Epiphany is just around the corner -- the feast which marks the end of the Christmas Season and, in the western Church, features Saint Luke's story of the visit of the three Magi to Jesus. It is helpful to remember that Luke wrote his gospel in the early Nineties after the Church had become gentile. So it is not surprising that this highly symbolic tale, showing non-Jews being drawn to Jesus, is found in Luke's late writing. For some reason they have been reading Hebrew Scripture and discerned from it details implying the birth of a future Jewish king. So they hit the road and find the Holy Family. The Magi worship Jesus and bring him gifts of gold (gift for a king), frankincense (gift for a priest), and myrrh (gift for a martyr); even as the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem want to do him in. The gifts of the Magi give to the reader an epiphany (disclosure) of who this Child is and what his fate will be.
Our Saint-du-jour is a gentile and was the first Indian bishop in the Anglican Communion. Son of a village vicar and a devout mother, he became a priest in 1909 and was ordained as bishop for a new diocese in 1912. Azariah proved to be a committed and humble servant of God. He always travelled by bullock cart or bicycle. He strongly emphasized evangelism, but fostered respect and cooperation with other faith traditions. He did not, however, allow the ecumenical spirit to stand in the way of speaking out about injustice, even in a religious context. Thus when Mahatma Gandhi objected to his conversion of Hindus, Azariah responded that the religion as practised was oppressive because of the destructive caste system.
By 1935 the new diocese boasted 250 ordained Indian clergy and 22,000 teachers -- quite a grand accomplishment. Medical clinics, co-ops, and other humanitarian institutions dotted the landscape.
When Bishop Azariah was finally able to erect a Cathedral (bishop's church), he insisted that Muslim and Hindu, as well as Christian, elements be incorporated into the design, as a visual statement of the artistic beauty found in these several great traditions, while still insisting that the complete revelation of God was to be found in Jesus Christ.
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