Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Ordo Virtutum


Read & Watch: Ordo Virtutum

25 comments:

  1. umm Mr. Parker I can't access the reading. I clicked on it, and I right clicked on it to open it up in a new tab neither worked. is the video the Ordo Virtutum we were supposed to read? because its just a bunch of chanting. i don't know how you expect me to write something about people chanting.

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  2. I found Ordo Vitutum interesting because of all the Biblical allusions. The virtue Humility says this: “I, Humility, queen of the Virtues, say: come to me, you Virtues, and I'll give you the skill to seek and find the drachma that is lost and to crown her who perseveres blissfully.” This section reminded me of Luke 15:8-10, when Jesus tells the Parable of the Lost Coin. The Devil speaks of giving his followers whatever they ask for, which brought to mind his temptation of Jesus in the wilderness in Matthew (4:8). I also thought it was interesting, as well as quite fitting, that humility was the queen of all the virtues. Just as pride is the root of all evil, humility is healing and can cure many ills. The story ends with the virtues admonishing the audience: “So now, all you people, bend your knees to the Father, that he may reach you his hand.” This definitely implies the importance of humility. One question I had was at the end of the story (processional), when the Champion said he was exhausted. Who was the Champion? In assuming the Champion was God, I thought it was interesting for Him to say he was exhausted, as the God we know never tires, never sleeps, and has no limitations. If anyone has thoughts on this, feel free to reply!

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    1. Hey Cassie! When I read the processional I also wondered why they would say God is exhausted, because as we all know He has no limitations, and that He knows no boundaries in His greatness. However after reading it again a few times I think that the champion isn't actually God, I think they were referring to Jesus instead. "I know it, but the golden number is not yet full. You then, behold me, mirror of your fatherhood: in my body I am suffering exhaustion, even my little ones faint. Now remember that the fullness which was made in the beginning need not have grown dry, and that then you resolved that your eye would never fall until you saw my body full of jewels. For it wearies me that all my limbs are exposed to mockery: Father, behold, I am showing you my wounds." I think the story in the end shows Jesus is the champion, because Jesus became exhausted from seeing God's creation committing such sinful acts and becoming so low. This also wounded Him. Also the champion does mention His father which I think is God. God himself does not have a father, because He is the father of all. Hope this helps Cassie!

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  3. I found Ordo Virtutum’s story interesting. It starts out with the Patriarchs and Prophets wondering exactly who the Virtues are. They answer, “O ancient holy ones, why do you marvel at us? The Word of God grows bright in the form of a man, and thus we shine with him, building the limbs of his beautiful body.” I understood that part meaning that they come along side a man when he has become a Christian and add him in shining God’s glory and helping him bear fruit. It reminds me of John 15:8, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” A joyful soul desires to be accepted into heaven and be rid of her human body. She cries out to the Virtues, but they tell her that all they can do is aid her in fighting temptations of the world that she hasn’t conquered yet. The Soul gives up and falls into the temptations of the Devil to enjoy the world’s pleasures. The Virtues are upset over the losing the Soul, but they gather together for strength. The majority play is the Virtues describing themselves and occasionally telling their struggles. After one of the Virtues has described herself, the Virtues respond in unison encouraging the work of that specific Virtue. At the end of the play the lost Soul returns to the Virtues asking for forgiveness. They accept her back and when the Devil comes searching for the Soul all the Virtues help the Soul conquer the Devil.

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  4. Ordo Virtutum, also known as the Play of the Virtues shows the relationships between the devil and the different parts of our mind's such as humility, charity, fear-of-God, virtues, knowledge of God, the soul, faith, obedience, hope, chastity, innocence, contempt-for-the-World, heavenly love, discipline, modesty, mercy, victory, discretion, and patience. All of these parts of minds are all virtues that Christians should have. Any believer in God needs to have these virtues in order to be a servant of God. I do think that a few more virtues could be added, such as honesty and immorality. What other virtues do you think should be added? This Play of the Virtues shows us our everyday battles with our sins and temptations, however this shows a more positive twist to a struggle with sin, because the virtues of the mind were tough and didn't let sin get past them. In our lives it doesn't always end so easily, the temptations we face may not be trifled with so gracefully every time they invoke us with sinful desires.

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  5. I found the Ordo Virtulum very interesting. I think this sort of play/story really portrays the inner battle that is going on inside all of us. We are easily tempted by the world as the lost soul was, but God can draw us back to Him. What I found really interesting was the part on Humility. The devil promises the soul the riches of the world, then he verbally attacks the virtues, especially Humility. “As for you, Humility, you have nothing that you can give your followers: none of you even know what you are!” Humility is not a virtue that looks for glory or seeks the attention of the world. This being said I thought it was interesting how Humility was the Queen of the Virtues. While she did not seek power or glory, she was given it by God. “Virtues: Queen of us all, (referring to Humility) we obey you - we shall carry out your orders to the full.” I thought this was interesting. The world does not honor and respect the Humble, but God in his kingdom does. James 4:10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” Matthew 23:12 “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

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  6. The Ordo Virtutum recounts the story of strife between godly virtues and the Devil. The virtues speak to the Souls convincing them of God's goodness and grace, while the Devil tries to thwart their plans and tells the Soul that what they strive for is hopeless. "In the mind of the Highest, Satan, I trod on your head, and in a virgin form I nurtured a sweet miracle when the Son of God came into the world; therefore you are laid low, with all your blunder, and now let all who dwell in heaven rejoice, because your belly has been confounded." Chastity confronts the Devil declaring that The Lord will have victory and Satan will be defeated. I found it really interesting that she used the phrase "I trod on your head" just as it said in the Bible! This phrase signifies the final defeat of the Devil.

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  7. The basic plot of the play starts with an happy soul who had not yet seen trial. When calling upon the virtues however, they say that she must fight, and conquer the evil in her midst. The soul quails under the weight, turns sad, and is taken by the devil who assures her the world has more to offer her. The virtues then have a big long discussion about each of their qualities and when the lost soul stumbles on them and asks for help, they each work to help her overcome the evil. The virtues triumph as the devil tries one last time to lead them off God's path into lies. I think this was a very insightful story for being written so long ago. It seems they had a better grasp of their faith than many do today, and even still has an applicable message about straying from the right path when things get tough. The style reminds me a bit of Confessions from Literature.
    Also watching it played out really helped with understanding it.

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  8. Ordo Virtutum was an interesting story. It was a play featuring the virtues and the devil trying to win the soul of a person over to their side. The devil tries again and again to thwart the virtues, but they were able to overcome the devil's attempts to destroy their influence on the soul. It ends with the devil being conquered by the virtues. But, at the end of the play I found something that others have touched on already. The devil mentions a champion, "Where is the champion?..." During the processional at the end, the champion says that he is exhausted. Why and who is he? I would think it is the soul who braved the fight with the devil. The soul says, "But now, you deceiver, I will fight you face to face." This could mean that the soul is the champion, but we know that we can't fight the devil by our own power. So who is he?

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  9. Overall, what I most appreciated about Ordo Virtutum,or the Play of Virtues, was the imagery it gives in depicting the struggle in our soul between God and Satan. It reminded me of St. Augustine as he struggled with turning away from sin. The Soul said, “Ah, but a burning sweetness swallowed me up in sins, so I did not dare come in.” But eventually both Augustine and the Soul realize that they need God’s help to overcome evil. “And you, true medicine, Humility, grant me your help, for pride has broken me in many vices, inflicting many scars on me. Now I'm escaping to you - so take me up!” Ordo Virtutum also reminded me of Ephesians 6 where it talks about putting on the whole armor of God. The Virtues in the play represent the armor of God that we have to put on to be able to stand against the Devil.

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  10. Overall, what I most appreciated about Ordo Virtutum,or the Play of Virtues, was the imagery it gives in depicting the struggle in our soul between God and Satan. It reminded me of St. Augustine as he struggled with turning away from sin. The Soul said, “Ah, but a burning sweetness swallowed me up in sins, so I did not dare come in.” But eventually both Augustine and the Soul realize that they need God’s help to overcome evil. “And you, true medicine, Humility, grant me your help, for pride has broken me in many vices, inflicting many scars on me. Now I'm escaping to you - so take me up!” Ordo Virtutum also reminded me of Ephesians 6 where it talks about putting on the whole armor of God. The Virtues in the play represent the armor of God that we have to put on to be able to stand against the Devil.

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  11. One thing in particular that struck me was that Humility was portrayed as Queen of the virtues. As I watched, I wondered why, out of all the virtues, humility was picked. As the play continued, it became clear that the Devil was full of pride. This is something I’ve always believed, but in the play they used that as his biggest fault. Humility is the antithesis of Pride, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, humility is “the state of being humble”. Pride and Humility cannot mix and so I believe that is why Humility is portrayed as being the Queen of the virtues. She is the only one who can fight off the Devil. Just like Christ, who was so humble that he was able to fight off sin and overcome Satan and death. All in all I liked the play, it reminded me of Everyman which is what the Grammar and Logic students are performing this March. (It’s very handy that they are performing something along the same lines that we are studying!)

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  12. One of the most interesting things that I found in this week's readings was how the devil was portrayed in this play. He was portrayed as a looming being that is always there every time we start to fall or sin in even the littlest ways. I thought it was interesting how they portrayed the devil saying, "You were in my embrace, I led you out. Yet now you are going back, defying me - but I shall fight you and bring you down!" I thought this was interesting how it portrayed the devil as this evil owner who is always trying to make us fall and be brought low just so that he can keep us low to wallow in our own sin and filth. I had never really thought of it in the way that the devil said this phrase of words. He says that we were his, "but i shall... bring you back down!"

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  13. something that caught my eye was the way it described the virtues. when you read each description of the virtues you got the exact idea of what each virtue represented. i also found the battle between the soul and the devil very interesting. how the soul would not have won if it didn't get help from the virtues. without the virtues the soul would have nothing to help her out of the pit of hell.

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  15. Ordo Virtutum reminds me of Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan. The soul journeys through many sins and snares, but is gently guided by sound virtues throughout the play, just like Christian. With the help of the virtues both the Soul and Christian defeat the devil and win everlasting life in paradise with God. The play depicts the soul learning about Heaven and wanting to skip life and go right to it. However the Virtues persuade her telling her that she must first live her life here on earth. The Devil takes advantage of this undeceive soul and exposes her to many worldly things. Each Virtue is introduced during the play, such as Hope, Chastity, Mercy, Modesty, Discretion, etc. confronting the devil and encouraging the weak soul. The soul decides to return to her original path, which is to follow the Virtues. The play then concludes with the Virtues binding the Devil and scolding him before taking the soul to Heaven. Both the soul and Christian are wonderful examples of the daily struggles with sin every believer faces. Ordo Virtutum has encouraged me to not squander the virtues God has put before me, but instead use them to their fullest potential. If applied to one’s personal spiritual life, both God and the use of these Virtues pave a clear path to heaven.

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    1. I had accidentally posted in Isabelle name before that is why it looks like she posted something. Sorry:/

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  16. I enjoyed listening to the singing and reading the story. I read the story as I listened, so I could know what they were saying. I thought the women had beautiful voices. I found it amusing that the devil didn’t sing. He would almost start, but then it would turn into his evil quick talk. It was like singing wasn’t for something so evil or he had lost the ability to sing when he fell from heaven. The virtues reminded me of the muses in the Greek myths. They were higher beings than human, but not as high as God. I also wasn’t sure if I liked how the virtues were personified. When the soul was in trouble, she turned to them instead of God. It seemed like God wasn’t a personal God and that you had to go his messengers instead of Him. Another thing that was interesting was when I looked at the Latin, there were a couple of words that were similar to Spanish words, and I could read or at least guess at what the word would mean it English. It so interesting how words come down through the ages!

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  17. One thing about this play that I found most fascinating was how Satan was constantly in the corners taunting the people to do the wrong thing. He was always ready to strike. It reminded me of this comic pictures you see of an angel and a devil on the shoulder of some unfortunate human whispering things in there ear. Another thing I found very interesting was how it was similar to pilgrims process. if you look at it each character has a specific virtuous role which is similar. The devil is clearly portrayed as tempting and cunning while the others have their place. over all i really enjoyed this play.

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  18. Sorry. I figured out that I was logged into my moms account on here and thats why It wouldn't allow me on to it.

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  19. When I read the Ordo Virtutum I found it quite interesting. It was really interesting seeing all the different virtues and how each on of them had their own specific role. Also when I was reading I came across this quote, " we are the roots, and you are branches, the fruit of the living eye, of which we were the shadow" (paragraph 3). Upon reading this it made me think of the a verse in scripture similar to it, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). I really liked being able to watch the video, even if I couldn't understand it and then be able to read it and put the pieces together on what they were saying.

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  20. Throughout Ordo Virtutum, the Virtues and the Devil fight for power over the soul. The soul longs for the guidance of the virtues and fights against the plots of the Devil, " I recognized that all my ways were wicked, so I fled you. But now, you deceiver, I will fight you face to face. Queen Humility, come with your medicine, give me aid!" This story represents the spiritual warfare that goes on between the Devil, who is all evil, and God, who desires us to follow Him.

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  21. Ordo Virtutum is about the struggle between the Virtues and the Devil for a human soul, which is called Anima. I thought it was ironic that the Devil said, "I say, whoever wants to follow me and do my will, I'll give him everything. As for you, Humility, you have nothing that you can give your followers: none of you even know what you are!" Because it is actually the opposite! In the Bible it clearly states that Satan can do nothing without God's permission, and in Proverbs it says that humility brings honor and wealth and many other blessings. It also was interesting seeing how the Devil was trying to persuade the soul and the Virtues with extremely weak arguments, whereas the Virtues kept pointing to God, and I really liked when they said, "As for us, we dwell in the heights." The only things the Devil could offer were perishable and worldly, but God could offer everlasting and perfect things.

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