Click here to listen to an audio recording of the 8:00am service of Holy Communion at Christ Church on the Feast of St. Bartholomew / Tenth Sunday after Trinity.
For centuries upon centuries, the Feasts of the Apostles were observed and celebrated even if they fell upon a Sunday, the only exceptions being in Advent, Lent, Holy Week, the Octave Week of Easter, and Whitsuntide (see BCP, p. 94) when such observances are transferred. The practice recognizes the centrality of the Apostolic Faith communicated to us through the life and witness of the Apostles. It is what we proclaim and profess in the Creeds. “I believe One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church,” as in the Nicene Creed at Mass, and “the Communion of Saints” in the Apostles’ Creed. In both Creeds, these statements follow upon “I believe in the Holy Ghost.”
Today is the Feast of St. Bartholomew which happens to fall upon the Tenth Sunday after Trinity this year. I often find such conjunctions intriguing, instructive, and illuminating through the interplay of readings which invite us to a deeper reflection upon our life in the Body of Christ. At the very least they recall us to the radical meaning of what we profess in the Communion of Saints. This counters the overly individualistic aspects of so-called ‘personal faith’ which often betrays itself by overlooking or downplaying what we profess together. It is worthwhile remembering that “I believe” in the Creeds is actually “we believe” in the original Greek.
The Feast of St. Bartholomew complements and illustrates both the Epistle and Gospel readings for Trinity Ten; the one in terms of the gifts of the Holy Spirit as the uniting principle of our faith in Jesus Christ, the other in terms of Jesus’ weeping over the city of Jerusalem, because of our “knowing not the things that belong to our peace,” our “not knowing the time of thy visitation,” and thus betraying the nature and purpose of prayer, famously making “the house of prayer, a den of thieves.” In other words, the betrayals through sin of what belongs to our corporate life in Christ.
But what about the readings for the Feast of St. Bartholomew itself? What do they teach and how are they connected to the readings for Trinity Ten? First, they remind us of the lists of the Apostles among which Bartholomew is named in Matthew, Mark, and Luke and as well here in the Acts 1. Just a list of names? Yes, in a way, but as collected together again in the Upper Room and here after the Ascension and just before Pentecost, they are a reminder to us of their presence with Christ in his Passion, and in the events of the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Sending Down of the Holy Spirit; essential creedal moments, we might say, that belong precisely to the idea of the Apostolic Faith which we profess and which enrolls us with them in that Faith. In the Revelation of St. John, though their specific names are not given, the foundation of the walls of the holy city, Jerusalem, have “on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb,” as they are styled. A significant reference to Christ in his passion and sacrifice for us.
Sunday, August 24th, St. Bartholomew/Trinity 10
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
Sunday, August 31st, Trinity 11
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
Fr. Curry is priest-in-charge for Avon Valley Parish and Hantsport from August 4th until September 8th 2025 while Fr. Tom Henderson is on vacation.
The collect for today, the Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who didst give to thine Apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach thy Word; Grant, we beseech thee, unto thy Church, to love that Word which he believed, and both to preach and receive the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Lesson: Acts 1:10-14
The Gospel: St. Luke 22:24-30
The apostle Bartholomew, named in all three synoptic gospels, is generally identified with Nathanael, who is named only in the Gospel of St. John. (For more details, see here.) If this identification is accepted, we have a great deal of information on Bartholomew’s calling (St. John 1:45-51). Jesus described him as “an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit”.
Nothing is known for certain of his post-New Testament ministry. There are conflicting accounts of his missionary activity in Asia Minor, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Persia, India, and Egypt. Of these, Armenia has the strongest support, where he is said to have been skinned alive before being beheaded. The traditionally accepted place of his martyrdom is Albanopolis (present-day Derbent) near the western shore of the Caspian Sea.
Artwork: Alessandro Casolani, Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, 1604. Oil on canvas, San Niccolo al Carmine, Siena, Italy.
The collect for today, the Tenth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
LET thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions make them to ask such things as shall please thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
The Gospel: St. Luke 19:41-47a
Artwork: Giovanni Antonio Fumiani, Christ expels the Merchants from the Temple, 1678. Oil on canvas, Chiesa di San Rocco, Venice.