tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313295143497097608.post5840898890818283730..comments2023-08-14T16:25:12.421+01:00Comments on Medieval Church Art: Blakeney, NorfolkAllan Bartonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00499774849106432968noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313295143497097608.post-56639907362606083932015-09-13T15:38:40.549+01:002015-09-13T15:38:40.549+01:00Anonymous, I agree with all you've said, on on...Anonymous, I agree with all you've said, on on this blog you are very much preaching to the converted. As a University Chaplain one of the first things I did was remove a freestanding altar from the university chapel in order to begin to use the eastward facing high altar once again. Once the theological justification is properly explained young people prefer the long tradition of the church. The comments above yours were not justifying the nave altar at all, but that we have seen much worse. At least the freestanding altar at Blythburgh is decently vested and thus has some semblance of dignity to it. Allan Bartonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00499774849106432968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313295143497097608.post-64029625894386104502015-09-13T12:59:49.335+01:002015-09-13T12:59:49.335+01:00Ugh! A beautiful church, with a beautiful high alt...Ugh! A beautiful church, with a beautiful high altar NOT IN USE. The altar and what takes place on it was the focal point in Christian liturgies for centuries, and an important part of that focus was "orientation". Priest and people faced the altar TOGETHER, in the same direction, most often "east". The priest wasn't just a "presider" at a gathering around an altar or holy table, he functioned AS a PRIEST, standing not BETWEEN the people and Christ on the altar, but as a mediator and intercessor, turning from one to the other. The chancel screen served the same purpose as does an iconostasis in an Orthodox Church. It symbolised the inherent mystery of the Mass, brings to mind the Holy of Holies in Temple in Jerusalem, and physically separates THE sacred space from more general sacred space in the context of the liturgy. That Anglicans and Catholics now treat handsome and glorious high altars and rood screens as "pretty backdrops" is absurd, though the tide is slowly changing. Younger generations don't want "touchy-feely trendy", they crave the spiritual and a sense of continuity. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313295143497097608.post-52303463973299604142009-10-04T13:56:15.280+01:002009-10-04T13:56:15.280+01:00How rare are east end sacristies? I'm familia...How rare are east end sacristies? I'm familiar with the one at Tideswell, but that's the only one I can think of offhand. I think they're a fairly elegant solution to what can be quite a problem - were they perhaps more common in the later middle ages? - though this one seems, maybe I'm wrong, to cut across the line of view of lower section of the unusual east window.Lapinbizarrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07686990585795363001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313295143497097608.post-81228897789467921412009-09-25T20:37:28.001+01:002009-09-25T20:37:28.001+01:00It is a glorious church, it was rather too well ta...It is a glorious church, it was rather too well taken care of for my taste. I prefer the mild decay of South Creake! The nave altar is reason. The frontal matches the high altar, which is a great deal of consolation.Allan Bartonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00499774849106432968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313295143497097608.post-26589774927822436222009-09-18T16:04:45.942+01:002009-09-18T16:04:45.942+01:00What a very lovely church. Good Rood, Fine screen ...What a very lovely church. Good Rood, Fine screen and loft, very nice English altar and while I'm not a fan of nave altars, this has been done with great care.Davis d'Amblynoreply@blogger.com