If there's still time left, that could only be because there are still saints left. And if there are still saints left, there's need for poets to write about them.
Plus, the Second Temple always gets denigrated because the cloud of glory never descended on it like it did in Solomon's time. But behold, One greater than Solomon entered the Second Temple in the flesh, and did so regularly.
An excellent point regarding the Second Temple, Cormac.
I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself in this series, or rather my response to this series once completed, but while I don’t disagree with you it’s important to make some distinctions. First, while I’d say hymnody is certainly poetry it is not really what is being addressed by Bate here, per se. In my opinion, the Church’s hymnody should be held in the highest place of honor for reasons I’m sure you’d agree with but as you’re also aware that actually doesn’t leave an Eastern Orthodox Christian with much room to work. The hymnody is, relatively, static. And there's good reason for that, as far as I can tell. But EO doesn’t have schools of poetry or a tradition of encouraging the ongoing creation of original poetry like, say, the Ethiopians do.
I believe if poetry is going to find it’s feet again it will be by reattaching itself to faiths traditions in a more grounded, and at least partially oral, way. Ideally, every poet would become a Saint and compose poetry worth of liturgical use or holy study but there has to be a place for poetry outside of the Church, to lead others inside. A varied threshold poetry, if you will. This is the realm that Bate and this series is addressing. As a Westerner finding himself in the EO Church I am trying to figure all this out in real time!
If there's still time left, that could only be because there are still saints left. And if there are still saints left, there's need for poets to write about them.
Plus, the Second Temple always gets denigrated because the cloud of glory never descended on it like it did in Solomon's time. But behold, One greater than Solomon entered the Second Temple in the flesh, and did so regularly.
An excellent point regarding the Second Temple, Cormac.
I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself in this series, or rather my response to this series once completed, but while I don’t disagree with you it’s important to make some distinctions. First, while I’d say hymnody is certainly poetry it is not really what is being addressed by Bate here, per se. In my opinion, the Church’s hymnody should be held in the highest place of honor for reasons I’m sure you’d agree with but as you’re also aware that actually doesn’t leave an Eastern Orthodox Christian with much room to work. The hymnody is, relatively, static. And there's good reason for that, as far as I can tell. But EO doesn’t have schools of poetry or a tradition of encouraging the ongoing creation of original poetry like, say, the Ethiopians do.
I believe if poetry is going to find it’s feet again it will be by reattaching itself to faiths traditions in a more grounded, and at least partially oral, way. Ideally, every poet would become a Saint and compose poetry worth of liturgical use or holy study but there has to be a place for poetry outside of the Church, to lead others inside. A varied threshold poetry, if you will. This is the realm that Bate and this series is addressing. As a Westerner finding himself in the EO Church I am trying to figure all this out in real time!
Well, I'll certainly stay tuned!
(And I wasn't just referring to Menaion services and akathists; righteous heroes need righteous bards is all, liturgical or not.)