Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Inter Rogations

When we were looking through all the books for our services for Easter, we saw the sections on ROGATIONS and some of my colleagues didn't know what they were or what they meant.

Well, it just so happens that this is one of those FEW things that I learned when study ing Merovingians which actually relates to modern church life in some way.

The institution of Rogations byt Bishop Mamertus of Vienne is recorded by Gregory of Tours in his Decem Libri Historiarum, II.34.

Rogations were basically a procession or prayer walk around the churches city of Vienne. No need for me to tell you all athe detail as there are plenty of links here for you to follow. Interestingly, Ian Wood, an early medieval historian talks about how Mamertus planned the rogations to be particularly appealing to people because of where the route went. Ancient liturgy wasn't all about doing the PROPER thing. There was some consumer consideration involved! Perhaps this could be a lesson to us?

So many ALTERNATIVE worship initiatives are actually based on ancient practices these days... maybe we'll see some Rogations of young people on 25th April?

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