The English masterpiece

On Yorkshire Day, the story of an English masterpiece in the city of York:

For two summers in the late 1970s I was a guide in York Minister as part of an outreach to tourists run jointly by the University Christian Union and nearby St Michael-le-Belfrey, the York church that many of us attended.

Our task was to bring out the spiritual meaning of the building. 'Whatever you do, talk about the faith' one of the Minister canons instructed us at our briefing.

Ever since I have loved that building and so when I received for my birthday this year a new book about the Great East Window of York I was in my element even if my daughter considered that (even by my standards) it looked like a really boring book.
 

Fourth Day of Creation

The Great East Window is the largest expanse of Medieval stained glass in England. It was constructed between 1406 and 1408 by the Coventry glazier, John Thornton, who was instructed 'according to his best skill and Cunning' to complete the work within a period of three years. He did.

The theme of the window is the story of the Bible.

It begins with the story of the Old Testament, from creation, through Noah, Abraham, and Moses to David, and then fast forwards to the book of Revelation which is the subject of the bottom two thirds of the window.

Presiding over it all, at the apex of the window, is the Lord God and the words 'I am the alpha and the omega' from Revelation 1.8 (pictured above).

The Sixth Day of Creation

For six hundred years Thornton's great window has proclaimed the unchanging message of God's word, thrilling successive generations with its grace, its beauty, and, yes, its 'skill and Cunning.'

Pictures from The Great East Window of York Minister: an English Masterpiece