1593. The armoury has a collection of Elizabethan armour brought together at the time of the Spanish Armada invasion.

 

There are breastplates, helmets, a crossbow, and one of only 4 original Elizabethan longbows in existence. Another rarity is a 'pauldron', a piece of shoulder armour which is pone of the very few complete specimens in existence. The armoury also holds three parish chests, as well as a copy of the 1717 'Vinegar Bible' and a 17th century book of sermons.

 

The armoury is open only on special church open days or by special appointment with the rector.

 

www.britainexpress.com/counties/suffolk/churches/mendlesh...

I have a friend that lives in Mendlesham, and we have talked about visiting St Mary several times. But I decided come what may, this would be the day when I would do it.

 

You can see the tower of St Mary from the A140, two miles off, a shallow valley lies between, meaning as you get closer, St Mary disappears. But then as you enter the village, it is standing on Chapel Street, towering over the timber framed houses of the village.

 

I approached the church, but found the south door locked. The door under the tower was locked too, but the north door, in another porch was open, and inside I could tell I wasn't going to be disappointed, this is a high church on a grand scale, where nothing was done in half measures.

 

----------------------------------------

 

2009: Ten years ago, I set out to visit all the churches of Suffolk, and managed it, on and off, over the next four years. Revisiting them all now, I have found changes, some for the worse but many for the better. At Mendlesham, there had been almost no change at all since my previous visit, which seemed entirely appropriate, and so I reproduce word-for-word what I wrote then.

2003: I often get asked which is my favourite Suffolk church. It is easy to make the case for Thornham Parva and Flowton, both of which are beautiful, and always open. Westhall and Denston are perhaps the most interesting, and it is hard to beat the special atmosphere of Kettlebaston and Blythburgh. For grandness, take me to Southwold or Eye, although there are those who swear by Lavenham, Long Melford and Clare, and for sheer magical presence I’d argue for the haunting Ramsholt and Withersdale. As for architecture, or medieval survivals – well, it is probably best not to get me started.

 

But there is one church that fits into pretty much all these categories, and it is here, not far from the main Ipswich to Norwich road. Not only is St Mary of Mendlesham architecturally and historically fascinating, it is also magical, grand, interesting, beautiful and open. What more could you want in a church? St Mary has a special place in the hearts of one particular strand of the Church of England; for here in this busy little working village among the barley plains is the last surviving thorough-going Anglo-Catholic parish church in all Suffolk. For well over a quarter of a century, Father Philip Gray has kept the flame of the Faith alive here. No Affirming Catholicism pussyfooting for Mendlesham. Here, Mass is still celebrated daily, the sacraments are administered, and the great Feast of the Assumption still kept as the highest Saint’s day of the year, as it once was all over Suffolk.

 

I remember attending the Assumption Day Mass here in the mid-1990s. There were nearly as many Priests concelebrating as there were people in the congregation, but you had to count them quickly before they disappeared in clouds of incense. Nobody can swing a thurible as energetically as an Anglo-Catholic Priest, and Father Philip is more energetic than most. At the time, I was rather more used to the post-Vatican II simplicity of what Anglo-Catholics call the ‘Roman’ Church, so to say that I was impressed is an understatement.

 

As you’ve probably realised if you have travelled extensively around this site, I am utterly fascinated by the Anglo-Catholic movement. I think it quite the most interesting thing about the Church of England. What fascinates me most is the mindset of a movement that was born in the fire of the great 19th century sacramental revival, and is now the last remaining memory of that extraordinary epoch. It is as if, as Larkin says, it finds itself out on the end of an event, having survived it.

 

It is easy to think of the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Anglican Church as a movement besieged. In its Forward in Faith incarnation in particular, it comes in for a great deal of stick, and rarely for theological reasons. It is accused of being misogynist, separatist, and authoritarian.

 

The first of these is because it has not only declined to recognise the orders of ordained female ministers, but also refused to accept the authority of those who ordain them. Indeed, the FiF movement goes as far as to use the concept of ‘taint’ to describe a male priest who has concelebrated with what are dismissively referred to as ‘priestesses’.

 

In its defence, the FiF Anglo-Catholics argue that, if the Church of England is a true part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, as they believe it to be, then a decision to ordain women cannot be taken in isolation from this worldwide Church – that is to say, the Catholic Church. Because of this, they argue that the ordination of women is actually invalid. Several Anglo-Catholics have told me that if the Pope in Rome started ordaining women, they would accept them with open arms at once, although this was obviously said in the safe knowledge that it isn’t going to happen.

The perceived separatism of the movement is a direct by-product of this position. FiF churches are effectively carving out a separate communion within the Anglican Church. By steadfastly defending their altars, accepting the authority of the so-called flying Bishops, and using the concept of taint to keep non-sympathetic male Priests at arms length, they have created a situation where, while accepting the authority of Canterbury, their congregations are no longer in communion with the rest of that church.

 

While this situation appears untenable to many outsiders, FiF claims it has been done to safeguard the handing on of the Faith to future generations. It looks like they are settling in for a long siege. While I find myself more sympathetic to the Anglo-Catholics than to their accusers, I can’t help but be reminded of Sellar and Yeatman’s famous analysis of the English Civil War in 1066 and all that – that the Cavaliers were wrong, but romantic, while the Roundheads were right, but revolting. I think the Anglo-Catholics are the Cavaliers of the Church of England, although I fear that the dull-minded Roundheads will win in the end.

 

But the liturgical character of the church will not be your first impression, or possibly even your second. The main thing that will strike you as you approach it is quite how big it is, and how ornate; an imposing presence, which is partly a result of it being placed flush to the road, where two street signs show that the road against the tower is called Church Street, and the one leading away from it Chapel Street. This must have seemed more symbolic in the 19th century than it does now, and I wondered if the 21st Century might more appropriately demand a DIY Superstore Street, or a Recovering From a Hangover Street, or even a Too Bloody Lazy To Get Up On A Sunday Morning Street. Like a modern Pilgrim’s Progress, perhaps.

 

Next, there’s the porches. Suffolk has some amazing late 15/early 16th century porches – Cautley thought Woolpit’s the best in England – so it is always a pleasure to come across one. Mendlesham has two. The ornate southern one is now blocked off as a chapel, so don’t miss it – you’ll need to go right around the east end of the building to get to it. But the northern porch is the most remarkable.

 

For a start, it is huge. It is crowned with quite the biggest grotesques in the county – even Bramford can’t compete. You’ll spot Suffolk’s finest woodwose; nothing symbolic about him, he looks ready to step down and belt you over the head with his club.

 

If you are used to the ultramontane exotica of London's Anglo-Catholic citadels, it may surprise you to find that Mendlesham is, well, so very English.

 

One of the charges levelled against Anglo-Catholic churches is that they are somehow foreign to English tradition – all those tacky continental statues, pictures of Mary, and even candles burning, are enough to turn the stomach of a thoroughgoing protestant Englishman. While the aesthetic qualities of some statues leave a lot to be desired (not at Mendlesham, I hasten to add) this charge is ridiculous. Before the Reformation, England was considered Our Lady’s Dowry, the most faithfully Catholic country in Europe. The putting down of a sacramental life was a symptom of the Reformation as much as a cause of it. There’s nothing unpatriotic about the Hail Mary. The imposition of Protestantism was the most remarkable sleight of hand on the part of the Tudors, and one from which some parts of the British Isles are still suffering violent consequences. It is just my opinion, but I do not feel that the English are natural protestants.

 

Each age constructs its own sense of Englishness, depending on who is in a position to impose it. For Anglicans, being the state church with the reigning monarch at its head has meant it has been continually buffeted by the winds of change. Even worse, there is the strain of the complex relationship between a spiritual kind of Englishness, which is much to be desired, and the more shady concept of Britishness and the Union. Why Anglican churches persist in displaying the Union flag instead of the English flag of St George is beyond me. I imagine it is a legacy of the First World War. At the time, the Church of England was in the most powerfully strong cultural position, and shamefully sanctified the slaughter. Several Vicars have told me how much they’d like to take the flags down. But they never do.

 

So it was, on a Spring day in 2003, when our brave lads were away bringing death and destruction to a country of which we still appear to have learned nothing, I came to Mendlesham again. I am not an Anglican, but this church feels to me like a touchstone of what it means to be English, and to be a Suffolker, with a sense of a past, present and future.

 

The church was open - it is always open. From the wide graveyard, an old lady passed me on her way into the church - as it turned out, to light a candle. This seemed to me such a beautiful, natural thing to do if you were visiting your dead family. I followed her into the porch.

 

The upper part of the porch contains Mendlesham’s famous armoury, which can be visited by appointment. It is well worth the detour, and if you doubt the wisdom of having a weapons museum in a church, you might be relieved to learn that it is was quite common in the late Tudor and early Stuart periods for church porches and towers to host the Parish armoury. Some of the arms here date back to the 16th century, but more interesting perhaps is the Civil War stuff. Some of this was carried at the famous muster on Mellis Common which resulted in Suffolk’s only two Civil War deaths, when a musket went off by accident. Which just goes to show that ‘friendly fire’ is nothing new.

 

I mention the upper room of the porch before we go inside, because I want nothing to distract us from the impact of St Mary’s interior. A clue that we are about to leave the mundane world behind is in the porch itself; pressed into service as a holy water stoup is one of the loveliest fonts in the county. It came from Rishangles, when the church there was made redundant and sold off by the money-changers. It has had various claims made for its age, Mortlock unaccountably dating it as 1600; but it must surely be late 19th century. Whatever, it is stunning, and a mark that this church has always found a home for orphans of elsewhere, and that some of these orphans are beautiful.

 

So, we step through into the devotional interior. If you were expecting a grimy gloom overlooked by kitschy statues, you are going to be disappointed. St Mary is full of light. And yet, from all corners there are glimpses of flickering candles, the gleam of icons and images.

 

The church had a fairly early restoration, in 1860, at the hands of a major architect, Ewan Christian. You find yourself standing in a large space, much of the west end of the church devoted to the font, the organ, and some fascinating medieval benches. I spotted a cockerel and a wyvern, and a woman at a prayerdesk which might once have been part of an Annunciation scene. Among them are some slightly later benches, probably early 17th century, that came from Rishangles. The font cover is also 17th century, dated 1630, at the height of Laudian piety. It is nice to think that, given this church's modern tradition, it took a similar line back then. It was made locally, but contains Renaissance imagery rarely seen in this country; it would be quite at home at St Eustache in Paris.

 

St Mary has two major brasses; but it didn't. The biggest is up at the east end of the nave (the placing of a nave altar turns this into a crossing) and is to John Knyvet. He died in 1417, and isn't far short of life-size. He's very typical of the period, in his armour, with the dragon head crest behind him. There's no inscription. There is one, however, on the other brass, which is mounted on the wall in the south aisle. This is the one that should really be at Southolt, and is to Margaret Armiger, a typical post-reformation sentiment of the 1580s.

 

It really shouldn't be on the wall. If there was a fire, it would melt; floor-mounted brasses don't melt. It would be nice if it was still at Southolt, where the local people are extraordinarily caring about the little church. Unfortunately, at the time of its redundancy, the church was very badly vandalised, and we have Mendlesham to thank for rescuing this and other priceless art objects. Indeed, at Southolt it was actually mounted on a pew, fuel to the fire if there'd been one. I am sure that the nice people at Southolt today would do their best to look after it if they had it now, but it wouldn't have survived if it had been left there.

 

Also from Southolt are the panels of medieval glass in the north aisle. They were angels and Apostles - you can easily spot fragments of St Andrew, St Bartholomew and St Thomas. The figure of St Thomas has been given the head of a lion. I loved this.

 

St Mary has more altars in use than any other church in Suffolk. There are five of them. I have already mentioned the nave altar, used for Mass. There is a very simple, typically rural high altar, dignified only by the big six candlesticks. At the east end of the south aisle is an extraordinary thing; an altar made of pieces of medieval mensas. A reliquary is set in the front. It is the only one of its kind in an Anglican church anywhere in Suffolk. The Stuart table imposed on the church by the prayer book liturgy has been turned into an altar in the north aisle. This is rather beautiful, with the image of the Mother of God in the central alcove above, and other Marian imagery. It was originally restored as a chapel as a memorial to the First World War. Finally, in the converted south porch, there is a Holy Cross chapel, dating from the 1970s. The wall paintings are quite, quite extraordinary. One of them is of St Helen finding the true cross. In another, as far as I can make out, a group of Celts are watching the raising of Lazarus.

 

Above the chancel arch, a rather restrained rood group reminds us of the glory that once was pre-Reformation Suffolk. Up in the chancel itself, you'll find the shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham. Not on sale in the church, but generally available in Walsingham, is a lovely book by Father Philip, the Rector here, about the churches of Walsingham. I recommend it. There is also a place where you can light a candle for the work of Forward in Faith.

 

If I have one criticism of this splendidly welcoming, interesting and devotional church, it is that there is no guide book.

 

Over the course of the following week, I attended Mass in two Irish churches; one in South Armagh, the other on the Falls Road in Belfast. Neither was as ornate as St Mary of Mendlesham, neither was as filled with a sense of prayer and awe. I am sure that a time-traveller from the 15th century would have recognised Mendlesham as the real Catholic church, not the two Irish ones. Obviously, I believe they’d be wrong to think this, but I could understand it.

 

So is Anglo-Catholicism anything more than a historical re-enactment? Are its churches merely liturgical museums? Is there life in the old movement yet?

 

Come here, and look around. Everything is neat and clean, obviously much loved. This is not just a shrine; it is a living centre of its community. Here, the local people come for their baptisms, weddings and funerals; but they also come for private prayer, for the sacraments of Holy Mother Church as they understand them.

As I said earlier, it always disturbs me seeing the Union Flag in a church; but there is something rather striking about seeing it draped beside an ikon of the Holy Mother of God. Also, there is something moving about a place that encourages candles to be lit, about corners that draw the eye and reveal unrealised paths to God. This is undoubtedly an English Parish Church of the 21st century; and yet, it has recaptured some of the mystery of its past, and is filled with a deep spirituality and sense of the numinous. For this alone, it is one of the most significant of all Suffolk churches, and one of my favourites.

  

Simon Knott, 2003, updated July 2009

 

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/mendlesham.htm

 

-------------------------------------------

 

The magnificent 15th century tower of St Mary's, stands as a beacon for those travelling on the A140 between Ipswich and Norwich.

The church is predominantly Early English and contains a wealth of interest. The unusual and elaborate font cover was carved in 1630 by John Turner, who also carved the pulpit. There is a wonderful collection of mediaeval pews and a 14th Century brass to John Knyvet.

The South Aisle contains the stone altar which was raised from the floor in 1981. It is now the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.

The church has two porches. The upper floor of the North porch, originally a priest’s room, contains a unique armoury - “the most complete armoury of any English parish church” (Pevsner). As well as the parish collection of armour, assembled at the time of the Armada, it contains part of an Elizabethan longbow, several parish chests, a ‘Vinegar’ Bible and other artefacts. It is open on the afternoon of the first bank holiday in May (Mendlesham Street Fayre day) and by appointment with Fr Philip.

The South Porch is now the Chapel of the Holy Cross, designated especially for prayer for the dead, where candles are lit for the departed and there are to be found two chantry books; one for the parish and the other containing the names of the 190 American servicemen based at Mendlesham airfield who died in action in WW2.

 

www.stmarysmendlesham.org.uk/the-church-building.html

 

----------------------------------------

 

The Suffolk village of Mendlesham is a picturesque place, with timber-framed buildings and that quiet air of timelessness that Suffolk seems to specialise in. At the heart of the village is the 13th century church of St Mary the Virgin, punctuated with a superb 15th century west tower.

 

In the north aisle are 15th century benches that were brought here from Rishangles church. The benches in the nave a re slightly younger, dating to the mid-16th century. The bench ends sport a wonderful array of carved figures, including a dragon biting its own tail.

 

There are fragments of medieval glass in the north aisle windows, including a figure of a lion sticking its tongue out.

 

The Lady Chapel stands at the east end of the north aisle. the altar table is 16th century, and if you look closely you can see that one of the table legs has ben carved the wrong way around. In the north wall of the chapel is 14th century glass from Rishangles church, including a likeness of a horse's head and bridle and a figure of St John holding a cup.

 

There are several very interesting memorials in the chancel including a wall monument to William Cuthbert, who served a a doctor in Mendlesham for over 50 years. The altar rails date to around 1660.

 

The beautifully carved pulpit was installed in 1620 and was carved by a local craftsman named John Turner, who also made the wooden font cover at the same time. Nearby is a memorial brass to John Knyvet (d. 1417), showing him clad in armour. One very odd feature about the Knyvet brass is that he is shown with his beard outside his armour.

 

At the back of the nave are two biers for carrying coffins. One is a rare child bier, a scaled down version of the normal adult bier. Both biers have their original straps.

 

In the south porch is the Chapel of the Holy Cross with vivid modern wall paintings adding a rather odd touch under the beautifully carved 15th century porch roof. In the chapel is a memorial to the American Airmen of the 34th Bomber Group, who were stationed near Mendlesham in WWII. A memorial to American servicemen stands in the churchyard to the south of the church.

 

In the south aisle is a royal coat of arms to George III and a memorial brass to Margaret Arminger. The aisle roof is at least 16th century and one of the beams at the east end has traces of late medieval paintings. The altar stone at the east end of the aisle is late medieval as well, and on the aisle wall is a funeral hatchment. There are medieval glass fragments in the east window.

 

One unusual feature at Mendlesham church, and one that is not normally on display to visitors, is a rare armoury in the chamber above the north porch. Church armouries are not unique, but it is rare to find one as complete as this. The parvise, or chamber over the porch entrance, has been used as the parish armoury since 1593. The armoury has a collection of Elizabethan armour brought together at the time of the Spanish Armada invasion.

 

There are breastplates, helmets, a crossbow, and one of only 4 original Elizabethan longbows in existence. Another rarity is a 'pauldron', a piece of shoulder armour which is pone of the very few complete specimens in existence. The armoury also holds three parish chests, as well as a copy of the 1717 'Vinegar Bible' and a 17th century book of sermons.

 

The armoury is open only on special church open days or by special appointment with the rector.

 

www.britainexpress.com/counties/suffolk/churches/mendlesh...

Seen a strage ritual at Yasaka shrine,when olderly people,dressed as Shinto priests, chanted songs, whilst younger priestesses performed a very slow dance.

Leonor Fini, Buenos Aires 1907 - Paris 1996

Selbstbildnis - Selfportrait - Autoportrait (1941)

 

Talented, glamorous and ambitious, Leonor Fini was one of the most influential female artists of the 1930s. From her opulent, bohemian childhood in Italy to her debut in a group exhibition at the age of seventeen and her rise in the international art world, Fini was legendary for both her vivacious personality and her ethereal subjects. Fini’s figures—sphinxes, felines, nymphs, priestesses, nudes— are bold proclamations of female sexuality that convey a powerful feminine subconscious. Also renowned for her theatrical set-design, costumes and posters, the artist developed close relationships with other avant-garde Surrealists including Andre Breton, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, and Max Ernst, who became her lover.

Source: Widewalls

Revered Eki'Eki and Revered P'tang, priestesses (who says there can't be Lizardwomen?) of Comets and Lightning respectively.