Ship of Fools: Spy Wednesday in New York City

Thread: Spy Wednesday in New York City Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

To visit this thread, use this URL:
http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=030349

Posted by Miquelot (# 10140) on :

For Holy Week in New York City, what are some Spy Wednesday observances? I know that St. Agnes in midtown and Holy Innocents in the garment district offer Tenebrae. Other suggestions?

[ 26. March 2015, 11:36: Message edited by: Miquelot ]

Posted by Spike (# 36) on :

Spy Wednesday?

Posted by Adam. (# 4991) on :

=Wed of Holy Week, due to the Gospel assigned to the day: Matt 26:14-25 in the modern Roman Lectionary. I'm not sure if it's always been Matthew, but it's long been about Judas.

Posted by Spike (# 36) on :

Interesting. I've never heard it called that before.

Posted by Ceremoniar (# 13596) on :

Very common term in church circles in English-speaking countries, for reasons already explained.

Posted by Oscar the Grouch (# 1916) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ceremoniar:
Very common term in church circles in English-speaking countries, for reasons already explained.

Really?

I come from the country that invented speaking English and I've never heard of it before.

Posted by The Silent Acolyte (# 1158) on :

Coming from the country that has very nearly perfected the language, I can't say I've ever heard of it either.

Posted by Wm Dewy (# 16712) on :

I grew up in an English speaking country. As a birthright Quaker, I don't remember ever hearing Spy Wednesday, but I've heard and used the expression often since I've been an Anglican.

Anyone want to take on Fig Monday?

Posted by Barefoot Friar (# 13100) on :

Never heard of it either. Given the denizens of Ecclesiantics and their collective love of the obscure, the pedantic, and the arcane, I find it surprising at best that the term is as "common" as Ceremoniar postulates.

[ 26. March 2015, 18:04: Message edited by: Barefoot Friar ]

Posted by scribbler (# 12268) on :

I learned the name "Spy Wednesday" from the priest of the Anglican Catholic Church parish I attended once upon a time. I think it still has some currency in old high-church/Anglo-Catholic circles.

Posted by Rosa Winkel (# 11424) on :

I also hadn't heard of it.

When I saw the title, I presumed it was a MW.

Posted by Ceremoniar (# 13596) on :

Even the mighty Fortescue used it! Here are others:

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/spy-wednesday

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-04-16

http://www.lentmadness.org/2014/04/what-is-spy-wednesday-2/

https://www.fisheaters.com/customslent12.html

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Spy+Wednesday

Posted by The Silent Acolyte (# 1158) on :

Who? Whozat?

This comes from one who has two different editions Ceremonies and all the other archeo-liturgical impedimentiary tomes conveniently located on his groaning shelves.

To cite Fortescue and these other sites (the third of which calls Spy Wednesday "this unusual name for the Wednesday in Holy Week") doesn't make for evidence of its very common use.

Church signboards, church newsletters, church website, and the like would be more to the point.

Posted by Spike (# 36) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ceremoniar:
Even the mighty Fortescue used it! Here are others:

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/spy-wednesday

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-04-16

http://www.lentmadness.org/2014/04/what-is-spy-wednesday-2/

https://www.fisheaters.com/customslent12.html

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Spy+Wednesday

Those sites appear to be from the USA as do the posters familiar with the term. It must be a pond thing.

Posted by Knopwood (# 11596) on :

I am fairly certain I learned the term via Wikipedia, when I was a young Ship apprentice. I would not have said it was "common" in the general sense (as opposed to within the sorts of circles Ecclesianticians are likely to move in), though I'm equally certain it isn't an Americanism: the OED calls it an "Irish use."

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Spike:
Those sites appear to be from the USA as do the posters familiar with the term. It must be a pond thing.

I'm on the west side of the Pond, and this is the first I've ever heard it. And I used to hang out in more nosebleed-type Episcopal churches, especially in New York.

Posted by RuthW (# 13) on :

I have only seen the term used here on the Ship. Next Wednesday evening I will be at Tenebrae.

"Spy" is an odd choice. Judah was certainly a traitor, but was he a spy?

The Silent Acolyte: [Big Grin]

Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :

Well, the thread title certainly got my attention. As in "what's 'Spy Wednesday'?"

Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :

quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
"Spy" is an odd choice. Judah was certainly a traitor, but was he a spy?

Yes, definitely betrayed his brother Joseph, joining the rest of his brothers throwing him down an well and then selling him to slavers. And, betrayed his father by lying about the fate of his beloved son.

Posted by The Silent Acolyte (# 1158) on :

I'm certainly not carrying water for anyone here, but I suspect the usage has more to do with the word to spy as to look or to search out, to espy carrying this connotation more nearly.

So the Lawless Judges send the temple police to search out Jesus to arrest him. Espying the impious traitor's kiss on Jesus' cheek in gloom of the garden, they swoop in for the Lawless Arrest.

Posted by Jante (# 9163) on :

Never heard it called Spy Wednesday in my many years in the Church of England including a stint at theological college where allsorts of strange terms were used [Killing me]

Posted by american piskie (# 593) on :

I don't think it's US thing, I have heard it here in England off and on since the mid-sixties of the last century --- usually rather self-consciously I have to admit.

But Fig Monday: never.

[Smile]

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Alan Cresswell:

quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
"Spy" is an odd choice. Judah was certainly a traitor, but was he a spy?
Yes, definitely betrayed his brother Joseph, joining the rest of his brothers throwing him down an well and then selling him to slavers. And, betrayed his father by lying about the fate of his beloved son.

Posted by BroJames (# 9636) on :

Joseph Wright's The English dialect dictionary, being the complete vocabulary of all dialect words still in use, or known to have been in use during the last two hundred years published in 1904 identifies the term as being of Irish origin which seems to cohere with information elsewhere via Google.

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

This year we can just call it April Fools' Day.
[Biased]

Posted by sonata3 (# 13653) on :

And...speaking of April Fool's...

http://www.praytellblog.com/index.php/2015/04/01/spy-wednesday-to-receive-official-status/

Posted by Cantiones Sacrae (# 12774) on :

James Joyce mentions Spy Wednesday in Ulysses. This would concur with the earlier comment that the expression has Irish origins.

UBB.classic^TM 6.5.0