Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2003, Page 173

Liturgy of St Knud Lavard
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Eleventh lesson ofthe Translation (§ 10c:2:3:l). “Are two sparrows not sold for
a halfpenny? Yet one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.”
The two sparrows represented the two peoples, namely the Jews and the Gen-
tiles, who have been bought for a halfpenny, that is to say with the body of
Christ. The two sparrows are also our soul and our body, which after the resur-
rection will fly to heaven on the wings of double charity. They are bought for a
given value when redeemed from death by the flesh of Christ. Verily, a halfpen-
ny is half the value of a penny, but Christ is the penny that shall be given in
wages to the labourers in the vineyard. So a halfpenny is given for the two spar-
rows inasmuch as the humanity of Christ was sacrificed for the two peoples,
while His divinity is adored by the angels in heaven. Thus the flesh of Knud is
paid as a price like a halfpenny, and the twin sparrow of our soul and body is
saved from eternal death.
Twelfth lesson ofthe Translation (§ 10c:2:4:l). "But the very hairs of your head
are all numbered. Therefore fear not; you are of more value than many spar-
rows.” On many of the saints their persecutors visited various forms of death.
Very many they tore limb from limb; some were thrown into the fire and con-
sumed by flames; others again wild beasts devoured. All of them, however, will
be so restored at the last day that not even their falling hairs can be seen to be
lacking. We are also taught that the scars of their wounds will then appear on the
bodies of the martyrs, in witness of their suffering and the savagery of their tor-
mentors. “Whosoever shall confess me before men, I will also confess him be-
fore my Father who is in the heavens.” Christ is truth and justice. Those who
speak truth before men and strive to do justice will be confessed by Christ before
His Father at the time when He shall not fear to call them into His Father’s king-
dom, setting them on His right hånd at the day of judgment. Thus St Knud, who
made known the truth before his people and practised justice as a judge, will be
confessed by Christ in the heavens when he, as a faithful witness, is brought by
Christ into the company of the martyrs in heaven, where there is splendour, and
perpetual light, and endless joy which the eye has not seen, and the ear has not
heard, nor has that gone up into the heart of man which God has prepared for
those who love Him. To which may He vouchsafe to bring us, who lives and
reigns, God throughout all ages! Amen.