Today Bishop Richard Fenwick, former Dean of Newport Cathedral and former Bishop of St Helena dedicated a Lectern given by Credo Cymru in memory of Bishop David Thomas, and chris-mated an Icon of The Holy Family given by Bishop David’s Family in his memory.
On the Altar for the Sung Mass were relics of St Jospeh’s cloak and the Blessed Virgin Mary’s veil. The Lessons were read by Canon Geoffrey Gaynor, Chairman of Credo Cymru and Mrs Fliss Barry (Daughter), while Bishop David’s son John acted as Thurifer.
In His Sermon Bishop Richard noted that “any Deacon, any Priest, any Bishop is an Icon.” He continued: “Bishop David had the remarkable ability to point OUTWARDS – and to allow people to see IN”.
Bishop Richard Fenwick preaches listened to by the Prior, Sub Prior and other clergy
The Priory Choir sung Bruckner’s Locus Iste and and Ralph Vaughn William’s O taste and see. Among the hymns sung by the congregation was a Communion Hymn composed by Bishop David himself.
The Icon was written by Br.Michäel of Mucknell Abbey and the Lectern designed by a graduate of the Prince of Wales’s School of Traditional Art,Joachim Tantua. Br.Michäel also wrote the St Benedict Icon for the Benedict Chapel at the Priory Church, while Joachim designed the other furniture for the St Jospeh Chapel , including a Plinth to house the world famous Jesse figure.
The Holy Family Icon hanging on the Lectern
Bishop Richard Fenwick’s Address in full :
It’s an enormous privilege to be here for the blessing and dedication of the new Lectern, and for the blessing and chrismation of the newly written Icon of the Holy Family. This glorious Priory Church was a place very close to Bishop David’s heart. As Provincial Assistant Bishop, he and Rosemary lived within the Parish … but of course, this was also the place where he held many of his Episcopal services. Yet perhaps the gifts themselves give us a real insight into David’s thinking, for Rosemary, with Felicity and John, and their families have chosen the gifts with enormous care, and they are so utterly appropriate.
The Lectern is created by the craftsman, Joachim Tantua . How much more appropriate could this be for a dedicated and honoured teacher of the Faith? This is where the Word of God is read from. It is also where the Liturgy is moved forward in that timeless seam of worship which has been at the heart of this most ancient church for … perhaps 14 or 15 centuries … certainly well before it was rebuilt as the central point of a great Benedictine foundation.
But then, we have the Icon– wonderfully written by Brother Michäel of Mucknell Abbey… And more than this, it is an Icon of the Holy Family, with Christ, his earthly guardian Joseph, and his Blessed Mother. This is the Holy Family which was so much at the centre of Bishop David’s thinking and pilgrimage of faith.
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And it’s from the Icon that I take a message this day. Now an Icon is not a picture. Well, in a way it might seem to be, but in truth, an Icon is actually a window through which we are privileged to get just a glimpse of the world of eternity. An Icon indeed has a strange and wonderful quality, for as the “window” through which we look from the one world into the next, an Icon has always had an objective significance of its own. In ancient tradition, Icons are not only blessed, but they are chrismated, and they have a holiness which throughout history has been the focal point of a devotion, and of a search for the Divine.
But there are a couple of things to note here. Firstly an Icon is never the object of worship … rather is it the means of worship …if you like, the “AGENT” (forgive the word!) through which, and in which our adoration of God is enabled.
At this point please forgive a bit of boring history, for the bitter Iconoclastic Controversy of the 8th and 9th centuries actually sorted out an awful lot of messy thinking. For around 200 years, hundreds, if not thousands, of ancient and priceless Icons were destroyed by the Iconoclasts. This was not only tragic but it was criminal, for some of the earliest wax-encaustic Icons from the 6th century and before were wantonly burned or broken up by religious fanatics who felt that these great works were the objects of worship – and were therefore idolatrous.
The tragedy is that the earliest Icons have only survived in the most remote locations – such as St Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai … way too far off the track for the reforming Iconoclasts to get to. But precious few have survived!
And as you know, it was only the (so-termed) “Triumph of Orthodoxy” which ended the years of destruction in 843 AD, and which restored Icons to worship. It’s a desperate and a complex story. But in short, when the Emperor Theophilus died in 842, his widow Theodora appealed to the teachings of the great 8th century giant of the Faith, St John of Damascus. Using the ideas of Plato, he had suggested the Icon to be but a symbol … indeed, he put it that the creation of an Icon was justified, since by virtue of the Incarnation, God himself had become human. Thus Christ was the Icon of God … and so in our own earthly Icons we look through the picture at the true reality of the Divine which is in the heavenly realm. This was of course politically adroit, for it helped the bitterly opposed factions to move forward together. But then, dare I say that the Church has always been rather good at “political” solutions. Enough already!
But then a third point, the genius of the Icon – and of this Icon of the Holy Family – is that we see … a symbol? … indeed, but more than a symbol. For all Icons take their design from their historical origins of the ages. Here, the writer of this superb Icon, through constant prayer, has given us a profound meditation on the Son, the earthly guardian Joseph, and the Blessed Virgin. More again, it is a powerful evocation of the Holy Family – perhaps you might even say that it’s an “anamnesis” of the Holy Family … a “re-envisioning”, a “re-calling”.
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For me, most powerful is the traditional use of “reverse” or “inverted” perspective. Look for a focal point within, or beyond the Icon, and it’s not there! The Icon writers of the ages “reverse” their lines of perspective, so that the perspective lines come out towards us, and they come to a focal point in front of the work .
In fact it is the one who prays in front of the Icon who is at the focal point, and who, as Dr Eva Haustein-Bartsch says, becomes one with, and part of the scene portrayed – in this case , one with the Holy Family itself. Haustein-Bartsch is the Director of the world-famous ICON MUSEUM at Recklinghausen in the Ruhr area of Germany. She refers to this space between the focal point and the Icon as “the Holy Space” – and she tells us that it is partly this strange feature of the traditional Icons which give them a real, tangible, and even an objective power!
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So to the question: why is this Icon so important and so eloquent as a memorial to a dear friend and colleague … a very distinguished Welsh Bishop?
Just think: any Deacon, any Priest, any Bishop is an Icon. It is they who have the “awful” responsibility to represent the reality of the Gospel story to a sad, very needy, and sometimes very evil world.
But note, through its lines of perspective an Icon does not point IN, it actually points OUT, and within its purview is the Holy Space where people may look in and there see the reality of God and his love. And so should we in the ministry point OUT, and by our prayers, our thoughts and our behaviour, allow others to see God’s love within us – and through us. Well, for most of us, “fat hopes” as you might say!! But we try … and we go on trying.
Bishop David had the remarkable ability to point OUTWARDS – and to allow people to see IN. And there are so many of us – whether clergy or laity, women or men – of all colours, types and persuasions – who have been able to be part of that inner stillness which was his – and which enabled those around him, perhaps even if momentarily, to glimpse the Divine – as he so clearly saw it, and taught it.
There are so many of us, Lay-women and Lay-men, female clergy, male clergy … whose hearts and whose faith have been touched by his. This was his calling, it was his “raison d’etre”, and somehow he was able to stand apart from the hard feelings and corrosive politics of these last years in the Western Church. As a Bishop of the Church of God he knew his calling to be a focus of unity – as did his late and honoured father, the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon , as again did his maternal grandfather, the greatly respected Dean of Bangor. And so should each of us be too – a focus of unity, that is – in a very disparate world indeed!
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To Rosemary and all the family go our love and best wishes. It seems impossible that it’s now almost 18 months since David was taken away, so much before his time. As a former lecturer and Vice-Principal of St Michael’s College, and as a Principal of St Stephen’s House, generations of students owe him their insights into theology. Never was his own Oxford “First” more generously used and shared.
As a Parish Priest, particularly in Chepstow and Newton, so many thousands have been cared-for by his devoted ministry – together with that of Rosemary, who shared that ministry, and who was ever at his side.
As a central figure on the Liturgical Commission of the Church in Wales over many years, so much of our Liturgy has been guided and nourished by his thinking – and his deep specialist knowledge of History and Liturgy. For those of us privileged to serve alongside David on the Commission those meetings were unforgettable. For together we pondered, studied, slogged, had enormous fun … and produced Liturgy to match that of ANY other Anglican Province.
The Late Bishop David with Pope Francis
Dear David, be in peace on “that other shore, and in that greater light”. Your fight to be a focus of unity between “High and Low”, Old Integrity and New, Women and Men … ever remains an honourable one. It is a fight to keep the “one-ness” of the Body of Christ. And now you are privileged to be part of that eternity which is at the heart of every Icon. May the love and the devotion of the Holy Family support you, and guide you – always ….. AMEN.
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St Mary's Priory Church, Abergavenny 