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Letters from 13 to 19 December 2010

Like all letters to the editor everywhere, these letters express the opinions of the writers and not Anglicans Online. We publish letters that we think will be of interest to our readers, whether we agree with them or not. If you'd like to write a letter of your own, click here.

O dear

I was curious about your decision to begin your devotion with the Great O Antiphons with O Virgo Virginum, rather than O Sapientia. I've gone back and forth (it is a tradition with our Compline choir to chant the appropriate "Great O" at the Nunc Dimittis on Advent IV) between the Sarum order, beginning on the 16th, and the Roman, beginning on the 17th. You may have happened upon an elegant solution by moving O Virgo to the beginning rather than the end. What is your authority, or did you just do it on your own?

Howard Burkett
St David's
Austin, Texas, USA
hpb@hotmail.com
13 December 2010

(Editor: We're working on tracking down the author of that page so we can ask. It's final exam week in theological colleges worldwide.)

O Snowstorm, O Tuition fees

I thorougly enjoy AO! Have been a fan for some time and look forward to it every week. Time is limited - I'm going on sabbatical (again) next month for 6 months - and will then have quality time to browse and have some fun. The purpose of said "leave" is to "retire again," this time from ecclesiolatry.

But the current opening essay caught my eye and I want to reply. I, too, love the Great O's and gave a mini-retreat - we call them "Quiet Days" here in the U.S. - on Dec. 4, using the Great O's. I'd found the poetry of Malcolm Guite, who is Chaplain at Girton College, Cambridge. I fell in love with his sonnets on the Great O's. I think he'd be worth a mention in your columns. Check out his website.

I'm going to check out the other things you cite. Somehow we can't get enough of the Great O's -- or of Advent, for that matter!

Thanks, again, and Blessings for Advent . . . and Beyond,

Phillip Ayers
Ss. Peter & Paul
Portland, Oregon, USA
14 December 2010

(Editor: Thank you.)

Earlier letters

We launched our 'Letters to AO' section on 11 May 2003. All published letters are in our archives.