Crumbs from the Table

In Bury (Greater Manchester), on the corner of Hornby Street and Birch Street (just off Walmersley Road), there is a set of buildings which look like a church.  This is what they look like today.  This is the former St John's schools, which appear on old maps, such as the one below dated to 1890.  Here is the school on a map of Bury dated to 1908:  I have found a reference to these schools (one for boys and one for girls) in Barrett's 1883 Directory of Bury. Based on the name, the school had links with St John's Church of England which used to be on St John's square in Bury (near where Costa is now on "The Rock"). Old St John's church dated back to 1770. From 1956, most of its services were held at Seedfield Mission Church on Parkinson Avenue, later the site of the church hall. From 1964, the congregation of St John's church permanently relocated to a new building at its present location on Sunny Avenue. Here is some information about the school/s take...

This year (2025) marks the 500 anniversary of the translation of the Bible into English by William Tyndale.  There were translations of the Bible from Hebrew/Greek into other languages from the earliest centuries of the Christian church. The first languages to "get" translations were Syriac (the area stretching eastwards from Antioch), Latin (Rome and western Europe) and Coptic (Egypt). Later, in the centuries from the 300s to 500s, translations were also made into Gothic, Armenian, Georgian and Ge'ez (Ethiopia) languages.   There had been translations of the Bible into English before Tyndale. The Venerable Bede, a leading monk living at Jarrow from the late 600s, undertook a translation of John's gospel into English. Also, King Alfred (849-899) translated the first five books of the Old Testament into English. Later, in 1384, Reformer John Wycliffe and his followers completed a translation into English from the Latin (Vulgate). However, the institutional church durin...

The First Council of Nicea in 325 affirmed the fully deity of God the Son. According to deacon and later bishop Athanasius, the Council was attended by 318 bishops. This figure may be symbolic, reflecting a Biblical reference in Genesis, but is considered to be more or less correct.  Most of the bishops who attended the Council were from the eastern half of the Empire - places such as Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt and Libya.  Meanwhile, the Latin-speaking western half of the Empire was represented by 6 or 7 bishoprics (also known as episcopal "sees").  The see of Rome, held by the elderly bishop Sylvester I of Rome, was represented by two Roman presbyters, Vitus and Vincentius.  The see of Cordoba (Hispania) was represented by Hosius, who played a leading role at the Council.  The see of Milan (Italy) was represented by Eustorgius; the see of Calabria (also Italy) was represented by Marcus.  Carthage (Africa) was represented by Caecilianus. Sirmium (Pannonia) wa...

At this time of year, we are remembering and reflecting on Christ's resurrection from the dead, and we think of the Apostles who were witnesses of that resurrection.  Not all those who saw the risen Christ were Apostles. For example, Mary Magdalene who was the first to encounter the Lord after his resurrection, or the 500 brothers mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15.  An "Apostle of Jesus Christ" was someone personally chosen by Christ to be an Apostle (Acts 1), and who had seen the risen Christ first-hand (1 Corinthians 9:1-3).  There are at least four categories of people who can be described as "Apostles of Jesus Christ".   1)  First there were Simon Peter and the rest of the Twelves minus Judas, who was replaced by Matthias  (see Acts 1) 2)  Then there were the brothers of the Lord , which definitely included James and most likely also Jude (1 Corinthians 15:7; 9:5) 3) Besides these, there were also "other Apostles" who were not one of the Twel...

The Russian language is a language in the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family.  The Proto-Slavic language was spoken by the Proto-Slavic people living in the area around the modern-day town of Pripyat (famous for its association with the Chernobyl nuclear power station) between modern-day Belarus and Ukraine. From the 500s, the Slavs spread out westwards and southwards (and some in a north-westerly direction).  From 862, missionaries from Constantinople, Cyril and Methodius, introduced an alphabet and liturgy (text of a church service) for the Slavonic-speaking people of Great Moravia (modern-day Czechia), based on the Slavonic language spoken near their native city of Thessalonica. The Slavonic liturgy, originally created by Cyril and Methodius for the people of Great Moravia, is common to all Slavic peoples who profess Eastern Orthodox Christianity, however it has increasingly differed from the everyday speech of the various Slavic peoples. Already by the time...

The homeland of the Slavic peoples was originally in the area near to the present town of Pripyat , between Belarus and Ukraine. It was from here that, from the 500s, the Slavic peoples spread westwards and southwards (and also in a north-easterly direction). For example, according to Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos of Constantinople, the ancestors of the Croats and Serbs settled in the area now known as Bavaria, later relocating to their present homeland in the Balkans. What became the Moravian people settled in what is now Czechia, and in the early 800s formed the first Slavic state (Great Moravia) with its capital in Velihrad. Other Slavic tribes migrated as far south as what is now Greece in the Empire of Constantinople.  Particularly in the early 800s (but also for some time before that), the Empire of Constantinople reclaimed territories settled by Slavs, re-establishing government control and re-introducing Greek language and the Orthodox Christian faith. This is known as t...