Here is the icon of the Mogolyubovo Mother of God. the story surrounding the icon is long and convoluted: a grand prince, heavenly demands, a church built to commemorate a vision, a variety of monasteries, convents, rivers and cities, physical healings, the icon is here then the icon is there. I'm not sure what all of that means. I love the icon and want to be more than an admire-r of it and its story. What of its spiritual content for us today—a spiritual content which is more than calling the image wonder-working.
Here, we see the Mother of God standing on the far left. She is like a great and strong pillar. She is one of us, wearing a brown-red maphorian, the color of the ground from which humankind is made. Mary looks up into the far right corner where the heavens open and Jesus, streaked with divinity, appears in an orb of light. The Mother of God holds a long scroll filled with the petitions and concerns of the monks who cluster prayerfully at her feet. The scroll Jesus holds contains the same list of petitions. Saints Zosimus and Sabbatius stand with the monks. They are the founders of the monastery which gleams with prayer.
Notice the monastery, the monks and the Mother of God are standing on an island—their patch of land is surrounded by water. Island dwellers can live rugged lives. And look, all throughout the icon there wonderful plants and even the mountain and the rocky places are touched with light. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, "Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God. But only he who sees takes off his shoes. The rest sit round and pluck blackberries."
But what are the monks' petitions written on the dual scrolls? Let's not wait for someone with a magnifying glass to tell us, let's imagine. Perhaps:
O Lady, may we have clean hearts.
May we love one another in this place, as Jesus has instructed us.
May the world beyond be at peace.
May we care for this island-home of your appearance—charged with life and beauty.
May we be protected from the inner plagues of exhaustion, bitterness and complaint.
May we not live in a tiny bubble world—thinking ourselves to be entitled or better than others.
May we see your son's face in the strangers who make their way across the waters.
May our hearts be synchronized with yours.
May our hearts be synchronized with yours.
Spiritual themes are perennial, aren't they?
