Anita Mathias | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

“Prophetic Decrees”

I went to a conference in Oxford today taught by Patricia Bootsma and encountered the idea of Prophetic Decrees.

She writes about this in her book, Convergence: Heaven’s Destiny Becoming Your Reality.

She and her husband had received many prophecies about speaking, prophesying, pastoring, going to the nations, but he remained a bank manager in a tiny Canadian town, and she a home-maker. She was dissatisfied.

One day, she felt God say, “What are you doing about the prophecies?”

“Complaining that they aren’t fulfilled,” she said honestly.

“Start calling forth and proclaiming your prophecies,” God said. “Believe them, decree them.”

Revelation poured into her spirit. The prophecies over her life were conditional upon her response.

It was not right for her to sit idly by, merely hoping and waiting for them to happen. She had a role to play in the fulfilment of God’s words over her life.

· * *

Two Essential Steps Towards Prophetic Fulfillment

1 Faith—Blessed is she who believed that there will be a fulfilment of the things which were told her from the Lord

We enter the door of fulfilled prophecy initially by believing what the Lord says is true, even when circumstances argue the opposite. Agreement of our mind, heart and beliefs with the words from the Lord creates a womb in which those dreams are nurtured until their birthing.

2 Additionally, our words are powerful catalysts or deterrent to prophecies being fulfilled.

Patricia writes “When the Lord spoke to my spirit to decree my prophecies, I did not realise the power of declaration until I witnessed its results.”

She began marching around her home, speaking forth those prophecies.

Within six months, they had entered full-time ministry at the Toronto Airport Fellowship. “I saw first-hand how to get prophetic words off the shelf, and into reality by partnering with the Lord through declarations.”

“Prophecy is intended to encourage you to build a life pleasing to the Lord, to prosper, and to fulfil your destiny.”

The Weight of Words

Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21).

Our words can determine the course of our lives.

We have the power to build up or tear down our spouses by the words we say about them.

How do we overcome evil? “By the blood of the lamb, and the word of their testimony!” Rev 12:11.

Our words influence those around us to walk in greater victory or defeat. Constant belittling or pointing out faults causes discouragement, which weakens the spirit and only makes matters worse.

Our negative words not only affect the listener, but the one who speaks them. Jesus says, “It’s not what goes into the mouth which defiles but what comes out” (Matt. 15:11). James speaks of the ability of the tongue to defile and corrupt our whole being (James 3:6). We actually discourage ourselves when we speak negatively.

Prophetic decrees: Speaking in agreement with God. We do this by filling our minds with the truth of God’s word, both Scripture (logos) and the rhema words spoken to us prophetically.

^“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Joshua 1:8

The Hebrew word translated “meditate” is hagah, “to reflect, to ponder aloud to oneself.” Regular repetition of key Scriptures and prophetic words creates a womb for birthing those words in our lives and ministries.

How did God create the world? He spoke and the emptiness shone with light.

Similarly, when we begin to declare with faith the words of God, things shift, circumstances change, and obstacles come into alignment with his will. We are “to call those things which do not exist as though they did,” and to speak to the mountain (any obstacle) to be removed (Matt. 17:20).

Bill Johnson, “Nothing happens in the Kingdom unless there is first a declaration.”

Our Children and Prophetic Decrees

She prays the Prayer of Jabez over her children, “Oh that you would bless Zoe and Irene indeed and enlarge their territories, that you hand may be upon them, that they may be free from pain.”

She speaks words like “May you be the head and not the tail. May you grow in wisdom and stature, and in favour with man and God.”

She says her children have lived up to the life-giving proclamations.

Patricia’s directions for designing decrees

1 Regularly (preferably daily) declare words of life over yourself, your family members and loved ones.

2 Be consistent

3 Be brief—summarize it in a sentence or two.

4 Ensure the decrees are consistent with Scripture and according to the nature of God.

She prays, “I live in perpetual, intimate communion with the Lord, and have peace. His presence is always with me.” (Matt. 28:20 and Phil 4:7).

Augustine of Hippo: He being dead, yet speaketh. A Guest Post by Joshua Lake

By Anita Mathias

Why should you care about St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, born in the 4th century and dead in the 5th? What can a dead white guy from ancient Africa have to teach you today?

After all, you and I live in the age of the Internet. The age of YouTube and The Office. You can Google John 3:16 in approximately 4.2 seconds, so why do you need to read Augustine’s reflections on that verse?

I’ll reveal my hand right here at the beginning: I treasure Augustine’s writings. I first picked them up when I was eighteen, and I later studied them in college. Last month I reread his famous Confessions, and I benefited anew from Augustine’s wisdom.

With that personal confession, I’ll give you at least two reasons I think you should know about Augustine.

Why Should You Care About Augustine?

First, it is wise to acquaint yourself with Christian writers from previous generations. Explaining the importance of knowing historic figures, G. K. Chesterton famously referred to tradition as the democracy of the dead. In Orthodoxy, Chesterton explained, “Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death.”

For that reason, I highly recommend that you read books written before your time. Recommend that you read old books. Books by dead authors. Reading old books, particularly books on Christianity, will safeguard you against falling into error. It will ground you in historic Christianity, and it will remind you of what the Church has always held to be true.

Second, I recommend Augustine in particular, because of how beautifully he combines brilliant, intellectual theology with deeply heartfelt, emotional love for Christ. Modern Christianity tends to slide off into one of those two extremes: seeking ever-fresh outpourings of the Holy Spirit, manifested in exuberant emotion, or pursuing pure, undefiled, brainy systematic theologies with no connection to life. Augustine stands as our proof that Christians can have both: they can love Christ passionately while knowing him rightly.

Augustine’s Background

You probably know Augustine’s name, but here’s what you may not know about him. Augustine was born to a believing mother and a pagan father. In Confessions, Augustine recalls that his mother spent every day in tearful prayer, begging that God would save her husband and her son.

Augustine deeply adored his mother, and he praises her for her faith and love. He writes that she endured abuse, drunkenness, and infidelity from her husband, all the while respectfully submitting to him and praying for his salvation. In the end, God did save her husband, and their marriage was redeemed.

For more than thirty years, Augustine lived as an unbeliever, scorning his mother’s faith. He lived life to the hilt, tasting pleasure and seeking wisdom. Augustine excelled at rhetoric and grammar, because he loved the attention he received from public speaking. In short, Augustine was a man of the world–he pursued pleasure wherever it could be found.

But God was not content to let him go. God heard the prayers of Augustine’s mother, and He would not let Augustine go. At some point, the world lost its luster, and he saw it for what it was. “I could not find relief,” he confessed, “in quiet forests, nor in loud games and music, nor in fragrant spots, nor in parties, nor in sexual pleasures, nor even in books and poetry.” As he put it later, “You [God] melt the defenses erected aginst You by a glance from Your will. … Nothing can escape Your heat.” God broke down Augustine’s defenses and swept in with new life.

Immediately, without looking back, Augustine gave up his sensuous pursuit of pleasure and turned to God. He sold everything he owned, gave the money to the poor, and opened a monastic community in northern Africa. Within four years of conversion, Augustine became a priest, and within four more years he was named bishop of Hippo, in what is today called Algeria. He held that position for more than thirty years, until his death.

Important Parts of Augustine’s Work

I’ve already mentioned Confessions, a memoir written as a series of prayers to God. In it, Augustine details the ways in which God moved in his life, both before and after salvation. Augustine’s language is stirring, and emotion drips off the pages in many passages like this one:

Happy is the one who loves You.
He looks to You for friendship.
He makes enemies only to protect Your honor.
The one fixed in You sees his earthly loves as beloved in You.
You alone cannot be lost; You only are certain.
Our God are You who made heaven and earth.
You fill them with works of Your creation.
– Confessions, page 59 (Modern English Version, Baker Book House: 2005).

In Confessions Augustine writes about his mother and his wild early years, and it is the most deeply personal of all his writings. There, he also presages C. S. Lewis’s idea that our desires are not too strong but too weak, saying, “Their human will does not have a strong enough desire to make them able to want real happiness.”

Augustine spent thirteen years writing City of God, where he creates the idea now known as “Two Kingdoms” theology. Augustine explains that Christ’s kingly rule places Him over all creation, but it is not fully manifest yet. While on this earth, we are all citizens of two kingdoms: one heavenly and the other earthly. So our attitude toward life should not be an anxious grasping, in the words of one historian. Instead, it should be an attitude of relaxed playfulness, knowing that our eternal fate is secure in Christ.

Our politics on earth should, as Christians, be free of messianic pretensions but also void of all hopelessness and despair. “If Augustine is a thorn in the side of those who would cure the universe once and for all,” Philosopher Jean Bethke Elshtain wrote, “he similarly torments critics who disdain any project of human community, or justice, or possibility.”

In lesser known works, Augustine covers a wide range of topics. On the Trinity is arguably his deepest book, in which Augustine became the first theologian to attempt a comprehensive explanation of the Trinity. Many sermons have also survived, where we can read Augustine’s words as a preacher. Finally, Augustine wrote a number of apologetic works, in which he dismantles a variety of heretical views threatening the Church.

Where Should You Start?

I started by highly praising Augustine’s writing, and I want to echo that sentiment here. I encourage you to make a point of reading at least one of his books before this year ends. With that said, I will issue a word of caution: Augustine wrote in an age far different from ours, and his words can be difficult to understand. If you have experience reading philosophy or ancient texts, fear not; but for the rest of us, Augustine–even translated into modern English–can be a difficult author to understand.

For that reason, I recommend picking up a modern English version of Augustine’s Confessions. This particular translation makes Augustine much easier to understand while retaining his beautiful style. American readers can pick up a copy of Augustine’s Confessions at Amazon (as I’m writing this it’s selling for only $5.99). British readers can get it for Kindle or in paperback at Amazon (currently £3.11 for Kindle, and £9.99 for paperback).

With that final recommendation, I’ll leave you with the words of Augustine:

You awake in us a delight at praising You. You made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it finds its place of rest in You.

Josh, your guest writer

Josh is a twenty-something American, married to a wonderful wife and just finished with law school. This fall, Lord willing, he will begin work as an attorney.

When not working or studying, Josh enjoys spending time with his wife, reading, and writing. At his blog, Quieted Waters, Josh writes to help young Christians meditate on how to honor God in their faith, their jobs, and their marriages.

Tired of writing in third person, let me just say that I would love to hear from you! You can stop by Quieted Waters and say hello or find me on Twitter at @QuietedWaters or on Facebook.

Finally, thank you Anita for the privilege of writing this guest post. Best wishes!

A Dream-Crusher or Dream-Nurturer?

By Anita Mathias

Image Credit

I used to write letters home in rhyming verse when I was 9. My teacher was so charmed with one of them that she submitted it to the school magazine.

I told my father this, delighted. “Oh, it won’t get in.” He said.

I looked at the magazine with trembling fingers when it came out.

And here it was.

He’d look at magazines, and say doubtfully, “I think this writing is better than yours.” But I later got into the same magazines, and my writing was comparable–or better.

Each time I won something, he suggested another goal post. When The Washington Post published a little piece of mine in 1997, he suggested The New York Times. When I won the National Endowment for the Arts award of $20,000, he asked when I’d win a Pulitzer, or was it the Nobel Prize? He meant to encourage, but it caused stress in a time of rejoicing!!

When he heard of a friend of mine starting her Ph.D in her thirties, he said, “She’ll never finish it. She’s too old.”

Instant negativity.

* * *

One of my daughters has inherited this trait. When a friend made a list of 50 things to do in a summer, she bet her £5 that she couldn’t do them. Admittedly, she also offered her £5 to read the Bible, so I guess the two bets cancelled out.

If she hears someone’s big dreams, she says, “Oh, you are full of yourself.”

She looks at my shelves and says, “Oh, you will never read all those books. You will never watch all those documentaries on DVD.”

* * *

Whenever I see my parents’ or Roy’s parents weaknesses in our daughters, I get alarmed. How did they get them? Did recessive genes skip a generation, and emerge in them?

Or, shoot, is it environmental? Did they pick up these traits from us?

* * *

Oh, Lord, I do not want to be negative. I want to be positive, hope-filled, grace-filled, a conduit of your word to those in my world.

Show me when I am being negative, and stop me in my tracks.

Give me glimpses of the dreams and destiny you have for others, and help me impart these hope-filled dreams to people. Help me plant seeds of hope, vision, possibility and destiny in other people.

Let me be a dream-waterer, a dream-nurturer, and never, never a dream-crusher!!

Never Believe the Pronouncements of Theologians if They Conflict with Your Intuitive Moral Sense

By Anita Mathias

Never believe pronouncements of theologians if they conflict with your own moral sense.

I am re-reading John Piper’s extraordinary, honest and remarkably self-analytical account of his racist past.

Jesse Jackson grew up 3 miles across the town from Piper, in Greenville, South Carolina.

Piper writes: Our worlds were so close and yet so far apart. His mother, Helen, loved the same Christian radio station my mother did—WMUU, the voice of Bob Jones University. But there was a big difference. The very school that broadcast all that Bible truth would not admit blacks. And the large, white Baptist church four miles from Jesse Jackson’s home wouldn’t either. Nor would mine.

This was my hometown. And there is no mystery in it as to why a young black man growing up there—or a Martin Luther King growing up in Atlanta a generation earlier—would get his theological education at a liberal institution (such as Chicago Theological Seminary or Crozer Theological Seminary). Our fundamental and evangelical schools—and almost every other institution, especially in the South—were committed to segregation.

Theologians, 50 years ago, were committed to segregation, with a pastiche of Biblical quotes as a theological underpinning!

Treat the pronouncements of theologians with a healthy scepticism.

Encounter Scripture, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit for yourself.

* * *

Piper goes on, I was, in those years, manifestly racist. At Wheaton, “I was simply disengaged from the wider social and political world. Large things were happening intellectually and spiritually, but they were happening in the furnace of my soul, not in the fires burning in urban America.

His great awakening came at the Urbana Missions Conference in December 1967.

“Warren Webster, general director of the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society and former missionary to Pakistan, answered a student’s question: What if your daughter falls in love with a Pakistani while you’re on the mission field and wants to marry him?

The question was clearly asked from a standpoint of concern that this would be a racial or ethnic dilemma for Webster. (This was four months before Martin Luther King Jr. was killed.) With great forcefulness, Webster said something like: “Better a Christian Pakistani than a godless white American!”
From that moment, I knew I had a lot of homework to do.
The perceived wrongness of interracial marriage had been for me one of the unshakeable reasons why segregation was right.

* * *

Piper goes on to Fuller Seminary where he writes a paper on inter-racial marriage which he summarises, “The Bible does not oppose or forbid interracial marriages but sees them as a positive good for the glory of Christ” for “the imposing figure of Professor Lewis Smedes.

But Smedes (whose writing on forgiveness I love) “hesitates to give a wholehearted affirmation to the goodness of interracial marriage.” “This is a tough question, I think, especially at the present [1971]. It is extremely hard to see the positive effect of specific interracial marriages” was Smedes’ comment on the young Piper’s paper.

Piper concludes sadly, “I doubt that Smedes would talk this way today (he died December 19, 2002). I don’t know.”

* * *

Theology evolves, theologians evolve. Never assent to any theological formulation which contradicts your own intuitive moral sense, and your own intuitive understanding of God or Christ, as based in Scripture.

Learned theologians assented to the crusades, the persecution of the Galileo, the Inquisition, the demonization of the Jews, the witch trials, the enslavement of Africans, the enslavement of the native people in South America, to colonialism, to Jim Crow laws, to segregation.

* * *

And these are some of the theological questions and debates of our day. When does life begin? When a sperm, invisible to the eye, fertilizes an egg, as small as a grain of pepper? Does this barely visible fertilised egg have exactly the same rights as the mother, a college student, who “stooped to folly,” but knows she cannot bring up a baby well; or a rape victim; or a mother at the end of tether with 4 children? Or not?

Or: Can one be homosexual and a Christian?
Or: Are the world’s 1.62 million Muslims, 1 billion Hindus, and 350 million Buddhists automatically going to hell, because they have never been compellingly told of Jesus Christ (or John Calvin, who believed that that was their eternal destination.)

Or: Are women complementary to men (but, essentially unequal, a second-class gender.)

* * *

If we take a historical look at the pronouncements of theologians, probably half of what they say turns out to be just plain wrong, and is overturned in a matter of decades or centuries.

As our understanding of Jesus and the Christian faith and how it plays out in our world evolves, we discount the ideas which are dated, or gained currency because of the neurotic writings of a dominant, magnetic theologian.

And so today, it’s safest, it’s best, for us to engage with Scripture ourselves, to ask Christ to guide us, and to never accept any pronouncements of the theologians of our day which conflicts with our own moral sense and our serious passionate study of Scripture!

Roy’s Favourite Spurgeon Quote

By Anita Mathias

http://www.joethorn.net/

Roy Mathias

Praise the Lord anyway, amid the Grit or Glory

By Anita Mathias

Blue Mosque interior

On a sunny day, I wrote a happy little blog called Praise the Lord, Anyway.

And the Lord read it, and smiled, and said, “Good girl, Anita! Yes, yes, you are right, of course. And so that the nice words you’ve written truly move from head to heart, I will give you opportunities to practice, so that you truly believe it.”

But I did not hear him, and so I continued being happy, without trepidation. Right through an intense holiday in the Istanbul, a loud bustling megapolis—with intense, exotic unique beauty, as well as time wasted going to museums “closed for renovation;” getting to mosques just as they close for “ritual prayers;” climbing up Istanbul’s highest hill to the Topkapi Palace, just as there was the biggest, most massive dust-storm I’ve ever been in, and then, just as we got there, it was closed because of the risk of the massive unpruned trees falling.

Unpredictability is a factor in the third and second world. And living in the midst of it, gives you good practice in being happy, whatever! Realising that we do have control over our mental states, that we can decide to be positive and happy—or not!!

And then, after a relatively uneventful holiday, over which I had had unusual fears, things went a bit pear-shaped. Our airport shuttle didn’t arrive. Many calls later, it came, drove us a bit to a main road, and then waited interminably, and finally hailed another shuttle. Scary!!

And then we found the flight had been overbooked. And so, we accepted £750 in cash compensation for the 3 of us (not bad for a flight which only cost a total of £500) and vouchers for a five star hotel and dinner and taxis. (And the delicious free restaurant dinner was, ironically, the best we had in Istanbul). But with all the faffing, we got just 3.5 hours sleep, waking up early for a shuttle, which was, again, an hour late!!

Oh well, £750 for the inconvenience and the adventure. In retrospect, it doesn’t seem too bad!!

* * *

Though we kept well within budget this holiday I felt uneasy at the money we were forking out.

I was mentored in prayer over a five year period by someone who prayed big, sweeping, quixotic, no-harm-in-asking prayers. Just because you love me prayers. Paul Miller who wrote the inspiring A Praying Life. He often quoted Jesus’ words, “Ask anything in my name, and it will be done for you.” John 14;14 “Ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you,” John 15:7.

It’s like Jesus is saying, “Come on, really. Ask me for your heart’s desire. Ask me for whimsical things. Ask me for ANY birthday present you like, ANYTHING child. I can afford it. Really. Trust your father.”

And so (I share this with you, a little shyly) whenever I thought, “Gosh, we are hemorrhaging money,” (and what else is travel but hemorrahging money?) I’d say, “Lord, let something happen because of, or as a result of, this trip that will help us recoup the money we’ve spent.”

Is a bit ignoble to involve God in the nitty-gritty of your financial affairs–to ask for a little water-into-wine, 5 into 5000, the fruitless night-turning-into-bursting-nets kind of fairy dust and magic?

Goodness, no! Who else could we involve in our affairs whose intervention would be half so intelligent and effective?

Isaac Newton wrote “I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” Even the intelligent among us are but children playing on a seashore, so limited is our intelligence. We are children, really, as God so often calls us in Scripture, and need the help of a superior intelligence to get through life intelligently!!

* * *

Let me share another trivial request he granted kindly. When our business went into profit in 2008, after 14 nail-biting months, and we had a surplus, the first thing I did was not to pay off some of my mortgage, as an intelligent woman would have done (but I have just confessed the limitations of my intelligence) but build a lovely conservatory.

I used to suffer from mild SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and found my mood, my reading speed, my creative thinking, my energy and gusto slowed down dramatically in a dark house. We have a 1711 cottage which Roy loves (but I want to punch out the walls and put in windows. Have succeeded in two rooms, but he calls the darkness “cosy.”)

So I built this conservatory, and immediately find my mood lifted, my concentration sharpened, and new energy and optimism seep into me as I enter its warm, sunny spaces.

But I felt guilty at the cost, and prayed that as a result of the work we did there, or the things that happened there, we’d recoup the cost.

And we did, sooner than I expected. Having a large, lovely, sunny space to invite people to (without having to tidy up the rest of the house!!) meant we became very hospitable, and had people over to a meal or coffee several times a month. Our business was expanding to the point so much that it left me no time to write; it was becoming overwhelming and was stressful. In conversation, we found intelligent friends we trusted who needed more income, or a job, or another job, at the same time as we were desperate for help.

So we hired 12 people, six of whom really clicked with the eccentric business and are still working with us. And, of course, the growth and expansion they brought covered the cost of the conservatory, as I had prayed something would—without any idea of what or how!!

* * *

I love travel. I love its perfect moment: meals in scenic locations, perfect gardens, perfect paintings, perfect churches, beautiful scenes, exploration, adventure, experience, relaxation. Beauty, newness, understanding history better, understanding cultures better. The sort of travel I enjoy is really an education. And it is often sheer happiness for our family.

But travel is rather expensive. There are aspects which are rough—cramped seats in planes; lines in airports; cancelled or delayed flights, “wasted” time when things don’t go according to plan, one’s body clock messed up on the days of travel. One thing I like to do on holidays is wander aimlessly down Old Cities, and cobbled streets, getting the feel of ancient cities, sampling their food, their sights and their pleasures. But this can be exhausting!!

We have been travelling a lot, since Roy transitioned from working as a math professor to being self-employed at our company. English school have 6 six week half-terms, interspersed with holidays, so we’ve travelled like addicts during most holidays—Norway, Aug 2009, New Zealand, Dec. 2009, France, Easter 2010; Ireland and Brittany, Summer 2010; Prague, Autumn 2010; Granada, Dec 2010; Rome, Feb 2011; Ravenna/Bologna, April 2011; Sweden, Aug. 2011, and Istanbul, 2012.

Which has led to unhealthy work patterns. We work intensely for six weeks after which we are often quite mentally, intellectually and creatively fatigued, then completely relax, and come back recharged, as good as new for another six intense weeks.

I read a blog post from Joe Thorn, a pastor who burned out and after that constructed a daily schedule with everything built in. Everything! Exercise, gardening, couple time, family time, rest, work etc. He says, I’m healthier, happier, and bearing more fruit as a result. I’m actually accomplishing more now than when I was trying to do more before.

So I have decided to pace myself to work less, but more sustainably (and so more in the long run.) I am slowly working on a schedule, building in gardening, exercise, housekeeping, family and couple time, prayer and scripture into my day as well as reading and writing. Building in family outings and movies and documentaries on a weekly basis. And this hopefully will keep me fresh and green for longer, so that I will not need to travel every half-term, even if we choose to.

And ah, travelling a little less—that might help me recoup the expenses of that intense, rich holiday in Istanbul, as I had prayed something would.

But, of course, since we are dealing with God here, he may choose to answer the prayer in a way I had not asked or imagined!!

Sailing Back from Byzantium

By Anita Mathias

Byzantine Art in the Church of Our Saviour at Chora

Sailing Back from Byzantium

Back home from a week in Istanbul (Byzantium/Constantinople).

The vanished Kingdom of Byzantium is best celebrated in Yeats’ beautiful poem, “Sailing to Byzantium.”

THAT is no country for old men. The young

In one another’s arms, birds in the trees

– Those dying generations – at their song,

The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,

Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long

Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.

Caught in that sensual music all neglect

Monuments of unageing intellect.

An aged man is but a paltry thing,

A tattered coat upon a stick, unless

Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing

For every tatter in its mortal dress,

Nor is there singing school but studying

Monuments of its own magnificence;

And therefore I have sailed the seas and come

To the holy city of Byzantium.

O sages standing in God’s holy fire

As in the gold mosaic of a wall,

Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,

And be the singing-masters of my soul.

Consume my heart away; sick with desire

And fastened to a dying animal

It knows not what it is; and gather me

Into the artifice of eternity.

Once out of nature I shall never take

My bodily form from any natural thing,

But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make

Of hammered gold and gold enamelling

To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;

Or set upon a golden bough to sing

To lords and ladies of Byzantium

Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

Byzantium of course no longer exists. It was destroyed by the Crusaders in 1204. One of them leaves an account of The Great Palace of the Byzantine Emperors,

“Within the Palace, there were fully 500 halls, all connected with one another, and all made with gold mosaic. And in it were fully 30 chapels, great and small, and one called the Holy Chapel, which was so rich and noble that there was not a hinge or band that was not all of silver, and there was no column that was not of jasper or porphyry or some other precious stone.”

By the time, the crusaders left the Palace it was virtually destroyed, and the old Byzantium is now best seen in Ravenna which we visited last year, the lovely mosaics constructed by craftsmen sent from Byzantium.

And now, I am so enjoying my regular life of reading and writing and reading Scripture and praying (and other things besides). It is a bit intense, and I felt the need of a break, and the best part of travel is that it makes the life you left behind seem doubly sweet on your return.

An Istanbul Must See — The Topkapi Palace, the Former Center of Ottoman of Power

By Anita Mathias

A guest post by Roy Mathas

Topkapi Palace is an highlight in Istanbul. Luckily we went off season, so it was not too crowded. The former Ottoman palace is exquisitely decorated in tiles of varying hues of blue and green. I hope this post is not TMI (too many images). Any suggestions of easy ways, using GIMP or Picassa or Photoshop, to straighten pictures without losing resolution or remove glare from the flash would be appreciated.

Irene tiptoeing to be taller than her mother.

The star attraction of Topkapi is the harem. Here is the first decorated room in the harem. Our response was “Wow, definitely worth the extra admission charge.” The self guided tour is organised so that each section is more impressive than the previous, so you are always saying “Why did we spend so log on the beginning” and never “Oh, just another room.”

An exterior passageway

The palace was destroyed by two great fires, so perhaps it is OK to spoil a photo with a fire extinguisher.

A single tile

A single tile from the wall above.

A couple of border tiles

A lovely geometric pattern on the wall

Closer sinspection reveals the details (for some reason it looks green from a ditance)

and here is a single hexagonal tile

The Queen Mother’s apartment is the grandest living area in the women’s area. The room, tiles from floor to ceiling has a fireplace, and cupboards.

Here is the ceiling of another room in her apartement

and Irene photographing it

Inlaid mother-of-pear cabinet

detail

A border

Harem comes from the Arabic (ḥaram) ‘something prohibited; sanctuary, women’. Most of the Harem is enclosed, wit few windows. We are outside again, in a courtyard.

The walls under the arches are tiled

A wall by the Sultan’s chamber

and a close up

The Sultan’s chamber. Naturally the largest and grandest room, but actually, the crown prince’s rooms, being smaller have a greater intensity of decoration.