Previously here

We continue our series of looking at the icons of the Great Feasts of the Eastern Rite Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

The angel Gabriel was at the beginning, at the Incarnation, when God took flesh of the Virgin Mary and became man. Angels filled the sky to announce His birth to shepherds. God humbled Himself and descended to earth and became flesh.

When the Lord ascended back to His Father at the end of His earthly mission, He took with Him His human body, now glorified.  Redemption was complete and, just like at the beginning, angels were present.

At the Incarnation the Lord -Divinity- descended into human flesh; in the Ascension He takes His flesh back to the Father. Like Jesus, we too will ascend to the Father, our flesh glorified.

“The Ascension of Christ is our elevation, and whither the glory of the Head has preceded by anticipation, the hope of the body too is called.”¹

In the icon of the Ascension, Christ ascends to heaven in a round shape of glory, a mandorla or full body halo reserved for manifestations of divinity. The mandorla is by definition almond shaped but circular and star ones are not uncommon.  Flanking the mandorla are angels. They might be interpreted by some people as powering the mandorla  upward but, in fact, they extend their arms in praise, for Christ ascends of His own power and not by the aid of anyone or anything else. Other angels trumpet the return of the Son to Heaven.

“Today the hosts on high, beholding our nature in the heavens, marvel at the strange manner of its ascent, and, being perplexed, they said one to another: Who is this that comes? And when they saw that it was they Master, they commanded to lift up the heavenly gates. With them we ceaselessly praise you, who again shall come from thence in the flesh, as the Judge of all and Almighty God”²

In traditional iconography of the Ascension, the mandorla consists of concentric circles of blue tones that gradate from a dark center to a lighter perimeter. Often, golden streaks of light radiate out from the figure of Christ who is shown either in white or orange robes, the colors of Christ’s divinity in icons that manifest His glory. He blesses with His right hand and holds a scroll in His left, a symbol of the gospel that the apostles are charged with taking to the ends of the earth.

In the center of the icon at the bottom among the grouping of the apostles is Mary, the Mother of God. According to Tradition Mary was present at the Ascension although sacred scripture is silent about her being there. Likewise, St. Paul (on the right) is depicted as being present  but he, of course, could not have been there as he was not as yet converted to Christ. Whenever something appears in an icon that is not mentioned in scripture we look for a doctrinal explanation. Here, it is the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ.

Mary’s figure is placed in the composition directly beneath the enthroned figure of Christ who is head of the Church. Mary and the original apostles and St. Paul, a later convert, form the core from which the Church will develop. Mary is the embodiment of the Church; personifying the body of the Church. She stands in the orans position of prayer, the symbol of the whole Church praying and seeking intercession with Christ, the Head.  In some icons she is depicted in the traditional martyr’s pose with hands in front of her breasts and palms facing forward. In still others, she has one hand raised with the palm facing forward and the other extended as if presenting the apostles, Church. Mary’s calm and confident stillness expresses the immutability of the revealed truth entrusted to the Church.³ The –often- more animated apostles suggest a variety of languages and means for expressing the truth.

"Last Judgment", (detail) tympanum, Church of St. Foy, Conques, France, 1107

Two angels stand among the apostles and caution them that as Christ ascended so He will return at the end of time. This eschatological aspect of the icon and the Gospel message leaves us with the hopeful expectation of the Second Coming. In fact, in icons of the Last Judgment Christ is depicted as arriving in the same mandorla type shape, accompanied by angels.

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Footnotes

¹ Saint Leo the Great, Discourse 73. First text on the Ascension. P.L. 54, col. 396

² The Ascension, Matins of the Eastern Rite

³ Solrunn Nes, The Mystical Language of Icons, (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans Publishing, 2004), p. 87

Picture Sources

Featured Icon (top):  http://philoski.blogspot.com/2010/07/icons-liv.html

Book Recommendations and Research Sources

Solrunn Nes, The Mystical Language of Icons, (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans Publishing, 2004)

Leonid Ouspensky & Vladimir Lossky, The Meaning of Icons, (Crestwood, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1994)

Previously in our series of the icons of the Great Feasts of the Eastern Church

(Click on the picture to see a larger image)

Apolytikia

Unto the myrrh-bearing women did the Angel cry out as he stood by the grave: Myrrh-oils are meet for the dead, but Christ has proved to be a stranger to corruption. But cry out: The Lord is risen, granting great mercy to the world.

Kontakion

When You did cry, Rejoice, unto the Myrrhbearers, You did make the lamentation of Eve the first mother to cease by Your Resurrection, O Christ God. And You did bid Your Apsotles to preach: The Savior is risen from the grave.

The second Sunday after the Feast of Holy Pascha (Easter Sunday) is observed by the Byzantine Catholic, and Orthodox Churches, as the Sunday of the Holy Myrrhbearers. The day commemorates when the women disciples of our Lord came to the tomb to anoint his body with myrrh-oils but found the tomb empty. As the woman wondered what this meant, angels appeared proclaiming that Christ had risen from the dead.

“When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. Very early when the sun had risen, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb. They were saying to one another, “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?

“When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back; it was very large.

“On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were utterly amazed. He said to them, “Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go and tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.’”

The icon of this feast is the ‘other’ traditional icon that celebrates the greatest of all feasts, Pascha/Easter. The other is the Descent into Hell. The icon of the Sunday of the Holy Myrrhbearers depicts the biblical story of the women arriving at the tomb to anoint the body of Christ. The angel is seated upon the stone that covered the tomb, and he is pointing to the empty garments showing that Christ has risen from the dead.

The following is a reading selection from Holy Transfiguration Monastery of Brookline, MA:

“About the beginning of His thirty-second year, when the Lord Jesus was going throughout Galilee, preaching and working miracles, many women who had received of His beneficence left their own homeland and from then on followed after Him. They ministered unto Him out of their own possessions, even until His crucifixion and entombment; and afterwards, neither losing faith in Him after His death, nor fearing the wrath of the Jewish rulers, they came to His sepulcher, bearing the myrrh-oils they had prepared to anoint His body. It is because of the myrrh-oils that these God-loving women brought to the tomb of Jesus that they are called Myrrh-bearers.

“Of those whose names are known are the following: first of all, the most holy Virgin Mary, who in Matthew 27:56 and Mark 15:40 is called “the mother of James and Joses” (these are the sons of Joseph by a previous marriage, and she was therefore their step-mother); Mary Magdalene (celebrated July 22); Mary, the wife of Clopas; Joanna, wife of Chouza, a steward of Herod Antipas; Salome, the mother of the sons of Zebedee; Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus; and Susanna. As for the names of the rest of them, the evangelists have kept silence (Matthew 217:55-56; 28:1-10. Mark 15:40-41.

“Luke 8:1-3; 23:55-24:11, 22-24. John 19:25; 20:11-18. Acts 1:14.) Together with them we celebrate also the secret disciples of the Savior, Joseph and Nicodemus. Of these, Nicodemus was probably a Jerusalemite, a prominent leader among the Jews and of the order of the Pharisees, learned in the Law and instructed in the Holy Scriptures. He had believed in Christ when, at the beginning of our Savior’s preaching of salvation, he came to Him by night. Furthermore, he brought some one hundred pounds of myrrh-oils and an aromatic mixture of aloes and spices out of reverence for the divine Teacher (John 19:39). Joseph, who was from the city of Arimathea, was a wealthy and noble man, and one of the counselors who were in Jerusalem. He went bodly unto Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus, and together with Nicodemus he gave Him burial. Since time did not permit the preparation of another tomb, he placed the Lord’s body in his own tomb which was hewn out of rock, as the Evangelist says (Matthew 27:60).”

Picture source:

From the hand of Matthew D. Garrett @ http://holy-icons.com/category/feastdays/

Research sources:

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America @ http://www.goarch.org/special/listen_learn_share/sunday_of_myrrhbearers

Previously in the Icons of the Great Feasts series

(Click on pictures to see a larger image)

“The Descent into Hell”

by Rolland Luke Dingman

The Resurrection

The actual Resurrection of Jesus Christ was never represented in the ancient tradition of the Church. Previously to its depiction, the Church used the Old Testament scene of the Prophet Jonah coming out of the belly of the whale. In fact, the story of Jonah –usually summarized in one scene: Jonah being either swallowed by the whale or expelled from the mouth of the whale- was one of the most often depicted in the catacombs. The scene remained popular right up to the 6^th century.

"Jonah Expelled from the Mouth of the Whale", 3rd century, Rome, Catacomb of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter

"Women At the Tomb with Spices", ca. 230, Dura Europos house church

In the 3^rd century, the historical Resurrection, based on the Gospel story, is obliquely represented in the scene of the appearance of the angel to the women bringing spices to the tomb. A few centuries later, the Descent into Hell, from which comes our icon, represented the Resurrection for the first time on one of the ciborium columns of the Basilica de San Marco in Venice, Italy. These last two scenes or images –the women bringing the spices and the descent into hell- comprise the Easter icons of the Eastern Rite Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Western Church enthusiastically produced images of the actual historical Resurrection beginning in the Renaissance period.

Nowhere in the ancient tradition of the Church do we find an image of the actual historical Resurrection. It is also of interest that the Resurrection of Christ –Easter– is not included among the twelve Great Feasts of the Eastern Rite or Orthodox Churches. Keep in mind that the actual Resurrection is not described by the Gospel writers, either.

“With us, it is the feast of feasts and the celebration of celebrations; it exceeds all other festivals, as the sun excels the stars…” (St. Gregory the Theologian)

Unlike the Raising of Lazarus, a miracle, the Resurrection of Christ is impossible for human perception for it was a demonstration of the absolute omnipotence of the Savior and initiates our own future resurrection, both of which are impossible to comprehend by the human senses.

Also, in the Eastern Liturgy, a parallel is drawn between the Resurrection and Christ’s Nativity.

“Having preserved the seals intact, O Christ, Thou hast arisen from the tomb, and having left unbroken the seals of the immaculate Virgin in Thy Nativity, Thou hast opened to us the gates of Paradise.” (6^th Canticle of the Eastern Canon)

Both events are deeply mysterious and inaccessible to our senses. There are no natural outer signs that we could observe. It is unfathomable and so the tradition of representing only the moment before the actual Resurrection, the descent into hell, and the moment after, the angel appearing to the spice-bearing women, developed.

The Descent into Hell

The Gospel writers do not say anything of the descent into hell. Only St. Peter speaks of it in his words on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-39) and, in the 3^rd chapter of his first Epistle (1 Peter 3:19) –“He went and preached unto the spirits in prison.” The iconography comes to us mostly from the apocryphal gospel of Nicodemus in which Christ’s triumph over Satan and the Kingdom of Death is thrillingly described.

In the icon we see depicted the moment of Christ’s complete degradation to the very depths of fallen humanity. To redeem humanity by experiencing everything possible to experience as a human, Jesus descended to Hades. It is there that Adam and Eve were confined after their deaths and with them all who followed in the sleep of death. We see that Christ has pulled down the gates of hell which he now steps on. His stunning white garments contrast with the gaping black hole at the center of the earth. Death, or Satan, lies shackled in the darkness. Just when Satan thought he had won, he finds himself triumphed over. Christ appears not as a captive but as a Conqueror to deliver the imprisoned. Adam and Eve are literally pulled out of their tombs by the Lord, the Master of Life. The first Adam rescued by the new Adam.

Also rescued with Adam and Eve are all the Old Testament saints. Representing them, on the left, wearing crowns and royal robes are King David and King Solomon. Between them and Christ is John the Baptist. As he did while alive John points out the arrival of the Savior. On the right in the icon is Abel, holding a shepherd’s staff. It was the shepherd Abel, a son of Adam, who sacrificed one his best lambs to God. He himself was killed by his brother Cain and thus became the first to taste death. Here he meets Jesus, the victor over death. With Abel is Moses who, like John the Baptist, is one of the first to recognize the Lord and so gestures toward Him.

But, while the icon depicts the lowest point to which Christ could descend –his total debasement– it also shows us the first light of the coming Resurrection. The brilliant white robed figure of Christ radiates golden beams of light within a powerful blue colored mandorla which pierces and breaks through the arching rock cliffs.

In some versions of this icon nails, and broken chains and locks from the fallen gates are scattered about. Often angels are shown binding Satan with the chains. Christ sometimes holds a scroll symbolizing His preaching to the dead; sometimes He holds a cross in the form of a staff, a symbol of victory.

References

1. Leonid Ouspensky & Vladimir Lossky, The Meaning of Icons, (Crestwood, St. Vadimir’s Seminary Press, 1989)

2. The Mystical Language of Icons, Solrunn Nes, (Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005)

Picture Sources

Descent into Hell icon: http://www.lukedingman.com/icons3.htm

Jonah and the Whale (edited): http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/smarthistory/early_christianity_smarthistory.html

Continuing our series on icons of the Great Feasts of the Church Year

Previously here

(Click on picture for a larger image.)

Icon of “The Entry Into Jerusalem” by Rolland Luke Dingman

The depiction of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem entered the Christian repertoire of images toward the end of the 3^rd century but blossomed in popularity following the Emperor Constantine’s legalization of Christianity in 313. It is always interesting to try and determine why a story or symbol began to appear in Christian art when it did. All through the 20^th century historians assumed that the scene had imperial overtones as the depiction seemed to be copied from scenes of imperial adventus representations, scenes in which an emperor triumphantly entered a city to remind the inhabitants that the city belonged to him. Christ’s Entry image was thought to bestow religious legitimacy on imperial power by associating the Entry scene with the adventus images. It supposedly worked in reverse as well: Christ took on an imperial aura. We now know that just the opposite was true. The scene was an anti-imperial image.¹

Roman Emperor’s Adventus

The message is in the details. There is the donkey, a humble beast of burden, which is in contrast to the proud imperial chariot of the emperor². Christ wears the garb of a philosopher and holds a scroll which indicate a person who deals in higher, spiritual truths; the emperor wears the boots and short tunic of a warrior emperor who deals in earthly blood and guts. Christ is accompanied by his apostles who also wear philosophers’ clothing; the emperor is escorted by contingents of armed infantry and cavalry. Crowds of people wildly greet Christ, spreading cloaks on the ground before him and waving palms. There are no crowds greeting the emperor. Christ greets the people with a blessing; the emperor stares straight ahead, not condescending to acknowledge anyone or anything. The message is clear: Christ’s power is so far above earthly power that no impressive display is necessary. Even after earthly power has its way with Christ on Good Friday he will triumphantly rise from the grave on Easter Sunday. The crucified and risen Lord is the hope of persecuted Christians.

The Entry scene was a hopeful image and became popular at the height of the worst persecution Christians had suffered –just before Christianity was legalized. Following legalization the scene celebrated the victory that had been hoped for. The interpretation remains the same even today.

This is the iconic image for Palm Sunday (now called Passion Sunday) or, The Feast of the Entry Into Jerusalem as it is known in the Eastern Church. The icon exudes a festive quality expressive of the character of the day itself which contrasts with the stern and reflective mood of Lent.³ The icon and feast look forward to the joy of Easter. Actually the cause of this jubilant public celebration was the raising of Lazarus recounted in the Gospel read out the Sunday before Palm Sunday.⁴ Word had spread among the citizens of Jerusalem concerning the miracle and…

“…much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him.” (John 11:12, 13)

The palm branch was a symbol of joyful celebrating and Jews used them in welcoming very important persons. The branches, in Middle Eastern cultures, were also a symbol of courage and valor and so were presented as a reward to conquerors. Christ is the Conqueror of Death.

Usually, children play a large role in the Entry icons.⁵ There is often one sitting in a palm tree which stands in, or bends over, the center of the composition. More often than not, it is children and not adults who spread cloaks on the ground before the donkey. Still other children wave palms with the adults. The Gospel writers do not mention children although we can assume children would have been part of the crowd. The Evangelist Matthew, however, mentions children welcoming the Lord after His entry, when He drove the traders out of the Temple and cured the sick. Their role ⁶ may be indicated by Christ’s words, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou perfected praise” (Ps. 8:3). (Also, [Mark 10:15] whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.) The young children saw Jesus simply as a King and celebrated him as such with no thought of gain or earthly power. The adults on the other hand were expecting an earthly power –a conqueror over their enemy, Rome. The children were celebrating the Conqueror of Death –that had been His accomplishment. In the Bible (4 Kings 9:13), spreading garments is done for an anointed king and since Christ is the Anointed One whose kingdom is not of this world the garments are spread before Him by children instead of by adults.

So, the Entry depicts the installation of the King of Glory in His Kingdom, the blessed Kingdom of God -the heavenly Jerusalem. His installation will take place as a result of His voluntary passion and death in the earthly Jerusalem.⁷

John Cassian (ca. 365-435) interpreted the scene or story on four levels.⁸ First, as a literal historic account of Christ’s entry into the Jewish capital, acclaimed as king, a few days before his execution. Second, allegorically or typologically, Jerusalem stands for the Church which Christ established and with which he reunites during every liturgy. Third, in a moral or topological interpretation the city stands for the individual soul who receives Christ in a spiritual way. Fourth, analogically, Jerusalem symbolizes the ‘New Jerusalem’ the heavenly Jerusalem that will come down from heaven and where the kingdom of God will blossom in fullness.

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Endnotes

¹ “The Clash of Gods”, Thomas F. Mathews, (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2003) Chapter 2, “The Chariot and the Donkey”

² Christ rides straddling the horse in images created in the Western Roman Empire; Eastern images normally depict Him side-saddled.

³ “The Meaning of Icons”, Leonid Ouspensky & Vladimir Lossky, (Crestwood, St. Vladimir’s Press, 1989) 176

⁴ Ouspensky 176

⁵ Ouspensky 178

⁶ Ouspensky 178

⁷ Ouspensky 178

⁸ “The Mystical language of Icons, Solrunn Nes, (Grand Rapids, William B, Eerdmans Publishing Company) 73

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Picture Source: http://www.lukedingman.com/icons3.htm

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Book Suggestions

The Mystical Language of Icons, Solrunn Nes

The Meaning of Icons, Vladimir Lossky & Leonid Ouspensky

Previously here and here.

(Click on pictures to see larger images)

The Annunciation

Troparion

Today is the Fontainhead of our salvation

and the revelation of the mystery that was planed from all eternity: the

Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin and Gabriel announces this grace.

Let us join him in crying out to the Mother of God:  “Hail, O Woman full of grace!

The Lord is with you.”

Kontakion

We are your own, O Mother of God!

To you, protectress and leader, our songs of victory!

To you who saved us from danger, our hymn of thanksgiving!

In your invincible might, deliver us from all danger that we may sing to you:

“Hail, O Bride and Maiden ever-pure!”

This icon depicts the Archangel Gabriel, carrying a herald’s staff, greeting the Theotokos as the Angel of God appeared to the Virgin Mary to announce the birth of Christ. (Luke 1:26-37). The staff held in the Archangel’s hand is the staff of a messenger.  The Greek word “Kontakion” literally means “from a pole”.  A scroll was rolled up and placed inside a pole and sent by a messenger.  The word “angel” means “messenger” and in this icon the Archangel carries the pole, which carries the message from God. In Western art Gabriel usually holds a white lily, symbol of purity and perpetual virginity.

Mary sits wearing a ‘maphorion’, a veil or large head-shawl, and slippers, her head turned towards the Archangel. Stars placed on both of her shoulders and on top of her head symbolize her ever-virgin life:  “And the Lord said to me:  This gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened and no man shall pass through it:  because the Lord God of Israel hath entered in by it.  And it shall be shut…and behold the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.’ (Ezekiel 44: 3-4)  She remained God’s undefiled, deified temple.

The Theotokos is shown in the icon either standing or with a pedestal under her feet.  A pedestal is a symbol of honor and is used in icons of Christ, the Theotokos, John the Baptist, and Simeon in the Presentation of Mary in the Temple icon.

The All Holy Virgin is often depicted dropping a spool of royal purple yarn in surprise at the angel’s appearance. She has been spinning for the high priest in the Temple. We read in the Protoevangelium of James that one of her duties in the Temple was to make priestly vestments. In some interpretations she has been spinning the great curtain that hung across the entrance to the Holy of Holies. In most Western versions Mary is seen surprised while at prayer, holding a book of Psalms.

The circle with rays directed at the Virgin is meant to convey the action of the Father through the Holy Spirit in the Incarnation of the Son of God within the Holy Virgin Mary who is “full of grace.”

Urgency is expressed in the figure of the Archangel Gabrielle, his legs apart as if running swiftly to deliver the message. The Virgin exhibits a gesture of perplexity and prudence in the outward palm of her hand and who, after questioning the angel, bows her head in acceptance and submission to the will of God.

Mary’s ‘Yes’ is chanted in the Akathist Hymn, referred to by some as the most beautiful song of praise in honor of the Theotokos of all times. Here is the first of 24 strophes.

An Archangel was sent from heaven to greet the Mother of God, and as he saw you assuming a body at the sound of his bodiless voice, O Lord, he stood rapt in amazement and cried out to her in these words:
Hail, O you, through whom Joy will shine forth! Hail, O you, through whom the curse will disappear!
Hail, O Restoration of the Fallen Adam! Hail, O Redemption of the Tears of Eve!
Hail, O Peak above the reach of human thought! Hail, O Depth even beyond the sight of angels!
Hail, O you who have become a Kingly Throne! Hail, O you who carry Him Who Carries All!
Hail, O Star who manifest the Sun! Hail, O Womb of the Divine Incarnation!
Hail, O you through whom creation is renewed! Hail, O you through whom the Creator becomes a Babe!
Hail, O Bride and Maiden ever-pure!

(L) Rogier van der Weyden, 1435; (R) Philippe de Champaigne, 1644

(L) Simone Martini, 1313-1342; (R) Dante Gabriel Rossetti, England, 1850

(L) Pietro Perugino, 1489; (R) John William Waterhouse, 1914

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Source of images.

“Now Lord, allow your servant to go in peace, just as you promised: because my eyes have the salvation which you have prepared before all the nations a light for the gentiles and the glory of your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32)

This feast in the Orthodox world is called The Presentation or The Meeting, and refers to the meeting of Mary and her Child with Simeon the Just (“The Host of God”) and the prophetess Anna. Both were elderly and symbolize the patient waiting of Israel for the long promised messiah, and both represent the prophetic strain within faithful Israel. As such, they are the representatives of the Old Testament in this meeting with the New Testament. Simeon’s canticle, the Nunc Dimittis (see above), identifies the Messiah and prophesizes His role as a light not only for Israel but also for the Gentiles. The event, then, is also a meeting between the promised Messiah and the entire world.

In the above icon, Mary has handed over the Child to Simeon, the ancient holy man, who has received the babe with hands covered as a sign of reference. In some icons, Mary holds the babe. Her hands are covered with the maphorion in a gesture of offering. St. Joseph, on the left, is carrying the offering of poor parents of two turtle doves which represent the Old and New Testaments or, in some interpretations, the Church of Israel and that of the Gentiles. Anna in the icon shown here stands between Mary and Joseph and holds a scroll of prophetic text. In some icons she stands behind Simeon and looks up as a sign of prophetic inspiration.

The scene takes place in the Jerusalem Temple which is represented by an altar covered with a ciborium. The altar sometimes has a cross and a book or scroll. It looks exactly like the earliest altars in the Christian Churches. Mary stands on one side of the altar and Simeon on the other. The Child is often in Simeon’s arms and held over the altar. The symbolism, of course, is of sacrifice both in the Old and New Testaments: Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac, and Christ’s sacrifice on the altar of the cross. The Christ Child seems to know instinctively what lies ahead for Him as He reaches back towards his mother for protection and comfort. In some icons He extends his hand in blessing. [1]

The Feast was better known, in the past, in the Latin or Western Church as the Purification of the Holy Virgin and refers to the rite of purification a woman was to perform forty days after the birth of a male child (Leviticus 12:6-8). When the time -forty days- was over the mother was to “bring to the temple a lamb for a holocaust and a young pigeon or turtle dove for sin”; if she was not able to offer a lamb, she was to take two turtle doves or two pigeons; the priest prayed for her and so she was cleansed (Leviticus 12:2-8). Forty days after the birth of Christ Mary complied with this precept of the law, she redeemed her first-born from the temple (Numbers 18:15), and was purified by the prayer of Simeon.

The Feast of the Presentation dates back at least to the fourth century when it was celebrated in Jerusalem with a solemn procession. Finding its way to Constantinople in the sixth century it eventually passed to Rome during the seventh century. In Jerusalem, around 450, lighted candles were held during the office of the Hypapante (“the meeting of the Lord”). The practice was maintained in the Western Church and became known as Candlemas. [2]

According to the Roman Missal the celebrant after Terce, in stole and cope of purple colour, standing at the epistle side of the altar, blesses the candles (which must be of beeswax). Having sung or recited the five orations prescribed, he sprinkles and incenses the candles. Then he distributes them to the clergy and laity, whilst the choir sings the canticle of Simeon, “Nunc dimittis”… During the procession which now follows, and at which all the partakers carry lighted candles in their hands, the choir sings the antiphon… The solemn procession represents the entry of Christ, who is the Light of the World, into the Temple of Jerusalem. …during the Middle Ages the clergy left the church and visited the cemetery surrounding it. Upon the return of the procession a priest, carrying an image of the Holy Child, met it at the door and entered the church with the clergy, who sang the canticle of Zachary, “Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel”. [3]

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is celebrated on February 2

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[1] Russell Hart, The Icon Through Western Eyes, (Springfield, Templegate Publishers, 1991) p53

[2] Leonid Ouspensky & Vladimir Lossky, The Meaning of Icons, (Crestwood, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1989) p168

[3] Frederick Holweck, Candlemas, The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3,(New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908). 25 Jan. 2011 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03245b.htm>.

Previously in this series: here, here, here, and here.

The Baptism of the Lord

(Theophany or, even, Epiphany)

(Click on picture for a larger image)

“And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: and there came a voice from heaven, saying, ‘Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’” -Mark 1: 10, 11 (from the Gospel read at the Matins of the day)

“The River Jordan once turned back before the mantle of Elisha, after Elijah had been taken up into heaven and the waters were divided on this side and on that: The stream became a dry path before him, forming a true figure of the baptism whereby we pass over the changeful course of life. Christ has appeared in the Jordan to sanctify the waters.” -from the Eastern Liturgy for the Baptism of the Lord

Originally, The Baptism of the Lord was celebrated on Epiphany along with the Feast of the Three Kings/Magi and the Wedding in Cana. Over time, the feast of the Baptism was assigned a separate date. The Eastern Orthodox celebrate the feast -which they call The Theophany (showing or appearance of diety)- on January 6. For the Roman Catholic Church and the churches in the Anglican Communion, the Baptism of the Lord is observed on the first Sunday after Epiphany. Most Protestant Christian groups do not specifically celebrate the Baptism as a feast day on the church calendar.

There are three aspects to this feast and its icon: 1) the revelation of the full dogmatic truth of the Trinity and the Divinity of Jesus; 2) the establishment of the New Testament sacrament of Baptism; and, 3) analogies of the Baptism of the Lord with Old Testament prefigurations.

On this day it was revealed that Jesus is the Divine Son of God, and that God is One God, but, a Trinity of Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When Jesus came up out of the water, John heard the voice of the Father (“Thou art my beloved Son…”) and saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, confirm this voice. In accordance with the Gospel text, appearing in the icon at the top edge, there is a segment of a circle symbolizing the opening of the heavens and the presence of the Father, which is sometimes also indicated by a hand blessing Jesus. Falling upon the Savior are rays of divine light issuing from the Father and containing the Holy Spirit, appearing in the same kind of circle that we saw enclose the star of the magi in the Nativity of the Lord icon.

On the other hand, as Jesus established the sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist while celebrating the Old Testament Passover, so He establishes the sacrament of Baptism while performing an act of ablution originating with the Old Testament prophets. But, instead of the water of the Jordan purifying and sanctifying Him, He descends into the water to sanctify the water and to make the water an efficacious sacramental for our own purification and regeneration in our Baptism. He who became sin for us is covered by the waters of the Jordan. He is represented in the icon as standing against a background of water. In this icon the water delicately and rhythmically washes over the legs and feet. In most older style icons the water appears as a flat background without any overlap of the figure of Jesus. The shape of the body of water is often reminiscent of a cave and leaves us with the impression that Christ is immersed in a kind of token burial and that Baptism is meant to signify the death and burial of the Lord. Like Jesus, in Baptism we too go down into the water, and, again like Jesus, we rise up out of the water -but as a new person- filled with the Holy Spirit and new life. In a great many of the images of Baptism from the catacombs the person represented as being baptized -including the Savior himself- is depicted as a child, as new and innocent life.

With Christ’s Baptism -from his going down into the water and rising from it again- water becomes an image not of death  but of birth into new life. Christ’s body has sanctified the water. Each time we dip our fingers into holy water and bless ourselves we should be reminded of the fact that we have been reborn in Christ through the water of Baptism, in the name of the Blessed Trinity.

In addition to Theophany and the institution of the sacrament of Baptism, the icon of the Baptism of the Lord also calls to mind Old Testament prefigurations. The Fathers of the Church explain the appearance of the Holy Spirit at Christ’s Baptism by analogy with Noah’s Flood. As the world was purified by the water of the Flood and a dove brought an olive branch to Noah announcing the end of the flood and the restoration of peace, so also a dove (the Holy Spirit) signifies the remission of sins through God’s merciful sending of his only begotten Son.

Two small figures are sometimes depicted in the water at the feet of the Savior, among the fish in the Jordan. One is usually a naked man with his back turned to the Lord and the other is often a half-naked women running away or riding a fish (not in this icon). The figures correspond to the Old Testament text “The sea saw and fled; Jordan was turned back” (Ps. 113: 3). The male figure is an allegorical figure representing the Jordan in the following text:

“Elisha turned back the river Jordan with the mantle, when Elijah had been taken up, and the waters were divided hither and thither; and the bed of the river was to Elisha a dry pathway, as a true type of Baptism, by which we pass through the changing course of life.” -Troparion for the Sunday before Epiphany

The female figure is an allegory of the sea and refers to the other prefiguration of Baptism -the crossing of the Red Sea by the Hebrews.

John the Baptist extends one hand out over the head of Christ, a sacramental gesture that has always been a part of the liturgy of Baptism. His left hand is outstretched with the palm facing up while he looks up indicating that he is receiving or hearing the word of the Father, “This is my beloved Son…”

The angels are not mentioned in the biblical text but they are mentioned in texts of the Eastern Divine Services. Their function in the scene is uncertain. Some think they are placed there to minister to the Lord when he comes out of the water. It seems this iconographer has made that his interpretation by painting the angels holding towels. In other icons each angel has his hands covered with a pallium (or cloak) as an indication of reverence for Him Whom he serves. Their covered hands imply the Divinity of Jesus which, of course, is the message of the icon. It is the sacred message of the ritual they convey to us that causes them to cover their hands, as we do whenever we handle something precious or scared.

The Baptism of the Lord is celebrated by Roman Catholics today, January 9. It also signals the end of the Christmas season.

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Book suggestion:

The Meaning of Icons by Leonid Ouspensky & Vladimir Lossky

Previously in this series: here, here, and here

(Click on picture to view a larger, sharper image.)

Novgorod school, attributed to the 15th c., 17 x 21 inches

The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Troparion

Your Nativity, O Christ our God, Has shone to the world the Light of wisdom! For by it, those who worshipped the stars, Were taught by a Star to adore You, The Sun of Righteousness, And to know You, the Orient from on High. O Lord, glory to You!

Kontakion

Today the Virgin brings forth the Transubstantial, And the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One! Angels with shepherds glorify Him! The wise men journey with a star! Since for our sake the Eternal God was born as a Little Child!

The figure of the Blessed Mother is usually the first thing people notice in this icon. The figure is normally near the center of the design and is often the largest. In most traditional nativity icons the All Holy Virgin reclines on a portable bed of the kind Jews used while traveling. But, in some icons she sits upright on the bed. The second thing noticed by most people is the black –always black– cave also located somewhere near the center of the design. Thirdly, people notice that Mary and the dark cave are surrounded by ‘scenes’ or episodes from the story and placed in a somewhat barren, rocky or uncomfortable landscape. Finally –and almost overlooked—people see the tiny wrapped figure of the Christ child lying in the manger inside the cave. That wrapped child lying on top of the manger in a dark cave always reminds me of Christ wrapped in a death shroud and laid out on a stone tomb in a sepulcher.

Of course, the Christ child is the intended center of the icon. The small white shape of his swaddling clothes contrasts with the dark shape of the cave as “a spiritual light shinning forth in the shadow of death that encompasses mankind… The black mouth of the cave in the icon is, in its symbolic meaning, precisely this world, stricken with sin through man’s fault, in which ‘the Sun of truth’ shone forth.”¹ The uncomfortable landscape might remind us of the wilderness of the Exodus story. There, the Israelites were fed with manna bread from heaven. Here, God Himself has come down from heaven to be the bread of eternal life, the Eucharist.  He is also the sacrificial Lamb laid upon the altar of the wood manger, symbolic of the altar of the wooden cross.

Mary’s posture always suggests underlying dogmatic beliefs. In the Nativity of Our Lord icons her pose can vary in two ways and they address either the Divine or human nature of Jesus.  In some icons of the Nativity of Jesus, Mary is half-sitting, alert and attentive to the child which suggests a lack of the usual suffering associated with child birth. In that case the virginity of Mary and the Divine nature of the child are emphasized. However, in the highlighted icon for this post the humanity of Christ is emphasized through the listlessness and languor of Mary’s reclining pose. Her fatigue suggests that the Incarnation indeed took place in Mary’s womb and she has now brought him forth into the wider world. It was not just all an illusion as the heretical Nestorians taught. God did take on human flesh and become human.

Mary gazes down toward Joseph who sits in the bottom left corner confused and troubled, pondering the improbability of it all. His figure is not part of the mother and child grouping for he is not the father. The devil in the guise of an old shepherd stands before him sowing doubt that the virgin birth is possible. He suggests that if the infant were truly divine He would not have been born in a human way. In the person of Joseph, the icon discloses not only his personal drama, but the drama of all mankind, the difficulty of accepting that which is ‘beyond words or reason’, the Incarnation of God.² The scene reminds us of our own personal struggles with faith. But Holy Mary looks on in compassion and loving concern –not just at Joseph but even at us in our times of temptation and doubt.

In the bottom right corner two midwives Joseph rounded-up and brought back to the Mother of God are depicted about ready to bathe the baby. Like any other human new-born the Son of God has become subject to the necessities of human life. Often the basin appears like a baptismal font³ or a large chalice which reminds us of the ‘cup’ of the passion from which the Lord will drink.

The angels of the Gloria are at the top of the icon. Messengers as well as worshippers they usually appear with some of them looking up toward heaven glorifying God and some looking down toward man to whom they bring good tidings.⁴Among the shepherds is usually one playing a flute or reed-pipe, joining the shepherds’ own human music with that of the heavenly strains of the angels. Like the shepherds some of us enjoy communion with heaven while engaged in our daily work while others of us, more sophisticated and learned, are like the Magi in the left side of the icon who “have to accomplish a long journey from the knowledge of what is relative to the knowledge that is absolute, through the object (like the star) that they study.”⁵

The ox and the ass stand next to the manger and contemplate the Christ Child demonstrating that even the dumb animals can recognize the Creator when He chooses to reveal himself:⁶ “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”⁷

Finally, from the top of the icon Divinity pierces into the natural world in the form of light beams emanating from the star of the Magi (or from the orb of heaven) illuminating the Child Jesus in the crib. As the story in the Apocryphal gospel of James goes, Joseph and the midwives, when they returned to the cave, were blinded by a bright light shining forth from the grotto, a light so bright that “they could not bear it”;⁸ as the bright light of the Transfiguration would blind the apostles on Mt. Tabor.⁹

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¹ Leonid Ouspensky and Vladimir Lossky, The Meaning of Icons, Crestwood, (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1989) p 157. The thought, however, comes from a homily attributed to St. Gregory of Nyssa.

² Ouspensky 160

³ Solrunn Nes, The Mystical Language of Icons, (Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004) 43

⁴ Ouspensky 159

⁵ Ouspensky 159

⁶ Nes 43

⁷ Isaiah: 1, 3

⁸ James 14, 11

⁹ Nes 43

Book suggestions:

The Meaning of Icons, Vladimir Lossky and Leonid Ouspensky,  (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1999)

The Mystical Language of Icons, Solrunn Nes,  (Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004)