Ben Hicks

The series will explore words used in the Episcopal Church  that are arcane, unusual or have changed over time. This week’s word is basic – the minister.

The Colonial Minister was a man in the middle. As a branch of Church of England, the Virginia church was governed from London. The church required that all priests be educated and ordained in England. However in practice they were hired by colonial vestries unlike their English counterpart. The parish vestries defied the governor in two primary ways — through control of the recruitment or selection of clergy and through refusal to present for induction

Even so clerical appointments were part of extensive clientage or patronage relationships. Local landowners and gentry by mid-century possessed over half of the “advowsons” (legal right to appoint) in the church since in many cases they owned the land where the church was built. Ministers were also challenged by the increasing of dissenters and those caught up in the Great Awakening by 1740.

Colonial ministers are easily distinguished from their current counterparts. They were all male. There was no Diocese or support from an church agency. There was no staff aside from the churchwarden. The minister was also automatically a farmer. He was assigned the income from a "glebe," or parcel of land that they could farm. In counties with good soil for growing tobacco, the income from the glebe was relatively high – and those parishes were able to attract the best-quality ministers. 

Early on, there was a severe shortage of priests in Virginia early on—only 28 priests served a population of 140,000 in 1724. Virginia parishes almost doubled in number between 1725 and 1775 (from fifty-one to ninety-five). Even so, in no single year during the period were fewer that 76 percent of the parishes supplied with a minister. However by the Revolution that percentage had improved to 100% Diversity in ethnic origins and birthplace characterizes Virginia’s eighteenth-century parsons

What accounts for the change ? As time went on more priests came not from England but were home grown in the colonies. In Virginia as in the British Isles, the ministry functioned also as a path of upward mobility for young men from society’s middling. Another path was coming from abroad before deciding to go in the ministry They made decisions for ordination in the context of their Virginia experiences. Others came from other counties such as Scotland

Mastery of classical languages was at the heart of education for priests. Indeed the reason for setting up a college in Virginia "want of able & faithfull ministers" While the majority of Virginia’s parsons attended college, some did not. Presumably they satisfied the loophole in the requirements for ordination ("he is able to yield an account of his faith in Latin, according to the Articles of Religion"). There were no seminaries as we have now . The minimum age to be a priest was 24.

Once they achieved position it was not bad job. Vestries did not subject their ministers to annual reviews. They did not renegotiate contracts with parsons. Apart from stipulating in some cases an initial probationary term for clergy not known to them previously, vestries behaved as if the parson they hired was theirs for life This tenure record is all the more noteworthy when considered in the light of clergy mortality. The mean age at death for parsons was fifty-seven years. Over a third were dead before they reached age fifty.

Socially it was a was of moving up in life. All Anglican parsons were gentlemen by profession. Some were gentlemen by birth. Many augmented their gentle status through marriage. Many were of modest background so it was a way of climbing the social ladder.

What was their call ? In their ordination vows, Anglican clergy pledged to teach nothing but what is proven by scripture; to preach and administer the sacraments faithfully; to combat error and heresy; to be diligent in study and prayer; to foster quietness, peace, and love among the people in their charge; "to frame and fashion your own selves, and your families, according to the doctrine of Christ; and to make both your selves and them, as much as in you lieth, wholesom examples and Patterns to the flock of Christ."

The clergy dressed the part with more rigid dress codes than today. The priest had to dress the role as the "model" or "pattern" of the Christian life. For clergy holding academic degrees, the usual "decent and comely Ap¬parel" were "Gowns with standing Collars and Sleeves strait at the Hands, or wide sleeves, as is used m the Universities, with Hoods or Tippets [scarves] of Silk or Sarcenet [a fine soft silk or cotton fabric], and square Caps.

See Our Collection of Crosses

“O BLESSED Saviour, who by thy cross and passion hast given life unto the world: Grant that we thy servants may be given grace to take up the cross and follow thee through life and death; whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit we worship and glorify, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

Holy Cross Day is Sept. 14 in honor of Christ’s self-offering on the cross for our salvation. The collect for Holy Cross Day recalls that Christ “was lifted high upon the cross that he might draw the whole world unto himself,” and prays that “we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross and follow him” (BCP, p. 192). The themes of Holy Cross Day are powerfully expressed by the hymn “Lift high the cross” (Hymn 473).

The Basis of the Cross (From this guide:)

1 (Romans 5:12). “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned”

2. “You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world,[a] following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, doing the will of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else,” (Ephesians 2:1-3)

3. (Colossians 2:13-14). “And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God[a] made you[b] alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross.”

From the Book of Common Prayer catechism – “The Messiah is one sent by God to free us from the power of sin, so that with the help of God we may live in harmony with God, within ourselves, with our neighbors, and with all creation.

Though the cross was an instrument of torture and death, stained with the blood of Christ, it has become for us a great treasure as the instrument of our salvation. Because it brings us into “the kingdom of heaven,” the cross is like the “pearl of great value,” for which the merchant “sold all that he had” (Matthew 13:45-46).

The cross also serves as a reminder of the kind of lives we are to live as Christians. Christ commands each of his disciples to “take up his cross and follow [him]” (Matthew 16:24), putting our sin to death “in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:6), freeing us to participate in God’s mission in the world, doing the good works he has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10).

This day has been a part of the Eastern Church. The feast entered the Western calendar in the seventh century after Emperor Heraclius recovered the cross from the Persians, who had carried it off in 614, 15 years earlier. According to the story, the emperor intended to carry the cross back into Jerusalem himself, but was unable to move forward until he took off his imperial garb and became a barefoot pilgrim.  It only has been celebrated in the Episcopal Church with the 1982 prayer book

Origin of Sept 14 -During the reign of Constantine, first Roman Emperor to profess the Christian faith, his mother Helena went to Israel and there undertook to find the places especially significant to Christians. (She was helped in this by the fact that in their destructions around 135, the Romans had built pagan shrines over many of these sites.)

Having located, close together, what she believed to be the sites of the Crucifixion and of the Burial (at locations that modern archaeologists think may be correct), she then had built over them the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was dedicated on 14 September 335.

Forward Movement reported this:”During the construction, tradition says that fragments from the True Cross, that is, the cross on which Jesus had been crucified, were found. It sounds fanciful, and perhaps it is. What is not fanciful are the fervent prayers of pilgrims from around the world in that site every day.”

Update for 2017 from Forward Movement: “Recently, the traditional site of Jesus’ burial and resurrection was renovated. During the construction, another miracle of sorts happened. It turns out that under more modern layers of marble, ancient, first-century stone was discovered. This is the latest in a series of archeological finds which support the idea that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built on the actual sites where the actual events of Good Friday and Easter Day took place. It is almost overwhelming.” 

It has become a day for recognizing the Cross (in a festal atmosphere that would be inappropriate on Good Friday) as a symbol of triumph, as a sign of Christ’s victory over death, and a reminder of His promise, “And when I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.” (John 12:32)

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