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SUMMARY:Agape meal and vigil
DTSTART:20250417T180000Z
DTEND:20250417T210000Z
DTSTAMP:20260419T055229Z
UID:9332612025-04-17 18:00:00+00:00achurchnearyou
CATEGORIES:
DESCRIPTION:The Agape meal is a celebration of Holy Communion (celebrant T
 ola Badejo) in the context of a simple communal meal. After the Agape\, th
 e church is prepared for Good Friday by the 'stripping of the sanctuary'\,
  in which all decoration is removed from the sanctuary\;  in churches wher
 e the Holy Sacrament is reserved\, that too is taken away\, leaving only a
  simple wooden cross\;. We then keep silent vigil in semi-darkness for as 
 long as people individually wish\, up to about 10 p.m.\n\nThe Agape is our
  most literal commemoration of the Last Supper\, the subject of Leonardo d
 a Vinci's famous painting. This painting is not an attempt to illustrate w
 hat might actually have happened at a Passover meal in Jerusalem in Biblic
 al times\, but a reimagination set in the social and cultural context of R
 enaissance Italy\, with an Italian landscape visible in the background: we
  can't tell what was in Leonardo's mind\, but such 'unhistorical' religiou
 s paintings remind us that the Eucharist reflects each successive generati
 on's living relationship with Christ. He is present\, not past\; wherever 
 we are\, and not just in Jerusalem\, and criticism that the painting is 'h
 istorically wrong' misses the point completely.   \n\nLeonardo's material 
 technique\, however\, was very much open to criticism: his masterpiece was
  painted directly onto dry plaster\, and deteriorated rapidly. Fortunately
 \, his assistant Giampietrino made a full-size copy in oil on canvas\, whi
 ch we can see (without charge!) in the permanent collection at the Royal A
 cademy in London\; this copy (in the image above) was used as the basis fo
 r recent restoration of the original\, but still gives a better impression
  of Leonardo's intention.
GEO:0.037423;51.469833
LOCATION:Kidbrooke\, St Nicholas
URL:https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/671/service-and-events/events/93
 3261/
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