King Charles's father, Prince Philip, was raised in the Greek Orthodox church. He was received into the Church of England in 1947, the month before he wed Princess Elizabeth, according to Wikipedia.
My guess is that that family background was behind the Byzantine chant at the coronation today, but maybe it was just an ecumenical gesture.
Psalm 71 in the Orthodox reckoning is 72 for everyone else, I believe. The Orthodox join what everyone else has as Psalm 9 and 10 together into Psalm 9, so the count gets off by one after that.
This Psalm is fitting for a coronation:
A Psalm of Solomon.
Give the king thy justice, O God, and thy righteousness to the royal son!
May he judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with justice!
Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness!
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor!
May he live while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations!
May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth!
In his days may righteousness flourish, and peace abound, till the moon be no more!
May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth!
May his foes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust!
May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute,
may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!
May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!
For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper.
He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight.
Long may he live, may gold of Sheba be given to him!
May prayer be made for him continually,
and blessings invoked for him all the day!
May there be abundance of grain in the land; on the tops of the mountains may it wave;
may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may men blossom forth from the cities like the grass of the field!
May his name endure for ever, his fame continue as long as the sun!
May men bless themselves by him, all nations call him blessed!
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.
Blessed be his glorious name for ever; may his glory fill the whole earth!
Amen and Amen!
The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.
7 comments:
I refuse to recognize any succession except the Jacobite.
Which, by the way, would have a Knight Grand Cross of the Holy Sepulcher’s Equestrian Order of Jerusalem on the throne.
So that would be ... Franz, Duke of Bavaria, who is pretender both to the throne of the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Stuart throne, if Wikipedia is to be believed.
What does a Knight Grand Cross look like? Is it different from the Jerusalem Cross?
As far as I know he doesn’t pretend to anything; he has never claimed the throne or asserted the Stuart claim.
The Holy Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher uses a Jerusalem cross blazoned gules on argent, or red on white. This is different from the otherwise similar cross used by the kingdom of Jerusalem, which was gold (and therefore an exception to the laws of the science of heraldry, which normally forbid metal on metal; it was sacred enough to merit the exception).
I imagine a lot of world history would be different if Harold had won at Hastings or, well... Mom thinks Edward the Confessor would have been far happier as a monk.
Oh, no, Grim. You're right. I just got sloppy calling him 'pretender.' It was late.
That's how I typically see the Jerusalem cross, red on white, but I was unaware of the Order before you brought it up.
Interestingly (to me - you may already know), here is a photo of Franz in a white cloak w/ a Jerusalem cross on its left. It was apparently taken at an investiture of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in Munich.
Anyway, I just posted this because of the Byzantine chant in the ceremony. I saw it in the comments over at Insty. I didn't watch any of the rest of the coronation, although I have to admit that, having seen that little bit, I've become interested in the history and symbolism of it all and may watch it all this summer when I have more time.
Korora, Yes, I suspect so on both accounts.
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