An 'American Crammer,' Canon Edward Nason West, Dies at 80
Episcopal News Service. January 25, 1990 [90016]
One of the premier liturgical scholars in the Episcopal Church, the Rev. Canon Edward Nason West, retired canon sacrist of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, died on Wednesday, January 3, from pulmonary failure.
"Edward West was to the American Church what Thomas Crammer was to the Church of England," said the Rt. Rev. Walter Dennis, suffragan bishop of New York, at a requiem for West. Describing West as "a legend in his own time," Dennis pointed to his reputation as a liturgical expert as an example that he "could see in a moment exactly what could be done to reveal hidden beauty."
The funeral at St. John the Divine was "a testament to West's ministry," according to Frank Tedeschi, a long-time friend and student of West now serving as master of ceremonies at St. Luke in the Fields in Manhattan. Tedeschi, a member of the Episcopal Church Center communication staff, said that West would have appreciated "the care with which the service was planned and executed, the extraordinary solemnity and beauty" of the occasion.
The funeral was carried out with "an unfussy dignity," which is what West sought to accomplish in liturgy, Tedeschi commented. West always said, "Do things decently and in order" so that you communicate clearly and powerfully through clear visual symbols, "because the worshiper is entitled to understand what is going on," according to Tedeschi. West put the liturgy of the cathedral "on the map" and "made elements of it a model" for much of the American church, said Tedeschi. "The funeral liturgy enabled the nearly 2,000 people [attending the service] to give thanks for his life -- in the context of praising God -- which is what West's influence is all about."
West's impact on the liturgical and artistic life of the Episcopal Church was enormous, according to William Logan and Leslie Lang who wrote biographical notes in the requiem bulletin. He was among the earliest advocates of returning to the ancient Christian practice of Eucharistic celebration in which the celebrant and two deacons stand behind the altar facing the congregation. As master of ceremonies of the world's largest cathedral for 40 years, West organized hundreds of processions and ceremonies.
"To the thousands of people who witnessed each of these services, he was a striking presence, dressed in black cassock, robe, and skullcap, with his long, square-trimmed beard, brandishing a great silver-capped oaken staff like a wand to direct formal processions that numbered as many as 500 marchers," wrote Logan and Lang.
Among the notable events West organized during his tenure at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine were the funerals of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, Duke Ellington, Dag Hammarskjold, and George Balanchine, as well as visits by the Queen Mother of Britain, the Dalai Lama, and Vasken I, Catholicos of All Armenia.
As a scholar of icons and religious art, West was an important adviser in the design of churches and their furnishings, "from stained-glass windows to patens and pectoral crosses," according to Logan and Lang. West was also the designer of the Compass Rose, the official seal of the Anglican Communion.
"There was something of the extra-large about him; in that loving soul of his, in theological reach, in ecumenical charity, in imagination, in artistic accomplishment, and in pushing his intellectual luck," said the Rev. John G. B. Andrew, rector of St. Thomas Church in New York.
West was involved in the ecumenical movement and was a key figure in the rapprochement between Anglicanism and the Armenian, Serbian, Russian, and Greek Orthodox churches. He was instrumental in the founding of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary in New York.
He served with many religious organizations and was named an officer of the Order of the British Empire, an officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau by the Netherlands, a chevalier of the Legion of Honor by France, and a knight commander of the Royal Order of St. Sava by Yugoslavia.