The Beautiful Corner

The room is dark, which might lead us to think that this dad is getting the children ready for bed at night. But look beyond and we see through the bathroom window that it is more likely morning. Maybe it's Saturday and he's letting mom sleep in. Already the candle is burning by the Beautiful Corner in the living room.

The Beautiful Corner, (sometimes called, The Front Corner, The Holy Corner, or even God's Place) is a sacred space in every Eastern Christian home. Ideally, it is seen as one walks in through the front door, announcing at once, believers live here! The purpose of the space is worship; calling a family to prayer.

There really aren't rules about putting together a Beautiful Corner, more like suggestions: the corner should include icons of Christ and the Mother of God. Images of saints should not be higher than that of Christ. There shouldn't be posters of sports or entertainment figures near by.  That's just good common sense.

But we must never think we've got God in a box or in a corner, let alone think we've got God in our corner. That's  dangerous thinking. Remember the verse in the Book of Genesis 28:16 when Jacob woke from his dream-sleep he thought, "Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it." I'd suggest that could be said about every place where people gather.

I'd suggest The Beautiful Corner calls us to the awareness of the divine presence which is everywhere: 

• God in the corner of the nursing home lobby, where folks hope for a visitor.
• God in the corner of my desk drawer where I find the address of someone I know I really ought to write to or phone. 
• God in the corner of the classroom where a young person is trying to hide. 
• God in the corner of the party or gathering where someone is invariably without fellowship. 
• God in the corner of the parish church where "I've seen that woman at Mass for twenty years and I've never bothered to go over and introduce myself."
• God in the corner, which is my TV screen, playing the children's aid info-mercial.

Ah, God in the corner of my mind, where a small voice urges me to "Do something about that," whatever good thing that may be.

Having No Other Help ~ Perhaps A National or Ecclesial Prayer

The Virgin and Child Under the Apple Tree ~
 Lucas Cranach

We have no other help,

we have no other hope than thee, O Lady!

Help us, for in you we have placed our hope,

and you we praise.

We are your servants, let us not be put to shame.

Eastern Christian hymn to the Mother of God

The Earth Offers A Cave

THE GEOGRAPHY SURROUNDING BETHLEHEM is filled with caves such as this one. Often the cave entrance is small or shallow, but then opens to a deep, high and wide interior, making caves excellent places to hunker down against bad weather or escape the notice of an enemy or predator. A cave is an earth-womb. Eastern Christians have thoughtfully preserved the earliest tradition that Jesus was born in a cave. The symbolism is spiritually significant.

What shall we present unto Thee, O Christ
For Thy coming to earth for us humankind?
Each of Thy creatures brings
Thee a thank-offering.
The angels; singing -
The heavens; a star - 
The Wise Men; treasures -
The shepherds; devotion -
The earth; a cave -
The desert; a manger -
But we offer Thee the Virgin Mother.
O Eternal God, have mercy on us.

(Eastern Christian Christmas Sticherion morning/evening hymn)

Caves are the earliest home of human beings. Now in Christ, God is making himself at home with us in our most basic or elemental place. Caves are also burial places. The cave of Christ's birth is a foreshadowing of his Good Friday burial and his Easter morning Resurrection. A cave is an entrance to the underworld to which Christ descended, pulling humankind up and out of death and darkness to his new life and light.

Are Christians spiritually mature enough to allow for this symbolism: that caves are hidden shelters for lovers: that in Christ's birth, God is loving the world with the intensity of a lover! 

But a cave is also an image of the unconscious human mind and heart. That is to say, the human mind is filled with secret chambers, niches, tunnels, disorienting twists and turns, dead ends that seem to entrap or corner us. We bump around in the enveloping darkness of a deep cave. Navigating that darkness is difficult and frightening hard work. We can imagine ourselves standing cautiously outside the cave pictured above and saying, "I'm not going in there." But only through this interior journey do we come to transformation - our growth in putting on the mind of Christ - which is the full development of my own God-gifted mind in freedom, authenticity, compassion, creativity and love. 

And what might I come upon in my own inner cave?

• the realization of how dependent I am,
• the tricks I play to manage the day,
• the anxieties and fears that preoccupy and tire me,
• my defenses and habit of blaming,
• the masks I wear,
• the untreated resentments I carry still,
• the lies I tell myself,
• how I calculate and justify my choices,
• my dread of  confronting my own inadequacy,
• my struggle to believe I am loved by God,
• the niggling question that I am not good enough...
• that God holds a grudge against me,
• why can't I just believe that God has allowed each part of my journey for my own good?
• What is buried deep down inside that I really want for myself?

There was a film years ago, Come to the Stable. I'd say, this Christmas, Come to the Cave - the cave in the icon shown here, bringing all of these concerns, questions and desires. And like Mary, after the shepherds departed, ponder the meaning and perhaps, what might I do next?

pay attention to the inner cave

Egypt And The Three Boys In The Fiery Furnace

WE KNOW THAT BETWEEN 500 AND 600 YEARS BEFORE THE BIRTH OF JESUS, the Hebrew people were exiled to Babylon where Nebuchadnezzar ruled. While he ordered the people to worship the golden god he'd made, three  Jewish slave boys, Shadrach, Mischach and Abednago refused.

Bad-tempered Nebuchadnezzar threatened, but the young men persisted in their belief. Finally, the king had them thrown into a furnace which he ordered to be intensified seven times. The number seven shouldn't surprise us, as it is the biblical number of utterly, completely, fully. The fire was so intense the guards were unable to stand anywhere nearby.

When Nebuchadnezzar came to see for himself that the boys were turned to ash, he witnessed them alive within the flames and with a fourth - like an angel. They were singing a magnificent hymn, glorifying God and summoning every aspect of creation to join them in their praises.

Armenian Christians sing this Canticle of the Boys in the Fiery Furnace before the start of the Christmas and Easter Celebrations, extolling the nearness of God who saves. The angel in the flames prefigures Christ, who is God with us in the flames of this life (name them!) and who at Easter in his rising overcomes the worst that sin can do - saving us even from the flames we might call hell. Orthodox believers attest that in the end, Christ's resurrection will vanquish hell itself.

As we pray this Canticle of the Boys in the Fiery Furnace, we might do so in solidarity with the Christians of Egypt who are trying bravely to stay standing in faith while in their own furnace of flames. The massacring of Christians is not unusual in Egypt. Churches are burned, Christians are driven from their neighborhoods. It is the intention of some Islamists to rid the country of Christians, while here in the land of freedom, we continue in our apostasy.

While the story of the boys in the fiery furnace can be found in most bibles, (Daniel 3) their hymn of praise is found only in Orthodox and Catholic bibles. Here is a translation of the Canticle taken from The Jerusalem Bible. We'll notice that the boys are identified by a different set of names. The litany is full of exuberant joy - an exuberant dancing joy in the midst of flames!


May you be blessed, Lord, God of our ancestors,
be praised and extolled for ever.
Blessed be your glorious and holy name,
praised and extolled for ever.
May you be blessed in the Temple of your sacred glory,
exalted and glorified above all forever;
blessed on the throne of your kingdom,
exalted above all, glorified for ever:
blessed in the expanse of the heavens,
exalted and glorified for ever.

Bless the Lord, all the Lord's creation:
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, angels of the Lord,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord heavens,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, all the waters above the heavens,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, powers of the Lord,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, sun and moon,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, stars of heaven,
praise and glorify him forever!

Bless the Lord, all rain and dew,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, every wind,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, fire and heat,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, cold and warmth,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, dew and snow-storm,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, frost and cold,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord nights and days,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, light and darkness,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, lightning and cloud,
praise and glorify him for ever!

Let the earth, bless the Lord;
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, mountains and hills,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, every plant that grows,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, springs of water,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, seas and rivers,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, whales and everything that moves in the waters,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, every kind of bird,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, all animals wild and tame,
praise and glorify him for ever!

Bless the Lord, all the human race,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, O Israel,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, priests,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, his servants,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, spirits and souls of the upright,
praise and glorify him for ever!
Bless the Lord, faithful, humble-hearted people,
praise and glorify him for eve!

Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael, bless the Lord,
praise and glorify him for ever !
For he has rescued us from the Underworld,
he has saved us from the hand of Death,
he has snatched us from the burning fiery furnace,
he has drawn us from the heart of the flame!
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his love is everlasting.
Bless the Lord, the God of gods, all who fear him,
give praise and thanks to him,
for his love is everlasting.

The link below is a link to the canticle being sung by Greek Monks. It is very beautiful.

The Song of the Three Holy Youths

Contemplating the Rublev Trinity Icon ~ Getting Ready

ALL OF THE MAJOR RELIGIONS HAVE MYSTICAL TRADITIONS. In Roman Catholicism there are Sts. Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. In Judaism there is Kabbalistic philosophy and theosophy. Sufism is mystical Islam. Shaikh Shabestari, one of the most celebrated 14th century Sufi mystical poets. says this about Christianity.

"Christianity is non-attachment and detachment - freedom from the fetters of imitation are the pith and whole design I see in Christianity."

 But how are we to live this way: without attachments and inwardly free as God's children? Saint Paul tells us:

 "Now brothers and sisters, let your minds dwell on what is true, what is worthy, what is right, what is pure, what is amiable, what is kindly - on everything that is excellent or praiseworthy," (Philippians 4:8).

Perhaps another way of saying this even more succinctly: "Do everything you can to get Christ into your life; there is everything to take him away."

The Eastern Church keeps no particular feast in honor of the Holy Trinity because every liturgy is suffused with Trinitarian references. But the Western Church keeps the Feast of the Holy Trinity as one of the post-Easter Sundays: Pentecost, Trinity, The Body and Blood of Christ.

St. Andrei Rublev holding the Trinity icon 

Saint Andrei Rublev has given the world his icon of the symbolic Holy Trinity, which might help us not only to keep the Trinitarian feast this coming Sunday, but also to live more deeply considered lives as St. Paul suggests in the Philippian verse above and  the more detached life Shaikh Shabestari sees as the design of Christian living.

Andrei Rublev, born around 1360, is considered to be the greatest painter of medieval Russian icons and frescoes. He became a monk of the Trinity~St. Sergius Monastery outside Russia and died around 1430, having moved to the Andronikov Monastery, also near Russia. He is buried in that monastery and was canonized a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church in June of 1988.

He is most well known for his icon sometimes called the Old Testament Trinity, which was painted around 1425. It still exists and is displayed at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. The image is 56" X 46". While the word icon can be used for any kind of image, in its most narrow understanding, it is a painting in egg tempera on wood of sacred persons, done in the Byzantine style.

Rublev didn't invent the idea for the symbolic image of the Trinity. The image is based on the scriptural account in Genesis of the three messengers who visited Abraham and Sarah, to tell them that they would have a son even in their old age. But Rublev simplified the theme, eliminating extraneous parts so that we could focus our attention on the three figures exclusively, seeing in them the anticipation of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity: that there is one God, but within God's inner life, there is a community of persons ~ Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Rublev painted the icon of the Trinity for the monastery's Cathedral of the Holy Trinity - and it is essential to understand this - at a time when Russian life, like much of the medieval world, was very dark, defined by wars, invasions, violence, famine, tremendous poverty, hardship and disease. The black and white 1966 film, Rublev, created during the Soviet years, aptly conveys the desperation of his century.

The Trinity icon is a gift to the whole world, then and now, as it shines with a bright light, announcing the dynamic of God's shared inner life. To the world wherever and whenever it knows desperation and disintegration, the icon silently teaches that within God, there is life, community, family and relationship, and that when all seems lost, we are each invited to enter into that dynamic - a dynamic of transformative shared divine energies.

Mother of God ~ Searcher of the Lost

The Eastern Christian world has hundreds (maybe thousands) of icons of the Mother of God under as many titles. Each is unique: an event commemorated, a stance, a glance, the colors, background, story, the disposition of the Holy Child.

But why so many? Someone in love might say, "I can't contain myself," or speak of love that's overflowing. That's what this is all about. We've all visited a house where there are seemingly countless pictures of the same person(s) in a variety of outfits, situations, poses, places, props, companions.

This is the icon of the Mother of God ~ Searcher of the Lost. Sometimes she is called, Searcher of the Perishing. Here's the story. In the mid 18th century a pious Russian peasant, Theodotus, lost his way at night on the Feast of the Lord's Baptism. His horse became exhausted, and as he began to fall asleep from the cold, he asked for help from heaven, promising if he survived, he would have an icon painted of the Mother of God ~ Seeker of the Perishing.

A man in another village heard a voice outside his window say, "Take him." He went out and found Theodotus. Restored back to health Theodotus had the icon painted and given to the Church of Saint George in Bolkhov.

These varying titles: Searcher of the Lost or Searcher of the Perishing are important,  as we live on this planet which is often a planet of loss. There's the day-to-day losses that can be nerve wracking and time consuming: losing the keys, the cellphone, the wallet. A document gets irretrievably lost when we accidentally hit delete. Sometimes we lose a night's sleep, or when we're stressed we might jokingly say, "I'm losing my mind." Sometimes we lose our sense of humor, a game or a  bet.

But then there are the more serious  losses. We lose a dear one to death. We lose a friend through mistake or mis-understanding. We can lose our fiscal solvency. Lose sobriety. Lose our inner balance and wind up depressed. Lose our faith or our health. We can get lost to wrong-headedness or manipulation. Lose a job, lose self-respect, lose inner peace.  Lose all sense of good conscience. Lose your soul. We can wind up the loser because we've procrastinated.  It's not easy living on this earth. Indeed, the story of poor Theodotus lost on a snowy night is symbolic of so much of life.

But heaven doesn't want us living in loss. The title for the icon begins with the word Searcher. We're reminded of all the searching that goes on in the Gospels: Searching for the Pearl of Great Price, Searching for the Lost Sheep, Searching for the Lost Coin, The Lost (or Prodigal) Son. I think Jesus, raised up on the cross, was looking out  for each of us, in some way or other, lost.

Gazing at the icon I might consider the losses of my life (this isn't about lost keys and parking spaces). Notice in the icon there is a tree seen through the window. We're invited to enter our inner place. There is a curtain pulled back on the right. God has pulled back the veil or barriers of separation in his search for us. The Mother of God is holding the Holy Infant with clasped hands, a kind of safe-guarding fence. He seems to stand on her as a baby climbs all over his/her mother, testing strengthening legs. In Christ, God is climbing all over humanity in love.

The icon's feast day is February 5. Here are the two prayers the icon invites:

Within the Temple, O Temple of Life, you found Him whom the universe cannot contain, silencing the teachers by the word of God which is above the wisdom of the wise. O all-pure Mother of God, cease not seeking your children who are lost; that we may treasure Christ in our hearts, and find eternally our Father's House.

Vincent Van Gogh ~ Sorrowing Old Man ~1890



 Seek us who are perishing, O Most Holy Virgin, chasten us not according to our sins, but as you are merciful in your love for humankind, have pity, deliver us from eternal loss, sickness and necessity, and save us.

Monday In the Easter Octave

CHRISTIANITY (when its heart is pure) can be an exquisitely beautiful religion, perhaps especially in its Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Anglican expressions. And all of its beauty: its teachings, liturgy, music and poetry, the stories of its saints, its shrines and churches - all of this in one way or another issues from the Easter Feast: Jesus Risen from Death; now Lord of Life!

The new pope is refreshing this for us quickly: his washing the feet of twelve people in the juvenile detention center on Holy Thursday night. And among those twelve were two young  women, one of whom is Muslim. The whole no frills scene was wonderful in its simplicity. The message was very clear: No one is exempt, not even a pope, from the practical service of other people.

Now it is Monday in the Easter Octave, the first eight days of the long Easter Season. Each day's prayers speak in the present moment, an overflow of Sunday itself: "Today..." and "This is the day..." The women at the tomb are  fresh in our minds. Since Good Friday these women have been doing the things of practical love for Jesus. They have been preparing the spices they will need to embalm His body on Sunday, as He had to be buried quickly on Friday at sundown, the start of the no-work Sabbath.

But while they love Jesus, and are doing what they can, they are also resigned to death. "Who will roll away the stone for us?" they ask along the way. They expect to encounter death. These women are not to be criticized; they are each of us.

We're resigned to death. We learn about yet another massacre and we feel sad or angry for awhile, but then our elected leadership can't pass even the simplest and most obvious restrictions or laws that might limit the death and damage brought about by the next Newtown-type shooter. 

And there is talk of war with North Korea and Iran. For  now we watch the practice war on television. The rockets blast the mountains and the ocean where the birds, schools of fish and other animals live, the trees and plants and even the tiniest living things in the water and soil. We're so resigned to death, we don't give a thought to any of this.

But in the conversation with the bright angel who sits on the tomb's great sealing-stone, the headstone as it were, the women are told otherwise - not to be resigned to death. Here is one of the many hymns the Eastern Church sings about these Spice-Bearing women and the angel of Easter morning. But go back first and notice  in the icon that the angel is smiling while greeting the women and delivering the curse-breaking message:

Having heard from the angel

the glad tidings of the Resurrection,

and that the ancient curse was done away,

the women disciples of the Lord

cried exultingly unto the apostles:

"Death is no more,

and Christ our God is Risen,

granting to the world great mercy."

Jesus has established the principle that death is defeated. A  principle is real, not just imagining or theorizing. And death is much more than simply the stopping of heart and brain function before we're put in the ground. Death is also whatever prevents us from our realizing that we are  God's own dear children. Death is also whatever keeps us from evolving into real human persons. All of us!

In the icon of the  previous post, The Descent into Hades, we see a charred figure tied up in the darkest depths of the chasm. This is the lord of death, the prince of darkness, the master of the underworld, the menacer and preventer - you name it! Defeated.

And Jesus, in His most kind and gentle mercy, His bending, lifts us up, elevates and escorts us to the things of life. Father Gregory Krug (1908-1969) expressed this beautifully in his Easter icon shown here.

I can't think of anything that's more important than this. And we can live out this death-is-defeated principle  by our own practical upholding of life wherever we encounter it. Saint Francis picked up worms from the road and placed them in adjacent fields. Indeed, the Dali Lama says, "If you want to start becoming a non-violent person, stop killing insects." That's easy to do.

 

Death is no more,
and Christ our God is Risen,
granting to the world great mercy.



"Christ is Risen...trampling down death by death..."

In the Western part of the world the Easter image we're most accustomed to is that of Jesus, wrapped in a white cloth with banner in hand, exiting, perhaps even flying out of  the cave-tomb. There might be Roman soldiers  fallen down, an angel or two and the sun at dawn.. The scene can evoke comfort and joy.

But the images (icons) found in Eastern Christianity tell us more, especially the more as it impacts upon the world and our personal lives.  Eastern Christian art speaks to us through the use of symbol. It never attempts to capture a moment the way a camera would have, were cameras available centuries ago. Icons set out to tell us about the eternal meaning of the events depicted. The icon writer (painter) doesn't employ the rules of perspective as we understand them because he/she isn't depicting events simply in earth-time. The iconographer knows that eternal events are being celebrated in the creation of an authentic icon.

The Easter icon depicts the mysterious phrase spoken of Jesus in the Apostles' Creed: "He descended to the dead." Or the word might be Hades - the place of the dead. Speculation and debate about the geography of Hades or the place of the dead might be missing the point. More importantly we might simply let the icon reveal its message to us.

So much of this icon is a black hole. An abyss; a chasm.  It is the underworlds we read about and those we know nothing about, as they are either safely secreted or perhaps we have chosen to live in ignorance of them. The black-chasm is the world's sealed archives, locked drawers and files that conceal terrible secrets. The black-chasm symbolizes where death squads plot and exploitive corporate deals are signed, where civilian deaths are written off as collateral damage, where little girls are aborted just for being little girls, where torture, slavery and execution take place, where crimes and sins are concealed or minimized. But the chasm is within each of us too: the destructive lie or whisper, the concealed theft, the consumerism that's spoiling our paradise,the cold heart, the blind eye, the deaf ear I turn.

But Jesus-God has not been frightened away by the darkness that seeks to swallow us up. Look! He rushes, he runs into the chasm, perhaps even kicking down the doors which barricaded the chasm, and with such intensity that all of the securing hardware, the nuts and bolts, the screws, locks and keys are flying uselessly through the scene. Jesus descends into the place of deep, human hopelessness and death - a veritable land of death - and with an outstretched arm He singles out and approaches Adam and Eve, at the head of all of humanity, delicately lifting them out of their stone-cold tombs, to their feet and to a new life. The assembly of royals on the left seem to be particularly animated and glad. Maybe that's because those in power often have more to be forgiven than ordinary folks.

Jesus is the Light-Bearer! Indeed, he seems to stand encapsulated in light. His radiation illumines the deepest places of destruction to which humans can descend. Even the ground or floor of the underworld sparkles! Aware or unaware, I stand on that illumined ground.

So here's an Easter Meditation or prayer idea. It's very hard, perhaps not even possible, for Westerners to blank their minds. I might try instead to lock my mind, fixing it on a single point.

• My feet on the floor, I come to an inner quiet-place with distractions minimized.
• I study the icon, looking at it long enough to have become familiar with it.
• At some point I may close my eyes, the icon imprinted inside now.
• I imagine taking up my place in the group to the right.
• I feel and identify the darkness surrounding me.
• In humility I understand that I'm in the mix of humanity represented.
• Perhaps I am able to identify others with me from the past or the present.
• I am perhaps especially aware of someone who needs forgiveness.
• I witness Christ's breakthrough and sense the light.
• Christ has come to lift me up; to escort me.
• My heart says of you, "Seek His face!" Your face, O Lord, I shall seek. Psalm 27:8-9
• Perhaps Jesus speaks a Resurrection-word to me.
• I rest in the silence of this Easter moment.
• I respond gratefully; a word that grows out of silence.

Christ is Risen from the dead,

trampling down death by death, 

and upon those in the tomb bestowing life!

Eastern Christian Resurrection Hymn