The Presentation in the Temple
Saturday January 19, 2008
Categories: Orthodoxy
O joyful mystery! This stunning image, from the excellent Touchstone blog, which you should see every day, and probably five times a day, depicts the Orthodox priest Patrick Reardon presenting a baby at the altar. In the background is an...
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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Beautiful picture, Rod -- but honestly, if you put too much significance into the almost certainly instinctive rather than purposeful reach of a baby, aren't you getting into "Virgin Mary sandwich" territory?
More than coincidence? Perhaps. I'll settle for Jungian synchronicity myself.
I doubt Rod or anyone else is trying to give it more significance than beautiful symbolism. Orthodox aren't prone to the "Virgin Mary sandwich" territory, at least as far as I've experienced. It is truly a beautiful picture - an iconographic moment, perhaps. :-)
Rod, that's beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Beautiful picture.
Orthodoxy's icons are...let's just say I'm not quite sinfully envious.
Rod,
Inspiring, truly. Thank you!
Fr. Patrick is an incredible man. He's arguably one of the best Orthodox Christian experts on the Scriptures, and the author of many books. He's the pastor of a Chicago-area cathedral. He's a gifted speaker and also aids many Orthodox ministries in addition to Touchstone, including the excellent www.ancientfaithradio.com and www.conciliarpress.com.
Here's a profile page about him:
http://conciliarpress.com/index.php?p=page&page_id=Author_PatrickHenryReardon
Bless,
Doug
Rod:
You forgot to mention that the risen Christ has Eve in his other hand. Lets not upset the feminists.
John C
Absolutely stunning. Thank you for sharing, Rod.
What a wonderful, living symbol of what Christ's ministry was all about!
It is beautiful. It seems all the figures in Eastern church iconography are stern and full of consternation, while all the figures in Roman Catholic statues and stained glass are usually more celebratory, or prayful and becalmed. Eastern Christ seems to be judging, Western Christ seems to be exalted(except obviously in the Crucifixion, Stations and Getsemanie depictions). Am I crazy?
No, you're not crazy, and as a Westerner, it was hard for me to understand why Orthodox iconography is so stern (the facial expressions, I mean). It was explained to me that there's a theological intent here, to emphasize the divinity of the saints. They are supposed to look austere and somewhat unapproachable, as a signal that they have passed over into the eternal realm. At least that's how it was put to me. Here's what Wikipedia says:
In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, only flat images or bas relief images are used. The Greeks, having a long, pagan tradition of statuary, found the sensual quality of three dimensional representations did more to glorify the human aspect of the flesh rather than the divine nature of the spirit and so prohibitions were created against statuary. The Romans, on the other hand, did not adopt these prohibitions and so we still have statuary among the Roman Catholics to this day. Because the Greeks rejected statuary, the Byzantine style of iconography was developed in which figures were stylized in a manner that emphasized their holiness rather than their humanity. Symbolism allowed the icon to present highly complex material in a very simple way, making it possible to educate even the illiterate in theology. The interiors of Orthodox Churches are often completely covered in icons.
Something like "Jesus is coming; LOOK BUSY!"
I'm not quite ready to agree that "Orthodox iconography is so stern (the facial expressions, I mean)". I think the image that most expresses tenderness and pity--much more than any western and naturalistic image (and I am not in any way anti-western)--is the so-called Virgin of Vladimir. See http://www.iconsexplained.com/iec/pics/001_vierge_de_vladimir.jpg for an image. I agree with Rod that that the purpose of icons is to express the holiness rather than the humanity of the beings depicted, but I would say that the purpose of icons is only partly to educate (since Charlemagne, this has been the justification for images even in the West); a more primary justification for icons is to convey a presence, or to bring the viewer into the presence of, those who are holy.
Very beautiful iconography, Rod. It reminds me of the Ukrainian-Byzantine parish I attended up in South Bend (St. Michael's).
Very beautiful.
'I doubt Rod or anyone else is trying to give it more significance than beautiful symbolism. Orthodox aren't prone to the "Virgin Mary sandwich" territory, at least as far as I've experienced.'
Indeed. It is, however, pretty neat that the pic was snapped right as the child's arm was upraised at an angle roughly parallel to Adam's arm and those of the saints in the picture, as well as Fr. Pat's. If it's a coincidence, it's a cool one!
Fr. Pat is indeed an amazing man. Knows the Bible, philosophy, history, and literature all pretty much backwards and forwards, speaks about ten languages, yet is quite humble and self-effacing. I was fortunate enough to have him as my catechist, and he chrismated me into Orthodoxy 13 years ago this week (Jan. 22).
Many years, Rob G!
Thanks, Mary!
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