Cape Clear

Just back from Cape Clear Island, where we went for a Church weekend. A very beautful and rugged place. It's where s. Ciarán (one of Ireland's earliest Christian leaders) was born and established a church.

When God Speaks

...how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?
Job 26.14b

Augustine on the Incarnation

But "the light shines in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." Now the "darkness" is the foolish minds of men, made blind by vicious desires and unbelief. And that the Word, by whom all things were made, might care for these and heal them, "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." For our enlightening is the partaking of the Word, namely, of that life which is the light of men. But for this partaking we were utterly unfit, and fell short of it, on account of the uncleanness of sins. Therefore we were to be cleansed. And further, the one cleansing of the unrighteous and of the proud is the blood of the Righteous One, and the humbling of God Himself; that we might be cleansed through Him, made as He was what we are by nature, and what we are not by sin, that we might contemplate God, which by nature we are not. For by nature we are not God: by nature we are men, by sin we are not righteous. Wherefore God, made a righteous man, interceded with God for man the sinner. For the sinner is not congruous to the righteous, but man is congruous to man. By joining therefore to us the likeness of His humanity, He took away the unlikeness of our unrighteousness; and by being made partaker of our mortality, He made us partakers of His divinity. For the death of the sinner springing from the necessity of comdemnation is deservedly abolished by the death of the Righteous One springing from the free choice of His compassion, while His single [death and resurrection] answers to our double [death and resurrection]. De Trinitate 4.2.4

Ignatius of Antioch - Θεοφόρος

Persecution was nothing new to the early Christian Church. In the opening years of the second century Anno Domini, the pastor of the important church at Antioch in the Roman province of Syria (situated in modern day Turkey), was arrested and sent to Rome for trial and execution. Such things we read of but I can scarce imagine. The journey overland to Rome was a long one. What thoughts or despairs would rack the mind of a man on his way to death? Would circumstance cause bitterness and madness at God’s perceived abandonment? I don’t know how I would react. Sadly, I do know that I grow weary with God at the slightest upset in this privileged life of mine.

With their shepherd gone who would feed the local church the word of God? How could God abandon his servant to the Romans? The pastor in question was a man called Ignatius, a man filled with the Spirit and driven by a love for Christ to bear testimony of God. He once said, life begins and ends with two qualities. Faith is the beginning and love is the end; and the union of the two together is God. On route to his certain death he took the time to write letters to the churches of the regions he was taken through. Here are some excerpts,
In the midst of these iniquities, I am learning. Yet I am not justified on this account...let the tortures of the devil all assail me, if I do but gain Christ...I am the food of God, and am ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread.

He also wrote to the Christians in Rome that awaited his arrival, he urged them not to try and save him from the capital punishment that awaited him. To these co-workers of Christ in Rome he penned the following lines.

Christianity lies in achieving greatness in the face of the world’s hatred...He who died for us is all that I seek; He who rose again for us is my whole desire...earthly longings have been crucified; in me there is left no spark of desire for mundane things, but only a murmur of living water that whispers within me, ‘come to the Father’...Remember the church of Syria in your prayers, it has God for its pastor now, in place of myself, and Jesus Christ alone will have oversight of it...As I write this, it is the twenty fourth of August. Farewell now until the end, and wait with patience for Jesus Christ.

Ignatius’ body was torn to pieces by wild beasts to the amusement of the Romans one hundred and eight years from the incarnation of his Lord.

Rublev's Trinity - Part 7 'Divine Homily'

We conclude our look into Rublev’s famous Icon, The Trinity. To sum up Rublev’s work one might use the word ὁμιλία, homilia. Homilia is the Greek work which means to have communion or hold intercourse with a person or persons. Paul uses the word this way in 1 Corinthians 15:33, “evil communications [homilia] corrupt good manners” (KJV). The Divine Homily, the conversation within the Godhead, is communicated to us through Rublev’s work.

Many commentators have drawn the inference from Rublev’s Icon that what is being discussed here is the Divine mission of God to redeem mankind. In the words of Father Gabriel Bunge, OSB, Rublev’s Icon is, “a wordless conversation between Father, Son and Holy Spirit... the eternal decision of the Father to send the Son with the Help of the Spirit for the redemption of mankind... Rublev’s Troitsa, the theological context of which is Pentecost, can be “read” as a depiction in colour and shape of the Johannine account of Jesus’ Farewell Discourse, which is completely shot through with the mystery, now being revealed, of the Triune God... The intra-Trinitarian conversation proceeds from the Son; with entreaty he looks at the Father, while his right hand points to the chalice of his passion and beyond that to the Spirit. This look and gesture intimate the request of sending the Helper which only becomes possible through the self-sacrifice of the Son. The Father, who always hears the Son (Jn. 11.42), fulfils this request. His gaze is directed to the Holy Spirit, who is enthroned with him behind the altar table, and his right hand bestows on him the blessing for the completion of the saving work of the Son... this original-copy relationship finds mystical reality, a gracious foretaste of this future glory, here on earth in that conversation (homilia) of the spirit with God, transcending any representation, whether in image or concept, that the masters of the spiritual life call prayer. It finds its fullness and perfection only in that ineffable communion with God, a communion at once typified (typos) and created by the Holy Trinity thanks to its own, uncreated, three in one being (Jn. 17.21).

The Triune God, meeting our deepest need, redemption, the forgiveness of sin. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image (εἰκών, icon) of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers (Rom 8:29). Man, re-created, can be a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit, a temple for the undivided Trinity. The hospitality of Abraham was used by Andrei Rublev as the backdrop for this Divine Homily, yet Rublev chose to remove Abraham and Sarah from the famous scene. In doing so they are replaced by all who are in Christ, among whom the Trinity have set up their tent and invited us to their table to commune with them. As the Son has taught us, “Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad." (John 8:56)

Rublev's Trinity - Part 6 'Holy Spirit'

The last angel we will examine is the one on the right. This angel represents the Holy Spirit. Rublev would have no doubt been aware of the spiritual foundations of the Lavra of St. Sergii of Radonezh where he and other iconographers painted and decorated the church of the Holy Trinity. Sergii of Radonezh had emphasised strongly the importance of the Holy Spirit in the union of the believer with the Triune God. Communion with the Mysterium Trinitatis was seen in the work of the Holy Spirit. Eastern Orthodox theology emphasised strongly the work of the Holy Spirit in communicating the divine energies to us. The distinction between the essence of God (Ousia), which is uncreated and inaccessible to the human mind or experience, and God’s energies (energeia) which has been described as God’s divine life outside of his essence, underpins the role of the Holy Spirit in Eastern Orthodoxy. Western Theology generally distinguishes between the Nature of God and His activity in and through creation, which we can perceive and participate in. This is similar but not identical to the Ousia-energeia distinction in Eastern Orthodoxy. The role of the Holy Spirit in man’s union with God (Θέωσις) is central to Eastern Orthodoxy.

The angel on the right is dressed in a Chlamys of pale green, the colour of life and Pentecost. His blue Chiton reminds us of his Divine nature. Thus the two colours draw on both the divinity and mission of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets, as the Nicene Creed puts it. The dominant colour is green, because new-life in Christ is the work and mission of the Spirit (Jn. 6.63). During Pentecost Eastern Orthodox churches are decorated with greenery as a symbol of the life giving Spirit.

Behind the angel is a mountain or cliff. In Eastern Orthodox exegesis, attention is always given to the famous mountain top experiences of God by the prophets of old. Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John all drew near to the mystery of God’s presence in profound ways on mountain tops. Gregory of Nyssa (d. 395) drew on Moses’ experience of God on Mt. Sinai as a template for the Christians experience of God, he boldly approached the very darkness itself and entered the invisible things where he was no longer seen by those watching. After he entered the inner sanctuary of the divine mystical doctrine, there, while not being seen, he was in company with the Invisible. He teaches, I think, by the things he did that the one who is going to associate intimately with God must go beyond all that is visible and (lifting up his own mind, as to a mountaintop, to the invisible and incomprehensible) believe that the divine is there where the understanding does not reach (Life of Moses, 46).

The gaze of the Holy Spirit is directed (and directs our gaze) to the chalice on the table. His head leans towards the Father, from whom He eternally proceeds. His mission brings us to the Father, through the sacrifice of the Son. Bearing testimony to the Anointed One, his humble posture reveals his role as servant, never drawing attention to Himself. His left hand is free from his cloak, as the Son’s right hand is free. Thus, drawing from Irenaeus, the Son and Holy Spirit are the 'hands of the Father', through which He works everything (cf. Ps. 33.6).

The Comforter and Counsellor, the Spirit of Wisdom, Fire, Holiness, Glory, Adoption, Grace, Life and Fear of the Lord, proceeding from the Father, prayed for by the Son for our sake, makes a life in communion with the All-holy Trinity possible and real.

Rublev's Trinity - Part 5 'Son'

The central angel in Rublev’s Icon represents Christ. The visitors to Abraham narrative in Genesis 18, was long regarded as a theophany of Jesus. The LXX renders Genesis 18.1 as, θεὸς (God) appearing to Abraham, while the Masoretic text has 'YHWH appeared' to Abraham. This angel typically appeared in Icons prior to Rublev with the inscription IC XC (Jesus Christ) in his nimbus. Rublev leaves out the Christological inscription but adds symbol and colour to identify this person as Christ.

Firstly we notice the different colours of the angel’s robes. His Chiton is dark purple, decorated with a golden clavus (stripe). His chlamys is of a deep azure-blue. These colours are important. The angel on the left, representing the Father, wears a blue chiton, which is almost entirely hidden, while the central angel wears blue as his prevailing colour. The difference points to the theological idea that the Father is invisible, while the Son has revealed Him to us. Even in his humanity, Jesus has revealed to us the ‘glory’ which He possessed as the Son of God, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (Jn. 1.14). God the Father is seen through His unique Son, Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? (Jn. 14.8-9)

The angel’s right arm is free, and with it He points to (and blesses) the chalice on the table which contains a calf’s head. The calf’s head is a reminder of the hospitality of Abraham (Gen 18.7); the chalice however is a clear symbol of the Eucharist, the sacrifice of Christ, and the axis of a wordless divine conversation. The angel’s hand gesture goes beyond the chalice and points to the angel on the right, who represents the Holy Spirit. The original Icon had the central angel simply point with his index finger (which is more directly pointing towards to the Holy Spirit) but later painters added the middle finger and adapted the gesture to form the sign of a blessing.

The head and the gaze of the angel are directed towards the angel on the left. This was a departure from earlier Icons which normally portrayed the central angel gazing towards the viewer. The Son now looks to the Father. This adaptation by Rublev, subtlety shifts the centre of gravity to the angel on the left. The gestures of all three angels allow us to view them in communion with each other.

Behind the central figure is a tree. Again it echoes the Genesis account where Abraham entreats the strangers to; rest yourselves under the tree (Gen. 18.4). It is also a symbol for the victory of Christ on the cross at Calvary, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed (1 Pet. 2.24).

Ultimately, it is because of Christ’s victory at Golgotha, the place of the skull, that we, strangers, aliens, even enemies of God, can be brought into the fellowship of divine mystery. We take the cup of thanksgiving and remember that the Triune God invites us to rest under the tree. The tree being the blood stained cross of Christ.