From Morals to Mystery

by Patrick Henry Reardon

I have long esteemed the ancient and traditional lectionaries of the Church, in which the biblical readings chosen for special days and seasons are sometimes juxtaposed by reason of some perceived affinity between them. Because of the readings prescribed for the Holy Saturday vigil, for instance, my deepest memory of the parting of the Red Sea associates that event with the Creator's dividing the water above the firmament from the waters below the firmament.

Such juxtapositions, a feature of the old Christian lectionaries, are apparently rooted in the earlier lectionaries of the synagogue. Indeed, the most primitive Christian assemblies surely followed the scheduled sequences in those Jewish lectionaries to which they were accustomed; there are notable traces of this in the apostolic corpus. Many decades ago, Philip Carrington, relying especially on the format of the Codex Vaticanus, argued that the Gospel of Mark was structured to correspond to the seasonal synagogue readings.

THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:

Patrick Henry Reardon is pastor emeritus of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, and the author of numerous books, including, most recently, Out of Step with God: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Numbers (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2019).

• Not a subscriber or wish to renew your subscription? Subscribe to Touchstone today for full online access. Over 30 years of publishing!

personal subscriptions

Purchase Print &
Online Subscription

Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!

RENEW your print/online
subscription

Purchase
Online Subscription

Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives including pdf downloads for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!

RENEW your online subscription

gift subscriptions

GIVE Print &
Online Subscription

Give six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for the reduced rate of $29.95. That's only $2.50 per month!

RENEW your gift subscription

Transactions will be processed on a secure server.

bulk subscriptions

Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.

kindle subscription

OR get a subscription to Touchstone to read on your Kindle for only $1.99 per month! (This option is KINDLE ONLY and does not include either print or online.)

Your subscription goes a long way to ensure that Touchstone is able to continue its mission of publishing quality Christian articles and commentary.