Your answers
This year the Feast
of the Annunciation is transferred from 25 March to 8 April; should
we therefore transfer Christmas Day to 8 January?
It is true that there is
some calendrical logic behind the feasts from the conception of the
Baptist to the Presentation, based on a gestation period of nine
Gregorian months, Luke 1.36 (Elizabeth's progress), and the Old
Testament prescriptions for circumcision and presentation. But
these revolve around an artificial date for Christmas which simply
replaced a Roman festival. And the scheme falls apart for Epiphany
and the Holy Innocents. We should not be too concerned to preserve
a gestation period in such circumstances.
The "Rules to Order the
Christian Year" are given in Common Worship (pages 526-7),
based on the Book of Common Prayer and its predecessors. It is
evident that the proper observance of Holy Week and Easter is not
to be interrupted by a major festival, even one as important as the
Annunciation. In any case, the transfer does not alter the date of
the annunciation, merely the date at which it is to be
celebrated.
Christopher Haffner
(Reader)
East Molesey
Your questions
Most parishes are
more time- and talents-poor than in the past. Yet rules on
elections and finance are more complex than 20 years ago. Is
pruning possible, or does charity law prevent it? G.
M.
Address: Out of the
Question,Church Times, 3rd floor, Invicta House, 108-114 Golden
Lane, London EC1Y 0TG.questions@churchtimes.co.uk