Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

31 December. Day of Remembrance: 1662 Book of Common Prayer: Silvester of Rome; Ratifies Nicene Creed


31 December.  Day of Remembrance: 1662 Book of Common Prayer:  Silvester of Rome;  Ratifies Nicene Creed


Silvester, Bishop (of Rome), from A.D. 314-335, passing as a Priest through the Diocletian persecution, and as a Bishop through the Nicene period, although from weak health he did not attend the Nicene Council. Little is known of him historically, but in the middle ages he was celebrated as the receiver of the famous "Donation of Constantine."
      An edict of the Emperor, forged at some time between the 8th to the 10th centuries, declares that, on transferring the seat of the Empire to Constantinople, he has bestowed on the Pope and his successors the sovereignty of the West, and decrees for them all the outward insignia of Imperial rank. To this Dante refers in the celebrated lines -- "O Constantine! of how much ill was cause, / Not thy conversion, but those rich domains / Which the first wealthy Pope received from thee." --December 31st.

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