medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Was the order of the Great O Antiphons dictated by something in the OT, decided upon by a person, or did it come about by tradition? I don't know who devised it, but it does contain a most wonderful bit of mediaeval word play. Just think: You have a whopping big folio on your lectern and all the "O" antiphons are lined up with BIG illuminated Initials. S apientia (Wisdom) A donai (Lord) R adix Jesse (The Offspring of Jesse) C lavis David (The Key - or Sceptre ? - of King David) O riens (The Dayspring from on High) R ex gentium (King of the Gentiles / Nations ) E Emmanuel (God-with-us) You get to Christmas Eve and you LOOK BACK and read them off from RIGHT to LEFT E R O C R A S Ero cras "I will come tomorrow!" ie on Christmas Day. Was it deliberate or was it one of those seriously spooky coincidences ? When I first discovered this, it made the hair on my neck creep. It still make me twitch. I wonder how many more little things like this are lurking about unappreciated in liturgy, in scripture, in art .......? Merry Christmas everyone - May the Light shine out of the darkness for all of us. Brenda. ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html